HEROES

Face of Defense: Engineer Sees Hospital as ‘Once in Lifetime’ Project

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2008 – The Basra Children’s Hospital project can get its hooks into people. Take Army Lt. Col. Kenneth McDonald, for example.

McDonald extended his tour in Iraq to two years from one to help bring the project to a successful conclusion.“Where else, as an engineer, would you want to be?” asked McDonald, who taught in the civil and mechanical engineering department at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., before coming to Iraq in 2006.
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“My first day after arriving in Tallil and then driving to Basra, we were hit,” he recalled, adding that he wondered what he’d gotten himself into. The city has more than its share of indirect fire attacks, with more than 1,000 mortar rounds landing on Contingency Operating Base Basra over the summer.
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The motto at Camp Blackadder, “Living the Dream,” captures the spirit of a team proud of its mission and aware of its circumstances. The slogan can be uttered on occasion with that particular wryness to be found in a combat zone. Some British soldiers in Basra have adopted the slogan, which adorned their shirts at a recent five-kilometer race.

Before extending his tour, McDonald said, he did a lot of soul searching. He concluded with respect to the hospital job that “something as significant as this comes only once a lifetime.”

[ in·dom·i·ta·ble ]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48811

Iraqi Citizens, Security Forces Spark Phantom Phoenix Success

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2008 – Operation Phantom Phoenix is succeeding in cracking down on Iraq's enemies, largely because of the Iraqi security forces’ professionalism and the cooperation of the Iraqi people, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad today.

“One of the reasons progress has been made and continues to be made in Iraq is the increasing courage of the Iraqi people as they place themselves in harm’s way to disrupt the terrorist networks and improve security conditions,”

During 2003 and 2004, Iraqis fought behind the multinational forces. In 2006, they worked side by side with the coalition. “Now,” he said, “we are fighting in front of them, and we are taking the leadership in conducting operations.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48814

As we land punches in Iraq, Dems just hit the canvas

'War is just like boxing," said Gen. George Patton. "When you get your opponent on the ropes, you must keep punching the hell out of him and not let him recover."

Today in Iraq, the enemy is on the ropes. Soldiers and Marines have reduced northern Al Qaeda safe havens to rubble. Contractors are delivering tons of supplies and securing our diplomats. One-time insurgent strongholds are returning to peace.

One would expect aspiring political leaders not only to laud our troops for their great work - but also to admit that a total pullout on a predetermined schedule might be just a tad premature.

Instead, the 2008 candidates for President on the Democratic side stubbornly deny the possible troop victory that's finally in our sights in a grotesque swap for political victory.

They're basically rooting for our defeat over there - which has me rooting, harder than ever, for their defeat here.

Consider...

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/01/28/2008-01-28_as_we_land_punches_in_iraq_dems_just_hit.html

Sharia wealth tax in Nigerian state

Muslims are supposed to give some of their wealth to charity in order to purify it, according to Islamic custom. But now the Bauchi State government has passed a law that forces the rich to give this tax, called Zakat, to the government.
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Now the Sharia Commission has started drawing up a list of individuals they believe should be paying Zakat. They have sent out letters to more than 3,000 people warning if they don't pay the tax to the government this year they could be arrested and jailed for three months, fined, or given 20 lashes.

"We have a good number of rich people in the state but right now we can say they are not responding," says Bala Ahmed, spokesman for the state Sharia Commission. "Now we have the law we can ask them to give it by force."

['ask them to give by force' - don't we have a political party that subscribes to that idea too?]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7213386.stm

Drilling a Hole in the Lifeboat

What would you do if your foreign policy agenda had these priorities:

1. Get Arab and European support for solving the Iraq crisis.
2. Mobilize Arab and European forces against a threat led by Iran and its allies, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah.
3. Get Iran to stop its campaign to get nuclear weapons.
4. Reestablish American credibility toward friends and deterrence toward enemies.
5. Reduce the level of Israel-Palestinian conflict.

That pretty much describes the U.S. framework for dealing with the Middle East nowadays. And yet, nobody is saying: 'We are so grateful at the United States becoming more active on Arab-Israeli issues that we are going to back its policy on other issues.'

On the contrary,...

http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3829&cid=1&sid=27

EU: Net Identities Protected from Civil Suits, For Now

[courtesy LH]
-- Promusicae wanted names of Telefonica Internet clients who shared copyright material on the Web using the Kazaa file exchange software, so it could start civil proceedings against them. Civil proceedings are cheaper than criminal proceedings, and typically require a lower burden of proof.

"Such protection cannot, however, affect the requirements of the protection of personal data. The directives on the protection of personal data also allow the member states to provide for exceptions to the obligation to guarantee the confidentiality of traffic data,"

EU rules do not preclude the possibility of EU countries laying down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings, it said. "However, it does not compel the member states to lay down such an obligation," the court said.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6228185.html?tag=nl.e550

Journalist: 'I Am an Intellectual Blasphemer' for Questioning Global Warming

Not everyone on the media left is marching in lockstep on the issue, however. One such dissident is Alexander Cockburn, a former columnist for the Nation who has experienced nothing but hatred from the "tolerant" left for thinking for himself:

"Since I started writing essays challenging the global warming consensus, and seeking to put forward critical alternative arguments, I have felt almost witch-hunted. There has been an hysterical reaction. One individual, who was once on the board of the Sierra Club, has suggested I should be criminally prosecuted."

He also hits on another important point that many in the business-hating media always overlook when it comes to the temperature debate: This movement is being bought and paid for by the world's largest corporations: [>]
--
Across the globe, this pattern of deception continues as rich, large companies have figured out that environmental regulation is a great way for not only getting great publicity but also to shut out the competition.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_printable/4357/

[Meanwhile...]

Obama back drivers licenses for illegals

Washington -- Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/28/MNH1UL57Q.DTL

Truth outs at the NYT - the economy great under Bush

This is what Sheryl Stolberg writes today in the New York Times on page A1 in White House Memo:

Mr. Bush has spent years presiding over an economic climate that would be the envy of most presidents. Yet much to the consternation of his political advisors, he has had trouble getting credit for it...

The great economic performance under Bush [is] all the more remarkable for the fact that this president faced an extraordinarily difficult set of circumstances: an inherited recession, terrorists attacks and record high oil prices. And yet with solid growth, low unemployment and low non-oil inflation, the American economy is not in recession, despite what some would have you believe.

It is just too bad that ‘the newspaper of record' has been working for all these years so hard to conceal this fact.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/01/truth_outs_at_the_nyt_the_econ.html

NYT's Tale of Two Withdrawals: Respecting Edwards, But Giuliani 'Living an Illusion'

The presidential field has winnowed down further, with Democrat John Edwards and Republican Rudy Giuliani announcing their withdrawal from the presidential race on the same day. But while the Democrat was serenaded as a trailblazer, the moderate Republican was mocked for "living an illusion."

"Indeed, Mr. Edwards was poised to collect enough delegates in early nominating contests to potentially influence the outcome at the Democratic nominating convention in August, if neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama won enough delegates to clinch the nomination."

Wednesday's lead "news analysis," "Dizzying Fall For Ex-Mayor," by the tag team of Michael Powell and Michael Cooper, dispensed with anything positive about Giulani's efforts;

"As Mr. Giuliani ponders his political mortality, many advisers and political observers point to the hubris and strategic miscalculations that plagued his campaign. -- the more that Republican voters saw of him, the less they wanted to vote for him. Perhaps he was living an illusion all along."

[no bias here, move along...]

http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2008/20080130134248.aspx

California's Exodus...

California
Once again, California registered the biggest net loss of domestic population in the country – 263,035 more people moved OUT of California last year than moved IN. That comes on the heels of 2005-2006, when 287,000 more people moved out of California than moved in – a bigger total loss of domestic population than Louisiana suffered after Hurricane Katrina. According to the Census Bureau, California has suffered a net loss of more than a half-million people to other states in the last two years.
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The Laffer Competitiveness Index annually ranks states for tax and regulatory competitiveness. The higher the number, the heavier the burdens. California ranks 44th among the 50 states in the Laffer Competitiveness Index. Of the six states losing population the fastest, New York ranks 49th, Rhode Island 48th, New Jersey 43rd, and Hawaii, 45th. The only anomaly was Michigan (16th) whose economy is reeling from the slowdown in automobile sales.
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Does anyone see a pattern here? Once again, the states with high tax and regulatory burdens are losing population to the states with low tax and regulatory burdens...

[who's leaving demographically? well, those who pay high taxes and consume the least in government services...]

http://www.carepublic.com/blog.html?blog_id=212&frompage=latestblog&domain=tom_mcclintock

Sacked for sheep sex prank

Two British oil workers have been sacked after simulating sex with sheep due to be slaughtered for a Muslim festival. The animals were being killed for 30 foreign workers to celebrate Eid Al Adhha in the Algerian oil town Hassi Messaoud. The men, who have not been named, were reported by stunned restaurant workers and guards — then sacked by their employer, US industrial giant Schlumberger. They were accused of ''sheep violation''.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article639408.ece

Al Qaeda Can Run, But Can’t Hide in Northern Iraq, General Says

The tables have turned for al Qaeda in northern Iraq, as a surge of operations there in the new year has put terrorists on the run looking for new places to hide, a commander in the region said today.

“A year ago, we were often reacting to al Qaeda and what they were going to do,” Hertling said. “Now, I think the tables have turned, and they are attempting to react to where we’re going to go next. And that’s a critical difference.”

About 15,000 local people have signed up as concerned local citizens under a program that allows them to assist with the security effort.

“As things begin to develop and we get more and more into the ‘hold’ and the eventual ‘build’ stage, coalition forces will begin to leave,” the general said. “As the Iraqi police stand up more and more capability, the Iraqi army will begin to leave and the police will be left, along with local citizens, in securing the inside of town.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48730

Iraqi adviser cannot understand why we discuss leaving Iraq

[snip] -- whom I'll call by his tribal name, al-Dulaimi -- helped me navigate the thickets of local culture and politics when I served in Iraq during the first year of the war. -- Dulaimi told me that he'd watched the Democratic presidential debates while waiting for his flight out west.

"They all talked about leaving Iraq," he said of the candidates. "They're just saying that to get votes, aren't they? They would never do that, would they?"

His plaintive question gave me pause. Of course, Dulaimi wouldn't understand American politics, or the way some Americans would view this war. After all, he had known American soldiers who were selfless and dedicated. The Americans he knew, the ones he had risked his life (and the lives of his family members) to support, would never "cut and run."
--
When I turned to answer Dulaimi's question about the heart of America, I didn't duck the obvious. Yes, we could pull out of Iraq. As bizarre as it sounds to anyone who has given a piece of themselves to this effort, retreat is possible. However, it is unnecessary.
--
I wait to hear a presidential candidate address what is really needed to succeed in Iraq. As Dulaimi has so quickly learned, we are all waiting for our leaders to address the obstacles to the road ahead.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Nate+Slate%3a+My+Iraqi+adviser+cannot+understand+why+we+discuss+leaving+Iraq&articleId=20745474-7322-4072-92e3-683b2062fb7b

The Terror Scare?

Influential voices are peddling a dangerous fallacy: that the threat of terror is overblown, another example of scare tactics, like the supposedly nonexistent Communist threat in the 1940s and 1950s. Surprisingly level-headed people are hearing this siren call, at once so attractive and so dangerous.
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Among many obvious fallacies here one is paramount: the number of victims is only one metric for judging terrorist activity, and possibly the least telling. The number of victims is the factor most open to reduction. A country can't control the number of terrorists, it can't control the number of attacks, it can't control the number of attempts. But it can keep the terrorists, attacks, and attempts from being successful, which is precisely what U.S. antiterrorist policy has concentrated on since 9/11, and to all indications, quite successfully.
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Our campaign against Al-Queda and its offshoots has been extraordinarily successful. There have been no further attacks despite repeated attempts (another element ignored) But the next successful strike may well come from a completely different direction, from groups now considered harmless, or irrelevant, or that perhaps don't even yet exist...

[and above all else: the convergence of suicidal (non-deterable) martyrs and portable WMD. Long-ish, important, recommended > http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/the_terror_scare.html ]

Sweden, Norway drop out of UN's Darfur mission

Sweden and Norway have dropped plans to send about 400 troops to the UN peacekeeping force in Darfur because of opposition from Sudan's government, a Swedish Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. The two Scandinavian countries had planned to send a joint engineering unit to the peacekeeping force in the troubled region, but the Swedish and Norwegian foreign ministers said in a joint statement that ''Sudan's opposition makes it impossible to maintain the offer of a Norwegian-Swedish contribution."

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/01/09/darfur-peacekeeping.html

Will Venezuela Be Judenrein

On December 1, 2007, two dozen heavily armed police staged a raid on a Jewish community center in Caracas where hundreds were celebrating a wedding. The police, the Venezuelan equivalent of the FBI, claimed to be seeking weapons and evidence of "subversive activity." They found no weapons

This bit of harassment theater was only the latest in a series of worrying moves by the Chavez government against its Jewish citizens. The same community center had been raided in 2004, in the morning hours when children were being bussed to school. The regime -- which boasts of cozy friendships with Ahmadinejad's Iran -- has also engaged in steady anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. A little more than a year ago, Chavez declared in a Christmas Eve speech that "the world has wealth for all, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ, have taken over all the wealth of the world."

[our neighbor]

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MonaCharen/2008/01/25/will_venezuela_be_judenrein

US Was 'Set Up' to 'Take the Flak' for China, India at Bali Conference

The media loved the melodramatic moment at the Bali global warming conference where a delegate gained YouTube and environmental infamy as the man who pushed America to break the deadlock in Bali when he told the US to “lead” or “get out of the way”on the issue of curbing greenhouse gases.
But what happened was not that simple, Mr. Conrad said recently, in his first in-depth interview since the close of the talks. The American delegation, in a way, was “set up” by other countries to take the blame, he said.

“There was a certain feeling that maybe the U.S. could be the fall guy for this whole thing, that if G-77 couldn’t resolve its own issues, if it just held the line on a position they already knew the U.S. rejected, that the U.S. would be the one that stepped up and had to take the flak for collapsing the whole thing,”

It's easier to blame the United States for all of the world's problems. That way no one else has to take responsibility, and it perpetuates the Evil America storyline.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lynn-davidson/2008/01/22/us-was-set-take-flak-china-india-bali-conference

'Patients to lose weight before NHS treatment'

Patients could be required to lose weight before they can be treated on the National Health Service, Gordon Brown has suggested. In a New Year message to NHS staff, the Prime Minister indicates people may have to fulfil new "responsibilities" in order to establish their entitlement to care. The new conditions could be set out in a formal NHS "constitution", Mr Brown says. (Snip) Despite the NHS commitment to provide free universal care, it is already common for doctors to set conditions on patients seeking treatment.

[the inevitable evolution of government run health'care']

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EL3VVI3Y3LYOFQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nhealth201.xml

Obama supports driver's licenses for illegals

Washington -- Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. It's a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It's also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/28/MNH1UL57Q.DTL

Recession Skeptics – The Side Unheard in the Media

Recession stories have a lot in common with global warming stories - there are a lot of them and you hear only one side. And like global warming, recession is the subject of a Newsweek cover story, appearing on the front of the magazine's February 4 issue. The story, "The U.S. Economy Faces the Guillotine," written by Daniel Gross, takes a one-sided gloomy approach to reporting on the U.S. economy. It worked on the assumption a recession is inevitable and may have even already started.

"The Great Global Market Freak-Out of 2008 has everyone asking whether the United States - already on the road to recession - is entering into a protracted period of economic trouble where jobs will be slashed, prices will continue to rise and the dollar will keep falling; and if so, whether the declining U.S. economy will pull the rest of the world down with it,"

What Gross completely ignored it the possibility the economy will be fine and stave off a recession. There are prominent economists* who don't believe that the United States is "on the road to recession," - but good luck reading their opinions in Newsweek.

[*Brian Wesbury, an economist for First Trust Advisors, L.P., in the January 28 Wall Street Journal. , for one]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/01/29/recession-skeptics-side-unheard-media

Grading Teachers: Kids' Test Scores Must Count

If you want good teachers in the schools, the first step is obvious: Figure out who they are. And not by relying solely on water-cooler chat and subjective judgments but by also looking at rock-hard data on teacher performance. Such common-sense thinking has led Chancellor Joel Klein & Co. to undertake a pilot project to measure and track teachers' results - based on their students' test scores. (Snip) Imagine teachers treated like other professionals - having their performance monitored and quantified, as is routinely done in other fields...

[a 'pilot' program. better late then never I guess]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01282008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/grading_teachers_560403.htm

Bush to push for trade deals

The White House is planning a major campaign to persuade a reluctant Congress to approve free trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama this year, a senior Commerce Department official said on Wednesday. But the Bush administration is unlikely to accept legislation hiking duties on Chinese imports as a tradeoff for those pacts, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Chris Padilla said in an interview.

[Q: when they 'hike duties' on imported goods, who pays for that?]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International__Business/Bush_plans_relentless_push_for_trade_deals/articleshow/2688393.cms

AFP: Same Story, Two Different Towns

Two Ohio towns. Identical story. That's what the AFP presented to us on Sunday and then again yesterday. On Sunday,
we read this:

The streets are empty. Trash rustles down the road past rusted barbecues, abandoned furniture, sagging homes and gardens turned to weed.

This is Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland and a town ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States.

Faded "for sale" signs sit in front of deserted houses. The residents are gone, either in search of new jobs after the factories shut down, or in shame after being evicted for missing their mortgage payments.

A red, white and blue American flag flies over windows and doors which have been boarded up to keep the drug dealers away.

Monday,
we read this:

The streets are empty. Trash rustles down the road past rusted barbecues, abandoned furniture, sagging homes and gardens turned to weed.

This is Mount Pleasant, a neighborhood in southeastern Cleveland ravaged by the subprime mortgage crisis roiling the United States.

Faded "for sale" signs sit in front of deserted houses. The residents are gone, most after being evicted for missing their mortgage payments.

A red, white and blue American flag flies over windows and doors which have been boarded up to keep the drug dealers away.

Keep comparing the two. The wording is verbatim in both yarns.

http://colossus.mu.nu/

Ad Watch: Term limits change tied to effective disaster response

California
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A new campaign advertisement cites emergency response to last year's devastating Southern California wildfires as a reason to alter lawmakers' terms by approving Proposition 93.
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ANALYSIS: The ad implies that legislators played a key role in responding to the fatal infernos, but the Assembly and Senate were not in regular session at the time. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued numerous emergency orders to assist victims while firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames, but the governor's actions did not require, or receive, a vote by the Legislature.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/657810.html

Face of Defense: IED Fails to Deter Chief Warrant Officer

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 28, 2008 – Army Chief Warrant Officer Sammy Rodriguez has a job that isn’t exciting until things go wrong. On a routine mission Jan. 23 to deliver supplies to the Korengal Outpost here, one of the vehicles in the convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device.

Damaged vehicles left behind can be used in enemy propaganda to proclaim a victory over U.S. forces. Every effort is made to make sure the enemy does not have this opportunity.

“Chief Rodriguez knows his stuff,” said Army Capt. John Thyng, Company F commander for the 2-503rd. “When I talked before about the need to make sure we recover absolutely everything to prevent the bad guys from getting hold of it, he really took that to heart.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48781

Petraeus: Upcoming Troop Reduction Plans ‘On Track’

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the scheduled withdrawal will reduce the number of troops at the height of the surge by one quarter, or roughly 42,500. Further reductions after July will be based on the state of Iraq’s security, he added.

“The guidance that (Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates) in fact has given me -- and the president and my chain of command, what all of them have said -- is that reductions after July should be conditions-based,”

Their focus, he said, will be on removing forces expeditiously, but without undercutting progress made during the troop surge that launched this time last year. Petraeus today noted that half of Iraq’s 18 provinces currently are under provincial control.

[i.e., we are already withdrawing from Iraq - as success allows]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48777

Twofer...

Terrorist Attacks in Europe Thwarted at last moment
It is a sad fact in our media driven culture that a story about a group of Islamic extremists who were rounded up last week and discovered to be on the verge of carrying out several terrorist attacks receives little or no coverage but that if they had been successful, their names and deeds would be on everyone's lips.

Successes like these should be big stories:

[but that might remind folks of the looming threat many would convince us is overblown to begin with, or maybe serve as an example that appeasement doesn't work...]

Spanish appeasement backfires
A new al Qaeda plot set in Spain was recently disrupted, as reported by Reuters. The attack was set to occur shortly before a general election, much like the previous horrendous attack carried out in 2004. That attack led to a new government in Spain that immediately cut support for coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This plot is yet further evidence that to accede to the demands of terrorists is not the way to prevent future attacks. There is only one way, by discrediting the ideology that drives young Muslim men to carry out these attacks. And in the Arab culture, a true culture of "might makes right", to discredit terrorist ideology means to defeat them on the battlefield.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/01/spanish_appeasement_backfires.html

Egypt turns back 3 000 Gazans

Cairo - Egyptian authorities have turned back around 3 000 Palestinians trying to reach Cairo and other cities after crossing into Sinai from Gaza following a border breach, a security source said on Monday. (Snip) Egyptian media reported on Monday that authorities had raided hotels and rented apartments in Cairo and other large cities in search of Palestinians who may have slipped past security.

[and the world outcry condemning Egypt for its mistreatment of Palestinians?]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2260166,00.html

There'll be consequences - Iran

Tehran - Iran warned on Monday of ''serious consequences'' if the UN Security Council adopts fresh sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work. ''If a resolution is passed... it will have serious and logical consequences and we will announce them later,'' Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Mottaki (Snip) Despite a four-year probe into Tehran's atomic drive, the IAEA has so far been unable to determine whether the programme is peaceful.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2259761,00.html

North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo

Seoul - North Korea marked the anniversary on Wednesday of one of its rare Cold War victories over the United States by saying a U.S. spy ship it seized 40 years ago served as a lesson to show it can repel an invasion. (Snip) ''(The Pueblo) is historical evidence proving before the whole world the victory of the DPRK (North Korea) in the confrontation with the U.S.

[brilliant tactical move - why don't they something about our mothers]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012300498.html

Michigan announces "Safe Routes to School" recipients

January 28, 2008 - - The Granholm administration today announced that nine Michigan elementary and middle schools will receive more than $1.6 million in federal "Safe Routes to School" funding for safety improvements and education programs that will encourage students to travel safely between home and school.

"We want to protect the health and safety of our Michigan children," said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. "This program offers our children encouragement and opportunities [?] to walk or bike to school. These schools are to be commended for pursuing these grants to improve safety and encourage healthy lifestyles."

State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle said that MDOT's role as the administering agency for the federally legislated program creates opportunities for collaboration with agencies and partners not traditionally involved with transportation funding.

Today's announcement was the first wave of Safe Routes to School funding; three additional rounds of grants will be announced this spring, next winter, and in the spring of 2009.

[it's got nothing to do with student safety - despite the ad-nauseam references - it's another money grab by a public agency hiding behind our children to do so...> http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192--184423--,00.html ]

[Yes I know I'm breaking a rule - but c'mon; priceless]

Face of Defense: Paratrooper Learns the Ropes in Baghdad

As the newest member of 2nd Platoon, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, Canamore, 19, is in a tough position. After basic training and airborne school, Canamore figured he’d have time to train with his new unit before he deployed. Instead, he received orders sending him straight to Iraq.

Seemingly overnight, he found himself at a combat outpost in Baghdad, eating field rations with the battle-hardened veterans of Company B. As a SAW gunner, he goes out three or four times a day on patrols, where the learning curve has been steep.

“It’s a lot of pressure, because you really want to do well and make a good impression,” said Canamore, a Pekin, Ill., native. “Every time I make a mistake, I make a mental check and try to improve that,” he said.

That’s the way it has always been, said Staff Sgt. William Weinburgh, of Wrentham, Mass., a squad leader with 2nd Platoon. While drill sergeants teach raw recruits the basics, it’s up to the team leaders and squad leaders at their assigned units to push new soldiers like Canamore to the next level, Weinburgh said.

“New guys are going to be a reflection of you,” he said. “Either you set them up for success or you set them up for failure.”

In a combat environment, it becomes even more important to make sure new troops know their jobs, Weinburgh said. “There’s no safety net out here,” he said. Still, he’s learning new things every day, and someday, he said, he’ll be in a position to pass that knowledge on.

[there's more, all impressive in its humble and humbling way...]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48729

Egypt Jittery Over Israeli Gaza Proposal

It was not clear if the proposal for Israel to relinquish all control over Gaza, expressed privately by several Israeli officials and publicly by one, was serious or just an effort to test international reaction to the idea. But Egyptian officials were fuming.

"This is a wrong assumption, the current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons,"

Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry, said of Israeli hints that it was thinking of giving up administration of Gaza now that the Palestinian territory's southern border with Egypt is open.

"The border will eventually go back to normal."

[And there it is. Why should any Arab nation do anything to help their Arab brethren? Better to leave things as they are so Palestinian self-destruction can forever be spun as Israeli maleficence - even when Israel is explicitly trying to remove itself. Only the media could spin this situation so far from reality.]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/international/i105612S15.DTL

Bolton: Israel May Have to Strike Iran Soon

"Certainly in Teheran you can bet that they took careful notice of what the Israeli Defense Force did. Penetrating Russian supplied radars very similar to the air defenses that Teheran has; using techniques that could be very useful for a long range strike against Iran; this is the kind of operation that the Iranians need to continue to worry about. Because I think with the collapse of American policy, the Israeli strike against the Syrian / North Korea facility is the harbinger of what may be – absent regime change in Teheran – the last resort… Unless you are prepared to see Iran proceed unmolested toward a nuclear weapons capability, which this NIE has given them free rein to do in my judgment*, you are coming very close to a decision point in this country of whether you will use military force to stop Iran."**

[* = thanks to the willful misinterpretation of the NIE 'report'
** = as always, perceived weakness invites aggression]

http://www.freerepublic.com/%5Ehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125007

Mullen Says Colombia Making Progress Against Narcoterrorists

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2008 – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is a terrorist organization and should remain so, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a Pentagon news conference today.

Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, who recently returned from a trip to Colombia, said he is concerned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s comments that the FARC, as the group is known, is a legitimate guerilla movement and that the nations of the world should stop treating the group as a terrorist organization.

The FARC is a narcoterrorist group that has killed thousands in Colombia and uses kidnapping and the drug trade as a way to fund itself. The group is still holding three American contractors captured in 2003.

(Video) http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48762

Here & There...

[there:]

NHS patients told to treat themselves

Millions of people with arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves as part of a Government plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget. Instead of going to hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out "self care" as the Department of Health (DoH) tries to meet Treasury targets to curb spending...
[the inevitable state of government run health'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=X1PRMN4XJXPRHQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/02/nhs102.xml

[here:]
ABC Does Three Consecutive Nights of Socialized Medicine

"Critical condition" in medical terminology means a patient has a high risk of death that could occur within the next 24 hours. So when you see "Critical Condition: Rx For America," sounds like something is in really bad shape, right?

No, it was just a promotional three-night series on ABC "World News with Charles Gibson" that ran from December 10-12 about health care. By the third night, Charles Gibson was even calling one example of socialized medicine a "system that works."
[what bias?]
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2007/12/13/abc-does-three-consecutive-nights-socialized-medicine

Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age

According to the scientist, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has risen more than 4% in the past decade, but global warming has practically stopped. It confirms the theory of "solar" impact on changes in the Earth's climate, because the amount of solar energy reaching the planet has drastically decreased during the same period, the scientist said.

"However, the thermal inertia of the world's oceans and seas will delay a 'deep cooling' of the planet, and the new Ice Age will begin sometime during 2055-2060, probably lasting for several decades," Abdusamatov said. Therefore, the Earth must brace itself for a growing ice cap, rather than rising waters in global oceans caused by ice melting.

[5 year window - isn't he good. Point: who the hell knows - let's not spend TRILLIONS and throw all our liberties out the window to boot]

http://en.rian.ru/science/20080122/97519953.html

DHS rejects demands for further meetings about border fence

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have rejected demands from leaders along the border with Mexico for a face-to-face meeting, signaling the government’s continuing resolve to build a border security fence.

“We appreciate your support for securing our borders and welcome any additional input from local communities in Texas that will not require delays to the timeline for installation of the border fence,”

Homeland Security is in the process of building approximately 670 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to combat illegal immigration.

http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/border_18077___article.html/security_homeland.html

Hypochondriasis Economicus

Hypochondriasis Economicus

... Likewise, an economic hypochondriac is someone who obsesses about the "health of the economy" and who is prone to viewing the natural and inevitable fluctuations of the marketplace as a sign of impending recession, or worse. Today millions of Americans -- including the President, the Federal Reserve Board, and most members of the mainstream media -- appear to be in the grip of a full-blown hypochondriac attack over the economy. Why? Because for the past few weeks Wall Street traders have been selling stocks in anticipation of what they believe is a looming recession.

Are we in a recession now? No. A "recession" means two or more consecutive quarters of declining real gross domestic product. Far from being in a recession, through the third quarter of 2007, the United States has enjoyed 24 consecutive quarters of GDP growth. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January 2008 that unemployment was at 5.0 percent, which is low by any measure, and that real average weekly earnings were higher in December 2007 than in December 2006.

The economy, overall, is doing quite well. Despite what the media tells us about gasoline prices or the housing market or job layoffs among Fortune 500 companies, the economy is not in ‘crisis." There certainly is no rational, objective reason for Americans to be as concerned about the economy as they have become over the past few weeks.

[We've problems; an expensive war on terror, a housing sector problem, and above all else an energy policy crisis whereby an absolute refusal to develop additional energy sources has increased the cost of everything else in our economy. I.e., Economy? It's energy, stupid. {You think it a coincident that the ~150B$ 'stimulus' package just happens to match the calculated 'energy shock' impact of oil price increases?} So let's stop burning our food {corn} and start developing our own, vast, oil reserves.]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/hypochondriasis_economicus.html

Denial of Legacy Campaign Planned

A liberal advocacy group plans to spend $8.5 million in a drive to make sure President Bush's public approval doesn't improve as his days in the White House come to an end. Americans United for Change plans to undertake a yearlong campaign, spending the bulk of the money on advertising. In selling the plan to fundraisers, the group has argued that support for President Reagan was at a low of 42 percent in 1987 but climbed to 63 percent before he left office.

The group has conducted polls and focus groups and gave a Power Point presentation to representatives of about 30 liberal and labor organizations last week. It plans to announce the campaign at a press conference Thursday afternoon during a forum featuring liberal critics of the administration. It also aims to air its first ad in advance of Bush's State of the Union speech on Monday.

[What if we left Bush's public approval ratings up to the public? What does it say of these yahoos that they don't trust that would have the 'correct' result? Why isn't the media liberally applying (yeah, intended) the term 'mean spirited' to this painfully obvious hate group?]

//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/24/ap/politics/main3747207.shtml

Ad Watch: Term limits change tied to effective disaster response

California

A new campaign advertisement cites emergency response to last year's devastating Southern California wildfires as a reason to alter lawmakers' terms by approving Proposition 93. The following is a text of the ad, and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau: [snip]

ANALYSIS: The ad implies that legislators played a key role in responding to the fatal infernos, but the Assembly and Senate were not in session at the time. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued numerous emergency orders to assist victims while firefighters struggled to extinguish the flames, but the governor's actions did not require, or receive, a vote by the Legislature.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/657810.html

$5 Million Reward Given to Tipster Who Fingered Moussaoui

Today a Minnesota flight instructor is being rewarded by the U.S. government for his vigilance in the form of $5 million. In August 2001, the instructor knew something was suspicious about Zacarias Moussaoui the day he met him, so he urged his bosses to alert the FBI. Moussaoui was taking private flight classes and was soon arrested on immigration charges. He later pleaded guilty to having a role in the 9/11 attacks and is the only person to face trial in the U.S. for the attack.

[a good idea]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4184403&page=1

Programmed for love

If you're younger than 35, you'll probably live long enough to put David Levy's prediction to the test. Levy says that by 2050 we'll be creating robots so lifelike, so imbued with human-seeming intelligence and emotions, as to be nearly indistinguishable from real people. And we'll have sex with these robots. Some of us will even marry them. And it will all be good.

[yeah, because they'll of off switches! {was that out loud?}]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/5414105.html

Engineers Overcome Challenges to Build Electricity Substation

TALLIL, Iraq, Jan. 22, 2008 – Of the nearly 3,800 projects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division has completed across Iraq in four years, one stands out because of the special challenges it posed.
[snip]
About 80 percent of the labor for the Amarah project came from the area, with more than 500 workers a day on site during the peak construction period, which lasted more than a year.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48722

Is the war in Iraq becoming winnable?

Last February I was in Fallujah at the start of the surge, and when I asked soldiers if they thought we were winning the war they almost universally rolled their eyes, and gave me some version of "Yea, right" for being dumb enough to even be asking the question. [snip]

Ten months later I toured the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad with Col. Patrick Storm, the hospital commander, and he shared some amazing statistics with me. [>] [snip]

Now when I talk to soldiers there is definitely a new sense of optimism that was non-existent just 10 months ago. Nobody thinks the war will be over soon, but most people are coming to believe that it's winnable.

One of the most striking signs of progress to me is the number of Iraqis that wave at our helicopters as we fly over.

http://www.minnpost.com/iraq/

'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'

Islamic courts meet every week in the UK to rule on divorces and financial disputes. Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones report on demands by senior Muslims that sharia be given legal authority.
<>
It is one of dozens of sharia courts - also known as councils - that have been set up in mosques, Islamic centers and even schools across Britain. The number of British Muslims using the courts is increasing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/01/21/noindex/nsharia_120.xml

The War of Ideas Should Be Engaged

At Rumsfeld's first post-Pentagon public comments at a conference today on network centric warfare sponsored by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement, he said that the United States is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of this new government agency.

"Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in. It gets up in the morning and says they're going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell... The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today.

We need someone in the United States, some entity, that would take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that exist today. There are multiple channels for information . . . The Internet is there, pods are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas."

In Rumsfeld's view, the free press can co-exist with government sponsored/produced/paid news. "It doesn't mean we have to infringe on the role of the free press, they can go do what they do, and that's fine," says Rumsfeld. "Well, it's not fine, but it's what it is, let's put it that way."

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/rummy-want-pro.html

Human rights court slams France

Strasbourg - A French lesbian was discriminated against when authorities refused to allow her to adopt a child, Europe's [?] human right court ruled on Tuesday. The European Court of Human Rights said the refusal by regional authorities, upheld by two French courts, to authorize the adoption request breached the woman's rights because it appeared motivated by her sexual orientation. It granted her €24 500 in damages and court expenses.

["regional authorities"; French judges in France. And so the consumption of sovereignties continues in Europa ]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2256422,00.html

Market turmoil sign of influence shifting to China

The current turmoil on world markets indicates a "significant shift of power and influence" from the US to emerging economic giants such as China and India, international financier George Soros said Wednesday....

"I'm not looking for a worldwide recession. I'm looking for a significant shift of power and influence away from the US in particular and a shift in favour of the developing world, particularly China,"

Soros said. Soros, who made 1 billion US dollars betting on the devaluation of the British pound in 1992.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/previousdetail.php?id=125401

Move over US -- China to be new driver of world's economy and innovation

Technology indicators A new study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world’s economy – a position the U.S. has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals [*].

The study’s indicators predict that China will soon pass the United States in the critical ability to develop basic science and technology, turn those developments into products and services – and then market them to the world.

[*We will not be 'equals'. We can no longer afford to tax and regulate our industry in isolation - it will lead to oblivion in the global economy. First step: changing to a consumption tax vs. taxing our industry TWICE for all exports, when all other developed countries pay ZERO (are refunded by their governments)]

www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/giot-mou012408.php

Cost of health initiative up $400m

Spending on the state's landmark health insurance initiative would rise by more than $400 million next year, representing one of the largest increases in the $28.2 billion state budget the governor proposed yesterday. State and federal taxpayers are expected to bear nearly all of the additional cost.

[now who could have seen that coming - and the years after?]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/24/cost_of_health_initiative_up_400m/

New Mexico Considering Video Game Tax

A tax called 'No Child Left Inside' has been backed by New Mexico's Sierra Club, an environmental and outdoor preservation group. The proposed one-percent sales tax on video games and televisions is aimed at funding outdoor classroom initiatives and encouraging New Mexico's increasingly obese and diabetic youth to get off the couch and explore the great outdoors.

[we're turning the government into our parents - worse still: your children's parents]

http://www.switched.com/2008/01/23/new-mexico-considering-video-game-tax/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

NOAA: Climate Change Actually Decreases Hurricanes

The study by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Miami Lab and the University of Miami postulated that global warming may actually decrease the number of hurricanes that strike the United States. Warming waters may increase vertical wind speed, or wind shear, cutting into a hurricane's strength. The study focused on observations rather than computer models, which often form the backbone of global warming studies, and on the records of hurricanes over the past century, researchers.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/14131656.html

Environmental Terrorism and the Price of Oil

Here we have the humiliating spectacle of a president of the United States begging an Arab potentate to increase our supply of oil while Democrats, who bear the major responsibility for the problem, scoff at him as a mendicant groveling at the feet of a foreign monarch. (Snip)

Make no mistake about it, you are paying exorbitant prices at the gas pump solely because the environmental terrorists and their Democrat allies in Congress have all but shut down our domestic oil production...

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24527

Symposium: The Immigration Solution

In this special edition of Frontpage Symposium, we have invited a distinguished panel to discuss the myth and reality of immigration. Today our three guests are the co-authors of the new book, The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan Than Today's: Heather MacDonald, a John M. Olin fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor to City Journal.

[longish, but recommended for its statistics > http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=294A76DD-607D-4FCC-9DAD-375297E8A522 ]

And now, an era of irrational pessimism [aka: goo-goo economics]

THE most important number concerning the U.S. economy is also the least discussed one in this week's panic over the U.S. economy - 4.9 percent. That is the current rate of growth in the economy as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That is the growth for the third quarter 2007.

Far from being in a recession, as defined by two consecutive quarters in which gross domestic product contracts, the American economy is growing.

Preliminary results for the fourth quarter will not be released for another week. I seriously doubt the growth continued at that rate. But my bet is that the economy grew in the months of October, November and December 2007. Retail sales in December were up.

The politicians in Washington are saying that we have to avoid a slowdown in the economy. That is absurd. A $14 trillion economy does not need 4.9 percent annual growth to succeed. As long as growth outpaces inflation, no one in Washington should care. And even if it does not, Washington should mind its own business. It has done enough damage already.

But the view from Washington is that the American people are all a bunch of children who need to be protected and baby-fed rebates and the like in order to survive.

It is goo-goo economics.

The media does not help. With the war going well in Iraq, news people are looking for bad news. And bad economic news is easy to find. There is always someone who "cannot" pay his bills. Someone is always losing his job. Someone's business always fails. But the science of economics deals with macro numbers, and those are being ignored. Why?

http://dailymail.com/Opinion/DonSurber/200801240035

Pope attacks media for 'distorted morals' (praises Internet)

Pope Benedict XVI today said the media were too often used irresponsibly to spread "violence and vulgarity" and impose "distorted models" of social and family life. He urged the world's communicators instead to adopt what he called "info-ethics". In a message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Communications Day, Pope Benedict said the media often sought to create reality rather than report it, with agendas dictated by "the dominant interests" of the day. "This is what happens when communication is used for ideological purposes...

[ouch. ethics lecture from the head of the Catholic church - what's that say...]

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3245753.ece

'I decided to die like a man', says tycoon who took on 'armed gang who threatened to kill his daughter'

A millionaire yesterday told how he fought off three armed burglars who were holding a knife to his daughter's throat, saying he "would rather die like a man than a dog". Bernard Dwyer, 51, was convinced he and his family were about to be killed so he chose to take on the men - hours after they had allegedly killed a restaurant owner, a court heard.

[Recommended - one of those 'wow' stories > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509962&in_page_id=1770 ]

Times defends hiring conservative Kristol

The New York Times’ hiring of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol to write for its op-ed page caused a frenzy in the liberal blogosphere Friday night, with threats of canceling subscriptions and claims that the Gray Lady had been hijacked by neo-cons. But Times editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal sees things differently. Rosenthal told Politico shortly after the official announcement Saturday that he fails to understand “this weird fear of opposing views.”

[funny: he's to write one piece a week - thus is the liberal definition of conservative 'hijacking']

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7613.html

Economic Program Builds on Concerned Citizens’ Success

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2008 – The concerned local citizens groups in Iraq have made a huge impact in areas that were once al Qaeda fiefdoms, and the program is expanding to include the economic aspects of the counterinsurgency fight, Army Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. said today during a phone interview from Iraq.
[snip]
The Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force is based on the U.S. version formed in the early 1930’s to put unemployed young men to work during the Great Depression. The Iraqi version will pave roads, conduct neighborhood sanitation and work on other infrastructure improvements.

In addition, the program aims to provide scholarships to concerned local citizens to attend vocational schools. The program provides training and loans for people to start businesses. The program is also beginning in other parts of Iraq.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48717

War? What War?

A pertinent question for 2008 might be: How many 9/11's does it take to wake a sleeping giant and keep him alert at the helm?

More than one, it would seem.

How quickly America has been lulled back to sleep. With a heap of help from our watchful media.

For more than four years, every news outlet in the Country was stirring its anti-American pot and blasting news of the carnage from Iraq 24/7. They were counting the bodies and inflating the count. They were giving more coverage to the paltry numbers of paid anti-war protesters than they were to our military heroes and their families. We heard about the horrors of the Iraq War day in and day out.
[snip]
But suddenly, we are winning the war that was lost, and you could hear a pin drop in the abandoned echo chamber of war coverage. And just as predictably, the 2008 Presidential election, according to our media elites, isn't about the war at all. Now it's about the economy.
[snip]
Take a look at the little Iranian with the messiah complex, who is exploring nuclear "energy." Give a peek at the situation in Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal. Then look over the border to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is gaining again in strength.

And before you vote, ask yourself just one question: If we aren't safe in our homes and workplaces from another catastrophe like 9/11, will the price of your bread really matter?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/war_what_war.html

Seeking Psychological Victory in the War on Terror

In Iraq, as military and security conditions continue to improve, American war politics enters one of its stranger moments in our history. Certainly it is historically odd for war reporting to diminish almost to the point of public invisibility -- just as our troops are starting to gain the upper hand. But we are fighting this war with the journalists we have, not the ones we want.
[snip]
Bin Laden said it best. His people will follow the strong horse. If, after years of stumbling and bumbling, the enduring strength and eventual wisdom of the American people can enter into the belly of the Islamist world, overturn tyrants, empower the Muslim people with peaceable and prosperous ways and intimidate two Islamist nuclear aspirants to renounce their pretensions, we will show ourselves to be the strong horse. Thereby we will hasten the day when the terrorist pretensions will fall on deaf Muslim ears and the threat of Islamist terrorism will begin to recede.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/we_sacrificed_4000_to_vindicat.html

Canada expected to back out of UN racism conference

UNITED NATIONS -- Canada is poised to become the first country to significantly distance itself from a major anti-racism conference the United Nations is planning for next year. Insiders say the government feels the new conference is shaping up to be like the anti-West and anti-Israel free-for-all that critics said the initial gathering quickly turned into.

"At the moment, much of the planning for the conference suggests it will focus little on denouncing racism wherever it occurs, and a lot on advancing some countries' agendas against Israel and the West," said one insider familiar with the new policy. "The government feels that taking a stand against the gathering will do more in the long run for combating racism than joining in."

Arab- and Muslim-led verbal attacks on Israel at the 2001 conference were so dominant the United States and Israel walked out in protest. Canada, then under a Liberal administration, stayed, but its senior delegate told the assembly it did so "only ... to ... decry the attempts ... to de-legitimize the State of Israel and to dishonor the history and suffering of the Jewish people."

The UN gave planning oversight to its Human Rights Council, which since its launch less than two years ago has targeted Israel in 14 of its 15 resolutions charging human rights violations. States sitting on the Council then placed Iran, which has called for Israel's destruction, on an executive planning committee. Libya is the chair.

"Make no mistake, Durban II is on track to be even worse than Durban I," said Anne Bayefsky, a Canadian academic who edits the New York-based monitoring Web site EyeontheUN.org. "Canada, if it drops out, would be exhibiting moral clarity and courage after making the mistake at Durban I of staying despite serious reservations."

Canada was among 41 countries that last month opposed allocating US$6.8-million in UN funding to help pay for preparatory meetings for Durban II. The measure carried in the 192-member General Assembly.

"No one can stop Durban II because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the General Assembly, and they are for it,"

said Ms. Bayefsky.

["because countries that are classified as less than democratic hold a majority in the general assembly" - where they exercise what they don't grant others, to our perpetual detriment. The organization has morphed into a gaming mechanism for despots - which we finance - it needs go (or we from it)]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=256095

RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles

January 22, 2008 RAF scrambled as Russia tests nuclear-capable missiles (RAF/MoD Crown Copyright/PA Wire) A Russian Bear-H bomber Tony Halpin in Moscow RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force today as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles. The fleet of Russian warships, supported by fighter jets and the bombers, engaged in Russia’s biggest naval exercises since the end of the Cold War.

[end? Test launching nuclear-capable missles (and how can observers know they're duds?) off the coast of europe?]

http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3234607.ece

Real ID and Reality

The REAL ID laws were a top a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission after investigators found that the hijackers had obtained 17 driver’s licenses and 13 state-issued identification cards in the process of carrying out terrorist actions. “Terrorists take advantage of the system being blind,” said Janice Kephart, President of 9/11 Security Solutions.

“This is going to make three groups of people unhappy: terrorists, illegal workers, con men and criminals,”

said Stewart A. Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the DHS. The new laws are making others unhappy as well. Because the REAL ID Act does not institute a national identification card, it is left to the states to enforce the new standards. This leaves a large financial burden on state governments.

[i.e., the government blew it again. I used to warn of and rail against a national I.D. Then the world changed, and now we need one. Regrettable, unavoidable, let's grow up and get it done - at the federal level where it belongs (otherwise our security control is only as strong as that of the weakest state)]

http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=2070