BREAKING NEWS: Air Marshalls stop attempted 'Shoe Bomber' on flight from D.C. to Denver

Oh Boy, here we go again…. 😯

The Report from ABC NEWS, The story is yet to break National News or they’re working on it:

Federal air marshals subdued a man who authorities say attempted to “light his shoes on fire” on a United flight from Washington Reagan to Denver Wednesday night, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Authorities say an explosive team is on the way to the airport, and that while the presence of explosives has not yet been confirmed, they believe it was an attempted “shoe bomb.”
The suspect was identified by authorities as a diplomat in the Qatar embassy in Washington, Mohammed al Modadi. The FBI said the man had full diplomat immunity as the 3rd secretary and vice-consul.
Authorities said two jet fighters were scrambled from Buckley Air Force Base to accompany United flight 663, a Boeing 757, as it flew the final 40 miles to Denver where it landed safely.
Authorities said the man, identified as from Qatar, was restrained by the air marshals who were on the flight.
The United jet was reportedly being directed to a remote location at the Denver airport.
A spokesman for the FBI in Denver declined to comment.

This is not good at all. This could cause some serious problems for Obama’s strategy on the war on terror.

Update: Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN story alerts up. Update #2: all have stories up now.

MSNBC (ugh!) is now reporting, that this dude was in the bathroom, and was smoking in the can. When someone, not sure whom, asked him what he was doing. He replied, “Well, I was setting my shoes on fire…” Apparently, the douche nozzle was kidding around. Well, the only one laughing was him! 😮 Anyhow, looks like this idiot is going back Qutar. MSNBC is giving the name of the person. I will print it, when it comes up. Update #3: Mohammed al-Modadi is his name. (H/T AP)

Gabe over at Ace reports:

ABOVE THE POST UPDATE (11:00): According to CNN, another diplomat is saying that this is a misunderstanding. The story is that the man was smoking in the lavatory and when challenged by an air marshal, he mouthed off sarcastically “I was trying to light my shoe on fire.”
So they nabbed him and scrambled the jets.

D’oh! 🙄

Um, Just a thought… But, terrorism ain’t funny. 😡

Update #4: Josh Marshall wonders:

I mean, are we really to believe that this guy took his having diplomatic immunity as free rein to crack a joke about need to light his shoe bomb? I’m curious whether under international law a diplomat can be expelled from a host country simply for being a raging c@#k.

Heh. Good question. 😛

Update #5: AllahPundit Snarks:

What we may be looking at here is the scariest smoke break in aviation history.

Ha! I wonder if AllahPundit will represent him in Court, if he sues the United States Government for false arrest? If he does, somebody better let Liz Cheney know, after all, we have to know who’s defending terrorists; whether real or wanna-be smart asses. 😉 I mean, that is the McCarthyism way, is it not? 😀

Update #6: Our Assclown of the day can be seen here. He is on the right. (H/T to Wizbang for the find…)

Is the Afghanistan/Pakistan mission unraveling?

It seems that way. 🙁

The Story via Stratfor.com:

Three explosions, two rocket attacks and subsequent gunfire have been reported in the near vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5. The attack occurred early afternoon local time when the consulate would have been full of both American and local employees. The death toll is reported at 36 but is expected to rise.
There are no assessments yet of the damage that the consulate building has sustained, but reports indicate that the explosions led to the collapse of other, adjacent buildings. Pakistani soldiers are also reported to be engaging militants in gunfire, indicating that militants are actively engaged in an attack near the area — possibly with the intention of breaching the U.S. Consulate.
[….]
UPDATE:
One attacker was able to blow up in the U.S. Consulate premises, AAJ TV reported April 5. The front side of the U.S. Consulate has been totally destroyed. Reports indicate that seven or eight security personnel in the consulate are dead. The consulate’s communication system is down.

Many people are wondering why this has happened. I think I know why. It could very well be because of this here:

The Story via Washington Post:

KABUL — President Obama’s visit to Kabul last week, intended in part to forge a closer working relationship with President Hamid Karzai, has helped produce the opposite: an angry Afghan leader now attacking the West for what he perceives as an effort to manipulate him and weaken his rule.
Karzai’s relationship with his U.S. backers in the past week has taken a sharp turn for the worse after his two anti-Western speeches in three days, remarks that some officials see as a rehearsed, intentional move away from the United States.
In remarks to parliament members Saturday, Karzai said that if foreign interference in his government continues, the Taliban would become a legitimate resistance — one that he might even join, according to lawmakers present.
“When I heard Karzai’s remarks, it really shocked me. It scared me,” a senior Afghan official who works closely with Karzai said. “We should not take this lightly. This is a golden opportunity to have the West here; we can’t squander it.”
Karzai’s comments have angered U.S. officials and some of his prominent Afghan colleagues in the government, who fear he is jeopardizing international funding and military support because his pride has been injured.
“That guy’s erratic, he’s unpredictable. I don’t get him,” said a senior U.S. military official in Kabul.

However, if you read a little deeper, you will see this:

But the next day, Karzai told a gathering of lawmakers that foreign interference fuels the insurgency. One lawmaker said Karzai made the point that if he is compelled to obey foreigners, “I’ll join the Taliban.”
“I know he’s cooperating with the U.S., but he just wants to give us a wrong perception. He’s trying to prove himself as a hero, a nationalist,” the lawmaker said.
Some of the presidents’ supporters said that people overreacted to the statements, and that Karzai is well aware of how reliant he is on the United States and other countries fighting in Afghanistan. The United States pours billions of dollars monthly into Afghanistan, and 30,000 new troops are arriving to fight the Taliban.
Speaking at a meeting of about 1,200 tribal leaders and local officials in the southern city of Kandahar on Sunday, Karzai again suggested that U.S. pressure is counterproductive.
“Afghanistan will be fixed when its people trust that their president is independent and not a puppet,” he said. “We have to demonstrate our sovereignty. We have to demonstrate that we are standing up for our values.”

I think this guy needs to make up his mind. Trying to play to his people and be friends with the west is not going to work. The United States of America is NOT interested in owning that Country, no more than it is interested in owning Iraq. We are, or at least we were, there to get rid of Al-Qaeda terrorists who wanted to attack and destroy America. It seems that our focus is shifting and we are now trying to play “Paddy Cake” with Afgan Leaders who want to be friendly with the the U.S. and the Taliban. The President of the United States needs to firm with Karzai, and tell him either choose the Taliban and possibly being killed by the United States in military action or choose true freedom and democracy. You cannot have it both ways, terrorism and democracy cannot co-exist.

Just a personal aside, I had a sinking feeling that this sort of a thing would happen, if we elected a Democrat for a President. For all of his failings, for all of the stuff that I did not like about him; George W. Bush knew exactly how to deal with these sorts of things. He was seen by the Afghan people and the Iraqis as a firm strong leader, who was willing to risk it all to stand against terrorism, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. President Obama just does not have that same stance. President Obama and by default, the Democrats see terrorism as a juvenile criminal behavior; and it is not; it is a war against freedom and democracy in the name of a backward and dangerous religion.

I guess the only hope at this point is that Obama realizes what he is dealing with here and changes his focus. However, I just do not see that happening at all. Needless to say, the next year few years is going to be interesting, when it comes to the war on terror and this entire situation.

It's about time: Obama proposes offshore drillng

Finally, the stupid socialist is doing something right:

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.
The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.
The proposal is to be announced by President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday, but administration officials agreed to preview the details on the condition that they not be identified.
The proposal is intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.
via Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time – NYTimes.com.

It’s about time that Bambi Teleprompter is doing something right.

An exasperated Moonbat Steve Benon whines:

My confusion, then, is over the administration’s negotiating tactics. In February, the president cleared the way for the first new U.S. nuclear power plants in more than 30 years. Today, the president will reportedly open up new opportunities for coastal drilling.
In other words, Obama has already effectively given Republicans what they wanted on energy. What is he getting in return?

My question is, why the fuck should he get anything in return, at all?

He better be fucking hoping and praying that we don’t make his origin of birth a big issue when the Republicans take back the house and senate come 2010! What assholes… like the Republicans owe that floppy eared son-of-a- bitch anything at all. 😡 🙄

Again, I say, good on ol’ big ears for finally learning that capitalism is a good thing and that drilling is a good idea. Now if we could just teach the REST of liberal and socialist, and communist America that! We’d have to start in the fucking oval office first!

Video: Is the Stimulus Working?

This comes via R.S. McCain:

Honestly, What do they expect?

Boy, I tell ya. The liberal crowd is some seriously stupid people anymore. 🙄

I guess most of you know that now the liberal crowd is all in a tizzy, because some protesters let their true feelings be known about this healthcare bill.

My question to them is; seriously guys, what the fuck do you expect? I mean, nobody wants this stupid bill passed and yet, this liberal Congress is hell-bent on passing this moronic bill anyhow; all to appease this President. Is it not any wonder the American people and yes, those protesters are a little bit pissed off?

I mean, and I how to do I put this? Ah, I know! The liberal media and I mean the one’s who are reporting this; You should be glad it was just words. I mean, it could have very well been worse. Luckily and thankfully, it was not. But it could have very well have been. So, to the Race hustlers and Gay Blades; be glad it was just words, signs and insults. Because the alternative could have been much worse.

But again, to the more important point —– What the hell do you people expect? I mean, you want to destroy this Country’s health-care system, all to fulfill a stupid, idiotic socialist agenda; and you wonder why some people are pissed off about it?

It’s time to get real boys and girls. Not everyone is on the same page with you. This should not be a surprise. 🙄

Here’s the roundup of the stupid cry babies and so forth…

Video: America's Comeback

This Comes via The Other McCain:

RGA 2009 Chairman’s Report

View more documents from Republican Governors Association.

Republican Governor’s Association HQ

The revolution starts today. What are you doing?

President Barack Obama and Fox News's Bret Baier politely spar over Healthcare and Foreign Policy

Here’s Part 1 and 2 of that:

You can go read the entire transcript of this interview by going here and reading it.

I have to give President Obama credit, after bashing Fox News and calling it “nothing more than a propaganda outlet”; he did show some guts by going into the lion’s den and going head to head with Bret Baier. That took some serious guts. It could help his image too; not with those on the hard right, but the independents, who voted for the guy with the “spine of steel”, as Vice President Joe Biden called it. Truthfully, the President has not been showing that so-called “Spine of Steel” here as of late. Maybe the White House is trying to improve the President’s image a bit, seeing that his poll numbers are down. Hence the interview.

I saw the interview on T.V. myself; I would not call it “combative” as I have seen it called on other blogs. I would call it politely testy, at times. I mean, there was no swearing and no calling the President an out liar, when he was obviously lying. I mean, If I would been running that interview, and he would have started in on the talking points; I would have stopped him and told him he was flat out lying and full of shit and would have demanded short and straight answers out of him. I would have also demanded that he answered the question of just who the hell does he think he is, to just swagger into the White House and start changing the established Heathcare system in this Country. I would have said, “You can do this, why? because you are black and entitled to it?” Which is probably why the interview was not giving by me. It would have lasted all of about five minutes. The next thing I would have asked him, was why he will not produce his original birth certificate and I would have brought up the fact that EVERY last damned President since the United States started keeping birth records has produced a birth certificate; and I would have asked him why the hell he feels exempted from this practice. Again, I would have asked him if he felt it was because he was black that he could bypass such things. I would have also brought up the fact that the so-called document that his campaign produced was, in fact, a forgery, which was pointed out by several well-known bloggers and was proven to be by three different forensic experts. None of whom would publicly identify themselves, for fear of reprisal from Obama’s campaign and from the Government itself.

So, in closing, it was a decent interview, not nearly as tough as it should have been. But it was and still is worth watching.

Crazy, Lonely, White Women?

There seems to be an uptick in this sort of a thing, as of late:

Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant, announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included “STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!”
On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry a Muslim man she connected with online, her family says. Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, who is 5-foot-11 and blonde, phoned her mother and stepfather in Leadville, providing them with an address in Waterford, Ireland, they say.
Toni Axelrod for The Wall Street Journal/Courtesy of the Holcomb Family
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom, is in the custody of the Irish police, along with six other individuals, arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder.
Now, she is in the custody of the Irish police, along with six other individuals, arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder, according to officials familiar with the case. The nature of the authorities suspicions about Ms. Paulin-Ramirez couldn’t be determined on Friday.
via A Colorado Mom Is Arrested in Terror Plot Case – WSJ.com.

There is a tiny bit of me, that seems to believe that this might be something more, than what meets the eye. I could be wrong and goodness knows, I hope I am. But it just makes me wonder. Obama’s FBI now scapegoating White Americans as crazed Muslim converts? I have no proof, but it does make me wonder. It just seems funny that suddenly this stuff starts happening, that’s all.

Others: The Jawa Report, Althouse, KUSA-TV, Atlas Shrugs, Jules Crittenden, The Other McCain, Jihad Watch, The Lonely Conservative and The Corner on National …

President Obama losing his base because he was oversold

I knew this was coming, long ago..:

Is President Obama losing his base?
Liberal and progressive organizations that helped propel him to the White House are turning on him now, little more than a year after he took office. Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terrorism suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall’s congressional elections.
Polls show that liberals and blacks still approve of the job Obama’s doing. That approval, however, doesn’t necessarily mean they will make the effort to vote, and many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they’re not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall.
“The energized base which transformed the nation and elected our first black president (is) now disengaged,” Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile says. “If this was September, I would hit the panic button.”
via Obama’s liberal base ‘disengaged’ – USATODAY.com.

There are a few thoughts that I have here about this situation:

First off; Obama was mostly elected, because Conservatives stayed home and did not vote, because they felt that John McCain was a lousy candidate — many of these same people disliked Sarah Palin as well. I happen to be one of those people. Also some of the more elitist Conservatives and libertarians voted for Obama, because of his charm and charisma. Many of those same Conservatives and libertarians are now kicking themselves for that. Because they have painfully figured out, that President Obama is nothing more than a slick talking Chicago politician and it has become painfully aware to these people that they voted for an outright socialist.

Second of all; Many upper middle class and wealthy class white liberals voted for Obama, because they saw this a change to atone for the sins of the of the past of the white race here in America. These same people were tricked into believing that Obama somehow or another would magically solve the problems that are plaguing America right now. This is because Obama was marketed as some sort of Messianic figure that would change the political landscape in America, all because of his black skin, because he was the one that America needed and so on and so forth. Which was nothing more than a slick marketing tactic, this has become painfully aware to the moderates and Independents that voted for him. The question is, did Obama actually do all that? Oh He did alright! Obama successfully managed to get elected and proceeded to turn moderates, Conservative Democrats, and Independents against him! All in six months time; now that my friends takes talent.

Third of all; the far left base has turned against President Obama for basically the same reason listed above. Because the far left liberals thought that Obama was going to beckon to their every whim and pet cause. The far left was under this strange impression that Obama would end the war in Iraq, the very day he was sworn into office and would quickly end the war in Afghanistan. Again, this can be attributed to good marketing or in Obama’s case; excessive marketing of an image. The problem is, that image was not grounded in reality, because for one; the Iraq war could not have been ended until the date set by the “Status of force agreement” with Iraq and the coalition forces and ending the Afghanistan war would be a threat to National security; Obama might be a socialist Democrat, but he is not a fool. Obama was not about to stop the Afghanistan war and open the floodgates of National Security threats on our Country. Even Obama is not that stupid.

Lastly; what this article does not take into account is the fact that Politics and the political winds do shift, ebb and flow. People get their impression of a man and it usually sticks. Sometimes this works to the advantage of the person in office —- and sometimes it does not. In Obama’s case, because of some of the early failures and because Obama did not kowtow to the far left in his Party, that impression has, so far, not been a good one.

Others: Shot in the Dark

UPDATED – Adam Yahiye Gadahn Caught – It was not Adam Yahiye Gadahn It was Abu Yahya

Three Words:

Good, Good and Good.

I wonder if President Obama will want to give this guy a civilian trial too?

Round up Here.

Update: Perhaps Not. You’d think they would be able to do this a little better… Oy. 🙄