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It has been more than four years since Jacob Kiferbaum pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme involving a hospital that needed state approval for a construction project, one of the earliest corruption scandals under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Kiferbaum, though, has yet to spend a day in prison. The north suburban construction magnate is one of 12 men convicted in Illinois political corruption cases who still await sentencing months -- in some cases, years -- after their convictions. The lone exception among them: Tony Rezko, who was a major campaign fund-raiser for Blagojevich, among other politicians. Like the others, Rezko...

Below Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck explains the Apollo Alliance on his July 28 show. Beck mentions the Obama administration’s “stimulus” blueprint, “The New Apollo Program: Clean Energy, Good Jobs,” which you can read here.

January 21, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Almost from its inception, the Weather Underground [WU] was viewed with great concern by the FBI. As a result, the decision was made to place a high level informant within the group to help keeps tabs on its members' activities. That person was Larry Grathwohl, a Vietnam veteran and the only publicly identified FBI informant who succeeded in penetrating the Weather Underground, serving in that capacity from August 1969 until April 1970. Prior to his service in the FBI, he was a member of the Cincinnati Police force. PipeLineNews.org contacted...

"Guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country," he said. Chicago Magazine, No Regrets, Aug 2001. Bill Ayers: Trudging Toward Freedom Bill Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago, became a focal point of the 2008 presidential campaign. Described by Republican nominee John McCain as “a washed up terrorist,” Ayers was a prominent figure with Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground in the late 1960s and 1970s. After spending several years living underground as the U.S. government pursued charges against him that it later dropped, Ayers went on to become...

From The Times January 22, 2009 President Obama's first call 'was to President Abbas' President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”. In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement. The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign...

Attention all shrinks! You will have a field day analyzing the incredibly childish BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) exhibited by this Hate Bush thread over at the Democratic Underground. The author of the thread, William Rivers Pitt, is a real piece of work. In case you never heard of Pitt, he was a perpetrator, along with former fashion photographer and Truthout publisher, Marc Ash, and "investigative reporter" Jason Leopold of one of the biggest journalistic hoaxes of this decade: the supposed indictment of Karl Rove by Patrick Fitzgerald on May 12, 2006. All that Pitt managed to accomplish when the indictment...

HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro watched the U.S. inauguration on television and said Wednesday that Barack Obama seems "like a man who is absolutely sincere," Argentina's president said after meeting with the ailing Cuban icon. "Fidel believes in Obama," Cristina Fernandez said. The meeting with Fernandez, just before she ended a four-day visit to Cuba, dispelled persistent rumors that the 82-year-old Castro had suffered a stroke or lapsed into a coma in recent days.

HAVANA — Fidel Castro watched the U.S. inauguration on television and said Wednesday that Barack Obama seems "like a man who is absolutely sincere," Argentina's president said after meeting with the ailing Cuban icon. "Fidel believes in Obama," Cristina Fernandez said.

President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”. In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement. The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign statesman since taking office. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud...

For the first time since the beginning of the IDF military operation in the Gaza Strip, Hamas on Monday openly signaled its willingness to accept a cease-fire with Israel. The message from Hamas was issued by its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, who has been in hiding since the beginning of the offensive. Haniyeh's remarks contradict fiery statements made by Hamas leaders in Syria and Lebanon. Haniyeh said in a televised speech that Hamas would cooperate with any initiative to stop the offensive and reopen the border crossings into the Gaza Strip. "We will deal positively with any initiative aimed at...

Little coverage has been given to Israel's REAL opponent in this Gaza conflict IRAN. The Islamic Republic created by Jimmy Carter, is described as one of the chief arms providers of Hamas, but their control of the terrorist group go WAY beyond giving them weapons to kill with. Dr. Walid Phares believes that Iran deliberately pushed Hamas to provoke Israel at a time "between" the two Presidential administrations and before the Israeli and Palestinian elections: Timing the Hamas end to the cease fire between two American presidencies in Washington and just before the Israeli and Palestinian elections, the Iranian Mullahs...

Similar to hate factions like the KKK and neo-Nazis, the New Black Panther Party is a militant hate group, headquartered in Washington, D.C. that seeks to redefine the black struggle for equality and demand liberation from what it sees as white supremecy.

Riverside and San Bernardino counties added more Latino residents between 2000 and 2007 than all but three other U.S. counties, a new analysis of U.S. Census data found. The report, by the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center, also found that most Latino population growth is now from new births. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was mostly from immigration. That means no matter what happens to the immigration rate, the Latino population of Riverside and San Bernardino counties will continue to grow steadily, reaching a majority within several years, experts say. Riverside County's Hispanic population surged 60 percent between...

What part of illegal alien is so difficult to understand? Apparently, there are those who are either too confused, too unwilling or too incapable of understanding the meaning of those simple words. Instead, they'd rather emotionalize any debate on illegal immigration with cries of racism, discrimination and an alleged lack of compassion for our fellow human beings. They choose this course rather than honestly dealing with the established fact we are a nation of laws - laws intended and necessary to preserve civility and order for our common good. I, for one, refuse to be intimidated or influenced by such...

In other cases, civilians are simply used as cannon fodder or human shields. Reports out of Gaza say residents who attempted to flee their homes in the northern area of the Strip were forced to go back at gunpoint, by Hamas men.

Dear Khaled Mashaal, Ismail Haniyah, Mahmoud Zahar, Ayman Taha, JamalAbu Hashim, Salah el-Bardawil, Mohamed Nasser, or Imad el-Alami (or whoever is in charge and receives this before getting extinguished by a smart bomb): I extend personal greetings from the highest office of the United States (well, it will be mine in 10 days, but screw it, let’s just say I’m in charge now). I hope this letter finds you well (and with all of your limbs). I understand you may be hiding in a tunnel somewhere near the Egyptian border. If you need toilet paper, water, or Jew-eating rabbits, please...

The incoming Obama administration will not abandon US President George W. Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas, the chief national security spokesperson of the Obama transition team has told The Jerusalem Post. The next US president will not break the policy of isolating Hamas, an Obama spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post. US President-elect Barack Obama "has repeatedly stated that he believes that Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction, and that we should not deal with them until they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by past agreements," said Brooke Anderson in a statement to the Post.

Jan. 28, 7:30 p.m.: Bill Ayers: “Trudging Toward Freedom” (public lecture) Bill Ayers is a Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has just released the Handbook of Social Justice in Education. He is noted for his work in education reform and also for his controversial history as a founder of the Weather Underground. He will discuss his life and work and their inevitable intersection in the pursuit of social justice.

US conservatives say Jack Bauer from 24 has been 'kidnapped' by the new liberal agenda of President-Elect Barack Obama. As the hero of the television action series, Bauer became a modern icon of rugged American values and a fictional flag waver for the Bush administration's determination to defeat terrorists. The intelligence agent, played by Keifer Sutherland, has never been afraid to torture or shoot to kill while tackling villainous foreigners intent on waging war on the American homeland. But now US conservatives are up in arms that the election of President-Elect Barack Obama has led the show's producers to pander...

Barack Obama will mark a radical break in American foreign policy this week by unveiling a team of diplomats tasked with ushering in a new era of dialogue with enemies abroad. As Hillary Clinton prepares for Senate confirmation hearings this week, she will head a group of advisers who are virtual opposites to the appointees made by President George W Bush. While Bush favoured aggressive neoconservative ideologues, Obama has selected people whose doveish credentials seem impeccable. They will be responsible for reversing the political unilateralism of the Bush years and opening direct negotiations with hostile states, potentially ranging from Syria...

America's pro-terror 39th president blames Israel for the war in Gaza by insisting: "this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas!"

In a televised speech on Saturday, Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, said Israel's offensive on Gaza, had failed because Hamas was still firing rockets at Israel. "You have finished off the last chance and breath for settlement and negotiations," Meshaal said. "Has it stopped the rockets?" he asked of Israel's declared aim in launching the offensive. Meshaal said that Israel was covering up the true nature of its losses by saying that troops had been killed by friendly fire and accidents. Meshaal said that any international monitoring force in the Gaza strip would be treated as "occupation" force.

A senior Israeli military commander involved in Operation Cast Lead said on Saturday that Hamas militants are suffering from exhaustion and are deserting battle. The commander told reporters that Amir Mansi, the commander of Hamas's rocket-launching program in the Gaza City area who was killed by the IDF on Saturday, fired mortars himself after junior Hamas operatives refused to go outside, fearing an Israeli strike. The IDF official estimated that more than 300 Hamas operatives have been killed since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza one week ago.

From The Sunday Times January 11, 2009 Hamas rocket chief is killed Uzi Mahnaimi Tel Aviv THE mastermind of Hamas’s long-range rocket attacks on Israel was killed yesterday in an airstrike, according to Israeli military sources. Amir Mansi, an engineer who commanded cells responsible for firing Grad rockets supplied by Iran, died after coming under attack from a helicopter. The Israeli army said he had been trying to fire mortar shells at their troops when he was targeted. Mansi headed the Hamas military wing’s Gaza Strip rocket division and “played a big role in Grad rocket attacks on Israeli communities”,...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Driven by anger and politics, the Illinois House has voted to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The unprecedented action sets the stage for a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out of office for corruption and abuse of power. The governor seemed to acknowledge the inevitable when he issued a statement Thursday night that looked past the House vote and predicted a different outcome in the subsequent Senate trial. His statement criticized the hearings leading up to the House vote as unfair and biased. A House committee has been studying the possibility of impeachment since shortly...

Group's members said they were also members of and authorized by Philadelphia's Democratic Party. http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/01/09/news/local_state/doc4966e96e91b53858078574.txt

WASHINGTON – The upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama is an attractive target for international and domestic terrorists, but U.S. intelligence officials have no information about specific threats to the Jan. 20 event. An internal intelligence assessment, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, says the high visibility of the event, the presence of dignitaries and the significance of swearing in the country's first black president make the inauguration vulnerable to attacks.

If Europe wants to phone America on the Gaza crisis, who does it call? Not George Bush, who has two weeks left in the White House. And not Barack Obama, who has been mute on Israel’s military action, although the world looked to him immediately the conflict filled the screens. “Nobody at home in Washington”, ran one US headline on the turmoil. “President-elect Obama is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” said Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokeswoman. This is disingenuous. Even if silence is meant only as...

Many Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, maintain staunch support for Israel, despite its military crackdown on Hamas in Gaza over the past two weeks, but a few Minnesotans — including Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman — have taken more independent approaches. Discussing the conflict with Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi yesterday, Ellison expanded on his statement of last Friday, which accused the Bush administration of passively ignoring the strikes and ground offensive that have killed nearly 600 people in Gaza and during which he said he supported actively engaging both sides to find...

Not terribly surprising since he also once said that 9/11 was planned by America. As this report points out, however, Salah Sultan is not just another hate-preacher appearing on Arab TV; he also "holds U.S. permanent residency status and, according to one federal law enforcement official, travels regularly on a U.S. passport." Moreover, he is on several prominent U.S. Muslim boards and committees -- many of which (no doubt temporarily) removed his name from their websites and membership lists immediately after MEMRI translated and posted his tirade. "Top American Islamic Cleric Threatens U.S. on Egyptian TV," by Patrick Poole for...

Leading Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marzook, deported from the United States in 1997, gets back into the US via a column in the Los Angeles Times: Hamas speaks. Vile. Evil. Disgusting. Foul. Take your pick. There is something deeply wrong with our mainstream media. Contact the Los Angeles Times and tell them what you think about giving a voice to genocidal mass murderers.

The scene in Chicago was exceptionally ugly. Police estimated that nearly 3,000 Palestinian supporters gathered at the Chicago Tribune Plaza in front of the Israeli Consulate. The protesters had megaphones and large speakers, making certain that their angry ranting and raging in both Arabic and English was heard. One of the Palestinian supporters crossed the barriers and physically assaulted a civilian who came out in support of Israel. Pro-Israel supporters had stones and coins thrown at them as they stood in silence watching this angry mob. One of the members of the protest group took an “Israeli” flag from one...

"Go back to the oven! You need a big oven, that's what you need!" This is what one young woman thought passed for acceptable discourse during an anti-Israel rally last week in, of all places, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Other chants were similarly unlovely. You can watch it on YouTube if you like. But why bother? The Fort Lauderdale outburst is just one window on the upside-down world of Israel hatred. Across the Islamic world, and in too many points West, it is still considered a penetrating and poignant insight to call Zionists the "new Nazis." For instance, in Sunday's Gulf...

Like many other protests of Israel's campaign in Gaza, this one ended badly — police had to cool an ugly fight between supporters of Israel and Gaza, breaking up the warring sides as their screaming and chanting threatened to turn into something worse. But some protesters at this rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., took their rhetoric a step further, calling for the extermination of Israel — and of Jews. Separated by battle lines and a stream of rush-hour traffic outside a federal courthouse last week, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators faced off against a smaller crowd of Israel supporters.

The Bush administration's ringing victory in last year's Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial could provide a tailwind for President Barack Obama's efforts to carry on the war on terror. There's much in the Bush administration's counterterrorism toolbox that the new president wants to throw out – Guantánamo Bay, secret foreign prisons, torture and warrantless wiretapping. But one weapon now proven effective by the Holy Land trial is the use of intelligence on complicated terrorist networks to pursue criminal cases.

Islamic cleric Salah Sultan appeared on Egypt’s Al-Nas TV last week and delivered a warning of death and destruction for America. Not only did he attack the U.S. for its military support of Israel in its fight against the Hamas terrorist organization, but he vowed retaliation such that more Americans would be killed than those Palestinians (and, presumably, Hamas terrorists) killed in the present conflict in Gaza, emphasizing that this would take place “soon”: America, which gave [Israel] everything it needed in these battles, will suffer economic stagnation, ruin, destruction, and crime, which will surpass what is happening in Gaza....

January 7th, 2009 By Kevin “Coach” Collins In July Barack Obama's support among American Jews was falling. Two polls had him below 60%, and there were reports of Jewish seniors in South Florida chasing Obama’s lackeys out of synagogues. The old Jews, mostly transplants from Brooklyn and Queens New York, were furious because they suspected Barack Obama would not be a friend to Israel. Then like horses at a barn fire, even KNOWING he would stab Israel in the back, the Jews ran back into the flames of Democrat lies. In the end they were more liberal Democrat, than supporters...

CAIRO, Egypt  —  An intelligence monitoring center reports that Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader is blaming Barack Obama and Egypt's president for the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The SITE Monitoring Service says the audio statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri was posted on militant Web sites Tuesday. This is al-Zawahiri's first comment on the crisis since the war began eleven days ago. In a transcript of the statement released by SITE, he calls the Israeli offensive a "Crusade against Islam and Muslims" and "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office. Al-Zawahiri also calls Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, a "traitor" for keeping...

Barack Obama, who takes over as U.S. president from George W. Bush on January 20, broke his silence about the violence in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, calling the loss of civilian lives in Gaza and in Israel a "source of deep concern for me." Obama added he would adhere to his principle that only Bush should be the voice of U.S. foreign policy at this time but he would have plenty to say after his inauguration in two weeks. Nonetheless, Obama said that he is "not backing at all from what I've said during the campaign we're going to...

Al Qaeda Vows Revenge for Gaza Ayman al-Zawahiri Vows to Avenge Deaths of Palestinians By MADDY SAUER Jan. 6, 2009— Osama bin Laden's top deputy in al Qaeda has released a new tape in which he threatens the United States and vows revenge for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. "We will never stop until we avenge the death of all who are killed, injured, widowed and orphaned in Palestine and throughout the Islamic world," said Ayman al-Zawahiri in a new 10-minute audio recording released today on extreme Islamist Web forums. The message is entitled "The Massacre in Gaza and...

It has been two weeks since Israel began a defensive operation to destroy Hamas' missile launching capability presently situated in the Gaza, a narrow Arab enclave along the southwestern shore located between Israel and Egypt. The 1967 war between Israel and Arab/Muslim countries was for Israel a war of survival, for Arabs it was another attempt to extinguish the Jewish state. Gaza had earlier been created by the U.N. as an enclave for Arabs who had been displaced for a variety of reasons, by the U.N. creation of Israel. From its founding in 1948, Israel has constantly defended against Arab/Muslim...

Attackers rammed a burning car into a synagogue in the southern French city of Toulouse, officials have said. The car, packed with a petrol bomb, was set alight and then pushed into the synagogue door by a second car. The building caught fire but a local rabbi and about 12 people caught inside escaped unharmed after Monday's attack. It came as the French defence minister met Jewish and Muslim community leaders to stress the Middle East conflict should not lead to violence in France. Police said they were investigating the attack and had not made any arrests. Molotov cocktails Damage...

...Oh Osama We want a loud shaking in the heart of Tel Aviv.."

San Francisco: Protesters whip up the crowd at the Israeli Consulate.

The pick of Leon Panetta as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency signals just one thing — Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., the president-elect, is ready to capitulate to terrorists. For weeks, there have been rumors in the military and intelligence world that Obama was having difficulty finding a new CIA director because no one who was qualified wanted to work with Eric Holder, Obama’s choice for Attorney General. Holder famously defended the “wall of separation” between the CIA and the FBI during the Clinton administration, which prevented the agencies from sharing intelligence on terrorists, for fear of harming...

Here is video of NBC's Chuck Todd asking a question of President-elect Barack Obama at a press conference today, January 7, 2009. He asked Obama if he would like to comment about the Israeli - Hamas conflict in Gaza. Todd pointed out Obama has said repeatedly he could not comment because America only has "one President at a time," but went on to say to Obama that he had not followed that when it comes to domestic policy, speaking out repeatedly about the economy. Obama did not seem to appreciate Todd pointing out this inconsistency, and tried to make the...

Diplomatic efforts continued at the United Nations on Monday with Arab foreign ministers pressing for a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. The Arab nations prepared a new draft Security Council Resolution to be presented when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends meetings in New York on Tuesday. An open Security Council meeting is planned. But not much appeared to have changed, despite meetings between the Arab foreign ministers, the U.S. Ambassador, and other permanent members of the Council. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said, "We are here with the expectation that all members of the Security Council will work in...

SHAH ALAM, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- The United Nations (UN) should set up an international tribunal to prosecute Israeli war criminals, Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War (KLFCW) trustee Tunku Sofiah Jewa said today. She noted the time was ripe for the UN General Assembly to seriously consider estabilishing an international criminal tribunal for Israel (ICTI), in view of the recent Israeli atrocities against Palestine. Tunku Sofia said this would be in line with a call by Prof Francis A. Boyle, a noted international jurist, to establish the ICTI. "Until an ICTI is established by the UN General Assembly, neither...

The latest NIC Global Trends 2025 Report is out… and it’s not good news for those determined to insure the Bush legacy is portrayed as one consisting of nothing but of utter failure. Download the 120 pg, 8.2MB report hereI had summarized for Larry Weisenthal here just a few days ago… as well as blogged about it on my old haunt Sea2Sea back in February 2008… PLUS Wordsmith’s post May 29th here on FA… about what? There’s been more than a few of us becoming aware that one of the side benefits of the Iraq war was the decline of...

As he stands on the sidelines, seemingly oblivious to what's going on in the world, President-elect Barack Obama opts out of the game by proclaiming that there's only one president at a time. That's another way of saying, "Let George do it," when the Middle East erupts in violence, the economy continues to slump, and the governor of his state defies demands that he step down. His almost nonchalant approach to the turmoil around him has thus far protected him from adverse reactions from his real base -- the media -- but that immunity from harsh criticism has not extended...