Face of Defense: Soldier, 19, Tracks Afghan Airspace

While many young men his age are just thinking about their next step in life, 19-year-old Army Pvt. Ryan Masterson is keeping an eye on the airspace in a combat zone. Masterson, from McHenry, Ill., is an aviation operations specialist for the Air Defense and Airspace Management Cell here.

“We track the airspace for our brigade’s area of operations and get real-time video feeds of what’s going on with our airspace,” he explained. “It gives us a better idea of where each aircraft is and what they are doing so we can track everything a lot better.” ... “We make sure that the infantry soldiers have whatever they need as far as air support,”

he said, whether it’s firepower from an Apache attack helicopter or a Chinook helicopter delivery of food or water. Masterson, who has been in the Army a little more than two years, coordinates air support with troops on the ground via radio and phone systems to find out what the soldiers on the ground need -- whether it’s air support, supplies or reconnaissance flights from unmanned aerial vehicles.

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The jihadist-multicultural alliance

... The bodies of the victims showed clear signs of preexecution torture. The worst tortured, they said, were the Jewish victims. As one doctor put it, "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the [first day of the assault]. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed ...

Smoke billows from a fire on the top floor of the landmark Taj Hotel in Mumbai, late Friday.

In the aftermath of the Mumbai massacres, it is hard to imagine that there is anything as pernicious as the jihadists who sought out and murdered non-Muslims with such cruelty. But there is. Their multicultural apologists, who enable them to continue to kill by preventing their victims from fighting back, are just as evil.

The jihadists in Mumbai, like their counterparts from Gaza to Baghdad to Guantanamo Bay, have been defended, and their acts and motivations have been explained away, by their allies and loyal apologists: Western multiculturalists.

IN THE case of the Mumbai massacres, the jihadists' multicultural defenders began justifying their actions while they were still in the midst of their torture and murder spree. In Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria hinted that Indian Hindus had it coming... [snip]

Unfortunately, this view ignores two things. It ignores the fact that the jihadists are devoting all of their energies to improving and expanding their capacity to fight their war. And it ignores the fact that the multiculturalists' influence is growing steadily and has repeatedly stymied Western attempts to confront the jihadist threat head-on. Unless something changes soon, the consequences of the jihadist-multicultural alliance will be suffered by millions and millions of people...

[Highly Recommended > ]

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Bioterrorism attack likely in U.S. before 2013, experts tell Biden

WASHINGTON — The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed today to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.

"Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing,"

states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday.

The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. But it warns that gap can be easily overcome, if terrorists find scientists willing to share or sell their know-how.

"The United States should be less concerned that terrorists will become biologists and far more concerned that biologists will become terrorists,"

The report says the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is especially acute in Pakistan.

"Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan,"

In fact, commission members were forced to cancel their trip to Pakistan this fall. The Islamabad Marriott Hotel that commission members were to stay in was blown up by terrorist bombs just hours before they were to check in.

"We think time is not our ally. The (United States) needs to move with a sense of urgency,"

[provided we don't listen to anyone's phone calls - or ask suspicious looking people questions - or...]

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[FLASHBACK: NNBrief 080623 "I'll Fight To Strip Telecom Immunity From FISA"
guess who...]

THE WHO'S SICK MANIFESTO

The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed in August 2008 that "social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." Its major report on the "social determinants of health" concluded that social and economic inequality is a major global driver of disease, and only massive government intervention and redistribution of wealth can improve the health of the poor.

But the side effects of this prescription may be worse than the disease, says the Fraser Institute. In fact, WHO's recommendations seem to be aimed at undermining economic growth and increasing unemployment:

• Government regulations that make it difficult to fire employees make it difficult to hire employees, especially inexperienced young workers.

• Countries that have the lowest unemployment -- such as the United States and Australia -- also have the most flexible labor markets, combined with welfare states that incentivize work rather than indolence.

• More baffling is the WHO's rejection of free trade; free trade has been demonstrated beyond doubt to be the biggest weapon against poverty.

• Since China recommenced international trade in the 1980s, 400 million people have been lifted out of poverty.

Moreover, the doom-laden picture of global inequality is not as bad as WHO suggests, says Fraser:

• The number of poor people in the world has declined by 375 million since 1981, even while the total world population increased by 1.6 billion during the same period.

• Economic growth is causatively associated with improved health, largely because it enables people to afford better living conditions, sanitation and health technologies.

The real problem is that the poorest countries do not trade nearly enough, says Fraser. Nearly 70 percent of the world's trade barriers are imposed by governments in poor countries on people in other poor countries.

[like AGW {the war on warm}, , its nothing to do with improving the lives of people - its about garnering more money and power for the UN - that's always job 1 with that organization]

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WHY DON'T WE HANG PIRATES ANYMORE?

This year, Somalia-based pirates have attacked more than 90 ships, seized more than 35 and currently hold 17.

Billions of dollars worth of cargo have been seized. Some 280 crew members are being held hostage and 2 have been killed. A multinational naval force has attempted to secure a corridor in the Gulf of Aden, through which 12 percent of the total volume of seaborne oil passes, and U.S., British and Indian naval ships have engaged the pirates by force.

Yet, the number of attacks keeps rising. The problem is that we don't know what do with captured pirates... [snip]

Under Article 110 of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Convention naval ships are required to send over a boarding party to find out if pirates are in fact pirates...

[yeah, we want to be part of that treaty]

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'Oppose L.O.S.T. Treaty'
US President president@whitehouse.gov
Obama transition http://www.change.gov/page/s/contact
YOUR Senator http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

UN climate talks to create 13,000 tonnes of carbon

[HT:PE]
POZNAN, Poland — Staging a global forum on climate change is a dilemma, as it adds to the very problem it is trying to solve. Around 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be added to the Earth's greenhouse effect from the December 1-12 meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UNFCCC said. That estimate is based on a turnout of 8,000 people, but as of Sunday 10,657 people had registered for the talks.

[cute for hypocrisy factor, but meaningless. The Earth's annual CO2 'emissions' averages 7.2 BILLION TONS, every year, all by itself (the 'man made' portion is minuscule. I.e., context is key ]

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Global Warming? Bring it On!

The argument propounded by the dubious United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Anthropogenic (human-induced) Global Warming (AGW) is willfully fraudulent. The report has been vigorously and critically undermined, scientifically denounced and found wanting from both notable scientists here and abroad.

"There is no significant man made global warming. There has not been any in the past, there is none now and there is no reason to fear any in the future. The climate of Earth is changing. It has always changed. But mankind's activities have not overwhelmed or significantly modified the natural forces."

"Well, it is simply not happening. Worldwide there was a significant natural warming trend in the 1980's and 1990's as a Solar cycle peaked with lots of sunspots and solar flares. That ended in 1998 and now the Sun has gone quiet with fewer and fewer Sun spots, and the global temperatures have gone into decline. Earth has cooled for almost ten straight years. So, I ask Al Gore, where's the global warming?"

In spite of this fact, it is likely that the new U.S. Democratic Congress and Administration will once again proclaim that they know better than we do about such things. Get ready for them to move surreptitiously under the guise of Global Climate Control in an effort to enhance their own legacies and pocketbooks. To be sure, the Left hears nothing but their own incestuous voices, despite the voices of clarity and reason that abound around them. And there are many, many credible 'dissenters' against the charade of AGW.

Indeed, arrayed against the arcane burlesque of the United Nations IPCC with its politically selected 2500 Scientists, of which a core group of 600 exists, and a relatively small number of mediocre "scientists" here and there across the American landscape who have suddenly found notoriety or grant money in the global warming cause, are over 31,000 legitimate scientists (of which I am one) who signed the American Petition Project declaring the Global Warming Hypothesis bogus found here, here and here.
We openly refute the UN's conclusions...

"We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind.

"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

Let me assure you that we're not in good humor, nor take it kindly to be slurred and ridiculed by taking the other side in this debate. And our numbers are still growing. Indeed, we're angry that the vast majority of American Scientists will not be heard by the media. We're dismayed over the fact that the Global Warming fiasco has become politically popular and expedient to those left-wing politicians and power-brokers whose sole aim is to literally tax everything with a carbon footprint and give them control over all life, hidden within their PC guileful pretence to save the planet. They wish to save no one but themselves...

[longish but the rest is mostly a concise listing of facts that remove all doubt - and demonstrate why alarmists must shut down all factual debate and rely on fear mongering: if science and logic are applied there's really no contest. - Highly Recommended > ]

[and please pass on - our new Congress will only be stopped when convinced the jig is up]

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Giant Sucking Sound

[HT:BL, toons = 'staff']
Mr. Obama's one deeply false note during the campaign was his harping on "deregulation" as if that were the source of current troubles. His real problem is the crack-up of the world FDR built.

Fannie Mae was a New Deal creation, subsidizing the securitization of mortgage debt. FDR's successors piled on the subsidies for housing debt and incentives directed at low-income borrowers. Kaboom.

Then there's the UAW, born in 1935. For decades the UAW steadily traded away domestic auto market-share to imports and transplants to keep its aging membership toiling away toward their golden pensions and collecting wages and benefits twice those of their competitors. Kaboom.

Mr. Obama must be looking around and beginning to suspect he will be pouring his political capital, along with considerable taxpayer capital, down bottomless holes for the next four years.

He won't be building a legacy as the new FDR, but cleaning up after the last one...
[one hopes]

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PELOSI SERVES UP COLOMBIA TO EUROPE

The European Union will sign off on a free-trade agreement with Colombia and its neighbor Peru by June 2009. It's a strong opportunity, because 10 years ago Colombia was a drug-trafficking hellhole with 30,000 murders a year. It's now transformed into a safe country that values rule of law and has attractive emerging markets opening up.

The change didn't come out of nowhere:

• According to the Center for International Policy's Just the Facts database, the United States spent $5.8 billion on military, police, economic and social aid to Colombia from 1996 through 2009.
• Washington trained 37,000 soldiers to become a professional fighting force; the United States lost at least 11 service members in that effort.

How much did Europe contribute? Next to nothing... [snip]

But Europe will now grab our existing markets there, because U.S. companies export virtually the same products to Colombia as Europe: $9 billion in chemicals, auto parts, industrial equipment and capital goods. Europe's goods will sail in duty-free. America's will be saddled with 35 percent tariffs.

[because Pelosi's Unions are hiding behind the sham of 'worker rights' to block competition - again]

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University Of Toledo Sued For Firing Christian Official

The Thomas More Law Center, a public interest law firm that defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the University of Toledo for firing one of its officers for expressing an opinion against homosexuality.

Crystal Dixon, an official at the University of Toledo, was fired in May by the university because she wrote a newspaper [public - not the university's] commentary [response, to an equally frank opposing view] expressing her personal Christian views regarding homosexuality.

[think this through - you can now lose your livelihood for politically incorrect opinions expressed outside the workplace. Is this America?]

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Carnage persists; weekend toll is 34

The decapitated bodies of three police officers were found alongside six other beheaded corpses yesterday in a weekend of violence in which 34 people were slain in different sections of Tijuana. (snip) The deaths bring to more than 360 the number killed since late September, when the violence between rival drug gangs first began to soar in a turf battle targeting each other and law enforcement officials.

[good thing it's happening on the other side of our secure border {i.e., how clairvoyant must we be to know what's coming? And must we wait for tragedy before acting?}]

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A 'rather successful' president with some serious achievements under his belt

A cataract of sniggering and brickbats may safely be expected as serious analysis of the presidency of George W. Bush begins, but it will not last: The historical standing of departing presidents tends to rise as emotionalism subsides.

The U.S. annual economic growth rate has been 2.2% through this presidency [which included the severe hit of 9/11], the highest of any advanced country, and the economy expanded 19% in this time, well ahead of other large economies. The same pattern was replicated in per-capita income and spending, investment of all kinds and unemployment, which ran at half a percent below the average of the Clinton years and three full points below the Eurozone.

Until the last three months of his eight-year presidency, Bush avoided a recession. [snip]

Bush’s treaty with India, creating an alliance with that country, is one of the most important diplomatic initiatives in the world since Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. [apologies, you're probably sick to death of hearing about the ramifications of this critical initiative from the MSM - but I'd be remiss not to mention it given its importance] [snip]

But the chief preoccupation of the Bush administration has been the conflict with terrorists and terrorism-promoting states. Ironically, the issue that will mainly determine the historical ranking of the Bush presidency, the fate of Iraq, lies largely in the hands of Barack Obama.

As long as the West imports large quantities of oil, it is extremely dangerous to have both major Persian Gulf countries, Iran and Iraq, in hands hostile to the West...

[if only we had our own resources we could develop]

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Florida university bans Christmas decor

FORT MYERS, Fla., -- A Florida university has annoyed many of its employees and students by ordering a complete ban on Christmas decorations in public areas. That means Florida Gulf Coast University is not holding its greeting card contest this year, the Fort Myers News-Press reported. The giving tree in one building will be a "giving garden."

[any doubts as to if our culture is under attack?]

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Council Bans Staff From Saying Singing From the Same Hymnsheet In Case It Offends

A council is to launch a probe to find out how it banned its staff from using the phrase "singing from the same hymn sheet" because it could offend atheists. Salisbury District Council instructed officials to stop using the centuries-old saying to avoid upsetting non-believers.

[now? It doesn't stop until stopped.]

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Vivian Schiller Leaves NYT; Joins NPR As New CEO

[same difference]

.

Drunk driver runs over himself

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, November 26, 2008 (NBC) -- New Mexico State Police captured a suspected drunk driver after he fell out of his car and the car ran over him! A dashboard camera caught on tape what several people called the state's "drunk busters" hotline to complain about...

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[HT:GC]