The Broken Chair

Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, balancing his ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out shortly afterward that said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee."

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

Obama's campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Obama's decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East coast.

The Weather Underground believed that militancy was far better than nonviolent protests. Their goal was to thwart the US Government using guerrilla warfare to achieve a revolution. They wrote a “Declaration of a State of War” against the United States government.

...

For starters, the Weather Underground claimed credit for a bombing in Chicago, which they referred to as a “kickoff” of what they called their “Days Of Rage”. Their book. entitled, “Prairie Free”, strongly called for a unified Communist Party.

The Weather Underground blew up several Chicago Police cars at that time as well.

Next, these slime balls held a “war council” to firm up plans to remain underground and commit acts of sabotage against the US Government. They bombed several police cars in Berkley. Then they detonated a bomb at the San Francisco Police Department, during which one officer was killed and several others were injured. When 36 sticks of dynamite were discovered at a police precinct in Detroit, Bill Ayers just happened to be in town.

Later, several of the Underground’s own members died when they accidentally blew up their own bomb factory in New York. No loss. The bomb was intended to be used at an officer’s dance at Fort Dix. The bomb they were going to use was packed with nails for maximum damage. Fortunately those nails ended up stuck in their own miserable dead asses instead. Then another bomb factory was discovered in Chicago’s North side. Their weapons cache was also discovered in an apartment in Chicago’s South side. Then they blew up the National Guard building in DC.

...

They claimed credit for the explosion of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, which never occurred. Later, an undetonated explosive device was discovered on the premises. Then the NY City Police headquarters was bombed. Then they bombed the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco in honor of the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Think I am done talking about the Underground yet? Nope.

They then helped Timothy Leary escape from prison, and bombed the Marin County courthouse. After that they bombed the Queens Traffic Court building. They bombed the Harvard Center For International Affairs. A few of them fled to Cuba, where I hope to God they still reside if they aren’t dead.

Next, they bombed the US Capital. Another of their bomb factories was discovered in San Francisco. Then they bombed the office of California Prisons, The New York Department of Corrections in Albany, NY, and William Bundy’s office at MIT Research Center.

Nope. I’m not done yet. This stuff was all in a day’s work for Bernardine and Bill.

They bombed the Pentagon.

They bombed the 103 Police Precinct in New York.

Then they bombed the ITT buildings in both New York and Rome, Italy.

They bombed the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

They bombed the Office of California of Attorney General.

They bombed Gulf’s Pittsburgh headquarters.

Then they bombed the Anaconda headquarters.

They bombed the State Department.

They bombed the Banco De Ponce in Puerto Rico as well as the Kennekot Corporation.

They also committed the Brinks Robbery in conjunction with the Black Liberation Army.

Does Obama support domestic terrorism? Oh, I doubt that. But let's also get it on the record, too, that his friendship with Bill Ayers surely must indicate he's not exactly repulsed by it, either.

That's an awful lot to get past.

How many unrepentant rapists have you personally befriended in your adult life, Michael? How many convicted but proud murderers? How many such repellent creatures have you found so charming that you could easily put aside qualms about their past crimes to become fast friends with them?

Beyond that, of course, it is simply incontestable that if a Republican were friends and political allies with a former abortion-clinic bomber or other sort of domestic terrorist -- someone who still advocated such measures, by the way -- Michael Crowely and the whole of TNR would be very interested in such a friendship, and would gleefully contrast that Republican's stated position against Islamofascist terrorism with his tacit acceptance of, and possible approval of, domestic terrorism in the right situation.

Law enforcement officials say when Siddiqui was detained in Afghanistan on July 17 she possessed documents with a list of likely targets that included the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the subway system and the animal disease center on Plum Island. They say she also had detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information.

In addition, Siddiqui had e-mails linking her to possible "sleeper" cells in the United States.

"I don't think we've captured anybody as important, and as well connected as she since 2003," says former CIA officer John Kiriakou.

Siddiqui also was carrying ``chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in bottles and glass jars,'' a criminal complaint said without elaborating.

What GAO Found

Security at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center has improved, but fundamental concerns leave the facility vulnerable to security breaches. First, Plum Island’s physical security arrangements are incomplete and limited. Second, Plum Island officials have been assuming unnecessary risks by not adequately controlling access to areas where pathogens are located. Controlling access is particularly important because pathogens are inherently difficult to secure at any facility. Although this risk may always exist, DHS could consult with other laboratories working with pathogens to learn different approaches to mitigate this risk. Third, Plum Island’s security response has limitations. For example, the guard force has been armed but has not had the authority from USDA to carry firearms or make arrests. Moreover, Plum Island’s incident response plan does not consider the possibility of a terrorist attack. Fourth, the risk that an adversary may try to steal pathogens is, in our opinion, higher at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center than USDA originally determined because of hostilities surrounding the strike. Also, when USDA developed its security plan for Plum Island, it did not review their defined threats with the intelligence community and local law enforcement officials to learn of possible threats—and their associated risks—relevant to the Plum Island vicinity. Although these reviews did not occur, USDA subsequently arranged to receive current intelligence information.

In summary, DHS has made significant progress and has implemented 18 of the 24 recommendations. However, implementation of the 6 remaining recommendations is still under way. In 2003, physical security at Plum Island was deficient in several ways. For example, alarms and door sensors for detecting intruders were not fully operational; controls to account for the keys to the island's facilities were deficient; and USDA was not providing sufficient physical security for certain assets, including those critical to the continued operation of the facility. These vulnerabilities were particularly troubling because a strike was under way, and sabotage of the island's infrastructure had already occurred. DHS has since taken many actions in response to our recommendations. For example, alarms and door sensors are now in use, and DHS has implemented procedures to better control access to keys to facilities. In addition, the department has better secured certain features of the physical infrastructure that supports the continued operation of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. DHS has also improved the security of North America's only foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank. This bank represents years of cooperative research performed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and the material it contains is considered a critical asset for controlling a large outbreak.

Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.