Hi there, !
Today Fri 02/12/2010 Thu 02/11/2010 Wed 02/10/2010 Tue 02/09/2010 Mon 02/08/2010 Sun 02/07/2010 Sat 02/06/2010 Archives
Rantburg
531686 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 60 articles and 280 comments as of 9:43.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Pak Talibs confirm Hakimullah Mahsud titzup
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
11 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
5 00:00 Frank G [] 
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [] 
6 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 []
9 00:00 lotp []
6 00:00 Rambler in Virginia []
9 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [1]
0 []
1 00:00 JosephMendiola []
3 00:00 Lumpy Elmoluck5091 []
3 00:00 AuburnTom []
0 []
0 []
3 00:00 trailing wife [1]
Page 2: WoT Background
7 00:00 crosspatch []
2 00:00 JosephMendiola []
4 00:00 JosephMendiola []
8 00:00 KBK []
1 00:00 JosephMendiola []
2 00:00 YourExesinTexas9747 []
1 00:00 gromky []
1 00:00 JosephMendiola []
4 00:00 Scotty []
9 00:00 g(r)omgoru []
4 00:00 trailing wife [1]
0 []
1 00:00 Skunky Glins**** []
2 00:00 twobyfour []
9 00:00 JosephMendiola [1]
8 00:00 lotp []
5 00:00 Bobby []
1 00:00 Frank G []
2 00:00 trailing wife []
5 00:00 Mike Hunt []
8 00:00 Frank G []
3 00:00 trailing wife []
4 00:00 gorb []
Page 3: Non-WoT
10 00:00 rjschwarz []
12 00:00 Procopius2k [1]
7 00:00 Snomosing Tojo8475 []
7 00:00 swksvolFF []
7 00:00 trailing wife []
1 00:00 Skidmark [1]
9 00:00 Gliting Fillmore5526 []
2 00:00 JosephMendiola []
1 00:00 JosephMendiola []
1 00:00 Frank G []
0 []
7 00:00 Skidmark []
Page 4: Opinion
6 00:00 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division []
0 []
8 00:00 JosephMendiola []
9 00:00 Beldar Threreling9726 []
10 00:00 11A5S []
3 00:00 Old Patriot []
3 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [1]
4 00:00 trailing wife []
8 00:00 trailing wife []
12 00:00 lotp [1]
Home Front: Politix
NH Poll: Dems Face A Thumpin'
New Hampshire Democrats have been on a roll for years, particularly at the federal level in winning both House seats in 2006, a Senate race in 2008, and going blue for Democrats in the presidential elections of 2004 and 2008. But a new University of New Hampshire Granite State poll shows that the party is in danger of a clean sweep in 2010.

First, the Senate race to replace Judd Gregg (R). Rep. Paul Hodes (D) trails former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R), and he doesn't poll above 40 in any matchup, even with the lesser-known potential opponents he leads.

Ayotte (R) 41 -- Hodes (D) 33 -- Und 25
Hodes (D) 38 -- Lamontagne (R) 29 -- Und 30
Hodes (D) 34 -- Binnnie (R) 30 -- Und 33
Hodes (D) 36 -- Bender (R) 27 -- Und 35

In the first Congressional District, Rep. Carol Shea Porter sees her favorable rating dip to 35 percent while 40 percent now view her unfavorably, a net drop of 11 points from October. Right now four Republicans are likely running to challenge her, and she trails each one.

Guinta (R) 43 -- Shea Porter (D) 33 -- Und 22
Ashooh (R) 36 -- Shea Porter (D) 33 -- Und 28
Bestani (R) 36 -- Shea Porter (D) 33 -- Und 30
Mahoney (R) 39 -- Shea Porter (D) 32 -- Und 28

The second Congressional District sees an open seat race. Former Rep. Charlie Bass (R) is running to reclaim the seat he lost to Hodes in 2006; 2008 nominee Jennifer Horn (R) is also running again. On the Democratic side, attorney Ann McLane Kuster (D) will likely face 2002 nominee Katrine Swett (D). Only Swett holds a lead in potential matchups with both Republicans.

Bass (R) 37 -- Swett (D) 30 -- Und 33
Bass (R) 39 -- Kuster (D) 28 -- Und 33

Swett (D) 30 -- Horn (R) 26 -- Und 43
Horn (R) 28 -- Kuster (D) 25 -- Und 44

These outcomes come in the same survey that showed President Obama's support in the Granite State slipping, particularly among independents. The statewide matchups are based on a sample of 444 likely voters interviewed from January 27 to February 3, with a margin of error of +/- 4.7%. The CD-1 sample was 251 adults (MoE +/- 6.2%) and the CD-2 sample was 249 adults (MoE +/- 6.2%).
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/09/2010 10:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a combination of the natives having enough of the Massholes moving in and skewing the voting demographics and some Massholes seeing the light after the Brown election.
Posted by: xbalanke || 02/09/2010 10:59 Comments || Top||

#2  If they get rid of that sexist Shea Porter, I'll be one happy chick.

Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 02/09/2010 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Nice trend, but the numbers are too low to mean anything. Yet.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/09/2010 12:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Folks, we need to keep our eyes on state and local races where we live, too.

Even for offices that are officially "non-partisan"" at local levels, look these candidates up, find out what political donations they have made. You can get a sense of someone's politics from who they have donated to, even if they won't come out and say.
Posted by: crosspatch || 02/09/2010 12:38 Comments || Top||

#5  flushing the Shea-Porter turd would be a good thing, CB!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2010 20:16 Comments || Top||


Dems fear Pubs might snatch Murtha seat
The Democratic party faces another election test after the death yesterday of John Murtha, a congressman dubbed by his colleagues the "king of pork".

Murtha, aged 77, had been in the House of Representatives since being elected to his Pennsylvania district in 1974.

The fear in the party is that Republicans will notch up another victory when a special election is held, probably May.

The Democrats have been panicking since losing Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat to the Republicans last month.

Murtha's nickname referred to so-called pork barrel politics -- bringing government spending to bear in a representative's own district.

His death came on a day that saw Barack Obama's poll ratings fall further. A Marist poll found that only 44% of voters surveyed approved of his job performance, down 2% on December. More alarming for Democratic strategists, 57% of independents disapprove of his performance.

Murtha's death will have a negligible impact on the arithmetic of the House, where the Democrats have an overwhelming majority, unlike in the Senate. But another defeat in the spring would add to the sense of panic among Democrats in the run-up to the Congressional mid-term elections in November.

Murtha's office said he had died in hospital after complications following gallbladder surgery. He had been in hospital for several months.

His election in 1974 marked him out as the first of those to have served in Vietnam to make it into Congress.
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2010 09:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What are the voter demographics in Murtha's district?
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2010 12:28 Comments || Top||

#2  "Dems fear"

Has a nice ring to it.

Posted by: crosspatch || 02/09/2010 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  What are the voter demographics in Murtha's district?

Old school dem, and it shows when you drive through the shuttered, rusted out moonscape. The dems will have to sell the idea that they can turn their candidate into a freshman congressman who is also a senior appropriater. Some trick. In truth, all that pork that murtha brought in is not visible to the naked eye in his district, as it is all in his friends' pockets.

Don't expect these people, good tho most of them might be, to quit voting for the dem politics that ran their region straight into the ground.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/09/2010 15:46 Comments || Top||

#4  May he write in eternal agony in hell.

And same goes for the voters in his district that kept putting goons like him in office if the continue to do so.
Posted by: Beldar Threreling9726 || 02/09/2010 17:29 Comments || Top||

#5  They kept voting for him because he kept bringing in money.

Now that that gig is up, I think it will be interesting to see who wins. Most likely the guy that promises to bring home the most bacon.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/09/2010 19:29 Comments || Top||

#6  ION TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > IS OBAMA SETTING UP A HEALTHCARE TRAP FOR THE GOP?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/09/2010 21:13 Comments || Top||


U of Illinois President "shocked" to find trustees admitted politically connected students
Two University of Illinois trustees have resigned and a commission appointed by Gov. Patrick Quinn is expected Thursday to recommend that the remaining seven step down following charges that trustees eased admissions for hundreds of politically connected students.

Following a six-week inquiry, the Illinois Admissions Review Commission found that trustees created separate admissions criteria for applicants sponsored by elected officials, trustees and donors. "It became a formal, underground, parallel admissions process that had a structure of its own," review commission member Zaldwaynaka Scott said at a meeting last week. "It was a completely independent system that operated without regard to academic records, academic potential."

Board of trustees Chairman Niranjan Shah resigned on Monday and trustee Lawrence Eppley resigned last week.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: gromky || 02/09/2010 05:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As a UofI alum, I am saddened but far from surprised. This story has been brewing for quite awhile. That an administrator that came from U of MI could play the "I'm shocked" card, however, is rich.

Ed Martin and the UAW (among others) say "Hello".

PS: Can I see the Santa Claus picture? I got the fluffy bunnies.
Posted by: WacoINMN || 02/09/2010 10:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm surprised there's not some lawsuits. It would seem that the university and those who sponsored the special students would all have some liability to any more qualified students that were rejected.
Posted by: DoDo || 02/09/2010 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Check the date

It is an August 6, 2009 story.
U of I corruption has been streamlined since then. Makes you wonder, if they were essentially selling admissions were they selling grades too?
Posted by: Waldemar Gleamp1150 || 02/09/2010 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  created separate admissions criteria

But, but, but how can this be???
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2010 11:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm SHOCKED I tell you zzzzzzzzzzzz.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/09/2010 12:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Captain Louis Renault is the president of the U. of Ill.?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/09/2010 21:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
White House: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'*
In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."
Quite right, too. But honest criticism and statements of well-founded concerns serve the goals of protecting the Republic. How, oh how, to differentiate between the two?
I recall a day, not so long ago, when dissent was the highest form of patriotism.
Brennan writes that, "Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."
But if you're on the same airplane as one you should have a healthy respect for the fact that they really, really want you dead.
In the op-ed, titled "'We need no lectures': Administration disrupts terrorists' plots, takes fight to them abroad," Brennan writes that politics "should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe."
As opposed to how we fought terrorists in 2003, 2005 and 2007 ...
The administration op-ed is in response to a USA Today editorial entitled "National security team fails to inspire confidence; Officials' handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour."

Brennan provides a detailed defense of the administration's handling of failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whom, he says, was "thoroughly interrogated and provided important information."
For about an hour. Then he was read his rights and got a mouthpiece.
He suggests that many critics are hypocritical and clueless.
Those are the Dhimmicrats, pal. The very large majority of Republicans and Tea Party advocates have refrained from the tit-for-tat, back and forth nonsense. We didn't politicize anti-terrorist policies this last decade. You did.
The most important breakthrough in the interrogation occurred "after Abdulmutallab was read his rights, which the FBI made standard policy under Michael Mukasey, President Bush's attorney general," he writes, noting that failed shoe bomber Richard Reid "was read his Miranda rights five minutes after being taken off a plane he tried to blow up. The same people who criticize the president today were silent back then."
Back then we were still trying to figure out how to do this stuff. Bush figured it out, which is why Gitmo was full.
Brennan said anyone who wants to change the policy would be casting aside lessons learned "in waging this war" on extremists.
Who fought that war for seven plus years? Are you incorporating the lessons of the Bush administration into your effort? George that it was okay to listen to international telephone conversations to find out to whom terrorists were talking. George thought that it was okay to intercept the e-mail of terrorists. Are you doing that? Tell us what 'lessons' from the Bush administration you've kept in your playbook.
"Terrorists such as Jose Padilla and Saleh al-Mari did not cooperate when transferred to military custody, which can harden one's determination to resist cooperation," he writes.
While they might not have talked, they also weren't making fools of our justice system, and they weren't threatening anyone.
He calls it "naive to think that transferring Abdulmutallab to military custody would have caused an outpouring of information. There is little difference between military and civilian custody, other than an interrogator with a uniform. The suspect gets access to a lawyer, and interrogation rules are nearly identical."
Well not exactly, as even the Army Field Manual isn't quite like a civilian interrogation. But a CIA interrogator would have had even more leeway.
Moreover, Brennan says, hundreds of terrorists have been convicted in criminal courts while only three have been convicted in the military tribunal system.
So first the liberals do everything possible to gum up the military tribunal system with multiple, multiple delays and lawsuits, and then they point out that no one was convicted in them.
The former CIA official also asserts that the Obama administration is doing a better job than the Bush administration did in taking the fight to al Qaeda. "This administration's efforts have disrupted dozens of terrorist plots against the homeland and been responsible for killing and capturing hundreds of hard-core terrorists, including senior leaders in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond -- far more than in 2008."
Apparently all the al-Qaeda deaders in Iraq from 2004 to 2008 weren't counted ...
"We need no lectures about the fact that this nation is at war," he says.
Perhaps an application of the clue bat then ...
USA Today's editorial writers see it all a bit differently, of course, writing that though "the Obama administration's national security officials have struggled to assure the public that they know exactly what they're doing," they are so far "achieving the opposite, and they're needlessly adding some jitters in the process."

The editorial writers fault the Obama administration for announcing "last week that an attack by al-Qaeda is likely in the next three to six months. The warning is bound to frighten the public, with no obvious benefit beyond the ability to say 'I told you so.'"
There's a fine line to walk on keeping this news quiet versus warning the public. If we had more confidence in the administration we could perhaps trust their judgement. But we don't, so we can't ...
They also refer to National Intelligence Director Admiral Dennis Blair (ret.) as having "had a 'Duh!' moment" for acknowledging that "authorities fumbled the initial questioning of Abdulmutallab by failing to call in the high-value interrogation group, which was created to question terrorism suspects. Refreshingly candid, yes, but not a statement that inspires confidence. Especially when the same day, at another Senate hearing, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that the high-value unit was still in its 'formation stages' and that 'there was no time' to get it to Detroit."

USA Today's editorial writers say that when senior administration officials revealed Abdulmutallab's cooperation with authorities, "the news pretty much negate(d) earlier claims that no intelligence was lost when Abdulmutallab was prematurely read his rights."
This article starring:
Jose Padilla
Saleh al-Mari
Umar Farouk Abdulmutalla
Posted by: Fred || 02/09/2010 12:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  USA Today's editorial writers say that when senior administration officials revealed Abdulmutallab's cooperation with authorities, "the news pretty much negate(d) earlier claims that no intelligence was lost when Abdulmutallab was prematurely read his rights."

The statement "cooperating with authorities" could mean he willingly pulled on his new orange jailhouse ensemble. Must we drag the heads of the intelligence community before the congress once again, to discover the extent of his alleged cooperation?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2010 12:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they mean Governor Patterson or Mayor BLoomberg?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/09/2010 12:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Baby Bolsheviks' vocabulary.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/09/2010 12:51 Comments || Top||

#4  They told me that if I voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin, we'd end up with a paranoid in the White House. I voted for them anyway.

Look what happened!
Posted by: Mike || 02/09/2010 13:09 Comments || Top||

#5  That was also true when they were calling Gerge W Bush BushHaliburtonnHitler, when they told it was a war for oil, that 19-11 was an inside job, when they were telling that Islamists were nice guys stirred by eeeeeevil USA. I also had the impression that a such Obalma was one of thse critics, had plenty of them between his friends and sat while a Reverend Wright was telling America had it coming.
Posted by: JFM || 02/09/2010 14:13 Comments || Top||

#6  "I'm sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration. "

--Hilary Clinton

I think BigO is correct, but the democrat party lost the right to that argument long ago.
Posted by: flash91 || 02/09/2010 14:25 Comments || Top||

#7  That was also true when they were calling Gerge W Bush BushHaliburtonnHitler, when they told it was a war for oil, that 19-11 was an inside job, when they were telling that Islamists were nice guys stirred by eeeeeevil USA. I also had the impression that a such Obalma was one of thse critics, had plenty of them between his friends and sat while a Reverend Wright was telling America had it coming.

IMHO, it was true then, but not true now.

I believe the entire comparison is off-base.

FWIW, most of BO's conservative critics are calling him a baby-killing war criminal for wanting to do anything in Afghanistan to begin with; most of the discussion is about tactics to begin with.

That's very muted compared to the comparisons he drew himself over the past decade.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/09/2010 15:55 Comments || Top||

#8  FWIW, most of BO's conservative critics are calling him a baby-killing war criminal for wanting to do anything in Afghanistan to begin with; most of the discussion is about tactics to begin with.


And I meant to say "aren't" above, not "are." It's hard to focus when you're stuck on the computer with ye olde pop-up virus.
Posted by: Thing From SNowy Mountain || 02/09/2010 15:56 Comments || Top||

#9  I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
I will not question my liberal puppet masters.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/09/2010 19:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Brennan is lashing back because he knows he and the rest of the O-Admin F*cked up on this and past incidents. They are amateurs, more competent at throwing stones than doing the heavy lifting and taking heat from their nutty base. He should apologize, then resign for mischaracterizing the info to Rep leaders on Abdulmutallab's capture. He's a liar
Posted by: Frank G || 02/09/2010 20:50 Comments || Top||

#11  "He should apologize, then resign for mischaracterizing the info to Rep leaders on Abdulmutallab's capture."

That would require character, Frank, and he ain't got any.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/09/2010 21:06 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
45[untagged]
5Govt of Iran
2TTP
2al-Qaeda
2Taliban
1Hamas
1Jundullah
1Fatah
1Govt of Sudan

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2010-02-09
  Pak Talibs confirm Hakimullah Mahsud titzup
Mon 2010-02-08
  Afghan locals flee ahead of Helmand offensive
Sun 2010-02-07
  Jamaat-ud-Dawaa vows to take Hyderabad by force
Sat 2010-02-06
  Jamaat-ud-Dawaa vows to take Kashmir by force
Fri 2010-02-05
   Danish forces free ship captured by pirates
Thu 2010-02-04
  US To Send 18,000 More Troops to Afghanistan By Spring
Wed 2010-02-03
  Aafia Siddiqui Guilty
Tue 2010-02-02
  Philippines offers MILF autonomy
Mon 2010-02-01
  Abaya Clad Boomerette Murders 40+ in Baghdad
Sun 2010-01-31
  Houthis accept conditional end to Yemen war
Sat 2010-01-30
  Malaysia jugs 10 associated with Undieboomer
Fri 2010-01-29
  Dronezap kills at least five
Thu 2010-01-28
  Saudis declare victory over Houthis
Wed 2010-01-27
  Yemen rebels complete pull out from Saudi land
Tue 2010-01-26
  NJ authorities seize grenade launcher, weapons from VA man at hotel

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
3.239.149.56
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (11)    WoT Background (23)    Non-WoT (12)    Opinion (10)    (0)