Texas gov. again whines about federal aid

He's going to have to decide whether he believes in the need for federal taxes or not. One day Perry is for Texas leaving the union and the next he's complaining about not receiving enough federal tax dollars. People like this can never see any legitimate issues when others need financial assistance but when it's them, suddenly the money should be easy to round up. During the stimulus debate Perry couldn't stop bashing it, yet that money covered 97% of state deficit.

Pick a position and stick with it, Rick.

Perry protested what he views as a lack of response from President Obama 13 days after his request for emergency funds, though federal agencies such as the National Park Service have supplied firefighters to support the state.

"There is a point in time where you say, hey, what's going on here. You have to ask why are you taking care of Alabama and other states? I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail."

But an administration official with knowledge of federal assistance provided to Texas tells CNN the state has been already been allocated 16 fire management assistance grants that provide financial support for the specific purpose of fighting fires. Texas has been approved to receive six more grants of this kind to aid state and local governments with firefighting efforts that include equipment, field camps, mobilizing and demobilizing activities. The most recent fire management grant was approved Wednesday.

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The Osama bounce to Obama's approval ratings will likely be short-lived

Mark Blumenthal, HuffPost:

Franklin and Brendan Nyhan, a University of Michigan political scientist, agree that a similar or slightly greater bounce is likely for Obama. Nyhan says that "5-10 points seems possible, and maybe a bit more." But he warns that "bounces dissipate quickly, so the long-term significance is likely to be small."

Of course, approval ratings capture the public's response to a president's handling of a wide variety of issues and public events -- especially the condition of the economy -- so direct comparisons across individual events can be misleading. Indeed, the killing of bin Laden, a mass murderer and international terrorist, is a historic event without a clear parallel.

Nonetheless, an overall pattern is discernible: Americans rally to their president around national security crises and military successes, but their reactions are usually short-lived. Most polls currently put Obama's approval in the mid-40 percent range. In two weeks, that will likely be higher, but how long that boost will last is anyone's guess.

And while this is all true, it's better for the President and the country to have gotten bin Laden, than not. Read the rest of this post...

That black guy with the Muslim-sounding name did all right

Greg Sargent (who just had a baby):

The Sept. 11 attacks fundamentally transformed American politics. In the weeks, months and early years after Sept. 11, when fears of terrorism ran white hot and national security was widely seen as the linchpin of permanent GOP dominance, who would have thought that a black guy with a Muslim-sounding name would get elected over a Republican war hero while promising to restructure America’s relations with the rest of the world — and then go on to give the order to successfully kill the country’s number one terrorist foe, accomplishing one of America’s principal national security objectives?

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Photo: In the Sit Room watching the strike against Bin Laden

"We've ID'd Geronimo"

The President sat stone-faced through much of the events. Several of his aides, however, were pacing. For long periods of time, nobody said a thing, as everyone waited for the next update. In the modern age, Presidents can experience their own military actions like a video game, except that they have no control over the events. They cannot, and would not, intervene to contact the commanders running the operation. So when word came that a helicopter had been grounded, a sign that the plan was already off course, the tension increased.

Minutes later, more word came over the transom. “We’ve IDed Geronimo,” said a disembodied voice, using the agreed-upon code name for America’s most wanted enemy, Osama bin Laden. Word then came that Geronimo had been killed. Only when the last helicopter lifted off some minutes later did the President know that his forces had sustained no casualties.

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Even Dick Cheney offers praise of Obama for getting Bin Laden

In an interview with ABC News, even Cheney offered praise for Obama:

"The administration clearly deserves credit for the success of the operation," Cheney told ABC News, adding that getting bin Laden has long been "the ultimate goal, the ultimate objective" of the U.S. counterterrorism program.

Cheney praised President Obama for the judgment he exercised in making the call to go forward with the raid.

"We all owe him the same sense of satisfaction that I'm sure they feel," Cheney said.

That last line is telling. Cheney wanted that sense of satisfaction. But, his boss gave up the hunt for Bin Laden and invaded Iraq -- at Cheney's urging.

Of course, he couldn't leave it at that. Cheney also said:

"For us to spend so much time patting ourselves on the back because we got bin Laden that we miss the next attack would be a terrible tragedy."

The Obama administration isn't ignoring the prospect of future attacks. The President talked about that last night. And, talk about patting ourselves on the back, I believe it was George W. Bush who was patting himself on the back for "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq eight years ago.

The full transcript is here. Read the rest of this post...

CBN upset Obama didn't giggle while talking about Osama being dead

I agree that often the President has a Spock-like stoicism to his public speaking that doesn't imbue nearly enough humanity. And at other times, he slips in jokes that strike me as completely inappropriate for the somber tone needed for a particular speech. But I still have to disagree with CBN's David Brody who writes (that's Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network, not CNN) that he wishes the President showed more emotion, more joy, last night when he informed the nation that bin Laden was dead.

His speech made no mention of any sort of proud accomplishment and it certainly made no mention of how exciting this moment was for our country. I know President Obama understands that getting Bin Laden doesn’t mean an end to the war on terrorism but how about a smile? How about showing a little joy? How about a word or two saying something about how this is no doubt a happy or joyous occasion for Americans?

We got nothing like that at all. Instead, we got Mr. Monotone. Mr. Bars and Tone. Mr. Non-Emotion. President Obama missed an opportunity to connect with Americans last night.

Gotta disagree. When the Challenger blew up, when the Twin Towers were hit, America needed its President's words of comfort. We didn't need any such thing last night. All we needed to know was that we got the SOB. And all the eloquence in the world wouldn't have made the moment any sweeter.

If anything, it would have been somewhat crude for the President of the United States to be all smiley and backslappy about just having killed a man. Even if he's a very very bad man, it still looks weird doing high-fives and, yes, even chanting "USA! USA!" outside the White House.  And I don't mean "weird" to the Arab street.  I mean weird to the American street too.

3,000 people were killed.  Sure, you're glad when they catch the murderer, but there's still some solemnity required on behalf of our fallen.

At least that's my take. Read the rest of this post...

Almost Sherlock Holmesian how the US found bin Laden

Fascinating Sherlock Holmesian logic, I love it. Bin Laden didn't get phone or Internet service at the home, in order to protect his identity, but the fact that a million dollar house did NOT have phone or Internet service only heightened suspicion that something was wrong. Brilliant.

The compound had been relatively secluded when it was built in 2005 — on the outskirts of the town center, at the end of a narrow dirt road.

“In the last six years, some residential homes have been built nearby,” an official said on the call. “The main structure, a three-story building, has few windows facing the outside of the compound. A terrace on the third floor … has a seven-foot privacy wall. … [T]he property is valued at approximately $1 million but has no telephone or Internet service connected to it.”

Everything about the compound signaled that it was being used to hide someone important.

“It has 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire,” the official said. “Internal wall sections — internal walls sectioned off different portions of the compound to provide extra privacy. Access to the compound is restricted by two security gates, and the residents of the compound burn their trash, unlike their neighbors, who put the trash out for collection.

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GOP 2012 prez hopefuls avoiding congratulating Obama for bin Laden's death

Most of them avoided giving Obama any credit, or even mentioning him. Read the rest of this post...

Those crazy Taiwanese animators do a cartoon version of bin Laden's death

I'm not sure it's one of their best, but still...

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Lots of Bin Laden updates

I'm culling through Twitter to find the latest:

Reuters: Clinton says Pakistan cooperation helped lead U.S. to Osama bin Laden compound, U.S. committed to partnership with Pakistan

CNN National Security: One of #OsamabinLaden wives ID'ed the body by name... #OsamabinLaden family lived on 2nd/3rd floor of 3 story building. Those were last floors cleared by Navy SEALS... #osamabinladen killed in last 5-10 minutes of the 40 minute raid, sr. def. official says

Brian Beutler: Levin: Pakistani Intel and Military Have 'A Lot Of Explaining To Do' For Sheltering Bin Laden http://tpm.ly/lqO4Gf

HuffPost Politics: History suggests Obama will see a bounce, but likely to be temporary http://huff.to/jvA7gb ^@mysterypollster

NYT Politics: News Analysis: Bin Laden’s Death Likely to Deepen Suspicions of Pakistan http://nyti.ms/j1nCgQ

PBS Newshour: Look Inside Osama Bin Laden's #Abbottabad Compound http://ow.ly/4LjwF

Josh Nanberg: RT @sfpelosi: Musharraf says US raid to kill Osama Bin Laden is "violation of Pakistan's borders" (Reuters) but omits if/how he missed # ...

And some updates not from Twitter:

Pakistan's mission to the UN issues a statement - a good one, in fact.

Marc Ambinder on the secret team that killed bin Laden.

Obama watched and listened to the attack, live. Talk about cool. Read the rest of this post...

Thoughts on Bin Laden's death from a reader

Eliminating Bin Laden is a good thing. But it has come eight years later than it should. The Bushies talk a big game about how tough they are and how effective their use of torture was but the fact is that they didn't get the guy, Obama did. It was not even apparent that they really wanted to get OBL, if they had killed OBL they would have lost the pretext for their emergency powers.

Problem now is that Al Qaeda really had two leaders and Al Zawahiri is the more dangerous of the two. He was involved in the murder of Saddat and he was the organizing force and ideological leader. But the elimination of OBL makes a withdrawal from Afghanistan much easier now.

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And yet another GOP Rep. struggles to defend Ryan plan

As they asked in this town hall meeting, where are all of the jobs that the Bush tax cuts were supposed to have created? Read the rest of this post...

Bin Laden buried at sea, "remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom"

The New York Times sent this as a breaking news alert:

American officials said that Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, was taken to Afghanistan, and later buried at sea.

And, there's this from AP:

Bin Laden's body was quickly buried at sea and Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.

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Bin Laden's estate was near Pakistan's "West Point", hospital, golf course and airport

For those who wondered whether or not some forces inside Pakistan were aiding bin Laden, this might help explain a few things. Huffington Post:

Abbottabad, an hour's drive from the beautiful tourist town of Nathiagali, has its own airport. That would have made it convenient and easy for visitors to come to Bin Laden, and for him and his team members to leave quickly if they had warning of an attack. And while all of this is preliminary information, it paints a picture of a life lived in luxury, in the shadow of a major military base.

Local reports first indicated there had been a helicopter crash and the sound of heavy gunfire near the Pakistan Military Academy on the Kakul Road. The Military Academy is described as "Pakistan's West Point." Students of military uprisings may remember that a number of coups have been instigated by officer cadres who formed alliances in military academies.

The Frontier Force Regiment, which is based in Abbottabad, contains 67 armored and artillery battalions. It fought in several battles with India over the disputed province of Kashmir, and served as part of the multinational coalition that battled Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. The Abbottabad base also features the Army Medical Center, a full hospital capable of treating virtually any kind of health problem. (If Bin Laden suffered renal failure, as was widely rumored, this would have been an ideal location.)

Video is starting to emerge of the compound:
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More details on bin Laden's compound outside of Islamabad

Though it was cut off from phone lines and was built like a fortress, this was no cave. The Guardian:

Senior US administration officials, briefing journalists in a late-night teleconference, said that after 9/11 the CIA chased various leads about bin Laden's inner circle, in particular his couriers. One of these couriers came in for special attention, mentioned by detainees by his nom de guerre and said to be one of the few couriers bin Laden trusted.

But officials said they were initially unable to identify him but finally did four years ago. They did not disclose his name to reporters on Sunday night.

Two years ago, the CIA found the rough location where the courier and his brother lived in Pakistan, and on August last year they narrowed it down to a compound, in an affluent area about 35 miles north of Islamabad.

They realised immediately this was no normal residence. The walls were 12- to 18ft high, topped with barbed wire. Access to the compound was severely restricted. The main part of the residence was three storeys high but had few windows. It was valued at about $1m but had no phone or internet connection. It was a custom-built terrorist hideaway.

Amazingly enough, this person live-tweeted the entire event from Abbottabad, Pakistan without knowing the details. He's going from an IT consultant taking a break in the mountains to one of the most discussed people online in the last 24 hours. I'm sure we will be seeing more of him soon. Read the rest of this post...

Memory unit from Air France black box found

This is an amazing discovery. It has been an expensive endeavor but we should finally get the answers that are needed to solve the mysterious crash.

The memory unit that may tell why an Air France jet plunged into the Atlantic nearly two years ago was recovered from the bottom of the ocean Sunday, France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said.

A remote-controlled submarine, known as the Remora 6000, located the memory unit Sunday morning and it was lifted on board the search ship Ile de Sein six hours later, the Paris-based BEA said.

All 228 people aboard the Air France Flight 447 were killed when the plane fell into the ocean on the way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.

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EU to vote on re-opening border controls

What an incredibly silly move in the wrong direction.

Brussels said on Sunday that national passport controls might be reintroduced across Europe to allow the "temporary" re-erection of borders between 25 countries.

Responding to intense pressure from Italy and France to tighten the no-borders system known as the Schengen regime, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, said he was looking at ways of satisfying the two countries' concerns. Paris and Rome are alarmed at an influx of migrants fleeing revolutionary north Africa.

In a letter to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Barroso said that the commission would unveil new proposals on Wednesday on immigration policy, common European asylum procedures, and reform of the Schengen system.

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Remembering September 11, 2001

It felt time to find my old photos of September 11th and the two times I went to NYC in November and December to get away from DC (yes, at that time it actually felt better going anywhere, even NYC, just to get away from the tension in DC).  The second trip I was hired by the State Dept. to do a photo essay of NYC three months after the attacks, to show the world the horror and hope.  These photos are the horror.  Perhaps tomorrow after a good night's sleep, I'll post the hope photos.  I'm glad the SOB is dead.  But the memories of that day are making this moment somewhat melancholy, for me at least.  Perhaps it's the old photos bringing back bad memories.

The view from my apt. window, the morn of 9/11 - the smoke is from the Pentagon.

Ground Zero in Nov/Dec

A store across the street from the WTC.

The crowd gazing at the wreckage of the WTC.

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