[Servant of the Nine]

People who pay big taxes are now cashing out stocks and taking big losses -- there will be a shortfall, and the Demonrats will blame the tax cut.

Most of the people who pay big taxes have been out of the market for a year. This is a mutual fund bubble. This is small investors and their 401K plans who owned mutual funds. They have finally sold the funds and now the funds have to dump stock.

So9

[ValerieUSA]

FBI: Pakistanis arrested in Waco were no threat to Bush ranch

By MIKE ANDERSON Tribune-Herald staff writer

Federal investigators said Wednesday they have found no evidence that four Pakistani men who were arrested in Waco after entering the country illegally are connected to any terrorist organizations.

FBI agents and Waco police arrested the men Tuesday at the Sandman Motel, 3820 Franklin Ave. That was two days after they walked off the Maltese-flagged freighter, the Little Lady P, in St. Charles Parish, La. The four then reportedly took a taxi to Waco.

Some law enforcement officials had expressed concern because the men originated from Pakistan, where members of terrorist organizations that have targeted Americans are believed to live. The U.S. Secret Service had also monitored the case because President Bush's ranch sits a few miles away in Crawford.

Waco FBI agent John Truehitt said the four, identified as Ali Shan, 22, Amad Khan, 26, Ilyas Khan, 33, and Waheed Khan, 24, were interviewed Tuesday by FBI agents. They were moved Wednesday to San Antonio where they will be questioned again using an interpreter.

Truehitt said so far investigators have found no indication the men's trip to Waco was connected in any way to the president's ranch.

"From all indications they were simply coming to the U.S. to try and work illegally like many others do every year," the agent said. "It just so happens they had a relative here with a business."

Truehitt identified the relative as Waco resident Ihstiaq Ahmed, 45. Ahmed was arrested Tuesday on a federal obstruction of justice charge.

According to a criminal complaint filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey C. Manske, Ahmed twice lied to FBI agents who asked him if he knew or had seen the four. First at a Waco convenience store and later at his residence, agents showed Ahmed a photo of the men, and he said he did not know them, the affidavit said. After the second interview, an agent told Ahmed he was not telling the truth. At that point Ahmed's wife told the agents he was related to one of the men, the affidavit said.

FBI agents also discovered Ahmed had signed for the men's motel room, although the affidavit does not say how they learned this.

Ahmed remained in federal custody at the downtown Waco detention center Wednesday. He is scheduled to appear before Manske in a preliminary hearing today.