Obama whines about filibuster; Cap on aid to Fannie and Freddie removed; Anti-terrorism system "worked"

1) AP sources: Al-Qaida link in failed plane attack ROMULUS, Mich. – A Nigerian man who said he was an agent for al-Qaida tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane Friday as it was preparing to land in Detroit, but travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers rushed to subdue him, the passengers and federal officials said. Flight 253 with 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard was about 20 minutes from the airport when passengers heard popping noises, witnesses said. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man. Shortly afterward, the suspect was taken to the front of the plane with his pants cut off and his legs burned, a passenger said. …Smith said a passenger sitting opposite the man climbed over people, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. Syed Jafri, another passenger, said he saw a glow and smelled smoke. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him." What a hero! See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091226/ap_on_re_us/us_airliner_disturbance 1a) Clown alert: Janet Napolitano says the “system worked;” Update: And now…J-No’s about-(clown)face It has been, in the words of Queen Elizabeth II, an “annus horribilis” for DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Beginning with her embrace of the impotent euphemism “man-caused disasters” to the hit job on conservatives and veterans that she was forced to apologize for, to her assertion that crossing the border illegally “isn’t a crime per se”, to her boneheaded claim that 9/11 terrorists came in through the Canadian border, Ja-No has confirmed time and again that she’s not ready for prime time. Today, she caps off her horrible year by playing Big Pollyanna in the wake of the Flight 253. The botched bombing — foiled by a faulty detonator and brave passengers, not by homeland security bureaucrats or any preemptive measures by intel officials — shows that the in Ja-No’s fantasy world. …If the “system” had “worked,” the U.S. consular officials who granted Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab a short-term visa last June would have revoked it immediately upon being informed by his father that he was a Muslim radical with al Qaeda ties. If the “system” had “worked,” U.S. consular officials would have never granted Abdulmutallab — a rootless, young, single male — a visa in the first place… If the “system” had “worked,” Abdulmutallab would have been barred from the U.S. like he had been barred from Britain. The “system,” like Napolitano, was an epic fail. And as predicted, Napolitano also played the “lone nut” card — dismissing the Christmas Day jihadist as a single operator not part of “anything larger” despite his own testimony to the contrary. She’s Obama’s biggest joker. And there’s no Blame-Bush loophole to weasel through anymore. See: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/27/clown-alert-janet-napolitano-says-the-system-worked/ More on this…Rove continued, “This guy was treated not as an enemy combatant, and turned over to the FBI and the CIA for interrogation, he was charged criminally, which means he immediately lawyered up.” See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUtvgjOu6AY&feature=player_embedded%20 2) Obama says filibuster is harming democracy There's growing sentiment on the left--most recently evinced by SEIU President Andy Stern and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman--that the Senate's quiet acceptance of the filibuster--and therefore a 60 vote threshold for most legislation--is dangerous to the country's ability to govern itself, no matter who's in power. Well, they may have a powerful new ally. "[A]s somebody who served in the Senate, who values the traditions of the Senate, who thinks that institution has been the world's greatest deliberative body, to see the filibuster rule, which imposes a 60-vote supermajority on legislation - to see that invoked on every single piece of legislation, during the course of this year, is unheard of," says President Obama in a yet-to-air interview with PBS. Yeah, except when democrats are in power, but I digress. I think it speaks volumes that they could not garner a SINGLE Senate Republican vote for taking over 1/6 of the country’s economy. I can clearly see that you’ve put an end to “partisan politics”, Mr. Obama. Obama: “I mean, if you look historically back in the '50s, the '60s, the '70s, the '80s - even when there was sharp political disagreements, when the Democrats were in control for example and Ronald Reagan was president - you didn't see even routine items subject to the 60-vote rule.” Yeah, taking over 1/6 of the nation’s economy is a “routine item.” He continues: “So I think that if this pattern continues, you're going to see an inability on the part of America to deal with big problems in a very competitive world, and other countries are going to start running circles around us. We're going to have to return to some sense that governance is more important than politics inside the Senate. We're not there right now.” Obama even suggested that the filibuster, as it's currently being employed, harms democracy. “Look, the fact of the matter is, is that if used prudently, then I don't think it's harmful for our democracy," Obama said. "It's not being used prudently right now. And my hope would be that whether a Sen. is in the majority or is in the minority, that they're starting to get a sense, after looking at this year, that this can't be the way that government runs." What he means to say is that those darn Republicans (who are in the minority and whose votes are NOT needed to pass legislation) are slowing down his radical left agenda. He has a filibuster-proof Senate! See: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/is-obama-growing-weary-of-the-gops-filibuster-everything-mo.php 3) Senate OK's health care bill in victory for Obama WASHINGTON – In an epic struggle settled at dawn, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed health care legislation Thursday, a triumph for President Barack Obama that clears the way for compromise talks with the House on a bill to reduce the ranks of the uninsured and rein in the insurance industry. The vote was 60-39, strictly along party lines, one day after Democrats succeeded in crushing a filibuster by Republicans eager — yet unable — to inflict a year-end political defeat on the White House. THIS is journalism? “Epic Struggle”? A “triumph for Obama”? “Rein in the insurance industry”? There’s a lie or half-truth every four words! “Republicans eager to inflict a year-end political defeat on the White House”? It has NOTHING to do with political defeat and everything to do with salvaging the remaining scraps of our liberty! See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul 3a) The Coming U.S. Doctor Shortage Health-care reform will mean 30 million more patients—and bigger crowds in waiting rooms Presuming Congress passes some version of a health-care bill and it is signed into law, some 30 million currently uninsured people will suddenly find themselves with access to doctors. But there may not be enough doctors to see them. In 1997, lawmakers placed a cap on the number of medical residencies—hospital training required for all doctors—in order to contain costs under Medicare, which pays for most of these training slots. Today the U.S. is in the grip of a nationwide doctor shortage… And this article doesn’t take into account the 45% of doctors who said they would leave their professions if this monstrosity passed… See: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_52/b4161098202420.htm?campaign_id=mag_Dec23&link_position=link25 4) Treasury removes cap for Fannie and Freddie aid NEW YORK – The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Treasury Department said Thursday it removed the $400 billion financial cap it will provide to keep the companies from failing. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion to the pair. Treasury Department officials said the $400 billion limit would be replaced with a flexible formula to ensure the two agencies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities they sell to investors. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide vital liquidity to the mortgage industry by purchasing home loans from lenders and selling them to investors. Together, they own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion, or about half of all mortgages. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_giants_ceos 5) Stop the KSM trial There is no justifying the Obama administration's decision to grant a civilian trial to Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters who carried out the deadliest act of war ever committed on US soil. President Obama must not grant the worst of war criminals the same constitutional rights enjoyed by the nearly 3,000 US citizens they massacred on 9/11. If he won't reconsider, Congress must act. Beginning in the Revolutionary War, it has been recognized throughout our history that wartime enemies aren't mere criminal defendants. When they commit provable war crimes, they're tried by military commission — a process that permits them fewer rights than a civilian trial while shielding more national-defense information from disclosure to the enemy. …When he was first captured in Pakistan six years ago, KSM sneered that he expected to be brought to New York and given a lawyer. Instead, he was treated as an enemy operative, interrogated by the CIA and induced to disclose intelligence that saved lives. Yet the administration, after 11 months of unnecessary delay, now proposes to void the commission and transport the jihadists from the remote security of Guantanamo Bay to the stage KSM has always craved: federal court in Manhattan. There, KSM & Co. will be swaddled in the protections of the Bill of Rights and given a soapbox from which to mock their victims and our country. And that will happen only after they are given a year or two to rifle through sensitive government files during the civilian discovery process. In fact, representatives of these "defendants" have already announced that they now plan to plead not guilty so that they can exploit civilian legal procedures to put America on trial. …By contrast, in civilian court, a defendant has an absolute right to represent himself, a right the Supreme Court has long upheld. If the terrorists make this demand, they will have a very strong argument that civilian due process requires that they be given direct access to our intelligence (emphasis mine)!!!! See: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/stop_the_ksm_trial_9OTwT0Nn5aiu8vVOC4WgDJ 6) Obama gives foreign cops new police powers in U.S. Sovereignty apparently set aside as agency exempted from law A little-discussed executive order from President Obama giving foreign cops new police powers in the United States by exempting them from such drudgery as compliance with the Freedom of Information Act is raising alarm among commentators who say INTERPOL already had most of the same privileges as diplomats. At David Horowitz's Newsreal, Michael van der Galien said the issue is Obama's expansion of President Ronald Reagan's order from 1983 that originally granted those diplomatic privileges. Reagan's order carried certain exemptions requiring that INTERPOL operations be subject to several U.S. laws such as the Freedom of Information Act. Obama, however, removed those restrictions in his Dec. 16 amendment to Executive Order 12425. That means, van der Galien wrote today, "this foreign law enforcement organization can operate free of an important safeguard against government and abuse." …"In light of what we know and can observe, it is our logical conclusion that President Obama's Executive Order amending President Ronald Reagans' 1983 EO 12425 and placing INTERPOL above the United States Constitution and beyond the legal reach of our own top law enforcement is a precursor to more damaging moves," they wrote. …"For an added and disturbing wrinkle, INTERPOL's central operations office in the United States is within our own Justice Department offices. They are American law enforcement officers working under the aegis of INTERPOL within our own Justice Department. That they now operate with full diplomatic immunity and with 'inviolable archives' from within our own buildings should send red flags soaring into the clouds," they said. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120363 7) In the UK: Girls using abortion as birth control and having up to FOUR terminations by the age of 18 Teenagers are using repeat abortions as a form of birth control, with some girls having four or more terminations by the age of 18, it has been claimed. Nearly 1,500 of the 19,000 girls under 18 who had a termination last year had previously undergone one earlier abortion for an unwanted pregnancy – and in at least one case a teenage girl had her eighth abortion. Department of Health data for 2008 reveals 74 teenagers had their third abortion and a further 15 girls under the age of 18 had previously had between three and six earlier abortions. No one is telling these young women that each successive abortion increases their chances of miscarrying a future wanted pregnancy due to incompetent cervix by 25% with each successive abortion. They are not only destroying human life, but destroying their ability to become mothers later on. See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1238612/Girls-using-abortion-birth-control.html