Special Ops Marines Deliver in Southern Afghanistan

Accompanied by a small group of Afghan National Army soldiers, the Marines are constantly on the go: visiting villages, distributing humanitarian aid and always searching for insurgents.

Despite several other close calls, the Marines relentlessly pursued the insurgents until they secured the village, and the Taliban fighters were either killed or fled. Before they were done, the MSOC hospital corpsmen cared for and treated villagers injured by insurgents.

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Triple Threat Pressures al Qaeda in Iraq, General Says

Having been ejected from Baghdad and its environs during the surge of forces, al Qaeda in Iraq is attempting to re-establish itself in regions north of the capital city, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today.

Yet, while al Qaeda scrambles to reorganize itself, the terrorist group is being pressured by a triple threat consisting of coalition and Iraqi security forces and local concerned citizens’ groups, Army Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference.

“We have to continue to pursue this enemy to prevent them from re-establishing themselves or creating new bases of operation,” Bergner said.

Meanwhile, the 70,000 members of Iraqi concerned citizens’ groups that have sworn to fight al Qaeda have proven to be powerful allies, Bergner said, as the capabilities and numbers of Iraqi soldiers and police continue to grow.

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Don't be surprised if terrorists stage a Tet offensive

This spring marks the 40th anniversary of Hanoi's offensive. It will also mark the umpteenth time American enemies have attempted to win in the psychological and political clash of an American election what they cannot win on the battlefield.
[snip]
At the operational level, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) suffered a terrible defeat. As NVA regiments emerged from jungle-covered enclaves and massed for attack, they exposed themselves to the firepower of U.S. aircraft and artillery. The NVA units temporarily seized many cities at the cost of extremely heavy casualties.

However, Tet achieved the grand political ends North Vietnam sought. Tet was a strategic psychological attack launched in a presidential election year during a primary season featuring media-savvy "peace" candidates.
[snip]
The terrorists will attempt a series of terror spectaculars, and kill several hundred civilians in the process, because — in the quadrennial turmoil of an American presidential contest — sensational carnage that even momentarily seeds the perception of defeat is their only chance of victory.

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Israel to hold massive emergency drill

In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel's history. The drill, which is being organized by the newly-established National Emergency Authority, will take place over five days starting on Sunday, April 6.

[just another day in the life of Israel]

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Hamas use of human shields documented

One of the cruelest and most telling barbarities of Hamas is its use of civilians (especially children) as human shields, deliberately firing weapons from densely populated locations, so that counterstrikes will either be deterred or will cause civilian casualties, reveals indifference to the welfare of their own ostensible constituents. The people for whom they are fighting are nothing but ammunition in the struggle to wipe out Israel and the world's Jews.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign affairs has assembled visual proof of this barbarism...

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Year of the what?

2008 is officially the United Nation’s International Year of the Potato, and, at least in Greece, the Year of Feta. The UN has also declared 2008 to be the International Year of Sanitation, the International Year of Planet Earth (which lasts for 3 years) and the International Year of Languages.

To get the UN to back a year of something takes a good deal of work and time. According to the UN’s procedure for the proclamation of international years, the subject for any such year must, among other things, be "of priority concern to all or the majority of countries" and it should "involve action at the international and national levels". In addition, "each international year should have objectives that are likely to lead to identifiable and practicable results"...

[don't laugh, you're paying for this]

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UN Says it needs 25% Boost in Funding

The United Nations says it needs more money - lots more. Citing increased demands placed on its peace keeping and nation building departments, the diplomats say they need $1.1 billion more:

They could probably find the extra money in the Secretariat. No one knows what the budget for the Secretariat of the UN might be. The last attempted audit found wasteful and duplicated departments throughout thanks largely to Kofi Anan. At a time when the UN is begging for more money from its major donors, perhaps it's time to root out the waste and corruption endemic to the UN before we give them another dime.

Bolton tried to reform the UN but was accused of not playing well with others, stepping on toes and riling the bureaucrats. Too bad. That kind of bulldog tenacity in going after the spendthrift Secretariat is just what we need right now.

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Plenty of scientific doubt about climate catastrophe

I am a denier, a pejorative term applied to those of us who reject the contention that the debate is over. I am in good company. The deniers include those scientists who are directly involved in actual measurements of global temperatures, or those who base their positions on solid science, as opposed to those who base their opinion on computer modeling.

A classic example of the latter is Dr. James Hansen of the Goddard Space Institute, whose presentation to Congress ignited the global warming frenzy and predicted double-digit warming and catastrophic consequences, based on a flawed computer model. An example of the former would include Dr. Richard Lindzen, the Alfred Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is often referred to as the world’s leading climatologist. He said it best:

“The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world tempemperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman’s forecast for next week which use the same computer models.”

[snip]
How many climatologists are deniers? No one knows, but a publication by Dr. Patrick Michaels, the State Climatologist of Virginia, entitled, “Is the Sky Really Falling?” lists 77 references to reputable climatologists, all of them deniers. The list now includes Dr. Hansen, whose predictions of warming have been steadily downgraded, and are now very close to those of the deniers. [ah, time marches on...]

What is the consensus of true scientists? [ Recommended > ]

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Not So Hot

If a scientific paper appeared in a major journal saying that the planet has warmed twice as much as previously thought, that would be front-page news in every major paper around the planet. But what would happen if a paper was published demonstrating that the planet may have warmed up only half as much as previously thought?

Nothing. Earlier this month, Ross McKitrick from Canada's University of Guelph and I published a manuscript in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres saying precisely that...

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THE ETHANOL HANGOVER

Despite what is often heard, there is not a right way to produce ethanol. However, several wrong ones -- spawned by congressional and presidential edicts -- could wreak havoc on food prices and the natural environment:

• An analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggested that replacing even 10 percent of U.S. motor fuel with biofuels would require that about a third of the nation's cropland be devoted to oilseeds, cereals and sugar crops.

• Achieving the 15 percent goal would require the entire current U.S. corn crop, which represents a whopping 40 percent of the world's corn supply.

• The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index climbed 37 percent last year, following a 14 percent increase in 2006.

• Ethanol yields about 30 percent less energy per gallon than gasoline, so mileage per gallon in internal combustion engines drops off significantly, and the addition of ethanol raises the price of blended fuel because it is more expensive to transport and handle.

In reality, ethanol can do little to affect oil consumption. But the diversion of grain from food to fuel exerts widespread and profound ripple effects on various commodity markets and has already been catastrophic for the poor around the world.

[object lesson: few ideas were so easily exposed as bad as this one, yet because we allowed government to get involved, pay attention to how long it takes to correct ]

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NHS definition of 'customer'

Figures obtained by The Scotsman under Freedom of Information legislation show at least 1,390 hospital appointments are missed every day in Scotland. However, the figure is likely to be much higher, as many health boards were unable to supply numbers for missed inpatient appointments, while others do not collect data on clinics with staff such as physiotherapists and dieticians.
[snip]
She added: "Part of the problem is appointments are made so far in advance that pat-ients simply forget. We need some kind of system to remind people of their appointments nearer the time." [you know, like the private sector has had for a decade. The NHS response? ...

practices (68 per cent) said they would support charging people £10 for missed appointments. ... of course.]

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YOUR $455,000 LOAN TO UNCLE SAM

The unfunded liabilities Uncle Sam has incurred on our behalf through already promised entitlements in programs such as Social Security, Medicare and the veterans benefits now exceed by $53 trillion, says Comptroller General David Walker, who heads the Government Accountability Office.
[snip]
Of course, every man, woman and child does not work ... when you divide the unfunded costs of promised entitlement benefits by the number of Americans who work full time, says Walker, it equals $410,000 per worker. A married couple making $80,000 per year would have to set aside all their income for more than five years to cover their share.
[snip]
Some day Americans will look back across the wreckage of our coming fiscal catastrophe and ask: Why didn't our leaders see it coming? The answer will be: They did.

[if we don't demand that our politicians address this issue they never will until after the disaster. Instead, we've presidential candidates promising yet more government entitlement programs being taken seriously...]

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France urges EU immigration curbs

Sarkozy has called for EU nations to adopt a common, tough standard in dealing with illegal immigration. "We can't all continue to have our own immigration policies," Mr Sarkozy said, ahead of talks in Madrid with EU members from southern Europe. Mr Sarkozy has accused Spain of causing a surge in illegal immigration by offering migrants an amnesty.

[you mean there's a correlation? Who knew...]

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Study: Networks Always Label GOPers With Sex Scandals

My colleague Brent Baker has painstakingly documented how the big three broadcast networks have gone out of their way to avoid labeling scandal-scarred New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as a “Democrat.” An examination of the fifteen ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news shows through Wednesday night finds Spitzer was called a Democrat just 20% of the time — twice on CBS, once on ABC, and never on NBC.

So how do the networks treat Republicans involved in sex scandals? Always, always as Republicans, and as problems for their party...

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Report busts the myths on cancer risks

[a little good news]

Breast implants, deodorant and coffee are extremely unlikely to cause cancer, says a new risk report designed to allay panic that everything can be carcinogenic. The risk assessment developed by an Australian cancer specialist puts in perspective the chance of getting the disease from a range of agents, including dental fillings, marijuana and cured meats. (Snip) Professor Stewart all but ruled out risk for a range of other rumoured carcinogens, including artificial sweeteners, coffee, deodorant, dental fillings, breast implants and fluoridated water.

[implants are back?! {just asking}]

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Believe in your potential
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