Free Republic

A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City. A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers. An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill. Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three. Of course there are. Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three suspects at the heart of these interrupted plots - Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and...

Britain's release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi-- the Libyan terrorist whose bomb blew up a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people-- is galling enough in itself. But it is even more profoundly troubling as a sign of a larger mood that has been growing in the Western democracies in our time. In ways large and small, domestically and internationally, the West is surrendering on the installment plan to Islamic extremists. The ostensible reason for releasing al-Megrahi was compassion for a man terminally ill. It is ironic that this was said in Scotland, for exactly 250 years ago another...

Democrat bigwigs and their media shills have concocted a libelous narrative of the town hall phenomenon that has shaken up the party's health care plans. They meet the classic definition of Chutzpah, as explained by Leo Rosten in the Joy of Yiddish: Gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible "guts"; presumption plus arrogance such as no other word, and no other language, can do justice to. A Chutzpanik may be defined as the man who shouts, "Help! Help!" while beating you up. A fair sample of the Democrats' narrative is provided by Bill Press' article "The Tea Baggers Are Back -- Crazy...

A controversial Saudi-funded academy that teaches strict adherence to traditional Islamic law has been given the green light to expand its Virginia campus — a decision by local officials that infuriates opponents who say the school's teachings are anti-American. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 6-4 Monday to grant a zoning exemption to the Islamic Saudi Academy. The officials said the outcome was based strictly on zoning issues, not on what goes on in the school's classrooms. That left some in the community outraged. "How could they ... say they are such fine students? They are fine students but...

LAST week on Long Island, opponents of the Democrats' government-take over health-care legislation outnumbered Obama supporters 10 to one. The ObamaCare foes toted American flags and signs that read "We Can't Afford Free Health Care" -- prompting one foe to stalk into the peaceful crowd, gesticulate wildly and shout unintelligible threats at the top of his lungs. These protests are an outgrowth of the broad Tea Party movement -- the coalition of fiscal conservatives and independents that caught fire after the Democrat majority rammed through the stimulus. The same Democratic Masters of Astroturf who encouraged their followers to use "in-your-face"...

New clues emerged yesterday show ing just how much damage the Democrats' health-care plans will do to America's economy. (Warning: This subject may make you, uh, sick -- and good luck finding a doctor if the plans pass.) Start with comments from Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office: The Senate's plan "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs" -- even though President Obama and his fellow Dems claim to want to reduce costs. The CBO puts its price tag at some $600 billion over the next 10 years. The House scheme could run to $1.5...

A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called for clarification of a new administrative rule adopted by Michigan's Supreme Court that, if broadly interpreted, might allow judges to demand that witnesses remove religious head coverings during testimony in their courtrooms. SEE: State Court: Judges Can Dictate Witnesses' Attire http://tinyurl.com/mkta6j The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that forced removal of religiously mandated attire such as an Islamic headscarf, or hijab, would violate the constitutional right to religious freedom and would contradict President Obama's recent statement in support of the right to wear hijab. In his address...

Senior aides to President Barack Obama accompanied four Chinese Muslims and their lawyers on a flight from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Bermuda. The four Chinese Muslims, called Uighurs (WEE-gurs), were resettled in Bermuda on Thursday. The U.S. government had determined they were not enemy combatants and should be released. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor says that White House counsel Greg Craig and the special envoy charged with overseeing the closure of the prison at Guantanamo, Daniel Fried, were aboard the plane.

Jerusalem Post - Without a clear time frame and set benchmarks, the dialogue US President Barack Obama plans to hold with Iran will fail to stop the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear weapons, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon has told The Jerusalem Post. In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview, his first since becoming a governmentminister on March 31, which will be published in Friday's Upfront magazine, the former IDF chief of General Staff said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at the UN conference on racism in Geneva last week was reminiscent of the way the world treated Nazi Germany in the...

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, jazz musician and Web designer Charles Johnson has devoted his blog, Little Green Footballs, to exposing Muslim extremism in and outside the United States. His targets have included the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filmmaker Michael Moore, Reuters, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Dan Rather, and the late pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie — who some LGF commenters (not Johnson) call “St. Pancake,” a tribute to the Israeli steamroller that killed her. LGF helped write the lexicon of the self-styled “anti-Jihadist” blogosphere — from “moonbat” (”an unthinking or insane leftist”) to “anti-idiotarian” (”anyone who grasps...

CRUCIFIXES, Bibles and all other Christian symbols have been banned from a hospital's chapel when it is not being used for a church service. The Mosman Daily has learnt that Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney has bes been ordered to remove Christian content by New South Wales bureaucrats to avoid offending Muslims, Hindus or other non-Christian believers who may want to pray in the chapel. Hospital staff say that while the chapel was built for Christians, they now want the chapel to be completely non-denominational. An inspection of the chapel last week by the Daily found no trace of...

The problem of children's indoctrination, however, is not merely a British problem, such practices to some degree or another are slowly being introduced throughout Europe and in the US, (aside from that .pdf document in the last link, you can also see a different report here) in the interest of multiculturalism Islamic indoctrination. Over at Islam in Europe, you can watch a BBC show on Islamic extremists in Britain, other videos give a far, far, worse picture of the stark new reality... Lest you think that whatever may be happening over in the UK and elsewhere in Europe is merely...

The Church of England announced Monday it had withdrawn its investments in a controversial company over the weekend following a threat by a group of vicars to publish a letter denouncing the Church's investment, but denied there were any political or ethical consideration in what it called an economically informed decision. The Church of England said Monday that it withdrew £2.2 million ($3.3 million) from Caterpillar Inc. in late December 2008 because of economic considerations. Israel used bulldozers bought from the U.S.-based manufacturer of construction and mining equipment to demolish Palestinian homes. " The Church of England withdrew shares it...

Note: Video included. January 21, 2009 For hate speech -- after declining to do so last year, which means that Islamic supremacist groups in the Netherlands have kept up the pressure on lawmakers until they got the outcome they wanted. Hate speech, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and hate speech laws are tools in the hands of the powerful that they can use to silence the powerless and crush dissent. And make no mistake: even though the Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the West present themselves as embattled victims of racism and "Islamophobia," that...

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Yusuf, formerly known as Cat Stevens, will follow up 2006's "An Other Cup," his first secular album in 28 years, with a set that recalls his straightforward troubadour days. (snip) The single "Boots & Sand" features Paul McCartney and Dolly Parton -- with a video shot by Jesse Dylan, son of Bob -- while Michelle Branch and Gunnar Nelson assist on the track "To Be What You Must."

German Police Removed Israeli Flag 'To Calm' Muslims by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu A German youth said police broke into his and his girl friend's apartment to remove a Jewish flag in order to calm screaming Muslim protesters. "Today, 10,000 people demonstrated against Israel here in my hometown of Duisburg and to express their solidarity with Hamas," said the writer in his report, originally posted on the Muqata blog site. He said he and his friend responded by placing two large Israel flags in the windows of their third floor apartment. "During the demonstration, which went through our street, the police...

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, December 30, 2008 “I have not seen such hatred in this country since Selma. That was when I really just shuddered and thought–they (the pro-Hamas-niks) are taking away our country.” (See below for her report, just in). FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA. December 30, 2008 “This is not Gaza, or London, or Paris, or even Detroit. This is downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.” Tom Trento is describing the intense demonstration against Israel that just took place. He made the video by quietly and bravely circulating among the pro-Palestine demonstrators so that we can easily hear their chants. At red-hot levels...

Christian leader urges Islamic control of Temple Mount Claims his community 'belongs to the Palestinian national cause'JERUSALEM – A top Christian Palestinian leader here yesterday urged Islamic control of the Temple Mount while claiming Israel was threatening the site's famous Al Aqsa Mosque. "Regarding threats against the Al Aqsa Mosque from fanatic Jews, what is threatening you is threatening Christians. One who is attacking you is attacking Christians. We are one family and one people, and we belong to the Palestinian national cause," said Attallah Hanna, archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Church...

At a recent writers conference in Southern California, one of my colleagues on a screenwriters panel told the crowd of about 50 people that she hoped Barack Obama would win the presidency. A number of people applauded. When it was my turn to speak, I politely said that I disagreed with her politics and moved on to other topics. There was no applause for me, but several writers approached me afterward. Each dropped his voice to a whisper and, looking around to make sure no one would overhear, said, "Thank you for saying that." Which raises a question for all...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch political cartoonist was arrested this week on suspicion of insulting people because of their race or religion through his work, authorities said Friday. The cartoonist, who works under the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of violating hate speech laws and held overnight before being released, a spokeswoman for his publisher Uitgeverij Xtra said. "He was arrested with a great show of force, by around 10 policemen," the spokeswoman said.

Bardot’s “crimes,” such as they are, are straightforward: She has committed the sin of speaking frankly and unapologetically about her country’s hostile Muslim immigrant population and – what is evidently worse – questioning the compatibility of some Muslim religious practices with Western society. Common sense, one might think, or least subjects fit for fruitful debate. Her mistake was in thinking that she had the freedom to say so. But as France struggles to control a large (Muslims make up nearly ten percent of the country) and increasingly radicalized Muslim population critics of Islamism are finding themselves more actively persecuted by...

PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts." Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim...

BAGHDAD, (AP) -- The U.S. military says it will release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after more than two years in custody. The statement said Hussein will be freed Wednesday now that Iraqi judicial committees have granted him amnesty for all allegations. Hussein has been in custody since April 12, 2006 when he was detained by U.S. Marines for alleged links to insurgents.

Prominent writers, members of progressive American organizations known for their heavy criticism of Israel will tour the country, meet with top officials. 'We want to provide them with an eye-opening experience that will help them better understand the complexity of the Arab-Israeli conflict,' says trip organizer Ira Forman WASHINGTON – A group of influential bloggers from the left of the US Democratic party's spectrum will land in Israel on Thursday for a six-day visit. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has long since been exerting considerable efforts to bring the prominent writers for an extensive tour of the country, in recognizing the...

Was Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King on the mark last week when he asserted Islamic terrorists would rejoice if Sen. Barack Obama becomes the next U.S. president? As a journalist and author who has conducted dozens of on-the-record interviews with Muslim terrorists, including with some of the most notorious Palestinian terror leaders, and who has documented many of those interviews in a recently released, 210-page book, "Schmoozing with Terrorists," I can answer the above question with a resounding "yes." Terrorists worldwide would indeed be emboldened by an Obama election victory not so much because of the senator's middle name –...

The FBI believes its agents still aren't sensitive enough to Muslims and their culture, so the bureau has extended by "a few weeks" its Islamic cultural "enrichment" training program, WND has learned. During a recent outreach event at a Washington-area mosque, FBI officials also reassured a large turnout of concerned Muslims that the bureau is not profiling Arabs and Muslims for terrorism, and has made investigating alleged "hate crimes" against them and other minorities "the second-highest priority in the criminal division of the FBI." Among the officials who attended the Feb. 8 "town hall meeting" at the large ADAMS Center...

BRUSSELS — Dutch anti-Koran film "Fitna" seems unlikely to air on domestic TV, with broadcasters lining up to say they will not take it. None are ready to accept demands by Geert Wilders, the politician behind the 15-minute film, that it should air complete and unedited. The latest rejections were reported Thursday in Dutch daily De Volkskrant. The Netwerk and Nova news programs, on pubcaster Nederland 2, have both been talking to Wilders but now say his demands are "bizarre" and unacceptable. Commercial broadcasters SBS and RTL are also reported to have rejected the film. If no broadcaster picks up...

"Has there ever been a more repugnant example of political pandering than John McCain’s decision to vote against a bill banning waterboarding, putting hoods on prisoners, forcing them to perform sex acts, subjecting them to mock executions, or depriving them of food, water, and medical treatment? That’s right, John McCain, the former POW who has long been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s disturbing embrace of extreme interrogation techniques. But that was before his desperate attempt to win over the lunatic fringe that is running the Grand Old Party. Earlier this week, I showed how outdated the image of...

Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity. The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation. "The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin...

Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners. A Muslim man with four spouses - which is permitted under Islamic law - could receive £10,000 a year in income support alone. He could also be entitled to more generous housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a bigger property. Ministers have decided that, even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, polygamous marriages can be recognised formally by the state - provided they took place overseas, in countries where they are legal. The...

IIn the movie “Die Hard 2,” a terrorist is laying out his nefarious plans to the air-traffic control chief — played by one Sen. Fred Thompson — at Dulles International Airport. “Dammit, you can't do this!” an aghast Thompson tells the terrorist character. “I am doing this!” snarls the terrorist. With similar melodramatic aplomb, the Iranians played a potentially deadly game of chicken just as all eyes were fixated on Thompson and the rest of the New Hampshire hopefuls. As Iranian speedboats confronted U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, a radio transmission intoned in the speaker's best Darth Vader English,...

What the hell is going on here? Are are these models wearing the trendiest new berka ...are they supposed to look like Osama?

JIMMY CARTER THE CRIMINAL   Jimmy Carter - infamous worst ex US president that is largely at fault for the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran (by putting extra pressure on the Shah), ultimately resulting in 1) Islamic Republic of Iran's oppression of millions of Persians, and 2) the planet in peril at the hands of that nation's mullahs' nukes.   Jimmy Carter has his hands blooded in every single violent action being perpetrated by that Islamic republic on a daily basis since 1979, including the crimes against humanity like the massacres in the 1980's, the terrible persecution on minorities such as:...

Quiz yourself on the Israeli Arab ["Palestinian"] conflict       1) When was the Arab immigration to [the historic Jewish land of] Israel -"Palestine" boosted?   A When they wanted to see Jewish holy sites. B When [anti French and anti British] Arab nationalism spread across the middle east. C When the Zionists Jews came and cultivated the deserted land.     2) What's [Arab "Palestinian" highest "national" icon] Yasser Arafat's country of origin?   A Israel ["Palestine"]. B Jordan. C Egypt.     3) Why were there --initially-- more Arab immigrants ["residents"] than Jewish immigrants (Arab majority)?   A Because...

OVERWORKED nurses have been ordered to stop all medical work five times every day to move Muslim patients’ beds so they face towards Mecca.The lengthy procedure, which also includes providing fresh bathing water, is creating turmoil among overstretched staff on bustling NHS wards.But despite the havoc, Mid- Yorkshire NHS Trust says the rule must be instigated whenever possible to ensure Muslim patients have “a more comfortable stay in hospital"And a taxpayer-funded training programme for several hundred hospital staff has begun to ensure that all are familiar with the workings of the Muslim faith.The scheme is initially being run at Dewsbury...

I began by asking myself the question linked inevitably to the survival of the United States as a trusted nation in the 21st century: Why can't America admit defeat? What is it in the American psyche that seems to dictate the necessity to be proven not only right, but superior in dealings with the outside world? I have lived the better part of 40 years in Japan, a country whose nationalistic ardor and patriotic zeal once easily matched that of the U.S. If the Japanese government has not sufficiently apologized for the utter brutality their nation inflicted in Asia and...

Bucharest and Brussels, 16 Nov. (AKI) - Romania, one two countries accused by Europe's top human rights watchdog of hosting secret CIA jails used to interrogate Islamist terrorism suspects, says it has written to the European Union executive denying the charges. The letter to the European Commission is a response to a request from EU justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini asking Romania and Poland - the other country implicated by the Council of Europe - for an explanation. A Romanian spokeswoman in Brussels, Doris Mircea, said that a committee of inquiry set up by the government concluded that the...

If violence is decreasing in Iraq, it may be because insurgents “are running out of people to kill,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said Monday. “There are fewer targets of opportunity,” Obey said in a speech to the National Press Club. Obey was responding to a question about reports touted by Republicans that security is improving in Iraq and that President Bush’s “surge” strategy is working. He stressed that military success has not led to political reconciliation. “The issue has never been military,” Obey said. “The issue has always been political improvement.” As the House’s top appropriator, Obey...

Europe’s no-go zones or SUAs (“sensitive urban areas”) are multiplying. These are areas where the police no longer dares to venture and where Islamists hold sway. Every night since the beginning of last week, immigrant youths have been torching cars and clashing with police in Amsterdam’s Slotervaart district. The incidents started on Oct. 14 when a policewoman shot dead Bilal Bajaka, a 22-year old ethnic Moroccan, whilst he was stabbing her and a colleague with a knife. The officers were stabbed in the breast, face, neck and back. Surgeons could only narrowly save their lives. Since the incident, Slotervaart has...

Why should American Muslims vote for Ron Paul? How will he help the Ummah? How YOU can HELP Palestine and END American Sponsored Oppression Assalaamu Alaikum Brothers and Sisters, You can help by sharing and sending this note to all the Muslims you know as well as by registering as a Republican and voting for Ron Paul in the Republican primaries in your state. Here’s why: Muslims have an unique window of opportunity for the 2008 election. There is a candidate running as a Republican that would work to completely cut off the funding to Israel, remove ALL US troops...

World religious leaders should establish close relations since they all advocate global peace, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi says. "Religious leaders can relieve humanity's suffering as they all support a world without war and immorality," Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi told Washington Bishop John Bryson Chane and his delegation in the Iranian city of Qom on Wednesday. Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi said religious leaders can pave the way for religions to converge and play a more significant role in the restoration of global peace through interacting with each other. “Iranian Muslims have peacefully coexisted with Christians and followers of other religions for years,” he stated. “They are...

A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release. Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to...

Dozens turn out in Oak Lawn to hear debate over religion: Dozens of parents said at an Oak Lawn school board meeting Tuesday night that while they're happy to have a student body of varying religions, they want to keep celebrating what they say are traditional American holidays and customs. That doesn't mean they aren't open to observing other religions' holidays, the parents told the Ridgeland School District 122 board, which was looking at its policies concerning religious teachings and observances. At issue is whether Christian holidays, such as Christmas, should be celebrated now that Muslim children make up about...

Our elected officials in the House of Representatives are voting on an important resolution today. H. RES. 635 Recognizing the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, and commending Muslims in the United States and throughout the world for their faith. Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. MEEKS of New York, and Mr. ELLISON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs...

Navy imam Chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam lifted his voice to God as he called to prayer more than 100 Department of Defense employees Monday at a celebration of Ramadan at the Pentagon....Uniformed military personnel, civilians and family members faced Mecca and knelt on adorned prayer rugs chanting their prayers in quiet invocation to Allah. “We do all we can to help meet the religious needs of our soldiers,” said Deputy Pentagon Chaplain Army Maj. Alan Pomaville, a Christian, who attended the iftar alongside the Muslim chaplains... As the Pentagon celebrated Ramadan, the White House is in preparations for an iftar...

As more than a dozen universities and colleges across the country have done, the school is looking to install foot baths for ritualistic cleansing in a new Islamic center proposed for its more-than-1,500 Muslim students. While a home for the center has yet to be secured, NYU is in talks with the Archdiocese of New York about buying its building at 238 Thompson St., where the student Catholic and Islamic centers are currently housed. In a bathroom there by the Muslim prayer room - as well as in more-visible university bathrooms - Muslim students wash before each of five daily...

The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel — with names carefully written out at all the place settings around a rectangular table. There are about 50 of us, academics and journalists mostly. There's Brian Williams across the room, and Christiane Amanpour a few seats down. And at a little after 8pm, on a day when he has already addressed the U.N., the evening after his confrontation at Columbia, a...

A backlash against the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, who on Monday delivered a harsh rebuke to President Ahmadinejad, is coming from faculty members and students who said he struck an "insulting tone" and that his remarks amounted to "schoolyard taunts." The fierceness of Mr. Bollinger's critique bought the Iranian some sympathy on campus that he didn't deserve, the critics said, and amounted to a squandered opportunity to provide a lesson in diplomacy. Mr. Bollinger opened a two-hour program during which the Iranian president spoke and answered questions at the Roone Arledge Auditorium in Morningside Heights by calling Mr....

Jewish Action Alliance For Immediate Release Contact: Beth Gilinsky (212) 726-1124 Jewish Action Alliance President Calls for Alumni Revolt Against Bollinger: "Columbia Has Left the Ivy League and Joined the Slimy League" JAA Repudiates Hillary Clinton's Mealy-Mouthed Response to Columbia's Invitation to Ahmadinejad Invitation New York, September 24, 2007 -- Jewish Action Alliance President Beth Gilinsky, an alumna of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, today called on Columbia University's President Lee Bollinger to resign and said she would organize an Alumni Revolt against the university. "Today Columbia departed from the Ivy League, and joined the Slimy League...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a flinty populist in a zip-up jacket whose scathing rhetoric and defiance of Washington are often caricatured in the Western media, has transcended national and religious divides to become a folk hero across the Middle East. The diminutive, at times inscrutable, president is a wellspring of stinging sound-bites and swagger for Muslims who complain that their leaders are too beholden to or frightened of the Bush administration. Ahmadinejad, who arrived in New York Sunday ahead of a U.N. General Assembly meeting, is an easily marketable commodity:a streetwise politician with nuclear ambitions and an open microphone. "I...