U.S. Considers Release Of Taliban Prisoner To Afghanistan To Promote Peace Deal

The United States is mulling releasing Mohammed Fazi, a “high risk detainee” who’s been held at Guantanamo since 2002.

As a senior commander of the Taliban army, Fazl is alleged to be responsible for the killing of thousands of Afghanistan’s minority Shi’ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001…

Michael Semple, a former UN official with more than two decades of experience in Afghanistan, said Fazl commanded thousands of Taliban soldiers at a time when its army carried out massacres of Shi’ites. “If you’re head of an army that carries out a massacre, even if you’re not actually there, you are …

Gingrich Would Consider Sarah Palin For VP

Newt Gingrich told a caller at a town hall sponsored by Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition how much he admires Sarah Palin and that she’d be on his short list.

Caller: If you’re fortunate enough to be nominated, would you consider having Sarah Palin as your running mate?

Gingrich: She is certainly one of the people you would look at. I am a great admirer of hers and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska, she’s somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be …

Rick Santorum Plan To End Poverty: People Should Do Two Things

Rick Santorum say to end poverty all you have to do is go to school and then get married.

“Do you know if you do two things in your life — if you do two things in your life, you’re guaranteed never to be in poverty in this country? What two things, that if you do, will guarantee that you will not be in poverty in America?” he asked the crowd.

“Number one, graduate from high school. Number two, get married. Before you have children,” he said. “If you do those two things, you will be successful economically. What does …

On Thursday’s Radio Show…

• Is the world ending in 2012? Renowned physicist Dr. Michio Kaku joins Alan to shed some light on the dark predictions for our universe.

• New state laws are set to take effect at the start of 2012. Alan takes a look at some of the significant new legislation.

• Futurists Paul Guercio and Dr. George Hart of The Merlin Project share their predictions for the year ahead.…

Muslims Boycott Breakfast With New York Mayor Over Surveillance

Several prominent Muslims say they won’t attend a breakfast meeting with New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg because of how the New York Police Department conducted surveillance of the Islamic community.

Bloomberg is scheduled to hold a multi-faith “Bagels with Bloomberg” breakfast with religious leaders from across the city on Friday morning, but the group has written to the mayor’s office outlining their reasons for refusing to attend.

In particular, the group says it is outraged at details that emerged earlier this year of a concerted effort by the New York police department to monitor activities of Muslims in New York. …

Krauthammer: “Embarrassing Candidates” Make Obama Look Presidential

Submitted by Epiphany

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer explains President Obama’s approval ratings:

“I think it’s explicable by two things. The first is the ridiculous way that the Republicans have conducted themselves in the Congress…

“And second, I think, is a year-long, almost year-long exposure now to a weak Republican field…

“Imagine if you’d had a race with a Mitch Daniels, with a Paul Ryan, Christie, Jindal and others, Sen. Thune. It would have had a completely different complexion. And I think with some of the sort of embarrassing candidates like Cain and others along the way, it has made the …

The Cities Are Our Future

by Stuart Shapiro

Ed Glaeser has been doing some of the best work on cities over the past few decades.  He repeatedly makes the point that people living in close proximity to one another have been critical to the advancement and evolution of humanity and has generated many of our greatest innovations.  From a recent interview:

That is why I think people should be free to make choices without government policies that push them one way or the other. You want government policies that make people pay for the social cost of their action, including the environmental cost, but …

Rick Perry: Oil We Get From Canada Is Oil “We Don’t Have To Buy From A Foreign Source”

Maybe Rick Perry wants Canada to become our 51st state.

…talking about the need to build the Keystone Xl pipeline that would link Canada’s oil sands development in Alberta with the U.S. Gulf Coast:

“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil we don’t have to buy from a foreign source,” Perry told a campaign stop in Clarinda, Iowa.…

Paul’s Iowa Volunteers Told Do Shave, Don’t Tweet, Ask, “What Would Ron Paul Do?”

The college-age volunteer Ron Paul Iowa army is under strict orders.

To look, dress, shave, sound and behave in a way that will not jeopardize Mr. Paul’s chances. Even before flying here on their own nickel, some students said they had been instructed to cover up tattoos and told that their faces should be fresh-shaved or beards neatly trimmed, wearing only nice clothes that one described as “business casual.”

“No tats,” another volunteer, Rocco Lucente, said as he ticked off the rules after arriving at the airport Tuesday night. No liquor, no drugs and, he said, no “fraternizing in …

Debris From Japan’s Tsunami Hitting West Coast (Video)

After ten months, ocean currents are driving debris from the Japanese tsunami to the west coast of the United States.

Oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer says the first wave is already here, mostly Japanese fishing buoys washed ashore between Oregon and Alaska. The rest he says remains in a huge floating debris field.

There is disagreement among scientists as to how much debris is from the tsunami.

Scientists do agree on one thing: the non-decomposing materials like plastic that the tsunami dragged out to sea will probably wander the oceans for years; an ever present reminder of the power of nature.

…

Suddenly In Iowa Republicans Don’t Care As Much About Voter ID

Even though Republicans have been pushing for stricter voter ID laws in state after state, they don’t care to apply these standards to the Iowa caucuses.

More than 30 states have changed voter laws since 2008, including requiring voter identification cards, eliminating same-day registration on voting day, prohibiting ex-felons from ballot access, restricting early voting and requiring proof of citizenship.

According to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, changes to voting laws could suppress up to five million votes during the 2012 elections, particularly among young, minority and low-income voters, as well as those with disabilities — all …