WASHINGTON — In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.  A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country, according a former top agency official. At the same time, some of the most secretive Special Operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces in counterterrorism tactics, senior military officers said.

In 2009, homegrown American Islamist terror became impossible to ignore. Two fatal attacks on the U.S. military – one killing an Army recruiter, the other a mass murder of soldiers; an intercepted plot considered the biggest domestic threat since 9/11 and a series of conspiracies to blow up synagogues, office buildings and other targets made 2009 the year homegrown American Islamist terror became a clear, serious threat.

Stroudwater didn't pull punches:  "HHSC is in a financially perilous condition. It received a 'Going Concern' finding as part of its 2008 independent audit report, calling the future financial viability of the organization into question. Its liquidity is at dangerously low levels with barely enough current assets to meet current liabilities. It is far behind in its payments to vendors (80+ days). The age of its facilities and other physical assets are well above national averages. Its future viability is at risk, particularly if the State is unable to provide increasing levels of operating subsidies for HHSC going forward."

Syed Jafry of Holland, Mich., a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, emerged from the airport and said he was a passenger on the flight. He said people ran out of their seats to tackle the man.

Jafry was sitting in the 16th row when he heard "a pop and saw some smoke and fire." Then, he said, “a young man behind me jumped on him.”

Jafry said there was a little bit of commotion for about 10 to 15 minutes.

He said the way passengers responded made him proud to be an American.

On Christmas Day, 1776, a small band of colonial forces under the command of Gen. George Washington, having retreated all the way from New York, again crossed the Delaware River and brought battle at Trenton, New Jersey. Washington not only won the battle but regained the initiative and turned the war in the patriots’ favor. One week later, Washington defeated the British at Princeton and forced the enemy to withdraw, preventing its advance on Philadelphia, seat of the Continental Congress.

KELLY WRIGHT: Well, two sources telling Fox News that U.S. intelligence believes a radical Muslim preacher with ties to the suspected Fort Hood shooter is likely dead after an airstrike this morning on Yemen. Yemeni authorities still working to confirm what took place and that Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed along with 29 other militants at a suspected Al Qaeda hideout.

The American-born imam [is] believed to have corresponded with suspected Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, before the mass shooting at Fort Hood back on November 5^th.

Kona Coffee for the Marines of HMLA-367-Scarface -- 'somewhere'  in southern Afghanistan.

This morning just after 7 AM EST, the United States Senate passed, again on a straight party-line vote, President Barack Obama’s health insurance bill. Originally scheduled for a 9 PM vote tonight, the bill’s Senate passage is a welcome Christmas gift for a beleaguered White House. However, as the First Family jets off for Hawaii, the American people, liberals, moderates, and conservatives are all saying this bill is closer to a lump of coal in their stocking than real health care reform.

Without re-opening the HSTA-DoE Master Agreement, teacher planning days cannot be eliminated.  So it would appear that the HSTA and DOE have simply agreed to grab the $50M--or more--and use it to cut out some of the furlough days without any sacrifice on the HSTA's part.  The hostage-takers have gotten together and are presenting a new ransom demand. 

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) wrote in 1994: “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

The first special U.S. House election of 2010 will be held in the 1st District (Honolulu) of the state that claims Barack Obama as a native son. And this is what makes the upcoming contest most interesting: It could well be won by a Republican.

This morning at around 8 AM, the Senate passed, again on a straight party-line vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment to the Senate’s version of Obamacare. This keeps the Senate on pace to pass the bill at 9 PM on Christmas Eve despite the fact that Americans overwhelmingly opposed the legislation. But even after the Senate gives President Barack Obama his $2.5 trillion Christmas present, the bill, assuming it is to be considered in regular order, still must go through a House and Senate conference.

Interviewed by The Hill, December 18 Case says: "I’ve never ruled out the Senate.  If there is that opportunity, I’m not going to sit here at the end of 2009 and say I’m not going to be a candidate.”

This bill will only make every single problem with our health care system worse: higher spending, higher deficits, and worse care. Former-Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean said on Meet the Press yesterday, “[This bill] simply sets us on a track in this country which is expensive and where we’re going to have lots more political fights.” Dean is dead on. President Barack Obama’s signature on this health care bill settles nothing: it is only the beginning of a much larger health care fight.

In a bizarre email message to her supporters December 18, Senate President Colleen Hanabusa (D-Koolina) says there is "real concern" about ... "bankrolling a special election we cannot afford...."  She suggests the other option would be "doing without representation in Congress for a year." 

Cost saving measures totaling $452.3 million for FY 2010 that have already been implemented include reducing specific appropriations, eliminating cash funding of capital improvements, debt restructuring and a comprehensive 13.85 percent restriction on operating budget appropriations.  In addition, because 60 percent of the State budget pays for salaries and benefits of State employees, the Administration instituted payroll savings through furloughs and reductions in force.

However, these steps alone are not sufficient to close the expanding budget gap for FY 2010, which now totals $721 million.

Senator Ben Nelson got an unprecedented deal to force federal taxpayers to pick up 100% of the cost of Nebraska's Medicaid expansion--forever.

(Medicaid expansion in Hawaii?  Here's the cost >>> Obamacare punches $41M hole in Hawaii State Budget.  Looks like Inouye and Akaka don't have the clout that Ben Nelson has.  Too bad they're so liberal.)

A cloture vote limits debate to 30 hours.  The next vote can be held as early as 7am (EST) Tuesday morning (2AM HST).  A third vote would be held thirty hours later at 1PM (EST) Wednesday (8AM HST) followed by the final vote, which requires only a simple majority at roughly 7PM (EST) Christmas Eve (2PM HST).  Each of the two remaining cloture votes requires that all 60 Democrats show up.  If one Democrat misses the vote or changes his vote, the entire bill fails.

“From San Diego to Clear Lake, 57 tribes are cashing in on the annual $7.7 billion California Indian gambling boom, and some are throwing out many of their own members - all, critics say, so those remaining can pocket more cash. In many cases, that amounts to monthly allowances of up to $30,000 per person."

FreedomWorks has learned that it is Reid's intention to bring up the decisive cloture vote for the Left’s proposed government takeover of America’s health care system at 1:00 AM (EST) Monday Morning  (8PM HST).