MFS – The Other News

Morning Posting.

  • Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan 4.6 !More info here.

 

  • Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to: Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog.Here.

 

  • Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

 

  • No clergy at Ground Zero Sunday? Yes, DrTerryDJones will be there and PRAY.PRESS RELEASE UPDATE: DR. TERRY JONES in New York City, Sept 10, 11.(StandupAmerica).Dr Terry Jones and Pastor Wayne Sapp will appear in Times Square, at the Red Steps at 47th Street and Broadway Saturday, September 10th at 4pm and at Ground Zero, Sunday, September 11th at 11am,  at Dey Street near Church Street by the Century 21 Building,(Point A on Maps) to respond to Mayor Bloomberg’s exclusion from the official ceremony of First Responders, the real heroes of the 9/11 tragedy, and the clergy. This is an un-American outrage, and we invite First Responders and clergy to stand with us. WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!We will be joined by the 911 Ground Zero Truck, owned by Mark Anthony Niemczyk.Read and see the full story here.

 

  • Stocks edge lower after unemployment claims spike.(Breitbart).NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks edged lower in early trading Thursday after the government reported that claims for unemployment rose last week, a sign that layoffs are increasing. First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose last week to 414,000. Economists had expected a slight fall to 405,000. The prior week’s estimate of new claims was also revised higher. Thirty minutes after the market opened, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 42 points, or 0.41 percent, to 11,373. The Dow jumped 275 points Wednesday after a German court cleared the way for that country’s participation in the bailout of Greece and other European countries. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index was down 8, or 0.7 percent, to 1,190. The Nasdaq composite fell 12, or 0.5 percent, to 2,536. The Nasdaq had been up in the first few minutes of trading. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits are a closely-watched figure on Wall Street. Rising claims can add to concerns that the job market is stalled and the U.S. economy is headed for another recession. Applications need to fall below 375,000 to indicate sustainable job growth. Last week the government reported there was zero job growth in the U.S. economy in August. Not all of the economic news Thursday was negative. American exports of cars, airplanes and other goods reached an all-time high in July, the Commerce Department reported. Economists said the jump in exports suggest future growth in the U.S. economy. Investors are waiting for two-closely watched speeches Thursday. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give a speech in the afternoon detailing his outlook for the U.S. economy. President Barack Obama will appear before Congress tonight and lay out his jobs plan. Hmmmm…….Read the full story here.

 

  • Israeli Airliners to Get Missile Protection Systems.(TIP).Concerns that terrorists may be planning to attack passenger airplanes are prompting Israeli officials to expedite a plan to arm their airplanes with a system to divert missile fire.It’s an idea first debated after an attempted 2002 attack in which missiles were fired at a chartered Israeli airplane flying from Kenya. It has been held up, though, by budget issues.The system is similar to that already used on fighter planes, releasing flares to divert any missiles fired at a plane. It reportedly has been installed on some El Al aircraft already.There has been a spike in attempted terrorist attacks against Israel in recent months, and officials believe there may be plans to use shoulder-fired rockets to target commercial aviation.CNN reports that a cache of Grinch SA-24 shoulder-launched missiles have gone missing in Libya. “They can shoot down a plane flying as high as 11,000 feet and can travel 19,000 feet straight out,” the report said.While other weapons smuggled out of Libya are believed to be heading to al-Qaida operatives, Israeli officials last week indicated some Libyan arms have been smuggled into Gaza.Read the full story here.

 

  • Union Violence: Longshoremen Storm Port, Damage Railroad.(BigGovernment).Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.No one was hurt, and nobody has been arrested. Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union believes it has the right to work at the facility, but the company has hired a contractor that’s staffing a workforce of other union laborers.Thursday’s violence was first reported by Kelso radio station KLOG.Police from several agencies in southwest Washington, the Washington State Patrol and Burlington Northern Santa Fe responded to the violence to secure the scene that followed a demonstration Wednesday.“We’re not surprised,” Duscha said. “A lot of the protesters were telling us this in only the start.”One sergeant was threatened with baseball bats and retreated, Duscha said. “One officer with hundreds of Longshoremen? He used the better part of discretion.”This is why we take notice when union leaders, like Jimmy the Lesser, say they have an “army” and are going to “take people out.”Read the full story here.

 

  • Republicans Remind Obama: Democrats Are Blocking House-Passed Jobs Bills.(CNSNews).Republican leaders are reminding President Obama that the House of Representatives has passed more than a dozen “pro-growth” measures to spur job creation, but with one exception, Senate Democrats have refused to consider any of those bills.In a letter to the president on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) listed all the House-passed “jobs” bills that are now languishing in the Senate. They include a bill to reduce the regulatory burdens on farmers and small business owners; a bill to block a “job-destroying national energy tax,” and a bill to boost offshore energy production. Boehner and Cantor also outlined “potential opportunities for Congress and the White House to work together” on job-creation.An infrastructure initiative is one of those areas: “We are not opposed to initiatives to repair and improve infrastructure,” the Republican leaders said, but instead of new spending, they’re calling for spending “reforms,” as follows:

“Current law requires that states set-aside 10 percent of their surface transportation funds for transportation enhancements, which must be used for items such as establishment of transportation museums, education activities for pedestrians and bicyclists, acquisition of scenic easements, historic preservation, operation of historic transportation facilities, etc.,” Boehner and Cantor noted.”While many of the initiatives funded by this mandatory set-aside may be worthy projects, eliminating this required set-aside would allow states to devote more money to the types of infrastructure programs you are advocating without adding to the deficit. We believe such a reform would be consistent with your statement last week that we should ‘reform the way transportation money is invested, to eliminate waste, to give states more control over the projects that are right for them.'”

Other areas of possible cooperation, according to Republican leaders, include a proposal to speed up the permitting process for construction projects; reforms to the unemployment system; and completing free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.”These reforms alone are not a substitute for a comprehensive pro-growth jobs agenda, such as the one House Republicans have put forth and continue to implement. But they are potential areas for common ground,” Boehner and Cantor told the president.Because Democrats and Republicans “sincerely believe” that their own policies are the right way to get the economy growing, it’s unlikely that either side will completely give in to the other. But, Boehner and Cantor added, it is “critical” that both sides focus on areas of common agreement: “We should not approach this as an all or nothing situation,” they said.The Republican leaders said they would like to meet with President Obama before he gives his “jobs” address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday. Such a meeting – including leaders from both parties — would give lawmakers “the opportunity to constructively discuss your proposals.”Boehner and Cantor said they are specifically interested in learning the cost estimates for 212 new regulatory actions planned by the Obama administration.Read the full story here.

 

  • Gibson CEO to attend Obama’s jobs speech, will be guest of Speaker Boehner.(TheHill).The guitar company has tried to tap into anti-government sentiment following a raid on its factories by federal agents.Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Guitar, will attend President Obama’s address to Congress on Thursday as a guest of Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced in a tweet that he will host the Gibson CEO in the Speaker’s box.Federal agents raided Gibson factories in Tennessee last month as part an investigation into whether its wood was illegally imported from India. The company has sought to tap into anti-government sentiment as it tries to rally public support to its side.On Twitter, the company uses the hashtag “ThisWillNotStand” for posts about the investigation, and Juszkiewicz has appeared on several conservative radio shows to discuss what he describes as bullying by the federal government.“Gibson Guitar is at the heart of this jobs debate, and is an example of exactly why President Obama has it wrong when it comes to getting our economy back on track,” Blackburn said in a statement. “Big government doesn’t create jobs, small businesses like Gibson Guitar do.”Read the full story here.

Former Lebanese Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul: George Washington Said the Jews Were “Blood-Suckers”, Benjamin Franklin Called to Prevent Their Entry into the U.S.

Mohsen Dalloul: If you examine the [Americans’] foundational texts, you will see that many of their forefathers were critical of American policy. Even presidents, like Jimmy Carter… If you want, you can even go further back, to the speeches of George Washington…

In a very important speech, George Washington called not to trust the Jews, saying that the Jews are blood-suckers. In the constitutional convention, Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers, stood up and said – and I quote – “Gentlemen, let me warn you that the Jews might gather on American soil. They are bad seed, and so on and so forth. I propose adding an article to the constitution preventing the entry of Jews into the US.” He was a president and one of the founding fathers.


MFS – The Other News

Morning Posting.

  • Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in the Philipines 5.1 and 5.2 in russia! More info here.

 

  • Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to: Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog.Here.

 

  • Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

 

  • “The War On Christianity” – Hindu, Buddhist & Muslim Religious Leaders Invited to 9/11 Tribute Event — But No Evangelicals?(TheBlaze).The head of the Southern Baptist Convention is asking President Barack Obama to reconsider attending a September 11 commemorative event at Washington National Cathedral. Why, you ask?The planned observance of the 10th anniversary of America’s worst terror attack will include the Bishop of Washington, a Hindu priest, a Buddhist nun, the president of the Islamic Society of North America and a Muslim musician – but not an evangelical Christian. This exclusion has caused SBC President Frank Page to call upon the president to reconsider his presence at the event.Obama is slated to speak at a “secular” program on Sunday night. According to reports, five faith leaders are scheduled to deliver prayers, but these individuals have not yet been publicly identified.Considering evangelical Christianity’s influence in America, it’s interesting that the event, entitled “A Call to Compassion,” will exclude this large subset of the faith. According to Fox News, Page has voiced his frustrations:“It’s not surprising. There is a tragic intolerance toward Protestants and particularly toward evangelicals and I wish the president would refuse to speak unless it was more representative.I think it would send a very strong and very positive signal to the left wing extremists in our country that the president ought not show up.”Christian leader Tony Perkins (head of the Family Research Council) reiterated these statements, also claiming that the exclusion is unacceptable:

Three quarters of the American people identify as Christian and nearly a third of them are evangelical Christian. And yet, there is not a single evangelical on the program.There’s no doubt that this is clearly politically correct. It is historically inaccurate that in times of need or mourning that Americans pray to the Hindu or Buddhist Gods or the God of Islam. America is overtly a Christian nation that prays to the Judeo-Christian God – and specifically to Jesus Christ.”But the Cathedral claims that there is nothing sinister in its exclusion of evangelicals. Richard Weinberg, the director of communications for the Cathedral, claims that the goal was to have interfaith representation and that the church’s own involvement balances the need for Christian representation:“The Cathedral itself is an Episcopal church and it stands to reason that our own clergy serve as Christian representatives.We certainly aim to appeal to as many in the country as possible and feel that our events are not any one slice that could ever represent the entire country — but that we are doing our best commemorate the events as it fits with our mission.”So far, no official response has come from the White House and all signs point to the president ignoring Page’s plea. Regardless of intentions, this could create — or further perpetuate — the perception that the president is not sympathetic to evangelical causes and concerns.That said, this event is private in nature and Obama has been invited as a guest. Considering that his administration doesn’t have control over the guest list, perhaps most will simply blame the Cathedral (and not the president) for refusing — at least until this point — to include evangelical Christians in the commemorative mix.Hmmmm…..”Divide et impera”. Let me guess that the representative for the Islamitic faith might be ‘Imam Rauf’?Read the full story here.

 

  • Up to 25 killed and scores injured in two suicide blasts in Quetta, Pakistan.(AlArabiya).Two suicide bombers targeting a senior security official struck near government offices in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people and injuring scores of others, Al Arabiya correspondent said.There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistan’s Taliban militants, who are close to al-Qaeda, often carry out such attacks as part of a campaign designed to topple the US-backed government.Quetta is the main town of Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, police said.Autonomy-seeking militants demanding a greater share of the profits from oil and other resources in the province of Baluchistan, of which Quetta is the capital, have also waged a low-level insurgency for decades.One of the suicide bombers blew himself up in a vehicle packed with explosives near the car of the deputy head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, a police official told Reuters.Farrukh Shehzad said the other suicide bomber entered his house and blew himself up. The dead included his guards. The explosions brought down the walls of his house and nearby offices.Although al-Qaeda is reeling from the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US special forces, the Pakistani Taliban are still highly effective. They vowed to avenge bin Laden’s death.Read the Full Story Here.

 

  • More deaths reported as Syrian forces storm Homs, block telecommunications.(AlArabiya).Syrian security forces stormed the city of Homs and cut off telecommunications as heavy shooting was heard while troops raided homes, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday. Syrian activists told Al Arabiya that more deaths have been reported as the security forces swept through Homs and fired at the Khaled bin Walid Mosque. According to AFP, seven people have been shot dead by the fire of security forces in Homs.“Most land and cell phone lines and the Internet have been cut off. Tanks moved in at dawn and began firing heavy machineguns randomly at houses in Bab Tadmur, Warsha district and Bab Dreib,” Syrian activists told Reuters.“Troops also deployed in Bab Sbaa, two explosions were heard in al-Khader neighborhood and they sealed off the city center,” said a statement by Homs City Neighborhoods Union sent to Reuters.The operation comes after Syria asked Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi to postpone a visit to the Arab country for talks on the violent crackdown on protests that broke out mid-March.President Bashar al-Assad faces the biggest challenge to his rule since inheriting power from his father 11 years ago, with increased international condemnation of the violence. The European Union on September 3 added four people and three companies to an asset freeze and travel ban on Syria, where the unrest began in mid- March. A day earlier, the EU banned imports of Syrian oil. More than 2,450 civilians and 700 members of the security forces have been killed during the crackdown, while 15,000 people have been injured and at least 20,000 are in prison, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights. The UN puts the death toll at more than 2,200.Security forces have failed to halt the protests, which were inspired by unrest across the Middle East and North Africa that unseated Tunisian President Zine Elabidine Ben Ali in January and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak the following month. Muammar Qaddafi is in hiding after an uprising ended his control over most of Libya.Tanks and troops, largely from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, moved into Homs four months ago and occupied the main square in the city to try to end protests demanding the removal of President Assad.The Alawite sect dominates Syria’s security forces and core army units that have besieged numerous towns and cities across the country to crush the six month uprising.Homs, 165 km (100 miles north of Damascus) is mostly Sunni Muslim, like the rest of Syria. The hundreds of casualties reported in the city since the army deployment has been caused by assaults on Sunni areas. Activists have also reported the death of several Alawite residents in apparent revenge killings.Residents said an Alawite militia loyal to Assad, known as shabbiha, has played a leading role in the raids and are responsible for some of the killings, raising tension between the two sects.Activists and residents have reported an increasing number of defections among the mostly Sunni rank and file military in Homs and its surrounding countryside.Residents of Rastan, a town near Homs, published footage purportedly showing defecting soldiers on a balcony greeting a crowd of several thousand people at a pro-democracy rally in the town last week.Syrian authorities, which have not allowed independent media in the country since the uprising began in March, say there have been no defections in the military.They say the troops were deployed in Syrian cities in response to appeals by inhabitants frightened by “armed terrorist gangs.”Hmmmmm………Big noise Turkey……..silent.Read the full story here.

 

  • Beware: Emperor Obama’s executive fiat,White House plans to circumvent Congress to spend more.(WashingtonTimes).It’s official: President Obama is presiding over the worst era of unemployment in U.S. history since this nation was embroiled in World War II. On Friday, it was announced zero net jobs were created nationwide in the whole month of August. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stammered, “I do believe that we’re going in the right direction, but we need cooperation and it begins with members of the House and the Senate agreeing to do something now.” Going in the right direction? It’s a perfect admission of the cluelessness of this White House that the head of the Labor Department thinks zero new jobs and a permanent unemployment rate above 9 percent mean the country is headed the right way.In White House talking points leaked to The Washington Times by an executive-branch employee, administration officials are told what to say to the press and the public about Mr. Obama’s Sept. 8 speech to a Joint Session of Congress. The document is devoid of specifics, which will be proclaimed from the podium on Thursday, but it does say that ideas announced to “provide economic security for the middle class … will be both legislative and executive actions.” The key words are the last two: executive actions. This is a tacit acknowledgment that the president is planning to take unilateral action to force through what he cannot get a divided Congress to do.Mr. Obama has a profound resistance to the Constitution’s separation of powers, whereby the legislature is the lawmaking body and the executive branch implements the laws passed on the other side of Pennsylvania Ave. He’s overstepped his bounds on numerous issues already, ignoring the law to further his liberal agenda through federal agencies. Oppressive environmental regulations against businesses and property owners jump to mind.“We need to lock arms, reach across the aisle and start acting as one community,” the kumbaya White House marching orders say. Propaganda aside, a panicking Obama administration will be less collaborative than ever in the days ahead.Hmmmm……Congress must act and stop this walking,talking Doomsday machine, It’s clear that the American people had enough……..impeachment is needed.Read the full story here.

 

  • Is the Obama Administration about to endanger American troops for political gains?(Aina).Obama Administration to Drop Troop Levels in Iraq to 3,000.The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions on U.S. troop movements in Iraq told Fox News.Senior commanders are said to be livid at the decision, which has already been signed off by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.The generals on the ground had requested that the number of troops remaining in Iraq at the end of the year reach about 27,000. But, there was major pushback about “the cost and the political optics” of that decision that the number was then reduced to 10,000.Commanders said they could possibly make that work “in extremis,” in other words, meaning they would be pushing it to make that number work security-wise and manpower-wise.Now, sources confirm that the administration has pushed the Pentagon to cut the number even lower, and commanders are concerned for the safety of the U.S. troops who would remain there.”We can’t secure everybody with only 3,000 on the ground nor can we do what we need to with the Iraqis,” one source said.A senior military official said by reducing the number of troops to 3,000, the White House has effectively reduced the mission to training only.”There is almost no room for security operations in that number; it will be almost purely a training mission,” this official said. The official added that a very small number of troops within that 3,000 will be dedicated to counter-terrorism efforts, but that’s not nearly what Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wanted.This shift is seen by various people as a cost-saving measure and a political measure. The only administration official fighting for at least 10,000 forces to stay in Iraq at the end of the year was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sources said. But she has lost the battle.Responding to the news, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who has traveled to Iraq many times, said that in all the conversations he has had on force strength, he has “never heard a number as low as 3,000 troops to secure the gains Iraqis have won over the years.”Lieberman said his first question for the administration is whether the number is one Iraqis had requested or if it was chosen according to other criteria.Any of the plans will require Iraqi approval, and on that front, the Pentagon recently secured a commitment from the Iraqis to start negotiations, but they have not agreed to any number.”Discussions with the Iraqis on our post-2011 strategic relationship are ongoing, and no decisions on troop levels have been made,” said Panetta spokesman George Little. “We continue to proceed with troop withdrawals as directed by the president.”On Tuesday, the head of the three-province Kurdish autonomous region in the north of Iraq, warned that if American troops leave sectarian violence might resurface. Massoud Barzani urged the central Iraqi government to sign an agreement with the U.S. to keep forces in the country.Hmmmmm…….”The Commander In chief decided?”Read the full story here.

 

  • GM aka Government Motors (Obama administration) about to hire workers?(CarAndDriver).Joe Biden : GM is on schedule. They’ve paid back a significant portion. We still hold 33.3 percent of GM common equity, but the point is that 33.3 percent is worth something. So taxpayers have an asset. But the best news is GM is talking about hiring back essentially the last of the laid-off workers by  year’s end. No one ever thought we’d get there.Hmmmm……Another Big Government expantion with taxpayer money.Read the full story here.

The MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project – An Educational Resource Focusing on the Ideological Roots of the Terrorist Threat to America.

The MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project – An Educational Resource Focusing on the Ideological Roots of the Terrorist Threat to America.(Memri).

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has documented what Middle Eastern and South Asian media have said about it, starting that day and up until the present time. Many immediate responses to the attacks from prominent journalists, members of academia, and leading religious figures espoused conspiracy theories, as did Arab government officials. Notable conspiracy theories from the Arab world and Iran put the blame for the attacks on Jews, Israel, Christian Zionists, the Vatican, the Mossad, Britain, white supremacist groups, and the U.S. government agencies and officials including: CIA, FBI, National Security Council, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and others.

Following the 1995 terrorist attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people, including young children, were killed, an official museum and memorial was erected at the site. The museum focuses on the victims. Neither the museum nor the memorial deal with the perpetrators’ ideological roots, presenting the atrocity they perpetrated as a senseless crime.

Advance reports of the commemorations planned for 9/11 suggest that its legacy will follow a similar path, focusing on the victims, and again leave out the ideological roots of the attacks. This ideology is largely avoided in the public discourse, since it is deemed a politicized and controversial matter that is best omitted.
America’s ability to defend itself and to ensure a safer future for its citizens is directly related to its ability to tackle the ideological roots of 9/11. America’s security cannot be assured by fighting terrorist threats emanating from foreign countries through active war on terror; nor can it be assured by confronting homegrown terrorism through law enforcement and treating it like ordinary domestic crime. Neither strategy is effective as long as the ideological roots of the terrorist threat are avoided. Regardless of all the tactical and strategic achievements of the war on terror, on both the domestic and foreign fronts, these ideological roots will, if left unchallenged, continue to produce new generations of young adherents to replace the terrorists who have been imprisoned or killed.

This situation cannot be resolved through the American legal system – because this system indicts only criminals themselves, not their ideological motivations. Alternatively, these ideological roots could be exposed in museums modeled after the Holocaust museums – but to date there are no such initiatives planned. It could also be documented in academic centers – but so far all the archives known to be documenting 9/11 focus on the victims and on the attacks, not on the ideological roots of the perpetrators.

So that the remembrance and commemoration of the victims of 9/11 may bear a lesson for the future, efforts should go beyond monuments, annual ceremonies, and prayers for the dead. There should be meaningful engagement with the ideology that led to these deaths. There should be a meaningful exposure of the root ideas that led to these deaths. Such exposure is the only thing that can create a barrier to the continued influence of the ideology that produced 9/11.

Ten years after 9/11, a battle is raging in the Arab world – between liberal circles that wish to steer it toward agreed-upon humanistic values and circles that espouse the ideologies that brought about 9/11 and that are threatening to hijack the Arab Spring revolutions. Exposing the ideology behind 9/11 in the West will help determine the outcome of this battle in the Arab and Muslim world.

A focus on the ideology that led to the 9/11 attacks does not of course exclude any other efforts to expose other ideologies that lead to hatred and violence, in America and throughout the world.

Announcing the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project.

Today, MEMRI is launching the 9/11 Documentation Project website, dedicated to the ideological roots of the attack. The website includes primary source material from the Arab and Islamic printed and electronic media, as well as from TV channels and other types of content published elsewhere. MEMRI already possesses the most extensive archives on these subjects, which it has accumulated over the past decade.

Among the subjects included in this website’s archives are written documents from Al-Qaeda and affiliate organizations, speeches and interviews by leaders of Al-Qaeda and affiliate organizations, wills and statements of the 9/11perpetrators and their colleagues, and recruitment and indoctrination material of these organizations.

The project also documents ongoing efforts to deny responsibility for 9/11 and to attribute it to others, through various conspiracy theories.

To visit the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project, visit:

http://www.memri.org/9-11project

To view MEMRI TV clips from the MEMRI 9/11 Documentation Project, visit:

http://www.memritv.org/9-11project

To donate to this project, please visit our donation page.Source Memri.


MFS – The Other News

Morning Posting.

  • Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in carabian Sea – Anguila 5.3 ! More info here.

 

  • Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to: Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog.Here.

 

  • Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

 

  • Biden At AFL-CIO Rally: “You Are The Only Folks Keeping The Barbarians From the Gates” (Video).(HotAirPundit). The opposition is called “son of a bitches” at one Labor rally and “barbarians” at another rally. Here’s an angry Joe Biden at the AFL-CIO rally in Cincinnati just a short time ago.Hmmmmm…….”He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”– Sir Winston Churchill.Read and see the full story here.

 

  • Is the Obama Administration about to endanger American troops for political gains?(Aina).Obama Administration to Drop Troop Levels in Iraq to 3,000.The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions on U.S. troop movements in Iraq told Fox News.Senior commanders are said to be livid at the decision, which has already been signed off by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.The generals on the ground had requested that the number of troops remaining in Iraq at the end of the year reach about 27,000. But, there was major pushback about “the cost and the political optics” of that decision that the number was then reduced to 10,000.Commanders said they could possibly make that work “in extremis,” in other words, meaning they would be pushing it to make that number work security-wise and manpower-wise.Now, sources confirm that the administration has pushed the Pentagon to cut the number even lower, and commanders are concerned for the safety of the U.S. troops who would remain there.”We can’t secure everybody with only 3,000 on the ground nor can we do what we need to with the Iraqis,” one source said.A senior military official said by reducing the number of troops to 3,000, the White House has effectively reduced the mission to training only.”There is almost no room for security operations in that number; it will be almost purely a training mission,” this official said. The official added that a very small number of troops within that 3,000 will be dedicated to counter-terrorism efforts, but that’s not nearly what Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wanted.This shift is seen by various people as a cost-saving measure and a political measure. The only administration official fighting for at least 10,000 forces to stay in Iraq at the end of the year was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sources said. But she has lost the battle.Responding to the news, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who has traveled to Iraq many times, said that in all the conversations he has had on force strength, he has “never heard a number as low as 3,000 troops to secure the gains Iraqis have won over the years.”Lieberman said his first question for the administration is whether the number is one Iraqis had requested or if it was chosen according to other criteria.Any of the plans will require Iraqi approval, and on that front, the Pentagon recently secured a commitment from the Iraqis to start negotiations, but they have not agreed to any number.”Discussions with the Iraqis on our post-2011 strategic relationship are ongoing, and no decisions on troop levels have been made,” said Panetta spokesman George Little. “We continue to proceed with troop withdrawals as directed by the president.”On Tuesday, the head of the three-province Kurdish autonomous region in the north of Iraq, warned that if American troops leave sectarian violence might resurface. Massoud Barzani urged the central Iraqi government to sign an agreement with the U.S. to keep forces in the country.Hmmmmm…….”The Commander In chief decided?”Read the full story here.

 

  • Deutsche Bank CEO Just Gave A Terrifying Speech In Frankfurt.(BusinessInsider).Josef Ackermann just gave a terrifying speech about the fragility of the Euro banking sector right now.At a conference in Frankfurt he said, “It is an open secret that numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels.”We have translated the speech based on Handelsbatt’s, the organizer of the event where Ackermann spoke, account of it.”In recent weeks, the distrust of the financial markets has spread to the banks because they are now suffering from the debt crisis in Europe and have a lot of exposure to, for example, Greek bonds.””Since the financial crisis, some European banks have lost a third or more of their market capitalization,” he said, according to Google Translate.”Most institutions have a rating of “below the book value or at best.”There are three major stress factors crushing Euro banks right now, he says: the debt crisis, structural factors and financial regulation. With them together, it will be hard for the European banks to increase their revenues.The implication is that not just Eurozone countries are buckling under the pressure of Greece’s, France’s, and Italy’s debts, but banks are too. It sounds like a desperate call for a bailout. Now.Read the full story here.

 

  • Bring Out Your Dead – UBS Quantifies Costs Of Euro Break Up, Warns Of Collapse Of Banking System And Civil War.(ZeroHedge).Any time a major bank releases a report saying a given course of action is too costly, too prohibitive, too blonde, or simply too impossible, it is nearly guaranteed that that is precisely the course of action about to be undertaken. Which is why all non-euro skeptics are advised to shield their eyes and look away from the just released report by UBS (of surging 3 Month USD Libor rate fame) titled “Euro Break Up – The Consequences.” UBS conveniently sets up the straw man as follows: “Under the current structure and with the current membership, the Euro does not work. Either the current structure will have to change, or the current membership will have to change.” So far so good. Yet where it gets scary is when UBS quantifies the actual opportunity cost to one or more countries leaving the Euro. Notably Germany. “Were a stronger country such as Germany to leave the Euro, the consequences would include corporate default, recapitalisation of the banking system and collapse of international trade. If Germany were to leave, we believe the cost to be around EUR6,000 to EUR8,000 for every German adult and child in the first year, and a range of EUR3,500 to EUR4,500 per person per year thereafter. That is the equivalent of 20% to 25% of GDP in the first year. ” It also would mean the end of UBS, but we digress. Where it gets even more scary is when UBS, like many other banks to come, succumbs to the Mutual Assured Destruction trope made so popular by ole’ Hank Paulson : “The economic cost is, in many ways, the least of the concerns investors should have about a break-up. Fragmentation of the Euro would incur political costs. Europe’s “soft power” influence internationally would cease (as the concept of “Europe” as an integrated polity becomes meaningless). It is also worth observing that almost no modern fiat currency monetary unions have broken up without some form of authoritarian or military government, or civil war.” So you see: save the euro for the children, so we can avoid all out war (and UBS can continue to exist). The scariest thing, however, by far, is that for this report to have been issued, it means that Germany is now actively considering dumping the euro.Read the full story here.

 

  • IDF to simulate missile attack on Dimona nuclear reactor.(JPost).The IDF Home Front Command and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission will hold a large exercise on Tuesday to simulate a missile attack against the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev.Called “Fernando,” the drill is named for the nuclear meltdown in 1959 in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles.It took workers a month to regain control of the reactor and more than 50 years for the United States to clean up the contaminated site.The drill will simulate a number of scenarios including a possible missile attack by Hezbollah, Syria or Hamas against the reactor or a possible earthquake that could destabilize the reactor’s core and spark a nuclear meltdown.Israel has closely studied the recent crisis in Japan following the earthquakes in Fukushima that led to a nuclear meltdown at a number of reactors, to draw lessons that can be applied in the event of a missile strike on the Dimona facilities.The last “Fernando” exercise was held in 2004. On Monday, the IAEC released a statement ahead of the drill claiming that its facilities were secure and that high-safety measures were in place to prevent nuclear disasters.“The chance that a problem will occur and radioactive material will escape at a level that will endanger the public is extremely small,” the commission said.Read the full story here.

 

  • Turkish hackers target 350 Israeli websites.(YNet).Turkish hackers hijacked some 350 Israeli websites on Sunday evening, lunching a Domain Name System (DNS) attack on dozens of other websites as well. IT experts Yedioth Ahronoth on Tuesday that there is some concern that the DNS hijacking was, in fact, a “test-run” ahead of a major attack on Israeli domains.Visitors to some of the sites were diverted to a page declaring it was “World Hackers Day.” At least seven high-profile websites were hijacked, including those of The Telegraph, Acer, National Geographic, UPS and Vodafone. Hackers calling themselves the “TurkGuvenligi group” calimd the cyber-attack. “TurkGuvenligi translates as “Turkish security.” “The hack represents a 10%-15% spike compared to the average number of daily hacks of Israeli websites,” Shai Blitzblau, head of Maglan-Computer Warfare and Network Intelligence Labs, explained.The operation was very sophisticated and probably entailed a significant financial investment, Blitzblau added. The Israeli inquiry into the hack discovered a clear link to “TurkGuvenligi,” as well as several failed attempts to hack other websites.Hmmmm……Time to pay Turkey a visit by Stuxnet?Read the full story here.

 

  • It’s a two-way street you Turkey.(TheMuqata).Turkey has now officially cut all trade ties with Israel. Earlier this week they terrorized some Israeli/Jewish businessmen at their airport. They are kicking out most of Israel’s diplomats tomorrow. And they’ve been hinting at using naval force against the IDF at sea.To begin with, Turkey has a lot more to lose than Israel does, so if they want to shoot themselves in the face, that’s their business. It’s been clear that they’ve wanted to rejoin the Arab third world, and have been pushing to leave modern society for a while and become an Iranian sock-puppet.Of course, there are consequences that perhaps they aren’t considering. First of all, not only will they likely be kicked out of NATO (which they should be anyway) if they try any naval shenanigans against Israel, but NATO might even be obligated to come to Israel’s defense if Turkey tries anything.Secondly, this is a two way street. Turkey wants to support Hamas. Israel can start showing their support for Turkey Occupied Cyprus, for Turkey Occupied Western Armenia, and even for the oppressed Kurds.In fact, Israel might go to the Hague to demand that Turkey get out of Cyprus and the other lands they are illegally occupying. Not to mention free all their Kurdish Prisoners of Conscience.We might want to start exposing their war crimes against the Kurds (which we should do anyway). We will want to better publicize the Armenian Genocide that Turkey perpetrated.You know what? Reading the above, you realize that Turkey is not such a nice country after all. Who wants ’em.Read the full story here.

 

  • Killing me Softly: Ode to Turkey.(RaiNovosti).I seem to be in the vacation mode lately while most have already finished taking theirs. The outcome over the summer for Russian tourists in other countries is murderously outrageous, particularly in Turkey…. The other day I took some really nasty cuts at Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea as a bad place to vacation. I still hold to my story; however, a worse place has turned out to be Turkey over this summer, which is also a favorite among Russian tourists. Many Russians “enjoy” vacationing in Turkey, mainly in Antalya in the country’s south on the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a nice warm place, plenty of sun and beach, some adequate recreation, not that expensive and only about three hours by plane to get there….but once you’re there, you might find that you’ve really screwed up in your choice.So this summer I paid particular attention to news coming out of Turkey of Russian vacationers and was a bit disturbed. It seemed like every week someone (or several) were killed while on vacation for various reasons. For instance, a group of people were out on a yacht organized by a Turkish tour agency. The tour was for tour agents who specialize in selling tours to Turkey. So they’re out enjoying themselves on a cruise, being wined and dined on board the yacht. Several agents on the yacht began to feel ill that evening once they returned to shore. Later they were hospitalized and several actually died from: bootleg whiskey imported from Cyprus. It wasn’t that they drank that much, it was because the whiskey had an alcohol content similar to pure medicinal alcohol in the 90-percent range. Then there’s the occassional Russian pedestrian being hit by a car, someone on a moped being wiped off the road by some other vehicle, excursion bus crashes, drownings, food poisoning, broken bones, etc. Another problem this year was the number of instances of groups of tourists hitting their destination only to find out that the tour agency they booked everything through went bankrupt and didn’t pay for the tourists’ accommodations. So, picture that you’ve arrived with your family and the hotel clerk says: “I’m sorry, we have no rooms for you because nothing was paid for.” In fact, you remember paying the tour company, but the hotel didn’t get the money and they literally have no rooms available so that you could possibly spend the extra money to enjoy your vacation and deal with the mess once you’re back home in Russia. Not only have tour agencies gone belly up, but some experienced the shocking news that the airline they flew with has also gone bankrupt. So you have your vacation planned, get to the airport only to find out you’re not flying anywhere…or just the opposite where you enjoyed (survived) your vacation in Turkey, but now you can’t make it back home. I lived in Turkey on the Black Sea in the mid-1980s and it was a totally different country back then. Since then, I’ve only gone to Turkey once on vacation (to Antalya) since I moved to Russia. Never again! It’s not that I’m afraid of dying (I covered the Egyptian revolution as a correspondent earlier this year and survived), it’s because you don’t know who to trust and if you’ll survive all the little surprises you find on the way. One of the things Russians love is the “all inclusive package,” which means you have at least three meals if not four a day, free drinks, accommodations and depending on the package other freebies like spas, massages or belly dancing lessons. I avoid these packages like the plague. First of all, your entire schedule seems to be surrounded by “feeding time.” So you’re out somewhere enjoying yourself and look at your watch and notice that if you don’t get back to the hotel in the next hour, you’ll be left without dinner, which means you have to immediately drop everything you’re doing and run to get your feedbag on. I don’t think a vacation should be structured and scheduled…that’s what work is, not vacation! And one of the favorites to put on the table in Turkey is eggplant, which I abhor in any shape or form.Read the full story here.

Twitter Users Want Republicans Dead

It’s civility week! Another Twitter montage of #NewTone was just sent our way this afternoon. Good timing, too, on the heels of Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa Jr.’s warm remarks yesterday.

Lets not forget the lessons in civility that our dutiful media and President Obama conveyed in the wake of the Tucson tragedy. The vitriol does not seem to have died down. Perhaps this video will help remind people what’s lurking out there on the Twitter public timeline about all you “Sons of Bitches” and “Hobbits” of Terror.

I’ll leave you with a message from the video’s creator: “All tweets posted to Twitter are public. Therefore, I will not remove this video, names or any details that were publicly available. If you can’t stand by your hate, then you should have never said it.”By Liberty Chick .HT: Big Government.


Overnight video – Somewhere over the Rainbow – Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole

Israel “IZ” Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (Hawaiian pronunciation: [kaˌmakaˌʋiwoˈʔole]; May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997) was a Hawaiian musician.

He became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993. His medley of “Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World” was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and commercials.
Through his ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres (such as jazz and reggae), Kamakawiwoʻole remains one of the major influences in Hawaiian music.

Throughout his life, Kamakawiwoʻole was obese and at one point carried 757 pounds (343 kg; 54.1 st) on his 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m) frame (BMI = 97.05 kg/m²). He endured several hospitalizations because of problems caused by his weight. Kamakawiwoʻole is survived by his wife, Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole, and their daughter, Ceslie-Ann “Wehi”.

The Hawaiʻi State Flag flew at half-staff on July 10, 1997, the day of Kamakawiwoʻole’s funeral. His koa wood coffin lay in state at the Capitol building in Honolulu.He was the third person in Hawaiian history to be awarded this honor, and the only one who was not a government official. Approximately ten thousand people attended the funeral. Thousands of fans gathered as his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach on July 12, 1997.

On September 20, 2003, hundreds paid tribute to Kamakawiwoʻole as a bronze bust of the revered singer was unveiled at the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center on Oʻahu. The singer’s widow, Marlene Kamakawiwoʻole, and sculptor Jan-Michelle Sawyer were present for the dedication ceremony.


MFS – The Other news

Morning Posting.

  • Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Tonga 6.0 ,  Panama 5.3 and South Africa 5.3 ! More info here.

 

  • Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to: Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog.Here.

 

  • Hurricane Katia : Latest Updates here.

 

  • 39 YEARS AGO !The Munich massacre.Read and see the full story here.

 

  • IDF general: Likelihood of regional war growing.(Ynet).Recent revolutions in the Arab world and the deteriorating ties with Turkey are raising the likelihood of a regional war in the Middle East, IDF Home Front Command Chief, Major General Eyal Eisenberg warned Monday. “It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter,” he said in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.”This leads us to the conclusion that through a long-term process, the likelihood of an all-out war is increasingly growing,” the IDF general said. “Iran has not abandoned its nuclear program. The opposite it true; it continues full steam ahead,” he said. “In Egypt, the army is collapsing under the burden of regular security operations, and this is reflected in the loss of control in the Sinai and the turning of the border with Israel into a terror border, with the possibility that Sinai will fall under the control of an Islamic entity.””In Lebanon, Hezbollah is growing stronger within government arms, but it has not lost its desire to harm Israel, and the ties with Turkey aren’t at their best,” Major General Eisenberg added. Referring to what he characterized as the possibility of a “radical Islamic winter,” Major-General Eisenberg said: “This raises the likelihood of an all-out, total war, with the possibility of weapons of mass destruction being used.” During his address, the senior IDF official revealed that new, more lethal arms surfaced in the hands of Gaza terror groups during the latest round of fighting in the area. As result of the disturbing development, Israeli civilians were instructed to adopt greater precautions, he said. “We discovered a new weapon, and as result of this we instructed the public to hide under two roofs, rather than only one,” he said. Eisenberg added that some 25% of local authorities in Israel are ill prepared to face emergency situations.Hmmmm……And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it….Zech. 12:3.Unknown to them, they are heading for eternal judgment, they think they are coming to make war against God, but they are being gathered for judgment. Isaiah 13:6-8.Read the full story here.

 

  • President Obama puts union members ahead of workers.(WashingtonExaminer).Today is Labor Day, the unofficial end of the summer and a celebration of America’s working men and women. Americans will relax and enjoy themselves on their day off, but this will come as little consolation for the 14 million Americans currently unemployed.Unfortunately, President Obama still hasn’t provided an effective plan to restore our economic dynamism and put these people back to work. Instead, he has focussed his labor policies on the few Americans (one of every 14 in the private sector) who still belong to unions, largely ignoring the 90 percent of workers who don’t. That’s because those unions — in many cases against their members’ desires — provide massive, poorly disclosed campaign expenditures on behalf of Democrats. The result has been panoply of policies that are sapping America’s economic vigor while enshrining privileges for a fortunate few.Obama’s National Labor Relations Board, far from serving as a mediator and peacekeeper between labor and industry, has become an advocate for a specific Democratic interest group. In addition to its punitive prosecution of Boeing — which made the mistake of expanding its nonunion labor force in a right-to-work state — Obama’s NLRB has been busily staving off the inevitable demise of private-sector unions with a slew of decisions that will further weaken the businesses that employ most Americans. These latest rulings were made just as liberal Chairwoman Wilma Liebman’s term expired last Saturday.Despite lacking any statutory authority, the board has now decreed that employers must advertise to workers their right to form unions, using very large posters and electronic communications. The NLRB also issued pro-union rulings in a handful of critical cases. In one, they decided that when unions cannot win over a majority of employees in a workplace, they can still replenish their diminishing ranks by targeting small groups of employees who might be more receptive to unionization. In another case, Obama’s NLRB stripped from workers the right to challenge immediately the results of card-check drives by unions. The ruling applies in cases where employers collude with unions, letting them organize their workplaces without secret-ballot elections. In a third case, the NLRB abolished workers’ right to change unions or get rid of their union in a timely manner when a company changes hands.Obama never hid from voters his fealty to union bosses. He promised the Service Employees International Union that as president, he would make the union’s agenda his own. And since Obama’s inauguration, top union bosses have had more access to the White House than most of Obama’s Cabinet secretaries. American workers, the vast majority of whom have nothing to gain from unionization, can only wish they had a president who cared for their interests, and for broader prosperity, as much as he cares for this single, dying institution.Hmmmm……..Obama’s ‘Army’?Read the full story here.

 

  • Obama Bundler George Kaiser Made Multiple Visits to White House in Months Prior to $535 Million Loan Guarantee to Solyndra.(Biggovernment).Top Obama bundler George Kaiser made multiple visits to the White House in the months before the company was granted a $535 million loan from the government.iWatch News reported, via Free Republic:

The i Watch News investigation confirmed that at least 18 other bundlers have ties to businesses poised to profit from the president’s political agenda, through stimulus money, government contracts, or other spending to promote clean energy technology or green development.

Oklahoma billionaire investor George Kaiser is one. A longtime Democratic donor, he is a big financial backer of a company that in March of 2009 won a $535 million loan guarantee [19] from DOE for a solar plant in Silicon Valley. He had multiple visits to the White House in the months before he was awarded the contract. Kaiser has not responded to interview requests from iWatch News.This doesn’t look very good considering it was widely known that Solyndra was in deep economic trouble in 2010 and had negative cash flows since its inception.Kaiser says he did not use political influence or talk to administration officials about a massive government loan to Solyndra.Hmmmm……Hurry , hurry…..come and look at the Unicorn!Read the full story here.

 

  • For wont of $3 billion, NASA loses manned space flight capability…though illegal aliens received $4.2 billion in tax credits.(DougRoss).In the midst of the Stimulus spending spree, President Obama shocked the NASA program with a devastating pronouncement. The Space Shuttle replacement effort, dubbed the Constellation Program, which needed $3 billion in annual funding, would be terminated. For the first time since the initial manned flight of Project Mercury on April 18, 1961, the United States would not have the ability to put a man into space. In spite of the national security impact of the space program — and the fact that China has actively tested anti-satellite weaponry, the President felt that $3 billion was too much to spend on a replacement for the Space Shuttle. …though illegal aliens received $4.2 billion in tax creditsAnd it wasn’t just the fact that the public sector unions were awash with hundreds of billions in taxpayer Stimulus cash: the waste, fraud, and abuse in other federal programs turned out to be equally outrageous.The President’s priorities are funding his union boss supporters, growing the size of government bureaucracies, ringing up massive deficits, advancing the anti-jobs “green” agenda, and cutting back on strategic national security programs. Now I want you to imagine what Obama’s priorities will be if he were to be reelected in 2012. He would have absolutely nothing to lose in enacting an even more radical agenda: his devastating policies will go from merely stunningly bad to spectacularly worse. And that is why he must be defeated next November.Hmmmm……You can’t cure stupid, but you can vote it out!Read the full story here.

 

  • Sen. DeMint: Obama speech to Congress ‘going to be hard for me to watch’.(TheHill).
    Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) expressed doubt on Sunday that President Obam can provide any viable economic policies to create jobs and gain bipartisan support. “Frankly I am so tired of his speeches, it’s going to be hard for me to watch,” said DeMint on CNN’s State of the Union. “We need a plan in writing, he needs to send it to us and tell us what it is going to cost so not only Congress and the American people can read it, businesses can read it.”Speaking later in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” DeMint added that he was “pretty frustrated with the speech idea and the things that have been leaking out from the White House.”  “I don’t think the president is going to come out with things that are really going to create jobs I’m afraid it’s just pandering to his base,” he said. “None of them are like what I’ve been hearing from businesses all over the country.”DeMint also defended the Tea Party when asked about its unpopularity among independents, saying the movement “brought some accountability to Washington.”Over 70 percent of Americans think we need to balance our budget … that’s what the Tea Party is.”The South Carolina Republican downplayed his role as a leader of the Tea Party.“I’m not head of the Tea Party … there are thousands of leaders who have become active as citizens.”Although DeMint didn’t endorse a specific Republican running for president, he said that there’s no one in the field “who would not do a better job than our current president.”Read the full story here.

 

  • The Emperor’s New Plan.(Commentary).President Obama could have returned from his vacation and addressed the nation from the Oval Office, outlining his plan to increase jobs, pledging to have the legislative language on the desk of every member of Congress by the time they returned to Washington, calling on citizens to demand Congress act promptly on the Obama Plan.For that strategy to work, however, you need an actual plan. You don’t summon the nation for an Oval Office address to propose what you’re already doing (unemployment insurance and a payroll tax reduction), or more of what didn’t work before (stimulus, but without the word “stimulus”), or things like patent reform or trade agreements you inherited from George W. Bush. If you don’t have a plan, but want to show you are the most reasonable man in the room, the Oval Office is not the right venue; you need a bigger room, and more people.It turned out what Obama had in mind was a speech he deemed important enough to pre-empt a Republican presidential debate but not a football game. Delayed a day, the time of the speech will be moved to avoid a conflict with the NFL opener. Score a trifecta for Obama: he helped publicize the Republican debate, lost another ill-considered battle with John Boehner​, and will give a speech while most of the country is either at work, driving home, or eating dinner.Hmmmm……..Priorities?Read the full story here.