I have to wonder if in those first few moments yesterday when no one knew if this was a terrorist attack was Cheney getting ready to pounce? Was he calling up Fox News looking for an open spot so he could criticize Obama? Were Republicans gearing up their "Obama is weak on terror" arguments?

As the day progressed we learned it was a white guy. As soon as it was figured out it was a white guy mad about taxes the word terrorism was taken off the table. The media bent over backwards and twisted logic to convince its audience this was not terrorism. After all he was a "lone wolf". There was no evidence of a larger conspiracy. And and...he wasn't foreign born.

The media also bent over backwards to portray his manifesto as the rantings of a lunatic. Well, for those of us who have actually read it they realize it was not the ravings of a lunatic. Much of what he said made sense and his manifesto was constructed well. I don't agree with all of it and certainly I do NOT agree with killing innocent people.

But the slow walk back by the media was obvious to me. "This was not an act of terrorism". Check. "He was a lone wolf". Check. "He was mentally unstable". Check. Got the message media.

I still have to ask though as I did earlier what if this guy was a brown Muslim? Would it matter if he was a lone wolf or mentally unstable? I highly doubt it. If this guy was a brown Muslim I think there would be a flood of Right Wingers, Republicans, and Conservatives on the TV again claiming Obama is failing to protect us just as they did after the underwear bomber. They would be calling for this guy's torture if he had survived just as they are calling for the torture of the underwear bomber.

I for one think this was an act of terrorism. I hate the IRS and taxes as much as the next person but attempting to kill innocent people is not the way to go about venting one's frustration. I can however understand that when someone gets pushed to the point where they have nothing left to lose they gain the potential for doing such things. I am not sure that can be broadly labeled mental illness. Anyone and any animal backed into a corner with nothing to lose will fight to the death.

This incident should expose the dangerous propaganda Republicans spew. They would have us profile all Muslims. Doing so misses the Joe Stacks of the world who move around our society freely. Focusing on dark skin, foreign looking clothes, and behaviors we attribute with Muslims misses the fair skinned terrorist in a business suit planning to explode a bomb on a plane.

I notice today everyone is moving on from this incident. It wasn't terrorism because he was white and mad about taxes. Nothing to see or talk about. I know why the government is moving on because they don't want more of this to happen. I am not sure why the media is backing away except that they are the ones that constantly put Tea Baggers in our face and allow them to claim falsely Obama is over taxing us.

I am not saying Joe Stack was a Tea Bagger. His grievances were many besides taxation. But how will it look when the media continues to egg on this Tea Bagger movement with their violent overtones and anger about taxation in light of this incident? Even Glenn Beck is back peddling as fast as he can.

So, I guess we get a week off from the insanity before the media feels safe once again to start pushing the pro-corporate Tea Bagger agenda.

Question: If an angry white man flies a plan into the IRS building what do we call it? So far I have yet to hear anyone call this an act of terrorism.

What happened? Was everyone too busy profiling Muslims and brown people to notice this guy?

Official: Plane crash pilot left anti-IRS Web note

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer Jim Vertuno

AUSTIN, Texas – A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service plowed his small plane into an office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees on Thursday, officials said, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.

A U.S. law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him. The Web site outlines problems with the IRS and says violence "is the only answer." More

Man Crashes Plane Into Austin IRS Office .. Angry Suicide Note Posted Online

RAW DATA: Joseph Andrew Stack Suicide Manifesto
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After reading Joseph Stack's manifesto it's going to be hard to put any sort of label on this guy or put him in any box. Some of his writing sounds like it came straight from the Tea Baggers. But some of it such as his rants against the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries as well as George W Bush make him sound like an angry lefty.

So will this go down as an act of terrorism or an act of patriotism? After all, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Be interesting to see how this all plays out. The Tea Party got its start after Rick Santelli got his panties in a bunch over Obama's proposed mortgage program in early 2009. This began the notion of "big governement" and Obama's "liberal agenda" taking over the so-called "free markets". It's been down hill ever since. Santelli didn't care when Bush bailed out the banks and neither did the Tea Baggers. He didn't care about the corporate welfare that occurred under the Bush Administration and neither did the Tea Baggers. The National Debt went from $5 Trillion to $10 Trillion on Bush Republican watch without a peep from the Santellis and Tea Baggers of the world but I digress...

So we'll see what the Tea Baggers do with regard to this nuclear socialism. Here we have a corporation getting handouts from the government. That's not free market. We also have liberal government stepping in to assume all the liability using your tax dollars as collateral. That's not free market either.

Why Obama is going nuclear is beyond me. For $8 Billion we're creating 1000 construction jobs and 850 jobs to operate the plant once running. How many wind turbines would $8 Billion make? How many solar plants? If we were to invest $8 Billion into renewable energy how many jobs would that create?

What ever will we do with the nuclear waste? No one knows.

Now, a Tea Bagger with half a brain might say "well it's all the government regulation that's making it cost too much!". After all, they want limited government. It's true there is a lot of paper work and regulations when it comes to building a nuclear power plant. But do you really want the nuclear industry to be de-regulated? Really? Does anyone remember Chernobl or is that just too long ago now?

And why is Obama doing this? He has got to be smart enough to realize that nuclear power fueled by enriched uranium is not a solution. Nuclear power fueled by thorium might be a possibility but I will cover that another day. If you want some interesting reading look up thorium nuclear power plants.

I think Obama is only doing this only to score political points. We'll see if his gambit pays off. Some have even suggested this plant won't get built but at least it puts a bipartisan glow around Obama. Still, I can't agree with building a uranium fueled nuclear power plant merely to score political points.

So get out there Tea Baggers and start opposing the government takeover of nuclear energy! NO NUCLEAR SOCIALISM!!

This is all good and well. Arguably 2006 and 2008 were throw the bums out elections. However I think we need to define who the bums are. For example, are we to vote for the same type of bums that doubled the National Debt between 2001 and 2009? Are we to vote the same type of bums back in that plunged us into massive deficit spending between 2001 and 2009? Are we to vote the same type of bums that grew government to its biggest most intrusive form between 2001 and 2009?

I'm sorry but after 8 years of Bush Cheney and 6 years of a Congress dominated by Republicans I am not so eager to hand it right back to them which is what a blanket "throw the bums out" movement would do. Bush and the Republicans dropped $2 Trillion+ on Iraq and Afghanistan without one hint of caring about the cost.

Thus I think we need to define the bums we are going to throw out. I am all in favor of throwing out corporatists - politicians that put the interest of corporations ahead of The People. There are Democrat (conservadems) and Republican corporatists that need to be dealt with. I am in favor of voting in liberal progressives or, real conservatives such as Ron Paul. Anyone who is actually going to work for The People and not their corporate contributors is fine.

But I fear a blanket "throw the bums out" movement. It could lead to Republicans once again overwhelming Congress and that frightens me. While Democrats are not innocent Republicans have demonstrated they clearly prefer corporate governance. Republicans have demonstrated they would rather spend trillions of dollars on the military industrial complex and tax cuts for the wealthy elite than securing the future of Medicare and Social Security.

A Republican Congress would likely mean the end of Social Security and Medicare. Hell, that end may already be coming even with Democrats in charge. We don't need more Republicans helping it along. It will never cease to amaze me how we can have no issues with spending $1 Trillion a year on the military but when it comes to our own people - well that's considered waste. It's our fucking money to begin with!

So please define the bums. Yes, vote out the corporatists but take a look at the incumbents before you vote them out. There are still good people in government trying their best with an impossible situation.

This was shocking to me because after all it was the Bush Cheney Administration that failed to keep us safe on 9/11. Cheney and Bush were long warned about Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden from day 1 by the Clinton Administration. The warnings continued and culminated with the August 6th, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing titled Bin Ladin Determined To Stike In U.S.

The Bush Administration has long tried to deny the importance of this memo and down play its content with even Condi Rice famously saying "No one could have imagined them taking a plane, slamming it into the World Trade Center, using planes as a missile."

I know it has become popular for the right wing including Fox News to deny that 9/11 happened on Cheney Bush watch but facts are facts. It happened on their watch despite what Dana Perino, Rudy Guiliani, and Mary Matalin say. Not only did 9/11 happen on Cheney Bush watch but they also did very little to stop it. They were warned. They did not heed that warning.

So when I hear Cheney say he thinks the Obama Administration isn't doing enough to prevent another 9/11 type attack I think one of three things: Is he projecting from memories about the lack of action his administration took? Is he covering his ass by trying to deflect away the obvious, that 9/11 happened on his watch, and he did little to stop it? Or does Cheney actually feel some sort of latent guilt that is manifesting itself in the form of lashing out and accusing the Obama Administration of that which he is guilty of?

I doubt very much that it's guilt. After all, 9/11 provided the impetus for Cheney Bush to invade Iraq thereby making Halliburton (which Cheney was CEO of) billions of dollars in profits. I think it probably has a little bit more to do with CYA coupled with a little bit of projection. Cheney knows they were warned and knows they didn't do enough. Accusing Obama of the same is a convenient way for him to try to shift the blame while pretending history never happened.

And did Cheney really admit on National TV he approves of water boarding? Can we star the war crimes trials now?

I wish all the conservadems would either resign or just switch parties. Even Bayh was one of the worse. It made me sick to see him up there talking about "fiscal discipline". I don't recall him ever being as vocal about "fiscal discipline" when Bush took the national debt from $5 Trillion to $10 Trillion.

Evan is crying about the "partisanship" in Congress. Well he was part of the problem routinely siding with Republicans and undermining the Democratic agenda. He's one of the ones that thought the Scott Brown victory was some big signal that Democrats basically had to start going along with Republicans on everything...even though Democrats are in the majority.

Bayh says he's not running for President but we'll see. I wouldn't put it past a weasel like him to run a primary challenge against Obama. He's getting to be as bad as Lieberman. A primary challenge to Obama would put him over the top.

Because face it, if he runs a primary challenge to Obama he will run right of Obama who already governs center-right. All it would do is benefit Democrats - and there in lies the essence of Evan Bayh. He should have just become a Republican.

Next up I would like to see Ben Nelson resign or become a Republican along with Mary Landrieu.

I would also like to see Harry Reid lose in November so we can get a new Senate Majority Leader...if Democrats hold the Senate...or a new Minority Leader if the case may be.

Harry Reid had his chance and he's blown it.

Then Harry Reid supposedly stripped the bill down to $15 billion. I have no idea where it is at now but it's really a sad state of affairs. It really isn't that complicated. You put people to work rebuilding America - things that we need done such as bridge repair, road construction, and building maintenance. But that will never happen.

Why? Because Republicans have no interest in creating successful legislation. If Congress did anything that actually worked (put people to work, made healthcare affordable) Republicans feel it would endanger their re-election chances. And Democrats, rather than get out the hammer and actually ram things through seem content to blame Republicans.

But more disturbing than a dysfunctional Senate trying to pass a non-jobs jobs bill is that they may have buried in the bill provisions to renew the Patriot Act:

CQ Politics - New Extension Likely for Key Patriot Act Provisions Feb 11, 2010

The Senate may vote on a second temporary extension of several controversial counterterrorism authorities as part of the jobs bill unveiled Thursday.

The draft bill carries language that would extend until Dec. 31 three expiring provisions of the antiterrorism law known as the Patriot Act.
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One of the expiring provisions allows the government to seek orders from a special federal court for “any tangible thing” that it says is related to a terrorism investigation. Another allows the government to seek court orders for roving wiretaps on terrorism suspects who shift their modes of communication. CQ Politics - Full Article Here

Now, this news is a few days old so perhaps things have changed. But really...Patriot Act renewal provisions in the fucking jobs bill? That's something Bush Republicans would do. What's the rationale? Was this done to lure Republicans into voting for it or are Senate Democrats no different than Senate Republicans?

In other disturbing news:

CNET - Feds push for tracking cell phones
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Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls. CNET - Full Article Here
[emph. added]

I have to wonder if Obama is fully aware of this and if he is, shame on him. Second, it really seems the powers at be have maintained some continuity between Bush and Obama. The life long technocrats deep in the bowels of government that have been moving us toward empire and corporatism for 50 years are still there.

The Saudi Prince has bragged before about his ability to influence what Fox News covers citing his phone calls to Fox to tone down coverage of Muslim riots in France.

So when I hear Hannity, Beck, Fox and Friends, O'Reilly, and all the other hacks at Fox News point to snow storms as proof "global warming" is a hoax I just have to laugh. Who benefits from the denial that human beings can affect climate change? Saudi Arabia of course who happens to be a large exporter of oil. Did the Prince put in a phone call to Hannity asking him to use the snow storm to deny global warming so he could sell more oil?

Let's just put aside for a second whether you "believe" the 6 Billion+ human beings can alter climate or not. What benefits do reducing our consumption of fossil fuels have? For one it reduces air pollution helping us all breathe a little easier. But more importantly reducing our consumption of oil reduces our dependence on foreign oil - oil that comes from countries like Saudi Arabia.

Profits from the sale of foreign oil are often channeled into terrorist organizations who then plot to attack us. In many ways we fund our own demise with our continued dependence on foreign oil. From that point of view doesn't it make sense to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? And how do we do that? By encouraging the use of alternatives and taxing the use of carbon. But Fox News won't have none of that and neither will Republicans.

And, as Obama has stated, we will also need to find more sources of domestic oil to bridge the gap while we are in transition off of foreign oil.

But for Fox News which is partly owned by a Saudi Prince they would rather we keep our dependence on Saudi oil high because they have a Saudi boss. Forget global warming and climate change. Just pretend they don't exist. Does it even matter? No. We need to transition off foreign oil - period. But no, there's ol' Hannity, Beck, and the rest of Fox News shilling for Saudi oil. There's ol' Rush Limbaugh helping to drive up the profits of countries that hate us.

It makes no sense. You would think Fox News viewers wouldn't tolerate their commentators shilling for countries that harbor and support terrorists. But Saudi controlled Fox News loves nothing more.

Keep making fun of global warming and global climate change Hannity and Beck! I am sure the Prince will see to it you get nice bonus checks for your work.

These talking points are all complete bullshit propaganda. These people did not give a shit when Bush Jr. took us from $5.5 Trillion in debt to $10.5 Trillion in debt. They act as if the national debt was created overnight by Obama. That’s bullshit. It was thanks to tax cuts for the elite, not paying for two wars, and not paying for Medicare Part D.

Republicans for all their claims of being “fiscal conservatives” spent money with reckless abandon from 2001 to 2008. They could give a shit about the children or anything else. For that matter it was Reagan that first piled on the trillions of debt yet all these tea bagger Republicans still hold Reagan out as a conservative hero.

As far as big government goes it was the Bush Administration and Republicans that grew government to its biggest ever with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. As far as government intrusion goes, it was Republicans and conservatives that told us we were overreacting to the FISA violations and warrantless wiretapping.

The “loyal Bushies” many of whom are now tea baggers told us “if you got nothing to hide you got nothing to fear”. They had no problem with big government reading our emails, monitoring our internet searches, and looking over our banking transactions when Bush was President.

As far as tea baggers talking about “out of control” spending and reckless deficits that’s bullshit too. The deficits under Bush were well over $1 Trillion. But they kept them officially to $600 billion +/- by keeping the war spending off book. It was nothing but a cheap parlor trick to make it seem like we weren’t spending as much money. Democrats reversed that practice and put that war spending on the books for all to see.

Spending increases that have occurred are a result of the decrease in revenue and the recession which put more demand on social services and welfare as more Americans lost their jobs. The one argument tea baggers can try to make is that the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act was “out of control spending” or at least against their principles.

That’s fine but first one has to realize that 1/3 of that package was tax cuts. Next one has to realize that a bulk of that money went to States in order to keep teachers, police, and fire fighters in their jobs. Third, you have to acknowledge that while tea bagger Republicans have been slamming the stimulus they are all too happy to stand for a photo op with a big giant stimulus check. And by the way, the bank bailouts happened under Bush not Obama.

If tea bagger Republicans ever want to be taken seriously they have to start dealing with reality. If you don’t like a big National Debt then first realize that the bulk of our debt was added under Republican administrations. If you don’t like deficit spending then realize that it’s conservatives who say “deficits don’t matter”, just ask Dick Cheney.

If you don’t like government intrusion into your life then stop trying to legislate morality or the Bible into government. Stop peeing your bed over every terror threat. Stop defending torture and a complete disregard to the rule of law when it comes to fighting terrorism. Acknowledge how intrusive government became under Bush Republican rule.

If tea baggers want to be taken seriously they have to stop calling Obama a socialist fascist communist. He’s not. Obama is Republican Lite. There is no “government takeover” over healthcare in the healthcare reform bill. There’s not even a public option or expanded medicare coverage.

The reality is tea bagger Republicans have become shills for the corporatists and they use blatant propaganda to do it. Every time a tea bagger screams “socialized medicine” stocks in the healthcare sector go up. Every time a tea bagger screams “keep government hands off my medicare” healthcare premiums go up while HMO’s turn in record profits.


Every time a tea bagger yells “we don’t want no government regulations” the bankers at Goldman Sachs lick their chops thinking about the next risky derivative investment they are going to make knowing if it fails you will bail them out.

Every time a tea bagger rails against big government spending Republicans propose privatizing Social Security and eliminating medicare.

Tea Baggers you need to wake up and realize your movements are being funded by corporatists and your talking points are meant to further a corporate agenda at the detriment of The People.

It’s never worked. Instead what the wealthy elite do is take their money and invest it in China to manufacture cheap goods. Or, they take their money and invest in call centers in India. Either way, they don’t keep their money here. Why? Because ultimately they despise the American Worker. They think we are overpaid as compared to China or India or other countries where labor is relatively cheap.

From 1980 to 2010 we have moved from a one bread winner family to now where it takes both the mother and father working and sometimes the teenage kids in order to make ends meet. Why? In large part because high paying manufacturing jobs have moved overseas. We have moved from an economy based on manufacturing to an economy based on consumption and service. Wages have continually deflated while CEO pay has gone up 3000% as their reward for slashing labor costs by moving operations overseas.

More recently we tried this experiment in Reaganomics again with Bush in 2000. The Republican answer to a stalling economy was once again yet more tax cuts for the wealthy elite. The theory once again put out by Republicans was that if we just gave the wealthy elite a break they would give us a break. They would keep that factory here or invest in small businesses.

Well, the wealthy elite once again screwed the American worker. This time they poured their excess into speculative markets and derivatives. They fueled the housing bubble. And when it all collapsed the American tax payer bailed them out while workers watched their retirement accounts and 401K’s melt down.

After Republicans wrought devastation on America for 8 long years with trickle down economics their answer once again for the current economic downturn is more tax cuts for the wealthy elite. Not only do they want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent (which were never paid for and added $4 Trillion to the national debt) they want even deeper tax cuts.

As we have seen after 1980 the tax burden has been shifted off the wealthy elite who can easily afford to pay more in taxes and on to the backs of the American worker. In conservative Republican circles this makes perfect economic sense as their goal is to make sure the wealthy keep as much money and power as possible. They have no care or concern for the average working American.

We simply cannot afford another round of trickle down economics as Republicans are proposing. It will cause even more job losses, a deflation of wages, and more businesses will move overseas. This is after all their goal as they want the American worker to be on par with a worker in China or India. Only then will they “bring back the jobs”. Only when you are willing to work for $1 an hour in unsafe working conditions with no benefits will they bring back the so called jobs.

If we are ever to get back to a burgeoning middle class again what we need are high paying jobs here in America that people can do right out of high school. In order to do that we need to tariff imports so that they are on par with goods manufactured here in the United States. Only then will businesses once again consider to manufacture goods here in the U.S.

What the wealthy elite fail to realize is if we lose the middle class we will lose all social stability. We cannot exist as a democracy with 1 or 2% of the people controlling all the wealth with the rest of us feeding off the breadcrumbs that fall from their tables. There will be civil unrest and the masses will simply take from the wealthy elite when that time comes. Sure the super wealthy elite will simply fly away on their private jets and go live on their private Island. Don’t have a private jet or private island? No chateau in Europe or bungalow in Costa Rica? Well then you start understanding that your survival depends on the survival of the middle class.

Unless of course they don’t want democracy to continue and prefer to be governed by corporatism. If that’s the goal then their policies make perfect sense.

The long and short of it: In sworn testimony before the Committee on Homeland Security it was revealed that the State Department tried to revoke the Visa of Underpants Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. However the intelligence community over ruled the State Department saying they wanted to let Umar go because they were trying to use him to get to higher ups in the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula organization.

I guess any innocent Americans and other people killed in the process be damned as long as the intelligence community gets the information it wants.

I will tell you my opinion about all of this and then leave you with links and excepts with the facts. No doubt many of you will find my opinion hard to swallow but here it goes. Before Bush Cheney left office they made sure to embed Loyal Bushies all throughout our government including the intelligence community. They did this by changing political appointees to permanent federal positions. This process is called burrowing and happens with nearly every administration when it comes to an end so it's no surprise.

But we know how the Bush Cheney regime operated and can surmise how Loyal Bushies would act - specifically to use terrorism to further a political agenda. Imagine the outcry from Republicans if the underpants bomber would have been successful.

Who would have moved to benefit politically from terrorist attack? Who continually hopes and dreams of another terrorist attack in order to further their political agenda? I don't put it out of the realm of possibility that Cheney (a man involved in the deep bowels of government since Nixon) is still pulling intelligence strings behind the scenes. But it will never be investigated and never proven.

So, what we can do is go with the facts. You can read all of the testimony before the Homeland Security Committee at their wesbite: Flight 253: Learning Lessons from an Averted Tragedy January 27, 2010

Here are some excerpts as reported by The Detroit News - Terror suspect kept visa to avoid tipping off larger investigation

Washington --The State Department didn't revoke the visa of foiled terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab because federal counterterrorism officials had begged off revocation, a top State Department official revealed Wednesday.

Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States. Full Article Here

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Here's more from World Socialist Web Site - Congressional hearing reveals US intelligence agencies shielded Flight 253 bomber:

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Under questioning by the committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Kennedy explained why the State Department might not revoke the US visa of a suspected terrorist: “We will revoke the visa of any individual who is a threat to the United States, but we do take one preliminary step. We ask our law enforcement and intelligence community partners, ‘Do you have eyes on this person and do you want us to let this person proceed under your surveillance so that you may potentially break a larger plot?’”

He added: “And one of the members [of the intelligence community]—and we’d be glad to give you that out of [open session]—in private—said, ‘Please, do not revoke this visa. We have eyes on this person. We are following this person who has the visa for the purpose of trying to roll up an entire network, not just stop one person.’”

Under questioning by Rep. Dan Lungren, Kennedy confirmed that Abdulmutallab’s case was one in which US intelligence officials had interceded to block a visa revocation. Full Article Here

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Here's another article from Homeland Security Today - Letting Terrorists into US to Spy on Them

When besieged National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Michael Leiter, a veteran intelligence practitioner, disclosed last week at a Senate committee hearing looking into the failure of the Intelligence Community (IC) to uncover the botched Christmas Day bomb plot by Yemeni Al Qaeda franchise directed recruit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, that known and suspected terrorists on US terrorist watch lists are sometimes secretly allowed into the country for clandestine counterterrorism intelligence collection purposes, there was a delayed, palpable surprise on the part of some lawmakers … and certainly conspiracy theorists. Full Article Here

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So, how does it feel know our intelligence community allows terrorists to come and go from the U.S. in order to further their own investigations without care for the collateral damage? Clearly, whether motivated by politics or not, the intelligence community was prepared to let hundreds of people die if it meant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could lead them to bigger fish.

I wonder... just thinking out loud...since this appears to be official policy... were planes allowed to fly into the World Trade Center on 9/11 in hopes of furthering an investigation? If so, is that investigation still on going?

I also wonder where the line is? If our intelligence community knows a terrorist is going to detonate a nuclear bomb in the U.S. would they apprehend him or let him go in hope of catching higher ups in the organization? Just what is their acceptable level of collateral damage?

At the same time with the help of Fox News and conservative radio Republicans are able to create via propaganda this meme that Obama is weak simply because the underwear bomber was read his Miranda Rights. They are able to claim Obama is weak because he did not torture the underwear bomber and wants to try him in a civilian court of law. Never mind the hundreds of terrorists that were Mirandized and tried in civilian courts under the Bush Administration dominated by Republicans.

After all, if Republicans do it, it must be ok.

It's all sick and absurd but it's unclear if the American People are falling for this bullshit or not. Republicans have gone so far as to erase the memory of 9/11 claiming no domestic terrorist attacks happened on Bush's watch when clearly 9/11 happened on Bush Republican watch along with the shoe bomber and DC sniper. I don't know if people are falling for the lies or not.

But the Republican platform for re-election is two-fold: 1) Obama is destroying the country 2) Obama is making us vulnerable to terrorism. Republicans think these two things will lead to them sweeping up in November. I guess we really won't know how susceptible Americans are to these lies until we see the results of the elections.

To this end Republicans seem to be drooling all over themselves hoping for another terrorist attack. How sick and sad is it to actually want another terrorist attack on your country simply so you can win elections? That's how low Republicans have been for quite some time. They are simply following the Cheney meme that held us under its thumb for years.

Bloomberg News - Democrats Vulnerable on Terrorism, Republicans Say

Obama called Republicans out on their bullshit. It's going to be hard for Republicans to go out again and call Obama a communist socialist fascist who is trying to take over the government. Obama also admitted his healthcare plan was pretty centrist. In other words, "what the fuck is wrong with you Republicans? Can't you see my healthcare plan will actually benefit the health industry as well?"

Obama clearly demonstrated that he is a centrist and moderate to the Republicans at that gathering. There was no where for them to run and hide. They just had to sit there and take it. It was like watching cockroaches unable to scurry away when the light is shined on them.

Hey Republicans, how many tax cuts, spending freezes, and wars does it take before you consider someone a Republican? Obama is doing pretty good by Republican standards. Seems to me the old boys ought to play ball with him.

Best of all however was that Obama did not use his signature teleprompters thereby trashing the time honored taking point of Republicans. One of the charges Republicans love to levy at Obama is that "he gives a good speech but..." and "he doesn't go anywhere without a teleprompter...on his own he can't speak." Well I bet from now on Republicans will demand he use a teleprompter. I bet at future Obama events if Fox News doesn't see a teleprompter they'll just turn the cameras off before he can say a word.

I'd like to see more Obama unscripted and off the cuff. Clearly he prepared for going into the Republican den of thieves and murderers but that's fine. I'd like to see him do a little unscripted talk from every event here on out. Who knows? Maybe he has been. After all, we don't know what's on the teleprompters.

One of the last charges standing against Obama is that he is a celebrity. This is bad in Republican circles unless you are Sarah Palin in which case celebrity is totally awesome. Unfortunately Friday's event did little to detract from Obama's celebrity and star power. If anything it magnified it. And, it was a kick in the gut to Republicans for Obama then the next day to go call a basketball game with the crowd going wild for his every word.

No, celebrity appears to be here to stay so Republicans get to work hammering on that talking point. It may be all you have left..

Sarah Palin is getting paid $100,000 to speak at the Tea Bagger convention. But, after mounting criticism with some Tea Baggers deciding to opt out of the convention due to its price she has decided to "donate" the money to the cause. It's still not clear where the money will go. Perhaps she will just hand it over to Dick Armey's Freedom Works which funds Tea Bagger events or any of the other corporate backed lobbyist groups that front for Tea Bagger rallies.

It's kind of sad really what the conservative elite have done to the Tea Bagger movement. It started off as people being mad as hell. I think everyone is mad as hell. It was about TEA - "Taxed Enough Already". We all hate paying taxes. What's not to like about the Tea Baggers?

Well, for one thing Obama cut taxes even as Tea Baggers claimed he was raising taxes. As soon as Dick Armey and his ilk got hold of the movement they made the message even more extreme and more ridiculous. We saw people at town halls shouting "keep government hands off my Medicare!". Apparent irony was lost on most Tea Baggers.

And while initially Tea Baggers were upset about the bank bailouts after Dick Armey got a hold of them he changed the message to be against any sort of bank regulations to reign in the free wheeling investment houses. The Tea Bagger movement became this group of people who were now supporting unfettered, unregulated free market capitalism.

Well now that unfettered, unregulated free market capitalism is biting them in the ass exploiting their own political convention to make a profit.

I know some Tea Baggers get it and have broken ranks with the corporate backed Republicans seeking to co-opt their movement. But there are still plenty of empty headed dumb fuck ditto heads who have money and will pay just for a chance to glimpse at Sarah Palin.

The Tea Bagger convention is shaping up to be a $550.00 ticket to view a gallery of Obama as a monkey posters, Obama as a witchdoctor posters, Obama as Hitler posters, and various Obamacare posters equating healthcare reform to Nazi death camps. That's kind of a lot to spend to view things one can see on the internet for free.

I really am starting to feel sorry for the Tea Baggers - the ones that have been duped. The ones that are exploiting the Tea Baggers to make money (like Sarah Palin and Dick Armey) fuck them. For those Tea Baggers breaking ranks I would encourage them to do a little soul searching and look at what Conservative Economic policies did to this country over the past 8 years. I would ask them to look at what Obama is doing and realize he is taking a centrist-conservative approach to governing.

The first point of absurdity is the Conservative and Republican insistence that Obama is not an American Citizen. This is not only absurd it's also un-American to criticize an American President in such a way.

This brings us to the first rule of Absurd American Politics: It's ok for Republicans to criticize a Democratic President but it's treason when Democrats and Liberals criticize a Republican President.

The second point of absurdity is this notion that some how Obama is a liberal; that some how he is a socialist; that some how he is creating this climate of big government and out of control spending.

This is absurd. Republicans had the Presidency, House, and Senate for six years and presided over the largest expanse in government and watched as the National Debt was doubled. The current budget deficit is not due to "Obama's socialist Agenda". It's due precisely to Conservative Republican Economic policies which are to cut taxes on the extremely wealthy while borrowing money to pay for two wars of choice.

The third point of absurdity is the media that gives air time to anyone who claims Obama is a liberal or socialist or to anyone who claims Obama's spending is "out of control". These people should be laughed off the air. In better times they would be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail for lying to the public. That anyone takes them seriously is absurd.

Even more absurd are those intellectual elites who think it doesn't have an impact on the way the public views our politics. Too many egg heads dismiss Fox News and Rush Limbaugh out of hand saying they are irrelevant. Look around you. Listen to the lies regular people parrot loyally which come directly from the Conservative Punditry. It has an impact. To think otherwise is absurd.

More absurd still is the notion that Obama is not being bipartisan enough or the claims that Obama "must" work with Republicans. Any sane person who listened to the State of the Union would hear plenty of bipartisan outreach ranging from tax cuts to offshore oil drilling to nuclear power to a god damned Executive Order to form a commission designed to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. If we could find a person not familiar with our politics beyond the standard definition of what a Democrat and Republican is in listening to Obama they would think he was a Republican.

Obama has spent an entire year trying to placate Republicans and it's still not enough for them. Why? Because Republicans do not want to work with Obama. Instead, they want to see him fail. They have made that clear. This means it does not matter what Obama does they will always reject him out of hand as a communist socialist liberal which is absurd. Obama could call for the largest tax cuts in history, eliminate all regulations on corporations, and eliminate Social Security and Republicans would still call him a liberal.

As Jon Stewart put it, Republicans will never let Obama in the car and it's his car they are driving.

The fourth point of the absurd has to do with how absurd it is after 10 long years to still see Democrats bending over backwards to please Republicans. Democrats when Bush was President did everything they could to support Bush and Republicans in Congress. Bush got everyone passed he wanted to get passed with the exception of privatizing Social Security - something Obama may accomplish for him now.

Flash forward to today and we still have Democrats working with Republicans to make the Bush tax cuts on the robber barons permanent. This is absurd. It's folly. It's false. Democrats exist to serve Republicans that much has become crystal clear. Even Obama seems more content shining the shoes of Republicans than serving The People.

Sure Democrats try to be bipartisan but it's NEVER reciprocated by Republicans. So why bother? To continue trying to work with Republicans when they have made it clear they think government is the problem and want Obama to fail is absurd.

The fifth point of absurdity is more of a point of interest. Isn't it interesting that Conservative Democrats are more than willing to work with Republicans to get Republican agendas passed. But when it comes to working with Liberal Democrats to get Liberal agendas passed they stonewall. That is where the real power in this country is. It lies with those who move so easily between Democrat and Republican with the only purpose being to obstruct and make sure Corporate Interests are not being infringed on. It's all by design to keep us divided so they can maintain control.

Really at this point, Obama should just become a Republican. He is a moderate Republican. He might as well change parties. Maybe just maybe at that point Republicans would embrace him. As absurd as it sounds Republicans would serve their cause well to embrace Obama. He is doing more for them than anyone else.

Think how much power the Republican Party would have if they would simply rally around Obama and support the areas loudly where they have common ground. And Obama who is so starved for acceptance would move even further to the right if Republicans simply gave him a few kudos and atta'boys once and a while.

That would be the smart power play by Republicans. Fortunately Conservatives and Republicans are too stupid to figure that out.