Next up, Colorado and Minnesota.

(NY Times) — Mitt Romney scored a sweeping victory in Nevada today with a broad coalition of voters that included groups that he has struggled to win in previous contests, including very conservative voters, strong Tea Party supporters and evangelicals.

The victory extends the momentum Mr. Romney carried from his commanding victory in Florida last Tuesday, and pushed forward his march toward the Republican nomination.

Mr. Romney’s rivals largely conceded the state before the results were known, with some leaving Nevada to campaign in Colorado and Minnesota. Mr. Romney, who won Nevada in 2008, had never given up the lead in polls here.

With nearly half of caucus voters in Nevada describing themselves as very conservative, the state’s electorate was the most conservative since Iowa.

It also had the largest share of strong Tea Party supporters (more than 4 in 10 of all voters) of any of the Republican nominating contests to date – a makeup that would have proven problematic for Mr. Romney in most of the other early states.

The CIA should have never handed him over to Syria in the first place. Gitmo or a shallow grave would have been a better idea.

(Telegraph) — The alleged terrorist mastermind behind the July 7 London bombings is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail by President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Abu Musab al-Suri had been held in Syria for six years after being captured by the CIA in 2005 and transported to the country of his birth under its controversial extraordinary rendition programme.

But he is now said to have been released as a warning to the US and Britain about the consequences of turning their backs on President al-Assad’s regime as it tries to contain the uprising in the country.

Al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, was al-Qaeda’s operations chief in Europe and has been accused of planning the London bombings, in which four British-born terrorists detonated three bombs on the Underground and another on a bus, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700 others in 2005.

In a statement released after the attacks, al-Suri said: “[In my teachings] I have mentioned vital and legitimate targets to be hit in the enemy’s countries … Among those targets that I specifically mentioned as examples was the London Underground. [Targeting this] was and still is the aim.”

A mechanical engineer, he is also wanted in Spain in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004, which left 191 dead, and for links to an attack on the Paris Metro in 1995.

A judge has also ordered his arrest with other members of a Spanish terror cell that helped prepare the way for the September 11 attacks in 2001 on New York and Washington.

With his red hair, green eyes, pale features and trimmed beard, Syrian-born al-Suri was able to easily pass as a European and plot some of al-Qaeda’s worse atrocities.

Married to a Spanish woman, he spent three years in London in the 1990s, before moving to Afghanistan to run two of Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist training camps where he began experimenting with chemical weapons and set up sleeper cells in Europe.

While in this role, he conceived the plan to attack the London transport system and may have met some of the British-born suicide bombers led by Mohammad Sidique Khan when they are believed to have visited terrorist train camps in Pakistan.

Al-Suri, who had a £3 million US State Department bounty on his head, was reportedly captured in Pakistan in November 2005 and handed to the CIA.

Keep reading…

Wishful thinking.

(The Hill) — The Democratic representative charged with taking back the House says the election will be about one issue — Medicare — and his party “is in a much better place than anyone thought we would be” to put Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker’s chair.

“This is going to be razor sharp,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said on C-Span’s Newsmakers, airing on Sunday. “We are ahead in the generic polls. . . it is a good indicator and right now we are up in every single generic ballot.” [...]

“We are in a much better place than anyone thought we would be,” he added. “Ads against Nancy Pelosi are irrelevant when you have to stand up in town meetings and explain why you voted to end Medicare in order to give tax breaks to big oil companies.”

Israel noted that the minority Democrats have so far out-raised the GOP but said the growth of GOP Super PACs “keeps me up at night.”

Keep reading…

U.S. National Park Service police clear protesters to erect barricades as they empty the Occupy DC encampment in McPherson Square in Washington, February 4, 2012. Police officers wearing helmets and carrying shields arrived at the site where protesters with the “Occupy” movement have been staging a demonstration since October, but it was not immediately clear whether they would evict the protesters. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

Workers inspect the inside of a tent before removing it as authorities the Occupy DC encampment at McPherson Square February 4, 2012 in Washington, DC. Police in riot gear clamped down on the Washington offshoot of Occupy Wall Street on Saturday, seizing tents and bedding from the four-month-old tent colony and arresting four protesters. (AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN)

Ron Paul’s position is no different than Planned Parenthood’s. If the baby is inconvenient, kill it.

Physician, heal thyself.

Is there a mushroom cloud involved?

Via Reza Kahlili:

Amid crippling sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, Iran is continuing to prepare itself for war against the West, and now is warning of a coming great event.

“In light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated,” Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, is warning.

Khamenei, speaking to hundreds of youths from more than 70 countries attending a world conference on the Arab Spring just days ago, told a cheering crowd in Tehran that “Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.”

The countries represented included Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Tunisia, all of which have been involved in the Arab Spring.

In his remarks, Khamenei advised the youths to remain vigilant, stating that the Islamic awakening in the region has delivered several blows to the enemies of Islam and that all Muslims, despite their own historical and social differences, remain united in opposing the “evil hegemony of the Zionists and the Americans.”

Khamenei then claimed the current century as the century of Islam and promised that human history is on the verge of a great event and that soon the world will realize the power of Allah.

Many clerics in Iran have stated that Khamenei is the deputy of the last Islamic messiah on earth and that obedience to him is necessary for the final glorification of Islam.

Khamenei has been heard to say that the coming of the last Islamic Messiah, the Shiites’ 12th Imam Mahdi, is near and that specific actions need to be taken to protect the Islamic regime for upcoming events.

Keep reading…

Where’s a jihadi work accident when you need one?

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Influential Egyptian Muslim theologian Yususf al-Qaradawi on Friday stressed the necessity that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip should be open completely.

During a meeting with the premier of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, al-Qaradawi said, “It is unusual that closure of the Rafah crossing continues barring movement of people and goods.”

He added that the Gaza Strip expected support from the Arab and Islamic nations. Al-Qaradaqwi applauded the emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, for his support to Palestine and to Gaza.

“In light of what the triumphant revolutions in the Arab world achieved, I can assert that Palestine will achieve victory because Palestine is rightness and rightness always wins, while occupation is falseness and falseness will eventually vanish.”

Who will he defend next? — Lucifer?

HT: Breitbart

The 99%.

Oakland, CA — On Saturday, January 28th, a crowd of approximately 500 Occupy Oakland protesters unsuccessfully attempted to break into the historic Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. This action was taken in spite of the City of Oakland’s repeated advisements that peaceful assemblies, protests, and marches would be facilitated, but that the illegal breaking and entering into buildings or other criminal acts will not be tolerated. A total of 408 arrests were made on Saturday, January 28th, and the investigation is ongoing.

On February 2, 2012, Occupy Oakland protesters were arraigned at the Alameda County Court house on criminal charges. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley stated, “Twelve individuals have been charged with criminal offenses and the judge has issued stay away orders.”

Continue reading »

(WhiteHouse.com) — Thirty years after his father massacred tens of thousands of innocent Syrian men, women, and children in Hama, Bashar al-Assad has demonstrated a similar disdain for human life and dignity. Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help. These brutal killings take place at a time when so many Syrians are also marking a deeply meaningful day for their faith. I strongly condemn the Syrian government’s unspeakable assault against the people of Homs and I offer my deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones. Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately.

Continue reading »

“I said, ‘I’m going to whisper something in your ear,’ and then I said, ‘Pretend I’m saying something very exciting!’ And he started making these noises, like ‘Oooh!’” — Masha Dudelzak, 27, second-year M.B.A. student at the University of Toronto

I’m not gettin’ near it.

Here come the goons.

Via Beltway Confidential:

You’d be wise to keep a cool head if you’re going to CPAC. From the D.C. AFL-CIO:

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO) With workshops like “Return of Big Labor: What Can We Learn from Wisconsin & Ohio,” and “Taking back Wall Street: The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street,” the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) descends on the nation’s capital February 9-11 and local labor activists are planning a DC lesson to ensure that the voice of the 99% are heard at this elite conservative gathering. Actions are currently being planned for noontime and after work on Friday, February 10. Featured speakers at CPAC include Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.

Keep reading…

Praetorian Guard to the rescue.

The Islamic no-fun police.

HYDERABAD: A leading seminary of the city said on Thursday that the Muslims cannot be permitted to play music, sing and dance as a part of Milad-un Nabi (birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed) celebrations on February 5.

Concerns have been expressed by a section of the community if such large-scale celebrations, a trend seen only in the past few years, has the sanction of the religion. Responding to a query posed by one Hamid, the 135-year-old Jamea Nizamia located in Shibligunj, Hussainialam, issued a fatwa barring the devout in indulging in any kind of celebration that is beyond the parameters of the Sharia or the Islamic law. “Playing music at volume that could cause inconvenience to others is not allowed. If there is apprehension that reading the Koran loudly could disturb others, it should not be allowed,” said the fatwa.

The edict signed by six senior functionaries of the Jamea also told the Muslims that making models of Kabatullah or the house of God in Mecca and dome of Prophet Mohammed’s resting place in Madina ‘is against the respect that is reserved to them.’

The fatwa, however, said the birthday of the Prophet was an occasion of joy for all the Muslims. The Muslims organize meetings to remember the Prophet, mass feeding camps and other charitable events. “But the expression of happiness should be within the limits of the Sharia,” it said.

No comment about Iran and Russia.

(Washington Examiner) — United States Armed Forces could win simultaneous conflicts in the Korean peninsula and against Iran, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told American soldiers in Germany today, despite the impending force reductions.

“We could be fighting a land war in Korea, and suddenly Iran moves to close the Straits of Hormuz,” Panetta said, discussing a hypothetical scenario, during a visit to soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center today. “We’ve got to have the capability to be able to confront each adversary, to not only deter them, but defeat them. And we can do that with the force that we’ve put in place.”

North Korea, currently transitioning from one dictator to another and armed with nuclear weapons, has concerned United States foreign policy analysts for decades. Similarly, Iran’s push to develop nuclear weapons has resulted in oil sanctions and the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Panetta assured the troops that the United States could defeat two such enemies, but the scheduled force reductions will preclude fighting a two-front war on the scale of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “If we are engaged in a major combat operation in one theater, we will have the force necessary to confront an additional aggressor by denying its objectives or imposing unacceptable costs,” Panetta explained in a recent summary of Defense Budget Priorities and Choices.

What Obama really wants is for Israel to wait until after the elections. Plus he could care less if the unthinkable happens and Iran goes nuclear.

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. and Israel are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran’s disputed nuclear facilities, as that nation’s leader said it won’t back down.

The U.S. and Israel have a “significant analytic difference” over estimates of how close Iran is to shielding its nuclear program from attack, Aaron David Miller, a former Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, said today.

“There’s a growing concern — more than a concern — that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge,” he said in an interview.

The differing views were underscored by public comments this week by senior Israeli and U.S. defense officials.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that Israel must consider conducting “an operation” before Iran reaches an “immunity zone,” referring to Iran’s goal of protecting its uranium enrichment and other nuclear operations by moving them to deep underground facilities such as one at Fordo, near the holy city of Qom.

“The world has no doubt that Iran’s nuclear program is steadily nearing readiness and is about to enter an immunity zone,” Barak said in an address to the annual Herzliya Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center campus north of Tel Aviv. “If the sanctions don’t achieve their goal of halting Iran’s nuclear weapons program, there will arise the need of weighing an operation,” Barak said.

The U.S. holds the view that “there is still time and space to pursue diplomacy” with Iran over its nuclear program, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said today in Washington. He added that the U.S. “is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that his nation won’t abandon its nuclear efforts and warned that a strike against the nuclear program would damage U.S. interests in the Middle East “10 times over,” according to the Associated Press. He said, without providing details, that he would disclose a letter that he said President Barack Obamasent Iran’s leaders.

Keep reading…

It’s almost like she knows abortion is evil.

Via Newsbusters:

MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: Well look: this would have been a masterful strategy, had it worked, right? Because what it did was to separate out good girls from bad girls, which has always been an effective way to limit some women from having having the same freedoms and opportunities, right? So if breast cancer is separated out completely from Planned Parenthood; if Planned Parenthood can’t provide breast-cancer screenings, cervical-cancer screenings. If all they’re doing is providing reproductive choice opportunities like birth control and pregnancy terminations, then you can after them because those are the bad girls, those are the people who have done bad things.

Filed under “N,” for “no luggage.” Via Rasmussen:

In a potential Election 2012 matchup, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is at 45% while President Obama earns 44%. This is the first time in any poll that Santorum has led the president. Several other GOP challengers have led the president a single time in the polls including Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich. Each man briefly held the lead while they were surging in the polls, only to fall quickly. It remains to be seen what will happen to Santorum’s support.

Santorum gets 78% of the Republican vote and leads by ten among those not affiliated with either major party. President Obama get 83% of the Democratic vote in that matchup. Santorum leads by 16 points among men but trails by 12 among women. As is typically the case in all matchups, the president leads among those under 40 while the GOP hopeful leads among those who are over 40. . .

Keep reading. . .

For reasons that make no sense, I did a fresh reinstall of IE8 yesterday to test images on another platform, and when I opened Weasel Zippers, IE gave me the warning you see below, which I never received before. So we need to know if anyone else is getting this. It’s nothing malicious — just the ads, which IE won’t load if you override the warning.

Thanks!

UPDATE: If you’re on IE8, you should update to IE9 if your platform will support it. With 9 should not get the warning. If your platform won’t support 9, IE7 is far superior to 8 though this does not account for security issues, to the extent that they exist, and it appears that it offers the same warning as well. Nevertheless, you won’t have issues with images, which is the only reason I downgraded browsers in the first place. Better yet, Chrome is a great browser, if you can live with Google; if not, Opera is both smooth and efficient. I use both of them.

UPDATE II: I just yanked the ads. Problem gone.

Money has its privileges.

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — On the same day a report revealed the names of a number of top donors to presidential campaigns, President Barack Obama spent time with around 25 wealthy donors who paid $35,800 each to talk with him behind closed doors at a Washington hotel.

The hourlong fundraiser Friday afternoon at the upscale Jefferson Hotel near the White House was closed to press coverage.

Obama has been courting donors large and small as he revs up his re-election campaign in anticipation of a tough general-election campaign once Republicans settle on their nominee. The president raised more than $220 million for his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2011.

Transcript below the fold:

Continue reading »

More creepy Mooch-worship.

Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres show off their guns — CNN

Michelle Obama has some rockin’ arms.

She took the country by sleeveless storm when soon after becoming the country’s first lady, she trumped tradition and wore what she wanted, showing off her muscular biceps.

Mrs. Obama put those guns to work recently during a  trip to the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” where the 54-year-old DeGeneres challenged the 48-year-old first lady to a push-up contest. Judging by the video above who do you think won?The first lady’s  athleticism and devotion to health factor in to her current advocacy as spokesperson for her “Let’s Move” campaign which marks its 2nd anniversary on February 9.

Keep reading…

I guess if valuing the life of an unborn child classifies as “right-wing politics.”

Via Newsbusters:

News of the Komen Foundation’s backpedaling regarding its grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates prompted liberal journalist Andrea Mitchell to do a victory lap on her 1 p.m. Eastern Andrea Mitchell Reports program today. [...]

“In looking at the wording from Komen today, do you think that this is a clear-cut reversal, or is it simply something to get past the immediate controversy,” Mitchell inquired.

Boxer replied that it was a “reversal” that made her “very happy” because “women’s health triumphed over right-wing politics.” The NARAL-endorsed California senator gushed that Mitchell’s hostile interview with Komen founder Nancy Brinker “helped bring this [reversal] about” and then laughably pontificated that “health care for our people should never be politicized from any side.” Mitchell, of course, failed to point out Boxer’s hypocrisy, seeing as she and 25 other liberal U.S. senators fundamentally made the issue a political flashpoint with their letter to Komen yesterday.

Keep reading…

Boxer’s version of a “triumph” is strong-arming Komen into funding Planned Parenthood to perform a procedure they can’t do, they simply refer women to a facility that can do mammograms. Not exactly cost effective and in the end it hurts women because Komen’s money could have been used to pay for the procedure instead of funding a referral service.

Via Business Insider:

The emerging conflict between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration may have a new front: in the U.S. military itself.

The Catholic Church is fighting mad about an HHS ruling that would have them buy insurance for things they consider sinful–contraception, sterilization and abortion.

All the bishops in the country sent out a letter to be read in their parishes promising that the Church “cannot-and will not-comply with this unjust law.”

Even Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic military chaplains sent out the same letter.

But after he did, the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent out another communication forbidding Catholic priests to read the letter, in part because it seemed to encourage civil disobedience, and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in-Chief.

More than one Catholic chaplain who spoke to us off the record confirmed that many chaplains disobeyed this instruction and read the letter anyway. Others sought further instructions from their Archbishop.

Keep reading…

Surprise!

(Daily Caller) — Senate Democratic leaders do not plan to propose a budget this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Friday, saying that they had already done so with the debt-ceiling agreement.

“We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it’s done, we don’t need to do it,” Reid said, according to The Hill.

Democrats have said that the agreement reached to raise the debt ceiling set spending for Fiscal Year 2012.

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Budget Committee, has said he will mark up a budget resolution this year, per an agreement he made with Budget Committee ranking member and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. [...]

“It’s been more than 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget plan to the American people. Now, once again, the Senate’s ineffectual Democrat majority balks at the task of leadership,” said Sessions in a statement.

Keep reading…