OBAMA LIED, THE ECONOMY DIED: NYTIMES: MAJOR INDICES PROVE THIS RECESSION IS NOT THE WORST SINCE THE DEPRESSION

NYTIMES:

History shows that the stock market usually hits bottom before the economy does.

In October, Warren E. Buffett, one of the world’s most successful investors, said he was buying American stocks because they usually rise “well before either sentiment or the economy.” But even he acknowledged not having “the faintest idea” what would happen in the next month or year.

Since then, stocks have dropped by another 20 percent, and with the market at levels last seen in 1997, stocks are cheap by historical standards. The price-to-earnings ratio — which investors use to gauge how much they are paying for each dollar of corporate profit — is around 13, about 20 percent lower than the average of the last 130 years.

... “All the indicators suggest you should be buying and not selling,” he said.

Still, Mr. Napier acknowledged that stocks, while cheap, could fall further. Measured by their 10-year price-to-earnings ratio, stocks were a lot less expensive in the early 1980s, when the ratio fell to less than seven, and in the 1930s, when it was below six.

THAT MEANS THAT STOCKS CRASHED DEEPER ON PREVIOUS RECESSIONS.

THE ARTICLE HAS AN ADOBE FLASH PRESENTATION OF THREE CHARTS - ALL OF WHICH PROVES THAT THIS RECESSION IS NOT AS BAD AS THE PREVIOUS ONES.

• THE FIRST CHART SHOWS THE ABOVE: THAT P/E RATIOS ARE HIGHER NOW THAN IN PREVIOUS RECESSIONS.
  

• THE SECOND CHART SHOWS THAT HOME VALUES HAVE DECLINED, BUT NOT DECLINED AS MUCH AS IN PREVIOUS RECESSIONS.

• THE THIRD CHART SHOWS THAT SINCE THE RECESSION BEGAN, SPENDING IS WAY DOWN AND SAVINGS ARE WAY UP, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS IN PREVIOUS RECESSIONS.

AS THINGS HAVE ALREADY FLATTENED OUT, THIS PROVES THAT OBAMA WAS LYING AND FEAR-MONGERING - IN ORDER TO PASS HIS PORKURIFFIC SOCIALISTIC SPENDING BILL - WHEN HE WAS CALLING THIS RECESSION A CATASTROPHE.

OBAMA'S FEAR-MONGERING - RECENTLY ABATED - MADE THINGS WORSE.

OBAMA'S TAX & SPEND PROGRAMS WILL HURT EVEN MORE - DOWN THE ROAD - IF WE DON'T ELECT A GOP CONGRESS IN 2010.

Letter From a Nam Vet: Democrats attack the Church

A friend of a friend, who shall remain nameless, writes:

As you know, I am blessed to know and be connected to two great religions, sharing Judaism and Catholicism from my maternal Grandmother and paternal Grandmother, respectively. My sense of connection to both runs within me, and I know your beliefs run deep within you. I am writing to you today to tell you about a sermon delivered today by our Priest. He has all but named the president as the anti-Christ. Whatever your beliefs, this is significant, for I think he is correct. Biblical references aside, the Democrats and through their agents in government are attacking the very fundamental principles of America.

Specifically cited today was the recent attempt by the Connecticut state legislature to force the Catholic Church to be re-organized. See the attached article.

Although the bill was been "put aside", there will be other attempts by the democrats at every level of government to silence dissent. What is the next step after silencing religion, the freedom of speech, and right to bear arms, to gather?

Please share this with others, we need alert those who are asleep, we must keep alert and raise a loud voice of discontent, or our last stop will be into the showers, following a train ride. We can't afford to be a Chamberlain, we need to be Jeffersonian.

The article to which the Captain refers is, indeed, a disturbing one.

Conn. Legislature Moves to Regulate Catholic Church in Suspected "Payback" for Marriage Stance

The Connecticut Judiciary committee Thursday proposed a bill stripping Roman Catholic bishops of their authority to govern fiscal and administrative diocesan affairs - an unprecedented attempt to regulate the Catholic Church, that critics are calling "payback" for the Church's efforts to prevent the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in the state.

The explicit intent of S.B. 1098 is, "To revise the corporate governance provisions applicable to the Roman Catholic Church and provide for the investigation of the misappropriation of funds by religious corporations."

Referring specifically to structures of the Roman Catholic Church, the bill states: "The corporation shall have a board of directors consisting of not less than seven nor more than thirteen lay members. The archbishop or bishop of the diocese or his designee shall serve as an ex-officio member of the board of directors without the right to vote."

According to the bill, members of the board are to be elected from among the congregation, and the authority of the bishop and pastor limited to "matters pertaining exclusively to religious tenets and practices."

(To view the legislation, go to: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/TOB/S/2009SB-01098-R00-SB.htm)

Andrew McDonald and Michael Lawlor, co-chairs of the Judiciary committee, say the bill was proposed as a response to an incident in which a priest was convicted of stealing 1.4 million dollars from a parish in Darien...

Lawlor, in an email posted by American Papist blogger Thomas Peters, justified the bill by claiming it changed "current state statutes governing Roman Catholic corporations" as "suggested by parishioners who were the victims of theft of their funds in several parishes, who felt existing laws 'prevented them from dealing with the misuse and theft of funds.'"

"I agree with you that the whole notion of having a statute governing the church seems like an intrusion on the separation of church and state, but the current law does that already," Lawlor wrote, who emphasized that corporate law "probably should make sure there cannot be deception of parishioners."

...Many have raised concerns of the bill's constitutionality. Attorney Philip Lacovara, a Bridgeport Catholic, told the committee: "In more than forty years as a constitutional law teacher and practitioner, I cannot recall a single piece of proposed legislation at any level of government that more patently runs afoul of [the First Amendment]" than the bill in question. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops general counsel Anthony Picarello also expressed shock at legislation "so blatantly unconstitutional," according to the National Catholic Register.

The Knights of Columbus, the Family Institute of Connecticut, and Connecticut Catholic Conference as well as individual bishops are calling on Catholics and non-Catholics alike to intercept the bill, which is being denounced as a dire and unprecedented threat to religious groups' right to self-government.

Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut explained the need for an interfaith presence at the Wednesday hearing. "As Ben Franklin told the Founders while they were signing the Declaration of Independence, 'either we hang together or we will all hang separately,'" said Wolfgang. "Legislators need to understand that this bill is an attack on everyone's religious liberty."

..."Our church in the state of Connecticut is facing an unprecedented intrusion by the state legislature into its own internal affairs," Bridgeport's Bishop William Lori told parishioners Friday. "If this bill were to be enacted, your bishop would have virtually no real relationship with the 87 parishes.

"You have to understand how radically this departs from the teaching of the Church and the discipline of the Church, and how gravely unconstitutional it is for a state to move in and try to reorganize the internal structure of the Church. It is a violation, a grave violation of religious liberty."

Lori scoffed at the notion that the state, which now has a billion-dollar deficit, proposed the bill out of a need for greater regulation of Church finances.

"This bill was dropped into the hopper the day before the same-sex 'marriage' bill was to be heard," said Lori. "This is a thinly-veiled attempt to silence the Church on important issues of the day - but especially with regard to marriage."

Both committee co-chairs McDonald and Lawler are outspoken same-sex "marriage" advocates, and have been critical of the Catholic Church's opposition to laws dismantling the legal definition of marriage.

"The real purpose of this bill is payback to the bishops and pastors of the Roman Catholic Church in Connecticut for opposing gay marriage," State Sen. Michael McLachlan of Danbury wrote in his blog...

What is it with these Democrats? Did they skip school on the days that the the Constitution was being taught?

The Anchoress, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey and Wizbang were on this story from the get go. The bill may have been tabled for the moment, but continued vigilance is the watchword.

This attempt certainly won't be the last by Democrats bent on silencing dissent.

I seem to remember that there's a word for National Socialist Democrats. From the history books. But it's escaping me for the moment.

THE DAUGHTER OF THE ABUSIVE IMAM IN THE UK

The Times has a very frightening report about a woman who'd fled from an abusive Pakistani family and converted to Christianity, and was persecuted by her abusive father, who'd even raped her during her childhood (Hat tip: Betsy's Page):

We are all too familiar with the persecution of Christians in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet sitting in front of me is a British woman whose life has been threatened in this country solely because she is a Christian. Indeed, so real is the threat that the book she has written about her experiences has had to appear under an assumed name.

The book is called The Imam’s Daughter because “Hannah Shah” is just that: the daughter of an imam in one of the tight-knit Deobandi Muslim Pakistani communities in the north of England. Her father emigrated to this country from rural Pakistan some time in the 1960s and is, apparently, a highly respected local figure.

He is also an incestuous child abuser, repeatedly raping his daughter from the age of five until she was 15, ostensibly as part of her punishment for being “disobedient”. At the age of 16 she fled her family to avoid the forced marriage they had planned for her in Pakistan. A much, much greater affront to “honour” in her family’s eyes, however, was the fact that she then became a Christian – an apostate. The Koran is explicit that apostasy is punishable by death; thus it was that her father the imam led a 40-strong gang – in the middle of a British city – to find and kill her.

Hannah Shah says her story is not unique – that there are many other girls in British Muslim families who are oppressed and married off against their will, or who have secretly become Christians but are too afraid to speak out. She wants their voices to be heard and for Britain, the land of her birth, to realise the hidden misery of these women.

[...]

Hannah’s description in the book of the moment when her “community” discovered the “safe” home where she had fled after becoming an apostate is terrifying. A mob with her father at its head pounded and hammered at the door as she cowered upstairs hoping she could not be seen or heard. She heard her father shout through the letter box: “Filthy traitor! Betrayer of your faith! Cursed traitor! We’re going to rip your throat out! We’ll burn you alive!” Does she still believe they would have killed her? “Yes, without a doubt. They had hammers and knives and axes.”

Why didn’t you call the police after-wards? “First, I didn’t think the police would believe me. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen in this country – or that’s what they’d think. Second, I didn’t believe I would get help or protection from the authorities.”

Hannah had good reason for this doubt. When, at school, she had finally summoned the courage to tell a teacher that her father had been beating her (she couldn’t bring herself to reveal the sexual abuse), the social services sent out a social worker from her own community. He chose not to believe Hannah and, in effect, shopped her to her father, who gave her the most brutal beating of her life. When she later confronted the social worker, he said: “It’s not right to betray your community.”

Hannah blames what is sometimes called political correctness for this debacle: “My teachers had thought they were doing the right thing, they thought it showed ‘cultural sensitivity’ by bringing in someone from my own community to ‘help’, but it was the worst thing they could have done to me. This happens a lot.

“When I’ve been working with girls who were trying to get out of an arranged marriage, or want to convert to Christianity, and they have contacted social services as they need to get out of their homes, the reaction has been ‘we’ll send someone from your community to talk to your parents’. I know why they are doing this, they are trying to be understanding, but it’s the last thing that the authorities should do in such situations.”

Melanie Phillips once spoke about this, and how, if there's anything most terrifying about the Islamisation of Britain, it's that of the police: they have recruited tons of officials whose default religion is Islam, and who've practically cooperated with the families of the girls fleeing from abusive families, which has made many women's rights groups in the UK reluctant to turn to the authorities because they can't trust "Asian" officers not to betray them.

This is the sort of cultural sensitivity displayed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, last year when he suggested that problems within the British Muslim community such as financial or marital disputes could be dealt with under sharia, Islamic law, rather than British civil law. What did Hannah, now an Anglican, think on hearing these remarks?

“I was horrified.” If you could speak to him now, what would you say to the archbishop? “I would say: have you actually spoken to any ordinary Muslim women about the situation that they live in, in their communities? By putting in place these Muslim arbitration tribunals, where a woman’s witness is half that of a man, you are silencing women even more.”

She believes the British government is making exactly the same mistake as Rowan Williams: “It says it talks to the Muslim community, but it’s not speaking to the women. I mean, you are always hearing Muslim men speaking out, the representatives of the big federations, but the government is not listening to Muslim women. With the sharia law situation and the Muslim arbitration tribunals, have they thought about what effect these tribunals have on Muslim women? I don’t think so.”

Indeed, now that I think of it, there's very few cases where you hear a Muslim woman speaking unless it's in the favor of the Ummah.

I do know that a lot of those girls saved from this repulsive abuse should leave the UK if they can, and maybe they should go to America if it provides them with better safety. But they should not remain in Britain, where this abuse is bound to continue for years to come.

EU DOES NOT REALLY RECOGNIZE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT

EU reps like Javier Solana are attempting more interference in Israel's internal politics:

The European Union urged Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday to craft a government that embraces the long-standing goal of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.

The prospect of a new hawkish government, with Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman as a possible foreign minister, will be seen in Europe as a setback to the Middle East peace process.

"Let me say very clearly that the way the European Union will relate to an [Israeli] government that is not committed to a two-state solution will be very, very different," said Javier Solana, the EU's foreign and security affairs chief.

US, European and moderate Arab officials have largely remained silent about the possibility of Lieberman becoming Israel's top diplomat. But as Netanyahu is in the final stages of crafting a coalition government based on the Feb. 10 election outcome that prospect could become a reality this week.

Solana and other EU officials met with the foreign ministers of Egypt and the Palestinian authority to discuss the formation of a Palestinian unity government - bringing the rival Hamas and Fatah factions under one roof - and rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's recent offensive.

Solana is one of the most disgusting people in the EU, who led to a lot of the current problems. And any "urging" they do here is merely an attempt to dictate to another country how to run its business.

Here's some more on this over here.

R.I.P. RON

MUST SEE TV: EVAN SAYET AT HERITAGE: ROUND 2

HERE.

2 MURDERED IN DRIVE BY ATTACK NEAR MASSUA

This was near the Jordan Valley where it took place:

Two Israelis were killed after sustaining critical wounds Sunday evening in a shooting attack near the community of Massua in the Jordan Valley.

Rescue teams pronounced the two dead after attempting to administer first aid. Police reports said the two were found shot in the vehicle, and were pronounced dead by a doctor.

According to police reports one or more terrorists fired at the Israelis' vehicle from short range as the two were driving along Route 90 in the Jordan Valley at around 8 pm. As a result the driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.

Security forces are currently investigating whether the fire came from a passing vehicle or from the side of the road.

One of the two victims died from wounds sustained by the vehicle's overturning, according to reports. The other died while paramedics were attempting resuscitation.

The replacing of the current government can't come soon enough - they caused it as much as the Labor government of the past. It's time for Kadima to be on their way.

Update: the two victims were police officers.

WITH SOCIALIST AGENDA PASSED, THE NEGATIVIST PROPAGANDA IS OVER: OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CHANGES TUNE ON ECONOMY

NYFREAKINTIMES/AP:

Obama Aides Change Their Rhetoric on Economy

One of President Barack Obama's economic advisers said Sunday that the economy is fundamentally sound, a striking reversal from the Democrat's campaign rhetoric as his administration now guides the nation's financial health amid dire conditions.

... On Sunday, economic adviser Christina Romer was asked during an appearance on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' if the fundamentals of the economy were sound. ''Of course they are sound,'' she replied.

''The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good technology,'' she said. ''We know that -- that temporarily we're in a mess, right? We've seen huge job loss, we've seen very large falls in GDP. So certainly in the short run we're in a -- in a bad situation.''

Just a week ago, White House Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag declared that ''fundamentally, the economy is weak.''

The seesaw message from the new administration drew sharp criticism from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said Obama's team was exploiting the economic situation for political gain.

• OBAMA DELIBERATELY TRASH-TALKED THE ECONOMY TO PASS HIS SOCIALIST AGENDA.

• NOW, HE'S TALKING THE ECONOMY UP.

• PROVING HE'S NOTHING BUT A LYING, TWO-FACED PIECE OF LEFT-WING CRAP.

WE MUST ELECT A GOP CONGRESS IN 2010 AND REVERSE OBAMA'S SOCIALIST AGENDA AND IMPEACH HIM.

ARABS DEFEND BASHIR, BLAME WESTERN COLONIALISM

ARABS AND MUSLIMS ARE FREAKIN' INSANE!

HAARETZ:

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the International Criminal Court prosecutor general, last week issued an indictment against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. This made him an instant hero for civil rights activists, and the enemy of Arab opponents of "new imperialism."

...The arrest warrant aroused major controversy in Arab countries. They are once again perceived as incapable of preventing Western intervention into their affairs, and once again an Arab leader is in on trial internationally after the Arab League failed to impose its authority - as in the case of Iraq, Lebanon Palestine and Libya as well.

Since 2003, the Sudanese government's behavior was not condemned at a single Arab League summit meeting.

... "Western imperialism left the Islamic countries in the last century after it destroyed them and exploited their wealth through direct conquest, and came back to them via the window of conquest and destruction for its own ends, by means of the legal frameworks it set for itself such as the International Criminal Court, with the excuse of defending human rights and disseminating justice via Western, rather than international, criteria," wrote Saudi publicist Hamad al-Majid in the newspaper Asharq Alawsat.

... Bashir seized power in Sudan in 1989, and runs a dictatorial regime of terror there. He does not plan to report to the International Criminal Court. The Sudanese parliament, which he controls, is planning to rule that Sudan may return by any means, even by force, any Sudanese citizen arrested by a foreign power or by an institution Sudan does not recognize. Washington got the hint: Last week, it ordered the reduction of its diplomatic staff in Khartoum.

DENIAL IS NOT JUST A RIVER IN THE HEART OF MUSLIM WORLD; IT'S A MENTAL DISEASE AT THE VERY HEART AND SOUL OF MUSLIM "CULTURE":

• "GAZA = HOLOCAUST;
• ISRAELIS = NAZIS;
• SADDAM = VICTIM;
• BIN LADEN = HERO;
• ISLAM = RELIGON OF PEACE."

IN-FREAKIN-SANE.

OBAMA'S FUNNY MONEY AIN'T REALLY FUNNY

THIS NOTE ENTITLES YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN,
AND THEIR CHILDREN,
AND THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN
TO PAY OFF OBAMA'S SOCIALIST NIGHTMARE.

WHEELBARROWS ANYONE???????

THOSE WHO HATE THE WEST SHOULD GET THE EFF OUT

VIA GERARD.

AT LEAST 1700 FORCED MARRIAGES IN GREAT BRITAIN IN 2008

THAT'S THE NUMBER OF KNOWN CASES.


PROJECTED NUMBERS ARE MORE THAN TWICE THAT.

• SHEESH.

• WOULD WE ALLOW THAT NUMBER OF SLAVES TO EXIST IN BRITAIN?

• NO, BUT THAT'S ESSENTIALLY WHAT'S HAPPENING.

• WE SHOULD NO MORE ALLOW ISLAMO-MISOGYNY TO CONTINUE THAN SLAVERY.

• THIS IS A MUSLIM PHENOMENON.

• IT'S ANOTHER REASON ISLAM NEEDS TO BE ALTERED OR BANNED IN THE WEST: ISLAM AS IT IS EXPRESSED IN THE KORAN AND HADITHS AND SURA IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE WEST.

• PREVIOUS POST HERE. AND HERE.

OBAMA'S SMALL BUSINESS RESCUE PLAN IS WEAK

OBAMA'S PLAN HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES BORROW MONEY.

• GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT.
• OBAMA'S TAX PLAN TAKES AWAY MORE MONEY FROM SMALL BUSINESSES.
• WHY NOT JUST LET SMALL BUSINESSES KEEP MORE OF THE MONEY THEY EARN!?!?
• HE CAN DO THIS BY MAKING THE CORPORATE TAX RATE PROGRESSIVE.

IT'S SUNDAY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT CHURCH OBAMA IS IN?

HE AIN'T.

ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL FEARMONGERING

[Chris Horner]

Yesterday, the BBC ran an article with the headline “Earth warming faster than thought.”

Yet, as we increasingly see in this context — and as damningly portrayed in Chapter 1 of Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed, as the media's stock-in-trade, using headlines to lie to the folks who will never read the full article — the piece itself offers no evidence of any such thing. It merely reveals claims of impacts that modelers project would result from a large warming — impacts greater than previously asserted by others, as is how things work when it comes to global warming.

... The article said “New data was presented in Copenhagen on sea level rise, which indicated that the best estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made two years ago were woefully out of date.” The use of the word “data” is subtly betrayed in the next sentence as improper; the appropriate term was “projections.” “Scientists heard that waters could rise by over a metre across the world with huge impacts for hundreds of millions of people.” Sea level rise in fact saw its peak in 2005.

Atmospheric temperature has not warmed in 15 years, even though computer models such as those relied upon for such sensational claims were wrong in predicting that they temperatures should have warmed steadily since.

Reporters — and headline writers — need to bear in mind that scientists continuing to one-up each other in unverifiable claims about future catastrophes that will befall us unless a desired agenda is adopted does not on its own merit a news story. Further, these claims do not conflate with empirical temperature observations, which the record is clear are not greater in scope or rate than previously predicted.

It is inconceivable that reporters and editors are this regularly and ritually stupid. They do this on purpose, not merely to sell copy, but to frighten you into accepting an agenda they have adopted — with revolutionary fervor, if very little substance — and hence the ruses and lies.

03/13 04:30 PM

ALEC BALDWIN: HIGH TAXES ARE FOR OTHER PEOPLE AND OTHER INDUSTRIES

ANOTHER LEFTIE HYPOCRITE WEIGHS IN ON TAXES:


BALDWIN WANTS NY STATE TO KEEP TAX BREAKS FOR MOVIE PRODUCTION.

LITVINENKO'S MURDERER TO RUN FOR MAYOR OF CITY HOSTING 2014 RUSSIAN OLYMPICS

BBC:

Lugovoi poised to run for mayor

If Mr Lugovoi wins he would be mayor right up to the 2014 Winter Olympics

Andrei Lugovoi, the prime suspect in the murder of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, is set to run for mayor of the southern Russian city of Sochi.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is backing Mr Lugovoi as its candidate, although it has not yet registered him.

British police want to question Mr Lugovoi, who is already an MP, about Mr Litvinenko's death by radioactive poisoning in London in November 2006.

Moscow has said Russia's constitution bars any extradition.

It has asserted that Mr Lugovoi was framed by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6. [SO DOES AJ STRATA, THE JERK]

But senior British officials told the BBC in July that they believed the murder was carried out with the backing of the Russian state.

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, fell ill shortly after a meeting at a central London hotel with Mr Lugovoi. He was later found to have been poisoned with the radioactive substance, polonium-210.

... The election will be held next month and if Mr Lugovoi wins he would be mayor right up to the opening of the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Mr Lugovoi said he viewed the initiative with curiosity and interest. When asked if he would visit London if he became mayor of Sochi to learn about preparing for the Olympics, he said if necessary he would.

Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, said the election of Mr Lugovoi would be "an affront to all people of good will".

"In that case I would call for a boycott of the games. I would personally go from country to country urging people not to go to an event hosted by a murderer," she said in a statement.

Putin and Lugovoi should be arrested for murder, tried, convicted and executed.

"ILLUSTRIOUS" APPEASERS AND ISRAEL-BASHERS CLEARING THE WAY FOR OBAMA TO TALK TO HAMAS

HAARETZ: Report: U.S. officials urge Obama to engage Hamas

A group of former senior American officials and one current adviser are calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to talk with Hamas in an effort to disarm the group and persuade it to join a peaceful Palestinian government, according to a report published Saturday on the Boston Globe.

According to the Boston Globe, the bipartisan group includes economic recovery adviser Paul A. Volcker and former national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who are said to have made their recommendation in a letter handed to Obama before he took office.

"I see no reason not to talk to Hamas," Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush, told the Boston Globe.

Talking to Hamas would signal a shift in U.S. policy, which has up until now designated Hamas as a terrorist organization and insisted that the group renounce violence, recognize Israel and agree to all previous peace agreements signed by Palestinian negotiators.

The contents of the letter have not been made public, but Scowcroft and Henry Siegman, who brought the officials together, told the Boston Globe that it urged Obama to formulate a clear stance on how peace talks should proceed and state specific gaols to be attained.

"The main gist is that you need to push hard on the Palestinian peace process," Scowcroft told the Boston Globe. "Don't move it to end of your agenda and say you have too much to do. And the U.S. needs to have a position, not just hold their coats while they sit down."

Along with Scowcroft, Volcker, and Brzezinski, signatories included former House International Relations Committee chairman Lee Hamilton; former United Nations ambassador Thomas Pickering; former World Bank president James Wolfensohn; former U.S. trade representative Carla Hills; Theodore Sorensen, former special counsel to President John F. Kennedy; and former Republican senators Chuck Hagel and Nancy Kassebaum Baker.

I THINK OBAMA WILL DO THIS - AND LEAKING THIS LETTER WITH THE NAMES ON IT IS A WAY TO INOCULATE OBAMA FROM THE FALLOUT.

THE MAN WHO BABYSAT FOR HIS TWO GIRLS WAS A MEMBER OF PLO.

IF YOU CAN TRUST AN ANTISEMITIC TERRORIST WITH YOUR LITTLE GIRLS, THEN YO8U CAN CHAT WITH HAMAS - AFTER ALL: YOU HAVE A LOT IN COMMON WITH THEM.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged climbs up charts during recession

Counter-intuitive? No, I don't think so. People see what their governments are doing, and they want no part of it.

This is the beginning of the Great Rearmament of the Western Human.

It's time to depose our bloated, spoiled, childish governments, and start over.

From the Telegraph:

Atlas Shrugged, the literary classic which promotes individual enterprise above all else during tough economic times, has catapulted up the charts since the recession.

By Mark Coleman in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 8:18AM GMT 10 Mar 2009

Russian-born American author and philosopher Ayn Rand Photo: HULTON

Sales of the 1957 philosophy novel, written by the late Ayn Rand, enjoyed a major resurgence over an 18-month period that coincided with pivotal economic moments.

Such is the modern-day fascination, according to The Economist, that the book's sales rank on Amazon climbed more than 500 places in the book charts over a two-year period, eclipsing such rival tomes as Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope.

The report said : "The first jump, in September 2007, followed dramatic interest-rate cuts by central banks, and the Bank of England's bail-out of Northern Rock.

"The October 2007 rise happened two days after the Bush Administration announced an initiative to coax banks to assist subprime borrowers.

"A year later, sales of the book rose after America's Treasury said that it would use a big chunk of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme to buy stakes in nine large banks."

The publication said that Mr Obama's stimulus plan gave the book another sales boost in January.

Ayn Rand, who died in 1982, is credited by many of her supporters with pioneering individual enterprise.

Known for her loathing of big government, she championed selfishness as a positive means of doing business, earning as many critics as she did advocates.

However her book, which sold six million copies, forecast what has been termed "economic Armageddon" - where industrialists and artists would abandon the workplace and go on strike.

HIZBALLAH REAFFIRMS ITS DESIRE TO DESTROY ISRAEL

NASRALLAH MAKES IT VERY CLEAR:

The leader of Lebanon's Islamist Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has said his group will never recognise Israel's right to exist.

He was responding to a US suggestion that both Hezbollah and the Palestinian faction Hamas should recognise Israel before expecting any US engagement.

"We reject the American conditions," he said. "As long as Hezbollah exists, it will never recognise Israel."

Israel and Hezbollah's armed wing fought a bloody conflict in 2006.

Mr Nasrallah made the statement rejecting the US conditions for talks said in a speech marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

'Positive developments'

Hezbollah leads a bloc in Lebanon's parliament that has veto power over major decisions in the unity government.

The coalition was formed last year after a political crisis that brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Last week, the UK said it would establish low-level contacts with the group, citing "positive political developments".

THE FACT THAT THE SOCIALISTS IN POWER IN GREAT BRITAIN ("NEW" LABOUR) ARE SOFTENING THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIZBALLAH - AS THEY HARDEN IT AGAINST GEERT WILDERS AND THOSE FIGHTING ISLAMIZATION - TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LEFT.

IN THE MINDS OF LEFTISTS LIKE BROWN AND MILIBAND, GEERT WILDERS - WHO MERELY QUOTES JIHADISTS SPEWING THEIR HATE-FILLED IDEOLOGY - IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN JIHADISTS LIKE THOSE FROM HIZBALLAH WHO ADVOCATE THE ANNIHILATION OF ISRAELIS AND JEWS.

AS LONG AS LEFTISTS ARE IN POWER, GLOBAL JIHAD HAS AN ALLY WITHIN THE GATES OF CIVILIZATION.

WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DEFEAT THE JIHADISTS UNTIL WE DEFEAT THE LEFTISTS.

A BIT OF SATIRE (VIDEO)

The original four managed to curb themselves better than I would have.

THE DUNDEE DEFENSE

THIS IS A VIDEO WHICH DEPICTS THE SOUNDEST DEFENSE POSTURE:

NOT JUST TALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK - BUT CARRY THE BIGGEST KNIFE!



OBAMA WILL TRY TO MAKE OUR STICKS AND KNIVES SMALLER:



MORE HERE; EXCERPT:

While the administration is certainly funding short-term military needs, it appears willing to sacrifice long-term U.S. military superiority.

THE RESULTS WILL BE DISASTROUS OF HE SUCCEEDS.

THEY ALWAYS ARE.

*******UPDATE:

WHEN CONFRONTED WITH CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS, OBAMA IS FOND OF SAYING, "IF THEY BRING A KNIFE, THEN WE BRING A GUN."

OBAMA LIKES TO FIGHT TOUGH AGAINST US.

BUT OBAMA DOESN'T LIKE TO FIGHT WITH JIHADISTS LIKE AHMADINEJAD OR WITH TYRANTS LIKE PUTIN; HE THINKS THEY DESERVE APPEASEMENT AND ACCOMMODATION.

YOU REALLY GET TO KNOW A MAN BY FINDING OUT WHO HE THINKS HIS REAL ENEMIES ARE.