Heroes: Sergeant Faces New ‘Normal’ After Injury

“They were waiting for us, (We) had an RPG, a rocket-propelled grenade, hit our Bradley (fighting vehicle). “I lost my right leg, and my lieutenant lost his left leg, Nobody was killed, except the insurgents.”
[snip]
“I threw the cane away and started walking without it,” ...“I guess it’s just the way I was raised, it was just something else for me to learn how to do. I just kind of took it in stride, no pun intended,” he chuckled.

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Whose Side Are They On?

From the beginning of the War on Terror, the mainstream media has been working to bring home the bad news on the war, virtually to the exclusion of any good news. Even if they've had to fabricate it on occasion. Surely this is an exaggeration, isn't it?

Do you remember the "Mai Lai Massacre of the Iraq War?"

It was a Time Magazine cover story in June of 2006. Christopher Matthews interviewed Congressman Jack Murtha (D-PA) on national television, and Murtha said that Marines, "in cold blood", had executed more 20 innocent civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

The media's story has been falling apart ever since.

"No Murder Charges Filed In Haditha Case"
"The Haditha Libels Require Investigation"
"Is the Haditha Story Falling Apart?"
"Time Magazine Massacres the Truth"
"Tim McGirk Re-Invents Haditha Video Source"

Starting in mid 2007 things have been going our way a little more in Iraq. Because of this, the war has largely disappeared from the front pages of the nation's newspapers. In place of disaster stories from Iraq, we find stories about profound problems within the military or we read about our hapless soldiers/veterans caricatured as victims, a favorite theme of the MSM. These stories have covered such topics as the spike-up in suicide rates among our soldiers, to the Army being forced to lower recruitment standards in order to meet manpower goals; from the (by now notorious and utterly discredited) multipart New York Times series on our murderous Iraq War veterans to the Army's inability to retain its captains.

Each of these stories is at best highly misleading. At worst they're utter fabrications. Let's take a look at what passes for "journalism"...

[long, precise, damning - recommended to anyone who thinks the opening statement to be an exaggeration]

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Rocket Attack on Sderot Kills Israeli College Student

Jerusalem - Hamas claimed responsibility for another rocket barrage on southern Israel on Wednesday. At least one person died this time, and that has some Israelis wondering if Israel's response will be stronger than it has been...

[just another day in Israel...]

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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."

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Mullahs in Space

AS the world continues to hem and haw about Iran's "peaceful" nuclear program, Tehran continues, slowly but surely, to present clues as to its likely true intentions. The latest piece in the puzzle? Iran's space program - an effort that could feed its ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear weapon. Indeed, on Feb. 5, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the launch of a ballistic missile described as a "space launch vehicle," or SLV.

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Obesity 'requires climate plan'

Obesity needs to be tackled in the same way as climate change, a top nutritional scientist has said. The chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce wants world leaders to agree a global pact to ensure that everyone is fed healthy food.

[I don't know were to begin. Maybe at the end: these we-know-what's-best-for-you (wether you like it or not) types will never stop their progressive march toward Utopian perfection until stopped by the rest of us. Are we ready yet?]

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Which part of this Scientific paper did Government Advisors Not read?

Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

After a careful study of the claims made by James Hansen in his testimony to the Select Committee of Energy Independence and Global Warming of the US House of Representatives, we find that much of what he contends is contradicted by real-world observations.

Although Hansen speaks of a sea level rise this century measured in meters, due to “the likely demise of the West Antarctic ice sheet,” the most recent and comprehensive review of potential sea level rise due to contributions arising from the wastage of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets suggests a century-long rise of only 35 millimeters, based on the results of 14 satellite-derived estimates of imbalances of the polar ice sheets that have been obtained since 1998. In addition, whereas Hansen claims that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating, century-scale data sets indicate that the mean rate-of-rise of the global ocean has either not accelerated at all over the latter part of the 20th century or has actually slowed.

[and so it goes; opinion after opinion refuted by objective evidence to the contrary, including 137 specific source references for every contention - long, boring, scientific, and concluding...][snip]

As a result of our analysis of Hansen’s testimony, we find very little evidence to justify his policy prescriptions for dealing with what he calls a “dangerous climate change,” but we find significant evidence for an impending world food supply-and-demand problem that may well prove even more devastating to the biosphere - including both humanity and “wild nature” - than what Hansen contends will occur in response to business-as-usual anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

[highly recommended > the single-paragraph Introductory Remarks concerning the state of scientific inquiry on this topic if nothing else... ]

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TWOFER:

DENIAL AND DELAY

Several states are facing some tough fiscal times, says Byron Schlomach, director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.
[snip]

> California's overspending problem amounts to more than $14 billion for the 2009 fiscal year.
> [others...]
> California's gap is 14 percent of its budget.

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[Now the REST of the story - heard Newt Gingrich mention this on Fox and went looking for it:

California exodus turns to stampede
High taxes drive jobs, people from one state to another

California, which once lured Americans from near and far, is now driving out millions of the most productive residents – including high percentages of the most affluent.

"As California faces a Mount Everest-sized $14 billion deficit, one of the major causes for the red ink is the stampede of millionaire households from the state," says a report called "Rich States, Poor States" by economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. "Out of the 25,000 or so seven-figure-income families, more than 5,000 left in the early 2000s, and the loss of their tax payments accounts for about half the budget hole."

[there's much data, but it all boils down to (what should be) common sense: CA is in competition with other states for people and businesses, and its been working overtime to drive away both - with the predictable results. Moral? our choices have consequences - we can't continue to do dumb things and expect nothing bad to happen. I.e., we can't afford to keep sending the same lame brains back to Sacramento time and again and not pay the price]

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Obama’s Big-Government Vision

Senator Barack Obama is very gloomy about America, and he’s aligning himself with the liberal wing of the Democratic party in hopes of coming to the nation’s rescue. His proposal? Big-government planning, spending, and taxing -- exactly what the nation and the stock market doesn’t want to hear. Obama unveiled much of his economic strategy in Wisconsin this week: He wants to spend $150 billion on a green-energy plan...

The Obama spend-o-meter is now up around $800 billion. And tax hikes on the rich won’t pay for it. It’s the middle class that will ultimately shoulder this fiscal burden in terms of higher taxes and lower growth.

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Congress to ask for investigation into Clemens' statement

[meanwhile, in Washington...]

Congress has asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into whether embattled pitcher Roger Clemens lied under oath regarding his alleged use of steroids and human growth hormone.(Snip) “We believe that his testimony warrants further investigation...

[am I the only one who thinks this an abhorrent use of Congress' time? Last time I looked, they've ample other things to be doing {I don't know, re-authorizing the expired terrorist surveillance system might qualify}]

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Sleeper awakes with freight train on top

A man had a miraculous escape yesterday, sustaining only minor injuries when a freight train rolled over the top of him while he slept between the tracks. The Bendigo man, 20, whose name has not been released, was sleeping at a level crossing in Port Augusta, 300km northwest of Adelaide, when the train approached about 3.40am. (Snip) The train rolled over the man, still lying between the tracks, and stopped just ahead of him. It is believed the man hit his head on the train while trying to sit up. It is understood he may have been intoxicated.

[may]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23035691-29677,00.html