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Monday, May 02, 2011
ANOTHER FOOL SPEAKS! Yes and REAGAN torn down the Berlin Wall!
THE FOOL DOESN'T WHEN THE F--- TO SHUTUP!
Donald Trump Fires Back After David Letterman Calls Him a Racist
In the latest round in the war between Donald Trump and a growing list of the heaviest hitters in show business, the real-estate mogul and "Celebrity Apprentice" host fired back at David Letterman over the late-night host's on-air suggestion that Trump is a racist.
In a letter he sent to the gap-toothed comic on Friday, Trump canceled an appearance on "Late Show With David Letterman" and lambasted Dave for saying Trump's prolonged attacks on President Obama had begun to "smack of racism."
"I was disappointed to hear the statements you made about me last night on your show that I was a 'racist,' " Trump wrote to Letterman. "In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth and there is nobody who is less of a racist than Donald Trump."
He continued: "Based upon your statements, and despite the fact that we have always done so well together, especially in your ratings, I am canceling my May 18th appearance on your show.
"Additionally," Trump wrote, "please inform your staff that I will likewise not do the 'top ten' list that they had been trying to set up."
On his show Thursday night, Letterman discussed with guest "Dr. Phil" McGraw Trump's persistent questioning of whether Obama is an American citizen and demeaning his qualifications for getting into Harvard Law School.
"It's all fun, it's all a circus, it's all a rodeo until it starts to smack of racism. And then it's no longer fun," said Letterman.
Letterman also said that if Trump comes on his show again, "he ought to be prepared to apologize." Trump's smackdown of Letterman follows tongue-lashings he gave Jerry Seinfeld and Robert De Niro after they similarly objected to his questioning of Obama's birth certificate.
A rep for Letterman declined to comment.
How much credit does Obama get for bin Laden’s reported death?
--President Barack Obama, May 2, 2011
No, we cannot confirm that Osama bin Laden is dead. Perhaps that’s the ultimate fact check. He’s reportedly been buried at sea but we’re still waiting for a photograph of the body, an official DNA test, something like that. The Pentagon says bin Laden’s wife identified him by name. For the conspiracy buffs out there, however, clearly something happened Sunday in Abbottabad—see the tweets of Sohaib Athar.
Let’s just say any White House is pretty careful about having the president making a dramatic announcement late on a Sunday night. If any evidence emerges to cast doubt on this achievement, Obama would be a laughingstock.
But this does bring up another question: How much credit does Obama deserve for this achievement? And how much will he get?
Then follow a lot of other “I” sentences. “I was briefed….I met repeatedly…I determined…today, at my direction, the United States launched…” Former President George W. Bush is not mentioned until Obama noted that he had made clear this was not a war against Islam.
However, in a later background briefing for reporters, officials said that four years ago the identity was determined of the courier who ultimately led to bin Laden. That would place a key moment in the search back in the Bush administration. Officials also said that “about two years ago” U.S. intelligence discovered the areas in Pakistan where he operated. That sounds as if it happened during Obama’s presidency but the timing is vague enough that it could have overlapped with Bush’s. Other key events, such as the discovery of bin Laden’s compound and the decision to attack it, took place during Obama’s presidency.
Clearly the search for Osama bin Laden has stretched over two presidencies. But the failure to catch him nearly ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks had cast a pall over the war against al-Qaeda.
As a presidential candidate, during one of the presidential debates, Obama had boasted, “If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
But once he was elected, Obama tried to play down expectations. “My preference, obviously, would be to capture or kill him,” Obama said. “But if we have so tightened the noose that he’s in a cave somewhere and can’t even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America.”
The question of presidential credit has proven dicey for some Republicans. Many have tried to slip in a mention of Bush. For instance, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said: “I commend President Obama who has followed the vigilance of President Bush in bringing bin Laden to justice.”
Here is how former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it: “Credit belongs to the courageous special operators who executed the mission. ….All of this was made possible by the relentless, sustained pressure on al-Qaeda that the Bush administration initiated after 9/11 and that the Obama administration has wisely chosen to continue.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): “I also want to commend President Obama and his team, as well as President Bush, for all of their efforts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.”
However, former Vice President Cheney simply called it “a tremendous achievement for the military and intelligence professionals who carried out this important mission,” adding: “I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team.”
Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, gave perhaps the classiest response: “This is a great moment for the United States. And let me, as a Republican, give President Obama tremendous credit for this. This was a significant military operation. He had to pull the trigger on it; he carried it out,” King said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I supported President Bush's policies; the fact is it was President Obama who carried this mission to conclusion. I think it's important for all Americans to stand behind him and give him the credit as commander-in-chief for what he did.”
In this case, Obama clearly built on efforts initiated during the Bush administration. (A big, as yet unanswered question: Did the information about the courier come from “enhanced interrogation techniques” during the Bush administration that Obama later condemned?) The kind of seamless teamwork apparently demonstrated by U.S. operatives and intelligence officials in crafting and conducting this operation does not happen overnight.
But it is also true that ultimately Obama had to make the final decision on whether to proceed. As was later documented in Steve Coll’s “Ghost Wars,” then President Bill Clinton failed to make a firm tactical decision about how to best capture or kill bin Laden. And if the mission had been a public failure, in the middle of a suburban Pakistani neighborhood, Obama would have gotten the blame—as Jimmy Carter would attest about the failure to rescue hostages held in Iran.
Obama might have given a bit more of a public shout-out to his predecessor. But the buck stops with the current occupant of the White House. Certainly, if bin Laden had not been found, Obama’s Republican rival might have used a clip of Obama promising to kill bin Laden in some kind of attack ad.
We’re with Pete King on this one: This happened on Obama’s watch, and he will reap the credit.
No, we cannot confirm that Osama bin Laden is dead. Perhaps that’s the ultimate fact check. He’s reportedly been buried at sea but we’re still waiting for a photograph of the body, an official DNA test, something like that. The Pentagon says bin Laden’s wife identified him by name. For the conspiracy buffs out there, however, clearly something happened Sunday in Abbottabad—see the tweets of Sohaib Athar.
Let’s just say any White House is pretty careful about having the president making a dramatic announcement late on a Sunday night. If any evidence emerges to cast doubt on this achievement, Obama would be a laughingstock.
But this does bring up another question: How much credit does Obama deserve for this achievement? And how much will he get?
The Facts
The president’s statement was notably spare on details, but he clearly thinks he should get a lot of credit. He noted that bin Laden had “avoided capture” for many years and emphasized that “shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al-Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.”Then follow a lot of other “I” sentences. “I was briefed….I met repeatedly…I determined…today, at my direction, the United States launched…” Former President George W. Bush is not mentioned until Obama noted that he had made clear this was not a war against Islam.
However, in a later background briefing for reporters, officials said that four years ago the identity was determined of the courier who ultimately led to bin Laden. That would place a key moment in the search back in the Bush administration. Officials also said that “about two years ago” U.S. intelligence discovered the areas in Pakistan where he operated. That sounds as if it happened during Obama’s presidency but the timing is vague enough that it could have overlapped with Bush’s. Other key events, such as the discovery of bin Laden’s compound and the decision to attack it, took place during Obama’s presidency.
Clearly the search for Osama bin Laden has stretched over two presidencies. But the failure to catch him nearly ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks had cast a pall over the war against al-Qaeda.
As a presidential candidate, during one of the presidential debates, Obama had boasted, “If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act, and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
But once he was elected, Obama tried to play down expectations. “My preference, obviously, would be to capture or kill him,” Obama said. “But if we have so tightened the noose that he’s in a cave somewhere and can’t even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America.”
The question of presidential credit has proven dicey for some Republicans. Many have tried to slip in a mention of Bush. For instance, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said: “I commend President Obama who has followed the vigilance of President Bush in bringing bin Laden to justice.”
Here is how former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put it: “Credit belongs to the courageous special operators who executed the mission. ….All of this was made possible by the relentless, sustained pressure on al-Qaeda that the Bush administration initiated after 9/11 and that the Obama administration has wisely chosen to continue.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio): “I also want to commend President Obama and his team, as well as President Bush, for all of their efforts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.”
However, former Vice President Cheney simply called it “a tremendous achievement for the military and intelligence professionals who carried out this important mission,” adding: “I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team.”
Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, gave perhaps the classiest response: “This is a great moment for the United States. And let me, as a Republican, give President Obama tremendous credit for this. This was a significant military operation. He had to pull the trigger on it; he carried it out,” King said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I supported President Bush's policies; the fact is it was President Obama who carried this mission to conclusion. I think it's important for all Americans to stand behind him and give him the credit as commander-in-chief for what he did.”
The Bottom Line
There are times when a president takes credit—or is given credit—for things that he has little control over, such as the economy. He also gets the blame for a bad economy, even though it may take years for the policies he put in place to have an impact. It’s the nature of politics.In this case, Obama clearly built on efforts initiated during the Bush administration. (A big, as yet unanswered question: Did the information about the courier come from “enhanced interrogation techniques” during the Bush administration that Obama later condemned?) The kind of seamless teamwork apparently demonstrated by U.S. operatives and intelligence officials in crafting and conducting this operation does not happen overnight.
But it is also true that ultimately Obama had to make the final decision on whether to proceed. As was later documented in Steve Coll’s “Ghost Wars,” then President Bill Clinton failed to make a firm tactical decision about how to best capture or kill bin Laden. And if the mission had been a public failure, in the middle of a suburban Pakistani neighborhood, Obama would have gotten the blame—as Jimmy Carter would attest about the failure to rescue hostages held in Iran.
Obama might have given a bit more of a public shout-out to his predecessor. But the buck stops with the current occupant of the White House. Certainly, if bin Laden had not been found, Obama’s Republican rival might have used a clip of Obama promising to kill bin Laden in some kind of attack ad.
We’re with Pete King on this one: This happened on Obama’s watch, and he will reap the credit.
Strained ties between U.S. and Pakistan could worsen if there is any hint of possible Pakistani collusion with bin Laden
Did Pakistan know where bin Laden was hiding?
Pakistan army soldiers seen near the house where it is believed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
- ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan - The death of Osama bin Laden in a fortress-like compound on the outskirts of a Pakistani city that is home to three army regiments and thousands of soldiers raises questions over whether Pakistani security forces knew the whereabouts of the world's most wanted man.
The al Qaeda chief was living in a house in Abbottabad that a U.S. administration official said was "custom built to hide someone of significance." The city around 60 miles from the capital Islamabad is a far cry from the remote mountain caves along the Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal border where most intelligence assessments had put bin Laden in recent years.
Critics have long accused elements of Pakistan's security establishment of protecting bin Laden, though Islamabad has always denied this. Ties between the United States and Pakistan have hit a low point in recent months over the future of Afghanistan, and any hint of possible Pakistani collusion with bin Laden could hit them hard even amid the jubilation of getting American's No. 1 enemy.
Complete coverage: Osama bin Laden killed
CBS News senior foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan says Pakistan's government, from the U.S. standpoint, "is looking extremely vulnerable" right now.
Counterterrorism officials told Logan that there is no way the Pakistanis didn't know about this.
"And that's the question they're going to have to answer," Logan said. "Because, you know, until recently the Pakistanis were even denying that Osama bin Laden was on their soil. And that appears now to have been a lie."
Video: Osama bin Laden killed
Intel hunt led to shootout at bin Laden fortress
That bin Laden could be in Abbottabad unknown to authorities "is a bit amazing" says Hamid Gul, a former Pakistani intelligence chief fiercely critical of America's presence in the region. Aside from the military "there is the local police, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, the ISI, they all had a presence there."
Logan reports that Pakistani army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was at the academy just four days before the strike, telling graduating cadets their force had "broken the backbone" of militants in the country.
Pakistani security forces blocked access to the compound Monday, but Associated Press reporters saw the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed during the operation. Local residents described the sounds of bullets, the clatter of chopper blades and two large explosions as the raid went down.
The compound was around one kilometer (half a mile) away from the Kakul Military Academy, an army run institution for top officers and one of several military installations in the bustling, hill-ringed town of around 400,000 people.
An American administration official said the compound was built in 2005 at the end of a narrow dirt road with "extraordinary" security measures. He said it had 12 to 18-feet walls topped with barbed wire with two security gates and no telephone or Internet service connected to it.
A video aired by ABC News that purported to show the inside of bin Laden's compound included footage of disheveled bedrooms with floors stained with large pools of blood and littered with clothes and paper. It also showed a dirt road outside the compound with large white walls on one side and a green agricultural field on the other.
Pakistan's government and army are very sensitive to concerns that they are working under the orders of America and allowing U.S. forces to operate here.
Logan noted that Pakistan's close relationship with the U.S. does not always sit well with Pakistanis.
"Right across Pakistan there's a lot of animosity towards the United States," Logan said.
Logan also said that Pakistan has been "very selective" about which militant groups it protects and which groups it pursues.
"What the Pakistanis are never honest about is that they protect militants who are responsible for the deaths of Americans - American civilians, American soldier," Logan said.
Some critics assailed Pakistan for allowing the operation, while at least one Islamist party was planning a protest against the killing of man idolized by militants inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban, an al Qaeda allied group behind scores of bombings in Pakistan and the failed bombing in New York's Times Square, vowed revenge.
"Let me make it very clear that we will avenge the martyrdom of Osama bin Laden, and we will do it by carrying out attacks in Pakistan and America," Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told The Associated Press by phone. "We will teach them an exemplary lesson."
Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, who is eyeing a political comeback, said the "killing was the success of all peace loving people of the world." But he also said the Americans should not have been allowed to operate independently in the country.
One Pakistani official said the choppers took off from a Pakistani air base, suggesting some cooperation in the raid. President Barack Obama said Pakistan had provided some information leading to the raid, did not thank the country in his statement on bin Laden's death.
Pakistan's intelligence agency and the CIA have cooperated in joint raids before against al Qaeda suspects in Pakistan on several occasions since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. But U.S. and Pakistani officials indicated that this mission was too important to let anyone know more than a few minutes in advance.
Pakistan's foreign office hailed the death as a breakthrough in the international campaign against militancy, and noted al Qaeda "had declared war on Pakistan" and killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security officers.
It stressed that the operation to kill bin Laden was an American one, and did not mention any concerns that Pakistani officials may have been protecting bin Laden in some way. Domestically, the already weak government may yet face criticism by political opponents and Islamists for allowing U.S. forces to kill bin Laden on its soil, but there were no signs of a major backlash Monday.
Pakistani officials said a son of bin Laden and three other people were killed. Other unidentified males were taken by helicopter away from the scene, while four children and two woman were arrested and left in an ambulance, the official said.
A witness and a Pakistani official said bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof of the compound in the small northwestern town of Abbottabad, and one of the choppers crashed. However U.S. officials said no Americans were hurt in the operation. The sound of at least two explosions rocked Abbottabad as the fighting raged.
It was not known how long bin Laden had been in Abbottabad, which is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan. But Pakistani intelligence agencies are normally very sharp in sniffing out the presence of foreigners, especially in towns with a heavy military presence.
Locals said large Landcruisers and other expensive cars were seen driving into the compound, which is in a regular middle-class neighborhood of dirt covered, litter-strewn roads and small shops. Cabbage and other vegetables are planted in empty plots in the neighborhood.
Salman Riaz, a film actor, said that five months ago he and a crew tried to do some filming next to the house, but were told to stop by two men who came out.
"They told me that this is haram (forbidden in Islam)," he said.
One witness posted live updates throughout the night on his Twitter account.
Sohaib Athar, whose profile says he is an "IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops," apparently broke word of the event with "Helicopter hovering about Abbottabad at 1 a.m. (is a rare event) and later: "A huge window shaking bang in Abbottabad. I hope it is not the start of something nasty."
Abbottabad resident Mohammad Haroon Rasheed said the raid happened about 1:15 a.m. local time.
"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," he said. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."
Qasim Khan, 18, who lives in a house just across the compound, said he saw two Pakistani men going in and coming out of the house often in the past several years. One of them was relatively a fat man with a beard, he said.
"I never saw anybody else with the two men but, some kids sometime would accompany them. I never saw any foreigner."
Relations between Pakistan's main intelligence agency and the CIA had been very strained in recent months. A Pakistani official has said that joint operations had been stopped as a result, and that the agency was demanding the Americans cut down on drone strikes in the border area.
The U.S. has fired hundreds of drones into the border regions since 2008, taking out senior al Qaeda leaders in a tactic seen by many in Washington as vital to keeping the militant network and allied groups living in safe havens on the back foot.
In late January, a senior Indonesian al Qaeda operative, Umar Patek, was arrested at another location in Abbottabad.
News of his arrest only broke in late March. A Pakistani intelligence official said its officers were led to the house where Patek was staying after they arrested an al Qaeda facilitator, Tahir Shahzad, who worked at the post office there.
CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, based at the United Nations, says the diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan will help the Obama administration in future efforts to shut down terror financing in other countries where al Qaeda operates.
"There is a great sense of both justice and closure in the U.S. and in the diplomatic community," Falk says, "but this needs to be the beginning and not the end of counterterror cooperation."
It's (cough) that ozone season again
Take a deep breath.
The season for ground-level ozone pollution is here, and Clark County air quality officials say they will breathe a lot easier too if everybody who drives cars, fills gasoline tanks, mows lawns or inhales air that blows toward Las Vegas from Southern California -- well, that's about everybody -- tries harder to curb smog-forming compounds
.
The main culprits are VOCs, short for volatile organic compounds, also known as vapors that escape into the air from tailpipe emissions, gasoline pumps, lawn mower engines and industrial processes. Even forest fires and combustion of fossil fuels will push the county closer toward violating the Environmental Protection Agency standard for ground-level ozone.
Dennis Ransel, air planning manager for the county's Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management, said it will only take a nudge to exceed the standard of 75 parts per billion of ozone in the Las Vegas Valley's air. That would be unhealthful, unlike ozone high in the atmosphere that screens out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.
"During the summer months, we have higher levels of ozone and people should watch for alerts," he said about the ground-level ozone season that begins in May and runs through September.
Hot, stagnant weather conditions can sometimes increase ozone levels, irritating the lungs of healthy people and worsening respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis.
"When ozone levels are elevated, everyone should limit strenuous outdoor activity, especially people with respiratory diseases," air quality officials said .
Their advisory suggests motorists fill gasoline tanks after sunset, plan errands for a single trip, don't spill gasoline when filling up and don't top off the tank, and "keep your car well maintained. Use mass transit or carpool."
Last year, the county violated the EPA's ozone standard one day in June. The standard, based on the highest eight-hour daily average for the pollutant, is under review and could be made more stringent by lowering the 75 parts-per-billion mark down to between 60 to 70 parts per billion.
For illustration purposes, 70 parts per billion is about the same volume as one pingpong ball in 14 Olympic-size swimming pools.
That means the Las Vegas Valley and other parts of the state could become out of compliance, triggering a series of costly measures to meet a tighter standard.
At a minimum, Clark County in a few years probably will be required to submit a plan to the EPA for reducing ozone pollution that will entail such measures as requiring the sale of cleaner gasoline and boosting its smog-check and voluntary ride-sharing programs.
Failing to comply under a state plan could result in federal management of a more effective plan or loss of federal highway funding in noncompliant areas in the state .
Clark County and hundreds of other areas across the nation are expected to be designated in August as areas that violate the standard. Then the county will have until 2013 to develop a plan for demonstrating compliance.
Depending on how severe the ozone problem is, the EPA will give Clark County a time frame for compliance. More congested areas, such as those in California, will have longer periods to demonstrate compliance.
Ransel expects state and county officials will try to persuade the EPA to make exceptions for Nevada's ability to comply with the standard when smog from wildfires and pollution sources drifts into the state from elsewhere.
"We're trying to advocate that the EPA look at this from a regional perspective rather than trying to resolve it from the perspective of an island city in the desert."
By Keith Rogers
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
.
The main culprits are VOCs, short for volatile organic compounds, also known as vapors that escape into the air from tailpipe emissions, gasoline pumps, lawn mower engines and industrial processes. Even forest fires and combustion of fossil fuels will push the county closer toward violating the Environmental Protection Agency standard for ground-level ozone.
Dennis Ransel, air planning manager for the county's Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management, said it will only take a nudge to exceed the standard of 75 parts per billion of ozone in the Las Vegas Valley's air. That would be unhealthful, unlike ozone high in the atmosphere that screens out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.
"During the summer months, we have higher levels of ozone and people should watch for alerts," he said about the ground-level ozone season that begins in May and runs through September.
Hot, stagnant weather conditions can sometimes increase ozone levels, irritating the lungs of healthy people and worsening respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis.
"When ozone levels are elevated, everyone should limit strenuous outdoor activity, especially people with respiratory diseases," air quality officials said .
Their advisory suggests motorists fill gasoline tanks after sunset, plan errands for a single trip, don't spill gasoline when filling up and don't top off the tank, and "keep your car well maintained. Use mass transit or carpool."
Last year, the county violated the EPA's ozone standard one day in June. The standard, based on the highest eight-hour daily average for the pollutant, is under review and could be made more stringent by lowering the 75 parts-per-billion mark down to between 60 to 70 parts per billion.
For illustration purposes, 70 parts per billion is about the same volume as one pingpong ball in 14 Olympic-size swimming pools.
That means the Las Vegas Valley and other parts of the state could become out of compliance, triggering a series of costly measures to meet a tighter standard.
At a minimum, Clark County in a few years probably will be required to submit a plan to the EPA for reducing ozone pollution that will entail such measures as requiring the sale of cleaner gasoline and boosting its smog-check and voluntary ride-sharing programs.
Failing to comply under a state plan could result in federal management of a more effective plan or loss of federal highway funding in noncompliant areas in the state .
Clark County and hundreds of other areas across the nation are expected to be designated in August as areas that violate the standard. Then the county will have until 2013 to develop a plan for demonstrating compliance.
Depending on how severe the ozone problem is, the EPA will give Clark County a time frame for compliance. More congested areas, such as those in California, will have longer periods to demonstrate compliance.
Ransel expects state and county officials will try to persuade the EPA to make exceptions for Nevada's ability to comply with the standard when smog from wildfires and pollution sources drifts into the state from elsewhere.
"We're trying to advocate that the EPA look at this from a regional perspective rather than trying to resolve it from the perspective of an island city in the desert."
By Keith Rogers
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
What Happens in Brooklyn When You Try to Cut Medicare
Only one Republican represents New York City in Congress, and even in his 13th Congressional District, which includes Staten Island and a small southwest corner of Brooklyn, it’s a high-wire act. You can talk all you want about the need to cut federal spending and taxes when you’re in the Staten Island part of the district, but try that after crossing the Verrazano Bridge, and you’re going to need some protection.
That Republican is Michael Grimm, one of the freshmen elected in last November’s wave, and he learned that lesson rather painfully on Wednesday night in a junior high school auditorium in the Dyker Heights section of the borough. It was his first town hall meeting in Brooklyn, and it came less than two weeks after he voted for the ravaging new House Republican budget. That plan would essentially privatize Medicare, slash Medicaid and many other federal programs that are very popular in New York, and further cut taxes for the rich.
The crowd lay in wait for him with sharpened reports from the Congressional Budget Office, incendiary printouts from liberal blogs, and even a few lethal rolled-up newspapers with articles about the House plan. Mr. Grimm was left standing, but only after 90 minutes of high-decibel debate, during which a school security guard had to threaten to remove several citizens vibrating with anger about Medicare.
It began when he asked the crowd of about 100 people whether they believed the nation faced a debt crisis. A woman near the front row responded that the nation faced a revenue crisis. Someone else shouted out that taxes were too low, and a third person shouted that it was all President George W. Bush’s fault for cutting taxes on the rich. There was a big round of applause, and with that the evening became a battle of statistics and worldviews, in perhaps the only section of the city divided enough to match the national debate.
“Adjust Medicare, don’t kill it!” shouted one woman. “The program just isn’t sustainable,” Mr. Grimm said, trying to control his meeting. “That’s a flat-out lie,” said a man in a Communications Workers of America shirt.
Around the country, Republican lawmakers on recess have encountered bitter opposition as they meet with constituents infuriated at their Medicare vote. Republicans have complained that the town meetings have been targeted by Democratic activist groups like MoveOn. It’s true, but the criticism is no less legitimate than when members of the Tea Party swarmed town halls in 2009 at the height of the health care debate.
Many of Mr. Grimm’s critics at the Brooklyn meeting were wearing union shirts, or reading from printouts. One woman who almost got thrown out for shouting is a regular contributor to the Daily Kos Web site. A few said in interviews that they lived in more affluent sections of the borough. But just as many appeared to be Mr. Grimm’s constituents, and said they had grave concerns about his vote to cut the safety net while benefiting the rich.
“If this whole budget is about trying to get out of debt,” asked one woman, “then why are we still providing tax cuts to the people who need it less?”
Mr. Grimm responded in a depressingly familiar way: “What this debate has turned into is class warfare — let’s be honest about it,” he said. Lower taxes across the board would increase government revenue, he maintained, in the face of loud catcalls from those who pointed out that that economic theory has long since been discredited.
According to one show of hands, nearly half the audience voted for Mr. Grimm, and while they occasionally applauded, they were far quieter than the critics. None stood up to support his vote on Medicare. At his Staten Island meeting the next night, someone even rose to accuse him of trying to “kill Grandma.”
Mr. Grimm, who won election by only three percentage points in 2010 (and who lost the Brooklyn section) may find his vote makes the task quite a bit harder in 2012.
The crowd lay in wait for him with sharpened reports from the Congressional Budget Office, incendiary printouts from liberal blogs, and even a few lethal rolled-up newspapers with articles about the House plan. Mr. Grimm was left standing, but only after 90 minutes of high-decibel debate, during which a school security guard had to threaten to remove several citizens vibrating with anger about Medicare.
It began when he asked the crowd of about 100 people whether they believed the nation faced a debt crisis. A woman near the front row responded that the nation faced a revenue crisis. Someone else shouted out that taxes were too low, and a third person shouted that it was all President George W. Bush’s fault for cutting taxes on the rich. There was a big round of applause, and with that the evening became a battle of statistics and worldviews, in perhaps the only section of the city divided enough to match the national debate.
“Adjust Medicare, don’t kill it!” shouted one woman. “The program just isn’t sustainable,” Mr. Grimm said, trying to control his meeting. “That’s a flat-out lie,” said a man in a Communications Workers of America shirt.
Around the country, Republican lawmakers on recess have encountered bitter opposition as they meet with constituents infuriated at their Medicare vote. Republicans have complained that the town meetings have been targeted by Democratic activist groups like MoveOn. It’s true, but the criticism is no less legitimate than when members of the Tea Party swarmed town halls in 2009 at the height of the health care debate.
Many of Mr. Grimm’s critics at the Brooklyn meeting were wearing union shirts, or reading from printouts. One woman who almost got thrown out for shouting is a regular contributor to the Daily Kos Web site. A few said in interviews that they lived in more affluent sections of the borough. But just as many appeared to be Mr. Grimm’s constituents, and said they had grave concerns about his vote to cut the safety net while benefiting the rich.
“If this whole budget is about trying to get out of debt,” asked one woman, “then why are we still providing tax cuts to the people who need it less?”
Mr. Grimm responded in a depressingly familiar way: “What this debate has turned into is class warfare — let’s be honest about it,” he said. Lower taxes across the board would increase government revenue, he maintained, in the face of loud catcalls from those who pointed out that that economic theory has long since been discredited.
According to one show of hands, nearly half the audience voted for Mr. Grimm, and while they occasionally applauded, they were far quieter than the critics. None stood up to support his vote on Medicare. At his Staten Island meeting the next night, someone even rose to accuse him of trying to “kill Grandma.”
Mr. Grimm, who won election by only three percentage points in 2010 (and who lost the Brooklyn section) may find his vote makes the task quite a bit harder in 2012.
By DAVID FIRESTONE NYTimes
THE TICK-TOCK: INSIDE THE SITUATION ROOM -
Obama rejected original plan for bombing; wanted proof - Navy SEALS held two rehearsals last month, with war cabinet monitoring from White House - Raid planned for Saturday but pushed off a day because of weather - Chopper stalled as it hovered over the compound - Forces blew it up and left in a reinforcement craft -- How the fiery raid went down, as told to Playbook by senior administration officials: The compound -- about an acre, with a three-story house - is in Abbottabad, a suburb of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Officials were very suspicious of the 12- to 18-foot-high walls, and seven-foot wall on the upper balcony. Residents burned their trash, and there was no telephone or Internet connection to the compound, valued at $1 million. But officials never had anything directly proving that Osama bin Laden was living there. The U.S. had discovered the compound by following a personal courier for bin Laden. Officials didn't learn his name until 2007, then it took two years to find him and track him back to this compound, which was discovered in August 2010. "It was a "Holy cow!" moment," an official said.
The original plan for the raid was to bomb the house, but President Obama ultimately decided against that. "The helicopter raid was riskier. It was more daring," an official said. "But he wanted proof. He didn't want to just leave a pile of rubble." Officials also knew there were 22 people living there, and Obama wanted to be sure not to kill all the civilians. So he ordered officials to come up with an air-assault plan. The forces held rehearsals of the raid on April 7 and April 13, with officials monitoring the action from Washington.
As the actual raid approached, daily meetings were held of the national security principals, chaired by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and their deputies, chaired by John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism adviser. At an April 19 meeting in the Situation Room, the president approved the assault, in principle, as the course of action. He ordered the force to fly to the region to conduct it. On April 28, just after his East Room announcement that CIA Director Leon Panetta would be succeeding Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, the president held another meeting in the Situation Room, and went through everyone's final recommendations. He didn't announce his decision at that time, but kept his counsel overnight.
At 8:20 a.m. Friday, the president informed National Security Adviser Tom Donilon that he was authorizing the operation. Donilon signed a written authorization to CIA Director Leon Panetta, who commanded the strike team. The raid was scheduled for Saturday, but weather pushed it to yesterday. The Navy SEALs arrived at the compound at 3:30 p.m. ET yesterday and were gone by 4:15 p.m. Obama monitored the operation all day from the Situation Room, surrounded by Donilon, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and others. Panetta was at CIA headquarters, where he had turned his conference room into a command center that gave him constant contact with the tactical leaders of the strike team.
The helicopter carrying the assault force appeared to stall as it hovered over the compound, producing heart-stopping moments for the officials back in Washington. Aides thought fearfully of "Black Hawk Down" and "Desert One," the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission. The pilot put the bird down gently in the compound, but couldn't get it going again. The assault force disembarked. "They went ahead and raided the compound, even though they didn't know if they would have a ride home," an official said. The special forces put some bombs on the helicopter and blew it up. Bin Laden resisted the assault force, and was shot in the face during a firefight. With the team still in the compound, the commander on the ground told another commander that they had found Osama bin Laden. Applause erupted in Washington. Reinforcements came and picked up the SEALs, who had scavenged every shred and pixel of possible intelligence material from the house. U.S. forces took photographs of the body, and officials used facial-recognition technology to compare them with known pictures of bin Laden. It was him.
ELEVATOR POINTS: U.S. conducted raid independently - told Pakistan after the fact ... Pakistan didn't notice this huge compound? ... U.S. on high alert for retaliatory strikes around the world ... Tectonic symbolic victory, but al Qaeda networks remain.
A SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL e-mails: ""Bin Laden was living in a relatively comfortable place: a compound valued at about $1 million. Many of his foot soldiers are located in some of the remotest regions of Pakistan and live in austere conditions. You've got to wonder if they're rethinking their respect for their dead leader. He obviously wasn't living as one of them."
ABC VIDEO shows bin Laden's home, "The 40 Minutes That Changed The World" http://abcn.ws/mL5lH0
The original plan for the raid was to bomb the house, but President Obama ultimately decided against that. "The helicopter raid was riskier. It was more daring," an official said. "But he wanted proof. He didn't want to just leave a pile of rubble." Officials also knew there were 22 people living there, and Obama wanted to be sure not to kill all the civilians. So he ordered officials to come up with an air-assault plan. The forces held rehearsals of the raid on April 7 and April 13, with officials monitoring the action from Washington.
As the actual raid approached, daily meetings were held of the national security principals, chaired by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and their deputies, chaired by John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism adviser. At an April 19 meeting in the Situation Room, the president approved the assault, in principle, as the course of action. He ordered the force to fly to the region to conduct it. On April 28, just after his East Room announcement that CIA Director Leon Panetta would be succeeding Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, the president held another meeting in the Situation Room, and went through everyone's final recommendations. He didn't announce his decision at that time, but kept his counsel overnight.
At 8:20 a.m. Friday, the president informed National Security Adviser Tom Donilon that he was authorizing the operation. Donilon signed a written authorization to CIA Director Leon Panetta, who commanded the strike team. The raid was scheduled for Saturday, but weather pushed it to yesterday. The Navy SEALs arrived at the compound at 3:30 p.m. ET yesterday and were gone by 4:15 p.m. Obama monitored the operation all day from the Situation Room, surrounded by Donilon, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and others. Panetta was at CIA headquarters, where he had turned his conference room into a command center that gave him constant contact with the tactical leaders of the strike team.
The helicopter carrying the assault force appeared to stall as it hovered over the compound, producing heart-stopping moments for the officials back in Washington. Aides thought fearfully of "Black Hawk Down" and "Desert One," the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission. The pilot put the bird down gently in the compound, but couldn't get it going again. The assault force disembarked. "They went ahead and raided the compound, even though they didn't know if they would have a ride home," an official said. The special forces put some bombs on the helicopter and blew it up. Bin Laden resisted the assault force, and was shot in the face during a firefight. With the team still in the compound, the commander on the ground told another commander that they had found Osama bin Laden. Applause erupted in Washington. Reinforcements came and picked up the SEALs, who had scavenged every shred and pixel of possible intelligence material from the house. U.S. forces took photographs of the body, and officials used facial-recognition technology to compare them with known pictures of bin Laden. It was him.
ELEVATOR POINTS: U.S. conducted raid independently - told Pakistan after the fact ... Pakistan didn't notice this huge compound? ... U.S. on high alert for retaliatory strikes around the world ... Tectonic symbolic victory, but al Qaeda networks remain.
A SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL e-mails: ""Bin Laden was living in a relatively comfortable place: a compound valued at about $1 million. Many of his foot soldiers are located in some of the remotest regions of Pakistan and live in austere conditions. You've got to wonder if they're rethinking their respect for their dead leader. He obviously wasn't living as one of them."
ABC VIDEO shows bin Laden's home, "The 40 Minutes That Changed The World" http://abcn.ws/mL5lH0
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