Quote: President Obama

“I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions,” President Obama

Sarah Palin Brunt of Canadian Comedians

Marg Delahunty (Mary Walsh) of This Hour Has 22 Minutes tries to talk to Sarah Palin at a book signing in Ohio.

“Keep the Faith!”

Couple Crashes Party, Now Wants Payment For Story

The Virginia socialites who apparently crashed the White House state dinner last week remained elusive Saturday, as reports surfaced that the aspiring reality-TV stars were trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars and CNN said the couple’s upcoming appearance on “Larry King Live” had been cancelled.

The Associated Press reported that Tareq and Michaele Salahi were offering to talk to broadcast networks about their experience and were looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range. The news service attributed the information to a television executive it did not name. According to the report, representatives for the couple contacted networks to urge them to “get their bids in” for an interview.

The New York Times cited television executives making the same claim, also speaking on condition of anonymity. “They are asking for best offers from all the networks,” the newspaper quoted one as saying.

Network news divisions generally do not pay for interviews.

CNN said the couple’s appearance on Monday had been cancelled after producers were told that the Salahis were postponing.

The voicemail box for the couple’s publicist, Mahogany Jones, was full Saturday night, and she did not respond to an e-mail. Their attorney, Paul W. Gardner, did not respond to a phone message.

Meanwhile, no one answered the door Saturday at the couple’s house in Front Royal, Va., where reporters and photographers were staked out at the end of their gravel driveway. A CBS employee folded a handwritten note into the door, promising the couple that they would get a fair hearing of their side of the story if they talked with anchor Katie Couric.

A dog inside the house still barked loudly. A note taped to the front door read: “Hi Dana, Thanks for watching the dog. See you after weekend.”

The Secret Service apologized Friday for the security breach, saying protocols were not followed Tuesday night when the Salahis gained entry to President Obama’s first state dinner. A spokesman for the Secret Service said criminal charges had not been ruled out.

Washington Post

John Bolton Right on UN?

I certainly don’t expect the New York Times to admit that one of their greatest bogeymen turned out to be correct about Iran’s nuclear game-playing. However, the Times Editorial Board did once say “John Bolton is right. Kofi Annan is wrong.”

Unfortunately it wasn’t about the Iran nuclear issue they were talking about – it was about his opposition to the UN’s ineffective Human Rights Council.

Nevertheless, someone needs to say it now. John Bolton was right.

When the Obama Administration proclaimed victory on October 1st by announcing that a break-through had been reached in Geneva and that Iran had committed to shipping 2,600 pounds of fuel to Russia, expert Iran watchers were appropriately cynical. Bolton cautioned, yet again, that the Iranians had used some of the same diplomatic nuances they had been using for years to successfully buy more time to continue enriching uranium and fake cooperation with the international community.

Usually, the Europeans were the first to take the bait but this time the Obama Administration got hooked first. Bolton, however, was the first to stand up and call the Iranian pronouncement a sham – and he did it within hours of the announcement.

But as Obama officials were rushing to pat themselves on the back and the New York Times was proclaiming atop the paper “Iran Agrees to Send Enriched Uranium to Russia,” Iranian officials were telling reporters that they had not committed to anything. The Iranians called it “an agreement in principle” – code words for “we’d like to but…”

The Times’ reporter in Geneva, however, was taking what the Obama officials were saying and running wildly with the incredible news. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the Times had either not checked with Iranian officials or ignored their warnings in favor of the Obama Administration’s good news. Roughly a month later, the Iranian official statements confirmed the fact that the Obama Administration had been duped. The Times subsequently inched its way back to reality through multiple follow-up stories that increasingly showed skepticism in the Victory claims culminating with October 30th’s headline “Tehran Rejects Nuclear Accord.”

Today, while the Iranians reprocess more fuel, the Obama team continues to compromise and offer even more incentives to them. No wonder Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is waiting – the deal keeps getting sweeter. President Obama has offered the Iranians more time, more sites to place their illegal fuel, more personal correspondence with the Ayatollah, more excuses as to what happened to the original deal they announced and no Chinese and Russian arm-twisting. The Obama team also keeps claiming that if Iran ships 2600 pounds of fuel out to Russia for re-processing then Iran will be unable to pose a nuclear threat for at least a year.

This often told claim is a dangerous calculation based on an assumption that Iran doesn’t have more hidden fuel (we just found out about another reprocessing plant in September) and can’t quickly convert what would remain if the plan had been accepted. Additionally, the low enriched uranium in question was produced in violation of UN Security Council resolutions so any deal to help Iran convert illegal fuel undermines Security Council credibility. The naivety of President Obama could be chalked up to hope and inexperience in foreign policy matters if it wasn’t routinely and consistently happening.

Bolton should know. No American Ambassador has produced more Security Council Resolutions on the issue of Iran than John Bolton. Bolton was able to produce three UN Security Council resolutions on Iran, two with the increasing pressure of sanctions. The deadlines in the resolutions that Bolton insisted upon were kept mainly because he held his counterparts to their word.

When Iran tried to manipulate the process by asking for more time, more talks or giving empty and last minute commitments, Bolton enforced the deadlines. Bolton was incredibly patient and willing to have round the clock negotiations but in the end forced a vote of the Security Council to the dismay of the Europeans and the consternation of Russian and China. It’s true that John Bolton would not win the most popular Ambassador award at the UN but being popular shouldn’t be the priority.

I hope that the Obama team can now see that being popular at the UN doesn’t get us support from the Europeans on sanctions resolutions or an affirmative vote from Russia and China. If it did, President Obama would have passed another Security Council Resolution on Iran, North Korea and Sudan by now. Obama is so popular in foreign countries that one begins to wonder who is happier. But being popular only means you aren’t asking Countries to do anything different.

This month, the world is seeing the pressure turned down on Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. France’s Foreign Minister has signaled their refusal to block shipments of refined fuel to Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov called sanctions “counterproductive when there are talks underway” and China needs Iran’s oil so badly that it not only is refusing to consider further sanctions but is cutting new energy deals with Iran.

Where is the Obama Administration’s pressure on Iran to stop enriching uranium? Sadly, the Americans are getting hoodwinked by Iran and Europe is happy that they don’t have to vote for more sanctions or enforce the ones that are in place now. While the President gives up our missile shield to Russia, relaxes financial restrictions on Cuba, allows North Korea to violate their signed agreements and breaks campaign promises on a Sudan no-fly zone, the world applauds the most popular American President in history.

And here at home, Fareed Zakaria continues to call for more American compromises and more talk while characterizing Conservatives as unwilling to talk. It isn’t that Conservatives think speaking to Russia about Iran is bad, a claim Fareed Zakaria erroneously tries to tag Conservatives with, it’s that giving something without getting something in return is foolish and naïve. Zakaria and the other elites blinded by Obama’s global reset button want America to compromise and negotiate but fail to expect the same from the other side. Zakaria is that typical internationalist that views diplomatic success as merely sitting down to talk. Talking is the goal for them.

And if America needs to compromise in order to ensure that there are more talks, well, then so be it. Talking is success, right?

CBS NEWS

Sen. Kerry’s Daughter Won’t Face DUI Charges

Prosecutors say John Kerry’s eldest daughter won’t be charged with drunken driving in Los Angeles. Alexandra Kerry will not be charged because of a lack of evidence.

Quote: John Adams

” In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a Congress,” President John Adams

Wiki Leaks Release Half Million September 11th Messages

A website has published what it says are 573,000 intercepted pager messages sent during the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Wikileaks says it will not reveal who gave it the messages – some of which are from federal agencies as well as ordinary citizens.

Read the TEXT HERE at Wiki Leaks (911)

Internet analysts say they believe the messages are genuine but federal authorities have refused to comment.

The attacks on 11 September 2001 left nearly 3,000 people dead.

The messages are being published over a 24-hour period, ending at 0800GMT on Thursday. They are being released simultaneously on Wikileaks and social networking site Twitter.

‘Live’ broadcast

The website is broadcasting each message at the time it was sent originally in 2001.

The first message was from 0300 local time (0800 GMT), five hours before the first attack in New York and the last 24 hours later.

The messages are not all about the attacks. Some are mundane questions about what people are having for lunch.

However many are about the deadly plane attacks and range from people trying to find out if their loved ones are safe, to government messages, to computer server errors.

They include messages such as

* This is Myrna, I will not rest until you get home, the second tower is down, I don’t want to have to keep calling you after every event. Pls just go home

* President has been rerouted won’t be returning to Washington but not sure where he will go

* Bomb detonated in World Trade Ctr. Pls get back to Mike Brady w/a quick assessment of your areas and contact us if anything is needed

New York’s fire and police departments said they could not comment on whether messages purportedly sent from them were genuine while the US Secret Service refused to comment.

Pager company USA Mobility said it was troubled by the alleged interceptions, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Wikileaks allows people to anonymously post documents on the web, saying its aim is to promote transparency.

It was created in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Schmitt said the messages were submitted anonymously to the site several weeks ago.

He told Associated Press: “From the context information that the source provided we have strong reasons to believe that this is valid data.”

He said the messages would help provide a fuller picture of what happened that day.

BBC NEWS

Some people witnessing the attacks reached out to loved ones out of fear there might have been more attacks coming and they might die.

“The only thoughts I have are of Nicholas, Ian and you,” read one text message. “I am terrified. I needed to tell you that I truly love you. always, diane.”

“I want to hold you now,” one text message a minute later reads.

“I know you have a new relationship and do not care about me. But just in case anything happens know I love you hon. Missed Ya good bye.”

The first indication of a problem comes at 8:50 a.m., five minutes aft.er the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

“An aloha call is starting. This is for a fire at 2wt …”

Another text message references “a bomb detonation” in the World Trade Center and asks recipients of the message to report back assessments of their areas.

A minute later, firsthand reports started flooding in.

“The world trade center has just blow up, we seen the explosion outside our windows. Teresa …”

At 8:53 a.m. a message from the New York Police Department’s operations division mobilizes officers toward the World Trade Center, telling them to meet at Church and Vessey streets.

At 9:03 a.m. the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

“It’s a deliberate attack … a second plane just few into the second tower,” a message said 52 seconds later.

By 9:25 a.m. the personal messages have grown more frequent and more frantic.

Companies begin sending out messages asking for head counts on all employees.

People begin sharing reports of what they are seeing and hearing on TV,­ including early reports of people jumping from the World Trade Center.

Family members panicked, struggling to get through jammed phone lines to find out if their loved ones were OK.

9:25:40 a.m.

“Please call my work as soon as you get in the office. Need to know you’re safe.”

9:29:38 a.m.

“Wondering where you are. Are you okay. Give me a call back asap. I just need to know these things. Even if it’s collect. Call me. Darryl”

11:32:56 a.m.

“if i do not hear from you by high noon, i am going to pick laura up at school and tell her her father is dead.”

“goodbye my sweety…..im going to miss yo,” another said.

“Honey wanted to tell you how much i love you,” one sender wrote. “I was a little worried. I Don’t want to lose you now that I got you back. You mean everything to me. You have my whole heart and life. I love you so much.”

Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis Bashes Gays

VALLEJO, CA (KGO) — The city of Vallejo may be best known for declaring bankruptcy but now it is in the headlines for comments the mayor made about gays.

“I apologize if my words were offensive, they were not intended to be offensive,” Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis said.

Davis finds himself in the middle of a controversy after an interview published this weekend in the New York Times. The article, titled “Faith and Tolerance Collide in Vallejo,” quotes Davis talking about gay people, saying, “They’re committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven.” He also calls Vallejo “a city of God.”

“I’m not going to discuss my faith with anybody anymore,” Davis said Wednesday.

Davis does not deny making the comments, but says they were taken out of context.

Gay Vallejo resident Charles Legalos wants the City Council to censure the mayor and says his apology is an excuse.

“I would like to hear him explain in what context those comments would be appropriate coming from an elected public official,” Legalos said.

Two years ago, Davis won a bitter mayoral race by just two votes in a recount over an openly gay candidate. Members of the gay community say there has been tension since then, but Davis says he has been a consensus builder.

“There’s nothing people can point to in the past two years of my election or course of my campaign that would suggest that I’ve been anything but fair,” Davis said.

Davis feels the controversy is the last thing his city needs. Vallejo is dealing with bankruptcy and tough financial decisions. Father Lou Bordisso, who is openly gay, is organizing a protest against the mayor, saying Davis has violated the separation of church and state.

“I think anyone in political office does not have the right to try to impose their beliefs on the population,” Bordisso said.

The mayor has asked extended an olive branch, asking for a meeting with Bordisso, but that has not yet happened.

“We need to pull in a common direction for the benefit of the city,” Davis said.

ABC LOCAL

Uninvited Guests Make It Into State Dinner

This much is known: About 7:15 Tuesday night, a glittering blonde, decked out in a red and gold sari, holding the hand of her black-tuxedoed-escort, swept past the camera crews and reporters camped out to catch the red-carpet arrivals for the first state dinner given by President Obama.

“Hey, that’s a ‘Desperate Housewife’!” one reporter yelled out.

In fact, the couple — Michaele Salahi and her husband, Tarek — are Virginians who have been auditioning for a possible role in a different housewives franchise: the TV program “The Real Housewives of Washington.”

They swept past the camera crews and followed the trail of other bigwigs attending the dinner.

But neither Mr. or Mrs. Salahi, best known in the Washington area for promoting wine and polo in Virginia, was on the guest list for the event, a fact first reported Wednesday morning on the Washington Post Web site.

A White House official confirmed Wednesday that the Salahis were not invited nor were they seated for dinner in the tent erected for the evening. It was not clear Wednesday night how close the Salahis got to President Obama and his wife, Michelle, or to the guest of honor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.

Edwin M. Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said Wednesday night that “initial findings identified a Secret Service checkpoint which did not follow proper procedures” allowing the couple to get access to the festivities, even though their names were not on the invitation list.

He declined to offer any more details, including what kind of procedures were not followed, why they were not followed and whether the couple has been interviewed. He said the investigation was ongoing.

“The bottom line is that they should not have gotten in,” Mr. Donovan said.

He also said that he was unaware of any other examples of this kind of party-crashing at the White House. “I’m not aware of any other incidents like this,” Mr. Donovan said.

The Salahis posted photographs of themselves at the dinner on their Facebook page: “Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!”

NY Times

Senator Judd Gregg Vows to block FED Audit Bill

A U.S. senator said he would seek to block any legislation containing a measure to remove the Federal Reserve’s shield from congressional audits of the central bank’s interest-rate decisions.

The House Financial Services Committee yesterday advanced a proposal requiring audits of the Fed that was introduced by Representative Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas. Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican and Banking Committee member, said in an interview today that the measure “would do fundamental damage to the strength of our financial structure as a nation.”

“I would not vote for any bill and I would filibuster any bill that had this language in it,” Gregg said, referring to the legislative delaying tactic that requires 60 Senate votes to break.

Gregg’s comments indicate that legislation similar to Paul’s bill, which has more than 300 House co-sponsors, would face resistance in the Senate. That would help the Fed, which opposes the bill on the grounds that it could reduce the central bank’s independence in setting interest rates.

California Representative Brad Sherman, the highest ranking Democrat on the House panel to vote for the Paul amendment yesterday, said in an interview that he expected the provisions to be altered “to some degree” as legislation moves through the House and Senate.

‘Terribly Popular’

“If it’s changed a whole lot, could that imperil the bill’s ultimate passage? Yes,” Sherman said. The Paul audit bill won’t be “terribly popular” in the Senate, he said.

Paul, author of a book entitled “End the Fed” that was published this year, said yesterday that provisions in his amendment would limit interference in monetary policy. The measure, co-sponsored by Representative Alan Grayson, a Democrat from Florida, would exclude any unreleased transcripts or minutes of Fed policy meetings. It calls for an audit of the Fed and its 12 regional banks by the Government Accountability Office within a year after enactment.

The committee voted first, 43-26, to substitute Paul’s proposal for a Democratic measure to retain the ban on audits of monetary policy while requiring more limited audits. Fifteen of 42 Democrats joined the unanimous Republicans on the vote. Then, in a voice vote, the committee attached the Paul measure to the broader bill.

Failed to Sway

A call from Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke two days ago failed to sway Representative David Scott, a Democrat from Georgia, who voted in favor of Paul’s measure.

“I said to him that what we’re interested in doing is sending the right signals to Main Street,” Scott said. “The American people are totally dissatisfied with the way the Fed, this administration have so over-handed, disproportionately leaned toward helping the top of the economic stream.”

Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the committee and opposed the Paul measure, said yesterday the issue “may be revisited” when the legislation reaches the House floor.

“It’s going to be seen as weakening the independence of monetary policy with consequent negative implications,” Frank told reporters after the vote. “People are going to be worried about the impact on the dollar, on the interest rate.”

Frank said he expects to finish the legislation in committee on Dec. 1, delaying a vote he had scheduled for yesterday until after lawmakers return from the Thanksgiving holiday. He supported a competing measure from Representative Mel Watt, a North Carolina Democrat, to retain the ban on auditing monetary policy.

Make the Case

“The Fed needs to make the case for policy independence,” said former St. Louis Fed President William Poole, now a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington. “The right place for the policy audit” is congressional hearings on monetary policy, not through the GAO, Poole said.

Gregg, 62, who was elected in 1992 and plans to retire from the Senate next year, attributed the Paul legislation’s success to “populist fervor” and lawmakers “pandering” to the public.

If the audit provisions become law, “you will fundamentally harm the stability of the dollar and our ability to fight inflation, because the Fed’s ability to deal with interest rates will be chilled by the fear of congressional oversight,” Gregg said.

BLOOMBERG

Next Page »