The New York Times Crossword in Gothic

04.01.08 -- Feel Like a Fool

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Click here for abridged post in LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Manny Nosowsky, edited by Will Shortz

Appropriately, FEELLIKEAFOOL (33A); FOOLFAINT (16A); APRILFEEL (54A); NOBODYSFEEL (8D); and FOOLINGOKAY (23D) are the inter-related entries of this April Fools’ Day crossword puzzle.

Not looking at the clues, one might wonder is it STUD or STUD, SHARK or SHARK, INCHES or INCHES? -- there’s also a NAVEL that’s an INNIE -- OPIUM for QID or is it QID? Have you ever ordered a QUIRE of paper?

SWOREOFF and TOOKNOTE stand side by side as do OVERSELL and LIVEWELL. I’ve been to FARGO, not to be forgotten! Cold! Want something warmer, there are LEIS and a UKE from that Pacific paradise!

Looking for more BILGE? Is it ARKS or ARKS? ERIE or ERIE. I won't touch that KNOB! The lower left corner left me INRAGS -- MIASMA, TREADS, ATRIA, ACETO, MEDIA, ASSAY, et al.

GOOGOO, ADMIRE, IDOL, so DEF! This puzzle certainly is, so I’ll just be a fool and say I feel this April Fool puzzle’s a KAYO!

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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1. Dress shirt closer; 5. Four times a day, on an Rx; 8. Person who doesn’t put down roots; 13. Had on; 14. Acapulco article; 15. State as one’s view; 16. Nitwit’s swoon?; 18. Nonsense, slangily; 19. Torah holders; 20. New York tribe defeated by the Iroquois; 21. Exterior; 22. Cartoon Chihuahua; 23. On the house; 24. Respect; 25. Kind of eyes; 27. Force (open); 28. Turn one way and then back; 29. “A Tale ___ Cities”; 30. Uncompromising sort; 33. Regret some stupidity … with a hint to this puzzle’s theme; 37. Girls in the family; 38. Watergate hearings chairman Sam; 40. Univ. where “Good Will Hunting” is set; 43. Suffix with neat or beat; 44. ___ Conventions; 45. Shabbily clothed; 47. Rock star, e.g.; 49. Speed (up); 50. Vinegar: Prefix; 51. Pre-remote channel changer; 52. R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World __ Know It”; 53. Danger in dangerous waters; 54. Spring in the air?; 56. News groups; 57. “Tastes great!”; 58. “___ do for now”; 59. Analyze the composition of: 60. N.B.A. tiebreakers; 61. Like some orders.
Down: 1. Promised to give up; 2. Was attentive; 3. Internet addresses; 4. “Excellent!,” in slang; 5. Paper quantity; 6. Type of 39-Down; 7. Movie companion maybe; 8. Vibes not being up by anyone?; 9. Painkiller since ancient times; 10. “Uncle” of early television; 11. Rages; 12. Some tractors; 16. Red River city; 17. Houston hockey player; 23. Doing credible work as a magician?; 24. Mozart’s “Madamina,” e.g.; 26. Verdon of “Damn Yankees”; 27. Top exec.; 30. Miner’s tool; 31. Hawaiian instrument, for short; 32. Pulled apart; 34. Gifts at Honolulu Airport; 35. Push too hard, as an argument; 36. Have it good; 39. Belly part; 40. Bad atmosphere; 41. “; 42. Steps (on); 44. Asian desert; 46. Places in the heart; 47. Contribution, as of ideas; 48. Buildings near some cafeterias; 51. Bout-ending slug; 52. Mennen shaving brand; 55. Shining.

April Fools: The Fox To Guard The Banking Henhouse

The Federal Reserve, which has been credited with creating the current housing bubble and bust just as it created the credit bubble of the Roaring Twenties and the bust of 1929, is now to be given vast new powers to oversee regulation of the banking industry and promote "financial market stability." At least, that is the gist of a Treasury Department proposal to be presented to Congress on Monday, March 31, 2008. Adrian Douglas wrote on LeMetropoleCafe.com, "I would like to think that this is some sort of sick April Fools joke, but, alas, they are serious! What happened to free markets?"¹

In fact, what happened to regulating the banks? The Treasury's plan is not for the private Federal Reserve to increase regulation of the banking system it heads. Au contraire, regulation will actually be decreased. According to The Wall Street Journal:

"Many of the [Treasury's] proposals, like those that would consolidate regulatory agencies, have nothing to do with the turmoil in financial markets. And some of the proposals could actually reduce regulation. According to a summary provided by the administration, the plan would consolidate an alphabet soup of banking and securities regulators into a powerful trio of overseers responsible for everything from banks and brokerage firms to hedge funds and private equity firms. . . . Parts of the plan could reduce the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is charged with maintaining orderly stock and bond markets and protecting investors. . . . The blueprint also suggests several areas where the S.E.C. should take a lighter approach to its oversight. Among them are allowing stock exchanges greater leeway to regulate themselves and streamlining the approval of new products, even allowing automatic approval of securities products that are being traded in foreign markets."²

"securities products" include the mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps, and other forms of the great Ponzi scheme known as "derivatives" that have been largely responsible for bringing the banking system to the brink of collapse. But these suspect products are not to be more heavily scrutinized; rather, their approval will actually be "streamlined" and may be automatic if they are being traded in "foreign markets." The Journal observes that the Treasury's proposal was initiated last year by Secretary Henry Paulson not to "regulate" the banks but "to make American financial markets more competitive against overseas markets by modernizing a creaky regulatory system. His goal was to streamline the different and sometimes clashing rules for commercial banks, savings and loans and nonbank mortgage lenders." "streamlining" the rules evidently meant eliminating any that "clashed" with the Fed's goal of allowing U.S. banks to be more "competitive" abroad. The Journal continues:

"While the plan could expose Wall Street investment banks and hedge funds to greater scrutiny, it carefully avoids a call for tighter regulation. The plan would not rein in practices that have been linked to the housing and mortgage crisis, like packaging risky subprime mortgages into securities carrying the highest ratings. . . . And the plan does not recommend tighter rules over the vast and largely unregulated markets for risk sharing and hedging, like credit default swaps, which are supposed to insure lenders against loss but became a speculative instrument themselves and gave many institutions a false sense of security."

Regulating fraudulent, predatory and overly-speculative banking practices has been left to the States, not necessarily by law but by default. According to then-Governor Eliot Spitzer, writing in January of 2008, state regulators tried to regulate these shady practices but were hamstrung by federal authorities. In a February 14 Washington Post article titled "Predatory Lenders; Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States from Stepping in to Help Consumers," Spitzer complained:

"several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive 'teaser; rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

"Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers. . . . [A]s New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices . . . .

"Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye. . . . The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). . . . In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules. But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation."

Less than a month after publishing this editorial, Spitzer was out of office, following a surprise exposé of his personal indiscretions by the Justice Department. Greg Palast observed that Spitzer was the single politician standing between a $200 billion windfall from the Federal Reserve guaranteeing the mortgage-backed junk bonds of the same banking predators that were responsible for the subprime debacle. While the Federal Reserve was trying to bail them out, Spitzer had been trying to regulate them, bringing suit on behalf of consumers.³ But Spitzer has now been silenced, and any other state attorneys general who might get similar ideas will be deterred by the federal oversight under which banking regulators are to be "consolidated."

The Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan deliberately enabled and permitted the derivatives debacle to take down the dollar and America's credibility. Greenspan is now lauded, feted and awarded at the White House and on network television, and takes a victory lap tour promoting and signing his book and celebrating his multimillion dollar book deal, enjoying his knighthood status in England and hero status on Wall Street. And as the falling debris of the American economy still piles up around us, the very agency that enabled disaster is now seeking to consolidate ultimate authority and accountability to itself, and through centralization and arrogation of power, eliminate all those pesky little Constitutional and State regulations and agencies, recalcitrant governors and the last few whistle blowers, so that the further abuse of power can be streamlined through one agency only. That agency is to consist of an alliance of the banking powers and the executive branch, a perfect formula for the institutionalization of continual abuse.

Perhaps Spitzer was lucky that he was the target only of a character assassination. When Louisiana Senator Huey Long challenged the Federal Reserve and fought for the State's right to oversee its own financial affairs in the 1930s, he was assassinated with bullets. Long's local assertion of decentralized State powers, as provided for in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, enabled the State of Louisiana to loosen the grip of the corporations on the State's wealth and allowed the setting up of schools and public institutions that elevated the people of the State and placed its "common wealth" back into the hands of its citizens, while providing employment and education. The Constitution reserves to the States and the people all those powers not specifically delegated to the federal government, arguably including the creation of money itself, which is nowhere specifically mentioned in the Constitution beyond creating coins. (See E. Brown, "Another Way Around the Credit Crisis: Minnesota Bill Would Authorize State Banks to Monetize; Productivity," www.webofdebt.com/articles, March 23, 2008.) But in this latest attempt at expanding the Federal Reserve's already over-expansive powers, we see clear evidence that the Wall Street and global banking powers have no intention of allowing their plans to be reined in by the Constitutional powers of the States and the people. Instead, they intend to fill up the moat and pull up the draw bridge on their feudal powers, and let the serfs shiver outside the gates for as long as they will put up with it.

NOTES

¹	Adrian Douglas, "PPT to Come Out of the Closet," www.lemetropolecafe.com (March 29, 2008).

²	Edmund Andrews, "Treasury's Plan Would Give Fed Wide new Power," New York Times (March 29, 2008).

³	Greg Palast, "Eliot's Mess" www.gregpalast.com (March 14, 2008).Ellen Brown, J.D., developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust." She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her eleven books include the bestselling Nature's Pharmacy, co-authored with Dr. Lynne Walker, which has sold 285,000 copies. Her websites are www.webofdebt.com and www.ellenbrown.com.

Hayden: White Boy al-Qaeda on the Rise

“Al-Qaeda, in its haven in western Pakistan, is training operatives who are ‘western’ in appearance, making it easier for them to get past U.S. airport security, Central Intelligence Director Michael Hayden said,” reports Bloomberg.

Does anybody who looks “western” have an easy time getting past airport security? Mr. Hayden needs to visit an airport and see for himself — just about everybody, from grandmothers to toddlers, are under suspicion, even if they look Scandinavian. It has nothing to do with actual suspicion. It has to do with sending a message: you live in a police state now, get used to it, and if you don’t want to end up dead in a holding cell like Carol Ann Gotbaum, you’ll submit and not complain.

Of course, Mr. Hayden, as the head honcho of the CIA, is “catapulting the propaganda,” as Bush might call it. Now that al-Qaeda operatives look like stock brokers and cashiers at the local Stop ‘n Gas, we need to push ahead with the control grid, now only partially in place. Our rulers think we need to hear this kind of nonsense every few weeks, just to remind us and get us accustomed to those CCTV cameras everywhere and the NSA vacuuming up our telephone conversations and emails. It’s all to protect us from the white boy al-Qaeda.

“Hayden, appearing on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ said the terrorists’ sanctuary in tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan is the most likely point of origin for them to launch another attack against the U.S.,” Bloomberg continues.

As for “the border with Afghanistan,” please. Mr. Hayden knows this area was long ago set-up to be militant Islam central, a pet project of the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI and continues to operate as a spook franchise with a stock of patsies and mental deficients. It was no mistake the late Osama bin Laden received his medical care at a Pakistan military base and the CIA paid a visit when he was in the hospital. Bloomberg naturally says nothing about any of this or the fact Osama bin Laden is dead and buried, praise be to Allah.

Instead, we are getting set-up for another fantastical attack launched from a cave situated in one of the most backward and impoverished areas on the planet. If we are to believe Mike Hayden, white boys dedicated to the destruction of the United States, because of our “freedoms,” are being trained in Bumfunk, Afghanistan.

In addition to waving the ridiculous specter of al-Qaeda white boys, Hayden is sending a message to Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, who needs to get on the bandwagon, that is kill his own people. Mr. Gillani made a big mistake when he said he wants a “political rather than military” solution “to combat a spreading insurgency by Islamic extremists in the border area. The U.S. is concerned a softened approach may let al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other groups expand their base in Pakistan and step up attacks on U.S. forces.”

Sure they are. If not for al-Qaeda and the Taliban — both explicitly created by the CIA and Pakistan intelligence — there would be no threat of white boy terrorists slipping into the country. If not for this threat, it would be a lot less easy for the government to strip search you at the airport and rifle through your medical records and listen in on your phone calls.

Kurt Nimmo

More on the White Boy al-Qaeda:

New al-Qaeda agents 'look western'

CIA Boss Says New Al-Qaeda Are White Westerners

Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication

Myth of al-Qaeda

Crossfire War - Saudi Arabia Preparing for Nuclear War

Saudi Arabia Preparing for Nuclear War - Russian Intelligence Reports Increased US Military Activity Near Iran Borders - Persian Gulf - Muqtada Al-Sadr Orders Mahdi Army Off The Streets - Mahdi - Iraq Army Merging

Night Watch: RIYADH - It seems Washington used the recent visit to West Asia (Middle East) by Vice-President Dick Cheney to alert the House of Saud the U. S. has completed preparations for a missile-air attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in April. PressTV reports the Saudi paper Okaz mentioned a meeting of the Saudi Shura Council after the Vice-President's visit in which the council approved preparations to counter "radioactive fallout" due to a U. S. attack on Iran.

There has also been a recent deployment of a U. S. nuclear submarine in the Persian Gulf. That is why I suspect the real reason for the current three day visit by U. S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice to Israel is not to discuss the removal of road blocks in the West Bank but to alert Jerusalem. [PRESSTV]

CentCom (Florida) - The forced resignation of Admiral William Fallon, earlier this month, was also part of the Pentagon's preparation since Admiral Fallon was opposed to an attack on Iran. The BBC reports today his deputy commander Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey has just been installed as commanding officer of U. S. Central Command (CentCom) during a ceremony at its Florida air base. [BBC]

Persian Gulf - The news ticker on Debka's title page today is saying Russian intelligence has detected in increased amount of U. S. military activity on Iran's border. [DEBKA]

Sadr City - Al Jazeera is reporting the Iraqi government is welcoming the order of Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mahid Army, for his fighters to withdraw from the streets in several provinces. "We want the Iraqi people to stop this bloodshed and maintain Iraq's independence and stability. For that we have decided to withdraw from the streets of Basra and all other provinces." A spokesman for the Baghdad government, Ali al-Dabbagh stated, "Those who do not obey the instructions of the government and of Sadr, the government will be forced to implement the law against them." The key phrase is the "government and of Sadr" implying the two are now working together to guarantee Iraq's stability and independence after the withdrawal of the foreign occupation forces, which are about to come under missile attack from Iran in response to the U. S. offensive.

This is the completion of the separation between Baghdad and London-Washington especially in terms of joint operations. Though the UK/US provided air support to the Iraq Army there was no real serious commitment between them. The most telling image of the fighting was not only the surrender of some Iraqi soldiers to the al-Sadr office but the soldiers were handed their weapons back and told to defend Iraq. [ALJAZEERA]

Iraq's army is now working with the Mahdi Army and that has been the pattern for the past few years as the Mahdi Army would fight Iraq police and soldiers then negotiate with them and merge. That is why the U. S. military intelligence officials stated, during the six days of combat, the Mahdi Army had heavily infiltrated the Iraq Army and police. Operations against criminal gangs in the Basra area will continue and with this new relationship the Iraq Army and police will probably work with the Mahdi Army against them.

As a sign of more combat coming against the foreign military occupation there has been no let up in the bombardment of the International Green Zone in Baghdad. It is quite possible the real reason Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is now based in Basra is he probably realizes he is safer there than in Baghdad. The attacks in the Green Zone will of course intensify when the U. S. attacks Iran. One of the things to watch will be to see if there are reports of Tehran reducing its embassy staff.

Daily News

Night Watch Information Service

A third American war crime in the making

The US Congress, the US media, the American people, and the United Nations, are looking the other way as CFR Cheney prepares his attack on Iran.

If only America had an independent media and an opposition party. If there were a shred of integrity left in American political life, perhaps a third act of naked aggression -- a third war crime under the Nuremberg standard -- by the Bush Regime could be prevented.

On March 30, the Russian News & Information Agency, Novosti, cited “a high-ranking security source: 'The latest military intelligence data point to heightened US military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran.'”

According to Novosti, Russian Colonel General Leonid Ivashov said “that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran’s military infrastructure in the near future.”

The chief of Russia’s general staff, Yuri Baluyevsky, said last November that Russia was beefing up its military in response to US aggression, but that the Russian military is not “obliged to defend the world from the evil Americans.”

On March 29, Chris Floyd cited a report by the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz, which was picked up by the German news service, DPA. The Saudi newspaper reported on March 22, the day following Cheney’s visit with the kingdom’s rulers, that the Saudi Shura Council is preparing “national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors.”

And Admiral William “there will be no attack on Iran on my watch” Fallon has been removed as US chief of Central Command, thus clearing the way for Cheney’s planned attack on Iran.

The Iranians don’t seem to believe it, despite the dispatch of US nuclear submarines and another aircraft carrier attack group to the Persian Gulf. To counter any Iranian missiles launched in response to an attack, the US is deploying anti-missile defenses to protect US bases and Saudi oil fields.

Two massive failures by the American media, the Democratic Party, and the American people have paved the way for Cheney’s long planned attack on Iran. One failure is the lack of skepticism about the US government’s explanation of 9/11. The other failure is the Democrats’ refusal to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush for lying to the Congress, the American people, and the world and launching an invasion of Iraq based on deception and fabricated evidence.

If an American president can start a war exactly as Adolf Hitler did with pure lies and not be held accountable, he can get away with anything. And Bush and his evil regime have.

Hitler launched World War II with his invasion of Poland after staging a “Polish attack” on a German radio station. On the night of August 31, 1939, a group of Nazis disguised in Polish uniforms seized a radio station in Germany. Hitler announced that “last night Polish troops crossed the frontier and attacked Germany,” a claim no more true than the Bush Regime’s claim that “Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.” Hitler’s lie failed, because his invasion of Poland, which began the next day allegedly in reprisal for the Polish attack, had obviously been planned for many months.

Iran is a beautiful and developed country. It is an ancient civilization. It has attacked no one. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Iran is permitted by the treaty to have a nuclear energy program. The Bush Regime’s case against Iran is based on the Bush Regime’s desire to deny Iran its rights under the treaty.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have repeatedly reported that they have found no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Despite all the disinformation from US Gen. Petraeus and other Bush Regime military lackeys, Iran is not arming the Iraqis who are resisting the American occupation.

If Iran were arming insurgents, the insurgents would have two weapons that would neutralize the US advantage in the Iraqi conflict: missiles to knock down US helicopter gunships and rocket-propelled grenades that knock out American tanks. The insurgents do not have these weapons and must construct clumsy anti-tank weapons out of artillery shells. The insurgents are helpless against US air power and cannot mass forces to take on the American troops.

Indiscriminate American violence has reduced Iraq to rubble. The civilian infrastructure is essentially destroyed -- electricity, water and sewer systems, medical care and schools. Depleted uranium is everywhere poisoning everyone, including US troops. There is no economy, and half or more of Iraqis are unemployed. Literally no Iraqi family has escaped an injury or a death as a consequence of the US invasion. Millions of Iraqis have become displaced persons. A developed country with a professional middle class has been destroyed because of lies told by the president and vice president of the US. The Bush Regime’s lies are echoed by a neoconservative media, and have gone unchallenged by the opposition party and an indifferent American public.

In Afghanistan, death and destruction rains on even the smallest village from the air. America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are wars against the civilian populations.

Just as the world could not believe Hitler’s next horror and thus was always unprepared, the Iranians despite all the evidence cannot believe that even the Great Satan would gratuitously attack Iran based on nothing but lies about nonexistent nuclear weapons.

Iran’s only chance would be to strike before the US delivers the first blow. Instead of using its missiles to take out the Saudi oil fields and to sink the US aircraft carriers, instead of closing the Strait of Hormuz, instead of arming the Iraqi Shi’ites and moving them to insurgency, Iran is perched like a sitting duck in denial even as the US and its Iraqi puppet, Maliki, move to eliminate Al Sadr’s Iraqi Shi’ite militia in order to avoid supply disruptions and a Shi’ite rebellion in Iraq when the US attack on Iran comes.

It is important to emphasize that Iran is making no moves toward war. Having tamed, blackmailed, and purchased Congress, the US media, and US allies and puppets, Cheney might delight in the arrogance with which he can now attack Iran free of any restraint or fabricated provocation. On the other hand, he might cover himself by orchestrating an “Iranian provocation” to justify his attack as a response. But like Hitler’s planned attack against Poland, Cheney’s attack on Iran has long been in the works.

On March 29 the Associated Press reported that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi “poured contempt on fellow Arab leaders” at the Arab summit that day. Gadhafi told the Arab “leaders,” many of whom are on the American payroll, that their American masters would turn on them all, just as America turned on Saddam Hussein after using him to fight a proxy war against Iran.

Saddam had once been an ally of Washington, Gadhafi reminded the Arabs, “but they sold him out.” Gadhafi told the American puppets, “Your turn is next.”

Gadhafi asked, “Where is the Arabs’ dignity, their future, their very existence?” If Arabs remain disunited, he predicted, “they will turn themselves into protectorates. They will be marginalized and turn into garbage dumps.”

Indeed, it is this disunity that permits the US to bomb and murder at will in the Middle East.

Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury in the Reagan administration. He has held numerous academic professorships and appointments in the US Congressional Staff. He was an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.

03.31.08 -- AIR

Waterloo Bridge, Effect of Fog, 1903 -- Claude Monet

The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Plein air -- a French term for "in the open air." This term describes paintings that have been made outdoors, rather than in a studio -- a key method of the Impressionists.

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Monday, March 31, 2008

Click here for abridged post in LARGE PRINT.

Puzzle by Jeff Armstrong, edited by Will Shortz

AIR (36A. Word that can precede each half of the answers to each of the eight starred clues) is the star clue in this breezy Monday puzzle. The inter-related entries are FORCEFIELD (18A. *Sci-fi barrier); DATELINE (20A. *Newspaper article lead-in); SHOWTIME (28A. *When the curtain goes up); HEADLOCK (41A. *Wrestling move that puts an arm around someone’s neck); MAILDROP (50A. *Secret communication location); SPACECRAFT (54A. *Mars Pathfinder, for one); BASEBALL (4D. *Diamond game); and SPEEDWAY (37D. *Indy 500 venue).

O.K., redundantly, air force, air field, air date, airline, air show, air time, airhead, airlock, airmail, airdrop, air space, aircraft, air base, air ball, air speed, and airway.

I was talking to my nephew while writing this, and for whatever it’s worth he called my attention to the MacBook Air, and a parody of the ad, HERE. I guess the ultimate would be to disappear into thin air!

Across: 1. Sea creature that sidles; 5. Group of eight musicians; 10. Underhanded plan; 14. Greeting in Granada; 15. Get up; 16. Toy block brand; 17. Andy’s partner in old radio; 22. Quenched; 23. Big name in audio equipment; 24. Martial artist Jackie; 25. Result of a belly flop; 32. Quiet spells; 33. Bed board; 34. Turf; 35. Kind of history; 37. Performed ballads, e.g.; 38. President pro TEM; 39. Go after bucks or ducks, say; 40. Outpouring; 44. Less bold; 45. Slick; 46. Corduroy ridge; 47. Measly; 56. Rouse from slumber; 57. Regarding; 58. Western flick, in old lingo; 59. Farm measure; 60. Abound (with); 61. One of a reporter’s five W’s; 62. Annum.

Down: 1. Punched-out part of a paper ballot; 2. Capital of Italia; 3. Plenty; 5. Like a lout; 6. Hag; 7. Become bushed; 8. PC bailout key; 9. Golfer’s opening drive; 10. Flexible; 11. Cousin of an onion; 12. Gawk at; 13. Sondheim’s “Sweeney TODD”; 19. Scratch on a diamond, e.g.; 21. Amount printed in red ink; 24. Nautical map; 25. Slow-moving mammal; 26. Blender setting; 27. South American wool source; 28. Move with one’s tail between one’s legs; 29. Actor and rockabilly crooner Chris; 30. Three-card hustle; 31. Yard worker’s tool; 33. Impertinent; 39. “Yikes!" ; 40. Hawk, as wares; 42. Business that may have gone boom and then bust in the ‘90s; 43. Pre-euro money in 2-Down; 44. MAITRE d’; 46. Eucharist disk; 47. H.S. junior’s exam; 48. Cathedral recess; 49. Tardy; 50. Corner, as a king; 51. 10K or marathon; 52. Gumbo ingredient; 53. House of Lords member; 55. Pep squad shout.

I think you’ll find that this one was a real breeze!

La Promenade, 1875. Claude Monet

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United Nations Propaganda Comic Book Designed to Brainwash Kids

It’s a super — as in superhero — way to inculcate the younger generation:

“Marvel Comics and the United Nations are teaming up to create comic books to show superheroes working with the agency to rid the world of conflict and disease,” reports United Press International. “The United Nations and Marvel Comics are working together to develop a comic book set in a fictional war-torn country with superheroes working alongside UNICEF aid workers and U.N peacekeepers.”

No mention of the “war-torn country” this will be based upon, but allow me to offer and example: Yugoslavia. In this example, the United States secretly supported a terrorist group, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, and filled their ranks with “al-Qaeda fighters,” delivered by NATO with a bit of help from Germany’s BND.

As engineered, this project helped fuel Yugoslavia’s social and ethnic divisions and create a situation rife for a “peacekeeping” operation. It also helped to have the IMF and bankers working on the destruction of the Yugoslavian economy, ushering in third worldization and blueprinted misery.

Slobodan Milosevic, like Saddam Hussein after him, became a “new Hitler,” with plenty of help from a script-reading corporate media accusing him of directing his army to rape between 25,000 to 100,000 Muslim women.

At the behest of the United Nations and its puppet master, the United States, NATO, in direct violation of its charter, bombed Yugoslavia. “Yugoslavia attacked no NATO member,” writes Michael Parenti. “U.S. leaders discarded international law and diplomacy,” although of course “U.S. diplomacy is something else, as evidenced in its dealings with Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq” and other “rogue nations.”

“The United Nations hopes to bolster its international image damaged by the unilateral diplomatic efforts of some Western countries by teaching children the value of international cooperation,” the UPI continues. “The United Nations said it will distribute the comics to nearly 1 million U.S. children initially, but hopes to reach a broader international audience following the initial release.”

International cooperation, for instance, consisting of the premeditated murder of 500,000 Iraqi children under medieval sanctions and allowing the genocide in Rwanda to unfold with sickening precision. In fact, there is a farrago of nasty stuff the “humanitarian” United Nations has been accused of over the years, although you will not learn about it by way of the corporate media:

“United Nations peacekeeping troops have been involved in a catalogue of crimes and scandals across the globe,” the Scotsman reported in 2002.

During the UN peacekeeping mission to Somalia, it was claimed Canadian, Belgian and Italian soldiers were involved in torture and murder.

An inquiry by the Canadian government of a young Somali man in 1993, found that he had been murdered by its troops and that a senior officer had lied in an attempt to cover up the atrocity. Two soldiers were jailed.

In Belgium, newspapers published photographs of two soldiers holding a Somali boy over a fire. Three paratroopers were prosecuted, but were acquitted by a military tribunal.

An Italian magazine published photographs showing soldiers from the country’s elite paratroop regiment apparently torturing a naked Somali with electrodes and sexually abusing a Somali woman. Two generals who had commanded the Italian force in Somalia resigned.

In January 2000 the United Nations were sued for the first time in its history for alleged complicity in the crime of genocide which drove hundreds of thousands Rwandan Tutsis from their homes.

Two Rwandan women accused the UN, which was meant to be defending their families, of handing them over to their killers or running away.

The families of these women were slaughtered during the 1994 genocide in which 800,000, mostly Tutsi people, were slaughtered by Hutus.

In Bosnia, more than 20 peacekeepers were ejected from the mission for theft and corruption. Nearly four dozen others were sent home after allegedly abusing mental patients at a hospital. Canadian peacekeepers were accused of rape, beatings and sexual abuse of a teenage handicapped girl.

Don’t expect any of this to find its way into a Marvel comic book.

Kurt Nimmo

Twenty Questions interviewers avoid asking about Israel

Why Do Western Journalists Give Israel a Free Pass?

The 'Rogue Entity' - Twenty Questions Radio/TV interviewers avoid asking about Israel

The abysmal performance of western TV and radio interviewers when dealing with issues surrounding Israel - that 'Rogue Regime' or 'Zionist Entity', as many now call it - is not only embarrassing but a blot on the escutcheon of journalism.

Even the most fearsome inquisitors purr like a *censored*cat. Their rottweiler instincts evaporate, their investigative skills desert them, objectivity takes a nosedive. Penetrating questions are seldom asked, lies go unchallenged. Any Israeli spokesperson or cheerleader is guaranteed an easy ride.

Have the nation's truth-seekers fallen under some wicked Zionist spell? Are their researchers on strike? Did somebody nobble the programme editors?

While we wait with mounting frustration for our broadcasters to get their act together, here are 20 simple questions the BBC and others seem anxious not to ask......

On Rockets and Sieges

(1) The numbers of home-made Qassam rockets launched at Israel are diligently counted and quoted, but how many sophisticated munitions have Israel's F-16s, helicopter gun-ships, armed drones, tanks, occupation troops and navy patrol boats fired into the crowded humanity that packs the Gaza Strip? We are never told.

(2) Why should we believe the claim that the siege of Gaza is about rockets "raining down" on Sderot? Palestinians in the West Bank don't fire rockets yet the Israelis are still in occupation after 40 years, still stealing their land and water, and now dumping their toxic waste there.

(3) Israelis say that if the rockets stop, things will be OK.... Does that mean Gaza will be able to trade freely with the outside world like any other country, and people will be able to come and go freely? Will you and I be able to visit Gaza without Israeli hindrance?

On the Collective Punishment of Gazans

(4) Why can't Gaza's 3,000 licensed fishermen put to sea and earn their living without being harassed and fired on? What is the status of Palestinian territorial waters under international law? Why are half the hospitals' dialysis machines out of action and the chronically sick dying in agony for want of proper medication?

(5) Which parts of the Declaration of Human Rights and Geneva Conventions don't Israelis
understand?

On the War on Christianity

" We seek a life of freedom—a life different from the life of dogs we are currently forced to live ... "Catholic priest in Gaza

(6) Israelis use 'administrative' controls to disrupt the life and work of the Christian Church in the Holy Land. No Muslim or Palestinian Christian living outside Jerusalem is allowed to visit the Holy Places in the Old City without special permission. Christian priests, many of whom are Jordanian, cannot go home to see their families because Israel's new visa policy would prevent them returning to their parishes. The Catholic priest in Gaza has been trapped there for 9 years knowing that if he visits his folks the Israelis won't allow him back into the Strip. "We seek a life of freedom—a life different from the life of dogs we are currently forced to live," he says. What should be our response to attempts by Israel to paralyse the Church?

(7) Is it not shameful that our elected politicians, who are mostly Christian themselves, show so little concern? Is it not doubly shameful how the leaders of western Christendom seem oblivious to the Israeli government's war against Christian communities? Beware those pseudo-Christians in high places, who talk the talk but won't walk the walk. How many top brass have visited Gaza to show solidarity with the flock? At the present rate there will soon be no Christians left in the place where Christianity began, and churchmen will wake up one morning to find the Holy Land, from which their whole power and purpose are derived, stolen from under their noses.

On illegal Settlements

(8) Israel has expropriated agricultural land and key water resources in the Palestinian West Bank for its own use. More than 38% of the territory now consists of Israeli settlements, outposts, military bases and closed military areas, Israeli-declared nature reserves or other infrastructure that's off-limits to Palestinians. Jews-only highways linking settlements to Israel, and the 580 checkpoints and roadblocks, have fragmented Palestinian communities, blocked access to their lands and severely restricted movement. How can this be right?

(9) The freezing and dismantling of Israeli settlements are a cornerstone of major peace initiatives. The most recent, the Quartet's 2003 'roadmap' endorsed by the UN Security Council, is perfectly clear on the question of illegal settlements. Israel is under an obligation to.... a) immediately dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001, b) freeze all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements) consistent with the Mitchell Report, c) take "no actions undermining trust, including confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property".

Why have none of these obligations been met?

(10) A year ago the General Assembly reaffirmed that Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, "are illegal and an obstacle to peace" and demanded "the immediate and complete cessation of all Israeli settlement activities". Why is Israel still stealing Palestinian land for more illegal construction? By vowing to press ahead with settlement building, Israel's prime minister Olmert again signals contempt for international law and world opinion… further proof (if ever it were needed) that Israel isn't interested in peace.

On the Evil of the Wall

(11) In 2004 the International Court of Justice, sitting at the request of the UN General Assembly, concluded that the route chosen for the Separation Wall "gives expression in loco to the illegal measures taken by Israel with regard to Jerusalem and the settlements". The ICJ ruled the Wall illegal and declared that it should be dismantled where it encroaches onto Palestinian land. Why hasn't this been done? Why is Israel still building it? If Israelis feel a wall is necessary for security reasons why don't they build one on their own territory?

On House Demolitions and the Right of Return

(12) In 1948 the newly established state of Israel began demolishing the homes of Palestinian refugees to prevent their return. More than 125,000 houses were systematically destroyed. Since 1967 18,000 more have been demolished, making another 100,000 Palestinians homeless. Demolishing homes is a deliberate Israeli strategy to....

inflict collective punishment and break the Palestinians' will to resist the occupation
achieve a silent ethnic transfer
ensure that Israel's control of the Occupied Territories and their resources becomes permanent

Apart from the fact that these acts breach every rule in the book, every convention and every declaration governing civilised conduct, how would the Israelis like it if they were the victims?

(13) Why can any Jew from anywhere in the world, who has never before lived in Israel and whose ancestors have never lived in Israel, go and live in Israel – or 'squat' in an illegal outpost in Palestine with Israel's blessing - while Palestinians who can prove title to their former houses may not?

On Imprisonment

(14) Nearly 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, have been abducted and languish in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial. 30+ Palestinian parliamentarians, democratically elected, are also imprisoned. What civilised country would do this?

On Ethnic Cleansing

(15) The ethnic cleansing of Palestine, begun in the months before and after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is still going on in and around Jerusalem and in Gaza. Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger argues for an ethnic cleansing programme to transfer Gazans out and dump them in the Sinai desert. Haaretz reports that he wants Britain, the EU and the US to assist in the construction of a Palestinian state in the middle of nowhere. "They will have a nice country, and we, the Jews, shall have our country and we shall live in peace." This leading advocate of ethnic cleansing says Muslims should recognize that "our land is the Holy Land and Jerusalem belongs to us". Do we in Britain wish to associate with people who hold such views?

On Terror

(16) Since the land occupied by Israel was taken by terrorist means, employing gangs such as the one that blew up the British mandate government in the King David Hotel in 1946 killing 90, by what moral yardstick do British and other western leaders 'do business' with the Israeli Government but not with Palestine's democratically elected Hamas leadership?

(17) Remembering that most Israeli prime ministers have been responsible for authorising war crimes against the Palestinian people, why are the words 'terrorist', 'militant' and 'extremist' applied only to Palestinians? They fit successive Israeli governments like a glove, and given Israel's lawless and inhuman conduct in Palestine and Lebanon, which has outraged world opinion, why isn't it branded a terrorist state?

On our (uncritical) Support

(18) For decades Occupied Palestine has received British and European aid. If Palestinians had been left in peace, free to trade and develop in the normal way, there would no need for aid. In effect British and EU taxpayers are subsidising Israel's illegal occupation and the economic strangulation it imposes. Why should we think this acceptable and continue to pick up the tab?

(19) Why is there such strong support for Israel at the heart of British government? Why have so many MPs and MEPs allowed themselves to be drawn into the 'Friends of Israel' web? How can supposedly bright people with information at their fingertips still be ignorant of Israel's apartheid practices, wholesale land thefts, careless slaughter of children and other atrocities? Can we take it that they approve of the slow genocide inflicted on defenceless civilians, the middle-of-the-night snatch squads, the house demolitions, the torture and assassinations, and the crushing of Christian and Muslim communities? Is it not foolish and insulting for them to claim we share Israel's beliefs and values, and should even share foreign policy? A well-respected Jewish MP recently called the Israeli government "a gang of amoral thugs". Isn't that about right?

On the Two-State solution

(20) Israel and its Zionist stooges are pushing for a two-state solution… eventually, when it suits them and their land grab is complete. To warped minds this will give the racist regime and its supremacist ideals some kind of seal of approval. By that time the shrunken and shredded remnants of Palestine will have become a permanently impoverished and ghettoized mini-state, trashed and raped of its resources, traumatised, subservient, easy to control and never capable of prospering. Israel's scheming allies, who include western governments (though not western peoples), go along with this grubby plan. Can someone please explain why we, the citizens of a Christian democracy once mandated with responsibility for Palestine's future wellbeing, would wish to soil our hands with it? The ethical choice, surely, is a single state with Jews living alongside their Arab neighbours as equal citizens and sharing the land within a common legal and democratic framework. That, after all, was the original intention, and the developments of the last 60 years are a gross perversion and betrayal. Only the Palestinians themselves have had the courage to resist it.

When the Day of Reckoning comes to the Middle East - and engulfs the meddlesome West - much of the blame will rest squarely on the lack of journalistic rigour here and in the US, which has allowed a delinquent political élite to work their evil too long.

BBSNews -- By Stuart Littlewood.

Is Barack Obama a Muslim wolf in Christian wool?

How to spin, the zionist way...

The glib handling of criticism of his relationship with the anti-American ("God Damn America!") and anti-Israel ("a dirty word for Negroes") Reverend James Wright may have bought him a little time. But the legacy of dissimulation about his long-concealed identity is about to come crashing down around the ears of Barack Hussein Obama, courtesy of the assembled testimony of his family, friends, classmates and teachers.

The accumulated research indicates that Obama was in his childhood a devout Muslim, the son of a devout Muslim, the step-son of a devout Muslim and the grandson and namesake ("Hussein") of a devout Muslim. He was registered in school as a Muslim and demonstrated his ability to chant praise to Allah in impressive Arab-accented tones even as an adult. Just as he has not disavowed his "uncle" Jeremiah, neither has he disavowed his Muslim faith that he was born into, raised with, celebrated and never abandoned. He just covered it over with a thin veneer of his own self-styled "Christianity."

Although as an adult he would register as a Christian, and occasionally attend a Christian Church (but apparently not often enough to listen to the preaching of his pastor, or so he would claim) this was a necessary step for a man who from earliest boyhood has nurtured the precocious ambition to be President of the United States.

He was entered into the Roman Catholic, Franciscus Assisi Primary School, in Jakarta, Indonesia, on January 1, 1968, registered under the name Barry Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen whose religion was listed as Islam. Catholic schools accept non-Catholics worldwide. Non-Catholic students are typically excused from religious instruction and ceremony.

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.'"Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07]

Three years later, in 1971, Obama enrolled in the Besuki Primary School, a government school, as Barry Soetoro, Muslim. In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]

All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young Barry Soetoro, being a Muslim, would have been required to study Islam daily in school.

He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam.

In his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."

"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies."

According to Tine Hahiyary, one of Obama's teachers and the principal from 1971 through 1989, Barry actively took part in the Islamic religious lessons during his time at the school. "I remembered that he had studied "mengaji" (recitation of the Quran)" Tine said.

The author of the Laotze blog writes from Jakarta: "The actual usage of the word 'mengaji' in Indonesian and Malaysian societies means the study of learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language rather than the native tongue. "Mengagi" is a word and a term that is accorded the highest value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies here in Southeast Asia. To put it quite simply, 'mengaji classes' are not something that a non practicing or so-called moderate Muslim family would ever send their child to. To put this in a Christian context, this is something above and beyond simply enrolling your child in Sunday school classes."

"The fact that Obama had attended mengaji classes is well known in Indonesia and has left many there wondering just when Obama is going to come out of the closet."

"As I've stated before, the evidence seems to quite clearly show that both Ann Dunham and her husband Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo were in fact devout Muslims themselves and they raised their son as such."

The Obama Campaign told the LA Times he wasn't a "practicing Muslim." (3/14/2007). But his official website says: "Obama Has Never Been A Muslim, And Is a Committed Christian" (11/12/2007)

That's not what his friends and classmates have said. Classmate Rony Amiris describes young Barry as enjoying playing football and marbles and of being a very devout Muslim. Amir said, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam. We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong, he looked funny," said Rony.

Amiris, now the manager of Bank Mandiri, Jakarta, recently said, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam. His birth father, Barack Hussein Obama was a Muslim economist from Kenya. Before marrying Ann Dunham, Hussein Obama was married to a woman from Kenya who had seven children. All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims"

Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia, was quoted as saying, "He (Obama) was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong', at that time."

"He was quite religious in Islam but only after marrying Michelle, he changed his religion."
So Obama, according to his classmates and friends was a Muslim until the confluence of love and ambitious, caused him to adopt the cloak of Christianity: to marry Michelle and to run for President of the United States.

In "Dreams," Obama sheds light on his formative years and the political views of his mother, an anthropologist and Islamophile who hated America and subsequently "went native." (It was her mother -- Barry's "other" grandmother who cared for him in his druggie teenage years -- that he would describe as a "typical white person" who was, he said scoldingly, fearful of black men and prone to making stereotypical racial remarks.)

Obama Senior also had three sons by another woman who are all Muslim. Although Obama claims Senior was an atheist, Senior was buried as a Muslim.

Barack Obama's brother Roy opted for Islam over Christianity, as the Senator recounted in his book when describing his 1992 wedding. "The person who made me proudest of all," Obama wrote, "was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."Abongo "argues that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture." He urged his younger brother to embrace his African heritage.

In Kenya while he was a Senator, Obama stumped for his cousin, opposition leader Raila Odinga, the son of Senior's sister, a direct first cousin and nephew of Obama's father.
On August 29, 2007, Raila Odinga and Shiekh Abdullah Abdi, chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum of Kenya signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which it pledges the support of Kenyan Moslems for Raila's election. In return, as President of Kenya, Raila agrees ... within 6 months re-write the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Shariah as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions [and] within one year to facilitate the establishment of a Shariah court in every Kenyan divisional headquarters -- everywhere in Kenya, not just in "Muslim declared regions" -- and to popularize Islam, the only true religion ... by ordering every primary school in Kenya in the regions to conduct daily Madrassa classes.

In an interview with the New York Times, published on April 30th, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Obama's younger half sister, told the Times, "My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim."

Obama describes his new found "Christian" faith as: (1) Suspicious of dogma (2) Without any monopoly on the truth (3) Nontransferable to others (4) Infused with a big healthy dose of doubt, and (5) Indulgent of and compatible with all other religions.

On February 27th, speaking to Kristof of The New York Times, Barack Hussein Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."

In an interview with Nicholas Kristof, published in The New York Times, Obama recited the Muslim call to prayer, the Adhan, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent."
The opening lines of the Adhan (Azaan) is the Shahada:

"Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet? "

According to Islamic scholars, reciting the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith, makes one a Muslim. This simple yet profound statement expresses a Muslim's complete acceptance of, and total commitment to, the message of Islam. Obama chanted it with pride and finesse.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia blog, written by an American who has lived in Indonesia for 20 years and has met with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, contains the following:

"Barack Hussein Obama might have convinced some Americans that he is no longer a Muslim, but so far he has not convinced many in the world's most populous Muslim country who still see him as a Muslim and a crusader for Islam and world peace."

"Barack Hussein Obama's race, his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq, his sympathy to Islam and Muslims worldwide and his Muslim heritage receive the Indonesian media coverage. There is no mention of his apostasy."

"A good example of how some of the Indonesian media is reporting on Obama's religion can be found in the following."

"What I found interesting in the article was the use of the word 'mengaku' when refering to Obama's conversion from Islam to Christianity. The word 'mengaku' in Indonesian means "claimed" and as such leaves the insinuation to the native Indonesian reader being that Obama might actually still be a Muslim.

But this is how Indonesians see Obama, they don't see him as an apostate at all, they see him as a crusader for the cause of Islam."

Obama wants it both ways, has always wanted it both ways. Black and white, Indonesian and American, Muslim and Christian. He loves playing one off the other, using one to hide the other even as the traces of the truth may be assembled to reveal the whole cloth of deception and self-promotion he has been weaving so skillfully since his childhood. No wonder he is a man of change. He IS a changeling, a veritable chameleon, adapting and amending his life story to fit the circumstances.

The charm may have worked once. It still works on some. It won't work forever in the age of the Internet. The fog of ambiguity and dissimulation is dissipated by the harsh, unforgiving and scrutiny of the blogosphere and its unlimited access to historical facts and time-stamped testimony.

Many have been puzzled why Obama could claim not to be familiar with Wright's rants. It turns out the Trinity Church, like many African-American churches, happily accepts believing Muslims within its congregation. And evidently many Muslims have no problems surrounding themselves with an anti-American, anti-Israel preacher who week in and week out wins the amens of his adoring congregation.

On Feb 15/08, Usama K. Dakdok, President of The Straight Way of Grace Ministry called Obama's Church and reported the following conversation: " I then asked the person who answered what I needed to do to join. She told me that I needed to attend two Sunday School classes in a row and then I would walk the aisle. I replied, "That sounds easy. One last question please. If I am Muslim and I believe in the Prophet Mohammed, peace be unto him and I also believe in Jesus, peace be unto him, do I have to give up my Islamic faith to be a member in your church? She answered: "No, we have many Muslim members in our church."

Indeed.

A nice spin Ted

Credit for these reports and revelations -- assembling the statements of those who love and admire Barry Soetoro aka Barack Hussein Obama -- belong primarily to the writers, researchers, and journalists cited in and contributing to the above references. Special hat tip to Ted Belman of Israpundit for putting most of the pieces together. One can be sure that more, much more, is on the way, before the first black muslim president enters the White House. Or not.

03.30.08 -- Fool -- the Acrostic

From the cover of “Fools Are Everywhere…”

-----------------

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Click here for abridged post in LARGE PRINT.

ACROSTIC

Puzzle by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz

This delightful Sunday acrostic anticipates the advent of April Fools’ Day with a quotation from a paragraph of “FOOLS ARE EVERYWHERE: The Court Jester Around the World” by Beatrice K. OTTO:

“The connection between the jester and the poet worked both ways, and THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD JESTER INCLUDED THE ABILITY TO EXTEMPORIZE VERSE AND TROT OUT RHYMING RETORTS OR CRINGE-INSPIRING DOGGEREL. POETIC SKILL WAS A VITAL PART OF THE JESTER’S RAGBAG OF TRICKS AT ALL TIMES and in all places. The Elizabethan comic actor and jester Richard Tarlton was so renowned for his ability to extemporize witty verse that he gave his name to a verb, “to tarltonize,” and William Kemp, another Shakespearian clown, actor, was also known for this ability. Actors such as Kemp, needing the actual skills of the jester rather than the ability simply to play the part from a script, came very close to being jesters in their own right.”

The defined words: OAFISH (A. Crude and not very clever); TATTLED (B. Made like a blabbermouth); TAROT (C. Reading material for a cartomancer); OPERETTA (D. Lyrical form of amusement); FORECASTING (E. Weatherman’s job); OSTRACIZED (F. Banished by votes, cast on potsherds, once); OVERACT (G. Indulge in caricature); LITTLEJOHN (H. One of the Merry Men [2 wds.]); SIGHTGAG (I. Clown shoes or a fake arrow through the head, e.g. [2 wds.]); AMPLIFIED (J. Plugged in for playing; explained further); REJOINDER (K. Comeback from a wag); ESTRAGON (L. “Waiting for Godot” role for Robin Williams); EPIGRAM (M. Pearl of wisdom from Oscar Wilde or Dorothy Parker); VESTS (N. Garb often worn by magicians and jugglers); EXCALIBUR (O. Weapon thrown into a lake by Sir. Bedivere); RISIBILITY (P. Laughter, or an inclination to laugh); YORICK (Q. Fellow “of most excellent fancy,” to Hamlet); WOLFGANG (R. Puck seen on the Food Network); HUMORIST (S. Will Rogers or Ogden Nash, e.g.); ESPRIT (T. Jeu’___ [witticism]); REDSKELTON (U. Member of the first class of International Clown Hall of Fame inductees, 1989 [2 wds.]); ELOQUENT (V. Silver-tongued; expressively stated).

I wish I were a clever-enough ass to express what a wonderfully cheerful and brilliant acrostic that Emily Cox, Henry Rathvon & Will Shortz have given us -- but then how could I be taken seriously? Suffice to say that this acrostic is enormously entertaining -- and one up on the April Fool!

Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games