Iranian cleric threatens to target TA
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
Iran will begin large-scale air defense war games Sunday aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from possible attack, a senior military commander said Saturday, reflecting the country’s concern that Israel could make good on threats to strike militarily. The drill comes as a top clerical official renewed his threat to target “the heart of Tel Aviv” should Israel attack Iran.
The five-day drill will involve Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard and the regular army and will cover 230,000 square miles – or about 600,000 square kilometers – of central, western and southern Iran, said air force Gen. Ahmad Mighani.
As Iran has pressed forward with its nuclear program, Israel has repeatedly threatened military action to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The US also has not ruled out military action should diplomacy fail to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities.
Washington and its European allies suspect Iran aims to use a civilian nuclear program as cover to produce weapons, and Iran has effectively rejected a new UN proposal aimed at easing those concerns. Tehran denies any intention to make nuclear weapons and says it only wants to generate power.
The defense drill will involve an attack by airplanes representing a hypothetical enemy.
“Reconnaissance enemy planes will violate our air space and try to disrupt electronic and radar systems, identify sensitive facilities, take photos and … attack air defense sites,” Mighani said, according to a state TV report. “And our air defense system will confront the intruding planes.”
A planned key component of Iran’s air defenses, an anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, has yet to be delivered.
Mighani criticized Russia, saying the months-long delay in the S-300 missiles was apparently the result of Israeli pressure, not technical issues, as Moscow claims.
Israel and the United States have opposed the missile deal out of fear Iran could use the system to significantly boost defenses at its nuclear sites – including its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
The representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Guard, warned Saturday that Iranian missiles will target Tel Aviv should an Israeli missile land in Iran.
“If the enemy want to test its bad luck and fire a missile into Iran, before the dust settles, Iran’s ballistic missiles will target the heart of Tel Aviv,” Mojtaba Zolnour told the official IRNA news agency.
Iran and Israel are archenemies and anti-Israeli stance is a trademark for the hardline Guard. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has since 2005 often predicted demise for the Jewish state.
Israeli military and government officials refused to comment on the planned war games.
Iran restructured its military this year in an effort to improve its air defenses. The changes were seen as part of a broader focus on bolstering the military by Tehran, which has been concerned about the US military’s presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Israeli threats to target its nuclear facilities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a new branch to be split off from the air force this year to deal specifically with threats to the country’s air space. Mighani was appointed to head the unit. The order rearranged the regular military into four branches – the ground force, the navy, the air force and the new air defense force.
Mighani now oversees radar, military intelligence gathering equipment and anti-aircraft missile units.
In related news, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said his nation needs enriched uranium to power some 200 hospitals and insisted “guarantees” were needed before they could consider a storage deal with Turkey.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh said in an interview with Der Spiegel published Saturday that Iran desperately needed more uranium to produce isotopes for medical purposes.
Soltanieh was also quoted as saying Teheran would not allow Turkey to temporarily store its enriched uranium unless there were guarantees it would receive fuel in exchange.
His comments come a day after representatives of six world powers urged Iran to accept a UN plan aimed at delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258705152357&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
What can you say? What can you do?…tonight our government will sell out these brave men and push us ever closer to a Marxist society…
International Pictures of the Year
Here are two very touching photos honored this year
First Place :
First Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport , Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac.
During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as so powerful: ‘See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home,’ he said ‘They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.’
Second Place
Second Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. ‘I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,’ she said. ‘I think that’s what he would have wanted’
Is Charlie Rangel the Most Corrupt Representative Ever?
Unbridled Corruption and A Mockery of Congressional Leadership
By Dennis Jones Friday, November 20, 2009
Charlie Rangel was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1970 and is now serving his 20th term. He was appointed Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in January 2007, elevating him to be one of the most powerful men in politics. It is incomprehensible, given Rep. Rangel’s widely reported tax problems, that he could chair the House Ways and Means Committee that is responsible for corporate income taxes, excise taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes and other miscellaneous taxes. There has been a pattern of unethical behavior, flaunting of House rules, improper use of his position and self-serving decisions that span his entire career.
Over the past 30 years there have been 28 instances in which he failed to report acquiring, owning or disposing of assets on required disclosure forms. The House Ethics Committee has been working on its investigation of Rangel for over a year and has expanded its investigation on three separate occasions. The Ethics Committee has reviewed and analyzed over 12,000 pages of documents and issued nearly 150 subpoenas on the taxpayers dime. Representative Rangel has even asked the committee to investigate himself and hired forensic accountants to investigate his own books and records in some sort of warped and detached rationalization that he is investigating someone else.
Here are some of the most prominent highlights of Mr. Rangel’s ethical, moral and legal lapses under investigation:
Mr. Rangel’s ethical, moral and legal lapses under investigation
Mr. Rangel rented four rent-stabilized apartments, 16M, 16N, 16P, and 10U, in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Harlem, Lenox Terrace. He claimed three of the four as personal residences and used the fourth, 10U as a campaign office profiting from the combined total of under-market rent of approximately $30,000 per year. While it is not unlawful for tenants to have more than one rent-stabilized apartment it is extremely rare and, using one as a campaign and political action committee raises federal election law issues because the committee did not pay fair market rent. Also, since lodging falls under the House’s definition of “gifts” by failing to pay market rent on his apartments, Mr. Rangel may have violated House gift rules. The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee regarding the rent subsidies and Mr. Rangel himself asked the FEC to render an opinion on its legality.
Rep. Rangel pushed through $1.9 million of public funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York which includes an office for him and a presidential-style library for his official papers. He violated House rules by soliciting funds for this project on congressional stationery. Mr. Rangel sought contributions from businesses that have interests before the committee that he leads in a clear conflict of interest. He has also faced criticism for the project since naming a facility after an incumbent politician might tempt that politician to funnel public money to it rather than more worthy causes. In another incident also involving his pet project, Mr. Rangel reversed his former political stance of taxing the wealthy and closing tax loopholes for businesses to receive personal gain. Instead of pushing to eliminate the loopholes as was customary for him, he fought to preserve a tax loophole that benefited an oil-drilling company whose CEO was pledging $1 million for his project. Mr. Rangel prevailed and the tax shelter was preserved saving the company, Nabors industries an estimated tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of over a billion dollars in revenues over a ten year period. Federal law prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting or agreeing to accept anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act. In addition to the million dollar pledge from Nabors CEO Eugene M. Isenberg for his Center for Public Service at City College, Mr. Isenberg wrote a $100,000 check to City College during the same time period that Mr. Rangel was working to leave Nabors’ tax shelter intact.
For 20 years Mr. Rangel has owned a 3 bedroom, 3 bath beachfront villa in the Dominican Republic located on the Caribbean Sea at the Punta Cana Hotel. Boasting a panoramic ocean view and reportedly one of the most popular casitas in one of the island’s best resorts, it commonly rents for between $500 a night in the low season and $1,100 a night between November and April. However, Mr. Rangel failed to report any rental income for 2006, 2007 and from 1996 to 2000 on his personal financial disclosure statements. The disclosure is a sworn statement and intentionally filing a false report is a felony that carries a possible five-year prison sentence. After first denying receiving any rental income in 2006 & 2007, Rangel’s lawyer reported that the property had earned over $75,000 in rental income that he failed to report on his federal or state tax returns. New York state law classifies filing a false return a felony punishable by up to four years in prison but typically prosecutions are rare and instead the taxpayer is fined 20% of the back taxes owed. Under federal law it also a felony to willfully evade payment of taxes or file a false return with possible prison sentences and fines of up to $100,000. Rep. Rangel used an interest-free mortgage to purchase the property granted to him by the resort development company whose principal happened to have also contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel’s campaigns. Rangel did not report the forgiven interest as required by House rules, nor did he report it to the IRS and State of New York on his tax returns. He has subsequently filed amended returns and paid $10,800 in back taxes.
Mr. Rangel traveled to the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean in November 2008 with four other members to attend a conference sponsored by the Carib News Foundation. There is evidence that the trip was paid for by major US corporations led by Citigroup, yet another violation of House Rules.
Rep. Rangel’s financial disclosure forms failed to disclose all of his assets and unearned income at least 28 times in clear violation of House rules. He accumulated from $239,026 to $831,000 in assets that were not listed in disclosure forms despite House rules that require members to list the purchase or sale of any assets. In some instances, Mr. Rangel listed assets without acquisition dates. His 2006 disclosure form notes 13 mutual funds with values from $54,013 to $286,000 without any acquisition date. Other problems Mr. Rangel has had with the disclosure form include detailing dispositions of assets; investments valued in 2004 at $95,004 to $250,000 were later omitted in future filings with no record of their sale or disposition. Moreover, no royalties or advances from Mr. Rangel’s 2007 book, “And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since” have been reported on his filings.
Mr. Rangel stored his 1972 Mercedes in a House parking space valued at $290 per month for several years and never reported the imputed income to the IRS. Also, since the vehicle was unlicensed and without a valid parking permit, its storage was a violation of House rules.
Gross negligence, incompetence, breach of fiduciary duty, and terrible judgment
If Mr. Rangel were the CEO of any public company in America, he would have been summarily fired for gross negligence, incompetence, breach of fiduciary duty, and terrible judgment. And, given the nature of the violations, had his severance agreement revoked and possibly faced criminal prosecution. But, as is obvious by now, Congress has a much lower ethical standard than private enterprise and the rules and laws that apply to us don’t seem to apply to the public servants in Congress. Madame Pelosi and Rep. Rangel continue to brush aside calls from both the left and the right for his resignation allowing self serving interests to take priority over integrity, honor and ethical conduct.
OBAMA HAS NO SHAME…WHAT A CREEP!…
Dangerous Obama Targets Sarah Palin
Dirty lowdown gangsta-style politics of personal destruction. Welcome to hope and change, America. The new America is all about fear and loathing.
Obama’s hatred of the good for being the good manifests itself in his latest. Palin is everything O ain’t. Quintessentially American and proud and patriotic and good. Beware, evildoers. You will not win. Sarah has something Obama and his brown shirts can’t touch – heart and soul.
Organzing for America, aka mybarackobama.com, is Obama’s old campaign website, blighted with Jew hatred and Israel bashing, still allowed to run unchecked.
Organizing for America, a fundraising arm of the DNC, sent an email to supporters today in an attempt to raise $500,000 off her assertion this fall that Democratic health care bills would create panels of government bureaucrats to decide end-of-life care.
“It’s dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term ‘Death Panels’– and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform,” reads the email from Organizing for America national director Mitch Stewart.
The email asks Obama supporters to donate $5 to “help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies.”
Here’s the full email:
Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.
It’s dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term “Death Panels” — and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.
Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.
As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can’t afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything — and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.
So we’re setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 to help reach our goal.
Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be “dead on arrival.” And since then, she’s been working fiercely toward that goal.
On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show where she outrageously — and falsely — suggested that Americans could “face jail time as punishment” if they don’t buy insurance.
Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.
We need to be prepared. And we’re counting on you help. Can you chip in $5?
Thanks,
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
Jihad versus American Values – Mutually Exclusive
Write a short essay of your research and thoughts on quintessential American Values (e.g. unique and/or foundational ideals, beliefs, rights of American civilization)
One way to indentify them, and to draw antithetical comparisons to PC perversions, is to consider some philosophical dichotomies, such as:
1) Individual vs. Group (tribes, races, classes, factions, orgs., etc.)
2) Peace vs. Coercion
3) Liberty vs. Government
4) Truth vs. Fantasy
5) Utopia vs. Reality
6) Freedom vs. Dependence
7) Self-defense vs. Submission
Sovereignty vs. Slavery
9) Rule of Law vs. Lawlessness (anarchy)
10) Private Property vs. Entitlement (grand larceny)
Some examples of American Values which come to mind:
i) Individual Sovereignty – No man is subject to a (earthly) King except himself.
ii) Government gains/maintains its legitimacy and authority by the Consent of the Governed.
iii) Government’s first priority is to ensure Security for its Citizens by vigorously protecting their Rights, and by providing them Protection from Harm.
iv) All men are created Equal (by their Creator).
v) Natural Law is recognized and codified into Law.
vi) Natural Rights which flow from natural law are inalienable by men.
vii) Republicanism is the best form of government (yet conceived) with the rule of law, democratic processes, and the separation of powers at its core.
viii) Human Life is sacred.
ix) No human life shall be enslaved/coerced to serve another.
x) Private Property rights shall be inviolable, since the fruits of one’s labor represent an extension of one’s Life, by the free exercise of one’s sovereign resources.
xi) Freedom of Speech, especially of criticizing one’s own government without recrimination, is essential and inviolable.
xii) All Sovereignty lies with, and is inherent in, the People. Governments may be formed, or reformed, by the People delegating certain enumerated and limited authority to act as their agent. E.g. The U.S. Constitution.
Oh, My The Ilumminati Have Us
Question for the Big Bangers, “Who created the first two protons?” Al Gore might be a reasonable answer for the Climate Change types, but it’s not good enough for me.
Steve
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
World’s largest atom smasher is restarted
By Associated Press
Saturday, November 21, 2009
GENEVA — Scientists switched on the world’s largest atom smasher Friday night for the first time since the $10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago.
It took a year of repairs before beams of protons circulated in the Large Hadron Collider for the first time since it was heavily damaged by an electrical fault.
Circulation of the beams was a significant leap forward. The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments — probably starting in January — regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.
Progress on restarting the machine, on the border between Switzerland and France, went faster than expected Friday evening and the first beam started circulating in a clockwise direction around the machine about 10 p.m., said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
The scientists have started preparing to circulate another beam in the opposite direction within the coming hours, Gillies said.
“We’ve still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we’re well on the way,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.
With great fanfare, CERN circulated its first beams Sept. 10, 2008. But the machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to massive superconducting magnets and other parts of the collider, in a 17-mile circular tunnel under the Swiss-French border.

