PREDICITON: HILLARY WILL CHALLENGE OBAMA FOR THE NOMINATION AND WIN

AND THEN LOSE TO...


SERIOUSLY: SHE WILL SUCCEED AGAINST OBAMA WHERE TEDDY FAILED AGAINST CARTER.

HERE'S HOW I PREDICT IT WILL PLAY OUT:

• HILLARY WILL RESIGN IN DECEMBER 2010 - "TO GIVE OBAMA CHANCE TO REORGANIZE HIS CABINET" AFTER THE GOP BLOWOUT THIS NOVEMBER.

• SHE WILL IMMEDIATELY START A PAC - HILLPAC, "TO SUPPORT DEMOCRATIC ISSUES AND CANDIDATES"; HEH.

• SHE WILL ANNOUNCE HER CHALLENGE JUST BEFORE THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN 2011 - WHICH GIVES HER ABOUT 4 MONTHS TO ACTIVELY CAMPAIGN IN IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEVADA AND FLORIDA.

• SHE WILL SWEEP.

• AT THAT POINT, OBAMA WILL ANNOUNCE HE WON'T SEEK RE-ELECTION - LIKE LBJ.

• UNLIKE LBJ, OBAMA WILL BLAME OTHERS. MICHELLE WILL "BLAME A MEAN-SPIRITED AND RACIST AMERICA."

• LEFTIST HOWARD DEAN WILL ENTER ALONG WITH A FEW OTHERS.

• HILLARY WILL WIN THE NOMINATION.
  

• SHE WILL PICK BILL NELSON OR JIM WEBB AS HER RUINNING MATE.

• AND THEY WILL LOSE TO THE GOP NOMINEES.

WHAT IS OBAMA HIDING ABOUT HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH MOHAMMED CHANDOO?

NEWSMAX HAS A PIECE ABOUT A COLLEGE FRIEND OF OBAMA'S - JOHN DREW - WHO REMEMBERS THAT OBAMA WAS A HARD-CORE RADICAL MARXIST.

BREITBART HAS A LONG INTERVIEW WITH DREW - WATCH AT GATEWAY.

I AM NOT INTERESTED IN OBAMA'S MARXIST PAST. IT'S A GIVEN FOR ME.

BUT DREW INTERESTS ME BECAUSE OF THE LIGHT HE SHEDS ON OBAMA'S MUSLIM FRIEND, MOHAMMED CHANDOO.

HERE'S THE RELEVANT EXCERPT FROM NEWSMAX:

However, this new window on Obama’s youth and early political thinking demonstrates how little is known about the background of America’s 44th president.

Dr. John C. Drew, a grant writing consultant in Laguna Niguel, Calif., tells Newsmax he met Obama in 1980 when Obama was a sophomore at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Drew had just graduated from Occidental and was attending graduate school at Cornell University.

Drew’s then girlfriend, Caroline Boss — now Grauman-Boss — knew Obama because she shared classes with him at Occidental.

During Christmas break, Drew says he was at Grauman-Boss’ home in Palo Alto when Obama came over with Mohammed Hasan Chandoo, his roommate from Pakistan.

“Barack and Hasan showed up at the house in a BMW, and then we went to a restaurant together,” Drew says. “We had a nice meal, and then we came back to the house and smoked cigarettes and drank and argued politics.”
For the next several hours, they discussed Marxism.

“He was arguing a straightforward Marxist-Leninist class-struggle point of view, which anticipated that there would be a revolution of the working class, led by revolutionaries, who would overthrow the capitalist system and institute a new socialist government that would redistribute the wealth,” says Drew, who says he himself was then a Marxist.

... In 1981, Obama left Occidental to attend Columbia University. During that year, Obama spent “about three weeks” visiting Chandoo and his family in Karachi, Pakistan, according to the account of Obama spokesman Bill Burton during the campaign.

Chandoo is now a financial consultant who was formerly a broker at Oppenheimer & Co. He has contributed to Obama’s campaign and helped raise more than $100,000 for him as a bundler.

“If that’s what John Drew said, that’s what he said,” Chandoo commented. “I can’t remember Obama ever talking like that. It sounds a bit absurd to me, but that’s my opinion. I can’t remember him ever expressing an interest in being a Marxist.”

... Chandoo said he has not seen nor talked with him since before Obama became a U.S. senator. However, under “community member,” the White House listed Chandoo as a guest at Obama’s Ramadan dinner last fall.

When asked about that, Chandoo acknowledged from his home in Armonk, N.Y., that he attended the dinner. Despite the fact that fewer than 70 people were in attendance, Chandoo added, “I did not get a chance to see the boss.” He then said he shook hands with Obama in a receiving line.

Chandoo said he has been in touch with Caroline Grauman-Boss over the years. She did not respond to a request for comment.

IT FEELS TO ME LIKE OBAMA AND CHANDOO AND GRAUMAN-ROSS ARE HIDING SOMETHING.

LISTING CHANDOO AS A COMMUNITY MEMBER IS SURREPTITIOUS. GRAUMAN-ROSS'S SILENCE IS, TOO.

CHANDOO WAS HIS BEST FRIEND IN COLLEGE; HE SPENT 3 WEEKS WITH HIM IN PAKISTAN. IF HE WAS BEING HONEST AND NOT HIDING SOMETHING THEN OBAMA WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE OPENLY CLOSE WITH CHANDOO AT THE RAMADAN DINNER.

• AND OBAMA'S TRUTHFULNESS ABOUT HIS TRIP TO PAKISTAN IS DUBIOUS, TOO.

• IT JUST DOESN'T ADD UP - HIS RECOLLECTION (IN HIS MEMOIR DREAMS...) OF HIS MOTHER'S CONNECTION TO CHICAGO SEEMS SIMILARLY DELIBERATELY VAGUE.

• AND HIS VERSION OF HOW HE GOT HIS FIRST COMMUNITY ORGANIZING JON IN CHICAGO IS DIFFERENT THAN THE VERSION OF THE GUY WHO HIRED HIM.

• OBAMA MIGHT VERY WELL BE HIDING THE FACT THAT HE IS A MUSLIM, AND A MARXIST, AND THAT HIS MOTHER WAS CONNECTED TO CHICAGO THROUGH A ROMANCE WITH FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS, AND THAT HE KNOWS HIS REAL FATHER IS DAVIS. (MORE HERE.)
  

UNTIL OBAMA AUTHORIZES THE RELEASE OF ALL THE RELEVANT PRIMARY HISTORICAL DATA THESE SPECULATIONS ARE AA VALID AS HIS OWN DELIBERATELY FICTIONALIZED MEMOIRS.

OIL RIG ACTIVITY PROVES THERE IS NO OIL SHORTAGE

COMMODITY NEWS:

The rebound's strength is evident in rig counts published by M-I SWACO, a joint venture between Smith International and Schlumberger, and the world's leading provider of drilling fluid systems.

M-I SWACO counts rigs directly employed in drilling and related activities. Rigs are included if they are used for drilling, logging, cementing, corning, and well-testing, or are waiting on the weather, as well as running casing and blowout preventer (BOP) testing, but not generally if they are only being used for workovers and completion activities.

The count includes rigs in actual operation, in transit for an immediate start, or that have worked for at least 15 days in the month. Monthly totals are released with minimal delay.

The M-I SWACO rig count is therefore the most-timely indicator of global E&P activity.

... The number of rigs in use has risen for eight months running from a post-crisis low of 3,805 in May 2009 to hit 4,518 in January. While the count is still down 18 percent from its peak in
October 2008 (5,511) the industry has seen a marked recovery from the previous slump.

... The rebound is even stronger than the raw figures suggest. Its full strength is masked by the continuing slump in North America, where the largest number of rigs is found. The rig count in the United States (1,399) is still down almost 40 percent from October 2008 (2,238). But in the rest of the world, the number of operating rigs (3,119) is just 5 percent below the pre-crisis level (3,273).

... oil and gas prices have halved compared with July 2008. But the resumption of widespread drilling for both exploration and field development suggests prices and cash flows are high enough to replace production lost from depleting fields and bring on new resources to meet growing demand. With this much activity, current prices should be high enough to meet medium term needs during 2010 and 2011. Unless demand surges, there is no reason to anticipate a return to the very high levels experienced in H1 2008.

THERE IS NO OIL SHORTAGE.

AND, THERE WON'T BE ONE: THE MARKET WILL EXPAND DRILLING/RECOVERY OF OIL IF AND WHEN PRICES GO UP.

PEAK OIL IS BS - JUST LIKE AGW.

THE USA NEEDS TO RAMP UP DRILLING.

HOW CAN WE DO THAT?

EASY: VOTE FOR GOP CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS.

Who are the real heroes in blue?

JOE THE PLUMBER WAS RIGHT ABOUT OBAMA: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS THE NYPOST AND INSTAPUNDIT BY A DAY

GLENN EXCERPTED AND LINKED TO THIS AT THE NYPOST TODAY:

February 12, 2010

NEW YORK POST: The Revenge Of Joe The Plumber.

Remember Joe the Plumber?

He was the blue-collar dude who confronted Barack Obama late in the 2008 campaign with this challenge: “Your new tax plan’s going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

Nonsense, replied the candidate: “From 250 [thousand dollars a year] down, your taxes are going to stay the same.”

Indeed, he insisted, 95 percent of “working people” would see their taxes go down in his administration.

Well, think again.

A year into his presidency, Obama now says he’s “agnostic” on what was the principal plank in his economic platform: No tax hikes for individuals making $200,000 a year or less — or for households with a combined annual income under $250,000.

WE POSTED YESTERDAY:

Thursday, February 11, 2010

"IT'S THE SOCIALISM, STUPID!"

OBAMA'S POLICIES ARE EXACTLY WHAT JOE THE PLUMBER SAID THEY WERE: SOCIALISM.

Posted by Reliapundit @ 2:53 PM

REGULAR READERS KNOW THAT WE SCOOP ALL THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME.

SPREAD THE WORD. BLOGROLL US. BOOKMARK US. BECOME A FOLLOWER.

Joe Biden's Brain

Joe Biden does say the most outrageous things. For example, see this post and this post at Infidel Bloggers Alliance.


Now, check out confabulation, from Wiki:

In psychology, Confabulation is the spontaneous narrative report of events that never happened. It consists usually of the creation of false memories, perceptions, or beliefs about the self or the environment as a result of neurological or psychological dysfunction. When it is a matter of memory, confabulation is the confusion of imagination with memory, or the confused application of true memories. Confabulations are difficult to differentiate from delusions and from lying.

[...]

Patients who have suffered brain damage or lesions, especially to the prefrontal cortical regions, may have confabulation of memories as a symptom.

Biden has undergone two surgeries for brain aneurysms.

I know a bit about confabulation because Mr. AOW's stroke on the right side of the brain produces confabulation to a certain extent.

Furthermore, because of this confabulation, Mr. AOW has been deemed legally incompetent.

The right side of the brain produces confabulations under certain conditions and can produce ideas of euphoria, despite real threats to one's well being.

Now, tell me again, why is Biden a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

BRRRRRRR!: A BRRRRRRROUNDUP!

BRRRRRRR!:

DRUDGE:

SNOW IN ALL 50 STATES?
Deep South braces for rare, deep snow...

WUWT: New Paper in Science: Sea level 81,000 years ago was 1 meter higher while CO2 was lower

This Week in SCIENCE, Volume 327, Issue 5967, Food Security dated February 12 2010, is now available at:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol327/issue5967/twis.dtl

Standing High (requires free registration to view)

... Excerpts:

Abstract:

Sea-Level Highstand 81,000 Years Ago in Mallorca

Jeffrey A. Dorale,^1,* Bogdan P. Onac,^2,* Joan J. Fornós,³ Joaquin Ginés,³ Angel Ginés,³ Paola Tuccimei,⁴ David W. Peate¹

Global sea level and Earth’s climate are closely linked. Using speleothem encrustations from coastal caves on the island of Mallorca, we determined that western Mediterranean relative sea level was ~1 meter above modern sea level ~81,000 years ago during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5a. Although our findings seemingly conflict with the eustatic sea-level curve of far-field sites, they corroborate an alternative view that MIS 5a was at least as ice-free as the present, and they challenge the prevailing view of MIS 5 sea-level history and certain facets of ice-age theory.

ATMOSPHERIC CO2 IS BENIGN!

DALLAS SNOW RECORD:

Thursday's snowfall – officially 11.2 inches – was a calendar-day record for the region. The previous record was 7.8 inches on Jan. 15, 1964, and Jan. 14, 1917.

AGW=BS.

ROMA:

Tourists took rare pictures of snow falling on the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain on Friday, and the Pope reportedly appeared at a Vatican window to watch Rome's heaviest snowfall in nearly a quarter century.

In scenes usually only glimpsed in souvenir "snow domes" Italy's capital was blanketed in white, snarling road and air traffic but delighting many Romans who rode scooters with their feet on the ground and snapped pictures with mobile phones.

Rome was last dusted in snow in 2005, but one meteorologist said the steady snowfall through Friday morning was the heaviest seen in the Italian capital in 24 years.

WHO YA GONNA BELIEVE, AL GORE AND THE UN OR YOUR LYING EYES!?

SMEAR TACTICS AGAINST THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER

Following Arab "claims" that the Simon Wiesenthal Center's planned Museum of Tolerance in west Jerusalem is supposedly built on a Muslim cemetary, the MSM has launched a smear campaign. First:

(IsraelNN.com) A group of Arabs joined by European human rights activists have joined forces to demand that the United Nations halt the building of a Jewish "Museum of Tolerance" on a plot of land they say is an ancient Muslim cemetery.

This is just the latest in a series of attacks made on the project, which is run by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, since 2004. Islamic groups and various Arabs have complained that the museum is slated to be built on the Ma'aman Allah (also known as Mamilla) cemetery. They say the burial site contains thousands of graves and dates back hundreds of years. Some gravestones are present today in the area.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center replied to the Arab outcry by saying the museum would be built adjacent to the cemetery, on a plot which is currently a parking lot. The Center said the parking lot, which was built 50 years ago, was not protested at the time of construction.

It's obvious they just don't want one built even near the cemetary. And by the way:

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has allowed building over gravesites in the past, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Jewish/Christian cemetaries, to be sure.

Some of the most distasteful MSM attacks have been from the UK Times, The Examiner, Metro Santa Cruz, McClatchy, and another from the Los Angeles Times, which even perpetuates the lie that "palestinians" were expelled, and not a single mention of those Jews who were driven out of Jerusalem's Old City and such places during 1948. At least they allow for a counterpoint made by Marvin Hier about the real location:

Listening to the few vocal opponents of our Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem project -- among them the notorious Sheik Raed Salah, leader of the extremist Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel -- you would never know that the Israeli Supreme Court deliberated for almost three years before unanimously rejecting all their claims and authorizing the Wiesenthal Center to begin construction. Just six weeks ago, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish also rebuked those who re-petitioned the Supreme Court for an "abuse of court proceedings," ordering them to pay professional costs.

Still, our opponents would have you believe that in the name of tolerance, our bulldozers actually have invaded the adjacent Mamilla Cemetery, desecrating ancient Muslim tombstones and historic markers.

They don't want you to know the real facts. The museum is not being built on what can rightfully be called the Mamilla Cemetery, but on a three-acre site in the heart of West Jerusalem that, for more than half a century, served as the city's municipal car park. Each day, hundreds of people of all faiths parked in the three-level underground structure without any protest from Muslim religious or academic leaders or interest groups. Additionally, telephone and electrical cables and sewer lines were laid deep below ground in the early 1960s, again without any protest.

As the Supreme Court noted in its ruling, "for almost 50 years the compound has not been a part of the cemetery, both in the normative sense and in the practical sense, and it was used for various public purposes." It also noted: "During all those years no one raised any claim, on even one occasion, that the planning procedures violated the sanctity of the site, or that they were contrary to the law as a result of the historical and religious uniqueness of the site. . . . For decades this area was not regarded as a cemetery by the general public or by the Muslim community. . . . No one denied this position."

In fact, the entire area of the Mamilla Cemetery had long been regarded by Muslim religious leaders as mundras -- abandoned. A cemetery not in use for 37 years is considered mundras and without sanctity. That explains why in 1946 the most prominent Islamic religious figure of the day, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, presented plans to build a Muslim university on a large portion of the Mamilla Cemetery itself (a rendering of which we presented to the court). Today, the concept of mundras is widely accepted and practiced in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and throughout the Arab world.

[...]

Recent critics such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Americans for Peace Now and the Center for Constitutional Rights argue that the Museum of Tolerance should abide by a higher standard than the letter of the law. We do, as the above quote from the court confirms. When we first heard of protests against our plan, in January 2006, our lawyers attempted to meet with Salah but were rebuffed. Once a legal case was filed, the Supreme Court's mediator tried, but fared no better. We offered solutions to build without disturbing the bones -- also rejected. We offered to restore the neglected and virtually abandoned nearby Mamilla Cemetery -- not interested.

And that's just another sign of how this only stems from anti-semitism.

The Jerusalem Post also makes clear the real picture here, as does the Jerusalem Dispatch. Those MSM publications who've lent themselves to the attacks here should retract and apologize for helping cause all the trouble they're going to cause.

IT'S OVER: OBAMA TRAILS GENERIC GOP NOMINEE AMONG INDEPENDENTS: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS GALLUP AND POLITICO BY 2 WEEKS

THE NEWS TODAY:

Poll: Obama Down 2 Points to Nobody....

Obamadejected

Hope for change...

(Politico)- President Barack Obama only leads a generic Republican candidate by 2 percentage points in a potential 2012 match up, according to a new Gallup Poll out Thursday that also shows a continued drift of independents from Democrats.

Obama leads 44 percent to 42 percent, a statistical dead heat, against a nameless Republican, according to the survey of 1,025 adults nationwide.

But among independent voters, 45 percent would back a Republican and only 31 percent would favor the president. Twenty-four percent of independents are not sure if they would vote for Obama or a Republican candidate.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS TWO WEEKS AGO:

IT'S THE LEFT-WING POLICIES THAT AMERICANS DON'T LIKE.

AND WHEN THEY VOTED FOR OBAMA THEY WERE DUPED INTO THINKING HE WASN'T A LEFTIST.

THE ELECTORATE FEELS BURNED.

THEY WILL NOT BE BURNED TWICE.

IT'S OVER. THERE IS NO COMING BACK FOR OBAMA AND THE DEMS.

AND LAST WEEK:

IT'S OVER: OBAMA HAS ZERO CREDIBILTY AND NO POLITICAL CAPITAL

IF HE CAN'T GET THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMS TO DO WHAT HE WANTS, THEN IT'S OVER.

AFTER THE NEXT ELECTION HE WON'T BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING EXCEPT MAKE FOREIGN APPEARANCES - AND EVEN FOREIGNERS ARE GETTING TIRED OF HIS SCHTICK.

WE INTUITED WHAT THE POLLS PROVE.

REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

SPREAD THE WORD.

"IT'S THE SOCIALISM, STUPID!"

OBAMA'S POLICIES ARE EXACTLY WHAT JOE THE PLUMBER SAID THEY WERE: SOCIALISM.

OBAMA AND THE LEFT ARE AS WRONG ABOUT OBESITY AND DIABETES AS THEY ARE ABOUT GITMO, AGW, TAXES, THE HOUSING BUBBLE...

DINOCRAT:

A statement from the White House claims that 1/3 of recent Americans will get diabetes due to the previously unknown “national security” threat of being overweight:

One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives; many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. A recent study put the health care costs of obesity-related diseases at $147 billion per year. This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.

“The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake,” said Mrs. Obama. “This isn’t the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved. So, let’s move.”

Three points: (a) the statement that “One third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes” seems a little odd given that the actual incidence of diabetes in America is that only 7.8% of citizens have the affliction, not one third, as Michelle Obama asserted; (b) diabetes does not afflict children at all: less than 1% (0.22%) of persons under 20 years old have diabetes; and (c) the idea that fat kids threaten “national security” is absurd on its face.

WHETHER THE TOPIC IS THE ENVIRONMENT, WAR, THE BUDGET, OR HEALTH CARE,THE LEFT'S ANALYSIS IS REALITY IS FLAWED - AND THEIR POLICIES WOULD ACTUALLY MAKE THINGS WORSE.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

PALIN NOT ALONE: NFL QB'S USE CRIB NOTES, TOO

JUST SAYIN':

• PALIN GAVE HER SPEECH WITHOUT A TELEPROMPTER, AND DELIVERED IT BETTER THAN ANY OBAMA SPEECH.

• SHE REGULARLY TURNS OUR PHRASES AND SOUNDBITES AFR MORE MEMORABLE AND POINTED THAN OBAMA.

• AND, YES: SHE WROTE A FEW THINGS ON HER PALM. KEYWORDS. TO HELP HER STAY ON MESSAGE. AND CONCISE.

• IT'S NOT A NEGATIVE - EXCEPT TO PDS LIBS.

• AND ONCE AGAIN: SHE COMES OFF AS MORE REAL THAN THE PHONY SPEECHIFYING TELEPROMPTER READING "CORPSE-MAN" OBAMA.

NUFF SAID.

SNOW, SIDEWALKS, SOCIALISM AND THE STATE

It snow a lot here in NYC yesterday.

Today, most sidewalks are totally clean.

Some aren't.

WHICH ONES ARE?

The ones in front of private businesses.

The ones in front of state parks, or libraries etc are icy, treacherously so.

The reason is simple: private businesses have an incentive to keep the sidewalks in front of their businesses safe and clean and accessible.

Government has no such incentive.

This is why private enterprises will always do better than a government operation.

A private hospital is gong to be better than one designed by politicians and run by bureaucrats and the tax-getting unions.

NEVER FORGET THIS.

Vote accordingly.

THE REBELLION IN IRAN CONTINUES

VIDEOS HERE.

GEE: IT WOULD BE NICE IF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT GAVE A SPEECH TODAY ENCOURAGING THE PEOPLE OF IRAN IN THEIR BATTLE FOR FREEDOM.

IT WOULD BE NICE, BUT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN WITH OBAMA.

HE DOESN'T VALUE FREEDOM AS MUCH AS APPEASEMENT AND SOCIALISM.

AND PLEASE, DON'T EVER CONFUSE APPEASEMENT WITH PEACE OR SOCIALISM WITH PROSPERITY.

IN FACT; THEY'RE OPPOSITES:

APPEASEMENT ALWAYS LEADS TO WAR AND SOCIALISM TO POVERTY - SERFDOM.

HOW TO STOP CELLPHONE THEFT: A DECODER-RING

BBC:

The government has called on the mobile phone industry to do more to protect handset owners against theft.

Alan Campbell, Minister for Crime Prevention, said firms "have a social and a corporate responsibility to tackle crime".

Around 2% of British mobile phone users report they have suffered a theft in the last year, although for teenagers the figure is three times higher.

Mr Campbell said it was also an opportunity for innovation.

"First this is a great opportunity - this is new technology which can be promoted around the world," said Mr Campbell.

"But also mobile phone companies have a responsibility which goes beyond the profits they can make from phones; they have a social and a corporate responsibility to tackle crime."

'Amazing opportunity'

Mr Campbell likened the problem to that of car theft. He said that following government intervention, innovations in the car industry - such as immobilisers - had helped cut theft by 60% in 10 years.

Figures suggest that 228 mobile phones are reported stolen in the UK every hour.

Michael O'Hara from the industry body GSMA said the mobile industry "supports and welcomes innovations that help to safeguard against mobile phone crime in any guise".

He said the GSMA "leads a growing number of initiatives" aimed at tackling mobile crime including "a database of handset serial numbers" that allow a phone to be blocked when they are reported as lost or stolen.

The government's call comes as the Home Office unveiled the winning designs in a crime prevention contest, aimed at making mobile phones less attractive to thieves.

Designs included an alarm that sounds when a phone is too far from its owner and locks the handset.

Others included a system to encrypt users data on the phone.

...The winning designs will be shown off at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from the 15-18 February.

HERE'S THE SOLUTION: SELL A "RING-DECODER" - MUCH LIKE A KEYLESS CAR IGNITION - THE PHONE WON'T WORK UNLESS THE RING IS NEARBY. THE RING CAN BE WORD ON A FINGER OR KEPT IN A WALLET OR ON A NECKLACE.

IOW: THE TECHNOLOGY EXISTS ALREADY - AND IT AN BE EASILY ADAPTED. I WANT THE PRIZE.

GLOBAL-WARMING-BLIZZARDS HIT CHINA, TOO!

CHINA HAS BLIZZARDS, TOO - JUST LIKE THE USA, OF COURSE THEY'RE CAUSED BY MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING.

• MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED THE TSUNAMIS AND EARTHQUAKES TOO.
• AND MSNBC'S AND CNN'S DISMAL RATINGS.
• BECAUSE PEOPLE KNOW BULLSHIT WHEN THE SEE IT - AND THEY CHANGE THE CHANNEL.

MISS ME YET?

More proof the so-called "green economy" is total BS

Here; excerpt: New Wind Farms in the U.S. Do Not Bring Jobs

Millions Have Been Invested in Wind Farms, but That Hasn't Brought Jobs

Despite all the talk of green jobs, the overwhelming majority of stimulus money spent on wind power has gone to foreign companies, according to a new report by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at the American University's School of Communication in Washington, D.C.
PHOTO The American Wind Energy Association came out with a report last week that showed a drop in wind manufacturing jobs in the U.S. for last year.

Wind turbines are powered by strong prevailing winds in Palm Springs, Calif. The American Wind Energy Association came out with a report last week that showed a drop in wind manufacturing jobs in the United States for last year. But during that time, enough wind farms have been built to power 2.4 million homes and create lots of new, green jobs. Collapse
(David McNew/Getty Images)

Nearly $2 billion in money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been spent on wind power, funding the creation of enough new wind farms to power 2.4 million homes over the past year. But the study found that nearly 80 percent of that money has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.

So Where Are the Jobs?

"Most of the jobs are going overseas," said Russ Choma at the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

NO SURPRISE HERE: IF AGW IS BS, THEN OF COURSE THE GREEN ECONOMY WOULD BE.

ANYONE WHO STILL BELIEVES IN THIS CRAP IS EITHER GROSSLY MISINFORMED, UNDER-INFORMED OR JUST LOOKING TO MAKE MONEY OR POLITICAL GAIN GET A GRANT FROM THE AGW SCARE-MONGERING.

DEMOCRAT PARTY $ & % DISCONNECT

YES: $ & % DISCONNECT:

• THEY ARE AT THEIR LOWEST POPULARITYIN EONS ,

• BUT HAVE RAISED LOTS OF MONEY; (THE DCCC HAS $17 MILLION ON HAND; THE RCCC - THOUGH NOW RAISING RECORD AMOUNTS - HAS ONLY $4 MILLION ON HAND).

HMMMMM...

I think this is in part due to the fact that the Democrat Party is now the party of the FAT CATS and the tax-getting unions - both of which have enriched the Democrat party and its minions.

THE GOP AND THE TEA PARTY MUST START RAISNG BEAUCOUP DOLLARS AND MUSTN'T STOP UNTIL NOVEMBER.

IT WILL TAKE A LOT OF MONEY TO DEFEAT THE LEFT. ESPEICALLY THE SOROS-SEIU BACKED LEFT.

REPORT: ETHIOPIAN JET WAS BOMBED BY AL QAEDA

JAWA:

Last night we were sent an email to a story which reported that witnesses saw an explosion on the Ethiopian airline which crashed after taking off from Beirut. Even though at the time the plane went my thoughts immediately turned to al Qaeda's Somali affiliate the al Shabaab, there was little discussion of this being an al Qaeda operation.

This was, after all, an Ethiopian airliner. Flying out of the Middle East. Two hallmarks of a plausible case for human or mechanical error.

But today DEBKA reports that the plane was in fact taken down by an al Qaeda operation.

RTWT.

YES, I KNOW: DEBKA... SO READ WITH A GRAIN OF SALT...

OUR PREVIOUS POSTS HERE AND HERE.

THE BLACK BOXES WERE RECOVERED AND US NTSB TEAM WAS SENT THERE - SO WE WILL SOON KNOW THE TRUTH...

MY GUESS: THIS WAS ANOTHER TRIAL RUN - BUT A SUCCESSFUL ONE - AND AL QAEDA WILL USE THE TECHNIQUE ON SEVERAL JETS SIMULTANEOUSLY.

STAY TUNED...

BBC: HOW DO YOU JUDGE A MUSLIM ARAB BEAUTY CONTEST? SIMPLE: PICK OUT THE PRETTIEST CAMEL

BBC: REALLY: BBC:

How do you judge a camel beauty contest?

They're tall, they're blonde, they're elegant, and at the height of their careers they can command millions of dollars. Supermodels? No, camels.

In the remote Western Region of the United Arab Emirates, 28,000 of the humped beasts gathered at the end of January for what was billed as the biggest camel beauty contest ever.

Normally, there's nothing there but sand, but the al-Dhafra Festival filled the arid desert with breeders and their herds, some of which had been driven from as far as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The pens bustled with activity. Thousands of people from around The Gulf watched the action from the stands. A handful of judges sifted through the camel pens picking out the top talent.

"The head is the most important thing and this is what we look at first," Mohammed Abdullah al-Mehairi, the head judge, told the BBC.

"We are looking for camels with big heads, firm ears, broad cheeks and big whiskers. There is no single important thing - the neck and body should be long, the hump and the back should be big, and we also look at the colour and posture of the camel."

NO COMMENT NECESSARY.

BRING ON 2010!

From this February 10, 2010 article in the Washington Post:

In poll, Republicans gaining political ground on Obama

Republicans have significantly narrowed the gap with Democrats on who is trusted to deal with the country's problems and have sharply reduced several of President Obama's main political advantages, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey paints a portrait of a restless and dissatisfied electorate at the beginning of a critical election year. More than seven in 10 Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, and as many say they're inclined to look for new congressional representation as said so in 1994 and 2006, the last times that control of Congress shifted.

The opportunity to rock this administration is just a few months away.

A WARNING SIGN FOR DEMOCRATS

I THINK IT'S TOO LATE: THEY HAVE FALLEN OFF THE CLIFF -
THEY JUST HAVEN'T LANDED YET!

UPDATE: AXELROD EMAILED ME AND DEMANDED EQUAL TIME:

HERE'S A WARNING TO THE GOP:

THE LEFT DOES SAY CRAP LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME.

ALL THE TIME.

UPDATE: THEY DID IT AGAIN!

FOLLOWING THE GREEN MONEY: THE IPCC AGW ALARMISTS WHO GOT IT ALL WRONG GOT PAID $6MILLION

CCF:the people responsible for Amazongate, Glaciergate, and Africagate trousered £3 million of your tax money

OBAMA MUST APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO INVESTIGATE HOLDER

HERE'S WHY.

THE 527'S FIGHTING THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT ARE ASTROTURF FINANCED BY THE MACHINE

Glenn links to a FOXNEWS item about how the tax-getting unions - like AFSCME - are funding effrots to combat the tea Party.

This was to be expected: The Tea Party is first and foremost an anti-Big Government movement (against to much federal taxing, spending and social influence) - and the AFSCME - like the SEIU and the NEA - is a union which gets paid by government; therefore, they WANT government to get bogger.

(The Obama Machine united these tax-getting unions with the Chicago Machine and the Alinsky/Soros left.)

Previous posts on this AXIS OF TAXES here.

BARONE GETS IT WRONG: OBAMA TEAM NOT GROWN STUPID

BARONE - VIA GLENN:

With absolute power, Team Obama grows stupid
By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
February 10, 2010

How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration.

The same people who directed the campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls, has left the Democratic party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50 years of closely following politics.

IT'S NOT THAT THEY BECAME STUPID.

IT'S THAT THEY WERE POPULAR DURING THE CAMPAIGN BECAUSE - WITH THE COLLUSION OF THE MSM - THEY RAN OBAMA AS A CENTRIST.

THEY HAVE TRIED TO GOVERN AS THE LEFTISTS WE KNEW THEY ALWAYS TRULY WERE, AND THEY RAN INTO A LITTLE PROBLEM: THE PUBLIC IS NOT STUPID AND HATES BEING DUPED.

IT'S ALL OVER FOR THEM BECAUSE THE PUBLIC WILL NOT ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE BURNED TWICE.

THE CONGRESS WILL BE GOP RUN IN 2011.

SMALL QUAKE HITS OBAMAVILLE: 4.3 IN CHICAGO!?

YUP.

WHAT WILL PAT ROBERTSON SAY?

Israeli Ambassador to the US and Brilliant Badass Michael Oren Verbally Assaulted at UC Irvine (Updated: Arrested Students Identified)

Several students were escorted out to their little "kill the Joooos" rally out front. Oren completed his speech gracefully. You stay classy, koranimals. In civilized lands he was able to lecture regularly as a professor, but the campus of UC Irvine is basically Yemen with an enormous US federal endowment: ethnically cleansed of Jews, and eventually of every indicator of civilization.

This is basically what tolerating Islam in the free world means: trading Michael Oren for a bunch of inbred Nazi savages because leftists fully condone every form of genocidal brutality and they destroy everything they touch, which they always seem to "touch" with insane amounts of federal tax dollars.



I highly recommend his book, Power, Faith and Fantasy in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present. It's a fascinating work dealing with America's relationship with the Middle East and Israel, our founding fathers, and our early military. I became interested in it after reading about what the Star Spangled Banner was originally about.

Here's the lecture which made me a huge fan of Michael Oren, America in the Middle East: 1776 to Today.




Update: Arrested Islamonazis identified by name (via Free Republic):
UC Irvine:

• Joseph Tamim Haider


• Osama Ahmed Sabry Shabaik


• Mohemed Mohy Eldeen Abdelgany


• Ali Mohammad Sayeed


• Asaad Traina


• Mohammad Qureashi


• Aslam Akhtar


• Hakim Nasreddine Kebir

UC Riverside:

• Taher Herzallam


• Shaheen Waleed Nassar


• Khalid Bahgat Akari

MICHELLE OBAMPIRE

What does it say on Obama's palm?

OBAMACARE: REVENGE OF THE BABY BOOMERS?

THIS IS ESSENTIALLY WHAT LEFTARDS ARE SAYING TO THE AMERICAN YOUTH:

"SURE... ALL YOU YOUNG KIDS THINK YOU HAVE IT SO GREAT BECAUSE YOU HAVE AMAZING TECHNOLOGY AND WILL PROBABLY LIVE TO BE 150 BECAUSE OF MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS.

BUT WE BOOMERS GET THE LAST LAUGH: WE'RE LEAVING YOU WITH $8 TRILLION IN DEBT! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

HERE'S WHAT THE SO-CALLED RIGHT-WINGNUTS ARE SAYING:

WAKE UP KIDS, SOCIALISM IS GENERATIONAL THEFT!

IF YOU WERE BORN AFTER 1980, YOU SHOULD... VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

EXCLUSIVE: PHOTOS OF OBAMA'S INAUGURATION REVEAL NOTES ON PALM!

Jihad on Your Dollar in the UK

The United Kaliphate pays these scum to live there, some of whom are wanted by the US. Time to end that 'special relationship' we have with the Brits until they do some major housecleaning.



PASTORIUS ADDS: CBN Reports On The Jihad, Mainstream TV News Does Not:

Why is it that Pat Robertson's network does a better job on the Jihad than MSMTV?

If the lamestream media covered in a week what Erick Stakelbeck covers in ten minutes I would probably respect them.

BRENNAN MUST GO: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS SENATOR BOND AND VICTOR HANSON BY A MONTH

VDH TODAY:

It is time for Brennan to gracefully bow out and let federal counterterrorism be conducted by people who don't alternately and mercurially damn and praise presidents for careerist and partisan purposes or suggest that legitimate worries about Mirandizing the Christmas Day bomber and trying in civilian court the architect of 9/11 a few thousand yards from the scene of his mass-murdering somehow "serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

SENATOR BOND TODAY:

Sen. Kit Bond (R., Mo.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, tells National Review Online that Brennan’s op-ed is “baffling” and part of a “political mess at the White House” that “puts our country at risk.”

Bond says that Brennan “needs to go,” and is no longer “credible.” Brennan’s recent “troubling decisions,” he adds, “have destroyed my confidence in him.” Firing Brennan, he says, “would be part” of fixing Obama’s national-security woes, though not enough. “A drastic change in policy is needed,” he says. “Our problem now is that we have to wonder whether we can trust [Brennan] after he has been a mouthpiece for the political arm that I thought only came out of the White House press office.”

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS JANUARY 8: NO WONDER OBAMA PICKED HIM: OBAMA'S CHIEF ANTI-TERROR ADVISOR LET BIN LADEN GET AWAY

I WATCHED THIS TURD BRENNAN ON THE TV TALKS SHOWS AND HE'S NOTHING BUT A C.Y.A. OBAMA APOLOGIST AND A DOUBLE-TALKING APPEASER.

HE SHOULD BE FIRED.

JANUARY 9:I T'S TIME OBAMA FIRED BRENNAN

FEBRUARY 7: Brennan lied on Meet the Press and must be fired

WE WERE RIGHT - AND WEEKS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE.

REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME: SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY - AHEAD OF THE CURVE!

SPREAD THE WORD.

LEGALIZING A JEWISH APARTMENT IN AN ARAB NEIGHBORHOOD

The interior minister has confirmed he'll be working to legalize a Jewish-owned building in Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood, which is mainly Arabic:

The Jewish-owned Beit Yehonatan building in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan moved a step closer to becoming legal on Monday, as Interior Minister Eli Yishai authorized the Jerusalem District Building and Planning Committee to hold a vote on the building’s status next week.

Yishai said he had been assured that a majority of council members would vote in favor of declaring the seven-story structure, which was built without the proper permits, to be legal, but that an agreement had been reached with the building’s inhabitants to vacate the top two stories.

[...]

Beit Yehonatan, which is named for imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, has been at the center of an ongoing struggle between Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Chief Prosecutor Moshe Lador. In late January, Lador had demanded that Barkat uphold an existing court order to evacuate and seal the building off, which Barkat refused to do.

City Attorney Yossi Havilio also joined Lador’s efforts to force Barkat to act, prompting the mayor to declare last week that he would evacuate and seal Beit Yehonatan, and then begin carrying out demolition orders for more than 200 illegally-built Arab-owned homes in the neighborhood.

While that move was widely seen as a bluff tactic to halt Lador and Havilio’s demands, Havilio responded to Barkat’s assertions with a letter he sent to Lador last Friday, calling into question a number of the details contained in Barkat’s declaration.

[...]

Monday’s apparent error on behalf of the municipality, however, sent right-wing supporters of the eight families who live in Beit Yehonatan into Silwan’s narrow streets, singing and dancing out of sheer joy that the evacuation orders did not find their way to the building’s front door.

City councilman Elisha Peleg along with Jerusalem Deputy Mayor David Hadari were among the supporters, and told reporters that they were pleased with the mix-up and hoped that the issue of illegal building in Silwan – for Jews and Arabs alike – would be settled once and for all.

“We’re opposed to the eviction of Jews from their homes,” Peleg told The Jerusalem Post later on Monday. “And we would like to see this situation resolved without anyone having to be evicted.”

If you'd like a little history on Silwan itself:

(IsraelNN.com) Interior Minister Eli Yishai confirmed Monday night that an agreement has been reached that may prevent the expulsion of Jews from the Jewish-owned Beit Yehonatan building in eastern Jerusalem. The multi-story residence is located in an Arab area formerly populated by Jews who owned the properties but were forced out under the British Mandate.

Just a reminder of the repugnant anti-Jewish bias the British had when they occupied this country.

Yishai is right to deal with this. And as for the Arab residents, well, they're going to have to learn one way or another that not only is this Jewish land we're talking about here, and that Jews have a right to decide where they'll live within it.

Mohammedan Scumbag Enslaves, Rapes 13 Year-Old Girl in Buffalo

Add a brain-damaged, mutilated, six-year-old niece with a whore contract, a dead aunt, an adopted son, a daughter to 2:223, and you've got a prophet, according to Mohammedan standards.

France: Proposal To Make Immigrants Sign A "Declaration of Values"

From the BBC:

Newcomers to France will be made to sign a declaration of values as part of a new campaign to define national identity, France's Prime Minister says.

Francois Fillon announced the initiative after three months of public debates around the country.

Other measures include the flying of the French flag and the singing of the national anthem - La Marseilleise - at schools, to promote patriotism.

Critics say the debate simply provoked anti-Muslim sentiment and racism.

Mr Fillon said a new commission of experts - including MPs and historians - would be established to introduce rules aimed at cultivating pride in being French and promoting the values of the Republic.

"The emphasis will be put on the respect for the values of the republic… notably the principle of equality between men and women… and the level of knowledge of the French language," said Mr Fillon.

Shunned by president

Under the scheme, newly arrived immigrants will have to undertake classes in French and gender equality, while new citizens will pledge to adhere to a list of French values at a solemn ceremony.

Other proposals include keeping a copy of France's 1789 declaration of rights in every classroom and introducing a young citizens' book in which students can record progress in their instruction in civic duties.

Opposition lawmakers said the whole debate merely acted as a distraction from France's fundamental problems, such as high unemployment, and was being used as a campaign ploy ahead of March's regional elections.

Polls showed many French people found the discussions were not constructive and President Nicolas Sarkozy, originally a keen supporter of the initiative, quickly began to distance himself from the debate, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.

The promised grand presentation of the findings was downgraded to a low-key event, she says.

Many of the proposals were put forward by French Immigration Minister Eric Besson.

Monday's announcement came a week after Mr Besson refused to grant citizenship to a foreign national on the grounds that he forced his wife to wear the full Islamic veil.

Late last month a French parliamentary committee recommended a ban on women wearing Islamic face veils in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.

It also recommended that anyone showing visible signs of "radical religious practice" should be refused residence cards and citizenship.

Often, challenges to our Western identity and sovereignty only serve to make us readdress our values. This process, ultimately, makes us stronger.

France is going through such a readdressing of values.

The United States is also readdressing it's values, because of the national dialogue created by the egregious aspects of the ObamaAdministration.

Britain will do so also readdress their values in the near future.

When this process is completed, the Jihadists will stand no chance against the West, because we are so far superior to them technologically and ideologically.

MORE GLOBAL WARMING IDIOCY

From I Hate The Media!:

Noted global warming expert RFK, Jr. predicted that Washington, DC might never see snow again

The pathetically unprophetic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wrote a column last year in which he bemoaned global warming and suggested that children of the future might never see snow again.

Another 10-20 inches of snow on top of the two feet we've already got (photo essays) is expected here in the D.C. area today. Heh.

1968 - THE SILENT MAJORITY; 1980 - REAGAN DEMOCRATS AND THE MORAL MAJORITY; 2010 - THE TEA PARTY

THE CENTER RIGHT SWING VOTERS CONTROLS NATIONAL POLITICS.

• IN 1968 IT WAS THE SILENT MAJORITY.
• IN 1980 IT WAS THE REAGAN DEMOCRATS AND THE MORAL MAJORITY;
• IN 2010 IT'S THE TEA PARTY - WHICH INCLUDES A FAIR NUMBER OF FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE INDEPENDENTS WHO WERE DUPED INTO VOTING FORE OBAMA.

THE INDEPENDENT-MINDED FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE CENTER-RIGHT IS A LARGE AND GROWING SEGMENT OF THE ELECTORATE AND THEY ARE ENERGIZED.

THEY ELECTED BROWN AND THE GOVERNORS OF NJ AND VA.

IF THEY STAY ENERGIZED, THEN BOTH BODIES OF CONGRESS WILL BECOME MAJORITY GOP.

THAT'S OUR GOAL.

WE WILL DO IT WITH ANGER, HOPE, HEART, HUMOR, AND SHOCK'N AWE.

DUBAI'S SKYSCRAPER CLOSES AFTER JUST A MONTH

Well wouldn't you know it, Dubai's colossal skyscraper, said to be the tallest in the world (undeservingly), has closed within a month from opening:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The world's tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists headed for the observation deck and casting doubt over plans to welcome its first permanent occupants in the coming weeks.

Electrical problems are at least partly to blame for the closure of the Burj Khalifa's viewing platform — the only part of the half-mile high tower open yet. But a lack of information from the spire's owner left it unclear whether the rest of the largely empty building — including dozens of elevators meant to whisk visitors to the tower's more than 160 floors — was affected by the shutdown.

The indefinite closure, which began Sunday, comes as Dubai struggles to revive its international image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

And surely that isn't one of the reasons why they closed, because of their economic falldown? I've got a feeling few foreign businesses would be willing to open an office there now for many good reasons, and not just because Dubai could be funding terrorism, but also because there's really little to invest in there. It's such a shady country behind the scenes, it'd be foolish for anyone to do business with them.

IRAN REITERATES FEBRUARY THREAT

REUTERS:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.

His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful.

This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged.

I THINK THEY WILL TEST A NUCLEAR BOMB - LIKE NORTH KOREA DID.

THEY PROBABLY BELIEVE THIS WILL PREEMPT AND POSSIBILITY OF ANY PREEMPTIVE STRIKE BY THE WEST AND NEUTER ANY POSSIBILITY OF REIGNING IN THEIR NUKE PROGRAM.

PREVIOUS POSTS HERE.

STAY TUNED

RIOT IN EAST JERUSALEM

Again, Islam disrespects law and order in this country:

(IsraelNN.com) Arabs challenged Israeli authority in eastern Jerusalem on Monday, hurling rocks in violent riots that wounded five policemen, one of whom was hospitalized. Arab journalists also suffered injuries.

The riots followed a large-scale police operation that was aimed at “putting some order” in place in the Arab locality of Shuafat. Police staged house-to-house midnight searches for weapons and for non-resident Arabs from Judea and Samaria staying in eastern Jerusalem without work permits.

Arabs responded by hurling rocks and broken bottles at the police and at soldiers at a checkpoint bordering the area. The clashes escalated Monday afternoon when Muslim school children joined the violence, also taking aim at nearby Jewish residents.

[...]

The mood on the Arab street has grown angrier the past several months, as Arab leaders have discarded the original American proposal that the status of Jerusalem be negotiated between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently called for a resumption of talks with a pre-ordained agreement that the entire area, including the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, will fall under PA sovereignty.

So let's see, we have returns to common themes among Islamofascists like violence, children with corrupted minds playing hooky, and more political taqqiya in motion. Really, with "friends" like these...

GREAT SIGN THE ECONOMY IS IMPROVING: CONTAINER TRAFFIC WAY UP

PJ:

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports will be a full 25 percent higher during the first half of 2010 compared with the same period a year ago, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report.

An uptick in cargo volume is one sign the economy is improving, because it shows that retailers are expecting to move more merchandise this year.

The report was released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

"This is a dramatic turnaround over what we’ve seen during the past two years," said National Retail Federation Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold, in a press release.

U.S. ports handled 1.09 million 20-foot equivalent unit cargo containers in December, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was unchanged from November but up 2.6 percent from December 2008 to break a 28-month streak during which monthly totals were lower than the same month the year before.

January was estimated at 1.19 million units, a 17 percent increase over January 2009.

Monthly numbers would put the first half of 2010 at 7.4 million units, up 25 percent from last year’s 5.9 million.

OBAMA IS COUNTING ON AN IMPROVING ECONOMY TO PASS OBAMACARE AND JUSTIFY THE PORKULUS AND HELP HIM HOLD ON TO THE CONGRESS.

AND THE ECONOMY WILL IMPROVE - NO TAHNKS TO HIS POLICIES. THAT'S WHY WE NEED TO ATTACK OBAMA ON OTHER FRONTS BESIDES THE ECONOMY: ON THE GWOT AND ETHICS AND HIS LEFTIST APPOINTMENTS AND SO ON.

KRUGMAN: AMERICA IS GOING OUT WITH A WIMPER, NOT A BANG

KRUGMAN BLAMES THE US SENATE:

Paul Krugman / New York Times: America Is Not Yet Lost — We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end.

SHOULD READ:

• We've always WANTED America's reign as the world's greatest nation to end.

IT'S BEEN THE LEFT'S LONGTIME AIM.

IT'S OBAMA'S SECRET GOAL A LA CLOWARD-PIVEN.

CARTER NEARLY DID IT, BUT REAGAN STOPPED THE DECLINE.

NOW, THE LEFT IS WAGING WAR ON THE US SENATE; KRUGMAN ATTACKS IT IN HIS COLUMN. THE LEFT HATES THE ENTIRE INSTITUTION ALMOST AS MUCH AS THEY FILIBUSTER.

THEY HATE DEMOCRACY AS SOON AS IT GETS IN THE WAY OF THEIR SOCIALIST AGENDA.

WE WILL STOP THEM AND THEIR AGENDA AGAIN.

Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS MICHAEL BARONE

MICHAEL BARONE - TODAY: Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers

...Public-sector unionism is a very different animal from private-sector unionism. It is not adversarial but collusive. Public-sector unions strive to elect their management, which in turn can extract money from taxpayers to increase wages and benefits -- and can promise pensions that future taxpayers will have to fund.The results are plain to see. States such as New York, New Jersey and California, where public-sector unions are strong, now face enormous budget deficits and pension liabilities. In such states, the public sector has become a parasite sucking the life out of the private-sector economy. Not surprisingly, Americans have been steadily migrating out of such states and into states like Texas, where public-sector unions are weak and taxes are much lower.

Barack Obama is probably the most union-friendly president since Lyndon Johnson. He has obviously been unable to stop the decline of private-sector unionism. But he is doing his best to increase the power -- and dues income -- of public-sector unions.

One-third of last year's $787 billion stimulus package was aid to state and local governments -- an obvious attempt to bolster public-sector unions.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS LAST WEEK: HERE AND HERE.

AND MANY TIMES OVER THE YEARS HERE AND HERE (SCROLL).

WE SCOOP THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME.

SPREAD THE WORD!

IPCC SCIENCE ISN'T JUST NOT REALLY SETTLED; IT'S NOT EVEN REALLY SCIENCE!

UNBELIEVABLE:

HERE'S YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW THE NOBEL-PRIZE-WINNING 2007 IPCC REPORT IS RIDDLED WITH EXAGGERATED CLAIMS BASED ON NON-PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS FROM ADVOCACY GROUPS:

WUWT:

IPCC Gate Du Jour: Aussie Droughtgate

Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun digs up another issue with non peer reviewed World Wildlife Fund reports in the IPCC AR4. It turns out a new paper in GRL handily disputes the cause of the drought.

THE SCIENCE WHICH REALLY ISN'T SETTLED ISN'T EVEN REALLY SCIENCE!

AGW = TOTAL EFFIN BS.

RTWT@WUWT.

London-Muslim bus driver stops mid-route to pray

From Vlad Tepes:

A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers when he pulled over and started praying in the aisle – with the engine still running.

The driver parked without warning then rolled out a fluorescent jacket as an improvised prayer mat.

He took off his shoes, knelt down facing Mecca, and began to chant.

The prayer session held up the bus for more than five minutes with no-one able to get on or off.

Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week.

Mother-of-one Miss Griffiths, 33, of Camden, north-west London, had boarded the bus a few minutes earlier on her way home from work.

She says that she even feared at the time that the driver might be a fanatic planning to blow up the bus.

She said: ‘I have done the journey a million times before but I was in a hurry to get home to pick my little girl up from school.

‘We had just picked up and let off people at a bus stop and moved off again when the driver stopped the bus very suddenly.

‘He got out of his cab, leaving the engine running, and walked towards the middle exit door.

‘He laid out a fluorescent jacket on the floor and I thought that somebody must have been sick and he was covering it up.

‘I didn’t really think much of it.

‘But then he took off his shoes and began praying. I was gobsmacked and quite bewildered.’

Miss Griffiths said the bus driver didn’t give the passengers any explanation as to what he was doing.

‘He hadn’t addressed the passengers at all,’ she said. ‘I didn’t say anything and nor did anyone else. I thought it would all be over in 30 seconds but it went on for over five minutes.

‘It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks.

‘As the engine was running anyone could also have got in the cab and driven off with a bus full of passengers.

‘He was also blocking the exit, so if something had happened we would not have been able to get off.

‘Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating.

‘We are delayed often enough as it is in London.

‘We live in a multi-cultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.’

Transport for London said it had apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and said all Muslim drivers are being reminded that they should pray during statutory rest periods rather than hold up services.

A TfL spokesman said: ‘A route 24 bus was delayed following a decision by the driver to stop the bus to pray.

‘The bus company, London General, has had a word with the driver as this is not something that should be happening.

‘TfL apologises to passengers for any inconvenience this may have caused them.
‘We understand that there is some flexibility in the Muslim faith as to the times of day that drivers can pray.

‘TfL and the individual bus operating companies acknowledge and value the diversity of their staff.

‘As diverse employers, TfL and the bus operators provide suitable prayer or quiet rooms at garages and other key locations for staff who wish to practise their faith.

‘We have asked London General to remind drivers who have a requirement to pray to use these facilities during their rest periods.’

And, of course, while he is doing this, the passengers are locked into the bus.

They can do nothing about their captivity unless they physically confront the man, or jump over him and open the door themselves.

Actually that would make a fun game; Jump Over the Praying Muslim.

But seriously, this is just another Islamic probing attack on Western Civilization.

How much Sharia will we allow?

Will we allow sidewalks to be blocked off to accommodate prayer as they do in Paris?

Will we allow Sharia courts to go unchecked so that women have their Western rights stolen from them under our noses?

This man should have been fired, and frankly, kidnapping charges ought to be considered.

The man held a bus full of people hostage to his Islamic ritual.

Enough is enough.