As noted by Mark Levin on his radio show today, something big is obviously going on.

When is the last time Drudge had (suspected) terrorist arrests/activity as the top four items on his site? According to Levin, Drudge told him he has never seen anything like this in 14 years of monitoring the news

From the Dallas News:

Man arrested in alleged attempt to bomb Dallas skyscraper

Federal authorities arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen whom they said placed an inactive car bomb today at Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi has repeatedly voiced his intent to serve Osama bin Laden and al-Qa’ida and commit “violent Jihad,” authorities said in a prepared statement.

“Today’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to bring to justice persons who attempt to bring harm to citizens of this country and significant danger to this community,” special FBI agent in charge Robert E. Casey, Jr. said in the statement. “Smadi made a decision to act to commit a significant conspicuous act of violence under his banner of ‘self Jihad.’”

Authorities said that Smadi was under continuous FBI surveillance. Federal agents posed as members of an al-Qa’ida sleeper cell. Smadi, who was in the U.S. illegally, allegedly told them that he came to the country specifically to commit “Jihad for the sake of God.”

According to authorities, Smadi identified potential Dallas targets in June and allegedly scoped out Fountain Place in July. Authorities said that Smadi lived and worked in Italy, about 45 miles south of Dallas.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert said city officials were notified of the impending arrest beforehand.
Also Online

“We were clearly communicated to that there was not going to be a danger to anybody,” Leppert said. “There’s a good working relationship between the police and the FBI. This is an example of that.”

Leppert mentioned that there was another terrorism arrest in Springfield today.

Regarding the arrests in Dallas, Denver, New York City and Springfield, he said, “It’s a comment on the world we live in. All of us need to be vigilant.”

From Reuters:

UPDATE 1-Illinois man charged in plot to bomb federal offices

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) – An Illinois man was ordered held on Thursday on charges he tried to blow up a federal building in the state capital, a case unrelated to the New York terrorism plot.

Michael Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested in Springfield, Illinois, and charged with attempted murder of federal officers or employees and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, charges that carry a life sentence.

“Fortunately, a coordinated undercover law enforcement effort was able to thwart his efforts and ensure no one was harmed,” David Kris, assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in a statement.

Finton was arrested on Wednesday in Springfield as he used a cell phone to try to detonate the bomb he believed was inside a van he had just parked outside the federal building.

Appearing in a courtroom on Thursday in the same building he is accused of targeting, Finton waived his right to a detention hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore appointed a public defender to represent Finton and ordered him held pending an indictment by a grand jury.

Finton said he worked part-time as a restaurant cook, according to the State Journal-Register newspaper.

The criminal complaint said Finton, 29, converted to Islam while in prison on other charges. It said he idolized an American who allied with the Taliban, John Walker Lindh, drawing the attention of law enforcement authorities.

Also from Reuters:

U.S. terror suspects accused of targeting Marine base

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Two men charged in North Carolina last month with plotting terrorist attacks overseas also planned to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, authorities said on Thursday.

The two were among seven suspects arrested in August for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and for conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people overseas.

A new indictment unveiled on Thursday charged Daniel Patrick Boyd, the group’s alleged ringleader, and Hysen Sherifi “with conspiring to murder U.S. military personnel” in connection with the planned assault on the Marine Corps base, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh said in a statement.

It offered no details, except to say that Boyd had undertaken reconnaissance of Quantico and obtained maps of the base in order to plan the attack.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Boyd also possessed armor piercing ammunition, and had stated that it was “to attack the Americans.”

“These additional charges hammer home the grim reality that today’s home-grown terrorists are not limiting their violent plans to locations overseas, but instead are willing to set their sights on American citizens and American targets, right here at home,” U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding said.

From CBS3 in Philly:

Inoperative Cameras Hinder SEPTA ‘Photo’ Probe

Twice in the past two days, SEPTA officials have alerted police to men taking pictures on the Broad Street subway line in South Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, a SEPTA cashier told officers about a man taking pictures at the Lombard-South station, but the man, after being questioned by the cashier about his activities, left before officers arrived.

“We are attempting to identify that male to determine what the nature or the reason for taking the photographs was,” Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan said.

On Tuesday, officers received a report of a male taking pictures in the track area at the Snyder Avenue station.

So far, neither male has been identified, although Philadelphia Police officials say the two separate incidents have no link to any terrorist activities.

No need to worry, though. After Obama prostrated himself in front of a roomful of U.N tyrants yesterday, everything should be rainbows, bunnies and unicorns.

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This is Sarah Prothero-Redheffer.
She was taken from this world, 8 years ago, on September 11th 2001.

This year, my forum board, All Sides Political Forums is participating in “Project 2,996″, which is an annual online event, honoring those lost in the 9/11 attacks.

Link: http://project2996.wordpress.com/

Posted below is the tribute written for her.

Many Thanks,
Lisa (a.k.a. “Talismen” – site owner and admin)

********************

Just days after the 9/11 attacks, Rev. David Prothero said “I think for the moment we are living in hope that she will be one of those found and that she has been able to escape”.

His 35 year old daughter Sarah Prothero-Redheffer, an executive with the London-based Risk Waters Group, was organizing a conference on the 106th floor of the North Tower, when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the building…Changing David Prothero’s world, and ours, forever.

A tribute to Sarah, featured on the Risk Waters Group website (dedicated to employees lost on that day) said that Sarah was “a tornado of energy and enthusiasm when the rest of us would need to stop for air”. We all seem to know folks like Sarah…Those who have endless amounts of energy and can rally for a cause, or be there when we need them most.

The tribute went on to say (in part):

Sarah led her life passionately because a quiet life simply wasn’t an option. The faith and trust she placed in her team made us a unique force and we count ourselves so very fortunate to have met such a youthful and vibrant spirit. To say Sarah was a feisty character is an understatement.

Dedicated, professional and caring are just a few of the qualities that she brought to the workplace. Always on hand to give advice, Sarah could be relied upon to bring humour to any situation and had an enviable habit of turning difficult situations around.

On that fateful day and for weeks after, Sarah’s friends and family waited for word, hoping and praying that Sarah would not only survive, but would soon return to calm their anxious hearts and fill their outstretched arms.

They were hurting…Just as we all were hurting…And continue to hurt…From the horrible losses suffered that day.

It’s easy to envision that Sarah (with her “feisty character”) may have been one of the angels who helped to calm the injured, look for a way out, or merely pray to God for their safety. A few of her friends and loved ones have left comments on a memorial site for her, some of which give clues to the kind of love and compassion Sarah gave to the world, and how the world suffers a great loss without her energy and spirit:

(snips)

“Sarah, still regret not being able to meet up with u in Sydney the month before the NY event……….
Our brief time as colleagues and partners back in London remains well up on my ‘good times’ list buddy, wherever u r I am sure u r making people smile and keeping them on track.
x “

“Sarah and I were at University together and she was a good friend, though I hadn’t seen her for a few years. I heard the news only today March 2004 from another University friend. She was one of life’s naturally positive people, full of buzz and energy, playful and mischevious and above all a wonderful person with a heart of gold. On hearing this awful news, a little bit of me died too. My deepest sympathies are with her husband and family.”

It is said that everyone is loved by someone….And, well…It’s clear to see that Sarah was loved by many.

And she is missed by many, to this very day.

Her life was spent taking care of what needed to be taken care of.
People could count on her, and she did not let them down.
That was Sarah.

And on this 8th anniversary of her untimely death, those of us left to mourn her and the event itself, should consider it our mission to follow Sarah’s good example, and ‘take care of what needs to be taken care of’, forever honoring the memory of all those lost, all those who mourn, and all those brave souls who helped to bring comfort and closure to folks like Sarah’s parents, her husband, and the rest of her family and friends.

We must never forget Sarah….Nor any one of them.

Thank you Sarah.
Your loving spirit still moves people to this very day.

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Well, it looks like the moving plans of the Gitmo prisoners have been put on hold for awhile. At least until a weasel vote can be held in the dead of night.

Better unpack those Quarans post-haste.

The same House Democrats who have been screaming about all of the “torture” and “human rights violations” that have been alleged (and have been never proven) at Gitmo and have been caterwauling like a constipated Rosie O’Donnell about closing the facility for years, now have denied the funds that Obama had requested in order to shutdown the facility and relocate the detainees.

From AP via BreitBart.com:

WASHINGTON (AP) – Amid complaints that terror suspects could be brought to the U.S., House Democrats on Monday rebuffed the Obama administration’s request for $50 million to relocate prisoners from the detention facility at Guantanamo, Cuba.

When lawmakers unveiled a bill to pay for military and diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan through the fall, the money to implement President Barack Obama’s executive order to shut down the prison within a year was missing from it. However, money could be transferred later—without a politically challenging vote—if it were needed to move the detainees.

The bill, which was released to key lawmakers, registers about $11 billion more than Obama’s $83.4 billion request, reflecting additional money for procurement of cargo plans, armored combat vehicles, helicopters and other items.

Funding for foreign aid accounts would be increased to about $10 billion, said a House aide briefed on the bill, including money to combat AIDS.

Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers that the $50 million request for relocating the detainees was simply a “plug in the budget” that was just “a hedge that would allow us to get started if some construction is needed to be able to accommodate those detainees.”

The Pentagon has not said how many of the 240 or so detainees would be transferred to the United States or where they would be held. Gates has estimated that 50 to 100 detainees would be shipped to this country.

While the Jihad Allied Van Lines money was not procured, a few other things were, including more pork for CorruptoCrat John Murtha:

Democrats have heeded Obama’s demand to keep the bill free of domestic add-ons, though lawmakers such as Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., succeeded in swelling spending for military and foreign aid accounts.

Murtha had hoped to used the bill to advance $8 billion to $9 billion in extras for the military, such as Stryker armored combat vehicles and C-17 cargo planes.

But pressure from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other party leaders forced Murtha to cut from 15 to eight the number of C-17 planes from The Boeing Co. Eight of the planes would cost of $2.2 billion. Boeing was unsuccessful in winning new F-18 fighters.

How heroic of Speaker Botox to reduce the number of C-17 planes. Did that money go instead to her district or maybe to her non-unionized, illegal-alien winery? The Tootsie Pop Owl would like to know.

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First there was the first foreign interview with al-Jazeera. Then the no pre-conditions diplomatic sally towards Iran. The backhanding of Israel while doling out $1 billion to Hamas. And then sending Hillary on bended knee to every Arab despotic and terrorist regime on her first foreign tour. Quite the first impression, would you not say?

And now, as if even the most blind OburkhaBot needed any more convincing that the Obama administration is totally and completely beholden and indebted to IslamoTerrorists on all fronts, (especially from illegal campaign funding) comes this predictable, but regrettable piece of news.

From Newsmax.com:

Obama Wants to Disarm U.S. Pilots

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:19 PM

By: David A. Patten

The Obama administration is taking steps quietly to shut down the program that qualifies commercial airline pilots to carry firearms in jetliner cockpits in order to ward off another 9/11-type attack.

The administration recently diverted $2 million from a program to train and certify pilots to carry firearms safely while on duty. Instead, it is using the money to hire additional field inspectors to help discipline pilots who step out of line, according to a report in Tuesday’s Washington Times.

A Times editorial condemned the Obama administration’s action, calling it “completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots.”

Since Obama took office, the approval process for certifying pilots to carry firearms has ground to a halt, the newspaper reports. Pilots are afraid to speak out about the behind-the-scenes maneuverings, for fear of retaliation, according to the newspaper. No cases have been reported in which pilots have brandished a weapon inappropriately or otherwise abused their eligibility to carry firearms.

So, let us disarm our nation’s airline pilots, 70% who are ex-military and therefore already qualified and trained to carry a firearm in most cases. While at the same time make sure that those Gitmo terrorists who have not returned to the battlefield (and who get free health care at the U.S. taxpayer’s expense) are freed ASAP. Though, God only knows where they will end up.

Osama, ImInAJihad and Assad could not written a better script if they wanted to. It is now all too obvious that Obama and his fellow travelers are the terrorist’s personal blow-up doll. And this disarming is just one more overt step in that direction.

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Now that the election is over, Obama is warmly (and I mean WARMLY) ensconced in the Oval Office and the only thing that the DNC media is talking about are the various “stimuli” packages (and also a few tax cheat stories here and there), good news about the war on Terror in general and al-qaeda in particular can now come to light.

AllahPundit at HotAir.com reports on the devastation of al-qaeda’s leadership. It seems that every week, they are losing leader types faster than Daschle throwing a 1040 form into the shredder.

From NPR:

The officials say the terrorist network’s leadership cadre has been “decimated,” with up to a dozen senior and midlevel operatives killed as a result of the strikes and the remaining leaders reeling from the repeated attacks.

“The enemy is really, really struggling,” says one senior U.S. counterterrorism official. “These attacks have produced the broadest, deepest and most rapid reduction in al-Qaida senior leadership that we’ve seen in several years.”…

“In the past, you could take out the No. 3 al-Qaida leader, and No. 4 just moved up to take his place,” says one official. “Well, if you take out No. 3, No. 4 and then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, it suddenly becomes a lot more difficult to revive the leadership cadre.”

As AllahPundit notes:

It ain’t all good news — 100 operatives who trained at the camps are thought to be on the loose and the Taliban keeps forcing the U.S. to lower expectations in Afghanistan — but it’s a big deal. See my update to Ed’s post on the airstrike that took out the embassy bombers last month for a round-up of America’s latest, greatest hits. The pace is remarkably consistent: Every two months or so for fully a year now, one of the AQ illuminati has gotten a ticket to meet Allah. Something profound’s happened to our intel capabilities over there but I can only marvel at what it might be. More informants, sure, but how many and how close are they to the top? The more big fish we kill, the more paranoid AQ must be, yet somehow they still haven’t caught whoever it is that’s ratting them out

And what has been Obama’s response to all of this? Well, judging by a) his Iran-Gate like behavior during the campaign and b) his Full Court Surrender Press towards Iran since he took office, it is the opposite of what it should be.

From Frank Gaffney’s column in The Washington Times:

c According to GeostrategyDirect.com, a newsletter published by The Washington Times’ ace national security reporter Bill Gertz, “Diplomatic sources said Barack Obama has engaged several Arab intermediaries to relay messages to and from al Qaeda in the months before his elections as the 44th U.S. president. The sources said al Qaeda has offered what they termed a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. ‘For the last few months, Obama has been receiving and sending feelers to those close to al Qaeda on whether the group would end its terrorist campaign against the United States,’ a diplomatic source said. ‘Obama sees this as helpful to his plans to essentially withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq during his first term in office.’ “

Now that Gertz is on the story, that makes it a lot more plausible than the vague rumors of this that have been floating around the last few weeks.

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Yes, you read that title correctly.

Yesterday, newly sworn-in President Barack Obama put a halt to existing and future Gitmo trials for all prisoners held there, until his administration has a chance to look over the cases. And then, going a step further, he signed an executive order to close the prison at Gitmo within 1 year’s time.

Within 24 hours, 9/11 families were outraged by Obama’s actions and understandably so.

What does this all mean for the future of our security?
Well, there’s not a whole lot of thought that needs to be put into this….It simply means we’re back where we started, September 10th 2001. There is no substantive deterrant to attacking the United States, due to these actions taken by Obama. Terrorists now know they will more than likely be tried in courts of law, inside the very country they wish to destroy, with rights afforded to them that they do not want nor deserve. This does not phase them, nor does it stop them.

This also means that Obama has, by default, gutted the foundations of reason for sending our troops into harms way in order to “preserve, protect, and defend”, in a time when islamic terrorism has reached a fevered pitch. He has laid waste to the premise that if anyone dares attack our country, they will be dealt with in a substantive fashion, in the harshest terms available.

A country that does not value or protect its sovereignty, will suffer it’s loss.

This move sends signals all over the world, indicating that the United States has lost her resolve.

I’ve been calling this behavior “The Death Of Resolve” for quite some time now, so this doesn’t necessarily shock me. It does, however, make me more fearful for my country than I have ever been.

So, to sum up:

The planes never crashed….
The lives were never lost….
The buildings remain intact and standing.

And the threat is still real, still active, and still coming.

When that works, will someone wake me up?

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Obama supporters.
“Disciples” I call them.

They were sold a bill of “goods”. Those “goods” included Obama’s still-to-be-seen (but apparently inherent) ability to handle ANY crisis with leadership, confidence and grace.

So – where is he, on Israel and Hamas? Just a day or two ago, his “people” said “there’s only one President at a time”. Be not confused…This is code for “We’re not sure what Barack thinks on this, so don’t ask. In fact, how dare you ask! Do not bother the Obamessiah! The great and powerful Obamessiah has spoken”.

Come on folks….I thought this guy was the political “2nd coming”?
I thought he would halt the “rise of the oceans”?
I thought he would pay all debts for all Americans in need?
I thought he was the smartest man on earth?

Sucks to be proven THIS stupid, doesn’t it?
In the dictionary under “duped” there’s a picture of that 50+ percent that voted for the man.

Enjoy the next 4 years.

Obama *still* not interfering with Israel
(snip)

It’s starting to worry some people.

Posted by Moe Lane
Sunday, January 4th at 11:23PM EST

People like Simon Tisdall of the Guardian, who probably speaks for all those Leftists out there who contributed time and money in the hope that America’s Israel policy would change. I want to point out a specific sentence:
[quote]The Al-Jazeera satellite television station recently broadcast footage of Obama on holiday in Hawaii, wearing shorts and playing golf, juxtaposed with scenes of bloodshed and mayhem in Gaza.

Read the rest at the link (embedded links at the source).

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