Many are wondering whether or not the new measures being put into place to prevent terrorist attacks are actually an invasion of privacy and limitation upon freedoms. Although most of the security measures are put into place in mainly Arab countries, could we eventually see limitations upon US citizens.

From Yahoo:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is announcing new measures Tuesday to beef up airline securityafter an alleged terrorist attempt to destroy a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.

Fresh off a Hawaiian vacation dominated by news of the incident, Obama scheduled a meeting Tuesday afternoon with high-ranking government officials charged with carrying out two reviews he ordered after the botched attack — on screening for airline passengers and on the U.S. terror watch-list system.

After the meeting, to which 20 officials were invited, Obama will talk to the public about his findings, as well as a series of new steps to improve the watch lists and thwart future terrorist attacks, the White House said.

The Transportation Security Administration already has directed airlines, effective Monday, to give full-body, pat-down searches to U.S.-bound travelers from Yemen, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and 11 other countries.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, CIA Director Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller were among those expected to meet with Obama in the White House Situation Room.

Attorney General Eric Holder; Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence; Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center; national security adviser James Jones; and John Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism adviser, also were to attend.

Obama will get updates on the investigation from Mueller, on the prosecution from Holder and on the review of terrorist detection techniques from Napolitano. Brennan will update the president on his own review of the system of watch lists and outline his initial findings. Agency heads will comment on their internal reviews.

Obama prepared Monday afternoon by meeting privately with national security aides.

The government also has added dozens of names to its lists of suspected terrorists and those barred from U.S.-bound flights. The addition of names to the government’s terrorist watch list and the no-fly list came after U.S. officials scrutinized a larger database of suspected terrorists, an intelligence official said Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly.

People on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny before they are allowed to enter this country, while anyone on the no-fly list is barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the United States.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who claims ties to al-Qaida, remained in federal custody, charged with trying to destroy the Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit. He is alleged to have smuggled an explosive device on board the aircraft and set if off, but the device sparked only a fire and not the intended explosion.

Abdulmutallab’s name was in the U.S. database of about 550,000 suspected terrorists, but was not on a list that would have subjected him to additional security screening or kept him from boarding the flight altogether. That omission prompted a review of the National Counterterrorism Center’s massive Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) database.

___

Associated Press writers Joan Lowy, Philip Elliott, Matthew Lee and Faryl Ury in Washington, and Ahmed Al-Haj in San’a, Yemen, contributed to this report.

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This morning breaking news regarding Iran’s developing a nuclear facility close to their holy city of Qom is all over the morning talkers.   This thread will be used to report the on going news on this topic.  You can join the conversation at the bottom of the page by submitting your comments.  – AC

10/1   This is a big day in the Iranian Nuke Facility news story.   Yahoo has already posted that US delegates are meeting one on one on the sidelines with Tehran.

5:04 PM Chuck Todd has put up a post on First Read about Russia’s involvement in the condemnation of Iranian Nuke Facility.

9:00 AM — Chuck Todd is reporting on MSNBC that Iran meets with P5+1 next week.

9:00 AM EDT  – From the AP

PITTSBURGH – President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded Friday that Iran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions “or be held accountable” to an impatient world community. They threatened new sanctions after the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility.

“Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follows,” Obama said in the opening moments of the G-20 economic summit.

PITTSBURGH – President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain will demand Friday that Iranopen to international inspectors a secret nuclear facility it has tried to hide from the world for years, a seniorWhite House official told The Associated Press.

The three leaders — Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy — will open the G-20 economic summit with their demand that Tehran allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the facility for producing nuclear fuel, officials said.

Iran has kept the facility, 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from weapons inspectors, but the U.S. has long known of its existence, the official said. Obama decided to go public with the revelation after Iran learned that Western intelligence agencies were aware of the project.

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WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department has approved 10 of the nation’s largest banks to repay $68 billion in government bailout money.

The department on Tuesday said the banks, which were not named, will be allowed to repay the money they received from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program created by Congress last October at the height of the financial crisis.

The banks have been eager to get out of the program to escape government restrictions such as caps onexecutive compensation.

Among the banks that passed government “stress tests” last month and likely were approved to repay the bailout funds are: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and American Express Co.

Read More From Associated Press

—-

Is this positive news that the economy is beginning to turn around?

–AC

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President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Justice Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.   *Trumpet Sound* — Let the games begin!  Although it appears Sotomayor will be confirmed by the Senate, we will begin to see Republican Presidential hopefuls rise to the top of the “spoiled” cream the part has represented as of late.   Keep an eye on those in the Senate that vote “no” to Sotomayor, because in the political game of life — her capabilities are irrelevent, her standing unimportant, and her world view becomes the only thing that matters.  why?  ’Cause thats how they roll in Washington.   We invite you to defend your vote!

Celebrating Sotomayor and Mourning Prop 8 — The Nation
Sotomayor’s More Universal Identity Politics — David Paul Kahn
Does Sotomayor Practice Identity Justice? — Christian Science Monitor
A Setback For Equality — NY TIMES
Every Justice Creates a New Court — Linda Greenhouse
Keep Cool on North Korea — Boston Globe

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Calls for legislation to repeal the Clinton Administrations enactment of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” begins to hit the pages and screens of new media.   Since ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” was made part of the US Law over 12, 500 members of the armed forces that have been “fired” for being openly gay.

The latest member of the armed forces to be fired is Lt. Dan Choi.  Although his resume is impressive (West Point, Arabic Linguistic Expert) his action of “coming out” has been declared by military officials as “dereliction,” and that the soldiers under his command have suffered as a result of his behavior.  

 Congressman Joe Sestak (D, Armed Forces Committee) appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” regarding the repealing of ‘Don’t Ask, Dont Tell’.  Sestak declared that he did not understand why gays do not have equal rights in the military.   He encouraged the President to move legislation to change the outdated bill during the summer or early fall months.  

President Obama declared in a letter to Lt Sandy Tsao, who was also fired for being a lesbian that he intends to fulfill his commitment of repealing ‘dont ask, dont tell.”    Our response at defendyourvote.com is that repealing the law is not enough, more legislation to create equal rights for gays and lesbians is the only acceptable legislation.   We invite you to defend your vote!

Update:  5/8/9  Lt Dan Choi appeared on CNN Morning discussing the same issue!

Smart Power in Pakistan — The Nation
Will Obama Apologize — Mona Charen  
Choosing A New Justice — NY TIMES  
Stressing the Positive — Paul Krugman 
MIA on Gay Marriage — Eugene Robinson 
The GOP Shameless New Attack — Stephen Stromberg 
Swine-Flu Hysteria — Bret Stephens

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Teabagging seems to be all the rage in Washington these days as we inch closer to Tax Day and April 15.  For those of you who missed it, I encourage you to watch the segment of  ”The Rachel Maddow Show” included here in its entirety.  The Republicans, through their chief surrogate Fox News, is heavily promoting teabagging including David Vitter (best knwon for hiring prostitutes), who would like national recognition of “teabagging”.  According to Fox, many US citizens have taken up the art of teabagging through the mail — something I did not know was even possible.  Imagine that!   Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up.

Obama Vs. The Culture of Greed — Christian Science Monitor 
The Injustice of Iowa’s Ruling on Gay Marriage — Matthew J. Franck 
Tea Parties Forever — Paul Krugman  
391% Payday Loans — NY TIMES 
Everyone Should Pay Income Tax — Ari Fleischer 
Losing Faith in Free Speech — Jonathan Turley

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My day job took me away from the news cycle over the last few days, so I was wildly shocked to see that Iowa — yeah thats right — Iowa has become the third state in the Union where gay marriage is legalized because of judicial interpretation of the law.   Needless to say, the rather large conservative based in those amber waves of grain, will push towards legislating through the constitution, but I think this is truly a sea test on where the nation is regarding gay marriage.  The people have pushed aside religious difficulties and intolerances and decided to focus on other pressing issues and concerns.  It makes one wonder if Obama will change his stance on gay marriage in his first 100 days.

Gay Marriage in … Iowa – The Nation
An Iowa Backlash — The Nation 
Budget Debate Shows Washington Politicians in Denial — Tom Coburn  
Unemployment Rising — NY TIMES 
Will Obama’s Revolution Deliver? — Steve Mufson 
Is This The End of Capitalism?  – WSJ

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Tim Geithner, The Necromancer

This weekend I watched the movie “Practical Magic” for the first time.  The movie involves two women, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman), who are witches.    The story revolves around both the dark and light aspects of love and relationships.  Sally marries early in the movie only to have her husband die of a family curse.   Sally, of course, implores her two older and wiser witch aunts to use their magic to bring back her husband.   The two aunts resist the pleadings of their niece, and inform her that whatever they could raise from the dead would be “dark and unnatural.”

Strangely, this “chick flick” reminded me of Tim Geithner’s plan with the economy.   According to Will Marshall, “the essence of Geithner’s plan is to reanimate the market for securitized mortgages and other loans no one wants to buy now.  Until banks can take these toxic assets off their books, they won’t b e able to resume lending.”  I began to visualize Tim Geithner as a fabled MMORP character the Necromancer, attempting to raise the struggling banking institutions from the dead.    Weaving spells and uttering incantations from tomes of economic theories, Geithner brings for troubled assets and brings them back to life.   The eerie warnings from the “witch aunts” left me sitting chill in my chair.   What type of dark force could Geithner unleash?

Marshal continues in his editorial with both the pro’s and con’s of Geithner’s plan.   On the plus side, the belief is that private money managers will know how to manage the troubled assets better than the government side.  Conversely, on the negative, everyone loses except Marshall continues, “the Geithner plan insures them against downside risk.”   Is handing “toxic assets” from “zombie banks” back to the people that got us into this situation, the best path for us to go?   Could proven plans of failure, infact be something good for the country? 

American’s are faced with several challenges, similar to the Owens’ sisters in “Practical Magic”, in order to lift a family curse; one must face the darkness that created it.  However, it appears that the government is unable to accept and face the greed of the last 30 years which has led us down this winding destructive path.   The only way to change the problems in the economy is for us to change our habits!   Is this a task the Obama Administration is willing to take, or will we see a continuation of the Bush 2 policies the administration has already put forth in its First 100 days.

With Obama at the World’s “Most Dangerous Place” — Huffington Post
What’s Behind the Geithner Debate?  – Real Clear Politics  
What Can We Learn From Bristol and Levi — Cynthia Tucker  
Has Obama-mania reached its limit?  – Yahoo Blog 
Questions for Reform — NY TIMES  
Obamanomics Isn’t About Big Government — Robert Reich 
For Obama, Three Afghanistan Tests — Jackson Diehl 

Geithner On Meet The Press:

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The week begins exactly where last week came to an end — the financial crisis.  Barack Obama is set to take the stage on Tuesday evening giving a Press Conference regarding the current financial meltdown that will air in primetime.   Jonathon Capehart, in a curiously on the point op-ed states,  ”Obama must teach the people what is going on in the financial sector.”  Capehart goes on to say that he should use all those graphs, pointers, clipboards, and slides that simply annoyed the heck out of us in High School. Be that as it may, with immense media chatter over a failed 60 Minutes interview, and continued questioning of Tim Geithner, Obama must show that he knows where the meat is on the bare bones of financial reality.    

Gen Y:  The next “Greatest Generation?” — Sara Libby
NBC’s Chuck Todd Gathers Citizen Questions For Obama Presser — The Nation 
The Geithner Paradox — Damned If You Do … — David Paul Kuhn 
The Crisis Scorecard:  Winners and Losers — Richard Reeves  
When Did The Economy Really Fall Off a Cliff – Jean Strouse 
My Plan For Bad Bank Assets — Timothy Geithner  
Neither a Hedgehog Nor a Fox — Peggy Noonan 
Obama’s Teachable Moment II — Jonathon Capehart

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Happy Saint Patricks Day — wishing you the best and hope you receive the luck of the Irish.

The morning papers are filled with one company — AIG.   Under the auspices of Bipartisan support several members of congress are outraged over the bonuses being paid out to the near bankrupt and mostly taxpayer owned firm.  This has created panic within the Obama administration, which began to reverse course on Monday with Press Secretary Gibbs revealing,  ”the administraiton is taking the steps today to go back and see what can be done!”

These recent events have eroded some of the political capital that President Obama received when he won a landslide victory over John McCain, and many pundits are curious over whether this will eventually erode a high favorable rating for the President.  Others, on the other hand, are afraid of what this public outrage might mean for other programs that Obama wishes to press including health care, climate change, and education.

Morning Headlines:

Bonus Furor May Prompt Limits on AIG Bailout Money — Phillip Elliot
Washington Still Writing Stimulus Rules — Matt A. Puzzo and Brett J. Blackedge
The Case For Paying Out Bonuses at AIG — Andrew Ross Sorkin
Firm’s Turmoil Depletes Obama’s Political Capital — Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane
Clinton,Obama Honor Women At State Department — Washington Post
China Gains Key Assets In Spate of Purchases — Ariana Cha
Stimulus Plans Face Local Road Blocks — Michael M. Phillips
Gates Readies Big Cuts In Weapons — Bryan Bender
Obama Acts To Boost Small Business Lending — Maura Reynolds
10 Winners In Recession — US News

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