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Topics - Christians4LessGvt

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2506
3DHS / Liberal Talk Show Host: "Bill Clinton is lying" (about Obama)
« on: January 24, 2008, 09:37:04 AM »

Liberal Talk Show Host: "Bill Clinton is lying"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-X9tEOp19o



2507
3DHS / More Dem Party Meltdown: Obama complains to Nevada
« on: January 23, 2008, 10:45:46 PM »


Obama Camp Complains to Nevada Dems

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
By AP/JIM KUHNHENN (WASHINGTON)

Barack Obama's presidential campaign complained in a letter to the Nevada Democratic Party Wednesday
that rival Hillary Rodham Clinton benefited from numerous violations of party rules during the state's
caucuses on Saturday. 

Clinton won the caucuses' popular vote by a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent. Under complicated delegate
allocation rules, however, Obama could receive 13 delegates to Clinton's 12.

The letter to Nevada Democratic Chairwoman Jill Derby from Obama lawyer Robert Bauer lists instances of early
door closings, obstruction of voters, and improper handling of voter preference cards. Obama aides said the
campaign has received more than 1,600 complaints, including 300 that came in to a hotline at the time of the caucuses.

Bauer said the campaign is not challenging the outcome of the caucuses at the precinct level, but he asked Derby
to conduct an inquiry into the Clinton campaign tactics during the caucuses
. The campaign offered to provide the
names and contact information of the individuals making the complaints as well as unedited copies of their accounts.

The Clinton campaign has also complained about behavior at the caucuses. On Sunday, Clinton senior adviser Dave
Barnhart said he witnessed an enormous "gantlet" of Obama supporters at the Mirage casino-hotel caucus site who
tried to intimidate Clinton backers.

Attached to the Obama complaint was an instruction sheet that Bauer's letter attributed to the Clinton campaign.
The sheet offers guidance on how to persuade caucus goers to caucus for Clinton.

One line states: "It's not illegal unless they tell you so."

"This certainly suggests that, for the Clinton campaign, the operative standard was, simply and only, what it could
get away with," Bauer wrote.

The letter complained that the Clinton camp distributed a caucus guide to supporters that said caucus site doors
would close at 11:30 a.m. The party's rules stated that caucuses would be called to order at 11:30 a.m. but said
attendees had to be signed in by noon.

Neither the Clinton campaign nor the Nevada Democratic Party had an immediate response to the Obama
campaign letter.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1706262,00.html?xid=rss-politics


2508
3DHS / 2008 Democrat Presidential Candidate John Edwards
« on: January 23, 2008, 06:54:51 PM »

2509
3DHS / No Bob Dole Re-treads
« on: January 22, 2008, 01:37:57 PM »
Much of the network media are "pushing" candidates they think the
Democrats could beat easier. You wouldn't know it, but Mitt is winning.




2510
3DHS / Israel Serves Notice:
« on: January 22, 2008, 01:01:55 AM »
DEBKAfile Exclusive:

The successful test-firing of an Israeli long-range nuclear-capable missile Thursday timed for Russian naval exercise

January 19, 2008, 10:35 AM (GMT+02:00)

It was coordinated with the US Missile Defense Program.

Israeli and US defense officials tied up the last ends during PresidentPresident GeorgeGeorge. W. Bush?s visit last week. The successful test of a propulsion system for the dual-stage missile from the Palmahim base Thursday, Jan. 17, was a breakthrough. Western military experts report the new system can propel the missile to any point on earth ? an intercontinental capability owned only by the US, Russia, China and France, with important applications for Israel?s military and civilian satellite programs as well.

The test?s context was as much the huge Russian naval maneuver launched in the Mediterranean Tuesday, Jan. 16, as missile and potential nuclear threats from Iran. Eleven vessels were drawn for the war game from two Russian fleets, Atlantic Northwest and BlackBlack SeaSea. It is led by the AdmiralAdmiral KuznetsovKuznetsov air carrier with 47 warplanes and 10 helicopters on board and the Moskva missile cruiser.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DEBKAfile:
New Israeli polar satellite launched from Indian space center begins transmitting

January 21, 2008, 10:38 PM (GMT+02:00)
 
Indian space center successfully boosts Israeli Tecsar into orbit
 
DEBKAfile?s military sources: The 300-kilogram Tecsar is the most advanced of Israel?s satellites. It is the first to be equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that allows its camera to take high-resolution pictures of small targets in cloudy or foggy weather at any point on earth.

It was launched from India because the Sriharikota space station in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is positioned for boosting a satellite into polar orbit. Our military sources report that with Tecsar aloft, Israel will have complementary access for tracking Iranian?s nuclear and military activities that provided by its Ofek spy series..

The satellite, developed by Israeli Aerospace Industries, was launched by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle Monday, Jan. 21, at 05:45 Israeli time. It has signaled its smooth entry into orbit around the globe. First images will be beamed down to earth in two weeks.

This was India?s second commercial mission on behalf of a foreign country and was acclaimed in New Delhi as an ?important milestone? for India?s space program.





2511
3DHS / Bill Clinton Falls Asleep During MLK Presentation
« on: January 21, 2008, 09:14:00 PM »


BILL HAS A 'DREAM'
EX PREZ NODS OFF DURING MLK AWARD PRESENTATION
Post Staff Report



January 21, 2008 -- Bill Clinton showed yesterday why he made it into the book "The Art of Napping."

During an appearance at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, the former president was caught nodding off.

Clinton was there during a service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while his wife was nearby at Abyssinian Baptist Church,
where she was endorsed by its minister, Rev. Calvin Butts.

Clinton has had napping episodes before. Among others, he nodded off at a Mets game and at Ronald Reagan's funeral.

When he was president, he told Dan Rather, "If I can take a nap, even 15 or 20 minutes in the middle of the day,
it is really invigorating to me. On the days when I'm a little short of sleep, I try to work it out so that I can sneak
off and just lie down for 15 minutes, a half an hour, and it really makes all the difference in the world."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212008/news/regionalnews/bill_has_a_dream_474243.htm



2512
3DHS / Leading Democrats To Bill Clinton: "Pipe Down"
« on: January 21, 2008, 12:07:48 PM »


POLITICS

Leading Democrats To Bill Clinton: Pipe Down

Footing the Bill: Is the former president hurting his wife's campaign?
By Jonathan Alter | NEWSWEEK
Jan 28, 2008 Issue



Prominent Democrats are upset with the aggressive role that Bill Clinton is playing in the 2008 campaign, a role they believe is inappropriate for a former president and the titular head of the Democratic Party. In recent weeks, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, both currently neutral in the Democratic contest, have told their old friend heatedly on the phone that he needs to change his tone and stop attacking Sen. Barack Obama, according to two sources familiar with the conversations who asked for anonymity because of their sensitive nature. Clinton, Kennedy and Emanuel all declined to comment.

On balance, aides to both Bill and Hillary still see Bill as a huge net plus in fund-raising, attracting large crowds and providing a megaphone to raise doubts about Obama?even if some of those doubts are distortions. But there's concern that in hatcheting the Illinois senator and losing his temper with the news media (last week he thrashed a San Francisco TV reporter for asking about a lawsuit filed by Clinton-backing teachers union members to limit the number of Nevada caucuses), Clinton is drawing down his political capital and harming his role as a global statesman. "This is excruciating," says a member of the Clintons' circle, who asked for anonymity. "But the stakes couldn't be higher. It's worth it to tarnish himself a bit now to win the presidency."

During a December taping with PBS's Charlie Rose, a frustrated Clinton called Obama "a roll of the dice,"
as aides tried to end the interview. Then, in New Hampshire, he argued angrily that the story of Obama's principled position on the Iraq War was a "fairy tale," a charge few reporters bought. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the top-ranking African-American in Congress and officially neutral, found Clinton's tone insulting and said so publicly.

When the former president called Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat gave Clinton an earful, telling him that he bore some blame for the injection of race into the contest. In any event, both Hillary and Obama made peace on the race issue at the Las Vegas debate. The Clinton camp now fears that Kennedy is leaning toward Obama, according to the Clinton source, though Kennedy's office says he is making no endorsement "at this time."

Clinton aides admit the boss sometimes goes off script. Obama officials say this itself should be a campaign issue. Greg Craig, who coordinated Clinton's impeachment defense in 1998 and is now a senior Obama adviser, argues that "recent events raise the question: if Hillary's campaign can't control Bill, whether Hillary's White House could."

There is little precedent for a former president's engaging in intra-party attacks. In 1960, Harry Truman criticized the idea of a Roman Catholic president and tried briefly to stop John F. Kennedy's nomination. "I urge you to be patient," he told JFK publicly. But in 2000, former president George Bush declined to attack his son's GOP primary opponent, John McCain.

Clinton is undeterred by the criticism and will likely keep hammering Obama if he thinks it helps Hillary. "History will judge the impact on the Clinton legacy, not daily or weekly political reporters," says Matt McKenna, Bill Clinton's press secretary.

? 2008 Newsweek, Inc.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/96385

2513


Exclusive:
Barack vs. Bill: Obama Hits Ex-Prez Over 'Troubling' Attacks
Reuters, by Staff

Jan 21, 2008



Sen. Barack Obama says he's ready to confront former President Bill Clinton, calling his advocacy on behalf of his wife's presidential campaign, "troubling."

In an exclusive interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts "Good Morning America" today Obama, D-Ill., directly engaged the former democratic president on a series of issues.

You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling," Obama said during his first morning television interview since coming in second in Nevada. "He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts -- whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas.

"This has become a habit, and one of the things that we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate," Obama added.

Obama apparently was referring to Clinton's comment that it was a "fairy tale" that Obama has consistently opposed the Iraq war from the start, and that Nevada union officials backing Obama were strong-arming members into caucusing for Obama.

Bill Clinton took on Obama's record on Iraq at a Dartmouth College event days before the New Hampshire primary, saying it was wrong Obama was able to trumpet superior judgment on Iraq by claiming he had been against the war from the start.

"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," Bill Clinton said.

Bill Clinton was making the case that Obama -- just like Sen. Hillary Clinton -- had voted to fund the war since he's been in office.

Obama said the former president has taken his campaigning on his wife's behalf too far.

"I understand him wanting to promote his wife's candidacy," Obama said. "She's got a record that she can run on. But I think it's important that we try to maintain some -- you know, level of honesty and candor during the course of the campaign. If we don't, then we feed the cynicism that has led so many Americans to be turned off to politics."

Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Howard Wolfson said Obama may just be smarting from his loss to the New York senator in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.

"We understand Sen. Obama is frustrated by his loss in Nevada, but facts are facts," Wolfson said. "Sen. Obama's allies in Nevada engaged in strong-arm tactics and intimidation against our supporters and his record against the war has been inconsistent. President Clinton is a huge asset to our campaign and will continue talking to the American people to press the case for Sen. Clinton.

"Of course Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama are the candidates on the ballot and she is winning because she is giving voice to the Americans who will provide real solutions to the challenges they face in the daily lives," he said.

During the run up to the caucus, Obama received a lot of pressure to denounce a third-party advertising supporting him, but accusing Sen. Clinton of abandoning Hispanic workers.

"The ad that happened in Nevada, we had nothing to do with. I wasn't even in the state of Nevada when it went up for the couple of days right before the caucus," Obama said.

"To the extent that it implied that Sen. Clinton was trying to suppress Hispanic votes, I think that would be absolutely incorrect and unfair. I think that they were concerned about the fact that the Clinton ad -- that Clinton supporters, not the Clinton campaign -- the Clinton supporters had filed a lawsuit in the eleventh hour to try to change the rules of the caucus in the way that they thought would advantage them. And this happened right after the union endorsed me. So understandably, the union was upset," he added.

He did not denounce the ad, but when a similar ad in Iowa aired against him, Obama said third-party ads should not be tolerated.

"What I don't want is a situation in which we are so driven to just win that we are willing to say anything, and over time, you know the American people just get turned off because they don't believe what politicians say," he said.

"My concern is not to try to go tit for tat on these issues and it's also, you know, not to suggest that there's not going to be some sharp elbows in politics. I understand that there are going to be sharp elbows in a primary and certainly there's going to be some rough 'n tumble in a general election," Obama added.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=4162996&page=1

2514
3DHS / Michelle Obama has launched a scathing attack on Hillary Clinton
« on: January 18, 2008, 10:18:07 PM »


Michelle Obama launches attack on Clinton
By Toby Harnden in Las Vegas
19/01/2008



Michelle Obama, who could become America?s first black First Lady, has launched a scathing attack on her husband?s opponent Hillary Clinton, stating she represents "the same old thing over and over again".

Whereas Barack Obama preaches a message of hope and transcending differences that is more kumbaya than combative, his wife, like him a lawyer and a Harvard graduate, did not hesitate to take his main opponent on in an appearance at a Las Vegas.
   
Michelle Obama could be crucial in wooing the female vote.

On her 44th birthday, and less than 48 hours before today's crucial Nevada caucuses, Mrs Obama spoke passionately about racial slurs against her husband and the symbolism of having a black family in the White House.

In a fiery comparison between his 2004 Senate campaign and this year's presidential race, she said: "You know what they were saying about him then? They said he was too young. They said he was too inexperienced. They said he should wait his turn.

"They said he couldn't build a political machine to match the might of a family in Illinois that had been running for years. They said he couldn?t raise the money. They said that he was too black. They said that he wasn?t black enough. Sound familiar?

"They said that his name was too funny. They said there was no way that white folks in downstate Illinois and vote for a man named Barack Obama. They said it because when power is confronted by change, they will say anything."

Mrs Obama could be crucial in wooing the female vote that cost her husband the New Hampshire primary last week.

A Zogby poll in Nevada that gave Mrs Clinton a five-point overall advantage found that she led among women by 46 to 36 per cent.

Born into a working-class black family on Chicago's South Side, she could also be a key factor in bringing out black voters for Mr Obama, among whom he led in the Zogby poll by a startling 81 to 16 per cent in Nevada.

The poll was taken at the end of a week that began with a bitter row over several racially-based comments made by allies of the Clinton campaign.

Obama advisers fear that the row could have damaged their candidates among whites and particularly Hispanics, on whom the Nevada caucuses could hinge.

Mrs Clinton made rare comments about the Monica Lewinsky scandal this week.

In an interview with the talk show host Tyra Banks, she gave an account of her response to her husband's unfaithfulness that could help shore up her support among women.

"I really had to dig down deep and think hard about what was right for me, what was right for my family," she said. "I never doubted Bill's love for me ever, and I never doubted my faith and my commitment to our daughter and our extended family."

Though she never mentioned her by name, Mrs Obama pointedly argued that Mrs Clinton represented a status quo that had done nothing for ordinary people.

"I get confused when people say there are a lot of choices in this race," she said. "There are so many more experienced candidates. My response is, no, that?s not true. You?ve got two choices in this race.

"You?ve got the same old thing over and over again that hasn?t worked for regular folks in my lifetime. And then we have Barack Obama."

At a rally the same night, Mr Obama seemed to take a leaf out of his wife?s book after she had introduced him, drawing a sharp contrast with Mrs Clinton, suggesting she was not truthful and was "willing to say anything to get elected".

In what bordered on a comedy routine, Mr Obama chuckled and the crowd of 300 roared with laughter as he mocked his opponents in Monday?s debate, John Edwards and Mrs Clinton, for their responses to a question about the candidates? biggest weaknesses.

He recounted how he had answered honestly "because I?m an ordinary person" that "I don?t handle paper that well, my desk is a mess" after being given the question first.

"The other two, they say, 'I?m just too passionate about helping poor people' [Mr Edwards], 'I am just too impatient to bring about change in America' [Mrs Clinton]. If I?d gone last, I?d have known what the game was.

"And then I could have said, 'Well, you know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don?t want to be helped. It?s terrible'."

He then poured ridicule on Mrs Clinton for saying in the debate that she had voted for a bankruptcy bill but "I was happy that it never became law".

Mr Obama could not conceal his mirth as he said: "What does that mean? No seriously, what does that mean? If you didn?t want to see it passed, then you can vote against it! People don?t say what they mean."

He concluded that "you know what I?m saying is true" before turning to those in the audience who still had not made up their minds and telling them: "Undecideds, remember now, remember what I?m saying."
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=IOQWF2F4LITFDQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/19/wuspols219.xml

2515
3DHS / GREAT HILLARY CAMPAIGN BUMPER STICKER
« on: January 18, 2008, 03:25:01 PM »


2516
3DHS / Is Bill Clinton a liability for the Hillary Campaign?
« on: January 18, 2008, 01:47:09 PM »
is "has been" short tempered bill clinton hurting hillary?



Bill Clinton, Stumping and Simmering
 
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: January 18, 2008



Hillary Rodham Clinton may be the spouse running for office, but it is more Bill Clinton who appears to be feeling the heat.

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

After weeks of complaining publicly about Barack Obama's record, the news media's coverage of the Democratic presidential race, or both, Mr. Clinton on Wednesday ripped into a television reporter who had asked him about a Nevada lawsuit concerning participation in the state's caucuses this Saturday. Mr. Clinton believed the question had seemed sympathetic to Mr. Obama's stakes in the suit, Clinton campaign officials said.

A federal judge in Las Vegas ruled in the case Thursday, with a decision that will apparently benefit the Obama campaign. The judge, James C. Mahan, held that some hotel-casinos, as arranged by the Nevada Democratic Party, would be permitted to set up caucus precincts on site so employees who work Saturday can participate. Many of those Nevadans are members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which has endorsed Mr. Obama, and their votes on Saturday could help him significantly against Mrs. Clinton.

The suit was brought by the state teachers' union, which maintained that the arrangement gave the hotel employees an advantage that others working Saturday did not have. Some of this union's top officials have endorsed Mrs. Clinton. But her campaign has denied involvement in the suit, and when the television reporter suggested a connection between it and her supporters, the former president, stumping for her in Oakland, Calif., narrowed his eyes. As his aides looked on with concern, Mr. Clinton?s voice took on an edge.
"When you ask me that question, your position is that you think that the culinary workers' vote should be easier" than those of other Nevada workers, Mr. Clinton told the reporter, Mark Matthews of KGO-TV in Oakland. If you want to take that position, get on the television and take it. Don't be accusatory with me.

Mr. Clinton's temper has been an issue for him as long as he has been in public life. But it has played an unusual role during the current campaign, his face turning red in public nearly every week, often making headlines as he defends his wife and injects himself, whether or not intentionally, into her race in sometimes distracting ways.

Some Clinton advisers say the campaign is trying to rein him in somewhat, so that his outbursts become less of a factor to reporters, but his flashes of anger only seem to be growing.

Last week, for instance, a clearly agitated Mr. Clinton told Dartmouth students that it was a "fairy tale" for Mr. Obama to contend that he had been consistently against the war in Iraq. And in December he said that voters supporting Mr. Obama were willing to "roll the dice" on the presidency.

The bottom line is, his outbursts don't help the campaign, said James A. Thurber of American University, an analyst of the presidency and Congress. They become an issue, and it can grow into a real problem. I think the campaign is worried about him right now.

But some advisers say a former president at times prone to outrage can draw attention to issues as no one else can. They say Mr. Clinton's "roll the dice" comment, made on the PBS television program "Charlie Rose," helped focus public and media attention on Mr. Obama's scarce experience relative to Mrs. Clinton's, a factor that her campaign saw as contributing to her victory in the New Hampshire primary.

At the same time, Mr. Clinton was releasing steam that had built up within the campaign over news coverage.

Bubbling just below the surface is a deep resentment on his part against the press about the way he feels she is portrayed against Barack, said David R. Gergen, a Harvard professor of public service who has been an adviser to presidents of both parties, including Mr. Clinton. ?He is a bit like Mount Vesuvius: he'll just erupt, but then it's over, because the good thing about his temper is that he doesn?t bear grudges.

Aides and advisers to both Clintons say he tends to explode in anger more often and more fiercely than his wife, whose temper is usually described as that of a slow-burn and clipped-tone variety.

His so-called "purple fits" and "earthquakes" have been a constant to those who have worked with him. Some have dealt with it by avoiding him, others by simply responding with silence. One senior White House aide, George Stephanopoulos, who was often a target of Mr. Clinton's fury, has written of taking an antidepressant because the vicissitudes of the job were so intense.

Mr. Clinton has reflected on his temper over the years, perhaps most revealingly in his autobiography. At one point in it, he recalls a day in junior high school when he hit a boy who had been taunting him. It was a moment from which he came to draw lessons.

I was a little disturbed by my anger, the currents of which would prove deeper and stronger in the years ahead, Mr. Clinton wrote. Because of the way Daddy behaved when he was angry and drunk, I associated anger with being out of control and I was determined not to lose control. Doing so could unleash the deeper, constant anger I kept locked away because I didn't know where it came from.

Steve Friess contributed reporting from Las Vegas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/politics/18bill.html


2517
3DHS / Uh no, you won't hear this on the network news.
« on: January 18, 2008, 12:34:14 PM »

Al Qaeda in Iraq's shrinking area of operations
By Bill Roggio
January 17, 2008 - 9:04 PM
 
Nearly one year to the day of the announcement of the "surge" of US forces to Iraq and the change in counterinsurgency plan, Iraqi and Coalition forces have shrunk al Qaeda's ability to conduct operations inside Iraq, a senior US commander said.

During a press briefing in Baghdad, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, the Commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, said al Qaeda in Iraq has been ejected from its strongholds in the cities to the rural regions of Iraq.
 
From late 2006 into 2007, "Iraq was caught in a cycle of bloodshed under the dark cloud of al Qaeda," said Odierno. Al Qaeda was "entrenched in numerous urban safe havens across Iraq" until the surge forces launched Operation Phantom Thunder in June 2007.

Al Qaeda in Iraq's network has been significantly degraded, but is still a threat. Al Qaeda remains active in regions near Miqdadiyah, Mosul, Hawijah, Samarra, and southeast of Baghdad in the Arab Jabour region. "Although the group remains a dangerous threat, its capabilities have been diminished," said Odierno. "Al Qaeda has been pushed out of urban centers like Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Baqubah, and forced into isolated rural areas. Many of their top leaders have been eliminated, and finding qualified replacements is increasingly difficult for them." Multinational Forces Iraq also estimates it has significantly degraded al Qaeda's ability to fund operations by dismantling its financier networks and leaders.

Operation Phantom Phoenix, the current nationwide operation targeting al Qaeda's remaining safe havens, was launched on Jan. 8. Iraqi and US forces have captured or killed 121 al Qaeda fighters, wounded 14, and detained an additional 1023 suspects. Al Qaeda's leadership has been hit hard during the operation, with 92 high values targets either killed or captured.

Iraqi and US forces have also discovered 351 weapons caches and four tunnel complexes, Odierno said. Iraqi and US forces have also discovered three car bomb and improvised explosive device [IED] factories and 410 IEDs, including 18 car bombs and 25 homes rigged with explosives. Also found were "numerous torture chambers, an underground medical clinic, several closed schools, and a large foreign fighter camp with intricate tunnel complexes," said Odierno.
 
The reduction of ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad from December 2006 to December 2007. Ethno-sectarian violence is down 90 percent Baghdad from December 2006 to December 2007.
 
Iraqi security forces have conducted independent operations and deployments during Phantom Phoenix. An entire brigade was moved from Anbar province to Diyala, where a major fight against al Qaeda in Iraq is under way.

"With less than a week's notice the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Iraqi Army Division was alerted to deploy from Anbar province to Diyala province to support combat operations in the Diyala River Valley," said Odierno.? This was a good Iraqi decision and was executed solely by the Iraqis. Within 36 hours upon arrival, the 3rd Brigade uncovered two sizeable caches, gathered significant intelligence and aggressively hunted down al Qaeda in tough terrain and demanding climatic conditions." As recently as the spring of 2007 Anbar was the most violent province in Iraq.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/al_qaeda_in_iraqs_sh.php



2518
3DHS / Soros Bets On US Economic Collapse
« on: January 17, 2008, 12:24:07 PM »
Soros Bets on U.S. Economic Collapse

By Cliff Kincaid  |  January 16, 2008

Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama favor government support for people losing their homes because they can?t repay their subprime mortgages. But what about the financial wheeler-dealers in the hedge fund industry who may stand to make billions of dollars from this terrible debacle? Foremost among them is billionaire hedge fund operator George Soros, who has committed his life and immense financial resources to bringing the Democrats to power in the White House.

Ties to the controversial and mysterious hedge fund industry could become a major problem for the Democratic Party. Hedge fund money ?appears to be tilting toward the Democrats of late,? the New York Times reported last year.   

The connection is personal. Chelsea Clinton took a job in 2006 with Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund whose founder, Marc Lasry, has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the national Democratic Party and many of its candidates. Federal Election Commission records show $5,000 from Lasry to HILLPAC, Hillary?s political action committee, thousands more to Hillary?s senate campaign, and thousands more to Hillary?s presidential campaign. 

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards took some criticism when it became known that he had gone to work for a hedge fund. As noted by the Washington Post, ?The hedge fund that employed John Edwards markedly expanded its subprime lending business while he worked there, becoming a major player in the high-risk mortgage sector Edwards has pilloried in his presidential campaign.? Edwards claimed he didn?t know anything about the firm?s involvement in subprime lending. 

It is interesting to note that the co-author of the Post article, John Solomon, has left the paper to become editor of the rival and conservative Washington Times. Solomon had come under savage attack by left-wingers for doing stories about corruption in the Democratic Party. They probably realized that Solomon was on to something when he uncovered Edwards? relationship with a hedge fund company. But Edwards is not alone.

For those reporters interested in getting to the bottom of this growing controversy, there are many tantalizing leads to pursue.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday ran a fascinating front-page story about John A. Paulson, a Wall Street trader who has made billions of dollars betting that the housing market would collapse. The Journal says that Paulson personally made between $3 and $4 billion, ?the largest one-year payday in Wall Street history.? The story suggests he has been somewhat secretive about his activities but is now opening up about his ?historic coup? in comments to Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman.

While there is nothing improper or illegal in how Paulson made his money, there are no details about where he got some of his funds or exactly how he placed his financial bets. The paper notes that ?European investors? gave him about $150 million and that he is so savvy that George Soros ?invited Paulson to lunch, asking for details of how he laid his bets, with [financial] instruments that didn?t exist a few years ago.? The article said that ?Soros is famous for another big score, a 1992 bet against the British pound that earned $1bn for his Quantum hedge fund.? Soros ?declined to comment? about his meeting with Paulson, the Journal said.

Declined to comment? Since Soros is a major supporter of the secretive Democracy Alliance, a group backed by rich liberals who fund a network of liberal-left groups dedicated to electing Democrats to the White House and Congress, could the discussion have also been political in nature? 

The American people should be quickly educated by our media on how very rich people like Paulson and Soros make ?bets? on the rise or fall of national currencies and economies. Paulson is now telling investors ?it?s still not too late? to bet on more economic problems. These are capitalists who seem to have a vested interest in the further decline of the U.S. economy.

We may not know much about Paulson, but we know a lot about Soros. He is a financial manipulator, convicted of illegal insider trading in France for playing financial games with a bank there.   

We also know that he spent over $20 million trying to defeat George Bush for president in 2004 and has contributed to such groups as the Democratic National Committee, MoveOn.org, and candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Soros, in short, is a major financial backer of the Democratic Party and will be in a position to collect on these debts if Hillary or Obama wins in November. Their election may depend on further substantial erosion in the national economy. Is it possible that the financial activities of Soros could make it more likely that the economy will go into a complete tailspin? 

Any economic problems will, of course, be blamed by the Democrats and the liberal media on President Bush and the Republicans. The Republicans may not be smart enough to recognize that hedge fund managers and their links to the Democratic Party could become a potent campaign issue. Perhaps they will regard the issue as too ?populist? for their taste.

If the Democrats succeed in exploiting the economic problems, they will not only keep control of Congress in this fall?s elections but will put Clinton or Obama in the White House. Their ?mandate,? however, will go beyond new government programs for the economy into the social realm. And that?s where Soros has a keen interest. 

The issue of Obama?s drug use has surfaced in the campaign, but Soros has put millions into the drug legalization movement. Some other money from his fortune, estimated at $7 billion, has been put into causes such as abortion rights, gay rights, voting rights for felons, euthanasia, and rights for immigrants and prostitutes.

Now that Obama and Clinton have patched things up on the race issue, can we count on the media to turn their attention to George Soros and other hedge fund managers who stand to profit from an economic recession or even depression? 

With millions of people either losing their homes or a substantial part of their value, the media should not be content with a no-comment from these crafty behind-the-scenes money men.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can be reached at cliff.kincaid@aim.org

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/soros-bets-on-us-economic-collapse/

2519
3DHS / Surprise, surprise. Leftist Soros funded bogus Iraqi death study.
« on: January 12, 2008, 10:20:57 PM »


Anti-war Soros funded Iraq study

January 13, 2008

STUDY that claimed 650,000 people were killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq was partly funded by the antiwar billionaire George Soros.

Soros, 77, provided almost half the ?50,000 cost of the research, which appeared in The Lancet, the medical journal. Its claim was 10 times higher than consensus estimates of the number of war dead.

The study, published in 2006, was hailed by antiwar campaigners as evidence of the scale of the disaster caused by the invasion, but Downing Street and President George Bush challenged its methodology.

New research published by The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 151,000 people - less than a quarter of The Lancet estimate - have died since the invasion in 2003.

?The authors should have disclosed the [Soros] donation and for many people that would have been a disqualifying factor in terms of publishing the research,? said Michael Spagat, economics professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The Lancet study was commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and led by Les Roberts, an associate professor and epidemiologist at Columbia University. He reportedly opposed the war from the outset.

His team surveyed 1,849 homes at 47 sites across Iraq, asking people about births, deaths and migration in their households.

Professor John Tirman of MIT said this weekend that $46,000 (?23,000) of the approximate ?50,000 cost of the study had come from Soros?s Open Society Institute.

Roberts said this weekend: ?In retrospect, it was probably unwise to have taken money that could have looked like it would result in a political slant. I am adamant this could not have affected the outcome of the research.?

The Lancet did not break any rules by failing to disclose Soros?s sponsorship.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3177653.ece


2520
3DHS / What IslamoNazis Look Like:
« on: January 11, 2008, 11:52:54 PM »
The face of the IslamoNazis that want to take over the world:

We will kill them first!


http://www.longwarjournal.org/multimedia/Taliban-Leaders-Jan2008/index.html




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