U.S. Naval Update Map: June 23, 2010 | STRATFOR
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Matthews: Capitalism Is To Blame For BP Oil Spill
Capatalism is to blame for the BP spill...then is it responsible for the disaster know as Chris Matthews?
Oliver Stone latest film flops
Stone is a known leftist propagandist and his adoring films on Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro show that. But his luck seems to be finally running out.
And I have no doubt a liberal senator will request 100 million to buy this crap.
Oliver Stone’s Hugo Chavez Film Flops in Venezuela
While Venezuelan media outlets that criticize Hugo Chavez’s regime get the duct tape treatment, Oliver Stone is out seeking to promote a movie that lionizes the autocrat....Now he’s got a lefty documentary called “South of the Border” that heralds Hugo....Surprise, surprise — the beleaguered citizens of Venezuela decided not show up to watch the whitewash of their so-called president.
Many of the theaters were reportedly empty. During the first 12 days of the movie’s release, it brought in only $18,601 on 20 screens, according to Global Rentrak. That’s what Venezuelans refer to as La Bomba...
Stone shouldn’t worry too much, though. “South of the Border” is sure to be a big hit with Marxist professors, socialist union bosses, and the 13 people who still tune in to MSNBC.
And I have no doubt a liberal senator will request 100 million to buy this crap.
Never irritate a woman who can operate a backhoe...
Thus endeth the lesson.
Women are Angels...And when someone breaks our wings...
We simply continue to fly....on a broomstick...
We are flexible like that...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
I got one question...what is the big deal?
So someone spray painted the term “HUSTLER” over B Hussein Obama’s face, next to a picture of the Unabomber. OK, what is so outrageous? Protester have screamed George HW Bush started the first Gulf War for money, that George W Bush stated the Iraq War for Halliburton or Reagan wanted a to nuke the Soviet Union because he was insane. Now a unqualified man-child convinces a majority of the voting public he knows what he is doing and the last 18 months have show that to be a fallacy. I think hustler would be an appropriate term. Per www.dictionary.com; Hustler: Slang . a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler.
Fraudulent or unscrupulous….good descriptions of the man-child Barry Obama. I don’t see how this shows any racism but that won’t stop the usual suspects:
Defaced image of President Obama placed next to picture of Unabomber on toolbox at Bronx firehouse
Again I ask, what is the big deal? B Hussein Obama was called something but it wasn't racist or anything....or was it?
Got it....hustler is vulgar or offensive material material...I guess the estate of Jackie Gleason should return his Academy Award. The we have the usual suspects to always rely on:
OK Mr. Coombs can you show me how the term hustler is racist? Anyone? Anyone?
Fraudulent or unscrupulous….good descriptions of the man-child Barry Obama. I don’t see how this shows any racism but that won’t stop the usual suspects:
Defaced image of President Obama placed next to picture of Unabomber on toolbox at Bronx firehouse
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
June 21st 2010
A Bronx firehouse is feeling the heat after officials discovered an image of President Obama was painted on a toolbox - and then defaced with the word "hustler."
An iconic picture of the President above the word "BELIEVE" appears to have been
stenciled on a large toolbox visible inside Engine 45, Ladder 58 in East Tremont.
Right across Obama's face is the word "HUSTLER" in big red letters.
And underneath the image, someone scrawled "Allah Akbar" - "God is great" in Arabic -in black ink.
Lt. Kenneth Durante refused to comment on the images when questioned at the firehouse Monday.
Again I ask, what is the big deal? B Hussein Obama was called something but it wasn't racist or anything....or was it?
..."This matter is under investigation," said FDNY spokesman Jim Long....
On an adjacent panel of the toolbox was the famous police sketch of the Unabomber and words that had been covered with black tape until only "ET ME" was visible.
The images are a direct violation of FDNY rules that prohibit firefighters from displaying vulgar or offensive material in the firehouse or on their lockers.
Got it....hustler is vulgar or offensive material material...I guess the estate of Jackie Gleason should return his Academy Award. The we have the usual suspects to always rely on:
The president of the Vulcan Society, the organization of black firefighters, said he was disappointed that the image was on display.
But he said he was not surprised.
"Racism is alive and well in America, and the Fire Department is evidence of that,"
John Coombs said.
"Whoever the supervisors are, they need to be suspended, and real examples made [of them]."
"The day it went up, it should have been taken down," he added.
"It's anti-Fire Department policy . . . we're fighting institutional racism, but it's actually deeper than that, it's cultural," Coombs said.
OK Mr. Coombs can you show me how the term hustler is racist? Anyone? Anyone?
Not a typical police injury from Chicago
Man accused of dragging Chicago cop
Prosecutors say the cop was dragged down the street from the window of a pickup truck
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — An northwest Indiana man was charged with aggravated battery of a peace officer and driving under the influence, as well as other charges, after a Chicago Police officer was dragged down the street from the window of a pickup truck, prosecutors allege.
Rogue Dooley, 37, of Gary, was pulled over by an officer on a bicycle for making an illegal U-turn in the 3200 block of South Lake Shore Drive shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, a police report says.
As the officer leaned into the car, Dooley allegedly pretended to reach for his driver's license, then slammed the truck into gear and sped off.
The officer's arm was trapped and he was dragged up to 30 feet, the report says. He suffered a fractured collarbone and leg and back injuries, though his bike helmet reportedly prevented more serious injury.
Hopefully het gets many moons in IL prison for this....
Monday, June 21, 2010
North Korea gets its ass kicked...by Portugal
Portugal Beats North Korea in 7-0 Rout
I would really not want to be the coach of the NK team...good chance he will die by an accident...
By JONATHAN CLEGG
CAPE TOWN — In a World Cup full of surprises, here's another shock: Portugal scored a goal.
Make that seven.
On a rain-soaked afternoon on South Africa's Western Cape, Portugal ended its goal drought in spectacular style, sweeping to a 7-0 win over North Korea — the highest score of the tournament so far — and grabbing a commanding position to qualify out of Group G.
I would really not want to be the coach of the NK team...good chance he will die by an accident...
Officer Down
Officer Thomas Philip Coleman
California Highway Patrol
End of Watch: Friday, June 11, 2010
Age: 33
Tour of Duty: 7 years, 8 months
Badge Number: 17338
Cause of Death: Vehicle pursuit
Date of Incident: Friday, June 11, 2010
Officer Thomas Coleman was killed in a motorcycle accident while pursuing a traffic violator he was attempting to stop in Redlands.
At 6:30 am, Officer Coleman was traveling northbound on Mountain View, just north of Interstate 10, when his motorcycle collided with a semitrailer at the intersection of San Bernardino Avenue and Alabama Street approximately one minute into the pursuit. The vehicle he was pursuing crashed into another vehicle moments later and all four occupants were apprehended.
Officer Coleman succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officer Coleman had served with the California Highway Patrol for over 7½ years and was assigned to the San Bernardino Area of the Inland Division. He was a US Marine Corps veteran. Officer Coleman is survived by his wife, 2-year-old son, 8-month-old daughter, brother, three sisters and parents.
Rest in Peace Bro…We’ll Continue The Watch
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
Usefull Idiots supporting B Hussein Obama
On The Right
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - Investors.com
Hopefully the country is waking up Dr Sowell
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - Investors.com
By THOMAS SOWELL
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.
Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.
But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
Hopefully the country is waking up Dr Sowell
Mark Steyn does it again
Gulf War Three - Mark Steyn - National Review Online
Great article worth the few minutes it takes to read. But he describes B Hussein Obama perfectly in the first two paragraphs.
I was drawn to the point made by of all people Maureen Dowd.
My answer to that Maureen is Mr Spock from the alternative universe in Mirror, Mirror, "I do not desire the captaincy. I much prefer my scientific duties. I am frankly content to be a lesser target."
In English Maureen, the cool, calm, and credentialed chaps are great specalist, but they don't belong sitting in the center seat.
Great article worth the few minutes it takes to read. But he describes B Hussein Obama perfectly in the first two paragraphs.
Gulf War Three
Thank goodness, the president has directed BP to order up some new tackle and connect it to the thingummy next to the whachamacallit.
I believe it was Jean Giraudoux who first said, “Only the mediocre are always at their best.”
Barack Obama was supposed to be the best, the very best, and yet he is always, reliably, consistently mediocre. His speech on oil was no better or worse than his speech on race. Yet the Obammyboppers who once squealed with delight are weary of last year’s boy band. At the end of the big Oval Office address, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and the rest of the MSNBC gang jeered the president. For a bewildered Obama, it must have felt like his Ceausescu balcony moment. Had they caught up with him in the White House parking lot, they’d have put him up against the wall and clubbed him to a pulp with Matthews’s no longer tingling leg....
I was drawn to the point made by of all people Maureen Dowd.
...The Times’s Maureen Dowd deplored his “bloodless quality” and “emotional detachment.” This is the same Maureen Dowd who in 2009 hailed the new presidency with a column titled “Spock At The Bridge” — and she meant it as a compliment. Back then, this administration was supposed to be the new technocracy — cool, calm, and credentialed chaps who would sit down, use their mighty intellects to provide a rigorous, post-partisan, forensic analysis of the problem, and then break for their Vanity Fair photo shoot.
My answer to that Maureen is Mr Spock from the alternative universe in Mirror, Mirror, "I do not desire the captaincy. I much prefer my scientific duties. I am frankly content to be a lesser target."
In English Maureen, the cool, calm, and credentialed chaps are great specalist, but they don't belong sitting in the center seat.
Two reports that show how incompetent B Hussein Obama is in Econ 101
Now, what is B Hussein Obama doing on the economy:
Let's look at someone who want their economy to get moving.
Great....the Russians are better capitalist than we are.
U.S.: Obama Tells G-20 To Seal Economic Recovery
June 18, 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama asked the G-20 to work closely “to safeguard and strengthen” the recovery of the global economic system, AP reported June 18. Noting in a letter that “significant weaknesses” linger among the major and developing economic powers, Obama said the June 25-27 summit should focus on efforts to stabilize public debt. He said nations must be careful about withdrawing stimulus programs too quickly during slack demand and general business sluggishness. Washington is committed to the restoration of fiscal sustainability, he stated, adding that all G-20 countries should have credible, growth-friendly plans to restore sustainable public finances.
Let's look at someone who want their economy to get moving.
Russia: Capital Gains Tax Scrapped On Foreign Investors
June 18, 2010
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said starting next year Russia will scrap the capital gains tax on long-term foreign investment to attract more investment, AP reported June 18. He acknowledges that Russia will need an “investment boom” to get its oil-and-gas based economy on track. Medvedev also told a major business forum that Russia would cut the number of strategic enterprises fivefold to allow for partial foreign ownership of these companies.
Great....the Russians are better capitalist than we are.
Shelby Steele makes a great point
Another great article on the gutlessness of the West, the fact Israel is alone again, Anti-Semitism is becoming fashionable today and the fact that it’s surprising a known Anti-Semite like Helen Thomas was so close to another known Anti-Semite, aka B Hussein Obama. But the man reminded me a piece of recent history. Again, worth the full read.
Israel and the Surrender of the West
Got it, Israel is South Africa at its worse...I wonder if these same artists will boycott Russia, or Argentina or Cuba..excuse, at least two of those are fashionable tyrannies.
I remember that pathetic attempt of Bubba Clinton to win the Nobel Prize. He pushed the Israeli PM to give up land for peace. If Israel had accepted it, they would have had war with less land to protect itself with. But Bubba’s attempt was based on narcissism…his want for applause and that worthless prize. Not the hatred the left has for Israel.
Israel and the Surrender of the West
One of the world's oldest stories is playing out before our eyes: The Jews are being scapegoated again
The most interesting voice in all the fallout surrounding the Gaza flotilla incident is that sanctimonious and meddling voice known as "world opinion." At every turn "world opinion," like a school marm, takes offense and condemns Israel for yet another infraction of the world's moral sensibility. And this voice has achieved an international political legitimacy so that even the silliest condemnation of Israel is an opportunity for self-congratulation.
Rock bands now find moral imprimatur in canceling their summer tour stops in Israel (Elvis Costello, the Pixies, the Gorillaz, the Klaxons). A demonstrator at an anti-Israel rally in New York carries a sign depicting the skull and crossbones drawn over the word "Israel." White House correspondent Helen Thomas, in one of the ugliest incarnations of this voice, calls on Jews to move back to Poland. And of course the United Nations and other international organizations smugly pass one condemnatory resolution after another against Israel while the Obama administration either joins in or demurs with a wink...
Got it, Israel is South Africa at its worse...I wonder if these same artists will boycott Russia, or Argentina or Cuba..excuse, at least two of those are fashionable tyrannies.
In other words, my hatred is my self-esteem. This must have much to do with why Yasser Arafat rejected Ehud Barak's famous Camp David offer of 2000 in which Israel offered more than 90% of what the Palestinians had demanded. To have accepted that offer would have been to forgo hatred as consolation and meaning. Thus it would have plunged the Palestinians—and by implication the broader Muslim world—into a confrontation with their inferiority relative to modernity. Arafat knew that without the Jews to hate an all-defining cohesion would leave the Muslim world. So he said no to peace.
I remember that pathetic attempt of Bubba Clinton to win the Nobel Prize. He pushed the Israeli PM to give up land for peace. If Israel had accepted it, they would have had war with less land to protect itself with. But Bubba’s attempt was based on narcissism…his want for applause and that worthless prize. Not the hatred the left has for Israel.
B Hussein Obama's stabs another ally in the back
I've often said I can't see how Jews in this country vote for Democrats as they are the worst enemy Israel has in this country. As the Boss Man of the Democrats, Obama has shown how to cuddle up to some of the worse human on earth (Hugo Chavez come to mind) and assaults our greatest allies. David Horowitz & Jacob Laksin have an excellent article on Israel and how Obama and the UN are going against her. A bit long but worth the read.
Obama and the War against Israel
Enough said about how worthless an organization the United Nations has become.
What was problem Little Joe, AKA the dumbest man to every serve in the senate. You think you should be taken seriously...you said yourself that the job of VP isn't that hard.
Hey Jack, in the screwed up mind of B Hussein Obama Netanyahu is the Third World dictator...he only leads the most advanced country (and only democracy) in the Middle East. He can't tolerate that. Other insults:
Obama for some reason see no problem with Iranians launching a nuclear attack against a people that have seen six million people die in the course of another madman's direct orders...and he thinks they will stop with Israel. The Saudi's have already told the Israel's the will not challenge the IDF when it flies against Iran. Good to know the Saudi's are based in reality...too bad Washington isn't.
Obama and the War against Israel
If President Obama had been trying to undermine Israel’s security — and ours — he could hardly have done a better job.
No other country in the world faces an array of existential threats such as the nation of Israel confronts daily. The world’s only Jewish state is also its most precarious. Geographically tiny, Israel is surrounded by theocracies that reject its very existence as a “nakba” — a catastrophe — and call for its destruction. To carry out this malignant ambition, anti-Israel Islamists have mobilized three rocket-wielding armies, sworn to wipe Israel from the face of the earth.
First and most aggressive among them is the Gaza-based Hamas, a fanatical religious party committed in its official charter to obliterating Israel and killing its Jews. Hamas is the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, the inspirer of al-Qaeda and the global Islamic jihad, whose official motto declares: “Death in the service of Allah is our highest aspiration.” In Gaza, Hamas has created a terrorist state and a national death cult whose path is martyrdom and whose goal is openly proclaimed: “O, our children: The Jews — brothers of the apes, assassins of the prophets, bloodsuckers, warmongers — are murdering you, depriving you of life after having plundered your homeland and your homes. Only Islam can break the Jews and destroy their dream.”
Given that hatred for Jews is the animating passion of the Hamas militants, their response to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 was not surprising. Far from greeting this as a gesture of peace, Hamas regarded the Israeli withdrawal as a surrender to its terrorist attacks and an opportunity to escalate them. In the days and months following the withdrawal, Hamas launched 6,500 unprovoked rocket strikes on towns and schoolyards in Israel before the Israelis decided to strike back.
... Hezbollah’s sponsor, the totalitarian — and soon to be nuclear — state of Iran, that presents the most disturbing threat to Israel’s existence. Its blood-soaked dictators have been targeting Israel for destruction since 1979, when Iran became an Islamic republic and its theocratic ruler, the Ayatollah Khomeini, identified Israel and America as “the Little Satan” and “the Great Satan.” Its former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has publicly announced his support for nuclear war against the Jewish state, reasoning that since Iran is more than 70 times the size of Israel, it could survive a nuclear exchange while Israel could not.
Iran’s current leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has also called for America and Israel to be “wiped from the map” — and there was no dissent from the other 56 Islamic states that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
...Where, indeed, does the international community stand in the face of this brazen preparation to bring about a second Holocaust of the Jews? Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Arab states have conducted three unprovoked, aggressive conventional wars against it, along with a continuous terrorist war that began in 1949. Yet between 1948 and 2004 there were 322 resolutions in the U.N. General Assembly condemning the victim, Israel, and not one that condemned an Arab state.
...The U.N.’s most notorious assault on Israel was the Goldstone Report, which was commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council in September 2009 and which condemned Israel’s belated response to the unprovoked Hamas rocket attacks...Relying on the testimony of Hamas terrorists, the Goldstone Report charged that Israel had deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians and had committed war crimes in Gaza. Outside the precincts of the Islamic propaganda machine, however, Israel’s record is in fact that of a nation that is extraordinarily protective of enemy civilians. In testimony ignored by the Goldstone Report, for example, Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, stated: “During Operation Cast Lead [the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks], the Israel Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.” Hamas, by contrast, is notorious for building military headquarters under hospitals, for placing its military forces in refugee camps, and for using women and children as “human shields” to deter attacks. Hamas’s rockets are known to be so inaccurate they cannot be directed against military targets; they can only be used effectively against civilians. In addition, since Hamas’s war against Israel was a response to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal, it was a criminal aggression responsible for all the subsequent casualties, something the Goldstone Report and the U.N. Human Rights Council conveniently overlooked.
The Human Rights Council was created in 2006. In its first year, the council listed only one country in the entire world as violating human rights: Israel.
Enough said about how worthless an organization the United Nations has become.
...For decades now, Israel has been isolated and alone in the community of nations, with one crucial exception. That exception has been the United States, ...
Until now.
In the words of a recent Reuters dispatch, “Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations, where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation. The subtle but noticeable shift in the U.S. approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in U.S.-Israel relations in years.”
This change first became apparent during an official visit to Jerusalem by Vice President Biden earlier this year. On March 9, the vice president arrived for a dinner at the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nearly two hours late. His tardiness was not accidental but a calculated diplomatic slight — specifically, a punishment for Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 new homes in a predominantly Jewish section of East Jerusalem. The vice president was embarrassed by the announcement’s being made during his visit. In fact, the announcement was a routine step, the fourth in a seven-stage bureaucratic approval process for new construction. While its timing might be construed as inopportune, the building of homes in a Jewish neighborhood in Israel’s capital city was hardly an issue that should have created any sort of problem, let alone caused a rupture between allies.
What was problem Little Joe, AKA the dumbest man to every serve in the senate. You think you should be taken seriously...you said yourself that the job of VP isn't that hard.
...Whereas Israel’s housing announcement was made without Netanyahu’s knowledge, Washington’s response was dictated by President Obama. When the prime minister arrived in the United States for a meeting with the president that same month, there was no ceremony in the White House Rose Garden and no posing before press cameras — the usual goodwill gestures afforded visiting heads of friendly nations.
The reception in private was at least as cold. When Netanyahu arrived at the White House for what he thought was going to be a dinner with the president, Obama unceremoniously presented him with a list of demands — including that Israel cease all housing construction in East Jerusalem — and curtly abandoned his guest to have dinner with his wife and daughters in the White House residential wing. As Obama left the meeting room, he informed his stunned visitors that he would “be around” should the prime minister change his mind. As the Israeli press reported afterwards, “There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage.” Washington Post columnist and Middle East expert Jackson Diehl was even more blunt, writing that “Netanyahu is being treated [by Obama] as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator.”
Hey Jack, in the screwed up mind of B Hussein Obama Netanyahu is the Third World dictator...he only leads the most advanced country (and only democracy) in the Middle East. He can't tolerate that. Other insults:
....One of the first interviews Obama gave as president, in January 2009, was to the Dubai-based television network Al-Arabiya. In it, Obama effectively offered an apology to the Arab world for alleged American misdeeds.
...In April 2009, he visited Turkey, a NATO ally that was rapidly — and alarmingly — becoming an Islamist state. Addressing its parliament, he hailed Turkey as a “true partner” and suggested that it was the United States that had been the faithless friend. In a not-so-oblique attack on President Bush, Obama expressed his regret for the “difficulties of these last few years,” referring to a strain in relations caused by Turkey’s refusal to allow American troops to deploy from Turkish soil during the war in Iraq.
In his review of past grievances, Obama did not mention the millions of Muslims — including Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza — who had cheered the 9/11 attacks on the United States by Islamic fanatics.
...Obama used the occasion of his Turkish visit to break with the U.S. policy of treating countries that harbor terrorists as hostile nations...Obama now assured his listeners in Turkey and throughout the Muslim world that their governments no longer had to choose between America and al-Qaeda. “America’s relationship with the Muslim world,” Obama said, “cannot and will not be based on opposition to al-Qaeda.”
...The Obama administration’s pressure on Israel to give up its settlements and to concede that its capital is disputed terrain feeds the inherent racism of the Arab cause and undermines Israel’s ability to resist the genocidal campaign against it. Such pressure cannot promote peace negotiations when the other party is openly dedicated to Israel’s destruction and has already shown that it will reject even the most generous offers of peace.
Obama for some reason see no problem with Iranians launching a nuclear attack against a people that have seen six million people die in the course of another madman's direct orders...and he thinks they will stop with Israel. The Saudi's have already told the Israel's the will not challenge the IDF when it flies against Iran. Good to know the Saudi's are based in reality...too bad Washington isn't.
NY Puke, err Times, does it again
No matter how stupid you believe something is in the NY Times, they can write something even more stupid. Case in point:
Hum...educators and other professionals...i.e. idiots. Again I go back to a fact I like to point out....being educated doesn't mean your intelligent.
MS Laycob, let me ask you...do you have a really special friend you talk to when the day is really bad...someone you know will call you when they have a really screwed up day? If you don't that's really sad....get a real life. And stop trying to keep these kids from having a life.
Ms Laycob, maybe you should worry about teaching little Johnny can read and write, not if he and little Keven spend more time together than they spend with Big Chuck and Tina Barry.
Hate to tell you, there will always be bullying...you can't stop that.
"Friendship coaches"...pardon me while I puke.
But such an attitude worries some psychologists who fear that children will be denied the strong emotional support and security that comes with intimate friendships.
“Do we want to encourage kids to have all sorts of superficial relationships? Is that how we really want to rear our children?” asked Brett Laursen, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University whose specialty is peer relationships. “Imagine the implication for romantic relationships. We want children to get good at leading close relationships, not superficial ones.”
Really close relationships...little girls and boys not learning how to interact and the social skills that came with growing up normal. But at least a "friendship coaches" will be able to justify his worthless employment.
A Best Friend? You Must Be Kidding
FROM the time they met in kindergarten until they were 15, Robin Shreeves and her friend Penny were inseparable. ...
Today, Ms. Shreeves, of suburban Philadelphia, is the mother of two boys. Her 10-year-old has a best friend. In fact, he is the son of Ms. Shreeves’s own friend, Penny. But Ms. Shreeves’s younger son, 8, does not.,,,
One might be tempted to feel some sympathy for the younger son. After all, from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, the childhood “best friend” has long been romanticized in literature and pop culture — not to mention in the sentimental memories of countless adults.
But increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend?
Hum...educators and other professionals...i.e. idiots. Again I go back to a fact I like to point out....being educated doesn't mean your intelligent.
...the classic best-friend bond — the two special pals who share secrets and exploits, who gravitate to each other on the playground and who head out the door together every day after school — signals potential trouble for school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints of exclusivity, in part because of concerns about cliques and bullying.
“I think it is kids’ preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults — teachers and counselors — we try to encourage them not to do that,” said Christine Laycob, director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. “We try to talk to kids and work with them to get them to have big groups of friends and not be so possessive about friends.”
MS Laycob, let me ask you...do you have a really special friend you talk to when the day is really bad...someone you know will call you when they have a really screwed up day? If you don't that's really sad....get a real life. And stop trying to keep these kids from having a life.
“Parents sometimes say Johnny needs that one special friend,” she continued. “We say he doesn’t need a best friend.”
Ms Laycob, maybe you should worry about teaching little Johnny can read and write, not if he and little Keven spend more time together than they spend with Big Chuck and Tina Barry.
That attitude is a blunt manifestation of a mind-set that has led adults to become ever more involved in children’s social lives in recent years. The days when children roamed the neighborhood and played with whomever they wanted to until the streetlights came on disappeared long ago, replaced by the scheduled play date. While in the past a social slight in backyard games rarely came to teachers’ attention the next day, today an upsetting text message from one middle school student to another is often forwarded to school administrators, who frequently feel compelled to intervene in the relationship. (Ms. Laycob was speaking in an interview after spending much of the previous day dealing with a “really awful” text message one girl had sent another.) Indeed, much of the effort to encourage children to be friends with everyone is meant to head off bullying and other extreme consequences of social exclusion.
Hate to tell you, there will always be bullying...you can't stop that.
As the calendar moves into summer, efforts to manage friendships don’t stop with the closing of school. In recent years Timber Lake Camp, a co-ed sleep-away camp in Phoenicia, N.Y., has started employing “friendship coaches” to work with campers to help every child become friends with everyone else. If two children seem to be too focused on each other, the camp will make sure to put them on different sports teams, seat them at different ends of the dining table or, perhaps, have a counselor invite one of them to participate in an activity with another child whom they haven’t yet gotten to know.
“I don’t think it’s particularly healthy for a child to rely on one friend,” said Jay Jacobs, the camp’s director. “If something goes awry, it can be devastating. It also limits a child’s ability to explore other options in the world.”
"Friendship coaches"...pardon me while I puke.
But such an attitude worries some psychologists who fear that children will be denied the strong emotional support and security that comes with intimate friendships.
“Do we want to encourage kids to have all sorts of superficial relationships? Is that how we really want to rear our children?” asked Brett Laursen, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University whose specialty is peer relationships. “Imagine the implication for romantic relationships. We want children to get good at leading close relationships, not superficial ones.”
Really close relationships...little girls and boys not learning how to interact and the social skills that came with growing up normal. But at least a "friendship coaches" will be able to justify his worthless employment.
Another great idea from California
From my friend Darren at RotLC, another great idea from a democrat (of course) in California
OK...cell phones, radios, cd's, mp3 players, kids screamings, other persons in the car talking to you, looking up directions on the map/GPS system, drinking coffee, billboards on the side of the road and other advertising....let's add another distraction. Also, if you believe any money generated by this is going to be put to reducing the budget deficet you really do belive that Obamacare will reduce cost whilte increasing coverage.
In California, license plates might go electronic
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As electronic highway billboards flashing neon advertisements become more prevalent, the next frontier in distracted driving is already approaching - ad-blaring license plates.
The California Legislature is considering a bill that would allow the state to begin researching the use of electronic license plates for vehicles. The move is intended as a moneymaker for a state facing a $19 billion deficit.
The device would mimic a standard license plate when the vehicle is in motion but would switch to digital ads or other messages when it is stopped for more than four seconds, whether in traffic or at a red light. The license plate number would remain visible at all times in some section of the screen.
In emergencies, the plates could be used to broadcast Amber Alerts or traffic information.
The bill's author, Democratic Sen. Curren Price of Los Angeles, said California would be the first state to implement such technology if the state Department of Motor Vehicles ultimately recommends the widespread use of the plates. He said other states are exploring something similar.
....
The DMV would be required to submit its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2013.
The bill has received no formal opposition. It passed unanimously through the Senate last month and is scheduled to be heard Monday by the Assembly Transportation Committee....
OK...cell phones, radios, cd's, mp3 players, kids screamings, other persons in the car talking to you, looking up directions on the map/GPS system, drinking coffee, billboards on the side of the road and other advertising....let's add another distraction. Also, if you believe any money generated by this is going to be put to reducing the budget deficet you really do belive that Obamacare will reduce cost whilte increasing coverage.
What's going on in the World Today 100621
USA
U.S.: Lakehurst Naval Base Lockdown Update
June 21, 2010
The U.S. Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, New Jersey, has been on lockdown since 9:15 a.m. local time as a manhunt for two men is under way, The Trentonian reported June 21. New Jersey state police, a SWAT team and federal officers are looking for a man who climbed the naval station’s fence and a FedEx truck driver allegedly carrying a .38 handgun who drove onto the base but did not deliver a package.
June 21, 2010
The Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, N.J., is no longer on lockdown, AP reported June 21. Reported sounds of gunfire and a delivery driver with a gun initially prompted an hour-long lockdown at the base. The driver was trying to enter the base at the main gate rather than the commercial gate, which is where most delivery drivers know to go, the official said. This incident, along with reports of the sound of gunfire, triggered the lockdown. An official from the base said there were no injuries and no real danger.
EUROPE
NSTR
IRAN
Iran: 2 Billion Euro Bond Sale For Chemical Industry
June 21, 2010
Iran will issue bonds worth 2 billion euros ($2.48 billion) to help finance the development of the country’s petrochemical industry, Reuters reported June 21, citing the Iranian Oil Ministry.
Iran: IAEA Inspectors Barred From Nuclear Facilities
June 21, 2010
The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran bars two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors from visiting its nuclear facilities due to presentation of false information and disclosure of official data, ISNA reported June 21. Salehi referred to the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna and said two inspectors presented false reports on Iran’s nuclear activities since they disclosed information before it was examined officially and provided media with false information on Iran’s nuclear work. Salehi said Iran is working on a “water pool reactor” with fuel plates for production of medicines.
Iran: Denies U.S. Assertion Its Missiles Menace Europe
June 19, 2010
Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on June 19 denied U.S. assertions that Iranian missiles pose a threat to Europe, adding that Washington was spreading propaganda, Reuters reported. Vahidi accused U.S. counterpart Robert Gates of engaging in “psychological warfare” when he said on June 17 that U.S. intelligence showed Iran had “scores or even hundreds” of missiles it could use against Europe. Vahidi said Iran’s missile capability has been designed to defend itself against military aggression and does not pose a threat to any country.
IRAQ
Iraq: Anger Over Power Cuts Leads To Violence
June 19, 2010
A protest over electricity shortages in oil-rich southern Iraq turned violent when police opened fire to disperse the crowd June 19, killing one protester, AP reported. More than 3,000 protesters marched through Basra, carrying banners and chanting angry slogans. But the protest turned violent when demonstrators started throwing stones and advanced on the Basra provincial council building, setting fire to a guard’s cabin. Hospital and police officials said one man was killed and three others wounded.
ISRAEL
June 21, 2010
The United States is “concerned” about Israeli plans to move ahead on a project that entails the demolition of Arab homes in Jerusalem, AFP reported June 21, citing a U.S. State Department spokesman. The spokesman said this undermines the trust that is necessary to make progress in proximity talks and negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and that the United States has had several conversations with Israel on the matter.
Israel: East Jerusalem Construction Plan Needs Further Approval
June 21, 2010
A Jerusalem city spokesman on June 21 announced zoning approval for a plan to build an Israeli tourist center in the al-Bustan area of Silwan neighborhood, East Jerusalem, AP reported. Construction would require razing 22 Palestinian homes built without permits to make way for 1,000 Israeli homes, Reuters reported June 21. The project cannot begin without Interior Ministry approval, which could take months to obtain. A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that since the project is in its preliminary stages, he hopes an agreement between the government and those affected by the project can be reached.
Israel: PNA Denounces Settlement Building In Jerusalem
June 21, 2010
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) denounced Israeli settlement construction in Jerusalem on June 21, Xinhua reported. Israeli bulldozers leveled large plots in Beit Hanina, Shuafat and Hezma in East Jerusalem in order to build 600 new settlements, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.
Israel: Opposition Dropped For Renewed Settlement Building
June 21, 2010
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed discussion on the construction freeze for months but will not oppose a new initiative and may even support it, Haaretz reported June 21. The Likud Central Committee will meet on June 24 to discuss the freeze on construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and is expected to approve a proposal that settlement construction be promoted. This time Netanyahu will not oppose the initiative.
Israel: Navy On Alert For Lebanese Ships
June 20, 2010
The Israeli navy is on high alert for two ships that may sail from Lebanon in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported June 20, citing an Israeli military source. The source said Israel is monitoring the status of the ships, which are reportedly carrying women and medical supplies and have not yet departed from Lebanon. Defense officials said the navy will operate under the assumption that militants or provocateurs are aboard the ships, and will take extra precautions if it needs to stop them.
Israel: New Procedures To Ease Gaza Blockade Announced
June 20, 2010
Israel announced new procedures June 20 to ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Israel will publish a new list of banned items such as weapons and materials that can be used to construct them, but all other goods will be allowed to enter Gaza. Netanyahu announced the plan with Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair. Under the plan, Israel will allow construction material to enter Gaza for projects including schools, sanitation, water and health facilities approved by the Palestinian Authority and supervised by international organizations. Israel will reserve the right to ban “dual use” construction materials that could be used to build weapons, and will increase operations at border crossings to allow more goods into Gaza. The statement also said Israel will consider opening more crossings if calm persists on the Israel-Gaza border.
Israel: Attacks From West Bank 'Inevitable' - Hamas Official
June 20, 2010
Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said rocket attacks on Israel from the West Bank in addition to the Gaza Strip are “inevitable,” according to an interview Zahar gave to East Jerusalem newspaper Al-Quds on June 20. In the interview, Zahar also criticized the Palestinian Authority for fighting against the resistance to Israel, adding that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement seized power in the West Bank with the help of Israel, and that Hamas had not seized power in Gaza. Zahar said Abbas has received nothing from the international community, and that Arab states had severed ties with Hamas to avoid a conflict with the United States
Israel: Warns Lebanon Aid Ships
June 19, 2010
Israel has told the United Nations that it will use “all necessary means” to stop ships from Lebanon from carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported June 19. Gabriela Shalev, Israel’s UN ambassador, also called on the Lebanese government to stop the ships from leaving. Shalev said that while the organizers of a small number of ships planning to sail from Lebanon said they wished to take aid to Gaza, “the true nature of their actions remains dubious.”
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan: Oil Tender Process To Begin
June 21, 2010
Afghanistan will initiate an oil tender process in July or August, Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said June 21, Reuters reported. Shahrani will meet oil executives in London this week to talk about the tender process. Afghanistan has an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of oil reserves, 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves and 600 million barrels of gas condensate, Shahrani said. The Kashkari oil block in northwest Afghanistan will be tendered, following by the larger block in the Afghan-Tajik basin in 2011. Shahrani added that the hydrocarbon law is being revised “to make it even more transparent and market friendly.”
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Venezuela: Bankers Assets May Be Seized
June 17, 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government may seize the assets of an opponent whose bank was taken over by regulators, and warned that might include Banco Federal owner Nelson Mezerhane’s minority ownership stake in Globovision, an anti-government television channel, AP reported June 17. Chavez stated that the government will begin seizing apartments or other properties “if the owners of the bank don’t show up.” Chavez said government authorities also want to discuss the issue with Globovision’s majority owner Guillermo Zuloaga. If they don’t have anything to fear, let them appear and respond before the courts, Chavez said.
MISC
Morocco: Radical Islamist Cell Broken Up
June 21, 2010
Moroccan security forces broke up a Palestinian-led radical Islamist cell that was planning militant attacks in Morocco, according to the official news agency MAP, Reuters reported June 21. The group, which had 11 members, followed a jihadist radical Islam strain, MAP reported, quoting a statement from the Moroccan Interior Ministry.
Kyrgyzstan: State Of Emergency Extended
June 20, 2010
Kyrgyzstan has extended the state of emergency in the southern city of Osh and other nearby areas through June 25, Xinhua reported June 20. The state of emergency, which was imposed by the interim government following ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, was also extended in nearby Uzgen, Kara-Suu and the Aravan district. Government forces also began removing barricades in Osh on June 20, and faced no resistance. The state of emergency was set to expire June 20.
Kyrgyzstan: CSTO Will Not Deploy Peacekeepers
June 18, 2010
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) announced it will not send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan but may send security specialists, Radio Free Europe reported June 18. CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha suggested the security specialists could be used to track down those behind the violence in Kyrgyzstan but did not provide any further details.
Kyrgyzstan: Russian Troops Requested To Guard Strategic Sites
June 18, 2010
Kyrgyzstans interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said Russian troops will be sent to guard strategic sites in Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported June 18. A Russian Defense Ministry source said that Russia has received a request for troops but has not yet reached a decision about the matter, RIA Novosti reported. A Kremlin source said that Russian soldiers have been sent to Kyrgyzstan to protect a military base.
Kyrgyzstan: Death Toll Nears 2,000
June 17, 2010
The real death toll from interethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan has exceeded 1,800, nearly 10 times higher than the official figures, according to a secret service source, Russia’s RIA Novosti reported June 17. Following local customs, many families bury their dead on the first day before the sunset, the source stated, adding that because of the collapse of local administrative bodies there is no one to report casualties. In some places entire families died in the clashes and no one could report on their deaths, the source said.
The two below may require you to ask for your email...they may be hitting you up for a subscription.
A Week in the War: Afghanistan, June 9-15, 2010 | STRATFOR
A Week in the War: Afghanistan, June 9-15, 2010 | STRATFOR
Kyrgyzstan: The CSTOs Stabilization Plan | STRATFOR
Kyrgyzstan: The CSTO's Stabilization Plan | STRATFOR
U.S.: Lakehurst Naval Base Lockdown Update
June 21, 2010
The U.S. Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, New Jersey, has been on lockdown since 9:15 a.m. local time as a manhunt for two men is under way, The Trentonian reported June 21. New Jersey state police, a SWAT team and federal officers are looking for a man who climbed the naval station’s fence and a FedEx truck driver allegedly carrying a .38 handgun who drove onto the base but did not deliver a package.
June 21, 2010
The Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, N.J., is no longer on lockdown, AP reported June 21. Reported sounds of gunfire and a delivery driver with a gun initially prompted an hour-long lockdown at the base. The driver was trying to enter the base at the main gate rather than the commercial gate, which is where most delivery drivers know to go, the official said. This incident, along with reports of the sound of gunfire, triggered the lockdown. An official from the base said there were no injuries and no real danger.
EUROPE
NSTR
IRAN
Iran: 2 Billion Euro Bond Sale For Chemical Industry
June 21, 2010
Iran will issue bonds worth 2 billion euros ($2.48 billion) to help finance the development of the country’s petrochemical industry, Reuters reported June 21, citing the Iranian Oil Ministry.
Iran: IAEA Inspectors Barred From Nuclear Facilities
June 21, 2010
The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran bars two International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors from visiting its nuclear facilities due to presentation of false information and disclosure of official data, ISNA reported June 21. Salehi referred to the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna and said two inspectors presented false reports on Iran’s nuclear activities since they disclosed information before it was examined officially and provided media with false information on Iran’s nuclear work. Salehi said Iran is working on a “water pool reactor” with fuel plates for production of medicines.
Iran: Denies U.S. Assertion Its Missiles Menace Europe
June 19, 2010
Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi on June 19 denied U.S. assertions that Iranian missiles pose a threat to Europe, adding that Washington was spreading propaganda, Reuters reported. Vahidi accused U.S. counterpart Robert Gates of engaging in “psychological warfare” when he said on June 17 that U.S. intelligence showed Iran had “scores or even hundreds” of missiles it could use against Europe. Vahidi said Iran’s missile capability has been designed to defend itself against military aggression and does not pose a threat to any country.
IRAQ
Iraq: Anger Over Power Cuts Leads To Violence
June 19, 2010
A protest over electricity shortages in oil-rich southern Iraq turned violent when police opened fire to disperse the crowd June 19, killing one protester, AP reported. More than 3,000 protesters marched through Basra, carrying banners and chanting angry slogans. But the protest turned violent when demonstrators started throwing stones and advanced on the Basra provincial council building, setting fire to a guard’s cabin. Hospital and police officials said one man was killed and three others wounded.
ISRAEL
June 21, 2010
The United States is “concerned” about Israeli plans to move ahead on a project that entails the demolition of Arab homes in Jerusalem, AFP reported June 21, citing a U.S. State Department spokesman. The spokesman said this undermines the trust that is necessary to make progress in proximity talks and negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and that the United States has had several conversations with Israel on the matter.
Israel: East Jerusalem Construction Plan Needs Further Approval
June 21, 2010
A Jerusalem city spokesman on June 21 announced zoning approval for a plan to build an Israeli tourist center in the al-Bustan area of Silwan neighborhood, East Jerusalem, AP reported. Construction would require razing 22 Palestinian homes built without permits to make way for 1,000 Israeli homes, Reuters reported June 21. The project cannot begin without Interior Ministry approval, which could take months to obtain. A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that since the project is in its preliminary stages, he hopes an agreement between the government and those affected by the project can be reached.
Israel: PNA Denounces Settlement Building In Jerusalem
June 21, 2010
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) denounced Israeli settlement construction in Jerusalem on June 21, Xinhua reported. Israeli bulldozers leveled large plots in Beit Hanina, Shuafat and Hezma in East Jerusalem in order to build 600 new settlements, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.
Israel: Opposition Dropped For Renewed Settlement Building
June 21, 2010
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed discussion on the construction freeze for months but will not oppose a new initiative and may even support it, Haaretz reported June 21. The Likud Central Committee will meet on June 24 to discuss the freeze on construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and is expected to approve a proposal that settlement construction be promoted. This time Netanyahu will not oppose the initiative.
Israel: Navy On Alert For Lebanese Ships
June 20, 2010
The Israeli navy is on high alert for two ships that may sail from Lebanon in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported June 20, citing an Israeli military source. The source said Israel is monitoring the status of the ships, which are reportedly carrying women and medical supplies and have not yet departed from Lebanon. Defense officials said the navy will operate under the assumption that militants or provocateurs are aboard the ships, and will take extra precautions if it needs to stop them.
Israel: New Procedures To Ease Gaza Blockade Announced
June 20, 2010
Israel announced new procedures June 20 to ease the blockade of the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Israel will publish a new list of banned items such as weapons and materials that can be used to construct them, but all other goods will be allowed to enter Gaza. Netanyahu announced the plan with Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair. Under the plan, Israel will allow construction material to enter Gaza for projects including schools, sanitation, water and health facilities approved by the Palestinian Authority and supervised by international organizations. Israel will reserve the right to ban “dual use” construction materials that could be used to build weapons, and will increase operations at border crossings to allow more goods into Gaza. The statement also said Israel will consider opening more crossings if calm persists on the Israel-Gaza border.
Israel: Attacks From West Bank 'Inevitable' - Hamas Official
June 20, 2010
Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said rocket attacks on Israel from the West Bank in addition to the Gaza Strip are “inevitable,” according to an interview Zahar gave to East Jerusalem newspaper Al-Quds on June 20. In the interview, Zahar also criticized the Palestinian Authority for fighting against the resistance to Israel, adding that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement seized power in the West Bank with the help of Israel, and that Hamas had not seized power in Gaza. Zahar said Abbas has received nothing from the international community, and that Arab states had severed ties with Hamas to avoid a conflict with the United States
Israel: Warns Lebanon Aid Ships
June 19, 2010
Israel has told the United Nations that it will use “all necessary means” to stop ships from Lebanon from carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported June 19. Gabriela Shalev, Israel’s UN ambassador, also called on the Lebanese government to stop the ships from leaving. Shalev said that while the organizers of a small number of ships planning to sail from Lebanon said they wished to take aid to Gaza, “the true nature of their actions remains dubious.”
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan: Oil Tender Process To Begin
June 21, 2010
Afghanistan will initiate an oil tender process in July or August, Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said June 21, Reuters reported. Shahrani will meet oil executives in London this week to talk about the tender process. Afghanistan has an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of oil reserves, 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves and 600 million barrels of gas condensate, Shahrani said. The Kashkari oil block in northwest Afghanistan will be tendered, following by the larger block in the Afghan-Tajik basin in 2011. Shahrani added that the hydrocarbon law is being revised “to make it even more transparent and market friendly.”
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Venezuela: Bankers Assets May Be Seized
June 17, 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government may seize the assets of an opponent whose bank was taken over by regulators, and warned that might include Banco Federal owner Nelson Mezerhane’s minority ownership stake in Globovision, an anti-government television channel, AP reported June 17. Chavez stated that the government will begin seizing apartments or other properties “if the owners of the bank don’t show up.” Chavez said government authorities also want to discuss the issue with Globovision’s majority owner Guillermo Zuloaga. If they don’t have anything to fear, let them appear and respond before the courts, Chavez said.
MISC
Morocco: Radical Islamist Cell Broken Up
June 21, 2010
Moroccan security forces broke up a Palestinian-led radical Islamist cell that was planning militant attacks in Morocco, according to the official news agency MAP, Reuters reported June 21. The group, which had 11 members, followed a jihadist radical Islam strain, MAP reported, quoting a statement from the Moroccan Interior Ministry.
Kyrgyzstan: State Of Emergency Extended
June 20, 2010
Kyrgyzstan has extended the state of emergency in the southern city of Osh and other nearby areas through June 25, Xinhua reported June 20. The state of emergency, which was imposed by the interim government following ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, was also extended in nearby Uzgen, Kara-Suu and the Aravan district. Government forces also began removing barricades in Osh on June 20, and faced no resistance. The state of emergency was set to expire June 20.
Kyrgyzstan: CSTO Will Not Deploy Peacekeepers
June 18, 2010
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) announced it will not send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan but may send security specialists, Radio Free Europe reported June 18. CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha suggested the security specialists could be used to track down those behind the violence in Kyrgyzstan but did not provide any further details.
Kyrgyzstan: Russian Troops Requested To Guard Strategic Sites
June 18, 2010
Kyrgyzstans interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said Russian troops will be sent to guard strategic sites in Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported June 18. A Russian Defense Ministry source said that Russia has received a request for troops but has not yet reached a decision about the matter, RIA Novosti reported. A Kremlin source said that Russian soldiers have been sent to Kyrgyzstan to protect a military base.
Kyrgyzstan: Death Toll Nears 2,000
June 17, 2010
The real death toll from interethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan has exceeded 1,800, nearly 10 times higher than the official figures, according to a secret service source, Russia’s RIA Novosti reported June 17. Following local customs, many families bury their dead on the first day before the sunset, the source stated, adding that because of the collapse of local administrative bodies there is no one to report casualties. In some places entire families died in the clashes and no one could report on their deaths, the source said.
The two below may require you to ask for your email...they may be hitting you up for a subscription.
A Week in the War: Afghanistan, June 9-15, 2010 | STRATFOR
A Week in the War: Afghanistan, June 9-15, 2010 | STRATFOR
Kyrgyzstan: The CSTOs Stabilization Plan | STRATFOR
Kyrgyzstan: The CSTO's Stabilization Plan | STRATFOR
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
One of Dallas PD's not so finest moments
This is a modified video from Youtube...shows the whole incident with some commentary.
Would cops take a drunk cop home to help a buddy out. Oh yes we would. Do cops do stupid things on booze? Yes, like everyone else. But this goes beyond stupid. Suffice to say he career is over...thank God no one got hurt.
20/20 hindsight, maybe it would have been better if the boyfriend had sat in the back with her to calm her down. At least he could have stopped her from getting her gun from her holster. But the bigger question. Why the hell did she pull her piece? Did she think she was going to make a run for the border or something?
Would cops take a drunk cop home to help a buddy out. Oh yes we would. Do cops do stupid things on booze? Yes, like everyone else. But this goes beyond stupid. Suffice to say he career is over...thank God no one got hurt.
20/20 hindsight, maybe it would have been better if the boyfriend had sat in the back with her to calm her down. At least he could have stopped her from getting her gun from her holster. But the bigger question. Why the hell did she pull her piece? Did she think she was going to make a run for the border or something?
I wonder if they take out of state volunteers
All I can say is good riddance to bad garbage. An appropriate method but I would have preferred hanging.
I wonder if the shooters got comp time for it? :)
Utah cops volunteer for firing squad duty
Five executioners, all police officers who volunteered for the task, stood behind a wall cut with a gunport, and were armed with .30-caliber Winchester rifles
A death row inmate who had used a gun to fatally shoot two men suffered the same fate Friday morning as he was executed by a team of marksmen - the first time Utah used the firing squad to carry out a death sentence in 14 years.
A barrage of bullets tore into Ronnie Lee Gardner's chest where a target was pinned over his heart. Two minutes later an ashen Gardner, blood pooling in his dark blue jumpsuit, was pronounced dead at 12:17 a.m.
He was the third man to die by firing squad since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976....
The five executioners, certified police officers who volunteered for the task and remain anonymous, stood about 25 feet away, behind a wall cut with a gunport, and were armed with matching .30-caliber Winchester rifles. One was loaded with a blank so no one knows who fired the fatal shot. Sandbags stacked behind Gardner's chair kept the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room.
Utah Department of Corrections Director Thomas Patterson said the countdown cadence went "5-4-3..." with the sooters starting to fire at the count of 2....
The execution process was set in motion in March when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Gardner's attorney to review the case. On April 23, state court Judge Robin Reese signed a warrant ordering the state to carry out the death sentence.
At that hearing, Gardner politely declared, "I would like the firing squad, please."
I wonder if the shooters got comp time for it? :)
Friday, June 18, 2010
The best in service class I've ever had
I just got back from what was probably the best in-service class I’ve had in my twelve years in the department. Active Shooter.
The class is based on a Columbine High School scenario where someone is going in the building shooting, people, using bombs, etc. Our job is to isolate, distract and neutralize the threat.
In the first day and a half we train on clearing a room, hall way or building and handling threats in there. After lunch on day two we get to have fun. They break the class into teams and we get to play with simulated rounds (see below). The training pistols fire 9mm rounds with soap on them. They can sting and leave a mark (blue is good guys, red bad guys) but it was fun and showed you if you got hit or if you got the bad guy. I even got to be a bad guy in one of the scenarios…they got me once! :)
The building we used was an abandoned convent and we were sure it was haunted. The SGT showed us the old swimming pool and I said this place looks like a Freddie Kruger movie. He mentioned he had been in the basement and it looked just like Freddie’s place, including the furnace. Later I remembered a great quote from Moe Howard from the Three Stooges that kinda put the location in perspective: “This is a swell place for a murder.”
During the after action review a sergeant with over 35 years on put it best, “Originally I didn’t want to come here and now I want to do it again.”
Here are some of the unfired training rounds
Here is the swimming pool...this place is haunted...but at least it had AC!
The bad guys got me twice, the good guys got me once. The blue hit was from a scenario where I was a bad guy. When I got hit by the instructor (red hits) he made the point "calm down, fifty fired rounds don't help if they don't hit the target"
Fired rounds, the brass and the ammo.
The class is based on a Columbine High School scenario where someone is going in the building shooting, people, using bombs, etc. Our job is to isolate, distract and neutralize the threat.
In the first day and a half we train on clearing a room, hall way or building and handling threats in there. After lunch on day two we get to have fun. They break the class into teams and we get to play with simulated rounds (see below). The training pistols fire 9mm rounds with soap on them. They can sting and leave a mark (blue is good guys, red bad guys) but it was fun and showed you if you got hit or if you got the bad guy. I even got to be a bad guy in one of the scenarios…they got me once! :)
The building we used was an abandoned convent and we were sure it was haunted. The SGT showed us the old swimming pool and I said this place looks like a Freddie Kruger movie. He mentioned he had been in the basement and it looked just like Freddie’s place, including the furnace. Later I remembered a great quote from Moe Howard from the Three Stooges that kinda put the location in perspective: “This is a swell place for a murder.”
During the after action review a sergeant with over 35 years on put it best, “Originally I didn’t want to come here and now I want to do it again.”
Here are some of the unfired training rounds
Here is the swimming pool...this place is haunted...but at least it had AC!
The bad guys got me twice, the good guys got me once. The blue hit was from a scenario where I was a bad guy. When I got hit by the instructor (red hits) he made the point "calm down, fifty fired rounds don't help if they don't hit the target"
Fired rounds, the brass and the ammo.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The feds are really helping down in Louisiana
Good to know B Hussein Obama and his gang are doing everything to plug the hole.
Governor, you know the feds don't like it when you get something that works...goes against justifing their worthless existance. Now why you ask did the Coast Guard stop this? Well, this was serious business.
You know it takes a leader to say "No, do what you got to do to get the job done...I'll take the heat." Jindal is showing leadership...the feds are showing why they need to be neutered this fall. God please let this be the last Congress run by Pelosi and Reid.
BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard
Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore....
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.
"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.
"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil....'"
Governor, you know the feds don't like it when you get something that works...goes against justifing their worthless existance. Now why you ask did the Coast Guard stop this? Well, this was serious business.
But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.
You know it takes a leader to say "No, do what you got to do to get the job done...I'll take the heat." Jindal is showing leadership...the feds are showing why they need to be neutered this fall. God please let this be the last Congress run by Pelosi and Reid.
What's going on in the World Today 100617
USA
June 16, 2010
Anthony Todd Saxon, a civilian arrested while impersonating a master sergeant at Fort Gordon, was in possession of several grenades, night vision devices, a laser targeting device and a land mine, AP reported June 16. A military spokesman said authorities did not consider the case to be a terrorist threat and federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint stating the Saxon was trying to steal Army-issued laser sights for military rifles.
EUROPE
Ethnic Uzbeks seized the largest oil depot in southern Kyrgyzstan and have threatened to blow it up unless the interim government allows for their safe departure, The Telegraph reported June 16. The Uzbeks have constructed barricades around the depot, which stores most of the oil distributed to the region. Kyrgyz military forces, including armored personnel carriers, were positioned to retake the facility. The Uzbeks have requested Russian or international security forces to escort them, claiming they do not trust Kyrgyz security forces
A rifle battalion of 300 Kyrgyz reservists has been deployed “to ensure a state of emergency regime in Osh,” according to a statement from the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry, Interfax reported June 16. The troops are from Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions and will replace interior troops guarding strategic facilities. The statement says the battalion will also conduct patrols during the curfew and secure roadblocks.
June 17, 2010
About 400,000 people have been uprooted as a result of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, U.N. Humanitarian Office spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said June 17, AP reported. Byrs said roughly 300,000 people have left their homes but remain inside Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5.3 million. About 100,000 people have fled to Uzbekistan, she added.
IRAN
June 16, 2010
Iran is designing a new nuclear reactor to make radio isotopes that will be “more powerful” than those from its existing Tehran research facility, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, AFP reported June 16. Iran’s plan is to commission several reactors in the north, south, east and the west of the country to produce radio isotopes for sale and export to the regional and Islamic countries that need them, Salehi said.
IRAQ
June 16, 2010
Iran is estimated to have deployed thousands of soldiers to the border region between Iraq, Turkey and Iran, according to a STRATFOR source in Iraq on June 16. The source said Iranian forces, along with heavy weapons and helicopters, have been spotted in the Kurdish villages of Bardu Naz, Xrna and Tapai Kurdina, Iraq, for more than a week, and that noticeable numbers of additional troops have been deployed to the area on a near-daily basis.
ISRAEL
June 16, 2010
Turkish group the Foundation for the Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH) has told European Parliament members that another aid flotilla will be sent to the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reported June 16. International media has been invited to inspect the ships’ goods prior to departure in the second half of July to “demonstrate their commitment to total transparency,” according to the group. The IHH has assembled six ships and encouraged others to join.
June 17, 2010
Lebanon will be responsible if a “violent and dangerous confrontation” occurs between Israel and an aid ship expected to depart from Lebanon for Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said June 17, AFP reported. Barak said Beirut must prevent the loading of “weapons, ammunition, explosive materials” and other things that could lead to confrontation. Lebanon is responsible for ships leaving its ports “which have the clear and stated intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza,” Barak said.
AFGHANISTAN
June 17, 2010
Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth is worth at least $3 trilllion, as opposed to the $1 trillion previously estimated, Pajhwok news agency reported June 16. The Afghan Mines Ministry conducted a study alongside the United States Geological Survey, the results of which will be used to establish an information center after they are given to the Afghan government. The Ministry of Mines has completed a strategic plan that will be discussed during Shahrani’s weeklong U.K. trip the week of June 20.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
MISC
June 16, 2010
Anthony Todd Saxon, a civilian arrested while impersonating a master sergeant at Fort Gordon, was in possession of several grenades, night vision devices, a laser targeting device and a land mine, AP reported June 16. A military spokesman said authorities did not consider the case to be a terrorist threat and federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint stating the Saxon was trying to steal Army-issued laser sights for military rifles.
EUROPE
Ethnic Uzbeks seized the largest oil depot in southern Kyrgyzstan and have threatened to blow it up unless the interim government allows for their safe departure, The Telegraph reported June 16. The Uzbeks have constructed barricades around the depot, which stores most of the oil distributed to the region. Kyrgyz military forces, including armored personnel carriers, were positioned to retake the facility. The Uzbeks have requested Russian or international security forces to escort them, claiming they do not trust Kyrgyz security forces
A rifle battalion of 300 Kyrgyz reservists has been deployed “to ensure a state of emergency regime in Osh,” according to a statement from the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry, Interfax reported June 16. The troops are from Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions and will replace interior troops guarding strategic facilities. The statement says the battalion will also conduct patrols during the curfew and secure roadblocks.
June 17, 2010
About 400,000 people have been uprooted as a result of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, U.N. Humanitarian Office spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said June 17, AP reported. Byrs said roughly 300,000 people have left their homes but remain inside Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5.3 million. About 100,000 people have fled to Uzbekistan, she added.
IRAN
June 16, 2010
Iran is designing a new nuclear reactor to make radio isotopes that will be “more powerful” than those from its existing Tehran research facility, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said, AFP reported June 16. Iran’s plan is to commission several reactors in the north, south, east and the west of the country to produce radio isotopes for sale and export to the regional and Islamic countries that need them, Salehi said.
IRAQ
June 16, 2010
Iran is estimated to have deployed thousands of soldiers to the border region between Iraq, Turkey and Iran, according to a STRATFOR source in Iraq on June 16. The source said Iranian forces, along with heavy weapons and helicopters, have been spotted in the Kurdish villages of Bardu Naz, Xrna and Tapai Kurdina, Iraq, for more than a week, and that noticeable numbers of additional troops have been deployed to the area on a near-daily basis.
ISRAEL
June 16, 2010
Turkish group the Foundation for the Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH) has told European Parliament members that another aid flotilla will be sent to the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reported June 16. International media has been invited to inspect the ships’ goods prior to departure in the second half of July to “demonstrate their commitment to total transparency,” according to the group. The IHH has assembled six ships and encouraged others to join.
June 17, 2010
Lebanon will be responsible if a “violent and dangerous confrontation” occurs between Israel and an aid ship expected to depart from Lebanon for Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said June 17, AFP reported. Barak said Beirut must prevent the loading of “weapons, ammunition, explosive materials” and other things that could lead to confrontation. Lebanon is responsible for ships leaving its ports “which have the clear and stated intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza,” Barak said.
AFGHANISTAN
June 17, 2010
Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said Afghanistan’s untapped mineral wealth is worth at least $3 trilllion, as opposed to the $1 trillion previously estimated, Pajhwok news agency reported June 16. The Afghan Mines Ministry conducted a study alongside the United States Geological Survey, the results of which will be used to establish an information center after they are given to the Afghan government. The Ministry of Mines has completed a strategic plan that will be discussed during Shahrani’s weeklong U.K. trip the week of June 20.
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
MISC
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