Is the UN and African Union Taking The Wrong Side in Niger Coup?

Is the United Nations and the African Union taking the wrong side in the Niger coup? They want to see a return to power of President Mamadou Tandja, who had been busy ignoring the Niger Constitution and its term limits requirements all while accumulating power beyond the scope of his authority. He was on the verge of becoming a president for life, and yet the UN and African Union want to see a return to the status quo - restoring Tandja to power?

Sorry, but I don't think that is in the best interests of the people of Niger. Residents were increasingly unsatisifed with Tandja, especially after he basically rewrote the Constitution to his liking:

The junta has vowed to turn Niger into "an example of democracy" after Tandja stayed in office past his legal mandate, which expired in December. But the country's new rulers have not said how long they will hold power and some worry the move could increase the uranium-rich country's isolation.

Residents, at least those in the capital, appeared to overwhelmingly support the military action.

Tandja had grown deeply unpopular here after pushing through a referendum in August that established a new constitution which removed presidential term limits. It also gave him greatly boosted powers and an unprecedented three-year extension of his rule before another round of elections could be held.

Before the referendum, Tandja had been criticized for imposing rule by decree and dissolving parliament and the constitutional court because they opposed his plan to stay in power past his legal Dec. 22 mandate.

"We're proud of our military!" screamed one woman at Saturday's rally, where demonstrators held up hastily made signs scrawled with the words: "Long Live the Army."

"Tandja let everything go," said Amadou Madi, a 27-year-old electrician. "He was a thief and a crook. Our military was right to remove him."

Tandja first rose to power in democratic elections in 1999 that were organized by a military junta which took control that year. Many of the military masterminds responsible for organizing that ballot also took part in Thursday's coup, apparently disillusioned with Tandja's refusal to step down.

Note too that Tandja himself came to power in 1999 as a result of a coup earlier that year.

Yet, at some point the UN and African Union came to recognize him as the legitimate leader of Niger. This too will likely be the outcome of elections held to replace Tandja by Salou Djibo, who was named head of the junta, which calls itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

If the junta can arrange open elections within short order to reestablish a democracy in the country, this would be a good thing for Niger. However, it would be even better if we see a series of free and open elections among competitive candidates as a single election in and of itself is not a sign of a fully functioning democracy.

For the people of Niger it means that they have to hope for the best with the junta and that they live up to their name - that they truly do reestablish a democracy in Niger. It also means that the country has to do a much better job going forward of controlling one of its most precious natural resources - and a prime reason why the situation in Niger has global consequences - the third largest supply of uranium in the world.

Designs Unveiled For Replacement Kosciuszko Bridge

Drivers in New York City are all too aware of the problems with the Kosciuszko Bridge on the Brooklyn-Queens border. It's too narrow, is too steep for truck traffic, and is a bottleneck on a good day, and the condition of the span itself is beyond awful. At times it would appear to be held together by little more than willpower. It handles 160,000 cars daily and is a critical link in the city's highway system.

It's also the worst bridge in New York City and one of the worst in New York State.

Studies to replace the span  that first opened in 1939 have been going on for years, but we're now at a point where designs for the replacement span can be considered. There are four designs under consideration to replace the truss span that is currently there. Each of the designs would consist of a twin span over Newtown Creek with full lane width, breakdown lanes, and modern sight lines.

The four span designs are a box girder, a cable stayed span, deck arch span, and a through arch span. If the issues with the Lake Champlain bridge are a guide, expect that the deck arch span be chosen as a compromise on costs and maintenance costs. Further, the cable stayed span might not be the best choice given the proximity to LaGuardia Airport although it might present a new signature span for the City and present a striking addition to the landscape.

Construction isn't expected to start before 2012, with a completion date likely in 2014 or later.The NYS Department of Transportation is soliciting input on the designs at multiple open house sessions and comes after multiple options were narrowed down to four basic span designs.
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Niger Coup Leads To New Government and Opportunity for Elections?

This is a fluid and developing situation, but reports yesterday indicated that the Niger military engaged in a coup to depose the sitting President. That sounds pretty bad for the President,  Mamadou Tandja, except that the Tandja may have seriously overstepped his authority and essentially became a dictator-in-chief by changing term limits and other laws limiting his authority.

Tandja, who drew criticism and sanctions for his constitutional reform that allowed him to stay in power beyond the end of his second term which expired in December, was in detention and in "very good condition", the junta said.

Most of the members of Tandja's cabinet were released by Friday afternoon, according to military sources, though their work was being done by their secretary generals.

Junta leader Djibo is an officer trained in Ivory Coast, Morocco and China who has served in U.N. peacekeeping missions. Other leaders include Colonel Djibril Hamidou, a key player in Niger's last coup in 1999 that paved the way for the vote that brought Tandja to power.

Despite the international condemnation, diplomats and analysts said the overthrow of Tandja could create an opportunity to hold the elections that were postponed by his unpopular constitutional reform.

"The junta will likely defer to international and domestic pressure for a return to democracy, and organise elections in the medium term," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, Africa analyst for Eurasia Group.

A  platoon leader, Salou Djibo, was named head of the junta, which calls itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy. Djibo has had experience on peacekeeping missions with the United Nations and African Union missions.

The French and African Union were quick to condemn the coup and wanted to know the whereabouts of the former leader Mamadou Tandja. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also condemned the coup.

The situation in Niger has serious repercussions for the rest of the world since it is a major source of uranium and securing the supply of uranium is a priority. It's the third biggest supplier, and it was hoping to double its production by 2012. It's not clear how the coup will affect the uranium production and who the country does business with.

The Obligatory Tiger Woods Apologia Post

Here's Tiger Woods apologizing to all those who felt that they were offended by his actions:



It's the standard boilerplate apology. He hits on all the usual subjects, hits all the usual notes, and hopes to get back to playing golf eventually.

So does the PGA, which needs its biggest and best player to be out on the course bringing in the crowds.

I fully expect Woods to be ready for the Masters. He'll continue his treatment for sex addiction for a few more weeks before hitting the links.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 94

Say goodbye to Tower 2 at the World Trade Center, because Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority can't seem to find the money to make it happen.

An iconic 79-story skyscraper long planned for Ground Zero that would have been taller than the Empire State Building appears to be dead.

Developer Larry Silverstein has proposed a new financing scheme for the troubled site that discards the 1,270-foot Tower 2, sources familiar with the project say. In the past two weeks, he has come under intense pressure from Gov. Paterson to resolve his bitter war with the Port Authority.

Acting after Silverstein was slapped down last month in his bid to snag $3.5 billion in penalties from the PA because of building delays, Paterson urged him to throw more cash into the project and scale back his demands.

Tower 2 would have been designed by Sir Norman Foster and reached more than 1,250 feet into the air. It was also the one tower design that most people seemed to like (and even more curiously, was the one tower that most closely resembled the original Daniel Libeskind master plan sketches and plans for towers with sloping roof lines). The site has been plagued with Port Authority delays in getting the site prepped for construction, so this is the latest problem for that tower. Meanwhile, Tower 4, where the Port Authority intends to house its offices is underway just to the south.

All the while, the hulking ruin of the former Deutsche Bank building hovers over the entire site, as its deconstruction timetable affects construction through the site since the Deutsche bank building location is critical for future operations in the site.

Sen. Lautenberg Diagnosed With Stomach Cancer

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg has been diagnosed with stomach cancer. He had fallen at his home and tests revealed a bleeding ulcer to be the cause. Further tests revealed a treatable stomach cancer.

“We expect a full and complete recovery for Senator Lautenberg. The senator will be treated with chemotherapy administered approximately every three weeks. We anticipate that he will receive between six and eight treatments, and in between treatments, the senator is expected to be back at work in the Senate.”

Lautenberg took ill Monday while at home in Cliffside Park. He fell down and phoned his doctor and an ambulance. The senator directed the ambulance to transport him to Manhattan for treatment at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he has been hospitalized ever since. Lautenberg never lost consciousness, his aides said.

Doctors quickly determined that Lautenberg had fallen due to blood loss from a bleeding ulcer. The bleeding was stopped during an endoscopy. Additional pathology tests revealed the ulcer was caused by a b-cell lymphoma of the stomach.

Despite being the second oldest members of Congress (behind Richard Byrd), he has been quite active in recent months, including a trip to Haiti last week to tour the damage in Port au Prince.

I wish him and his family well. It doesn't sound like he's going to miss much time in Congress, or that this will somehow prevent him from completing his term in office. Still, his current term ends in 2014, so that if he were somehow forced to step down, it would mean that Republican Governor Chris Christie would have the power to appoint an interim senator.

Monserrate Tries Getting Old Job Back While Avoiding Terms of His Sentencing

I'm not surprised by this. Former State Senator Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) is busy trying to sue his way back into the State Senate, but he's also ignoring the terms of his sentencing that required 250 hours of community service and blew off three court-mandated counseling sessions.

Monserrate has one set of rules for himself, all while hoping to impose a completely different set of rules on everyone else when he participated in the legislature. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault of his girlfriend, and the State Senate expelled him in a bipartisan vote (53-8). Monserrate now claims the State Senate doesn't have that power and that the civil rights of his constituents were violated by the Senate's actions.

A federal judge was not convinced of this and refused to block Monserrate's expulsion from the Senate, but Monserrate's lawyers (which includes the NYCLU) are expected to appeal.

The courts are not likely to side with Monserrate since the legislature has the right to police its own affairs and that we're addressing a political question here. That a special election is being held within 30 days mitigates the claim that Monserrate's constituents are somehow being deprived of their constitutional rights. Moreover, none of this precludes Monserrate from running in the special election - and should he run and win - it would present yet another sideshow circus for a legislature that has far more important issues to be dealing with - namely the huge budget deficit.

Killer Pilot's Message Resonates Among the Lunatic Fringe

I noticed this yesterday as I had to delete several messages that considered the pilot in a deadly plane crash into the IRS offices in Austin, Texas, a hero. The lunatic fringe - both on the right and left think that Joe Stack is someone to be admired.

Walters was one of at least two dozen people who founded Facebook fan groups to hail the homicidal pilot.

Most had only a tiny handful of members, but hers attracted more than 200 before Facebook removed it.

"His sacrifice was for all of us," wrote Texan Tyler Britten.

Crackpots were also praising the dead pilot on Twitter.

"Joe Stack, you are a true American Hero and we need more of you to make a stand," tweeted Greg Lenihan, an engineer in San Diego.

Stack's manifesto railed against Wall Street, the Catholic Church, the IRS and the failure to reform health care - a little something for everyone.

The right called him a socialist, and the left branded him a right-wing tea partyer.

The only pol Stack name-checked in his final rant was "recent presidential puppet" George W. Bush, though he called all politicians useless.

There are always members of a small lunatic fringe ready to embrace a domestic terrorist targeting the feds. Tim McVeigh, who blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people, many of them children, remains a hero in some disgruntled circles 10 years after his execution.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said it was outrageous that some Americans were praising Stack.

This was a cowardly act of domestic terrorism," he said, and Stack's rant "reflects the steadily increasing flow of 'the government is out to get me' paranoia."

On the other end of the crazy scale, Internet conspiracy theorists - including Austin radio host Alex Jones - were quick yesterday to declare that the plane crash was staged by the government "to demonize the tea party movement."

Are you kidding me? The guy burned down his own home before taking his plane and crashing it into the IRS offices because of longstanding tax issues he had with the IRS (among other sundry issues that he raised in his rambling manifesto).

The manifesto is a cipher, allowing pretty much anyone to read whatever they want into Stack's motives, depending on what they choose to highlight. Ignore the ending, and you can suggest the guy was an adherent to the Tea Party movement. Or, you could ignore that he railed against President Bush, the IRS, FAA, and other agencies and politicians, the medical profession, his current home in Austin, and many others.


He was an angry disturbed individual who had motive and intent to kill and directed his ire against the agency he deemed did the most damage to his life; the IRS.
Here's a near complete list of all those he railed again, including President Bush, IRS, FAA, GM, banks, Christians, etc. He destroyed his family in the process of crashing his plane into the IRS offices with the intent to murder as many people as he could. In fact, we're lucky that apparently there was only one other person killed besides Stack, and there were about a dozen injuries (several serious). It could have been so much worse.

Then we have Alex Jones latching on to this attack as a means to discredit the Tea Party movement. Alex Jones has never met a conspiracy theory he didn't promulgate, spread, or metastasize into something far more sinister. What's so troubling about Jones is that far too many people on the right appeal to this guy, go on his show, or include him in their writings as a legitimate source. He's a loon with a big microphone.

Stack is the latest perpetrator in a long line of anti-IRS/anti-tax violence and the hatred crosses party lines. In Stack's case, he appears to have had multiple run-ins with IRS and tax officials, blaming them for business failures, loss of income, and having to relocate to Texas from California. He takes no personal responsibility for these situations or that he may have failed to properly report income or know the totality of his financial situation.

Gov. Paterson Pushes Delay In Tax Refund Check Payment To Balance Budget

Governor David Paterson and New York State are facing huge trouble with the budget situation. The governor's latest idea is one he's borrowing from California. He would like to delay the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars in refund checks to those taxpayers who overpaid their taxes.

New York set aside $1.75 billion for tax refunds through the end of the fiscal year on March 31. The governor wants to raid that pile, reducing it by a half-billion dollars. That improves cash flow but would delay refund checks for thousands of taxpayers.

And how are New Yorkers reacting to the news? "It's not fair!" one woman said.

"I'm not really happy with it to tell you the truth but we really don't have a choice," another woman said.

"I think it's okay, as long as you get your money," one man said.

New York was not alone in trying to close a massive budget deficit. David Paterson was not the first governor to float the idea of delaying tax refunds.

Recently, seven states, including California and Maryland, have delayed refunds or issued IOUs.

None of this addresses why the states are in the mess they're in; the structural deficits due to overspending and overoptimistic revenue projections. So, again we have politicians pushing solutions that only harm taxpayers who expect refund checks.

From the Video Vault - Godspell's It's All For the Best

You might not recognize the actor playing the lead role of Jesus Christ in the movie version of the Broadway show Godspell, but that's Victor Garber, who went on to star in Titanic as the ship's designer, Thomas Andrews, or as Jack Bristow (aka Spy Daddy) on Alias (playing Jennifer Garner's dad). Of course, those familiar with Broadway shows, know that Bristow starred in original version of Sweeney Todd and the off-Broadway version of Assassins.

What is most interesting is that this video is set in New York City in 1973, and ends with a scene at the top of the nearly complete World Trade Center.

Developing: Plane Crash in Austin Texas

Details are somewhat sketchy at the moment, but a small plane apparently crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas. No word on casualties, but the building was badly damaged and several people were taken to the hospital.

Fox News is streaming video of the building and rescue efforts. They also report that an NTSB official says that the pilot may have set fire to his home before getting in his plane. Fox also reports that they're investigating this as an intentional act.

An NTSB official told Fox News that they are investigating this as an intentional act, and said it appears the pilot set his own house on fire and then got in his plane and flew it into the building. An NTSB spokesman, however, told FoxNews.com that "we can't confirm any of that."

An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building.

IRS Agent William Winnie said he was on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming towards the building, TheStatesman.com reported.

If the IRS has offices in the building, they aren't listed on the IRS website, which indicates that they are located at 825 East Rundberg Lane.  It appears that the office building hit by the plane includes certain back office operations for the IRS:.

The Internal Revenue Service has offices in the building, including its civil enforcement and criminal investigations divisions, said Special Agent Michael Lemoine, a spokesman for the criminal investigations division.

He said that some IRS offices are on the first floor, which Lemoine said was hit by the plane.

He said that the criminal investigations division personnel are safe and accounted for. He did not have information on the civil division workers, who conduct audits and other activity at the offices

The FBI website indicates that they have offices in the building (though I've seen that disputed elsewhere - they're apparently in an adjacent building (with the same address?).

UPDATE:
It looks like this was an intentional crash, but not necessarily terrorism related, even as the US military scrambled F-16 planes as a precaution following the crash.

As this is a developing situation, motives aren't clear, let alone the identities of those involved.

UPDATE:
The pilot has been identified as Joseph Andrew Stack:

A statement released by the U.S. Department of Homeland security earlier said there was no connection to terrorism or criminal behavior -- but changed its statement shortly before 1 p.m. to declare the act criminal.

Joseph Andrew Stack set an explosion that engulfed his house in flames at 9:15, then went to Georgetown Airport about three minutes from Auston, where he hopped the single-engine plane and then crashed it, Marilyn Ryan of CNN reported.

The building is next to the headquarters of the FBI's Austin Field Office.

A neighbor reportedly rescued Stack's wife and daughter.

UPDATE:
This is being proffered as his manifesto, and it clearly has an anti-government and anti-religious bent to it; the writer clearly has issues with the IRS treating his income in a way he thought cost him tens of thousands of dollars over the years and had apparently gone through an audit relating to his wife's undocumented income that his CPA knew about but didn't report.

UPDATE:
Joe Stack apparently was a keyboardist in this band - what now appears to be all too appropriately named Last Straw, and the album named Over the Edge.

UPDATE:
Stack apparently stole the plane. That would explain the military scrambling jets to intercept.

UPDATE:
Authorities now believe that he owned the plane, so the prior posting was incorrect. It also appears that he lived in a rather upscale area of Austin, which belies his claims that the IRS ruined him (though for all we know, he was at the end of his financial rope).

UPDATE:
It's amazing that more people weren't killed or injured, but Stark's actions still resulted in 12 injured, several seriously, and one person was missing.

The National Public Sector Pension Underfunding Gap: $1 Trillion and Counting

What's the cost of underfunded public-sector pensions at the state and local level? $1 trillion and counting.

States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, according to a new study that warns of even more debilitating costs if immediate action isn't taken.

The Pew Center on the States released a survey Thursday of state-administered pension plans, retiree health care and other post-employment benefits in all 50 states that blamed a decade's worth of policy decisions for leaving them shortchanged.

The result for some states will be "high annual costs that come with significant unfunded liabilities, lower bond ratings, less money available for services, higher taxes and the specter of worsening problems in the future," the study said.

I've been detailing the problems in New Jersey for some time now, particularly how Gov. Jon Corzine claimed that he would fund the state pensions, only to turn around and say that municipalities could avoid their pension payment obligations to avoid raising taxes or cutting services.

The pensions are the ticking time bomb in state budgets nationally, and few are looking at the issue seriously. New Jersey attempted to deal with the problem a few years ago, but legislation stalled in the Assembly.

The state legislature is back at it again this time, and Gov. Chris Christie is demanding action - to rein in the costs and to demand that payments be made annually - forcing the state to deal with pension payments rather than ignore the obligation or shift the costs into the future. A referendum for mandating annual pension payments is being considered. Of course, even the referendum is pushing a phase-in, because mandating the full payment would be a $7 billion a year hit on a budget that is nearly $40 billion (including current obligations - pension costs would be nearly 25% of the state budget in just a few years' time).

With that in mind, expect the politicians to push the decision off still further into the future (making the problems that much more intractable).

UPDATE:
Clarified the headline and lede that we're talking about public-sector pensions.

Big Fish Alert: More Taliban Thugs and Al Qaeda Terrorists Captured In Ongoing Operations In Afghanistan and Pakistan

While no one is saying for sure whether the latest arrest of two more Taliban leaders was the result of the capture of Mullah Baradar, the hits keep coming for the Taliban struggling from a multi-pronged attack by the US, Afghan, and Pakistani forces on multiple fronts, including intel operations, UAV airstrikes, and direct assaults on Taliban-infested territories.

The "shadow governors" of two Afghan provinces were captured.

Afghan officials said the Taliban’s “shadow governors” for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan by officials there. Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s leader in Kunduz, was detained in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, and Mullah Mir Mohammed of Baghlan Province was also captured in an undisclosed Pakistani city, they said.

The arrests come on the heels of the capture of Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s military commander and the deputy to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the movement’s founder. Mr. Baradar was arrested in a joint operation by the C.I.A. and the ISI, Pakistan’s military intelligence agency.

The arrests were made by Pakistani officials, the Afghans said, but it seemed probable that C.I.A. officers accompanied them, as they did in the arrest of Mr. Baradar. Pakistani officials declined to comment.

Together, the three arrests mark the most significant blow to the Taliban’s leadership since the American-backed war began eight years ago. They also demonstrate the extent to which the Taliban’s senior leaders have been able to use Pakistan as a sanctuary to plan and mount attacks in Afghanistan.

It was not immediately clear if the arrests of the Taliban shadow governors were made possible by intelligence taken from Mr. Baradar. But it seemed likely. In the days after Mr. Baradar’s arrest, American officials said they managed to keep his detention a secret from many Taliban leaders, and that they were determined to roll up as much of the Taliban’s leadership as they could.

The Pakistanis arrested nine al Qaeda affiliated thugs in Karachi. Officials in that instance say the arrests were not related to Baradar's capture, but the report indicates that one among those captured was identified as "...Ameer Muawiya, who the officials said was in charge of foreign al-Qaida militants operating in Pakistan's tribal regions near Afghanistan and was an associate of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden."

If that pans out, that is a major hit against al Qaeda operations in the region, and could lead to additional arrests and airstrikes on both sides of the Afghan/Pakistani border.

That's on the heels of additional UAV airstrikes that took out terrorists in Waziristan.

Haitian Judge Rules 8 of 10 Americans Can Return To US; Former Adviser Sought In Multinational Sex Trafficking Case

The curious case of the 10 American missionaries who were caught trying to bring 33 Haitian kids into the Dominican Republic continues today with a finding by a Haitian judge that eight of 10 can return to the United States.

Laura Silsby, the leader of the group, and Charisa Coulter, were being kept for further investigation, said investigating Judge Bernard Saint-Vil. He said those released would be allowed to return home without posting bail if they agreed to return to Haiti for any more questions in the pending investigation.

"They will not have to post bail," the judge said. "But they will have to come back at the request of the court."

Earlier Wednesday, Coulter, who is diabetic, was taken to a field hospital. She briefly received treatment but was then taken back to jail. Neither her condition nor reason for the treatment was not immediately known.

Multiple reports seem to indicate that the other members of this group didn't know or realize that the proper papers were never obtained by Silsby's group. It makes sense to send the rest home given that Haiti's infrastructure is so badly damaged in the wake of the earthquake, but keeping those that knew, or had reason to know, of the lack of paperwork and who were in charge of this operation, makes sense.

Silsby is a shady character, but it now appears that her group's one-time legal adviser is himself a shady character, and he never actually had a law degree. Jorge Puello's background includes a conviction for bank fraud in Philadelphia, and now faces sex-trafficking charges in four countries.

Mr. Puello is wanted by the police in at least four countries in connection with charges including sex trafficking of girls and women, and making counterfeit documents and violating parole.

The Salvadoran police unveiled a sex trafficking ring last May in which they said Mr. Puello was helping to bring women and girls from Central America and the Caribbean into El Salvador and luring them into prostitution through offers of modeling and office jobs. Nude and semi-nude photographs were taken of women and girls and put on Internet sites, the police said.

The case against Mr. Puello broke open when three under-age Nicaraguan girls escaped from a house where they said they had been held captive for up to ten days by Mr. Puello’s wife, Ana Josefa Galvarina Ramirez Orellana, and another man, according to Jorge Callejas, head of the Salvadoran border police.

The girls had been recruited in Nicaragua by a Nicaraguan man who offered them jobs. Upon arriving in El Salvador, they complained that they were photographed and not allowed to leave the house.

He managed to insert himself into the human trafficking case in Haiti and several members that were arrested accepted Puello's assistance, but later tried to distance themselves from him.

Partners In Peace Alert

A Palestinian was arrested at a checkpoint in the West Bank near Jenin carrying four pipe bombs. Meanwhile, the Egyptians captured nearly three tons of explosives that were destined for Gaza.

Security officers found the TNT on Tuesday concealed in 79 large bags in Sarsuriya district near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, the official said.

Residents had tipped off police about the 3.5-ton cache, which had been prepared for smuggling through one of the many underground tunnels linking Gaza with Egypt.

Cairo has stepped up its efforts to close the tunnels, which are mainly used to send food and other goods to the impoverished Palestinian enclave, under blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement took it over in 2007.

Egypt is building an underground barrier to cut them off, after repeated efforts to find and demolish them, along with Israeli air strikes, failed to end the thriving smuggling trade.

Hamas is all over those smuggling tunnels and obtains a significant amount of its funding from taking a cut from all smuggling operations, including the use of the tunnels. It's a very profitable business and it is far easier for the terror group to operate those tunnels than it is to recognize Israel's existence.

Meanwhile, Hamas thugs are busy talking to Iranian press outlets claiming that Israel is creating the conditions for another intifada. Never mind that Hamas could stop trying to kill Israelis and stop trying to destroy Israel, which would result in more cross-border trade and improve conditions in Gaza. Hamas could stop trying to impose a theocracy in Gaza, which would improve matters. Iran could stop funding Hamas (and Hizbullah) which would greatly improve matters.

At the same time, Hamas has detained a British journalist, Paul Martin, with no explanation. 

Obama's Nuclear Power Gambit

President Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for construction of two nuclear power plants. That's a good start, but it ignores key problems with getting the nuclear power industry jump started.

Loan guarantees do nothing to stop the NIMBYism that thwarts construction of any and all kinds of power plants or transmission lines. The President can throw his support to the nuclear industry, but environmentalists who oppose nuclear power can undermine the President's agenda by mounting opposition campaigns to prevent construction; when that happens the loan guarantees are meaningless.

We need strong and effective leadership on pushing ahead with a nuclear power renaissance in the US; the necessity of building new nuclear power plants is here to stay as the US needs a stable source of power that doesn't include emissions found with oil, gas, or coal and which has a smaller footprint per megawatt of power produced than wind or solar.

It means showing decisive leadership and devoting far more than loan guarantees to nuclear power.

It means finally building and bringing on line the national waste depository at Yucca Mountain.Yet, the President is pushing the same line as Harry Reid:

Sanford accused Obama of making a "Chicago-style" political play to help Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who faces a tough re-election bid in a state where the Yucca Mountain plan was unpopular. But the White House points out that the president opposed the site since he was campaigning as a candidate, on the grounds of scientific and security questions.

Reid echoed those security concerns, saying any transportation of nuclear materials across the country could open a vulnerability.

"Leave it on-site where it is," he said last year. "You don't have to worry about transporting it. Saves the country billions and billions of dollars."

Currently, 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at more than 100 nuclear sites around the country, and 2,000 tons are added every year.

It saves the country billions of dollars in security costs for maintaining more than 100 secure facilities rather than a single facility? And what of the billions collected in taxes from the nuclear plant operators to fund Yucca Mt. and the national waste repository? Where's that money?

It means making sure that transmission lines needed to distribute the power from the new power facilities gets built.

It means standing up to Democrats like Harry Reid who have opposed Yucca Mountain and working closer with Republicans to finally give the US reason to hope that there's a coherent national energy policy in the offing. And it would mean an effective national energy policy that doesn't even have to refer to global warming and climate change to be successful - one can completely avoid that entire area of science all while advocating for nuclear power precisely because it would reduce particulate emissions, promote national security by reducing reliance on imported oil from unstable parts of the world, extend supply and reserves of oil causing a drop in the costs, and can actually seed the growth of electric vehicles since the energy production would not merely shift emissions from the tailpipes of vehicles to smokestacks, but eliminates the emissions altogether.

Taliban Commander Baradar Providing Useful Information

While the Taliban continue to claim that this is all a ruse and their military commander is still free, US and Pakistani officials say that Taliban thug Bahadar is providing useful information:

The captured No. 2 Taliban commander, in the hands of none-too-gentle Pakistani intelligence agents, is already giving up "useful information," U.S. and Afghan sources said Tuesday.

"It's certainly a breakthrough and I think it could be a turning point" in the Afghan war, James Dobbins, former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, said of last week's arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan.

"This is a major terrorist who has been at the core of Taliban operations for years" as a friend since boyhood of Taliban chieftain Mullah Mohammed Omar, a U.S. counterterror official said of Baradar, who also oversaw the Taliban's drug and protection rackets.

The importance of his capture, in a joint operation by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and the CIA, was underlined by the Taliban's insistence it never happened.

"We totally deny this rumor," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press by telephone.

The Pakistani military confirms that he was captured and The Dawn reports that several other people were captured and are being interrogated. With the ISI in the lead, it is quite possible that they are using harsh interrogation techniques to obtain that information. It is also important to note that some information that Baradar has is of a time sensitive nature; whereabouts of key individuals, plans for terror operations and military operations, etc. as well as long term strategic objectives and doctrinal goals. Getting at the time sensitive information in a prompt fashion - and relaying that information to those who can act on that information is key to disrupting Taliban operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Yet, capturing a major commander like Baradar doesn't mean that others can't take his place or that terror operations could continue without interruption in Pakistan or Afghanistan. We've seen the Mehsud clan continue terror operations despite the targeted airstrikes that first took out Baitullah and later Hakimullah Mehsud. Taliban operations will continue, but the more insight we have into the inner workings of the group, the more we can build on prior successes and take out the group and its capabilities to strike. As the Washington Post notes, Taliban thugs are still trying to carry out attacks, and one Taliban thug was captured this week and admitted to recruiting a new class of suicide bombers - young girls.

UPDATE:
Bill Roggio reports that Taliban leaders in Afghanistan admit that Baradar was captured, but that he was captured in Helmand Province and not in Karachi as had been claimed by the US/Pakistani sources. They say he and several of his cohorts were picked up in the course of operations in Marja.

That makes some sense for the Taliban to make that claim. They have a vested interest in trying to show that their leaders are actually leading the battle from the front, rather than exhorting on their minions from the cozy confines of a Pakistani city where they can live in relative luxury compared to the hardships faced on the battlefield where they face death from all angles.

Yet a major Pakistani leader threw some cold water on claims that Baradar was captured in a joint CIA/ISI operation.

The Pakistani government has denied that the Afghan Taliban are based in Pakistan, and said the Quetta Shura does not exist. Baradar's capture in Karachi has cast further doubts on the Pakistani government's claims.

Pakistan's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, has called the report of Baradar's capture "propaganda" and said no joint operation between the ISI and the CIA took place. He stopped short of denying that Baradar was in Pakistani custody, however.

"We are verifying all those we have arrested," Malik told Dawn. If there is any big target, I will show the nation."

"If the New York Times gives information, it is not a divine truth, it can be wrong," Malik continued. The New York Times broke the story of Baradar's capture.

NJ Transit Fare Hikes In Our Future?

Part of Governor Chris Christie's spending freeze included some $30 million in the NJ Transit budget. The transit agency is going to have to come up with the money in some way or fashion. That most likely means a fare hike since curbing waste and improving efficiencies at the agency take a back seat.

A fare hike would be the wrong move at the wrong time. NJ Transit is one of the largest mass transit systems in the nation and improved efficiencies would allow for continued high levels of service that means riders stay off already all-too-congested roads and bridges. That reduces wear and tear on the bridges and gets more people to where they have to go with reduced emissions and pollution.

We will just have to wait and see what NJ Transit proposes.

Hiker Falls Into Mt. St. Helens

A 52-year old man was hiking along the rim of Mt. St. Helens when he fell more than 1,500 feet into the crater of the active volcano yesterday. Rescue crews were dispatched but had to call off the search due to weather and darkness.

Rescuers have resumed the search this morning for 52-year-old Joseph Bohlig of Kelso, but conditions remain dangerous. A request for a military helicopter was put in because of the dangerous situation.

According to his climbing partners, Bohlig was experienced and this was his 68th ascent of the mountain.

UPDATE:
The military is flying a helicopter in to assist in the rescue, and it appears that the hiker was posing for a picture when the cornice he was standing gave way.

Major Score: CIA/ISI Capture Taliban Bigwig Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar

Most people have never heard of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, but he was considered one of Mullah Omar's top thugs. He was likened to being Omar's consiglieri. In fact, he's a major domo in his own right and is directing the Taliban efforts throughout the region. Actually, I should say that he was directing the Taliban efforts.

The Pakistani ISI and US CIA operatives managed to capture him at some point in the past two weeks and have been busy interrogating him.

Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.

It was unclear whether he was talking, but the officials said his capture had provided a window into the Taliban and could lead to other senior officials. Most immediately, they hope he will provide the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, the one-eyed cleric who is the group’s spiritual leader.

Disclosure of Mullah Baradar’s capture came as American and Afghan forces were in the midst of a major offensive in southern Afghanistan.

His capture could cripple the Taliban’s military operations, at least in the short term, said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who last spring led the Obama administration’s Afghanistan and Pakistan policy review.

Details of the raid remain murky, but officials said that it had been carried out by Pakistan’s military spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and that C.I.A. operatives had accompanied the Pakistanis.

The New York Times learned of the operation on Thursday, but delayed reporting it at the request of White House officials, who contended that making it public would end a hugely successful intelligence-gathering effort. The officials said that the group’s leaders had been unaware of Mullah Baradar’s capture and that if it became public they might cover their tracks and become more careful about communicating with each other.

The Times is publishing the news now because White House officials acknowledged that the capture of Mullah Baradar was becoming widely known in the region.

Several American government officials gave details about the raid on the condition that they not be named, because the operation was classified.

American officials believe that besides running the Taliban’s military operations, Mullah Baradar runs the group’s leadership council, often called the Quetta Shura because its leaders for years have been thought to be hiding near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province in Pakistan.

The ISI appears to be the lead on this, and it is more than likely that the ISI had known where he'd been for years and only recently decided to put the screws to the Taliban and its various factions.

For its part, the Taliban are denying that he was picked up and they're saying that the US notification is mere propaganda.

A Taliban spokesman denied on Tuesday that the insurgents’ second-most important leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured in Pakistan.

Reached by cellphone, the spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that Mullah Baradar was not under arrest. “He is safe and free, and he is in Afghanistan,” he claimed.

United States officials confirmed the arrest to The New York Times last Thursday but asked the newspaper to withhold the information until Monday because it would impede intelligence operations. They described him as the most significant Taliban figure yet arrested, head of their military operations and second in importance only to the Taliban “emir of Afghanistan,” Mullah Omar. Mullah Baradar was arrested in a joint raid by Pakistani intelligence agents with C.I.A. agents accompanying them, U.S. officials said.

“He is safe and free, and he leads the command and he is in Afghanistan,” Mr. Mujahid claimed. “This is a false rumor spread by foreigners in order to weaken the morale of the Taliban because they are facing big problems in Marja.”

There's no word on whether Baradar is talking or not, and we can only speculate as to whether harsh interrogation techniques are being used. If the ISI is in the lead, it is quite likely harsh interrogation methods are being used, even if the CIA is in the room; President Obama's executive order restricting such methods doesn't extend to other governments (which can prove quite convenient in such joint operations).

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 93

Yet another study of ongoing construction deadlines finds that delays are likely to push completion of key infrastructure and projects around Ground Zero into 2015 and beyond.

The review by the feds, obtained by The Post through a Freedom of Information request, gives the PA just a 25 percent chance of getting the massive project done by the authority's latest target date of mid-2014 -- a deadline three years later than originally planned.

The FTA's analysis also warns that even the feds' mid-2015 projected completion date could also falter because of unresolved delays in building two of Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein's soaring office towers planned for either side of the transit hub.

"Construction of Towers 2 and 3 could become the most significant source of risks associated with the [transit] project," the report found.

Silverstein and the Port Authority are now in talks over how to move forward with construction of his WTC towers. They have about a month to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, the Ground Zero Performing Arts Center has received a go ahead for construction to start next quarter. The LMDC is putting $50 million up for the center (but expect those costs to soar).

A Con Job At MSG

No, I'm not talking about the Rangers or the Knicks abysmal performance over the past couple of years or Cablevision's incompetence in handling affairs.

I am talking about what was purported to be a marriage proposal at a Rangers game the other night. Here's the video, showing the woman running off in a huff after the proposal was made on the overhead screens.



It was a con job.

However, two Madison Square Garden sources said it was a hoax designed by the real-life couple and without the knowledge of the Garden.

That wouldn't be the first time that a sporting event was used as a platform for a hoax of this kind.

Where Your NYC Tax Dollars Go

More than half a million dollars a years go to just six "teachers" who will never be allowed anywhere near a classroom because they have been deemed too dangerous to do so, but can't be fired because of tenure:

All six public-school teachers have been benched for years over alleged sexual misconduct.

Overall, the city Department of Education has put some 550 fully paid teachers in limbo, crammed into "rubber rooms" as they wait for their misconduct cases to be adjudicated, costing taxpayers $30 million a year.

But these six have either completed their punishments or had their cases dismissed -- sometimes on technicalities -- and remain on the payroll. The DOE says such tenured teachers are almost impossible to fire.

The Post recently exposed the misdeeds of two teachers exiled to rubber rooms "at the chancellor's discretion."

Where are the administrative hearings to adjudicate and clear these individuals from the payroll or to send them back into the classroom if the allegations aren't meritorious? It appears that the UFT really needs to come clean over their ongoing protection of these individual teachers who are a disgrace to the profession and whose salaries could be put to better use - among those teachers who deserve higher salaries. This is an incredibly unfair situation to the students of New York City to see millions of dollars paid to teachers who are not allowed near a classroom because of various infractions or criminality but who remain on the payroll collecting checks.

If the UFT were truly serious about educating students, they'd sit down with the City and not only streamline the administrative procedures to fire teachers for misconduct, but willingly assist the Department of Education in ridding their ranks of bad apples.

It's for the children after all.

IOC Can't Have It Both Ways

Just a day after the grisly death of a Georgian luger in a practice run, the Olympic organizers were simultaneously saying that the track was safe and busy extending walls and making adjustments to the track. Moreover, they lowered the starting point for both the mens and womens competitions in an effort to reduce the speeds seen on the track.

They wanted it both ways: The track was safe before, but it was even safer now.

"The opening of the track conforms to the standard that has been pretty much followed in Olympic sports since 1964," said Svein Romstad, secretary general of the International Luge Federation. "We have not experienced this in 35 years. We are unfamiliar with how to deal with this. You have a technical component, you have an emotional component."

They blew the technical component on Friday, when lugers - many of them relatively inexperienced, by international standards - were forced to travel at speeds up to 96 mph down a twisting course at the Whistler Sliding Centre. Then they blew the emotional component yesterday, by forcing the same sliders to start their training runs on the morning after the death of a competitor.

"It happened in front of me yesterday," said Shiva Kannan Palan Keshavan of India. "I've never seen anything like it before. I was telling myself not to believe it. It's fresh in our hearts today. We can't compete with the same joy."

They raced again anyway, wearing black stripes on their helmets to honor Kumaritashvili. And since this is a sport that thrives on adrenaline and no small amount of machismo, several officials were complaining about the less risky, slower course and arguing that sliders such as Kumaritashvili should not be part of the Olympics.

"Definitely something has to be considered to tighten the rules," said Wolfgang Staudinger, the Canadian coach. "Looking back to 2002, we had exotic sliders and this could have happened at previous Games. (Kumaritashvili) has to make a left there (on Curve 16) and I don't know why he went right. He was completely off line."

There are problems with this thinking, beyond the harsh, dismissive attitude. The Canadians had limited the amount of training runs by foreigners, slowing their learning curve. And you can't pretend this sport is a global event, worthy of Olympic inclusion, then invite to the Winter Games only a few sliders from the five top luging nations.

When you have the top luger in the world crashing and everyone else was having trouble, it isn't just human error - in this case Nodar Kumaritashvili who crashed and flew off his luge and off the track and dying after striking a metal pole.

There are those who think that the track's safety is in line with other tracks around the world, but what's troubling is that the accident rate that the track has been rising in the past year - probably as more athletes from around the world came to practice on the Olympic track:

The Whistler track's incredible speed and its safety have been an issue since it opened two years ago, and Kumaritashvili's death brings it into further question. Kumaritashvili was not the only athlete to crash during Friday's training runs. Armin Zoeggeler, the 2002 and 2006 gold medalist from Italy, had a rare crash on the 11th curve. Romania's Violeta Stramaturaru crashed and was knocked unconscious. The final curve where Kumaritashvili crashed is a complete U-turn that is so notorious lugers call it the "50-50 turn," because you have a 50-50 chance of crashing there.

According to figures released by the FIL, there have been more than 5,000 luge runs on the track -- Kumaritashvili had 26 runs here, 16 from the men's start -- and officials said the crash rate is not unusual, about 3 percent. Including all starting spots -- men's, women's, junior and novice -- in all events, there have been more than 30,000 runs on the track and 340 sled turnovers that required emergency medical response. The crash rate, however, has nearly quadrupled in the past year.