My Title

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!  Subscribe in a reader

Login
User name:
Password:
Remember me 
This Month
January 2009
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Year Archive
  If you have any questions,   comments, suggestions or you   just feel like saying Hi:

   Contact

Air Force - Together We Served

View Article  Hezbollah denies involvement in Israel rocket attack


"Lebanon denounces and condemns the firing of rockets (in to northern Israel) and the retaliatory action and believes that such action is in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701," Siniora said in a statement.

More>>>

View Article  Propaganda Wars and YouTube: Hamas video posted describing Israeli attack on Gaza UN school; Israel counters that Hamas was using the building to fire mortar bombs at them


Al Jazeera's report of an Israeli attack on a UN school in Gaza



Israel version of the event: Hamas was firing mortar rockets from the "school", making it a legitimate target

Thank goodness for the Internet. -Roland

More>>>

View Article  Carter: Israel/Hamas latest rhubarb "an unnecessary war"


From Washington Post: After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years)...We knew that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza were being starved, as the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food had found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was on the same scale as in the poorest nations in the southern Sahara, with more than half of all Palestinian families eating only one meal a day.

Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, claiming that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens.

More>>>

View Article  Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979


Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Ice levels had been tracking lower throughout much of 2008, but rapidly recovered in the last quarter. In fact, the rate of increase from September onward is the fastest rate of change on record, either upwards or downwards.

H/t to our pal, Steve!

More>>>

View Article  Russia, Ukraine say gas dispute won't hurt Europe


In 2006, much of the blame for the supply disruption fell on Russia, which was accused of using its energy resources as a political weapon to punish Ukraine's Western-leaning government. European countries then began to question Russia's reliability as an energy partner and look for ways to diversify their supplies...The deadlock over gas supplies reflects the deep political split between Moscow and Kiev. Yushchenko has angered the Kremlin through his efforts to build ties to Western Europe and his support of Georgia in its August war with Russia.

(H/T: Our pal, Semra)

More>>>

View Article  Sarkozy tackles France's car burners


President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to crack down on France's car burning after more than 1,100 vehicles went up in flames overnight on New Year's Eve. Sarkozy said he had asked authorities to be "uncompromising" with vehicle arsonists and said those caught burning other people's cars should lose their own licences until the damage had been paid for. "There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents,"

(This is "getting tough" with criminals in France? Taking away their drivers license? Not jail? -Roland)

More>>>

View Article  Americans Closely Divided Over Israel’s Gaza Attacks


Americans, while far more sympathetic to Israel than the Palestinians, are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip...Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel’s decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first

More>>>


Don't Tell Media Attacks On Israel Increased Since Hamas Elected

More>>>


View Article  Australia may take former Guantanamo Bay inmates


As the Greens warned the Prime Minister he faced a political backlash if he accepted detainees held in the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a spokesman for Mr Rudd confirmed US authorities had approached Australia and other countries about resettling the detainees.

"Australia, along with a number of other countries, has been approached to consider resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay," the Prime Minister's spokesman said.

"Any determination for an individual to come to Australia would be made on a case-by-case basis.

More>>>

View Article  A Christmas Tale -- 1919


It's easy to complain in the midst of a stressful holiday season. But my family has a unique remedy: We remember one special Christmas in 1919 that gave us the freedom and liberty we enjoy today. This will be the 89th anniversary of the year my father celebrated Christmas Eve deep in the snow-laden woods of Russia as he fled the Communist takeover of his homeland.

More>>>

View Article  Chavez orders halt to construction of Caracas mall, says building to be expropriated


The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government's socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate -- and that unbridled consumerism isn't his idea of progress either.

"How are we going to create socialism turning over vital public spaces to Sambil?" said Chavez, who has nationalized Venezuela's largest phone company, electric utilities and oil fields.

The president also has urged Venezuelans to shed their materialism and their taste for designer clothes, sport utility vehicles, Scotch whisky and plastic surgery.

More>>>

View Article  Fox News Validates World Bank Scandal


For months, the World Bank has been stonewalling and denying a series of FOX News reports on a variety of in-house scandals, ranging from the hacking of its most sensitive financial data to its own sanctions against suppliers found guilty of wrongdoing.

But last week the world's most important anti-poverty organization suddenly came clean — sort of — in its tough sanctions against a vitally important computer software service supplier that has been linked not only to financial wrongdoing but also to the ultrasensitive data heists.

A top bank official, FOX News has learned, has admitted that a leading India-based information technology vendor named Satyam Computer Services was barred last February from all business at the bank for a period of eight years — and that the ban started in September.

The admission confirms what FOX News reported from its own bank sources on October 10 — a report the World Bank officially disparaged at the time.

The World Bank's revelation of the ban on Satyam comes at a watershed moment for the $2 billion (sales) outsourcing giant, which boasts more than 100 Fortune 500 companies as clients and which trades on the New York Stock Exchange

H/T Steve

More>>>

View Article  Who hoaxed a call to the Pakistani president, threatening retaliatory military action for the Mumbai attacks...and why?


The hoax caller threatened to take military action against Pakistan in response to the then ongoing Mumbai attacks, which India has since blamed on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), they said.

Mr Zardari responded by placing Pakistan's air force on high alert and telephoning Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, to ask her to intervene.

More>>>

View Article  How Form 696 could pull the plug on the capital's music scene


The form demands that licensees give police a mass of detail, including the names, aliases, private addresses and phone numbers of all musicians and other performers appearing at their venue, and the ethnic background of the likely audience. Failure to comply could mean the loss of a licence or even a fine and imprisonment.

The police say they need the information demanded on Form 696, which runs to eight pages, so they can pinpoint which acts and venues attract troublemakers, and make sure venues are safe.

(Incremental governmental intrusion into free speech/expression in our daily lives...coming soon to our shores? -Roland)

More>>>

View Article  China’s officials debate renminbi convertibility


Comments from senior Chinese officials are rarely, if ever, made without an intention to signal a message of some sort. So, it is perhaps surprising that Ms Wu’s comments on November 19 at a Beijing seminar have not been more widely discussed.

Wu, who was a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) until earlier this year, said that the renminbi should become an international reserve currency in tandem with its full convertibility, reflecting a renewed interest in loosening control of the currency as the country becomes more deeply integrated in the world financial system. She said it was difficult to find an alternative reserve currency but added that the renminbi was ready to become an international currency to replace the dollar.

More>>>


China lectures US on economy

More>>>

View Article  Jewish mother killed in Mumbai attacks 'was pregnant'... and her son, 2, may have been beaten by militants


The Jewish mother murdered in the brutal Mumbai terror attacks last week was six month pregnant, her father revealed today at her funeral.

And Rivkah Holtzberg's two-year-old son, Moshe, may have been beaten by the militants, reports have claimed.

His back was covered in bruises consistent with abuse, the chairman of Zaka, Israel's ultraorthodox recovery service, told Sky News.

More>>>

View Article  Mumbai: Deadly Media Euphemisms


THE international media have already morphed the horrific slaughter in Mumbai into the murky realm of euphemism and apologetics.

Al Jazeera and The Guardian label the terrorists "gunmen"; CNN calls them "militants." Some analysts identified the underlying cause as the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. Psychological guru Deepak Chopra called it the result of "collateral damage" from the US war on terrorism and the Iraq war.

One cameraman who saw armed police refusing to open fire on the Mumbai terrorists lamented that he didn't have a gun instead of a camera. Yet what the world desperately needs today is not armed media, but reporters brave enough to tell the truth

More>>>

View Article  Some people seem to misunderstand which country was invaded


This question has been pushed to the center in large degree by a fierce, multimillion-dollar Russian PR campaign that hinges on leaked, very partial, and misleading reports from a military observer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that claimed Georgia responded militarily in South Ossetia without sufficient provocation by Russia. Judging from recent media coverage, this campaign has been successful.

More>>>

View Article  Mumbai terrorists were 'funded by cash raised in UK mosques'


A banned Islamic terrorist group funded with cash raised in British mosques is believed to be behind the Mumbai attacks.

Kashmiri separatists Lashkar-e-Taiba, ‘The Army of the Righteous’, which has strong links to Al Qaeda, is accused of previous terrorist outrages in India.

And intercepted telephone and radio communications before and during the latest attacks apparently suggest a link

More>>>

View Article  Tolerating intolerance


THE involvement of Britons among the terrorists responsible for the murders of more than 150 people in Mumbai last week signals another milestone in the march of multiculturalism and the failure of Western and democratised nations to deal with Islamists.

In the mosques of London, leaders like Anjem Choudary, right-hand man to the hate-filled cleric Omar Bakri, were praising the killers, saying any Britons or Americans among the dead were targeted legitimately because they should not have gone to India....From the shores of Somalia to the cells of Guantanamo, the West is in confused retreat, its politicians too concerned about appearing to be in breach of international civil rights covenants than they are about the safety of their citizens.

More>>>

View Article  IBD: The Spread Of Nihilism's Bloody Stain


War On Terror: The terrorist assault on Mumbai is the latest clash between civilization and nihilism. From the Somali pirates to the Taliban, this is what the world would be like without America. Mumbai (formerly Bombay) now joins London, Madrid, Bali, Casablanca, Baghdad, Fallujah, Washington, D.C., New York and a field in Pennsylvania as battlefields in the war on terror. The motives and the identity of the perpetrators are not clear, but they don't really...

More>>>

View Article  Why Did the Bush State Department Forbid the Use of the Word 'Jihad' Last April?
View Article  NYT: A Fiery Czech Is Poised to Be the Face of Europe


In the 1980s, a Communist secret police agent infiltrated clandestine economics seminars hosted by Vaclav Klaus, a fiery future leader of the Czech Republic, who had come under suspicion for extolling free market virtues. Rather than reporting on Marxist heresy, the agent was most struck by Mr. Klaus’s now famous arrogance.

“His behavior and attitudes reveal that he feels like a rejected genius,” the agent noted in his report, which has since been made public. “He shows that whoever does not agree with his views is stupid and incompetent.”

Decades later, Mr. Klaus, the 67-year-old president of the Czech Republic — an iconoclast with a perfectly clipped mustache — continues to provoke strong reactions. He has blamed what he calls the misguided fight against global warming for contributing to the international financial crisis, branded Al Gore an “apostle of arrogance” for his role in that fight, and accused the European Union of acting like a Communist state.

Now the Czech Republic is about to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union and there is palpable fear that Mr. Klaus will embarrass the world’s biggest trading bloc and complicate its efforts to address the economic crisis and expand its powers.

More>>>

View Article  China state media blast new Guns N' Roses album


In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

The album "turns its spear point on China," the article said...The Global Times article referred only to the title of the album and not to specific song lyrics. The record's title track makes a reference to the Falun Gong meditation movement that was banned by China as an "evil cult" and warns "if your Great Wall rocks blame yourself," in an apparent message to the country's authoritarian government.

Songs from the album could be heard on Internet sites such as YouTube and the band's MySpace page on Monday and it was not immediately possible to tell whether China's Internet monitors were seeking to block access to it.

More>>>

View Article  Venezuela's "Democratically-Elected" Thug Prepared to Put Tanks in the Steets if Next Elections Don't Go His Way


The man that Christopher Dodd loves referring to as 'democratically-elected' is prepared to start bringing the tanks to the streets to preserve his revolutionary agenda if tomorrow's elections don't go his way...

Video>>>


Chavez sees power base crumble in Venezuelan elections

More>>>

View Article  Michael Yon: In Time of War


Whatever else, Mr. President-elect, this is no time to go wobbly. It is important to note that some top British and U.S. commanders believe that we can make a “success” out of Afghanistan. We’ve learned a few things over the past seven years. We’ve truly got a “dream-team” of military commanders with great in-theater experience, to advise and guide the next phase. They saved Iraq. Use them well, Sir.

(H/T to Pedro)

More>>>

View Article  Why Europe is secretly afraid of a socialist America


Suppose you've been living under the protective wings of a benevolent superpower for sixty years. And suppose you've used that big half century to take off on an endless vacation -- spending all your tax money to buy votes for the socialist Ruling Class. It's been one long, grand, drug-infested, sex-drenched, self-indulgent, tabloid party scene...But now you see your guardian superpower electing a guy who wants to follow your example. Whooops!

More>>>

View Article  Bin Laden 'cut off from al-Qaeda'


The CIA says Osama Bin Laden is isolated from the day-to-day operations of al-Qaeda, but that the organisation is still the greatest threat to the US.

CIA director Michael Hayden said the Saudi militant was probably hiding in the tribal area of north-west Pakistan.

More>>>

View Article  First fuzzy photos of planets outside solar system


Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers. The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away — three of them orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star.

(With 16 cool photos at the article)

More>>>

View Article  Aide to France's Sarkozy Reveals Putin Wanted to Hang Georgian President 'By the ...'


Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from a threat by Vladimir Putin to depose him from power and "hang him by the balls," according to an account that emerged today from the Elysée Palace.

The Russian Prime Minister told the French President of his plans for deposing the Tbilisi government and disposing of President Saakashvili when the French leader was in Moscow last August to broker a cease-fire in Georgia.

More>>>

View Article  Special Ops Rescue American Hostage in Nighttime Raid in Afghanistan


An American engineer held hostage by Islamic militants in Afghanistan was freed in a daring nighttime raid by a Special Operations team last month, a rare move in a country where hostages often pay ransoms — or don't come home at all.

A team of about 30 special operators composed mostly of Navy SEALs flew into the mountains outside Kabul on October 14 to retrieve the 61-year-old American businessman, killing his captors and returning him to safety after nearly two months in captivity, according to an account in the Army Times.

More>>>

View Article  Since the Election....


Saloon member 'Truthache' gives us an idea of what lies on the horizon in the Obama Presidency. Since the election, in two short days, the following things have already happened...

Rockets fired on Israel, Putin and the threat of a New Cold War and a Clinton Hack (so much for 'Change') as Chief of Staff... how much worse does it get?   more »
View Article  Iran welcomes Obama victory, warns US forces


FTA- "Iranian officials on Wednesday welcomed Barack Obama's victory in US presidential elections, calling it a sign of failure of President George W Bush's policies and Americans' demand for essential changes."

Wow... America's enemies love Barack Obama... color me shocked...

More>>>

View Article  Russia welcomes President-Elect Obama by stationing missiles near Poland


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged on Wednesday to station new missiles near Poland's border in response to U.S. plans for an anti-missile system and proposed extending the presidential term to six years from four.

In an assertive first annual address to the nation, he defended Russia's war with Georgia, appealed to nationalism and attacked Washington's "selfish" foreign policy and "economic blunders" which he said caused the global financial crisis.

More>>>

View Article  The NY Times Concedes Guantanamo's Realities


Well, well, well. On the eve of the election, along comes the once great New York Times to tell us what most of us have already known and have been saying for years:

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said they would close the detention camp, but the review of the government’s public files underscores the challenges of fulfilling that promise. The next president will have to contend with sobering intelligence claims against many of the remaining detainees.

“It would be very difficult for a new president to come in and say, ‘I don’t believe what the C.I.A. is saying about these guys,’ ” said Daniel Marcus, a Democrat who was general counsel of the 9/11 Commission and held senior positions in the Carter and Clinton administrations.


No, they're not choir boys and we can't just let them go. How a President McCain or President Obama wil deal with them, whether by way of the military tribunal process or civil court system, after many, many months of heavy-handed political campaign rhetoric on the issue, will be of enormous importance to national, if not global, security.

The article>>>

View Article  America's Last Will and Testament


On the eve of the presidential election, I have a few last thoughts I’d like to share. First off, I keep hearing people say they don’t know Barack Obama. Oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever known a presidential candidate nearly so well...I know that he believes in the Marxist principle of sharing the wealth, and I know that doesn’t refer to his own wealth, but to everybody else’s.

More>>>