DUBAI — A member of the Saudi royal family has pledged $900,000 to a bounty offered by a prominent cleric to any Palestinian who kidnaps an IDF soldier, according to comments aired on a private TV station on Saturday.

Prince Khaled bin Talal, a brother of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told Daleel television over the phone that he decided to contribute to Awad al-Qarni’s bounty after the Saudi cleric received death threats for offering $100,000 to capture an IDF soldier.

“Dr Awad al-Qarni said he was offering $100,000 to only take a prisoner but they responded by offering $1 million to kill Awad al-Qarni,” Prince Khaled said, according to a recording of the call published on Daleel’s website.

“I tell Dr. Awad al-Qarni, ‘I will be in solidarity with you and pay the remaining $900,000 to take an Israeli soldier prisoner so that other prisoners can be freed,’” he added.

A Demonstrator holds up a banner in front of the Reichstag building housing the German parliament (Bundestag, lower house of parliament) as he takes part in a protest march as part of the ‘Occupy Berlin’ movement in Berlin on October 29, 2011 to protest against the financial system. The demonstration was inspired by the US Occupy Wall Street movement and Spain’s ‘Indignants’.

Attention whore.

(Oakland North) — As Mayor Jean Quan finished fielding reporters’ questions Friday afternoon at City Hall about the clash between police and protesters earlier this week, she was suddenly drowned out by cheering coming from Frank Ogawa Plaza for Occupy Oakland’s newest celebrity guest: documentarian and political activist Michael Moore. Moore flew in from New York City to address hundreds of Occupy Oakland supporters, who gathered to hear him speak near the approximately 30 tents that have been raised on the plaza since the raid on Tuesday.

Much of Moore’s talk served to rally Occupy Oakland participants. “I’m looking at the mosaic of the country right here in Oakland,” he told the crowd. “This weekend in Oakland will stand out as a watershed moment. Something good will come out of this movement.”

Moore rebutted critics’ comments that Occupy Wall Street has no unifying message saying, “The mission is in our name: Occupy Wall Street. Period.” He also announced that he would try to speak with Quan, whom he said had not responded to his requests so far.

Moore praised the protesters for returning to the streets for a march on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s campsite raid and late night clash with police. “Millions are inspired by you because you didn’t go away — the next night you came back!” said Moore to applause from the crowd.

Moore said that the Occupy protests have captured the attention of American citizens. “This movement has killed apathy — they’ve turned off their cell phones, they’ve even turned off ‘Dancing With the Stars!’” Moore said.

Moore asked the audience for 30 seconds of silence in the middle of his nearly one-hour speech to honor Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, who was seriously injured during the riot Tuesday night. “We are all Scott Olsen,” said Moore to cheers from the crowd.

Onlookers repeatedly interrupted Moore with questions and shouted at the dozens of press photographers in front of the podium: “Media sit down! This is for the people!”

When what sounded like a gunshot was heard in the distance, one audience member shouted, “Welcome to Oakland!”

There’s no Fed in Jonestown.

(CNN) — Herman Cain spoke to a rowdy crowd of supporters in Alabama Saturday — they just weren’t all his.

Trying to make a point about foreign policy, Cain was loudly interrupted by spectators in the crowd waving Ron Paul signs and yelling, “That is absurd.”

The former Godfather’s Pizza executive stopped making his policy point to tell the group to settle down.

“With all due respect, I’m going to give this speech today, thank you very much,” Cain told the crowd.

Moments later, Cain was interrupted again while making a point about the Federal Reserve. One of Rep. Ron Paul’s signature positions is eliminating that organization.

“The Federal Reserve, I do not believe that we need to end the Fed, we can fix the Fed, that’s all I want to say about that, alright,” Cain said to a showering of boos.

Cain again stopped his stump speech to ask the crowd to quiet down.

“Are you all going to let me do my speech or not?” Cain asked. “All I’m asking for is the respect for me to give my comments and my speech, that’s all I’m asking. Just be respectful, that’s all, thank you very much.”

Cain is in the final day of a swing through Alabama, a choice seen by some as puzzling, given Alabama’s place on the primary calendar.

Time for another crazy vaccine.

(The National Journal) — Michele Bachmann’s campaign on Friday struck back at a tea party affiliated group that called on the Minnesota congresswoman to end her presidential run, with the candidate herself suggesting that rival candidate Rick Perry might be behind the ambush.

“People have told us, that these are Perry supporters and they went out with this and this was meant to be a stealth move and it was clumsy,” Bachmann said on CNN’s The Situation Room. “If Governor Perry has something to stay to me, he can come out to the debates and he can say it.”

In an emailed response to CBS News and The National Journal, Perry spokesman Mark Miner denied that the Texas governor’s camp had anything to do with the call for Bachmann to quit, published on the blog of the tea party group American Majority.

“We learned about this through media reports today and had nothing to do with the group’s decision,” Miner said.

Bachmann, who founded of the Congressional Tea Party caucus, has long tied herself to the movement — even delivering a tea party response to President Obama’s State of the Union address this year without the sanction of her party’s House leadership. But Tea Party activists are notoriously suspicious of politicians’ attempts to assert leadership over the movement or to speak for them.

Prayers for their families.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CBS/AP) — A U.S. official said all 13 NATO service members killed in a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital were American troops.

The car bomb struck an American convoy in Kabul, hitting an armored bus carrying U.S. soldiers which then burst into flames.

The official confirmed the nationalities shortly after NATO issued a statement saying that 13 of its forces were killed in Saturday’s blast. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The attack also killed four Afghan civilians, including a policeman and schoolchildren

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark, reporting from Kabul, said helicopters landed near the scene and air-lifted a number of casualties, according to eyewitnesses.

“It was a huge blast,” one eyewitness said. “I went closer to the convoy and saw several Americans on fire.”

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. They said the bomber had more than 1,500 pounds of explosives in his car.

Giddy up!

WASHINGTON — CBS News has learned Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee regarding “Fast and Furious.” The hearing will take place Dec. 8th.

Judiciary Committee member and head of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) had requested that Holder appear, in part to dig deeper into when-he-knew-what about ATF’s so-called “gunwalking” operation Fast and Furious.

In May, Holder testified that he only first heard about Fast and Furious a few weeks before. However, as CBS News reported, documents and memos indicate he had been sent multiple briefings mentioning Fast and Furious in 2010.

Holder later explained in a letter to Congress that he didn’t read those memos, and that in any event, nobody at the Justice Department who knew of Fast and Furious was aware of the specific “gunwalking” tactics used.

And this is supposed to be like the Tea Party?

MANCHESTER — A city woman is accused of pimping a 16-year-old girl she met in Victory Park during the Occupy NH demonstrations.

Justina Jensen, 23, of 341 Hanover St., is charged with felony prostitution. Police allege Jensen met a teen at the local protest, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, and used the Internet to arrange a first liaison for the girl with a man who turned out to be an undercover police officer.

Police said the teen’s mother called them Thursday about noon to say her daughter was missing and that her photograph had been posted on a website advertising adult party entertainment.

Court documents show the mother told police she and a friend had used the website to negotiate a deal for the friend to pay for sex with the teen.

Investigators looked at the website and found the girl’s photo posted there, along with pictures of three other women, in an advertisement offering men to “come and have fun with four beautiful ladies” in Manchester.

Police said a woman who called herself “Remy” negotiated a telephone deal for “Mad Mike” to pay $150 to have sex with the teen called “Jewel.”

An undercover officer, identifying himself as “Mad Mike,” called “Remy” to find out where to go and she gave him her 341 Hanover St. address.

The blowback from NATO’s Libyan adventure is just beginning.

(VICE) — It was here at the courthouse in Benghazi where the first spark of the Libyan revolution ignited. It’s the symbolic seat of the revolution; post-Gaddafi Libya’s equivalent of Egypt’s Tahrir Square. And it was here, in the tumultuous months of civil war, that the ragtag rebel forces established their provisional government and primitive, yet effective, media center from which to tell foreign journalists about their “fight for freedom.”

But according to multiple eyewitnesses — myself included — one can now see both the Libyan rebel flag and the flag of al Qaeda fluttering atop Benghazi’s courthouse.

According to one Benghazi resident, Islamists driving brand-new SUVs and waving the black al Qaeda flag drive the city’s streets at night shouting, “Islamiya, Islamiya! No East, nor West,” a reference to previous worries that the country would be bifurcated between Gaddafi opponents in the east and the pro-Gaddafi elements in the west.

Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that “there is no God but Allah” and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, “Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don’t publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.”

Middle Eastern Christians are on their own until we take back the White House.

(AINA) — An influential Muslim adviser to the White House who has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood has succeeded in canceling a meeting between President Obama and the leader of the persecuted Maronite church in Lebanon, according to the Beirut news agency el Nashra.

The Arabic-language report cited an unnamed U.S. source who said Dahlia Mogahed, “the highest adviser on Arab and Islamic Affairs in the State Department,” sought to block a White House meeting with Patriarch Beshara Rahi, according to a translation by blogger El Cid at BigPeace.com.

The report said the move heeded a request by top leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt who want the U.S. to back the Islamist Sunni movement opposing Iranian Shiite influence in the region.

Maronites number about 1 million in Lebanon and more than 10 millions worldwide. About 1.5 million are in the U.S.

Along with her role on the White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Mogahed is a member of the advisory council of the Department of Homeland Security. She has testified before the Senate on engagement with the Muslim community. She is senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where she led major surveys of Muslims worldwide that routinely concluded the vast majority of Muslims are moderate.

Mogahed was a leading voice in the Leadership Group on U.S.-Muslim Engagement that issued a 153-page advisory report calling for dialogue with Hamas and engagement with opposition parties in Egypt, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Or something.

Via Daily Caller:

The Daily Caller visited the Occupy DC encampment on Friday and interviewed union organizer Anthony Sluder. While Sluder appeared to be in charge, he preferred to describe himself as “the one who is informed to inform you.”

Check out what Sluder told TheDC about the “occupiers” and their plan to — you heard it right — secede.

Closing in on 3K.

Shameless community organizer lies, manipulates, stirs up covetousness, and polarizes nation. Spreading discord is his only skill.

Transcript below the fold:

(more…)

Hail Obama!

(The Hill) — President Obama pressed his “we can’t wait” campaign Saturday, accusing Republicans of stonewalling job-creating proposals.

The White House has begun taking high-profile, unilateral action on measures it says will help the economy. Obama highlighted those steps in his weekly address.

“The truth is, we can no longer wait for Congress to do its job,” Obama said. “The middle-class families who’ve been struggling for years are tired of waiting. They need help now. So where Congress won’t act, I will.”

The administration is trying to get community health centers to hire veterans, and last week it announced new measures to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

“These steps will make a difference. But they won’t take the place of the bold action we need from Congress to get this economy moving again,” Obama said before urging listeners to contact their representatives.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that he has “great concerns” that Obama might be exceeding his constitutional authority in ordering his administration to adjust regulations surrounding “underwater” mortgages and student loans, saying, “this idea that you are just going to go around the Congress is . . . almost laughable.”

Keep reading…

(click image for video)

Like McDonald’s and the state of Maine?

“They’re small. I couldn’t speak to all 1,800 of them, but some of the lists that I have seen have been very, very small companies. They will not have a big impact on the economy of our country,” Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with CNBC.

McDonalds, one of the nation’s largest employers in recent years, has received a waiver.

Sweet.

(LWJ) — At least 13 members of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, including a deputy of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the group’s emir, have been killed in a previously unreported US Predator airstrike.

The airstrike took place on Oct. 26 in South Waziristan, according to Reuters, but was not immediately reported. The exact location of the strike was not provided. Two missiles were fired at a compound. Pakistani officials said that 13 Taliban fighters were killed, but tribal leaders put the number of deaths at 22. All are said to be “militants.”

Among those thought to have been killed was Taj Gul Mehsud, whom Reuters described as “a senior Taliban commander and close aide” to Hakeemullah. Taj Gul’s death has not been confirmed, however.

Hakeemullah’s Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is closely allied with al Qaeda and is supported and sheltered by so-called “good Taliban” leaders Mullah Nazir in South Waziristan and Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan. Both Nazir and Bahadar are supported by the Pakistani military despite their close alliances with al Qaeda and the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Shocker.

(The Daily) — The Big Three TV networks have devoted far more attention to Occupy Wall Street than they did to the tea party, according to a new study by the Washington-based Media Research Center. CBS, NBC and ABC reported a mere 13 times on the tea party throughout all of its first year, 2009. In contrast, they ran 33 stories or segments about Occupy within 11 days.

So does the disparity in coverage mean Occupy is getting special treatment? Maybe, suggests the report. On CBS, NBC and ABC, most of the interview sound bites — 109 clips, or 87 percent — were from either protesters or supporters of Occupy, whereas only 6 percent were critical of the movement. Morning-show coverage has also been favorable, with seven guests expressing sympathy for protesters and none opposing or criticizing them. We don’t seem to remember the tea party getting such good press.

Even 30% seems high, but it’s less than half the national average of 62%. Bonus: Bad news for Obama, roughly 75% disapprove of his job performance.

(NY Times) — Zuccotti Park in New York’s financial district is decked out with posters and signs for the wide array of political viewpoints of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The six-week-old movement has several Web sites to promote various perspectives. But just who are these protesters? What is their political ideology? Do they have jobs?

Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Fordham University, recently conducted a survey of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York.

Dr. Panagopoulos described the protesters as “disgruntled Democrats.” Sixty percent of those surveyed said they voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and about three-quarters now disapprove of Mr. Obama’s performance as president. A quarter said they were Democrats, but 39 percent said they did not identify with any political party. Eleven percent identified as Socialists, another 11 percent said they were members of the Green Party, 2 percent were Republicans and 12 percent say they identified as something else.

Questionnaires handed out by Dr. Panagopoulos’s team of 15 interviewers throughout the park were completed by 301 adults from Oct. 14 to Oct. 18. “I followed the academic protocols that colleagues of mine adopted in the past to survey demonstrations,” he said.

In the survey, 80 percent described themselves as liberal; half of those said they were extremely liberal. . . .

Two-thirds of the survey respondents have attended college, and 25 percent are currently students. Thirty percent have full-time jobs and 18 percent are employed part-time. Forty percent are members of a union household. (Nationally, in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, 58 percent of the general public have attended college and 62 percent are employed, either full-time or part-time.)

Hippie Thunderdome?

(USA Today) — Fights are erupting among Occupy Wall Street protesters, so much so that one corner of Zuccotti Park has emerged where protesters say they won’t go for fear of their safety, the New York Daily News is reporting.

Police officers also have been warned of “dangerous instruments” being concealed in cardboard tubing, the News says it has been told by unidentified police sources.

“There is a lot of infighting in the park,” a police source told the news organization. “There is one part of the park where they won’t even go at night.”

Meantime, Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, is warning protesters at Zuccotti Park in Manhattan that he will pursue civil suits against anyone who assaults a union member.

No low is too low for MSNBC.

“Very seriously, and this is a little harsh, but one of the things about Herman Cain is, I think that he makes that white Republican base of the party feel OK, feel like they are not racist because they can like this guy. I think he is giving that base a free pass and I think they like him because they think he is a black man that knows his place. And I know that’s harsh, but that’s how it sure seems to me.”

HT: Weekly Standard