U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital after fall

By James Queally/The Star-Ledger

February 15, 2010, 9:51PM

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was taken by ambulance tonight from his Cliffside Park home after suffering a fall, his spokesman said.

The 86-year-old Democrat was conscious when he was taken to the hospital "as a precautionary measure," said the spokesman, Caley Grey.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/us_senator_frank_lautenberg_ta.html

Top Taliban Military Chief Captured in U.S.-Pakistani Raid

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Taliban’s top military commander was captured in a joint operation by U.S. and Pakistani forces in Karachi and is being questioned in the same city, sources confirmed to Fox News late Monday.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is the most important Taliban figured to be caught since the war in Afghanistan began. He is close to the Islamic group's spiritual leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and to Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586061,00.html

Via Ace of Spades:

Joe "Full Biden" Biden: "I Never Once Doubted" the Surge Would Do Exactly What I Promised It Could Never Do, EVer

Biden makes a distinction. He claims he knew the surge would resolve the military problem in Iraq, but that he has long contended only a political resolution would really do the job.

This is as stupid as usual for Biden. Military solutions are indeed political solutions -- ask Adolf Hitler about that.

And the plan of course was always to settle the security issue so that a political solution could occur.

In the second clip featured below, that is precisely what Biden says will never, ever happen -- or at least "not in our lifetimes." He repeats the Bush case for the surge -- that the surge will stabilize the security situation, and that in turn will lead to a political resolution -- and then says that will never happen.

http://minx.cc/?post=298351

Simcox endorses Hayworth

Chris Simcox, the co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the militant anti-illegal immigration group, has dropped his own primary challenge to Sen. John McCain for Senate to endorse former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, according to Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose.

Simcox hadn't found much traction in the poll attacking McCain for his support for a package of measures known as Comprehensive Immigration Reform, deeply unpopular among many Republican primary voters, who consider it "amnesty." His endorsement gives will offer Hayworth — who had already attacked McCain from the right on immigration — even more visibility in that segment of the GOP base.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0210/Simcox_endorses_Hayworth.html?showall

Challenger adds to post-Bayh chaos

Gillibrand Draws Fire for Scheduling Forum With Van Jones

By Judson Berger

 - FOXNews.com

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's plan to attend a panel discussion next month with former Obama administration official Van Jones proves she's out of touch with New York voters, one of her election challengers says.

Bruce Blakeman, Gillibrand's only announced Republican challenger for the upcoming November election, said the event shows the Democratic senator is now "pandering to the left-wing fringe of her party." 

"She shouldn't be meeting with him. She shouldn't be sharing the same platform with him. And I think it just proves she's out of touch with most New Yorkers," Blakeman told FoxNews.com.

Jones, the former White House green jobs adviser, was pushed out of the administration in September following criticism of his past remarks and the revelation that he once signed a petition supporting the "9/11 truther" movement -- which believes the Bush administration may have been involved in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/15/gillibrand-draws-scheduling-forum-van-jones/

Biden: NYC Estimates For 9/11 Trial Exaggerated

NEW YORK (CBS) ?

It's a sign of just how angry the White House is at having its plans to hold terror trials in New York City thwarted.

Vice President Joe Biden took a swing at Mayor Michael Bloomberg, accusing him of inflating estimates of the trial's security costs.

Imaging telling Mayor Bloomberg he doesn't know how to count? Well, that's just what Vice President Biden did, charging that the mayor and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly exaggerated the cost of trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his terror pals in Manhattan.

Both Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly put the estimate at $200 million a year for five years, saying it would be an expensive proposition for the City.

Biden, however, disputes the numbers.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/september.11.trial.2.1495846.html

U.S. hunts for English-speaking bombers

Christmas Day bomb suspect reveals plot

By Eli Lake

U.S. and allied counterterrorism authorities have launched a global manhunt for English-speaking terrorists trained in Yemen who are planning attacks on the United States, based on intelligence provided by the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing after he began cooperating.

U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber, revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen. Three U.S. intelligence officials, including one senior official, disclosed on the condition of anonymity some details of the additional bomb plots.

Said one official: "It's safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the Islamist terrorist group based in Yemen.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/15/english-speakers-trained-to-attack-us/

Prisoner 'throws boiling oil' over terrorist leader who plotted to murder thousands with dirty bombs

Last updated at 10:02 13 October 2007

A prisoner has been accused of throwing boiling oil over an al Qaeda terrorist who planned to murder thousands with dirty bombs.

The 22-year-old inmate is accused of scarring for life Dhiren Barot, who was jailed for life for leading a British-based terrorist cell that plotted bombings across the world.

Barot's lawyer claimed he had the boiling oil thrown over him during the attack in the high security Frankland Prison in County Durham.

The unnamed prisoner faces charges of wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the incident on July 6.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-487347/Prisoner-throws-boiling-oil-terrorist-leader-plotted-murder-thousands-dirty-bombs.html#ixzz0fd9ev3RV

From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Washington (CNN) - Though it would have been next to impossible for him to garner the signatures necessary to get on the Republican primary ballot by Tuesday afternoon, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence re-iterated Monday that he has no interest in running for the Senate this year.

National Republicans courted Pence to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh last month, before it was known that the Indiana Democrat was going to retire. Former Sen. Dan Coats entered the race earlier this month, but Pence's name was mentioned again after it was learned that Bayh would not seek a third term.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/15/pence-will-not-seek-bayh-seat/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%2Brss%2Fcnn_politicalticker%2B(Blog%3A%2BPolitical%2BTicker)&fbid=JVipyn6sKJJ

Via Hot Air:

Senator Mikulski of Maryland to Retire

I've just heard from an impeccable source that Barbara Mikulski, the Democratic Senator who is up for reelection this November, will choose to retire. Mrs. Mikulski is expected to make her formal announcement in the next few days.

Mrs. Mikulski seriously fractured her right ankle last fall just prior to Edward M. Kennedy's death. Due to the severity of the fracture, she had to have open reduction surgery, that included the insertion of pins, as well as the use of special surgical boots, during recovery. She had tried to arrive in time for Mr. Kennedy's funeral but was turned away.

Her recovery has been exceptionally slow and she is evidently still in a great deal of pain. Reportedly, she has told her physician that she does not desire to seek reelection. Additionally, friends and family have been saying in the near future she will announce her retirement. Because of the very slow recovery, she has been forced to use a wheelchair, a walker or a cane in order to get around.

http://thevailspot.blogspot.com/2010/02/senator-mikulski-of-maryland-to-retire.html

From the Register's Opinion Page: What to say to a global warming advocate

It has been tough to keep up with all the bad news for global warming alarmists. We're on the edge of our chair, waiting for the next shoe to drop. This has been an Imelda Marcos kind of season for shoe-dropping about global warming.

At your next dinner party, here are some of the latest talking points to bring up when someone reminds you that Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won Nobel prizes for their work on global warming.

ClimateGate – This scandal began the latest round of revelations when thousands of leaked documents from Britain's East Anglia Climate Research Unit showed systematic suppression and discrediting of climate skeptics' views and discarding of temperature data, suggesting a bias for making the case for warming. Why do such a thing if, as global warming defenders contend, the "science is settled?"

FOIGate – The British government has since determined someone at East Anglia committed a crime by refusing to release global warming documents sought in 95 Freedom of Information Act requests. The CRU is one of three international agencies compiling global temperature data. If their stuff's so solid, why the secrecy?

ChinaGate – An investigation by the U.K.'s left-leaning Guardian newspaper found evidence that Chinese weather station measurements not only were seriously flawed, but couldn't be located. "Where exactly are 42 weather monitoring stations in remote parts of rural China?" the paper asked. The paper's investigation also couldn't find corroboration of what Chinese scientists turned over to American scientists, leaving unanswered, "how much of the warming seen in recent decades is due to the local effects of spreading cities, rather than global warming?" The Guardian contends that researchers covered up the missing data for years.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-234092--.html

Did Obama Consult Homeland Security Secretary on Day of Christmas Attack? Napolitano Says She Was in Contact with ‘President’s Office’
Friday, February 12, 2010
By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter

(CNSNews.com) - Did President Barack Obama personally consult with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Christmas Day, when suspected al Qaeda terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate a suicide bomb aboard Northwest Flight 253? Asked that question by CNSNews.com, Napolitano initially declined to answer and then, when asked again, said “we were in contact with the president’s office” that day.
 
The White House told news organizations on Christmas Day that President Obama had ordered heightened air travel security immediately after he was first briefed on the attempted attack at about 9:00 a.m. Hawaii time (2:00 p.m Eastern) on Christmas Day and that he was repeatedly briefed on the incident during that day.

‘Oddball’ portrait of Amy Bishop emerges

Suspect’s family, pals offer clues

By Laurel J. Sweet, Jessica Van Sack, Jessica Fargen and Ira Kantor
Monday, February 15, 2010 - Updated 2h ago

As authorities searched for clues into what could have sent a University of Alabama neurobiology professor on an alleged killing spree, friends and family yesterday described Braintree native Amy Bishop as an awkward introvert on the brink of losing her teaching job.

Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, told the Herald his wife had been fighting the university for over a year about a tenure denial, and several months ago received a final decision. She was upset, but not overly emotional, approaching her appeal “like a game of chess,” he said.

Police in Huntsville, Ala., charged Bishop, 44, with capital murder after she allegedly opened fire on six colleagues at a faculty meeting Friday, killing three. Afterward, she calmly called her husband and asked him to pick her up as if nothing had happened, said police Chief Henry Reyes.

...

A family source said Bishop, a mother of four children - the youngest a third-grade boy - was a far-left political extremist who was “obsessed” with President Obama to the point of being off-putting.

White House revamps communications strategy

By Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 15, 2010

White House officials are retooling the administration's communications strategy to produce faster responses to political adversaries, a more disciplined focus on President Obama's call for "change" in Washington and an increasingly selective use of the president's time.

The messaging adjustments are the result of an end-of-the-year analysis in which White House advisers said the president's communications team had not taken the initiative often enough and had allowed drawn-out debates in Congress, and relentless criticism by Republicans, to drown out his message.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/14/AR2010021403550.html