You stay classy, Charlie Rangel…

RANGEL: “They’re not going to win with that and will give us an opportunity once again to explain the benefits of it and I think we have so many moderate Republicans that are scared to death of the tea party pushing them right over the cliff.

You know, in every movement, I don’t care if it’s black or Irish, there’s always somebody who says I am more for the program than this guy and the teabagers set the standards as to what you’re going to fund and not fund, what taxes you’re going to have and not have and so the best Republican is going to be which one is following the teabaggers and that’s going to be a rough road to do.

Via HAP

Money well spent, eh?…

(WSJ) — Nearly 100 U.S. banks that got bailout funds from the federal government show signs they are in jeopardy of failing.

The total, based on an analysis of third-quarter financial results by The Wall Street Journal, is up from 86 in the second quarter, reflecting eroding capital levels, a pileup of bad loans and warnings from regulators. The 98 banks in shaky condition got more than $4.2 billion in infusions from the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. . . .

The troubled banks identified by the Journal all have either a Tier 1 capital ratio under the “well-capitalized” 6% level; both a total risk-based capital ratio of under the “well-capitalized” 10% threshold and nonperforming loans of over 10% of their portfolio; or a regulatory order requiring the bank to monitor or boost its capital.

A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. spokesman declined to comment on the Journal’s analysis, which also calculated that 814 of the nation’s 7,760 banks and savings institutions are troubled according to these standards, up from 729 at the end of the second quarter. The FDIC’s official list of problem banks, which uses different criteria from the Journal’s analysis, includes 860 financial institutions. The banks aren’t publicly identified.

HT: Ed M.

Obama snorkels while America burns…

(The Hill) — The White House is taking extra steps to prevent photos of a shirtless President Obama on vacation in Hawaii.

The president and his family are on a snorkeling trip in Haunama Bay State Park, and traveling press are under “explicit instructions that there will be no long lenses or other sneaky attempts to take pictures,” according to a pool report.

Photos of a shirtless president on a Hawaii vacation after his win in the 2008 presidential election caused a stir two Christmases ago. Washingtonian magazine even ran a photo of the president for a cover story on why it’s good to live in D.C. “Our new neighbor is hot,” the magazine declared.

But pictures aren’t likely to come out of Tuesday’s trip to the beach. “All you folks who wanted shirtless pictures of the president: Forget it,” writes The New York Times’s Sheryl Stolberg in her pool report.

No need to worry, DHS Chief Janet Napolitano has already told us Clapper didn’t need to know….

(ABC News)- The U.S. State Department confirms that the 12 terrorism suspects arrested in the United Kingdom last week had targeted the American Embassy in London.

British authorities arrested 12 men Dec. 20 for suspicion of terrorism. Few details of a possible plot emerged until a court hearing in London today for the nine men still in custody. A British police statement released earlier in the day did not provide a list of targets but said the men had conspired to cause “explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.”

The BBC reported that prosecutors told the court that the nine men had plotted bomb attacks on the American Embassy and the London Stock Exchange in the days before Christmas. The men were also said to have targeted unnamed political and religious figures.

But State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed to reporters today that U.S. Embassy officials in London “are aware of this, are working quite closely with British authorities and appreciate the high level of cooperation that we have with them, and are obviously taking suitable security precautions.”

Top U.S. Intelligence Official James Clapper Not Briefed on Arrests

In an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer many hours after the arrests, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he was not aware of the arrests of terrorism suspects in London. Clapper seemed stumped by Sawyer’s question of how serious the events in London might be. “London?” he replied quizzically. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan then stepped in to answer the question, noting that British authorities had informed the United States about the arrests earlier in the day.

Later, Sawyer told Clapper she was surprised “You didn’t know about London.” Clapper replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t. “

In a White House briefing two days later, Brennan told reporters that Clapper was unaware of the news because he was focused on other issues at the time. He said corrective steps had been taken to ensure that he is briefed on similar events in the future so “if that happens again, I’m sure that he is going to be au courant as far as a takedown overseas.”

In the immortal words of Rodney King: “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?”…

(Chicago Sun-Times) – Chicago mayoral hopeful Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) shot a warning on Tuesday morning to former President Bill Clinton, coming to Chicago to stump for rival Rahm Emanuel: Stay out.

Davis said that if Clinton did campaign for Emanuel, it would “fracture” and perhaps break his warm relationship with the African American community if he came “to town and participate overtly in efforts to thwart the legitimate political aspirations of Chicago’s Black community.”

Emanuel spokesman Ben LaBolt declined comment.

Emanuel is the front-runner in the Feb. 22 Chicago mayoral primary, a non-partisan election where if no one gets over 50 percent, then the top two contenders face an April 5 general election run-off.

Davis and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) are the leading African American candidates for mayor and neither of them, for now, shows any intention of dropping out in order to consolidate the city’s African American vote.

Last week, state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) quit the race in the effort to boost the chance of the city electing an African American mayor.

Even if one African American were in the contest, it could be tough to overtake Emanuel’s lead: he is polling well in the African American community.

Emanuel is the former White House chief of staff who served under President Obama — the first African American president.

Because having fewer degenerates in Congress is a bad thing…

(Newsbusters) — While the rest of America might not be mourning the departure of the troubled Patrick Kennedy from Congress, MSNBC on Tuesday lamented “the end of an era” that saw at least one member of the Kennedy family serving in Washington for 63 years. The network featured three segments on the topic in the span of an hour.

Jansing and Co. Guest anchor Richard Lui wondered, “…Will we see a family that will be able to take up the mantle here?” Talking to Democratic strategist Karen Finney, he repeated talking points from the Rhode Island Congressman who, in 2006, crashed his car while driving under the influence of prescription drugs at 2:45am: “…Patrick Kennedy was saying, you know, a public service versus public office. It’s about public service.”

Referring to his other guest, Michelle Bernard of the Independent Woman’s Forum, Lui added, “So, when we take a look at that, Michelle, what more might we see going forward in terms of a family that might, again, fill in this void that we’re now seeing?”

A follow-up segment by Contessa Brewer in the 12pm hour featured the graphic, “An End of an Era.” Brewer recited, “When the new Congress is sworn in next week it will mark the end of an era for one of America’s most powerful and storied political families. For the first time in 63 years there will be no Kennedys serving in elected office in Washington.”

Keep reading…

With one not-so-shocking exception, a plurality of Democrats are in favor of it…

(Rasmussen)- American voters believe free market competition will protect Internet users more than government regulation and fear that regulation will be used to push a political agenda.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of Likely U.S. Voters want the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the Internet as it does radio and television. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed to such regulation, and 25% are not sure.

The survey was conducted shortly after the FCC decided on a party line vote to impose so-called “net neutrality” regulations on the Internet world. Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly oppose FCC regulation of the Internet, while Democrats are more evenly divided. Those who use the Internet most are most opposed to FCC regulations.

By a 52% to 27% margin, voters believe that more free market competition is better than more regulation for protecting Internet users. Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly share this view, but a plurality of Democrats (46%) think more regulation is the better approach.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters believe that the FCC would use its regulatory authority to promote a political agenda. Half that number (28%) disagree and believe the commission would regulate in an unbiased manner. The partisan divide is the same on this question as the others. A plurality of Democrats sees an unbiased regulatory approach, while most Republicans and unaffiliated voters fear a political agenda.

Nothing to do with Islam…

(Fox News) — A 46-year-old Indiana grandmother is under investigation for her possible ties to suspected and convicted international terrorists, FoxNews.com has learned.

Muslim-convert Kathie Smith, 46, a U.S. citizen living in Indianapolis who has blogged about her granddaughter, last year married a suspected German jihadist, and has been flying back and forth between the U.S. and Germany as recently as two weeks ago.

A pro-jihadist video featuring Smith and her husband – alongside photos of members of the Islamic Jihad Union charged with plotting failed terror attacks against U.S. targets in Germany — is being investigated by the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center. The center is a counterterror intelligence clearinghouse staffed by law enforcement officers from local and federal agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. . . .

In lengthy e-mail exchanges with FoxNews.com, Smith alternatively defended her online postings, denied being anti-American, called the Sept. 11 attacks an inside job, the U.S. a terrorist organization and praised the American-born radical Muslim cleric Anwar al Awlaki — architect, trainer and inspiration for many of the recent terrorist attacks attempted or committed against the U.S. President Obama last April approved Awlaki’s inclusion on the CIA’s targeted killing list.

In one e-mail to FoxNews.com, Smith wrote:

“If your neighbor was being attacked by a perpetrator, would you just stand there and say, ‘Oh I will let someone come who has a gun to help them’? No, you would rush to their defense. And use any type of “weapon” to help that person… this is what I am doing. I am defending the defenseless. I am defending my home and family and their right to safety. No matter who it is at my door. These are the rights the Constitution gives me. The very right this Communistic government is trying to take away from me and the rest of the Americans.”

In the nearly six-minute video under investigation, Smith and her husband, known online as Salahudin Ibn Ja’far, 28, appear posing and hugging and holding weapons interspersed with photos of known and suspected terrorists and assorted jihadist propaganda, like an Awlaki sermon album cover.

Rest here>>>

What, no Arabic?…

(click image for video)

(RCP)- Mayor Michael Bloomberg gives a message to his “Spanish-speaking audience” at a press conference on the snow storm in New York City.

Fatwa frenzy…

(Daily Mail)- The monotonous drone of vuvuzelas that irritated almost all football fans during the World Cup is OK, and it doesn’t matter how much noise a donkey makes, it musn’t be touched.

But buy a car raffle ticket and you could be in big trouble, and taking an afternoon nap gets the thumbs down.

That’s according to 350,000 Islamic religious decrees, called fatwas, being issued this year by Muslim scholars on their website in Abu Dhabi.

They cover a vast range of personal and religious questions submitted online, over the phone or via text to the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf).

Vuvuzelas are permissible in soccer stadiums providing they don’t exceed 100 decibels which could damage people’s hearing, and it is illegal to kill a noisy donkey, bird or other animal, no matter how annoying they are.

Body paint, henna and make-up are allowed because they are deemed to be temporary, but tattoos are ruled out because they are permanent.

By November 1 Awqaf had issued 298,277 fatwas this year, with most inquiries  made by phone. The centre was averaging about 1,000 fatwas a day.

Rest here>>>

A disaster in the making…

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Government Accountability Office said it could not render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weaknesses, significant uncertainties, and other limitations.

“Even though significant progress has been made since the enactment of key financial management reforms in the 1990s, our report on the U.S. government’s consolidated financial statement illustrates that much work remains to be done to improve federal financial management,” Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said in a statement. “Shortcomings in three areas again prevented us from expressing an opinion on the accrual-based financial statements.”

The main obstacles to a GAO opinion were: (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense that made its financial statements unauditable, (2) the federal government’s inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernmental activity and balances between federal agencies, and (3) the federal government’s ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements.

In addition, the GAO said last week it was unable to render an opinion on the 2010 Statement of Social Insurance because of significant uncertainties, primarily related to the achievement of projected reductions in Medicare cost growth. The consolidated financial statements discuss these uncertainties, which relate to reductions in physician payment rates and to productivity improvements, and provide an illustrative alternative projection to illustrate the uncertainties.

Nothing to see here folks, move along…

(Politico)- National Intelligence Director James Clapper’s obliviousness to a string of terrorism arrests in Britain last week was primarily a public relations gaffe on his part, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

During an interview on Tuesday, Clapper responded with a blank stare when ABC’s Diane Sawyer asked him about the arrests of a dozen suspects in a London-area terror plot. The arrests dominated cable news coverage for hours prior to the interview.

“He’s been pretty up front about it. He had been working on the Hill on issues involving START and North Korea and went into the interview before his briefer had a chance to brief him,” said Napolitano, who was sitting alongside Clapper and Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan, both of whom were aware of the arrests, during the interview.

When CNN host Candy Crowley said the lack of awareness might leave Americans “a little disconcerted,” Napolitano insisted there was no problem beyond the PR screwup.

“I knew. John Brennan knew. We also knew there was no connect that had been perceived to anything going on in the homeland and that we were in perfect connectivity with our colleagues in Britain,” she said. “So one of the things I think that should be very clear to the American people is that those of us in Homeland Security who needed to know, we knew.”

Napolitano’s sympathy for Clapper is understandable: she had a high-profile gaffe of her own last holiday season when she tackled a question about an attempted Christmas bombing of an American aircraft by declaring that “the system worked.”

Microcosm of the day…

(Daily Star) – A CATHOLIC school faces being taken over by a mosque after it was revealed that 95% of its pupils are Muslim.

It is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain.

Church leaders say it is no longer “appropriate” for them to run Sacred Heart RC Primary School which has just six Christian pupils.

Just 10 years ago more than 90% of pupils were Catholic. But now most are of Asian origin, do not speak English as their first language and follow Islam.

The school in Blackburn, Lancs, could be handed to the nearby Masjid-e-Tauheedul mosque.

Harry Devonport of Blackburn with Darwen Council Children’s Services, said the decision to abandon the school was made by the Diocese of Salford.

Diocese education director Geraldine Bradbury said: “We have never experienced a change to this extent before. We would not be serving the local community by insisting that we run the school. It brings things like having a Catholic headteacher and devoting 10% of the timetable to RE.

“It would be wrong of us to insist on putting a school community through that.”

The mosque runs an Islamic girls’ secondary school. Head Hamid Patel said: “Given that almost all of the pupils are Muslim, it makes sense.”

Reaganomics unavailable for comment…

Via Newsbusters:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The biggest element in debt is healthcare expenditures, Medicare and Medicaid, that’s where the money is, even more than Social Security. And the problem with ObamaCare is it freezes in place these huge expenditures. It does not cut costs. There’s going to be an additional half a trillion in taxes devoted to the ObamaCare plan. And, it, it, it siphoned off whatever cuts you’re going to have in Medicare, half a trillion, for the new entitlements. So there is nothing available to reduce the debt. That’s the real problem of ObamaCare.

GORDON PETERSON, HOST: Ten seconds.

MARK SHIELDS: Well, the Healthcare Reform Act, I guess it’s what Charles wants to somehow denigrate and personalize as “ObamaCare,” that, that’s become sort of a partisan attack slogan. Let’s, let’s call it what it is.

PETERSON: Alright.

Death fatwas issued in 3..2..1…

(Daily Mail)- Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear co-stars have sparked religious outrage after dressing up in burkas on the Boxing Day special.

Clarkson and Richard Hammond decided to dress in niqabs, a form of the burka where everything but the eyes are covered, in order to disguise themselves on the road.

They also got James May in on the act when they greeted him from hospital after he fell and hit his head on rocks in the Syrian desert.

But their joke backfired after they were slammed by Muslims for mocking their religion.

Islamic extremist Anjem Choudary, said: ‘The burka is a symbol of our religion and people should not make jokes about it in any way.

‘It would have been equally bad even if they’d not been in a country mainly populated by Muslims.’

Rest here>>>

HT: Spencer

Along with every other radical Islamist group…

JERUSALEM – Israel’s defence ministry has accused a London-based Palestinian centre of “terror-affiliated activities” and being the organisational arm of the militant Islamic Hamas movement in Europe.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and advocates violent opposition to the Jewish state, is designated by the European Union as a terrorist organisation.

An Israeli defence ministry statement issued on Tuesday said that the Palestinian Return Centre in Ealing, north London, organises conferences in Europe at which it plays taped speeches by Hamas leaders who are banned from entering the EU.

“The centre is involved in initiating and organising radical and violent activity against Israel in Europe, while delegitimising Israel’s status as a nation among the European community,” the statement said.

“Among other terror-affiliated activities, the centre organises many conferences in various European countries for Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood activists from all around the world,” it added.

On its website, the centre describes itself as “an independent consultancy focusing on the historical, political and legal aspects of the Palestinian Refugees.”

Exactly, it should be “illegal alien.”. . .

(Daily Caller) — The Diversity Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is seeking to “inform and sensitize” reporters nationwide about how “offensive” the term “illegal immigrant” is to Latinos.

Diversity Committee member Leo Laurence announced the campaign against “illegal immigrant” and “illegal alien” terminology in the latest issue of the organization’s magazine, Quill, writing that those who have not obtained citizenship but have entered the country without any prior approval should be called “undocumented workers” or “undocumented immigrants.”

In his report, Laurence quotes SPJ Diversity Committee chairman George Daniels as saying, “this is not about being politically correct,” but about aiming to “minimize harm,” when reporting. When Daniels says “minimize harm,” he is referring to one of the major tenets of SPJ’s code of ethics, which many journalists nationwide follow.

Laurence defends SPJ’s new campaign by offering an interpretation of the Constitution that provides for constitutional rights for everyone, including non-citizens, saying that any person should be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He said that, constitutionally, a judge is the only person who can deem anyone or anything “illegal.”

Rest here>>>

Locked and loaded, bring it…

“How can you forget in 2010 we met with the A Man from Iran. Build alliances into international alliances of the oppressed all over the Earth, and also go out there and secure that for the Black Nation which can build the kingdom of God here at home”

Via The Blaze

HT: Milton