Eeyores News and view

NYC Police: Terror suspects wanted to commit 'jihad'
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City police commissioner says four men arrested Thursday morning wanted to commit "jihad" when they plotted to bomb a Jewish temple and shoot down military planes in upstate New York.
At a news conference outside the Bronx temple Thursday, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly quoted one of the men as saying, "If Jews were killed in this attack ... that would be all right."
"Jihad" is an Arabic word generally translated as meaning "struggle" or "holy war." It was not clear if the four men who were arrested were Muslim, but one told an informant that his parents had lived in Afghanistan.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned against stereotypes. He stressed that the Riverdale Temple in the Bronx is open to people of all faiths, including a Muslim girl who sometimes prays there.
The city leaders met privately with congregants Thursday morning. Kelly said neighborhood security was heightened to improve residents' comfort level.
The defendants are due in federal court Thursday in White Plains.
Four men due in court Thursday to face charges of plotting to bomb Jewish sites and shoot down military planes were arrested after planting what they thought were explosive devices near a synagogue and community center, authorities say.
Officials told The Associated Press the arrests came after a nearly year-long undercover operation that began in Newburgh, N.Y., about 70 miles north of New York City.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Three of the defendants are U.S. citizens and one is of Haitian descent, officials said.
The men had planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside the Riverdale Temple and shoot military planes at the New York Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles, authorities said.
The defendants planned to "destroy a synagogue and a Jewish community center with C-4 plastic explosives," Acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin said.
The religious targets were the Riverdale Temple, founded in 1947, and the Riverdale Jewish Center, authorities said.
"This latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said earlier in a statement.
The defendants, in their efforts to acquire weapons, dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision, authorities said. The FBI and other agencies monitored the men and provided an inactive missile and inert C-4 to the informant for the defendants, a federal complaint said.
In June 2008, the informant met Cromitie in Newburgh and Cromitie complained that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and he was upset about the war there and that many Muslim people were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces, officials said.
Cromitie also expressed an interest in doing "something to America," they said in the complaint.
In October 2008, the informant began meeting with the defendants at a Newburgh house equipped with concealed video and audio equipment, the complaint said.
Beginning in April 2009, the four men selected the synagogue and the community center they intended to hit, it said. They also conducted surveillance of military planes at the Air National Guard Base, it said.
The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Jewish Center, authorities said.
Rep. Peter King, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the case following the arrests.
"This was a long, well-planned investigation, and it shows how real the threat is from homegrown terrorists," said King, of New York.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said if there can be any good news out of this case it's that "the group was relatively unsophisticated, penetrated early and not connected to any outside group."
"The shocking plan to blow up a Jewish house of prayer with what the jihadist terrorists thought were C-4 explosives is dramatic proof that the dangers from such fanaticism have not passed and that American Jews must maintain their vigilance," said a statement released by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group.
The defendants were jailed Wednesday night and couldn't be contacted for comment. The FBI didn't immediately return a telephone message seeking information on whether the men had lawyers.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-21-bomb-plot_N.htm

Day of reckoning looms for the U.S. dollar
The U.S. dollar's day of reckoning may be inching closer as its status as a safe-haven currency fades with every uptick in stocks and commodities and its potential risks - debt and inflation - are brought under a harsher spotlight.
Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said Wednesday a "serious case of dollar damage" was underway.
"We long warned about the day of reckoning for the dollar emerging at the next economic recovery," Mr. Laidi said in a note.
Mr. Laidi said economic recovery would weigh on the greenback as real demand for commodities, coupled with improved risk appetite, caused investors to seek higher yields in emerging markets and commodity currencies. This would draw investment away from the U.S. dollar, which was dragged down by growing debt and the risk quantitative easing would eventually spark a surge in inflation.
The U.S. dollar slid against most major currencies Wednesday, hitting a five-month low of US$1.3775 against the euro and pushing the Canadian dollar up US1.21¢ to a seven-month high of US87.69¢.
John Curran, the senior corporate dealer at Canadian Forex, said the U.S. dollar would likely fall further in the next week, with the Canadian dollar likely reaching about US88.35¢, at which point it could break higher to test the US92.35¢ level.
"The U.S. dollar is continuing to slide as investor appetite is gaining momentum," Mr. Curran said. "People are getting comfortable about taking on a little more risk."
The rise in the Canadian dollar has moved in lock-step with the improvement in equity markets since March 9. Over this time, the S&P 500 has risen by 34%, the S&P/TSX composite index has gained 35% and the Canadian dollar has increased by 14%, equal to almost US11¢. Since Feb. 18, light-crude oil has risen by 46% to US$62.12.
But as risk appetite and equities improve, Mr. Curran said it was unlikely the U.S. dollar would embark on a long-term decline.
"While things are beginning to thaw, it doesn't mean it's full-on summertime just yet," he said. "A lot of people are looking for the Canadian dollar to strengthen dramatically again towards par. I'm not sure about that just yet."
Nevertheless, concern has been mounting that the increasing U.S. debt load, as well as a potential inflation time bomb in the form of the quantitative easing, could drag down the greenback. Garnering attention is the risk the United States could lose its triple-A sovereign credit rating, which reflects the chance of the borrower defaulting on its debt.
"By many measures, the U.S. appears just a few short steps away from losing its coveted triple-A status, unless the recovery turns out to be considerably stronger than expected and the fiscal repair is faster than commonly expected," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. "A downgrade could boost the cost of funding U.S. debt at the margin, but underlying inflation and fiscal fundamentals will ultimately be the primary driver."
Despite the risk, Paul Ashworth, chief economist at Capital Economics, said the United States was unlikely to lose its rating. But, in the event of a downgrade, he said it would probably not have a lasting impact on the U.S. dollar.
However, he said a big threat lurked in the country's expanded monetary base, which now stands at about US$1.8-trillion. While the expanded monetary base was needed to feed economic growth and ward off deflation under the Fed's quantitative easing plan, Mr. Ashworth said such high levels could fuel rampant inflation once broader monetary conditions improved.
He said it remained to be seen how much success the Fed will have when it decides to end its quantitative-easing plan and shrink the monetary base.
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=1612964

Teen beats mom over french fries
May 21, 2009 - 4:44am
PORT DEPOSIT, Md. (AP) - The Cecil County Sheriff's Office says a teenager beat his mother with an aluminum baseball bat because she wouldn't share her french fries with him.
Seventeen-year-old Dennis Hickman III is charged as an adult with first- and second-degree assault.
Lt. Bernard Chiominto, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, says Hickman "went berserk for a while."
The incident occurred Tuesday night. Deputies said Hickman, who lives with his mother, also slashed tires on her car and kicked the front door, knocking it off its hinges.
Hickman's 52-year-old mother, who was not identified, was treated at Union Hospital in Elkton for injuries to her head, wrist and leg.
Information from: Cecil Whig of Elkton, Md., http://www.cecilwhig.com

But check the underware of Sandy Beger sounds like something else the clintons needed to cover up, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001344.html)
Disappearance of Disc With Clinton Data Investigated
By Edwin Chen
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance of a computer disc from the National Archives containing Social Security numbers and Secret Service procedures from former President Bill Clinton’s administration, congressional officials said.
Among the files on the disc were 100,000 Social Security numbers, including that of one of former Vice President Al Gore’s daughters, contact information for officials who served in the Clinton administration, logs of events and “other highly sensitive information,” according to a statement from the office of Representative Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Democratic Representative Edolphus Towns of New York, chairman of the committee, called it a “serious security breach.”
Mark McKenna, a spokesman for former President Bill Clinton said Clinton Foundation officials have asked the Archives for “a full accounting of what was on the drive.”
The disc was lost sometime between October 2008 and March 2009 and a criminal probe is underway by the Archives inspector general and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Susan Cooper, director of communications for the Archives, said the loss was confirmed in early April and the inspector general immediately began a criminal investigation.
The Archives also “immediately undertook a review of our internal controls and we have implemented improved security processes,” Cooper said in a statement.
Call for Investigation
Issa called for a congressional investigation.
“This egregious breach raises significant questions regarding the security protocols that are in place at the National Archives and Records Administration,” Issa said.
The disc, which contained one terabyte of data, is missing from the Archives facility in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland. The statement from Issa’s staff quoted the inspector general as saying that one terabyte of data is the approximate equivalent of “millions of books.”
“The full extent of the contents of the drive is still being investigated,” the statement said.
The hard drive was left unsecured in a work area while the records were being processed, according to Issa’s statement. At least 100 people with Archive badges had access to the area. In addition, the inspector general said janitors, visitors and interns passed through the area where the drive was being kept, the Republican statement said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aAINQhUs7Nxc

Swine Flu Arrives in Tokyo Area After Students’ New York Trip
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Two high school students have been confirmed as the first cases of swine flu in the Tokyo area after they returned from a school trip to New York, local government officials said.
The 16-year-old girls, both from the same high school in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, returned from a week-long trip to New York on May 19, officials said. Both are hospitalized with the H1N1 virus, which has sickened more than 10,000 people worldwide.
“The students are from Hachioji and Kawasaki and I was informed yesterday that tests showed that they had contracted the new flu,” Japan’s Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said in parliament today.
The cases around Tokyo, the world’s largest metropolitan area, come after the government yesterday shut 4,464 schools in western Japan after a swine flu outbreak around Osaka. Japan’s Health Ministry yesterday said 234 people have the virus, formally known as A/H1N1. Evidence of human-to-human transmission in a region outside North America, where a majority of the cases worldwide have occurred, may prompt the World Health Organization to raise its pandemic alert by one grade to the highest level, Hitoshi Oshitani, the former head of the agency’s Western Pacific region, said in a May 19 interview.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awF_0oQDV9c0&refer=worldwide