HT: The Blaze

I’m sure he got an A+ in Marxism 101.

HT: RCP

And now we’re bombing Gaddafi on behalf of al-Qaeda, go figure.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland (AFP) — The former chief of the CIA on Tuesday praised Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s past cooperation and said his downfall could complicate US interests in the short term.

Retired general Michael Hayden, who led the Central Intelligence Agency from 2006 to 2009 under president George W. Bush, said that restive Syria also helped US intelligence but only in selective areas.

Speaking at a conference of the Marine Corps University, Hayden said the CIA had worked well with Kadhafi and Mussa Kussa, the foreign minister who defected last month as Libyan forces moved against rebels.

“Whatever you think of Kadhafi and Mussa Kussa . . . they were good and they were good counter-terrorism partners,” Hayden told the conference near Washington.

Hayden said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “pretty good” at fighting Sunni Muslim militants but supported Shiite radicals. Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, a Shiite offshoot despised by Sunni extremists such as Al-Qaeda.

“In both cases, you have real near-term turbulence that could — that will — make the closer fight in the immediate time-frame much more difficult,” Hayden said.

Kadhafi, a longtime international pariah due to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and other attacks blamed on Libyan spies, started to reconcile with the United States in 2003 and found common interests in fighting Al-Qaeda.

Pathetic with a capital P.

(Politico) — Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed Tuesday that on his watch the Justice Department decided not to prosecute a key leader of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. However, confirming a report last week on this blog — Holder noted that Bush-era officials also made an earlier decision not to proceed with the case.

“The decision that was reached in this administration was the same that was reached in the Bush administration — a determination made that for a variety of reasons, looking at the facts and the law, a prosecution would not be appropriate. A review was done of that decision in this administration and the conclusion was reached that that earlier decision was an appropriate one,” Holder said in response to a question at a wide-ranging briefing for reporters.

Holder said the “decision wasn’t necessarily about CAIR as it was about a guy, an individual.” The attorney general did not name the person in question. However, in a letter to Holder earlier this month, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) said the decision pertained to CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad and came over the objection of Dallas-based federal prosecutors handling the investigation.

Evidence those prosecutors presented at the trial of officials of another non-profit Muslim organization, the Holy Land Foundation, suggested that Ahmad attended a 1993 meeting that prosecutors contend was a support meeting for Hamas and involved plotting opposition to the Middle East peace process.

CAIR has denied any connection to Hamas or involvement with terrorism. Efforts to contact Ahmad for comment, including through the California CAIR chapter he remains on the board of, have been unsuccessful.

Holder told reporters Tuesday that the recent decision to decline prosecution was made by “career folks looking at the evidence.” However, a Justice Department spokesman clarified moments later that the decision was made by senior officials who are not career, but political appointees. Pajamas Media has reported the decision was made by the former head of the National Security Division, David Kris.

Holder said he did not make the decision about whether or not to prosecute the CAIR official. “As attorney general, some folks think that my hands are in every decision that’s made, especially those they disagree with, but that is not the case,” the attorney general said.

Note: Awesome job by Patrick Poole breaking this story!

She who laughs last…

(The Hill) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) made it clear Tuesday night there is no love lost between her and soon-to-be-former “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee scoffed when asked about the anchor’s departure from the position she held for over four years. Couric conducted a wide-ranging, tough interview with Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign, for which she later criticized the anchor.

“Yeah, I think I read that in a newspaper, one of many newspapers that I read . . . online,” Palin said during an interview on Fox News.

Palin referenced a well-known portion of the interview, during which Couric put her on the spot about her favored publications.

When Couric asked what newspapers or magazines Palin reads, the nominee answered, “I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.”

This time, Palin took a shot at Couric’s reported desire to move onto a project that will allow her to do more “multi-dimensional story telling.”

“Yeah, and I hear that she wants to now engage in more ‘multi-dimensional story telling’ versus I guess just the ‘straight on, read into the — that teleprompter screen story telling,’” Palin said. “More power to her. I wish her well in her — ‘multi-dimensional story telling.’”

A partisan bureaucrat like Panetta shouldn’t be in charge of anything to do with national security.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to name CIA Director Leon Panetta as the next secretary of defense and move Gen. David Petraeus, now running the war in Afghanistan, into the CIA chief’s job in a major shuffle of the nation’s national security leadership, administration and other sources said Wednesday.

All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the changes haven’t been announced by the president.

The changes would probably take effect this summer. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already said he will leave this year, and the White House wants to schedule Senate confirmation hearings in the coming months.

The officials say Obama is expected to also announce that Lt. Gen. John Allen would replace Petraeus as Afghanistan commander, and that diplomat Ryan Crocker will be the next U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan.

The changes are expected to be announced Thursday at the White House. A former U.S. official said all four candidates would stand together with Obama for the announcement.

He’s probably correct, only because he brought the fact that Obama had not released it back to the forefront.

(The Hill) — Real estate mogul and possible Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed credit Wednesday for President Obama’s decision to release his long-form birth certificate.

Trump, speaking in the key GOP primary state of New Hampshire, said he hoped the release of Obama’s birth certificate this morning, authorized by the White House, would put to rest questions about the president’s birthplace.

“Today I am very proud of myself, because I’ve accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish,” Trump said after landing in the Granite State.

Trump expressed some lingering skepticism of the birth certificate’s veracity, saying he wants to examine it, but said he expected to be able to move on.

“I hope that it’s true so we can get on to much more important matters. So the press can stop asking me questions,” he said. “I am really honored to have played such a big role in hopefully getting rid of this issue.”

Inevitable.

London: The nude pictures of a Muslim actress in the German May 2011 issue of Playboy are stirring up outrage in the Muslim community.

Sila Sahin, a 25-year-old Turkish German living in Berlin, has been branded a ‘whore’ and a ‘western slut’ after appearing topless on the cover of the men’s magazine.

Islamic fanatics have posted threatening Internet messages against her for ‘shaming Muslim womanhood’ and ‘prostituting herself for money’, reports the Sun.

“She needs to be very careful. . .” Another simply said: “She must pay,” said a poster on the Jihad Watch website.

The Islamic Community of Germany has also called for a boycott of Sila.

Sila, raised in Germany by conservative Turkish parents, says she fears being ‘spat at’ and ‘shamed’.

Her parents are said to have reacted with ‘horror’ at the 12-page coverage, and her mother has apparently cut off all contact.

Previous: Outrage After Muslim Model Sila Sahin Poses Nude For Playboy Cover

Not a joke. More to follow.

(CNN) — The White House released President Obama’s original birth certificate Wednesday.

The surprise release follows recent and sustained remarks by businessman Donald Trump, among others, that raised doubts as to whether the president was born in the United States.

Update: Gonna be a fun day!

(USA Today) — President Obama is releasing his birth certificate and other details of his Aug, 4, 1961, birth in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Obama himself plans to make a statement about the so-called “birther issue” at 9:45 a.m.

The release is a response to Donald Trump and other critics who have questioned whether Obama was born in the United States, and is therefore eligible for the presidency.

The White House also released letters from this month in which Obama requested copies of his birth certificate.

“The president believed it was becoming a major distraction from the issues we are having in this country,” said communications director Dan Pfeiffer, calling it a “fake controversy” and “a sideshow.”

Obama faxed a letter to the Hawaii Department of Health on April 22, requesting two copies “of my original certificate of live birth.”

The health department replied that it would make an exception for Obama and make a copy from their bound volume of birth records.

A White House attorney traveled to Honolulu this week to pick up the copies, which arrived at the White House yesterday afternoon.

Update II: Here’s what they released.

Update III: Link to watch Obama address at 9:45 a.m.

And the AFL-CIO is throwing a major temper tantrum.

(Boston Globe) — House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last night to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially strapped cities and towns.

The 111-to-42 vote followed tougher measures to broadly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states. But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.

Unions fought hard to stop the bill, launching a radio ad that assailed the plan and warning legislators that if they voted for the measure, they could lose their union backing in the next election. After the vote, labor leaders accused House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other Democrats of turning their backs on public employees.

“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions. . . . It’s a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber.’’

“You’re not going to intimidate me.”

Nicole Sandler is a former talk show host on the former “Air America” former liberal radio station.

(The Shark Tank) — Immediately after Allen West took the stage at his Town Hall meeting on Tuesday Evening in Fort Lauderdale, several hecklers who were planted in the crowd began to jeer and interrupt his remarks, forcing West to pause several times and then continue once the crowd calmed down. Police were ultimately forced to removed one of the hecklers from the event. When the hecklers refused to stop their harassment, West stated, “You’re not going to intimidate me.”

Minutes later, a woman sitting behind West’s wife, who had been acting in a disruptive and combative manner by yelling at the Congressman and even harrassing his wife, was asked to leave and was escorted out of the event by Fort Lauderdale Police. As this unidentified woman was being removed from the proceedings, she continued her tirade and used an expletive to address a police officer, which resulted in the officer arresting the woman for trespassing.

Related: Liberals and Democrats Plan Astroturfing to Cause Trouble at Townhalls Against GOP Budget Plan

“He needs to really get serious about drilling domestically and not looking at subsidizing some of the hair-brained ideas he has thinking that green energy is going to solve all our problems today.”

Related: Palin to Obama: “Unplug The Teleprompter” And Start Governing

The spike is the result of support for the war among Republicans cratering (disapproval up 21 points), I’m guessing the flood of mind-numbing stories about the overly strict ROE our troops are being held to has a lot to do with it.

(ABC News) — A record 49 percent of Americans now disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan, up 8 points since January. And those who disapprove “strongly” outnumber strong approvers by nearly a 2-1 margin.

With Obama holding his monthly national security meeting on Afghanistan today, the results show a significant drop in the president’s approval rating on handling the issue, down 12 points in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll from a year ago.

The change follows an ABC/Post poll last month in which a new low, 31 percent, said the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting. Sixty-four percent said it is not worth fighting, with 49 percent feeling that way “strongly,” both record highs in ABC/Post polls.

The spike in disapproval in the latest survey, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, is almost entirely due to a slide in support on the right. Compared to January, disapproval is up by 21 points among Republicans (from 48 percent to 69 percent), by 12 points among conservatives (from 51 percent to 63 percent), and by 11 points among Tea Party supporters (from 55 to 66 percent).

If he unplugs TOTUS won’t that leave Biden in charge?

(Sarah Palin) — Please make up your mind, Mr. President. You can’t vacillate when spending America’s human and fiscal resources in yet another foreign country without good reason. You said that Libyan leader Gaddafi has got to go. Many of us heard that as your call to action and agreed, “Okay, you’re right. He’s an evil dictator who kills his own innocent people, so enforce a no-fly zone so he can’t continue an aerial slaughter.” But then you said our mission in Libya isn’t to oust Gaddafi after all. (Or vice versa on the order or your statements. Between you and your advisers the public has been given so many conflicting statements on why we’re intervening in Libya that I apologize if I can’t keep up with the timing and rationale of your murky foreign policy positions.) . . .

It’s unbelievable to me that you spent last week in campaign mode, gallivanting around the country to start raising the billion dollars for your reelection bid that is still 19 months away “while Rome burns.” Our economy is in the tank; jobs are as scarce as ever; you’re asking Congress to let you incur even more unsustainable, immoral, freedom-stealing government debt; and many of our brave men and women in uniform are shaking their heads in disbelief over your befuddled military directions. Yet instead of working with Congress and a wise multitude of advisers to fix some problems, you choose all this campaigning, already? As was recently asked: When do you ever just “roll up your sleeves, unplug the teleprompter” and do the job of governing and administrating for which voters hired you?

I know, I know, granted you will be even busier very soon. After all, golf season kicks into high gear shortly. NBA and NHL brackets await. Summer vacations and that all-consuming campaign whistle stop tour will no doubt slam you. But I would ask, while the rest of us are also busy working, saving, planning ahead, fighting to protect our Constitution, and trying to keep up with where and why you’re spending our Department of Defense funds — I’d ask that you find time to tell Americans the truth about the state of our union and what you are doing to find solutions to our challenges. Please start with explaining Libya.

It’s almost like he’d rather not be President.

Via CBS News’ White House reporter Mark Knoller.

Dhimmis only.

CANADIAN MUSLIMS AND THE 2011 FEDERAL ELECTION

The next federal election is set for May 2, 2011 and campaigns are in full swing. Canadian Muslims’ reactions to elections and political campaigns vary significantly; some participate for personal reasons, others for community benefit, and many others do not participate at all.

What is the proper approach and what is not? To help Muslims answer this question, the following points are presented for your reflection: . . .

We should support only those non-Muslim candidates who are willing to present and support a Private Members’ Bill making it a hate-crime to publicly associate Islam to terrorism, whether in written, spoken, printed, broadcast or electronic media. At the same time, we must take a balanced approach instead of being carried away by a single issue. The following are examples of other important issues against which we should evaluate all candidates.

HT: Blazing Cat Fur

The sad fact is there’s not a single Muslim-majority country on Earth that doesn’t persecute Christians.

(Enerpub) — According to a press release, International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that two Algerian Christians are scheduled to appear in court in the Muslim-majority country on charges of proselytizing and blasphemy, and may face a five year prison sentence.

The two men were arrested and briefly imprisoned in Oran on April 14 after sharing their Christian faith with their neighbors. Concern runs high since in February, during the disturbances that led to regime change in neighboring Tunisia, a Catholic priest was stabbed to death in Tunis at his residence following Islamist death threats. It was in Algeria in 1996 that Catholic monks were murdered under still unresolved circumstances.

One of the men, Sofiane, was released a day after their arrest, while Krimo was imprisoned for three days. After the arrest, Algerian police searched Krimo’s home for Bibles and other Christian material. Krimo was known to hold weekly prayer services at his home, which Algerian Christians suspect were being closely monitored by the police.

I wonder what he thinks about bloggers with thick Massachusetts accents? On second thought, maybe I don’t.

“I thought that Haley Barbour despite his Mississippi accent and all that — I thought he’s a smart guy.”

Via Daily Caller

Of course not, it’s a way to make a living.

It’s time to put up or shut up. The race card is not the way to run for president.

Complete with, you guessed it, kangaroo courts.

(AmSpec) — Kangaroo courts are one of the latest proposals from the green movement in Australia. No, not, as in previous usage of the term, courts in which legal niceties are set aside, but courts for kangaroos.

An Australian academic, Dr. John Hadley of the University of Western Sydney, has broken new legal ground by suggesting the setting up of courts to protect property rights for animals.

Certain difficulties seem to lie in the way, however. How will Counsel take instructions from clients? How will questions of undue influence be avoided in the case of less intelligent creatures? (Wombats and the like are not generally distinguished by their brain-power.) Who will have locus standi in cases of sheep owned by farmers? Should the creatures concerned decide to bequeath their property, how are wills going to be witnessed and proved valid?

Another problem: koalas are said to be permanently drunk on the alcohol fumes from the eucalyptus-leaves that form their diet. Here again forensic difficulties may arise.

Keep reading…