One would expect the Air Force’s top civilian adviser to be someone who has spent some time in the US military or who has a very particular educational or skills set that brings something special to what is, after all, a very senior and sensitive position. Not so. Dr. Lani Kass, who is the senior Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Norton A. Schwartz, was born, raised, and educated in Israel and then served in that country’s military where she reached the rank of major. She has a PhD in Russian studies but advises Air Force Generals on Cyberwarfare, terrorism, and the Middle East. And Kass appears to have close and continuing ties to her country of birth, frequently spicing her public statements with comments about life in Israel while parroting simplistic views of the nature of the Islamic threat that might have been scripted in Tel Aviv’s Foreign Ministry.

Kass’ official Air Force bio, which has been expunged from the Pentagon website possibly due to less than flattering commentary regarding her appointment, indicates that since January 2006 she has been “the principal adviser on policy and strategy and formulates, develops, implements, and communicates the policies, programs and goals of the Air Force.” Another official bio adds that she “…conducts numerous complex, high priority special assignments involving research and fact-finding to develop analyses, position and issue papers, and generate new initiatives based on a variety of strategic subjects of critical importance to the Joint Staff and/or the Joint Force.” There have also been suggestions that Kass has recently become an informal adviser to Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Middle Eastern policy.

Dr. Lani Kass is married to Norman Kass, a former Pentagon Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and resides in McLean, Virginia. She has been naturalized as a US citizen and is presumably a dual national who now holds both American and Israeli passports. Her three children were all born in Israel. While it is perhaps not unusual for American citizens to volunteer with the Israel Defense Forces as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel did in 1991, it would have to be considered unprecedented for a senior Israeli military officer to obtain a high level position at the Pentagon. In fact, it is hard to imagine that anyone carrying out a security background investigation would approve such a transition under any circumstances, suggesting the possibility that Kass’s ascent to high office might have been aided or even godfathered by friends in key positions who were able to override or circumvent normal procedures.

Dr. Kass’s full first name is Ilana and her maiden name is Dimant. She has a 1971 BA in political-science and Russian area studies, summa cum laude, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a 1976 joint PhD from the Kaplan School of the Hebrew University and Columbia University in international affairs. She apparently met her husband Norman at Columbia. Both she and her husband are fluent in Russian and Hebrew. After completing her PhD, she served in the Israeli Air Force, achieving the rank of major. For those who are unfamiliar with the military, the rank of major is a senior rank that normally would be awarded to a career officer.

Between 1979 and 1981, Kass worked at the Russian research Center of Booz Allen and Hamilton. Between 1985 and 2005 she held the position of Professor of Military Strategy and Operations of the National War College. In 1992 Dr. Kass obtained a senior position at the Pentagon as Special Assistant to the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J5). Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense at the time. She returned to the Pentagon under Secretary William Cohen and stayed on during 2000 – 2001 as Senior Policy Adviser and Special Assistant for Strategic Initiatives to the Director, Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J5) under Donald Rumsfeld.

In early November 2006, US Air Force officials formed the Air Force Cyberspace Command that had the “authority to launch wars in cyberspace.” The command was reported to be “largely the brainchild of Dr. Lani Kass, director of the Air Force Cyberspace Task Force.”

Dr. Kass’ position and access inevitably raise a number of questions. Her appointment is somewhat unseemly, which even the Air Force appeared to recognize when it removed her bio from the website. Surely there must be qualified Americans who would be both delighted and proud to serve their country in the position she holds. Surely someone in Washington must see the security implications of a former foreign military officer holding a high level post in the Pentagon with full access to classified information. To challenge Dr. Kass’s position is not to question her academic credentials and intelligence or even her ability or integrity, but it is not unreasonable to ask why the Pentagon would appoint to a sensitive position someone who was born, raised, and served at a senior level with the armed forces in a foreign country.

And it is also not unreasonable to stop and consider whether Kass might well be an agent working for the Israeli government, which aggressively spies against the United States. She left Israel and began her journey through the US defense department in 1981, when Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was still active. Israeli intelligence certainly was then and is now capable of what is referred to in intelligence jargon as a seeding operation in which “a mole” is placed in an innocuous position and expected to rise higher, eventually obtaining access to top secret information and even sometimes winding up in a position in which it is possible to direct policy as a so-called agent of influence. Kass started her ascent by working on Russia for beltway bandit Booz Allen Hamilton, quite likely for completely innocent reasons but also possibly because it was a non-threatening way to ease her entry into the world of government contractors.

In seeking to discover how she wound up where she is now it is fair to ask how exactly she obtained the positions that she has held with the Pentagon and who sponsored her through the bureaucracy. How did she manage to obtain a clearance in spite of the obvious red flags in her background? In light of legitimate security concerns, has she been polygraphed, what questions about her relationship with her former country were asked, and what were her answers? Was any deception indicated? Has she been re-polygraphed recently? This is not intended as harassment or as any accusation against Kass but rather to determine if she has been subject to normal and appropriate security measures. CIA officers are, for example, required to undergo polygraph exams every five years and the questions concentrate on possible unreported relationships with foreign governments.

Critics note that while Kass is genuinely an expert on Russia, she has little background to qualify her as an authority on the currently fashionable Cyberwarfare, where she has somehow turned herself into a major spokesman through mastery of the necessary buzzwords and talking points. Nor does she have any genuine expertise on the Middle East or on terrorism to share with Mullen and others, apart from her own Israeli perspective. Her access to the highest levels of the Air Force also raises the questions of just what is she advising and what does she know? Does she support an air war against Iran, for example, and is she actively promoting that option? Does she know how the Obama Administration will react if Tel Aviv tries to stage a unilateral attack on Iran? Such information would be pure gold for the Israeli government.

There are indications that Dr. Kass is a major player in shaping US security policy. She has been described as a “key participant” in the development of the national strategy for combating terrorism, as well as the national military strategic plan for the Global War on Terrorism. In September 2007, The Times of London reported that she was a leading participant in “Project CHECKMATE, a “highly confidential strategic planning group tasked with ‘fighting the next war’ as tensions rise with Iran” that was “quietly established” by the US Air Force in June 2007 as a “successor to the group that planned the 1991 Gulf War’s air campaign.”

Also per The Times, CHECKMATE “consists of 20-30 top air force officers and defense and cyberspace experts with ready access to the White House, the CIA and other intelligence agencies.” Its director Brigadier-General Lawrence A. Stutzriem and Kass reported directly to General Michael Moseley, at the time chief of staff of the Air Force. The Times cited Defense sources saying, “detailed contingency planning for a possible attack on Iran has been carried out for more than two years.” Regarding Iran operations, Kass was quoted as saying “We can defeat Iran, but are Americans willing to pay the price?”

Dr. Kass is not directly linked to any neoconservative groups but appears to be a kindred spirit, possessing a Manichean world view. Her comment cited above about defeating Iran has a dismissive tone to it, as if she is not identifying as an American herself. And she is also reported to have said “Remember what Israelis tell their children when they cry: ‘Don’t cry — you want to be a paratrooper don’t you?’” Some other public utterances are also revealing, suggesting that if General Schwartz and Admiral Mullen are actually listening to her it is no surprise that some US defense and security policies are largely based on simplistic bumper sticker analysis. In a speech at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on July 9, 2007, she said radical Muslims hate the western world because Europe took their dominant political position away and they want it back. To support her claim she produced a map taken from an obscure Jihadi website showing the entire world depicted as the “United States of Islam,” in which everyone will have to follow Sharia Muslim law. Kass likes to use the map as a prop in many of her public appearances. In her speech she explained that Muslims hate western culture and want to dominate the world, adding that because radical Islam has a “culture of death” all those who do not submit to Islam must die, an assertion so absurd that one suspects her political analysis derives from the Free Republic website. She also compared all Americans to sheep and sheepdogs. The former keep their heads down hoping that someone else will be eaten by wolves a.k.a. terrorists while the latter fight back. Kass sees herself as a sheepdog. For her Air Force audience she concluded that the long war against the Islamists will end “when they learn to love their children more than they hate us,” a comment originally attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

Kass’s powerpoint demonstration “A Warfighting Domain,” dated September 26, 2006, is equally scary, and more than a little Strangelovean in its language and appeal. It includes the map of the United States of Islam and defines the “mission” as “to fly and fight in the Air, Space, and Cyberspace.” She boasts “as Airmen we are the nation’s premier multi-dimensional maneuver force, with the agility, reach, speed, stealth, payload, precision, and persistence to deliver global effects at the speed of sound and the speed of light.” Her objective? To “foster a force of 21st century warriors, capable of delivering the full spectrum of kinetic and non-kinetic, lethal and non-lethal effects in the Air, Space, and Cyber domains.”

Dr. Kass the Kremlinologist might have been a dab hand at interpreting the Nomenklatura standing on top of Lenin’s tomb but her embrace of Cyberwar and her comments relating both to terrorism and the state of the Middle East make one wonder how she has ascended to her lofty perch…and equally why she should remain there. Legitimate security concerns about her possible conflicted loyalty and her intentions should have blunted her trajectory long ago. But on the other hand, the global war on terror is so much of a joke that it perhaps needs someone like Dr. Kass to symbolize its absurdity and to launch the US Air Force on a vital new mission replete with lethal warrior-airmen delivering “global effects” at the speed of light. At an estimated cost of $100 billion, one might add. Captain Kirk? Are you ready to beam me up? Things are getting kind of strange down here.

The Warrior’s show runs from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ET. BEFORE THE SHOW, send your questions or comments for the show to nocturnalwarriorshow@gmail.com. Warrior e-mailed me, and here are the plans:

The Nocturnal Warrior could use a little stimulus. In fact he is watching Cinemax right now. As Bill Clinton used to say “nothing like a little late night Cinemax to keep things stimulated.” Join the Warrior tonight for a serious and not so serious discussion on the stimulus package and the Obama campaign that just won’t end.

It’s another night off for Puma Pam, so it will also be the American Idol version of The Nocturnal Warrior Show. Open auditions for the role of fill in sidekick will take place throughout the program. Just call (347) 677-0792 your shot at stardom.

The typically lively chat room will be open throughout the show.

Audio archives of The Nocturnal Warrior’s past shows will be available at NQR immediately following the broadcast. You can also listen via iTunes (see the right column for instructions).

Join us tonight for “No Topic Taboo With Jay” at No Quarter Radio.

Here’s tonight’s plan: Post Superbowl, let’s talk all about the Sunday extravaganza. The game (a good one), the commercials (I for one was not impressed but were they muted do to the economic down turn) and even the puppy bowl (can’t say I saw it but I know it was promoted on NQ). 

As always the chat room and the phone lines are open to discuss anything the NQ audience would like to. Last week it was puppies, horror movies, and baseball, who knows what will come up this week.

What TV shows are you watching, which of the new movies have you seen, and what books are you reading?

We’ll also hit on all the breaking news, Blago, Obama’s woes, and whatever you bring up when you call in at (347) 677-0792. Remember that NO TOPIC IS TABOO so you’re welcome to bring up new issues.

With several shows down now — including my first and second shows — which you can listen to on iTunes and/or your iPod (see instructions in the right column) — I am back tonight at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT (you know what time to tune in if you are in between).

Call in tonight via (347) 677-0792, and be sure to join the live chat session, which I usually start up 10 minutes before the show begins at 9 p.m. ET.

I encourage you all to participate. If you are the shy type you can email me at the show email address: ntteewithjay@me.com.

And don’t forget if you miss my show or any other NQ Radio Show on BlogTalk Radio, you can come here and listen to the recorded show or, if you have iTunes or an iPod, you can subscribe to all of our shows as Podcasts by following the instructions in the yellow box on the right-hand side of our page.

From 9pm to 10pm ET it’s the The Nocturnal Warrior, with famed talk radio host “the Warrior” and his sidekick, Puma Pam. Send your questions or comments for the show to nocturnalwarriorshow@gmail.com.

Warrior tells me that these are tonight’s show topics:

Barack Obama has once again spurned No Quarter Radio. Instead of granting the Nocturnal Warrior’s request to have the first media interview with the new President, he decides to give his first face to face to the Arab Media. Rashid Khalidi must be proud. But, hell hath no fury like a the Warrior scorned. We’ll review the Messiah’s first week on the job, the demise of Princess Caroline and look at the Hollywood Dream Couple of Joy Behar and Blago. Plus a look at Puma Pam’s new blog, The Happy Spinster. It’s all coming up tonight at 9:00PM.

The call-in number for questions is (347) 677-0792.

Audio archives of both programs will be available at NQR immediately following the broadcast. You can also listen via iTunes (see the right column for instructions).

Join us in 10 minutes for LD’s weekly radio show tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET to 9:00 p.m. ET. We’ll discuss a wide array of financial and economic issues from Wall Street and around the world.

You are welcome to call in with questions and comments any time during the show. Dial in to (347) 677-0792 and turn down your computer volume since you can listen to the show for the brief time you’re on hold.

You can also log in to BlogTalkRadio.com, and join the live chat room during the show. (The chat room usually gets going about five minutes before the show.)

Our “very special guest” for our “LD’s Dollars and Sense” is an individual who, in my estimation, has more professional Wall Street relationships than any other individual. Allow me to share the background of the legend that is … Michael Maloney.

Michael started working on Wall Street in the mid-1960s at the tender age of 16 for a specialist firm on the floor of the NYSE. In 1970, Mr. Maloney was an equity block trader for the venerable Stone and Webster. In the late ’70s, Michael moved into the world of financial recruitment and career consulting. He is known as “the man to see” for those looking to move onto or within the world of Wall Street. He has longstanding relationships that would fill the Manhattan directory and has lived to tell about them. From placing chief investment officers to back office assistants, from working with the major investment houses to startups, Michael truly epitomizes the phrase, “it’s not merely what you know but who you know.”

Please join us for a fascinating look back and, simultaneously, a piercing view forward with “the man to see,” Michael Maloney!!

Larry Doyle has continued to track his original investigative report on the nomination of prospective SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro, “Let’s Really Question Ms. Schapiro.” Larry scoured news and investment sites for any background information on Ms. Schapiro, and also read the 68-page 2008 annual report of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which raised a large number of questions about Ms. Schapiro’s abilities as a “watchdog,” as a “cop on the beat.”

We are living through a truly historic and challenging economic period. We want to help you make sense of it all.

Two weeks ago, for example, we were joined by insurance expert Sean D’Arcy of Northwestern Mutual (this show is a must for everyone who has an insurance policy and, since we all do, make sure you catch this important program). LD also wrote up the discussion in this story, “Got Insurance? 529 Plans? Financial Aid?…Read On….”

The week before, Kevin Doyle, founder of 12th Street Capital and former senior executive at Countrywide, joined us from 8:15-8:45pm. We discussed the dynamics and development of the sub-prime mortgage business, the outlook for regulations and the rating agencies, and much more. Fascinating discussion. For those who care the shows are archived.

Larry Johnson’s business partner, John Moynihan, joined us on December 21st. John is an expert in forensic accounting and money laundering. We discussed the Bernie Madoff situation and fraudulent activities in general. Also fascinating.

Get the real “behind the scenes” look from financial experts only here at “No Quarter’s Dollars and Sense with LD.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::
Afterwards, the archived show will be up at BlogTalkRadio or via iTunes/iPod (see our instructions in the right column under No Quarter Radio).)

AND: Check out Larry’s series of “Central Station” posts in which he takes questions from you, and answers them. The latest “Central Station” was yesterday morning, January 24th, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Dr. Lynette Long needs to concentrate on her health at this time, and can no longer do her No Quarter Radio show, simply so she can cut back on her many obligations. We are so sorry to lose her important voice for women. But, there is good news too: Last week, Dr. Long asked her friend Paulie Abeles to “sub.” Paulie proved to be a true professional! Special thanks to Dr. Long for finding a great host. Paulie has agreed to be our new permanent host. We’ll miss you, Dr. Long, and we’re rooting for you!

So, NQR is proud to present Sins of Omission on Monday nights, from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m., our weekly call-in show about politics and sexism, now hosted by Paulie Abeles.

Paulie is especially interested in receiving your telephone calls. So, call (347) 677-0792 and ask Paulie a question or share your comments. Here’s the description Paulie wrote about her new show:

“Join Paulie Abeles of Real Democrats for a weekly call-in show “Sins of Omission”— aimed at giving listeners insight into the topics of the day beyond the nightly news.

Each week the show features interviews with newsmakers and an opportunity in the second half of the program for listeners to call in and ask questions. [MORE below]

PAULIE’s BACKGROUND:

In 2008, Paulie Abeles co-founded (with Marilu Sochor) Real Democrats, a 14,000 member volunteer organization determined to combat media bias and sexism in the election.

She has appeared as a commentator on FOX, the Jon Stewart Show, ITN, AOL and numerous radio programs.

A graduate of Smith College, Abeles started her career on the trading floor at Salomon Brothers, served as Executive Director of the Freight Forwarders Council of America and Advertising Director of Stars & Stripes.

Abeles is currently a free lance writer and lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.”

Join Paulie on Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET for her weekly call-in show, Sins of Omission.

To ask questions or share your points of view, please call (347) 677-0792.

The show is transmitted through your computer speakers, not a radio. You can listen while you do your email or chat with other listeners in the NQR chat room. Sign up this afternoon BlogTalkRadio.com so that you can log in and join in the chat room.

[WHEN THE PROGRAM IS OVER, you may listen to the archived show or download the show to your IPOD or ITunes subscription.]

NOTE TO ALL READERS from Susan: FOR THE SAKE OF EFFICIENCY and ENSURED ACCURACY, I am taking the previous week’s promos, and moving them up a week. So you will see OLD COMMENTS below. Just skip past those, and write your own comments. (besides, sometimes it’s fun to see what we all were writing about a week ago.)

Join us as we chat with KD, Kevin Doyle, the founder of 12th Street Capital. Kevin formerly worked at Paine Webber and Countrywide. He has extensive personal experience dealing with sub-prime originations, structured products, rating agencies, regulators, and investors. Will be an enlightening conversation and peek into this sector of the market from a true expert. DON’T MISS IT!

Don’t miss LD’s radio show tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET.. LD will take your calls at 347-677-0792.

This show gives you an hour’s worth of common sense about the economy, the markets, Wall Street and Main Street with “LD,” a Wall St. veteran who is also NoQuarterUSA blog’s financial whiz.

ABOUT OUR HOST LD: For those not familiar with his background, Larry Doyle, also known as LD, had a 23-year career on Wall Street. He worked primarily at CS First Boston, Bear Stearns, and JP Morgan Chase.

He was a mortgage trader for 15 years, and then sold securitized products and was the National Sales Manager at JPM for the last leg of his career. He is now a private investor and involved with not-for-profit activities.

Since we “bump up” the previous week’s promo — to be time-efficient — you will see comments from past weeks.

The 2008 presidential election brought good news and bad news with respect to women in politics. The good news is that a woman came close to being the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. president and a woman was the Republican Party’s V.P. nominee. The bad news is that the level of misogyny demonstrated by the actions and comments of both women and men was nothing short of appalling and does not reflect well on our Republic.

Rather than being a world example of fairness and equity, we as a nation again showed that we are behind many countries of the Western world when it comes to gender equity. We have only to look to the Scandinavian countries where women have rights and a level of respect that exceed ours. Part of that is the culture, but also important is the dominant presence of women in politics. Here are examples:

Finland: In 1906, Finnish women were the first women in Europe to receive universal and equal franchise, and the first women in the world to become eligible for election to parliament. Recently, eight of seventeen cabinet ministers were appointed to the Government formed after the 2003 elections. Women hold the posts of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Minister of Education, Minister of Finance, Minister of Culture, Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister of Transport and Communications, and Minister of Labor. The winning candidate for the presidential election of 2000 was the then foreign minister Tarja Halonen, who became Finland’s first woman president. Note that four of the candidates were women and three men.

Iceland: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was the fourth president of Iceland, serving for 16 years. She was the world’s first elected female president (1980-1996). Women received the right to vote in 1915.

Norway: In 1907, Norwegian women became eligible for election to parliament and were given the right to vote in 1913. A woman, Gro Harlem Brundtland, served as prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986-1989). Eight of 18 members of her cabinet were women. A woman, Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen, has been Norway’s Minister of Defense since 2005. (The link (in Norwegian) is video from Norway’s Conservative newspaper, Aftenposten, and shows Strom-Erichsen flying in one of 4 new Hercules C-130′s, which Norway expects to use in Afghanistan, but mostly for humanitarian aid.)

Sweden: In all of Scandinavia, the number of women in parliament ranges from 33% to 47%, with Sweden having the highest percentage of women as parliamentarians – 10 of 22 cabinet ministers are women. Swedish women received the right to vote in 1919.

Denmark: Women in Denmark received the right to vote in 1915. Denmark lags somewhat behind her Scandinavian neighbors with slightly lower percentages of women in parliament and on the cabinet.

Women on bank notes

Of interest is also the presence of women on Norwegian banknotes. Of the 8 most used bank notes in Norway, three portray women: Camilla Collett, a writer considered the first Norwegian feminist writing a political novel on the difficulty of being a woman in a patriarchal society; Kirsten Flagstad, world renowned opera singer; and Sigrid Undset, a novelist who won the Nobel Prize in 1928. Note that all images on Norwegian paper currency in use are scientists and artists – not male presidents. Similarly, two of the five most common notes in Sweden portray women, and likewise, two of eight in Denmark.

To what is increased parity owed?

The increased parity between women and men in decision-making is closely linked to education and employment opportunities for women, as well as shared beliefs among men and women. Noteworthy is the shared belief that men cannot negotiate the values or the interests of women. In forming her government in 1986, prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland noted: “It is in the interest of society as a whole that women’s values and women’s sense of justice be integrated into political life.” Further, “Women will not become more empowered merely because we want them to be, but through legislative changes, increased information, and redirection of resources. It would be fatal to overlook this issue.”

A system of gender quotas and the 40% rule

Competence and gender-friendly attitudes are important. However, the Scandinavian experience indicates that the proportion of women in political institutions will not increase unless targeted measures such as gender quotas are employed. A system of gender quotas was first employed by the Socialist Left Party and the Liberal Party in the 1970s. Today virtually all of the major Norwegian parties apply a gender quota system in nominations to elections and to the make-up of party-governing bodies.

The party quota system is voluntary and self-imposed. It is now practiced to redress any imbalance in representation on committees where men tend to congregate, such as economics, agriculture, communications, technology and defense, and not limit women to areas such as health and education.

A quota system has also been introduced for publicly appointed committees, boards, councils, and state enterprises. The “40 per-cent-rule” was incorporated in the Local Government Act in 1992, which regulates municipal and county governments.

In conclusion, the equal presence and power of women in the Scandinavian governments and politics probably prevents the bad behavior we saw in the US election. Some members of the Democratic National Committee and the broadcast media would not have dared to behave as we saw in this country in 2008, even if they had wanted to make the sexist statements they did. The political power of women has had a significant impact on Scandinavian public policy with respect to equal rights, health care, education, and the care of children. The United States has an aversion to quotas. Nevertheless, without some equivalent measure, voluntary or involuntary, the emergence of women as a political force in American politics is likely to require major generational and attitudinal change.

———-

Materials presented have been extracted from news reports of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For further reading see:

Anette Borchorst and Birte Siim. Woman-friendly policies and state feminism: Theorizing Scandinavian gender equality. Feminist Theory, Vol. 9, No. 2, 207-224 (2008).

Lauri Karvonen and Per Selle, Editors. Women in Nordic Politics: Closing the Gap. Dartmouth Publishing Co, (1995).

Tonight at 9pm ET: Our View with Patsy and Sugar, who’s with relatives tonight, on No Quarter Radio! Truthteller is our guest host with Patsy.

Patsy is, of course, better known as Soldier4Hillary (check out her cool new blog!), while Sugar blogs over at the wonderful Sugar N Spice. Truthteller is a highly regarded writer here at No Quarter.

Listen to the livestream broadcast tonight from 9pm to 10pm ET on NQR. The call-in line for questions is (347) 677-0792, and the chat room will be open.

If you miss the live program, an audio archive will be available on NQR right after the show.

RELATED, and A FUN FIND: A few days ago, I read LD’s November 19th story in which he mentioned some economist who, sigh, I’d never heard of. Lo and behold, I was just scanning through the YouTube videos at Charlie Rose’s channel, and there was this economist that LD admires so much! First, what LD wrote about Noriel Roubini, and then the snippet of the Charlie Rose show:

LD wrote:

Last but not least, there is an individual named Noriel Roubini, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, who has had IMO the absolute best read on the markets and economy. He is not beholden to an investment bank, an asset management business or any other enterprise that is trying to sell advice or products.

He has had some remarkably accurate calls on market movements and economic trends. Today he highlighted that the recession that we are currently experiencing will be the deepest in the last 50 years. I could stick my head in the sand or soft sell that markets always rebound but I am merely trying to provide a healthy and realistic view as to what is really going on in the economy and markets.

Here is a link for more about Roubini. I think you will find him enlightening if not exactly entertaining.

And here is the video. Well, Charlie Rose’s site is down right now. It’s an internal server issue. KEEP TRYING and then search for Noriel Rubini to watch the entire show.

CLICK HERE to read all of LD’s posts at No Quarter.

AND! Don’t forget tonight at 8 p.m. ET!

Quotes:

***

“We need a President who is experienced, who is tested, who has the ability to work with both sides, and that’s John McCain, not Barack Obama.”

***

“I think John [McCain] understands from his years in the Senate and the House that you have to reach bipartisan solutions, and that is so necessary right now. You can’t govern from the left or right, you have to govern from consensus, from the middle.”

***

“I think there is a big difference between the rhetoric and the actions of Barack Obama and his campaign. It is true that he tries to talk a sort of post-partisan rhetoric, but the reality is he’s one of the most partisan members of the Senate, with a left-wing voting record, and very much the product of Chicago machine politics.”

****

(On “spreading the wealth”:)

“It is one thing to have a progressive income tax, and to say, well, in pursuit of getting the necessary revenues for the government, we’re going to have some division between people making a lot of money and people not making a lot of money. That’s one thing. It’s another thing to say, however, that you’re going to use the income tax system, not necessarily just to get revenues for the government, but to redistribute money from one class to another…The reason we have taxes is to raise revenues for the government. If we want to have some division in rates because of wealth or whatever, then fine. But when we don’t need revenues anymore, we don’t raise taxes, we lower them. But he [Obama] wants to raise taxes so he can transfer wealth, so he can transfer income.”

****

“People who truly believe in reform, like campaign finance reform, have got to be enormously offended at what he [Obama] has done. He promised to abide by campaign finance reform, and as soon as he realized that it might advantage him not to, he broke his promise. Which is a pretty good indication of what he’s going to do if he ever becomes President.”

****

(On Biden’s statement that Barack Obama will be tested:)

“That was an extraordinary statement. Now Biden is trying to get out of it by saying well, every President is tested. Not correct. First of all, John F. Kennedy had far more experience than Barack Obama. No comparison. John Kennedy had traveled the world; Barack Obama has never been south of the border. John Kennedy had written on American history and American policy; Barack Obama has written about himself. And John Kennedy had been in the Senate more than twice as long as Barack Obama and held hearings to reform our labor laws; Barack Obama hasn’t done anything like that. So the comparison is a terrible one to start with.

“But the reality is, when we elect a President who has been tested, we don’t get tested. Nobody tested Dwight Eisenhower, and nobody tested Ronald Reagan. And nobody’s going to test John McCain. Because they know he’s ready for it. That doesn’t mean we don’t face risk under John McCain; of course we do. We’ve got terrorists out there who have terrible intentions toward us. But Joe Biden is telling us that we risk some kind of incident or attack with Barack Obama being elected. Now why the heck do we want to take that risk?”

***

(On why McCain is gaining now in the polls:)

“He [John McCain] now feels to most people like a much sounder choice. Whether they’re Republicans, Democrats, independents, or nothing at all, he just seems like a much more sensible choice.”

“Maybe this all comes down to, ultimately, Americans prefer authenticity and someone who’s genuine. And I think that they increasingly have gotten the sense that Barack Obama is very very scripted and John McCain is very much for real.”

***

“John McCain spent more time in the Hanoi Hilton than Barack Obama has spent in the United States Senate.”

***

“We’ve got a chance to elect not a Republican or a Democrat. We’ve got a chance to elect a great American. We shouldn’t lose that chance.”

***

“I find Governor Palin to be very bright, very energetic, really a terrific person…I like the idea that she has executive experience. She brings something to this that you really need. After all, she has more executive experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden combined. They’ve never run a city, a state, a business, or a military unit. She’s done three out of four, and John McCain’s done the other. And she right now is the governor of a state where she’s one of the most effective governors in the country and one of the most popular governors in the country, and that’s where we usually look for our presidential candidates. So I think when people raise her qualifications, my answer is, gosh, if you’re worried about her qualifications, then you sure as heck can’t be voting for Barack Obama. He has less experience than she has.”

From 9pm to 10pm ET tune in for The Nocturnal Warrior, with famed talk radio host “the Warrior” and his sidekick, Puma Pam. Our special guest tonight: Harriet Christian!

Update: Check out all the details on Harriet’s Pennsylvania road trip in one-half hour, right above this post!

The call-in number for questions is (347) 677-0792, and the chat room is open.

Tune in now, or any time until 10:00 p.m. ET!

Audio archives are available at NQR immediately following every broadcast.

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OPEN THREAD!

Okay, folks, our migration is over. We’re on a new high-powered cluster and we’ll be kicking the tires and watching to make sure everything works okay.

You probably have the old server address in your cache, and it can take several days for all the different pathways in the internet to stop going to that old server and start finding our new server. That’s why you might have trouble reaching us for awhile, or get old pages when you do reach us. It’s because you’re still getting stuff off the old server.

So do this:

1. Clear your cache in your browser. (I hope you know how to do that!)
2. Close your browser.
3. Open up your command prompt — that’s the MS-DOS prompt, the old-fashioned black window. In XP, you can access that through Programs/Accessories. When you get the black DOS window, type in this at the C prompt: ipconfig /flushdns
Then press enter.
4. Close your MS-DOS command window.
5. Re-boot your computer.

If you do all those steps, that should clear out all the old pathways to our old server.

Let us know if you have any problems. And tell other folks, too, since if people are trying to find us using their old bookmarks, etc., they’re probably still going to our old server.

Within a few days every place in the internet should be pointing to our new server correctly.

[Bill] Ayers will be joined by Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the University of Chicago Law School, who is working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent 7 years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher in the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher in the Detention Center. [...]

At the end of this SAME PRESS RELEASE are these two paragraphs that put Bill Ayers in the same program, the same views on criminal justice, and the same physical location as Michelle Obama — as well as Barack Obama:

Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University of Chicago Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.

“We know that issues like juvenile justice impact each of us who live in the city of Chicago. This panel gives community members and students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it.”

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November 4, 1997, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Here is the text of the University of Chicago press release dated November 4, 1997:

Should a child ever be called a “super predator?”

A panel at the University of Chicago debates the merits of the juvenile justice system

Children who kill are called “super predators,” “people with no conscience,” “feral pre-social beings”–and “adults.”

William Ayers, author of A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court(Beacon Press, 1997), says “We should call a child a child. A 13-year-old who picks up a gun isn’t suddenly an adult. We have to ask other questions: How did he get the gun? Where did it come from?”

Ayers, who spent a year observing the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, is one of four panelists who will speak on juvenile justice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in the C-Shop of the Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University Ave.

The panel, which marks the 100th anniversary of the juvenile justice system in the United States, is part of the Community Service Center’s monthly discussion series on issues affecting the city of Chicago.

The event is free and open to the public.

Ayers will be joined by Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the University of Chicago Law School, who is working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent 7 years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher in the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher in the Detention Center.

The juvenile justice system was founded by Chicago reformer Jane Addams, who advocated the establishment of a separate court system for children which would act like a “kind and just parent” for children in crisis.

One hundred years later, the system is “overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist,” Ayers said.

Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University of Chicago Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.

“We know that issues like juvenile justice impact each of us who live in the city of Chicago. This panel gives community members and students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it.”

FACT CHECK

Obama claim:

STEPHANOPOLOUS: Can you explain that relationship [with William Ayers] for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?

OBAMA: George, but this is an example of what I’m talking about. This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense, George.

The fact is that I’m also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who, during his campaign, once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn’s statements? Because I certainly don’t agree with those, either.

So this kind of game in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is, that somehow their ideas could be attributed to me, I think the American people are smarter than that. They’re not going to suggest somehow that that is reflective of my views, because it obviously isn’t.

Facts:

• Michelle Obama scheduled a round table with Barack Obama and Bill Ayers at The University of Chicago in 1997
• The round table and the press release connect Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Bill Ayers
• Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Bill Ayers exchanged ideas before, after and during the round table Michelle Obama organized
• Barack Obama and Bill Ayers collaborated during this conference, and their exchange of ideas informed Obama’s opposition to the Juvenile Justice Reform Act in the Illinois General Assembly in 1997
• This exchange of ideas reveals that Ayers’s governing philosophy is reflective of Obama’s views; indeed, Ayers’s philosophy shaped and determined Obama’s views
• Obama’s relationship to Ayers is anything but flimsy
• Obama lied during the Philadelphia debate
• One of Obama’s present votes in 1999 in the Illinois state Senate on juvenile justice legislation is also a result of his 1997 collaboration and collusion with Bill Ayers
• Obama’s legislative activity in Illinois can be tied to his intellectual relationship with terrorist Bill Ayers

How does the Obama campaign account for this official University of Chicago press release? And does Michelle Obama also share Bill Ayers’s ideas? It appears she does.

Michelle and Barack Obama have deep and controversial ties to Bill Ayers the Weather Underground terrorist and bomber.