On This Date, President Obama's Pastor Delivers Sermon Justifying September 11 Attacks on USA

There's been a school of thought out there for awhile that President Obama is some sort of clandestine Muslim based on some of his foreign policy statnces as well as his background. I refuse to believe that for a number of reasons- for starters, I actually believe that there are a number of patriotic Muslims in the USA who love this country and have valued the rights and opportunities afforded them and in some cases even served it honorably in some capacity [the Persians who fled Iran during the rise of the Ayatollahs had a firsthand glimpse of what a totalitarian regime based on Islamic supremacy looks like, for instance- NANESB!].

Also, I think the truth is much more sinister that the 'Obama is a seekrit Muslim' claims that have been circulating. Obama is not a secret Muslim, but rather he was simply paying attention to the bigoted, anti-Semitic, homophobic hate-preacher Jerimiah Wright all this time. Paying attention and possibly taking his words to heart.

But you might be asking- Fenway, you bigoted right-wing neocon dupe, this was all settled in the 2008 campaign during the primaries. Why are you bringing it up right now? This came to my attention because of the date of one of the racist preacher's sermons at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.



The nation just recently observed the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed nearly 3000 Americans. This sermon, which at times approvingly repeats statements from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda justifying 9/11 and previous attacks, took place at Obama's Trinity Church on September 16th, 2001; not even five whole days after the single deadliest attack against the United States. Now it goes without saying that this is a free country and that this ebony Fred Phelps is entitled to his opinion, but lets provide a little bit of context- for those of you who were bitching in 2008 about how the sermon was 'taken out of context'.



On September 16, 2001, first responders from the NYPD and FDNY along with other agencies were breathing in God-knows-what and still sifting through tons of still-burning rubble to try and recover remains of Americans who were crushed and incinerated when the towers collapsed. Instead of any sincere condolences or prayers to those who were brutally murdered, Obama's pastor laments that there isn't enough introspection over his version of American history and foreign policy [which seems to have significant overlap with Al Qaeda's- NANESB!].

This begs the question of whether or not then state Senator Barack Obama was in attendance at Wright's church that weekend. It would not be out of character for Obama to appear at the church only occasionally and ahead of an election to try and lobby the parishioners for his vote.

Moreover, if Obama found the content of Wright's sermons so objectionable [apparently the 'God Damn America!' sermon came at a later date- NANESB!], why did he only choose to distance himself from the man and his words some 7 ½ years later during a contentious Presidential primary challenge with New York Senator Hillary Clinton? Maybe it's just me, but if I were one of Wright's parishioners, I don't think it would take me several years to repudiate him or his anti-American sermons. In fact, I'm sure there are other houses of worship in Chicago- if I was truly disagreed with what Wright had to say, I'm sure I could've made my way to another church.

And ten years later, there really seems to be nothing to disprove that Obama hadn't taken the race-hustling Wright's sermons to heart, only distancing himself from the preacher and his words when it was politically expedient. And now that he won the Presidency, all things Jerimiah Wright-related seemed to have gone away aside from the occasional embarrassing flare-ups in the early going.

On April 4, 2011, President Obama announced the start of his 2012 re-election campaign. I was never convinced he deserved a first term, but since he's seeking four more years in the Oval Office, I think this issue needs to be revisited just in case the first 2 ½ years of America under the Obama Administration wasn't enough to convince you.

Trade Deadline Sports Chowdah Update- Sox To Be You, Sox on Sox Action in Chicago's South Side; Lets Get Bedarded

RED SOX: This weekend saw the Red Sox head off to Chicago's South Side for a quickie 3-game road trip against the Pale Hose. Friday night saw the series get off on the wrong foot for Boston, with Gavin Floyd outlasting Tim Wakefield in Friday night's 3-1 win. ChiSox catcher AJ Pierzynski's 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th proved to be the game winner while BoSox 2B Dustin Pedroia's hit streak came to an end at 25 games.

On Saturday, the Red Sox finally broke a scoreless deadlock in the top of the 4th with an Saltalamacchia RBI double, RBI sac flies from Pedroia and Marco Scutaro and an RBI single from Youkilis to make it a 4-0 game. That really would be all they needed, although they got another RBI from Scutaro in the top of the 8th before breaking it open with a 5-run 9th inning. Jon Lester would go 8 complete innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits (two solo homers- one from Paul Konerko and the other from Gordon Beckham) while striking out 8 and walking two for Saturday's 10-2 win.

That set up a rubber game for Sunday with Andrew Miller getting the start against Mark Buehrle against Boston's Andrew Miller. Miller would last 5 and two thirds innings, but would leave trailing 3-2 before Boston rallied thanks to a 2-RBI single from Dustin Pedroia after Buehrle left in the top of the 7th to put the Sox up 4-3. The Red Sox would then get some insurance thanks to a 1-out Adrian Gonzalez RBI single to make it a 5-3 game. Papelbon was able to come in from the pen and strike out all three batters he faced to preserve the Red Sox 5-3 win and Alfredo Aceves gets credited with the victory pitching in relief. Boston takes two out of three in the South Side and manages to maintain a 2-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East standings (not to mention the best record in the AL).

The Red Sox will next head home to take on the Cleveland Indians for a Monday night game that will be televised on ESPN. John Lackey (9-8; 6.20 ERA) will get the start against Josh Tomlin (11-5; 4.01 ERA). First pitch is at 7:10 PM.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Red Sox have acquired starting pitcher Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners in a 3-team trade at the Sunday deadline. For Bedard, the Mariners get minor league outfielder Trayvon Robinson from the Dodgers and Taiwanese outfielder Chih Hsien Chang from Boston while the Red Sox send righties Stephen Fife and Juan Rodriguez along with catcher Tim Federowicz to LA.

The trade took place less than a day after a tenative deal with the Oakland A's for starter Rich Harden fell apart after closer scrutiny of his medical records by the Red Sox led to doubts about his ability to complete the season.

Bedard (4-7; 3.45 ERA with Seattle this season) didn't even last 2 innings in Friday night's 8-0 Mariner's loss to Tampa at SafeCo field on Friday night. It was his first start in nearly a month after spending time on the DL.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Although Boston may not get to see him this week, the Tribe made some waves in the AL Central with their acquisition of starter Ubaldo Jimenez (6-9; 4.46 ERA)from Colorado shortly after acquiring outfielder Kosuke Fukudome from the Chicago Cubs.

The Astros dealt most of their outfielders to the NL East, sending Hunter Pence to Philly and Michael Bourne to Atlanta.

The Cardinals acquired SS Rafael Furcal from the Dodgers while the Diamondbacks obtained Jason Marquis (8-5; 3.95 ERA) from the Nationals.

Curiously, the Yankees did hardly anything before the deadline- a time in which the organization is usually looking to make a move. Reportedly their scouts were present in Seattle when Bedard had his meltdown.

Blue State Graft Watch: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Guilty on 17 of 20 Corruption Charges in Second Trial

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts of corruption at the Federal Courthouse in Chicago Monday afternoon.

This was the former governor's second trial. In 2010, Blagojevich was found not guilty on 23 of 24 charges faced, with the jury finding that the former Land of Lincoln governor guilty of lying to the FBI.

CHICAGO—A federal jury on Monday found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty of 17 counts of corruption, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

The jury found Mr. Blagojevich not guilty on one of 20 corruption counts in his second trial and deadlocked on two other counts. The verdicts came more than two years after Mr. Blagojevich, 54 years old, was arrested by federal agents.

The verdict was a victory for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who initiated "Operation Board Games" just a few months after Mr. Blagojevich took office. In the hours after the then-governor's arrest, Mr. Fitzgerald said he had "interrupted a political corruption crime spree" and that Mr. Blagojevich had "put a for-sale sign on the naming of a United States Senator."

Mr. Blagojevich is the second consecutive Illinois governor to be convicted of corruption. Gov. George Ryan is currently serving a 6½-year sentence.

Unlike his first trial, in which the former Chicago congressman escaped conviction on 20 of 21 counts, Mr. Blagojevich testified for seven days at his second trial. He said his intent was to use the seat as leverage to pass legislation that would have benefited the residents of Illinois.

Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to fill President Obama's then vacant senate seat in late 2008- an appointment that came after federal investigators recorded a call between the two where Burris was offering to raise funds for the governor in exchange for the Senate seat.

Scam Within a Scam- Hackers Hit EU Carbon Credit Exchange, Steal €30 Million in Carbon Credits

Trading on the European Union Carbon Exchange was halted after hackers made off with an estimated €30 million in carbon emission allowances from five European countries in late January.

The Czech Registry for Emissions Trading was one of the worst affected by the hack, losing 7 million euros worth of the pollution permits, known as EU Allowances (EUAs).

Some 2 million EUAs were stolen by hackers from Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Estonia and Poland within a few days. Each credit allows the bearer one ton of emissions and is worth 14 euros.

EU authorities say they suspect a phishing scam enabled hackers to log into unsuspecting companies' carbon credit accounts and transfer the allowances to themselves, allowing them to be sold on.

The credits are normally traded between companies that have a shortage of or excess emissions allowances for their current operations, and involve instant payment, meaning hackers can create accounts and then delete them as soon as they are paid.

Investigators in Greece have traced the thefts to at least 8 internet protocol addresses in Romania. Registry officials in Estonia and Germany say they have located some 610,000 allowances stolen from the Czech registry, but the theft not only highlights a lack of security on the international exchanges, but also raises concerns that credits purchased in good faith on the open market could turn out to be stolen from the registries.

Some of the markets reopened with limited activity on Feb 3rd after giving "reasonable reassurances that the minimum security requirements are in place".

It is not the first time the ETS has suffered a security breach. The system was hit by a phishing scam last year that saw 13 European markets shut down, while a cross-border fraud scam in 2008 and 2009 netted criminals 5 million euros, according to Agence France-Presse.

I could go on about how such 'cap and trade' or climate or carbon Exchanges are pretty much worse than useless, but they do a bang up job of explaining that all by themselves- however unintentionally. Hell, Chicago's much-ballyhooed Climate Exchange shut down at the end of 2010.

Leaving aside the fact that such a system would arbitrarily place limits on output from manufacturing, transportation, utilities and energy exploration, how exactly would these trading mechanisms be enforced? It would require a massive bureaucracy and even more red tape- think along the lines of 0bamacare's 1099 mandate, only for air instead of healthcare.

All while obstructing further exploration and drilling for oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, coal in West Virginia or natural gas in the Marcellus shale. This in turn has already driven up energy costs and will only further America's dependence on energy imported from unstable or belligerent nations.

And if anybody think the above problems will magically go away thanks to some sort arbitrary imposition of cap and trade of carbon exchange scheme, I have a bridge in Brooklyn couple of EU carbon credits to sell you.

More Borderline Psychosis- Another Mass Jailbreak; Border Patrol Agent Killed; La Familia Michoacan Leader Dead? Not the Drone you're Looking For

TAMAULIPAS: At least 159 inmates in a Nuevo Laredo prison walked out of a service entrance overnight on Thursday in what's being described as the largest jailbreak in Mexico in recent years. Earlier this year, 85 inmates escaped from a prison in Reynosa, Tamaulipas- across the Rio Grande from McAllen, TX. This brings the total number of prison escapees this year to more than 200 just for the state of Tamaulipas.

One police official said that there are indications of complicity on the part of the prison guards and the chief warden for the facility is reportedly missing as well.

Federal police and soldiers were brought in to patrol the area and search for the escapees.

AP Photo- Gustavo Ruiz

MICHOACAN: Nazario 'El Mas Loco' Moreno, the head of the cultlike la familia Michoacan cartel, was reportedly killed in a clash with Mexican Marines and Federal police last week.

Police and military stormed into the town of Apatzingan, near the state capital of Morelia, where Moreno was believed to be hiding. In the ensuing firefight, Moreno and three other La Familia gunmen were killed along with five officers and three civilians. A spokesman for the Federal Police said that the death toll could be higher since some fleeing La Familia gunmen were seen taking their dead and wounded with them.

In response to the raid, La Familia gunmen blocked most of the exits around Morelia with stolen vehicles that were then torched (see above photo).

Although relatively new, La Familia Michoacan is unlike most other criminal organizations in that they have been known to recruit from drug rehabilitation centers throughout Mexico, portrays themselves as Robin Hood-esque defenders of the downtrodden and keeps their members in line with quasi religous indoctrination. This fervor does not prevent them from carrying out brutal murders or torturing opponents, but rather it classifies such activities as 'divine justice'. However, like other cartels, La Familia has been known to engage in human trafficking, extortion and mass production of synthetic drugs like methamphetimines.

NUEVO LEON: A car bomb exploded outside a minicipal police station in suburban Monterrey.
Authorities say that three people were hurt and there was some damage done to the police building and nearby vehicles. This is the second car bombing south of the border this year and is believed to be a warning from one of the cartels.

TEXAS: A Mexican drone crashed into the backyard of an El Paso, TX residence on Tuesday, raising questions about what it was doing in US airspace or which government agency controlled it.

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security returned the downed craft to Mexican officials before the National Transportation Safety Board could inspect it. Depending on the point of impact, the UAV was anywhere from ⅓ to ½ a mile within US airspace when it went down.

ARIZONA: US Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits in a mountainous area Northwest of Nogales, AZ on Wednesday. Terry was part of a 'BorTac' unit, shorthand for 'Border Tactical'- the Border Patrol's equivalent of a SWAT team charged with interdiction of smugglers and cross-border bandits.

Four suspects were taken into custody at the scene while a manhunt was underway for a fifth. FBI Agents and Santa Cruz County sherriff's deputies were combing the scene for further evidence after the shootout took place.

A Marine Corps veteran and born and raised in Michigan, Agent Terry's fuenral will be held in Detroit.

CHICAGO: The DEA announced the arrests of 7 people and the seizure of 11 tons of marijuana that was smuggled into the USA in six boxcars from Mexico.

Drug sniffing dogs from the Border Patrol first detected the contraband when it crossed the border from Piedras Negras, Coahuila to Eagle Pass, TX in mid-November. From there, it moved to Chicago over Union Pacific rails.

According to the manifest, the shipment consisted of titanium pigments from Jalisco, and the pot was indeed concealed inside industrial 'super sacks'. Law enforcement kept the Chicagoland warehouse listed as the destination under survaillence before making any arrests and seizing the marijuana.

[hat tip- Weasel Zippers, Friends of Ours]

Pre Holiday Sports Chowdah- Peyton's Misplaced; Recchi-ng Ball Hits NHL Milestone; BC, UConn Can Go Bowling; C's Oversee Net Losses

NFL: Wow....I've been meaning to get caught up on this for awhile now.

So...did any of you see that Colts/Pats game on Sunday? And with less than a minute to go in the 4th, Peyton Manning was all 'I think I'll put us in position for the game tying field goal or even get a game winning TD' and James Sanders was like all 'Nuh-uh!' and 'Yoink!' when he intercepted Manning's 1st and 10 pass attempt at the Pats 6 yard line?

Yeah- that was pretty awesome.

You know what else was awesome? When Danny Woodhead scrambled for that 36 yard TD run to make it a 28-14 New England lead towards the end of the third quarter. Seriously, thank you Jets for giving up on the diminutive RB and cutting him loose at the start of the season.

Anywhoo, granted that this is old news, but I thought worth re-visiting by virtue of the outcome. The Pats led by as much as 21-7 until the closing seconds of the first half and 31-14 early in the 4th quarter. However, New England would watch its once sizable lead evaporate when Peyton Manning put together two TD drives, each clocking in at about two and a half minutes and working on what could very well have been a 3rd touchdown drive were it not for Pat's safety James Sanders timely interception at the New England 6 yard line.

Seriously- even tho' Manning almost managed to dig himself the early hole with those two earlier interceptions, did anybody think that the Colts would jusr roll over like spayed cocker spaniel? Me neither...

New England hangs on to win by the final of 31-28- not pretty or the strongest of finishes, but certainly effective. Brady went 19-25 with 186 passing yards and two TDs. Danny Woodhead had 7 carries for 69 yards and the TD while Brandon Merriweather, Devin McCourty, and of course James Sanders, each had interceptions on the day.

The Pats will travel next to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Tigers on Thanksgiving Day at 12:30 PM ET, 9:30 AM Pacific

Joel Auerbach/Getty

Coming off of a brief 2-game skid in which they lost in overtime at home to the LA Kings over the weekend and were downed by the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Monday night, the Boston Bruins would continue their swing through the sunshine state in the hopes of halting their losing streak- or at least having Mark Recchi score his 1500th career point- while visiting the Florida Panthers Wednesday night.

Hmm...How about both?

After falling behind 1-0 late in the 2nd, the Bruins responded by scoring a shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand only 8 seconds into the third period to tie the game up at 1-1. Just under 3 minutes later, Recchi got the go ahead tally on an even strength goal as well as an insurance goal that came on a Bruins power play with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Bruins win by the final of 3-1. Tim Thomas now has an 11-1-1 record after stopping 31 shots faced and Mark Recchi now becomes the 13th player to reach the 1500 point mark.

The Bruins will next take on the Carolina Hurricanes at noon Eastern on Friday, Nov. 26.

NCAA FOOTBALL: After dropping five straight, including four against ACC opponent, who would'vc thought the Boston College Eagles would be bowl-eligible?

But that's exactly what happened after BC's 17-13 win over Virginia on Saturday, although with one game remaining against Syracuse this season, it begs the question of whether or not BC will even get an invite.

Speaking of Syracuse, that's exactly who the UConn Huskies had as their opponent at an away game inside the Carrier Dome on Saturday night. With the 23-6 win, Connecticut is now bowl-eligilbe as well, with a 6-4 record. The Huskies will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at home on noon Saturday before closing out regular season play on the road against the South Florida Bulls the following weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Two different ballparks were put to use in the offseason by the NCAA as football venues. Wrigley Field hosted it's first football game in nearly 40 years when the Wrigleyville Classic between Northwestern and Illinois. Less than 36 hours before kickoff, Big 10 officials announced that due to the tight confines of the East end zone up against a brick wall, plays would only be run towards the west end zone (Wrigley's 3rd base dugout). The only time there was any action in the West End zone was when Northwestern safety Brian Peters returned an interception 59 yards to the forbidden end zone in Northwestern's 27-48 loss to Illinois.

Halfway across the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat down the US Army Black Knights in the Bronx in a game that was primarily noteworthy for being the first NCAA football game in the new Yankee stadium. The 27-3 win for the Irish means that they are now bowl-eligible after garnering a 6-5 record while Army came into Yankee stadiun already bowl-eligible after their 45-28 win over Kent State on Nov. 13.

NBA: After losing two fairly close games to a Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors, The C's won back-to-back games starting with a 99-76 blowout of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Wednesday's mathchup against the Nets was how well Shaq was playing (9-10 with 25 points and 7 of 13 from the free throw line) after losing Rajon Rondo to a hamstring injury while losing Delonte West to a broken right wrist in the 89-83 win over New Jersey.

The C's next game will be at home against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night

Illinois Inmates Get Ballots Hand-Deliverd; 35 Counties Failed to Send Off Military Ballots in Time

Good to know they've got their priorities straight in Chicagoland.

In an election year where both unelected incumbent and Blago replacement Pat Quinn and failed Broadway Bank head loan officer turned Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias are facing uphill battles in their respective races

the Chicago Board of Elections hand-delivers ballots to inmates in Cook County Jail. The board doesn't even wait for the inmates to apply — it brings the applications with the ballots! More than 2,600 inmates have cast ballots — strikingly similar to the 2,600 soldiers who will likely not receive a ballot for Tuesday's election.

In New York, the case was being made that the state should obtain a waiver from the 2009 MOVE Act due to the fact that the primaries (September 14) were fairly close to the actual election day (Nov. 2nd).

Illinois on the other hand had their primaries all the way back on Feb 2nd. You'd think that even the slowest and most inept of bureaucracies could send off the required ballots and forms in 9 months.

Heading into election day, blogger RoboMonkey has amassed an even more detailed list of suspect and in some cases, blatant fraud and bogus registrations at early voting throughout the country in his Grand Theft Democracy series.

Mail Bomb Sweep Halts Air Frieght Shipments From Yemen

Reports are circulating that authorities in the Arabian peninsula were tipped off to last week's parcel/airfreight bomb plot by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Al Qaeda member who wanted safe passage home from Yemen.

Both explosive devices, one discovered in Dubai and the other in the UK, were concealed in printer cartridges and contained the plastic explosive PETN- the same materiel the Christmas Day 'underwear bomber' attempted to unsuccessfully detonate on board a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit late last year. The devices were wired to cell phones, timers and power supplies and were likely powerful enough to bring down the airliners carrying them and were in boxes addressed to Chicago, IL-area synagogues. It was unclear if the bombs were supposed to be detonated on board the aircraft or when they arrived on their destination.

Authorities in Yemen detained and released a 22 year old college student suspected of mailing the bombs when they concluded her identity was used by another individual on invoices recovered at the San'a Fed Ex office. They are also looking into two language schools in San'a that the suspected masterminds might have been associated with.

An official with Qatar Airways said that at least one of the explovisve-laden parcels arrived from the Yemeni capital to the airline's Doha, Qatar hub on a passenger flight before it was discovered in the United Arab Emirates.



Investigators in the UAE are also trying to trace the serial numbers on the phone and printer cartridges. The airflight plot was discovered nearly two months after the crash of a UPS cargo plane on approach to Dubai International Airport that killed the plane's two crew members. Officials from the UAE's General Civil Authority concluded that a fire in the cargo hold filled the cockpit with smoke that likely caused the September crash, although they don't belive it was a bomb that downed the cargo plane. The ill-fated UPS flight was carrying a large quantity of Lithium batteries, which may not have started the fire, but could explode if the fire had spread to them.

Meanwhile, Canada, the UK and Germany have halted airfrieght shipments from Yemen.

Explosives Bound for USA Discovered on Cargo Flights

Suspicious parcels discovered in airfreight shipments by authorities in the UK and United Arab Emirates prompted a terror alert in which UPS planes were grounded in Newark and Philadelphia.

Federal investigators were inspecting the contents of the grounded planes at Newark's Liberty airport and Philadelphia International based on concerns over a terrorist threat originating from Yemen.

The Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is suspected, and investigators are looking into whether the packages were part of a dry run for a future mail-bomb plot. A UAE official told the Associated Press late Friday that an "explosive device" in Dubai was found in a courier company's regional hub.

FedEx reported earlier that a suspicious package was found at its Dubai facility.

Another package, found on a UPS plane at East Midlands Airport in central England, contained what looked like a toner cartridge with white powder and wires coming out of it.

The Thursday night discoveries prompted U.S. authorities on Friday to sweep a UPS plane in Newark, N.J., two UPS planes in Philadelphia and two UPS trucks in New York City.

The planes in Philadelphia are still being investigated. The Newark flight and New York trucks have been cleared [snip].

Given the origin of the packages, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "is at the top of the list" of suspects, a U.S. official told Fox News.

"Since two of the suspicious packages that were intercepted were addressed to religious institutions in Chicago, all churches, synagogues and mosques in the Chicago area should be vigilant for any unsolicited or unexpected packages, especially those originating from overseas locations," Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.

Federal law enforcement officials said the suspicious device that resembled a toner cartridge was removed from the a flight in a distribution center at East Midlands Airport in the U.K.

A crew member aboard a UPS plane arriving to Philadelphia from Paris later notified authorities on approach about a suspicious package. The crew member described a possible radiological component to the package, the incident report said. The two occupants safely exited the aircraft after landing in a remote area of the airport.

A second UPS plane was isolated near the UPS terminal at the Philadelphia airport before take off, the report said.

A third UPS plane, which arrived at Newark Liberty Airport from East Midlands in the U.K., was investigated, but UPS says it was cleared and proceeded on to Louisville, KY.

Two UPS trucks in Brooklyn and Queens, N.Y., were also investigated and cleared, officials said.

Law enforcement officials also are investigating a suspicious packages in Portland, Maine. No word on whether that package has any links to UPS or Yemen.

"As an additional safety measure, FedEx embargoed all shipments originating from Yemen," Maury Lane, spokesman for FedEx told Reuters.