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WEDNESDAY,  MAY 5,  2010

YOU'RE DOIN' A HELLUVA JOB, TOMMY – AT 9:01 P.M. ET:  That oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico seems to have "Katrina II" written all over it.  From ABC News:

Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned.

Other leaders of the Interior Department were focused on the Gulf, joined by other agencies and literally thousands of other employees. But Strickland’s participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was “work-focused” raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News.

Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his wife Beth for a total of three days, including one day of rafting. Beth Strickland paid her own way, Obama administration officials said.

How wonderful that she paid her own way.  But we paid hubby, and he wasn't on the job. 

The Stricklands departed for the Grand Canyon three days after the leaks in the Deepwater Horizon pipeline were discovered. Ultimately, after the government realized that the spill was worse than had been previously thought, officials decided that Strickland was needed in the Gulf so Strickland was taken out of the Grand Canyon by a National Park Service helicopter.

One government official, asking for anonymity because of the political sensitivities involved, told ABC News that some Interior Department employees thought it was “irresponsible” for Strickland to have gone on the trip, given the crisis in the Gulf, which was fully apparent at the time he departed for the Grand Canyon.

COMMENT:  If his name was "Brownie," he'd be mud by now, and so would his president.  But this is a new era, and, gosh darn, we must understand that Tommy just had another narrative.

May 5, 2010    Permalink

WE'RE SURE IT WAS ALL IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST – AT 4:01 P.M. ET:  It turns out that the proprietor of "change we can believe in" was getting his funds the old-fashioned way as he beat his path to righteousness.  From The Politico:

While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

On top of that, the oil giant has spent millions each year on lobbying — including $15.9 million last year alone — as it has tried to influence energy policy.

COMMENTS:  If it were Bush, this would be the headline story all over America today.  But it's Obama, so it will probably receive only a glancing mention in the MSM, if any mention at all.  After all, no one would suggest that Barack Obama, who has come to save us, would be influenced by oil money.

And Obama will go into self-righteous mode anyway, and rap BP, even mercilessly if he has to.  But his response to the spill was pathetically slow, something else covered up by the media.

May 5, 2010     Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 3:52 P.M. ET:  From Victor Davis Hanson, on our anti-terror strategy:

One, we are doing our darnedest to playact that radical Muslims who are trying to kill us are not trying to kill us; and two, we are not seeing a lot of peaceful blowback from the virtual closing of Guantanamo, the virtual trial of KSM, the reach out in the Al Arabiya interview, the "reset" rhetoric, the Cairo speech, and the apology tour — 2009 saw the most terrorism attempts since 2001.

And that, of course, is the charitable take: that these near-miss (and not-so-near-miss) radical-Islamist incidents are incidental to, rather than a symptom of, our new de facto policy of suggesting that the problem with our "contingency operations" against "man-caused disasters" is with us rather than with hostile Muslim terrorists.

COMMENT:  He nails it.  But the strategy won't change, as it's part of the core beliefs of the liberal left, and the colleges that produced this kind of thinking. 

Just after 9/11, Mollie Haskell, the not-so-politically-correct film critic, was at a Manhattan party.  When it came time for toasts, she raised her glass and pronounced, "To victory."  And everyone laughed at her.

That is the problem. 

May 5, 2010     Permalink

NEWSWEEK FOR SALE – AT 3:45 P.M. ET:  This was probable inevitable, from the Washington Post:

The Washington Post Co. announced this morning that it has hired Allen & Co. to seek buyers for Newsweek magazine, the money-losing newsweekly that The Post Co. has owned for decades.

Quoting from the company release:

The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) announced today that it has retained boutique investment bank Allen & Company to explore the possible sale of Newsweek magazine. The newsweekly was launched in 1933 and purchased by The Washington Post Company in 1961. Newsweek is an internationally known and respected publication, providing unique news, commentary and insight into political and social developments in the United States and around the world.

“The losses at Newsweek in 2007-2009 are a matter of record. Despite heroic efforts on the part of Newsweek’s management and staff, we expect it to still lose money in 2010. We are exploring all options to fix that problem,” said Donald E. Graham, chairman of The Washington Post Company. “Newsweek is a lively, important magazine and website, and in the current climate, it might be a better fit elsewhere.”

In an interview with my colleague Howie Kurtz, Graham said "The staff of Newsweek has been unbelievable, both on the quality of the magazine and getting costs down." But the losses are a "continuing frustration," especially on the digital side, where Newsweek made only $8 million last year, he said.

COMMENT:  I wonder if anyone knows what the problem is.  The problem is bias, a bias that grew and grew over the years.  We used to be Newsweek subscribers, and subscribed for decades until the bias became so great that it was impossible to read the magazine.  Had Newsweek improved and corrected its journalism, rather than let it deteriorate, it might have survived.

If it's bought at all, I suspect it will be bought by a liberal sugar daddy who's prepared to accept the losses so he can say he owns a major magazine.  It's like investing in Broadway.  Most people don't invest for the profits, which only sometimes show up.  They invest to rub shoulders.

May 5, 2010     Permalink 

THE MIDTERMS – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  Scott Rasmussen reports on where some critical races stand, taking into account yesterday's primaries in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina:

Yesterday’s Primary Elections finalized the Senate campaign match-ups in two key states and forced a run-off in North Carolina. Rasmussen Reports polling conducted before the Primaries shows the GOP candidates begin with a double digit lead in both Indiana and North Carolina. The race is tighter in Ohio. The top GOP candidate also continues to lead in Colorado, but Florida’s Senate race has become very competitive with Governor Charlie Crist running as an Independent.

COMMENT:  There may be a bit of bother in Pennsylvania.  Pat Toomey has been leading Arlen Specter in the polls, but Specter's challenger in the Democratic primary, Congressman Joe Sestak, is gaining.  Should Sestak win, it's a new ball game.  He won't be carrying the baggage that Specter carries.

And, as we've noted, Republican confidence in Florida was a bit premature.  We assumed Marco Rubio would walk into the Senate in November.  But the race is suddenly tight.

We have a lot of work to do.  Always run as if you're 20 points behind.

May 5, 2010    Permalink

NEW MONEY CRISIS? – AT 9:27 A.M. ET:  We, in this country, have not fully absorbed the impact of the economic crisis in Europe, precipitated by the financial collapse in Greece. But international markets are reacting, and our own recovery will almost certainly be affected if this goes on.  From Bloomberg:

Stocks fell around the globe, erasing the 2010 gain for the MSCI World Index, and the euro weakened to a 12-month low on concern Greece’s bailout may have to be extended to other indebted nations.

The MSCI gauge of equities in 23 developed nations declined 0.7 percent at 8:42 a.m. in New York, leaving it down 0.5 percent for the year. Spain’s IBEX 35 Index slumped 2.6 percent. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 1.8 percent, heading for the biggest three-day slump in three months. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 0.8 percent. The euro traded at less than $1.30 for a second day. Copper slid below $7,000 a metric ton.

More than $1.1 trillion was wiped from the value of global stocks yesterday amid growing expectations that Greece’s 110 billion-euro ($143 billion) rescue package will need to be repeated in Spain and Portugal. European Central Bank council member Axel Weber said today there is a threat of “grave contagion effects” in the euro area.

“We are in an era where governments are no longer considered risk free,” said Gary Jenkins, head of credit strategy at London-based broker Evolution Securities Ltd. “The capital markets could soon be in the midst of the largest financial crisis of the last 100 years.”

COMMENT:  This one is coming out of left field.  If capital markets freeze again, and cash is needed, where will it come from?  Will markets be allowed to collapse?

We're out of money, deeply in debt, and storm clouds are gathering.  Has the White House noticed?

May 5, 2010    Permalink

BRITAIN VOTES TOMORROW – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  And our Michael Barone is there.  He isn't exactly finding a Churchill or Thatcher in the mess of candidates:

British voters go to the polls tomorrow, and it appears likely that they will boot the party in power for only the second time in 31 years. Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives ousted a Labor government in May 1979 and Tony Blair's "New Labor" party ousted the Conservatives in May 1997...

...My impression, watching from abroad and this week in Britain, is that in the course of this campaign voters have, to varying extents, rejected both of the two major parties and the third party, Liberal Democrats, as well.

Refreshing.  How refreshing.

The big story for most of the official campaign period was the rise of the Lib Dems as a result of their leader Nick Clegg's performance in the first debate on April 15. Clegg damned both parties for mismanagement and bickering -- something you can do when your party holds only 67 of 650 seats in the House of Commons.

But the polls indicate that the Lib Dem surge has ebbed. Clegg's call for legalization of illegal immigrants hurt him in the third debate, and so did his past support for Britain to drop the pound and join the euro -- a position that's hard to defend when the Greek fiscal crisis is putting the euro at risk.

That's the tip of Al Gore's rapidly melting iceberg.  Clegg is anti-American and, in some ways, even anti-British.  He has compared his own country to the Nazis.  A dangerous, deluded man.

That leaves the Conservative party, led by David Cameron since December 2005, in the lead...

...The way the district boundaries are drawn gives Labor an advantage; it is not going to lose light-voting working-class seats. But the Conservatives' lead in the polls makes it likely they will win more seats than Labor, in which case Cameron will form a government.

The big question is whether Labor and Lib Dems will together win enough seats to deny Cameron an absolute majority and hold one themselves. If so, they may force another election in six months or next year. If not, Conservatives might hold on for four or five years...

...Hard slogging is ahead for Britain, whatever the voters do.

COMMENT:  I'm afraid that's the truth.  This isn't the Britain of the blitz or the spirit of "Very well, alone."  This is the Britain of the nanny state, and the suction of that state has even drawn in some conservatives. 

Of course, Obama would like nothing better than to see a British government that is hostile to him.  Then he can draw even further away from the "special relationship," and continue the hard grovel toward the nations he prefers.  After all, why ride in a Rolls-Royce when you can hop on a goat?

May 5, 2010     Permalink

PARADE OF DUMBNESS – AT 8:33 A.M. ET:  Following on the theme of our first post this morning, just below, Mary Katherine Ham catalogues the parade of inept comments that began when news of the Times Square bomber first broke.  From the Washington Examiner:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his ignorance of the situation and the suspect to great use...jumping to conclusions that might earn him a long-jump spot in the London Olympics if he decides not to put his dough toward a presidential run that year:

Bloomberg later told CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric that the suspect behind the bombing attempt could be a domestic terrorist angry at the government who acted alone.

"If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, or maybe a mentally deranged person, or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything," he said.

Well, wait.  We all know that Obamacare is deeply unpopular among jihadists.  It doesn't cover shrapnel damage, nor skin abrasions caused by suicide belts.  What kind of a health plan is that?

And...

Moving on, we have CNN's morning anchors suggesting this attempted bombing is probably just fall-out from the housing market crisis.  Video at the link from our friend Michael Moynihan:

Now that a deranged Pakistani-American with a political agenda (one presumes) has been detained, CNN did some honest to goodness journalism and discovered that—wait for it—suspected bomber Faisal Shahzad is a deadbeat that failed to make payments on his mortgage. This, says the blow-dried bozo in Atlanta, likely "brought alot of pressure and alot of heartache" and could have motivated him to take his revenge on the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

And the one that's been making the rounds on the internet:

And, finally, we have Contessa Brewer of MSNBC taking the silly crown so early in the game and with an enthusiasm which will be hard to top:

"I get frustrated...There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country."

Brewer continued, "...There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry."

Oh, those outdated bigots – you know, people who worry about people who chop off women's heads because they disagree with the Taliban (or their husbands), or who try to kill as many "infidels" as possible.  Nothing to see, folks, nothing to see.

May 5, 2010     Permalink

HEADLINE OF THE DAY – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  The MSM once again falls in behind the politically correct leadership of Dear Leader, who sees no evil, only misunderstanding.  A headline from Associated Press today:

NY car bomb suspect cooperates, but motive mystery

Oh dear, oh dear.  That mysterious motive again.  Can't you see that headline on December 8, 1941:

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, but motive a mystery

This is what happens when reporters take Psychology 101 at Princeton. 

Now, is the motive for the Times Square bomber such a mystery?  Was the Fort Hood motive a mystery?  How about 9-11?  Or the attack on the USS Cole?

Now, after me, slowly say the words "Islamic extremism."

Okay, don't choke.  If you can't say them at first, try them a bit at a time.  Start with "Is..."  Work gently from there.

Then write the words in big block letters with a thick marking pen and send the paper directly to the White House.

We know what the Times Square motive was.  But the president of the United States is the host of an orgy of political correctness.  The better not to offend the brothers in the Muslim world.  Strange, but we don't seem to be doing any better in that part of the world under Obama than under Bush.  But don't tell the publisher of The New York Times. 

Journalists love to claim that they're the eyes and ears of the public.  Today, too many of them are the eyes and ears of their favored president, and the colleges they attended.

May 5, 2010     Permalink

TUESDAY,  MAY 4,  2010

BULLETIN – AT 9:07 P.M. ET:  Fox News projects former Senator Dan Coats the winner in the Indiana Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. 

CRIST LEADS IN FLORIDA – AT 8:57 P.M. ET:  A new Rasmussen poll shows former Republican and born-again independent Governor Charlie Crist leading in a three-way Senate race.  Via RealClearPolitics:

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist leads Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek in a three-way Senate race, a new Rasmussen poll finds (May 3, 500 LV, MoE +/- 4.5%). Down big in the polls, Crist left the Republican primary last week to run for Senate as an independent.

Crist (I) 38 (+8 vs. last poll, April 22)
Rubio (R) 34 (-3)
Meek (D) 17 (-5)
Und 11

The poll shows Crist picking up some support since a poll taken two weeks ago, prior to his announced switch. With Crist's move from the GOP, RCP now ranks this race as a Toss Up.

COMMENT:  This shows that a week is a lifetime in politics.  It was only yesterday that fast-rising Republican star Marco Rubio looked like a shoo-in.  The cost of overconfidence. 

We'll have to fight for this one.

May 4, 2010    Permalink

INDIANA VOTES – AT 8:02 P.M. ET:  The critical Indiana primary for the U.S. Senate nomination is today.  The winner will be a strong favorite in November to fill the seat being vacated by Evan Bayh. 

Former Senator Dan Coats, who'd held the seat in the 90s, is slightly favored to win the nomination.  He carries baggage.  After leaving the Senate he essentially abandoned Indiana, became a lobbyist and is on record as saying he'd wanted to become a North Carolinian.

Whatever his demerits, Coats is vastly superior to his main challenger, certified nutbag and former Republican Congressman John Hostettler, once a rising power in the House until thrown out in a landslide by his conservative district.  Hostettler, who presents himself as a conservative, is not.  He's a reactionary, and conspiracy theorist.  He also claims to be religious.  He is not.  He's a religious nut.  There's a difference. 

The best candidate is probably State Senator Marlin Stutzman, but he's not very well known, unfortunately.

We're for Coats or Stutzman.  Results later tonight.

May 4, 2010     Permalink

TIMES SQUARE UPDATE – AT 7:05 P.M. ET:  Police Commissioner Ray Kelly of New York, one of the few people I actually take seriously when a terror incident occurs, made clear today what the major break was in the rapid investigation.

Kelly said the break came when a police officer was able to get under the bomb car and find the hidden VIN (vehicle identification number).  Early reports indicated that the VIN had been scratched from its usual place, under the driver's side window.

This was also the break in the first World Trade Center bombing, which occurred in 1993.  Many people – including, fortunately, some terrorists – don't realize that the VIN is engraved in several places on a vehicle because the most visible stamping is so easy defaced.  After World Trade Center I, which was carried out by detonating a bomb in a Ryder rental truck, police found a VIN on the truck's wrecked axle, leading to a trace on the person who rented the truck.

The suspect, a native-born Pakistani who became a naturalized American only months ago, is still being interrogated.  First bulletins said that he claimed he'd acted alone.  Only a fool would believe that.  He may have planted the bomb alone, but he'd had training, incompetent it appears, in building bombs.

One new question:  It's now clear that the suspect was already aboard an airliner, with a ticket to Dubai, when authorities intervened and had the plane returned to the terminal.  But the suspect was on the no-fly list, which means the United States Government already knew something suspicious about him.  Question:  If he was on the no-fly list, how did he get on the plane?  That must be a subject for immediate investigation and punishment.

Andrew Malcolm, of the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog, has the actual tape of the air controllers and Kennedy International Airport recalling the airliner carrying the suspect as it waited for clearance to take off.  It's here.

Obviously, this latest incident, coming only months after Fort Hood, fewer months after the Christmas day airline bombing attempt, and even fewer months after arrests in a plot to hit New York's subways, is leaving people jittery.  The terrorists have to be lucky only once.

May 4, 2010     Permalink

AND NOW THE QUESTIONS – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  Now that a suspect is in custody in the Times Square attempted bombing (not a "bomb scare" as some minimalists like to call it), the political questions begin. The administration has been less than impressive, as the Washington Post reports: 

But even before the campaign season begins, the White House is also sure to face questions about its early -- and often changing -- characterization of Saturday's attempted bombing.

Speaking on Sunday morning talk shows just hours after the car bomb was discovered, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the case appeared to be isolated, providing some assurance that people need not worry about multiple attacks.

"You know, at this point I have no information that it's anything other than a one-off," Napolitano said on NBC's "Meet the Press." But asked whether it qualified as an act of terrorism, she added, "You know, it certainly looks that way. It certainly looks as if it was intended to be that way."

Later that day, however, as Obama flew to the Gulf Coast to meet with officials battling the oil spill there, neither the president nor his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, used the word "terrorism" to describe the incident in New York.

In a brief statement before making broader remarks on the oil spill, the president pledged to "ensure that our state and local partners have the full support and cooperation of the federal government."

Monday morning, Holder pointedly declined to confirm that the attempted car bombing was part of a terrorist plot, telling reporters at a briefing that it was "too early to designate it as a terrorist incident. I think there's no question that the people, the person who was behind that act intended to spread terror across New York."

By the afternoon, Gibbs was willing to go further. Asked directly whether it was an act of terrorism, Gibbs said, "absolutely."

COMMENT:   Yeah, we're glad that someone noticed.  It's mass confusion built on a thin layer of political correctness.  Obama wants to "engage" the Islamic world and convince the masses that we're not at war with Islam.  But with each new incident there comes the inevitable awkwardness as another jihadist is discovered behind a rock,or driving an SUV. 

Are we at war with a part of Islam?  Pretty please?

A late report tells us that the guy they arrested in connection with the Times Square blowout is saying that he acted alone.  Yeah, right.  He just spent five months in Pakistan, where, I'm sure, he attended performances of Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals.  They all do it.

May 4, 2010     Permalink

TWO DAYS TO GO IN BRITAIN – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  Britain votes Thursday, with the current prime minister, Gordon Brown, given almost no chance of keeping his job and its benefits.  Looks reasonably good for the conservative, David Cameron, as The Telegraph reports:

David Cameron is closing in on an outright victory in Thursday’s election and has to win over voters in just 14 seats to secure a parliamentary majority, according to a poll of marginal constituencies for The Daily Telegraph.

With momentum building behind the Tories, party strategists believe Mr Cameron is “on the cusp” of being able to form a government by the weekend. The Conservatives are on course to seize at least 103 seats from Labour – 14 shy of the 117 needed to secure an overall majority, the poll shows.

It found a swing of 7.5 per cent to the Tories in the Labour seats they are targeting.

And...

Even if Mr Cameron failed to secure a clear majority, the Telegraph poll indicates he could form a minority government with support from unionist MPs in Northern Ireland and independents.

COMMENT:  That's reasonably good news for the United States, not such good news for President Obama, who clearly would prefer that one of the leftish parties win. 

At the same time, David Cameron is no Churchill or Thatcher.  But he'll do for now, and may we see him greeting a new American president in January of 2013.

May 4, 2010    Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  From superlative foreign-affairs reporter Joel Mowbray, reflecting on the Times Square close call.  From The Washington Times:

Since Sept. 11, there have been more than 800 terror-related arrests in the United States, according to New York University's Center on Law and Security. The onslaught is constant...

...That's why leadership matters. President Obama, to his credit, has not enacted many changes to the Bush administration counterterrorism policies. But the rhetorical shift has been pronounced.

Given the Muslim background of his father and stepfather, and his own formative years in predominantly Islamic Indonesia, President Obama actually has the best position of any U.S. leader to tackle Islamic radicalism head-on. So far, however, he has declined to do so. His administration has instead engaged in a coordinated campaign to soft-pedal the threat of radical Islamic ideology.

Most likely, the number of potential lone wolves will grow over time. As we could have learned in far more painful fashion this weekend, even the best policing can fall short. The key to stopping lone wolves is defeating the ideology that motivates them to act.

It's only a matter of time before our luck runs out.

COMMENT:  The Obama administration was caught behind the curve on this latest attack, making one foolish statement after the other over the weekend, and never once mentioning jihadist ideology.  I guess they were choking on all that Gulf oil.

As Joel says, it's just a matter of time.  I wonder what will be said then. 

May 4, 2010    Permalink

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING – AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  The White House seems increasingly aware that its handling of the Gulf oil spill is not being viewed as one of the great moments in American history.  There is worry.  There is anguish.  Not over the people of the Gulf Coast, but over something far more precious – image.  From The Politico:

The ferocious oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening President Barack Obama’s reputation for competence, just as surely as it endangers the Gulf ecosystem.

Huh?  What reputation for competence?  Is this something I missed? 

So White House aides are escalating their efforts to reassure Congress and the public in the face of a slow-motion catastrophe, even though it’s not clear they can bring it under control anytime soon.

“There is no good answer to this,” one senior administration official said. “There is no readily apparent solution besides one that could take three months. ... If it doesn’t show the impotence of the government, it shows the limits of the government.”

What a difference a disaster makes.  They weren't saying this after Katrina.

Hope and change was Obama’s headline message in 2008, but those atop his campaign have always said that it was Obama’s cool competence — exemplified by his level-headed handling of the financial meltdown during the campaign’s waning days — that sealed the deal with independents and skeptical Democrats. The promise of rational, responsive and efficient government is Obama’s brand, his justification for bigger and bolder federal interventions and, ultimately, his rationale for a second term.

Yes, after that paragraph I give you permission to get your seasickness pills, or something stronger. 

So there was a “little bit of panic,” according to one administration official, when White House aides sensed the oil spill narrative getting away from them last week.

The narrative?  The narrative? What about the oil spill itself?  Does that count for anything? 

The White House was particularly alarmed by the rash of stories comparing the Obama administration’s initial response with President George W. Bush’s sluggish response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

When will the mainstream media ever learn?  Bush's response was swift.  The Coast Guard cut the death toll to ten percent of what had been predicted in Katrina.   Monumental incompetence by a mayor and governor damaged rescue efforts.  But everyone knows it was BUSH (!!) who caused the storm in the first place. 

May 4, 2010    Permalink

CAUGHT – AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  A suspect in the attempted bombing of Times Square is in custody.  Fox News reports the "24"-like just-in-the-nick-of-time collar:

NEW YORK -- A Pakistan-born U.S. citizen accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters was to appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.

The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a flight to Dubai, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials. He was identified by customs agents and stopped before boarding, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington.

[Unconfirmed reports said Shahzad already was onboard the flight to Dubai, and that the plane was recalled to the gate, where he was arrested. "They just caught him at the last second," a federal law enforcement source reportedly told one cable news outlet.]

Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into the failed car bombing.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan was handling the case and said Shahzad would appear in court Tuesday, but the charges were not made public. FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn't answer questions about the search.

COMMENT:  Obviously, the key question now is whether others were involved.  Since the guy allegedly tried this stunt after returning from a five-month trip to Pakistan, we logically wonder whether he was trained there, and who paid his bills for the five months.

Is that culturally insensitive?  Do you think?

May 4, 2010    Permalink