China Executes Naïve Mentally Ill Briton for Drug Smuggling; Condemnation of Atrocious Human Rights Records:

China Executes Naïve Mentally Ill Briton for Drug Smuggling; Condemnation of Atrocious Human Rights Records:
By Marc Chamot

Akmal Shaikh had no criminal record. He was a man who wanted to write peace songs for the world, he was a real gentle and loving man, and who would never hurt anyone, who happened to be homeless in Poland. Some scummy and seedy people in Poland exploited his mental conditions and convinced him to take a haul of drugs to China and that they would finance his recordings and took a bad fall.

If anybody reads my blogs, there’s one thing that they’d notice, I’m no big fan of China. And I have no love for that country and its peoples.

There are many reasons as to why, and one of them is their atrocious human rights records. But this time they went overboard, they executed a mentally ill Briton who happened to be caught with drugs at a Chinese airport.

53 year old Akmal Shaikh, a father of three was executed by lethal injection yesterday.

The Chinese government totally ignored international pleas for clemency and claims of his incompetence because of his mental illness.

To me, this is tragic news story of a man gone awry because of mental illness. China already executes 5,000 people a year! More than the entire world combined, for crimes like pornography, and corruption, neglectful of duties and drug smuggling.

The British government is fuming as to what China did to this poor unsuspecting guy, and I don’t blame them at all.

I want the British to make it tougher for China to import and sell their cheap products in Great Britain. I want to see them do what our own government in the U.S., don’t have the “cojones” to do, from this president and both parties’ in congress don’t have the balls to get tough on China.

Failure to deal with China will be our politician’s worst nightmares when we go to the polls within the next few election cycles. Polls have shown that majority of Americans are appalled with China and the economic damages that they have done to this country. And our politicians are still bending over and kissing their rear ends.

What China did to Akmal Shaikh is murderous and unjustifiable, and here we made China the third most powerful economy of the world? Our politicians are out of their minds, they all need to be thrown OUT!

Condemnation as China executes Briton for drug smuggling
The British government condemned China's execution of a British national Tuesday on drug smuggling charges.

"I ... am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. "I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken."

Akmal Shaikh was convicted of carrying up to 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) of heroin at the Urumqi Airport in September 2007. According to Chinese law, 50 grams (1.76 ounces) is the threshold for the death penalty.

China defended the execution in a statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in London.
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"Drug trafficking is a grave crime worldwide," the statement said. "The concerns of the British side have been duly noted and taken into consideration by the Chinese judicial authorities in the legal process, and Mr. Shaikh's rights and interests under Chinese law are properly respected and guaranteed."


The 53-year-old is the first European executed in China in 50 years, according to the British legal group Reprieve.


The Chinese ambassador to the UK, Fu Ying, was summoned to the British Foreign Office in the hours following Shaikh's execution, the Foreign Office told CNN. The ambassador was set to meet Ivan Lewis, minister of state.


"I had a difficult conversation with the Chinese ambassador today," Lewis said in a statement following the meeting. "I made clear that the execution of Mr. Shaikh was totally unacceptable and that China had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities in this case, in particular that China's court had not considered the representations made about Mr. Shaikh's mental condition."
"We are deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed at the news of the execution of our beloved cousin, Akmal," Soohail and Nasir Shaikh said in a statement issued on behalf of the family. "This was carried out this morning despite repeated requests for clemency and a proper appraisal of Akmal's mental state."

His family and the British government had asked Chinese leaders for clemency. His supporters argued that Shaikh was mentally ill, and that Chinese officials did not take his mental condition into account when trying him. Shaikh's advocates say he suffered from a bipolar disorder and that he was tricked into carrying heroin into China with promises of a career as a pop singer.

"The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the execution of Akmal Shaikh," the EU presidency said in a statement. "It deeply regrets the fact that China has not heeded the repeated calls by the European Union and one of its member states for the death sentence passed against Mr. Shaikh to be commuted."

The EU remains opposed to capital punishment, the statement said.

Brown raised Shaikh's case with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during the international climate summit in Denmark earlier this month.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband echoed Gordon Brown's concerns about the execution.

"The UK is completely opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances," Miliband said. "However, I also deeply regret the fact that our specific concerns about the individual in this case were not taken into consideration. ... These included mental health issues, and inadequate professional interpretation during the trial."
Sally Rowen, legal director with Reprieve, condemned the execution.

"The death of Akmal Shaikh is a sad indictment of today's world, and particularly of China's legal system," she said. "Akmal was a gentle man who suffered from a tormenting illness ... and was betrayed and deliberately killed by one of the most powerful nations on Earth."
Before the execution, Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said it would be a "major step backwards for China" to execute a mentally ill man.

"Both Chinese and international law clearly indicate that a person who committed a crime while suffering from significant mental illness should not be subjected to the death penalty," Alston said in a statement released by Reprieve.

China expressed hope that the case would not affect the relationship between the two nations.

"We value the China-British relationship," said Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. "So we hope the British authority can treat this matter rationally and not let it create new barrier between the two countries. I have emphasized that this is an independent criminal case. It has nothing to do with anything else."

New York City EMT’s Refuse Service to a Dying Pregnant Woman; Jason Green & Melissa Jackson Let 25 Year Old Eutisha Rennix DIE:

New York City EMT’s Refuse Service to a Dying Pregnant Woman; Jason Green & Melissa Jackson Let 25 Year Old Eutisha Rennix DIE:
By Marc Chamot

EMT’s Jason Green and Melissa Jackson are New York’s biggest scumbags. They let poor pregnant 25 year old, Eutisha Rennix after collapsing in a New York coffee shop, where they were on a coffee break die.

These two heartless individuals told the coffee shop owner to call an ambulance, when they were asked to tend to her needs; they then walked out the shop. Sadly, Rennix and her unborn baby died a short time later.

This is so vile, shameful and heartless to do on anybody, especially by taxpayer paid paramedics, whose every citizen’s lives depend on them. It's so DAMN scary folks!

This just boggles my mind in how any city can employ these types of unconcerned and heartless individuals. Incidents like these, gets me all riled up. I just hope Rennix’s families sue the city of New York and these individual’s for everything they’ve got.

Bravo to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He condemned these individual’s actions harshly.

These two scums should never work as EMT’s anywhere in this country EVER again!

This has got to be a national outrage!

Eutisha Rennix Death: Jason Green, Melissa Jackson, Paramedics, Deny They Ignored Dying Woman
NEW YORK — The emergency medical technicians accused of refusing to help a dying pregnant woman were never asked to examine her or told the extent of her condition, their lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney Douglas Rosenthal said his clients were only asked to summon an ambulance on Dec. 9 when they were taking a break in a Brooklyn eatery. He said Jason Green and Melisa Jackson never saw Eutisha Rennix, who was in the back of the Au Bon Pain store, and that other employees didn't seem overly concerned about her condition.

"There was no apparent panic," Rosenthal said in a statement.

Witnesses have said the EMTs told workers to call 911, then left when they were asked to help the 25-year-old pregnant woman. Rennix, who also was the mother of a 3-year-old boy, died at a hospital shortly afterward. The cause of death has not been determined. Her baby did not survive the premature birth.

Rosenthal said Jackson, a four-year veteran, was asked by an employee to summon an ambulance because the six-months-pregnant Rennix was showing asthmatic symptoms and was experiencing abdominal pain.

Rosenthal said Jackson radioed for an ambulance and she and Green, a six-year veteran, stayed until they knew help was coming.

Green and Jackson have been suspended without pay. They are also under investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney's office and the state Department of Health, which oversees EMT training.

A union covering emergency workers has said that all dispatchers are required to be field-trained EMTs or paramedics in order to be more effective at their jobs, and are capable of getting involved in emergency situations. The New York Fire Department says all members take an oath to help others whenever emergency medical care is needed.

Cynthia Rennix said the story doesn't match what she was told by her daughter's coworker and supervisor.

"They were well aware of the seriousness of her being on the floor. They should have at least looked to see what was going on," she said Thursday. "That's no excuse for it."
Medical Examiner's Office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Rennix's body would be exhumed and an autopsy performed. The results will be released to authorities investigating the case.

Environmentalists: Dogs, Man’s Best Friend, Your Friendly Pooch, are Environment’s Worst Offenders:

Environmentalists: Dogs, Man’s Best Friend, Your Friendly Pooch, are Environment’s Worst Offenders:
By Marc Chamot

So now it’s tax all dog owners?

You know what? Here’s another reason why I cannot stand environmentalists. They seem to come up with idiotic answers for everything. They have now made dogs, man’s best friend, and your pooch public enemy of the environment.

Maybe these two idiotic New Zealanders, Robert and Brenda Vale wouldn’t have come up with this story, if some careless dog owner didn’t leave their dog doo on the sidewalk! Obviously they must have stepped on it one too many times, gotten angry and said we will show these dog lovers a thing or two!

This is what this world is coming to these days. The loonies from the left, the environmentalists, they want to take every thing away from you, and now including your household pets. This is just other environmentalists-global warming loonies’ tax scams, these idiotic nut jobs came up with.

Well? Let’s see? How about getting rid of all polluters, let’s not just stop with dogs, how about the kangaroos, Koala bears, black bears, Al Gore’s Polar Bears, deer, all animals on this earth, they are all polluters! All of this makes as much sense as a car having square wheels! What lunacy this world has become folks, with these crazed loonies.

I kid you not!

Polluting pets: the devastating impact of man's best friend
PARIS (AFP) – Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

But the revelation in the book "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living" by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year.

Combine the land required to generate its food and a "medium" sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) -- around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4x4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.

To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to calculate eco-pawprints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same.

"Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat," Barrett said. Other animals aren't much better for the environment, the Vales say.

Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equates to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.

But Reha Huttin, president of France's 30 Million Friends animal rights foundation says the human impact of eliminating pets would be equally devastating.
"Pets are anti-depressants, they help us cope with stress, they are good for the elderly," Huttin told AFP.

"Everyone should work out their own environmental impact. I should be allowed to say that I walk instead of using my car and that I don't eat meat, so why shouldn't I be allowed to have a little cat to alleviate my loneliness?"

Sylvie Comont, proud owner of seven cats and two dogs -- the environmental equivalent of a small fleet of cars -- says defiantly, "Our animals give us so much that I don't feel like a polluter at all.

"I think the love we have for our animals and what they contribute to our lives outweighs the environmental considerations. "I don't want a life without animals," she told AFP.

And pets' environmental impact is not limited to their carbon footprint, as cats and dogs devastate wildlife, spread disease and pollute waterways, the Vales say.

With a total 7.7 million cats in Britain, more than 188 million wild animals are hunted, killed and eaten by feline predators per year, or an average 25 birds, mammals and frogs per cat, according to figures in the New Scientist.

Likewise, dogs decrease biodiversity in areas they are walked, while their faeces cause high bacterial levels in rivers and streams, making the water unsafe to drink, starving waterways of oxygen and killing aquatic life.

And cat poo can be even more toxic than doggy doo -- owners who flush their litter down the toilet ultimately infect sea otters and other animals with toxoplasma gondii, which causes a killer brain disease.

But despite the apocalyptic visions of domesticated animals' environmental impact, solutions exist, including reducing pets' protein-rich meat intake.

"If pussy is scoffing 'Fancy Feast' -- or some other food made from choice cuts of meat -- then the relative impact is likely to be high," said Robert Vale.

"If, on the other hand, the cat is fed on fish heads and other leftovers from the fishmonger, the impact will be lower."

Other potential positive steps include avoiding walking your dog in wildlife-rich areas and keeping your cat indoors at night when it has a particular thirst for other, smaller animals' blood.
As with buying a car, humans are also encouraged to take the environmental impact of their future possession/companion into account.

But the best way of compensating for that paw or clawprint is to make sure your animal is dual purpose, the Vales urge. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table.
"Rabbits are good, provided you eat them," said Robert Vale.

Despite Recession Crime Keeps Falling According to FBI; a Tribute to Quality Social Services in America:

Despite Recession Crime Keeps Falling According to FBI; a Tribute to Quality Social Services in America:
By Marc Chamot

One thing that is great about this great nation of ours. When it gets tougher going for most people, we are the nicest and kindest folks around. With high unemployment and with record food stamps recipients, crime in the United States is going down.

According to new FBI reports, crime in America has declined considerably, and obviously Americans are being more sympathetic and helping the needs of other hurting people.

There is no other country in the world that has benefits or safety nets for recession hurt citizens, like in America. This is why I support social services for hurting Americans, without those, we would have crime waves like you see in Brazil and other citizen neglected nations. That is WHY they ALL want to come here, to exploit our own benefits system.

This is why we mustn’t allow non citizens to exploit or bankrupt our safety nets, if we do, we will go broke, and become crime ridden like their countries.

This is what sets us apart from the run in the mills “banana republics” of the third worlds, those who don’t give a darn for their people. We must FIGHT to keep this thing going.

Stories like these make me really proud to be American!

Despite recession, crime keeps falling
WASHINGTON — High unemployment. More folks on food stamps. Fewer owning their homes. Yet for all the signs of recession, something is missing: More crime.

Experts are scratching their heads over why crime has ebbed so far during this recession, making it different from other economic downturns of the past half-century. Early guesses include jobless folks at home keeping closer watch for thieves, or the American population just getting older_ and older people commit fewer crimes.

Preliminary FBI crime figures for the first half of 2009 show crime falling across the country, even at a time of high unemployment, foreclosures and layoffs. Most surprisingly, murder and manslaughter fell 10 percent for the first half of the year.

"That's a remarkable decline, given the economic conditions," said Richard Rosenfeld, a sociologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who has studied crime trends.

Rosenfeld said he did not expect the 10 percent drop in killings to be sustained over the entire year, as more data is reported. But he said the broad declines are exceptional, given that past recessions stretching back to the 1950's have boosted crime rates.

Property crimes, in particular, were expected to rise.
They haven't.

Overall, property crimes fell by 6.1 percent, and violent crimes by 4.4 percent, according to the six-month data collected by the FBI. Crime rates haven't been this low since the 1960's, and are nowhere near the peak reached in the early 1990's.

Rosenfeld said there are several possible explanations, including that extended unemployment benefits, food stamps, and other government-driven economic stimulus "have cushioned and delayed for many people the big blows that come from a recession."

Those benefits will have to run out eventually, he cautioned.

Another possible factor is that with more people home from work, it is harder for burglars to break into a home or apartment unnoticed by neighbors, he said. Rosenfeld said another possibility is that because big cities tend to have a large impact on national crime figures, those cities' technology-driven, "smart policing" efforts are driving down national rates.

The new figures show car thefts also dropped significantly, falling nearly 19 percent and continuing a sharp downward trend in that category. Some believe that big drop in car theft is due largely to the security locking systems installed on most models, as well as more high-tech deterrents like car recovery devices that use the Global Positioning System.

James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University, said he was not surprised by the overall downward trends.

"The popular wisdom is wrong," said Fox. "If a law-abiding citizen loses their job, they don't typically go on a crime spree."

Fox argued the decline is partly due to the graying of America. As the over-50 population grows, he said, crime goes down, even while other social costs, like health care, go up.

Like Rosenfeld, Fox also doubted that big changes — like a 10 percent drop in murders — are sustainable.

"We shouldn't celebrate too loudly," he said, arguing that it may be a statistical fluke, but one which can also generate complacency on the part of public officials.

"You don't solve the crime problem, you only control it," he said.

The figures are based on data supplied to the FBI by more than 11,700 police and law enforcement agencies. They compare reported crimes in the first six months of this year to the first six months of last year. Separate statistics compiled by the Justice Department measure both reported and unreported crimes.

The early 2009 data suggests the crime-dropping trend of 2008 is not just continuing but accelerating. In 2008, the same data showed a nearly 4 percent drop in murder and manslaughter, and an overall drop in violent crime of 1.9 percent from 2007 to 2008.

According to the FBI figures, reports of violent crime fell about 7 percent in cities with 1 million or more people. But in towns with 10,000 to 25,000 people, violent crime ticked up slightly by 1.7 percent.

Each city's data was different, but collectively pointed to less crime in every major category.

Nationwide, rape fell by 3.3 percent, and robbery by 6.5 percent. Arsons, which are subject to a variety of reporting standards, declined more than 8 percent.

The FBI's data for New York City shows 204 reported murders in the first half of 2009, compared to 252 in same period last year. By comparison, Oklahoma City saw reported killings increase from 26 to 32, the FBI said. Phoenix, Ariz., saw 10 fewer killings, dropping from 86 in the first half of 2008 to 76 in the first half of this year, according to the data.
On the Net:
FBI Crime Data: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec09/crimestats_122109.html&usg=AFQjCNELr4F1UypTGCCErHLRXhMySriLhA

Where’s the loyalty? Pew Hispanic Center Study; only 41% American Born Young Latinos Proudly Claim to be American:

Where’s the loyalty? Pew Hispanic Center Study; only 41% American Born Young Latinos Proudly Claim to be American:
By Marc Chamot

Where are the loyalties folks? Do they really deserve Amnesty and more rights to be here?

Marc Chamot hasn’t been picking on Hispanics for nothing, but I always knew that something wasn’t right with this group. I have been amongst them for years, I know how they think and operate. Sure, I’ve been lambasting on undocumented’s for years, and I’ve been definitely a big opponent against amnesty. For those who still want to give amnesty to illegal aliens, here more bad news for you.

Even though Pew Hispanic Center is a pro-immigration wing of open borders groups, while trying to criticize American society for their ills, it’s interesting that they came up with another negative view on this group.

Hispanic young people born from Latino immigrant parents in the United States, the majority retain strong loyal ties to their immigrant parents’ homelands. I just can’t help remembering how Rome fell, behind this piece of news. Can you?

This study also claims about the Latino are being inflicted with lower than average wages and education. But whose fault is that? Everyone here is entitled to an education, I was a former immigrant myself, and I got the best education around here. So, I will debunk this asinine theory that immigrants cannot get a descent education. The real reason is Latinos don’t get an education it’s because they DON'T want to, period.

Take a look at San Francisco public schools; Latinos have the highest dropout rates than anyone else.

This Pew report was released Friday. It includes government data on Hispanics 16 to 25 years olds, called “millennial” Even young Hispanics who are born abroad and get legal status as Americans, they are LESS likely to call themselves American, even among their second generations living in America.

Only 41% call themselves Americans, while 21% call themselves Latinos and Hispanics, while one-third called themselves natives of their home countries, like Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaraguan and so forth.

Even adult Latino American immigrants, I’ve seen them, they support their OWN soccer home teams during world cup matches, rather than our own U.S. teams.

This BOILS my blood, it's so disloyal, we as Americans shouldn’t take this sitting down.

Broad study of young 'millennial' Latinos
N.C. Aizenman, Washington Post
Saturday, December 12, 2009
(12-12) 04:00 PST Washington - --

Hispanic young people born in the United States retain a strong identification with their immigrant parents' homelands but also remain optimistic about their future in this country despite lower-than-average levels of education and income, according to one of the most wide-ranging studies of young Latinos to date.

The report released Friday by the Pew Hispanic Center includes detailed analysis of government data on Hispanics ages 16 to 25 - a generation often referred to as "millennials" - as well as a survey of more than 2,000 respondents.

"If you want to understand what America will be like in the 21st century, you need to have an understanding of how today's young Latinos, most of whom are not immigrants, are growing up," said Paul Taylor, executive director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

Hispanics already make up 1 out of 5 school-age children and 1 out of 4 newborns in the nation, Taylor said. Their presence is even more pronounced in states such as New Mexico, California and Texas, where they account for 40 percent or more of millennials.

While the report found that Hispanic millennials born abroad were the least likely to consider themselves American, even among the second generation only 41 percent said that "American" was the first term they generally use to describe themselves. Twenty-one percent preferred the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino," while one-third referred to their family's country of origin, calling themselves "Mexican" or "Salvadoran," for instance.

While nearly all millennials surveyed agreed that a college degree is important, for instance, less than half said they planned to get one. Most cited financial pressure to support their family as the reason.

TeaParty “R”US.blogspot.com; New Political Information /Clearinghouse for the Tea Party Movement, “It's Time to Throw the Bums OUT!

By Marc Chamot

A new blog was begun, called the TeaParty"R"US.blogspot.com this new site will be dedicated solely for the Tea Party Movement, and time has now come to get it going. I realize that just writing and complaining about things may not be enough.

The TeaParty “R”US will be kind of like an information center, news and a clearing house for the movement.All links, photos, schedules, everything to do with the movement that I can find will be posted there. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome. Your blog links are also welcome.

My goal will be to target politicians for REMOVAL from office starting with California. Let’s unite and get this country back on track. It’s only YOU, us, and me that can get it done.In the following weeks, I will be posting the plans about the movement, more on Glenn Beck and so forth.

This country called the United States of America is definitely heading in the wrong direction. I want YOU, my fellow bloggers to push for this movement.

We’ve got a lot of work to do before the end of next year, and there’s a whole lot of politicians in Washington that need to go, getting their pink slips from U.S. Charlie taxpayer is what they really deserve.

If anybody has any input, please feel free to holler

NOW Again, who are these Homegrown terrorists Janet Napolitano? U.S. Recognizes Homegrown Muslim Extremism as Rising Threat for America:

NOW Again, who are these Homegrown terrorists Janet Napolitano? U.S. Recognizes Homegrown Muslim Extremism as Rising Threat for America:
By Marc Chamot

"It’s obvious that it wasn’t us, the constitutionalists, the anti-immigration, the pro-NRA, and anti-Abortion bunches, it’s the radical Muslims! These crazy cats can KILL you in a New-York-Minute, but we can safely VOTE you out of OFFICE and quicker!"

Oh well, it’s about time. It looks like our federal government is finally getting the BIG picture on Muslim terrorism in America.

The Obama reconciliation with Muslim terrorists isn’t working and will NEVER work. Just ask Israel about it? And trying these Guantanamo’s dangerous, viscous, and viperous animals in New York City? What were they thinking?

Photo: Courtesy from my blog buddy at Entrecard.com

U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat
This may have been the most dangerous year since 9/11, anti-terrorism experts say.
By Sebastian Rotella
December 7, 2009
Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration, grappling with a spate of recent Islamic terrorism cases on U.S. soil, has concluded that the country confronts a rising threat from homegrown extremism.

Anti-terrorism officials and experts see signs of accelerated radicalization among American Muslims, driven by a wave of English-language online propaganda and reflected in aspiring fighters' trips to hot spots such as Pakistan and Somalia.Europe had been the front line, the target of successive attacks and major plots, while the U.S. remained relatively calm.

But the number, variety and scale of recent U.S. cases suggest 2009 has been the most dangerous year domestically since 2001, anti-terrorism experts said:* There were major arrests of Americans accused of plotting with Al Qaeda and its allies, including an Afghan American charged in a New York bomb plot described as the most serious threat in this country since the Sept. 11 attacks.*

Authorities tracked other extremism suspects joining foreign networks, including Somali Americans going to the battlegrounds of their ancestral homeland and an Albanian American from Brooklyn who was arrested in Kosovo.*

The FBI rounded up homegrown terrorism suspects in Dallas, Detroit and Raleigh, N.C., saying that it had broken up plots targeting a synagogue, government buildings and military facilities.Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued her strongest public comments yet on the homegrown threat.

"We've seen an increased number of arrests here in the U.S. of individuals suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, or supporting terror groups abroad such as Al Qaeda," Napolitano said in a speech in New York. "Home-based terrorism is here. And, like violent extremism abroad, it will be part of the threat picture that we must now confront."

Officials acknowledged that her tone had changed, though they said terrorism has been her focus since becoming Homeland Security chief.In some of the 2009 cases, extremist leanings are suspected but motives are not known.Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- accused of killing 13 people in a Ft. Hood, Texas, and shooting rampage last month -- has apparently suffered emotional problems.

But in interviews, officials and experts have also raised his Muslim beliefs as an alleged motive.A previous attack on the U.S. military, a shooting in June by an American convert who killed a soldier and wounded another at an Arkansas recruiting center, was apparently a case of a lone wolf radicalized in Yemen, according to Homeland Security officials.

"You are seeing the full spectrum of the threats you face in terrorism," former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said."Radicalization is clearly happening in the U.S.," said Mitchell Silber, director of analysis for the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department.

"In years past, you couldn't say that about the U.S. You could say it about Europe."Europe has suffered a militant onslaught: transport bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, an assassination in the Netherlands in 2004, and close calls such as the fiery failed attack on the Glasgow airport in 2007.Hard borders have helped the U.S. ward off the threat.

But experts also said that Islamic radicalization is more widespread in Europe. Crime, alienation and extremism roil Muslim immigrant communities in places like tiny Denmark and the vast slums of France.In contrast, American Muslims are wealthier, better educated and better integrated because the United States does a good job of absorbing immigrants and fostering tolerance, experts said.

During the last decade, Americans have been a rare presence in the Al Qaeda-connected camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan that have trained hundreds of Westerners and thousands of recruits from Muslim-majority nations.Nonetheless, recent investigations have run across Americans suspected of being operatives of Al Qaeda and its allies who were trained overseas and, in several cases, allegedly conspired with top terrorism bosses.

They include a convert from Long Island, N.Y, who was captured in Pakistan late last year; a Chicago businessman accused of scouting foreign targets for a Pakistani network; and at least 15 Somali American youths from Minneapolis who returned to fight in their ancestral homeland."A larger trend has emerged that is not surprising, but is disturbing," Chertoff said.

"You are beginning to see the fruits of the pipeline that Al Qaeda built to train Westerners and send them back to their homelands. . . . This underscores the central significance of disrupting the pipeline at its source."A campaign of U.S. airstrikes launched last year has pounded Al Qaeda hide-outs in Pakistan. But the flow of trainees gathered momentum in 2007 when Pakistani security forces ceded turf to militant groups, officials said.

The suspect in the New York plot, Najibullah Zazi, and the Long Island convert, Bryant Neal Vinas, allegedly met in Pakistan in 2008 and discussed attacks on U.S. targets with Al Qaeda chiefs.Vinas and Zazi are the first Americans to be accused of joining Al Qaeda in several years.Meanwhile, Silber said in recent congressional testimony: "There have been a half-dozen cases of individuals who, instead of traveling abroad to carry out violence, have elected to attempt to do it here.

This is substantially greater than what we have seen in the past, and may reflect an emerging pattern."Some feel radicalization in the United States has been worse than authorities thought for some time."People focused on the idea that we're different, we're better at integrating Muslims than Europe is," said Zeyno Baran, a scholar at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington. "But there's radicalization -- especially among converts [and] newcomers, such as the Somali case shows. I think young U.S. Muslims today are as prone to radicalization as Muslims in Europe.

"In proportion to population, extremism still appears less intense in the United States. But the Internet functions as the global engine of extremism. Websites expose Americans to a wave of slick, English-language propaganda from ideologues such as Anwar Awlaki, the Yemeni American described as a spiritual guide for the accused Ft. Hood shooter and other Westerners.And socioeconomic success will not necessarily prevent Americans' radicalization.

Studies suggest that a quest for identity and the bonding process among small groups often drive militants more than personal hardship does."The profile in Europe is in general quite different [from U.S. extremists]: more working-class or even underclass," said a European intelligence official who requested anonymity for security reasons. "But it's a bit simplistic to make assumptions. We have seen everything in Europe -- educated people, doctors involved in terrorism. The underclass argument is not enough.

"The Obama administration began the year with gestures to the Muslim world. President Obama promised to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and made a historic speech in Cairo.The Homeland Security Department leads the administration's counter-radicalization effort. The Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which works with Muslim leaders, held summit meetings with Somali communities this year in Minnesota and Ohio, said David Heyman, assistant Homeland Security secretary for policy.But that office still lacks a director, critics point out, and the department has yet to fill other key posts as well.

"We don't do enough about fostering a counter-narrative," said Matthew Levitt, a former anti-terrorism official for the Treasury Department now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Competing for space with the radicalizers and challenging their radical ideologies is the key.

"In contrast to the heightened extremist activity in the United States, Europe has remained relatively calm this year. But the West needs to keep up its guard on both sides of the Atlantic, said Farhad Khosrokhavar, an Iranian French scholar who interviewed jailed extremists for his book "Inside Jihadism.""You can be middle-class and have bright prospects but become a jihadist," he said. "We have to broaden the analysis.

This idea of American exceptionalism, the comparison with Europe, should not blind us to the fact that we are going toward a broader participation in jihad."

Congressional House Black Caucuses Rebelling? Boycotts over Frustrations’ in Lack of Progress on Jobs for African American Communities:

Congressional House Black Caucuses Rebelling? Boycotts over Frustrations’ in Lack of Progress on Jobs for African American Communities:
By Marc Chamot

Whoa there! Did I hear this right? Halleluiahs, it’s ABOUT time in coming, folks!

Even though congressional black caucuses are up in arms as to what’s happening to their fellow race-mates, they ARE still barking up that same old immigration TREE.

They are still the forefront supporters for illegal immigration and amnesty in the house.

And knowing FULL well, after reports and studies have shown, that cheap, lower waged illegal immigrants are decimating African American housing and jobs opportunities all over, they are still quiet and remain clueless about the situation. Not too much longer, though.

Things may be changing soon, after recent negative illegal immigration news reports and with the sad economic situations, African American politicians in Washington might be swayed to move our way. Like in looking to take a tougher stand on illegal immigration and pushing away from amnesty. There are definitely correlations between the rise of illegal aliens in America, and the decline of black Americans neighborhoods and jobs prospects.

They also KNOW, by legalizing over 12 million illegal immigrants will supplant the black VOTERS; America’s African American community will become the second ranked minority in America. They have a whole lot to lose, like being number two, and a whole lot of political influences as well.

It’s never been more crucial than what it is now for them to take action. Without the black cactuses’ support, fighting amnesty will be a tough battle.

This is what brought this on:

“Key House panel voted Wednesday to slap new restraints on big Wall Street institutions and to demand greater openness from the nation's central bank, clearing a significant hurdle in the drive for a sweeping financial regulations overhaul.

Motivated by the crisis that caused a near collapse in financial markets, the House Financial Services Committee approved legislation 31-27 that would give the government the right to dismantle financial firms that pose a risk to the economy, even if they are healthy.

The legislation also would require a detailed congressional audit of the privacy-shrouded Federal Reserve and would assess fees up front on large financial institutions to pay for the failure of their competitors.

The action sets the stage for a full House vote next week on comprehensive regulatory changes meant as a response to the financial sector's meltdown more than a year ago. That package, set to go to the House floor on Wednesday, would include the creation of a new consumer finance protection agency, restrictions on complex financial instruments blamed for feeding last year's panic and restrictions on Wall Street compensation.”

But then the boycotts began today:

Black lawmakers: Regulation vote hinges on job aid
“WASHINGTON — Black House lawmakers are warning that they must see progress on help for the jobless in African American communities before they can be counted on to support sweeping regulations governing Wall Street.

Ten members of the House Financial Services Committee boycotted a panel vote on a key component of the regulatory overhaul. California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said the lawmakers have regularly voted for bailouts and changes affecting financial institutions without protecting black communities and businesses.

She said "that stops today."

Among the group's demands were greater assistance for minority-owned auto dealerships, greater assistance to banks that lend in black communities and more government advertising in minority-owned media.”

After all this, last Thursday, the new leader of the Latino group, the largest legal advocacy organization in the United States, who supports illegal immigrants’ rights.

Thomas Saenz its new president and general counsel of MALDEF, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Funds, admitted it’s going to be tough to get amnesty and more immigration rights to the nations’ illegal’s at this moment. The atmosphere and the environment for its success aren’t there, especially after the heated healthcare debates about funding free healthcare for illegal aliens.

The immigration debate has been "coarsened," the pro-immigration movement has lost its steam, and there are too many angry Americans who don’t support it. He suggested that they should focus on small gains, such as rights to education, and rights for lesbians and gays to sponsor foreign partners.

Thomas Saenz’s top priority is still comprehensive immigration reforms that would offer paths to legalizations, and with MINIMUM FINES or penalties to the millions of illegal’s in this country.

Group's leader urges new strategy on immigrant rights
The immigration debate "has been coarsened," and President Obama is apparently trying to avoid controversy, Saenz said. He cited Obama's support for a provision in the health care bill sponsored by Senate Democratic leaders that would prohibit illegal immigrants from using their own money to buy coverage in government-backed insurance exchanges.

That restriction is not contained in the House bill, which would bar illegal immigrants from using government subsidies to buy insurance through the exchanges but would let them make the purchases with their own money.

"There seems to be a perception that (immigration) is somehow the third rail of politics," Saenz said. He said immigrants' rights supporters have de-emphasized some lesser measures while concentrating on their main goal, and might be wise to refocus on those measures in the coming year.

The measures that Saenz wants MALDEF and its allies to promote in 2010 would:
-- Allow children who entered the United States illegally, and later graduated from high school, to earn legal residence by obtaining a college degree or serving in the armed forces.
-- Allow undocumented farm workers to qualify for legal residence with five to seven years of agricultural employment.
-- Allow lesbians and gays to sponsor their partners for immigration as family members, just as other U.S. citizens and legal residents can now sponsor their spouses or close relatives.
-- Prohibit state and local governments from passing immigration laws that are more restrictive than federal law, such as an Arizona statute requiring employers to verify their workers' immigration status. That law is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Backs sanctuary laws

"We should have one uniform nationwide policy (on immigration penalties)," Saenz said. He said cities such as San Francisco should be free to establish more generous policies through sanctuary laws that discourage authorities from reporting suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

MALDEF, a nonprofit founded in 1968, was based in San Francisco until 1986, when it moved to Los Angeles. Saenz, 43, was a lawyer with the fund from 1993 until 2005, when he left to become chief counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

While with the organization, he argued the lawsuit that overturned Proposition 187, the 1994 initiative that would have eliminated public services to illegal immigrants.

He also represented day laborers fighting local restrictions on soliciting work, and unsuccessfully challenged a 1998 initiative that virtually outlawed bilingual education.