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Fannie and Freddie to be Continued to be Bailed Out

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 3:39:30 PM

U.S. Move to Cover Fannie, Freddie Losses Stirs Controversy


By JAMES R. HAGERTY and JESSICA HOLZER

The Obama administration's decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday.

The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each.

Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since the 1930s.

"The timing of this executive order giving Fannie and Freddie a blank check is no coincidence," said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. He said the Christmas Eve announcement was designed "to prevent the general public from taking note."

Treasury officials couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126168307200704747.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories


Tags: Bailout   obama  
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen Planned the Plot in Detroit

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 3:13:53 PM

Investigators: Northwest Bomb Plot Planned by al Qaeda in Yemen

Officials Say Bomb Materials Sewn Into Suspect's Underwear by Top Terror Bomb Maker

By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
Dec. 26, 2009

The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell ABC News.

Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. The so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had only about 50 grams kin his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a U.S.-bound jet. Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/northwest-bomb-plot-planned-al-qaeda-yemen/story?id=9426085
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Hero Who Thwarted the Attempted Terrorist Attack in Detroit

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 2:46:34 PM

Dutch Passenger Hurls Into Action to Stop Alleged Terrorist on Plane

Saturday, December 26, 2009

A Dutch airline passenger told The Post how he leapt into action when an alleged Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner packed with 300 people just moments before landing.

Chaos erupted as alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, tried to set off a sophisticated explosive device strapped to his body.

"Suddenly, we hear a bang. It sounded like a firecracker went off," said Jasper Schuringa, a film director who was traveling to the US to visit friends.

"When [it] went off, everybody panicked ... Then someone screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’"

Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.

Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."

"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."

The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581178,00.html


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Still Have Not Improved Since 9/11

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 1:10:10 PM

Official: U.S. Knew for 2 Years Suspect Could Have Terror Ties

Saturday, December 26, 2009

An official briefed on the foiled attack on a Detroit airliner says the U.S. has known for at least two years that the suspect could have terrorist ties.

The official tells The Associated Press that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, has been on a list that includes people with known or suspected contact or ties to a terrorist or terrorist organization.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581180,00.html


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Obama Gets a Poor Grade from Democrat Senator Russ Feingold

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 12:44:42 PM

Obama falls short on pledge to curtail earmarks, fiscal hawks say

By Walter Alarkon - 12/26/09 08:04 AM ET
Fiscal hawks in Congress say President Barack Obama hasn't followed through on a pledge to lower federal spending on local projects.

Earmarks are expected to total nearly $12 billion in fiscal 2010, according to fiscal watchdog groups. While that number is less than the $15 billion total in 2009, lawmakers from both parties said Obama hasn’t kept up the kind of pressure he showed during his first weeks in office or that he promised as a candidate.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said Obama made earmark reform "a very big part of [his] campaign" but still signed this month two massive spending measures that both included approximately $4 billion in earmarks.

Feingold, who broke with his party to oppose both the $447 billion 2010 omnibus spending bill and the $636 billion 2010 Pentagon spending bill, said the president could have used his veto pen to reject the measures and force lawmakers to cut earmark funding.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/73617-obama-falls-short-on-pledge-to-curtail-earmarks-fiscal-hawks-say
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Only a Few Changes

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:34:27 AM

Centrists set strict guidelines for Senate-House healthcare talks

By Alexander Bolton - 12/25/09 08:07 AM ET
Democratic centrists have informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) they will accept few changes in the final healthcare bill negotiated between the House and Senate.

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have made clear there is little room to deviate from the bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/73607-centrists-set-strict-guidelines-for-senate-house-health-talks
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Thanks to the Passengers

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:31:02 AM
Passengers help foil attack on Detroit-bound plane

Dec 26, 8:49 AM (ET)

By JIM IRWIN

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) - An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091226/D9CR18JO0.html


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Radical Cleric Alive

Posted by Defend America on Friday, December 25, 2009 11:21:39 PM

Radical Yemeni Cleric Believed Unhurt in Airstrike

Relatives: Radical Yemeni cleric not harmed in government air raid on al-Qaida meeting

By AHMED AL-HAJ Associated Press Writer
SAN'A, Yemen December 25, 2009 (AP)

A U.S.-born radical cleric is alive and well following reports he may have been killed in a Yemeni airstrike against suspected al-Qaida hideouts, friends and relatives said Friday.

The government said it targeted a meeting of high-level al-Qaida operatives in Thursday's airstrike in the remote Shabwa region. It claimed at least 30 militants were killed, possibly including Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who has been linked to the shooter in last month's attack at the Fort Hood military base in the U.S.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9421843


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Terror Plot Failed

Posted by Defend America on Friday, December 25, 2009 7:07:00 PM

AP sources: Al-Qaida link in failed plane attack

By LARRY MARGASAK and LARA JAKES
The Associated Press
Friday, December 25, 2009; 6:39 PM

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/25/AR2009122501355.html?hpid=topnews
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'Year of Living Fecklessly'

Posted by Defend America on Friday, December 25, 2009 8:09:31 AM
2009: The Year of Living Fecklessly
by Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not just reject President Obama's latest feckless floating nuclear deadline. He spat on it, declaring that Iran "will continue resisting" until the U.S. has gotten rid of its 8,000 nuclear warheads.

So ends 2009, the year of "engagement," of the extended hand, of the gratuitous apology -- and of spinning centrifuges, two-stage rockets and a secret enrichment facility that brought Iran materially closer to becoming a nuclear power.

We lost a year. But it was not just any year. It was a year of spectacularly squandered opportunity. In Iran, it was a year of revolution, beginning with a contested election and culminating this week in huge demonstrations mourning the death of the dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri -- and demanding no longer a recount of the stolen election but the overthrow of the clerical dictatorship.

http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/12/25/2009_the_year_of_living_fecklessly

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Republicans Have Now a 8 Point Lead on 2010 Generic Congressional Ballot

Posted by Defend America on Friday, December 25, 2009 8:07:55 AM
Generic Congressional Ballot
Republicans Post Eight-Point Lead On Generic Ballot

Republican candidates now have an eight-point lead over Democrats, their biggest lead of the year, in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.

The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 36% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Support for GOP candidates held steady over the past week, but support for Democrats slipped by a point.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot


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