baldilocks

More About the Latest Stooge of the Islamists

So what will al Qaeda's newest explosive fetish mean to the air-traveling public?

The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell ABC News. Investigators say the suspect, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian student whose birthday was last Tuesday, has provided detailed information about his recruitment and training for what was supposed to be a Christmas Day suicide attack.

Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. (…)

Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.

(...)

Abdulmutallab suffered second-degree burns in his genital area, investigators told ABC News.

Oh, so many punch lines available, only…this is serious business.

Authorities say the suspected bomber was traveling on a visa issued by the State Department on June 16, 2008 and valid until June 12, 2010. Officials tell ABC News he was on a U.S. "terror watch list" but not on the "no fly" list, which would have prevented him from boarding the flight.

Okay I'm trying to wrap my mind around the "logic" of being on the "Terror Watch List" while not being on the No Fly" list.  And get this: the guy’s father warned US authorities about him six months ago!

One report said the father could not understand why his son was allowed to board a flight to the U.S. given his warning.

::::facepalm:::

It appears that the only thing which saved this plane was God’s Providence in the form of some intrepid passengers and, as mentioned before, the idiocy of the particular jihadi. And, again, Yemen was in the picture. Is that the new hot-bed of terrorists?

Notably, this was the 28th terror plot known to be foiled since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

(Thanks to Ed Morrissey, who has a really....frightening video up.)

Another Attempted Take-Down

Flight 63 (shoe-bomber) all over again:

A Nigerian man, claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda, allegedly tried to set off an incendiary device aboard a transatlantic airplane Friday as it descended toward Detroit's airport in what the White House called an attempted act of terrorism.

The man was quickly subdued after another passenger leapt on top of him, others on the plane said, and Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam landed safely around 1 p.m. Friday. The suspect was being treated at a hospital for burns he suffered while igniting the device, the Transportation Security Administration said.

(...)

The suspect is Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, a federal official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. ABC News and NBC News reported that Abdulmutallab, 23, attends University College London, where he studies engineering.

Although not on the TSA's "no-fly" list, Abdulmutallab's name appears to be included in the government's records of terrorism suspects, according to a preliminary review, authorities said.

Abdulmutallab has told federal investigators that he had ties to al-Qaeda and traveled to Yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it, according to a federal counterterrorism official briefed on the case. Authorities have yet to verify the claim, and they expect to conduct several more interviews before they determine whether he is credible, the official said.

You know? These foiled, inept jihadis seem to be almost commonplace.  It's as if one has to be a raging idiot to want to blow self up while taking a bunch of other people along to the next world. (Nah, that couldn't be!)

Seriously, it only takes one non-inept idiot to carry through what this person wanted (see Fort Hood).  And in my increasingly conspiracy-laced imagination, I wonder whether our terrorist foes are sending out the pinheads in their number to make mischief and possibly get lucky while the bigger fish wait and plot and plan bigger things.  That's the way big-time terrorists roll...and doctrinaire Leftists, now that I think about it.

(Some would say that putting such thoughts out there amounts to fear-mongering.  Well no one can monger fear in other people, not really.  Being afraid is an individual choice.)

Now, excuse me while I get some caffeine in my consciousness.

Merry Christmas

I know that a lot of people are feeling uncertain and afraid right now.  But if you believe in the Salvation offered by the 100% human and 100% God whose entry into this world is traditionally celebrated today, you consequently believe in the following:

1. Miracles.
2. That all things work together for the good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes.
3. That everything will turn out alright in the end.
4. Miracles (yes, again).

So get up and keep moving--minus the spirit of fear.  And, yes, I'm typing this for myself as much as for you.

Love,

J.

INTERPOL May Operate Freely in the US (UPDATED)

So how many "Christ"mas gifts that keep on giving do our Executive and Legislative branches of government have laid up for us?

By removing language from President Reagan's 1983 Executive Order 12425, [INTERPOL] now operates - now operates - on American soil beyond the reach of our own top law enforcement arm, the FBI, and is immune from Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests. 

The order:

For Immediate Release December 17, 2009
Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425

EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL
AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2©, Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMATHE WHITE HOUSE,

December 16, 2009.

What it means: INTERPOL assets are above the US Constitution while operating in the United States.  So if the agency arrests an American citizen while operating on US soil, it can hand such person over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A foundation is been laid for sure.  For this...

[T]he next move from President Obama is likely an attempt to dissolve the agreements made between President Bush and other states preventing them from turning over American military forces to the ICC (via INTERPOL) for war crimes or any other prosecutions.

...and more.

By the way, did you know that INTERPOL's central operations office in the US is located in and among the Department of Justice offices?

There is only one force stronger than those who would curtail our liberty--and it isn't an earthly force.

(Thanks to The Quarreyman)

UPDATE:  Ed Morrissey points out that

Americans who get arrested on the basis of Interpol work cannot get the type of documentation one normally would get in the discovery process, which is a remarkable reversal from Obama’s declared efforts to gain “due process” for terrorists detained at Gitmo.  Does the White House intend to treat Americans worse than the terrorists we’ve captured during wartime?

Yes, that is exactly what this administration intends.

Strange Fruit

Here are the ornaments on this year's White House "Christ"mas tree:

First there's a picture of Mao Claus,

then one of Tranny Claus (Hedda Lettuce),

and of course the White House "Christ"mas tree wouldn't be complete without a photo of Obama Claus on Mount Rushmore.

So how far do you think they are going to go with this sort of crap?

(Thanks to Big Government)

UPDATE: Mo betta title courtesy of guest of Ace's.

Criminals Also Losing Their Jobs Because of Obama

And while I'm Bitterly Clinging to my Religion, I might as well complete the stereotype--well, as much as is possible, at any rate.

Preliminary statistics released by the FBI for the first half of 2009 show that violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006. The figures show crime falling in all categories--robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle thefts, etc.--with murders down a remarkable 10 percent from the previous year.

This occured "oddly enough," at the same while people have been stocking up on guns and ammunition for fear that the Obama Administration might crack down on gun ownership nationally. 

More guns, less crime.  Hmmmm.

So does this mean that violent felons are smarter than gun-ban activists?

(Thanks to Cassy Fiano)

Clearing Up a Misconception

Christianity is not about changing yourself to make God happy. It’s about allowing God to change you. It’s 90% him and 10% you.

--Steve Graham, A New Creation...

He who has an eye, let him read.

Impossible?

Do the members of the US House and Senate know something that their constituents don't?

Of course.

One of the prime motivations of politicians is self-preservation in office.

They do not normally go out of their way to take a stand on anything for fear of angering blocs of voters. They will straddle any issue, talk out of four sides of their mouths [double talk on both sides], and watch polling religiously twisting in the breeze of public opinion. (...)

Fear of repercussions at the polls over-rides all. While they may have contempt for us (...), they do their best to conceal it behind a smile and fake concern.

Politicians acting out of character indicates a change in the rules, whether we know it or not.

The Legislative Branch of the United States government seems Hell-bent on imposing Socialized Medicine on the American public whether the majority of the latter want it or not and, more importantly, whether Socialized Medicine and all of its attendant details are constitutional and/or moral or not. 'Why' isn't such an important question.  This is: what makes them think that they can get away with it without paying a steep political price?

Politicians in a group when they act consistently and anomalously against what would seem to be their own interests, are usually operating on information not available to anyone else. One also has to add to the mix the question why the Republicans as a party are only offering token opposition to the Democrats, when standing up would rally support to them? What do they know?

When you rule out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, has to be considered. The only thing that remains, that I can see, is that no matter what they do, they no longer have any fear of facing the voters in an honest election.

Read this whole thing.  The short of it, however, is this: our republic may be taking its last gasps.

It isn't as if we weren't warned.

Always on the Late Freight (UPDATED)

I have this annoying habit--well, at least I'm annoyed by it--of starting what I think is some great commentary, and then getting side-tracked.  So by the time I get back around to the commentary, it's out-dated and I don't post it.  And sometimes, as we know, it only takes a few hours for some commentary to become outdated.  Readers have noted that when I comment on a topic, I often attack it sideways. Well of course I do to say because I'm certainly not going to be the first to comment.  That's too much like work. (And then there's that issue of naturally being a little bit different.)

So I figured what the heck?  I'm going to post some of it anyway with a nice little preamble and a blurb related to how the situation turned out.

******

The following is what I wrote on December 5 after Michaele at Tareq Salahi managed to bogart their way into the White HouseState Dinner which took place the day before Thanksgiving Day.

This administration likes all the trappings of wealth and power: the SUV limos, the ability to clear a city for blocks, the private jet, the  ability to travel  at will and at where, the designers hankering to be employed , the magazine covers.

I’ve known people like this all my life.  Such persons will bash those richer than they but if these bashers get blessed (or become crooked) they will not be shy about throwing the evidence of their wealth in your face.  It’s a mini-drama played out in traffic all the time here in Southern California and, undoubtedly, all over.  My great-aunt calls it ‘floor-showing.’   Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary,  is just the latest to display a failing that is rife in the administration: she wants to enjoy the trappings related to one of the most exalted positions  in the world and, therefore, be seen as existing in that exalted status without properly bearing the responsibilities of the job she was hired to do. 

Money is a tool and nothing more.  It can indicate compartmentalized intelligence, but it is no general indicator of IQ.  Know any drug dealers or US Senators?  I rest my case.  Amounts of money do not point God’s blessing; however, properly allocated money does and God blesses whom he sees fit.

Earthly status, however, is much harder to attain.  The Obamas and their cronies seem to think that high status is conferred by position and the trappings of that position only; by being lucky; by being seen at the right place at the right party wearing the right thing.  By being able to buzz the Statue of Liberty in your "personal" jet. By being able to jet off to Europe at will.  They seem to think that no one has ever gained status by gaining knowledge and applying that knowledge or by being humble enough to realize that sometimes becoming fully competent at a job behind the scenes is its own reward and inherently has its own status.

So instead of the White House Social Secretary personally working with the Secret Service to  make sure that any glitches in the security of the State Dinner for the Indian premier, she is at the party rubbing elbows with the guests.  She there to be seen.

And while she’s being seen, guests without invitations get in and shake hands with the president.  But the actions of Ms. Rogers are merely symptomatic of the mindset of this president and this presidency.  A person who didn't get to the place he is by actual merit--who probably doesn't even believe in the value of merit--is not going to care about competency.  And so the incompetence in areas large and small will keep on revealing themselves.

100 years--assuming we're still here.  Feel free to ask me what I'm talking about.

AFTERMATH: Rogers appears to have learned her lesson.

As guests proceeded inside the southeast gate to the White House, they were asked to show photo identification at two separate checkpoints. Along the way, several employees from the social secretary’s office and other areas of the administration were on hand, in case any stray guests turned up.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes greeted visitors when they approached the East Colonnade, where Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary, stood and welcomed guests. An identification badge hung around her neck, like the rest of the White House staff, as she extended her hand to guests.

“Welcome to the White House – on behalf of the Obamas,” Ms. Rogers said with a smile.

UPDATE:  Forgot about this.

Two weeks before the Salahis' infamous appearance at the state dinner, a Georgia couple accidentally showed up a day early for a White House tour -- and instead were escorted into an invitation-only breakfast with President Obama and the first lady, the Associated Press reports.

Georgia retirees Harvey and Paula Darden had already been background checked by the appropriate agencies. Dangerous? The persons, no. The mindset which produces glitches in security and various other areas in this administration? Most certainly dangerous.

One thing and I've said this elsewhere: I wonder if these glitches in presidential security are intentional and the Secret Service is being discredited.

I didn't used to be a Conspiracy Theorist.

(Thanks to Ed B.)

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Note (UPDATED)

Today is a busy day but I'll be posting more later on the fear of being labeled RWW (racist while white).  Meanwhile, go read Robert Stacy McCain's take on Gone with the Wind (haha, that guy is fearless). Stacy and I talked on the phone yesterday about the fear and its origin.

I'm not taking this subject lightly; as a matter of fact I am galled by it. It is insidious.

UPDATE:  I should have known that my political father, Shelby Steele, had gotten down to the root of the matter of what created this environment.

Just a cursory glance over the reviews reveals a gold mine.

Question for My Caucasian White Readers (Pedants!)

Why are some of you so afraid of being called (called=labeled in this sense) 'racist' when you know that you aren't?

And careful, Dan Collins.  You laugh but some Leftist is going to write a "real" proposal, submit some bogus studies and voilà!  Your kid is graduating with a B.S.--and I do mean B.S.--degree in Cablinasian Studies--and you paid for it. 

Oh, the humanity.

(via RSM)

UPDATE: I knew that there was fear out there, but I didn't comprehend the breadth of it. 

Fear breeds resentment and resentment breeds no good things. 

I have to think about this topic some more.

UPDATE (December 18, 2009, 8:44 PM PST): I just now discovered that this post got linked by Glenn Reynolds.  I'll have to feature parts of the comments in a later post.

Message for Peter Barban

Grow up.

Wise up.

If you can't take the rough and tumble heat of disagreeing and commenting on blogs, find something else to do.  Get in that Word since you're a pastor.

You seem to think that everyone is supposed to treat you with kid gloves.  Sorry, Reverend, it doesn't work that way out here.  If you think my less-than-cotton candy treatment of your ignorance was "insulting" perhaps you should join a monastery.

This real world is not forgiving of ignorance--and in the subject at hand, a person's reputation is on the line, that of Robert Stacy McCain.  Such things are more important than the imaginary insults I've offered you.

Now you can you can keep whining about how I've hurt your poor little feelings (<-----insults) or you can...

Man up. Your choice.

God bless you.  Really.

Since People Seem to Care About Interracial Relationships So Much (UPDATED)

UPDATE:  Come on, now.  Courtesy of the bountiful Glenn Reynolds, I've received 11,000 hits (so far) from the previous post.  But only a few have come over to this post and none have bought Tale of the Tigers.  Of course I understand: you're taking a chance since the marketing of the novel is only in its infancy.  But you're only taking a chance with $19.99! Nice, affordable entertainment.

Okay, here's a link to the site excerpt.  Tell me what you think and...take a chance! I predict that you won't be disappointed.

ORIGINAL POST: You know, I actually wrote a novel which features interracial relationships between blacks and whites as its main theme.  And guess what? No side goes away untarnished!  So I'm taking advantage of your obsession (even though I started writing the book last century).  Sue me.

(Click the Image)

I get my sample copy today.  The first hundred sold will be autographed. I've pre-sold only thirty but I have a couple of reviews due in the next week or so, so I'm positive that the numbers will rise. 

Hang on, those of you who already bought my opus! Your patience will soon be rewarded.

Why Black Americans Think That the Federal Government is Our Friend

While hanging out yesterday at Ace's yesterday as he was flogging racists, I happened to mention that many if not most black Americans view the federal government as beneficial and friendly.  Some other commenters were surprised and I was surprised at their surprise, because it isn't difficult to figure out why this is.  Whether it's the Emancipation or the desegregation of the Armed Forces or Brown v. Board or the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, the federal government for the most part had seemed to be on the side of the black American as his constitutional rights were being oppressed by state or local governments.

What needs to be spelled, however is what the federal government did in the above-mentioned areas: it legally removed obstacles to the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of Americans who are black.  And that is what it was supposed to do.

The present problem in my unlearned opinion is this: the federal government began overstepping its bounds during the Great Depression and did so most infamously in the late sixties via the Great Society programs.  Doing more that getting local racists out of the way, the federal government sought to and succeeded in making itself the suppliers of life, liberty and, putatively, the happiness of many black Americans.  (Try telling a senior of any race that Social Security is sending the country to financial ruin. You'll get an earful about her "rights".) 

And even many black Americans who do not rely on the federal government still view the fed as our friend because of that history.

What's needed in order to change this perception is obvious: education--not a new education but the old one, one which contains an objective explanation of the role of government.

Simply put, the role of the American government is to remove obstacles to liberty of the People--even when that obstacle is American government itself.  Supplying all of one's needs is not government's role.  That's God's purview.

We all remember President Obama's statement containing the assertion that one of the flaws of the US Constitution was that is only contained a  list of "negative rights," meaning negative government "rights."  The idea that a Harvard-trained lawyer thinks that the government has rights or that there was no list of positive responsibilities assigned to government was mockable.  (Hey, you voted for him.)

But what the statement betrayed was a widespread misconception present in those of us who aren't lawyers of any variety of a friendly fed whose role is to insert itself between God and man's liberty and to redistribute wealth (aka stealing).  The notion that the founders "forgot" to address this is hilarious.

So when the Democrats came to full power this year, they began to build on the foundation that Democrat Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson laid.  The good news?  Between Socialized Medicine, Cap and Trade, TARP, etc., the federal government's active role in overstepping its bounds--in crippling America--is opening the eyes of Americans of all races.  The bad news: there may not be an America left when the federal locusts finish.

UPDATE: Hi, Glenn's readers!