Dinah Lord

Suspending Gitmo Trials? Not so fast, there, slick.

From WaPo:  Military Judge Denies Obama Request to Suspend Hearings at Guantanamo  (h/t to Conservatweet)

(Thanking God for answered prayers.  I know fellow blogger Gary, the father of a USS Cole victim is happy today.)

A military judge in Guantanamo Bay has denied the Obama administration's request to delay proceedings for 120 days in the case of a detainee accused of planning the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship, an al-Qaeda strike that killed 17 service members and injured 50 others.

Obama's bring their own personal chef to the White House.

Just for the record...

From the NYT:

Sam Kass, a private chef who cooked for the Obamas while they were living in Chicago, is now cooking for them in the White House.

A spokeswoman for Michelle Obama, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, said Mr. Kass would not be the only cook preparing the family’s meals, but “he knows what they like, and he happens to have a particular interest in healthy food and local food.”

Mr. Kass will work alongside the White House executive chef, Cristeta Comerford, who was promoted to that job by the Bushes in 2005 and is being kept on by the Obamas. Mr. Kass is filling a vacancy and will be a White House employee, paid by the government, not the Obamas.

Mr. Kass’s appointment should please chefs like Alice Waters, who have lobbied the Obamas to set an example for the rest of the country by emphasizing food that is healthy, local and sustainable. It further suggests that a vegetable garden on the White House grounds, another of Ms. Waters’s dreams, could be on the horizon.

Mr. Kass, one of the new breed of chefs who are concerned about the environment and about poor eating habits in this country, has been quoted as saying people in his profession should take the lead in tackling public health issues.

“Not only is there an unconscionable amount of people who remain hungry,” he told In These Times magazine last year, “there’s even a larger population, mostly poor, who are faced with obesity, diabetes and various other problems from overabundance.”

Not once Obama's $1.1 trillion stimulus package drives the final nail in our economic coffin.

Time to take a breather...Haleakala meets the Milky Way.

The Milky Way Over Mauna Kea

It's 11:50 pm MST - and this is the last straw. I am so over this day.

Now, Obama wants Iran to be his friend on Facebook.

Well, practically.

From Hot Air.

State department officials have written at least three drafts of the letter, which gives assurances that Washington does not want to overthrow the Islamic regime but merely seeks a change in its behaviour. The letter would be addressed to the Iranian people and sent directly to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or released as an open letter.

One draft proposal suggests Iran should compare its relatively low standard of living with that of some of its more prosperous neighbours and contemplate the benefits of losing its pariah status in the west. Although the tone is conciliatory, it also calls on Iran to end what the US calls state sponsorship of terrorism.

The letter is being considered by the new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, as part of a sweeping review of US policy on Iran. A decision on sending it is not expected until the review is complete…

Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based analyst, said a US letter would have to be accompanied by security guarantees and an agreement to drop economic sanctions. “If they send such a letter it will be a very significant step towards better ties but they should be careful in not thinking Tehran will respond immediately,” he said.

I read this and I could cry for so many reasons.

That mood? It's clearly cosmic... Davos honchos - 'Use crisis to nationalize banks'

Have I told you lately how much I hate those Davos pukes?

A call to utilize the current global economic crisis as a panic in which governments worldwide can move to nationalize banks is emerging from the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

From WorldNet Daily.

"The forum's founder, Klaus Schwab, told CNN yesterday the current global economic slowdown is a "transformational crisis" that should be utilized to shape a "new world."

So, first my day was trash, it got more trashed.  I shrugged it off, thought it could have always been worse and then I read this malarkey coming out of Davos.  It's clearly not just me. There's a whole lot of shaking going on, peeps.

If this number is right - and it's Davos so I'm thinking it's probably not, so let's say it's half right - this is still a lot of toxic assets.  Okay, we always knew it was bad.  We've already blown the first 700 billion - and by abandoning the true intent of TARP and that was requiring banks to get the toxic assets off the books in the first place, we're no further along in the process.  In fact, we're behind.  (IHTSITYS)  Load the lardbutt stimulus bill the Messiah and his minions are proposing onto the National debt barge and that $1.1 trillion dollar sucker worth of debt is going down.

Roubini (ed. note:  New York University professor at the Stern School of Business and Davos devotee) estimated that the worldwide crisis in bad bank assets will extend far beyond the Collateralized Mortgage Obligation problem caused by subprime loans. He expects the crisis to include bad loans in consumer credit cards, car loans and student loans, as well as commercial loans that have been packaged into securities sold as assets to banks and brokerage firms.

Roubini estimated the bad asset crisis would amount to $3.6 trillion, about half of which he believes will be held by U.S. banks and brokerage firms

Stiglitz's (Colombia University professor and 2001 Nobel economics laureate who advised the incoming Obama administration during the transition is also a Davos barfly) nic is Dr. Doom.  I would like to add 'and Danger' to that moniker.

Stiglitz reasoned economic incentives dictated that private bank managers – if left in place after injecting TARP funds without government control – would "have incentives to pay themselves bonuses, to pay shareholders dividends and to use bailout funds to make acquisitions."

"We need to run these banks for our interest," Stiglitz said, arguing the Obama administration should move to nationalize banks.

"The government could not do worse than the banks themselves have done," he observed, insisting TARP bailouts made no sense unless the government ended up controlling the banks.

"You can call it 'conserving the banks,' if you want to use a nice term," Stiglitz said.

It's all here.

About that bad mood thing... Obama tells Arabia's despots they're safe with him.

From The WSJ.  (nod-nod-wink-wink)

Take that image of Saddam Hussein, flushed out of his spider hole some five years ago: Americans may have edited it out of their memory, but it shall endure for a long time in Arab consciousness. Rulers can be toppled and brought to account. No wonder the neighboring dictatorships bristled at the sight of that capture, and at his execution three years later.

The irony now is obvious: George W. Bush as a force for emancipation in Muslim lands, and Barack Hussein Obama as a messenger of the old, settled ways. Thus the "parochial" man takes abroad a message that Muslims and Arabs did not have tyranny in their DNA, and the man with Muslim and Kenyan and Indonesian fragments in his very life and identity is signaling an acceptance of the established order. Mr. Obama could still acknowledge the revolutionary impact of his predecessor's diplomacy, but so far he has chosen not to do so.

The brief reference to Iraq in the inaugural could not have been icier or more clipped. "We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people," Mr. Obama said.

Read it all.

See Oy.

I suppose my day could always have been worse.

This happened in my neck of the woods.  You can see how beautiful it is.

The Daily Mail article makes it sound like he was just driving along, enjoying the view and happened to find himself in this predicament.

It must have been a long and sweaty wait inside the van for a tow truck. But Daniel Lyons didn’t really have the option of popping out to stretch his legs. The 34-year-old was discovered by rescuers sitting in his swaying Dodge camper van, 170ft from the ground. The van had plunged down the rock face at the Colorado National Monument in the U.S. in a scene reminiscent of the film The Italian Job.

It was no accident, it was a suicide attempt after Daniel Lyons had been brought up on charges of sexually assaulting a 4 year old girl. I think it's kind of cheesy of them to neglect to mention that fact, but then again, I'm in a really bad mood, today.

Illegal Auntie Zeituni to seek asylum

"The judge will be looking at evidence that they may not have been aware of four years ago," Michael Rogers, spokesman for Wong, told the newspaper." 

Yeah, her nephew's now the President.

From World Net Daily.

President Barack Obama's illegal alien aunt has enlisted the help of an immigration lawyer to help her win asylum and stay in the United States.  (DL readers knew that already.)

Margaret Wong and Associates is representing Zeituni Onyango, the 56-year-old Kenyan half-sister of Obama's deceased father, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Onyango and her lawyer are scheduled to attend an immigration hearing in Boston on April 1.

"The judge will be looking at evidence that they may not have been aware of four years ago," Michael Rogers, spokesman for Wong, told the newspaper. "Wong is optimistic. We would have preferred to not conduct this case in the media spotlight, but that's not going to happen."

Oy.

Well possums, my day started out bad and it's gone from bad to worse.  This whirlwind riding angel got her butt kicked. 

Do I start with the fact that when I walked down to the lower level to clean in advance of my guests this morning it smelled musty and mildewy?  Yep.  Remember that carpet cleaning before the holidays?  The crew had an equipment malfunction while they were doing it.  Something about a blown hose.  They were going to have to go all the way on the other side of Denver (2hr rd trip)to replace it.  Luckily another tech was in the area on a smaller job.  He finished and brought his over and they were able to continue.  My theory:  The hose wasn't working the whole time and it instead of steam left enough standing water in the carpets that it has now grown a good head of fungus.  So I call the office and ask to speak to my salesman.  He's out in the field.  I explain the situation, they agree to relay the message to him.  About an hour later I get a call back.  It's the young lady I spoke to - she 'hasn't been able to get a hold of the salesman - but she realized she could probably help me.  Translation:  The salesman didn't want to deal with me.  So, I went through it all over again.  She was sympathetic and made all the right noises, promising to call back to schedule a tech to come out and check it out as soon as her manager got back from lunch.  I haven't heard from her since.

While I was messing around doing that, I figured I better sign Civilus D's declaration.  So I get it all lined up and good to go - even find a quote from Winston Churchill to include and...crash

I was trying to fix that when L&M called from London.  The news isn't good.  It's long.  It's complicated.  That's enough said about that.

Next, my S-I-L called to tell me that one of my brother's best friends since playpen days had died of a heart attack. He was 46 years old.  My bro is hurting.  (This was after a bird hit the window downstairs while I was cleaning and about scared the liver out of me.  Where I come from, a bird hitting the window is a bad omen.)

After talking to my S-i-L for about an hour, my mother called.  My nephew, who is away from home for the first time at a trade school, had his phone stolen.  After that, I finally finished off the lower level and crawled back into my office to find the dreaded blue screen on my desktop computer.  It's dead, Fred.  Dinah has evidently picked up a nasty STD (Somaliwebsite Transmitted Disease) trolling Somalia for Pirates and Lost Boys.  Maybe Nancy Pelosi can help me out?  

Which leads me to my final and hopefully last body blow for the day.  I am now working on my old, clunky laptop.  Let's just say it's functional, barely.  Somehow, I ended up posting a post that was incomplete and quite frankly, inaccurate as written.  So if you came here from LGF or Jawa, read this and left scratching your head, please know it was just the end to my perfect day.  I am sorry for any confusion I may have caused.  Hey, if you're going to make an ass of yourself - you might as well make an international ass of yourself.

I think I will just go sit quietly in my room now.

P.S. Or so I thought.  I went to post this and my wireless router went down!  That happens from time to time out here on the edge of civilization.  The good news.  I had saved the post and was able to recover it.  Okay.  I'll go away now.

Obama has been holding secret talks with al Qaeda?

Jawa Report and Ronin picked this up this hazy story about Obama first from a source called World Tribune

It looks like ABC has picked up the story now.  But they are saying it is Iran who has been holding the talks.   Exclusive, they say.

Senior U.S. officials tell ABC News that in recent months there have been secret contacts between the Iranian government and the leadership of al Qaeda. It's a development that has caught the attention of top officials in the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence community.

Senior U.S. officials tell ABC News that the government of Iran and al Qaeda leadership have secretly been in contact regarding the status of several of the terror group's high-level operatives under house arrest in that country.

According to U.S. officials familiar with highly sensitive intelligence on this issue, the contacts are on the status of high-level al Qaeda operatives, including two of Osama Bin Laden's sons, who have been under house arrest in Iran since 2003. The officials don't believe Iran will allow these operatives to go free, but said they don't know Iran's motivation for initiating the talks.

"The Iranians know there would be hell to pay if these guys were set free," a U.S. official told ABC News.