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www.debbieschlussel.com/
By Debbie Schlussel

While the rest of the world is blindly singing the praises of Peter Jennings, here's a reality check: Peter Jennings did more for the cause of Islamic terrorism than any media figure today. And that's nothing to celebrate, honor, or even memorialize.

Before there was Al Jazeerah, there was Peter Jennings.

From the beginning of Jennings career until his death, Jennings' biased coverage went beyond the pale, bending over backward in "understanding" the terrorists who hate us-- from seeing "their side" when he covered the seige and then murder of innocent Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to honoring an Al-Qaeda operative with a prized "commentator" spot during Jennings coverage of the 9/11 attacks.

Throughout Jennings' coverage of the attacks, he frequently featured a man named Tariq Hamdi (whose commentary urged understanding for the radical Muslim world), identifying Hamdi only as "journalist" on the chyron.

But, in fact, Jennings' friend Hamdi was no journalist at all. As I've written, Hamdi was an alleged Bin Laden Associate and employed by Islamic Jihad's U.S. frontman, Sami Al-Arian.

According to prosecutors and documents in the 1998 trial of the Bin-Laden bombings of U.S. Embassies in Africa (the 7th anniversary of which was yesterday), Hamdi provided Bin Laden a battery instrumental in those bombings. He's also an unindicted co-conspirator with Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian, who employed him at his Islamic "charity" fronts at the University of South Florida. Hamdi was also an employee of a Saudi-funded charity raided by Customs agents for allegedly laundering billions to Qaeda through the Isle of Man.

This is the type of "journalist" and "commentator" Jennings frequently employed in his so-called newscast of which he was an all-controlling editor.

I always say, pillow talk is the most effective form of political speech. And it apparently had its effect on Jennings early on. When developing and heading up ABC's Beirut headquarters, Jennings dated (euphemism) Palestinian "beauty" Hanan Ashrawi. And it colored his vitriolic, anti-American, anti-Israel coverage ever since.

Then there were the sneers, the sneers of a Canadian high school drop-out for anything conservative, anything mainstream, anything pro-Western, pro-Israel, etc. Jennings' sneers and snide comments were always evident for those who did not meet his very left-of-center point of view. A great example was his sneering during the 2000 vote recount, and after, when Bush was declared President. Another was his sneering just after the 9/11 attacks when Bush delivered his speech to a joint session of Congress. Jennings' elitist sneers will NOT be missed.

While I never wish death upon anyone, it's only sad that Jennings despicable brand of advocacy journalism--parading as "news"--wasn't laid to rest along with him.

Unfortunately, that will not happen. Sadly, the female, more personable, non-toupeed version of Jennings--Elizabeth Vargas--is set to step into Jenning's shoes. She got off to a great Jennings-esque start in her first hosting duties at ABC's "20/20," last fall. She delivered a very sympathetic profile and interview of HAMAS operative and fundraiser Cat Stevens. Expect more of this to come.

It's sad when anyone dies of cancer. I won't dance on Jennings' grave, the way he danced on the graves of young, innocent athletes slaughtered at the Munich Olympics--the way he blasphemied their murders with his shallow, understand-the-Islamic-terrorists coverage. Unlike the murdered Munich athletes he dishonored, Jennings died in peace and without pain. He got to say good-bye to his loved ones. They did not.

But I will remember Peter Jennings for the less than honorable person he was--not the emperor with no clothing that is now being memorialized.

Jennings used to end his newscasts with, "And that's a look at our world." No, it wasn't a look at our world at all. It was Peter Jennings' slanted world, and every day he acted as if he was doing us a favor giving us his warped look at it.

No, Peter Jennings, that wasn't our world at all. Jennings' legacy is helping advance the cause of Islamic terrorists on broadcast television, parading it as news. He wrote his own epitaph with it. Unfortunately, it came with a lot more tombstones and epitaphs then just Jennings'--and most of those buried beneath are a whole lot more innocent.

They are the victims of Islamic terrorism--the brand Peter Jennings helped build into a network news product. That cancer,unfortunately, is still here. And it has metasticized.

AND FROM CNN MONEY: ILLEGALS THE BANKS CASH IN $$$$$
(AMERICA FIRST - LLOYDS AND UK BANKS TOMORROW--- )
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The banking industry is opening its doors to a controversial new market: illegal immigrants. Despite heated political debate in Washington over illegal immigration in the United States, an increasing number of banks are seeing an untapped resource for growing their own revenue stream and contend that providing undocumented residents with mortgages will help revitalize local communities. It’s a win-win situation, they say. But skeptics worry about the message these home loans send to illegal immigrants: break our laws and we’ll reward you with a home.

“It’s institutionalizing illegality,” said Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a New York-based think tank. “Now there’s no distinction being made between the people that follow all the rules and those who break our laws by entering the country or overstaying their visas.” Dinerstein also worried that lack of knowledge on the part of illegal immigrants could pave the way for abuse in the form of predatory lending. But advocates of the practice say the benefits outweigh any potential downside. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, one million illegal immigrants cross the U.S. borders every year. About 500,000 illegal immigrants lose that status every year either by getting legitimate green cards or returning to their native countries. That leaves a 500,000 annual net increase of illegal immigrants – a market that has unmet banking needs.

“This is a huge untapped market with people that live and work in this country and are capable of buying homes to realize the American dream,” said Chan Peterson, executive vice president and head of community banking at Banco Popular, one of the earliest banks to enter this field. He added that there’s a common misperception that illegal immigrants will be more likely to default on their loans than a documented resident. But the company has found that there is no higher rate of default in this loan portfolio than any other market the company serves. “There’s a pride that comes with people moving from renting to owning and we’ve found that these borrowers are driven to hang on to their homes,” Peterson said.

Bill Schumer, vice president of product development at Fifth Third Mortgage Co., a unit of Fifth Third Bancorp. (Research), said the company entered the marketplace due to the belief that providing these low-to-moderate income loans will help revitalize communities in the United States, as borrowers buy more run-down properties and rebuild. He added that by introducing this segment of the population to home ownership education, they are also building a foundation to cross-sell their other products. “We’ve been at this program for the last 8 or 9 months and 68 percent of these borrowers have established three or more banking services with us,” he said.

While Schumer wasn’t willing to disclose how many of mortgages the company provides, he said the product has been well received in the marketplace and is already 4 percent above the level the bank had targeted for the year. And it’s growing. That’s not surprising, said Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent, an independent research and consulting firm. Grealish said while the mortgage banking business in the U.S. continues to be red hot, veterans know that it’s a highly cyclical industry that moves with interest rate trends. She said that forward-looking banks are already considering how to grow their business when the pipeline of traditional mortgages begins to dry up. “Illegal immigrants are here to stay and banks are recognizing that,” she said. “If you do a niche market well and know how to price it, banks can have some attractive margins."
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