Qatari Arrested After Attempting To Blow Up Denver Bound Flight

This is a developing story, but apparently a Qatari man, who MSNBC identifies as a Qatari diplomat, attempted to blow up a United Airlines flight from Washington DC to Denver, Colorado tonight, but was thwarted by a federal air marshal.

The latest incident comes a week after the United States announced new security measures to replace the mandatory screening of air travelers from 14 countries that had angered some allies when it was imposed after a failed bombing on Christmas Day.

The measures were designed to significantly reduce the number of passengers pulled aside for additional screening and will not be based on nationality or passport, but on characteristics pulled together by intelligence agencies.

"These new measures utilize real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

A senior administration official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the new system would require travelers who match information about terrorism suspects, such as a physical description, partial name or travel pattern, to undergo additional screening.

ABC News identifies the individual as a diplomat in the Qatar embassy in Washington, Mohammed al Modadi, and the FBI reported that he had full diplomat immunity as the 3rd secretary and vice-consul.

One has to wonder whether the individual was properly screened or whether he was able to avoid going through security because of his diplomatic status.

Flights in and out of DC get a disproportionate number of air marshal attention because of the flight path through DC and high profile targets (to say nothing of various important passengers on board. Not that I'm complaining about it - just a good allocation of a limited resource. And it would appear that they got their guy before he could do any harm.

UPDATE:
Reports are now suggesting that the diplomat may have been joking about lighting a shoe bomb, but not that he actually had any such device, although MSNBC is reporting that the air marshal smelled smoke and confronted the man emerging from the bathroom.

A half hour before landing, an air marshal smelled smoke and confronted a man emerging from a bathroom who claimed he was trying to set his shoes on fire, WNBC reported.

It was uncertain if anything actually was on fire or if this was a joke, NBC reported. Investigators were looking to see what might be in the man's shoes.

If that is true, this guy is one arrogant and callous SOB for making a joke of such a serious matter - and one that has the potential to cause a diplomatic row between the US and Qatar, which is home to significant US military assets, including the home to the forward command of US Central Command.

Protesters In Kyrgyzstan Murder Interior Minister; 17+ Dead In Riots; UPDATE: Opposition Claims To Have Formed New Gov't

This situation has the potential to get quite ugly real fast. Kyrgyzstan hosts a US supply base for the war in Afghanistan and the unrest there has the potential to unseat the deeply unpopular president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Protesters marched against Bakiyev and because of high utilities costs and began clashing with police surrounding government buildings:

Anti-government protests swept across the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday as thousands of protesters stormed the main government building, set fire to the prosecutor's office and looted state TV headquarters. At least 17 people were killed and least 180 wounded in clashes, the government said.

The unrest has threatened the relative stability of this mountainous former Soviet nation, which houses a U.S. military base that is a key supply center in the fight against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Demonstrators furious over government corruption and a recent hike in power prices looted the state television and radio building and were marching toward the Interior Ministry in the capital, Bishkek, according to Associated Press reporters on the scene. Elite police opened fire to drive crowds back from government headquarters.

Opposition activist Shamil Murat told the AP that Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongatiyev was beaten to death by a mob in the western town of Talas where the unrest erupted a day ago.

Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said 180 people were hurt in the clashes Wednesday, without elaborating. Opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva said 17 people died after police opened fire with live ammunition. That figure of 17 dead was confirmed by another government health official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

UPDATE:
MSNBC is reporting that opposition leaders are claiming more than 100 have been killed in the protests. Emergency officials say at least 50 have been killed.

UPDATE:
MSNBC now reports that the opposition claims to have formed a new government:

Opposition leaders in Kyrgyzstan said Wednesday that they have formed a new acting government in the Central Asian nation as rioting swept the capital of Bishkek.

The announcement was made on a state television channel after opposition members stormed the station.

Temir Sariyev, an opposition party leader, told The Associated Press that a coalition of politicians had agreed on a new prime minister as well as a new interior minister and new security chief.

Here's some video showing the riots in progress:



UPDATE:
A deputy minister was taken and beaten, but there's no word on his whereabouts since. This report suggests his eyes were gouged out even after opposition leaders tried to stop the protesters from doing that.

UPDATE:
Reports now indicate that the opposition is in charge as the president fled the capital city.

Leaders of the opposition said they had taken over key installations in Bishkek and were forming a new government. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flew to Osh, a regional city where he enjoys support, according to news reports. His plans were uncertain, as was his ability to command the country's security forces and reassert his authority.

The death toll of about 40 was likely to rise, health officials in Bishkek said, noting that hundreds of protesters were injured in the violence.

For the United States, the upheaval is of particular concern because its Manas air base, near Bishkek, is a key transit point for supplying troops in Afghanistan. The Obama administration negotiated new lease terms for the facility last year after Bakiyev threatened to evict U.S. forces from the country.

Some in the Kyrgyz opposition accused the United States of ignoring allegations of rigged elections, suppression of independent media and physical intimidation of government critics, attributing its silence to a desire to maintain its military presence in Kyrgyzstan.

A new Kyrgyz government could sow fresh uncertainty over the base to express displeasure with Washington or to extract concessions. Some opposition members earlier called for closing the facility.

NJ Sales Tax Revenues Projected Below Even Christie's Estimates

A bad situation is projected to be even worse as the Office of Legislative Services found that sales tax revenues are going to be below estimates for the current fiscal year, and may be even worse next year:

Sales tax collections are projected to remain weak for the next 15 months, contributing to a continued fiscal malaise in debt-burdened New Jersey, according to a nonpartisan budget analysis to be made public Wednesday.

The Office of Legislative Services tax and revenue outlook, which was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, shows tax revenues could be $82 million shy of projections for the final three months of this fiscal year. Revenues could be down about $168 million from the governor's office projections for the fiscal year that begins July 1, the analysis shows.

The projections show much of the revenue shortfall coming from continued weak sales-tax collections.

Legislative budget officer David Rosen is scheduled to present the updated revenue forecast to the Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday.

The panel will also hear from Treasurer Andrew Eristoff. He is expected to be questioned about what Democrats are calling hidden tax increases in the proposed budget, including a higher deductible for senior citizens for prescription drugs, a change in the income tax credit for the poor and the lifting of caps on a hospital bed tax and ambulatory care facility tax.

The difference between projections from the Office of Legislative Services and the governor's office represent a fraction of Gov. Chris Christie's proposed $29.3 billion budget. However, additional budget cuts of $250 million would have to be made if the projections hold to keep the budget in balance as required by law.

Despite the state's fiscal situation, Christie said Tuesday he remained confident he and the Legislature would agree on a balanced budget by the June 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats who control the Legislature have said they would only vote for a budget that reinstates an income tax surcharge on residents earning more than $400,000. Christie has said he would veto any budget that contained the surcharge, setting the stage for a possible budget showdown.

As readers of this blog should remember, Gov. Corzine increased the sales and use tax one point to provide for "property tax relief" and then promptly cut back the program because it simply didn't have the money. Well, the sales tax revenues are going to be down again, meaning that property tax relief is going to be hit again, and all state consumers will still see the increased sales tax, even as the economy continues slogging along.

Democrats are busy complaining about everything in Christie's budget except that they are unwilling to talk about reducing spending in any meaningful and measurable fashion - the reason that the state is in the mess that is is in. Reducing taxes like the sales tax would spur people to spend more - both in-state residents and those from neighboring states that have higher tax rates who come to New Jersey to buy at a discount.

They're also pushing to reinstate a temporary surtax on high income wage earners, even though the measure was meant to be temporary- it just goes to show that once taxes are imposed, they are incredibly difficult to get rid of because Democrats in New Jersey are addicted to taxes for the state to spend (and continue to spend even if the state lacks the revenues to support current levels).

NY Still Has No Budget In Place; Gov. Paterson Still Clueless

New York was supposed to have a budget in place April 1, but the state has managed that feat only six times since the 1970s. Yet, Gov. David Paterson has time to get snippy with Comptroller Tom DiNapoli when DiNapoli issued a report pointing out that the state is set to once again use all kinds of gimmicks to mask structural deficits.

A report the State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Monday said that New York has been using financial gimmicks to mask the state's huge budget deficit, and "state lawmakers constantly move money around like a shell game," NBC-Channel 4 reported.

"Tell us something we don't know," was the governor's snide remark after reading the report.

"Rather than saying, 'Oh look there's a fire!' what we need is advice for how to put the fire out," Paterson said during a radio appearance early Tuesday.

Here's the advice: stop spending money that the state simply does not have and cannot reasonably expect to take in with tax revenues. Overly optimistic tax revenue projections have repeatedly fallen short, exacerbating the deficits.

The state needs to curb its spending, and last year was a prime opportunity to do so, yet the state increased spending using federal stimulus money to supplement the increase. This year, the state has less money at its disposal and there's no stimulus money either.

So, this year we must see a significant cut in state spending, or else the budget will remain out of balance.

Yet, this fundamental concept is so difficult for Albany to understand that they'll go ahead and pass a flawed budget that increases spending based on money that simply isn't there and then throw up their arms when the deficits reappear and require even more dire cuts.

Star Wars Animated Comedy Heading to TV

No, we're not talking about another Robot Chicken Star Wars special, but Seth Green is apparently involved in the project green lighted by Lucasfilm to run an animated comedy involving Star Wars characters.

Lucasfilm says it will explore the comic aspects of that "galaxy far, far away'' as it playfully and irreverently confronts the saga's characters and mythology.

Part of the creative team is Seth Green, who helped hatch the popular "Robot Chicken.'' He promises the new show will answer the question, "What do these Star Wars characters do when they're not overthrowing Empires?''

If George Lucas can stay away from direct creative control over the project, this has a shot at being funny. Robot Chicken's take on Star Wars is downright hilarious.

Obama Administration Nuclear Weapons Policy Is Destabilizing

The US nuclear strategy since the dawn of the nuclear age has been simple. Attack the US with any nuclear weapon or other WMD (chemical or biological), and the US may respond with nuclear weapons. The US simply didn't hold out that we would not use nuclear weapons in retaliation for such attacks (no first use).

It worked throughout the Cold War and even through the post-Cold War period, but now President Obama would like to throw out the policy in favor of one that has the potential to be far more destabilizing because it eliminates certain ambiguities as to when the US would respond:

Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China.

It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.

Those threats, Mr. Obama argued, could be deterred with “a series of graded options,” a combination of old and new conventional weapons. “I’m going to preserve all the tools that are necessary in order to make sure that the American people are safe and secure,” he said in the interview in the Oval Office.

White House officials said the new strategy would include the option of reconsidering the use of nuclear retaliation against a biological attack, if the development of such weapons reached a level that made the United States vulnerable to a devastating strike.

Mr. Obama’s new strategy is bound to be controversial, both among conservatives who have warned against diluting the United States’ most potent deterrent and among liberals who were hoping for a blanket statement that the country would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.

Mr. Obama argued for a slower course, saying, “We are going to want to make sure that we can continue to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons,” and, he added, to “make sure that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.”

The release of the new strategy, known as the Nuclear Posture Review, opens an intensive nine days of nuclear diplomacy geared toward reducing weapons. Mr. Obama plans to fly to Prague to sign a new arms-control agreement with Russia on Thursday and then next week will host 47 world leaders in Washington for a summit meeting on nuclear security.

Presidents - Democratic and Republican - didn't make such changes because the policy was a sound one.

Now, by eliminating the ambiguities, rogue nations and terror groups seeking to obtain and use them, would exploit the new policies and undermine US national security in the process.

Bear in mind that US intel capabilities are anything but foolproof and a nation could engage in building its own nuclear capabilities without anyone knowing until it was potentially too late. Far too often, the first inkling of a nuclear weapons capability is when a particular nation detonates its first test weapon - see Pakistan, North Korea, China, or India. Even the former Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities were unknown until they detonated their first weapon (and later their first thermonuclear weapon) far earlier than US experts believed possible.

The President maintains that he's still leaving the existing policy in place for certain nations - like North Korea and Iran - but there is no reason to make this adjustment when terror groups and regimes may seek nuclear capabilities despite signing on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The President is also wedded to the notion of reducing US nuclear weapons inventories as part of a bilateral treaty with the Russians. That's all well and good, but even there the possibility that going below a certain threshold figure may lead to more uncertainty and the possibility that our nation's enemies might chance a first-strike to decapitate the US nuclear response.

This change in nuclear weapons doctrine is a serious mistake and shows that the President clearly doesn't grasp the seriousness of the threats arrayed against the US and how foreign powers may exploit the change to their advantage.

West Virginia Coal Mine Explosion Kills 25; 4 Remain Missing

A massive explosion deep inside the Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia killed 25 miners and 4 others remain unaccounted for. It was the worst coal mining disaster in the United States since 1984. The explosion may have been due to a buildup of methane gas in the mine, but the cause has not been officially declared.

The accident was the worst in an American mine since Dec. 19, 1984, when 27 workers died in a fire at the Wilberg Mine in Orangeville, Utah, and it came just four years after federal regulators enacted a sweeping overhaul in mine safety laws. That overhaul, the first in over three decades, came after 19 miners died in a series of mine accidents in West Virginia and Kentucky — including one that brought criminal charges against a Massey subsidiary.

The explosion occurred about 3 p.m. Monday at the Upper Big Branch mine, 30 miles south of Charleston, in Raleigh County.

The mine, which employs about 200, is owned by the Massey Energy Company, based in Virginia, and operated by the Performance Coal Company.

Mine safety officials said that there were three groups of miners affected by the blast. One group consisted of nine miners who were leaving the site at the end of their shift in a vehicle known as a “mantrip.” Seven of the miners in the man trip were killed by the explosion while two others were injured and taken to the hospital by rescue workers.

A second group of 18 miners was said to be working a bit deeper in the mine, closest to the area where coal was actually being extracted. All 18 of them died.

A third group of four miners — the ones still unaccounted for — was even deeper in the mine.

The miners were all thought to be working more than 1,000 feet underground.

The explosion on Monday destroyed all communication lines inside Upper Big Branch, but Kevin Stricklin, an administrator with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said there were two rescue chambers near the blast site. If the miners could reach them, the chambers were stocked with food, water and enough air to allow them to survive four days.

Mr. Stricklin said that officials did not think there had been a roof collapse, but that they did not know what had caused the explosion in the sprawling mine. Upper Big Branch, which cannot be seen from the road, has 19 openings and roughly seven-foot ceilings, federal safety officials said.

Just a month ago, the mine was found to not be in compliance with mining safety rules, including proper ventilation and mitigation of methane gas. Despite a massive overhaul of mine safety rules four years ago, companies are still skirting the rules, and enforcement by government regulators is anything but assured.

The mine had been fined more than $1.5 million, but had paid only a fraction of the fines imposed by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Meanwhile, rescuers were attempting to drill three shafts into the mine to vent methane and carbon monoxide.

Bruce Springsteen Born To Run With Other Women?

Over the past few years, Bruce Springsteen was linked with a New Jersey housewife although her attorney and Bruce both claimed that there was no relationship. The woman, Ann Kelly, filed for divorce from her husband, and the New York Post now reports that her husband continues to contend that Bruce was her paramour.

Springsteen personally gave Ann front-row tickets to concert rehearsals on Sept. 24 and 25, 2007, for his "Magic Tour" shows at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park. Ann was so floored by The Boss' crooning, she allegedly told Arthur's mother, "It felt like Bruce Springsteen was singing to me."

In 2008, Ann allegedly opted to be with Springsteen rather than her ailing husband. While Arthur had open-heart surgery in Cleveland, the singer joined her at a table at the Turning Point restaurant in Pier Village in Long Branch.

As part of the divorce settlement, Arthur took the adultery claim out of his petition and both parties agreed not to talk to the media. At her West Long Branch home last week, Ann declined to comment to The Post. In past divorce filings, she has denied a sexual relationship with Springsteen. However, during a deposition over the summer, she declined to answer any questions about the singer, court papers show.

The breaking point in the marriage allegedly came when Arthur told Ann a witness had spotted her kissing Springsteen in the parking lot of their gym. Arthur also claimed that the day before he filed for divorce, Ann admitted to him that her "relationship with Bruce Springsteen was inappropriate."

The gag order will make it difficult to figure out whether Ann was actually having an affair with Bruce, but Bruce isn't saying anything and Bruce's wife Patti isn't available for comment either. Go figure.

Statistical Evidence Suggests Driver Error To Blame In Toyota Acceleration Mishaps

While experts and auto pundits are busy trying to find fault with Toyota and its response to claims of sudden accelerations and accidents purported caused by defective accelerators in a slew of Toyota models that have forced recalls of millions of Toyotas, some statistical evidence suggests driver error may be more at fault.

The Los Angeles Times recently did a story detailing all of the NHTSA reports of Toyota “sudden acceleration” fatalities, and, though the Times did not mention it, the ages of the drivers involved were striking.

In the 24 cases where driver age was reported or readily inferred, the drivers included those of the ages 60, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 72, 72, 77, 79, 83, 85, 89—and I’m leaving out the son whose age wasn’t identified, but whose 94-year-old father died as a passenger.

These “electronic defects” apparently discriminate against the elderly, just as the sudden acceleration of Audis and GM autos did before them. (If computers are going to discriminate against anyone, they should be picking on the young, who are more likely to take up arms against the rise of the machines and future Terminators).

But Toyota is being mau-maued by Democratic regulators and legislators in the pockets of trial lawyers—who, according to the Associated Press, stand to make a billion dollars from blaming Toyota for driver error.

And that is before hundreds of past run-of-the-mill Toyota accidents that killed or injured people are re-classified in future lawsuits as an electronics failure in an attempt to win settlements against the company.

The age of the drivers is a striking feature and may suggest a correlation between the inability to discern whether the driver is pressing down on the accelerator or the brake and in the confusion believing that the vehicle is accelerating out of control on its own, rather than because the driver erred in his or her foot placement.

NHSTA has run studies in the past and found that the elderly are more likely to engage in pedal misapplication - and that electronic interference or other mechanical factors aren't likely to be confined to one particular age group or segment of drivers. In other words, operator error may explain the ongoing issue with unwanted accelerations.

Terrorists Attack US Consulate In Peshawar Pakistan

Al Qaeda and the Taliban both want to attack US targets in Pakistan, especially in light of the ongoing UAV airstrikes that have decimated Taliban and al Qaeda ranks in the past 18 months. Terrorists attacked the US consulate in Peshawar, killing 6 people in a coordinated bombing and rocket attack.

Six people were killed outside the consulate and at least 20 were wounded, according to a senior government official. None of those killed were Americans.

The United States Embassy in Islamabad said that at least two Pakistani security guards employed by the consulate were killed in the attack, and that a number of others were seriously wounded. The embassy confirmed that the attack was coordinated, and said it involved “a vehicle suicide bomb and terrorists who were attempting to enter building using grenades and weapons fire.”

Employees of the consulate were evacuated after the attack, according to the Pakistani official. Pakistani television reported that the consulate would be closed on Tuesday, but a United States Embassy spokeswoman could not immediately confirm that.

Militants managed to damage barracks that formed part of the outer layer of security for the heavily fortified consulate area, but did not penetrate inside, the Pakistani intelligence officer said.

Pakistani television networks showed a giant cloud of dust and debris rising from the Saddar area, where the consulate is located, shortly after 1 p.m. Local media reported that there had been three blasts. Authorities cordoned off the area and gunfire was heard long after the explosions.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and warned that “we plan more such attacks,” Reuters reported.

The attack on the consulate was not the only carnage inflicted by these terrorists; they butchered 43 people at a political rally. The largest Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attacks and noted that these attacks were revenge for the ongoing UAV airstrikes and that they have thousands of suicide bombers at the ready for still more attacks.

"We have already told you that we have 2,800 to 3,000 fidayeen (suicide bombers). We will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans," he said.

Militants armed with guns and suicide vests targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital and unleashed carnage at a political rally on Monday, killing 43 people.

The apparently coordinated attacks were the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the government is closely allied to the US-led war against al-Qaida and in neighbouring Afghanistan.

UPDATE:
The UAV strikes have definitely put a crimp in how the Taliban and al Qaeda operate since the pace of strikes increased following the suicide bombing that killed senior CIA officials in Khost earlier this year.

Neither group can rely on methods used previously to avoid detection. They no longer can rely on satellite phones and must instead use courier. They can't rely on locals to provide shelter because the locals fear that they too would be targeted by the airstrikes.

Tax and Spend Is Killing Small Business

In New Jersey, private sector jobs were stagnant over the past decade - the first time in decades that this was the case, even as the state workforce grew (along with all the spending necessary - whether it was direct wages, pensions, and other benefits). All the state workforce growth was in state and local governments, and the private sector simply could not keep up with the taxing burden.

The current salary cost of this government expansion of employment is approximately $4 billion annually, using the U.S. Department of Labor’s average annual government pay of $57,179 in New Jersey (as of 2008, the last available data).

Assuming another 30 percent for benefits and overhead costs would bring the total to $5.2 billion.

At the same time, the private-sector’s total average annual pay declined by nearly $8.6 billion (-156,100 jobs multiplied by the average annual private-sector pay of $54,929). This translates into significant losses of state income and sales tax revenue.

The combination of the two has yielded the perfect fiscal storm.

The Great Recession, together with a very weak mid-decade (2003 to 2007) expansion has helped create the state’s deep budget hole. Between January 2008 and January 2010, New Jersey lost 245,400 private-sector jobs.

New York small businesses are getting taxed out of existence, because the tax burden isn't getting any easier with the latest round of taxes with the state scrambling to find revenues to close a multibillion dollar deficit.

A survey of 200 small businesses across the US by the economist found 51.5 percent of business owners in March were concerned about the viability of their businesses -- up from 49.5 percent in February. More than eight million jobs have been lost during the current 28-month recession.While a healthy 162,000 jobs were added in March, it was accomplished with the help of heavy government stimulus. Meanwhile, the average length of joblessness rose to 31 weeks and hourly earnings were down, albeit slightly.

In New York, interviews with more than a dozen small business owners by The Post found a group of owners hurting under the weight of the new taxes.

Teresa Kramer, co-owner of Northside Bakery in Greenpoint said she is scared.

"We'd really need to raise our prices by 20 percent to stay even because our profit margins are shrinking as costs keep rising everywhere -- for garbage and services, commuter taxes and other taxes," said Kramer, a Polish immigrant who operates the two-store division of Old Poland Foods. The business employs 20 and rings up annual sales of about $2 million.

Kramer has stopped short of raising prices, at least for now. She added: "We're producing more bread and product -- but we're still making less and less profit."

In Manhattan, Robert Schwartz, the CEO of a three-unit shoe store chain, said he has never seen the tax burden this bad.

"This has been as hard as we've been hit in my 36 years of running this company," said Schwartz, owner of Eneslow Shoes, which employs 50 people, including part-timers, on annual revenues of under $10 million. "It's a tough economy and our costs continue to rise."

Schwartz, who says he's putting his salary back into the business in response to the environment, adds that overhead from taxes and other outside charges have become unbearable. "I certainly don't think the new health care law will save me any money," he said. "Now New York City wants to develop this paid sick leave legislation that would give employees up to nine paid sick days. It's ludicrous. It takes the oxygen out of the blood."

It's a phenomenon that is expanding across the nation as states have few places to turn to find revenue to support existing state spending.

New York and New Jersey both have to deal with the core issue of job growth - both the expansion of the private sector and cutting back the government jobs that are simply overburdening all those who have to pay taxes to support a wholly unwieldy governmental burden.

Somali Islamists Inviting Osama and al Qaeda To Join Them In Somalia

Last year, I warned of the situation in Somalia and that as a failed state, it was a ripe region for al Qaeda to exploit. Well, it seems I wasn't alone in that assessment as one of the Somali Islamist groups aligned with al Qaeda's interests wants to have Osama bin Laden and his band of Islamic terrorists set up shop in Somalia.

This is bad news for Somalia,

During a press conference held in Mogadishu today, Moallim Hashi Mohamed Farah, the top leader for Hizbul Islam in Banadir province, welcomed Osama bin Laden and other foreign fighters to visit Somalia, Mareeg reported. While inviting bin Laden and jihadists from around the globe to fight alongside his forces against the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government, Farah also said the media was wrong to refer to jihadists as foreign fighters, and that the term should be used instead for African Union forces fighting alongside the Somali government.

Hizbul Islam and Shabaab are considered the two top Islamist insurgent groups in Somalia. While Shabaab is widely recognized as having close ties to al Qaeda, many counterterrorism analysts and African experts consider Hizbul Islam a domestic, nationalist insurgency with no links to foreign terror groups.

But Hizbul Islam is a radical Islamist group whose top leader has ties to al Qaeda. The group is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is wanted by the US for his links to al Qaeda. He is also on the United Nations terrorist sanctions list, again for his ties to al Qaeda.

Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006. Last September, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu.

Given how al Qaeda is on the run in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq despite the occasional terror attack focused on the citizens of those respective countries, the US, NATO, and coalition partners are thwarting al Qaeda and a Somali operation would open up a new front.

Justifiable Anger Over Pope Benedict's Preacher's Statements

Pope Benedict's preacher made some inflammatory statements yesterday when he compared the cloud of controversy swirling around the Pope and the Catholic Church's ongoing sex scandals involving priests, potential and actual coverups, and the failure of the Church to clean up its mess.

The pope's personal preacher, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, in a Friday sermon in St Peter's Basilica, said attacks on the Catholic Church and the pope over a sexual abuse scandal were comparable to "collective violence" against Jews.

Jewish leaders around the world used words like repugnant, obscene and offensive to describe the sermon, particularly, as Di Segni noted, it came on the day that for centuries Christians prayed for the conversion of the Jews, who were held collectively responsible for Jesus' death.

"How can you compare the collective guilt assigned to the Jews which caused the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people to perpetrators who abuse their faith and their calling by sexually abusing children?" demanded Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the international Jewish rights group.

Cantalamessa, speaking with the pope sitting nearby, said Jews throughout history had been the victims of "collective violence" and drew comparisons between Jewish suffering and attacks on the Church.

"The use of stereotypes, the shifting of personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," Cantalamessa quoted from the letter.

A Vatican spokesman said the comparison "is absolutely not the line of the Vatican and of the Catholic Church."

Jewish groups have roundly condemned Cantalamessa, and the Church for condoning these statements, which were made in a Good Friday sermon.

The fact of the matter is that the Catholic Church has been repeatedly wracked by sex scandals involving priests abusing underage parishioners and the Church has been incapable of dealing with the problem headlong.

Instead of dealing with the scandal directly and honestly, the Vatican has claimed that media reports of the scandals and the purported coverup have been a smear job on the Pope. This is far from the truth, and instead of dealing with the scandal's root causes, it deflects attention away from the lack of responsibility among Church leaders to oversee their charges.

The fact is that Church leaders, including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, knew of one particular case involving a German priest, but chose not to defrock him.

What's most troubling is the excuses coming from people like Bill Donohue of the Catholic League to avoid the Church taking responsibility for failing to clean its house of priests and others who have engaged in such behavior, condoned such behavior, willfully allowed such behavior to continue, or otherwise engaged in actions that allows such individuals to continue to have any role in leading Church activities.

The way I see it, the Catholic Church (and any other group for that matter) should have a zero tolerance attitude towards such activities, including pedophilia and hebephilia or ephebophilia (all of which are usually put together as pedophilia - and often constitute statutory rape in most jurisdictions because the children are not of the age of consent). It's not just that, it's that the church officials were taking advantage of their position of power and abusing these kids.

And the coverup is even worse - because instead of taking actions to restore some measure of trust in the Church, the fact that religious leaders at the highest levels knew and did nothing (or worse - sought to obfuscate the issues), people who do believe in the Church will find that confidence shaken and the trust broken.

The Church is suffering a crisis of conscience and leadership, and if it wants to regain the trust of Catholics around the world, it has to take a far stronger stand on the child sex abuse scandals than it has taken to date. That means adopting a zero-tolerance position around the world, not just in the US (where canon law requires defrocking priests involved in sex scandals).

Haiti Relief Efforts A Mess

A veteran filmmaker, Lou Angeli, who has recorded rescue and relief efforts from terrorist attacks and natural disasters says that the situation in Haiti is spiraling out of control and is likely to descend into chaos where anything might happen to the fragile political situation in the Haitian capital.

The political situation has largely been responsible for the failure to provide a building code and oversight necessary to build structures capable of resisting earthquakes, and now that fragile government situation is threatening the relief and recovery efforts because hundreds of thousands of people aren't getting basic services and the medical teams in the country are stressed to the limits trying to provide basic care.

Angeli is a veteran filmmaker who has witnessed other disaster areas and has documented rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero and two wars. He declares the disaster in Haiti is especially poignant. Water, food, medicine and diapers remain sorely-needed items in a city ravaged by lack of resources and state-of-the-art equipment required for adequate support and rehabilitation of the country's citizens. He said this,

"Life in Port-Au-Prince is like a scene from a motion picture dealing with Apocalypse. "There is no order whatsoever in the Haitian capital, and it’s just a matter of time before frustration and desperation will lead to all out chaos."

The filmmaker has been in Haiti to debrief cameramen and technical folks on the elements of documenting the crisis.

Angeli declares, in a press release as he makes preparations for the film, "Many of the docs and nurses have mixed emotions about what took place during their stay in Port-Au-Prince." He also says the medical team members are concerned and compassionate toward Haiti's unfortunate, but then adds it seems unlikely order will be restored to such a dangerous and poor nation.

As I warned back in January, the rainy season will pose special challenges given that most people are not in proper shelters and various diseases might spread due to poor sanitation and polluted water sources. We are also on the cusp of the hurricane season, which would be a double whammy should a hurricane cross the already suffering country. It can ill afford another natural disaster, let alone one so soon after the country was hit by one of the worst natural disasters of the past 100 years.

The US is pledging more than $1 billion in aid to the Haiti rebuilding, and more than $5 billion overall has been pledged. I fear that much of the money will be lost to waste and will not go to rebuilding key infrastructure so that the country can begin to recover in a meaningful way.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 100

Once again, delays in demolishing the former Deutsche Bank building are causing a ripple of delays throughout the work at the rest of the site. It means that construction of the vehicle security center is now set back yet another year.

Oh, and it will add another $100 million to the cost as a result of delays.

Meanwhile, a NY Times editorial is guardedly optimistic over last week's deal between the Port Authority and Larry Silverstein, even though the facts would suggest that this is simply a restatement of the existing mess and that all of the towers proposed in the master plan will not get built.

There isn't any reason to throw confetti; most of the office space destroyed in the 9/11 attacks isn't being rebuilt anytime soon, and that means that Lower Manhattan will see companies seek to do business elsewhere rather than work in and around an ongoing construction site for years without end.

Kal Penn Craves White Castle More Than White House

Kal Penn, who starred as stoner Kumar in the cult classic Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, and who later took a role on House only to kill the character off to head to the White House to take a position as President Obama's associate director of public engagement, is heading back to Hollywood to star in the third installment of the Harold and Kumar movie franchise.

Do the Jobs Figures Add Up?

Payroll figures were released by the Labor Department today, and something curious has occurred. The numbers being touted by wire reports and other media outlets don't seem to add up.

From the AP:

The nation's economy posted its largest job gain in three years in March, while the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

The increase in payrolls is the latest sign that the economic recovery is gaining momentum and healing in the job market is beginning. Still, the healing is likely to be slow, and most economists don't expect new hiring to be fast enough this year to rapidly reduce the unemployment rate.

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

Private employers added 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007.

If the private sector hired 123,000 jobs, and the federal government hired 48,000 temporary workers, that would be 171,000 jobs created, not 162,000 jobs. So why the discrepancy? Well, you'd have to read deeper, as per the CNBC article:

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 17,000 jobs in March and construction payrolls grew 15,000. Payrolls in the services sector increased as retail employment climbed 14,900. Government employment increased 39,000, reflecting the temporary hiring for the census.

It's only when you read deeper into the articles that you find out that the jobs created aren't what they seem, and that the number of temporary jobs created by the census may have been inflated or misrepresented, because when you add government employment to the 123,000 private sector jobs, you get the 162,000 figure.

However, any way you look at it, the jobs figures are putrid because much of the job creation is fleeting - the census jobs are temporary, and the private sector hiring remains far below what is necessary to get people working again in sufficient numbers.

One bright spot is that the number of hours worked increased slightly, increasing pressure on hiring since once you cross a threshold of overtime costs, employers may find it cheaper to hire new workers rather than add overtime.

Palestinians Up To Their Usual Tricks

Since this is a Friday, it means that the Palestinians are up to their usual nonsense. They're busy claiming that the popular uprising that Fatah has been calling for - another intifada - isn't going to be a violent one. That's what they're saying in English, but what are they telling their minions in the mosques and in Arabic? Not the same thing.

They're trying to backtrack from what they were calling a popular uprising given that the phrasing is the usual call for violence - in past intifadas and they've been drumming that line for months now.

The Palestinians are also absolutely lying about the conditions in the West Bank - claiming that it thwarts a violent response given that Palestinians maintain civil administrative control over most of the West Bank and all of Gaza. That they can't kill more Israelis is the result of Israel taking sufficient steps to minimize the violence. And for that, the Palestinians are bitter.

Meanwhile, the Brits are fretting over Israel's forceful response to renewed kassam attacks, ignoring that Israel has every right to go after the terrorists.

And as for an item that better belongs in the April Fool's catalog, Sen. John Kerry says that Syria is committed to peace. If Syria were committed to Mideast peace, they'd stop sending weapons to Hizbullah and acting as both a proxy for Iran and pushing their own agenda in Lebanon.

Syria has supported Hizbullah for years, and Hamas terrorists make their home in Damascus. If Syria were serious about peace, they'd send the terrorists packing and quit their relationship with Iran, but we know that they're not going to do so because it isn't in Bashar Assad's interest to do so. He'd much rather continue funding the Islamic terror groups since it keeps them busy focusing on Israel than on his own incompetent and flailing regime. This is the way of the totalitarian failed regimes throughout the Middle East. They export the extremists and terror threats to focus them on Israel, rather than on the failures that are the multitude of Muslim majority countries throughout the region.

National Archives Releases 200+ Never-Before-Displayed Ansel Adams Photos

Ansel Adams, one of the greatest landscape photographers of all time, was commissioned by the National Park Service in 1941 to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, D.C. The theme was to be nature as exemplified and protected in the U.S. national parks. The project was halted because of World War II and never resumed. These photos were part of that project and includes photos from Death Valley, Yosemite, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and other national parks and prominent locations.

Study Finds Soda Taxes Don't Change Behavior Unless They're High Enough

Imagine my lack of surprise to find that a study found that soda taxes don't change behavior unless the taxes are sufficiently high enough to get people to stop buying the product altogether. That's the outcome of a new study that will likely shape state and local taxation in the coming years as states around the country look to find new areas of revenues because of their sagging tax receipts.

They found the taxes made no real difference on overall soda consumption or on obesity for kids overall. They did have a small effect on certain children — especially those from families with an annual income of $25,000 or less. Those kids — who drank about seven cans of soda a week, on average — drank one less can because of the taxes, Sturm said.

However, if the taxes were more like 18 cents on the dollar, Sturm calculated it would make a significant difference.

The research is being published online Thursday in the journal Health Affairs. The Rand study was funded by the federal government and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Note also that if the taxes are implemented, it might lead to less people drinking soda, but it will also mean reduced tax revenues from the soda bottlers and the drink manufacturers along with a loss of jobs.

The problem isn't soda, or even the lack of calorie counts. It's the lack of accountability by parents and individuals. They are the ones who choose to drink and consume mass quantities of food that are high in calories and sugar while leading sedentary lifestyles. That's not going to change because of the nanny staters. They'll still engage in sedentary lifestyles, except that they'll pay even more for it.

States and localities that will enact this law will likely find that their revenue expectations are dashed when the revenues don't match the projections.

Tracking the Wrong Car Figures

Wire reports and media outlets are busy touting that GM is selling more cars, as is Toyota and other carmakers.

That's the wrong metric to determine the fiscal health of the carmakers, particularly GM and Chrysler, both of which are shrouded in red ink despite emerging from bankruptcy protection last year.

What we need to know is whether the carmakers are making any profit on the cars they're selling and how much of a profit. That's the only metric that makes any sense and it's the only one that counts. If the carmakers throw rebates and other incentives to get people into showrooms to generate sales, it hits the bottom line.

GM was the world's largest car company in terms of sales figures, but it turned billion dollar losses year after year - forcing it into bankruptcy. Sales volume doesn't get the job done.

Profits do.

It's time that everyone, including the media, focuses on the bottom line because that's what counts and that is the only thing that will keep GM, Chrysler, and any other automaker from going under (again).

Pirates Attack US Navy Ship; Predictable Results Ensue

Pirates versus a US Navy ship on patrol in the Indian Ocean looking for pirate vessels? The pirates never had a chance.

A group of suspected pirates was captured Thursday after attacking a U.S. Navy frigate in the Indian Ocean, according to a statement released by the U.S. Sixth Fleet.

The USS Nicholas reported taking fire from a suspected pirate skiff shortly after midnight local time west of the Seychelles, the statement said. The Nicholas quickly returned fire and began pursuing the skiff, which was eventually disabled. A boarding team from the Nicholas subsequently captured and detained three people, the statement said.

The team discovered ammunition and several cans of fuel aboard the skiff, which was later sunk by the Nicholas.

Two more suspected pirates were captured on a confiscated "mother ship," the statement said. The detainees will "remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition," it said.

The pirates remain a scourge in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, particularly around Somalia and extending out to the Seychelles. Showing the pirates that the risks of further attacks on shipping are too great versus the ransoms that are routinely paid out by shipping concerns will finally get piracy under control off the coast of Somalia. That means killing pirates attacking shipping and sinking their ships. Until that happens, the pirates will continue attacking shipping.