Monthly Archives: September 2011
Mother Jailed After Fleeing Accident, Leaving Injured 4-Year-Old Child Behind
Mother Jailed After Fleeing Accident, Leaving Injured 4-Year-Old Child Behind – Weekly Vice
Lisette Gonzalez Avakian, a 35-year-old North Hollywood woman was jailed Wednesday after she allegedly flipped her vehicle while driving under the influence, then fled the scene leaving her 4-year-old child still trapped inside the car.
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According to police, Avakian was driving drunk around 2:00 a.m. when she reportedly hit two parked cars and then flipped her vehicle upside down.
Witnesses who heard the crash came to Avakian’s aid, however, she managed to exit the vehicle on her own and fled the scene leaving her injured child behind. The child didn’t appear to have been placed in a car seat prior to the accident.
Investigators say Avakian was found about a block away from the accident. She was transported to a local hospital where she was treated for injuries before being placed under arrest. Avakian’s child was also treated at a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries.
Officers initially thought there may have been another child involved in the crash because there was an infant car seat at the accident scene. Detectives searched a number of possible addresses found in the vehicle and eventually located Avakian’s two other children (ages 1 and 3 months old) at Avakian’s apartment. Child service took all three children into protective custody
Avakian was booked into jail and charged with driving while intoxicated and child endangerment. Her bail has been set at $100,000.
U.S. Incomes Fall For First Time In Nearly 2 Years
U.S. Incomes Fall For First Time In Nearly 2 Years – Breitbart
Americans earned less last month, the first decline in nearly two years. With less income, consumers could cut back on spending and weaken an already-fragile economy.
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Consumers spent a little more in August despite seeing their incomes drop 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. Consumer spending rose just 0.2 percent, after a more robust 0.7 percent gain in July.
Many tapped savings to cover the steeper costs. And most of the increase in spending went to pay higher prices for food and gas. When adjusted for inflation, August consumer spending was flat.
Stocks fell after the report’s release. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 100 points in the first half-hour of trading.
The data offered “more evidence that households are in quite a bind,” said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
In August, employers added no new jobs and cut hourly earnings for the first time in more than three years.
Income growth has been sluggish for most of the year. After taking inflation into account, after-tax incomes actually fell 0.3 percent in August and 0.2 percent in July. That’s the first back-to-back declines in inflation-adjusted incomes since mid-2008, when the country was in the midst of the recession and financial crisis.
Even the increase in spending wasn’t necessarily a good sign. Consumers spent 0.3 percent more on nondurable goods, such as food and clothing.
Gasoline prices are now roughly $3.46 per gallon. While that is higher than last year, the price is down nearly 52 cents from this year’s peak price of $3.98.
Consumers spent less last month on big purchases, such as cars, appliances and furniture. Car sales fell during the month, but part of that weakness reflected supply problems stemming from the Japan crisis.
“Consumer spending is still rising, which is important for U.S. economic growth. But the gains are pretty mediocre,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Facing higher prices and earning less money, consumers saved only 4.5 percent last month. The savings rate rose as high as 6.5 percent in late 2008, at the height of the recession and financial crisis.
Prior to the recession, Americans saved just 2 percent. An abundance of jobs and inflated home prices made many resist stowing money away.
The economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.9 percent in the first six months of the year, the slowest growth since the recession officially ended more than two years ago.
Consumer confidence stayed weak in September after the economy experienced a number of shocks this summer. Lawmakers fought over raising the nation’s borrowing limit, Standard & Poor’s downgraded long-term U.S. debt, the stock market fluctuated wildly and Europe’s debt crisis intensified.
The Federal Reserve last week agreed to shift $400 billion of its portfolio of Treasury securities to try to drive down long-term interest rates. It was the Fed’s latest unconventional move seeking to give the economy a boost.
Six Days After Cliff Plunge, Kids Find Dad
Six Days After Cliff Plunge, Kids Find Dad – MSLSD
A 67-year-old man found alive days after his car plunged 200 feet off a mountain road built a makeshift camp, ate leaves and drank water from a nearby creek to survive, his daughter said.
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After several days of radio silence from their dad, David Lavau’s kids reported him missing to police. As rescue workers conducted an official search for the missing man, the Lavaus set out on their own.
The family members were the ones who located David Lavau at the bottom of a ravine in the Angeles National Forest in California Thursday.
“We stopped at every ravine,’’ daughter Lisa Lavau told NBC News. “We kept screaming. We found him, no one else did. We did.’’
On TODAY Friday, son Sean Lavau joked in an interview alongside his siblings with TODAY’s Ann Curry: “We actually would not have a show long enough to talk about how that happened,’’ he said. “It was joint efforts in many different directions.’’
Eventually, it was Sean who shouted into a roadside ravine and heard a voice respond. He looked down – and saw his father’s mangled blue car.
“I finally got to him, (and) of course I hugged him, and we both cried,’’ Sean told NBC News. “I said ‘How did you make it?’ And he said, ‘I drank the water in the river, and I ate leaves and bugs.’ ’’
The severity of the situation was apparent when another wrecked vehicle from an unrelated accident was found next to Lavau’s car, smashed at the bottom of the same ravine. The decomposing body of the male driver, who has yet to be identified, was inside the other car.
The search began when authorities told Lisa Lavau that her father had used his debit card at a nearby grocery store. She decided to search the area along with her daughter and brother, also using his recent cell phone activity to help triangulate his possible location. They started in Oxnard, Calif., and ended in Castaic, a sparsely populated area nearly 50 miles away.
When they finally found him, his first words to his family were a request: “Can I have some chocolate milk?” local station KCAL reported. But Lavau’s other daughter, Chardonnay, told Curry she’d like to clarify that claim.
“My father’s favorite thing is chocolate malt (not milk),’’ Chardonnay said. “He loves his Frosty Freeze.’’
Officials at the scene were told that Lavau might have been stranded for up to six days.
“It’s unconfirmed, the duration, but it’s possibly a significant amount of time,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Mark Savage. A paramedic was lowered to David Lavau from a helicopter. He was evaluated and taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital for treatment.
David Lavau suffered multiple rib fractures, a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and multiple fractures in his back, but none of the injuries was life-threatening, said hospital spokeswoman Bhavna Mistery. He was expected to undergo surgery and it was not clear how long he would be hospitalized, she said. He was doing well and in good spirits.
“I don’t think his life is in danger right now,’’ Dr. Garrett Sutter of Henry Mayo Newhall told NBC News. “He’s in a great deal of pain and very hungry. He didn’t have a lot of resources to handle it, so he suffered through it.’’
Police investigators are working on determining the cause of the accident. That particular stretch of road has been treacherous in recent years thanks to its sharp curves and steep cliffs.
“This is a bad section of road,’’ Capt. Bob Brandelli of the L.A. County Fire Department told NBC News. “This has been the fourth incident I’ve been on here where we’ve had cars over the side.’’
Surprise! ObamaCare Doesn’t Lower Health Insurance Costs
Surprise! ObamaCare Doesn’t Lower Health Insurance Costs – Hot Air
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Barack Obama promised that his health-care overhaul plan would “bend the cost curve downward” and help Americans get better health care for less money. How is that promise working out so far? According to the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation… not well (via The Weekly Standard):
The Kaiser Family Foundation shows family premiums topped $15,000 a year for the first time in 2011, increasing a whopping 9% this year, three times more than the increase the year before. The study says that up to 2% of that increase is because of the health care law’s provisions, such as allowing families to add grown children up to 26 years old to their policies.
So what about that $2,500 in savings the president pledged? White House deputy chief of staff Nancy-Ann DeParle insists families will see that savings – by 2019.
“Many of the changes in the Affordable Care Act are starting this year, and in succeeding years,” DeParle told ABC News, “and by 2019 we estimate that the average family will save around $2,000.”
DeParle said that the “big increases that occurred last year were probably driven by insurance plans overestimating what the impact would be and maybe trying to take some profits upfront before some of the changes in the Affordable Care Act occur.
Probably? Maybe? If you get the impression that no one at the White House knows what’s going on, well, you’re right. That was clear enough when the bill got introduced in the summer of 2009 and then extensively debated that the Obama administration had confused costs with prices. The entire bill consists of attempts at price control while ignoring the real causes of rising prices, which are innovation (better care) and a lack of price signals to consumers through the third-party-payer model – a model that ObamaCare amplified rather than reformed.
Instead of lowering costs, insurance premiums increased at triple the rate from the previous year. Why? Thanks to new federal mandates, actual costs will increase for insurers, who now cannot offer lower-coverage and lower-cost plans to people who don’t need so-called Cadillac plans for their current situations. Adding mandates increases costs, especially the mandates to provide coverage for pre-existing conditions and “community pricing” that requires everyone else to pay more to cover that risk. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about risk-pool behavior – or just plain common sense – could see that outcome two years ago.
Employers are now shifting more of the increased costs to employees, too:
The Kaiser study also indicates employers are switching plans and shifting costs onto employees. Half of workers in smaller firms now face “deductibles of at least $1,000, including 28 percent facing deductibles of $2,000 or more,” according to the study.
That’s actually not a bad way to get pricing signals to the consumer, although it should be done in conjunction with HSAs and hospitalization-only coverage. Unfortunately, ObamaCare obliterates the tandem of HSAs and catastrophic-only coverage, which would put consumers in charge of cost control and lower premiums to a reasonable enough level that employers could get out of the loop. Small businesses have to do this in order to survive, and it won’t be long before larger firms do the same.
For the past two years, ObamaCare critics have repeatedly predicted this outcome. If the White House now can only provide guesswork as to why premiums are escalating faster than ever, it proves their incompetence at being the architects of a national controlled economy, and the folly of that venture at all.
Man Ordered To Surrender Guns… Just For Blogging!
Man Ordered To Surrender Guns… Just For Blogging! – WorldNetDaily
An Arizona man has filed a federal lawsuit against some of the state’s top judges, claiming they’re taking away his freedom of speech and right to own firearms, all because someone didn’t like what he wrote on his blog.
“You can’t suspend someone’s constitutional rights [for blogging],” said Mike Palmer, who is bringing forth the legal action. “Everybody in America blogs or Twitters, so it’s a First and Second Amendment issue.”
The scenario started when Palmer, a 55-year-old Christian missionary from Phoenix, was online discussing “spiritual death” often referred to in the Bible.
But, according to the suit, a woman from Prescott, Ariz., Melody Thomas-Morgan, complained to authorities that Palmer was threatening her with “death,” keeping that word in quotes in her legal filings.
Palmer explains, “It is true that the blog, ‘That Woman Jezebel,’ talks about spiritual life and spiritual death… Spiritual ‘death’ as in ‘The wages of sin is death.’ (Romans 6:23)… It is not true that the blog ever mentions the ‘death’ of Miss Thomas-Morgan.”
Judge Kenton Jones
Kenton Jones, superior court judge for Yavapai County, went along with the woman’s harassment complaint and ordered Palmer to surrender his guns.
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“The order says that I am not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition, and directs me to turn over any weapons to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office,” Palmer told WND.
Palmer indicated he does not own any weapons at this time, but when pressed on whether he had any guns previous to the order, he said, “No comment.”
“I certainly want my gun rights,” he added. “There is no law in Arizona which allows the courts to suspend any constitutional right, but in this instance, my Second Amendment right. And, of course, my life’s in danger now. I can’t defend myself, I can’t defend you. I can’t defend my fellow man.”
Palmer’s suit is seeking a restraining order that would grant him back his constitutional rights.
He wonders if the Christian nature of his blogging has anything to do with the action taken against him.
“Being a Christian seems to make me fair game,” he said. “I bet if I were Muslim and writing about physical beheading on a blog, no judge would dare touch me with an injunction. Ironic.”
Not only is Justice Jones named as a defendant in Palmer’s suit, so are five other jurists on the state supreme court, including Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch.
The issue is reminiscent of another Arizona case, where a local judge ordered Michael Roth of Quartzsite, Ariz., to surrender his weapons because Town Councilman Joe Winslow was offended when Roth allegedly called the lawmaker a “turd.”
In fact, Palmer has set up a blog called Michael’s Law in honor of the Roth case to tell his own story.
Winslow told Karen Slaughter, the elected justice of the peace for the region, what he wanted was that Roth and others with similar views “not be allowed to walk around armed. To me, I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I have been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)… that’s what I’m concerned with, that he’s gonna get so far into my personal space that I’m gonna react without thinking. I’m not making threats or anything like that. I’m not proud of that, but it’s the way I am.”
“I know that I’m 71 years old,” Winslow said. “I don’t want to be a statistic, I don’t want to go to jail and I don’t want to go in the hospital. But based on my history of 24 years in the service, I am more concerned about my reaction to his aggression than anything else, especially now that I believe that he is carrying a handgun. His actions have demonstrated in the past to me that he is not in full control of his emotions.”
After WND’s coverage of Roth’s case, Judge Slaughter eventually reversed her decision on the weapons ban, but Roth says she refused to dismiss his attorney fees.
Counting The Democrat Bodies Involved In A Taxpayer-Guaranteed Loan
Counting The Democrat Bodies Involved In A Taxpayer-Guaranteed Loan – Townhall
By now it’s obvious that the Solyndra scandal never should have happened. It’s not even a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. A number of people involved could see the disaster coming.
There is a larger principle here. Government should not use taxpayer money to socialize risk while privatizing profits. Examples such as Colorado-based Abound Solar, which received a $400 million loan guarantee, prove that crony capitalism simply rewards the well connected at taxpayer expense.
Abound Solar
Abound Solar, according to its Web site, “produces next-generation thin-film cadmium telluride solar modules” and “is committed to reducing the cost of solar electricity to levels competitive with fossil fuels.”
It is the brainchild of former Colorado State University (CSU) Professor W.S. Sampath and two former students Kurt Barth and Al Enzenroth. It began as AVA Solar and then incorporated into Abound in 2007.
The Web site says it employs 350 people in three Colorado locations. Its Colorado manufacturing plant is located in Weld County, which granted Abound up to $100,000 per year for the next ten years in business property tax rebates. According to sources, the reason for the rebate was job creation intended to benefit Weld County residents. Yet when officials and interested parties ask how many of the 350 jobs have gone to Weld County residents, the solar company does not answer.
Currently Abound has a manufacturing capacity of 65 megawatts expanding to 850 megawatts – at some point. However, in 2010 it manufactured only 30 megawatts. One wonders, if Abound can produce more, why doesn’t it?
The Web site does say it is “growing,” and news reports claim the company plans to add anywhere from 850 to 1,000 employees thanks to a $400 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan Abound received in July 2010. The taxpayer cash is so it can expand its manufacturing capabilities to a facility in Tipton, Indiana. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation “extended up to $11.85 million in tax credits and $250,000 in training grants” as well.
Abound Solar further claims $260 million in private investments, part of which came from billionaire medical heiress Pat Stryker’s Bohemian Companies. This is where the story gets interesting.
Thanks to Independence Institute investigative reporter Todd Shepherd, we still have access to the Web page that lists Bohemian as an investor even though it does not appear on the company’s current Web site. The exact amount that Stryker has given is not public at this time. Also, CSU and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are listed as funding resources.
Total public and private monies equal $673,100,000. Assuming Abound can “create” some 1,350 jobs, that is $498,593 per job, of which $360,000 comes from public coffers.
However, Abound’s Indiana manufacturing facility is not scheduled to open until 2013 or 2014, which seems like a long time to wait to “create” jobs and turn a profit.
As a comparison, the Denver Bronco’s stadium cost $364 million to build of which 68 percent was publicly financed. With a yes vote from taxpayers in November 1998, construction began in August 1999 and was completed in September 2001.
This is not an endorsement of publicly funded professional sports facilities but rather an assumption that the Broncos management didn’t want a disruption in cash flow that could come from the inconvenience of a lengthy construction project.
I asked Abound if the company is still on track for a 2013 expansion and received no response. For most companies, time means money except in solar panels.
Pat Stryker
Forbes lists medical heiress and founder of Bohemian Companies/Foundation Pat Stryker as number 331 of its top “400 Richest People in America.” Worth $1.3 billion, the Fort Collins resident could single-handedly fund Abound Solar and still be well above the poverty line.
While some of her fortune has gone to Abound Solar, she also has chosen to donate more than $2.2 million (probably a low figure) to Democrats and their causes over the last several election cycles. Beneficiaries include Barack Obama, one-term Congresswoman and Fort Collins resident Betsy Markey, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar when he successfully ran for U.S. Senate in Colorado.
Stryker is also a charter member of the notorious “gang of four” which changed the political landscape in Colorado through an organization called the Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA). Their success was titled the “Colorado Miracle” and is being replicated in other states.
Congresswoman Betsy Markey
With the help from Stryker in 2008, Markey beat incumbent republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado’s conservative 4th Congressional District. Abound Solar, Pat Stryker, and Colorado State University are all in the 4th CD. Between 2008 and 2010 election cycles, CSU employees also donated nearly $27,000 to Markey’s campaigns.
When the Waxman-Markey (named for Congressmen Henry Waxman and Ed Markey) cap and trade bill, which included a national renewable energy standard, came up for a vote, Congresswoman Markey danced around the issue for weeks because it wasn’t a popular bill in the 4th CD. Ultimately she voted “yes.”
In an interview on my radio show following the vote, Markey cited “green jobs” as one of her reasons. What she didn’t cite was her relationship to Pat Stryker and Abound Solar or the $2,000 campaign contribution she received from Henry Waxman the night before the vote.
Shortly after the vote, Abound Solar was part of a group that helped pay for TV ads thanking Markey for saying yes to Waxman’s bill. Todd Shepherd exposed the politically incestuous relationship and suggested:
“[T]he connections between Representative Betsy Markey (D, CO-4), billionaire heiress Pat Stryker, and Abound Solar, appear to have all of the fingerprints of the kind of pay-to-play agenda that has left many Americans wondering how they got stuck with unpopular bills such as cap and trade, formally known as Waxman-Markey (named after a different Markey)
Markey also urged the approval of Abound’s $400 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan. The Denver Business Journal reported, “Abound applied for the loan guarantee more than a year ago, and Markey and other members of Colorado’s congressional delegation pushed for approval.”
Colorado State University
Located in Fort Collins, Colorado, CSU fancies itself the “green” university:
“Colorado State University is internationally known for its green initiatives and clean-energy research including alternative fuels, clean engines, photovoltaics, “smart” grid technology, wind engineering, water resources, and satellite-based atmospheric monitoring and tracking systems. It’s also known as a “green” university for its sustainability efforts on campus and abroad.
Abound Solar founders got their start at CSU as the university bragged in a 2007 press release.
Stryker also has a connection to CSU, having donated millions the university. Furthermore, former CSU president Al Yates became Stryker’s mouthpiece and representative on CoDA. The Blueprint, a must-read book from Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer, details the Yates-Stryker relationship along with how democrats won control in Colorado.
Finally, CSU is home to the Center for the New Energy Economy headed by former
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, a renewable energy activist, and funded by private donations, a third of which came from Stryker’s Bohemian Foundation. Ritter now makes $300,000 to promote renewable energy throughout the country.
Governor Bill Ritter
With the help of CoDA and Pat Stryker, Democrat Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter won the 2006 Governor’s race. His one term legacy is the state’s New Energy Economy, 57 pieces of legislation to move the state from reliance on less costly on fossil fuels to renewables. Ritter is a true believer, an eco-evangelical, who signed laws mandating 30 percent renewable energy standards and fuel switching.
In April 2009, Governor Ritter hand-delivered two letters to Energy Secretary Steven Chu who was touring NREL. One letter urged the Department of Energy to grant a $300 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan to Abound Solar:
“This request for $300 million would allow [Abound Solar] to triple production capacity within 12 months, develop a second manufacturing facility within 18 months and hire an additional 1,000 employees.
Abound received $400 million in July 2010. By all accounts, the solar panel company will not meet Ritter’s original promise of triple capacity in a year and a new facility within 18 months. Just won’t happen that fast.
When Ritter left office in January 2011, he became the Director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at CSU and one of the highest paid administrators on campus, thanks to Stryker.
President Barack Obama
President Obama received $11,700 directly from Stryker and Joseph Zimlich, who is a director at Abound Solar and is also associated with Stryker’s Bohemian Foundation. No doubt Obama benefitted as well from Stryker’s donations to other democrat causes including Campaign Money Watch and Democrat White House Victory Fund.
In Obama’s weekly radio address on July 3, 2010, he announced an acceleration of “the transition to a clean energy economy and doubling our use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power – steps that have the potential to create whole new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America.”
He said that Abound Sola:
“will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. A Colorado plant is already underway, and an Indiana plant will be built in what’s now an empty Chrysler factory. When fully operational, these plants will produce millions of state-of-the-art solar panels each year.”
That radio address was the formal announcement that Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. Taxpayers get the risk while individuals get the profit.
To recap, Abound Solar receives support from Pat Stryker and Colorado State University both of which fund and promote Congresswoman Betsy Markey. She in turn votes yes on Cap and Trade and urges the federal government to approve the Abound loan.
Abound Solar then contributes to TV ads thanking Markey for her yes vote on Cap and Trade.
Governor Bill Ritter hand delivers letters to Energy Secretary Steven Chu urging the DOE to grant the loan guarantee. When he decides not to run for a second term, he is offered a job at CSU, which is funded in part by Pat Stryker.
President Barack Obama benefitted from Pat Stryker’s political donations. In July 2010, he announces a $400 million loan guarantee to Abound.
Can’t get a $400 million loan? Apparently you don’t know and fund the right people.
Arizona Sheriff Implicates ATF, Eric Holder And Obama Justice Department As Accomplices To Murder (Video)
Question:
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Answer: Accomplices.
Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu doubled down last night on CNN. The sheriff implicated the ATF, Eric Holder and the Obama Justice Department as accomplices to murder involving weapons used in Operation Fast and Furious.
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Two U.S.-Born Terrorists Killed In CIA-Led Drone Strike – Ron Paul Condemns ‘Assassinations’
Two U.S.-Born Terrorists Killed In CIA-Led Drone Strike – Fox News
Two American-born terrorists, including senior Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, were killed in Yemen early Friday morning by a CIA-led U.S. drone strike, marking the highest-profile takedown of terror leaders since the raid on Usama bin Laden’s compound.
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Fox News has learned that two Predator drones hovering above al-Awlaki’s convoy fired the Hellfire missiles which killed the terror leader. According to a senior U.S. official, the operation was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA.
“AQAP has lost its ideological leader, which is a huge blow,” a former intelligence official who has tracked al-Awlaki for years told Fox News.
Al-Awlaki was a U.S.-born Islamic extremist cleric who became a prominent figure with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network’s most active branch. He was involved in several terror plots in the United States in recent years, using his fluent English and Internet savvy to draw recruits to carry out attacks. President Obama signed an order in early 2010 making him the first American to be placed on the “kill or capture” list.
The Yemeni government and Defense Ministry announced al-Awlaki’s death, without giving details. But American sources confirmed the CIA and U.S. military were behind the strike on al-Awlaki, whom one official described as a “big fish.”
The strike hit a vehicle with three or four suspected Al Qaeda members inside, in addition to al-Awlaki. According to a U.S. senior official, the other American terrorist killed in the strike was Samir Khan, the co-editor of an English-language Al Qaeda web magazine called “Inspire.”
Kahn, in his 20s, was an American of Pakistani heritage from North Carolina. His magazine promoted attacks against U.S. targets, even running articles on how to put together explosives. In one issue, Khan wrote that he had moved to Yemen and joined Al Qaeda’s fighters, pledging to “wage jihad for the rest of our lives.”
The strike comes after a heavy presence of U.S. drones was spotted in the skies over the region over the last couple weeks, one source told Fox News.
The strike underscores the expanding nature of the drone program, which has migrated beyond the borders of Pakistan into Yemen, Somalia and other countries.
Yemeni security officials and local tribal leaders also said al-Awlaki was killed in an air strike on his convoy that they believed was carried out by the Americans.
Al-Awlaki would be the most prominent Al Qaeda figure to be killed since bin Laden’s death in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May. In July, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Yemeni-American was a priority target alongside Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden’s successor as the terror network’s leader.
The 40-year-old al-Awlaki had been in the U.S. crosshairs since his killing was approved by President Obama in April 2010 – making him the first American placed on the CIA “kill or capture” list. At least twice, airstrikes were called in on locations in Yemen where al-Awlaki was suspected of being, but he wasn’t harmed. In May, U.S. forces were able to track his truck but were unable to take him out.
Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was believed to be key in turning Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen into what American officials have called the most significant and immediate threat to the United States. The branch, led by a Yemeni militant named Nasser al-Wahishi, plotted several failed attacks on U.S. soil – the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to send explosives to Chicago.
The former intelligence official said that with al-Awlaki gone, the branch “still retains a lot of capability.”
But Richard Miniter, author of “Losing bin Laden,” told Fox News that al-Awlaki’s role will be “hard to replace.”
“He understood American society very well. He understood American idioms and pop culture and how to appeal to Americans,” he told Fox News. “It’s very hard for them to replicate this.”
Known as an eloquent preacher who spread English-language sermons on the Internet calling for “holy war” against the United States, al-Awlaki’s role was to inspire and – it is believed – even directly recruit terrorists to carry out attacks.
He was not believed to be a key operational leader, but as a spokesman. His English skills gave him reach among second and third generation Muslims who may not speak Arabic.
Yemeni officials have said al-Awlaki had contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused would-be Christmas plane bomber, who was in Yemen in 2009. They say the believe al-Awlaki met with the 23-year-old Nigerian, along with other Al Qaeda leaders, in Al Qaeda strongholds in the country in the weeks before the failed bombing.
In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was “inspired” by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.
Al-Awlaki also exchanged up to 20 emails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, alleged killer of 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki’s Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.
Al-Awlaki has said he didn’t tell Hasan to carry out the shootings, but he later praised Hasan as a “hero” on his Web site for killing American soldiers who would be heading for Afghanistan or Iraq to fight Muslims. The cleric similarly said Abdulmutallab was his “student” but said he never told him to carry out the airline attack.
In a statement, the Yemeni government said al-Awlaki was “targeted and killed” 5 miles from the town of Khashef in the Province of al-Jawf. The town is located 87 miles east of the capital Sanaa.
The statement says the operation was launched on Friday around 9:55 a.m. It gave no other details.
The Yemeni Defense Ministry also reported the death, without elaborating, in a mobile phone SMS message.
Top U.S. counter terrorism adviser John Brennan says such cooperation with Yemen has improved since the political unrest there. Brennan said the Yemenis have been more willing to share information about the location of Al Qaeda targets, as a way to fight the Yemeni branch challenging them for power. Other U.S. officials say the Yemenis have also allowed the U.S. to fly more armed drone and aircraft missions over its territory than ever previously, trying to use U.S. military power to stay in power.
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Related article:
Ron Paul: US-Born Al-Qaida Cleric ‘Assassinated’ – Washington Examiner
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is condemning the Obama administration for killing an American born al-Qaida operative without a trial.
Paul, a Texas congressman known for libertarian views, says the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki on Yemeni soil amounts to an “assassination.” Paul warned the American people not to casually accept such violence against U.S. citizens, even those with strong ties to terrorism.
Anwar al-Awlaki was considered one of the most influential al-Qaida operatives wanted by the United States. U.S. and Yemen officials say he was killed in a U.S. air strike targeting his convoy Friday morning.
Paul made the comments to reporters after a campaign stop Friday at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. He said America’s leaders must think hard about “assassinating American citizens without charges.”
Daily Benefactor News – New Orleans Man’s Anti-Obama Signs Cause Leftists To Whine Like Spoiled Children
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New Orleans Man’s Anti-Obama Signs Cause Leftists To Whine Like Spoiled Children – The Blaze
New Orleans residents protested in front of a local man’s house Wednesday after he put up several signs in his yard depicting President Barack Obama as a puppet and a crying baby in a diaper, with one city council member even trying to determine whether the signs can forcibly removed.
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In one sign, under the words “It’s Not My Fault,” Obama wears a diaper and has speech bubbles coming from his mouth that read “change me” and “I stink.” Another depicts him as billionaire George Soros’ puppet, standing behind a podium that reads “Seal of the Teleprompter of the United States.”
City Council Member Susan Guidry told New Orleans’ WWL-TV she’s concerned about public safety and is trying to figure out if the signs are even legal.
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“We have to determine that there is a zoning law that prohibits perhaps the size of the sign, perhaps the way that it’s erected, that it is leaning over onto public property,” Guidry said. “Whatever we can use, we will, but of course, we do have to balance that with First Amendment rights.”
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WWL-TV spoke to several locals about the signs:
“It disrespects the nation – and President Barack Obama represents our nation,” said Skip Alexander, as he looked at one of the signs. “He represents everybody, not some people.”
Dozens of protesters came by the house in the 1500 block of Calhoun throughout the day, demanding the sign come down.
“He wouldn’t do that to [President] Bush, I’m sure. It’s just insulting. It’s insulting,” said C.C. Campbell-Rock. “He’s going to have to take them down.”
“This is nothing put pure racism,” said Raymond Rock. “This is a disgrace.”
According to WWL-TV, the home is owned by Timothy Reily, who declined to speak to the station. Neighbors said he’s been putting up signs for months, but only received attention after a local radio station talked about them on the air Wednesday morning.
“He can put up a sign if he wants to. It doesn’t bother me,” said Harold Gagnet, a neighbor.
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“I think it’s fine. It’s on his property,” said Katherine deMontluzin. “He can say whatever he wants.”
The station reported former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin showed up at the house during the protest and went inside to speak with Reily. He emerged later and would not comment on what was discussed.
(h/t Media Research Center)
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Perry: It’s the federal government’s fault I had to implement in-state tuition « Hot Air
Perry: It’s the federal government’s fault I had to implement in-state tuition Video via Hot Air
Tina Korbe has some thoughtful comments on what Perry says
Perry’s three pillars for a secure border: Strategic fencing in metropolitan areas, more boots on the ground and aviation assets to assist border patrol agents.
“We need to have an immigration policy that’s thoughtful,” Perry said. ”We’re a rule of law country. We’ve got to have a secure border so that we know who’s coming in and we’re making the right decisions about who should come in and when they should come in and how long they should stay.”
Then, in a subject-concluding statement that sounded anything but weak, Perry promised to secure the border and “end illegal immigration” if elected president.
Perry’s points today make sense. States like Arizona and Alabama, after all, have used the same federal failure argument to justify their stringent anti-illegal immigration state laws. And in making his argument against the federal government, Perry didn’t completely abandon his earlier arguments that (a) in-state tuition for illegals is a state-level issue and (b) it primarily pertains to education policy. He just more effectively parlayed questions about his debatable in-state tuition policy into an opportunity to gin up support for his strong border security stance and his general understanding of the broader immigration issue.
DaleyGator DaleyBabe Michelle Waterson
They call her the Karate Hottie, just what I need, a hot woman that can kick me in the face
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Ed’s NFL Week 4 Picks – 2011
Carolina Panthers @ Chicago Bears – Panthers
Buffalo Bills @ Cincinnati Bengals – Bills
Tennessee Titans @ Cleveland Browns – Titans
Detroit Lions @ Dallas Cowboys – Lions
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Houston Texans – Texans
New Orleans Saints @ Jacksonville Jaguars – Saints
Minnesota Vikings @ Kansas City Chiefs – Vikings
San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles – 49ers
Washington Redskins @ St. Louis Rams – Redskins
New York Giants @ Arizona Cardinals – Giants
Atlanta Falcons @ Seattle Seahawks – Falcons
Denver Broncos @ Green Bay Packers – Packers
New England Patriots @ Oakland Raiders – Patriots
Miami Dolphins @ San Diego Chargers – Chargers
New York Jets @ Baltimore Ravens – Ravens
Indianapolis Colts @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Buccaneers
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——— Week 3 Picks ——— 9 Wins – 7 Losses ———
New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills – Patriots
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Carolina Panthers – Panthers
San Francisco 49ers @ Cincinnati Bengals – Bengals
Miami Dolphins @ Cleveland Browns – Browns
Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings – Lions
Houston Texans @ New Orleans Saints – Saints
New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles – Eagles
Denver Broncos @ Tennessee Titans – Titans
New York Jets @ Oakland Raiders – Jets
Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers – Chargers
Baltimore Ravens @ St. Louis Rams – Ravens
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears – Packers
Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks – Cardinals
Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Falcons
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Indianapolis Colts – Steelers
Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys – Redskins
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——— Week 2 Picks ——— 13 Wins – 3 Losses ———
Oakland Raiders @ Buffalo Bills – Bills
Green Bay Packers @ Carolina Panthers – Packers
Kansas City Chiefs @ Detroit Lions – Lions
Cleveland Browns @ Indianapolis Colts – Browns
Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Minnesota Vikings – Vikings
Chicago Bears @ New Orleans Saints – Saints
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Jets – Jets
Seattle Seahawks @ Pittsburgh Steelers – Steelers
Baltimore Ravens @ Tennessee Titans – Ravens
Arizona Cardinals @ Washington Redskins – Redskins
Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers – Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals @ Denver Broncos – Broncos
Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins – Texans
San Diego Chargers @ New England Patriots – Patriots
Philadelphia Eagles @ Atlanta Falcons – Eagles
St. Louis Rams @ New York Giants – Giants
.
——— Week 1 Picks ——— 10 Wins – 6 Losses ———
New Orleans Saints @ Green Bay Packers – Packers
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Baltimore Ravens – Steelers
Atlanta Falcons @ Chicago Bears – Falcons
Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns – Browns
Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans – Texans
Tennessee Titans @ Jacksonville Jaguars – Jaguars
Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs – Chiefs
Philadelphia Eagles @ St. Louis Rams – Eagles
Detroit Lions @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Lions
Carolina Panthers @ Arizona Cardinals – Cardinals
Minnesota Vikings @ San Diego Chargers – Chargers
Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers – 49ers
New York Giants @ Washington Redskins – Giants
Dallas Cowboys @ New York Jets – Jets
New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins – Patriots
Oakland Raiders @ Denver Broncos – Broncos
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Drunk Driver Gets Hearing Postponed By Showing Up To Court Drunk
Drunk Driver Gets Hearing Postponed By Showing Up To Court Drunk – Weekly Vice
Robert Will. a 53-year-old Kittery, Maine man was able to get his drunk driving hearing postponed when he allegedly showed up to court while intoxicated.
According to Portsmouth police, Will was apprehended on June 10th after he was stopped by officers, who reported that he didn’t have a valid driver’s license, had an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, and failed a sobriety test.
He was released after posting $1,000 bail and ordered by a judge to stay away from alcohol and refrain from driving.
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Investigators say a court hearing was scheduled for September 27th. When Will arrived, he appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of alcohol.
Court officials administered a portable breath test, which Will allegedly failed. Will’s attorney stated that the hearing had to be rescheduled because his client was required to be sober for the event.
There was no explanation as to why the court did not hold Will in contempt of court for violating it’s previous order.
Islamic Terrorist Captured And Released In Arizona After Entering The US Illegally, Then Goes Missing
Two members of the Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami Bangladesh terror group were captured last year illegally crossing into the United States from Mexico. One of the Islamic radicals posted bail and then went missing.
Great work, Homeland Security!
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The Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI-B) was established in 1992, with the supposed assistance of Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front. They aim to establish Bangladesh as a Islamic State by waging war and killing progressive individuals.
The Blaze reported, via Free Republic:
Two men of Bangladeshi origin were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the US-Mexico border last June and admitted they were members of a terrorist organization that allied with Bin Laden against America.
Now, it appears at least one of those men is free after posting bail and claiming asylum. And the Department of Homeland security has no idea where he is.
The information is according to a report this week by Pajamas Media, which gives some background on these suspected terrorists:
“The two men, Muhammad Nazmul Hasan and Mirza Muhammad Saifuddin, were intercepted near Naco, Arizona, not long after they had crossed the border on June 25, 2010. During their interrogation, one of the men admitted that they were members of Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), which was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in February 2008.”
The State Department designated HuJI-B as a terrorist organization in 2008. The group has a long history of deadly bombings against India, and wages Jihad alongside other terrorist organizations with the goal of a global caliphate.
Census Overestimated ‘Same-Sex’ Households
Census Overestimated ‘Same-Sex’ Households – Sweetness & Light
From some pickers of nits at the Chicago Tribune:
Census Bureau backtracks on number of same-sex households
By William Mullen
September 27, 2011Mistakes made on some 2010 census forms led the U.S. Census Bureau to report an “artificially inflated” number of same-sex households in August, census officials said Tuesday.
While the Census Bureau reported 901,997 same-sex households nationally in August, new calculations of the 2010 census indicate there are 648,464 such households.
They were only off by 39%. But who’s counting? It’s not like it’s a census or anything.
Besides, if you don’t jack up the numbers your special interest group might not get all the federal benefits it’s due.
In Illinois, the same-sex household total was revised downward from 32,469 to 23,049. The revised state number is less than 1 percent more than the 22,887 figure reported in the 2000 census. Using the original census figures, the Tribune in August reported the statewide increase was 40 percent.
“What went wrong is something that we have known about for some time,” said UCLA School of Law demographer Gary Gates, whom the census called in to review the revised figures for accuracy.
Unclear census forms led heterosexual couples in some cases to check boxes identifying themselves as same-sex couples, Gates said…
Couples probably check the box thinking it is is asking if they have ‘some sex.’ (Newlyweds, anyway.)
“As scientists, we noticed the inconsistency and developed the revised estimates to provide a more accurate portrait of the number of same-sex couples,” Robert Graves, director of the Census Bureau, said in a statement.
‘Census scientists’ sound a lot like ‘global warming scientists.’
Which raises the question, why are the Census Bureau even ‘estimating’ in the first place? We thought the idea of a census was to actually count heads. (Or whatever.)
Gates said similar mistakes may have been made in 2000.
“In August, the figures showed the increase nationally in same-sex households to be in the neighborhood of 50 percent, and I really think that increase is probably about right if we had corrected figures for the 2000 census too,” he said…
Too late. They’ve already got their federal grants.
By the way, if two maiden aunts live together, does the government count them as a same sex household?
Four Early Primary States Threaten To Leap Frog Florida Date
Four Early Primary States Threaten To Leap Frog Florida Date – NewMeat
Four states voting early in 2012 to choose the Republican presidential nominee threatened on Thursday to leap frog Florida if it sticks with a primary date of January 31.
Only four states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – are authorized by the Republican National Committee to hold their primaries or caucuses earlier than March 6, known as “Super Tuesday.”
Florida’s announcement on Wednesday that it wanted to hold its primary in January started a game of leap frog among states to assert their influence in electing the nominee and to draw millions of dollars in candidate spending.
But Florida must make its January date official before South Carolina will move up its primary and face the penalty of losing delegate votes at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in August, said South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Chad Connelly.
“If Florida wants to be the bad boy, I am going to make them make us move,” Connelly said on Thursday from the state capital of Columbia.
“I’m going have a hissy fit at the RNC meeting in January if they make us accept penalties that other states have forced us into. It’s inherently unfair.”
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn issued a statement indicating the four states’ plan to stick together in their efforts to keep their early contest spots.
“The four sanctioned, early states have been very clear that we will move together, if necessary, to ensure order as outlined in RNC rules. If we are forced to change our dates together, we will,” Strawn said.
Florida has said it will officially announce its date on Friday. The deadline for states to set their primaries is Saturday.
The chaos in the Republican presidential primary calendar could land Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on January 2, said political scientist Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
“It’s ridiculous,” Sabato said. “It’s turning the election into the grinch that stole Christmas. Everybody’s had their Christmas wiped out. It’s no wonder people get sick of politics.”
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