Mumbai Terror Attack Roundup

There are several foci within Mumbai for this attack. Right now it appears that a number of terrorists (at least 20, [the number of actual attackers was later found to be 10, but with some reports of escapees) with varying numbers reported at some locations) attacked several locations killing more than 100 and wounding upwards of 187. Some of the terrorists appear to have arrived in rubber dinghys from offshore, and there’s a hunt on for the ship that deposited them since they appear to have come from out of country. They were armed with heavy military weapons and protective gear, and have large quantities of RDX explosives. At present two five star hotels, the Trident and the Taj, as well as Chabad House, also labeled Nariman house are hostage situations. The rest of this report is going to be a round up of links:

Nariman/Chabad house reporting:

Carl in Jerusalem

The Yeshiva World News

Israellycool

Military Summary:

The Long War Journal

FNN

LIve News feed from India:

NDTV

At this point my speculation would be groups from the Lashkar-e-taibr constellation like Harkat ul Mujahideen al Islami, Harkat ul Mujahideen, SIMI, and others from the Karachi / Kashmir / India nexus groups. This is a well coordinated, well equipped, and long planned operation. While Indian authorities are pointing at foreigners it’s highly unlikely that some locals are not involved. I would wager that the leaders and weapons came in on the dinghy(s) and joined some local terrorists to carry this out.

FEC Complaint to be Entered on Obama Campaign Donations

While Obamabots like Peter like to salt the comments here crowing about how Barack Obama is supported by “small donors,” some are really large donors breaking up their vary large contributions into chunks and breaking campaign law in the process,

The RNC will be issuing complaint to the Federal Election Commission regarding Barack Obama’s small contributions. While Obamabots like Peter like to salt the comments here crowing about how Barack Obama is supported by “small donors,” some are really large donors breaking up their vary large contributions into chunks and breaking campaign law in the process, as well as some who are foreign contributors. So Barack’s funded in a large part by bundlers, large donors, and foreign donors.

From The Trail:

The RNC is alleging that the Obama campaign was so hungry for donations it “looked the other way” as contributions piled up from suspicious, and possibly even illegal foreign donors.

“We believe that the American people should know first and foremost if foreign money is pouring into a presidential election,” said RNC Chief Counsel Sean Cairncross.

Cairncross alleged there was mounting evidence of this, and cited a report in the current issue of Newsweek magazine that documents a handful of instances where donors made repeated small donations using fake names, such as “Good Will” and “Doodad Pro.”

The Newsweek report says that earlier this year the Obama campaign returned $33,000 to two Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip who had bought T-shirts in bulk from the campaign’s online store — purchases that count as campaign contributions. The brothers had listed their address as “Ga.,” which the campaign took to mean Georgia rather than Gaza.

More at Reuters; Much more at Newsweek

No surprises there right? He did come from one of the most politically corrupt cities in the country, Chicago, where [select one: King, Boss, Mayor] Daley rules. [ I personally like “King” best because the rule seems to pass from father to son by divine right or something. ]

Anyway there’s been a mounting story on this in the blogosphere, we’ve seen Phone banks for Barack in the West Bank, we’ve seen strange donors and other things. One example is donor “Pro Doodad” who seems to have made 786 separate donations of 25 dollars that adds up to 19,500 bucks. That’s a lot of doodads folks. Once caught on that, the campaign started refunding the money, but apparently hasn’t finished.

There’s more to the complaint than that however, as the complaint will reveal, like donor “Khv Khv” listed many times in the spreadsheet. On top of that we’ve got Obama’s friend to wonder about, as his offices were raided by the FBI.

Then there is the ACORN connection:

PREVIOUSLY: Barack Obama, Democrat-Lagos

Update: Note that Drudge Report has articles on this front paged now.

The Debate: Thanos’ read

First McCain did come off the best in this debate. Both candidates scored important points and talked to their base, however throughout the debate McCain talked to the middle as well and managed to score with all of America again and again.

He scored great points with his tough talk on economics and cutting spending while Obama lost points by talking about all new programs and his unwillingness to cut any.

McCain definitely won on energy. While Obama was interested in gotchas and history, McCain put forth a solid plan that will work.

McCain was a tour d’force on foreign policy, and outshone Obama by miles there.

At a couple of points you could see Barack put up his hands like he wanted to call a time out when McCain was using Barack’s own statements to illustrate his points. Yes, america gets it that you said that Barack, and then you changed your stance after a lot of coaching. It was crystal clear in the debate.

Now we all know there were bigger zingers, harder slams, and tougher things that John could have said, but there are reasons he did not. He is carefully courting the Reagan Democrats and we need them to win. If he goes to polar in the initial debate he loses them from the get go.

He couldn’t go to town with Acorn, Dodd, Raines, Frank, Countrywide, and Johnson the way he could have, and he can’t until we get through the crisis d’jour. He didn’t bring up that they burnt Barack in effigy in the streets of Pakistan after his comments on Pakistan, although he could have.

He didn’t drive home the fact that Al Qaeda is “reconstituted” in Pakistan because we kicked their ass in Iraq and they had to flee there.

He didn’t bring up that we really are at the crux of winning three wars in Iraq: the first against Sadaam, the second against Al Qaeda, and the third against the Badr brigades assisted by the Revolutionary Guard of Iran. Few have said that, but it’s the truth.

He didnt’ bring up that the average american farm is Rich in Barack’s book, he didn’t bring up that the average Home run business is rich in Barack’s books. That’s a must do next debate.

Again the real slings and arrows have not yet flown against Barack Obama, they are held in reserve. That’s a good thing.

Also note that McCain is winning in both the Drudge Report and AoL polls immediately following the debates by an almost 70 / 30 split.