White House Announces Missing Soldier Returning Home After Negotiating Questionalble Prisoner Swap With Taliban

Flanked by the parents of missing US Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, President Obama announced that he had reached a deal with the Taliban securing their son's return from the Taliban in exchange for the release of five senior Taliban leaders who were being held in Guantanamo Bay. The announcement took place during a press conference in the White House rose garden on Saturday and already has both civilian and military officials alike calling the legality of the deal into question.

In addition to the legality of negotiating for Bergdahl's release from the Taliban, a number of soldiers who served with Bergdahl at the time of his 2009 disappearance have come forward and claimed that the missing sergeant is- at best- a deserter and may have been actively collaborating with the Taliban after going AWOL. Reportedly, at least six soldiers were killed in Taliban ambushes as the unit was searching for Bergdahl leading to criticism of the release from some of the soldier's family members.

The circumstances behind Bergdahl's disappearance are murky, but what is known that Bergdahl was absent when his unit-
1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division- conducted a headcount in the early morning hours of June 30th, 2009 at a forward operating base in southern Paktika province. Bergdahl, who was originally from Idaho, expressed growing disillusionment with the US Army in Afghanistan in his correspondence with his father and reportedly made offhanded comments to his platoon-mates about just walking off into the mountains. Some soldiers said that Bergdahl likely told the Taliban on how best to place IEDs for maximum effect on US Convoys.

Bergdahl's father did nothing to allay those suspicions after sending out messages via social networking sites like twitter encouraging the release of all Taliban prisoners in US custody while following foreign fighters in Syria. Bob Berdahl was also reportedly learning to speak Arabic and Pashto- the language primarily used by the Taliban- although that may have been done in an attempt to independently secure the release of his son. The elder Bergdahl also raised eyebrows when he uttered "In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate-" in Arabic during his appearance in the Rose Garden with President Obama over the weekend [anybody else find it slightly curious that Obama had time to fly in the elder Bergdahl for the rose garden presser, but not notify Congress?- NANESB!]

The five Taliban detainees who were released were identified as Khair Ulla Said Wali Khairkhwa, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Nori, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Mohammad Nabi Omari. The five were flown to the gulf state of Qatar while Bergdahl was flown to a US Army hospital in Germany.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence committee say that the White House has broken the law by entering into negotiations with the Taliban without notifying Congress. According to NBC's senior Washington correspondent, the White House was caught off guard by the military's reaction to Bergdahl's release.

6/4 UPDATE- A couple of even stranger developments began circulating regarding the aftermath of Bowe Bergdahl's disappearance in 2009 that have only recently come to light. The first was that some of Bergdahl's platoon-mates were reportedly ordered by superiors to sign a non-disclosure agreement over Bergdahl's alleged desertion and the search for the missing GI. According to Bergdahl's team leader, an Afghan interpreter translated messages in real-time from radio chatter about a lone American in a nearby village looking for an English speaker so he could talk to the Taliban.

Maine Liberal Group Distributes Flyer Accusing Wheelchair-Bound State Representative of Having "No Spine" in Not "Standing Up" To Governor

A left-wing Portland, ME advocacy group has sent out a mailer accusing state representative Dale Crafts [R- Lisbon Falls] of having 'no spine' and failing to 'stand up' to Gov Paul LePage's 'bullying'. Crafts, who also serves on the Lisbon, ME town council, is confined to a wheelchair.

The Maine's People Alliance mailer, which is done up like a mock prescription pad (shown above) was mailed throughout Craft's district in Androscoggin County just north of Portland.

The left-wing advocacy group Maine's People Alliance took issue with Governor LePage's veto of Medicaid expansion last month. In his veto letter to the state legislature, LePage said:

“Maine has been down this road before, and we must learn from previous experience,” he wrote. “Medicaid spending grew by $1 billion in a decade, hospital bills were not being paid by the state, budgets were broken and thousands of elderly, and people with disabilities were forced to wait for critical services.

“For the sake of the truly needy and Maine taxpayers, we cannot go down this path again,”

Expansion of Medicaid for each state was considered a linchpin of 0bamacare. Under 0bamacare, the federal government would pay for any state that expanded Medicaid to anyone making less than 138% of the poverty level, but only through 2016.

State House minority leader Ken Fredette blasted the mailed and called for the MPA to publicly apologize. The communications director for Maine's People's Alliance said he has personally apologized to Rep Crafts via telephone but will continue to attack him over his support for LePage and opposition to proposed Medicaid expansion in Maine.

This would not be the first time in the 2014 election cycle that a liberal group has mocked a Republican with a disability. In January, undercover reported James O'Keefe videotaped Battleground Texas staff and supporters of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Wendy David mocking Texas attorney general Greg Abbot's disability
as well as forging signatures on resignation forms.

White House, Democrats Announce New 'Berate Your Family' Charm Offensive For the Holidays

If you're travelling to visit loved ones this Thanksgiving or Hanukkah, the Democrats and Obama Administration have made it clear that they would like you to incessantly pester your loved ones about the merits of 0bamacare (or gun control) in an attempt to sugarcoat the flailing 0bamacare rollout.

From Obama's own website which shockingly, actually works:

This holiday season, millions of Americans have a chance to get quality, affordable health insurance—many for the first time. If you have family members who are uninsured, you can play a big part in helping them find coverage that works for them. It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you. So have the talk.

He's actually encouraging people to print up these lying points and to, I don't know, recite them at Thanksgiving dinner? This sort of flies in the face of his reassuring back-patting and confidence in you being your family's healthcare policy expert if you have to rely on pathetic propaganda you printed up. It's got pretty colors and paint-by-number instructions, so maybe this shit will fly over at the kids' table, but I wouldn't be so quick to try this in front of adults. Hungry and varying degrees of intoxicated adults who just want to watch football and be left alone.

If you can't catch the Chris Hayes "how to talk to conservatives about Obamacare at Thanksgiving dinner" special, don't worry, the same thing has already been printed in a number of newspapers and magazines across the country. From WaPo: A guide to surviving Obamacare debates at Thanksgiving.

That's the part of the health-care law that isn't working. But in some states that built their own insurance marketplaces, Obamacare is working--and the health law is meeting enrollment projections. California, for example, has signed up 80,000 people for coverage and Washington has enrolled nearly 12,000. These examples are limited, but the suggest that the problem isn't with demand but a technical one. We won't know whether this is true everywhere, though, until HealthCare.gov is fixed.

[What they neglect to mention is that an estimated 900,000 people in California have lost their individual health insurance policies under 0bamacare, so even if the 80,000 figure is accurate the ratio of those who lost their insurance plans still vastly outnumbers the enrolled under California's 0bamacare exchange- NANESB!]

Yeah, go with that.

Next up, Huffington Post, who is not even trying to hide what side of this debate they're on: Here's Every Argument You'll Need To Win Your Obamacare Debate This Thanksgiving.

We've all got a crazy uncle we love. He might not even technically be an uncle -- it's not something the family likes to get into -- but he's there at Thanksgiving every year just the same, getting heavy handed with the 1.5-liter wine bottle, insisting on calling the dog "bitch," starting with off-color jokes that made people uncomfortable even before the country "evolved" and finishing with a tea party-inspired screed about the Kenyan in the White House. We'll call him Uncle Hank.
...
Those plans were terrible anyway -- high deductibles, no hospital coverage, dropped you if you got sick, etc. It wasn't insurance if you actually needed it. Cite an example from a family member here who's gotten screwed by an insurer. Shouldn't be hard to find.

Your plan sucks Uncle Hank, you dumb slack-jawed hick. Get over it.

Slate jumps in as well. They're not content with just bringing up Obamacare, they actually want you to fight about it: How To Pick a Fight With Your Relatives This Thanksgiving

2) Getting Started. First off, you should wait until everyone's seated at the table before you try to get things started. That way you have a captive audience that has to watch the fireworks, and everyone is settled in for a nice long time. Getting the topic of conversation to politics shouldn't be too hard. Stick to short, sarcastic, tendentious remarks to get things going. "I'm thankful for all that free stuff Obama gave me." Once you've engaged the enemy, it won't take much effort to pivot to whatever particular subject you feel most comfortable with. A good Thanksgiving skirmish will scamper from topic to topic wildly and without warning, but it's best to begin by digging into one particularly contentious subject to get tempers flared.

"Get in their faces". I remember someone saying that once.

There are others out there, even in local papers like the Denver Post and the Pittsburgh Courier. I'm sure there will be more before Thursday. But what if you don't feel like talking about Obamacare, what with the steady, embarrassing and collapsing failure and all? Well don't you worry one bit, because there are other liberal causes you can awkwardly bring up as well! Michael Bloomberg wants you to start talking about gun control, for instance.

Lovely people, aren't they? And of course, all coincidental.

Perhaps completely unrelated, the White House had a closed-door meeting with select journalists from the Washington Post, MNSBC, the Huffington Post and Mother Jones last week, reportedly to coordinate damage control over the 0bamacare rollout. The media has also been attempting to find positive stories about the 0bamacare experience in the wake of last week's meetings.

Despite the happy talk by some media outlets, a number of state-run 0bamacare exchanges had only a fraction of the anticipated number of enrollees- in some cases falling well short of projected 'worst case scenario' numbers.

[Hat tip- Ace of Spades; Weasel Zippers]

New York State Report Deems Hydrofracking Safe, Matt Damon Hardest Hit

Natural gas well in Wilcox, PA

An unreleased document from New York State's Department of Enviromental Conservation leaked to the press indicates that the state has reached the conclusion that hydrofracking can be done safely.

The document, first reported by the New York Times and Gannett News Service and published online Thursday by New York State public radio, references sections of DEC's draft environmental review that deal with health impacts from shale gas drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The report concludes that adverse health impacts will be prevented if DEC's guidelines are followed.

The eight-page document references sections of DEC's 1,500-page environmental impact study of shale gas development. A final version of that study, which is expected to be released in February, will include revisions based on public comment and a health impact review now under way by the state Health Department and three outside experts, DEC has said.

Cuomo has said he'll lift the state's ban on fracking if it's shown to be safe. The state has had a moratorium in effect since July 2008, when DEC began its review of the impacts of fracking.

The document appears to have been written for inclusion in the larger environmental impact study. It describes potential health risks associated with fracking and shale gas development such as exposure to chemicals, contamination of drinking water sources, air pollution, and contact with radioactive elements brought up from deep underground.

DEC Commissioner Joe Martens in September rejected calls for a separate health study by outside experts. Instead, he said the Health Department and a panel of outside experts would review what DEC had already done.

The Marcellus shale formation extends from the southern tier region of New York State to southwestern Virginia and contains trillions of cubic feet in natural gas. Using a method known as hydraulic fracturing or simply fracking, drilling began five years ago in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Hydrofracking uses pressurized water, sand and a number of chemicals injected to the ground to drill through the shale and reach the natural gas trapped underground.

Some activists have expressed concern that fracking will contaminate drinking water or even cause earthquakes around the drilling areas. The Department of Environmental Conservation's report reportedly hasn't discouraged activists from protesting fracking from gathering in Albany this week.

Meanwhile, Matt Damon's United Arab Emirates-backed anti-fracking movie Promised Land fared poorly at the box office in its opening weekend nationwide.

The film, which Matt Damon co-wrote and stars in, took just 10th place at the weekend box office, with $4.3 million in ticket sales, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The top weekend spot, with $23 million, went to the slasher flick “Texas Chainsaw 3D.”

“Promised Land,” which cost $15 million to make and was directed by indie pioneer Gus Van Sant, delves into fears about water pollution from fracking

Damon denied the film had an anti-fracking message and that the writers and cast simply wanted to 'start a discussion' on the subject of fracking [which in liberal-speak usually means you're supposed to sit and not question anything they say- NANESB]

Amid Violent Protests, Michigan Becomes 24th Right to Work State

Michigan State Police in riot gear and LIUNA protesters in Lansing, MI. Mike Mulholland- Mlive.com

With the stroke of a pen, first-term Michigan governor accomplished what was once considered unthinkable in a state with strong ties to the nation's organized labor movement and signed into law legislation that made Michigan a right-to-work state.

At about 5:45 p.m., Snyder announced publicly that he signed the historic right-to-work legislation in private - hours after the bills won final approval in the House and five days after he joined with GOP legislative leaders to announce their plan to enact the controversial law.

"This is a major day in Michigan's history," he said during a news conference in the Romney building not long after signing the legislation. "Again, I don't view this as anti-union at all. I believe this is pro-worker."

The signings came as thousands of protesters and union members descended on Lansing, obstensibly to urge a veto of the legislation once it reached Gov. Snyder's desk. Union protestors also tore down a tent belonging to pro right-to-work group Americans for Prosperity- with people inside- and at least one protestor in an IBEW jacket was videotaped shoving and punching FOX News contributor Steven Crowder outside the collapsed tent. Apologists for the various union thugs laughably attempted to explain away both videotaped events as being 'provoked' by Americans for Prosperity or a 'false flag' where they sabotaged their own tent [shorter Union: "They totally deserved to have their tent wrecked, even though they did it to themselves!"- NANESB!].

[12/12 UPDATE- Not satisfied with simply tearing down a tent and assaulting Crowder, the braying mob apparently focused their energies on destroying a hot dog cart and hurling racial slurs at the cart's owner, Clint Tarver. Tarver was catering to the Americans for Prosperity tent that was ripped down to hoots and applause from the union crowd. The media also described the rampage protests as 'mostly peaceful'.]

Earlier in the day, state representative Doug Geiss [D- Taylor] promised on the floor of the State House that "there will be blood" if right-to-work was passed. The Michigan State House Democrats twitter account would later tweet Geiss' threat before deleting it. On Monday, President Obama slammed the state's right-to work legislation as he was speaking in Michigan to try and gain support for his proposed tax hikes, falsely claiming the two seperate bills making their way through the State House would eliminate collective bargaining altogether. Earlier this year, President Obama ripped right-to-work in a speech before big labor leaders like Trumka and Hoffa, but his supporters and economic team were all to willing to take credit for the jobs created in right-to-work states.

One commenter on Mlive.com succinctly charachterized Michigan's new right-to-work law as follows

Unions will now have to view their members as customers instead of just treating them as a revenue stream. That's about the only thing that changed today. Unions still exist. Employees can still organize. Employees can still engage in collective bargaining.

Gov Snyder's move came about 10 months after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed right-to-work into law, making the Hoosier state the first 'rust belt' state to have right-to-work laws in more than 40 years. Snyder reportedly wanted to make Michigan as competitive as Indiana, which has added an estimated 43,000 jobs since the state passed right-to-work.

Growing up, we got a cursory introduction to the labor movement in the history books at school while unions like the Teamsters murdered 96 people at the DuPont Plaza hotel in Puerto Rico or various New England chapters of the Laborers International Union of North America maintained cozy relationship with the Patriarcha crime family out of Providence, allowing mobsters to engage in laor racketeering while raiding the union's pension fund.

Many of the unions protesting in Madison, WI last year lost much of their credibility when despite AWOL lawmakers and activist judges, laws limiting collective bargaining in Wisconsin were passed by Gov. Scott Walker despite massive, continuous protests on the grounds of the state capitol building. However, despite dire predictions of public employee unions like AFSCME or SEIU, the sky didn't fall and Wisconsin didn't turn into Mogadishu overnight.

Moreover, even without Tuesday's violent tantraum in mind, I have zero sympathy for unions that do things like help themselves to money from families of disabled people. I'm not certain it this is limited to Michigan, but hopefully this practise is dismantled ASAP.

The law will likely face a number of challenges and I would be very surprised if an activist judge somewhere along the way didn't attempt to overturn it by judicial fiat. Still, wouldn't it be ironic if after the rough years the auto industry has had lately, the new right-to-work law started bringing the auto industry back to its 'home' in Michigan?

Report: Syrian Forces Prepping Nerve Agent For Use Against Rebels, Civilians

Forces loyal to the regime of Syrian president Bashr Al-Assad have begun preparing chemical weapons for possible use against rebel-held positions throughout the country, according to reports from NBC and FOX news late Wednesday.

The reports cite an unnamed US Intelligence official who said that the precursor chemicals for the nerve agent sarin had been prepared and were ready to be deployed should Al-Assad give the order. Once mixed, the sarin would have to be used within 60 days before becoming inert.

Sarin attacks the respitory system and causes convulsions, nausea and resiptory failure- the chemical agent was used on the Tokyo subway system in a terrorist attack carried out by the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo in 1995. Thirteen people were killed in that attack.

Syria has never overtly acknowledged having a chemical warfare program of their own, but military and intelligence officials believe the Assad regime has the Middle East's most prolific stockpile of chemical munitions. Some maintain that Syria developed their own chemical weapons independently while others believe Saddam Hussein was able to safely transfer large portions of his WMD inventory to Syria prior to the outbreak of the 2003 Iraq war [the two are not mutually exclusive- the Assad regime could've used a fairly small quantity of Iraqi WMD's as the foundation of their own chemical warfare program- NANESB!].

Western Diplomats warned that the Syrian military using chemical weapons would provoke a more direct involvement from the USA and NATO. The warnings on Syria's chemical weapons comes as fighting rages in the suburbs of Damascus- Syrian rebels had reportedly advanced close to Damascus' International Airport only to be hammered by airstrikes, heavy artillery and rockets. The fighting, which has raged since March of 2011, has at times spilled over into neighboring nations like Turkey and Lebanon.

OTHER SYRIAN NEWS- President Bashr Al-Assad's former press liason, 22 year old Sheherazad “Sherry” Jaafari, is reportedly studying at the New School for Social Research New York despite being accepted to the more prestigous Columbia University earlier this year.

Students at Columbia, along with exiled Syrians, had urged that Columbia rescind Jaafari's admission due to her previous work as a spokeswoman for the Al-Assad regime. Jaafari declined to enroll at Columbia, claiming she didn't want to be harrassed due to her work with Al-Assad.

The raven-tressed Muslima is the daughter of Al-Assad's UN Envoy and also attempted to use her high profile position in the regime and contacts with western reporters to land a job at a western news agency. Earlier this year, ABC News' Barbara Walters admitted to contacting colleagues at CNN to reccomend they hire Jaafari. Walters also contacted a former ABC chief who was a lecturer at Columbia to give Jaafari 'special' consideration for enrollment into the journalism school.

The requests by Jaafari came after Al Assad was interviewed by Walters in December 2011. However, a series of e-mail correspondence between Jaafari and Al-Assad that was released by hackers at Anonymous showed that she had coached Al-Assad on how best to manipulate American public opinion while minimizing the ongoing fighting that had killed an estimated 4000 Syrians by that point [including comparing the regime's crackdown to American law enforcement agencies attempting to break up the Occupy Wall Street encampments- NANESB!].

Walters would not be the only US Media figure duped by somebody from the Assad regime. Obama fundraiser and Vogue editor Anna Wintour published a piece favorably covering Syrian First Lady Asma Al-Assad and Syria under the Assad regime and ruling Ba'ath Party in February 2011.

Bloomberg news has reported that Wintour is interested in becoming the American ambassador to England during the second Obama term.

Union-Sponsored Wal Mart Employee Black Friday Walkout 'Mostly a Fizzle'

A threatened Black Friday nationwide walkout by Walmart employees sponsored by Moveon.org, Occupy Wall Street and labor unions reportedly has done nothing to crimp the mega-retailer's sales on the busiest shopping day of the year.

Protests did take place at some stores, with SEIU members, MoveOn.org and Occupy Wall Street activists making noise, The Blaze reported, but very few Wal-Mart employees participated nationwide.

The Associated Press said that "nine people, including three employees, were arrested shortly after noon for blocking the street" outside the store in Paramount, Calif., but "more than 1,000 people" blocked traffic outside the store at one point in the protest.

"A union-backed group called OUR Walmart has said that it is holding an estimated 1,000 protests in 46 states. The exact number is unclear. Wal-Mart has refuted that estimate, saying the figure is grossly exaggerated and that the protests involved few of its own employees," the AP added.

Wal-Mart said that only 50 employees participated in the protests, but the United Food and Commercial Workers union disagrees, the Washington Examiner reported.

"It said 'hundreds and hundreds' joined in at events across the country," Sean Higgins wrote, but that number could not be verified.

"Even assuming the UFCW figure is correct, that is pretty small given that Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer, with 1.4 million people working at its stores," Higgins added.

A number of retailers, including Wal Mart [NYSE- WMT], didn't even wait for midnight on Thanksgiving to open their doors to hundreds of shoppers hoping to score Black Friday deals. Despite the threatened walkout sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) or SEIU, Wal Mart reportedly had their best ever Black Friday with an increasing number of transactions taking place online.

A number of both online and brick and mortar retailers such as Amazon, Wal Mart, Best Buy, Sears are expecting 'Cyber Monday'- the Monday the weekend after Thanksgiving- to be the single busiest online shopping day of the year.

CNN Founder Ted Turner: High Suicide Rate Among US Servicemen in Afghanistan is "Good"

Between 'Superstorm Sandy', the closing week of the 2012 election and the White House's deceptive narrative on the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Benghazi unrabelling, i though this short but rather telling snippet of video from CNN last week seems to have been lost in the shuffle.

In an interview with his own network's Piers Morgan, the TV show host pointed out to Mr Turner that the rate of suicides among American soldiers in Afghanistan was actually higher than combat-related casualties.

This is what billionaire media mogul Ted Turner had to say in response:



If you notice around the 9 second mark, after Morgan asks "Shocking, isn't it?" he begins to say "No, I think it's ter-" before apparently correcting himself and saying "I think its good" before spouting some touchey-feeley New Age crapola about how people are inherently hard wired to be compassionate and helpful to one another.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Turner issued an 'apology' through a spokesman shortly afterwards.

During my recent interview on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, I inadvertently used the word "good" when asked for my thoughts on the increasing rate of suicide among U.S. military soldiers in the Middle East. It was certainly not my intent to imply that suicide is "good." Rather, I was implying that it is good that the public is more aware of these tragedies and is more averse to war and war-related fatalities.

My message has always been one of peace, I believe that we're born programmed to love and help each other, not to kill or hurt each other. I strongly support our U.S. troops and would never intentionally say anything to harm the brave men and women serving our country. I deeply apologize for any misunderstanding caused by this comment

I'm really not sure what I could possibly write to follow this up, other than I've gone from pitying CNN in their race to the bottom of the ratings heap to openly despising them.

Anti-Fracking Movie Starring Matt Damon Bankrolled in Part by OPEC-Member United Arab Emirates

A new drama starring Matt Damon as a smooth-talking natural gas company official who attempts to purchase drilling rights from local residents in a rural Pennsylvania town is already generating buzz, but it has nothing to do with what takes place on-screen.

The movie Promised Land supposedly dramatizes the dangers involved in the drilling process known as hydrofracking- a local environmentalist seeks to thwart Damon and his company's attempts to drill in the area. To hardly any one's surprise, the local schoolteacher and environmentalist who raises the alarm regarding hydrofracking is portrayed in a positive manner while I suspect Damon's gas company official will be portrayed as manipulative and unethical- at least until his change of heart where he falls in love with a local woman.

Pretty standard Hollywood 'We-Liberals-and-Environmentalists-know-whats-best-for-you-rubes-in-flyover-country' boilerplate so far, right? With its December release, there's even Oscar talk for Promised Land all while bringing the ongoing debate over fracking front and center.

Only it was recently discovered that the film has received considerable financial backing from the United Arab Emirates- a member of OPEC and among the top 10 oil producing nations in the world.

The film was produced “in association with” Image Media Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, as first reported by the Heritage Foundation. Abu Dhabi Media is wholly owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, a small but extremely wealthy federation of absolute monarchies along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.

Very obviously, the UAE has an interest in slowing down the expansion of hydraulic fracking that has created an energy boom in the United States.

This would not be the first American film that would've received financial backing from Image Media Abu Dubai- other titles include The Help, Contagion and The Crazies among others.

Locations for filming Promised Land include the city of Pittsburgh as well as Westmoreland and Armstrong counties in Western Pennsylvania. A group of Armstrong county residents, upset at what they claim were the filmmakers using false pretenses to film in the area, started up a Facebook page called Armstrong County Promised Land Pride. Visitors to the page are greeted with the following succinct message: "They filmed this movie in our backyard. They said it would be fair to drilling. It's not. We're pissed."

Fracking opponents claim that the process injects massive quantities of hazardous chemicals into the groundwater and that hydrofracking can cause tap water to burst into flame and caused last year's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Mineral, VA that was felt up and down the East Coast- even though the nearest natural gas well was hundreds of miles away.

The movie is loosely based on events in Dimock, PA where a handful of local residents had claimed drilling from nearby wells had contaminated their groundwater. However, after analysis by Pennsylvania's environmental agency and the EPA, the water was deemed safe to drink by the EPA this summer.

The real-life events in Dimock have reportedly prompted a hasty re-write of the Promised Land script. Of course this is where Hollywood decided to double down on the stupid in typical Hollywood fashion.

according to sources close to the movie, they’ve come up with a solution — suggest that anti-fracking fraudsters are really secret agents employed by the fossil-fuel industry to discredit the environmental movement.

In the revised script, Damon exposes Krasinski as a fraud — only to realize that Krasinski’s character is working deep undercover for the oil industry to smear fracking opponents.

Hollywood is worried about declining theater audiences; it’s blaming the Internet and the recession. But the real problem might be closer to home.

Damon and Krasinski said they were making a movie that “defines us as a country” but then shoehorned ideology into a script — and when real-world events became a problem, they shoehorned in more ideology.

You see, instead of the noble well-intentioned environmentalist perhaps having some kind of a 'Mea Culpa' moment and the dire environmental consequences Kasinski's charachter warned about not taking place, in west coast liberal screenwriter-land, the anti-fracking advocates being wrong are purely the fault of the oil company who are disseminating misinformation to discredit opponents.

Instead of some ancillary plot where the cash-strapped townsfolk can now afford to save up for their kids' college education or put an elderly relative in a decent rest home- all while drinking and bathing with tapwater that doesn't burst into flames- the alarmist and false narrative spun by the environmentalists and celebrity anti-frackers has to be placed at the feet of the energy companies. I believe that is called 'chutzpah' in some parts of the world.

ChickFilA Reportedly Enjoys Record Turnout & Sales on 'ChickFilA Appreciation Day'

Line at Chick-Fil-A in Houston, TX on August 1, deemed by some Traditional marriage and First Amendment supporters to be "ChickFilA Appreciation Day"

Atlanta-based ChickFilA reported that the single day sales record for their restaurant chain had been shattered on Wednesday, Aug 1st- in what many supporters had billed 'ChickFilA Appreciation Day'. Some ChickFilA locations were so crowded that extra employees were called in to direct traffic in the parking lots and other locations reportedly ran out of food hours before they were scheduled to close for the night.

The privately held company declined to give specific sales figures but released a statement confirming that frenzied sales of chicken sandwiches and cross-cut waffle fries had made for a record-setting day.

"We are very grateful and humbled by the incredible turnout of loyal Chick-fil-A customers on August 1 at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country," said Steve Robinson, executive vice president of marketing, in the statement. "While we don't release exact sales numbers, we can confirm reports that it was a record-setting day."

The support for the chicken sandwich chain wasn't limited to the Bible Belt either, as lines were wrapped around the building at locations from New Hampshire to California on Wednesday. While some customers lining up on Wednesday no doubt disagreed with ChickFilA CEO Dan Cathy's statements opposing same-sex marriage, it became a First Amendment issue when the mayors of Boston and Chicago threatened to use their offices to block any attempt at ChickFilA to set up shop or expand in their respective cities.

Another line at a ChickFilA location in suburban San Deigo, CA on August 1

A video filmed at a ChickFilA Drive-Thru in Arizona- apparently shot on ChickFilA appreciation day- shows a motorist videotaping himself pulling up to the window and asking for a free cup of water before berating the cashier over the CEO's recent statements.



Although he quickly erased the original video, a number of unedited copies went up on YouTube under different accounts. Within 24 hours, the man was identified as Adam Smith, a Chief Financial Officer with Tuscon-based medical equipment manufacturer Vante. By Thursday afternoon, Vante had reportedly dismissed Smith after deciding the video of himself at ChickFilA demonstrated that he had shown poor judgement. Smith has subsequently apologized to the cashier in another video released onto YouTube, but in that same video, he holds himself blameless for the series of events leading up to the loss of his job.

I suspect most of the participants of the ChickFilA Same Sex Kiss-In DIDN'T look like this, but a guy can dream, can't he?

On Friday, although not as well attended as the ChickFilA Appreciation Day, gay marriage supporters staged a same-sex 'kiss-in' at some locations. On Thursday, a Chicago-based LGBT group filed suit against ChickFilA with the Illinois Department of Human Rights alleging that the resturant's "intolerant corporate culture" violates state law and a provision in Illinois' Human Rights Act, although the suit declines to specifically mention any instances of harassment or discrimination against homosexual customers and employees.

Eat Mor Chikin: Atlanta-Based Chick Fil A Under Fire From Leftists Over CEO's Stance on Gay Marriage

The president of an Atlanta-based fast food chain has drawn the ire of gay and lesbian activists as well as Democrat politicians looking for a big juicy distraction after stating this his restaurant supports traditional marriage in an interview with a Baptist website earlier this month.

Chick Fil A Cookies & Cream milkshake- yum!

Started in Atlanta by restaurateur and devout baptist S Truett Cathy in 1967, Chick Fil A has grown to a chain of more than 1600 restaurants across 39 states specializing in chicken sandwiches, chicken strips, chicken wraps and chicken salads. The company also is the title sponsor for the Chick Fil A Peach Bowl which is played between one ACC college football team and one SEC school each New Year's Eve at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

Neither S Truett Cathy nor his son Dan Cathy are shy about their Baptist faith or incorporating it into their business model. In keeping with Cathy's faith, the restaurant remains closed on Sundays.

As you might be able to figure out, most Baptists are opposed to same-sex marriage. With more than 30 states voting at the ballot box to define marriage as being between a man and a woman, that's a viewpoint that's hardly fringe or in the minority.

Have the liberals who want to start a Chick-Fil-A boycott really thought this through?

LGBT groups and various democrat politicians desperate for a distraction have chimed in on Chick Fil A's stance on same sex marriage.

Among the first was Boston mayor Tom Menino, who penned a letter threatening to block any attempt by Chick Fil A to open up a location in Boston.

“It sends a strong message that the habit of supporting hateful organizations that demonize LGBT Americans are out of step with not just Bostonians but a majority of fair-minded Americans,” Menino told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Thursday.

In it he said,”There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.

“If they’re going to hurt people’s rights and social justice is involved. I’m going to speak up on that. No matter what it is. You might not like it, but I have to live with myself,” he said.

Curiously, Mayor Menino required no such ideological litmus test for the Islamic Society of Boston's mosque after selling them a city owned parcel of land for $175,000- far below the appraised $1.8 million. With two locations in the metropolitan Boston area, Chick Fil A was reportedly looking at opening a location on the campus of Northeastern university, which is inside Boston city limits.

Meanwhile, Obama's former-chief-of-staff now Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel was able to take time out from the escalating carnage in the Windy City to announce he would be protecting Chicagoans from the ever-encroaching menace of grilled chicken sandwiches.

"Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago’s values. They’re not respectful of our resident, our neighbors and our family members. And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect the Chicago values,” said Emanuel.

Ah- I see. Apparently if Chick Fil A wants to do business in Chicago, they need to have a storied tradition of turning a blind eye to gang violence and organized crime, selling off political appointments to the highest bidder and utilize drug gangs like the Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples for the get-out-the-vote effort and reward them by steering contracts to their families and friends later on.

In a display of even more staggering hypocrisy, a few days after chiding Cathy, Rahm Emmanuel would praise fringe antisemitic Nation of Islam preacher Louis Farrakhan for dispatching his followers- known as 'The Fruit of Islam' to some of the violence-plagued areas.

To hardly anybody's surprise, the mayor of San Francisco also chimed in, even though the nearest Chick Fil A is some 40 miles away.

So there you have it- at least three mayors of large American cities who have pretty much come right out and said they would use zoning requirement and government bureaucracy to block or revoke a private company from opening their doors within city limits because they disagreed with an opinion held by somebody in the management. Now for the progressives who might have a difficult time wrapping their heads around why this might be a bad thing, let's say a staunchly conservative mayor or county commissioner found out a business owned by a liberal supporter of gay marriage and gun control wanted to open up a business in the community and decided to stack the deck against the liberal business owner and put all sorts of zoning and regulatory hurdles in the path of this would be business because the conservative politician disagreed with something the hypothetical business owner had said.

Sucks- doesn't it? Yet that's exactly the kind of behavior that Menino and Emanuel are engaging in.

Not surprisingly, various Hollywood has-beens would also chime in on the issue in an attempt to make themselves feel relevant again and in the process, reveal their own rather skewed definition of 'tolerance'.

Enter bitter, corpulent 'comedienne', Occupy Wall Street supporter and failed Green Party presidential candidate Roseanne Barr:

Interesting how a few short months ago Barr was calling for the wealthy to be summarily executed or sent to re-education camps, yet decided to boast about her own materiel wealth as some sort of witty rejoinder before resorting to 2nd grade insults- apparently her writers bailed on her long before the 2007 writers strike.

As you could probably gather from the above exchange, I decided to stop by my nearest Chik Fil A last week and even though I already had lunch, I decided to get a cookies and cream milkshake [pictured at top- NANESB!] as part of a 'buycott'.

In fact, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and other conservatives have encouraged people to go to Chick Fil A on August 1 as part of  "Chick Fil A Appreciation Day". Although the nearest Chick Fil A is some 35 miles away, I will probably be stopping by as it isn't too far out of my way for the commute to one of my temp jobs and I have some coupons that are expiring soon.

Cambridge, MA Weighs Ban on Soft Drinks

Following in the footsteps of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of Cambridge, MA is seeking to ban soda serving sizes of 16 ozs or more.

According to the Boston Globe, Mayor Henrietta Davis is considering limiting the size of sodas and sugar-sweetened beverages sold in city restaurants.

Health officials have long criticized the sugary drinks.

It’s a hard stance against soft drinks: the city of Cambridge wants to ban serving sizes of more than 16 ounces in restaurants and movie theaters.

Cambridge is a health conscious community, but is that enough to let the government determine what you drink and how much?

“I think the parents have to regulate what the kids drink today,” says Jim Kelley. “I think they drink far too many sugary drinks.”

“That’s all up to self control I feel,” says Kinsman. “If you feel you shouldn’t have soda, then don’t drink it.”

Once again, this is only a proposal at this time, but the Mayor has asked the city’s health department to make a recommendation.

I find it a tad difficult to believe that Cambridge has already become such a utopia-on-earth that every other problem within city limits has been solved to the point where the city feels it can start dictating how big a cup of soda people can order.

How exactly do they plan on enforcing this? Do they have any means of preventing people from arriving from the other side of the Charles with a 20 oz drink? And what's the threshold for 'sugary drinks'? What if somebody orders an 18oz coffee or iced tea and then ads sugar afterwards? Are they in violation of this proposed law? If it does in fact become law and the Cambridge PD is responsible for its enforcement, perhaps then we could ALL say "The Cambridge Police acted stupidly".

Of course, never one to be outdone as far as pushing the nanny-state envelope goes, New York's Bloomberg is eying a crackdown on popcorn and milkshakes being served in the Big Apple.

Anti-War Landlady in Boston Refuses To Rent Apartment to Veteran

To say this makes me angry would be the understatement of this relatively young 21st Century.

Remember this shit the next time the American left tries weaseling out of their blood libel of the US military over the last decade with the standard 'I support the troops, but not the war' platitudes.

Sgt. Joel Morgan, 29, tried to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the Savin Hill section of Dorchester from 63-year-old Janice Roberts.

“I’ve been deployed so many times, I really haven’t had much of a home,” he told WBZ-TV.

Morgan didn’t get the apartment.

According to the lawsuit, Roberts told Morgan his war service and her peace activism presented a “conflict of interest.”

“Because of what you told me about the Iraq war… we are very adamant about our beliefs… it’s just not comfortable for us… and I’m sure now that you know this, it would not be comfortable for you,” Roberts said in a voicemail to Morgan.

“I would suggest you do the right thing and look for a place less politically active or controversial.”

The divorced father has a young son and is training to be a Boston firefighter so he needs to live in town.

He was shocked and confused and that led him to sue.

“I’ve never been in that situation (being turned down for an apartment), so it was like, ‘I don’t understand what you mean, I just want to give you a check and rent an apartment,” Morgan told WBZ-TV.

“(It) just really, really disgusted me,” he said.

“It really freaked me out that ‘Is this what I’m going to be facing? Should I not let people know that I’m a combat vet?’

Military service members and veterans are part of a protected class in Massachusetts and, therefore, they cannot be discriminated against.

Since Sgt Morgan is studying to be a Boston firefighter, I wonder how Janice Roberts would feel about if her building caught on fire in the not-too-distant future and the first truck to show up had Morgan and another veteran on it. Would she stand by her principles and refuse their help knowing that at least one of them was a soldier who fought in a war she objected to?

How much do you want to bet that despite all the lip service being paid to 'honoring our returning vets', Janice Roberts and people with her worldview are perfectly happy voting for the politician whose idea to curb record unemployment among veterans is to dump them out in the wilderness in a rehash of the Depression-era CCC.

And for those of you who might object and say 'But Fenway- that's just one anti-war landlady. Don't you think it's unfair to paint a whole group with a broad brush based on the actions of one person?...where exactly were you with your objections when attendees at Tea Party raiilers were being judged on the basis of one or two birther signs? I've honestly stopped caring about the sensibilities of people who have made it quite unambiguous that they hate my guts LONG ago.

[Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers]

Sports Chowdah Update- Jersey Chore, Devils Fall Into 0-2 Stanley Cup Hole; Jays-ed & Confused, Toronto Touches Up Bard; Heat Wilt In the Garden

BOSTON CELTICS- After putting the Miami Heat in a big hole early in Game Four on Sunday night, the Celtics managed to squander an 18 point lead against the visiting Miami Heat in the 4th quarter at the Garden.

However, for all the talk of offensive prowess and superstars like LeBron James, the turning point in Sunday night's game [and possibly the series- NANESB!] came courtesey of somebody who had exactly zero points on the night. With the contest tied at 89-89 at the end of the 4th and heading to OT.

Although the Celtics managed to take a 1-point lead, but not before Paul Pierce had fouled out of the game less than a minute into OT. One of the biggest plays in OT for Boston came not from Rondo or Garnett, but Mickael Pietrus who had a grand total of zero points on Sunday night. With less than two minutes to go and the C's desperately clinging to a 92-91 lead, Pietrus came up with two huge offensive rebounds to keep the clock going and retain posession for the C's after two missed shots. Then, with Miami heading back up the court, Pietrus drew the sixth foul of the evening on LeBron James- the first time LeBron fouled out of a game as a member of the Miami Heat.

With less than 25 seconds to go in OT, the C's made it a two point game when Rajon Rondo went 1 for 2 from the free throw line to make it 93-91. On the Heat's next possession, Dwayne Wade let loose from outside the line with a shot that looked like it was going to make it and give Miami the lead as time expired, but it ultimately clanged off the rim.

The Celtics didn't win this one so much as survive it. Paul Pierce had 23 points on the night along with 6 rebounds before lgetting tossed out of the game in OT. Rajon Rondo had 15 points and 15 assists while Mickael Pietrus had the two pivotal offensive rebounds in OT.

The win is Boston's second in a row in the Eastern Conference Finals and sends the series back to South Beach knotted up at 2 games apiece. Although the Heat could do little to stop Rajon Rondo, who had an NBA playoff-best 44 points in Game 2, Miami was ultimately victorious in that contest. So far, each team is undefeated in their home arena in the Eastern Conference finals.

With the series knotted at 2 games each, this basically becomes a best-of-3 series. Game 5 will get underway from South Beach on Tuesday night with a tipoff time of 8:30 ET on ESPN.

The winner of the Miami-Boston series will take on the winner of the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series out west. Like the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference finals are also knotted up at 2-2.



STANLEY CUP FINALS- Two games at Newark's Prudential Center, two overtimes but despite the best efforts of New Jersey's veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur, the Los Angeles Kings are seperated from Lord Stanley's cup by all of two wins.

After an Anze Kopitar tally broke a 1-1 deadlock in OT of Game 1, the Devils found themselves trailing again for most of Game 2 on Saturday night after an unassisted Drew Doughty goal in the first before Ryan Carter knotted the contest up at 1-1 with a goal early in the 3rd. Nothing was resolved in the rest of regulation, so like the series opener Game 2 went to OT. Also like Game 1, the deadlock was broken by the Kings in overtime after Jeff Carter figured out how to get one by Brodeur with 6:18 remaining in OT.

With the Kings two wins away from clinching the Stanley Cup Champioship, the series heads out to the West Coast beginning Monday. The puck drops at 8:00 ET, 5:00 PT at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Network and the CBC.

BOSTON BRUINS- Goalie Tim Thomas announced that he plans on taking next season off. The late-blooming netminder said in a message on his facebook page "At the age of 38, I believe it is time to put my time and energies into those areas and relationships that I have neglected, That is why at this time I feel the most important thing I can do in my life is to reconnect with the three F's. Friends, Family, and Faith".

Thomas reportedly told Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli that he was considering taking a year off on Friday. However, Thomas left open the possibility of a return to the NHL and expressed an interest in trying out for the US Olympic team in the 2014 Winter games. Had Thomas simply announced that he was retiring, the Bruins would've been responsible for a $5 million annual cap hit. Instead, Thomas is due $3 million for the 2012-2013 season although he had waived his no-trade clause back in 2010.

Although Thomas' plans to miss the 2012-13 season to take a sabbatical come to a surprise as some, the Bruins would still be in pretty good shape as far as goaltending is concerned. The Bruins still have Tukka Rask [although he becomes a restricted free agent in July- NANESB!] as well as Anton Khudobin as their top two goalies.



MLB- For the first time in their 51 year history, the New York Mets have a no-hiter to their name. The Mets milestone was reached on Friday night when starter Johan Santana threw a complete game no hitter against the St Louis Cardinals in their 8-0 shutout of the defending World Series champions. Santana threw a career high 134 pitches in the franchise's first ever no-hitter. Former Met Carlos Beltran, appeared to break up the no-hit bid in the top of the 6th with a liner over 3rd base, but it was immediately ruled foul by the 3rd base umpire- despite the fact that it kicked up some chalk.

Left fielder Mike Baxter preserved Johan's no-no bid at great personal expense, crashing into a wall while successfully chasing down a Yadier Molina fly ball [As of Sunday, Baxter was on the 15 day DL with a displaced right collarbone- NANESB!]. Mets catcher Josh Thole caught a foul tip off the bat of 2011 World Series MVP David Freese on a 3-2 count to complete the game.

With the Mets no-hitter in the books, this leaves the San Diego Padres as the only MLB franchise that doesn't have a no-hitter to their name.

OTHER METS NEWS- Noted misogynist and HBO talk show host Bill Maher announced on Sunday that he recently became a minority shareholder of the team. After being sued by one of the trustees for victims of embezzler Bernie Madoff last year, the Mets ownership decided to raise funds by The Mets management selling an undiclosed number of limited partner shares for $20 million each. Although Maher declined to say how much he paid for his share if the Mets, but the sale reportedly took place around the same time as the limited partner shares were made available.

RED SOX- Although the weekend got off to a promising start for the Red Sox, Sunday ended with a fizzle for the Sox as Daniel Bard got touched up for five runs in 1⅓ innings, including a 3 run homer by Jose Bautista. Boston would go on to win by a final of 5-1, with Boston's only run coming in the top of the 5th thanks to a Kelly Shoppach solo homer. Boston won the first two games of the weekend series thanks to strong outings by Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront. However, Boston lost Subday afternoon's game by a 5-1 final.

The Sox return to Fenway on Tuesday to take on the Orioles, who were knocked out of first place by Tampa Bay over the weekend [after the weekend, Boston and Toronto are tied for last place in the AL East, although both teams are only 3 games out of 1st place- NANESB]. Jon Lester [3-4; 4.79 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against Baltimore's Jason Hammel [6-2; 3.06 ERA] on Tuesday night at 7:10 PM. The game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER BLUE JAYS NEWS- Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie left a food court at a popular Toronto mall seconds before a gunman opened fire on patrons, killing one and wounding several others.

Lawrie was one of the first to break the news on Twitter on Saturday evening. He had gone to the mall with a friend shortly after the Blue Jays lost to the Boston Red Sox in a Saturday afternoon game.

''Pretty sure someone just let off a round bullets in eaton center mall ... Wow just sprinted out of the mall ... through traffic,'' Lawrie tweeted. ''People sprinting up the stairs right from where we just were ... Wow wow wow.''

He later tweeted that he was ''Rattled right now.''

On Sunday, Lawrie said he felt lucky because he left the food court 10 seconds before the shooting.

''It was instant panic,'' Lawrie said before Sunday's game against the Red Sox. ''It was as if you stepped on an ant hill and then everyone just flooded out of the place. ... I just got out of there as fast as possible. I was the first person out of there.''

Lawrie said he wanted to get the news out fast.

''I just thought I'd give it out there just to anybody that could have been in the mall or anybody that needed to get there ASAP, I thought I could give them a good piece of information,'' he said.

Lawrie, a Canadian, said he never thought something like that could happen at the Eaton Centre, a Toronto landmark that is popular with tourists.

Toronto police identified the slain man as Ahmed Hassan and believe the shooting is gang-related. Although shootings have been on the rise in recent years north of the border, they are still relatively rare in Canada and Toronto prides itself on being one of the safest metropolitan areas in North America. Although the gunman wasn't publicly identified, a Toronto police spokesman said that between video survaillence footage, eyewitness accounts and the deceased's gang affiliation, they know the identity of the shooter.

Cherokee Group Demands Elizabeth Warren Come Clean About Claims of Native Ancestry; Moveon.org Warns They May 'Pull the Plug' on Warren Campaign

Most likely NOT one of Elizabeth Warren's ancestors

While Massachusetts Democrats would like nothing more than the whole issue of Elizabeth Warren's bogus claims of Cherokee ancestry would go away, actual members of the tribe are keeping the issue alive and liberal fundraisers fear that it may be costing her campaign money.

A group consisting of more than 150 Cherokees have started up a blog and Facebook page titled Cherokees Demand Truth From Elizabeth Warren which includes a page highlighting her family's genealogy. From the 'About Us' section:

This is NOT a political group, but instead, a group that demands Elizabeth Warren and others like her understand OUR history belongs to us and no one has the right to try to rewrite it or make up fictitious stories so they can fit in it or take advantage of it. Only those who meet the requirements under Cherokee law should claim to be Cherokee. We hope to help educate the public on what is and is not true about our history and also why the false claims like Elizabeth Warren is making are harmful to the Cherokee people.

So far, Warren has replied to inquiries about whether or not she used her claims of minority status with boilerplate remarks about how she promises to help the middle class.

Also probably no relation to Warren, despite the high cheekbomes- but still worth looking at

Officials from progressive group move.org have cautioned members that they may have to pull the plug altogether on supporting Warren's campaign, citing a shortfall of cash and a primary challenge from immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco. Should DeFranco win at least 15% of the delegate's votes at the Massachusetts Democrat Party's Convention in Springfield, MA, she'll appear on the September primary ballot. While Warren has managed to raise millions of dollars, much of it from out of state, DeFranco has yet to surpass $50,000 in fundraising.

UPDATE- 6/1: This is too good to pass up- nervous Democrat delegates are being warned not to wander from the reservation ahead of the state convention in Springfield, MA this weekend.

Meanwhile, members from the Cherokee group have made plans to protest Warren outside the convention venue on Saturday.

Documents Seized From Bin Laden's Compound Show Al Qaeda's Media Adviser Disappointed After Keith Olberman Fired From MSNBC

According to documents seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid of Osama Bin Laden's hideout in Abbotabad, Pakistan, Al Qaeda hates FOX news with a passion and was dismayed to learn of Keith Olbermann's dismissal from MSNBC last year.

When MSNBC discarded Keith Olbermann, al-Qaida mourned.

So reports David Ignatius, the Washington Post columnist who has gained exclusive access to some of the documents recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

In his Wednesday column in the Washington Post, Ignatius reported on the details of a 21-page letter to bin Laden written by al-Qaida media adviser Adam Gadahn. Though the letter was undated, Ignatius says that it was likely written sometime after November 2010.

Laying out the current media landscape for the now waterlogged terrorist kingpin, Gadahn, an American-born Jewish convert to Islam, lamented the “firing” of Olbermann from MSNBC.

“In the letter, the media adviser focuses on ‘how to exploit’ the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on television,” Ignatius writes.

“He worries that CNN ‘seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others,’ though he praises its ‘good and detailed’ Arabic coverage. ‘I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit,’ he continues, but then notes the firing of Olbermann.”

Olbermann was fired from MSNBC and his Countdown show was cancelled shortly after Comcast completed the purchase of a majority stake in MSNBC's parent company, NBC-Universal, from General Electric in early 2011. Since being ousted from MSNBC, Olbermann wound up with his own show on Current TV, a cable network that has the financial backing of former Vice President Al Gore.

Text Messages Reveal That Police Officers in Denver Were Texting What everybody Else Was Thinking About #OccupyDenver & #OWS

CBS News Photo

A 30-page dossier of car-to-car text messages from police officers during the height of the #OccupyDenver protests earlier this fall was released by the Denver Police Department was released to the public this week.

The overwhelming majority of the messages contained routine and mundane observations of the protesters movements, but the Denver Post has thoughtfully compiled some of the messages in which certain police officers make clear their disdain or fatigue in dealing with the #Occupy demonstrators:

Oct. 1: ... did you see all those crazy youtube videos of the ny police and the protesters? crazy stuff!

Denver protesters are too pathetic for us to have anything like that.

Oct. 13: probably little problems from the "real" protesters, but the grungy hippies and the usual civic center yahoos will more than likely be a problem

Oct. 14: I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of them .. they would probably scatter real good

Oct. 21: If you think about it, large scale protests are a good way to waste city money and possibly cripple the system.

Oct. 30: It is nuts down here i have costume freaks yelling at protesters who are yelling at police who are yelling at transients.

Oct. 30: in the last two days no less than one hundred people, at protest and other places, have screamed obscenities and directed demeaning remarks at me, and I am not allowed to respond in any way. what a great system.

Oct. 30: I guess Heather dealt with a hippie on 1st and Broad that said You are making me feel Dehumanized by the way ur treating me. Probably a protesters.

Nov. 4: but they claim to be peacefully protesting. i say we just baton the people who start to incite everyone. the rest who are peaceful, let em stay.

Nov. 12: This occupy s--- has got out of hand because this liberal administration has allowed them to

Nov. 20: I like how almost all of the "demonstraors" that occupy the sidewalk at night are bums.

A spokesman for the Denver Police Department said the department "regrets the tone and tenor of some of these texts". The release came on Wednesday afternoon, the same day a federal judge denied #OccupyDenver a restraining order against the police department to prevent them from enforcing a handful of city ordinances.

In early November, #OccupyDenver attempted to crash a conference in Denver featuring conservative bloggers only to have that backfire when the bloggers in attendence were waiting for them and chanting "We Want the Dog!" - a reference to Shelby the Border Collie, who was appointed the de-facto leader of #OccupyDenver.

Astroturf's Bitter Harvest- Occupy Wall St. Wallows in Own Filth; Occupy Boston Protestors Spit on Uniformed Coast Guard Personnel

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been paying that much attention to these supposedly spontaneous and grassroots 'Occupy Wall Street' and numerous affiliated 'Occupy' protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta.

If there's anything I'm learning from this whole 'Occupy' movement, it's that my opinion apparently doesn't have any merit until I squat in a public park with hundreds of lilly white graduates who overpaid for their degree in Queer and Transgender Basket Weaving Studies for weeks at a time. I mean come on- I'm supposed to be impressed that a bunch of 20-something trustafarians, stoners and slackers with profound daddy issues bailed on what little obligations they had in the first place to camp out in a public park for weeks at a time hoping they'd score some pot and poontang while raging against the machine?

The democrat party and left-wing celebrities have tried to claim the whole Occupy Movement as their own and as far as I'm concerned, they can have every last criminal, anti-semite, communist, anarchist and Black Panther referring to themselves as 'the 99%'.

The movement (and I'm not just talking about taking a dump on an NYPD cruiser) has also garnered the support and praise of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard as well as aging Cuban dictator and the ruling Chinese Communist party.

There also seems to be big bucks behind the demonstrations, which have been continuing with the tacit approval of President Obama. Some of the organizers are politically connected former lobbyists, which seems to undermine the claims of grassroots purity some of the media and progressive cheerleaders have started repeating. Interestingly, the Occupy Wall Street found time to try and march on the homes of boogeymen like Rupert Murdoch or the Koch Brothers, but not billionaire Democrat donors like General Electric [NYSE: GE] CEO Jeffery Immelt or billionaire mayor Micheal Bloomberg.

As of Thursday Evening, Mayor Bloomberg had ordered the park cleared in order to be cleaned, but protesters have vowed to block sanitation crews from entering the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park on Friday morning. Brookfield Properties [NYSE: BPO], which owns the land that Zuccotti Park is located on (and the recipient of previous 'Green energy' grants from the stimulus) has expressed concern to the city of New York about sanitary conditions in the park after allowing the Occupy Wall St protesters to camp out there for weeks at a time.

On early Tuesday morning, some Occupy Boston protesters began setting up in the Rose Kennedy Greenway- away from the original site in Dewey Square- without a permit. Boston Police repeatedly warned the protestors to clear the park or face arrest. With cameras rolling, police moved in and began making arrests, including a group of soccer-flopping 'veterans' who rushed at officers while brandishing the flag.



My favorite part was when the 'veterans' among Occupy Boston began shouting that they were veterans, thinking that it would have the same effect as the South African diplomats hissing 'Diplomatic Immunity!' in Lethal Weapon 2 [Oh gosh golly gee, I guess there's like ZERO military veterans in uniform for the Boston PD- NANESB!].

Anywhoo, the Occupy crowd attempted to circulate the video as an example of 'Police Brutality' in action, an internet meme that has yet to gain any traction among those outside the whole 'Occupy' movement [or anybody paying the fuck attention- NANESB!]. Then, on Wednesday the organizers of a small-business heavy Food Fest and canned food drive for the needy announced that they were cancelling the scheduled event because the Rose Kennedy Greenway would be too crowded thanks to the Occupy Boston crowd (they are still accepting online monetary donations- more information here).

On Thursday night, however, Occupy Boston's earlier bogus claims of support for veterans or active-duty servicemen and women came unravelled as members of the occupy Boston crowd spat on a uniformed Coast Guardswoman and threw watter bottles at her.

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - The Coast Guard in Boston confirmed that a woman in uniform was harassed and spat upon by Occupy Boston protesters.

The woman was walking to the train and said protesters spit on her twice, called her foul names and even threw a water bottle at her.

Now, the Coast Guard is warning all staff working on Atlantic Avenue to avoid those protesters while in uniform.

How nice- the US Coast Guard is advising their uniformed personnel that downtown Boston is a 'no-go' area thanks to these whiney, petulant thugs supposedly representing the 99%.

I have to say that as somebody to the right of Daniel Ortega, the whole #Occupy (insert name of city here) movement has tremendous upside. The overwhelming majority of these protests are taking place in dark blue cities in blue states, which means that if a liberal Democrat mayor or governor decides to forcefully crack down on the #Occupy protests, this would concievably provoke a good deal of infighting and factionalization among the democrats and progressives. At a time when protestors have been doing things like spitting on uniformed servicemembers, crapping on police cars, going on wild-eyed anti-semitic rants, parading around in communist East German military uniforms or calling for the violent overthrow of the United States government the democrats have taken it upon themselves to embrace this movement as being representative of the majority of hardworking Americans.

If the Occupy Wall Street crowd does decide to get violent and go on a rampage, odds are it will reflect very poorly on the progressive democrat governor or mayor in question for letting the situation get out of hand and coddling the protesters to begin with. Again, these are protestors that the democrat party has embraced.

And with the cold weather starting to move in, expect the #Occupy crowds to start dwindling in many of the cities with their demands unmet.