A Homeland Security Department intelligence estimate warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country’s first black president to recruit members and incite violence. Aubrey Immelman attends pro-life public lecture by Stephanie Gray of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn.

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U.S. counterterrorism officials have raised concerns that an extremist group called al-Shabab is recruiting young men in Minnesota and elsewhere in the United States. Al-Shabab controls much of Somalia and wants to establish an Islamic state there. The FBI is investigating whether young Somali men are being radicalized in Minnesota and recruited to fight with terror groups in Somalia.

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The Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual hate group report, titled “The Year in Hate.” The study found the number of hate groups has grown by 54 percent since 2000. The SPLC identified 926 hate groups — defined as groups with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people — active in 2008.

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President George W. Bush presided over the weakest eight-year span for the U.S. economy in decades, according to an analysis of key data, with economists across the ideological spectrum increasingly viewing his two terms as a time of little progress on the nation’s thorniest fiscal challenges. Specifically, the number of jobs in the nation increased by about 2 percent during Bush’s tenure, the most tepid growth over any eight-year span since data collection began seven decades ago. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of economic output, grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans’ incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush’s father George H. W. Bush.

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The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security, and increasing Internet savvy — with chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear [CBRN] attacks considered the most dangerous threats — according to a Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.

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On the 11th day of his write-in campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman posted his candidate information from the St. Cloud Times Voter Guide.

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On the 53rd day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on his campaign stops the previous day north of the St. Paul metro in the cities of Wyoming and Forest Lake in Washington County on his way to the final night of the Republican National Convention, where he observed the action outside the convention hall. He also featured information from the St. Paul Pioneer Press voter guide regarding his campaign platform and issue positions.

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On the 22nd day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman received a call from a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps regarding a Spanish-language community forum in Cold Spring, Minn., “to help residents understand their rights and discuss legal and civil rights issues,” followed by a workshop “on immigration and detained immigrants’ rights.” As a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Immelman featured Part 3 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team/34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).

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On the 21st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman posted a candidate profile by St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Dennis Lien, titled “Bachmann encounters challenger from within.” He also posted a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind.

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On the 17th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman criticized Rep. Bachmann for focusing almost exclusively on energy issues in her campaign, while ignoring important national security concerns and illegal immigration issues. … Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the “Long War” against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation’s top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved in June 2008. … The U.S. has wasted more than half a billion dollars in Iraq repairs, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen reports in his quarterly report. … A report by the Center for Immigration Studies says the number of illegal immigrants fell about 11% between August 2007 and May 2008, from 12.5 million to 11.2 million.

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