June 2009 Archives

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6605062.ece

As the post-election crisis in Iran enters its third week, one thing is clear: the oxymoron that was the Islamic Republic is already dead.

If the radical faction led by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, wins the power struggle, Iran will drop its "republican" pretensions to become an Islamic emirate or an imamate. But if the opposition wins, the theocratic aspect of the regime will end, allowing Iran to become a normal republic in which power belongs to the people.

For 30 years, Iran has suffered from a split personality: trying to remain faithful to the late Ayatollah Khomeini's ersatz version of Islam while pretending to have a people-based system of government.

The moment of truth for the death of the Islamic Republic came when Ayatollah Khamenei broke with tradition and declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the victor in the election even before the polls had closed. Over the past two weeks he has ignored demands for a rerun of the controversial election or even a complete recount of the votes, insisting that Mr Ahmadinejad is President not because the people elected him but because the Supreme Leader says so.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_train_derailed_22

VIAREGGIO, Italy - Elia Quiroz was about to go to bed in his home near the railroad station in this Tuscan seaside town when the train rumbled by. His kitchen table started shaking.

"Then I heard an explosion and I went outside," the 32-year-old Italian recalled. "I saw flames as high as 30, 40 meters, and I ran."

A gas-filled train derailed while traveling through a downtown neighborhood around midnight Monday, catching residents in their sleep, and setting off a massive explosion that killed at least 14 people and injured dozens of others, most with severe burns.

Death toll figures seesawed on Tuesday, but the Civil Protection eventually put the official count at 14 dead and three missing after the body of a woman was found in her crumbled home. Some 35 of the 50 injured had suffered severe burns.

As rescuers searched through the rubble for survivors, unions and consumer groups denounced what they said is the poor safety record and aging infrastructure of Italy's rail system and questioned sending highly explosive cargo through an inhabited area.

The 14-car train was traveling from the northern city of La Spezia to Pisa when part of the convoy derailed as it passed Viareggio's station.

A car filled with liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, sprung a leak and all it took then was a spark to cause an explosion that collapsed five buildings and set fire to a vast area. Homes crumbled or burned, killing residents as they slept.

The Marines have always been excellent warriors and Americans have always been fast learners. General Erwin Rommel told his Furher that the Americans will lose their first battles, and then win constantly after that. It was true. At least it is if I remember the quote right.

All the great generals who have studied military history know that the Americans will be able to win a conventional war and most know that they can win an unconventional war. The only way to win against American military is to change the political parameters.

It worked in Korea and Vietnam, it is working in the War on Terrorism.

Until the politicians quit, the military will keep kicking butt. against all comers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSSP463281

DESERT OF DEATH, Afghanistan, June 28 (Reuters) - After five years coping with the most dangerous province in Iraq, the U.S. Marines have been given their next assignment: the most dangerous province in Afghanistan.

But this time around, they say they will talk a little more and shoot a little less.

"We spent so much time in Iraq learning from our mistakes," said Corporal Mahmoud Awada, a 21-year-old Lebanese-American Marine from Utah, who spent the second half of 2007 and early 2008 in Anbar west of Baghdad.

"We learned that we can't just go around kicking down doors because that won't work. In Iraq, what really helped us win over there, make the situation better, was gaining the trust of the people, becoming friends with them."

The Marines that have arrived in recent weeks in Afghanistan's wild southern Helmand province are a different force from the Marines who blasted their way into Anbar.

Back then, the Marines were still learning the art of counter-insurgency warfare.

What a shock that The One's change means that a country that has helped the US fight against Saddam and the Taliban is now being insulted. Hope and change means that our allies hope they are not going to be changed to enemies while the enemies are changed to friends.

http://menewsline.com/article-3897-Obama-Endangers-Ties-With-Qatar.aspx

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The administration of President Barack Obama was said to be endangering U.S. relations with Qatar.
A report by a U.S. analyst on the Arab world has warned that the
administration was reducing ties with Qatar and threatening the Gulf
Cooperation Council emirate. Webster Brooks, a senior fellow at the Center
for New Politics and Policy, asserted that the White House has been dismayed
by Qatar's support for Hamas and Iran.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102370

As WND reported, colmado_naranja's original listing claimed, "President Barack Hussein Obama II was born in The Coast Provincial Hospital at Mombasa in Kenya at 7:24 p.m. on August 4, 1961."

The seller, who according to the eBay rankings has completed dozens of transactions on the behemoth auction site without difficulties, further said this birth certificate is the real deal, obtained while he was traveling in Kenya.

"Kenyans were amused at how gullible Americans could be when it came to obvious things like the fact that Kenyans overtly admit to Barack Jr.'s Kenyan birth, yet the Americans continue to believe that they know better," colmado_naranja wrote. "I delved further and found that a birth certificate was on file at The Coast Provincial General Hospital at Mombasa."

I love the way that military medical care is being translated to help others in emergency care. New tech is always exciting to me and lifesaving tech is even cooler.

This could be really cool. Even better, Muslims and racists will refuse to use it because it was developed by Jews. What have the Muslims invented lately? Even the suicide bomber, which seems like an Islamist trademark, is really from Sri Lanka. Oh well.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184872965&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull


An Israeli biotechnology company is working with the army to turn blood from newly enlisted soldiers into a freeze-dried powder - like coffee - and send it with them to the battlefield. If those soldiers are ever wounded, water could be added to produce their own blood instantly and create a lifesaving infusion.

Leading the research is Core Dynamics, a Ness Ziona firm active in the research and development of unique freezing, thawing and freeze-drying technologies for application in blood transfusion, cell preservation and tissue and organ transplantation.

OC Medical Corps Brig.-Gen. Dr. Nachman Ash announced the work at the IDF's medical training center in Tzrifin on Wednesday, in his first-ever briefing for health reporters.

If the idea proves itself, it could also have applications in civilian life.

Ash, an internal medicine specialist who entered his current post almost two years ago, also said that a Technion-Israel Institute of Technology professor developed for the IDF a compact, portable device with ceramic pipes that produces oxygen in the field for treating wounded soldiers, replacing heavy gas tanks that have to be carried around.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=101983

Google Inc. spends quite a lot of time burnishing its self-created image as a "green" company - largely on the basis of the solar array at its corporate headquarters. It is also trying to build support for the administration's cap-and-trade "energy" bill by pretending that solar energy can substitute for hydrocarbon, nuclear and hydroelectric energy.

Google states that its multimillion-dollar solar array has generated sufficient electricity over the past two years to run 5,158 coffee makers for one hour each day. Google does not mention, however, that this solar array supplies insufficient electricity to run Google's search engine computers for even one minute per day and that the coffee makers, if supplied with solar panels to operate them, would cost approximately $1,500 each.

Google claims that its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters buildings are paved with 1.6 megawatts (Mw) of solar panels. This installation was completed in June 2007, about the same time as the Nellis Air Force Base 14 Mw, $100 million solar panel installation that "energy expert" Obama - who is now attempting to seize control of the energy industries of the United States - visited recently and advertised as an example of his administration's plans for America.

As of June 21, 2009, Google reports that it has generated 4,592,364 kilowatt (Kw) hours of electricity with this installation, or about 2.29 gigawatt (Gw) hours per year. Nellis reports 30.1 Gw hours per year. So, Nellis is producing 25 percent of its advertised quantity and Google is producing 16 percent. The apparent 75 percent and 84 percent losses arise because the sun does not shine 24 hours per day and because these installations are routinely overrated. In fact, the Google installation actually generates, on average, only 0.26 megawatts - not 1.6 megawatts (1 Gw = 1,000 Mw = 1,000,000 Kw).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093586.html

At the end of the day and after all the speeches, the Palestinian state - and with it the State of Israel - will rise or fall on Jerusalem, the most legitimate and greatest Israeli settlement ever. This is the field where the battle should be conducted. This is where our chances are good of explaining our right and its implementation, from King David's time to 1948 and the Six-Day War, without stammering and without apologizing.

When it comes to Jerusalem, there is no need to mention either natural growth or natural development; what is at stake is nature itself, the nature of our connection to this city and the realization of the right that is rooted in our religion, our history, and 2,000 years of memory and longing, during which the Jewish presence in Jerusalem never ceased to exist.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528105,00.html

Sarkozy: France 'Cannot Accept' Burqas

Monday, June 22, 2009

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PARIS -- President Nicolas Sarkozy said the Muslim burqa would not be welcome in France, calling the full-body religious gown a sign of the "debasement" of women.

In the first presidential address to parliament in 136 years, Sarkozy faced critics who fear the burqa issue could stigmatize France's Muslims and said he supported banning the garment from being worn in public.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said to extended applause at the Chateau of Versailles, southwest of Paris.

"The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement -- I want to say it solemnly," he said. "It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

This is too stupid for words. The EU now says that murderers have a right to life, but not infants. I want to see them guarentee a right to life to a person dying of cancer. Or a right to life to a person who has been decapitated in a car wreck. Anyone who dies in the EU should sue the EU post mortem, through a will or family members, because of the EUs lack of proper care and safety measures that allowed the person to have their civil right to life taken away.

The lawyers have been constantly infringing upon the battlefield. Every few weeks it seems that another ruling has come down to restrict the rights of the soldiers and commanders in combat. Too bad these rules only apply to the Western armies, since the other combatants don't care about stupid rules anyway. When the ACLU and other communist legal organizations start sueing the terrorists, or even condemning them, then I will believe that they are in it for the principle and not the destruction of Western Civilization.

Until then, I am going to hide here in my house, water my lawn, go golfing and shooting, and blog about the collapse of the Western values.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20090621.aspx

Lawyers Seek To Control The Battlefield
June 21, 2009: Recently, a British appeals court ruled that military commanders could be sued (usually by a family member) if someone died while in service, and the plaintiffs believed the death was the result of command error. The ruling is based on the fact that Britain, as a member of the European Union, is subject to the European Convention on Human Rights. This act includes a clause guaranteeing a right to life.

Reagan was not wrong. The constant attempts to grow government and the governments constant meddling in the business world has caused the crises of today. Newsweek, a generally Leftwing rag, is just looking for a way to slander the greatest President that I have ever had the privileged to vote for.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/202620

Fairlie's views of toryism, like his views of most things (America, women, Parliament, Scotch), were deeply romantic. He described his kind of conservative as one who stands alongside "the King and the People, against the barons and the capitalists." In other words, government's role was to preserve tradition and social order, not to speed the accumulation of great power and wealth among the elites or to enact sudden or overreaching reforms. He warmed to this view as a boy, when summers on a family farm in Scotland taught him that "nothing very much changes, and then changes only slowly." He refined it as an adult, coming to revere the leadership of Winston Churchill, whom he called "the greatest tory of them all," and absorb the writings of Michael Oakeshott, "the most formative conservative political thinker of his generation." When he arrived in America, he expected to find conservatives with similar beliefs. Instead he found the Republicans.

Fairlie's critique of American conservatism began with a GOP heresy: that by embracing the free market so completely, the party had gone calamitously awry. "The conservative can all too easily drift into a morally bankrupt and intellectually shallow defense of those who have it made and those who are on the make," he wrote. Without a humanizing tory influence, conservatives were apt to forget "the ugly face of capitalism"--the way that the market tends to coarsen and destabilize society, making the gross national product fodder for our "gross national appetite." Republicans, he argued, could never succeed in uniting the country as long as they supported business interests so completely with both their policy choices and their rhetoric: "The nation cannot be brought to you, as if it were Masterpiece Theatre, by a grant from Mobil Oil," he wrote.

While not exactly my expertise, I thought that this look at the Syrian commandos and the way they are not being trained is interesting. If you want to know more, please go read the rest. Enjoy.

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Syrian-Commandos-Fade-Away-6-9-2009.asp

Syrian Commandos Fade Away
by James Dunnigan
June 9, 2009
Syria's elite units are falling apart. The total number of elite troops in Syria exceeds 15,000 personnel. This in line with their Soviet era doctrine and tactics that insist on special units in massive numbers. But years of poor funding, rapidly aging equipment (even small arms), and lack of action have turned Syria's special forces into a paper tiger. This is rapidly becoming a crisis for Syria because it is the only remaining frontline Arab state (the other two being Egypt and Jordan) that borders Israel that has not signed a peace agreement with the Jewish nation. Syria still harbors ambitions of eventual armed conflict with Israel to regain the Golan Heights. As ludicrous as this goal is, the Syrians have remained recalcitrant and stubborn in their relations with Israel. Secondly, the Syrians rely on their best troops maintain order and put down potential threats to the regime.

During the Cold War, Syria's elite units were considered, by Arab military standards, to be well-disciplined, thoroughly trained, and armed with the latest Russian (then Soviet) equipment. They had extensive battle experience against the Israelis on the Golan in 1973 and Lebanon in '82 and, according to most accounts, these units acquitted themselves well.

I have read and posted about this before, but it is so wonderful that I agree with B5 that it should be reposted every year to make other dad's think. I know I do!

Read this story and watch the videos. They are more than worth it.

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/06/happy-fathers-d.html

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars -- all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

The UN is asking for total disarmament of all nuclear weapons around the world, beginning with the Western powers and not confronting Iran or North Korea.

I am all for this program, however, IF the UN really means it. The UN is big on expensive programs that provide millions of dollars for the managers of those programs. They are not big on actually doing anything that does not enrich themselves.

Urging world to disarm, Ban kicks off countdown to UN Day

13 June 2009 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today launched the "WMD-WeMustDisarm" campaign, beginning the 100-day countdown to the 2009 United Nations International Day of Peace, which this year focuses on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Over the next 100 days leading up to the International Day, observed annually on 21 September, Mr. Ban and others will raise awareness of the need to eliminate nuclear weapons by issuing a daily message, via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, email and radio, urging the world to disarm.

The Secretary-General is taking the lead by issuing the first 10 'tweets' of the campaign.

"Over the next 100 days, the United Nations and our partners around the world will work to raise awareness of the true costs and dangers of nuclear weapons," Mr. Ban said in a message to mark the start of the countdown.

"Unless we vigorously work for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, we will continue to face threats from existing nuclear weapons, as well as additional risks that more States, even terrorists, might acquire and deploy such weapons, potentially annihilating millions of people," he stated.

If the War on the Cartels is washing up in Canada, why are we only hearing small grumbles here in the States? The Media and the Government all act like the battles are staying south of the border, but that is not true! The majority are staying south, but as refugees head north for safety, the gangs are following to kill them anyway.

It would take at least an army division to seal off each state border, and there is nothing like that happening. The navy and Marines could seal the ports, but that is also ignored. Posse Commitatus applies to the use of the army being used as police, not to repelling invaders. The Marines and sailors are exempt from that law and can do what they have to do to protect us. Give them the task and take off the leash!

Not that this Administration would ever take the leash off the military or law enforcement. They prefer to appease the drug lords by allowing the killings. Who knows, Chicago political figures might enjoy killing a few innocents just for kicks. Seems like it is happening already by the muzzle clamped on the mouths of the protectors.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/642966

Already this year in the Vancouver area - nicknamed the gang capital of Canada - there have been 30 shootings (with 12 fatalities) directly linked to the gang shakeout in Mexico and tracked by the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Some 130 gangs operate in B.C., among them Red Scorpions, United Nations, MS-13, Bacon Brothers, Hells Angels and various independents - all with ties of varying degrees to lucrative Mexican cocaine, among other drugs from other places.

"Vancouver and British Columbia are unfortunately the focus of the largest number of organized crime groups in Canada," warned Peter Van Loan, federal public safety minister and solicitor-general, in a speech in Langley this year. A few days earlier, a gangster died nearby in a Mexican-style execution by machine-gun fire at the Thunderbird Village Mall.

No comment needed. Just read this and then connect to finish the letter. wow.

Hail to the Victors

A Special Message to the People of Iran

By Barack Obama
President of the United States

Greetings. As president of United States -- or, if you prefer, the Great Satan -- I have have been following with keen interest the vigorous post-election debate and vibrant political dialogue which has been taking place in your great and noble Islamic Republic of Iran over recent days. It has been both educational and fascinating, and as a sports fan I have thrilled to the pageantry, the suspense, and the fast-paced, hard-hitting action. I have to say It's been as exciting as a double overtime game seven NBA final between the Lakers and Celtics! Like millions of others around the world, I can't wait for the exciting conclusion of your distracting nail-biter so I can finally focus on my big health care project at the office. (Now that's what I call a real crisis!) But no matter who prevails in your hard-fought contest, you can rest assured that I will be out there in the stands watching, and ready to congratulate the team who brings home Tehran's coveted Golden Centrifuge Cup.

Now, I know that our two nations have had our differences in the past, and so it would be totally understandable if some of you were possibly upset my previous statements expressing "troubled concern" and "measured consternation" over your current situation. Please, do not interpret those statements as somehow taking one side or the other. I was not trying to be provocative or inflammatory, and far be it from me to interfere or play favorites. As we say over here in the Great Satan, "I don't have a dog in this fight," and so I was merely "calling 'em like I see 'em." Frankly, if America is going to regain respect as a geopolitical superpower, we need to make the tough call to sit quietly on the sidelines. That's why I have instructed my diplomatic team remain strictly neutral and to "let 'em play." With time and patience, I hope you will come to think of us as a bigger, flatter version of Switzerland. With less yodeling.

To clarify, my only real concern is over sportsmanship. In democracies like ours elections can sometimes be difficult and messy. "Politics ain't beanbag," as we also say over here. As I learned on the basketball courts and ward precincts of Chicago, the birthplace of modern Democracy, a hard fought game sometimes involves a little trash talk, an occasional sharp elbow, or a mysteriously malfunctioning scoreboard. But this doesn't mean we always have to resort to flagrant fouls, or angrily shooting our opponent in the parking lot, just because he showboated after a layup. Let's all remember the lesson of Ron Artest -- charging into the stands and savagely beating a heckler might feel good at first, but in the end it just might mean losing that big shoe contract with Nike.

And so I encourage both sides in this exciting contest to "keep it cool," and "play within yourself." Whether you are a "shirt" or a "skin," let's all respect the game. Are you a member of the Revolutionary Guards who just laid out a student demonstrator with a vicious, bone-jarring hit? Instead of taunting him, offer your hand to help him back to his feet. This will be a polite sign of mutual competitive respect before your next vicious, bone-jarring hit. Are you the student demonstrator? After collecting your teeth, congratulate the Guard on his his awesome hit. This will let the Guard know that you are a good sport, and committed to continue your dialogue without preconditions. At the end of the day, we need to leave our differences on the court and start focusing on the dangerous enemy who threatens all of us: Dick Cheney.

Most people tend to forget about the chemical and biological weapons programs that North Korea and Iran have. Nuclear is the most violent, but biological is possibly the most deadly. There is no way that these are passed up by anyone as crazy as the North Koreans.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98T6QOO1&show_article=1

Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs are centerpieces of the regime's catalog of weapons of mass destruction.

But the impoverished nation, which has put most of its scarce resources into boosting its military capabilities under its "army-first" policy, also has a large chemical arsenal, as well as capabilities to produce biological weapons.

On Thursday, an international security think tank warned that these weapons are no less serious a threat to the region than the North's nuclear arsenal.

The independent International Crisis Group said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea."

"If progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, there could be opportunities to construct a cooperative diplomatic solution for chemical weapons and the suspected biological weapons program," the think tank said in a report.

It also called on the U.S. to engage the North in dialogue to defuse the nuclear crisis, saying "diplomacy is the least bad option." It said Washington should be prepared to send a high-level special envoy to Pyongyang to resolve the tension.

There are some interesting things happening out in the world! The implications of a suitcase carrying this much value are staggering.

Besides, I want it! Plllleaaasssee? Just let me have it?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a62_boqkurbI

Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. bonds over the border into Switzerland. Details are maddeningly sketchy, so naturally the global rumor mill is kicking into high gear.

Are these would-be smugglers agents of Kim Jong Il stashing North Korea's cash in a Swiss vault? Bagmen for Nigerian Internet scammers? Was the money meant for terrorists looking to buy nuclear warheads? Is Japan dumping its dollars secretly? Are the bonds real or counterfeit?

The implications of the securities being legitimate would be bigger than investors may realize. At a minimum, it would suggest that the U.S. risks losing control over its monetary supply on a massive scale.

There are thousands of Palestinian terrorists training for combat operations in Iran. Getting real combat practice against real targets in real urban areas is great training for when they are used to invade Israel and kill Jewish children.

The Pallys are used by Iran to kill and intimidate. This force could easily be turned against Persians if they are getting to troublesome. Arabs will usually take any chance they can find to kill non-Arabs and this is such an opportunity.

On a different line of thought, how about the terrorists were living in the part of town and felt threatened by the protests so they opened fire. Could be.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184851049&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

"The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of," the young man went on, "is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots."

Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.

On Monday, he said, "my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people's money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too."

It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad "tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel." His hope, he added, was that Israel would "come to its senses" and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.

When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi'ites, sent by Hizbullah, he rejected the idea. "Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets... The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want... [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country."

I don't see what anyone is complaining about. In America this is how we treat minorities, right?

This is America's fault for allowing Christians to think they are as good as Muslims. Everyone knows that Islam is the perfect religion! It is the Religion of Peace and Tolerance and would never allow its members to kill an innocent.

Of course, People of the Book are all evil according to Mohammad and his followers who financed their peaceful ways by killing people and stealing their goods. Especially killing pagans, Jews and Christians.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/197928.php

Christian Murdered for Drinking From Muslim Tea Cup

(Machharkay Village, Pakistan) As he pleaded for mercy, a young Christian man, Ishtiaq Masih, was beaten with rods, clubs and stones then stabbed multiple times for ordering and drinking tea at a Muslim only refreshment stall.

The owner and staff, all fundamentalist Muslims, have been implicated in the attack which Masih did not survive.

The incident occurred on May 9 and, although a complaint was filed against the assailants, it appears the police are not going to make any arrests.

Rest in peace.

While some of the comments have belittled the idea of Iran flying in Lebanese Hezbollah to bring the Iranian people under control, I disagree. It is much more likely that a few thousand Lebanese were in Iran getting advanced training in combat so they could invade Israel then it is they were flown in specially to practice these tactics just as a counter-revolutionary suppression team.

It has been speculated for some time that the two parts of Hezbollah were working closely together and that hundreds, if not thousands, of the Lebanese branch were being trained in Iran at any given time. If that is true, and I find few who will argue against this, then it is easy to figure out that this would be great advanced training for advanced terrorist urban combat. Killing people who disagree with terrorism is a good job for trained terrorists, after all.

http://www.sandmonkey.org/2009/06/16/hezbollah-is-operating-in-tehran/

Hezbollah is operating in Tehran

Der Spidgel just confirmed the rumors, that many of the guys that are cracking down on the demonstrators in the streets are lebanese hezbollah members. According to them, there are 5000 Hezbollah members in Iran that are part of the crackdown on the students. This is a big mistake. You don't bring an arab to beat down a Persian, unless you want the Persians to get really and I mean really pissed off. The hatred that Persians have for arabs are the stuff of legend, and if the regime has to use arabs to crack down on its people, then it maybe weaker than we ever though.

Every time President Carter opens his mouth I cringe. His constant and consistent insistence that Hamas and other known and admitted terrorist groups are just misguided yet honest folk who are fighting against the evil Jews who are enslaving them, is just poppycock.

Why would anyone with a brain want to remove Hamas from the terror list? They have it in their Constitution that they must kill all the Jews! Until they are willing to make peace, how can there be Peace? The only time Hamas stops killing is when they run out of ammunition. Even then it is only for a few weeks while they rearm.

I do think that President Obama will probably eventually take Hamas off the terrorist list since he is all about compromise and giving the other what they want. He will feel that if he takes them off the terrorist list, they will then stop acting like terrorists. That worked with the gangs in Chicago after all! Right Mr President?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/bomb-plot-carter-gaza-discovered/

Former President Jimmy Carter will urge the Obama administration to remove Hamas from the terrorist list, FOX News has learned.

Carter, a chief defender of the U.S.-designated terror group, said Tuesday he will meet with officials in the Obama administration in two days to discuss his latest trip to the Middle East.

Meanwhile, two Palestinian sources told FOX News that the group had discovered two roadside bombs planted near a crossing between Israel and Gaza on a path Carter's convoy took to meet with the group's leaders.

Carter was granted special waivers by the U.S. Secret Service allowing him to enter Gaza. Employees of the U.S. executive branch are not allowed into the strip since a roadside bomb killed three U.S. security personnel in 2003.

Carter was visiting with Hamas leaders to try to persuade them to accept the international community's conditions for ending its boycott of the Islamic militant group.

The international community has asked Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace deals as part of ongoing efforts for Palestinians overall to acquire their own country. Hamas has refused.

With all the insane tsars being appointed, I am not sure what we can do anymore. Do these tsars have legal authority? On what basis? Can they tell me to dance like a monkey just to prove their power?

IMAO has published a list of the tsars and then asked jokingly for other suggestions. You should go and post one or two. Or just read them. There are some interesting suggestions!

http://www.imao.us/index.php/2009/06/czar-czar-galore/#comments

As best as I can tell, here are Obama's czars:

1. Af-Pak (Afghanistan-Pakistan) Czar: Richard Holbrooke
2. Bailout Czar: Herb Allison
3. Border Czar: Alan Bersin
4. Car Czar: Steven Rattner
5. Climate Czar: Todd Stern
6. Cyber Security Czar: vacant
7. Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske
8. Economic Czar: vacant
9. Energy Czar: Carol M. Browner
10. Faith-based Czar: Joshua DuBois
11. Great Lakes Cleanup Czar: Cameron Davis
12. Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones
13. Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried
14. Health Reform Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
15. Health Infotech Czar: David Blumenthal
16. Middle East Czar: George Mitchell
17. Non-Proliferation (WMD) Czar: Gary Samore
18. Pay (Compensation) Czar: Kenneth Feinberg
19. Persian Gulf & Southwest Asia Czar: Dennis Ross
20. Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein
21. Science Czar: John Holdren
22. Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney
23. Sudan Czar: Scott Gration
24. TARP Czar: Elizabeth Warren
25. Technology Czar: Vivek Kundra
26. Terrorism Czar: John Brennan
27. Urban Czar: Aldolfo Carrion, Jr.

This keeps getting better and better. At least The One is not having the troops read the captured terrorists their rights, which means that military intelligence can talk to them, briefly, before the FBI does. It also means that it might be better to just shoot the bastards rather than capture them.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/197878.php

For, the Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "The administration has decided to change the focus to law enforcement. Here's the problem. You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today - foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them...and they're reading them their rights - Mirandizing these foreign fighters," says Representative Mike Rogers, who recently met with military, intelligence and law enforcement officials on a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

I am not sure that this could ever pass, but it is something that will do wonders for the Californian economy. Not having to pay millions of people to not work will force them to do things repulsive - get jobs, move to a new state, or starve. I bet most would move, which would devastate the Democratic voting bloc in the state. Just think of how the local economies would bloom!

I am forced to think about the negatives too. For instance, many of the welfare bums will start a crime wave and probable riots demanding their freebies back. As the welfare families drive out of the state, other states will be forced to handle the influx of bums and criminals who are out for freebies they can find elsewhere. More states will have to find ways to deal with this new crisis. I wonder what they will choose to do?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/nation/story/69467.html

Could California become the first state in the nation to do away with welfare?

That doomsday scenario is on the table as lawmakers wrestle with a staggering $24.3 billion budget deficit.

County welfare directors are "in shock" at the very idea of getting rid of CalWORKs, which has been widely viewed as one of the most successful social programs in the state's history, said Bruce Wagstaff, director of the Department of Human Assistance in Sacramento.

http://www.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?partner=netweather&traveler=0&zipChg=1&article=6

Unseasonably chilly air will continue to sit over the Prairies and northern Plains through Tuesday as a storm system sits and spins over Manitoba.

The counter-clockwise wind flow around the storm will keep funneling unusually chilly air down from northern Canada and into the northern Plains with scattered showers.

Afternoon temperatures from Montana to northern Nebraska and Minnesota will reach only the 50s and 60s during Tuesday, as the warm air remains suppressed far to the south.

Temperatures across this region should get back to more seasonable levels by the end of the week.

Helping poor kids is excellent, but the way that the traditional groups that do it is now considered bad. What is so wrong about teaching the word of Christ? Name one thing that Christ said that is offensive. Then tell me why Christians can't preach the many good things he said.

Don't go into the Old Testament, which is older stories and barely more relevant than Grimm's fairy tales to modern life. Inspiring, yet not in touch. Don't get me wrong, I love the stories and believe them to be true, just not as important as the teachings of Christ.

Shalom.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525424,00.html

A Christian evangelical group that works to improve the lives of underprivileged children says it has been prohibited from conducting Bible study classes in public housing projects in Tulsa, Okla., potentially violating a Supreme Court ruling that upheld religious groups' right to the use of public institutions.

For more than 70 years, the Missouri-based Child Evangelism Fellowship has worked with underprivileged kids, not only to convert them to Christianity, but to improve their lives through education and after-school activities. In one program, fellowship missionaries visit prisons and sign up inmates' children for Bible study programs in an effort to keep them from winding up in jail themselves.

Go read the rest of this. It is more than worth it. Especially for the sailors out there.

http://www.eaglespeak.us/2009/06/how-to-win-sea-battle.html

In preparing for a major sea battle, make sure of the following:

1. Have your major surface combatants destroyed or seriously damaged and unavailable for use.
2. Make sure the enemy has 4 aircraft carriers and some big battleships headed for you.
3. Make sure you are outnumbered in aircraft carriers by 4 to 3.
4. Have 1 of your 3 aircraft carriers severely damaged and limp into port unable to support flight operations.
5. Have only a vague idea where the enemy fleet might be.
6. Arrange to have your most aggressive, experienced aviator admiral come down with some sort of skin infection that puts him in a hospital bed, unavailable for duty.
7. Replace him with a non-aviator admiral just in time for what you know has to be a battle largely fought by carrier aircraft. See #1.
8. Have him hatch a scheme that hides the fleet way off to the north of where you think the enemy are headed. Just in case they aren't because your fleet is all that stands as a defensive barrier between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland.
9. Make sure the whole battle will turn on which fleet spots the other fleet first.
10. Do ...

While I have never enjoyed killing people, I do have to admit that I do not feel bad about dead terrorists. having terrorists killing their own American recruits is even better!

I think one of the best things is that this might help slow the trickle of wannabe terrorists that are trying to join the jihad. Go ahead! Kill all the American recruits! They are ALL FBI agents trying to infiltrate you to force you to stop killing women and children. Anyone who wants you to stop killing people is evil and needs to be killed! Remember that my brothers in Allah.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525339,00.html?mrp

A Minnesota man recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group overseas may have been assassinated in Somalia by the very terrorist group he went there to help.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating for several months at least 20 Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area who recently traveled to Somalia to train with the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

One of those men -- 17-year-old Burhan Hassan -- was killed in Mogadishu on Friday, his uncle, Osman Ahmed, told FOX News.

"Someone who claimed (to be) a member of al-Shabaab called Burhan's mom Friday (afternoon) and said Burhan died Friday morning," Ahmed said. "Burhan's mom got shocked and (threw) the phone when she heard the story."

I saw this new product advertised and now I have to have some! My house is at the top of a hill with ravines on either side, but my driveway goes over the path of the water and could easily flood and keep me from getting out.

I also know and work with a couple of Emergency Management types who could and should probably get some of these. I think they'll sell like hot cakes in flood zones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyBXc_mK4EY

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525299,00.html

A teenage boy and his father are being held in Britain under the Terrorism Act over a suspected ricin poison plot by white supremacists.

Nicky Davison, 18, was arrested after police found the deadly poison ricin in a jam jar at his father Ian's home this week.

Ian, a 41-year-old former DJ, is also being held after the anti-terror raid at the terraced house, on Myrtle Grove, Burnopfield, Durham Durham.

Nicky was initially arrested at his home in Grampian Court, Annfield Plain, on suspicion of inciting racial hatred but now both father and son are being detained under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Senior police say they believe the two could be part of worldwide terror plot targeting ethnic minorities.

Durham's assistant chief constable Mike Barton said: "This shows that the terrorist threat in the U.K. is real and present."

"We believe the people involved to be white supremacist extremists and one of our lines of inquiry was that they were going to target people from ethnic minorities.

He added: "This will spawn an awful lot of intelligence which will then kick start other criminal counter terrorism inquiries elsewhere."

Barton said forensic officers have sealed off Ian Davison's home as a precaution.

"Specialist police officers have been carrying out a meticulous search of the Myrtle Grove property which is a terraced house.

"They have uncovered a substance, which we believe has traces of ricin. It was in a sealed jam jar that has been kept in a kitchen cupboard -- apparently for up to two years.

Specialists from the Ministry of Defense are due in Durham to discuss the safe transfer of the substance to their laboratories for further tests, under a police or military escort.

Their report on the substance is expected in the next few days.

ricin has been used in plots by suspected al Qaeda operatives and can be fatal if inhaled, ingested, or injected.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-reactions-to-speech-from.html

The Elder has found some of the best links about The Obama's speech to the Muslim world. There is little that I can add to this except applause.