The Taliban: The lousiest terrorists in the world

by Daniel Byman and Christine Fair

To be sure, some terrorists are steely and skilled—people like Mohamed Atta, the careful and well-trained head of the 9/11 hijackers. Their leaders and recruiters can be lethally subtle and manipulative, but the quiet truth is that many of the deluded foot soldiers are foolish and untrained, perhaps even untrainable…

Nowhere is the gap between sinister stereotype and ridiculous reality more apparent than in Afghanistan, where it’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers: one in two manages to kill only himself. In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. According to several sources at the United Nations, as many as six would-be suicide bombers died last July after one such embrace in Paktika.

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Obama can’t bring himself to condemn Jihad

“It depends on what the definition of jihad is”

Pelosi to throw reception to celebrate 'accomplishments'

by Christina Wilkie

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will host a reception Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill to celebrate "The accomplishments of the 111th Congress," according to an invitation sent out Monday.

The event will offer congressional Democrats, many of whom will not be returning to Congress next January, an opportunity to reflect on the party's legislative victories over the past two years. These have included the passage of major healthcare reform, financial regulatory reform, and climate and energy legislation.

Not likely to be lost on attendees, however, is that the unpopularity of many of these "accomplishments" among voters went far to contribute to a wave of Democratic losses in last week's mid-term elections, in which Democrats lost control of the House and their majority in the Senate was weakened.

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Scientific American readers don’t find global warming scientific

Numbers may seem odd because voters were not limited to only one choice

Communists make it clear that they support the Democrats

by Houston Communist Party

As election results roll in and the Republican party notches up a great victory for reaction, many people will probably ask, “How did this happen here?” How could an electorate fired up for progressive change just two years ago fall flat on its face? What did the Democratic Party do to lose the overwhelming support it received in the last election cycle?

Many will say that it is because fantastic amounts of money were unleashed to support the hysterical theatrics of the ultra-right as embodied in the Tea Party movement. This is, of course, correct…

However, there were some other factors that made it easier for the right wing to do their dirty work…Anti-communism has been unleashed once again through the voice of hysterical pundits and this has served to confuse the working people of this country. Anyone who falls to the left of Karl Rove on the political spectrum has been branded a “socialist” and many people fall for this since they don’t have a clue about what socialism really means. Socialists have failed to meet this challenge and have made little effort to clarify what socialism actually means.

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