Unemployment really at 10%
"Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent" translation: CBO just admitted that the BLS numbers are bogus and real unemployment is 10%.

Federal Taxes to Increase 30% in next two years
The amount of money the federal government takes out of the U.S. economy in taxes will increase by more than 30 percent between 2012 and 2014, according to the Budget and Economic Outlook published today by the CBO. At the same time, according to CBO, the economy will remain sluggish, partly because of higher taxes.

Iran Prepared to Attack US Soil
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, the U.S. spy chief said Tuesday. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in prepared testimony that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington that was uncovered last year reflects an aggressive new willingness within the upper ranks of the Islamist republic to authorize attacks against the United States.

Iran Launches Spanish TV Channel
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has officially launched a Spanish-language satellite TV channel, saying it would deal a blow to "dominance seekers" – remarks that were an apparent dig at the US and the west. Iran's broadcasting company said Hispan TV, the first Spanish-language channel airing from the Middle East, will broadcast news, documentaries, movies and Iranian films 24 hours a day.

Congress acts to repeal Obamacare Provision
The House of Representatives is expected to vote as early as tomorrow on H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011. This bill would repeal the CLASS Act, Obamacare’s new long-term care entitlement. The CLASS Act is just another reminder that the entire health care law is flawed and unworkable. As noted by Heritage policy analysts, the CLASS Act is doomed to fail. It was created as a budget gimmick to help Obamacare pass. This is due to the illusion that CLASS produces a short-term deficit reduction as the government collects premiums for five years (2012–2016) before it begins paying benefits.

House to ban welfare payments at Clubs & Casinos
As the recession continues onward, House Republicans are worried that those receiving welfare payments may be having a bit too good of a time. The chamber will again vote Wednesday on a bill which would ensure that electronic withdrawals of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars aren't allowed to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores. TANF replaced national welfare programs after the welfare reforms of 1996.

How Obama and other statists bankroll their reelections
Simply put, this is one of the best videos I’ve watched in quite some time. If you think Barack Obama will spend just $1 billion on his reelection effort, think again. This president — like the president before him and the president before him — has at his disposal “The Vote Pump,” the elegant but unsustainable system by which the government taxes and borrows money to fund entitlement programs — and by which entitlement beneficiaries, in turn, vote to ensure the government will continue to tax and borrow money to pay their benefits. You might know it better by another name: “The Wealth Redistribution Pump.”

Rose lauds Komen defunding Planned Parenthood
The young leader of Live Action, a California-based pro-life group, Jan. 31 told Human Events she is thrilled by Planned Parenthood's announcement it will no longer receive funding from the nation’s largest private breast cancer fundraiser.??“We applaud Susan G. Komen for the Cure for its pro-woman decision to end their financial support of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortion chain,” said Lila Rose, the president of the organization she founded in 2003, when she was 15, as an anti-abortion club for her friends.??“After a slew of scandals at Planned Parenthood, and the opening of a Congressional investigation, Komen is wise to distance itself from the corrupt abortion giant,” she said.

Dems engage in Fast and Furious Coverup
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are officially trying to cover for Attorney General Eric Holder just before he testifies on Thursday about Operation Fast and Furious, with anti-Second Amendment Ranking Member Elijah Cummings leading the way. The report tries to pin the blame back on a few "rogue" managers in the ATF Phoenix Field Division. This is the same argument we've heard since the beginning of the scandal: it was a local operation, nobody important knew anything.

Playing Politics with Unemployed Vets
Washington does not understand there is little to be done in terms of a prescriptive policy to cure veteran unemployment. The oft forgotten Calvin Coolidge once warned, “Unsound economic conditions are not conducive to sound legislation.” The best cure is still a market unleashed from needless regulation and spending policies that reflect a moral and rational resolve. In the end, a federal government that is broke can do little for veterans who earned and are entitled to benefits already promised.

Newt Unveils First Day White House Plan of Action
In a dizzying display of campaign hubris with a pinch of denial, Newt Gingrich took what would ordinarily be a concession speech Tuesday night and turned it into a blueprint for his first day in the White House. The former House speaker rattled off eight specific achievements that he promised to accomplish within a few hours of his inauguration, including five that he would enact by executive order. The other three, he said, would require “a Republican Senate and a Republican House.”

Obama refers to Georgia as Russia
President Obama mistakenly referred to the nation of Georgia as "Russia" after a bilateral meeting with the Georgian president -- an unfortunate slip-up, given that the president was celebrating 20 years of Georgian independence from Soviet rule.

Corzine raised $500K for Obama Campaign
According the Barack Obama's 2012 campaign website, Jon Corzine of Hoboken, New Jersey raised at least $500,000 for the president's reelection effort. Corzine, of course, has most recently been in the news for being on the wrong side of a $6.3 billion bet as head of MF Global. "Investigators are searching for as much as $1.2 billion in missing customer money, which regulators said the company may have diverted for its own needs."

First Lady Cajoles Leno
First lady Michelle Obama cajoled Jay Leno into nibbling on apples, sweet potato fries and a pizza made with eggplant, green peppers and zucchini on the "Tonight Show," breaking his long-held aversion for all-things-healthy in his diet.

United States Debt Clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Council of Europe Bans Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Is Europe becoming More Pro-life than the U.S.? The Council of Europe has ruled that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned in every country across the Continent. In a declaration that will have huge implications on human rights laws in its 47 member countries the Strasbourg-based organisation announced that such practices “must always be prohibited”.

Nazi Extermination of Disabled Children Featured in Berlin Museum
Berlin’s “Topography of Terror,” museum, which features exhibits on the murderous crimes of German police forces during the Nazi era, has begun a temporary display on the thousands of children euthanized during the same period as “life unworthy of life.” The exhibition, entitled “In memory of the children. Pediatricians and crimes against children in the Nazi period,” displays photos and documents related to various Nazi projects concerning the murder and torture of children, such as Action T4 and Lebensborn. While Action T4 focused on exterminating children who were physically or mentally handicapped, Lebensborn was a eugenic breeding program using unwed mothers, in which children with features not regarded as sufficiently “Aryan” were disposed of like so much waste.

Planned Parenthood Purchases Mega Center
What economic downturn? After years of renting the property, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America has purchased its headquarters in New York City for $34.8 million. Although legally a nonprofit organization, Planned Parenthood reported over $1 billion in net assets in 2009-10 according to its latest annual report. A Planned Parenthood watchdog guessed that revenue from abortions, 329,455 of which were committed in the same year, accounted for more than half the income listed as coming from “health centers.”

Planned Parenthood’s New Cheeky Advertisements
What is Planned Parenthood thinking? Planned Parenthood is spending lots of money on a new cheeky advertisement campaign that trivializes sex and advertises that there are no consequences, ever. Their new ads are posted online, on buses, and in newspapers that say, “We’re Your Sexual Experience”, “We’re Your Morning After”, “We’re Your Friend with Benefits”, “We’re Your Quickie”, “We’re Your Sexual Fantasy”, “We’re Your Sexual Partner”, “We’re Your Afternoon Delight”.

Girl Scouts Ties to Planned Parenthood
"The Girl Scouts really have no business partnering with the largest abortion provider in the world," Ruse contends. "Yet the [CEO of the Girl Scouts] has actually gone on network television explicitly saying that they work with Planned Parenthood." And he recalls a Girl Scout event at the United Nations, where Planned Parenthood distributed its brochures titled "Healthy, Happy and Hot -- a young person's guide to their rights, sexuality and living with HIV." Girl Scouts USA paid about 1.5 million dollars in “member quota” dues in 2009 to WAGGGS, an aggressively pro-abortion organization which openly partners with the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Girl Scouts USA is the single largest national component of WAGGGS, making up over a third of its 10 million members.

Abortion Boosts Breast Cancer Risk 193%
Researchers in Iran have published the results of a new study showing women who have an abortion face a 193% increased risk of breast cancer. On the other hand, women who carry a pregnancy to term find a lowered breast cancer risk compared with women who have never been pregnant. The study follows on the heels of new reports indicating Komen for the Cure gave $7.5 million to the Planned Parenthood abortion business in 2009.

Komen for the Cure Stops Funding Planned Parenthood
The largest funder of breast cancer research in the nation has ended its controversial ties with Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the US. Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun explained that “the cutoff results from the charity’s newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities,” according to Fox News. Last year a U.S. House committee announced that it was investigating Planned Parenthood to determine whether the abortion organization handles criminal conduct properly, or has mishandled federal funding to pay for abortions.

Bishop: Obama Administration Is Telling Catholics ‘To Hell With You’
Roman Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh says “The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, ‘To Hell with you!’” the bishop said in a column posted on his diocesan website. “There is no other way to put it.”

133 Bishops and Counting Against Obama’s HHS Mandate
Thomas Peters of Catholic Vote is keeping track of individual Catholic bishops who have either released a statement to the press, had statements read at all diocesan Masses and/or included statements in all parish bulletins last Sunday.

South African Condom Failures Result in Recall
1.35 millions condoms given out prior to celebrations put on by South Africa’s governing political party, the African National Congress, have been recalled due to complaints that the locally made prophylactics were defective. The government has had to recall leaky condoms in the past. A 2007 recall of 20 million defective condoms manufactured locally was traced to a testing manager at the South African Bureau of Standards having taken a bribe to certify the faulty condoms. In 2008 another 5 million defective condoms reportedly had to be recalled. Dr. Edward Greene, the former director of the AIDS research project at Harvard University, said in a Vatican Radio interview about the African AIDS epidemic last June that in populations where HIV is not restricted to prostitutes but is found in the general population, condoms are counterproductive. “Condoms have never been found to be used consistently in any general population.”

Pfizer Recalls 1M Birth Control Packs After Mixup
Pfizer Inc. is recalling 1 million packets of birth control pills due to a packaging error that could raise the risk of an accidental pregnancy by leaving women with an inadequate dose. The problem affects 14 lots of Lo/Ovral-28 tablets and 14 lots of generic Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol tablets. The drugs were distributed to warehouses, clinics and retail pharmacies throughout the U.S.

Sixth Circuit: Counseling Student Cannot Be Expelled for Religious Views
Today, the Sixth Circuit issued a major victory for the constitutional rights of individuals with religious beliefs. The court held that Eastern Michigan University may have violated the Constitution by expelling a counseling student based on her religious beliefs about homosexual conduct.“No individual should be forced out of their profession solely because of her religious beliefs,” said Eric Rassbach, National Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Counselors refer clients elsewhere all the time for personal, financial, or ethical reasons, and referrals for religious reasons should be treated no differently,” he added.

Actress Speaks About Choosing to Be Gay, Upsets Gay Community
Cynthia Nixon of Sex and the City, says "I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line 'I've been straight and I've been gay, and gay is better.' And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it's not, but for me it's a choice, and you don't get to define my gayness for me."

Television Shows that Promote Homosexuality
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), has released the list of nominations for its annual media awards for movies, news and television shows which most promote homosexuality. Television shows nominated include Showtime’s Shameless, The Big C, and The Real L Word; ABC’s All My Children, Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Happy Endings and Modern Family; other popular shows including Degrassi, Glee, and Days of Our Lives were also nominated.

Starbucks Endorses Gay Marriage Bill
In every state that has allowed the people to vote, SSM has lost. States with liberal legislators are being enticed by big corporations and big donors who are trying to change the definition of marriage from the beginning of Creation. Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee shop chain, added its name to the list of major corporations that have endorsed a so called gay marriage bill in Washington State, saying the legislation shares the company’s values at its core. The decision was criticized by many conservative, pro-family organizations. Leading traditional marriage organizations, for instance, are accusing the Seattle-based company of “meddling” in the debate, after Starbucks joined Google, Microsoft, and Nike in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage that is currently gathering momentum in the state legislature.

Islamic Parents Found Guilty of Murdering Daughters
A jury in Canada on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife. The judge described the killings as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor.""It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime ... the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

Christian Girls Being Raped and Tortured by Muslims
In recent years a horrifying number of kidnappings, rapes and mutilations of Iraqi Christian girls has been perpetrated by Muslim gangs. Some 700,000 Christians are fleeing this terror, but often find themselves exposed to similar dangers when they arrive in neighboring Muslim countries. With no rights and no help from authorities, they are surely in the most desperate of situations. Your heart will break for these little girls of Iraq. Please take the time to contemplate why this is not being reported more often.

Forest Service to Jesus: You Can Stay for Now
The latest decision renews a 10-year special-use permit for the Knights of Columbus Council, members of which placed the statue there. The religious statue, which has been on federal land since 1955, was allowed to remain in place for at least 10 more years after the U.S. Forest Service reversed its eviction order Tuesday. The initial decision came amid heated debate over the separation of church and state as required by the U.S. Constitution.

Alaska Airlines Discontinues Prayer Cards
In a memo sent to its frequent fliers Wednesday, Alaska Airlines announced that the prayer cards it has been providing to passengers on meal trays for the past 30 years will be discontinued as of Feb. 1. Airline spokesperson Bobbie Egan told msnbc.com that over the years the airline has received letters and e-mails from customers for and against the card. Last fall the company decided to stop distributing the cards because, Egan said, “We believe it's the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees.”

The Language of Abortion Commercial
The language of abortion is confusing. What are we trying to hide?

Gospel - Mk 6:1-6

1 And going out from thence, he went into his own country; and his disciples followed him. 2 And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were in admiration at his doctrine, saying: How came this man by all these things? and what wisdom is this that is given to him, and such mighty works as are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us? And they were scandalized in regard of him. 4 And Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and in his own house, and among his own kindred. 5 And he could not do any miracles there, only that he cured a few that were sick, laying his hands upon them. 6 And he wondered because of their unbelief, and he went through the villages round about teaching.

The title of Ken Ballen's recently released book, Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals, is misleading. I put off buying it for some time because of the title, which implied it would provide a sympathetic view of terrorism and constitute yet another rant against "failed" U.S. counterterrorism policies since 9/11.

However, I have always been impressed with the nonprofit organization run by Ken Ballen, Terror Free Tomorrow, and its solid polling work in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries. This compelled me to take a closer look at the book, which I ended up reading on a flight to South Asia last fall.

Terrorists in Love is more than a captivating read. It provides fresh insight into how al-Qaeda and its jihadist allies have manipulated young Muslim men into following a hateful and destructive ideology that kills countless innocents -- mostly other Muslims. We have heard a great deal about al-Qaeda's recruitment and training process from U.S. experts, but Ballen describes the terrorism phenomenon in the jihadists' own words, bringing deeper understanding to the issue.

Through interviews and extensive research, Ballen profiles six jihadists, some of whom eventually renounced al-Qaeda. It is the stories of those who become disillusioned with al-Qaeda and its aimless violence that are the most interesting and that need to be publicized more widely. Indeed, exposing first-hand personal accounts of the contradictions and corruption within the terrorist movement likely will hasten its demise -- a process already underway thanks to the elimination of Osama bin Laden and an aggressive drone-missile campaign in Pakistan's tribal border areas.

Ballen acknowledges in his introduction that there are many different paths to becoming a jihadist and that the individual stories in the book should not be viewed as representative of all radical Islamists. The first chapter is a telling eyewitness account of al-Qaeda deceiving a young man into taking his own life and others. Ahmad al-Shayea is a Saudi who at the age of 19 goes to Iraq to fight Americans, after seeing photos of tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. It is a story of disillusionment -- one that many other Muslim men would surely have expressed, had they lived to tell about it.

Ahmad al-Shayea is tricked by two Iraqi fighters into driving a truck loaded with explosives, from which the two Iraqis suddenly jump, just before the bombs go off. Ahmad miraculously survives the explosion, and the rest of the chapter recounts his recuperation at an American hospital in Iraq.

After the ordeal, Ahmad retains his steadfast belief in Islam, but he has awoken to the al-Qaeda lie. He proclaims his desire to go on television to tell other young Saudis that "Al-Qaeda was not for Islam; it was not for humanity." And that, "I am a living example of al-Qaeda's hellfire...I want them to see how al-Qaeda tricked me into killing innocent people."

Terrorists in Love pulls no punches in its depiction of the close relationship of the Pakistan military with jihadist terrorism. In one chapter, Malik -- an Afghan refugee who grows up in Pakistan, joins the Taliban, and has personal encounters with Mullah Omar -- becomes disillusioned with the Afghan Taliban when he discovers its reliance on Pakistan's intelligence agency (run by the Army) for training, weapons and funding. Malik feels ashamed that his organization must rely on an army that also receives support from the Americans. However, instead of abandoning jihad, Malik joins the Pakistani Taliban to attack what he views as the double-dealing Pakistani military.

In the fifth chapter, we become acquainted with a Pakistani jihadist whose father is a colonel in the Pakistan Army. The colonel is disdainful toward Islamist extremists and works for the Strategic Plans Division, which controls Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. His responsibilities include keeping Pakistan's nuclear assets out of the hands of extremists, like his own son. The irony of this complex father-son relationship story brings home the reality of the dangers in Pakistan, where the institution in charge of protecting the country's nuclear weapons also arms and trains the Afghan Taliban.

Ballen concludes from his research and interviews that Muslim communities themselves must develop ways to counter extremism, while also acknowledging that the U.S. cannot afford to be complacent against extremists dedicated to killing Americans. His overall recommendation for the U.S. to simply lead by example is unrealistic, however, especially in light of the democratic revolutions sweeping the Middle East, where U.S. silence could contribute to more bloodshed. America should not retreat from actively promoting democratic ideals in the Middle East, as Ballen suggests, particularly since the principles of liberal democratic governance are a powerful antidote to Islamist extremists' message of intolerance, hatred, and repression.

Ballen's work is well worth a read by anyone seeking to understand more fully the complex and multiple factors that drive terrorism. The reader will have to judge whether Ballen was brave or merely naïve in agreeing to meet with extremists at hotels in Islamabad. But the conversations he recorded from those probably ill-advised meetings are eye-opening, and should help U.S. policymakers develop more finely-tuned messages and policies to fight the ideological battle laid bare in Terrorists in Love.

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