The Other Iraq Surge

It's no front-page news that Iraq is a dangerous place. But a capital magnet? The presses have stopped for less. According to the not-quite closed record book for 2007, Iraqi sovereign bonds, the Iraqi currency, and the Iraqi stock market have each logged astounding, not to mention politically provocative, gains...
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=68648&v=9915378911

Local Governance Center Opens South of Baghdad

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Dec. 31, 2007 – The Arab Jabour Governance Center officially opened Dec. 27 with a large ceremony on the grounds of the center. More than 250 people were in attendance.

“This is where people can get problems solved,” Adgie said, adding that this also is a step forward in political progress in Arab Jabour.

Local Iraqis in attendance praised the opening of the center and the overall improved security in Arab Jabour. “Today is a great day for our region and for all of Baghdad,” said Majid Hamad Yasien al Jabouri. “This is a great day for all of the Iraqi people.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48549

Don't Count Your Victories Before They're Won

The war in Iraq is not over or waning. In many ways the false idea that the war is won is far more dangerous than the defeatist ideas of the last year ever were.

Many political commentators have, for the most part, definitively announced that the war in Iraq is over; that the "Surge" has defeated the Islamo-Fascists (IF) in Iraq, and that the War in Iraq will not be an issue in the 2008 elections. This now-popular idea is as short-sighted and foolish as the idea that we were beaten in Iraq was, only a few short months ago...

[It's a long war. The only way to shorten it is to increase our resolve to winning it. If we lose in Iraq, it will only follow us home. ]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/dont_count_your_victories_befo.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

The Conservative Tide in Major Democracies

Recall four years ago, when "all" the leaders of our major democratic friends were hostile to America, to our liberation of Iraq, and in particular to President Bush? Remember how Senator Kerry said that leaders of Europe privately wanted him to win the presidency? That news has ceased to become newsworthy.
Why? Because, like the surge, the sentiment in major democracies has turned as well.
[snip]
In each of four major nations important to us, France, Germany, Canada, and Britain, there remain obstacles for conservatives and pro-Americans. But the condition within these democracies, these nations historically most important to America in both political and cultural connections, has improved - in some cases, dramatically improved - since the last elections in each nation...
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/12/the_conservative_tide_in_major.html

'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

Moments after Investor's Business Daily presaged that "2008 just might be the year the so-called scientific consensus that man is causing the Earth to warm begins to crack," the New York Times of all entities published a rather shocking piece pointing fingers at folks like Nobel Laureate Al Gore for being part of a group of "activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels."

This from the New York Times? Hold on tightly to your seats, folks, for the shocks in this piece came early and often:

Today's interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year's end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record - it was actually lower than any year since 2001 - the BBC confidently proclaimed, "2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend."

When the Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever recorded by satellites, it was big news and heralded as a sign that the whole planet was warming. When the Antarctic sea ice last year reached the highest level ever recorded by satellites, it was pretty much ignored. A large part of Antarctica has been cooling recently, but most coverage of that continent has focused on one small part that has warmed.

When Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, it was supposed to be a harbinger of the stormier world predicted by some climate modelers. When the next two hurricane seasons were fairly calm - by some measures, last season in the Northern Hemisphere was the calmest in three decades - the availability entrepreneurs changed the subject. Droughts in California and Australia became the new harbingers of climate change (never mind that a warmer planet is projected to have more, not less, precipitation over all).

Checking that link to make sure it really goes to a Times piece? I understand - and there's {much} more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/science/01tier.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

[unfortunately, 2007 was initial heralded as the year scientists stood up - but the lengths to which the alarmists would ratchet up what was essentially a counter offensive was frankly underestimated. 'If you tell a lie big enough...'. Personally, I consider the jury still out as to if they'll get away with this; the truth can't 'float to the top' if it's literally withheld from TV, where too many Americans still get their news.]

Oil hits $100 a barrel for the first time

Oil prices rose above the symbolic level of $100 a barrel for the first time on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand. Crude oil futures for February delivery crossed the $100 threshold on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after noon New York time...

[and still the US refuses to develop its own reserves...]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/business/02oil-nyt.php

Pa., N.J. join flood of bills on immigrants

The state Senate wants to make tougher illegal immigration laws a priority when the General Assembly returns to work next month. Their commitment to this legislation comes at a time when a record number of immigration-related bills are moving through state legislatures around the country. This heightened activity is triggered by the failure of the federal government to enforce immigration law.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/immigration_debate/20070830_Pa___N_J__join_flood_of_bills_on_immigrants.html

The candidates and illegal immigration

One of the most important issues in this year's presidential campaign is an issue that most leading contenders have been reluctant to discuss in a serious way: illegal immigration. Following are summaries of the candidates and the issues...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/EDITORIAL/57748580

Poll: Nation tired of Iowa-NH first

All eyes may be on Iowa and New Hampshire, but many of them are rolling. Despite efforts to evict the two states from the front of the presidential calendar, both managed to hang on for another election cycle that culminates with the Iowa caucuses on Thursday and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8. As a year of media attention reaches its crescendo, voters in other states are saying enough is enough...

[it's the 21st century: all candidates state their positions on the issues on the net, we answer a questionnaire with our preferences, and let computers do what they do best - point us toward those with closest answers to further vet. Then we have winnowing cycles whereby the field is cut in half based on votes garnered - repeatedly {maybe a month between} - until there's only two candidates left (regardless of party - and let's make it a six month process, start-to-finish process while we're at it). This assures that the eventually winner will have been elected by the majority of Americans. The NPATs could serve as the model (www.vote-smart.org) and the internet-based election process ready to role within a year (remember, billions of dollars of other people's money is transferred every day - technically an election system would be a cake walk.) OK, let's get it started...]

http://www.kansas.com/wireupdates/story/268961.html

A Recession Shouldn't Be in Your 2008 Forecast

Some analysts were predicting a recession would hit the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter as consumers, hurt by falling house prices and the high cost of gasoline, cut spending. It didn't happen, and there's no reason to think it's going to this year either. Economic growth will be slow in the first half of 2008, and the unemployment rate, which was still a low 4.7 percent in November, is likely to rise. (Snip) On the other hand, economic growth should accelerate in the second half of the year as financial-market conditions and the U.S. trade deficit improve...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_berry&sid=aeV7.rn.uMDM

Media Myth Exposed: 84 Percent of Americans Happy With Lives

If you listen to the negativity in the media , the overwhelming majority of Americans think they're falling behind financially, are despondent about their lives and their futures, and are desperately looking for a change.

Yet, a new poll out from the folks at Gallup confirms people are far happier with themselves and their lives than press members care to report. Here's the first result from Gallup (emphasis added throughout):

According to the Dec. 6-9, 2007, poll, 84% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their personal life at this time, while 14% are dissatisfied. These results have been fairly stable since Gallup first started tracking Americans' personal life satisfaction in 1979. The percentage of Americans who say they are satisfied with their personal life has averaged 82% over this period, with a low of 73% in July 1979 and a high of 88% in December 2004. (It is worth noting that in the same Dec. 6-9 survey only 27% of Americans said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time, providing a vivid contrast between Americans' view of things "out there" across the country and their view of their own personal lives.)

Key question: who provides folks' view of things "out there?"

http://www.gallup.com/poll/103483/Most-Americans-Very-Satisfied-Their-Personal-Lives.aspx

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