Obama, Chavez and Hillary upset with Hondurans because they won’t let their leftist president remain in office for life like Castro and Chavez

By Mick Gregory

Did CNN or MSNBC report the details? 

Hugo Chávez’s socialist-building efforts suffered a minor setback yesterday when the Honduran military were ordered by the Honduras Supreme Court to expell its leftist president  Mel Zelaya for abusing the nation’s constitution.

Zeaya, with the help of Chavez wanted to hold an illegal special election last Sunday that would change the Honduran Constitution and allow him to remain “El Presidente” for life. That is a model set by Fidel Castro and followed by Hugo Chavez. 

 This report is from the Wall Street Journal:

El President l Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo Chavez in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.

But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya’s abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.

That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.

But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.

The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.

Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order.

The attorney general had already made clear that the referendum was illegal, and he further announced that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying it out. Yesterday, Mr. Zelaya was arrested by the military and is now in exile in Costa Rica.

It remains to be seen what Mr. Zelaya’s next move will be. It’s not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.

Mrs. Clinton has piled on as well. Yesterday she accused Honduras of violating “the precepts of the Interamerican Democratic Charter” and said it “should be condemned by all.” Fidel Castro did just that. Mr. Chávez pledged to overthrow the new government.

Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.

Many Hondurans are going to be celebrating Mr. Zelaya’s foreign excursion. Street protests against his heavy-handed tactics had already begun last week. On Friday a large number of military reservists took their turn. “We won’t go backwards,” one sign said. “We want to live in peace, freedom and development.”

Besides opposition from the Congress, the Supreme Court, the electoral tribunal and the attorney general, the president had also become persona non grata with the Catholic Church and numerous evangelical church leaders. On Thursday evening his own party in Congress sponsored a resolution to investigate whether he is mentally unfit to remain in office.

For Hondurans who still remember military dictatorship, Mr. Zelaya also has another strike against him: He keeps rotten company. Earlier this month he hosted an OAS general assembly and led the effort, along side OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, to bring Cuba back into the supposedly democratic organization.

The OAS response is no surprise. Former Argentine Ambassador to the U.N. Emilio Cárdenas told me on Saturday that he was concerned that “the OAS under Insulza has not taken seriously the so-called ‘democratic charter.’ It seems to believe that only military ‘coups’ can challenge democracy. The truth is that democracy can be challenged from within, as the experiences of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and now Honduras, prove.” A less-kind interpretation of Mr. Insulza’s judgment is that he doesn’t mind the Chávez-style coup.

The struggle against chavismo has never been about left-right politics. It is about defending the independence of institutions that keep presidents from becoming dictators. This crisis clearly delineates the problem. In failing to come to the aid of checks and balances, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Insulza expose their true colors.

People are calling Obama a socialist — so join me — says Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan El Presidente, Hugo Chavez, on Friday called upon US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as the “only” way out of the global recession. “Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism. This is the only path. Imagine a socialist revolution in the United States,” Chavez told a group of workers in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar. 

Note to Hugo, Obama is a socialist, you are preaching to a follower of Big Brother overseeing all the good workers paying half or more of their earnings to the government.

Even a New York Times reporter asked Obama to speak up on his socialist “progressive” political views.

 

 

The controversial Venezuelan leader, who taunted the United States as a source of capitalistic evil under former president George W Bush, added that the United States needs a leader who can take it to a “higher” destiny and bring it out of “the sad role that it has been given, as a murderous, attacking power that is hated all around the world.” 

Chavez said that people are calling Obama a “socialist” for the measures of state intervention he is taking to counter the crisis, so it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that he might join the project of “21st century socialism” that the Venezuelan leader is heading.

Al Gore’s Global Warming Propaganda Creates Fear — But Also Big Laughter — Coldest Day in Bejing in 57 Years — 2008 Was the Year that the Man-made Global Warming Hoax Was Exposed–Earth Entering a New Ice Age

Who actually believes the Democrats’ Global Warming panic attack?

 

Jan 15, update:

The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning until noon Friday. The forecast high for Thursday is expected to linger in the negative range at -2, dropping to -15 overnight. Strong northwest winds are producing wind chill factors of -25 to -40.

Chicago’s CBS 2’s Ed Curran says as of 5 a.m., it was -7 at O’Hare International Airport and -5 at Midway Airport. In Waukegan it was -9, in Joliet it was -11, and in Aurora, the mercury was reading -20.

(Updated Jan. 11)

Russian scientists show strong evidence that the earth is on the cusp of another Ice Age. — PRAVDA

It is sad to come to realize that PRAVDA is more credible than the New York Times, San  Francisco Chronicle, ABC, NBC and CBS.

 

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years. Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age (Photo: earthweek.com)     Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years. Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials. Elements of the astronomical theory of Ice Age causation were first presented by the French mathematician Joseph Adhemar in 1842, itwas developed further by the English prodigy Joseph Croll in 1875, and the theory was established in its present form by the Czech mathematician Milutin Milankovich in the 1920s and 30s. In 1976 the prestigious journal “Science” published a landmark paper by John Imbrie, James Hays, and Nicholas Shackleton entitled “Variations in the Earth’s orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages,” which described the correlation which the trio of scientist/authors had found between the climate data obtained from ocean sediment cores and the patterns of the astronomical Milankovich cycles. Since the late 1970s, the Milankovich theory has remained the predominant theory to account for Ice Age causation among climate scientists, and hence the Milankovich theory is always described in textbooks of climatology and in encyclopaedia articles about the Ice Ages.

 

The first, on May 21, headed “Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts” , reported that the entire Alpine “winter sports industry” could soon “grind to a halt for lack of snow”. The second, on December 19, headed “The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation” , reported that this winter’s Alpine snowfalls “look set to beat all records by New Year’s Day”.

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists, cheered on by their army of media groupies such as the BBC, that the last 10 years have been the “hottest in history” and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to “natural factors” such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted (although they plaintively assure us that this cooling effect is merely “masking the underlying warming trend”, and that the temperature rise will resume worse than ever by the middle of the next decade).

Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a “scientific consensus” in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world’s most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that “consensus” which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world. As we saw in this month’s Poznan conference, when 10,000 politicians, officials and “environmentalists” gathered to plan next year’s “son of Kyoto” treaty in Copenhagen, panicking politicians are waking up to the fact that the world can no longer afford all those quixotic schemes for “combating climate change” with which they were so happy to indulge themselves in more comfortable times. == By Christopher Booker 

(Dec. 22)

Winter arrived in Beijing yesterday (Dec. 21) with the highest temperature of the day down to minus 8.8 ℃. Media reports say it was “the coldest day in December in the last 57 years.”

 

 

The Midwest and the East of the U.S. will barely have time to dig out from the snow and ice that blasted the regions on Friday before the next system moves through by Sunday. 

The extreme arctic air, being pushed to the south and east by strong winds behind the storm will pave the way for the third storm in the train that is adding to the winter woes in the Northwest. 

The Severe Weather Center lists the storm- and cold-related watches, warnings and advisories in effect through the weekend across the northern tier of the country. 

One result of many from this cold wave — car accidents, a bus nearly went off a cliff in Seattle due to icy conditions; a jet airliner slid off an icy runway and crashed in a ravine. 

Continental passengers on a flight from Denver, Colorado to Houston,Texas had to flee their burning airliner, sprawled in a smoke-filled ravine off a runway with the fuselage partially buckled and one engine and part of its landing gear ripped off.

There was no official word yet Sunday on the possible cause of the crash of Continental Flight 1404 at Denver International Airport.

The entire right side of the Boeing 737 was burned in the Saturday evening accident and melted plastic from overhead compartments dripped onto the seats.

Some 40 people suffered injuries including broken bones. The conditions of two people who had been in critical condition at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver were upgraded Sunday, one to serious and one to fair, spokeswoman Tonya Ewers said.

 

 

Dr. Jay Lehr, an expert on environmental policy, told “Lou Dobbs Tonight” (Dec. 18) viewers you can detect subtle patterns over recorded history, but that dates back to the 13^th Century.

 

“If we go back really, in recorded human history, in the 13^th Century, we were probably 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than we are now and it was a very prosperous time for mankind,” Lehr said. “If go back to the Revolutionary War 300 years ago, it was very, very cold. We’ve been warming out of that cold spell from the Revolutionary War period and now we’re back into a cooling cycle.”

 

Lehr suggested the earth is presently entering a cooling cycle – a result of nature, not man.

 

“The last 10 years have been quite cool,” Lehr continued. “And right now, I think we’re going into cooling rather than warming and that should be a much greater concern for humankind. But, all we can do is adapt. It is the sun that does it, not man.”

 

Lehr is a senior fellow and science director of The Heartland Institute, an organization that will be holding the 2009 International Conference on Climate Change in New York March 8-10.

 

Another CNN meteorologist attacked the concept that man is somehow responsible for changes in climate last year. Rob Marciano charged Al Gore’s 2006 movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” had some inaccuracies.

 

“There are definitely some inaccuracies,” Marciano said during the Oct. 4, 2007 broadcast of CNN’s “American Morning.” “The biggest thing I have a problem with is this implication that Katrina was caused by global warming.”

 

Marciano also said that, “global warming does not conclusively cause stronger hurricanes like we’ve seen,” pointing out that “by the end of this century we might get about a 5 percent increase.”

 

His comments drew a strong response and he recanted the next day saying “the globe is getting warmer and humans are the likely the main cause of it.”

 

 

American Idol rejects might be supporters. Now it’s understandable that Democrats win elections in Seattle and Minneapolis. Did you see how remedial that population is on American Idol’s tryouts?

No wonder the Democrats won the House and Senate back. There are a lot of delusional and low IQ people who think it is cool to vote for Democrats. Nancy Pelosi is going to jump out with a new Global Warming Committee in the House.

Now the Mainstream Media Progressives are feeling the backlash. So, like Stalin, Hugo Chavez and Castro, impose censorship! They are against the party platform! They need re-education camp!

The Weather Channel’s most prominent climatologist is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to “Holocaust Deniers” and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists.
The Weather Channel’s (TWC) Heidi Cullen, who hosts the weekly global warming program “The Climate Code,” is advocating that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) revoke their “Seal of Approval” for any television weatherman who expresses skepticism that human activity is creating a climate catastrophe.

What’s Next? Gulags for Global Warming Skeptics?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern California’s Interstate 5 remains closed through the Grapevine today, due to snow and ice. Northbound lanes are shut at Parker Road, and southbound lanes are closed at Laval Road. Malibu received snow this morning. Maybe Michael More should get Al Gore on the phone and talk about a Global Cooling movie?

Dogs have a sense of fair play. More so than the Democrat Machine — Gwen Ifill of PBS will benefit if Sarah Palin fails

By Mick Gregory

Dogs are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals from human contact, scientists reported at a conference in Budapest recently.

They say the fact that dogs’ play rarely escalates into a fight shows the animals abide by social rules.

During one study, dogs which held up a paw were rewarded with a food treat.

When a lone dog was asked to raise its paw but received no treat, the researchers found it begged for up to 30 minutes.

But when they tested two dogs together but rewarded only one, the dog which missed out soon stopped playing the game.

Dr Friederike Range, of the University of Vienna, who led the study, said: “Dogs show a strong aversion to inequity.”

So we look at the PBS modirator for tonight’s VP Debate. If Obama wins the election, she is going to receive a $350,000 to $500,000 bonus  for her book she is promoting on Obama and other African  Democrats.

The moderator of tonight’s vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out on the day the next president takes the oath of office that aims to “shed new light” on Democratic candidate Barack Obama and other “emerging young African American politicians” who are “forging a bold new path to political power.”

Gwen Ifill of the Public Broadcasting Service program “Washington Week” is promoting “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” in which she argues the “black political structure” of the civil rights movement is giving way to men and women who have benefited from the struggles over racial equality.

Ifill declined to return telephone messages from “The Factor” and WND asking for a comment about her book project and whether its success would be expected should Obama lose. But she has faced criticism previously for not treating candidates of both major parties the same.

During a vice-presidential candidate debate she moderated in 2004 – when Democrat John Edwards attacked Republican Dick Cheney’s former employer, Halliburton – the vice president said, “I can respond, Gwen, but it’s going to take more than 30 seconds.”

Ms. Ifill was lauded for snapping back at Mr. Cheney.

“Well, that’s all you’ve got,” she told Mr. Cheney.

Ifill told the Associated Press Democrats were delighted with her answer, because they “thought I was being snippy to Cheney.”

But she also was cited in complaints PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler said he received after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered her nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., earlier this month.

Some viewers complained of a “dismissive” look by Ifill during her report on Palin’s speech. According to Getler, some also said she wore a look of “disgust” while reporting on the Republican candidate.

Google the facts yourself if you have any doubts. Care to comment?

Note to new readers: PBS is a nationalized, taxpayer supported news medium.

Conclusion: Your loyal dog Spots has more sense of fairness than the mainstream media. Nothing will get in the way of elite liberal Democrats in their power grab. This smells awful. Or are you OK with it?

You can put lipstick on a pig, but you still have a pig! Obama’s Macaca Moment

The quote heard ’round the world today came from the lips of Obama. The Democrat presidential candidate with ties to Acorn said this about Sarah Palin today, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but you still have a pig!

Will the Washington Post, New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle run 50 straight days about Obama’s Macaca moment?

I wonder what Don Imus has to say about that? How about Oprah?

Democrat Party  presidential hopeful Barack Obama brushed aside a series of polls that show him losing support among white women voters to John McCain since the Republican hero named Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

A Washington Post/ABC News survey published on Tuesday found most of McCain’s surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention was due to a big shift in support among white women voters. Meanwhile, his supporter, Oprah refuses to have Sarah Palin as a guest on her daytime talk show that appeals to women. But apparently white women — not so much.

Who is more porcine, Oprah or Palin?

Question: Who said “It’s nice to be here in New Pennsylvania?”

A. Dan Quale

B. George Bush

C. Obama

Answere: C. Obama

Oprah

Question: Who said “Bashing my Muslim faith…”

A. Osama bin-Laden

B. Barack Obama

C. Ahmadinejad

Answer: B. Barack Obama

Obama picks Hillary! Obama picks Hillary! Not!

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Update: It’s Biden. Who said Democrats couldn’t keep a secret?

Obama didn’t want Hillary Clinton and the machine around him for the rest of his life. Can you blame him? Wouldn’t you rather shoot the breeze with Joe Biden? Sure.

By Mick Gregory

With McCain’s lopsided win in the debate held by Rev. Warren in California, the DNC leadership are in a panic. They will try and force Obama to pick Hillary as his running mate.

That’s my prediction. We’ll have to see if Hillary wants to chance it with this stalled campaign. Maybe there is so much worry, that Hillary will get the nomination in Denver. Obama has to nip it in the bud and name Hillary his VP before the revolt takes over the convention and makes Hillary the candidate and Obama has to settle for Veep.

Ralph Nader agrees with me.

“He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” in picking rival Lyndon Johnson in 1960, said the liberal activist and maverick presidential candidate.

According to Nader’s logic, Obama may dislike Hillary, but will conclude he has no choice but to get over it if he hopes to leave next week’s convention in Denver with a unified party and a decent shot against John McCain in the fall: “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board.”

“He’s got to be very concerned by the [neck-and-neck] polls and by what happened at Saddleback,” added Nader, referring to the recent candidates forum hosted by evangelist Rick Warren. “He got beat in Saddleback—big time.”

Nader said his own sources—and, to be blunt, they sound a bit sketchy—lead him to believe that Clinton remains in serious consideration. A friend, he said, recently saw Clinton family intimate Vernon Jordan on Martha’s Vineyard and reported the “usually very effusive” Jordan to be suspiciously “tight-lipped.”

It was only in May that Sen. Barack Obama cockily proclaimed he would debate Sen. John McCain “anywhere, anytime.” But in June, Obama said no to McCain’s challenge to have 10 one-on-one town hall meetings

— ibdeditorials.com.

After what happened at Lake Forest, Calif.’s evangelical Saddleback last Saturday evening, we may have found that debating is Obama’s Achilles’ heel. Whether or not you like the idea of such events being held in religious venues, the plain-and-simple method of questioning used by Saddleback pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren revealed fundamental differences between these two men.

“It’s one of those situations where the devil is in the details,” Obama said at one point. He could have been referring to his own oratorical shortcomings when a teleprompter is unavailable. We learned a lot more about the real Obama at Saddleback than we will next week as he delivers his acceptance speech in Denver before a massive stadium crowd.

The stark differences between the two came through the most on the question of whether there is evil in the world. Obama spoke of evil within America, “in parents who have viciously abused their children.” According to the Democrat, we can’t really erase evil in the world because “that is God’s task.” And we have to “have some humility in how we approach the issue of confronting evil.”

For McCain, with a global war on terror raging, there was no equivocating: We must “defeat” evil. If al-Qaida’s placing of suicide vests on mentally-disabled women and then blowing them up by remote control in a Baghdad market isn’t evil, he asked: “You have to tell me what is.”

Asked to name figures he would rely on for advice, Obama gave the stock answer of family members. McCain pointed to Gen. David Petraeus, Iraq’s scourge of the surge; Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who “had his skull fractured” by white racists while protesting for civil rights in the 60s; plus Internet entrepreneur Meg Whitman, the innovative former CEO of eBay.

When Warren inquired into changes of mind on big issues, Obama fretted about welfare reform; McCain unashamedly said “drilling” — for reasons of national security and economic need.

On taxes, Obama waxed political: “What I’m trying to do is create a sense of balance and fairness in our tax code.” McCain showed an understanding of what drives a free economy: “I don’t want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich. I don’t believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth.”

To any honest observer, the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama have been evident all along. What we saw last weekend was Obama’s shallowness juxtaposed with McCain’s depth, the product of his extraordinary life experience.

It may not have been a debate, but it was one of the most lopsided political contests in memory. — iht.com

I have to agree, this was the most lopsided debate win I’ve seen in my life.

I can’t wait to see a few debates. I know there will be only two or three now. And the Democrats will have to try and put the fix in with the “right” kind of journalists asking the questions.

Chinese upset with Greorge W. Bush’s speech at Olympics about freedom

What kind of reception will Bush get? Perhaps a steaming platter of dog or perhaps a horse penis, both delicacies in China.

In a speech highlighting America’s historic freedoms and challenges ahead  in Asia, President Bush had boldly pushed China to enact a free press, free assembly,  freedom of religion  and labor rights in China, and spoke out sharply against its imprisonment of its citizens, human rights advocates and religious leaders. He said he wasn’t trying to antagonize China, but called such reform the only path the U.S. rival can take to reach its full potential.

This  sets the stage for an interesting reception when he attends the opening ceremonies Friday evening and meets with Hu on Sunday after attending church.

No other U.S. president has been so blunt with the Chinese  in modern history.

What kind of reception will Bush get? Perhaps a steaming platter of dog or perhaps a horse penis and testicles,  delicacies in China.

The kings of oil increasing production to 10 million barrels a day

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is planning to increase its output next month by about a half-million barrels of oil a day of its light, sweet crude oil, according to analysts and oil traders who have been informed by Saudi officials. This announcement alone, plus the Republican party political movement called “Drill Here — Drill Now!” is making it into the media. 

The increase could bring Saudi output to a production level of 10 million barrels a day, which, if sustained, would be the kingdom’s highest performance level in history. The move was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices. In recent weeks, soaring fuel costs have incited demonstrations and protests from Italy to Indonesia.

Saudi Arabia is currently pumping 9.45 million barrels a day, which is an increase of about 300,000 barrels from last month.

The Saudis are concerned that today’s record prices might eventually damp economic growth and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries. The current prices are also making alternative fuels more viable, threatening the long-term prospects of the oil-based economy. The high prices have also made it profitable to stimulate mature oil wells in Texas and California. 

President Bush visited Saudi Arabia twice this year, pleading with King Abdullah to step up production. While the Saudis resisted the calls then, arguing that the markets were well supplied, they seem to have since concluded that they needed to disrupt the momentum that has been building in commodity markets, sending prices higher. That creates panic. There seems to be no end in sight. 

The Saudi plans were disclosed in interviews with several oil traders and analysts who said that Saudi oil officials had privately conveyed their production plans recently to some traders and companies in the United States. The analysts declined to be identified so as not to be cut off from future information from the Saudis.

Last week, King Abdullah also took the unprecedented step of arranging on short notice a major gathering of oil producers and consumers to address the causes of the price rally. The meeting will be held on June 22 in the Red Sea town of Jeddah.

Oil prices have gained 40 percent this year, rising to nearly $140 a barrel in recent days and driving gasoline costs above $4 a gallon. Some analysts have predicted that prices could reach $200 a barrel this year as oil consumption continues to rise rapidly while supplies lag.

The growing volatility of the markets, including a record one-day gain of $10.75 a barrel last week, has persuaded the Saudis that they need to step in, analysts said. The Saudis and Republicans are the only groups trying to lower the price of crude. But you won’t read that in your mainstream newspaper on watch it on NBC. 

Did you know…

Until recently, only 35 percent of oil has been extracted from reservoirs. Oil resides in porous rock formations, it is not in the sate of underground pools as many consumers believe. Today, oil companies such as Chevron, Shell,  Halliburton and Schlumberger, have developed stimulation methods to revive mature wells. There are fracturing and perforating techniques, 3-D seismic methods to clearly see trapped reservers that have been missed by the original well. There are now, steerable drill bits that can capture those trapped oil reserves and pinpoint stimulation on targeted areas. 

–Mick Gregory

While at the Getty home in Pacific Heights (San Francisco), Obama calls small-town whites, Bible thumpers, gun-loving bigots

By Mick Gregory

Here is why I’ve created this blog on citizen journalism: to expose the cozy relationship between the mass media and Democrat political machine, and let you into the mansions and “elegantly casual” settings. Here is a prime example. Who, what, where and why? The basic questions a reporter asks are often glossed over to protect the politician.

Sen. Obama, while speaking at the Getty’s private mansion in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, the richest enclave of society in America, condemns small-town, lower middle class whites in suburban America for their belief in God, Second Amendment rights and being bigots and idiots. Let me tell you a little bit about Getty. He bought the mansion next door to his to garage his 12 luxury sports cars.

No talk of a carbon footprint among friends. Did Sean Penn attend the gathering? I’d like to know, because his movie “into the Wild” (a very good movie and book) is about a rich kid who graduated from Emory University and was accepted to Harvard Law School, but instead he burns and gives away $20,000 and goes off to live off the land.

Penn is also a big supporter of Hugo Chavez, who is a de-facto dictator of Venezuela and is one of the key OPEC members behind the recent spike of oil.

Here is the report on the citizen journalist from the Huffington Post who attended the “gala.”
Ms. Fowler, who graduated from Vassar in 1968 and had dabbled in writing, became a “citizen journalist” last summer when the Huffington Post started “OffTheBus.net,” a new venture that has now expanded to a network of about 1,800 unpaid writers and researchers. I wrote about O.T.B. in October, by which time editors at the Huffington Post had already identified Ms. Fowler as one of O.T.B.’s “emerging star correspondents.”

Ms. Fowler has spent a lot of time (and her own money) following the presidential campaign– and participating in it. She has maxed out at $2,300 to Mr. Obama, starting in increments last fall. She said she has also given money ($100) to Mrs. Clinton, because she is roughly Mrs. Clinton’s age and liked the idea of a woman president and she attended two Clinton fund-raisers with her sister, a devoted Clinton supporter. And she also gave $500 to Fred Thompson, of Tennessee, even though he is a Republican, because that’s where she is from and her family has been steeped in Tennessee politics since the 1790s (that’s not a typo).

As a supporter who had made donations, Ms. Fowler had been invited before to Obama fund-raisers — and written about them on O.T.B. After the Ohio and Texas primaries, she was back home in the Bay Area and heard that Mr. Obama would be holding four fund-raisers there on April 6. She had not been invited but asked a friend if she could go. She was put on the list for the last of four events, this one at a mansion in Pacific Heights.

There’s a bit of a brush fire in California about how Ms. Fowler got in, and Ms. Fowler is protecting the person who secured her a ticket. That person has since called her and said that fund-raisers are always off the record.

“This was never conveyed to me,” Ms. Fowler said. “I was invited to the event, I had written on fund-raisers in the past, why wouldn’t I this time?” She said the Obama campaign had never objected before to her having written about fund-raisers (though admittedly, nothing much of interest had happened). And the invitations said nothing about being closed to the press. Besides, she said, several guests brought people and children and who had not been invited.

Please write me if you see this reported in the San Francisco Chronicle or New York Times.

Did you read that Jimmy Carter is going to meet with Hamas leaders, a group of terrorists headed by Khaled Meshal. A group that killed hundreds of Americans and thousands of their own people and Jews in a blood-thirsty drive to wipe out Israel and Christians in the Middle East?

Did you know that Carter already met with Hamas a year ago?

It should be front page news today. It’s not any different than if FDR had gone on a trip to visit with Hitler and his inner circle in 1942.

More…

Five of America’s top energy company executives called before Congress. Where is Citgo?

Five U.S. oil company executives are scheduled to “testify” at the Capitol on Tuesday about soaring crude oil prices and prices at the gas pump of over $3.20 per gallon.

Why wasn’t Citgo invited to the interrogations? What is the profit margin for the energy companies? It is 8 percent. That’s about half of the New York Times, LA Times and Houston Chronicle’s profit margins.

By Mick Gregory

Executives from the three biggest U.S.-based oil companies — Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp and ConocoPhillips will attend, as well as U.S. representatives of BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

With accusatory questions expected from Democrats on the panel, oil executives will have to simply point to U.S. crude oil prices, which have skyrocketed from below $20 per barrel in early 2002 to a record $111.80 a barrel earlier this month. Approximately 44 gallons of gasoline are in one barrel. Heavy sour crude oil takes more processing expense to produce the equivalent in light, sweet crude.

“Gasoline and diesel prices are being set in what we consider to be a crude-driven market,” said Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies on behalf of big U.S. oil companies.

A good question to ask is why not Citgo? How can an OPEC member be trading and pumping up prices on the New York Mercantile exchange while being members of a cartel that benefits from raising the price of crude?

Do the Democrats have a basic understanding of business and markets?

How about leasing exploritory drilling in Alaska and off shore? More supply lowers demand and price. It’s simple Eco 101.

Will Hillary or Obama chime in? This could be good. Will the famous Democrat from California speak up, Henry Waxman?

Newspaper jobs at 15-year low. A Harbinger of things to come.

U.S. media employment in December fell to a 15-year low (886,900), slammed by the slumping newspaper industry. But employment in advertising/marketing-services — agencies and other firms that provide marketing and communications services to marketers — broke a record in November (769,000). Marketing consulting strongly lead that growth.

Companies still invest in marketing, but they have more options now such: digital initiatives, direct marketing, promotions and events, just to name a few. That creates more opportunities for consultants to help define strategies.

Meanwhile, dissident shareholder Harbinger Capital Partners has increased its stake in newspaper publishing company New York Times Co. to 11.8 percent, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday. The Harbinger investors are going to take control and eventually do away with the two-tier stock that gives all the voting rights to the elitist family while they spend the investors money on global trips and penthouse condos.
Harbinger, working together with Firebrand Partners founder Scott Galloway, a New York University business professor, has criticized the Times for not aggressively building up its digital businesses.

The investors have nominated four candidates for election to the board at the Times’ annual shareholder meeting on April 22.

On Tuesday, Harbinger reported owning 16.9 million shares of the New York-based publishing company. Earlier this month, Harbinger disclosed that it had raised its stake to more than 10 percent from 5 percent.

Ad agencies also have evolved, expanding beyond simply creating and placing ads. Indeed, Ad Age DataCenter research has shown that U.S. marketing-communications agencies collectively in 2005 for the first time generated less than half of their revenue from traditional media and media planning/buying.

Falling stocks

Marketing consultancies over the past year added 14,500 jobs (up 10.8%), nearly matching staff cuts at newspapers (down 16,900 or 4.7%), reported in AdAge.

Funny, that’s what I am, a marketing consultant now.

Meanwhile, back at the Bay Area newspapers the staff of the left over Knight-Ridder papers that were bought by the fire sale specialists, Dean Singleton’s Media News Group. The publisher told the entire staff that this is the first time the Contra Costa Times lost money since 1991, again about 15 years ago. Isn’t that something?

So we’re announcing today that we’re extending to all employees a one-time voluntary separation opportunity, commonly known as a buy-out. Everyone except Operating Directors and me will get the opportunity to apply for a buy-out. Each of you will have the opportunity to apply. We are distributing a packet with all the details. If you don’t get one within 24 hours, by 2 p.m. Wednesday, please contact your department manager or Human Resources.

Here are some of the things I hope you’ll keep in mind as you review the buy-out information:

Your getting a packet is not in any way a reflection on your performance or value to the company. Everyone is getting a packet.

Announcements regarding the need to reduce costs also were made this afternoon in San Jose, at the Mercury News, and in San Ramon, at the Shared Services Center. This is a BANG-wide effort.

This program is part of a general cost reduction program. We also will be taking other steps unrelated to our compensation costs to bring down operating expenses. We’ll have more to say later about these other steps, such as limiting days for inserting and reducing the size of the TV tab.

We are not announcing the number of job eliminations. For one thing, the number can change depending on who applies and is accepted for a buy-out. Second, we are seeking a dollar savings, not a reduction in a specific number of jobs. But I will say this: The number of jobs that will be eliminated will be significant. So each employee needs to give the buy-out opportunity full consideration.

Applying for a buy-out doesn’t mean you’ll get one. The decision whether or not to accept a buy-out application will be made by senior management based on our business needs.

If we do not get and accept enough buy-out applications to reach our cost savings goal, we will have to do involuntary layoffs. We won’t know where we stand on layoffs until after the buy-out acceptance deadline, which will be March 3rd. Very quickly thereafter, we will make a decision on layoffs.

To encourage employees to apply for a buy-out, the severance benefits for voluntary buy-outs are twice the severance benefits for involuntary layoffs. The severance payouts and benefits associated with buy-outs and layoffs are contained in the information packet.

These are very difficult times. They demand that we move quickly and decisively. It is easy to get discouraged, to wonder about the future of newspapers and companies like ours. Personally, I still believe in the power of newspapers and, specifically, the power of our newspapers and Web sites. We deliver the biggest media audience in the East Bay, and that will be the key to our growth in the future as we rebound from these economic challenges. And we will rebound.

The senior management team appreciates your understanding and continued dedication to moving us forward.

John Armstrong, President & Publisher

Hillary’s last gasp as bill hits a supporter

“This is the last hurrah. After March 4, Hillary Clinton will be out of the race for good, and Obama will take the commanding lead,” he said. “She should back him with her delegates immediately. That’s what I’m asking them to do.”

Obama supporter Robert Holeman (a black man) said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first. Holeman also described Clinton’s reaction to him as “irate.”

So, get your Flip video cameras and cell phones ready for Hillary’s last chance. She’s even losing her union support. Hillary’s final weeks.
This is going to be dirty.

Hillary is using her machine to grab the “super delegates” that nobody won. Now she’s using the last of her clout to put them in her win column. The seated delegates from Florida and Michigan.

Clinton actually elbowed him in the mouth. The Secret Service actually had to take Bill away.

Have you seen Bill’s temper? Doesn’t that make you wonder about Vince Foster?

Four separate courts freeze PDVSA (Citgo) assets in Exxon Mibile legal case.

Mick Gregory

Did you see this on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or MSNBC? The Exxon Mobil lawsuit has advanced to the point that four world courts have frozen Venezuela’s PDVSA (Citgo) assets to the tune of $12 billion. Hillary Clinton should take a lesson from this; when a leftist/progressive government socializes or nationalizes companies, there are consequences.

The United States State Department on Wednesday backed Exxon Mobil Corp’s effort to win compensation from Venezuela for seized assets in a case that has prompted the OPEC nation to threaten to cut off oil supplies to America.

Venezuelan President Hugo (Boss) Chavez, an enemy of the U.S. and UK, (and friend to Cuba and Iran) says Exxon court victories that resulted in $12 billion in Venezuelan assets being frozen over the seizure is part of an “economic war” to unseat him directed by the Bush administration.

“We fully support the efforts of Exxon Mobil to get a just and fair compensation package for their assets according to the standards of international law,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

“But we are not involved in that dispute. It is something that has to be litigated between Venezuela and Exxon Mobil and various courts around the world,” he added.

Chavez stopped oil exports to Exxon on Tuesday, escalating Venezuela’s multibillion-dollar fight with the U.S. company over his nationalization of a project last year that was part-owned by Exxon and Britain’s BP.

Imagine if you will, Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage caught masturbating in front of a young girl. This is just a tid bit of Bernie Ward’s background.

This is a glimpse into the mind of a top Democrat and leader of the left. Bernie Ward is his name.
WARNING: DO NOT READ WHILE EATING

PUT THIS STICKER UP IN PUBLIC PLACES.

Barbara Boxer is said to have put pressure on the SFPD to halt the investigation of Ward.

“…Using the San Francisco Chronicle to get his message to KGO listeners, Bernie Ward is begging to be rehired at his former station. …Ward, 56, is using the kind of excuse that his liberal apologists would never tolerate from conservative talkers: that his crimes are in the past and therefore should be forgotten. Indicted on several counts of both possessing and distributing child pornography, Ward may indeed face prison time, whether San Francisco’s disturbed liberal establishment likes it or not…” http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2008/01/bernie-ward-begs-to-be-rehired-still.html

A pdf of the police report has an on-line chat between Ward, who refers to himself as a “slave”, and a Dominatrix. Ward talks about homosexual encounters at a porn theater, states he wants to be sodomized and “sisified”, says his daughter saw him masturbate, says he committed a sex act on his own son and threatens to molest children at a future date. http://prosites-prs.homestead.com/ward_new.pdf

This is the man that the San Francisco radio station, KGO, gave a primetime show to to attack President Bush for 15-hours a week and then three hours on the weekend to attack Christians (on the show “God Talk”) and is considering rehiring.

His agent intimates that it’s the Bush Administration getting him for being such a tireless critic ( she also offers the “Townsend Defense”) http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=5821709

Yet, like all good liberals, he is not going to let a little misunderstanding regarding pedophilia get in the way of his righteous fight against REAL EVIL:

US Marines fighting Bush / Hitler’s war:

“…American soldiers are engaged in an immoral war…Go Hillary! (Bernie Ward worked on the staff of Senator Barbara Boxer (D).

Congratulations, Obama! You won’t hear that from Hillary.

Mick Gregoy

Now the backlash. What was Hillary and her machine thinking when they fired the beautiful, highly effective Hispanic campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle? That they are showing the Black voters, that “See, we were not really pandering for Hispanic votes in place of the loyal Black vote.”

Too late. It’s time for the fat lady with the accordion to start singing.

A prominent member of the national Democratic Party has circulated a sharp e-mail saying the removal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disloyal to Hispanics and should give “pause” to superdelegates and voters.
The e-mail from, Steven Ybarra, a California superdelegate who heads the voting-rights committee of the DNC Hispanic Caucus, was sent to fellow caucus members in the hours after word broke that Solis Doyle – the most prominent Latina in Clinton’s campaign – would be replaced by another close Clinton loyalist, Maggie Williams, who is black.
The e-mail noted that Clinton, who is looking to Latino voters for a boost in the Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, scored heavily with Hispanics in her California win.
“Apparently, loyalty is not a two-way street,” he wrote. “Latino superdelegates like myself . . . will have cause to pause.”

Obama just missed winning the jackpot in Nevada — Hillary’s union activists muscle in. Now reported: election districts in New York’s Harlem had zero votes for Obama. More than 80 voting districts in New York had zero votes for Obama.

By Mick Gregory

Updated when relevant reports come in.
Feb. 16, 2008:
Wire reports summarized in a 1 col.x 5 inch story burried within the Houston Chronicle mentions:

No (0) votes for Obama in Black voting district in New York.
Black voters are heavily represented in the 9th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to rustls from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Obama.
That anomaly was not the only one. A review by the New York Times of unofficial results on primary night found some 80 election districts where Obama did not recieve even one vote, including districts where he ran a respectable race in the ajoining districts

This while Kucinich is paying for a recount in New Hampshire where he received (0) votes and low to (0) counts for Obama.

Has the Clinton machine been vote tampering again like they tried to do in Miami for Al Gore?

Why isn’t this a front page news article? Are you concerned that the U.S. election process is corrupt?

Obama wins South Carolina with 54% of the vote to Hillary’s 26%. Oops. The Bill factor didn’t help much, did it.
Maybe it was because the Clinton machine doesn’t have clout in South Carolina.

US Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign on Sunday said that it had received reports of voting irregularities in Nevada’s nominating caucuses, which were won by rival Hillary Clinton.
Spokesmen for Obama’s campaign told reporters that a Clinton party handout urged registration lines for the caucuses Saturday to close at 11:30 am, whereas state party rules said anyone in line until 12:00 pm was to be allowed to participate.

“Despite clear rules and timelines laid out by the Nevada Democratic Party that caucus doors should remain open and voter registration should continue until noon, the Clinton campaign encouraged their operatives to close the caucus doors at 11:30 am, a half hour before that deadline,” said spokesman Bill Burton.

“This caused confusion and led to people leaving the caucuses before having the chance to participate.”

Clinton won the state’s nominating contest with 51 percent of the vote, while Obama received 45 percent. The victory increased the former first lady’s lead over Obama, after she also won the New Hampshire primary on January 8.

Obama won the Democrats’ first nominating caucuses in Iowa at the beginning of the month. His campaign called for a full review of the Nevada vote but insisted it was not calling into question the results.

“We found an unusually high number of reports that the Clinton campaign was insisting that 11:30 was the deadline,” said general counsel Bob Bauer, adding that at least 300 complaints had come in.

“We are not calling the results into question at all. We want to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Bauer said.

“We are going to notify the Nevada Democratic party that we want a full review of this, and make sure we have in front of us a full picture to make sure this behavior is highlighted and discouraged in the future.”

Like New Hampshire, Nevada was another do-or-die situation for the Hillary machine.
Right out of Stalin’s playbook, voter suppression was on and the pro-Hillary teachers unions, Teamsters and government workers unions went all out for the machine — Hillary.

And just like BIG BROTHER/BIG SIS, the truth of voter suppression and cheating were flipped around and turned on Obama supporters. This power grab is serious business.

To go over the facts here, the only publicly reported radio ad anything like what Clinton refers to is one that encourages Republicans and independents to caucus, but doesn’t mention Hillary.

And the Vegas papers haven’t found any evidence of the kind of straightforward voter suppression Clinton reports. The Obama campaign has suggested the Clinton campaign file formal complaints if it has evidence.

“This is ludicrous,” Culinary Workers political director Pilar Weiss told Politico. She said the union is “aware that some workers aren’t going to vote our way” and doesn’t engage in intimidation.

“The fact that they lost a lawsuit aimed at suppressing workers’ votes, and that now they’re trying to hold on to these baseless claims is ridiculous,” she said.

Weiss also said Clinton’s claim is “technically impossible.” Clinton supporters can ask union organizers — who are actively promoting Obama’s candidacy — to add their names to the lists of workers who will take time off to caucus today. But signs posted around the casinos advertise another avenue to get the time off: Workers can go around the union and ask their managers directly.

“We have found it shocking that President Clinton has gotten so engaged in promoting these accusations,” she said.

My friend and attorney nicknamed Marjon* told me about this story.

Turn out the lights, the party is finally over for Hillary. Her lawsuit filed to hinder casino workers from voting was thrown out by an honest judge.

Here is another example of how the Democrat machine is anything but democratic. Hillary’s teachers union tried to block out casino workers from voting in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. Was the mainstream media reporting this? An AP reporter had the story on the wires, but very few newspapers bothered to pick it up. Meanwhile, Dennis Kocinich is paying $70,000 for a recount of the New Hampshire primary because of evidence of voter fraud by the Hillary Rodham-Clinton machine.

The Nevada results that come in Saturday will put Obama on top before Florida, South Carolina and Super Tuesday.

Here are the details from the AP report:

A union with ties to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton failed in court Thursday to prevent casino workers from caucusing at special precincts on the Las Vegas strip.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan was presumed to be a boost for Clinton rival Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday because he has been endorsed by the union representing many of the shift workers who will be able to use the precincts.
“State Democrats have a First Amendment right to association, to assemble and to set their own rules,” Mahan said.
Nevada’s Democratic Party approved creation of the precincts to make it easier for housekeepers, waitresses and bellhops to caucus during the day near work rather than have to do so in their neighborhoods.
The state teachers union, which has ties to Clinton, brought the suit against the special precincts shortly after local 226 of the Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination. The union is the largest in Nevada, with 60,000 members. The Clinton campaign said it was not involved in the suit.
The suit contended party rules allowing the precincts gave too much power to the casino workers and violated federal equal protection guarantees.
But the judge said, “We aren’t voting here, we’re caucusing. That’s something that parties decide.”
He said it is “up to the national party and the state party to promulgate these rules and enforce them.”
The Democratic National Committee ratified the state party’s rules in August.
Campaigning in San Francisco, Obama welcomed the judge’s decision, saying, “Any alternation would have disenfranchised maids, dishwashers, bellhops, people who work on the strip. Some of the people who set up the rules apparently didn’t think that we would be as competitive as we were and tried to change at the last minute.”
Nevada State Education Association — a pro-Hillary union — initiated the lawsuit.

*Marjon is the blind fearless lion of Afghanistan who would bite at the wind.

Join the Progressive Hillary-Obama Propaganda Campaign

The Hillary/Obama Progressive Manifesto

By Mick Gregory

Free to reproduce. Help the Progressive Democrats get the truth out. Print and paste on street lights, telephone poles, inside public transportation.

Join the campaign for America’s Progressive Socialist movement. We are using a new medium called Phenomenology; evolved from the OBEY/GIANT worldwide free promotion of totalitarian art. But this time, it is politcal art with a purpose. It’s truthful, graphic campaigning from the people.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

The Ramadan fires: 10 wildfires threaten the most expensive neighborhoods from Malibu to San Diego

Mick Gregory

Could terrorists have started the fires? Please don’t ask. In liberal circles you are racisit if you even think Islamic terrorists would do this.

Update: News is coming out that several of the fires are looking like arson according to officials of Orange County. For continuous updates, see my other story “Coverup: Were Wildfires Set by Terrorists?”

ALERT: “Officials” blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.
The boy admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. Ferocious winds helped it quickly spread.

“He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire,” Hecht said in a statement.

OK, that makes me feel safe. Officials know best.

Police did not release the boy’s name. Los Angeles County fire Capt. Michael Brown only would say Wednesday that he was younger than 13.

The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney’s office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives.

U.S. Capitol Police today (Nov. 2) were investigating the latest in a series of seven suspicious fires occurring in Senate office buildings.

A police spokesman said a small fire was discovered about 8:00 a.m. EDT in a 2nd floor woman’s restroom of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The police said it was at least the 7th confirmed fire in the office buildings since late September. The fires are all suspicious in nature and Capitol Police are exploring the possibility that they are linked. You think? Nah, it was probably and act of nature, or a 12-year-old with matches.

Don’t speculate on siloed Islamic terrorists. Don’t scare the American people.

Muslim clerics practice dry run — bomb making materials testing security. Huge explosions rock Dallas

Mick Gregory

UPDATE:

Several explosions and a large fire rocked an industrial company near downtown Dallas this morning.

Remember Ahmadinejad boasting that this was going to be a long “hot” summer, especially for the enemies of Islam?

The scene was located near the I-30 and I-35 interchange near Downtown. Both highways and many other roads in the area were closed. Traffic was backed up for miles in several directions.

Several tanks of material believed to be acetylene fuel could be seen exploding and throwing large pieces of shrapnel throughout the area. Acetylene is used in welding.

This federal report has been scubbed of any mintion of Islamic terrorists. That makes me wonder how much was left out of this alert.

U.S. airport security officers have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September.

The alert was distributed on July 20 by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to federal air marshals, its own transportation security officers and other law enforcement agencies.

The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included “wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances,” including block cheese, the bulletin said. “The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern.”

The bulletin said the a joint FBI-Homeland Security Department assessment found that terrorists have conducted probes, dry runs and dress rehearsals in advance of previous attacks.

Security officers were urged to keep an eye out for “ordinary items that look like improvised explosive device components.”

The 13-paragraph bulletin was posted on the Internet by NBC Nightly News, which first reported the story.

A federal official familiar with the document confirmed the authenticity of the NBC posting but declined to be identified by name because it has not been officially released.

It cited various types of rehearsals conducted by terrorists before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; the July 7, 2005, London subway bombings; the Aug. 2, 2006, London-based plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights using liquid explosives and the 1994 Bojinka plot in the Philippines to blow up multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean.

The bulletin said the passengers carrying the suspicious items seized since September included men and women and that initial investigation had not linked them with criminal or terrorist organizations. But it added that most of their explanations for carrying the items were suspicious and some were still under investigation.

The four seizures were described this way:

—San Diego, July 7. A U.S. person—either a citizen or a foreigner legally here—checked baggage containing two ice packs covered in duct tape. The ice packs had clay inside them rather than the normal blue gel.

—Milwaukee, June 4. A U.S. person’s carryon baggage contained wire coil wrapped around a possible initiator, an electrical switch, batteries, three tubes and two blocks of cheese. The bulletin said block cheese has a consistency similar to some explosives.

—Houston, Nov. 8, 2006. A U.S. person’s checked baggage contained a plastic bag with a 9-volt battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals and pipes.

—Baltimore, Sept. 16, 2006. A couple’s checked baggage contained a plastic bag with a block of processed cheese taped to another plastic bag holding a cellular phone charger.

—Six Muslim “scholars” returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation were removed from US Airways Flight 300 bound to Phoenix. Passengers on the flight raised concerns with the flight crew when the 3 of the Imams stood up on the plane and said their normal evening prayers. And we are supposed to take your word for this? Standard custom getting on to a plane is to find your seat and fasten your seat belt.

Too bad we didn’t arrest the Islamic terrorists acting suspicious on dry runs in the months running up to 9/11.

The Valerie Plame Game You Did Not Read About in the Mainstream media.

The Bush administration is not allowed to respond to slanderous, damning accusations by Valerie Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, because Ms. Plame worked in the office at the CIA (and pushed for hubby to go on the smear campaign trip)?

Who in Washington D.C. didn’t know that they were newly married and where they worked? The “cute couple” made the Georgetown cocktail party circuit and posed together in Vogue magazine before the Libby trial and Plame’s other lawsuit (which she just lost).

Wilson, you will recall, was “recommended” by his wife, Plame, to go on the fact finding mission to Niger. In the normal business world, that’s called nepotisim. Wilson stayed in the finest hotels, wined and dined like royalty and never actually found any evidence to contradict the British intelligence report that Iraq was trying to buy yellow cake uranium.

Wilson and Plame had another agenda, to attack Bush and Cheney. On the talk show rounds, Wilson called Cheney a “lying son of a bitch” and Bush a “liar.”

To this day, British intelligence has documented proof that Iraq was seeking to buy yellow cake and Wilson was the liar when he said he saw “proof” that the Iraq mission to buy yellow cake never happened.