It appears that Pakistan has released a tape of an intercepted call of congratulations from a known Al Qaeda leader for the bombing. The information was consistent with the threats made earlier in the year by the same Al Qaeda operative…
(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) - Pakistan’s government announced it had evidence that an al-Qaeda operative was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who was laid to rest Friday as the army tried to quell a frenzy of rioting that left 27 people dead less than two weeks before national elections. The government, led by President Pervez Musharraf, also said Bhutto was not killed by gunshots or shrapnel as originally claimed. Instead, it said her skull was shattered by the force of a suicide bomb blast that slammed her against a lever in her car’s sunroof. The new explanations by the government in the death of Bhutto, Musharraf’s most powerful foe in the elections, were part of a rapidly evolving political crisis. The rioting by Bhutto’s furious supporters raised concerns that this nuclear-armed nation, plagued by chaos and the growing threat from Islamic militants even before the killing, was in danger of spinning out of control… – Reuters and AP
The evidence released so far is not conclusive but it does appear to lend some credence to the possibility that al-Qaeda, or a splinter group, was indeed behind the planning and execution of the suicide bombing resulting in the death of Bhutto.
The government released a transcript Friday of a purported conversation between militant leader Baitullah Mehsud and another militant. "It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her," Mehsud said, according to the transcript. The government did not release an audiotape. Cheema described Mehsud as an al-Qaida leader who was also behind most other recent terror attacks in Pakistan, including the Karachi bomb blast in October against Bhutto that killed more than 140 people. Mehsud is thought to be the commander of pro-Taliban forces in the tribal region of South Waziristan, where al-Qaida fighters are also active. In the transcript, Mehsud gives his location as Makin, a town in South Waziristan. This fall, he was quoted in a Pakistani newspaper as saying that he would welcome Bhutto’s return from exile with suicide bombers. Mehsud later denied that in statements to local television and newspaper reporters. Cheema announced the formation of two inquiries into Bhutto’s death, one to be carried out by a high court judge and another by security forces. Bhutto was assassinated Thursday evening after a rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Twenty other people also died in the attack. On Thursday, authorities had said Bhutto died from bullet wounds fired by a young man who then blew himself up. A surgeon who treated her, however, said Friday she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull. But later Friday, Cheema said those two accounts were mistaken. He said all three shots missed her as she greeted supporters through the sunroof of her vehicle, which was bulletproof and bombproof. – Reuters and AP
Actions will speak much louder than words. Musharaff must now CHOOSE !!! He must pull out all the stops and invade the terrorist strongholds regardless of the repercussions on his political future within the country or face the consequences of forceful “help” from the U.S. We suspect the State Department has put him on notice to pull out the stops or the U.S. perhaps will be pulling them out for him…
It appears that economic inflation may be the bigger threat to the Iranian president’s political future than any aggressive sanctions from the West. The Iranian people are clearly showing signs of lost patience with the silver tongued leader due to his lack of action on the economic front at home. A situation that is certainly being carefully watched by the U.S., E.U and Russia. It appears that Ahmadinejad was full of empty promises during his “electoral campaign”, and the Iranian middle class is fed up with it.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A sharp rise in inflation has provoked fierce criticism of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - not only from his reformist opponents, but also from senior conservatives who helped bring him to power but now say he is mismanaging the economy.
Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005 on a populist agenda promising to bring oil revenues to every family, eradicate poverty, improve living standards and tackle unemployment. Now he is being challenged for his failure to meet those promises.
Reformists and even some fellow conservatives say Ahmadinejad has concentrated too much on fiery, anti-U.S. speeches and not enough on the economy - and they have become more aggressive in calling him to account…
A prominent economist, Mohammad Sattarifar, said Ahmadinejad is to blame for flooding the market with too many newly printed bank notes, relying too much on imported goods - including basic commodities - and using oil revenues to pay for the government’s day-to-day expenses instead of distributing it to the people as he promised to do in his election campaign.
Sattarifar said the government increased liquidity, or the amount of money in circulation, from $72.3 billion in 2004 to $148.9 billion this year. Economist Morteza Allahdad said this amount was a “huge, unusual increase in liquidity that has led to high inflation. Ahmadinejad can’t escape responsibility for this.”… More… — AP / A. Dareini
For all the so called intelligence this bafoon believes he possess, he appears to be an ignoramus when it comes to managing internal fiscal policy. His idea of flooding the Iranian economy with cheap money has backfired just as experts within his own country had warned. Will “Basic Economics 101″ in fact prevail over cultural arrogance and islamo-fascist rhetoric?
In the end, perhaps this new economic reality may be just what the doctor ordered to infuriate the Iranian people into realizing that Ahmadinejad, and his perverted points of view, along with the neanderthal thinking of the radical Islamic clerics, will do little to lead their country toward prosperity on par with the other wealthy Arab oil nations. Unfortunately there do not appear to be many political alternatives on the horizon which the Iranian people can leverage regardless of how dissatisfied they are with their quality of life. Certainly not as long as their society is held hostage by a radicalized leadership.
President Musharraf has taken to the airwaves in an attempt to generate a sense of stability within the Pakistani government. The events of today, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, will present a significant test of the democracy in Pakistan. There is little doubt that the Islamic radical forces targeted Bhutto in order to increase negative public opinion on ex President Musharaff. There is little doubt that this tragic, yet somewhat predictable event, will intensify the power struggle which was already underway within the Pakistani government.
(ISLAMABAD ) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the nation to remain peaceful on Thursday after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto “so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated,” state TV said.
The announcement came while the president was holding an emergency meeting of top officials after Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack following a campaign rally in the city of Rawalpindi.
Musharraf, meanwhile, declared three days of national mourning.
Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro said the government would “unearth the conspiracy” against Pakistan after Bhutto’s assassination, which he called an “inhuman act of terrorism”.
In a statement, the caretaker leader appealed for calm and pledged that all efforts would be made to track down those responsible for the killing.
“Those responsible for this cowardly act of violence cannot be friends of Pakistan,” he said.
“This cowardly and inhuman act of terrorism will be traced down to the bottom, and the government will use all possible means to unearth this conspiracy against the country,” he said. — APN
What the reaction of the mainstream Pakistani people will be with respect to the “blame” that is sure to be laid at the feet of political rival Pervez Mushraff remains to be seen. No doubt this is exactly the turn of events that the Islamo-facist terror groups have been hoping for. Iran will be watching, hoping and doing what it can to support terrorist insurgents to create an eventual Islamic Republic of Pakistan. You can take that to the bank.
In keeping with the spirit of the holidays, we have finally finished selecting our top 5 picks for the best pseudo-political Christmas cartoons found on the web this week. Yes they are on the lighter side than usual, but hey dialing it down a notch might help chill all the last minute shopping stress out there
Subscribers, please let us know which ones are your favorite and also take a minute to view the special video we have selected at the end of this post just to help us spend a few quite moments in thanks to those that we all should be proud of regardless of our politics.
— [Hat Tip: to artists Rice, Brookins, Cole, Wright and Grondahl for their syndications in that order].
Subscribers, if you come across a few cleaver toons that you would like to recommend we consider for the top 5 toons during the New Years week, please feel free to pass their links along!
Oh, and on a more serious note, just one more other important reminder this Christmas Season:
Please Remember Our Troops !! [Take a minute to view the moving video below in tribute to those who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and liberty - You'll be glad you did !]
Feel free to Send A Message of Thanks through: AmericaSupportsYou.Mil [AmericaSupportsYou.mil is an official U.S. Department of Defense website.]
Have a Safe and Merry Christmas… — ZZ and OpenWeb Staff
It occurred to me that if I could ask every blogger one thing, I’d ask them what they were hoping to accomplish with their blogs, and how I - or anyone else - could help them get there.
Now I realize those are tough questions to answer, so I’ve tried to break it down into several questions so that your blog readers can get info to help them help you.
This post is really the start of a meme. If you want to participate, copy the questions below and answer them in your blog, and link back to this post.
Questions:
1. What do you envision your blog as doing for you? (i.e. are you working on a podcast show you want to get started? Do you just want more friends? Are you aiming to make money? etc.)
2. Where do you think your blog is at now in its state of existence? (i.e. discuss your traffic, or whether you’re doing a good job of interacting with other bloggers, etc.)
3. What has trying to get an audience on the Internet taught you?
Here is an example of just how the money and aid provided to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is being put to good use for his stand against Hamas. It’s a poster recently commissioned by Fatah for the 43rd anniversary of the “moderate” terrorist organization’s formal existence. Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, Israel’s so called partner in peace, commissioned this poster showing Israel completely replaced by “Palestine.”
The international community continues to use magical thinking when it comes to Palestine and Israel coexisting side by side. We suspect you won’t see this story making prime time in the western media any time soon since it really underscores just how far apart these two sub-cultures are in their thought process. Peace to the Palestinians really comes in only one flavor, and it doesn’t include accepting a co-existing Jewish state in the land the rest of the world calls Israel.
Fatah is planning to mark its 43rd anniversary this year with a new poster that presents all of Israel as Palestine.
A Fatah 43rd anniversary poster depicts a map of Israel that is entirely draped with a Palestinian keffiyeh next to a rifle signifying armed struggle.
Designed specifically for the occasion by Abdel Mun’em Ibrahim, the poster features a map of Israel that is entirely draped with a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.
It also carries a drawing of a rifle as a symbol of the “armed struggle” against Israel.
The poster, which has been endorsed by the Fatah leadership, has already been posted on a number of Fatah-affiliated Web sites.
The underlying message of the poster is that Fatah, like Hamas, does not recognize Israel’s existence.
The emblem is in violation of Fatah’s declared policy, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside, and not instead of, Israel.
By including a rifle in the poster, Fatah is sending a message to the Palestinian public that it has not abandoned the option of “armed resistance,” despite current peace talks with Israel. Founded in 1965, Fatah has celebrated its anniversary over the past 14 years with major rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But it’s not clear at this stage if Hamas would allow Fatah to hold a big rally in the Gaza Strip.
Last week, Fatah banned Hamas from holding rallies in the West Bank to mark the 20th anniversary of the Islamist movement. Hamas officials have threatened to retaliate by barring Fatah rallies in the Gaza Strip. — [Hat Tip: Jerusalem Post]
It is clearly up to the present collective of moderate Arab nations to continue to have the courage to play a stronger and more visible leading role in brokering some sanity and stability within the Palestinian / Israeli impasse. They must, at least collectively and openly, find the courage to recognize the right of both Israel and Palestine to exist in their own right as sovereign nations.
Their leaders must take an active stand. Yes, even if it risks turmoil within their own countries. Sitting on the sidelines and hoping for an outside power to make the problem go away is wishful thinking and dangerous. Unless of course they relish more conflict and instability in the region driven by outside powers (on both sides) who will act on their so called “good intentions”. Their best strategy to avoid that scenario is to actively and visibly demonstrate to the rest of the world that, as a community, moderate Islamic nations can police their own neighborhood and purge it of radical ideology on both sides of the spectrum which leads only to bloodshed and misery for all the people.
All we can say is that it’s a damn good thing the gene pool in the U.S. is large enough to dilute the IQ of some people. You might say the woman below lived a sheltered life, but I bet she can tell you what brand of makeup Britney Spears uses. Just check out the expressions on the face of the 3rd grader at the podium next to her during this quiz show. Priceless…
There are occasions when certain points of view are priceless. Scott reports on another one of those occasions as he dissects the not so slip of the tongue slip by one of Hilllary’s campaign supporters…
(Iowa) — Former presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today apologized to rival Barack Obama for any offense he may have taken from the way former Sen. Bob Kerry endorsed her candidacy this week.
Bob Kerry …oops
Mr. Kerrey, who ran for president in 1992, in his endorsement remarks mentioned that Sen. Obama’s middle name is Hussein and that he has Muslim ancestors, “not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Sen. Clinton, in a written statement said: “While I’m grateful for Bob’s endorsement, which generated headlines across the country and even some stories that briefly mentioned me, his choice of words may have left some people with the impression that Sen. Obama is related to Saddam Hussein — a fanatical dictator who gassed his own people, cut off ears and tongues of dissidents and littered Iraq with mass graves. Any implied comparison was purely accidental, I’m sure.”
“There’s nothing to be gained,” Mrs. Clinton said, “by repeating Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. It’s as immature as noting the similarity between the name Obama and Osama bin Laden.”
She called Mr. Kerrey’s reference to Sen. Obama’s Muslim relatives “fundamentally irrelevant, and radically inappropriate.”
“When you think about it, Barack’s body is made up of cells,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean he’s connected with al Qaeda terror cells. It’s silly, you know, to link Hussein, Obama, Osama, Islam, al Qaeda.”
Obama and buddy Al Sharpton
Sen. Obama said he took no offense at the endorsement remarks, noting, “After all, Bob Kerrey’s last name sounds like John Kerry, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a failed former presidential candidate, whose political life will be a mere footnote in the history books, if he’s lucky. And of course Hillary Clinton has the same last name as…well…you get the point.”
The Illinois senator added, “At least he didn’t remind people that I’m related to Dick Cheney, which could actually hurt my chances in the Democrat primaries.” — as reported by satirist Scott Ott / ScrappleFace
The polls are now saying John Edwards may be leading. No one should be surprised about that. The move to the ever popular youthful white attractive male seems to be making a comeback in Democrat circles. Let’s see if he has real “staying” power :).
Our own poll shows Hillary neck and neck with Obama… with Mit and Rudy neck and neck as well. Both new developments over the past week as the voting public grows tired with the whole affair.
One of our subscribers sent us a list of the 19 “NEW WORDS” for 2007 back at the end of December 2006 . Well, here we are again at the end of 2007 and many of the words on that list (shuffled around a bit) also show up as selections this year for 2008. Some in fact don’t seem to be very new at all since we have found their origins can be traced back several years. Maybe they’ll just become considered timeless? Hmm… we doubt that.
Regardless many of them deserve to “pay themselves forward”. So here they are (again) : Enjoy.
THE OLD NEW WORDS FOR 2007, 2008, and we suspect into 2009 as well
1. BLAMESTORMING : Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline
was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
2. SEAGULL MANAGER : A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise,
craps on everything, and then leaves.
3. ASSMOSIS : The process by which some people seem to absorb success
and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.
4. SALMON DAY : The experience of spending an entire day swimming
upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles
6. PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a
cube farm, and people’s heads pop up over the walls to see what’s going
on.
7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation’s answer to the couch
potato.
8. SITCOMs : Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What
Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working
to stay home with the kids.
9. STRESS PUPPY : A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and
whiny.
10. SWIPEOUT : An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless
because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.
11. XEROX SUBSIDY : Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one’s
workplace.
12. IRRITAINMENT : Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying
but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The J-Lo and Ben
wedding (or not) was a prime example - Michael Jackson, another…
13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE : The fine art of whacking the crap out of an
electronic device to get it to work again.
14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just
above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are
often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were
designed to solve.
15. 404 : Someone who’s clueless. >From the World Wide Web error Message
“404 Not Found,” meaning that the requested site could not be located.
16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the
same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and
subdivisions.
17. OHNOSECOND : That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize
that you’ve just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an
e-mail by mistake)
18. WOOFS : Well-Off Older Folks.
19. CROP DUSTING : Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a
Cube Farm.
If anyone has any to add to this list we would be happy to hear from you.
(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) - Pakistan’s government announced it had evidence that an al-Qaeda operative was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, who was laid to rest Friday as the army tried to quell a frenzy of rioting that left 27 people dead less than two weeks before national elections. The government, led by President Pervez Musharraf, also said Bhutto was not killed by gunshots or shrapnel as originally claimed. Instead, it said her skull was shattered by the force of a suicide bomb blast that slammed her against a lever in her car’s sunroof. The new explanations by the government in the death of Bhutto, Musharraf’s most powerful foe in the elections, were part of a rapidly evolving political crisis. The rioting by Bhutto’s furious supporters raised concerns that this nuclear-armed nation, plagued by chaos and the growing threat from Islamic militants even before the killing, was in danger of spinning out of control… – Reuters and AP
The government released a transcript Friday of a purported conversation between militant leader Baitullah Mehsud and another militant. "It was a spectacular job. They were very brave boys who killed her," Mehsud said, according to the transcript. The government did not release an audiotape. Cheema described Mehsud as an al-Qaida leader who was also behind most other recent terror attacks in Pakistan, including the Karachi bomb blast in October against Bhutto that killed more than 140 people. Mehsud is thought to be the commander of pro-Taliban forces in the tribal region of South Waziristan, where al-Qaida fighters are also active. In the transcript, Mehsud gives his location as Makin, a town in South Waziristan.
This fall, he was quoted in a Pakistani newspaper as saying that he would welcome Bhutto’s return from exile with suicide bombers. Mehsud later denied that in statements to local television and newspaper reporters. Cheema announced the formation of two inquiries into Bhutto’s death, one to be carried out by a high court judge and another by security forces. Bhutto was assassinated Thursday evening after a rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Twenty other people also died in the attack. On Thursday, authorities had said Bhutto died from bullet wounds fired by a young man who then blew himself up. A surgeon who treated her, however, said Friday she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull. But later Friday, Cheema said those two accounts were mistaken. He said all three shots missed her as she greeted supporters through the sunroof of her vehicle, which was bulletproof and bombproof. – Reuters and AP
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A sharp rise in inflation has provoked fierce criticism of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - not only from his reformist opponents, but also from senior conservatives who helped bring him to power but now say he is mismanaging the economy.
(ISLAMABAD ) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the nation to remain peaceful on Thursday after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto “so that the evil designs of terrorists can be defeated,” state TV said.
(Iowa) — Former presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton today apologized to rival Barack Obama for any offense he may have taken from the way former Sen. Bob Kerry 
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