• China Blocks WikiLeaks Why Not U. S.?
• Deficit Commission Brouhaha Brewing
• 1911 Espionage Act In 2010
• Happy Hanukkah
• China Backs Unified Korea Ruled From Seoul
• WikiLeaks To Continue with 15,000 Afghan “Cables”
• Millions in Bribes Rejected To Take Gitmo Prisoners.
• Obama Announces 2-Year Pay Freeze For Fed Workers
• Obama- Sharpton Want FCC To Shutdown Fox, Beck, O’Reilly
• Hybrid Bunkum and Other Nonsense
• Treats Against Obama - Not Funny
• Stumbling Over START Treaty
• Turkey Kisses Up To China On ABM Plan
• 70-year-old Ed Freeman, died last week why should we care?

WikiLeaks’ websites have been blocked in China but not before embarrassing disclosures including:

• China’s representative to six-nation disarmament talks, meanwhile, is described by a South Korean diplomat as an “arrogant, Marx-spouting former Red Guard who ‘knows nothing about North Korea, nothing about nonproliferation.’”
• Another memo reveals details of a Chinese contingency plan for North Korea’s collapse - the existence of which is likely to drive a wedge between the allies at the very least, and
• that leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party directed a cyber-intrusion into Google’s computer systems, and expressed concern over attempts by Iranian front companies to obtain Chinese nuclear technology.

It wasn’t clear when the blocks were imposed, although a vast swath of the Internet is inaccessible behind China’s firewall, including social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Human rights and political dissent-themed sites are also routinely banned, although technologically savvy users can easily jump the so-called “Great Firewall” with proxy servers or other alternatives.

China’s government has taken a low-key approach to the leaks, with the Foreign Ministry saying it would not comment on specific assertions in the cables.

“China takes note of relevant reports. We hope the U.S. side will properly handle the relevant issue. As for the content of the documents, we do not comment on that,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Global Times, a provocative tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece Peoples Daily, labeled the disclosure a “nefarious slander against China.”

It also wondered why the U.S. didn’t block the posting of the leaks, saying that raised questions as to whether it had reached some form of tacit understanding with WikiLeaks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said that WikiLeaks acted illegally in posting the documents. Officials around the world have said the disclosure jeopardizes national security, diplomats, intelligence assets and relationships between foreign governments.

The massive leaks were “embarrassing” and “awkward,” but the consequences for American foreign policy should be limited, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

60% of Adults plan on decorating their homes this holiday season.  Thirty-four percent (34%) do not. These findings show little change from early But just 22% of those who plan to decorate have gotten the job done so far. Still, 51% have at least started decorating their homes.

The leaders of President Obama’s deficit commission released a final report Wednesday full of political dynamite, including sharp cuts in military spending, a higher retirement age and tax reforms that would cost the average taxpayer an extra $1,700 a year amounting to the biggest bailout of profligate government ever.

But as the commission co-chairmen unveiled the plan at a Capitol Hill hearing, it was unclear whether they would be able to build a convincing bipartisan consensus behind it by the time the panel’s 18 members vote Friday.

Commission leaders say it will be difficult to assemble the 14 votes that would allow them to issue official recommendations.

Looming over everything are such things as to extend unemployment benefits or not; extending the Bush tax cuts, and the general Washington DC hocus pocus. Republicans are vowing to block all bills until the Bush tax cuts are renewed.

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with. - Mark Twain (1835-1910) born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Missiouri.

There a lot of talk about prosecuting WikiLeaks head Julian Assange for espionage. The US Espionage Act is a little-used 99-year-old law dating from 1911 - the same year as the UK’s Official Secrets Act, with which it has much in common.

The current law can be used to prosecute those who leak and publish classified information that creates a national security risk. But experts say the purpose of the act is primarily to tackle espionage, and that it has never been invoked successfully against a media organization which WikiLeaks claims to be.

Although insiders who have leaked sensitive information have been prosecuted under the law - including two former officials of the American-Israel public affairs committee accused of leaking information in 2007 - cases have rarely resulted in convictions.

Media organisations are unlikely to be prosecuted under the act, under the constitutional protections for free speech upheld by the Supreme Court in a number of cases that have limited the application of the Espionage Act.

Experts say that in addition to protections for free speech, there are difficulties with proving leaked documents are classified, under a US government executive order which sets limits on documents that can be properly termed as classified documents.

However, if charges are made against Julian Assange (WikiLeaks) under the law in the US, then he would face extradition under the controversial UK-US extradition treaty, which provides special measures for extraditions between the two countries and of course other countries. Assange remains in hiding.

WikiLeaks has released thousands of classified documents that could be detrimental to the United States. Usually, when something this embarrassing about the United States is revealed, it’s because Joe Biden said it. — Leno

Yesterday the 8-day Jewish holiday Hanukkah began. The holiday originated when Judah the Maccabee and his followers reclaimed the temple in the village of Modi’in from Syrian King Antiochus IV. The temple was cleansed and prepared for rededication.

Hanukkah, meaning dedication,  celebrates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century B.C. Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in  November or December. The celebration lasts for eight nights to commemorate a miracle that Jews believe occurred in the temple:

When the Jews first returned to the Holy Temple after defeating Hellenist Syrians who had made it illegal for Jews to worship, they found only enough oil to light the temple’s menorah for one day. Miraculously, flame remained lit for eight days and nights, giving them enough time to find more oil to sustain the fire. Often called the “Festival of Lights,” Hanukkah festivities include games, gifts, eating traditional foods and lighting a new candle on the menorah each night.

50% of Likely U.S. Voters say the current economic problems are due to the recession which began under the Bush administration.  Forty-one percent (41%) believe the current policies of President Obama are more to blame. 59% of all voters nationwide trust their own economic judgment more than Obama’s.  30% trust the president on the economy more than themselves, while 11% are not sure.

According to documents released by WikiLeaks and confirmed by Chinese officials based in Europe China supports the “independent and peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula” and cannot afford to give the North Korean regime the impression it has a blank cheque to act any way it wants.

Exasperated with North Korea behaving like a “spoiled child”, Chinese officials had told their South Korean counterparts that China was leaning towards acceptance of reunification under Seoul’s control.

China’s moves to distance itself from the North Korean regime were revealed in the latest tranche of leaked US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published Sunday by the Guardian and four international newspapers.

One Chinese official said Monday reunification was not going to happen overnight and China’s first priority was to calm down the situation, restart a dialogue, and maintain stability in the region. But Beijing had always backed peaceful reunification as a longer term goal.

Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation — (22 August 1910 to 15 August 1945). in 1945 after Japan’s defeat in World War II. Under a wartime agreement, Soviet troops occupied the area north of the 38th parallel and United States troops occupied the area south of that line. For the next three years there were fruitless negotiations to reunify Korea. The United Nations proposed nationwide elections and the North refused.

In 1950 North Korea attacked the south pushing its troops and U. S. and allied troops hurriwdlt deployed into a thumb shaped defense in the extreme south at Pusan. An seaborne assault at Inchon - near the site of the cuirrent conflict - turned the tables and North Korean forces were pushed north to the Chinese border before Chinese stropps counter attacked. The conflict ended in 1953 in armistice and tensions have remained since.

Saying he is concerned about the direction of America John Bolton, the outspoken former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced this week he is considering a bid for U.S. president in 2012. He has not figured into many polls.

A particularly telling disclosure from Sunday’s WikiLeaks is how far Obama was willing to go to fulfill his campaign pledge to close Guantanimo Bay Prison which he failed to do.

U.S. diplomats offered numerous countries big bribes, meeting with Obama and millions of dollars in cash, in exchange for accepting detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison. Few were interested.

You can view and search the cables for yourself at http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.

The cables span a period from 1966 to March, 2010. 15,652 are secret; 101,748 are confidential and 133,887 are unclassified.

WikiLeaks says it has 15,000 secret documents related to Afghanistan yet to release.

TSA said Monday that Thnksgiving holiday travel went smoothly, and estimates only 2% of air travelers were subjected to the controversial patdowns. 51% rate airline security as good or excellent, while just 16% view it as poor. 75% are OK with full body scans and patdowns for some.

Bowing to Republican political pressure and growing budget concerns, Obama announced a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers Monday, It save $2 billion this fiscal year and $28 billion if continued for 5-years. A year ago Obama lambasted Republicans for suggesting the freeze. Congressional staff cost have doubled since 2000.

The freeze applies to all federal employees — including civilian employees of the Defense Department, and will not impact step increases or bonuses for federal workers, according to sources.

The administration had examined pay levels, “and the data we get back indicates that high-skilled workers in government are slightly underpaid. Lower-skilled workers are slightly overpaid relative to the private sector,” Obama said.

“And that’s not surprising,” he added, “because it’s a unionized workforce” in government, while the private sector typically is not.

The validity of the study is doubted by many observers. The 53 million Americans receiving  Social Security who have had their checks frozen for the past two years are unhappy and showed it in the midterm elections..

Facing a population decline Russia is planning to encourage up to 20 million migrant workers, and wants to attract entrepreneurs and investors. But, it will not open it borders as the U. S. has done knowing many who would come are undesirables.

Obama suggests that America’s political discourse is being crippled by talk radio and cable news shows featuring the likes of: Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Bil O’Reilly.

Cafeteria Christian Al Sharpton continues to insist that the FCC ban Rush. “Reverend” Sharpton himself “ordained” as a pentacostal minister at age 9 wants the FCC to establish “guidelines” or “standards” to regulate speech as he picks and choses as he sees fit from scripture. Of course those guidelines would have to comport with the Reverend’s ideas.

Sharpton’s broadside followed a similar attack last week by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) WVa. The West Virginia Democrat went after both right-leaning Fox News and left-leaning MSNBC. In a Senate hearing Rockefeller said “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to Fox and to MSNBC, ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; to our ability to do our work here in Congress; and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and, more importantly, in their future.”

And earlier this year Obama himself lamented what he described as the sad state of political discourse hampered by iPods and cable TV shows.

Conservatives and civil libertarians are concerned by what they see as a growing tolerance by liberals to regulate and even censor the airwaves, especially as outlets like Fox News and shows like Limbaugh’s grow ever more popular.

Limbaugh is the most listened to radio host in the nation with more than 15 million weekly visitors. Fox News continues to trounce its cable news rivals CNN and MSNBC in ratings as smashes ABC, CBS and NBC network news programs.

“This is scary stuff,” lamented an editorial in Investors Business Daily. “Strong speech has always been quintessentially American.”

Late next year or early in 2012 world population will reach 7,000,000,000 (billion) . of which about 312 million will be Americans a little over 4%. The 6 billion mark was reached in 1999.

Obama’s administration has bought almost a fourth of the Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. hybrid vehicles sold since he took office, accelerating federal purchases as consumer demand wanes. That was 10% of the 145,473 vehicles the agency purchased in that period. Amid complaints about high cost, and poor performance consumer sales of hybrids are headed for their third consecutive yearly decline.

The models purchased by the government ranged from $23,072 to $47,079 an average discount of $5,281. In a strange coincidence global sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars are projected to be 954,500 vehicles, or 2.2 percent about the same percentage that the feds $70 billion spent on alternative energy produced electricity.

The government purchased about 64 percent of GM’s Chevy Malibu hybrid models and 29 percent of all Ford Fusion hybrids manufactured since Obama took office in 2009 but only a handful of imported hybrids.

Obama has set a goal of 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015 and has committed more than $11 billion in taxpayer funding to help support the technology.

The GM electric VOLT h has had sharp criticism about poor miles per charge, general poor performance and a stiff $41, 000 price for a subcompact that has it being labeled the new Edsel. It cost $40,000  to make leaving a miniscule $1,000 profit margin. GM expects to sell 10,000 next year earning just $10 million.

GM bond holder have been disenfranchised by the bailout and its IPO rigged. Nevertheless Taxpayers are still out tens of billions of dollars.

North Korea has suffered one of the gravest famines of the century with at least 1 million starvation deaths. Many have fled into Far Eastern Russia where they typically earn money in outdoor markets and construction sites, to buy food for malnourished relatives, Russia’s RIA Novosti reported.

A frail 78-year-old ex- NYPD officer is just the latest to be arrested for threatening to kill Obama. Frail or not the Secret Service takes such threats seriously.

The law says, in part, “Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

Nearly 1 in 10 U. S. Presidents have been assassinated or shot while in office (the last being Ronald Reagan, in 1981), with another 11 escaping assassination attempts unscathed  most recently Jerry Ford who survived two attempts in 1975.

The Secret Service has been particularly busy chasing down threats to Obama, who faced a barrage of death threats and at least one credible assassination plot while a presidential candidate and since taking office in January 2009.

Last summer, author Ron Kessler wrote that Obama was receiving 30 death threats a day. Other reports state that federal agents had seen a 400-fold increase in threats from President George W. Bush’s last year in office. Secret Service head Mark Sullivan later pushed back at that assertion, saying “threats are not up” in the Obama era.

In the past two years the Secret Service has arrested more than a dozen Americans for posing credible threats to the president. Because of concerns about his safety, candidate Obama received Secret Service protection earlier than any other presidential hopeful in US history.

Vermont comedian Chris King was arrested Oct. 8 for tweeting: “I am dying inside. And I am plainly stating to you that I am going to kill the president.” Such “death tweets” on the social media network Twitter have figured in several high-profile threat arrests.

The most famous Obama assassination plot involved two neo-Nazi skinheads in Tennessee, who were accused in late 2008 of planning to shoot 88 black people, behead another 14, and then kill Obama. Both men pleaded guilty this year to charges of conspiring to kill Obama.

Cynics frighteningly point out Joe Biden would become President if Obama were not.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey, finds just one-out-of-four Adults (24%) like “Happy Holidays” while 69% prefer that stores use signs that say “Merry Christmas.” That’s not changed for a couple years.

Sen. Christopher Bond (R) Missouri said in a floor statement that the New START treaty is flawed and not in the U.S. national security interest because its provisions cannot be reliably verified to prevent Russian cheating.

Bond’s opposition followed an earlier statement by Sen. Jon Kyl, (R) Arizona the No. 3 Republican senator, who called on Democrats to put off ratification debate during the lame duck session because of concerns that the treaty will limit U.S. strategic nuclear modernization programs, U.S. missile defenses and new conventional long-range strike capabilities.

Bond expressed “strong opposition” to the START treaty. “I do so after great deliberation and after initial disposition to support the treaty because of the generic importance of these types of treaties for our nation,” he said.

The Constitution gives the Senate the power to approve, by a two-thirds vote, treaties made by the executive branch. It does not appear such a two-thirds vote will be available now and certainly not after the new Senate is seated.

 The Senate has rejected relatively few of the hundreds of treaties it has considered in its history. Many others, however, have died in committee or been withdrawn by the president rather than face defeat. Few expect Obama to withdraw START.

The Senate may also amend a treaty or adopt various changes, which may lead the other nation, or nations, to further negotiate the treaty. The president may also enter into executive agreements with foreign nations that are not subject to Senate approval.

It is likely that the Obama-Reid-Pelosi troika will push hardest for the so-called DREAM ACT in the lameduck session knowing it has not chance after the new Congress is seated.

In the latest Harry Potter film, Harry loses his friends, has to battle overwhelming evil forces, and hides in exotic foreign places to avoid public scrutiny. I’m sorry, that’s President Obama. — Leno

Turkey has been relaying proposals to link Turkey’s multi-billion-dollar missile defense program with that of NATO. They said the Defense Ministry was prepared to consider any of its Western bids that would offer Turkey a significant discount on BMD systems.

“Turkey does not want two separate missile defense networks operating in its territory.” Turkey’s Defense has been examining missile defense bids by companies from China, France, Russia and the United States. The frontrunner was said to be that of the PAC-3, manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

NATO has insisted Turkey purchase only a Western missile defense system that could be interoperable with that of the alliance. They said this would end all negotiations with China for its HQ-9, or with Russia, producer of the S-400 air and missile defense system.

“If we can only buy from the West, then there has to be concessions on their part,” Turkish officials said, “to include a huge discount by either Lockheed Martin or Eurosam, the latter which has offered the Astor-30. Another proposal was that Western missile defense batteries be linked to NATO’s X-band radar meant for deployment in Turkey as part of the alliance’s shield.”

Turkey has backtracked on its proposal that it control the NATO missile defense shield. In wake of meetings with Western leaders, it is said to have agreed that NATO headquarters in Brussels would retain sole command.

A German man managed to entomb himself in his own basement by bricking up the only exit from the inside. The man could not explain it and police said he’s just stupid.

Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards was paid more than $397,000 in 2008 as president of the organization whose Health Centers performed 324,008 abortions that year and received $349,500,000 in taxpayer dollars to do that.

Now Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, is taking action he hopes will lead to the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

In January 2009, he introduced legislation that would amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit “providing any federal family planning assistance to an entity unless the entity certifies that, during the period of such assistance, the entity will not perform, and will not provide any funds to any other entity that performs an abortion.”

With Republicans set to take control of the House in January, Pence plans to reintroduce the bill.

Pence recently told ABC News: “Let’s deny all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America. That would save $350 million right off the top.”

He added: “I have to tell you as I travel around the country, the American people - millions of Americans, more every day - are offended that the largest abortion provider in America is also the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X.”

In what some are seeing as an Obama retrenchment this year’s Thanksgiving declaration genuflects twice to God, which even some of those who lambasted him last year are seizing on as evidence of a shift or perhaps an awakening.

You’re a 19 years old. You’re critically wounded and dying in the  jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands  of Viet Nam . It’s  November 11, 1967– LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so  intense, from 100 yards away, that  your CO (commanding officer) has  ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming  in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns  and you know you’re not getting out.

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000  miles away, and you’ll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey (Bell UH-1 Iroquois) coming in. But , It doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.

26-year-old Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

 Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more  times!! 

Until all  the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Freeman had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal  of Honor Recipient, Captain  Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.

May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

Kvetch (kvech) verb intr.: To complain habitually, whine; gripe. noun: 1. A chronic complainer. 2. A complaint. Etymology from Yiddish kvetshn (squeeze, pinch, complain), from Middle High German quetschen (to squeeze). First recorded use: 1964.