This story completely blows me away! If you ever wondered why the White House didn't divulge information about the capture of the Christmas day "Under Pants Bomber" here is why.

Since the attempted bombing, several prominent lawmakers have argued he should have been placed immediately in military custody, and the nation's top intelligence official said he should have been questioned by a special group of terror investigators, rather than the FBI agents who responded to the scene.

The officials who spoke to The AP said on-scene investigators never discussed turning the suspect over to military authorities. And their accounts show that as the hours passed, the FBI turned to its own expert counterterror interrogators and made no effort to involve the special unit, because it was not yet up and running.

So we are not going to turn this military combatant over to the military... Hmm... Oh, and the FBI's "special unit" is not yet up and running. This is on par. It's obvious that terrorism is a back-seat issue with the Obama administration at the wheel.

The officials provided an account of the law enforcement response to the holiday bombing on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details of the investigation.

Here is what officials say happened:

Shortly after noon on Christmas, federal agents were notified that Northwest Airlines flight 253 had arrived at the Detroit airport from Amsterdam, with a passenger who had lit an explosive device on the aircraft.

After being restrained and stripped bare by fellow passengers and crew, Abdulmutallab was handed over to Customs and Border Protection officers and local police.
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The officers decided the suspect needed immediate medical attention, and an ambulance crew took him to the burn unit at the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Along the way, Abdulmutallab repeatedly made incriminating statements to the CBP officers guarding him. He told them he had acted alone on the plane and had been trying to take down the aircraft.

Abdulmutallab arrived at the hospital just before 2 p.m. Still under guard, Abdulmutallab told a doctor treating him that he had tried to trigger the explosive. The Nigerian said it didn't cause a blast, but instead began popping and ignited a fire on his groin and legs.

FBI agents from the Detroit bureau arrived at the hospital around 2:15 p.m., and were briefed by the Customs agents and officers as Abdulmutallab received medical treatment.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., FBI agents began interviewing the suspect in his hospital room, joined by a CBP officer and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The suspect spoke openly, said one official, talking in detail about what he'd done and the planning that went into the attack. Other counterterrorism officials speaking on condition of anonymity said it was during this questioning that he admitted he had been trained and instructed in the plot by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

The interview lasted about 50 minutes. Before they began questioning Abdulmutallab, the FBI agents decided not to give him his Miranda warnings providing his right to remain silent.

Investigators are allowed to question a suspect without providing a Miranda warning if they are trying to end a threat to public safety.

Abdulmutallab's interview ended when the suspect was given medication and the investigators decided it would be better to let the effects of the drugs wear off before pressing him further. The suspect went into surgery — counterterrorism officials went into overdrive tightening airline security and chasing leads.

He would not be questioned again for more than five hours. By that point, officials said, FBI bosses in Washington had decided a new interrogation team was needed. They made that move in case the lack of a Miranda warning or the suspect's medical condition at the time of the earlier conversations posed legal problems later on for prosecutors.

There was no effort to call in the elite federal High-Value Interrogation Group, a special unit of terror specialists that the Obama administration said early last year it would create to deal with terror suspects captured abroad.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said the unit should have been called in after Abdulmutallab's arrest. But even if federal officials wanted to expand its use to domestic cases, the special team was not ready for action, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress last week.

Based on the instructions from Washington, the second interview was conducted by different FBI agents and others with the local joint terrorism task force.

Such a move is not unusual in cases where investigators or prosecutors want to protect themselves from challenges to evidence or statements.

By bringing in a so-called "clean team" of investigators to talk to the suspect, federal officials aimed to ensure that Abdulmutallab's statements would still be admissible if the failure to give him his Miranda warning led a judge to rule out the use of his first admissions.

Even if Abdulmutallab's statements are ruled out as evidence, they still provided valuable intelligence for U.S. counterterrorism officials to pursue, officials said.

In the end, though, the "clean team" of interrogators did not prod more revelations from the suspect.

Having rested and received more extensive medical treatment, Abdulmutallab was told of his right to remain silent and right to have an attorney.

He remained silent.

This is insane!

There are a few things at play here. The "suspect" is NOT a suspect. They know he's the guy with the bomb, he was burned and still had bomb material on him. Yeah, just in case he is just crazy and wants to take the blame for the foiled plot, but is really innocent. The FBI should not have been a part of this at all, when you wage a war, a Jihad, against the United States, you are a military combatant; end of Story.

The United States Government is giving it's enemy an advantage by refusing to fight them on realistic terms.

To make things even better now we have Bin Laden claiming that he was behind the Christmas day bombing attempt.

CAIRO — Al Qaeda leader Usama Bin Laden issued a new audio message claiming responsibility for the Christmas day airline bombing attempt in Detroit and vowed further attacks.

In a short recording carried by the Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, bin Laden addressed President Barack Obama saying the attack was a message like that of Sept. 11 and more attacks against the U.S. would be forthcoming.

"The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the Sept. 11," he said.

"America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine," he added. "God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue."

A quick read of the (publicly available 585 page) 9/11 Commission Report brings one very important revelation. Al Qaeda was at war with the United States, and the U.S. government (as a whole) was unaware of this.

The government has known that the U.S. is at war since the Bush administration so there can be no excuses. Treating military criminals as common criminals is a very ignorant and extremely dangerous move. There can be made no logical argument for these actions.

Even Eric Holder agrees.

In January and February 2009, President Barack Obama's nominees for Attorney General and Solicitor General, Eric Holder and Elena Kagan, both testified they agreed the U.S. government may detain combatants in accordance with the laws of war until the end of the war, (this sidesteps the issue of deciding whether the combatant is a lawful or unlawful combatant and the need to try them). When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham "If our intelligence agencies should capture someone in the Philippines that is suspected of financing Al Qaeda worldwide, would you consider that person part of the battlefield?" Both Holder and Kagan said that they would.

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It is a great day when the United States Supreme Court makes a decision based on Constitutional Law --and actually upholds The Constitution!

McCain-Feingold limited the free speech rights of corporations, and private individuals by limiting how much money could be donated, or spent on ads and when those ads can be run.

The response from Obama is very interesting.

President Obama issued a statement calling on Congress to “develop a forceful response to this decision.”

“With its ruling today,” he said, “the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

I find it interesting that Obama is worried. It seems that Obama is angered that the industries his administration has tried to control are now going to have a larger voice. If the corporations are all "evil" and "marshaling power" why would he worry what they say, wouldn't they incriminate themselves? Besides; if these "evil" corporations are "marshaling power every day" already, what difference would it make if they can fund commercials?

Oh, and since when does the president threaten "a forceful response" to a supreme court decision? Obama has ruled against the United States Constitution, the same Constitution he has sworn to protect.

I think the democrat party is starting to erode. As it does; more and more of the truth is coming out. The democrats are in hot water now, because the entities they have demonized and used to polarize the general public will now fight back. Remember what happened to Humana when they explained the end result of the current health care legislation?

This is the letter sent to Humana. Humana was threatened by the government and told to stop telling the truth; it's this sort of "marshaling power" that the United States Constitution prohibits!

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John Stossel explains one of the most common misconceptions about Capitalism. Stossel is right on!

I can't figure out why the president is threatening to tax banks who award their employees with bonuses?

The "financial crisis responsibility fee" would target major institutions. It would be levied on those that were the main contributors to the financial crisis and the most significant beneficiaries of the extraordinary actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," Obama said. "We want our money back and we're going to get it."

Obama noted that Treasury has already recovered the majority of the funds provided to banks, but said that wasn't good enough.

"If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers," Obama said.

This is on of the largest problems with this administration. How are investers supposed to determine where to put money if Obama can single out companies and inflict damage (effect their profits)? Does anyone think this is a good idea?

It is easy to guess which companies are not going to be punished. Note: it has little to do with how much money they borrowed.

Firms subject to the fee would have to have more than $50 billion in assets and must be a bank holding company, a thrift holding company, an insurer or a broker-dealer. Smaller firms and community banks would not be affected, the official said.

The fee would be assessed on an institution's liabilities minus its domestic deposits and core capital, which is the firm's cushion against possible losses. It's designed to tax firms with the greatest leverage, which is a proxy for how much risk the firm is taking in the markets.

The fee would be approximately 0.15% of a firm's covered liabilities. So, for example, a firm with $1 trillion in assets minus $100 billion in core capital and $500 billion in deposits, would leave it with $400 billion in covered liabilities. Consequently the firm would be charged approximately $600 million for the fee. (0.15% x $400 billion).

The administration estimates that roughly 50 companies will have to pay the fee, of which 20 to 27 would be banking institutions, according to the official. Roughly 35 would be U.S. companies and the rest would be the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies.

Some major beneficiaries of the financial bailout will not be subject to the fee - namely, mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) and automakers GM and Chrysler.

In those cases, the administration didn't think the fee would be workable both because of the structure of those companies' assets and because of their current condition, the senior administration official said.

So, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GM and Chrysler are not going to have to pay any fee. This is strange if you ask me. Let's go through the logic for a minute.

The TARP fund was designed to prop up large banks and holding companies which were effected by large losses. The TARP funds were there to allow these companies to loan and earn money again. Now that these compainies have become profitable again (the entire point of the TARP) Obama wants to punish them by asking them to pay back the TARP funds early?

The administration official said Obama wanted to accelerate a requirement in the existing TARP law that requires the president to seek a way to recoup unrecovered money in 2013, five years after the law was enacted.

"Look, the financial institutions collectively, particularly the larger ones, caused problems by their errors - their errors of judgment, their irresponsibility, in some cases their skating around dishonesty," said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

"I think it is entirely reasonable to say that the industry that, A, caused these problems more than any other and, B, benefited from the activity, should be contributing," he said.

So far, the Treasury has given $247 billion to more than 700 banks. Of that, $162 billion has been repaid and banks have paid an additional $11 billion in interest and dividends.

700 banks borrowed 247 billion and paid back 173 billion. So, 247 - 173 = 74. So, the banks owe the Fed 74 billion.

Obama wants the money back early, and Barney Frank says that large financial institutions should pay it back, because they are morally obligated.

Barney forgot what he himself said:

2005:

Congressmen Barney Frank(D-MA), Now chairmen of the house financial services committee:

"...The more people exaggerate, in my judgment, the threat of safety and soundness. The more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the treasury - which I do not see - I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially, and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. And even if there were a problem the federal government doesn't bail them out. But the more pressure there is there - then the less I think we see in terms of affordable housing.

I don't understand. Fannie and Freddie borrowed much more than any of the private institutions, why are they not on the line?

The Office of Management and Budget released a report yesterday on the budgets and proposed overhauls of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that included the possibility of liquidating their assets. But don't get your hopes up.

The two government run mortgage finance companies have been scandalously costly for tax-payers, costing Americans far more in bailout money than they ever saved in cheaper mortgages. The OMB says that the two companies will need at least $92.2 billion more in fiscal 2010. This is on top of the $78.2 billion in aid they've received since they were taken over by the government in September.

The entire point of having Fannie and Freddie operate as government sponsored entities was that they could borrow at lower rates than purely private companies. This savings enabled them to make mortgage loans at lower rates, and allowed them to buy up or guarantee mortgages from private lenders at rates that would otherwise have been uneconomical. Over the years, Fannie and Freddie may have saved Americans as much as $100 billion in mortgage payments. Now the OMB says they'll need that much just to get through next year.

So, 700 banks owe the Fed 74 billion and Obama is jumping up and down because they made profits.

Meanwhile Fannie and Freddie are going to need 92.2 billion THIS YEAR! Where is the outrage? You have banks paying back what they have borrowed, but Fannie and Freddie get a free pass along with GM and Chrysler and they can ask for more money! Let's spread the wealth around...

Any Obama buyer's remorse yet?

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The British Government is trying to cancel orders for Swine Flu vaccines. It appears that the H1N1 scare was just that --a scare.

Fewer than 5,000 people in Britain are thought to have contracted swine flu in the last week, and the numbers in intensive care are falling, although there has been a rise in those aged over 65.

Prof Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, who at one point predicted that up to 64,000 people could die from swine flu this winter, insisted that when the contracts were signed much of the news surrounding the pandemic suggested it was extremely dangerous.

“The information coming out at the time that the contracts had to be signed was from Mexico and was very alarming,” he said.

He added that predictions now suggested there would be no third wave of the swine flu virus this winter.

He said: “At the moment the modellers in this country … don’t think there will be a third wave following Christmas.”

A number of other countries including France have already announced plans to sell off their surplus vaccines.

Newly revised figures show that 360 people across Britain have died after contracting swine flu since April.

It's interesting how these things are blown out of proportion. They estimate 64,000 Swine Flu deaths and the real number is 360. Of course now you will have the "experts" coming out claiming that the vaccinations are what stopped the projected catastrophic outbreak. It will be just like the "jobs saved" numbers the Obama administration released.

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