Poll says Chavez loses Venezuela referendum lead

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has lost his lead eight days before a referendum on ending his term limit, an independent pollster said on Saturday, in a swing in voter sentiment against the Cuba ally.

Forty-nine percent of likely voters oppose Chavez's proposed raft of constitutional changes to expand his powers, compared with 39 percent in favor, a survey by respected pollster Datanalisis showed.

Just weeks ago, Chavez had a 10-point lead for his .................

A Comeback for Communism

By Steve Chapman

In case you have lingering doubts about what sort of country he has in mind, Chavez offers a color scheme for his educational program: "red, very red." It is no coincidence that he is a close ally of Fidel Castro's Cuba. But his anti-Americanism endears him to noncommunist tyrants as well. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made multiple trips to Venezuela to embrace Chavez as "the champion, the leader of the struggle against imperialism."

Chavez, like Castro and Ahmadinejad, is hostile toward political as well as economic freedom. He has closed down some opposition media outlets, while cowing others through laws making it a crime to disparage him or his confederates. The judiciary and electoral council have been stripped of their independence. The government has refused to admit human rights monitors from the Organization of American States.............

SEC Probes Company with Hillary Links

DEMOCRATS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

By Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX)


Most Americans clearly want their government to secure the borders and enforce immigration laws. They understand what many elected officials still don't: rewarding lawbreakers with amnesty only encourages a new flood of illegal immigrants.

In September, New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain New York drivers' licenses. The proposal has been sharply criticized across the nation. A recent poll found 77 percent of Americans oppose drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.

The public outcry ultimately forced Mr. Spitzer to withdraw his proposal, but the damage was done. With the 2008 elections less than a year away, senior Democratic leaders and members of Congress are desperately trying to strike the right tone on immigration. But efforts by Democrats to toughen talking points against illegal immigration are disingenuous at best.

In fact, Democrats and various interest groups have never been serious about reducing illegal immigration. In the last two years, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted against almost every piece of legislation aimed at reducing illegal immigration. For example:

Read more.

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors."

-- George Washington (Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789) --

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

“Tomorrow being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise; and duty calling us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us, the General... earnestly exhorts, all officers and soldiers, whose absence is not indispensably necessary, to attend with reverence the solemnities of the day.”

-- George Washington (December 17, 1777) --

When we sit down for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I hope you will all join me in expressing our thanks in full recognition of all the blessings we have here in this country. Enjoy yourselves. Hopefully, you can enjoy this special time with family or friends.

Not everyone will be fortunate enough to do so. Please give thanks and pray for all our men and women in the armed forces, but particularly for those who are away from their families and friends, and who may be in harms way, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And don't forget to pray for those families who have lost loved ones in the line of duty - they really deserve our prayers and gratitude.

NYT: Suicide Manual for Dems

HILLARY'S SLIPPAGE

Dick Morris writes in The Hill about the most recent Washington Post-ABC poll in Iowa (Nov 14-18) which showed 'Hillbillery' trailing Obama by 4 % (30% to 26%) and Edwards at 22%. Morris points out a couple interesting facts from the internals of the poll:

The internals of the poll contain even worse news for Hillary:

• Obama is running even with Hillary among Iowa women.

• Of the 55 percent of Iowa Democrats who prefer change (versus the 33 percent who want experience), Obama leads with 43 percent to Edwards’s 25 and Hillary’s 17 percent. Being for change in a Democratic primary is like being for stability in a GOP contest. It’s the growth
sector.

• Half of Hillary’s voters have not attended a previous caucus, versus 43
percent of Obama’s and 24 percent of Edwards’s. With the caucus system as complex as it is and the places of the meetings as distant as they are, previous attendance is a key indicator of the likelihood of their actually voting this time. If we assume no first-time caucus attendee will actually show up (an exaggeration but worth thinking about) then Hillary would finish third with Obama and Edwards tied for first.

Even if Hillary were to lose Iowa, she would remain the odds-on-favorite to win the Democrat nomination. But it does appear she may be more vulnerable now than many had anticipated.

Amanda Carpenter:
Thank Troops with a Free Text

There's a free and easy way to send a message of support directly to the troops abroad this Thanksgiving.

Ken Connor:
Thankful to Whom?

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, most Americans know what we are thankful for, but to whom should we be thankful? Be careful with your answer, because it may offend the politically correct crowd.

Jonah Goldberg:
Ron Paul Isn't That Scary

Let's even say that Ron Paul has the passionate support of the Legion of Doom, that his campaign lunchroom looks like the "Star Wars" cantina, and that his top advisors have hooves instead of feet. I would still find him less scary than Mike Huckabee.

The Greatest Generation
By Walter E. Williams

The “greatest generation” is a term used to describe those Americans who were raised during the Great Depression, fought in World War II, worked in farms and factories and sacrificed for the war effort while maintaining the home front. Following the war, they went on to produce a level of wealth and prosperity heretofore unknown to mankind. There’s no question that this generation made an important contribution. But it might also qualify as the generation that laid the foundation for the greatest betrayal of our nation’s core founding principle: limited federal government exercising only constitutionally enumerated powers….

FOLLOW THE MONEY

GREEN TECHNOLOGY = GREENBACKS

Former vice president and environmental activist Al Gore is joining forces with a venture capital company that’s seeking to profit from the move toward “clean technology” in the $6 trillion global energy business.

Gore is becoming a hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a major Silicon Valley venture capital firm where an old friend, John Doerr, is a partner.

Read more.

Washington Post:
Radiation Detectors for Border Are Delayed Again

FRANCE HIT HARD BY MASSIVE STRIKE

This is Nicolas Sarkozy's first big test since he was elected in May and his promised reform platform is under attack. It should be interesting. Read more about the strikes here.

Boston Globe:
Ahmadinejad, Chavez join forces to 'end US imperialism'

Oopsie... We were wrong... Sorry for the Hysteria

Los Angeles Times:
U.N. steeply lowers its AIDS estimates

Agence France-Presse:
Putin Warns NATO Against Border Buildup

London Times:
Pakistani President to Step Down This Week as Army Chief

AG Must Investigate Ramos-Compean Case, Senator Says

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) wants to know why it took so long to charge the drug dealer - used as the star witness in putting two ex-Border Patrol agents in prison - with a second smuggling offense. Critics of the prosecution of former border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, sentenced to 11 and 12 years respectively, have long asked why the drug smuggler wasn't prosecuted. The indictment and arrest of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila last week for smuggling drugs into the country in the fall of 2005 did not alleviate criticism of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas. Full Story

National Security Vital in 2008 Race, Says John Bolton

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says the upcoming presidential election could have enormous consequences on America’s national security and he warned against electing anyone who would not take an aggressive stance towards America’s foreign enemies...

Mexicans Stroll Unchecked Through Border Ports

A video made by the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows a stream of Mexicans strolling across the border into the U.S. as federal Custom and Border Patrol agents sit staring at “information on computer screens.” And it may not be an isolated incident, a government investigator said...

No Need to Tinker with the Constitution
By Phyllis Schlafly:

Let's face it. Some people, especially liberals, just don't like the U.S. Constitution. Every few years, they come up with wild or devious plans to make major changes, and they do not merely propose amendments.

America, Here Are Your Democratic Presidential Candidates
By Dennis Prager:

If you want to know what the Democratic presidential candidates and the Democratic Party believe, the debates, often derided as intellectually inconsequential, reveal a great deal.

Will Apple Pie Be Next?
By David Limbaugh:

If you want to gain greater insight into the mindset of much of Hillary Clinton's base, you should familiarize yourselves with a couple of recent news stories involving the Boy Scouts and our troops.

LOST

Christopher Horner takes on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST)

Chris Horner, author of the bestselling Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Senior Fellow at CEI (Competitive Enterprise Institute), addressed the Law of the Sea Treaty issue at the Heritage Foundation in October.

It is a 6 minute video and can be seen here.

The Senate Should Stay Out of Religion

By Hugh Hewitt

Did you feel a bit of a chill recently? You should have if you are a churchgoer.

Iowa Senator and Republican Charles Grassley has launched a broadside against Christian televangelists who he thinks may have robbed their followers. He may be right, but it is not his job or the government's to decide, and his jihad against churches ought to end.

Unfortunately, fraud exists in the Church today. But in America we have never allowed the government to sort out which preachers are to be trusted and which are not. I am certain that I agree with Senator Grassley on the character of some of his targets, but I do not want him or any member of the federal government outside of the IRS sitting in judgment of these preachers. And the IRS only in very narrow and very carefully controlled circumstances.

People of faith, and people of no faith but who put their faith in freedom, need to send a message to Senator Grassley: Cease and desist from this witch hunt. It's not your job, or the job of any other government official to decide who and who is not legitimate as a preacher.

Yes - another blonde joke

A blonde, wanting to earn some extra money, decided to hire herself Out as a "handywoman" and started canvassing a nearby well-to-do neighborhood.

She went to the front door of the first house, and asked the owner if He had any odd jobs for her to do.

"Well, I guess I could use somebody to paint my porch," he said, "How much will you charge me?"

The blonde quickly responded, "How about $50?"

The man agreed and told her that the paint and everything she would need was in the garage.

The man's wife, hearing the conversation, said to her husband, "Does she realize that our porch goes all the way around the house?

"He responded, "That's a bit cynical, isn't it?"

The wife replied, "Y ou're right I guess I'm starting to believe all those 'dumb blonde' jokes we've been getting by e-mail lately." A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money. "You're finished already?" the husband asked. "Yes," the blonde replied, "and I had paint leftover, so I gave it Two coats."

Impressed, the man reached into his pocket for the $50 and handed it to her.

"And by the way," the blonde added, "it's not a Porch, it's a Lexus".

THE DOLLAR IS UNDER ATTACK

The dollar’s collapse — it is now down some 77 percent against the euro in the past seven years — is a good thing, we are told.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY

Hillary's Secret Police Returns

Are the Clinton secret police back on patrol?

FULL STORY

Pro-Western Lebanon Battling for Life

By David Aikman

Lebanon, a country of just four million, is the only Middle Eastern state with a pro-Western orientation, a genuine parliament, and tolerance of Christians. Now all that is in great peril. The parliament must decide whom to elect as the next president of the country by November 23, when the current president's term expires.

Threatening to hijack the choice is neighboring Syria, which invaded the country during its civil war in 1976 and uses as its political proxies the radical Shiite Islamic movement called Hezbollah. It was Hezbollah, you may remember, that dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel in the summer of 2006.

Syria has been murdering anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians for years and demanding that the choice of president be approved by Hezbollah. If unresolved in the next ten days, the Lebanese crisis might once again be plunged into chaos and Syria's influence in the region strengthened.

About International Relations

The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.

-- Alexander Hamilton --

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

-- Thomas Jefferson --

Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world.

-- George Washington --

There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. 'Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

-- George Washington --

But if we are to be told by a foreign Power ... what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little.

-- George Washington --

It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.

-- John Adams --

“The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too. It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed. When the British forgot that they got a revolution. And, as a result, we Americans got a Constitution; a Constitution that, as those who wrote it were determined, would keep men free. If we give up part of that Constitution we give up part of our freedom and increase the chance that we will lose it all. I am not ready to take that risk. I believe that the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms must not be infringed if liberty in America is to survive.”

-- Ronald Reagan

“The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.”

-- Noah Webster --

Optimism

I am not solidly behind any one candidate at this time. There are some issues that I strongly disagree on with Rudy Giuliani.

But I do like his pension to be straightforward and appreciate his optimism. I wish more of the candidates would display this kind of attitude.

James Taranto writes today in WSJ's Opinion Journal about Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani to America: Get Real

WASHINGTON--This column makes no secret that we are favorably disposed toward Rudy Giuliani (although we value our independence and thus are grateful to Ramesh Ponnuru for leaving us off his list of pundits who are in the tank for the former mayor). Friday found us at the Federalist Society's annual National Lawyers Conference, where Giuliani delivered a 45-minute address. His speech has drawn a fair amount of commentary, but what most struck us was something he said toward the end:

I get very, very frustrated when I . . . hear certain Americans talk about how difficult the problems we face are, how overwhelming they are, what a dangerous era we live in. I think we've lost perspective. We've always had difficult problems, we've always had great challenges, and we've always lived in danger.

Do we think our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents didn't live in danger and didn't have difficult problems? Do we think the Second World War was less difficult that our struggle with Islamic terrorism? Do we think that the Great Depression was a less difficult economic struggle for people to face than the struggles we're facing now? Have we entirely lost perspective of the great challenges America has faced in the past and has been able to overcome and overcome brilliantly? I think sometimes we have lost that perspective.

Do you know what leadership is all about? Leadership is all about restoring that perspective that this country is truly an exceptional country that has great things that it is going to accomplish in the future that will be as great and maybe even greater than the ones we've accomplished in the past. If we can't do that, shame on us.

This is exactly right, and we hope Giuliani keeps hammering home the point. In the conservative circles in which we usually travel, we hear far too much depressive, alarmist talk.

And the left is much worse. They are so scared of terrorism that they have constructed an elaborate system of denial. They lash out at anyone who takes the terror threat seriously (see Glenn Greenwald's silly attack on the Giuliani speech for an example), but their complacency is obviously phony, as evidenced by their lurid and obsessive fantasies about torture, tyranny, global warming and all other manner of unreal horrors.

Giuliani also made what appears an effort to evoke Ronald Reagan:
Every single problem that I solved in New York City that people thought were impossible to solve, I solved it because I'm an optimist, because I refuse to accept defeat, because I refuse to accept that intelligent people with the kind of advantages we've been given can't solve any problem that we're faced with.

Reagan was frequently described as an optimist, in contrast with those who thought that America was on the decline and that communism was both invincible and not really all that threatening. But Reagan's "optimism" turned out to be realism, as did Giuliani's, at least in New York City.

OPEC Wants to Dump Dollar Reserves

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that OPEC's members have expressed interest in converting their cash reserves into a currency other than the depreciating U.S. dollar, which he called a "worthless piece of paper." His comments at the end of a rare summit of OPEC heads of state exposed fissures within the 12-member cartel. Click Here to Read More.

Fran Townsend Resigns

Fran Townsend, whose resignation as White House counterterrorism chief was announced today, has been the glue that has kept the intelligence community working smoothly.

Read the Full Story.

Rebuilding "The Wall"

FISA Football
By Rich Galen

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- FISA -- is set to expire early next year and the Democrats in Congress are feverishly looking for ways to weaken it to try and score political points among its MoveOn.org wing. The bill adopted last night requires the government to get FISA Court authority to intercept communications from terrorists who might be plotting with a sleeper cell in the US. It also forbids one agency from sharing intel with another agency if it comes across potential terrorist activity "inadvertently." Good ideas, huh?

Read on.

California Wastes More than $3 Billion, Watchdog Says

In a new report on government spending, the conservative taxpayer groups, Citizens Against Government Waste and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation, found over $3 billion of “waste, fraud and abuse” in California...

Mexican Shot by Border Agents Indicted on Drug Charges

The alleged Mexican drug smuggler shot by Border Patrol agents as he tried to dodge arrest in 2005 will appear in federal court in El Paso, Texas, on Friday afternoon.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, 27, was arrested Thursday on a drug smuggling offense at a U.S. port of entry. A federal grand jury handed down a sealed indictment on Oct. 17.

Aldrete was granted immunity in 2005 in exchange for testifying against ex-border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

Read more.

“The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”

-- Samuel Adams --

Balance of Power Returning to United States

France has a new president who is breaking not just with the anti-Americanism of the Chirac era but with 50 years of Fifth Republic orthodoxy that defined French greatness as operating in counterpoise to America. Nicolas Sarkozy's trip last week to the United States was marked by a highly successful White House visit and a rousing speech to Congress in which he not only called America "the greatest nation in the world" (how many leaders of any country say that about another?) but pledged solidarity with the U.S. on Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, the Middle East and nuclear nonproliferation. This just a few months after he sent his foreign minister to Iraq to signal an openness to cooperation and an end to Chirac's reflexive obstructionism.

That's France. In Germany, Gerhard Schroeder is long gone, voted out of office and into a cozy retirement as Putin's concubine at Gazprom. His successor is the decidedly pro-American Angela Merkel, who concluded an unusually warm visit with Bush this week.

All this, beyond the ken of ......

READ MORE.

Atheists or Antitheists?

By Albert Mohler

Dinesh D'Souza offers an interesting argument about the new breed of aggressive atheism that has come to public attention. He calls this new movement "a pelvic revolt against God."

What he means is this: Much of this new atheism is rooted, not in serious intellectual questions about the existence of God, but in a hatred for Christian morality--especially sexual morality.

In his words, "My conclusion is that contrary to popular belief, atheism is not primarily an intellectual revolt, it is a moral revolt." Further, "This is the perennial appeal of atheism: it gets rid of the stern fellow with the long beard and liberates us for the pleasures of sin and depravity. The atheist seeks to get rid of moral judgment by getting rid of the judge."

D'Souza's argument here is insightful. Some of these atheists are repulsed by the very idea of divine judgment, so they get rid of the Judge. This helps put the whole new movement into perspective.

"The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyondincome, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indicationssoliciting the employment of the pruning knife."

-- Thomas Jefferson --

REAGAN 21: Applying RR’s Principles to the 21st Century

By Congressman John Campbell (R-CA)

It's been nearly 20 years since Ronald Reagan left the presidency. Yet, even people who don't remember his presidency (or his governorship in California) as I do, have positive views of his legacy.

Yes, he lowered taxes and ended the Cold War. But we remember him for even more than that. He stood unwavering by his principles, his personal integrity was never in question and he had that immutable optimism.

Today, Congress has a record-low approval rating of 11 percent. Republicans lost the majority in part because they spent too much, had ethical lapses and did not deliver on illegal immigration and other issues. The people put Democrats in charge, but they have disappointed even more than Republicans.

Americans are crying out for leadership with principle, integrity and courage. They want to believe again in an optimistic vision for America's future.

Reagan 21 is the project of a group of about 20 senators and representatives to provide that fresh, bold leadership.

Read more.

SOROS REPUBLICANS TO THE RESCUE?

Dr. Jack Wheeler writes:

I've heard it from more than one COS (Chief of Staff) of Republican Senators now, and the buzz is growing among Capitol Hill staffers in the House as well. Word is that a number of "Soros Republicans" are about to step up to the plate. Big time.

The term is unfortunate, attaching the name of scumbag George Soros to patriotic Americans. What is meant by it is that just as Soros opened up his billion dollar wallet for the Dems, so billionaire Republicans are about to do the same for the GOP.

It's about time.

The Democrats' 2008 campaign is going to be the most vicious attack on America ever conducted. The recent ad blitz for local and state elections earlier this month was a taste - one over-the-top character-rape of Republican candidates after unending other.

The RNC (Republican National Committee) estimates that the Dems will raise and spend - via the Clinton machine, Soros-type donors, the labor unions, the moonbats - two billion dollars to capture the White House and keep control of Congress.

Finally, the Pubbies are waking up to the danger.

THE 4 STAGES OF LIFE:

Hillary's Obama Dirt: Obama Demands She Come Clean

As the Democratic primary draws near to the Iowa Caucus, the sparks -- and sleaze -- are starting to fly.

The latest mud: columnist Robert Novak reported Friday that "agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information" about Sen. Barack Obama.

So what dirt does Hillary have about the Illinois Senator?

Read on.

US Court Ruling: How Will it Impact Coverage of Terrorism?

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld wrote a book entitled "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed - And How to Stop it." And even though the book was not written in England, nor published in England, nor sold in England, she was sued in England by the Saudis, and ordered to pay fines to the the equivalence of approximately $225,000.00.

"The UK is infamous for its libel laws, which do not even begin to conform to US legal or constitutional principles. Yet an extremely important battle involving the UK is now taking place in New York State, which could have major ramifications for Americans’ free speech rights."

You can see a short 8 minute video about it here:


Adrian Morgan writes more about this and gives us a little Background to UK Libel Law:

Current UK Libel Law is based upon the Libel Act of 1819, which includes clauses against "blasphemous libel" which have not been repealed (the last trials for blasphemy took place in 1929 and 1979). Amendments to the law have been made, importantly in 1988 and 1952. In a move originally designed to assist "ordinary" men and women to prosecute newspapers, the Defamation Act 1996 was introduced.

Read on.

Judicial Watch Lawsuit: No Driver's Licenses for Illegal Aliens

By Jim Kouri, CPP

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced that it filed a lawsuit on behalf of a New York taxpayer in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against New York Governor Eliot Spitzer over a new policy implemented on September 21, 2007 that will “give all New Yorkers the opportunity to apply for driver’s licenses without regard to immigration status."

And Gov. Spitzer blinked.

According to New York State law, with respect to driver licenses, the DMV Commissioner “shall require that the applicant provide his or her social security number.” Under the new DMV policy, however, applicants will not have to provide a Social Security number to receive a driver’s license. They must only provide a foreign passport and some secondary form of identification, such as a lease or a copy of parole papers.

The lawsuit, filed in conjunction with ........

Read on.

Palestinian National and Former Colombian Detective Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support the FARC And Alien Smuggling

Seven Convictions To Date Stemming From ICE Sting Operation

NEWS RELEASE FROM UNITED STATES DEPT. OF JUSTICE

WASHINGTON – A Palestinian national and a former detective with the Colombian Department of Administrative Security (DAS) have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and alien smuggling, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein of the National Security Division announced today.

Jalal Sadat Moheisen (Sadat), 49, a Palestinian national and resident of Bogota, Colombia, pleaded guilty in Miami before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is a State Department designated foreign terrorist organization.

Nicolas Ricardo Tapasco Romero (Tapasco), 45, of Bogota, Colombia, also pleaded guilty before Judge Lenard to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and two counts of bringing aliens to the United States for private financial gain.

Sadat and Tapasco were arrested in Bogota on Jan. 26, 2006, after their participation in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sting operation. The two men were extradited to South Florida on Feb. 15, 2007, and Jan. 3, 2007, respectively.

Sadat admitted that between July 2005 and January 2006, he facilitated travel to the United States for three cooperating government informants who posed as FARC operatives. Sadat not only agreed to smuggle the informants to the United States, but upon learning that their mission was to launder $4-5 million from the U.S. to Colombia, he offered to introduce them to a local emerald salesman who could carry out the transaction.

To facilitate the informants’ travel, Sadat made their flight reservations and contracted to provide fraudulent Spanish passports that permit entry into the United States without a visa. To assist the informants in falsely representing themselves as Spaniards, Sadat’s co-defendant procured fraudulent Spanish driver’s licenses, Spanish identity documents and Spanish trade association cards. Sadat also coordinated inspection-free passage through immigration at the Bogota airport by working with co-defendants Tapasco and Jorge De Los Reyes Bautista Martinez.

Tapasco, a 10-year DAS veteran detective, formerly assigned to the immigration division, admitted that in November 2005 he facilitated the departure of two cooperating government informants who posed as Colombian nationals seeking to enter the United States with fraudulent Spanish passports. Tapasco reviewed the fake passports, secured fraudulent exit visas and arranged the informants’ illicit passage through immigration inspection at the Bogota airport. In particular, Tapasco’s coordination led to the informants’ clandestine passage around immigration controls after his co-conspirator—a DAS immigration inspector—ushered one informant around immigration inspection booths and led another through a separate passage that bypassed immigration altogether. After the informants passed through security, they boarded flights to Miami and arrived in the United States holding their fraudulent Spanish passports.

Sadat and Tapasco’s price to smuggle the informants through the Bogota airport was $4,000 per traveler. Sadat also accepted more than $5000 to make flight reservations and obtain the fraudulent Spanish identity documents.

Under the terms of their plea agreements, Sadat and Tapasco face a maximum of 15 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Sentencing before Judge Lenard is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2007.

Sadat and Tapasco are two of 10 individuals indicted by a Miami federal grand jury on terrorism, alien smuggling and money laundering charges on Jan. 3, 2006. To date, five other co-defendants in the case have pleaded guilty. Trial for the remaining defendants is set to begin on Jan. 22, 2008.

The case was investigated by the Office of the ICE Attaché in Bogota, Colombia. Trial Attorney Brian Skaret of the Domestic Security Section of the Department of Justice prosecuted the case. Support was provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs’ Office of the Judicial Attaché in Colombia. The Department’s National Security Division provided assistance to the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney William White of the Southern District of Florida served as local counsel on the case. Valuable support was also provided by Colombian authorities.

Jersey's Counterterror Farce
by Steven Emerson and Stephen M. Flatow
New York Post

THE New Jersey Department of Homeland Security's counterterrorism conference last month turned out to be a textbook case of exactly what's wrong with many U.S. counterterror and outreach efforts - a farce that had apologists for terrorism and radical Islam writing the "script" for how to protect Americans from the terrorist threat.

Consider recommendation No. 7 from the final post-conference report:

"Universities can be breeding grounds for radicalization: . . . Most agreed that radicalization is most likely to find a breeding ground in the open environments of our college campuses, and thus it is essential to involve academia in any anti-radicalization strategy."

True enough - except that a key speaker at the event was Georgetown University professor John Esposito. Esposito calls himself a "very good friend" of Sami Al-Arian - who last year pleaded guilty to a "conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad" - a terrorist group.

Esposito also heads Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding - so named after the Saudi prince gave $20 million to the school. He should be a case study in how universities can promote radicalism, not a member of a panel discussing "anti-radicalization" strategies.

The conference report is full of similar confusion. For example, finding No. 5, "Language and terminology are important," warns that the phrase "War on Terror" is a poor choice. But the complaint isn't that the phrase is too vague (or that it references a tactic, rather than our enemy) but that it "equates terrorists with warriors, when in fact terrorists are common criminals."

In other words, Jersey's anti-terror conference concluded that we're not in a war at all.

Finding No. 5 also repeats the claim that we should avoid the use of the terms "Islam" or "Muslim" when discussing the current threat, lest we .......

Read on.

7 suspected militants held in France

Yahoo NewsA
Associated Press

PARIS - French authorities have detained seven suspected Islamic militants who allegedly trained to fight in Iraq by firing weapons in the woods of eastern France, police officials said Friday.

Six of the men are French nationals of Bosnian origin, and the seventh is Algerian, the officials said. The men, ranging in age from early 20s to mid-40s, were arrested on Tuesday in the towns of Besancon and Pontarlier in eastern France. At least one was a student; another is a teacher.

Police and anti-terror investigators say anger over the Iraq war has radicalized some young Muslims in France, which has Western Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated at 5 million.

Judicial authorities believe dozens of ......

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The Failure of Counter-Intelligence

By Douglas Farah

The case of Nadia Nadim Prouty and her ability to acquire citizenship illegally, security clearances and sensitive employment in both the FBI and CIA, raises many disturbing issues.

But underlying this failure and numerous other penetration efforts by Islamist groups is the large-scale failure of U.S. counter-intelligence efforts for many years. There are numerous cases of Chinese infiltration agents, Islamist penetration and Russian penetrations that underscore the shrinking ability to monitor or detect the spies working in this country.

The capacity has been rapidly shrinking for several decades and, despite the .......

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A Trial Lawyer's Campaign to Clean Up Washington

By George Will

WASHINGTON -- John Edwards launched his slight public career -- one Senate term, two presidential candidacies -- with the money and reputation he made as a trial lawyer. Today he is the candidate of a small fraction of the electorate but a sizable portion of America's trial lawyers. Edwards says Washington is "corrupt." Well.

Within Edwards' lucrative trial bar constituency, there has been a flurry of criminal indictments. Their target has been what Fortune magazine calls the law firm of Hubris Hypocrisy and Greed. (See Peter Elkind's jaw-dropping report in the issue of Nov. 13, 2006.) The real name of the nation's foremost securities class-action firm is Milberg Weiss.

It has been indicted as a "racketeering enterprise" that obstructed justice and committed perjury, bribery and fraud while collecting about $250 million in fees from about 250 cases using paid plaintiffs, which is illegal. Several of the firm's members, past and present, also have been indicted.

Since 1965, the firm has ...............

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