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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report. The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, leaving a crater (now the world's largest volcanic lake) that is 100 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide. Ash from the event has been found in India, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. The bright ash reflected sunlight off the landscape, and volcanic sulfur...

What was expected to be a boring congressional hearing erupted into high drama yesterday as an unnerved Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sparred with frustrated lawmakers calling for his head over his handling of the economy. Clearly rattled by a fusillade of attacks from Republican members of the Joint Economic Committee, the usually reserved Geithner lashed out, laying blame for the current economic mess at the feet of the GOP and rejecting suggestions that he resign. Republicans "gave this president an economy falling off the cliff," Geithner fired back at Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), one of the Treasury secretary's harshest critics...

WASHINGTON PROWLER SPECULATES THAT OBAMA IS RUNNING SCARED by John Charlton (Nov. 17, 2009) — Yesterday, The Post & Email reported that Mr. Paul Tsukiyama, Director of the Office of Information Practices — the very office overseeing public complaints regarding the Hawaii Department of Health’s refusal to release public documents or information regarding Obama’s alleged vital records kept by that department — resigned quietly on Nov. 6th, and that no one knew where he went. Yesterday, The American Spectator also spoke about resignations, and speculated about their motives, but these regarding a place on the opposite site of the country:...

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the crucial years Barack Obama spent growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 1967 to 1971, ages 6 to 10 in his life. These formative years, when a child first spends significant time in the wider world beyond his family environment, must have taught him many lessons about America, some of them very unpleasant, given the particular situation of his family. It would have been brutally difficult for any child, including young Barry Soetoro as he was then known, to have been uprooted from Honolulu, where his mother raised him as a single mom...

During his testimony today, two Republican Congressmen urged Tim Geithner to resign, or said he should be fired. The commentariat seemed shocked that something like this would come up during an official Congressional hearing. And yet, now they're discussing it on CNBC, as a serious question, which is exactly what the Congressmen hoped. It's like when that one Congressman screamed "you lie" during Obama's speech about healthcare. Everyone was scandalized, but it accomplished the goal of getting people to talk about whether or not illegal immigrants would be covered by new healthcare reforms (which is what the shout was in...

Indonesia: Police Evict Students On Oct.27, The Voice of the Martyrs contacts reported nearly 1,000 Arastamar Bible school students face eviction from a West Jarkata Mayors office building where they were living temporarily, in Indonesia. The day before the High Court of West Jakarta’s eviction notice, local government authorities cut off electricity and water to the site and this led to the student demonstrations. “That day … a thousand students were demonstrating outside of the building and making [a barricade with their bodies] to prevent the police troops, local government security troops, and High Court officials from going into the...

TOKYO – President Barack Obama says he wants to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki sometime during his presidency but won't have time during this week's trip to Japan to go to the cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs at the end of World War II. No sitting U.S. president has visited the two cities largely because of the controversy it could raise at home. In an interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK that ran Tuesday, Obama said he would be unable to visit the cities on his trip to Japan this weekend due to time constraints but would be willing to do...

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Late last week, Democratic-leaning pollster Stan Greenberg released a focus group study showing that conservative GOP base voters live in an alternative universe of their own political paranoia. In this world, President Obama is ruthlessly advancing a secret agenda to ruin -- yes, ruin -- the economy so he can impose socialism upon the United States and destroy the core civil liberties of American democracy. And in this covert crusade, Obama is no more than a frontman for unseen interests aiming to annihilate the United States. This dark view was propounded by die-hard right-wingers -- older, white Republican-base voters --...

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is expected to discuss Australia's policy on asylum seekers with Indonesian officials when he visits Jakarta on Tuesday. Mr Rudd is making the trip to attend the inauguration of the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The Opposition has criticised Mr Rudd's decision to ask Indonesian authorities to stop a boatload of Sri Lankans reaching Australia last week. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told Channel Nine that Australia and Indonesia are cooperating well on people smuggling. "I don't want to give the impression that somehow nothing is happening now. "There is very close cooperation with Indonesia...

Illinois Army National Guard Maj. L. Tammy Duckworth sat in a wheelchair at the paper-strewn kitchen table in her suburban Chicago home doing what she seems to do better than most mortals: focusing totally on the task at hand. She worked the phones for hours Wednesday as part of her effort to get herself elected to Congress — reaching out to dozens of mayors, union officials and everyday voters. Somehow, she's able to stay focused and find humor simultaneously. She has a knack for instantly putting people at ease with what some call her disability — the fact that she...

MORE than 260 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers were last night threatening to blow up their boat if the Indonesian navy forced them to disembark at the port in Merak after the large cargo boat they were piloting towards Christmas Island broke down. "We have gas canisters and we have told the navy we will blow up the boat and jump into the ocean if they try to force us off the boat," said a spokesman for the asylum-seekers, who would only give his name as Alex. Alex said the Sri Lankans had each paid $US15,000 ($16,533) to board the wooden craft...

Islamic Groups Shut Down Worship of Church in Indonesia The Rev. Bedali Hulu (photo: Compass) Under pressure from Islamists, local officials order halt to services in home. JAKARTA, Indonesia, October 5 (CDN) — Several Islamic organizations have pressed officials in a sub-district near Indonesia’s capital city to forbid Jakarta Christian Baptist Church to worship in a house, resulting in an order to cease services. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the Betawi Forum Group, and political party Hizbut Tahrir have told officials in Sepatan sub-district, Tangerang district, near Jakarta that worship activities cannot be conducted in a residence. The house belongs...

In an authoritative essay published in The Wall Street Journal, Abdurrahman Wahid, the first president of newly democratic Indonesia from 1999 to 2001, described what constitutes "right Islam" as distinct from "wrong Islam." He warned people of good will to recognize that "a terrible danger threatens humanity." This peril, Wahid wrote, emanates from an "extreme and perverse ideology in the minds of fanatics," specifically "Wahhabi/Salafist ideology -- a minority fundamentalist religious cult fueled by [Saudi] petrodollars." The importance of this essay, and the warning in it, comes from the prestige of the author. Abdurrahman Wahid is an Islamic scholar who...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2009 – As the U.S. military continues to provide assistance to victims of storms and earthquakes in the Philippines and Indonesia, tsunami relief operations in American Samoa are tapering off, a Defense Department spokesman said here today. The humanitarian-relief operation in American Samoa “is essentially winding down,” Bryan Whitman told reporters. The U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean was hit by an earthquake-caused tsunami Sept. 29. Eleven C-17 cargo-plane missions provided nearly 700,000 pounds of supplies, blankets, electricity generators, vehicles and other help to American Samoans, Whitman said. A 14-member civil-support team from the Hawaii National Guard...

Village Deaths To Increase Indonesia Quake Toll 400 at wedding party feared dead in mudslides in rural area Rescue workers remove debris as they attempt to locate victims inside the collapsed Ambacang Hotel on Saturday. Survivors buried under the hotel sent a cell-phone text message to a relative saying he and some others were alive. But, disappointed rescue workers were unable to locate anyone. PADANG, Indonesia - The death toll from Indonesia's massive earthquake will likely double as officials on Saturday reached rural communities wiped out by landslides that buried more than 600 people under mountains of mud, most of...

Thousands of people may have died in remote village areas when a powerful earthquake struck Sumatra last week, emergency workers and officials fear. Some villages were completely destroyed in landslides, with access roads torn apart by the quake preventing medical teams reaching the injured. Aid is now arriving in Indonesia, but hopes are fading of finding survivors in the worst-hit city of Padang. More than 1,000 people have died in the city. About 3,000 others are missing. Australian, British, Japanese and South Korean rescuers have arrived in Indonesia and the EU and Russia are also sending help. The 7.6-magnitude quake...

Oct 3, 2009 JAKARTA - A CLOSE aide of slain Malaysian terror leader Noordin Mohammed Top has handed himself in to Indonesian authorities, police said Saturday. National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said in a text message Aris Ma'ruf, 23, surrendered to police in the Central Java district of Temanggung late Friday after months on the run. 'After interrogation, he was brought to the Central Java police headquarters to be handed over to the Central Java head of Special Detachment 88,' he said, referring to Indonesia's crack US and Australia-backed anti-terror squad.

At least 529 people have been killed from a powerful quake on Indonesia's Sumatra island and the country's health minister said he fears the death toll could reach thousands. Meanwhile, a second powerful quake rocked the Southeast Island nation just as rescue efforts were underway for those trapped under collapsed buildings. The 6.8 magnitude tremor struck Wednesday about 180 miles from the epicenter of the earlier 7.6 magnitude quake just off the coast of regional capital Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey said. At least 376 people have been killed and 500 buildings destroyed in Padang, a city of 900,000,...

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JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island Wednesday afternoon, killing at least 100 people and trapping thousands of people beneath flattened buildings. A complete death toll wasn't possible in the immediate aftermath but Indonesian officials indicated the toll could rise significantly. Podcast from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. More Back-to-Back Temblors Were Unusual The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and hit offshore 30 miles from Padang, a city of about 750,000 on Sumatra's western coast. The quake was felt as far as Bangkok, about 1,000 miles...

AFTER five years of arguments over the so-called hobbits, the University of New England paleoanthropologist who formally described the tiny new hominin species from the Indonesian island of Flores is facing another wave of controversy. This time, Peter Brown could raise the ire of some of the scientists who supported him in an academic debate that degenerated into an international scandal. Brown, who initially placed the species in the human genus Homo and named it Homo floresiensis, is considering stripping the hobbits of their human status. More remains have been found, and the species is now represented by six to...

TerriK INVESTIGATION, PART 2: OIP Staff Attorney Linden Joesting’s Response to TerriK’s Appeal Appears To Confirm That The DoH Maintains Amended Vital Records For President Obama. The UIPA at 92F-3 explicitly defines “government records” as follows:“Government record” means information maintained by an agency in written, auditory, visual, electronic, or other physical form. When a state agency in Hawaii is faced with a request for government records, the Office of Information Practices Administrative Rules govern all responses to such a request.  State agencies may not issue a response which doesn’t conform to the OIP Administrative Rules.Agencies must answer every request for government...

Boy Becomes Heaviest Newborn in Country's History; Mom and Baby in Good Health, Dad Says Indonesia's heaviest-ever newborn drew curious crowds Friday to a hospital where the boy named Akbar - or the Great in Arabic - came into the world at a record 19.2 pounds. Akbar Risuddin was born to a diabetic mother in a 40-minute cesarean delivery that was complicated because of his unusual weight and size, Dr. Binsar Sitanggang said. "I'm very happy that my baby and his mother are in good health," father Muhammad Hasanuddin said Friday. "I hope I can afford to feed the baby...

...Can we all agree, or mostly agree, that the full-blown birthers are nuts? They aren’t conservative, they aren’t Republican, and they don’t tell us anything about conservatives or Republicans in general. They’re just nuts, but they’re nuts in a very special, entertaining and almost endearing way...

Indonesia Left to Right: Lolo Soetoro, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, baby Maya Soetoro, and 9 year old Barry Soetoro This registration document, made available on Jan. 24, 2007, by the Fransiskus Assisi school in Jakarta, Indonesia, shows the registration of Barack Obama under the name Barry Soetoro made by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. Name: Barry Soetoro Religion: ..... Islam Nationality: ..... Indonesian How did little INDONESIAN, Barry Soetoro, (A.K.A. Barack Obama) get around the issue of nationality to become president? Someone who tells lies is a L __ __ r?

Dwarfing the infant next to him, his mouth open in an angry roar, this is the heaviest newborn ever recorded in Indonesia. An Indonesian woman named only as Ani gave birth to the 19.2lb baby boy in Medan, North Sumatra yesterday. She named him Muhammad Akbar Risuddin after the local district chief. 'Akbar' means 'big' in Indonesian. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he was delivered by Caesarean section. Britain's heaviest newborn was delivered in Cumbria in 1992 weighing 15lb 8oz. The heaviest baby ever born was produced by Anna Bates of Canada in 1879, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It...

The people-smuggling masterminds behind the upsurge in illegal boat arrivals to Australia often carry out their illicit activities unchecked because of loopholes in Indonesia's criminal code, experts say. Few high-level people-smugglers are arrested on Indonesian soil and fewer still ever face an Australian courtroom, with the majority of prosecutions over here netting poor Indonesian villagers enlisted only to crew refugee boats into Australian waters, sometimes for as little as $50. The federal government recently pledged $654 million over the next six years to combat the rise in maritime people smuggling and improve border protection, with $48 million going to the...

Indonesian authorities are celebrating the death of terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top, who was killed in a police raid in Java yesterday. Police have also found what they claim is evidence showing Top was Al Qaeda's leader in South-East Asia. But analysts say Indonesia's terrorist network could quickly recover from his death. Police were not specifically looking for Top when they swooped on a property in Solo in central Java, but after avoiding police for years, the infamous terrorist leader's luck had finally run out. Top was one of four men shot dead by the special anti-terrorist police detachment, 88,...

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java, police said on Thursday, lifting a major security threat ahead of a planned visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. Malaysian-born Noordin Mohammad Top, who set up a violent splinter group of regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah, was widely considered the mastermind of the bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta in July, as well as other attacks in Bali and in Jakarta which killed scores of Westerners and Indonesians. National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri announced Top's death at a news conference,...

SOLO, Indonesia — Police hunting for suspects in Jakarta hotel bombings raided a hide-out in central Indonesia, sparking gunfire and an explosion Thursday that left four suspected militants dead, officials said. Three alleged terrorists also were captured. A counterterrorism official said the dead included alleged bomb-maker Bagus Budi Pranato. The captured militants included a pregnant woman who was being treated at a hospital, national police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said. Police tracked the seven suspects to the town of Solo in Central Java and besieged a village house on the outskirts overnight. The raid ended near daybreak when an explosion was...

An explosion and gunfire rocked a besieged village house in Solo, Central Java where counterterrorism forces hunted Thursday for suspects in twin suicide bombings in the capital in July, witnesses and officials said. Police cordoned off a neighborhood late Wednesday in a suburb of Solo, a stronghold for hardline Islamist groups, and shots rang out through the night, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. An explosion went off around daybreak Thursday and an ambulance was seen driving away. Police had said a special forces operation was unfolding, but declined to give details. They could not be reached to...

Its Spoken Language Fading, Buton Tries a Script From Seoul That Has Global Ambitions SORAWOLIO, Indonesia -- In an elementary school here on the remote Indonesian island of Buton, a teacher named Abidin recently began to show students how to write their endangered native language -- in the Korean alphabet. Mr. Abidin carefully copied some Korean letters from a textbook onto the blackboard and asked his fourth-grade class what they spelled in their Cia-Cia tongue, a Malayo-Polynesian language related to others spoken across Indonesia. "I eat fish," they replied in unison. The students know little about Korea, 3,500 miles north...

Indonesian officials believe a new probe into the deaths of the Balibo Five could damage relations between the archipelago nation and Australia. It was announced yesterday that Australian Federal Police would launch a war crimes investigation into the 1975 killing of five Australian-based newsmen at Balibo in East Timor. Television journalists Greg Shackleton and Malcolm Rennie, cameramen Gary Cunningham and Brian Peters and sound recordist Tony Stewart died in October 1975 after trying to film Indonesian troops as they invaded the former Portuguese colony. Robert Connolly's film Balibo released last month, reignited community passion about the tragic episode. The families...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The White House released the following excerpts from President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress later on Wednesday. "I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his...

"I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all ***the American kids*** went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning."

A documentary on US President Barack Obama’s late mother Stanley Ann Dunham will soon be made. The documentary titled Stanley Ann Dunham: A Most Generous Spirit, will look into her work in microfinance. It will focus on her decision to send her 10-year-old son from Indonesia to live in Hawaii with her parents out of fear that her politically sensitive work might endanger his life. Aloe Entertainment will produce the film, while the company topper Mary Aloe will exec produce. "According to Barack Obama himself, his mother was his single biggest influence in his life," Variety quoted Aloe as saying....

As of today, September 4, 2009, this Affidavit has been filed with the United States District Court in Southern California ~ represented by Orly Taitz. This is a legal affidavit that declares Lucas Smith to be of sound mind and judgement. Lucas can go to jail if he lied on this affidavit. The document (Certified COPY of Obama Kenyan Birth Certificate) you see here, once it is validated by the court, is pretty much the proverbial “smoking gun.”

Video at the Website:**************************************** Rescuers search through rubble to look for survivors Rescuers in Indonesia are searching the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors after a powerful earthquake, with the toll expected to rise.At least 57 people are confirmed dead and thousands of homes ruined after the 7.0-magnitude quake hit on Wednesday. More than 100 people are in hospital and dozens are still missing. Damaged roads and poor weather are hampering efforts to get heavy rescue equipment to the worst-hit areas in the West Javan district of Cianjur. At least 40 people remained missing in the village of Cikangkareng after...

Pelosi signed two Official Certifications of Nomination for Obama and Biden at the DNC Convention last August. Read the language carefully and note the difference between them: SECOND ONE (WITHOUT ANY REFERENCE TO THE CONSTITUTION) WHY WAS THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENCE REMOVED ? Fred Nerks SAYS: "Just thinking out aloud here, see what you think": Every copy I have seen online of an Hawaii CoLB has shown the place of birth as Oahu, County Honolulu. Isn’t that a little odd? Surely one or two should be from another island or another county? Makes me think that ALL Certifications of Live Birth,...

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Six people were killed in Indonesia after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday, officials said. The quake was initially categorized as magnitude 7.4 before being downgraded to 7.0 by geological officials. No details were immediately available about the deaths. At least 18 other people were injured around the capital, Jakarta, said Rustam Pakaya, a health ministry spokesman. A tsunami watch went into effect and quickly expired, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. It struck about 2:55 p.m. (3:55 a.m. ET) and was centered 242 km (150 miles) from Jakarta, according the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake...

Here is a video report on a strong earthquake that has hit Indoensia's main island of Java. Reports indicate at least 13 people are known dead, with the death toll expected to rise as more information is known from outlying areas of West Java. Java is one of the most densely populated places in the world: Thirteen people were killed in Indonesia after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday, officials said. The quake was initially categorized as magnitude 7.4 before being downgraded to 7.0 by geological officials. The 13 were killed in different cities in West Java province on the Indonesian...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A Lubbock woman is suing President Obama. Dr. Penny Kelso of Lubbock and other members of the Tatriot's Heart Media Group claim that Obama's real name is Barry Soetoro. They claim he is an Indonesian citizen and therefore not entitled to be President. Dr. Kelso has not returned a call from NewsChannel 11. Meanwhile, the local chairwoman of the Democratic Party says the lawsuit lacks merit. "The birth certificate is signed, sealed, and delivered. And there's simply no debate. But there is a sense of real desperation on the part of the extreme conservative fringe of...

"But didn‘t Hillary dump on Obama a few days ago for playing up his Indonesian roots? So, what is she up to here? Is she pushing how great he is for having been born in Indonesia, or what, or simply reminding everybody about his background, his Islamic background?"

26 August 2009 INDONESIAN BOMBING SUSPECT A JIHAD MAGAZINE PUBLISHER AND WEBMASTER As of today he's in the custody of Detachment 88. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. First the news reports: • Preacher's son arrested: Mohammad Jibril runs his father's company, Ar-rahmah Media, which publishes religious books and JihadMagz, a glossy 148-page magazine devoted to Islamic fighters and wars across the world. He also set up the militant website, arrahmah.com, which posts news in Bahasa Indonesia and English on the Islamic struggle to preserve and spread their religion.

BORN IN THE USA? eBay seller releases video of 'Obama birth certificate' Elusive Lucas Smith films alleged Kenyan document -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: August 22, 2009 4:19 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily Screen shot of whole document from Lucas Smith's video; close-up views available in clip below A man who had claimed to have a copy of President Obama's Kenyan birth certificate, attempted to sell it on eBay and then disappeared from contact has reappeared, this time with a video of the document he claims proves Obama's foreign birth. As WND reported, Lucas Smith, a former resident of Cedar...

Discovery hearing re. Obama’s Kenyan BC, request for depositions of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates scheduled for September 8th, 8am.

At the start of the year, Democrats were convinced they’d finally cracked the code. They’d spent years testing and refining their message on health care reform. They had a popular president to push the effort, and Democratic majorities in Congress to support it. The public seemed receptive to big changes. Eight months later, the effort is in serious trouble. The White House is almost back to Square One, struggling to break through with a message that has undergone several major course-corrections and on the defensive against wild charges that caught Democrats off-guard. What went wrong? Bearing the brunt of some...

Good question. If you accepted the formulation made by Kathleen Parker, stalwart and standard-bearing conservative, you’d think he was a “pragmatist” in “socialist times” — a smooth operator beholden to none, acting decisively and in accordance with what the “times” demand. Namely, socialism. How’s that pragmatic socialist thing working out for the Left? Well, let’s just say that being mentioned in the same breath as Dick Cheney isn’t quite the change BO would be looking for. Enter Greg Palast, who — after lambasting Obama for striking a secret deal with pharmaceutical companies that would, by his calculations, save a whopping...

For all those who are embarrassed by the birther issue, know this: We are just taking a page from hero of the Left, Saul Alinsky's, book 'Rules For Radicals.' Rule #8: Attack, attack, attack on multiple fronts, and never let up. They made the rules. We're just following them. We can beat them at their own game, or we can lose. That's the choice.