President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes last night. During an interview with Steve Kroft, Scooter said that the political cost of overhauling the health care system turned out to be higher than he had expected.

Did he expect Americans to just shut up and take it?

He went on to say that the health care system itself is huge and complicated and that changing it eluded previous presidents because it was so difficult.

But he plowed right on through with it…because he’s special…and a socialist ideologue:

I made the decision to go ahead and do it, and it proved as costly politically as we expected — probably actually a little more costly than we expected, politically.

Obama went on to say, probably sarcastically, that he thought that he would find common ground with Republicans by advancing health care proposals that had been introduced by Republican administrations as well as potential presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts:

I bet ol’ Mittens was squirming in his recliner at the house when Scooter said that.

Obama said:

I couldn’t get the kind of cooperation from Republicans that I had hoped for. And that was costly, partly because it created the kind of partisanship and bickering that really turn people off.

So, what it is that everyone has been bickering about?  Here is a brief overview of the timeline for the implementation of Obamacare, from a pdf prepared by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees on April 2, 2010.

2010

• Immediate Access to Insurance for Uninsured Individuals with a Pre-Existing Condition.
• Eliminating Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Children.
• Prohibiting Rescissions. Prohibits abusive practices whereby health plans rescind existing health insurance policies when a person gets sick as a way of avoiding covering the costs of enrollees’ health care needs.
• Covering Preventive Health Services. All new group health plans and plans in the individual market must provide first dollar coverage for preventive services.
• Extending Dependent Coverage. Requires all plans in the individual market and new employer plans that provide dependent coverage for children to continue to make that coverage available up to age 26
• Reducing the Cost of Covering Early Retirees. Creates a new temporary reinsurance program for health benefits for retirees age 55-64.
• New, Independent Appeals Process.
• Improving Consumer Assistance.
• Improving Consumer Information through the Web. Requires the Secretary of HHS to establish an Internet website through which residents of any State may identify affordable health insurance coverage options in that State.
• Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud. Requires enhanced screening procedures for health care providers to eliminate fraud and waste in the health care system.
• Rebates for the Part D “Donut Hole”. Provides a $250 rebate for all Part D enrollees who enter the donut hole.
• Improving Public Health Prevention Efforts. Creates an interagency council to promote healthy policies at the federal level.
• Strengthening the Quality Infrastructure.
• Extending Payment Protections for Rural Providers.
• Establishing a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Establishes a private, non-profit institute.
• Ensuring Medicaid Flexibility for States.
• Non-Profit Hospitals. Establishes new requirements applicable to nonprofit hospitals beginning in 2010, including periodic community needs assessments.
• Encouraging Investment in New Therapies.
• Tax Relief for Health Professionals with State Loan Repayment.
• Excluding from Income Health Benefits Provided by Indian Tribal Governments.
• Establishing a National Health Care Workforce Commission. Establishes an independent National Commission to provide comprehensive, nonbiased information and recommendations to Congress and the Administration for aligning federal health care workforce resources with national needs.
• Strengthening the Health Care Workforce. Expands and improves low-interest student loan programs, scholarships, and loan repayments for health students and professionals to increase and enhance the capacity of the workforce to meet patients’ health care needs.
• Special Deduction for Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS).
• Indoor Tanning Services Tax.  There are a lot of torqued-off women out there.
• Holding Insurance Companies Accountable for Unreasonable Rate Hikes.

2011

• Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care Coverage.
• Strengthening Community Health Centers and the Primary Care Workforce.
• Increasing Reimbursement for Primary Care.
• Increasing Training Support for Primary Care.
• Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency. Establishes a new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce health care costs and enhance the quality of care provided to individuals.
• Improving Preventive Health Coverage.
• Improving Transitional Care for Medicare Beneficiaries.
• Expanding Primary Care, Nursing, and Public Health Workforce.
• Increasing Access to Home and Community Based Services.
• Reporting Health Coverage Costs on Form W-2: Requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2.
• Standardizing the Definition of Qualified Medical Expenses. Conforms the definition of qualified medical expenses for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs to the definition used for the itemized deduction. An exception to this rule is included so that amounts paid for over-the-counter medicine with a prescription still qualify as medical expenses.
• Increased Additional Tax for Withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Account Funds for Non-Qualified Medical Expenses.
• Cafeteria Plan Changes.

2012

• Encouraging Integrated Health Systems.
• Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes.
• Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions. Directs CMS to track hospital readmission rates for certain high-volume or high-cost conditions and uses new financial incentives to encourage hospitals to undertake reforms needed to reduce preventable readmissions, which will improve care for beneficiaries and rein in unnecessary health care spending.  Can you say “here come the Death Panels”?

2013

• Payments to Primary Care Physicians. Requires that Medicaid payment rates to primary care physicians for furnishing primary care services be no less than 100% of Medicare payment rates in 2013 and 2014.
• Administrative Simplification. Health plans must adopt and implement uniform standards and business rules for the electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens and costs.
• Encouraging Provider Collaboration. Establishes a national pilot program on payment bundling
• Limiting Health Flexible Savings Account Contributions.
• Increased Threshold for Claiming Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.
• Medical device excise tax. Establishes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of a medical device by a manufacturer or importer.
• Limiting Executive Compensation.
• Fee for patient-centered outcomes research.

2014

• Reforming Health Insurance Regulations.
• Eliminating Annual Limits.
• Ensuring Coverage for Individuals Participating in Clinical Trials.
• Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Opens health insurance Exchanges in each State to individuals and small employers. This new venue will enable people to comparison shop for standardized health packages.   Local hack politicians are lining up for jobs right now.
• Providing Health Care Tax Credits. E
• Ensuring Choice through Free Choice Vouchers.
• Promoting Individual Responsibility.
• Small Business Tax Credit.
• Quality Reporting for Certain Providers.
• Health Insurance Provider Fee. Imposes an annual, non-deductible fee on the health insurance sector allocated across the industry according to market share.

2015

• Continuing Innovation and Lower Health Costs. Establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit proposals to Congress and the private sector aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, lowering health care costs, improving health outcomes for patients, promoting quality and efficiency, and expanding access to evidence-based care.
• Paying Physicians Based on Value Not Volume. Creates a physician value-based payment program to promote increased quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.

2018

• Excise tax on high cost employer-provided health plans becomes effective. Tax is on the cost of coverage in excess of $27,500 (family coverage) and $10,200 (single coverage), increased to $30,950 (family) and $11,850 (single) for retirees and employees in high risk professions.

Gosh, Mr. President, I can see why you can’t understand why the never-ending spider’s web of new government bureaucracies and excessive taxation that you and your Democrat minions in Congress rammed down our throats and gloated about has been met with such resistance.  After all, you did it for our own good, didn’t you?…Regardless of the fact that Government-run Healthcare has been a miserable failure wherever it has been tried.

Is Obama sorry that he stuffed this turkey of a bill down Americans’ throats at the cost of the 2010 Midterms?  I doubt it.  He said last night:

But I think that in terms of how I operated on a day-to-day basis, when you’ve got a series of choices to make — I think that there are times where we said let’s just get it done instead of worrying about how we’re getting it done. And I think that’s a problem. I’m paying a political price for that.

Gosh, Scooter.  Ya think?

President Barack Hussein Obama, First Lady Michelle, and an entourage the size of a small nation arrived in India’s commercial hub of Mumbai on Saturday, getting the heck out of Dodge after Americans issued a Midterm referendum on his failed leadership and socialist policies.

In a display of grandeur not seen since Julius Caesar, the first couple arrived with the following:

• A cadre of 9 accompanying warships off the coast of India
• 45 limousines, including “the Beast”, the nickname for the heavily-armoured limousine that the president will travel in.
• 250 businessmen, who have been instrumental in the announced trade deal with India.
• 600 Secret Service agents, who formed a ring around the president as he entered the Taj Mahal Hotel.

Three very interesting accommodations were made for this 9 day trips.  The first accommodation made was to remove all the coconuts from the trees.  The second was to build a kilometer long above-ground  tunnel in order for the Obamas to visit the Mani Bhvan Museum in Mumbai.  The tunnel will measure 12′ X 12′ , with air conditioning, closed-circuit television cameras, and numerous guards at each point.  It will be constructed so that the president’s motorcade can drive right on through it.

The third accommodation made for  Obama was the installation of TOTUS (the teleprompter of the United States) in the Indian Parliament.  This is the first time a teleprompter has ever been used by a statesman there.  He will be speaking to 780 Ministers of Parliament on Monday.

A official, who did not wish to be identified because of security restrictions, said:

We thought Obama is a trained orator and skilled in the art of mass address with his continuous eye contact.

Imagine how Americans felt after this guy got elected.

Last week, an Indian government source told the NDTV channel of Delhi:

The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit.

 Since then, the White House has denied the accuracy of that figure, saying the cost was wildly inflated.

Yeah, right.

Yesterday, Obama spoke to a meeting of Indian officials and the 250 U.S> businessmen he brought along on his trip.  He announced that Trade agreements had already been struck between the two nations.  He stated that the deals – including the sale of military transport aircraft, civilian airplanes, mining equipment and jet engines – are worth $10 billion and support 54,000 jobs in the United States.  Among the businessmen that Scooter brought along were the CEO of Honeywell, David M. Cote and Obama’s personal advisor, Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of General Electric.

I’m shocked. Aren’t the majority of jobs in those industries that will benefit Union jobs?  Hmmm.

Oh, Scooter also brought along 6 University Presidents, so he would have somebody to talk to.

Later, Scooter and Michelle (ma belle) cut a rug with the children of Holy Name High School in South Mumbai. They also lit ‘diyas’ (earthen lamps), swayed to the traditional Koli folk music and attentively listened to their presentations on environment and global warming.

The Obamas mingled freely with the children signing autographs, posing for pictures with them and their parents.

A student, obviously excited by the first couple being there, said:

This was a golden opportunity for us and the school.

I’m surprised that he didn’t bring Chubby Checker along with him for this photo op.  Heck, he brought everybody else.

This morning, Obama on Sunday spoke to students of St. Xavier’s College. Answering a student’s question about his feelings concerning jihad, he said that he regretted that the “great religion” of Islam has been distorted by a few extremists to justify violence towards innocent people and called for isolating these elements.

Scooter also said that people will have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate differences among them:

I think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate our differences.

I think all of us recognise that this great religion (Islam) in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified.

So, one of the challenges the world faces is how to “isolate” those who have these distorted notions of religious war…and reaffirm those who see faces of all sorts whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian and a Jew or any other religion that we can all treat each other with respect and mutual dignity.

Well, gosh. Why don’t Moderate Muslims start speaking against jihad?  If these extremists are as isolated as you say, Scooter.  After all, all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Meanwhile, back in the country that Obama is supposed to serve and protect, over 1/6th of American citizens remain on food stamps.  Our monthly unemployment numbers remain at 9.6 %, and that’s not even counting those who don’t receive unemployment compensation any more and those who have just flat given up trying to look for a job.

Nero fiddled.  Obama danced.

Yesterday, the United Nations Council on Human Rights held a glorified turkey shoot in Geneva, Switzerland.  The United States of America was the Turkey.  What’s worse, our president, State Department, and the Department of Justice agreed to it!

I, in my own mind, have always thought of America as a place in the divine scheme of things that was set aside as a promised land. It was set here and the price of admission was very simple: the means of selection was very simple as to how this land should be populated. Any place in the world and any person from those places; any person with the courage, with the desire to tear up their roots, to strive for freedom, to attempt and dare to live in a strange and foreign place, to travel halfway across the world was welcome here.

Just when Americans thought they had seen the last of the Wicked Witch of the West, a.k.a. “San Fran Nan” Pelosi, she spreads the word that she’s considering running for House Minority Leader.

Of course,  her political cronies want her to stay and to lead the Democratic effort to win back their majority. Those encouraging her believe that she can unify the progressives in the caucus, and more importantly, that nobody in the House can raise money for the next campaign better than Pelosi.

Others, like Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), a member of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition, are threatening to challenge her if she does. Another member of the Blue Dog coalition, Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT), told Politico that Pelosi should not stay on.

He said:

We just got whupped.

Their problem is, the Blue Dog coalition was pretty well wiped out on Tuesday.  More than half of its members, 29, lost.  Only 28 remain.  Those Democrats who survived Tuesday’s Political Massacre are the more liberal members, including Pelosi’s strongest supporters.

The biggest threat that San Fran Nan faces could come from Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), currently the number two Democrat in the House.  But Hoyer has told Pelosi that he will not run against her. Pelosi and Hoyer had a private meeting late Tuesday that lasted more than 90 minutes. They remain tight-lipped about what was discussed.

Pelosi’s popularity among Americans stands at 22%.  I’m surprised that it is that high, considering the idiotic remarks she has made, like this classic about her concerns about violence coming from the Tea Party Movement:

With the Democrats relying on an idiot like this for leadership, the Republicans should have a leg up on them, huh?  Maybe not.  Considering the reaction I saw from establishment Republicans yesterday toward those that made Tuesday’s glorious refudiation possible, Elitist Republicans may ruin this deal for all of us.

Michelle Bachmann, a Tea Party favorite, and dynamic Conservative leader has received a less than enthusiastic reception from Beltway Republicans, including John Boehner, in her attempt to become GOP conference chairman.  Boehner, the future Speaker of the House,  is officially endorsing no one, but Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, and others are endorsing Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas. (who?)  Hensarling is said to have lined up dozens of endorsements.  The good ol’ boy network lives!

Nobody can dispute Bachmann’s contributions to Tuesday night’s GOP victory.  Her fundraising prowess is unparalleled.  The Minnesota Republican is the House’s top earner, bringing in $11 million in the two-year election cycle for her own campaign and giving out $130,000 to other GOP candidates in the campaign’s closing months, according to election records.

Heck, the Old Guard in the GOP should give it to her just on the basis of Tuesday night’s epic smackdown of little Chrissie Matthews, live on MSNBC:

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin got in a dig at the Liberal-leaning website politico.com’s treatment of this story.  She issued a tweet over the picture of Bachmann they used for their take on the story which showed Michelle getting make up applied.  Gov. Palin wrote:

Press: why use this Bachmann pic in LEADERSHIP story?Ur 2 transparent “@politico: Bachmann leadership bid adds drama http://politi.co/d46HwR

Politico soon replaced that picture.

In an e-mail, Palin would not give her opinion on the GOP chairmanship struggle.  After all, first things first:

I’m taking a position on who gets to sit in the big boy highchair this morning for breakfast… Trig or Tripp?

Leadership in the US Congress this morning? Nah … not ’till after the Cheerios.

Yesterday, nationalreview.com published an article by Sarah Palin.  In it, she reviews and gives an explanation for  the unprecedented Conservative victory on the night November 2, 2010 and also charts a course for a Conservative future:

…Whether Republicans will do as well as they did in this cycle depends on whether they learn the lessons from the 2010 election.  

…The 2012 story should be about conservatives in Congress cutting government down to size and rolling back the spending, and the Left doing everything in its power to prevent these necessary reforms from happening. In the next two years, if all we end up doing is adopting some tax hikes here, some Obama-agenda compromises there, and a thousand little measures that do nothing to get us out of the economic mess we’re in, the same voters that put the GOP in office will vote them out in the next election. If that happens, the story of 2012 may well be that of the GOP going the way of the Whigs. No, the American people are expecting us to be bold and big in our economic reform to allow the private sector to create jobs and soar!

…In 2012, we need to renew our optimistic, pioneering spirit, revive our free-market system, and restore constitutional limits and our standing in the world as the abiding beacon of freedom.

Till then, I hope that commonsense patriots will join me in applauding the real heroes of this election year: the Tea Party Americans. In 2008, we were told that we had to “move beyond Reagan.” Well, some of us refused to believe that America chose big-government European-style socialism. American voters elected a politician who cloaked his agenda in the language of moderation. Once the mask was removed, Americans rejected his “fundamental transformation.” The Tea Party reminded us that Reaganism is still our foundation. I think the Gipper is smiling down on us today waving the Gadsden Flag.

Republicans need to give heed to advice like Gov. Palin’s.  The American people did not cast their votes on Tuesday night to voice their approval of the same ol’, same ol’.   Tuesday night was a mandate for real change.  63 House seats, 6 – 7 Senate seats, and 680 State seats changed hands.

The Beltway Elite on BOTH sides of the aisle had better be minding their Ps and Qs, or, come 2012, America will wish them well in their future endeavors.  And, the Republican good ol’ boy network needs to be very aware of how important our country’s great Conservative women were to Tuesday night’s victory.  Business as usual just won’t cut it with the American people anymore.  As this video, released yesterday by Sarah Palin’s Political Action Committee shows, the American people are TOGETHER: 

UPDATE:  San Fran Nan just announced that she will run for House Minority Leader.  Let the games begin.  Pass the popcorn.

Yesterday, in a Noon Central Press Conference, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) appeared as if he wished that he was already in the Jakarta mosque he’s about to visit in his 10 day, $200,000,000 a day Asian trip.

Answering a barrage of surprisingly hard-nosed questions from the normally sycophantic media, a less-than-contrite, and at times, lecturing Obama, proclaimed that he knew exactly why his political party had been politically massacred the night before:  Americans were economically frustrated and impatient because his wonderful policies and programs were taking too long to kick in.

Yes, boys and girls, Scooter is still tone-deaf.  I’m shocked.

Obama went on to say that his decisions so far in his term as president had been tough but right, and that he must take direct responsibility for our economic frustration.  At the same time, in the strident tones of a collegiate guest lecturer, he pledged to do more to reach a consensus with Republicans:

No party has a monopoly on wisdom.  I want to engage both Democrats and Republicans. … I do believe there is hope for civility. I do believe there’s hope for progress. 

When he was asked for details on his plans, Scooter said that he would not be opposed to joining Republicans for a suspension of earmarks and taking a second look at the ignorant provision in Obamacare that would make small businesses file a 1099 for every purchase over $600.  (My words, not his.)

Speaking of Obamacare, the potential incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner said:

I believe that the healthcare bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best healthcare system in the world, and bankrupt our country.  That means we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill and replace it with common sense reforms to bring down the cost of health care.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Obama also spent a great deal of time during the Presser talking about Clean Energy and electric cars. This makes one wonder if the Lame Duck Congress is going to try to pass some version of Cap-and-Trade, even though Obama said that it was off the table for now.  And, if his Lame Duck minions don’t get an energy bill passed, will he just issue an Executive Order and have the EPA initiate it?

Probably.  A lot of his clean energy push has to do with political chicanery.  From my post Psst Bud.  You Want to Buy Some Air?

The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is proud to let everyone know that it is “North America’s only cap-and-trade system for all six greenhouse gases, with global affiliates and projects worldwide.” Barack Obama served on the board of the Joyce Foundation from 1994 to 2002 . What a coincidence, that, as president, pushing cap-and-trade is one of his highest priorities, huh?

Currently, CCX members are legally bound together by a  voluntary agreement to regulate greenhouse gases.

The CCX provides the vehicle by which to trade the very pollution permits and carbon offsets that would be  imposed by government mandate through the administration’s cap-and-trade proposals .

But, hey, right now, our boy Scooter is getting the heck out of Dodge.  His longest foreign tour so far starts in India, then brings him home to Indonesia where he spent part of his childhood, moves to a Group of 20 summit in South Korea, and ends with an Asian-Pacific economic forum in Japan.  First Lady Michelle (ma belle) will accompany him.  The girls will stay at home.

By the way, when Obama lands in Mumbai, India on Saturday, he’ll be protected  during his stay by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier.  This is because the attack on Mumbai in 2008 came from the sea.

Scooter will fly from Mumbai Airport to an Indian Navy Base on Marine One.  Two jets will accompany him, rigged with the latest in communication technology, and he will travel India’s roads in a fleet of 40 cars.

Around 800 rooms in the Taj Mahal and Hyatt Hotels have been reserved for Obama and those accompanying him during his 2 day visit there.  Arrangements just like this have been secured for New Delhi, where the president will be from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning.

I heard Glenn Beck say this morning that Obama’s Asian Trip will cost American taxpayers TWO BILLION DOLLARS. (said in a Dr. Evil from Austin Powers voice)

Perhaps I’m insane, (which, according to my Preacher and my beloved bride, is a distinct possibility), but does this extravagant trip, just like his Press Conference yesterday, seem just a wee bit tone-deaf?

With unemployment in our nation at a record high, with over 1/6th of the country on food stamps (SNAP), and the Democratic Party reeling from their worst electoral defeat since 1932, by his own words and actions, Barack Hussein Obama (peace be unto him) comes off as imperious in nature and more tone-deaf that Ludwig von Beethoven.  If this man-child cannot overcome his own self-aggrandizing and didactic nature, his defensiveness due to his false perception that Americans do not like him because he has a weird name, and his distrust of capitalism and the nation he is supposed to be leading, Obama is in for a long two years.  And so are we.

The final USA Today/Gallup measure of how Americans’ plan to vote tomorrow in the Midterm Elections shows Republicans continuing to hold a huge lead over Democrats among likely voters, a lead large enough to suggest that regardless of turnout, the Republicans will win more than the 40 seats needed to give them the majority in the U.S. House.

The results are from Gallup’s Oct. 28-31 survey of 1,539 likely voters. It finds 52% to 55% of likely voters preferring the Republican candidate and 40% to 42% for the Democratic candidate on the national generic ballot — depending on turnout assumptions. Gallup’s analysis of several indicators of voter turnout from the weekend poll suggests turnout will be slightly higher than in recent years, at 45%. (I’m thinking they’re a little low with their estimate.)  This would give the Republicans a 55% to 40% lead on the generic ballot, with 5% undecided.

There are some more numbers that I want you to consider today as you prepare for the biggest Midterm Elections in our lifetimes.

America is more Conservative today than we were when Newt Gingrich and the Freshmen Class of 1994 swept into Congress.  54% of likely voters proclaim Conservatism.  This is not very good news for President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) and the Progressives.  Would you like some more proof?

Yesterday, in Cleveland, Obama could only manage to draw a crowd of 8,000 for the Democratic National Committee’s Moving America Forward’ rally at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center, a hall where the capacity is 13,000. The rafters were largely empty.  Organizers whined in explanation that the president was competing on a Sunday afternoon with church, football and Halloween.  Obama drew a huge crowd of about 35,000 when he was in nearby, Liberally run Columbus, Ohio, in an earlier October rally.  The thrill is gone.

Nothing like a quiet Friday, huh?  As America watched breathlessly for 5 hours, authorities mobilized, tracked down, and investigated suspicious packages delivered from the tiny country of Yemen, sent by a group of Islamic Terrorists who wish to not just pull our chain but wipe us off the map. 

Two packages mailed from Yemen and addressed to synagogues in Chicago contained explosive material and represented a “credible terrorist threat,” Obama said Friday afternoon, as he gave a brief statement before the cameras and answered no questions.

These packages came from an increasingly lethal affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Our country’s counterterrorism officials suspect that the packages, which were intercepted in Britain and Dubai, were sent by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who had already been the puppet masters behind Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, who murdered 13 American soldiers at Fort Hood and the failed Underwear Bomber, whose Panty Bomb malfunctioned in an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Obama would not specify any new security measures that would be taken, nor would he say that the nation’s terrorist alert level had been raised.  But he described the threat as serious and pointed once again to Yemen as the source of a terrorist plot, saying his top terrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, had been in touch with that country’s president. 

By the way, do you remember what this rocket scientist said about Islam, terrorism, and jihad?

The two packages were intercepted at separate locations, one on a UPS plane at East Midlands Airport near Nottingham, England, and the other at a FedEx facility in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Officials gave no details on the kind of explosives found, but they said that they thought that the substance used was PETN, the same explosive used in the Christmas Day plot.

A U.S. official said the search for the devices was triggered by a “tip from a very close ally of the United States.” The tip was relayed to U.S. authorities Thursday and contained “very specific information” about devices in packages being shipped to the United States from Yemen, the official said.

Brennan, in a statement, said the United States was

…grateful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their assistance in developing information that helped underscore the imminence of the threat emanating from Yemen.

We were looking for packages that were of concern.

He said he briefed Obama before the first package was found in Britain about 3:30 a.m. Friday local time.

U.S. authorities were looking at other packages coming from Yemen, but only the two packages found in Britain and Dubai had been identified as dangerous. Those devices were “intended to do harm,” Brennan said.

Friday’s activity will reinforce the government’s focus on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, an organization in which an American-born cleric, Anwar al-Aulaqi, plays a leading role.

Twice in the past year and a half, AQAP was able to get a PETN-based bomb past security and in position to strike a major target. The first time, in August 2009, one of the group’s operatives smuggled an explosive hidden in a body cavity into a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s top counterterrorism official. The bomber was killed; his intended target, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, survived.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian trained in Yemen, had a similar device hidden in his underwear during his alleged attempt to take down the Detroit-bound airliner in December.

Both devices are said to have been developed by AQAP’s bomb making expert, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri.

And, as I mentioned before, this insane Imam was the mentor of the mass murderer of Fort Hood, Major Nidal Malik Hassan.