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White House Communications Director Anita Dunn says that her comment about Chairman Mao as one of her "favorite political philosophers" has been badly distorted. Perhaps she meant to say that Mao is one of her favorite media strategists. It is telling what Dunn regards as a reassuring defense: that she was only extolling Mao's can-do attitude and that her admiration for it came from Lee Atwater. "The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategist," she said. So now the reviled creator of the Willie Horton ad is someone Democrats feel they can safely hide behind?...

Note: The following news brief is a quote: Turkey Arrests 50 Suspected al-Qaida-Linked Militants By VOA News 15 October 2009 Turkish police have detained at least 50 suspected al-Qaida-linked militants in raids across nine provinces. Local media say the militants, thought to be members of a group (the Islamic Jihad League) tied to al-Qaida, were planning attacks against U.S., Israeli and NATO targets in Turkey. They say the suspects may have had contact with al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, and may have been trained in Afghanistan. Turkey's Hurriyet daily says police Thursday seized an unlicensed gun, documents, CDs and laptops during...

For the environmental movement, Jones' resignation is a setback. One can only hope that his unwelcome celebrity of the past week will have the positive side effect of galvanizing support for his work; that it will call attention to urban poverty, pollution and his ideal of a green economy. To the extent Jones' agenda succeeds, it will benefit all of us. Even the polar bears.

With the resignation of White House CEQ member and “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones over Labor Day weekend, the movement toward a green tech economy took more than just a symbolic hit. Take these three lessons from Jones’ resignation as signals that the Senate’s lift on energy/climate change legislation in the coming weeks may be even tougher than predicted: Green as Granola…or Worse? We have seen time and again this year that in spite of further entrenchment with skeptics, the green movement is still not resonant in red state America. In fact, they see climate change and energy reform as...

O'Reilly is acting absolutely jealous of Glenn Beck. He is doing so in his own condescending manner. He tells Glenn Beck that it isn't significant when the President of the United States hires a self avowed COMMUNIST in his administration. Billy boy says he calls it being an "equal opportunity employer". I do not believe for one second that O'Reilly truly feels that way. It seems obvious that he is dong this because it is his way of ATTEMPTING to minimize the substantial service Beck has just provided this country. This cretin - O'Reilly - actually just said that "communism...

Most of the major news outlets, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, ignored the swelling heat surrounding former White House environmental adviser Van Jones and the videos surfacing of his controversial statements. CBS News became the first of the three broadcast networks on Friday to note the controversy, but ABC's "World News" and "NBC Nightly News" again failed to report the story. After Jones' midnight resignation over the weekend, all three networks aired the story on their Sunday evening newscasts. The Washington Post offered its first story on Saturday yet The New York Times' print edition didn't...

Van Jones, the administration’s “green czar,” made news early Sunday after announcing he was resigning from his post at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. It’s normally a strategic move to announce unflattering news during a long holiday weekend, but Jones’ timing seemed to be at the behest of his critics. In recent weeks, several Hill Republicans have lobbed accusations that Jones was unfit to serve in the administration because of incendiary comments he made before assuming office in February. They also cited a questionable petition he signed in 2004 alleging the 9/11 terrorist attacks may have been the...

Here is what the MSM is saying about Van Jones Resignation: NEW YORK TIMES: The times is spinning this as poor vetting by a White House totally ignorant of Van Jones's "controversial past". Excerpt below: "Mr. Jones’s hiring and departure again raised questions about the quality of the White House personnel vetting process and the proliferation of so-called policy czars who are not subject to Senate confirmation or legislative oversight. "The Obama administration entered office promising the most thorough scrutiny ever of candidates for senior jobs, including an extensive questionnaire and time-consuming background checks that have left many senior posts...

Mr. Van Jones, President Obama's "Green Jobs Czar," is the perfectly useful political foil for the Obama Administration. "Foil" means to obscure or confuse (to leave a false trail or scent) so as to evade or spoil pursuers. It also means a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast ("The serious man was an able foil to the comic"). Mr. Jones recently resigned from his five month job as the so-called Green Jobs Czar (a highly symbolic do-nothing non-cabinet position) purportedly because he was found out to be a "communist" by conservatives on the Internet. According to...

Van Jones is not an extremist. He is the liberal mainstream

"First, even as I defended Van Jones (as I saw nothing wrong with his actual performance as green jobs adviser) I will admit that his past statements were beginning to take a political toll on Obama. Day after day liberals were having to endure the next few radical sentences taken out of thirty minutes address or interview from Van Jones. While the statements had nothing to do with green jobs they were effective in making Jones, and to some degree liberals, appear radical. Republicans were beginning to see Van Jones as their party pinata who supplied with more candy every...

I want to know exactly how much it cost the taxpayer for this commie to resign, ala Palin. I want to know how much was spent on letterhead, envelopes, official portraits, rubber stamps, 3-ring binders, promotional pens, engraved signs, the who kaboodle, just like Palin's accounting.

Van Jones "Laugh-a-thon"Obama green czar Van Jones protested the 1998 attacks on Al-Queda camps.  1998 Story in S.F Chronicle with Van Jones commentsAUDIO: Obama green czar green czar in bizaare hate filled rant in 2003. -Jones at the 4:20 mark of the audio-...."....The end of the occupation. The right of return of the Palestinian people. These are critical dividing lines in human rights. We have to be here. No American would put up with an Israeli-style occupation of their hometown for 53 days let alone 54 years. US tax dollars are funding violence against people of color inside the US...

I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today. On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum - urging me to “stay and fight.” But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on...

SNIPPET: "A bomb has exploded outside the Athens stock exchange, slightly injuring a female passer-by and damaging the building, police say. The bomb - which set fire to several cars - was hidden in a stolen van. Another bomb went off outside a government building in Thessaloniki, causing minor damage and no injuries. The blasts may be the work of a Greek extremists' group, Revolutionary Struggle, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens. Earlier this year the group claimed responsibility for two bombs aimed at the American Citibank group. Flying glass A warning of the Athens explosion was telephoned to...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani army says it has discovered a van packed with almost 900 pounds of explosives in the country’s northwest. It says militants planned to use the vehicle in a suicide bombing. The army media center says the van was discovered during a raid Sunday on a house in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border. Six suspected militants were arrested in the raid.

(ANSA) - Milan, December 2 - Two Moroccans arrested on Tuesday were planning terrorist attacks on targets in northern Italy after failing to make the ``necessary contacts`` to be sent abroad as jihad fighters, police said. Rachid Ilhami, 31, and Gafir Abdelkader, 42, are alleged to have been planning attacks on an immigration office and a police barracks in Milan as well as police stations, a supermarket and a night club carpark in smaller towns in the Lombardy region. Milan anti-terrorist unit chief Bruno Megale stressed that the pair were not ``an organic part of any organisation`` despite wiretapped conversations...

Mumbai: At least 15 people have been injured in gunfights between two groups in at least three places in Mumbai on Thursday night. Details are sketchy but it is believed that two gangs fired at each other at outside CST Railway Terminus, Hotel Oberoi and the popular Café Leopold restaurant in Mumbai. The first shooting took place near the CST police station

The following news release was sent by U.S. Customs and Border Protection: TUCSON – Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents seized a vehicle replicating a Budweiser delivery van smuggling thirteen illegal aliens near Three Points, Ariz. Yesterday morning at 9:00am, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Tucson Station encountered a suspicious Budweiser Van traveling north from the border. Agents recognized this was abnormal and the vehicle appeared out of place. Agents were able to then successfully yield the van using emergency lights and sirens from their patrol cruiser. Inside the van agents discovered 13 illegal aliens of which eight were citizens...

The heightened security for the Republican convention resulted in four Pakistani students from St. John's University being detained in Times Square last night. The four, who were in a burgundy van, were taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. outside the Marriott Marquis hotel on Broadway and West 45th Street after cops thought they were acting suspiciously. They were questioned for at least seven hours at the Midtown North precinct on West 54th Street while anxious relatives waited outside. Police sources said two of the students were on an FBI watch list.

When Lakeville police stopped a mini-van going 81 miles per hour at 2:30 a.m. on Interstate Hwy. 35 last week, they found that it was packed with 15 illegal immigrants who had been in the van for seven days. The Ford Windstar, which has allotted space for seven people, was en route to Minneapolis. Lakeville police said it had been specially modified with heavy duty springs and suspension parts to accommodate the additional weight. All 15, including the driver, are expected to be deported to Mexico, said Tim Counts...

An Illinois man on Monday was pulled from his van minutes before two trains smacked into it, crushing it into pieces. The 75-year-old mistakenly turned onto the tracks, and while police were trying to remove the car a nearby man noticed what was happening and got him off the tracks just in time, MyFoxChicago reported.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could say Annie the calico cat is a bit more adventurous than the ordinary cat. She hitched a ride for nearly 1,000 miles in the back of a 100-degree moving van from the Green Bay area to Virginia last month, only to go roaming the woods in a strange area for 18 days. The 10-year-old cat normally lives with Ann Roskam and her family in New Franken. But she hopped into the moving truck of neighbors Michael and Christina Blackley at the end of July. "She's definitely a pretty darn independent cat," Roskam said. "She...

500,000 Years of Climate History Stored Year by Year3-14-2007 The bottom of Turkey’s Lake Van is covered by a layer of mud several hundreds of metres deep. For climatologists this unprepossessing slime is worth its weight in gold: summer by summer pollen has been deposited from times long past. From it they can detect right down to a specific year what climatic conditions prevailed at the time of the Neanderthals, for example. These archives may go back as much as half a million years. An international team of researchers headed by the University of Bonn now wants to tap this...

An 11-year-old girl may be alive today because a Good Samaritan saw her being dragged underneath a moving van and took bold action to force the van's driver to stop. The girl, gravely injured in the hit-and-run accident about 6 p.m. Sunday, remains in Regions Hospital in St Paul. Police Chief Manila "Bud" Shaver, who spoke with the girl's parents on Sunday night, said the girl's injuries are severe. He was checking on her condition today. The accident happened near the corner of Wentworth Avenue and South Robert Street. "I think she would have been dead in another block or...

HUMBLE, Texas -- A mother was killed by the family van being driven by her 12-year-old son. The boy crashed the van through a dental office wall on Tuesday, killing his mother and injuring two others, authorities said. Lisa Lewis was standing outside the Monarch Dental Associates office in Humble, Texas, when she was killed. Officials said Lewis had just finished her dental appointment shortly after 2 p.m. and let her two sons, a 12-year-old boy and his 17-year-old brother, get their van so she would not get wet from the rain, Houston TV station KPRC reported. The mother was...

Captain James Van Thach a Rising Star in Iraq. Your job highlights the “nation-building” purpose of this war, and your choice of this dangerous assignment speaks well of you as highly idealistic.

Have you ever wondered where the data for your favorite map-based GPS unit comes from? Who really does all of that work to make sure the road you are driving down doesn’t plunge you off a cliff? Meet Mark Vermeys, a geographic field analyst for Tele Atlas. If you know anything about GPS devices, you’re probably familiar with Tele Atlas. This international corporation, which has its American headquarters in Boston, provides the GPS data for an array of device manufacturers, such as TomTom, Pharos and Navman, automobile makers including BMW, Ford, Honda and Toyota and Web sites like Google...

(PRWEB) July 8, 2006 -- As Independence weekend celebrations spread throughout the United States, V.I.P. Promotions Founder/CEO Tommy Nero interviewed U.S. Army Captain James Van Thach while he was spending his July 4th, weekend deployed to Baghdad, Iraq on his first overseas tour of duty. "It's so unusual these days, Captain Thach, to find young people even thinking about devoting their lives to something greater than themselves May I ask why you volunteered to join the Infantry after finishing Touro Law School?" "Mr. Nero, there are higher callings in life than just focusing on building a very comfortable lifestyle for...

A 5-month-old baby died in a minivan Wednesday after the mother apparently forgot to drop the child off at day care. The tragedy was discovered about 5:30 p.m. outside the Wonder Years 2 day care. The baby's mother stopped at the day care after work to pick up the child and was told by staff that the baby had not been dropped off. She realized then that the baby had been in her minivan all day. "The mother had forgotten to drop off the child at day care in the morning," said Curt Kreun, owner of Wonder Years 2. "She...

A van packed with 55 people and equipped with specially-modified tires drove the wrong-way across the U.S.-Mexico border early Monday and struck an oncoming vehicle before coming to a halt a short time later on a major freeway, officials said. There were no immediate reports of any injuries in what appeared to be the latest in a series of smuggling attempts by drivers who take enormous risks in vans crowded with illegal immigrants. The blue Ford XLT 350 van drove north at 3 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which links Tijuana, Mexico with...

CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan (March 16, 2006) -- As Bert Corn, the director of the Personal Services Center on Camp Foster, headed to work the morning of Jan. 5, he witnessed a Department of Defense Dependants Schools high-school student struck by a vehicle near Route 23 outside of Kadena Air Base. Carlos Saldana, training chief for Marine Corps Community Services, witnessed the accident from his car and saw the girl being knocked about 30 yards toward the middle of the road by a distracted driver in a black van. Saldana saw the event unfold from his vehicle. By the time...

A young woman was killed and 16 passengers were hospitalized when a van packed with suspected illegal immigrants rolled over on a rural road Wednesday, authorities said. Mario Olguin of Vista was arrested and will be charged with felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter, the California Highway Patrol said. Authorities identified Olguin, 20, as the driver of the 1988 Ford Econoline van, which was carrying 18 suspected illegal immigrants. The dead woman, 21 years old, was not identified. The van was traveling at an "unsafe speed" in the predawn darkness when Olguin lost control, the CHP said. The van...

Some of my leftist friends have one thing in common with the Muslims now sacking foreign embassies: a fundamental lack of understanding as to how democracy works, and how precious it is. The leftists have grown up knowing nothing but freedom and opulence, and take things like the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, and Constitution for granted (if they have even read these hallowed documents). The Muslim radicals (Islamists) are throwing lit jugs full of gasoline at Danish embassies because they have known nothing except Big Brother (One Newspaper, One Nation, One Religion, One World), and do not even know...

DETROIT (AP) - NFL MVP Shaun Alexander and several other Seattle Seahawks got a jolt Monday when their van was struck by an automated parking gate. The players were jostled from their seats, but said no one was injured. Alexander, fellow Pro Bowlers Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Hutchinson and Walter Jones and Michael Boulware were on their way to a downtown news conference when the accident occurred. Alexander said the players were in the second of two vans transporting the Seahawks. He said the first van was full of team public relations personnel and cleared through the gate crossing without incident...

Finally, we have a solution to the threat of Islamic Jihad. Just shy of a year after the Jihadist murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and only weeks past the four-year anniversary of 9/11, that fateful day when the world discovered such a war even existed, Holland’s Princess Irene, sister to Queen Beatrix, offers up a strategy for world peace: “Let’s talk.”

Eight Killed as Utah College Van Rolls Over Tuesday, September 27, 2005 TREMONTON, Utah — A Utah State University van overturned Monday on a highway about 65 miles north of Salt Lake City, killing seven students and an instructor, authorities said. Three other students were injured. The 11 occupants of the van were ejected as the vehicle rolled four times on Interstate 84 (search) near Tremonton, said Trooper Jeff Nigbur. Seven of the dead were Utah residents and one was from Washington state, said patrol Trooper Jeff Nigbur. The dead were identified as driver, Evan Parker, 45, of Hooper; Steven...

Son of a shipyard worker, the bard of east Belfast has had more hits than I've had hot dinners. Internationally acclaimed creative genius Van Morrison will celebrate his 60th birthday on Wednesday and I know the iconic musician isn't keen on talking to anybody about it. Maybe he'll just ignore it; I would feel the same myself, but it would have been good to talk about his music. Van would rather not do that, so that's alright. Over the years he's attracted all kinds of publicity and I don't know how much of it is accurate. I can only vouch...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 22, 2005) – The “Sentinels of Freedom” community group honored a wounded Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Aug. 19 in a Pentagon Hall of Heroes ceremony, presenting him a scholarship that includes a lot more than educational benefits. Sgt. Manuel Mendoza-Valencia, 24, was awarded a scholarship certificate providing him with adapted housing, a handicapped-equipped van, educational benefits, and a job with SBC Communications. For a four-year period, Mendoza will also receive a team of mentors to help him transition from military to civilian life. Mendoza was wounded Oct. 3 when his M113 light armored personnel carrier...

Van Bought From Sheriff's Auction Contains Pot Stash 350 Pounds Originally Found In Vehicle POSTED: 10:13 am MDT August 8, 2005 EL PASO, Texas -- The used minivan came with an unexpected option -- about 100 pounds of pot. A man recently bought the 1997 Plymouth Voyager from the El Paso County, Texas, Sheriff's Office. A mechanic who checked under the minivan found the stash of weed. Sheriff's officials say the buyer immediately returned the vehicle. The minivan was seized by authorities when about 350 pounds of marijuana was found inside. Officials are trying to determine how deputies missed the...

They killed Steven Vincent. Not, like Theo van Gogh - a man with loud and angry opinions who spoke against religions or people or ideas - but a journalist who only wanted to tell the truth; a journalist who, like me, spent most of his career writing about what was beautiful, about the great achievements of humanity, of civilization, the products of abstraction, of metaphor, of ideas. He wrote of those who challenged 'what is,' those who challenged beliefs, not with bombs but with paint and clay and marble. And when he himself challenged ideas, he did not use bullets....

ASTOR -- One passenger died and 11 others were injured about 2:30 p.m. today when a church van from Daytona Beach crashed along County Road 445 in northeast Lake County, emergency officials said. Four ambulances from Lake County and two from Volusia County transported 11 patients - possibly all children - with minor injuries to Florida Hospital Waterman in Eustis and Florida Hospital in DeLand. Another child died before being transported by helicopter to Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to Lake emergency officials.

Airman dies after motorcycle collides with van By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - She stopped and looked both ways, but she didn't see the motorcyclist. He couldn't stop in time to avoid crashing his new Yamaha motorcycle into the van. The crash happened about 5 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Powderhouse and Four Mile roads. Airman Justin R. Souza died at the scene. The van's driver, Donna Martin, wasn't hurt, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Martin hasn't been cited in connection with the crash, but that could be pending. The intersection is controlled...

DALLAS (May 2) - The NBA fined Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy $100,000 - the largest amount ever for a coach - on Monday, a day after he accused officials of targeting center Yao Ming this postseason and said Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is to blame. While Van Gundy laughed off the penalty and Yao offered to pick up half the tab, the matter jumped to another, far more serious level. Commissioner David Stern called the fine "an intermediary step," adding that an investigation will continue once the Rockets finish their playoff run. He said further punishment is...

AMSTERDAM Paul Hiltemann had already noticed a darkening mood in the Netherlands. He runs an agency for people wanting to emigrate and his client list had surged. But he was still taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was fatally shot and his throat slit on an Amsterdam street. In the weeks that followed, Hiltemann was inundated by e-mail messages and telephone calls. "There was a big panic," he said, "a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country." In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. For 2004, the...

LOS ANGELES - A van carrying workers to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tumbled 200 feet off a mountain road Wednesday, killing at least four people and trapping five others, officials said. The van went off Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest at about 6:30 a.m. and rolled down the embankment, Los Angeles County Fire Department inspector John Mancha said. Five people were trapped and one person was flung from the vehicle, Mancha said. Televised reports showed a badly battered white van lying in the middle of dense forest. Firefighters made their way down and were taking out victims...

DENVER - A Japanese cult attacked Tokyo in 1993 with an innocuous, readily available strain of anthrax sold by a Colorado animal vaccine company, an Arizona researcher said. The anthrax was used by the Aum Shinri Kyo doomsday cult that in 1995 used sarin nerve gas to kill 12 people in an attack on a Tokyo subway station. Paul Keim, an anthrax expert at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, told colleagues about the 1993 anthrax attack at Sunday's session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (news - web sites) convention in Denver. Using DNA, researchers at the...

Indianapolis, December 1 - Bradley English died a week before Halloween when a car hit him while he rode his bike. The driver didn't stop and neither did Bradley's mother. She listened to what she says was a divine voice and it led her to the suspect.

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Holland: Portent of Things to Come? and Dutch Center-Right Coalition Stands up to Islamism."Education by murder" describes the slow and painful way people wake up to the problem of radical Islam. It took 3,000 deaths to wake up Americans, or at least to wake up the half of them who are conservative. Likewise, it took hundreds of deaths in the Bali explosion to semi-wake up Australians; it took the Madrid assault for Spaniards, and the Beslan atrocity for Russians. Twelve workers beheaded in Iraq awoke the Nepalese.But it took just one death...

When Incrementalism Really Means Compromise I was a mere high school student when I attended my first "contemporary" church service during the "Jesus Freak" movement of the early 1970's in Costa Mesa, California.  Up to that point in my life, I was exposed to more formal type church services only.  Nevertheless, this new kind of church service shocked me very little, because I was made aware (many times, until the point was driven home), of the "logic" behind this modern type worship. The example I heard most promoting the positive aspects of this new movement was, "we are building bridges to...