Obama Watch... 11/7/09
A Chronicle of the Socialization of America
The American People: Mugged!
Headlines …
Army Shooter Was on Radical Internet Postings
| Friday, November 6, 2009 11:10 AM | |
His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.
There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_fort_hood_shooting_suspect/2009/11/06/282719.html>
Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting
A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama.
By ROBERT A. GEORGE
Updated 2:56 PM CST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009
[Alleged] President Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships.
After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.
But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?
Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur.
Read more <http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html>
BREAKING: ACORN’s New Orleans Office Raided by Louisiana Attorney General
by Capitol Confidential
In a fast-breaking development comes word that agents of the Attorney’s General office in Louisiana have raided ACORN’s offices in New Orleans. ACORN’s New Orleans was, for decades, the headquarters of the national community organizing association. News of the raid comes from Marcel Reid and her colleagues at ACORN 8, an association of former ACORN leaders and board members. Many of the individuals involved with ACORN 8 were fired from ACORN for demanding a forensic audit following an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke.
.
Update: Big Government has contacted the Louisiana Attorney’s General office. We are told that all of the press officers are “out to lunch” right now. We have been promised a return call later this afternoo
Read more <http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/06/breaking-acorns-new-orleans-office-raided-by-louisiana-attorney-generals-office/>
Democratic Support for Health Bill in Danger
| Friday, November 6, 2009 11:18 AM By: Dan Weil | |
Support for the healthcare reform bill is wavering among House Democrats over the issues of abortion and immigration.
Already there are about 25 Democrats who will definitely vote against the bill, The Washington Post reports.
All Republicans are expected to vote against the bill, and there are 258 Democrats in the House.
That means the Democratic leadership can’t lose more than 40 votes to gain the 218 needed for approval.
As for abortion, the House bill would allow plans that are established for individuals who don’t have insurance through their jobs to pay for abortions.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/healthcare_bill/2009/11/06/282723.html>
Pelosi Breaks Pledge to Put Final Health Care Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Vote
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that the speaker will not allow the final language of the health care to be posted online for 72 hours before bringing the bill to a vote on the House floor, despite her September 24 statement that she was "absolutely" committed to doing so.
House members are still negotiating important issues in the bill--whether it will provide taxpayer-funding for abortions, for example. Pelosi is pushing for a Saturday House vote, and a number of big changes will be introduced, likely less than 24 hours before the vote takes place (if in fact it does). The Rules Committee hasn't yet released its resolution, or rule, that must be passed before the bill can move from committee to the floor. The rule will set the terms of debate and determine what amendments are in order.
It seems likely that the rule will allow very few, if any, up-or-down votes on amendments on the House floor. Rather, the rule will include a series of amendments that will all be adopted at once if the rule passes.
On September 24, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that she was "absolutely" committed to putting the text of the final House bill online for 72 hours before the House votes:
TWS: Madam Speaker, do you support the measure to put the final House bill online for 72 hours before it's voted on at the very end?
PELOSI: Absolutely. Without question.
Read more <http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/11/pelosi_breaks_pledge_to_put_he.asp>
Pelosi's Last Minute Negotiations on Abortion Funding Totally Unacceptable
Posted on November 06, 2009, 10:09 PM | Deal W. Hudson
Updated at 11.1o P. M. It appears the "deal" described below has fallen apart -- Rep. Stupak evidently turned it down which may force Pelosi to grant him a vote on the Stupak/Pitts amendment barring abortion funding.
-----------------------------
A last minute attempt by Nancy Pelosi to win votes for the health care legislation -- the Affordable Health Care for America Act -- is heading toward an agreement codifying the Hyde Amendment for the government-run plan, but not for subsidies, called "affordability credits," provided to the "Health Insurance Exchange."
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), the leader of the pro-life Democrats in the House, is reported to have signed off on the agreement.
The new Hyde language would govern the government-run program directly, irrespective of whether it was or was not in the Exchange, but it would not govern the other plans that get government funds by accepting the subsidies. If those plans then cover abortion, the government funds are subsidizing the payments for abortion, regardless of any accounting gimmicks such as the Capps amendment.
The government-run insurance plan would permanently be prohibited from funding abortion, but the affordability subsidies would pay for abortion unless the Hyde Amendment is renewed every year. Under the rumored agreement, the Hyde language would be codified, i.e., made permanent in the government-run plan, but the exchange would only be governed by Hyde language if the annual rider is approved each year.
Read more <http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_myblog&Itemid=127>
Committee Confirms: Comply With Pelosi-Care Or Go To Jail
by Publius
From the House Ways and Means Republicans:
Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:
“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]
- – - – - – - – - –
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]
Read more <http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/06/committee-confirms-comply-with-pelosi-care-or-go-to-jail/>
WRAPUP 3-US House Democrats scramble for healthcare votes
Fri Nov 6, 2009 6:22pm EST
* Democrats still hunting for 218 House votes on health
* Hoyer says "we're very close" to the needed support
* Says final vote could be delayed to Sunday or beyond
Read more <http://www.reuters.com/article/americasRegulatoryNews/idUSN0619195120091106>
AMA Members Revolt Over Obamacare Endorsement
| Friday, November 6, 2009 6:54 PM By: David A. Patten | |
The American Medical Association (AMA) is facing a rebellion from some of its members, who have introduced a resolution to revoke the organization's endorsement of the Democrats' healthcare proposals.
AMA delegates tell Newsmax that the association's board of trustees failed to obtain delegate approval before endorsing the reform proposals. The AMA's delegate assembly is considered the group's primary policy-making body.
Dr. James Dolan, the president of the Florida Medical Association, tells Newsmax the delegates "are pretty upset with the board of trustees right now" and an emergency resolution will be submitted to revoke the endorsement.
Rescinding the AMA endorsement would be a significant blow to Obamacare at a critical point in the debate, as reflected in Democrats' reaction Thursday when they'd won endorsements from AMA and the AARP.
"We are closer to passing this reform than ever before," [Alleged] President Barack Obama declared. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pronounced the nation was "on the brink" of adopting healthcare reforms projected to cost $1.2 trillion, overhauling the sector that accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
AMA sources confirm a resolution that would effectively revoke the AMA's endorsement will be introduced during the delegates' conference at the association's interim meeting in Houston on Saturday.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/ama_healthcare_endorse/2009/11/06/282998.html>
Berlin Marks 20 Years After Wall Fall
| Tuesday, November 3, 2009 11:29 PM | |
For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall was the symbol of the Cold War; it divided a city and in effect the entire country. And then on November 9, 1989 it crumbled and with it Communist East Germany. It was a key event on the path to ending the Cold War.
The Brandenburg Gate - one of Berlin's best known landmarks. Once a stately entryway to the then capital of Prussian kings - by the late 1900's it was part of a grim barrier dividing the city.
Read more <http://www.newsmaxworld.com/global_talk/Berlin_wall_fall/2009/11/03/281288.html>
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PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail
<http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=153583>
Fort Hood Shooter Emptied His Apartment
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_fort_hood_shooting/2009/11/06/282680.html>
Wall Street Swine Flu Vaccinations Spark Uproar
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/swine_flu_wall_st/2009/11/06/282654.html>
Pelosi: We're 'On the Brink' of Obamacare
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_health_care_overhaul/2009/11/05/282472.html>
Republicans Rally Resistance to Health Care Bill, as House Vote Nears
<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/05/republicans-try-rally-resistance-health-care-house-vote-nears/>
Gorbachev: Moscow Could Have Started WWIII Over Berlin Wall
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/gorbachev_berlin_wall/2009/11/03/281083.html>
Obama Calls Holdouts on Healthcare
<http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_healthcare_holdouts/2009/11/06/282936.html>
Obamacare a Threat to Malpractice Reform
<http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/healthcare_malpractice/2009/11/06/283044.html>
McCain Says Health Care Bill Would Face Constitutional Challenge
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56770>
Mark Levin: Congressmen Who Want to Force Americans to Buy Health Insurance Are Saying ‘The Hell With the Constitution'
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56765>
Four Virginia Democrats Are ‘Undecided’ on Health Care Bill Following GOP Landslide in Their State
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56811>
Catholic Bishops: Proposed Amendment to Health Care Bill Creates ‘Money-Laundering System’ for Funding Abortion
<http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56700>
Domestic ...
Economy
U.S. Jobless Rate Hits 10.2%; 190,000 Jobs Lost
| Friday, November 6, 2009 9:19 AM | |
WASHINGTON – The U.S. unemployment rate shot up to 10.2 percent in October as another 190,000 jobs were shed, the Labor Department said Friday.
The report highlighted ongoing woes in the labor market in an economy struggling to emerge from recession: the jobless rate, up from 9.8 percent in September, was the highest since 1983 but the number of jobs lost narrowed to the lowest level in over a year.
Overall, the Labor Department monthly report, one of the best indicators of economic momentum, was worse than expectations for a 10 percent jobless rate and 175,000 job losses.
But the improving trend continued, and the latest report revised down the number of job losses in August and September.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/jobs_lost/2009/11/06/282644.html>
Taxpayers Risked Trillions at Height of Crisis
| Friday, November 6, 2009 1:10 AM | |
WASHINGTON -- Government officials put trillions of taxpayer dollars on the line to guarantee risky bank assets -- a strategy that could cause permanent and costly market distortions, a government watchdog says.
At the peak of the financial crisis, taxpayer money guaranteed assets worth $4.3 trillion to help banks ride out the panic. The programs, which essentially provided insurance against losses, helped stabilize financial markets but put far more taxpayer dollars at risk than Congress intended, according to the Congressional Oversight Panel.
The report, released Friday, says the guarantee programs became the single largest part of the government's effort to calm the markets. And even though many of the programs have now expired, the guarantees still provide invisible government subsidies even to healthy banks, according to the report.
The panel makes periodic assessments of how Treasury is managing the $700 billion financial bailout Congress approved last year.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/us_bank_guarantees_watchdog/2009/11/06/282510.html>
Volcker: U.S. Must Consume Less
| Friday, November 6, 2009 11:56 AM By: Dan Weil | |
Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker says the consumer accounts for too much of the economy, a point he says is understood by [Alleged] President Obama and one which implies political support for a weaker U.S. dollar.
In a recent speech, Volcker said Obama realizes that "We cannot have so much consumption."
Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of GDP, a level has been reached only by “the magic of financial engineering,” Volcker said.
"We cannot rebuild the economy to the tune of 70 percent consumption or housing booms. It will just break down again," Volcker said.
He told CNBC that in a recent meeting of economic advisors with Obama the president emphasized the need to increase exports.
“That means more manufacturing,” Volcker said.
“There was discussion of the importance of infrastructure. And there was considerable discussion of how can we take advantage of, so to speak, the need for a green economy, where we do a lot of the innovation.”
Read more <http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/volcker_us_consumer/2009/11/06/282748.html>
Economist Warns: Coming U.S. Bond Default
| Friday, November 6, 2009 8:59 AM By: Gene J. Koprowski | |
The U.S. may have to default on its debt payments after 2019, writes economist Robert Samuelson.
If the deficit spending continues on the current path it will consume 82 percent of gross domestic product within a decade. There will be no wiggle room for tax cuts, and spending cuts may be politically unpalatable, he surmises.
“The Congressional Budget Office reckons the Obama administration's planned budgets would increase the debt-to-GDP ratio from 41 percent in 2008 to 82 percent in 2019. Higher interest rates would aggravate the debt burden,” writes Samuelson in The Washington Post.
Anticipating higher interest rates, the CBO estimates annual interest payments on the federal debt at $799 billion in 2019, up from $170 billion today.
“Even the size of exposed debt is unclear; adding Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's debts — effectively guaranteed by the government — to Treasury debt would raise the total sharply,” writes Samuelson.
However, constraining future debt by spending cuts or tax increases will involve “wrenching and unpopular measures” and may backfire.
Read more <http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/federal_bond_default/2009/11/06/282633.html>
Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5%
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: November 6, 2009
For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.
With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.
In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.
This includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.
The official jobless rate — 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September — remains lower than the early 1980s peak of 10.8 percent.
The rate is highest today, sometimes 20 percent, in states that had big housing bubbles, like California and Arizona, or that have large manufacturing sectors, like Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
The new benchmark is a sign of just how much damage financial crises tend to inflict. A recent book by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff, two economists, found that over the last century the typical crisis had caused the jobless rate in the country where it occurred to rise for almost five years. By that standard, the jobless rate here would continue rising for two more years, through the end of 2011.
Read more <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/business/economy/07econ.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1257599360-c7ER8VzC2bENPu8NJfh1Jg>
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State Department
Analysis: For Clinton, tough talk but few results
By ROBERT BURNS (AP) – 2 days ago
CAIRO — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's tense exchanges with Pakistani civilians and Arab diplomats over a harrowing week of foreign stops exposed the confining limits of her office.
On her most ambitious and contentious overseas trip as secretary of state, Clinton had to resort to damage control after she appeared to mangle the Obama administration's message on frozen Mideast peace talks.
And while she scored points back home by standing up to angry Pakistanis who confronted her about drone-launched U.S. missile strikes, her blunt questioning of the resolve of Pakistan's government exposed American impatience with the country's incremental steps against terrorists.
In each case her extraordinarily public approach to diplomacy — for better or worse — reflected not only her personal style but also [Alleged] President Barack Obama's promise to reach out openly to friend as well as foe.
What remains less clear is whether Clinton's hot-button politician's persona works any better at producing international results — let alone clarity — than a more classic diplomat's cooler tact.
Read more <http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gq1fEUuhFJV4rivRGDrhQY1DKAmQD9BOVA102>
Politics
Paterson Empowered By Obama's Election Woes
Gov. Still Plans To Run Despite President's Request He Not
Brings President Clinton's Former Deputy Chief Of Staff On Board
Marcia Kramer
NEW YORK (CBS) ?
Embattled Gov. David Paterson is pulling out all the stops to save his job. He plans to mount a major ad blitz to tell New Yorkers about all the good things he's done for the Empire State.
The election may be over, but the political ads aren't. The governor is now taking to the air waves to convince New Yorkers he deserves to stay in office.
"What it's geared to do is talk about his very good record over the last year, the things he's done for the state, including closing a $35 billion budget," said veteran political consultant Bill Lynch.
The ads are aimed at improving Paterson's low poll numbers and sending a message to other Democrats, including [Alleged] President Barack Obama, that he is determined to seek another term in office.
Pasted from <http://wcbstv.com/politics/governor.david.paterson.2.1294872.html>
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Media
Beck Slams Obama in Wake of Shootings
| Friday, November 6, 2009 5:18 PM By: John Rossomando | |
Talk show host Glenn Beck slammed [Alleged] President Barack Obama Friday for his poor choice of priorities in the wake of Thursday’s shootings at Fort Hood, Texas.
Beck released a video on his Web site mocking the president for making everything in his administration into a crisis – except for the war in Afghanistan, where Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces, says America faces defeat unless the president deploys 40,000 more troops.
“Sure, there is a desperate need for help in Afghanistan; that decision can wait,” Beck said in the video. “You know, we have work to do with AmeriCorps and we have a 2,000-page bill on something 54 percent of Americans don’t want.”
Beck said Obama considers passing a healthcare bill that a majority of Americans oppose more important than showing leadership in Afghanistan. Over the past two months, U.S. troops have suffered the highest casualty numbers since the war began in 2001.
“[Alleged] President Obama, this isn’t ain’t a college classroom,” Beck said. “It’s time for you to make decisions. It’s time for you to make one ? whatever it is.”
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/beck_obama_fort_hood/2009/11/06/282949.html>
The States
Ethics Panel Clears N.C. Rep. Shuler in TVA Probe
| Thursday, November 5, 2009 11:55 PM | |
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Congressional ethics investigators have concluded that North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler did not act inappropriately while a residential development that he was involved in sought lake-access rights from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Top lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee said in a letter to Shuler released Thursday that it was closing the matter after reviewing a TVA investigative report. The lawmakers said that report concluded TVA's inspector general found no evidence that Shuler, a Democrat, or his staff used his position to exert influence over the approval process.
"The Standards Committee, after thorough review, has determined that your actions in these matters were not improper in any way and did not violate House Rules," Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Joe Bonner, R-Ala., said in a letter to Shuler.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/politics/us_tva_shuler/2009/11/05/282499.html>
International ...
Terrorism
U.S. Trials OK'd for 9/11 Suspects
| Friday, November 6, 2009 10:19 AM By: Stephen Dinan and S.A. Miller, The Washington Times | |
The Senate on Thursday gave the green light to [Alleged] President Obama to transfer the accused plotters of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the United States to be tried in civilian courts.
Republicans had tried to tie Mr. Obama's hands by offering an amendment that would have applied to anyone accused of being behind the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, but Democrats said civilian courts can handle suspected terrorists, will ensure they get faster trials and will enhance the U.S. reputation around the world. They blocked Republicans on a 54-45 vote, though four Democrats and one independent joined the Republicans.
"They are criminals. They committed murder," said Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, who said civilian courts have handled plenty of terrorist cases and are able to take even the worst of those being held at the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He said Mr. Obama should have the freedom to choose whether civilian courts or military commissions are the best option.
Read more <http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/terror_trials_us/2009/11/06/282686.html>
Iran
Iran Tried Advanced Nuke Warhead Design
| Friday, November 6, 2009 10:12 AM | |
The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Read more <http://www.newsmaxworld.com/global_talk/Iran_nuke_warheard/2009/11/06/282683.html>
Afghanistan
EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
By Sara A. Carter
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | U.S. military officials sent a medical team to a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan this week to take blood samples from members of an Army unit after a soldier in the unit died from an Ebola-like virus.
Dr. Jim Radike, an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Role 3 Trauma Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, told The Washington Times that Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Radike, who is with the Navy, said the medical team "will be taking blood samples and the results may take several weeks to get back." He called it "a precautionary measure."
Dr. Radike did not say how many individuals would be tested or why the military had waited until now to act. The unit involved is the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry division, A-Company 2-1 Infantry.
Read more <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/06/rare-virus-poses-new-threat-to-troops/>
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China
China brands US ‘protectionist’
By Geoff Dyer in Beijing
Published: November 6 2009 18:39 | Last updated: November 6 2009 18:39
China on Friday accused the US of protectionist and biased trade policies less than a week before [Alleged] President Barack Obama’s first visit to Beijing.
In a stinging rebuke to Washington, China’s commerce ministry promised to take measures to protect its domestic industry after the US slapped anti-dumping duties on $2.6bn of Chinese steel pipe imports. The duties are part of a growing roster of trade conflicts between the two countries, despite a high-level meeting last week in China aimed at reducing tensions.
“China resolutely opposes such protectionist practices and will take steps to protect the interests of our domestic industries,” Yao Jian, ministry spokesman, said on its website.
“The US should give objective consideration to the fact that the fundamental problem of the US industries in question is the fall of demand brought about by the financial crisis.”
The decision by the US Commerce Department, which imposed tariffs of up to 99 per cent on some Chinese steel pipes, follows a move earlier in the week by the US, European Union and Mexico to file a formal complaint at the World Trade Organisation against Beijing’s restrictions on exports of specialised raw materials. Last month the Obama administration levied 35 per cent tariffs on tyres made in China.
In response, the Chinese have opened probes into US exports of poultry on grounds of safety and into cars and car parts because of the state aid those industries have received.
Read more <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6b6956e6-cb01-11de-97e0-00144feabdc0.html>
Opinion …
The weakened American soul
Olavo de Carvalho
Laigle's Forum, January 30, 2008
The dominant discourse in the mainstream media, show business and universities in the USA today is so frankly anti-American that it is only in details of style - if that - that it can be distinguished from the defamation campaigns undertaken by the USSR in the 50s and 60s. The American elite boasts of having won the Cold War, but it seems as if it was dominated psychologically by the vanquished enemy and wound up believing everything the enemy said against it. The posthumous vengeance of the Soviets gleams in the pages of the New York Times, at prime time on CBS, and in the films by Michael Moore and George Clooney with a splendor that not even Willi Muenzenberg, the genius of communist disinformation, would have dared dream of.
Whatever is said against the American government, against the American military, and against American culture, seems to enjoy automatic credibility today, so much so that it can be shouted from the rooftops without the least fear of an exasperated response, to the extent that any pro-American word must be prefaced with politically correct precautions for fear of the inevitable and vociferous retaliation, if not of a lawsuit. To follow the American debate is to confirm daily the prophetic sense of the verse by William Butler Yeats: “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” Something has changed radically in the heart of America in the second half of the 20th century, and has changed precisely in the direction in which the country’s bitterest enemies would have wanted it to change.
How was this possible? The agents of change want us to believe that it was all a spontaneous, natural and inevitable process, lending the course of the transformation the authority of an impersonal historic law that only the small minded reactionary would dare to question. But many years ago I realized that impersonal laws of history are almost always mere camouflage for human actions that want to pass unperceived so that their effects take on an aura of divine mystery.
The change that weakened the American soul was precipitated by three major disinformation operations that, because they were launched from Washington and not from Moscow, managed to deceive the entire nation and forge a new “common sense” (in the Gramscian sense of the word), whose influence not even the most conservative and patriotic completely escape. On these three occasions, the lies carefully elaborated by the government itself to cast onto the United States the blame for the malicious actions of its enemies not only became official truth, uniformly repeated today by the media and the education system, but spread around the world, creating the monstrously deformed image that today feeds and legitimizes anti-American hatred everywhere. It may seem absurd that government officials would choose to participate in the defamation of their own country to avoid problems with the USSR or to save their own electoral image, but that is exactly what three American presidents did, two of which, ironically, are portrayed by leftist rhetoric as exemplary embodiments of anti-communism and “Yankee imperialism.”
The three operations were conceived in the high spheres of the Democratic Party, but at least one of them had intense Republican collaboration. Three recently published books, one of which I already commented on here and the other I mentioned in passing, finally reveal what happened behind the scenes on these occasions, the incredible machinations of politicians and journalists, who for the sake of short-term gains, unhesitatingly favored the enemy and bequeathed to future generations an increasingly morally weakened country.
The first of these episodes was the operation carried out by the Truman administration — and faithfully pursued by Eisenhower — to deny or cover up the massive presence of Soviet agents in high posts of the American government, particularly in the State Department, and also in technical and administrative functions, where they had access to secret information of a military nature.
This story is told in detail with extensive documentation by M. Stanton Evans in “Black Listed by History. The Untold Story of Senator Joseph MacCarthy and His Fight against America’s Enemies,” New York, Crown forum 2007. If you can’t read the book, you can listen to a good resume presented by the author at the Heritage Foundation, with a commentary by Herbert Rommerstein, the one personally responsible for major investigations into Soviet infiltration in the USA (see Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy).
To get an idea of the strategic risks involved in this situation, suffice to say that practically the entire tone of North American policy in China during the communist revolution was set on the basis of reports fabricated by Soviet agents who infiltrated the American diplomatic service in Beijing. By means of prodigious falsifications, these agents managed to persuade the Washington government to withhold needed aid from their ally Chiang Kai-shek and support the communist troops of Mao Zedong, who without this would never have managed to overthrow the Chinese government and install the bloodiest of genocidal dictatorships the world had ever known. American Ambassador Patrick Hurley saw through the ruse and warned Washington in time, but his messages were ignored. Feeling sullied, Hurley asked to be relieved of his post and was replaced by General George Marshall, who believed in these stories as if they had been revealed gospel. Marshall was not procommunist, obviously, but if his behavior in this case was not a clear-cut example of what Eric Voegelin called “criminal stupidity,” I don’t know what could fit that category. Following the record genocide of 70 million people, the Chinese government, having accumulated atomic bombs with the money generously supplied by American investors, is today the number one security risk for the USA.
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