Bad Bibi.

(Politico 44) — White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One when asked about Israel’s decision to build new houses in East Jerusalem:

“The administration and the United States government is deeply disappointed by that announcement. We have maintained all along that each side in the dispute, the Palestinians and the Israelis, should take steps that bring them closer to direct negotiations to resolve the issues that stand in the way of Palestinian statehood and a secure Jewish state of Israel. When either side takes unilateral action that makes it harder to achieve that, we make our views known, just as we did with regard to the Palestinian action at the United Nations.”

Feel good story of the day.

(LWJ) — US Predators struck today in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan, killing three “militants.” The unmanned, CIA-operated Predators or Reapers fired a pair of missiles at a vehicle parked in a compound in the village of Azam Warzak. AFP claimed that the “militants” escaped the strike, but The Associated Press said three were killed in the attack.

No senior Taliban or al Qaeda operatives were reported killed in today’s strike.

Today’s attack occurred in an area of South Waziristan controlled by Mullah Nazir, the leader of the Taliban in the Waziri tribal areas. The village of Azam Warzak sits on the border with Afghanistan and serves as a transit point for Taliban, al Qaeda, and other terrorists heading to and from Pakistan’s war-torn neighbor. Senior al Qaeda leaders are also known to shelter in Azam Warzak; a top al Qaeda financial chief is thought to have been killed in the town earlier this year. And in 2004, the Pakistani military fought the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan as well as Chechen and Arab fighters in Shin Warzak and surrounding areas.

Today’s strike takes place as the US and Pakistan are waging a war of words over the latter’s support of the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban subgroup that is based in Miramshah in North Waziristan. Several US officials, including Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, have accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, of directly supporting Haqqani Network attacks inside Afghanistan. Most recently, the US said that the ISI aided the Haqqani Network in attacking the US Embassy and ISAF headquarters in Kabul.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

(NY Post) — President Obama’s re-election campaign wants to connect with young Americans and reached out recently to MTV for help — but the cable network turned them down, sources tell The Post.

The president’s Get Out the Vote campaign, run by Buffy Wicks, concerned the high unemployment rate of the so-called millennial generation would turn them off to their candidate, asked the network of “Jersey Shore” about helping to supply them with ideas on how to deal with their, er, situation.

The campaign called MTV’s internal ad agency, MTV Scratch, for assistance in mid-August, sources familiar with the conversations said.

MTV Scratch, run by Ross Martin, former MTVU boss, and Anne Hubert, who was a policy adviser to Jon Corzine when he was a US senator from New Jersey, works across all the MTV Networks and helps marketers such as General Motors and Dr. Pepper understand the mind-set of young people.

The re-election effort wants to reconnect with youth, which were among its most fervent supporters in 2008.

“The youth initiative is having trouble with big donors and youth votes,” said a person familiar with the discussions. “They asked, ‘Can you tell us how we should be talking to them?’” one source noted.

Yes, the same hearings CAIR and the Dems went ballistic over.

(The Hill) — Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said on Tuesday that Somalia’s foreign minister called to voice his support for the hearings the lawmaker is holding this year on radicalization within the Muslim-American community.

As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, King has held three hearings on the topic. The latest, in July, explored al-Shabaab’s recruitment tactics with Americans in the U.S.

Al-Shabaab is an al Qaeda affiliate that has attracted and recruited dozens of Muslim-Americans in its efforts to promote violence, according to King.

Somali Foreign Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said that his country, which has been in a state of upheaval for several decades as factions battle for control of its government, fully supports King’s hearings.

“Foreign Minister Ibrahim emphasized that Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali joins in supporting the hearings, two of which focused on al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization based in Somalia that has radicalized dozens of Muslim-American young men in Minneapolis and other cities, recruiting them to travel to Somalia to fight,” said King in a statement.

“U.S. intelligence officials say al-Shabaab poses a threat to the U.S. homeland, which must be thwarted. Foreign Minister Ibrahim and First Secretary Omar Jamal assured me of their government’s full support and cooperation in my hearings.”

Mission accomplished, eh Barack?

(The Hill) — An annual survey found that premiums for employer-provided family plans increased by 9 percent — to $15,073 — in 2011.

The Obama administration quickly responded Tuesday to bad news about rising insurance premiums with a strong defense of the healthcare law and its benefits for consumers.

An annual survey of premiums found that the premiums for employer-provided family plans increased by 9 percent — to $15,073 — in 2011, leaving Democrats vulnerable to charges that the law isn’t working. The administration proactively responded with a post on the White House blog that went up as soon as the embargo on the annual Kaiser Family Foundation survey was lifted.

“The Kaiser report is informative,” writes deputy chief of staff Nancy-Ann DeParle, “but it’s a look backwards. When we look to the future, we know that the Affordable Care Act will help make insurance more affordable for families and businesses across the country.”

JAKARTA (AFP) — A man already on Indonesia’s most wanted list in connection with a suicide attack five months ago was the bomber who blew himself up in a packed church on Sunday, according to police.

Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, 31 was sitting among the Bethel Injil Church congregation in central Java’s Solo city during a service when he stood up and detonated a bomb strapped to his body, wounding 27 people.

“Fingerprint and DNA tests showed that the bomber is Hayat,” national police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam told a press conference. “He is a member of Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) in Cirebon.”

JAT was founded by militant spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir, who was jailed in June for 15 years for funding a terrorist group planning attacks against Westerners and political leaders.

Hayat, born in Cirebon in western Java, accompanied a suicide bomber to an attack on a police mosque in that city in April which injured 30 people, Alam added.

“He wanted to die as a martyr,” he said, adding that Hayat, who had bomb-making expertise, joined the militant group in 2010.

Obama seen eagerly nodding in approval.

(New Observer) — Speaking to a Cary rotary club today, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election.

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that,” Perdue said. “You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”

The comment — which came during a discussion of the economy — perked more than a few ears. It’s unclear whether Perdue, a Democrat, is serious — but her tone was level and she asked others to support her on the idea.

Hilarious.

(Politico) — For the second day in a row, President Obama used the Republican debates as a foil in a fundraising pitch in California.

“The other said has a very different idea of where to take this country,” Obama told rich celebrities in West Hollywood. “I urge some of you to watch the Republican debates.”

It’s unclear exactly how much of the debates Obama himself has watched. Press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that Obama “didn’t watch” them, but said that he has seen “sections of it replayed” on cable as he walked by TVs showing them.

Either way, Obama’s audience laughed, according to the pool, and he continued: “There’s a different vision who we are, what we stand for. The American people want a bold, optimistic vision of America, not a cramped vision that says, ‘you’re on your own.’”

The crowd included Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jack Black, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Jon Landau, Judd Apatow, Quincy Jones and Jerry Brown, the pool reports.

Amazing how far down the Islamist slide Turkey has gone in such a short amount of time.

(JPost) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the UN Security Council should have followed through with resolutions on Israel and imposed sanctions against the Jewish state.

Speaking to Time magazine, Erdogan criticized the UN for leveling sanctions on Iran and Sudan, while avoiding implementing trade measures against Israel – a move, Erdogan said, could have helped solved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Erdogan was not optimistic about the Quartet efforts, saying that if it was truly interested in improving Israeli-Palestinian relations, it would pushed for imposing sanctions on Israel.

“Until today, the UN Security Council has issued more than 89 resolutions on prospective sanctions related to Israel, but they’ve never been executed. When it’s Iran in question, you impose sanctions. What happens with Israel then?” he asked.

The Turkish prime minister made “a call out to humanity”, saying that the Palestinians cannot be left to struggle any longer and countries that do not recognize their demands for statehood “will never be able to settle their accounts with history.”

Addressing Turkey’s deteriorating relations with Israel, Erdogan said that ties would have remained strong had Israel not “victimized the positive relations between the two countries with [its 2010 raid] on the Mavi Marmara.”

Then again, super-wealthy elitist liberals are “ordinary” in Obama’s world.

(ABC News) — Never mind that President Obama left California today with millions of dollars in fresh campaign cash gathered from hundreds of his wealthiest donors.

Obama says what sets his campaign apart from any other is that “we rely on ordinary Americans giving what they can — one grassroots donation at a time.”

The message is geared towards pressuring small-dollar donors to open their wallets before the end of the second major fundraising period on Sept. 30.

Hero of the working class.

(Washington Times) — President Obama’s three-day trip to the West Coast produced gaffes, strange encounters and wads of campaign cash from the Democrats’ reliable loving bosom of Hollywood.

The president promoted himself as a “warrior” for the middle class on this early campaign swing, but he raised an estimated $7 million by hobnobbing with moguls of the entertainment and high-tech industries. Among the Hollywood VIPs who turned out for Mr. Obama at a $17,900-per-plate dinner late Monday night at the chic Fig & Olive restaurant on Melrose Place in Los Angeles was Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, whom the president praised for “helping us consistently move an agenda forward that creates a more just and fair and more competitive America.”

Other celebrities included writer Aaron Sorkin, producer Jon Landau, music artists Quincy Jones and will.i.am, and actors Jamie Foxx, Danny DeVito and Eva Longoria.

Many of the attendees at the series of intimate Left Coast fundraisers were lauding the man who wants to raise their taxes, to pay for another stimulus plan and to reduce deficits. Mr. Obama warned his supporters that the 2012 campaign will be harder “because people are just tired.”

“They’re worn out,” Mr. Obama said of his base. “We’ve been driving through a storm. We had to try to keep this boat afloat through something that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. And people are weary and hurt. And so the energy of 2008 is going to have to be generated in a different way.”

Ouch.

(TheDC) — The Daily Caller has learned that Connecticut Democratic Rep. John Larson has introduced President Barack Obama’s jobs plan in the House of Representatives “at the request of the president” and that the bill has no co-sponsors.

Subsequent to The Daily Caller’s earlier reporting on Republican Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma’s comments about the bill not being filed in the House, a senior Democratic aide told TheDC the legislation was first introduced in the Senate on Sept. 13 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and in the House on Sept. 21 “at the request of the President.” Both versions, H.R. 12 and S. 1549 contain the same language and have no co-sponsors.

“Members have not been asked to co-sponsor the bill. Instead, members have asked that the GOP leadership bring it up so we can address the need for job creation in this country,” a senior Democratic aide told TheDC. “We weren’t chasing co-sponsors.”’

Keep reading…

Sweet.

(LifeNews) — A Congressional committee has taken the first steps in investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business over abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.

In a September 15 letter LifeNews.com obtained, Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican who is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, writes to Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood.

“Pursuant to Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is examining the institutional practices and policies of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates, and its handing of federal funding,” Stearns writes. “That Committee has questions about the politics in place and actions undertaken by PPFA and its affiliates relating to its use of federal funding and its compliance with federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.”

The letter asks Richards to comply with current federal regulations and legal obligations by providing Congress with a wide range of documents within two weeks of the date of the letter.

“Please provide all internal audit reports conducted by PPFA and its affiliates from 1998 to 2010. If not clearly indicated in the audit reports, please detail how much PPFA and each affiliate expended and received in Title XIX Medicaid funding, Title X family planning, and any other federal funding,” the letter says.

Anyone else get the impression Huntsman considers this a good thing?

The thrill of a lifetime.

From: Barack Obama
Subject: If I don’t call you
Date: September 27, 2011 1:08:30 PM EDT
To: Drew

Drew —

I enjoy talking about fundraising deadlines as much as I imagine you enjoy hearing about them.

But this Friday’s deadline is important.

It’s a chance for us to prove how we’re different from any campaign in politics: We rely on ordinary Americans giving what they can — one grassroots donation at a time.

This is not just a campaign. It’s a chance for each of us as citizens to organize and change the course of history.

And before we close the books this Friday at midnight, I hope you’ll become a part of it.

Please donate $3 or more today.

I’ll be calling some grassroots donors like you by phone this week, so I can say thank you.

And if I don’t call you, there’s a chance I’ll see you at dinner with three other supporters sometime soon.

Even if I don’t get to thank you personally, every single donation counts:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Friday-Deadline

Thanks for doing your part,

Barack

Nightmare scenario.

(ABC News) — U.S. officials had once thought there was little chance that terrorists could get their hands on many of the portable surface-to-air missiles that can bring down a commercial jet liner.

But now that calculation is out the window, with officials at a recent secret White House meeting reporting that thousands of them have gone missing in Libya.

“Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that’s our worst nightmare,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate’s Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.

The nightmare has been made real with the discovery in Libya that an estimated 20,000 portable, heat-seeking missiles have gone missing from unguarded Army weapons warehouses.

The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant’s shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.

Dear Barack, MYOB.

WASHINGTON — The United States said on Tuesday that Israel’s decision to approve construction of 1,100 homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo – located past the Green Line — was “counterproductive” and urged both Israel and the Palestinians not to take steps which could complicate resumption of direct peace talks.

“We are deeply disappointed by this morning’s announcement by the government of Israel,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“We consider this counterproductive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties and we have long urged both parties to avoid actions which could undermine trust, including in Jerusalem, and will continue to work with parties to try to resume direct negotiations.”

An Interior Ministry Committee gave initial approval to a new project with 1,100 housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which is located over the 1967 Green Line. The project, called the Southern Slopes of Gilo, raised strong condemnation from the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations, just days after the Palestinian bid for statehood drew the world’s attention to the region last week.

WASHINGTON — Iran plans to send military ships near the Atlantic coast of the United States, but offered no timeline or details on the “powerful presence” its naval head promised would be deployed.

Iranian Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari warned that his country plans to station ships near the U.S. sea borders in a move that would dramatically heighten tensions between the two countries, Reuters reported.

“Like the arrogant powers that are present near our marine borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to American marine borders,” Sayyari, the head of the Iranian navy, said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Ann Coulter reported to be inconsolable.