Gates Speaks of Troops’ Courage, Dedication, Patriotism

"Whenever I meet with troops, I am impressed by their resilience, their good humor, their courage, and their determination in the face of personal sacrifice,”

It is important to remember that, when Americans talk about national security, it is the men and women in uniform who make the discussion possible, Gates said.

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So Much for the 'Looted Sites'

[HT:GO]
A recent mission to Iraq headed by top archaeologists from the U.S. and U.K. who specialize in Mesopotamia found that, contrary to received wisdom, southern Iraq's most important historic sites -- eight of them -- had neither been seriously damaged nor looted after the American invasion.

The article has caused confusion, not to say consternation, among archaeologists and has been largely ignored by the mainstream press. Not surprising perhaps, since reports by experts blaming the U.S. for the postinvasion destruction of Iraq's heritage have been regular fixtures of the news.

The accusations against the U.S. had been taken on faith. No one had bothered to challenge the reports, the evidence or the logic...

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Iran Pours Cash Into Afghanistan, Seeking Leverage Against U.S.

``Every single day Iran is trying to have more influence, and where there is money, there is political power,'' said Masoud Sana, the Herat Chamber of Commerce's international relations director. ``The Iranians are always trying to find out information about what the Afghan government is going to do next.'' [snip]

Should Iran's nuclear ambitions spark hostilities, it would use its sway in western Afghanistan as a ``bargaining chip,'' said Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former envoy to Kabul. If attacked, Iran ``could make life difficult for us'' in Afghanistan, he said in an interview.

[where does Iran get its money? right. Pity we don't have our own oil reserves]

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US court ruling may jeopardise spy agencies

THERE is deepening concern that Australia's intelligence agencies and those of other key US allies could be compromised in the fight against al-Qa'ida and other radical Islamist groups because of a controversial US Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court decision last month provided new rights to enemy combatants held at Guantanamo, who include Bali bombing mastermind Hambali. It is dawning on foreign intelligence operatives that it has opened the door to the possibility that the information they share with Washington could be aired in civilian courts...

[the ramifications to this insane ruling are endless - all of them bad]

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“What the full-rights-for-terrorists advocates fail to comprehend is that our judicial processes - so dear to us - are viewed by terrorists as a means to advance their cause, to embarrass us, to reveal our intelligence methods and to perpetuate their martyr myth.

“Harsh as it may sound, a dead terrorist is dead, but an imprisoned terrorist is a cause (and not just for his fellow radicals). Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is forgotten, but our Guantanamo prisoners are pop stars.”

— Ralph Peters, LTC, USA-Ret.
.

US sees first airliner flight with laser defences

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trials of laser missile-dazzler defences on airliners have passed another milestone, with armaments maker BAE Systems announcing that its ''JetEye'' gear has made its first scheduled passenger flight. The JetEye-equipped plane, a Boeing 767 operated by American Airlines (Snip) Russia has sold fairly modern SA-14 MANPADS to Iran, and that these may since have been 'passed on'...

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U.S. ties Caracas to Hezbollah aid

The Bush administration is accusing the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of providing cash and refuge to the militant Islamist group Hezbollah of southern Lebanon. An investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) names Venezuelan diplomat Ghazi Nasr al Din and Venezuelan-Arab businessman Fawzi Kanan as key links between the two. Treasury made the accusations which summarized an investigation of Venezuelan-registered businesses that are thought to be laundering money for Hezbollah...

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Lunacy in Britain: Making Light of Jihad

Some in Britain have come up with an ingenuous way of countering the threat of jihad: They pretend it does not exist.

One would think this would be rather difficult in the wake of the recent terrorist attempts in London and Glasgow, but the jihad-deniers use these very incidents to make their case. The failure of the bombs to go off, they argue, is proof that the would-be terrorists were an assortment of bungling fools. What's more, they extend this characterization to all those who swear by the cause. On this view, the whole concept of jihad is merely a silly concoction of some misguided dolts.

An article titled Evil plotters? More like sad and crackpot, which ran recently in the UK Times offers a startling example of this line of thinking...

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World Court: U.S. must delay Mexican death sentences

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The World Court ordered the United States on Wednesday to do all it could to halt the imminent executions of five Mexicans until the court makes a final judgment in a dispute over suspects' rights.

One of the five Mexicans on death row, Jose Medellin, is due to die on August 5 in Texas. A gang member, Medellin was not informed of his treaty-based 'right' to meet a consular official from Mexico after his arrest for the June 1993 rape and murder of two teenage girls in Houston.

Mexico, which had asked the court for an interpretation of the U.S. assertions that its federal states have a large degree of legal autonomy and it cannot compel them to review the cases, welcomed Wednesday's ruling. "(We) hope the provisional measures will be duly observed, taking into account their legally binding nature," [snip]

The ICJ is responsible for handling disputes between U.N. member states. Its rulings -- which often take years -- are binding and not subject to appeal...

[the ceaseless assault on our sovereignty. Luckily, this time around we're talking Texas - I suspect the proper message will be sent]

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Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered

The American Physical Society

Abstract
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions probably caused more than half of the “global warming” of the past 50 years and would cause further rapid warming. However, global mean surface temperature has not risen since 1998 and may have fallen since late 2001. The present analysis suggests that the failure of the IPCC’s models to predict this and many other climatic phenomena arises from defects in its evaluation... [snip]

Mean global surface temperature anomalies (°C), 2001-2008

Fluctuating CO2 but stable temperature for 600m years

Conclusion
Even if temperature had risen above natural variability, the recent solar Grand Maximum may have been chiefly responsible. Even if the sun were not chiefly to blame for the past half-century’s warming, the IPCC has not demonstrated that, since CO2 occupies only one-ten-thousandth part more of the atmosphere that it did in 1750, it has contributed more than a small fraction of the warming.

[long, real {hard} science - but additional graphs are good for us laymen - Recommended > ]

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Dereliction

Imagine an energy plan that does it all — from allowing more oil drilling to spending billions on alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear.

Well, guess what? Been there, done that.

"Energy has enormous implications for our economy, our environment and our national security," President Bush said in proposing the plan. "We cannot let another year go by without addressing these issues together in a comprehensive and balanced package."

That was in June 2001 — more than seven years ago.

His plan included 105 separate steps the U.S. could take to boost its energy supplies. It was something he promised repeatedly while campaigning for the presidency in 2000. He kept his promise. Yet, those proposals went nowhere — not approved in 2001, not in 2002, not in 2003, not ever...

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Democrats Float Bill to Curb Gasoline Demand

The bill -- called the Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008 -- would allocate taxpayer money to:

-- expand public transportation;
-- encourage “pay-as-you-drive” auto insurance policies;
-- help local governments create "walkable, bikeable" communities;
-- help Americans make "smart" transportation and housing choices by 'educating' them about their options;
-- create “location efficient mortgages" that would make owning a home near transit more affordable. [i.e., subsidize]

The bill does nothing to increase domestic energy supply.

H.R. 6495 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and it is cosponsored by Reps. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and California Democrats Ellen Tauscher, Jerry McNerney, and Hilda Solis (D-CA

READ MORE then >

H.R. 6495: Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008
Jerry McNerny (D) jerryMcNerney@mail.house.gov www.mcnerney.house.gov
Your Congressman https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

.

Nine million face 'green' road tax increases

[UK]
More than 9 million motorists face road tax increases of up to £245 under the Government's "green" car tax plans, the Treasury has admitted. ... that rate will rise to £455 for the most polluting cars - a £245 rise.

Ministers say the big increases in duty are needed to force motorists to drive cars with lower emissions, and deny suggestions they are "greenwashing" a move to raise revenue.

"Owners of those cars will have to make decisions about whether they want to continue in ownership of those cars or whether they want to trade down,"

[again: this scam provides cover for governments to tax virtually all activity]

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Immigration Agents ‘Terrorize’ Communities

“The system isn't working,” said Obama, “when 12 million people live in hiding, and hundreds of thousands cross our borders illegally each year; when companies hire undocumented immigrants instead of legal citizens to avoid paying overtime or to avoid a union; when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids; when nursing mothers are torn from their babies; when children come home from school to find their parents missing; when people are detained without access to legal counsel.”

[want real terror? talk to Americans living on the Mexican border, where bodies are being found daily, and hospitals need add security to treat Mexican police officers because the drug cartel's hit men follow them into America...]

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Campaigning for versus serving in office

Jim Geraghty at National Review's Campaign Spot blog put together an impressive list, chronicling the amount of time Obama has spent campaigning over the past ten years in office. It is evdience of a certain kind of audacity. Geraghty concludes:

If you begin counting from September 1999, there are 112 months between then and November 2008, and Obama has been campaigning for higher office in 52.6 percent of those months.

Say whatever you want about the man, but Obama knows how to successfully run for office.

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Sen. Kuehl tries again for universal health care system in California

Six years after launching her effort, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl made a final pitch Wednesday to a legislative committee for a government-run universal health care system. Senate Bill 840 would establish a single-payer system in which the state would assume the role that private insurance companies now play.

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Senate Bill 840: "The California Universal Healthcare Act", CA Senate Email list pg. http://www.sen.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senemail.htp

[HT:PK]

I was talking to a friend of mine's little girl, and she said she wanted
to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing nearby when I
asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you
would do?"

She replied, "I'd give houses to all the homeless people."

"Wow - what a worthy goal." I told her, "You don't have to wait until you're
President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, weed eat,
and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the
grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him
the $50 to use toward a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds 'cause she's only 6. And while her
Mom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why
doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just
pay him the $50?"

And I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party!!"

Her folks still aren't talking to me.