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A Congressional Research Service report commissioned by the House Judiciary Committee says ACORN hasn’t violated any federal regulations the past five years. The report, released by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers’s (D-Mich.) staff Tuesday evening, also reports that the undercover filmmakers that allegedly caught employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now breaking the law may have violated state law in their filming operation.

A Congressional Research Service report commissioned by the House Judiciary Committee says ACORN hasn't violated any federal regulations the past five years. The report, released by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers's, D-Mich., staff Tuesday evening, also reports that the undercover filmmakers that allegedly caught employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now breaking the law may have violated state law in their filming operation.

The newly released "independent" review of the ACORN undercover prostitution video saga is a breathtakingly audacious work of fiction. There is hardly a word of truth to be found anywhere in the document's 47 pages. The report unveiled yesterday by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger is an all-you-can-eat buffet of lies and distortions that faults ACORN only for poor management practices. No wonder those who organized the news teleconference yesterday kept the event so brief. The call lasted just 36 minutes, an amazingly brief period considering the level of public interest in ACORN's ongoing scandals and the complexity of...

Global Warming Report Finds Time Running Out26 Scientists Say Assessment Gives World Leaders Solid Data for Climate Summit By BILL BLAKEMORE Nov. 24, 2009 There's even less time for humanity to try to curb global warming than recently thought, according to a new in-depth scientific assessment by 26 scientists from eight countries. Sea level rise, ocean acidification and the rapid melting of massive ice sheets are among the significantly increased effects of human-induced global warming assessed in the survey, which also examines the emissions of heat-trapping gases that are causing the climate change. "Many indicators are currently tracking near or...

The government’s watchdog over the bank bailout program is criticizing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s handling of one of the most sensitive moments of last year’s financial meltdown, questioning decisions he made while heading up the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The new report criticizes the New York Fed’s decision in the fall of 2008 to bail out insurance giant AIG by covering its clients’ losses, sending tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to overseas banks.

Police reports are often rich with jargon — phrases like "victim succumbed to his injuries," or "victim advised that defendant did knowingly and willingly enter his home without permission." Not so for a report filed by Tampa police Officer Terry Ashe, who wrote a colorful narrative about an alligator that attacked his city-owned Ford Taurus in Pasco County on Oct. 27. "As I was driving down the single lane, dirt road, adjacent to an old cemetery, I observed a large, menacing, dark object lying in the road obstructing my right of way," Ashe wrote. "With rain pouring down, mist and...

Just returned from voting here in my little corner of bright-blue Northern Virginia. Went down to the local elementary school and the poll worker checked my ID. I assumed she was a racist trying that overburdensome disenfranchising trick on me. But alas, I was ready and whipped out my license. I asked about turnout and whether she could compare this year to 2005, the last time we had the post-presidential, off-year elections, and she said it was noticeably heavier. She said there had been a steady stream all day, which was apparently not the case four years ago.

American taxpayers paid a lot of cash for those clunkers: $24,000 for each new car sold, according to a study released Wednesday. The government could have done almost as well by just giving away cars for free, instead of creating an elaborate incentive program, according to an analysis by the automotive information firm Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, Calif. ... to look at how many people purchased cars that otherwise wouldn’t have been bought. The firm says that number is about 125,000 cars. By that measure, the government spent $24,000 to generate each sale of a new car. In all, the...

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch exposes the hypocrisy of the UN Human Rights Council, the body that created the Goldstone Report. For the first time ever, the Council president, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico, rejects a speech as "inadmissible" and bans it from ever being delivered again.

The number of influenza cases remains elevated; the number of deaths reported remains below the epidemic threshold. All of two thousand one hundred twenty-six specimens tested by the WHO (World Health Organization) and NREVSS (National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System), were then sent to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) for reporting, tested positive.

DHS Report Shows that 90 Percent of U.S. Borders Are Not 'Effectively Controlled' No Plans to Expand Control for FY 2010 WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the new fiscal year begins, the Department of Homeland Security's Annual Performance Report indicates that the department has no plans to increase control of U.S. borders beyond the 894 miles they now claim to have under "effective control." The report reveals how little control the United States actually has over its land and sea borders, despite the 9/11 Commission's report citing uncontrolled borders as a threat to homeland security. According to DHS's own...

GENEVA (AFP) – Members of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday postponed a decision on a damning report on Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip that raised evidence of war crimes by both sides and possible crimes against humanity. The 47 member Council decided to delay until March 2010 a vote on the report by an independent international fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone. Goldstone last month recommended that the UN Security Council should ask the International Criminal Court to examine possible charges, unless progress was made in investigations in Israel and the...

Submitted to the UN Human Rights Council yesterday was a 575-page "report" fit for the garbage can. Better yet, for the shredder. Focusing on Israel's war in Gaza, the document is a transparently biased hatchet job, written at the behest of an organization whose sole bent has been to portray the Jewish state as the world's worst human rights abuser. The U.S. must use all moral authority and diplomatic suasion to quash this dangerous piece of work. The Obama administration accepted that responsibility in assuming membership on the council on the promise of reform from within. Now, American diplos must...

Bob Woodward’s Monday-morning exclusive on a 66-page report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to President Barack Obama about Afghanistan policy was a rite of passage for the new administration: the first major national security leak and a sure sign that the celebrated Washington Post reporter has penetrated yet another administration. White House officials greeted the leak with a grimace, but none suggested they’d begin a witch hunt for the leaker. Woodward is famous for his access to the principals themselves — he recently traveled to Afghanistan with National Security Adviser James Jones — and leak hunters couldn’t expect with confidence that...

A report from the US Library of Congress legal branch released this week concluded that the ousting of elected Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was “legal and constitutional”. The report from the Congressional Research Service, CRS, an office from the Library of Congress which provides legal analysis and support for policies to members of both houses of the Legislative branch established however, that the expulsion of Mr. Zelaya from Costa Rica was “illegal”.

•The Honduran Congress appears to have acted properly in deposing President Manuel Zelaya. Unlike in the United States, the Honduran Congress has the last word when it comes to interpreting the Constitution. Although there is no provision in Honduras's Constitution for impeachment as such, the body does have powers to disapprove of the president's official acts, and to replace him in the event that he is incapable of performing his duties. Most importantly, the Congress also has the authority to interpret exactly what that means. •The Supreme Court was legally entitled to ask the military to arrest Zelaya. The high...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A White House official "misspoke" when he said the Obama administration would not allow the Goldstone report recommendations on Israel's conduct in the Gaza war to reach the International Criminal Court. A top White House official told Jewish organizational leaders in an off-the-record phone call Wednesday that the U.S. strategy was to "quickly" bring the report -- commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council and carried out by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone -- to its "natural conclusion" within the Human Rights Council and not to allow it to go further, Jewish participants in the call...

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer. The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries

Swine flu 'could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m' UN report says pandemic may result in anarchy unless western world pays for antiviral drugs and vaccines

Army staff and National Defence headquarters officials were told in 2007 that young boys had allegedly been sexually abused by Afghan security forces at a Canadian base in Afghanistan, but the concern at the time was that the incident might be reported in the news media, according to military records obtained by the Citizen... The newly released records raise questions about a military investigation that earlier this year concluded that allegations about sexual abuse of Afghan children by members of the Afghan army and police were unfounded. The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service also stated that its thorough investigation concluded...

(IsraelNN.com) Wanted Al-Qaeda terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed Monday in an airstrike in southern Somalia, local civilians have reported. Nabhan is wanted for multiple terrorist attacks, including a 2002 hotel bombing and attempted attack on an airplane that targeted Israeli citizens. Nabhan was wanted by the United States FBI for both the 2002 attacks and possible involvement in 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in which hundreds of people were killed.

A new report that for the first time gauges the impact of health care reform two decades out shows the nation's budget imbalance would skyrocket after 2020. The House bill would increase the budget deficit by $1 trillion between 2020 to 2029, up from $39 billion from 2010 through 2019, says the Peterson Foundation study, conducted by the nonpartisan Lewin Group. For "health care reform to be fiscally responsible, it must not just pay for itself over 10 years and beyond, it should also result in a significant reduction in the tens of trillions of dollars in the federal government's...

(IsraelNN.com) A secret IDF Intelligence (AMAN) assessment warned as early as 1993 that the Oslo Accords would likely end with The Rabin government 'completely ignored' IDF assessments. rocket attacks on Ashkelon, according to former AMAN Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror. The politicians, however, were not interested. Amidror leveled the charges during a lecture at the Netanya College on Monday. According to Amidror, who headed the IDF's Research and Assessment Division responsible for preparing the National Intelligence Assessment, the decision to go ahead with the Oslo agreements between Israel and the PLO terrorist organization was made without taking into account the military implications....

SEATTLE — At least 2,000 students at Washington State University have reported symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus, university and local health officials said, in what appeared to be one of the largest outbreaks of the virus on a college campus. “It’s real,” Sally Redman, a registered nurse who works in student health services at Washington State, said Saturday. “We’ve had a constant stream of people.” So far, the cases at the university have been relatively mild, although at least two people in the area who are not students were hospitalized. The university, based in Pullman, in eastern Washington near...

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's report on the situation in Afghanistan is likely to strain relations between the Obama administration and the uniformed military. The arrival of McChrystal's report in Washington is likely to spark its own low-level war of finger-pointing and blame-shifting between civilian policymakers in the White House and McChrystal's staff and defenders in the Pentagon. This strain in civil-military relations could last through the duration of the U.S. military's involvement in Afghanistan and beyond. McChrystal's report is supposedly secret, but anonymous staffers have already revealed its themes to the Washington Post. The goal of these staffers is to protect...

Only 367 women in France wear Islamic veils that cover their faces and bodies, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, undermining the position of politicians who are pushing for a ban on the garments. A panel of legislators is studying the issue of whether the number of women wearing such veils is on the rise and why. The panel is expected to say in coming months whether it backs a ban on the veils in public places, as advocated by some politicians. President Nicolas Sarkozy has stopped short of backing a ban, but has said the veils were "not welcome" in...

(IsraelNN.com) According to a classified intelligence assessment handed to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama and his senior advisors wish to “incrementally diminish U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel.” A report in World Tribune quoted an Israeli source familiar with the intelligence assessment who said that "Obama wants to make friends with our worst enemies and [those who were] until now the worst enemies of the United States. Under this policy,” the source added, “we are more than irrelevant. We have become an obstacle.”

LOS ANGELES – Sixty percent of Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution levels, despite a growing green movement and more stringent laws aimed at improving air quality, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday. The public-health group ranked the pollution levels of U.S. cities and counties based on air quality measurements that state and local agencies reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency between 2005 and 2007. Overall, the report found that air pollution at times reaches unhealthy levels in almost every major city and that 186.1 million people live in those areas. The number...

Re: Mark Traugher, "Peripheral Canal No Drought Lifeline, Contra Costa Water District Finds, Contra Costa Times, April 24, 2009 - Synopsis: A $10 billion plan to build a canal around the Sacramento Delta would not deliver significantly more water to cities and farms if it were in place this year, new data shows. It would divert water around the Delta for delivery to farms and cities. But numbers developed by a state-run planning group seeking to build the canal show it would not deliver more water in dry years, the Contra Costa Water District stated this week. Link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_12221166?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com RESPONSE:...

CNN Report on the obvious attempt to disarm Americans. Video at link.

"A" for Effort Teacher's Comments: He really knows how to shovel it. "A" for Penmanship Teacher's Comments: He signs those huge spending bills with such flair! "A" for Civility Teacher's Comments: He gets along well with others. Very amenable to critique from ruthless dictators.

The US Homeland Security Department, under fire for saying US forces returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars were potential right-wing extremist recruits, said Wednesday it honors US veterans. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to douse anger among conservatives and veterans groups like the American Legion over a report from her department warning of a rising threat of right-wing extremism. "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs," Napolitano said in a statement amid charges that the department had done just that.

The report issued by Janet Napolitano's Department of Homeland "Security" should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the history of the American Left; it reveals their true colors. The Left has long been distrustful and disdainful of the military, which it views - - with some justification - - as a conservative institution. Napolitano's DHS attack on returning war veterans is completely consistent with those attitudes.

Really? Not about politics? So, does MS NBC want us to believe that the MSM and Team "O" is not assaulting the "right"? How can that be? Or we just supposed to pay no mind to the man behind the curtain? Give me a break; the Homeland Security report has everything to do with politics. Duh.

    Homeland Security Warns of Rise in Right-Wing ExtremismThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report entitled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”, dated April 7, 2009, is apparently an unclassified summary of a larger classified report.1.  The summary contains few proper names, has no footnotes of any significance, lists very few sources, and is drafted with a prejudice against anyone who criticizes the role of the federal government in our lives today. It lumps together in its definition of “rightwing extremism” hate groups, anti-government groups, and single issue groups “such as opposition...

WASHINGTON – Some Republicans are criticizing a Homeland Security Department intelligence assessment, saying it unfairly characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists. House Republican leader John Boehner says he wants the Homeland Security Department to apologize to veterans. .. It warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country's first black president to recruit members.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report sent to law enforcement that lists veterans as a terrorist risk to the U.S. and defines "rightwing extremism" as including groups opposed to abortion and immigration. The outcry resulted in a demand from the head of the American Legion to meet with Ms. Napolitano, a request the DHS chief said she would honor next week when she returns to Washington from her current tour of the U.S.-Mexican border. "The document on right-wing extremism sent last week...

Let us stand in Constitutional solidarity! :-) "Hi, I'm Tex. I am an 'extremist', 'radical' 'terror threat' who follows the teachings of Thomasa Bin Jefferson: http://is.gd/siWw"! CONFESS your fiscally responsible radicalism fellow Freepers! -TexCon www.texdozier.com www.twitter.com/JosephTexDozier

Barack Hussein's new Homeland Security Director says that Americans should be afraid that our returning combat veterans will be recruited by right-wing groups and use the 2nd Amendment rights they fought to protect to attack against the country. I never thought I would hear such a profound level of mistrust and hostility directed at our greatest and noblest citizens. But that's how this administration rolls. Of course, Obama already has always thought dimly about those Americans (in the below case Pennsylvanians) who refused to support him: "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion...

MALINDI, Kenya — With Somali pirates pointing an automatic rifle at a hostage American ship captain, U.S. Navy sharpshooters opened fire Sunday, killing the pirates and ending an extraordinary five-day standoff that marked the first seizure of a U.S. vessel by pirates on the high seas in at least two centuries. Three pirates were killed, the Pentagon said. The captain, 53-year-old Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., was rescued unharmed and taken aboard a U.S. warship. A fourth pirate who'd surrendered earlier also was being detained and could face trial in the United States.

U.S. envoys met with Pakistani leaders on Tuesday to ensure that the $7.5 billion that President Obama plans to send their way over the next five years will be used to achieve common goals in the fight against extremism. But according to a Pakistani newspaper, regional envoy Richard Holbrooke and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen came up empty-handed and received a "rude shock" when a proposal for joint operations against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the volatile tribal regions was rejected.

The report on General Motors released by the White House says the company’s restructuring plan will not lead to a stronger company, in part because the beleaguered auto giant’s proposal to rely more heavily on advanced, fuel-efficient cars is not commercially viable.

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009 – The security and political situation in Iraq continues to improve, but ethno-sectarian agendas and other obstacles remain, according to Defense Department findings. Pentagon officials today released a congressionally mandated quarterly report on Iraq that focuses on December through February, a period during which pivotal security arrangements between Washington and Baghdad took effect. “With the signing and implementation of the strategic framework agreement, the relationship with Iraq has become more mature and what we would consider a more normalized U.S.-Iraqi relationship through economic, diplomatic, cultural and security ties,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. A...

The Most Important Messages From the 4Q GDP ReportBY BRIAN PRETTIAlthough quarterly GDP reports are usually not at the top of our list in terms of intensive review given the fact that by the time this news is actually reported it is stale at best, we believe there were some VERY important messages to be garnered from looking at the totality of 4Q 2008 GDP report, above and beyond the more than noticeable headline number decline. The character change witnessed when reviewing the components of the report is some of the most striking we have seen in a very good...

Top nations 'water down' IMF reports, says regulator By Jennifer Hughes in London and Alan Beattie in,Washington Published: February 10 2009 02:00 | Last updated: February 10 2009 02:00 Warnings from the International Monetary Fund about the risks posed by the financial system had often been "watered down", according to the head of the UK's Financial Services Authority. Powerful countries will have to avoid quashing reports they do not like if they are serious about creating a better early warning system for the global economy, said Lord Turner, chairman of the -regulator. "One of the problems the IMF has had...

WASHINGTON – Many damaging effects of climate change are already basically irreversible, researchers declared Monday, warning that even if carbon emissions can somehow be halted temperatures around the globe will remain high until at least the year 3000. "People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide the climate would go back to normal in 100 years, 200 years; that's not true," climate researcher Susan Solomon said in a teleconference. Solomon, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., is lead author of an international team's paper reporting irreversible damage from climate change,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2009 – The lack of essential services has replaced security as the major concern in Iraq, pointing to the progress the country has been making, according to a Defense Department report released yesterday. The report to Congress, titled “Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq,” said the security situation in the country continues to improve. The report covers the period through the end of November, and does not address the change of responsibility to the Iraqi government for security under the status-of-forces agreement that went into effect Jan. 1. Iraqi forces are increasing their capabilities, the report says,...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to urge him to pick his chosen candidates for President-elect Obama’s Senate seat, according to a new report. Reid called Blagojevich’s office on Dec. 3, less than a week before the governor was arrested for allegedly trying to sell the seat for financial or professional gain, according to a Chicago Sun-Times story published Saturday. The paper also reported that incoming Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) head Bob Menendez (N.J.) reached out to the governor separately to discuss the selection. The majority leader reportedly urged Blagojevich to limit his...

Bret Baier has been named primary anchor of FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Special Report, effective January 5th,