The domestic militia whackos are rising again. After nearly a decade in which we didn’t hear much about them, now that a Democrat is in president again, they are resurging. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified at least 50 new right wing militia groups that have been formed in the last two years.

Norm Olson of the Alaska Citizens Militia explains his rationale for Americans arming themselves against the government.

“The federal government can roll into your driveway in the middle of the night and snatch you up and take you away, and you’ll never be seen again.” ~ Associated Press

The last time we saw such activity in the militia groups, another Democrat was president– Bill Clinton. These groups clearly tie democratic presidencies with their fears about government excesses.

So let’s look at this a little bit. I can certainly agree with Mr. Olson that the government should not be able to snatch citizens up in the middle of the night and take them away. I can also agree that our civil liberties are very important. I think I should be able to talk to whomever I want to on the phone without worrying about the government listening in on my private conversations. I also think that I should be able to check whatever books I want to out of the library without the government knowing or caring WHAT I am reading. I think that I should be able to meet with other people without having to worry about whether I am sitting next to a government spy at my rubber chicken dinner. And if I am arrested, I should not be held in prison for years without even knowing what the charges are against me. I think that the government should not be able to go snooping in my bank records, and I certainly don’t want my ISP reporting my internet habits to the Department of Homeland Security.

What’s more, I’m willing to bet that Mr. Olson doesn’t want any of these things either. Yet, it was a Republican Administration, that of George Dubya Bush, that put all these things in place– not only can the government go snooping into your library records, your internet habits and your phone calls, but it no longer even needs a warrant to do so. This was all part of Dubya’s war on terrorism, you know.

Now you would think that, being concerned about the government sneaking around and snooping into their personal business and all, that these right wing militia groups would have been busting out of the woodwork when Dubya was president. But they waited till AFTER he got out of office to start stockpiling their guns and playing soldiers in the backwoods.

Maybe these guys are smarter than I thought. Guess they figured that if they’d gotten themselves together when Dubya was in office, they really WOULD have stood a good chance of being carted away in the middle of the night and never seen again. Now that we have an administration that has SOME modicum of understanding of civil liberties, Mr. Olson can go play soldiers in the backwoods without much real threat of the government coming in and spiriting them away.

President Obama pardoned a turkey for Thanksgiving named Courage. That turns out to be the gutsiest decision that Obama has made since taking office.

Courage is not the only recipient of Obama’s generosity who has reason to be thankful. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his boss Osama bin Laden are grateful for the opportunity provided by the Obama administration to put on a propaganda display during the circus trial that the whole world will be watching. KSM will be the perfect ringmaster, following up on his ringleader performance on 9/11.   And I couldn’t think of a better clown than Attorney General Eric Holder.

But there are many more folks who should be writing thank you notes to Obama this season.  In no particular order, here are just a few:

• Vladimir Putin – Obama handed him a gift of abandoning our anti-missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland without obtaining a single concession from Russia.
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – Obama left the dissidents hanging (some literally) while he decided to engage unconditionally the thugs who stole the Iranian presidency  – which, by the way, has bought them more time to develop their nuclear arms program.
• United Nations – Obama has raised the profile of this dysfunctional organization, telling the General Assembly in September that the UN is  “an indispensable factor in advancing the interests of the people we serve.” He intends to make the UN the moral arbiter of our foreign policy.
• China and climate change - Obama’s decision to move ahead and offer specific carbon emission reduction targets in Copenhagen while China gets a free pass will give China just the boost it needs to surge past us and become the world’s #1 economy.
• ACLU - They have the best friend they have ever had in the White House.  The Obama administration must have exceeded the ACLU’s most optimistic expectations by publicly releasing previously classified memos on enhanced interrogation, re-opening criminal investigations of CIA interrogators and giving al Qaeda leaders the full protections of the Constitution that Americans are entitled to in a criminal trial.
• ACORN - The Justice Department is slow-rolling any investigation, much less prosecution, of ACORN for its alleged criinal wrong-doing while the Obama administration is giving ACORN the opportunity to compete for billions of dollars of new grant money, courtesy of the stimulus windfalls.
• Arizona’s 15th congressional district - According to an Obama administration website, 30 jobs have been saved or created in this district with just $761,420 in stimulus money.   Unfortunately, members of this district will have a hard time writing a thank you note because no such district actually exists.
• The New York Times and MSNBC - They are the Obama administration’s favorite ‘news’ outlets.
• Fox News - The Obama administration’s bashing has boosted their ratings beyond anything that traditional advertising could have accomplished.

Finally, the conservative movement should thank Obama.  His failed economic policies, experiments in wealth redistribution, and weakness abroad have unified conservatives more than anything else could possibly have done.

Protest the Jailing of Lynne Stewart.   One of the first victims of the Patriot Act, she was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism in the course of her legal work. Based on her years of defending the most exploited, and government infringement of attorney-client confidentiality in the case, she was sentenced to only 28 months of detention, and was freed on appeal.  Now, at age 70 and battling breast cancer, she has been ordered to jail, and her sentence is being reviewed to be increased. Read more.

SF Gray Panther Newsletter, December, 2009
Lynne Stewart’s Appeal Denied

Lynne at the SF Gray Panthers

After a long career representing the poor, oppressed and unpopular, radical attorney Lynne Stewart has been sent to jail. On November 17, a federal appeals court upheld her 2005 conviction of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists and ordered her bond revoked. It also faulted District Judge John G. Koeltl for failing to issue a finding on whether she had committed perjury, and ordered him to review the mitigating circumstances that led him to sentence her to 28 months rather than the 30 years requested by the government. .

In the many years since charges were brought against her, the Gray Panthers have participated in nation-wide support and fundraising efforts for Lynne. In a typical political analysis of the events, she said the decision’s timing, “coming as it does on the eve of the arrival of the tortured men from the offshore prison in Guantánamo,” carried a message. “If you’re going to lawyer for these people, you’d better toe very close to the line that the government has set out.”

To send Lynne a letter, write:

Lynne Stewart, #53504-054
MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007

Read SF Gray Panthers page on Lynne Stewart

Jeff Mackler wrote:

Dear Friends of Lynne Stewart,

I just got off the phone with Lynne Stewart a few minutes ago, that is, late Wednesday (early Thursday, November 19, New York time).  She bravely told me that she has been ordered to report to U.S. Federal Marshals to be imprisoned at 5 pm, Thursday, November 19.  There will be a 4 pm NY rally of her supporters, who will escort her to the courthouse for imprisonment.

In San Francisco, we will rally on Monday, Nov. 23 to protest Lynne’s frame-up trial and imprisonment.  Be there!  (See above.)

Background:

Following the November 16 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit that rejected Lynne Stewart’s appeal of her 1995 frame-up conviction on five counts of aiding and abetting terrorism, Lynne’s legal team as well as the federal district court were in a quandary as to how to proceed.  (Lynne has been a leading civil and human rights attorney for 30-years.  She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and a member of the Continuations Committee of the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.)

The Second Circuit made what amounted to an unprecedented decision to not only affirm her conviction and reject her appeal but to order that her bail be revoked and that she be remanded to prison.  But lacking clear orders as to who would carry out this decision and when it would happen, the last two days have seen Lynne appear, along with her supporters at two rallies in her defense and numerous press conferences and interviews while judges and lawyers tried to ascertain what to do.  That decision has been made and Lynne will begin serving a 28-month prison term.

However, the Second Circuit’s 2-1 decision also remanded the issue of the length of Lynne’s sentence back to Judge John Koeltl’s Federal District Court ordering Koeltl to reconsider the 28-month jail sentence that he originally imposed.  Obviously furious at the relatively short duration of the sentence, the Second Circuit accepted the prosecution’s assertion that Koeltl had not properly considered the question of whether or not Lynne has perjured herself during her trial.  If that were to be determined, according to the Second Circuit, the length of Lynne’s sentence could be extended.  The single dissenting judge went further — expressing his outrage at Lynne’s relatively short sentence and suggesting that a qualitatively longer sentence be imposed than the majority contemplated.  The government originally demanded a 30-year sentence!

Still fighting, Lynne’s attorneys will ask the Second Circuit for a delay in her incarceration based on Lynne’s scheduled December surgery.  Here too, Lynne guesses that this will be denied, with the court holding that prison facilities are adequate for any medical needs that Lynne, a diabetic with hypertension and recovering from breast cancer surgery, may have.

Meanwhile, a new sentencing hearing before Judge Koeltl is scheduled for December 2 at the Foley Square Courthouse.  Federal prosecutors are expected to ask for the maximum sentence possible.  Also appearing in court will be Mohamed Yousry, Lynne’s innocent co-defendant and translator.  Koeltl was also ordered to reconsider Yousry’s 20-month sentence.  The prison term of a third defendant in Lynne’s case, Ahmed Sattar, who was sentenced to 20-plus years, was not challenged.

At this point we can only speculate as to whether Judge Koeltl will stand by his original sentence or be pressured by the Second Circuit to extend Lynne and Mohammed’s sentences.  The judge is known to carefully consider his sentences.  Close observers believe that he is unlikely to bend and impose a longer sentence.

Should Koeltl refuse to add additional years to Lynne’s prison term, the government is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Government prosecutors and obviously the Second Circuit are outraged that a “convicted terrorist” has been walking around the streets for the past five years, free to champion her own cause and those of all others who suffer political repression.  It was clear from Judge Koeltl’s short sentence and high praise of Lynne’s record as an attorney and human being, a “credit to her profession,” said Koeltl during the sentencing hearing, that he felt compelled to take his distance from the government’s desire to put Lynne, 70, in prison for what would amount to the rest of her life.

Lynne will appeal the Second Circuit’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.  She has repeatedly stated that her prosecution and persecution are consciously orchestrated by the government to chill the defense bar, that is, to instill the fear of government prosecutions into any attorney who seeks to afford alleged terrorists or others who are victims of unjust government persecution a vigorous and dedicated defense.  Lynne points to the upcoming U.S. prosecution efforts of Guantanamo prisoners as a prime example.

For further information contact: Jeff Mackler, Coordinator, West Coast Lynne Stewart Defense Committee 510-268-9429, <jmackler@lmi.net>.  Mail tax-free contributions payable to National Lawyers Guild Foundation.  Write in memo box: “Lynne Stewart Defense.”  Mail to: Lynne Stewart Defense, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

Lynne Stewart is charged for her actions acting as attorney for blind Egyptian cleric named Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, who is accused for the basement bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.  Further investigation of this bombing shows that operatives for Federal agencies were involved in setting up this action.  Read more here.

]]> http://factsindia.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/govt-report-air-cargo-still-vulnerable-to-terrorists/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:40:00 +0000 factsindia http://factsindia.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/govt-report-air-cargo-still-vulnerable-to-terrorists/

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Security Administration is failing to ensure the security of boxed cargo in passenger planes, leaving the airplanes at risk for a terrorist attack, according to a government report obtained by USA TODAY.

“Air cargo is vulnerable,” says a report by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general.

The report, out today, cites repeated problems with the TSA’s program to stop terrorists from sneaking a bomb into any of the tens of thousands of cargo packages carried each day in the bellies of passenger planes.

Investigators were able to slip into supposedly secure warehouses where cargo is stored before being loaded onto airplanes and walk around unchallenged, the report says. Inspector General Richard Skinner also found some workers who handle the cargo had not received required background checks or training.

The TSA “has not been effective” in making airlines and freight-handling companies comply with security rules for cargo, Skinner said in his report.

In a response attached to the report, TSA acting Administrator Gale Rossides said agency leaders “are in agreement” that the problems should be addressed. The report’s six recommendations, including improved employee training, “will provide additional benefit to TSA,” Rossides wrote.

TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee said agency inspectors are focusing on airlines and companies deemed “higher risk” because of past problems.

The report raises “legitimate concerns,” as the TSA is under congressional mandate to tighten scrutiny of the 12 million pounds of cargo carried each day alongside luggage in passenger planes, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

The report shows the TSA does not have enough personnel to handle new rules for screening cargo, he said. Passenger planes carry everything from produce and medical supplies to computers and auto parts.

Unlike luggage, airplane cargo is not screened by the TSA. The agency oversees airlines, freight handlers and manufacturers who pack and transport cargo, and ensure its security.

The oversight process “has not effectively ensured” that those companies comply with TSA regulations, the inspector general said. The report noted that the TSA’s own inspectors had found repeated violations of agency rules but said “there are repeat patterns of violations that the TSA has been unable to resolve.”

American contractors killed and mutilated in 2004, masterminded by Ahmed Hashim Abed.

Yes, you read that correctly. Three US Navy SEALs, who in September captured a man believed to have masterminded an attack that left American contractors dead and mutilated, now face court martial over charges that they assaulted him during his capture.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Poor baby. He was just minding his own business, killing and maiming Americans on a battlefield in a time of war, and these terribly mean American servicemen gave him, gasp, a bloody lip. Between this and civil trails for our captured enemies it may become completely impossible to capture the enemy in the future. I beg any Soldiers who eventually find Bin Laden, don’t bring him back alive – just execute him in the field before the ACLU sets him free.

As for the attack in 2004 that Ahmed Hashim Abed is believed to have staged:

The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.

The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.

Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.

Could we possibly have prevailed in any previous war with this attitude? George Washington once crossed a river in the middle of the night, on Christmas Eve no less, and butchered a bunch of Prussians in their sleep. Compare that to the rules of engagement now and tell me you don’t understand why we’re having such a hard time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An Attorney for one of the seals makes an interesting point:

“I don’t know how they’re going to bring this detainee to the United States and give us our constitutional right to confrontation in the courtroom,” Puckett said. “But again, we have terrorists getting their constitutional rights in New York City, but I suspect that they’re going to deny these SEALs their right to confrontation in a military courtroom in Virginia.”

He’s likely right. And this is the leadership that will win in Afghanistan?

From Front Page Mag by: Jamie Glazov

FP: Dave Gaubatz, congrats on Muslim Mafia.

I would like to talk to you today about Enemy Combatants on U.S. territory.

Let’s begin with what you have found being preached throughout the United States within Islamic mosques and centers etc.

Gaubatz: Jamie, I have reviewed over 5000 books, DVDs, pamphlets, videos, magazines and other literature provided at Islamic Centers and/or recommended by Muslims living throughout America. The material is distributed/sold to Muslims to assist them in fulfilling their faith to Allah and adhere to “Pure Islam”. There are many who choose not to abide by all aspects of Sharia law, but Imams and Islamic scholars I have talked with will be the first to say these people are Muslims in name only.

FP: Ok, so are there Enemy Combatants on American Soil?

Gaubatz: The young innocent 17 year former Muslim girl (Rifqa Bary) tried to answer this question but her warnings were ignored. Also Major Hasan (Ft. Hood) did answer this question and our military found out – in the most tragic way — that we are very vulnerable to attack from within.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, from Brooklyn, NY, clarified our current situation with a statement he made in one of his numerous anti-American and Jihadist lectures during the late 1990s. “The Muslims in America are the most strategically placed Muslims in the whole world. America can’t bomb them like they can in Iraq.”

I have listened to hundreds of hours of Wahhaj lectures, have conducted first-hand research at his mosque in Brooklyn, have attended his lectures in Atlanta, GA, and in VA. I am very confident Wahhaj and anyone who supports him (CAIR) is involved in supporting Islamic terror groups. Wahhaj laughs behind the backs of our politicians and law enforcement because they are so easy to manipulate.

Of course many news organizations and politicians are still ignoring the threats, but I ask people: Do you love our country and put allegiance to our country first? If you ignore the truth and put innocent people’s lives in jeopardy, and jeopardize the security of our country, where do you really stand on your love of this nation? News journalists and politicians can only have two reasons for ignoring the realities of Ft. Hood:

1. They are naïve and do not understand the Islamic terrorist ideology of using violence against innocent people.

2. They care more about political correctness and winning the next election than they do about our children’s future and our country.

read more here concerning this very real danger in America

On Immigration (courtesy of Immigration Impact):

• Lou Dobbs, fresh off the heels of his CNN departure and perhaps looking to prime an important constituency, tries to soften his anti-immigrant tone to curry favor with the Hispanic population, and is confronted by Telemundo’s María Celeste.
  
  Honestly, I find it a little hard to believe that he’s “Latinos’ greatest friend,” when only a few years ago he falsely accused undocumented immigrants of bringing leprosy to the U.S.
• Republican Senators try to frame the immigration debate their own way … by making stuff up–sorry, is that too harsh?

Trust Him

   It is challenging at times when God seems slow to answer our pleas for either help, healing or provision.  I find myself setting deadlines for Him to follow.  Usually He does not follow them at all.  He wants us to grow in our faith and trust in Him.  This takes time through a variety of events where He demonstrates with certainty to you that He is there.  Jesus said “I will never leave you or forsake you…”  He really meant that.  Maybe you have doubt, or impatience. You have not heard back from God on a pressing concern.  Just stop for a moment.  Pray.  Ask Him to help you in your uncertainty.  His Word says that His strength is perfected in our weaknesses. God will be there for you when you can’t even understand how things can possibly work out.  Trusting in Him is a continuous growth process.  It is painful for me at times to accept this.  Ask Him today to see you through this trial you face.  He will.  Trust Him today and everyday.  He loves you so much.  He does not want your heart to be filled with fear and uncertainty.  His desire for you is that your heart be filled with His peace, love and joy.

By Carl J. Humphrey

Master Sergeant

U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)

Daily D’s

Yesterday I discussed how at Restoration Weekend David Horowitz performed his own version of  Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride – summoning every American who believes that our country is heading over the cliff  to do whatever he or she can to help us reverse course now.  And I mentioned the suggestion for mobilizing a teaparty protest against the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his band of co-terrorists in New York and to bring a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of key parts of Obamacare as soon as it is enacted.

And there is far more that we can do, including  taking the offensive against Muslim activists like CAIR and their ACLU supporters who sue public schools not bending over backwards to pay special homage to Islam and to accommodate Islamic law.   We can go beyond the ‘establishment of religion’ argument for challenging the schools, which has not worked so far when Muslims’ rights are concerned.   We should base the challenge also on the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the First Amendment right of free speech, which includes the right not to be coerced into saying something you do not believe in.

For example,  seventh-graders at a San Francisco-area school (no surprise)were  required to “become Muslims” for two full weeks as part of California’s world history curriculum.   This included professing as “true” the Muslim belief that “The Holy Quran is God’s word,” reciting the Muslim profession of faith — “Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger.”

Just imagine what would happen if a public school told Muslim students to become Jews for two weeks and recite “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  That school would not be standing after the first day.

Yet the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California dismissed a case brought by outraged parents against such a blatant exception for Islam to the Supreme Court decisions that have kept religion out of the public schools for decades.   The appeals court concluded that the activities did not constitute “overt religious activities that raise Establishment Clause concerns.”   The Supreme Court refused to take an appeal from the 9^th Circuit decision.

The same loony 9th Circuit upheld a public school superintendent’s decision to ban a student group’s performance of an instrumental version of Ave Maria at their public high school’s graduation ceremony because it could be seen as endorsing religion.

The next time a public school decides to have its students participate in Islamic rituals, it should be sued by non-Muslims for violating the free speech rights of students who are pressured into speaking words in opposition to their beliefs.   If a student cannot be forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance as the Supreme Court has ruled, a student should not be subjected to circumstances in which he or she feels intimidated into reciting Islamic prayers or participating in other rituals.  Moreover, unless the school conducts similar programs in the Jewish, Christian and other faiths’ beliefs, the non-Muslim students should claim that they are being discriminated against in violation of their equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.    

And, while we are at it, it is time to take the gloves off with organizations like the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and George Soros’ network of multiple, inter-locking organzations.  We should bring them to court for violating their tax-exempt status. 

The case should be relatively simple.  Just follow the money.   These organizations spend their money directly, or funnel money to other organizations that spend a substantial amount of it, on spreading “propaganda” which, under Section 501 of the U.S.  Code, should disqualify those organizations for tax exempt status.   Their main activity is to spread, or support organizations that spread, propaganda to influence legislation and otherwise manipulate our legal system in ways that hurt the security of this country.

We can stop the Islamists and the radical Left if we have the courage of Paul Revere to take action now:

In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges.

The three, all members of the Navy’s elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral’s mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

This on the heels of the Administration’s announcement to hold civilian trials for enemy combatants who confessed to killing over three thousand people at the World Trade Center on September 11,2001.

The announcement came just days after failing to label the massacre at Fort Hood a terrorist attack, despite the shooter’s al Qaeda ties and shouting Allahu Akbar while killing innocent people.

The current Administration has hired a special prosecutor to investigate our CIA for any infractions during interrogation of enemy combatants.

The abuse by our government has it’s tentacles into other groups acting in defense of their country as well.

There was the illegal firing of competent Inspector General Walpin who found improprieties involving friend of Obama, former pro-basketball star, now Mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson, regarding use of Ameri-core funds.

The elitist demonization of Tea Party Patriots by many members of the Administration, Senate and Congress. Homeland security now classifies these citizens as low-level terrorists.

The problem goes back beyond the Obama Administration however.

Under the Bush Administration, our government turned on our Border Security agents and the Minutemen.

There are many other examples, but I believe I have made my point. Our corrupt and misguided government officials are going off the deep end.

In my mind, those soldiers are heroes, putting their lives on the line to keep us safe. Too bad I can not say the same for my government. God help us all.

Our latest article concerns the recent report which questions the value of altering screening systems for breast and cervical cancer.

Excerpt:

The timing of these two scholarly professional reports on which one could base future curbs on women’s access to “prevention vs. intervention” in their diagnosis and treatment for cancer conditions is curious.  Earlier this year another Task Force found that those bothersome PSA tests for prostate cancer are also over-utilized and questioned their value, we may be seeing some pre-healthcare reform maneuvering. Do they really think we believe the timing of these reports is not related to future rationing of healthcare?

Full text of the article can be found here.

This week marks the second anniversary of the first live internal demo of the intelligence community’s A-Space project, groundbreaking for the IC in its goal of collaborative use of social media across agency lines. Somewhere in Maryland, a remarkable government employee and friend named Mike Wertheimer should pause and quietly celebrate the fruition of his early evangelism for it.

I was still a government employee then, but wrote about the effort at the time here on Shepherd’s Pi (“A-Space: Top-secret social networking“). It makes me chuckle to remember back to those days when it was still mostly unheard-of for IC employees to blog openly on the public web about current technology projects. Now you can’t shut ‘em up!

It made sense, I thought, to set down a few notes at the time for several reasons:

1. A-Space was intended by Mike’s Analytic Transformation team of the Office of the DIrector of National Intelligence (ODNI) to take advantage of social-media advances then occuring rapidly on the internet, more rapidly than behind our firewalls. I had joined Twitter for example in March 2007, but few of my IC colleagues had Twitter accounts or access from work machines. Same for Facebook and LinkedIn. I blogged about A-Space because I felt we needed to socialize externally the path we were following internally, in order to attract good ideas and assistance from Silicon Valley and technologists who had little knowledge of intelligence work.
2. The time would come when A-Space would be all grown up and accepted as a success, I hoped – and at that point “paternity” could become an issue. We had seen the same thing happen with Intellipedia, which has had several bouts of being claimed as a CIA creation rather than its more community-minded actual roots – and I thought it might be best to set the record straight early on. As Winston Churchill said about World War II, he intended history to treat him fairly “because I intend to write it.”
3. I had announced my “retirement” from government service and was ready to go back to the private sector, and was frankly intent on setting a mark with A-Space so that later leadership might be less inclined to reverse course, against the use of social and collaborative tools.

So here we are, two years on.  I am relieved that A-Space lives! At this point in their lives Twitter and Facebook were themselves  not quite into their hockey-stick growth cycle as social-media phenomena. Think back to Facebook of early 2006 (it was launched in February 2004), or Twitter of March 2008 (it launched in its first alpha baby SMS steps in March 2007.  If you’re interested, Flickr holds some interesting screenshots of the very early Twitter beta screens by their designer).

This week Joab Jackson, senior technology editor at Government Computer News has an update titled “A-Space Melds Social Media and Intelligence Gathering,” quoting Ahmad Ishaq, who manages the project at DIA for the ODNI. I like giving him praise – not just because I hired him, but because he is doing  a bang-up job in difficult circumstances. Let’s just say that he and his team have been dealing with my third bullet point above during the last couple of years.

One of Ahmad’s smart tactics has been to enlist supportive users from multiple agencies as vocal advocates. The GCN article provides an example illustrating the cross-agency collaboration that was mandated by the 9/11 Commission and WMD Commission reports, and which A-Space and its sister tools are helping to realize:

A Homeland Security Department analyst needed to identify a person whose face was found posted on several street and stop signs in a region of the United States. So he posted a scan of the poster on A-Space and received information and photos from seven other agencies. With that information, he could run an image search of the face, which ultimately provided identification.” -Government Computer News

There’s been a lot of change in A-Space since I left – in the requirements, in the emerging business practices, in the software baseline used, and – perhaps explaining some of that – in the contractor team used. That’s all fodder for another article, perhaps.

Whither Analytic Collaboration?

What I prefer to focus on is the future potential of this tool and others in enabling progress for intelligence analysis and collaboration. Ahmad gives one window in the GCN article, and it’s a topic he and I have talked about recently:

[A]llowing analysts to share all this information is only the first step of A-Space. Ishaq and his team are exploring ways of making all the information that is being generated machine-readable. Ishaq would like to incorporate elements of the Semantic Web tools, which would allow them to draw inferences from existing material.

“Right now, the communication is between person and machine,” he said. “We’re trying to take it a step further, to machine-to-machine. So the end-user logs in to the computer, and everything he could possibly want would be there, without doing searches or clicking around.” -Government Computer News

But I’m sure that Ahmad would be among the first to agree that technology is perhaps among the lesser factors which will contribute to the success or failure of analytic collaboration (and “transformation” – an overused term but a worthy goal). Much more important are the social and cultural aspects of the workforce, the workplace, and the changing nature of intelligence work itself  – in response to and support of a dramatically changing foreign policy approach, driven as much by political transition as by societal shifts.

For the moment, let’s keep the focus on the tools though. As A-Space continues taking its own baby steps, it is worthwhile to consider the experience of its older sister Intellipedia – and that sytem’s progenitor Wikipedia. 

Early this year, GCN carried another Joab Jackson article claiming: “Intellipedia Suffers Midlife Crisis.” Much chatter ensued. Some of the challenges dealt with in the article are being addressed internally by the likes of the IC’s Chris Rasmussen, with new and complementary efforts such as Intellipublia (see Federal Computer Week, “Intelligence community wrestles with Web 2.0 tools for information sharing“).

The looming question rises about the overall significance of Web 2.0 style tools.  Dr. Mark Drapeau argued early this year in a widely read piece that “Government 2.0 has reached its midlife crsis.”  Now, more concrete and noteworthy stats are emerging about the hallmark Web 2.0 tools which inspired many of the IC’s efforts.

Could Crowd-Sourcing Max Out?

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported on new research  (“Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages“) showing that “unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police it are quitting.” They’re leaving Wikipedia and not being replaced by as many new volunteers, undercutting the “many-eyes” approach that crowd-sourcing relies upon. The numbers are striking: “In the first three months of 2009, Wikipedia lost more than 49,000 editors, compared to 4,900 a year earlier,” reports ZDNet based on the new research (more details here: “Is Wikipedia Maxed Out?”). An influential Econsultancy.com blog now asks in response: “Is free user-generated content dying?”

It is worth keeping an eye on the pulse of Intellipedia and A-Space, as their activity levels wax or wane. Unlike Wikipedia, they are work systems, not free web tools. So the issues there are the differential adoption and longevity of enterprise tools, as explored in Andrew McAfee’s excellent new book Enterprise 2.0.  

For the new intelligence tools, much will depend on their inclusion within agency official processes and analytic-tradecraft training programs. As Chris Rasmussen has pointed out about A-Space, it may still be true that “not a single agency recognizes A-Space content as official.” But social collaboration is more and more an accepted and critical requirement of all information technologies – we’re certainly reflecting that at Microsoft, and have been busy building such capabilities into the new Office 2010 suite (info and free beta sign-up here).

The wave is not going away (well, Google Wave might go away… see here and here and here and oh never mind…)

Who best reflects the pulse of A-Space and Intellipedia? There are many intel-watchers in my blogroll over on the margin, who chart the progress of the IC’s collaborative ways. I can also recommend Chris Dorobek’s reporting on the topic for FedNewsRadio; see his piece from July 2009 ”Intel on the government 2.0 front lines – and a new report assessing A-Space” and more recently his article “November’s Signal column: The Intelligence Community Writes the Book on Collaboration” – both have insight and supportive links as well.

There will be other ODNI and constituent agency efforts to provide cutting-edge collaborative and analytic software and techniques. A-Space will be improved upon, no doubt.

The real test of A-Space – while we have it – and its intelligence utility will come in secret moments of crisis, but also in less-flashy use of consistent collaborative processes which over time contribute to the uncovering of truth for our decision-makers and national leaders. Of necessity, most successes will be unseen by the outside world… and likely, most failures as well.  For now, a happy beta anniversary to the A-Space team and its users.

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First of all, I would like to join my fellow blogger Chris Yogerst in thanking David Horowitz, Michael Finch, and everyone else at the Freedom Center for providing us one of the most stimulating conferences that I have ever attended in my life.

What I got out of the Restoration Weekend – in addition to meeting fascinating people, paying tribute to our military and and listening to provocative speeches from Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter and many others –  was a call to action. Horowitz performed his own version of  Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride – summoning every American who believes that our country is heading over the cliff  to do whatever he or she can to help us reverse course now!

Several speakers, including Bachmann, made the point that the Democratic leadership is hellbent on passing their reckless agenda, even if it means giving up their power temporarily in 2010 and 2012. They are of the view that once programs like Obamacare and cap-and-trade are passed, the country will be so radically altered that it will only be a matter of time before they return to power with permanent majorities. And just in case there is any doubt, they will make sure to re-fund ACORN’s fraudulent vote-stealing programs and a universal voting registration program that will be sure to bring millions of illegal immigrants and convicted felons to the voting booths without challenge.

Representative Bachmann has taken up Horowitz’s call to lead the tea party movement in a protest of the insane trial in federal civil court of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his band of co-terrorists. Ms. Bachmann asked the audience members to give her their cards so that a contact list can be compiled of potential protesters. Of course, I obliged. I live in New York and was a block from Ground Zero on 9/11. I intend to protest the propaganda circus that Eric Holder is bringing to town, along with hopefully many thousands of other outraged Americans.

This is but one of many fronts in the ongoing war against the Left to take back our country.

The Democrats’ health insurance monstrosity moved forward in the Senate  during what is being aptly referred to as a Saturday Night Massacre. We heard from Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina by phone the morning after (the massacre unexpectedly took him back to Washington D.C. to vote.) He reported on plans ahead to stop the bill from leaving the Senate floor. It will be an uphill battle, to be sure.

But even if the filibuster-proof majority in the Senate holds together and the bill advances to become law against the wishes of the majority of the American people, the war is not over. In the spirit of Restoration Weekend’s call for action, it must be challenged in court on the day it is enacted.

The mandate for every individual to purchase health insurance at levels dictated by the government can be overturned as an unconstitutional overreach of Congressional power. With a center-right Supreme Court that resists encroachments on individual and states rights, there is a real chance that this provision can be invalidated. It is the first time that Congress has ever required all of us to purchase something -  i.e., to engage in commerce even if we choose not to – simply because we are alive and breathing. That is not regulating interstate commerce.  It is forcing individuals to engage in commerce or face penalties and possible jail time simply because they are alive. Even the income tax required the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution in order for it to be lawfully imposed.

If this provision can be overturned, the Obamacare ponzi scheme may well fall apart like a house of cards.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some ideas to stop some other Leftist assaults on our freedoms, such as accommodation of Islam in our public schools.

It’s politics as usual in New Delhi, and no one seems to care

A year has gone by after the carnage in Mumbai that left over 190 people dead and hundreds injured.  In the immediate aftermath of 26/11, articles were written about the gaping holes in India’s internal security preparedness.

Recommendations put forth to the Indian government are all in public domain –  a tougher anti-terrorism law, a separate ministry for internal security, police reform, increasing NSG headcount and footprint, and enhancing India’s covert ops capability.  The Filter Coffee also presented recommendations in the wake of the 26/11 attacks.

Of the recommendations made, Manmohan Singh’s government chose to make the establishment of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) central to its response to the holes in India’s internal security preparedness.  To be sure, the establishment of the NIA was an important move, because it addressed Centre-State jurisdiction issues that hitherto plagued the CBI.

However, the NIA’s mandate notwithstanding, nothing in public domain indicates any significant activity in the NIA, until 11 months and two weeks after November 26, 2008, when the NIA belatedly sprung into action, based on inputs from the FBI on David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.

In addition, by virtue of design, the NIA mostly addresses post-incident investigation and forensics.  Manmohan Singh’s government articulated little by way of detective and preventive enhancements to India’s internal security preparedness.

The bigger picture that needs to be examined on the first anniversary of 26/11 isn’t necessarily about specific structural and organizational changes, but about the government’s willingness (confidence?) to make public aberrations in its response to the terror attacks and how these can be addressed.

In the year following the World Trade Center attacks in the US, the Bush Administration constituted the 9/11 Commission to examine aspects of US’s response to the attacks as they unfolded, and make recommendations on how the US should proceed, going forward.  The US Department of Homeland Security was born out of these recommendations.

India deserved its 26/11 commission with a limitless mandate to examine our response to the attacks in Mumbai. Key aspects of the events of 26/11 require independent review.

These include incident-specific issues relating to governance and leadership such as  (a) How long it took to notify key stakeholders, such as the Prime Minister, NSA, intelligence services and ministers of Home Affairs and Defense, (b) The time it took for the relevant stakeholders to coordinate and assess the situation, (c) How long it took to authorize deployment of anti-terror units to the scene, and (d) Crisis management — who was coordinating what aspect of India’s responses.

The second aspect of the commission’s review should have entailed structural and organizational changes and enhancements, including those previously discussed.  Sadly, this government does not have the gumption to constitute such a comprehensive review of its responses to the 26/11 attacks.  This isn’t an assailment of the the UPA administration, it is an indictment of India’s petty political environment.

There are critical aspects of the attack that require further analysis — aspects that India is still uncovering, including the roles of Headley and Rana — and questions that no one seems to be able to answer, such as how a bunch of semi-literate people alien to Mumbai, were able to negotiate their way through the city’s conspicuous and inconspicuous landmarks, without local assistance.

This cannot be accomplished by adhocism or through token responses, such as establishing the NIA and deploying the NSG in some cities. One would have thought that the time was ripe for such a bold response, faced as the UPA is, with an ineffectual, embattled Opposition. Sadly, barring a few cosmetic rearrangements, not much has changed in India, and no one, least of all Mumbaikars seem to care.

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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu at IsraelNationalNews.com

Original Post

Question: Could it be true that U.S. debt is rising so fast that the federal government is careening toward a “payment shock” in the not-too-distant future?

This article/blog post reveals that the U.S. debt is rising so fast that the federal government is careening toward a “payment shock” in the not-too-distant future-You Decide:

New York Times: U.S. Racing Toward Debt ‘Shock’:

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/headlines/nyt_us_debt_shock/2009/11/23/289782.html?s=al&promo_code=91C9-1

These are the pertinent excerpts from this article/blog post:

“A page one, top-of-the-fold New York Times report Monday warns that U.S. debt is rising so fast that the federal government is careening toward a “payment shock” in the not-too-distant future.

The Times lead headline read: “Federal Government Faces Balloon in Debt Payments: At $700 Billion a Year, Cost Will Top Budgets for 2 Wars, Education, Energy.”

The Times headline appears eerie just as the Senate moves to push forward on a radical healthcare reform — with CBO estimates for a final bill costing nearly $1 trillion dollars over the next year.

The national debt now stands at over $12 trillion and the White House estimates that the cost of servicing the debt will rise to more than $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year. The Times suggests that $700 billion annual payment cost may be conservative.

The additional $500 billion a year in interest payments would surpass the combined budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security, plus the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Times observes.

Treasury officials face not only huge new debts incurred in response to the economic meltdown but a balloon of short-term borrowings coming due in the months ahead, and interest rates that are certain to return to normal levels when the Federal Reserve concludes that the fiscal emergency has passed.

“Even as Treasury officials are racing to lock in today’s low rates by exchanging short-term borrowings for long-term bonds, the government faces a payment shock similar to those that sent legions of overstretched homeowners into default on their mortgages,” The Times reported on Monday.

Interestingly, the alarming Times analysis comes as the nation is in the midst of a debate over healthcare reform proposals that could add many billions of dollars to the overall debt.

Record deficits have arrived just as payments for Medicare and Social Security benefits are set to explode, with the oldest Baby Boomers approaching age 65. This will result in what experts have long warned will be a “fiscal nightmare” for the government, the Times article notes.

“What a good country or a good squirrel should be doing is stashing away nuts for the winter,” William H. Gross, managing director of the Pimco, a bond management firm, told The Times.

“The United States is not only not saving nuts, it’s eating the ones left over from the last winter.”

As for the balloon of short-term borrowings coming due, that debt now accounts for 36 percent of overall debt, compared to the historic average of less than 25 percent, and more than $1.6 trillion is due by March 31.

Another problem: The Federal Reserve’s purchases of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities to prop up the economy pushed down long-term interest rates by about half of a percentage point, but the Fed is set to reverse those policies — that alone could add $40 billion to the government’s annual debt service expense.

The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of market experts that advises the Treasury on debt management, declared this month: “Inflation, higher interest rate and rollover risk should be the primary concerns. Clever debt management strategy can’t completely substitute for prudent fiscal policy.”

And The Times warns: “There is little doubt that the United States’ long-term budget crisis is becoming too big to postpone.”

Note: This article/blog post supports my recent blog post-You Decide:

Ongoing Concerns With This President and His Administration!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/ongoing-concerns-with-this-president-and-his-administration-92609/

“Food For Thought”

“God Bless & Keep Our USA Safe”

Semper Fi!

Talk about frightening?  And this too will be swept under Obama’s carpet if we allow it to be.

Obama has been closed mouthed on the Ft Hood shooting? Well, wonder no more. Check this out…

Look who is on Team Obama for Homeland Security…Obama’s “Homeland Security transition team,” the group responsible, as I understand it, for moving Homeland Security toward white and conservative groups as being “dangerous.”

Click here: http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/PTTF_ProceedingsReport_05.19.09.pf

There is a lot of interesting information in this report and it doesn’t appear that Obama is putting any of it to use, such as information sharing between agencies and involving the public in disaster planning and emergency preparedness.

Homeland Security Policy Institute Statement on Nidal Hasan

In his capacity as Disaster & Preventive Psychiatry Fellow at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine, Nidal Hasan registered (“RSVP’d”) to attend as an audience member a number of Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) events in the period June 2008 to February 2009.  All of these events were open to the public.  At no time has Nidal Hasan been affiliated with HSPI or The George Washington University. HSPI Statement (pdf)