The emphasis added speaks for itself

"Good morning, everybody. I wanted to take just a few minutes to update the American people on the attempted terrorist attack that occurred on Christmas Day and the steps we're taking to ensure the safety and security of the country.

The investigation's ongoing. And I spoke again this morning with Attorney General Eric Holder, the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, and my counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, John Brennan. I asked them to keep -- continue monitoring the situation to keep the American people and members of Congress informed.

Here's what we know so far: On Christmas Day, Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit. As the plane made its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, a passenger allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire.

Thanks to the quick and heroic actions of passengers and crew, the suspect was immediately subdued, the fire was put out, and the plane landed safely. The suspect is now in custody and has been charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft.

A full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism, and we will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable.

Now, this was a serious reminder of the dangers that we face and the nature of those who threaten our homeland. Had the suspect succeeded in bringing down that plane, it could have killed nearly 300 passengers and crew, innocent civilians preparing to celebrate the holidays with their families and friends.

The American people should be assured that we are doing everything in our power to keep you and your family safe and secure during this busy holiday season.

Since I was first notified of this incident, I've ordered the following actions to be taken to protect the American people and to secure air travel.

First, I directed that we take immediate steps to ensure the safety of the traveling public. We made sure that all flights still in the air were secure and could land safely. We immediately enhanced screening and security procedures for all flights, domestic and international. We added federal air marshals to flights entering and leaving the United States. And we're working closely in this country, federal, state and local law enforcement, with our international partners.

Second, I've ordered two important reviews, because it's absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.

The first review involves our watch list system, which our government has had in place for many years to identify known and suspected terrorists so that we can prevent their entry into the United States. Apparently the suspect in the Christmas incident was in this system, but not on a watch list, such as the so-called no-fly list. So I have ordered a thorough review, not only of how information related to the subject was handled, but of the overall watch list system and how it can be strengthened.

The second review will examine all screening policies, technologies and procedures related to air travel. We need to determine just how the suspect was able to bring dangerous explosives aboard an aircraft and what additional steps we can take to thwart future attacks.

Third, I've directed my national security team to keep up the pressure on those who would attack our country. We do not yet have all the answers about this latest attempt, but those who would slaughter innocent men, women and children must know that the United States will more -- do more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland.

Finally, the American people should remain vigilant, but also be confident. Those plotting against us seek not only to undermine our security, but also the open society and the values that we cherish as Americans. This incident, like several that have preceded it, demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient than an isolated extremist.

As a nation, we will do everything in our power to protect our country. As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division. We will be guided by our hopes, our unity, and our deeply held values. That's who we are as Americans; that's what our brave men and women in uniform are standing up for as they spend the holidays in harm's way. And we will continue to do everything that we can to keep America safe in the new year and beyond.

Before I leave, let me also briefly address the events that have taken place over the last few days in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has apparently resulted in detentions, injuries, and even death.

For months, the Iranian people have sought nothing more than to exercise their universal rights. Each time they have done so, they have been met with the iron fist of brutality, even on solemn occasions and holy days. And each time that has happened, the world has watched with deep admiration for the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people who are part of Iran's great and enduring civilization.

What's taking place within Iran is not about the United States or any other country. It's about the Iranian people and their aspirations for justice and a better life for themselves. And the decision of Iran's leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away.

As I said in Oslo, it's telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation.

Along with all free nations, the United States stands with those who seek their universal rights. We call upon the Iranian government to abide by the international obligations that it has to respect the rights of its own people.

We call for the immediate release of all who have been unjustly detained within Iran. We will continue to bear witness to the extraordinary events that are taking place there. And I'm confident that history will be on the side of those who seek justice.

Thank you very much, everybody. And Happy New Year."

Transcripts provided by Washington Post

Ted Nugent : 2nd Amendment

Never Forget

RINO?

Mint.

H/T: Dad29

Health Care Question

"Why would you guys try to stuff a health care bill down our throats in three or four weeks when the president took six months to pick what he wanted for his dog for his kids?"



H/T: Drudge

Assault on our 2nd Amendment

This is it. They are now beginning the attack on our second amendment rights.

A Bill Before Congress would prohibit ownership of handguns by those who have not obtained firearm licenses. Basically this legislation would make it illegal to own a firearm - any with a clip or ANY pistol unless it is registered:

• You are fingerprinted
  
• You must supply a current Driver's License
  
• You must supply your Social Security #
  
• You will submit to a physical; mental evaluation at anytime of their choosing
  
• Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported & costs $25 Failure results in automatically losing the right to own firearms are subject up to a year jail time.
  
• There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 30; stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18. The Government would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison.

Read the full article here: http://www.nowpublic.com/world/hr-45-blair-holt-firearm-licensing-record-sales-act-2009

Please pass this along. This is what we have been dreading and time is of the essence.

MINT

H/T: Moonbattery via Dad29

Lies upon lies

Patrick McIlheran of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a great post regarding the birthers and the "real" Barry Obama.

Maybe the birthers should focus on the other lies circulating Obama:

"He wasn’t raised by a single mother, really, but by settled grandparents. His parents didn’t meet in the wake of Selma."

"But Americans don’t know, nor do they know what Obama did visiting Pakistan as a young man, or why his own story of his years of growing up in Indonesia do not jibe with public records."

COMPLETELY Regurgitating Email Chains....

But I still love doing it!

An Israeli doctor said to a medical conference, "Medicine in my country is so advanced, we can take a kidney out of one person, put it into another and have him looking for work in six weeks!"

The German doctor stood up and said, "Well medicine in my county is so advanced, we can take a lung out of one person and put it into another and have him looking for work on 4 weeks"

The Russian doctor got up and said "My country is even more advanced, we can remove half of a heart from one person, put it into another and have them both looking for work in just 2 weeks!"

Not to be outdone, the American doctor stood up and addressed the conference, "Well", he said, "my country is so far advanced in medicine, we can take an asshole out of Chicago, put him in the White House, and have half the country looking for work in 24 hours!"

For Immediate Release

The Americans With No Abilities Act
Washington , DC - (Dateline February 18, 2009)

President Barack Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress are considering sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Senator Barbara Boxer - Democrat. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."

Under AWNAA, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"

"As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them,"said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint , Michigan , due to her inability to remember rightey tightey, lefty loosey."This new law should be real good for people like me," Gertz added. With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Said Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat-IL), "As a Senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so."

Built on Lies

Krauthammer hits the nail on the head with his latest piece. I especially enjoy the following:

"The list is long. But the list of causes of the collapse of the financial system does not include the absence of universal health care, let alone of computerized medical records. Nor the absence of an industry-killing cap-and-trade carbon levy. Nor the lack of college graduates. Indeed, one could perversely make the case that, if anything, the proliferation of overeducated, Gucci-wearing, smart-ass MBAs inventing ever more sophisticated and opaque mathematical models and debt instruments helped get us into this credit catastrophe in the first place."

The usual H/T: Matt

Is It NBA Or NFL?

36 have been accused of spousal abuse                       

7 have been arrested for fraud

19 have been accused of writing bad checks                     

117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses

3 have done time for assault

71 repeat - 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit                       

14 have been arrested on drug-related charges                   

8 have been arrested for shoplifting                       

21 currently are defendants in lawsuits, and                

84  have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year                

Can you guess which organization this is?  Give up yet?.. . Scroll down,

 

 

 

 

          

Neither, it's the 435 members of the United States Congress.  The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.

More DAISNAID

Typical liberal BS. The "do as I say, not as I do" mentality is clearly running rampant. I have never realized the amount of liberals out there who want to punish us with taxes and then punish us even more if we don't pay... unless of course, you are a nominee of the O and savior.

WaPo reports:

"A Senate committee today abruptly canceled a session to consider President Obama's nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis to be labor secretary in the wake of a report saying that her husband yesterday paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens against his business -- including liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years.

The report, by USA Today, came just before the Senate's Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee was slated to meet to consider Solis's nomination, which had been delayed by questions over her role on the board of the pro-labor organization American Rights at Work. A source said that committee members did not learn about the tax issue until today."

Let's play a game: Find the missing word

I'm going to paste two articles below (both found on Drudge today) about corrupt politicians. Try and find the missing word (or at least the initial).

Sen. Dodd says he'll refinance Countrywide loans

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd says he'll refinance two mortgages that he received through a VIP program from Countrywide Financial Corp.

Dodd told reporters Monday that the mortgages for his homes in Washington and East Haddam, Conn., will be refinanced with a different company.

Dodd has acknowledged receiving mortgages in 2003 through a VIP program at Countrywide, which was sold to Bank of America Corp. earlier this year and has been the focus of allegations that it gave favorable loan terms to lawmakers.

Dodd says he's moving the loans in part because he was wrongfully labeled a friend of Countrywide's former CEO, Angelo Mozilo. Dodd says he never sought special treatment.

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd says a third party will be involved in choosing the new bank. 

Daschle apologizes for failing to pay taxes

WASHINGTON (AP) - Trying to salvage his nomination, Tom Daschle apologized Monday for delinquent tax payments as President Barack Obama and a top Senate chairman stood by him as the choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

Following a weekend of revelations about taxes and potential ethical conflicts, Daschle expressed remorse to the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that will decide his fate, saying he was "deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about failing to pay more than $120,000 in back taxes.

Obama, speaking to reporters, said he was "absolutely" supporting his Cabinet choice. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate panel, said he backed Daschle's confirmation. The expression of support from Baucus came hours before Daschle was scheduled to meet with the committee and despite a less than amicable relationship between the two men.

Daschle wrote a letter to the top leaders of the Finance Committee. The letter, released Monday, sought to explain how he overlooked taxes on additional income for consulting work and the use of a car service. He also deducted more in charitable contributions than he should have.

Daschle recently filed amended tax returns for 2005-07 to report $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest.

"I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns," said Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader. "I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them."

In the letter dated Feb. 1, Daschle provided a timeline for when the errors were discovered and tax payments made.

Uncertain is whether the tax issue will stall or derail Daschle's nomination.

"The ability to advance meaningful health reform is my top priority in confirming a secretary of Health and Human Services, and I remain convinced that Senator Daschle would be an invaluable and expert partner in this effort. I am eager to move forward together," Baucus said in his statement.

Daschle and Baucus have had tussles in the past over Baucus' handling of former President George W. Bush's 2001 tax cut proposals, the Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 and trade legislation. Baucus has shown a greater willingness to negotiate with Republicans than most Democrats.

Daschle was an early supporter of Obama's presidential bid and several of Daschle's former Capitol Hill staffers went to work for Obama after Daschle, then a South Dakota senator, lost his re-election bid in 2004.

Daschle filed the amended returns after Obama announced he intended to nominate him as secretary of Health and Human Services.

Daschle explained in his apology letter that the presidential transition team flagged charitable contributions they concluded were deducted in error. When his accountant realized amended tax returns would need to be filed, he suggested addressing another matter that Daschle raised with him earlier in the year: whether the use of a car service provided by a close friend and business associate, Leo Hindery, should be reported as income.

The unreported income for that car service totaled more than $250,000 over three years.

At about the same time, Hindery's company informed Daschle's accountant of a clerical error it made on a form it provided to Daschle that he subsequently reported to the IRS. The error resulted in an additional $88,333 in unreported consulting income for 2007.

"I disclosed this information to the committee voluntarily, and paid the taxes and any interest owed promptly," Daschle wrote. "My mistakes were unintentional."

A financial disclosure form Daschle filed about a week ago shows that he made more than $200,000 in the past two years speaking to members of the health care industry that Obama wants him to reform.

The speaking fees were just a portion of the more than $5.2 million the former senator earned over the last two years as he advised health insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries such as energy and telecommunications, according to a financial statement filed with the Office of Government Ethics.

Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for Daschle, said the money he earned in speaking fees from health care interests do not pose a conflict for the health care reform Obama wants him to lead.

"He welcomed every opportunity to make his case to the American public at large and the health industry in particular that America can't afford to ignore the health care crisis any longer," she said.

Among the health care interest groups paying Daschle for speeches were America's Health Insurance Plans, $40,000 for two speeches; CSL Behring, $30,000; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, $16,000; and the Principal Life Insurance Co., $15,000.

2009: recession or recovery?

More evidence that this recession isn't as bad as people are making it out to be.

 

Frankly, this thing is probably half way over - the typical recession lasts approximately 18-months. Yes, there were tons of layoffs (some were exploited opportunties by companies), some closings (bad management or greed caused a majority of these), and house price declines (market-specific due to get-rich-quick-schemes and entitlement issues) however most people went unscathed.

 

That is precisely why the stimulus plan was jammed through so quickly. The libs couldn't pass legislation if we were already in recovery so let's chant 'doom and gloom' before people see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You read it here first.

UPDATE: After discussing this topic with a friend in the logistics (freight) industry, he agreed. He pointed out the noticeable increase in trucking over the last few weeks. Granted, these aren't scientific findings, I am confident that his analysis is relatively reliable.

H/T: Matt

Deep Sh*t

The financial crisis is evident in this map provided by Reuters. I'm not really surprised - this is just the obvious sh*t that I expect from the PIGs (Party in Government).

What I find to be the most revealing are two points:

1. Notice the states that aren't currently in trouble and what color would you classify them as? Red perhaps?
   
2. Reuters has chosen to ignore Alaska, a state that is run by the infamous Palin. A state that actually has a budget surplus.
   

If everything continues along this current path, I have every intention on moving to the North Plains. I would HATE the winters but I wouldn't miss the gummint.