Incident

Incident throws off Obama administration's agenda
December 29, 2009

BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration was on the defensive Monday over how a Nigerian man who tried to destroy Detroit-bound Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day held a valid U.S. visa, was allowed to board the plane in Amsterdam even though he was on a terrorist watch list, and was able to bring an explosive substance undetected on the aircraft.

Already, three committees in Congress announced hearings on the incident in January; the House and Senate Homeland Security committees and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. It’s not the posture the Obama White House wanted to be with Congress as Obama nears his first anniversary in office on Jan. 22 and with final negotiations over his signature health-care bill set for next month.

RELATED STORIESObama: Absolutely critical we learn from terror plot In-flight restrictions on electronics, leaving seat eased Napolitano backtracks, concedes system failed in terror attack Nigerian plane bomber bought tickets in Ghana
On Monday, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) say their hearing will ‘‘examine the layers of security meant to protect airline passengers from terrorist attacks but which accused terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab successfully evaded.’’

Obama himself addressed the incident for the first time, breaking from his Hawaii vacation to appear tieless before cameras to read a statement. He noted that Abdulmutallab was in a U.S. database of suspected terrorists, but not on the smaller no-fly list.

“I’ve ordered a thorough review not only of how information related to the subject was handled, but of the overall watch list system and how it can be strengthened,” Obama said. Obama also said he ordered an examination of “all screening policies, technologies and procedures related to air travel.”

He also directed his national security team “to keep up the pressure on those who would attack our country. . . . We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us — whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland.”

The incident has thrown Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano in the spotlight; she was on six morning shows Monday and three on Sunday. But she got in a bit of a jam on the Sunday shows when she said ‘‘one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked,” meaning no one was hurt seriously because the suspect was subdued by passengers and crew on the flight. But I bet most people start looking at the system failing — not working — when Abdulmutallab was allowed on a plane with explosive material hidden in his pants.

She was asked about it on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and explained she was starting the clock on the system working once the crew notified authorities of the thwarted attempt to ignite an incendiary device — that is, after the incident occurred.

On NBC’s “Today” show Napolitano was pressed to concede the system “failed miserably.”

Said Napolitano, “It did.”

bleugryphon wrote:
This doesn't bode well. POTUS has basically told the terrorists that they aren't that important in his world. He obviously thinks that the last eight years was just an exercise in world intimidation by the evil George Bush. He is trying to close GITMO and bring all the detainees captured in battle to Illinois.
He wants to then convey Constitutional Rights to enemy combatives and tie up our judicial system even further. The enemy has been laughing, is laughing and will continue to laugh at this Administration and it's feeble attempts to defend this country.
There have been about twelve attempts already and the MSM has downplayed it as much as possible. Until POTUS and his puppets in the MSM start telling the truth will we be able to get back on track again. We can try to stop as many attempts as possible but they only need to succeed once to be effective. We've been extremely lucky so far and by the Grace of God, we haven't suffered a catastrophe yet.
The current system is broken. Janet Napolitano was telling the MSM that the system was working correctly this weekend. It obviously wasn't so, she changed her story on Monday. It is based on political factors rather then real ones. It cannot continue this way and should be changed to policy issues that need to be corrected. There is still time, I hope that the government can react quickly.

12/29/2009 11:09 AM CST

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1962664,sweet-obama-air-attacks-122909.article#

I have to mention that the purpose of this article, by Lynn Sweet, is to once again have the MSM try to downplay another Terrorist attack. We were fortunate that it failed. Napolitano showed the country that she is not qualified for the job and POTUS was forced to cut into his vacation time and perform a feeble song and dance about how he has things under control.

Iran

I want to wish alot of luck to the people of Iran. I hope that your quest for freedom is successful, because Democracy is a very hard gift to obtain. It is also very easy to lose, you can see how it happens to us.

Global Warming Nuts

The Global Warming Crowd never ceases from surprising me with the level of propaganda that they put out. Their Nazi's would have been proud of their fellow fascists on the Left. Watch this video with care...it is a disturbing look at how these sick people see the world.

All this to promote their Global Warming farce. Wasn't the failure in Copenhagen enough to show the world what lies you hypocrites are expounding? There were more airplane jets that flew these Leftists leaders to this CO2 Summit that thousands of elephants and rhinos should be dropped in a similar video to show all the waste that the Libtards caused. This guy says exactly what I was thinking:

Hey Libtards, back at you commie weanies!!! I like this video much better and it left me in a happy place!!!

The Democrat's Model Cities Program

This video shows what occurred in Detroit and what will happen here in Chicago soon and the rest of the country. Please watch it since we can try to end the destruction of our nation.

Wake up America and shake off the apathy!!! Stop drinking the kool-aid!!!

MSM Distraction

This was a major story for a few weeks on the MSM. Tareq and Michaele Sahali had somehow infiltrated the White House and had crashed an Obama party. Coverage of this incident was splashed continuously through all the news channels. It was claimed that nobody knew these people and we were lucky that they had no nefarious plans towards POTUS.

What a piece of CRAP that our MSM has become. They couldn't find a real story if it was emblazoned in lights on a billboard for them. They can only put out what the Obama Propaganda Ministry puts out there for them. What was POTUS and the MSM trying to do? A distraction or was this another attempt at ruining yet another American Institution?

This is from an email that was sent to me. There is no mention of an author in it so it isn't included. I did find it interesting though if not because of the story but of the picture that was included. Look for yourself:





Surprise, surprise
DOES ANYONE HERE LOOK FAMILIAR?
I knew there was a “Paul Harvey” version to this story. See the white guy in the white suit? Now see the blond with the white dress? See the guy in the middle…huuuummmm.This picture was taken 6/9/05. It seems Obama has known these two phoneys for awhile, at least when he was a Senator. They’re getting all this press now as “party crashers” and the secret service is taking heat. Funny how this has not come out in the press isn’t it!

No wonder the couple who crashed Obama’s State dinner last week keep insisting they were invited guests…they know Barry from way back when he was still an Illinois Senator. Is Obama trying to throw the Secret Service under the bus?
Tareq and Michaele Salahi snapped the pic above with Obama at a “Rock The Vote” event on June 9, 2005 (also attended by John McCain…whom the Salahi’s also took a pic with). McCain won an award for his work on campaign finance reform”. “Just call me Funk Master McCain,”he told the audience of 1,000 in accepting his award. Obama won an award for “forming a multiracial coalition in winning his seat”.

Michaele Salahi is getting quite a ribbing in the press for lying about being a Redskins cheerleader, but Tareq is the more interesting of the two to me. He has ties to Palestinian terrorists. Tareq is a board member of the ATFP- American Task Force on Palestine, which has quickly scrubbed it’s site of the fact.Thank the Lord for Google cache.


And just who are the ATFP? The ATFP has ties to Chicago, ties to Muslim radicals, ties to Hamas, and ties to Saudi Wahhabists. It is arguably the American wing of Hamas. The group’s co-founder is Rashid Khalidi, the guy purported to have helped finance Obama’s Harvard education and who was also instrumental in getting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University. During the Beruit war, Khalidi was a PLO spokesperson. After the war, he came back to teach at the University of Chicago. He is a virulent critic of Israel, and a strong supporter of Fatah terrorist Yassar Arafat. Obama has referred to Khalidi as someone who challenges his “own biases.”


Why do the same dubious tentacles seem to continually surround Obama? The fact that the ATFP is scrubbing information on Salahi from their website suggests possible damage control coordination between the ATFP and the White House. If the ATFP was acting independently, there would be no reason to scrub Salahi’s name from their site. It looks like Salahi was an invited guest to the dinner, that he was “outed” and the administration had to come up with a rational excuse for his presence. Now the Salahis want to sell their story…they’re a little broke these days, but they still live VERY high on the hog.


The Secret Service has already apologized for the incident, but they may clear their names if the Salahis start singing... If someone with ties to the American wing of Hamas can get face to face with the President without the Secret Service realizing it…that is a majorsecurity lapse. However, if Obama’s people knowingly allowed Salahi in and are now throwing the Secret Service under the bus to cover themselves, that would be a major scandal. Some in Congress are calling for an investigation… Something is VERY fishy in the White House

Christmas Miracle

We witnessed a Miracle this Christmas when there was an attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Airline Flight 253. Only by the Grace of our Lord, God, was a tragedy prevented with the possible loss of 289 souls on the flight. The brave actions of some on the plane and the bombs failure will become clearer in the upcoming days but we were spared from this horrible attack.

Passengers help foil attack on Detroit-bound plane
Dec 26, 8:49 AM (ET)

By JIM IRWIN

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) - An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

Smith said one passenger, sitting opposite the man, climbed over passengers, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. The heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.

Afterward, the suspect was taken to a front-row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned. Multiple law enforcement officials also said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components were apparently mixed in-flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.

The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel. Dutch anti-terrorism authorities said the U.S. has asked all airlines to take extra precautions on flights worldwide that are bound for the United States.

The incident was reminiscent of Richard Reid, who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, but was subdued by other passengers.

Multiple law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday's attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. He was described as Nigerian.

One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, but other law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently - inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

Intelligence and anti-terrorism officials in Yemen said they were investigating claims by the suspect that he picked up the explosive device and instructions on how to use it in that country. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The man was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence official said he was being held and treated in an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital. The hospital said one passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, but referred all inquiries to the FBI.

Melinda Dennis, who was seated in the front row of the plane, said the man involved was brought to the front row and seated near her. She said his legs appeared to be badly burned and his pants were cut off. She said he was taken off the plane handcuffed to a stretcher.

One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but he was not on a watch list or a no-fly list.

The suspect boarded in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit, Rep. Peter King, the ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. A spokeswoman for police at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam declined comment about the case or about security procedures at the airport for Flight 253.

Dutch airline KLM says the connection in Amsterdam from Lagos, Nigeria, to Detroit involves a change in carrier and a change in aircraft.

Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest with a heavy load of transit passengers from Africa and Asia to North America, strictly enforces European security regulations including only allowing small amounts of liquid in hand luggage that must be placed inside clear plastic bags.

A spokesman for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Akin Olukunle, said all passengers and their luggage are screened before boarding international flights. He also said the airport in Lagos cleared a U.S. Transportation Security Administration audit in November.

"We had a pass mark," Olukunle said. "We actually are up to standards in all senses."

Nigeria's information minister, Dora Akunyili, condemned the attempted bombing. She said the government has opened its own investigation into the suspect and will work with U.S. authorities.

"We state very clearly that as a nation we abhor all forms of violence," Akunyili said in a statement issued Saturday.

London's Metropolitan Police also was working with U.S. officials, a spokeswoman said, and searches were being conducted in that city. The spokeswoman would not provide additional details, including what connection the suspect had to London or what was being searched. She spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Delta Air Lines Inc., which acquired Northwest last year, said a passenger caused a disturbance, was subdued, and the crew requested that law enforcement officials meet the flight.

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.

Federal officials said there would be heightened security for both domestic and international flights at airports across the country, but the intensified levels would likely be "layered," differing from location to location depending on alerts, security concerns and other factors.

Passengers can expect to see heightened screening, more bomb-sniffing dog and officer units and behavioral-detection specialists at some airports, but there will also be unspecified less visible precautions as well, officials said.

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department issued an intelligence note on Nov. 20 about the threat picture for the holiday season, which was obtained by The Associated Press. At the time, officials said they had no specific information about attack plans by al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. Officials said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

---

Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes in Baghdad, Iraq, Jon Gambrell in Lagos, Nigeria, Arthur Max in Amsterdam, Jennifer Quinn in London, Ahmed al-Haj in Yemen, and Larry Margasak and Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091226/D9CR18JO0.html





There have been around 12 terrorist attacks in the United States this year, but the Obama Administration will deny them because they fail to meet their requirements of having to belong to any organized terrorist groups. They consider them individual criminal acts and have so far only impacted the Law Enforcement community. The terrorists can afford to have a high failure rate but eventually one of these attacks will be able to penetrate all the efforts that are in place by Police and Homeland Security. We have had victims this years and the cost have been high among Police Officers and Military Personnel.

The White House has tried to paint a rosy picture that there will be change and that everything that has happened before is all President George W. Bush's fault. They have gone as far as having the terminology changed that we are no longer involved in a 'Global War on Terror'. POTUS feels that the two current actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were wrong and he has traveled the world on his 'APOLOGY TOUR'.

We are at war, not with a nation, a people or a group but with a faith. We may want to deny it all we want but it exists. The enemy are believers of a radical version of a faith that was conceived originally as a conquisitive theology, Islam. They are at war with us and have been for a very long time. Their members do not carry identification cards nor do they wear certain identifying apparels.

The White House wants to mistakenly move GITMO and it's war prisoners from Cuba into Illinois and open it here. They want to confer Constitutional Rights to foreigners and once again make this entire ugly episode a criminal exercise in a proportion that has never before seen in our already over-burdened domestic criminal system.

The Transportation Security Administration has been responsible in providing security from terrorism since the 911 attacks but has become another government joke. It is a reactionary and bloated organization which is full of incompetent members who conduct their actions on the very dangerous policy of Political Correctness. This method of operation has been the brainchild of the political Left of this nation and has handicapped our Law Enforcement and Military Efforts for many years. POTUS now wants to unionize the TSA and make it yet another government work project.

When Richard Reeds was found with an explosive device in his shoes the TSA's reaction was that in it's policy of Political Correctness everyone had to take of their shoes before boarding planes. They make your grandmother take of her shoes along with those that actually might fit the profile of a terrorist. The possible terrorist tactic of mixing common liquid components into bombs have prompted the TSA to have us place our products into small carry-on containers in one large plastic bag. This is a small victory for the terrorists. The latest terrorist bomber, Umar Mutallab, had a bomb in his pants. What is the TSA, in their political correctness stragedy, going to make passengers do now in light of this latest event?


The Islamofascists are at war with us, make no qualms about that fact. They are hellbent on their mission to destroy us at all costs and their members all come with the same hate filled ideology. They may have been participating in their form of warfare in a semi-organized fashion but that has proven to be unsuccessful against a more powerful United States. They are now attempting to attack us here at home by their root members in conducting these individual attacks. This is not the time to turn our attention away from our foe but to become more vigilant.

"We have fought them in Iraq in the past, we are fighting them in Afghanistan in the present and we will be fighting them in Yemen in the future", Senator Joe Liberman stated.

Obama's Dirty Dancer

Odd Couple Demands Probe of Rahm Emanuel at Freddie as More Money Rolls In
- FOXNews.com - December 24, 2009

Two strange bedfellows have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate President Obama's right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, for his potential role in the near collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, just as Treasury lifts the cap on their bailout money.


WASHINGTON -- Two strange bedfellows have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate President Obama's right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, for his potential role in the near collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The letter by Jane Hamsher, founder of the liberal Firedoglake Web site, and Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform Chief, was sent Wednesday, one day before the Treasury Department announced that it will lift the $400 billion financial cap on loans to the government-sponsored enterprises to make sure they stay afloat.

It also arrived just before the Federal Housing Financial Authority announced Thursday that it would place salary caps on 11 of the companies' top executives.

Since the financial bailout began, Fannie and Freddie have received $111 billion in taxpayer loans. In August, the administration projected the cost for rescuing Fannie and Freddie would total $170 billion.

Treasury Department officials said the cap will be replaced with a flexible formula to ensure the companies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities they sell to investors.

"The amendments to these agreements announced today should leave no uncertainty about the Treasury's commitment to support these firms as they continue to play a vital role in the housing market during the current crisis," the department said in a statement.

FHFA issued its own ruling Thursday that the base salary for officers besides the CEO, CFO and COO cannot exceed $500,000 a year. That means five officers are exempt and 11 will now face a cap.

The capped executives will be allowed to get up to one-third of their salary in additional incentive bonuses. Any deferred cash salary -- like stock salary received by private company executives who received bailouts -- will be paid partly as a means to keep executive officers working at the GSEs.

FHFA acting chief Edward DeMarco said the compensation deal is to mimic the one set up by pay czar Kenneth Feinberg for private companies.

"The enterprises must attract and retain the talent needed to accomplish (their) objectives. We have worked with the enterprises' boards and sought the guidance of the Special Master of TARP Executive Compensation, to develop competitive compensation packages that benefit from the structural standards created for the TARP-assisted firms," DeMarco said.

Eight of the then-top 11 executives at Fannie Mae left the company just before the U.S. government stepped in with its bailout, as did the four highest paid executives at Freddie
Mac.

Treasury officials will provide an updated estimate for Fannie and Freddie losses when President Obama sends his 2011 budget to Congress in February. The formula Treasury will use will provide the institutions with a sufficient cushion based on the losses they may incur over the next three years.

But Hamsher and Norquist want to know now whether the bailout was in part the result of corrupt practices by Emanuel while he was a board member at Freddie in 2000-2001.

They cited a Chicago Tribune story that described a plan by the executives and the board to use accounting tricks to show shareholders they were reaping massive profits even as they continued down a path of risky investments. The profits were then used to justify the executives' big bonuses. When Emanuel left the board to enter Congress in 2002, he was qualified for $380,000 in stock and options and $20,000 cash.

In their letter to Holder, Hamsher and Norquist added that the White House has stonewalled any inquiries into Emanuel's role on the board, noting that the acting inspector general was "stripped of his authority earlier this year by the Justice Department, relying on a loophole in a bill Mr. Emanuel cosponsored and pushed through Congress shortly before he left for the White House."

The White House has not appointed a new inspector general to determine whether crimes were committed by the board to defraud investors, the two noted, and the statute of limitations for empaneling a grand jury is about to run out.

"Under the influence of Rahm Emanuel, the White House is moving a trillion-dollar slush fund into corruption-riddled companies with no oversight in place. This will allow Fannie and Freddie to continue to purchase more toxic assets from banks, acting as a back-door increase of the TARP without congressional approval," Hamsher and Norquist wrote.

The two wrote they would like the Justice Department to "begin an investigation into the cause of Fannie and Freddie's conservatorship, into Rahm Emanuel's activities on the board of Freddie Mac (including any violations of his fiduciary duties to shareholders), into the decision-making behind the continued vacancy of Fannie and Freddie's inspector general post, and into potential public corruption by Rahm Emanuel in connection with his time in Congress, in the White House, and on the board of Freddie Mac."

Asked about the letter on Thursday, White House spokesman Bill Burton did not address the allegations, saying, "I have the feeling that Rahm's job is very safe."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/24/odd-couple-demands-probe-rahm-emanuel-freddie-fannie-money-rolls/

Man says he shot, killed robber

Another Christmas story here in Chicago. This story is like one that you would expect to see in the movies but it turns out to be just another saga in 'da hood'. The victim proved that he was able to defend himself with gun and another tragedy was averted. This story also has a happy ending in which one of the bad guys...er girls, poor Barb, will be spending Christmas in Hell...Merry Christmas one and all...

Man says he shot, killed robber after escaping from car
December 23, 2009 4:18 PM

A South Side man says he grabbed a gun from robbers who snatched him off the street and he killed one of them when firing off what he meant to be a warning shot.

"I'm walking to the store minding my own business and a car full of juveniles pull their car to the side," said the 31-year-old man, who asked not to be identified. "A guy gets out pointing a gun at me to get in the car and says we're going to the ATM. There's a bunch of people in there--I'm not going to argue."

Chicago police said they have corroborated details of the man's account with witnesses. One police official said the man won't face any charges. He said he told the man, "You're either lucky or you're crazy."

The incident happened just after 11 p.m. Tuesday near 47th Street and Martin Luther King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

The victim said he was ordered into the front seat of the car with the driver while the others sat in the back.

"So we're circling the block. They're talking about going back to my house, getting my flat screen. . .I'm thinking this must be a dream, nothing like this has ever happened to me. I work a 9-to-5 job at an insurance company. I just want to come home and live my life," he said.

He said the robbers drove him to Maggie's Gyros at 349 E. 47th Street, where two of them went in with his wallet, ATM card and PIN. "I had to give them my PIN number because the driver told me if I was lying, they'd shoot me. And I believed them," he said.

"We drove around the block, and then a third guy wants to know if I have a checking account or a savings account. So after I tell him, he gets out at the restaurant. So it's me, the person in the back, and the driver who has a .38 pointed at me the whole time, even while he's driving," the victim said.

The car pulled into an alley near 47th and King. Halfway down, a woman in the back seat told the driver to toss her the gun because she didn't want police to see it, he said.

"All of a sudden, by the grace of God, between these two fools, I hear boom, and then I hear her hollering and screaming, 'I shot my finger off, I shot it off.' The driver starts panicking and he goes right into a Dumpster," the victim continued.

"That's when I knew it was my moment. But me and the driver are strapped in tight by these automatic seatbelts, and that makes it harder."

"My adrenaline was pumping. I reach over the seat and go to get the gun. I got the driver kicking at me, and I'm fighting for the gun with the woman. One arm is fending off his kicks, the other is trying to get this gun. I finally get it and point it at the driver, about six inches away from his abdomen. I pulled the trigger and nothing happened.

"So I'm thinking, oh man, I have to get out of here."

He said he rolled out of the car and started running down the alley. The woman got out and chased him.

"I don't know if she's gonna kill me or not, so I fire a warning shot," the man said. "Unfortunately it hit her. I never fired a gun in my life."

The man, still holding the gun, said he then ran toward the gyros shop and started yelling that he needed a policeman.

"I'm waving this gun around because I talk with my hands," he explained. "Well, all these people in the restaurant think I'm the bad guy and start ducking under their tables and screaming. So I gotta run out of there."

He spotted a CTA truck on the street and "pleaded with the workers inside to call police."

"They believed me. But they said, 'You better get the hell out of here. You're saying one thing, but your gun is saying another,'" he said.

The man said he ran down the street to the store where he had been headed to buy some snacks, but it was closed. At that moment, he saw a patrol car and waved it down.

"I put my hands on the hood, told them I had a gun in my pocket, and that (some) men tried to rob me. So they came out, cuffed me, took me back to the station so I could tell my story."

The man said he feels badly the woman died, saying he only meant to warn her. "But my blood was pumping so fast and my adrenaline. . ."

"I'm with my grandmother right now and she's shaken," the man said this morning. "So I'm calling in sick and taking care of her. Those few minutes felt like forever. I'm glad it's over, I just want my life to be normal."

The man said the only injury he suffered is a welt under his left eye. The robbers got his wallet and $12, he added.

Andrew Holmes, who works for the city of Chicago, said he was parking in a truck outside the gyros restaurant, grabbing lunch with two other workers, when he heard gunfire Tuesday night.

"Then we looked up a second later (and) the guy was running out of the alley with a gun. He was yelling, 'I just been robbed, please call the police.' "

Holmes said he got on his phone while the man went inside the restaurant, still holding the gun. "People started ducking. Then he left. . .I call 911 again and told them his description, what pocket his gun was in, and what direction he was heading."

Holmes said he followed the man to a CTA station "and all of the sudden he was walking back to the shooting scene. I told the dispatcher he was coming back. . .and told him to tell the cops I saw him there. I told them I thought there was a body in the alley. I saw the cops stop him, told him to put his hands in the air and took the revolver out of his pocket."


Police said they plan to view several surveillance cameras in the area, including one at the restaurant. They said the suspects -- who are still at large -- face robbery and possible murder charges in connection with the woman's death.

The woman was identified through fingerprints as Barbara McComb, 21, of the 4200 block of South Calumet. She had been taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:29 a.m. today.

-- Pat Curry

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/12/woman-found-shot-in-bronzeville-alley.html

Christmas Eve in Da Hood

Wuz de nite befo Crismmus;
And all ova da hood;
ereybody wuz' sleepin';
Dey wuz sleepin' good.

We hunged up our stockings;
An hoped like de' heck;
That old Santa Clause;
Be bringin' dat check.

All o'de fambily;
Wuz layin in de beds;
While Ripple and Thunderbird;
Danced through dey heads.

I passed out on na' flo;
Right nex to my Maw;
When I heard sech a fuss;
An thunk it mus be de law!!!"

I lookted out thru de bars;
What covered my doe;
'spectin' de sheriff;
Wif a warrent fo sho.

And what did I see;
I said, "Lawd look at dat!!"
Ther' wuz a huge watermellon;
Pulled by giant warf rats!!

Now ober all de years;
Santa Clause, he be white;
But looks liken us bros;
Gets a black Sanna dis nite.

Faster dan a Po'lees car;
My homeboy he came;
He whupped on dem warf rats;
An' called dem by name!

On Leroy, on 'Lonzo..
And on Rufus "G";
On Saphire, on Chenequa...

Dey wuz some site to see!!

As he landed dat watta' mellon;
Out der in da skreet;
I knowed it was fo' sho';
Da damndest site I ebber did see.

He didn't go down no chimbley;
He picked da' lock on my doe;
An' I sez to myself;
"Damn ! He done dis befoe!!!"

He had dis big bag;
Full of prezents I 'spect;
Wit Air Jordans and fake gold;
To wear roun' my neck.

But he wern't leaving prezents;
He was stealing my shit;
Got my drugs, got my guns
Got my burgular's kit!!

Wit my stuff in de bag;
Out da window he flewed;
I woudda' catchted him;
But he stoled my 'nife too!!

He jumped on dat wadda' mellon;
An' whipped out a switch;
He wuz gone in a seccon';
Dat son of a bitch!!

Next year I be hopin':
Anutha Sanna we git;
Cuz' diz here Sanna Clause;
Jus' ain't werf a shit!!!

For the Men and Women that I had the pleasure of serving with in 011th District. God Bless you all, Fillmore Rangers, old and new...

Gotta have more Cowbells

More Cowbells ====>http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/snl-more-cowbell.html

Too Late Comrade

The Far-Left, Communists, Socialists, Progressives, Liberals and Democrats, or whatever they want to call themselves, it's too late. In the mad grasp to bring about the biggest change in this country's political system since it's formation in 1776, the American People have seen what their true colors are. The MSM, their propaganda wing has been distorting the truth but the outrage of the silent majority will no longer remain quiet.
In the following story, William Daley issues a warning to Democrats, that they have been discovered and that he feels, wrongly, that they might still be able to salvage what will be huge losses in 2010. Already, many retirements have been announced and one Democrat has jumped ship and joined the GOP, Rep Parker Griffith(D) Alabama. There is talk that other moderate Democrats might also leave since the American People's betrayal by Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

Keep the Big Tent big
By William M. Daley
Thursday, December 24, 2009; A15

The announcement by Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith that he is switching to the Republican Party is just the latest warning sign that the Democratic Party -- my lifelong political home -- has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come.

Rep. Griffith's decision makes him the fifth centrist Democrat to either switch parties or announce plans to retire rather than stand for reelection in 2010. These announcements are a sharp reversal from the progress the Democratic Party made starting in 2006 and continuing in 2008, when it reestablished itself as the nation's majority party for the first time in more than a decade. That success happened for one major reason: Democrats made inroads in geographies and constituencies that had trended Republican since the 1960s. In these two elections, a majority of independents and a sizable number of moderate Republicans joined the traditional Democratic base to sweep Democrats to commanding majorities in Congress and to bring Barack Obama to the White House.

These independents and Republicans supported Democrats based on a message indicating that the party would be a true Big Tent -- that we would welcome a diversity of views even on tough issues such as abortion, gun rights and the role of government in the economy.

This call was answered not just by voters but by a surge of smart, talented candidates who came forward to run and win under the Democratic banner in districts dominated by Republicans for a generation. These centrists swelled the party's ranks in Congress and contributed to Obama's victories in states such as Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and other Republican bastions.

But now they face a grim political fate. On the one hand, centrist Democrats are being vilified by left-wing bloggers, pundits and partisan news outlets for not being sufficiently liberal, "true" Democrats. On the other, Republicans are pounding them for their association with a party that seems to be advancing an agenda far to the left of most voters.

The political dangers of this situation could not be clearer.

Witness the losses in New Jersey and Virginia in this year's off-year elections. In those gubernatorial contests, the margin of victory was provided to Republicans by independents -- many of whom had voted for Obama. Just one year later, they had crossed back to the Republicans by 2-to-1 margins.

Witness the drumbeat of ominous poll results. Obama's approval rating has fallen below 49 percent overall and is even lower -- 41 percent -- among independents. On the question of which party is best suited to manage the economy, there has been a 30-point swing toward Republicans since November 2008, according to Ipsos. Gallup's generic congressional ballot shows Republicans leading Democrats. There is not a hint of silver lining in these numbers. They are the quantitative expression of the swing bloc of American politics slipping away.

And, of course, witness the loss of Rep. Griffith and his fellow moderate Democrats who will retire. They are perhaps the truest canaries in the coal mine.

Despite this raft of bad news, Democrats are not doomed to return to the wilderness. The question is whether the party is prepared to listen carefully to what the American public is saying. Voters are not re-embracing conservative ideology, nor are they falling back in love with the Republican brand. If anything, the Democrats' salvation may lie in the fact that Republicans seem even more hell-bent on allowing their radical wing to drag the party away from the center.

All that is required for the Democratic Party to recover its political footing is to acknowledge that the agenda of the party's most liberal supporters has not won the support of a majority of Americans -- and, based on that recognition, to steer a more moderate course on the key issues of the day, from health care to the economy to the environment to Afghanistan.

For liberals to accept that inescapable reality is not to concede permanent defeat. Rather, let them take it as a sign that they must continue the hard work of slowly and steadily persuading their fellow citizens to embrace their perspective. In the meantime, liberals -- and, indeed, all of us -- should have the humility to recognize that there is no monopoly on good ideas, as well as the long-term perspective to know that intraparty warfare will only relegate the Democrats to minority status, which would be disastrous for the very constituents they seek to represent.

The party's moment of choosing is drawing close. While it may be too late to avoid some losses in 2010, it is not too late to avoid the kind of rout that redraws the political map. The leaders of the Democratic Party need to move back toward the center -- and in doing so, set the stage for the many years' worth of leadership necessary to produce the sort of pragmatic change the American people actually want.

The writer was secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration and chairman of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/23/AR2009122302439_pf.html

Fighting the Good Fight

To Senator Mitch McConnell(R) Kentucky, Republican Leader

Sir, I wonder sometimes if the men and women who fought and lead us for our Independence back in 1776 had been made up of those who are in the Republican Party? Your actions tomorrow answered that. You could have fought this politically to the bitter end and in a stand of defiance, shown the Democrats what the Republicans are made of. You could have waited for the 7PM vote to make a point that we the People, are outrage at this Socialist ploy the Democrats have shackled us with. You have decided to go ahead and finish this at 8:00 AM on Thursday, so as not to inconvenience your holiday. We now know what the Republicans are made of.
Conservative Ascendancy is occurring and there will be a backlash to the Democrats actions to turn our Republic into a Socialist State. The Democrats have been taken over by the Far Left. The Republicans are now run by soft moderates. The parties Conservative principles are being ignored.
The Republicans replaced the Whigs in the 19th Century. Who is going to replace the Republicans in the 21st Century?
Do Conservatives have to start a new party? There is no leadership in the GOP. You do not voice my outrage at this abomination of a healthcare bill.

I am but one voice, but there are millions of us.

Ruin

Mayor Daley is often seen as a barometer of what Obama is going to do to this country. This is the result of his superior management skills, that is commonly referred to 'pillage and burn'. Chicago was the city that only a few months ago was going to try to host the 2016 Olympics. The city had enough money then to execute this plan. Mayor Daley was even able to summon his puppet to Olympic Committee and have Obama try to act as his Trump card only to : FAIL. But wait, what's this?

Dec 21, 2009 3:54 pm

US/Central City To Shut Down Christmas Eve To Save Cash

The City of Chicago will be shutting down early for the Christmas holiday, as part of Mayor Daley's plan to save the cash-strapped city money.

City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most other city offices will be closed on Christmas Eve as those city workers are being forced to take the day off without pay.

Police and Fire Department operations are not affected and will remain fully staffed. Any other worker needed to provide for the public's safety will also be on the job.

As part of the 2009 budget, three reduced-service days were planned for 2009: Aug. 17, the Friday after Thanksgiving; and Christmas Eve.

The city expects to save $8.3 million.

"Every dollar we save from these measures helps to save jobs, and in the long-term, maintain services for Chicagoans," Mayor Daley said in a statement. "This plan relies on most of our civilian employees to be part of the solution to our very serious budget challenges. I want to thank them again for their efforts."

In addition to the reduced service days, all non-union employees were asked to take a series of furlough days and unpaid holidays in 2009, which are expected to continue throughout 2010. Most non-sworn union employees agreed to take similar unpaid time off.

There are no reduced-service days scheduled for 2010.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicgo.shut.down.2.1384151.html

So how does it come to pass that in a mere matter of months, the City of Chicago is broke? What has happened to the money that was there earlier? Mayor Daley seems to be looking closely across Lake Michigan at Detroit and perhaps in the Democrats attempt to realise their Socialist dreams of total equality, make everyone share the burden of poverty. They are making our society into their two class society in which the bottom feeders will depend on their Elite Overlords to govern them with their Nanny-state.
Here follows a story of one of the comical ploys that Daley has plans for the citizens of Chicago. This is nice but where is he going to get money for this. Is Obama going to give him Stimulus money for this?

Daley Unveils Internet Plan for Underserved Neighborhoods

By Andrew Greiner
NBCChicago.com
updated 25 minutes ago

Mayor Daley is often mentioned as one of the greenest mayors in the country because of his commitment to parks and rooftop gardens.

Now he’s angling for a spot among the country most techie mayors.

Daley unveiled his “Smart Communities” plan to increase broadband Internet access to five of Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods. Humboldt Park, Pilsen, Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn and Englewood neighborhoods would all get planned Internet centers.

Daley thinks it will help low income families get a leg up.

"Technology can enhance all the opportunities as pointed out, improve our knowledge, especially the work skills, expand our economic development, encourage innovation, boost Chicago's ability to compete in a global economy," Daley said.

Hewlitt Packard will handle the installation of about 40 touch-screen computers around the five nabes.

But before work can begin, the City needs to collect some stimulus funds from the Obama administration. They should come through in March, according to the Chicago Tribune.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34523417

So as the MSM keeps blowing smoke up Daley's behind and the sheople continue to be lead into ruination, what can be done to try to stop this downward spiral? Is it too late? Are we doomed to the same fate as Detroit? Using the same method that Obama is using to get ObamaCare passed, Daley has sold the City's parking without the sheoples approval. What's next?

Change

There is Change in the near horizon. It will not be what POTUS envision in his Blitzkrieg to change the face of our Republic into a Socialist State. The sheople are beginning to realize who he is and what he is trying to do. 2010 will be significant when the people begin to clean house and begin booting Democrats. This year will go down in history, as 2009, when Socialist took over the Democrat Party.

Representative Parker Griffith(D) Alabama, a Blue Dog, has announced that he will be switching his party affiliation to the GOP. He is part of the Conservative Ascendancy that is currently taking place and was able to win his current seat by running to the Right of his political Republican adversary. His decision to leave is because he has not been able to conform to the ideals of the Democrat Party and his inability to become a Socialist.

Both parties should take note, Conservative principles and bringing back our country to it's foundation in the Constitution, will determine if a party is to be successful. The Democrats are a lost cause since they have gone entirely under Socialist influence. The Republicans have lost their way as they have tried to be moderates or Democrat Lite. The electorate have shown the GOP that this recipe will only lead to failure.

Read more about this topic:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34524455/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/22/official-rep-griffith-switch-gop/?feat=home_features

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/rep-parker-griffith-switch-parties-republican/

Welcome to our side, now do Right.

Pony Car

I love this Mustang....

Democlown

Senator Al Franken (D) from Minnesota along with the Democrat Party have begun a new era of politics in the Senate. They refuse to abide with unwritten rules of decorum and are now pushing a more aggressive posture to get their agenda passed thru as quickly as possible. This is rattling the few remaining Republicans who are still moving at the lighting speed of molasses. Senator John McCain(R) Arizona, still feels that as a moderate that he can work with his opponents across the aisle. Good Luck with that sir.
The moderate and the rest of the Republicans better get used to this new way of doing business in Congress. They'll have to adopt to this quick and aggressive method or get run over as if they were the Whigs. Senator Franken may be acting like a hard ass, but can anyone really take this Democlown seriously?

De Oppresso Liber

This is a good link to what U. S. Special Forces have been doing in Afghanistan.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/12/15/with-special-forces-in-afghanistan/?test=latestnews

Vive la mort, vive le guerre, vive Légion Etrangère

Misfits and runaways join French Foreign Legion for Afghanistan tour
15 December, 2009 10:01:00

When Corporal James walked in on his fiancée sleeping with another man he threw him through a second-storey window and beat him with a wrench until the police arrived.

The former US Navy signalman was facing seven years in jail for what was — by his own account — a frenzied assault. But on March 9, 2007, just three days before he was to stand trial, James, 22, packed a change of clothes and some cigarettes into a small duffle bag, said goodbye to his mother, his stepfather and his sister, and flew to Paris to start a new life.

Today he is on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan — but this time it is with the French Foreign Legion. “The legion was a second chance, an opportunity to reinvent myself,” he said. “It was either here or prison.”

The legion, founded in 1831, is one of the only regiments in the world that almost anyone can join — no matter where they are from or what they have done. James is one of more than 700 legionnaires, an extraordinary blend of misfits, mercenaries, runaways and romantics, fighting the Taleban in the mountains east of Kabul. Among them are a handful of Britons, scores of Russians, and others from as far apart as Algeria and China.

“Nine out of ten guys here are looking for a second chance,” said James. “A big thing is guys from Eastern Europe and Russia. A lot of them are here for the money, the rest were in gangs, or in trouble with the police.” James is not his real name. The legion gave him a new identity when he signed on in Aubagne, in the South of France. French army rules prevent journalists publishing soldiers’ surnames — even when they are false.

“If you join under a false name you can’t have any contact with your family or your past life until you get your name back,” said Adjutant-Chef Craig, 43, the Scottish sergeant-major in charge of discipline at the legion’s Afghan headquarters in Surobi.

A legionnaire can apply to have his real name reinstated after a year — if no one is looking for him. Others join to get a French passport, which they are entitled to after five years’ service. At least four Afghans have earned their képis blancs — the legion’s trademark white caps — in recent years, but none of them are deployed as part of Nato’s mission. In a rare indulgence, legionnaires can choose not to fight with their unit if it is deployed to their homeland. “It avoids divided loyalties,” said Craig.

New recruits endure a gruelling 30-day indoctrination at the legion’s “farm” in the Pyrenees, where they memorise the Legionnaire’s Code of Honour and promise, in unison, to fight to the death and never surrender.

The result is one of the fiercest units in Nato’s arsenal. But their current mission, much to the soldiers’ frustration, is to befriend the population, not fight them. “Most guys here are looking for a gunfight — we’re looking for a war,” said James. “It doesn’t matter who’s war, or for what reason.”

The legionnaires in Afghanistan have endured their share of violence. Adjutant-Chef Alex, from Newcastle upon Tyne, is expecting his fifth citation for valour for his role in a series of bloody firefights close to where ten French soldiers were killed in an ambush last year: “We got hit from 360 degrees,” he said of a recent battle. “Two of the Americans we were with were hit by bullets — one in the back plate, two bullets in the helmet and one in the hand. When the first helicopter came in, an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] exploded a few metres away.”

The legionnaires are part of an effort to help the Afghan Government to stretch its authority into the upper reaches of the notorious Uzbin Valley, on the eastern fringes of Kabul province. Surobi sits astride a key infiltration route that links insurgents from Pakistan to the Afghan capital.

High in the Hindu Kush mountains, Uzbin has long been a safe haven for Taleban insurgents, and Hezb e-Islami fighters loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former Prime Minister who is now on America’s most wanted list.

Together with other French and American troops in neighbouring Kapisa province, the legionnaires are also trying to secure the equally volatile Tagab Valley so that engineers can finish work on a strategic ring road that will link eastern and northern Afghanistan, removing the need to drive through Kabul. The insurgents seem determined to stop them. “We get hit whenever we go above the 44th,” said Alex, referring to a grid reference on the military maps.

Between operations the soldiers relax hard in the open-air Hacienda bar at Forward Operating Base Tora that serves pastis and Kronenbourg for €0.60 (54 pence) a bottle. The bar is named after a legendary battle in 1863, when sixty-two legionnaires and three officers refused to surrender to almost 2,000 Mexican troops.

Hardcore pornography has been banned on the orders of Colonel Benoît Durieux, who commands the force, but there is certainly no “two cans of beer” limit that sometimes applies to British soldiers in Afghanistan.

Alex, 43, joined in 1987 after being rejected from the British Army on medical grounds. His brother joined the Royal Engineers. “I learnt French the hard way,” he said. “I could ask for a campsite and a hotel but it wasn’t much use. Every time I spoke English or made a mistake in French, I got a thick ear.” Warrant Officer First Class Tom, from Liverpool, has lasted almost 30 years and served in nine countries — but it took him 12 years to get his name back. “It depends how long it takes them to forget why they changed your name,” he said.

The 52-year-old, who has four children, joined on December 19, 1979 — a week before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. He declined to talk about his past, and it is a legion tradition that no one should ask. But he said: “It was a lot more basic back then than it is today ... It was a lot rougher. Today there are more rules.”

When Tom joined, legionnaires were not allowed to live off-base or get married until they had reached the rank of sergeant or completed five years’ service. If they were serving under a false name they were paid in cash and denied the right to a bank account. The strict rules of the legion force soldiers to embrace the regiment’s motto, Legio Patria Nostra — the legion is our homeland. “It’s like a second family,” said Tom. In the late 1980s the number of Englishspeaking recruits was about 25 per cent of the total. Today it has fallen to just 3 per cent, soldiers said.

Officers — almost all of whom are French — claimed that most recruits are not criminals but adventurers captivated by the legion’s allure, fuelled by books and Hollywood films. Among their most famous recruits was the American poet Alan Seeger, who fought and died with the legion in the First World War.

“I’m no poet,” said Tom. “If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have made the first mistake. I owe the legion a lot because when I needed them they opened the door and let me in.”

The modern legion will not accept murderers, rapists or child molesters but recruits can still join without showing any kind of identification.

Niaz, 34, said he was a graphic designer at an Algerian advertising agency before he joined. Half-Russian, half-Algerian, he joined so as not to think “meanly of myself for not having been a soldier”.

“I had one life, and there was a part of me that wanted to try out military life ... But I didn’t want to be an Algerian soldier, because I don’t agree with my Government.”

One Mongolian man cycled halfway across the world to find a recruiting office on French soil. One of the soldiers in Camp Tora is a Harvard graduate. Officers say that about eight people apply for each place, and few get in. The unit is famed for its brutal initiations and strict discipline.

“A lot of guys desert,” said James. “But it’s also part of what people join for. If the legion became a sissy army, guys wouldn’t come, and if they didn’t come we wouldn’t exist.”

Never surrender

The French Foreign Legion has a force of 7,699 legionnaires and non-commissioned officers who come from 136 countries

The force was created in 1831 by Louis Philippe because foreigners were forbidden from serving in the French Army after the overthrow of Charles X the year before

Legion soldiers served in the Gulf War of 1990-91; Cambodia and Somalia in 1992 and 1993; Rwanda in 1994, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia from 1993 to 2003; and the Central African Republic in 1996. They are currently deployed in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Chad and Ivory Coast

The only woman to belong to the legion was Susan Travers, a Briton. Attached to the legion as a driver during the Second World War, she refused to leave the Libyan fort of Bir Hakeim when the female personnel were ordered to depart in 1942. She stayed with her lover, a legion colonel, and led a convoy in a breakout through minefields and three rings of German tanks. She was accepted as a full member after the war

New legionnaires vow to “act without passion or hatred . . . respect vanquished enemies . . . \never surrender your dead, your wounded or your weapons”

The legion has featured in films as diverse as The Mummy, Beau Travail — which takes its name from the much filmed legion adventure novel Beau Geste, Billy Budd and Follow That Camel, one of the Carry On films
http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/2894.html

Show No Fear

This is the less popular, but still highly dangerous, traditional running of the squirrels in Spain.

The past mistakes are repeated.

The new administration is once again trying to run a war from the White House. This is very reminiscent of Viet Nam. The Rules of Engagement(ROE) are becoming no longer only very restrictive to our troops but also extremely dangerous. The Libtards need to learn that war is not a police action. It is dirty, horrible and a nasty thing which makes it's practice, a thing to be avoided. POTUS, either fight it or leave it alone, please. Our soldiers should not fight a war handcuffed.

Read and Listen to this article:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121330893

Living the Dream

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Celebrating 'Our Lady of Guadalupe’
Saturday, December 12, 2009 (Updated 3:00 am)

By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Anticipating a large crowd, Our Lady of Grace moved its annual Our Lady of Guadalupe ceremony to the Meridian Convention and Event Center on Friday night.
The church moved the ceremony last year as well, drawing about 1,600 people for two Masses that year, said the Rev. Fidel Melo.
The Mass, which was preceded by a celebration that included singing and dancing, honors the Virgin Mary’s visit to a Mexican peasant five centuries ago.
“Our Lady of Guadalupe came in a very key moment and time of the history of the people,” Melo said. “It was a wonderful, beautiful message at the time.”
As legend has it, in December 1531 the Virgin Mary visited Juan Diego, an Aztec who had converted to Christianity. She identified herself as the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe and told him to build a shrine to her atop Tepeyac Hill, now a suburb of Mexico City.
Diego told his bishop, who refused to believe without a sign. Mary appeared again to Diego, telling him to pick the flowers on Tepeyac Hill. He found a multitude of flowers growing there in the middle of winter and filled his coat with them to carry back to the disbelieving bishop.
When Diego spilled the flowers out of his cloak for the bishop, they discovered a likeness of the Virgin Mary on the inside of the cloak.
Her visits led to the conversion of millions of Aztecs to Christianity, Melo said.
The cloak with its image of the Virgin Mary still resides today at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern suburb of Mexico City.
Up to 20 million people visit the Basilica annually, according to a New York Times travel review.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated every Dec. 12, the anniversary of her appearance on Diego’s cloak.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/12/11/article/celebrating_our_lady_of_guadalupe

Domestic Terrorist Attacks

Political correctness will be a sad excuse of why this country failed to defend itself. Domestic Radical Muslim Terrorists have begun their attacks here in the United States. Unfortunately, the current leadership of this country is either ignoring it because of ineptness or ignorance, the later I hope. Police Officers and soldiers have already lost their lives in this country. Some of these Radical Muslims have been converts to the religion of Peace in our penal system.

Maurice Clemmons was one such convert. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2399124/posts



Others are born Muslim and decide to take up the sword in their radicalism like Major Malik Nadal Hasan did in Ft. Hood. It's unfortunate that this government is taking this man's actions as a criminal matter and not a military one. I hope that those in Law Enforcement and in the Military begin to take this threat seriously and avoid further death.



At least this POS was killed by the police. Doom on him and the rest that try to attack us. Be vigilant as this is possibly not the last of their attacks and more will probably happen.

Nobel Peace Prize for?

President Barack Hussein Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize today. His meteoric ascent from an unknown Illinois politician to his present position, will go down as one of the greatest American mysteries. He accomplished nothing in Illinois and then continued to do nothing as it Senator in Washington. As President he has been in office for eleven months and has the distinction of becoming the first President in our nations history to get the lowest ratings in such a short time.

All I want to know is what did he do to win this prize? Can anyone tell me please?

2nd Lieutenant Grigsby

This Calvary Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Grigsby, fought in the Civil War. This war caused the most casualties ever incurred on American troops, of all the wars that the United States has ever been engaged in. He saw the the evil that the Democrat Party had done to this country in his lifetime and it appears that he was trying to warn future generations.

Unlike what Senator Reid (D)Nevada, has been trying to say, it was the Democrats who were the enablers for the slaveholding southern States. They were the architects of the Jim Crow laws. They were staunch supporters of Segregation and opposed the Civil Rights Movement. The Democrats have been the party of Pro-Abortion, of which 50 million have been performed since their victory in Roe Vs Wade. They are supporters of euthanasia for the sickly and elderly.

2LT Grigsby has been warning us from beyond the grave for the last 119 years. I pray we heed his warnings.