Trial of Massachusetts man accused of aiding terrorism begins

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Lauren Keiper

BOSTON | Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:54pm EDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts man accused of supporting militants traveled to Yemen for terrorism training and translated Arabic messages to help further al Qaeda's cause, prosecutors said in Boston federal court on Thursday.

During opening statements in the jury trial of Tarek Mehanna, prosecutors said the defendant answered a call to action from Osama bin Laden to fight and kill American soldiers.

Mehanna, they said, translated videos and texts from Arabic to English from his "cushy bedroom" in the Boston suburbs and widely distributed al Qaeda's message of jihad over the internet.

Although he failed to obtain terrorism training during a 2004 trip to Yemen, prosecutors said he viewed himself as part of the media wing of al Qaeda and conspired with others to support the organization.

Mehanna, 29, of Sudbury, Massachusetts has been charged with "providing material support to terrorists" and other crimes, including conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and lying to law enforcement officers.

If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of life in prison on the most serious charge.

Prosecutors said Mehanna provided vital skills and services to al Qaeda, a known terrorist organization.

They said witnesses who will testify against him include Mehanna's friend Daniel Maldonado, a New Hampshire man now serving a 10-year sentence for getting al Qaeda military training.

The defense said Mehanna was an American citizen guilty of nothing more than trying to explore his Muslim background and Islam.

He studied Islamic law and on his own initiative translated classical texts from Arabic to English. He traveled to Yemen to visit schools where he one day hoped to continue his studies, defense attorneys said.

He also spoke openly and often about his belief that the United States military should not be in Iraq and even expressed admiration for Osama bin Laden's efforts to get foreign powers out of Muslim countries, the defense said.

"He didn't hide his beliefs, he wore them on his sleeve," said defense attorney J.W. Carney, Jr.

Mehanna was not hired, ordered, directed or paid by al Qaeda, Carney said.

He was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Sudbury, a suburb west of Boston, and graduated with a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Prosecutors showed video clips with images of Osama bin Laden that Mehanna translated with English subtitles as part of their opening statement.

The defense displayed family photos of a younger Mehanna, a typical American kid playing baseball and sitting on Santa's lap.

Mehanna had been living at home with his parents when he was arrested in 2008. The trial was expected to continue for six or seven weeks.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

New Automobile

Education Information

Read More

Super-Committee Lobbying Begins in Earnest

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

With the so-called super committee acting mostly in secret, guessing how they'll try to bridge the partisan divide and come up wit at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction has become one of D.C.'s favorite guessing games. Without any outside signs of progress from the 12-member committee, lobbying has begun, with Democrats and Republicans pushing certain cuts while defending their own special interests.

The panel, officially called the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, was part of the legislation passed this summer to raise the federal debt ceiling. It is tasked with reducing the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion or as much as $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years and present that plan to Congress for an up-or-down vote. If the super committee fails, or if Congress or the president reject the plan, across-the-board cuts in defense and social policy spending go into effect automatically. The committee has held few open hearings but has largely operated in secret.

[Opinion: Why The GOP is the best hope for entitlement reform.]

On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unveiled 16 letters from the Democratic standing members of House committees, with recommendations on places to look for cost savings. Some more announcements, including some bipartisan ones, are expected before Friday, the deadline set by the act. But the recommendations show just how hard it will be for the super-committee to find savings.

Advice from the Democratic members includes removing duplications, savings in Medicare, (including negotiating Medicare drug prices, a long-time Democratic position), and programs for retrofitting homes for energy conservation. Rep. Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, proposed a "Big Bank" fee for financial institutions over $50 billion, as well as other fees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which could bring in as much as $28 billion over the next 10 years. Frank also recommended requiring officials from the Treasury Department to fly commercially, rather than using U.S. military planes.

For the most part, the plans repeat a familiar formula. Many of the recommendations aren't controversial, but would barely make any gain towards the needed $1.2 trillion in deficit savings. Others, such as more vague pleas to include broader personal and corporate income tax reform, will likely never be able to bridge the partisan divide. Likely, as with the negotiations for the debt ceiling over the summer, both sides will be able to draw up a laundry list of small items which will get them part of the way there before coming around for the big-ticket items.

[Dick Cheney: Defense Doesn't Drive America's Deficits.]

But demonstrating just how tricky the super-committee's task is, Democrats and Republicans are spending as much time warning the committee about potential cuts as they are finding savings. In his letter, Rep. Norm Dicks, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, offered only vague deficit reduction ideas, but included dire predictions for the military and the social safety net if the poison pill cuts in the deficit reduction act take effect.

With the super committee's Nov. 23 deadline to submit a plan approaching, they'll need to find something to get to $1.2 trillion. Hopefully, more progress has occurred behind the scenes than has been revealed so far.

aparker@usnews.com

Twitter: @AlexParkerDC

Home, Architecture and Furniture

Traveling Info

Read More

A New Post-Standoff Era Begins on Capitol Hill

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Next week, Congress will consider, and likely pass, a bill to keep the government funded until Nov. 18. Back in March, when a government shutdown seemed all but inevitable, a two-month continuing resolution likely would have taken months of partisan wrangling, negotiations, and some type of cost-cutting to appease Tea Party lawmakers. But the extension proposed by Republicans isn't creating much controversy. It uses the funding level set by the debt ceiling bill, and doesn't try to force changes in government policies on healthcare or abortion — something the GOP tried to do earlier this year. Democrats aren't happy about some of the tradeoffs in the bill to pay for disaster relief, but ultimately it gained the support of both the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Appropriations Committee.

And thus, the new post-standoff era of this Congress begins. Politicians from both sides are exhausted after a spring and summer of brinkmanship with the nation's economy and government in the balance. Anything is possible, and there are plenty of reasons to suspect that the two parties may not be able to come together to complete a funding bill by the end of the year. (Currently, funding is set to expire on Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.) But there doesn't seem to be much of an appetite for a shutdown. The House GOP leaders have pushed for a full appropriations bill at the funding levels set by the debt ceiling agreement, which the White House has already agreed to. So far, there have been no blustery ultimatums on so-called policy riders, restrictions in funding which try to influence the government on issues such as healthcare, abortion, financial regulation, or the environment. Lawmakers would rather just finish out the year.

[See political cartoons about the GOP.]

But like an alcoholic trying to ween himself off the bottle, Congress sometimes relapses into brinkmanship. This week, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn enraged Democrats, and perhaps a few of his fellow Republicans, by trying to block a four-month funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration. Coburn objected to a provision which required states to set aside money for projects such as bike trails. The hold could have lead to furloughs for thousands of FAA employees, and senators girded themselves for a weekend session. Coburn, a mercurial lawmaker who's known for taking stubborn stances over government spending, finally backed down after striking a deal with the Democratic leadership. The Senate also passed a bill continuing federal highway programs into next year.

This year, the budget drama — if there is any — will likely take a back seat to the super-committee and to Obama's jobs plan. While Congress tries to figure out how to revive the economy and cut the deficit, it may have very quietly found a way to get through the small stuff.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More

Obama begins tough sell stop pivotal work plan

1 of 10. President Obama arrives to address a joint session of Congress of the United States in terms of creating jobs on Capitol Hill September 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin LamarqueBy Caren Bohan and Laura MacInnis

WASHINGTON | Fri 09/09/2011 10:45 EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-President Barack Obama, seeking to salvage a faltering economy and their own prospects of re-election, began an uphill battle on Friday to win Republican support for a plan of jobs $ $447 billion.

The proposals, weighted toward tax cuts for workers and companies, has been carefully designed to appeal to middle class voters who Gravitate toward the political center.

A day after unveiling their ideas on Capitol Hill, Obama will launch them directly to Americans during a visit to a University of Virginia, sparking a months-long campaign to promote the package across the country.

The White House sees the plane, a mix of tax cuts payroll and expenses to upgrade roads, bridges and school buildings, as the best hope for reducing the unemployment rate of 9.1 percent that threatens Obama's Presidency and addressing what he called a national crisis.

Initial estimates suggested that could raise u.s. growth of 1 to 3 points in 2012, reducing the unemployment rate at least half a percentage point and add well over 1 million jobs. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics and a former advisor to 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that he could add 1.9 million jobs.

Obama hopes that he can gather enough popular support to pressure Republicans to stay behind the scenes, so that he can get the lowest unemployment before the presidential vote in November 2012.

"The next election is 14 months away," Obama told a rare joint session of Congress on Thursday. "And the people who sent us here — the people who hired him in working for them-they don't have the luxury to wait 14 months".

Financial markets showed little reaction to the speech, due to doubts about whether it could clear a Congress divided. U.S. stock index futures fell slightly early Friday.

YES, CUTS TAX INFRASTRUCTURE NOT

There were initial signs that Republican Congressional leaders may be prepared to find at least some common ground on the plan, despite its opposition to much of Obama's agenda in the past year.

President of the Chamber of representatives, John Boehner said Obama's ideas "deserve consideration." Rep. Eric Cantor, the second ranking Republican in the House whose state Obama will visit on Friday, said the tax cuts payroll were "something that will be a part of discussions" and described "a lot of space to work together".

"I heard a lot in the President's speech last night where there is plenty of room for common use and we can get something done quickly," Singer told CNN on Friday morning.

He said the Republicans were convinced of the need for an infrastructure Bank, another component of the Obama jobs plan, but could accept other aspects, including tax cuts.

Top Democrats said he hoped Republicans, whose top issue is the reduction of the debt and deficit, would be willing to accept the public works programmes and funds for hiring teachers, supplementing the Obama program, along with the help of mortgage refinancing.

"If we by steps, if we take only small parts, frankly I'm not sure that will make it work," Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said on CNBC.

FEARS OF RECESSION

Shadowy figures jobs and other recent data have raised fears that the American economy may slip into another recession.

While economic woes has sent the popularity of Obama, falling to new lows, the Republicans are well aware that they could suffer political consequences also if Obama succeeds in painting them as obstructionists in the effort to solve the problem of jobs.

Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday morning that the funds would be to filter jobs plan on the economy in three to six months, after it passes and could help ameliorate that companies have been reluctant to spend their money.

"This is all designed to change the level of confidence and attitude of the people out there," he told NBC.

The Republicans have hammered Obama for months about what they viewed as weak leadership on the economy. And in a gloomy signal for the prospects of re-election of the President, Democrats increasingly have begun to sour on its economic management as well.

The price of US $ $447 billion of work plan unexpectedly large Obama was hailed by the powerful constituencies, as unions whose support needs Obama in his re-election drive.

The package and the resolute tone in the speech of Obama were received by Richard Trumka, President of the influential Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, who sat with first lady Michelle Obama in your box during the speech.

Trumka said later that Obama made clear that he was "willing to go to the mat to create new jobs on a large scale".

(Additional reporting by David Morgan, Doina Chiacu, Patricia Zengerle and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Anthony Boadle)

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More