Syrian Rebels' Link with Al Qaeda Disclosed

Via NC Renegade

Fars News

VERBATIM

The link between the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Al Qaeda terrorist group was unveiled after the FSA officially confirmed establishment of a group whose emblem is the flag of the Al Qaeda.

According to a report by the Syrian Truth (Haqiqah) website, the FSA, the main armed rebel group fighting President Bashar al-Assad's government, has made a formal announcement about forming a group named "Al Mojahedin" under the flag of the Al Qaeda. The announcement is seen as an official confirmation of ties between the rebel group and the Al Qaeda international terrorist organization. Earlier this month, the FSA had also announced that it has set up two battalions called 'Martyr Saddam Hussein' in the cities of Idlib and Deir al-Zour in Syria. In a blatant act of defiance and in a move aimed at provoking the feelings of Kurds in general and Syrian Kurds in particular, the FSA formed the two battalions. Analysts believe that these acts, which are condemned and seen as worrisome by Kurds and all Syrians, might push the opponents to retract and backtrack on their moves against Bashar Assad's government. Naming the FSA battalions after Saddam Hussein was met with overwhelming outrage and condemnation by the Kurds. Earlier reports also said that the FSA is building a military base for the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) in the bordering areas of Syria and Lebanon. The announcement was made yesterday by Basam al-Dad, a spokesman of the terrorist Free Syrian Army. Al-Dad claimed that the group wants to enjoy the experiences and combat skills of the MKO in different battle fronts. The MKO is blacklisted by much of the international community.

America's Bitter End In Viet Nam: Slideshow

@ Slideshare

The Quiet American

My favorite, the La Castille is mentioned, as well as others.

Ohio U: Obama voters clueless about Benghazi killings

Like I know it's such a surprise...........

International monitors at US polling places draw criticism

Via Randy

I better not see one when I go to vote.

United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud.


The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers around the county on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places.

Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP and the ACLU, among other groups, warned this month in a letter to Daan Everts, a senior official with OSCE, of “a coordinated political effort to disenfranchise millions of Americans — particularly traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities.”

The request for foreign monitoring of election sites drew a strong rebuke from Catherine Engelbrecht, founder and president of True the Vote, a conservative-leaning group seeking to crack down on election fraud.

“These activist groups sought assistance not from American sources, but from the United Nations,” she said in a statement to The Hill. “The United Nations has no jurisdiction over American elections.”

More @ The Hill

3 MÙA (THREE SEASONS)

Every morning, my ears escape these windows to embrace the songs of the birds. My nose pierces these walls and naps in the fragrance of my lotuses. With every sunrise and sunset my eyes flutter into the air. And my heart... my heart transcended above the bondage of man. On fully flapping wings I fly, Playmates among the tireless swallows Chasing chubby, lazy clouds 'cross the sky And herding evening breezes through plains and meadows.

Action video from Syria

Via Carl

Son of street gangster gunned down 18 years ago among three arrested

Roundabout via Horace

 

 

The son of a street gangster gunned down 18 years ago and two sons of a Baptist preacher have been arrested in the deaths of five people in a Denver bar early Wednesday morning.

Dexter Lewis Jr., 22, a year younger than his dad was when he was killed in 1994, was advised in Denver court Thursday morning that he is being held without bail for allegedly killing four women and one man at Fero's Bar & Grill.

Brothers Lynell Jonathan Hill, 24, and Joseph Nathanael Hill, 27, raised in the home of a Detroit minister, are scheduled to be advised Friday in connection to the same killings. They also are being held without bail. 

More @ Denver Post

Revisiting Obamacare: HARPING

 

FOR THE DAILY SOUTHERNER  

Bob Harper

 

TARBORO — Obamacare was passed with the strong support of the Democrats and brilliant statement of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi who said, "We must pass it to find out what's in it."  Of course, the bill was about 13,000 pages long, while both the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible is just over 1,000 pages.  In any event I'm sure no member of Congress ever read all 13,000 pages.  Is this the way we should legislate laws in this country?

In many ways this bill is designed to drive private insurance companies out of business and to bring about a national healthcare system similar to that in Canada and some nations in Europe. This bill calls for an Independent Payment Advisory Board which will have the power to make almost unlimited decisions about what kind of healthcare we will receive.

There will be 15 members on this advisory board who will be appointed (not elected). They are to come up with ways to reduce the cost of Medicare.  Whatever this politically appointed board comes up with must be acted on by Congress by Aug. 15 of each year.  Suppose Congress does not act in a manner that achieves the level of cost containment called for, (remember, it's difficult for Congress to agree on anything) then what?

If Congress does not act in the manner dictated, the recommendations of the Independent Payment Advisory Board are no longer recommendations but they become the law. All this occurs without congressional approval or being signed into law by whoever is president at the time.

President Obama says that the IPAB can't make decisions about what medical treatments might be given to the patient.  However, since the all-powerful IPAB can control payments to hospitals and doctors this, in itself, controls what medical measures may be used to treat the patient or to ultimately save one's life?

However, according to President Obama, Congress can repeal IPAB, but only during a seven-month time frame in 2117.  Congress has rarely been able to do anything in seven months, and again according to Obama's terms, any repeal would call for a three-fifths majority in both the House and the Senate.  And, if congress can't achieve this, according to Obama, they are banned from ever altering IPAB proposals.

More @ The Daily Southerner

All suspects now arrested in triple killing-robbery at rural store in North Carolina

 Monday, April 9, 2012
Three suspects arrested in triple killing-robbery at rural store in North Carolina

He ain't getting out this time.

The Daily Southerner

VERBATIM

TARBORO — A 23-year old Pinetops man incarcerated in the Pitt County Detention Center in connection with five execution-style murders faces additional charges for plotting to have three more people killed, including the Pitt County sheriff.

Officials say Willie Odell Whitehead, Jr. plotted with another inmate and individuals outside the jail to have Sheriff Neil Elks, his wife Connie, who is a detective with the department, and a child of an assistant district attorney kidnapped and killed.

Whitehead is said to have masterminded the plot because he thought it would help gain his freedom.

According to published reports, Pitt County Sheriff's Capt. Paula Dance said Elks is very concerned for the safety of his family.

"We know as officers of the court that those are things that we sometimes have to deal with," Dance said. "It kind of steps up your game when your family is threatened, especially your children."

Whitehead is being held without bond after he and four others were charged with the April 1 murders of three employees of the Hustle Mart in Farmville. The victims were murdered execution style during the course of an armed robbery.

In addition, Whitehead and another man have a pair of first degree murder charges pending in Edgecombe County in connection with the March 18 murders of killing Quantellis Carr and Jasmine Chesson in their Princeville home. Police say Carr and Chesson were also killed execution style.

In a third case, Whitehead faces charges of first degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury in Edgecombe County.

Whitehead has been in and out of prison since 2004, when he was 14 and convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon. He served a year-and-a-half on that charge before being released on parole. Shortly thereafter, his parole was revoked and he served an additional nine months.

In 2006, he was convicted for robbery with a dangerous weapon, serving 22 months. Then, in 2009, he was convicted on larceny after breaking and entering, possessing stolen goods and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was released in August 2011.