RAF forced to borrow planes

The RAF is being forced to borrow American spy planes and paint roundels on them to replace its fleet of Nimrod R1 signals intelligence aircraft. The crews of the US Rivet Joint spy planes masquerading as RAF aircraft will not even be totally British with US personnel expected to take control on some missions. The move, forced by a Ministry of Defense (MoD) cash crisis that rules out the money for a replacement aircraft for the Nimrod R1, has provoked outrage among RAF air crew who say it will mean a major loss of capability.

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Calls grow for 'spy plane' inspections

Politicians and human rights groups want to go on board US-registered planes that are believed to be carrying terror suspects when they land in Norway for refueling. Planes believed to be chartered by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have landed at the Sola Airport outside Stavanger as many as 15 times since 2003 (Snip) The latest landing occurred earlier this month, and it once again set off protests because the flights are believed to be carrying terror suspects...

[our 'allies']

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Russia warned over Georgia move

Nato has warned Russia that its recent troop build-up in Georgia's two breakaway regions undermines its neighbour's territorial integrity. Russia's moves in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were raising tensions in the area, a Nato spokesman said. Moscow has accused Georgia of preparing to invade Abkhazia, and says it is also boosting Russian peacekeeping forces there and in South Ossetia. Tbilisi has described the Russian move as "irresponsible".

[slowly: When NATO members refused to send troops to, or prohibited them from combat in, Afghanistan, it lost all credibility - hence Putin will do what he pleases. When you act weak, thugs are encouraged.]

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NATO Must Step up in Afghanistan

It's spring in Afghanistan and time for the annual Taliban offensive. This year, with the new Pakistan government making noises about negotiating with the tribes backing the Taliban, the enemy may be emboldened to strike even harder at the peace and security of Afghani villagers.
[snip]
Just a "few thousand more troops" would help enormously. France just promised an additional 1000 men for the war effort but that is the extent of any additional help that has been forthcoming. For the Germans, who have a sizable contingent in Afghanistan but refuse to put them in harms way, this attitude is breeding resentment among those nations who are doing the bulk of the fighting...

For NATO as an organization, this may be the most serious crisis in its entire existence.

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UN 'Peacekeepers' Vandalizing Ancient Art -- Where is MSM Reporting?

We are told over and over again that the United Nations is the answer to all the world's ills. It is often claimed that without the UN things would be so much worse in troubled spots around the world. But, when we look at the pernicious effect the UN has where ever it goes, it's awfully hard to reconcile the claims with the hard truth. We've seen the UN responsible for turning indigenous teens into prostitutes for UN workers in Cambodia, Africa, and Bosnia. [three: that's not an instance, it's a pattern]

Well, now we can add vandalism of sacred, ancient wall-art to the ever growing list of evils perpetrated by UN operatives. Today the Times online give us the story of UN peacekeepers defacing 6,000 year-old art in the Western Saharan rocks of Africa. UN vandals spray graffiti on Sahara’s prehistoric art

But, where is the media to report this outrage against human history and sacred religious relics and sites? About the same place they were when underplaying the reports of UN peacekeepers and employees forcing young women into prostitution the world over... absent from the scene.

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Global warming? Next decade cooler, says study

Global warming could take a break in the next decade thanks to a natural shift in ocean circulations, although Earth's temperature will rise as previously expected over the longer term, according to a study published on Thursday in the British journal Nature...

[this is damage control and subterfuge: the earth is likely cooling but, like the infamous Mann 'hockey stick', 'studies' like this one can now claim that the observed cooling doesn't mean anything - the catastrophic models are still right. The only 'responsible' thing to do is to start spending trillions now-right-now and legislate universal compliance...]

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Lawmakers being forced to give up gas-guzzling cars

Rep. Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley likes his taxpayer-funded Ford Expedition. He isn't worried that it's not the most fuel-efficient car. It's reliable, suits his mountainous district and is cheaper to lease than many other vehicles.''It's not a Cadillac. It's not a Lincoln. It's a Ford,'' the Republican congressman said with exasperation.

(Snip) a little-noticed amendment to last year's energy bill has hit especially close to home. It requires House members who lease vehicles through their office budgets to drive cars that emit low levels of greenhouse gases...

[it starts with them... but is a means to the government controlling all activity]

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Ethanol Mandates Cause Rising Food Prices

Food prices are rising worldwide. Some nations, such as Egypt and Cameroon, are facing riots as the prices for basic food stuffs rise. Other countries from India to Cambodia have banned food exports to try and keep prices low and reduce voter anger.

Corn has experienced the most phenomenal rise. Corn, which averaged around $2 a bushel from 2002 to 2006, rose to over $4 per bushel in 2007 and is now over $6 per bushel.

The U.S. has long been a major exporter of grains, but the quantity going to ethanol are enormous. We are expected this year to convert 3.53 billion bushels of corn into ethanol. There are about 280 medium length ears of corn in a bushel. To put it differently, just the corn used to produce ethanol this year could provide 104 million people with 2,000 calories every day for a year.

The irony is that ethanol also produces much less energy than gasoline. A car that gets 30 miles per gallon on gas would get only 20 miles per gallon on ethanol. Without the subsidies and the mandates, ethanol would have to be less than two thirds the price of gas before it would pay for people to use.

Environmental regulations are bad enough when they simply do nothing more than waste Americans’ money. But we live in a world economy and using massive amounts of corn and grain to make ethanol means that poor people from Africa to Bangladesh have less to eat.

[again: whatch how long it takes government to correct its obvious error]

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Shell Oil president: To cut price, produce more gasoline in U.S.

Gasoline prices set a record for the 16th consecutive day Wednesday. A gallon of gas cost an average of $3.62, according to AAA, and much more in some markets.

I say we need more gas to be produced in this country. I've been saying that for three years, ever since I took this position [as president of Shell]

I think the president brings up a good point in that we could, we have the available domestic supplies off the coast of Alaska as well as [the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge]. Shell has won $2 billion worth of high bids for the Chukchi Sea -- that's a few years off before we could begin production.

But let's remember there's more than 100 billion barrels of untouched oil and gas in this country that is subject to a 30-year moratorium. Now, there's only one body in this country that can set a 30-year moratorium, and that's the U.S. government... [snip]

If the U.S. set a goal to produce 2 to 3 million barrels more a day in this country, we would send a shock around the world that would immediately say to the speculators, hey, the U.S. is serious...

[are we? Have you told your representatives? signed a petition? made a phone call?]

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Fear of ideas

One of the greatest blessings of living in America is our First Amendment, which protects the right of all of us to speak out without facing government persecution. People in other countries, even strong Western democracies, are not as fortunate.

The French government, for instance, is prosecuting 73-year-old former film goddess Bridget Bardot for criticizing the ritual slaughter of sheep in a 2004 letter to Nicholas Sarkozy, now France’s president.

Ms. Bardot, an animal-rights activist, complained about the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, alluding to those running it as “this population that leads us around by the nose, [and] which destroys our country.” In the Orwellian eyes of French prosecutors, that qualified as “inciting racial hatred,” and they are seeking to punish her with a $22,000 fine and two months in jail...

[we're on the same path]

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HEALTH SAVINGS SABOTAGE

This week, the House passed legislation that included a provision to require every Health Savings Account transaction be reviewed and verified as a legitimate medical expense. It adds a layer of bureaucracy that could sharply reduce the appeal and cost savings of HSAs, says the Wall Street Journal.

This is health insurance many Americans can afford, and it doesn't force those who have better use for their scarce dollars to buy gold-plated insurance with special-interest mandates that Democrats want to force on everyone. Consider:

• Since HSAs were created in December 2003, 3.2 million HSA accounts have been opened, covering 4.5 million Americans.

• Nearly a third of new HSA users previously had no insurance and bought coverage on their own.

• Thirty-three percent are small businesses that had not previously offered coverage to their employees.

Isn't this what good progressives claim to want? Apparently not if it means a free market in health insurance.

The new scheme purports to ensure that money saved tax-free in an HSA is actually used for health expenses. But any withdrawal from an HSA is already subject to a federal tax audit, just as individual tax returns are.

Having lost the policy argument when HSAs were created, Democrats are now trying to kill them with regulatory subterfuge.

[what's that about knowing good ideas by their enemies?]

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HELP NOT WANTED

When it comes to immigration, America's politicians are trying their best to keep the world's best and brightest from darkening America's doors, says the Economist. Consider the annual April Fool's joke played on applicants for H1B visas, which allow companies to sponsor highly-educated foreigners to work in America for three years or so:

• The powers-that-be have set the number of visas so low -- at 85,000 -- that the annual allotment is taken up as soon as applications open on April 1st.
• America then deals with the mismatch between supply and demand in the worst possible way, allocating the visas by lottery.
• The result is that hundreds of thousands of highly qualified people -- entrepreneurs, doctors and scientists are kept waiting on the spin of a roulette wheel.
• Bill Gates calculates, and respectable economists agree, that every foreigner who is given an H1B visa creates jobs for five Americans.

This is a policy of national self-sabotage, says the Economist...

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CA deficit estimate rises to $20 billion

California

Schwarzenegger has been all over the map in his deficit estimates this month. But after offering vague explanations for the governor's previous calculations, his aides on Tuesday decided to embrace his latest figure: as high as $20.2 billion starting July 1. But Schwarzenegger's rhetorical flourishes aside, one thing is certain: The budget problem is getting far worse – nearly twice the problem he described in January... [snip]

The worsening deficit, McLear said, is "why we need to start working on this now, because every day that goes by that we don't work on this budget, it gets worse"

[it's the spending, stupids. The question is; will we re-elect most of them again?]

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A little good news...

Appeals court dismisses NY suit vs. gun industry

A U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by New York City against gun makers the city targeted in a bid to stop the flow of illegal weapons. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the city's claims against the manufacturers and wholesale sellers of firearms, ruling a federal law granted them immunity...

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