NEW YORK — The first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial was acquitted Wednesday of all but one of the hundreds of charges he helped unleash death and destruction on two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 — an opening salvo in al-Qaida’s campaign to kill Americans.

A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani of one count of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property and acquitted him on more than 280 other counts, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. The anonymous jurors deliberated over seven days.

Prosecutors said Ghailani faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison at sentencing on Jan. 25.

The verdict was seen as setback to President Barack’s Obama plans for trying terrorism suspects in civilian courts rather than military tribunals.

Ghailani, 36, rubbed his face, smiled and hugged his lawyers after the jury left the courtroom.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40241632/ns/us_news-security/

The recession in the US continues. Thousands are jobless. Home values have plummeted. How did it happen?

DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED?
Low interest rates and easy credit conditions made it  easy for people to take home loans. As more and more people took home loans, the demands for property increased and fueled the home prices further. As there was enough money to lend to potential borrowers, the loan agencies started to widen their loan disbursement reach and relaxed the loan conditions. Then, many people with low credit scores and others who took advantage of the low interest rates began to default. Our government bailed out the lenders leaving the borrowers to survive on their own. Illegal irregularities were over-looked. No one went to jail. Our national debt increased to levels that are truly unmanageable. 

YET IN TODAY”S PAPER . . . 

. . . in the Bay Area and other hard-hit markets, Walnut Creek-based PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and other providers lowered minimum down payment requirements from 10 percent to 5 percent for loans up to $417,000. Minimum credit score requirements were also lowered.

Federally-insured FHA loans have a minimum down payment requirement of 3. 5 percent.

In April, Raleigh, N.C.-based Genworth lowered its down payment requirements from 10 percent to 5 percent and credit score requirements from 720 to 680 for home loans taken out through lenders in California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
— http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_15758696

AND STILL COMING DOWN THE PIKE . . .

More than 1 million American households are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year, as lenders work their way through a huge backlog of borrowers who have fallen behind on their loans.
— http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/05/news/economy/foreclosure/

HOW CAN THIS BE?
Recent events have taught lenders that they will be rescued if the market and/or borrowers head south. Lenders have learned they can justify low down payments by emphasising that everyone should have the American dream of home ownership (Regardless of their ability to pay for it.). Certainly no politician is going to disagree. And at Wall Street and the investment banker “gangs” – business is as usual, right back to normal. Money, money, money. Derivatives continue to be sold which for the buyer in most cases is like playing poker with 48 cards and a blindfold (the other buyers and sellers have the missing cards and no blindfold).

WHAT IS COMING?
Someday, in the not too distant future, the financial crisis that was artificially slowed by government bailouts and meddling will be back. Nothing has really changed since 2008. The same systems, players, rules, etc. are still in action so common sense tells us that yes, it will happen again. But this time, there is no more money to bailout the wheeler-dealers when the house of cards comes falling down. This time the drop will be all the way to the basement. You don’t have to be a financial guru or wizard to see the inevitable. Be ready.

Want to create some new job openings? This reminder is for those of you who don’t remember and say we can’t send them all back. Yes we can (wow, sounds familiar). We don’t need to address the “root cause” of the problem or provide “a road to citizenship” to people who broke the law by entering our country illegally.

Operation Wetback was a 1954 operation by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to remove about one million illegal immigrants from the southwestern United States, focusing on Mexican nationals.

Burgeoning numbers of illegal Mexican immigrants prompted President Dwight D. Eisenhower to appoint his longtime friends, John Cox and General Joseph Swing, as INS Commissioner. According to Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., Eisenhower had a sense of urgency about illegal immigration upon taking office. In a letter to Sen. J. William Fulbright, Eisenhower quoted a report in The New York Times that said, “The rise in illegal border-crossing by Mexican “wetbacks” (rooted from the watery route taken by the Mexican immigrants across the Rio Grande) to a current rate of more than 1,000,000 cases a year has been accompanied by a curious relaxation in ethical standards extending all the way from the farmer-exploiters of this contraband labor to the highest levels of the Federal Government.”

The operation was modeled after a program that came to be termed the Mexican Repatriation, which put pressure on citizens of Mexico to return home during the Great Depression, due to the economic crisis in the United States.

The effort began in California and Arizona, and coordinated 1075 Border Patrol agents, along with state and local police agencies, to mount an aggressive crackdown. Tactics employed included going as far as systematic police sweeps of Mexican-American neighborhoods, and random stops and ID checks of “Mexican-looking” people in a region with many Native Americans and native Hispanics. In some cases, illegal immigrants were deported along with their American-born minor dependent children. This occurred despite the fact the children were, according to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 14th amendment, citizens of the United States. Some 750 agents targeted agricultural areas with a goal of 1,000 apprehensions per day. By the end of July, over 50,000 immigrants were caught in the two states. An estimated 488,000 illegal immigrants are claimed to have left voluntarily, for fear of being apprehended. By September, 80,000 had been taken into custody in Texas, and the INS estimated that 500,000 to 700,000 had left Texas of their own accord. To discourage illicit re-entry, buses and trains took many deportees deep within Mexican territory prior to releasing them. Tens of thousands more were deported by two chartered ships, the Emancipation and the Mercurio. The ships ferried them from Port Isabel, Texas, to Veracruz, Mexico, more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) to the south. Some were taken as far as 1,000 miles.

What a surprise . . . NOT! The General knew this would happen if he told the truth about the White House management team. But to him, it was worth it to get the truth out. McChrystal is a special ops guy. He tells it like it is. No sugar. No politics. He has one job-the mission. And if you can’t support that then to hell with you.

Obama said bluntly that Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s scornful remarks about administration officials represent conduct that “undermines the civilian control (my italics) of the military that is at the core of our democratic system.”

Actually Mr. President it should be the civilian leadership of the military that is at the core of our democratic system. And that is the problem – there is no civilian leadership in the war. Absent. AWOL. Deserted. Really, this is the first actual leadership role the President has ever had. Before he always worked for someone else. I don’t even think he was a Boy Scout.

I’ve got a suggestion. If you don’t know anything about it, don’t care, are too busy with other duties then shut it down. Stop playing Commander in Chief (CIC) with our fighting men and women. Stop talking, talking, talking in generalities, clichés and trite little phrases trying to make us feel good. Admit you are overwhelmed and bring them home so we can start rebuilding. Or actually back-up your military and let them win.

Thanks General, for taking one for the team.

A proposal on November’s ballot would add $18 per year to California motorist’s all ready high registration fees.

You can call it a “fee” if you like but it is just another “tax” being forced upon all for the benefit of a few.

I am a park user and love our state parks. California has some of the most beautiful and interesting parks in the nation. The parks are used by many – try to get a reservation and you will see what I mean. There is also a $1.2 billion dollar backlog of maintenance for roads, decaying campgrounds and museums. The current number of rangers, workers and staff members is nearly identical to the number we had 20 years ago despite the obvious increase in visitors. We do need money for our parks.

But it is inherently wrong to tax all Californians for the benefit of a few. The proposal provides for free admission to all state parks by California residents. Do you think there would be a great increase of people using the parks? I don’t – not a great enough increase to rationalize a new tax for the good of all. Of course, most if not all, of the “green”, “save”, “friends”, “travel”, and “environmental” groups or trusts or bureaus and clubs support the measure. The common theme among them all is the blinder’s on, tunnel vision view that my cause is the best and it is worthy of  taking money from all for the pleasure of some.

Most definitely we need to fund the state parks but not with unfair taxes on our citizens. Raise user fees, charge more for out-of-state visitors, deputize camp hosts so rangers can be used else where. Put teenagers to work in the kiosks and cleaning efforts. Allow vendors to set up small shops at the parks with ice, wood, bug spray, etc. and charge the vendor a modest fee. Note: local vendor not some big corporation, teenagers enrolled in a local school with passing grades not some union effort.