President Obama says we won't live in fear. Really? Who's he fooling?

• Federal agents are questioning a man after device found in his carry-on bag
• Police in Massachusetts scrambling to track down a Penske truck
• FBI agents working frantically to verify car bomb terrorist threat
• Flight to Baltimore diverted after 'suspicious behaviour' by passenger
• Snipers line roofs at World Trade Centre site, as service gets underway
• Internet shut down in buildings near Ground Zero as safety precaution
• Suspicious object discovered at Dulles airport, 22 miles from Washington DC
• Three people have come to U.S. with 'intent' to carry out plot, say officials

Making Out in Frontier flight restroom causes arrests and fighter jets to shadow plane from Denver to Detroit. Three passengers were hauled off the flight. No arrests were made. [More...]

The Concert for New York City (2001)is replaying now on VH-1,, from 4pm to 10 pm on VH-1. Don't miss it, the performances are great. You can watch online here.

Paul Simon originally planned to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" today. He changed it to "Sounds of Silence."

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

Check out these 1966 and 2009 versions of Simon and Garfunkel singing the song. Truly timeless and beautiful.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

A senior official says the NYC al Qaeda terror threat now appears more like a wild goose chase. The information has not been able to be corroborated and the plot details don't add up.

I don't plan to write about the 9/11 anniversary. It's totally over-hyped, just like the anniversaries of the OKC bombing and every other disaster. Enough already. The media can milk the public without help from me. While I could counter the media coverage with posts about the many injustices in the last decade resulting from our war on terror, which has not made us safer, only less free, instead I'll just post great performances from the concerts relating to 9/11 -- especially those with a current relevant message.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

From the New York Times: Business owners say Obama's jobs plan won't cause them to hire new workers.

That sentiment was echoed across numerous industries by executives in companies big and small on Friday, underscoring the challenge for the Obama administration as it tries to encourage hiring and perk up the moribund economy.

The stock market fell big time yesterday, wiping out all gains for the week. Guess Wall St. wasn't impressed either.[More...]

The trial of accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will begin in October. Next week, potential jurors will begin filling out questionnaires. Abdulmutallab is representing himself, with the assistance of standby counsel Anthony Chambers.

Here's what's happened in the case recently: Abdulmutallab filed motions to suppress his statements made during interrogations at the University of Michigan Hospital and Milan Correctional Center. The Government responded it won't seek to introduce his statements made while detained at Milan. As to the hospital statements, Abdulmutallab argues the statements were not voluntary because he had been administered Fetanyl for pain and that the public safety exception did not apply because the agents asked so many questions that had nothing to do with any emergency: [More...]

Via Atrios, Fred Hiatt proves he is same as he ever was - dumb as a bag of hammers. On the last 10 years, Hiatt's WaPo says "Given the scope of the challenge, the country should give itself some credit for what it has achieved." Really. That's what he wrote.

These are the "elites" that will lead us out of our economic troubles? On the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, we remain well and truly f*cked as a Nation.

Never forget . . . except how the elites have blown up the world.

Speaking for me only

The 9/11 Concert for New York City was one of the best concerts ever. It also raised over $35 million. VH-1 will be replaying it on 9/11 from 4 to 10 pm and streaming it on the internet at the same time.

Here's a great 8 minute performance of "Little Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp, joined by Kid Rock around the 6 minute mark. Also don't miss the incredible violinist, particularly around the 5 minute mark. Really stellar.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The intelligence bulletin sent out today about the NY-Washington terror threat didn't reveal much: A possible car bomb at a bridge or tunnel, related to 9/11.

Listening to CNN on Sirius on the way home from work, here's what I learned from Homeland Security Committee Chair Joe Lieberman: It started with a wiretap involving someone whose information had previously proved reliable. But this tip from the wire, while it involved that person, didn't come from that person's conversation. In other words, it wasn't something he said on a wire, it may have been something someone else said who was picked up on his wire.

But another "source" tells Fox News, it was the reliable source who provided the information. "The person who provided the intelligence is known to the U.S. intelligence community and "has a track record," one source said." So Lieberman says they got it through him and another source says he provided it directly. Which is it? If it's the first, why is it credible? [More...]

Obama will be the proverbial Rolling Stone in 2012 if he keeps on his current path. Seniors will throw him under the bus.

How does it feel?
To be on your own?
With no direction home?
...Like a rolling stone ?

Here's another report finding that raising Medicare's eligibility age won't money or cut health care costs. It will just shift the cost to seniors, states and employers. The full report is here.

Raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67, which the new Joint Select Committee will likely consider this fall as a deficit-reduction measure, would not only fail to constrain health care costs across the economy; it would increase them.

While this proposal would save the federal government money, it would do so by shifting costs to most of the 65- and 66-year-olds who would lose Medicare coverage, to employers that provide health coverage for their retirees, to Medicare beneficiaries, to younger people who buy insurance through the new health insurance exchanges, and to states.

The report is based on the Kaiser Report I've cited previously: [More....]