May 2010 Archives

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

Close-Up Footage of Mavi Marmara Passengers Attacking IDF Soldiers

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/31/israeli_commandos_attacked_with_knives_clubs__gunfire_by_aid_ship.html

Israeli Commandos Attacked With Knives, Clubs & Gunfire By Aid Ship

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/202683.php

This will give you a feel for what the Israelis had to deal with when boarding the Turkish "humanitarian aid" ship:

The Navy commandos were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.

The planned rush towards the vessel's bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. "Throw stun grenades," shouted Flotilla 13's commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.

The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandos who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.

Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters' legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandos.

"I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell," one commando said. "He fired at us and we fired back. We didn't see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn't find him." Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100530_brief_consequences_flotilla_attack

Brief: Consequences Of The Flotilla Attack
May 31, 2010 | 0443 GMT

At least 10 activists have been killed and dozens have been injured as Israeli naval forces overtook an aid flotilla headed for the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported, citing Israeli television. It remains unclear whether the shooting took place by the commandos once they were aboard or whether the flotilla was fired upon when the three Israeli vessels made contact with the flotilla about 123 kilometers (76.4 miles) off the Gaza coast. According to Israeli media citing organizers of the aid convoy, the Israel Defense Forces contacted the flotilla via radio and informed them that the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone. The flotilla was given a choice between being escorted by the Israeli navy to the port in Ashdod, where the supplies could be unloaded and distributed by Israel, or being overtaken by Israeli commandos. The latter scenario appears to have played out in the early morning, beginning around 4:00 a.m. local time but continuing through daybreak, providing more media exposure to the incident. At its core, the flotilla incident is an attempt by both sides -- the Turkish activists aboard the flotilla and Israel -- to shape external perceptions of Israel's blockade on Gaza. The Turkish interest is in highlighting the plight of Palestinians at the hands of Israel, providing Ankara with a useful lever in the region to claim the mantle of the strongest defender of the Palestinians in Gaza (a reputation Iran has been attempting to build). The Israeli interest is in preventing a loss of control over Gaza and portraying the flotilla supporters as supporters of terrorist elements based in Gaza. The violence that has taken place, however, will likely place Israel at a disadvantage in this contest. Turkish activists may decide to decide to send more ships, or provide the ships with Turkish military escorts in the future, which will bear close watching to see how the diplomatic community, particularly in the United States and Europe, chooses to respond to the incident.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/30/reports-israeli-ships-attack-aid-flotilla-dead/?test=latestnews

The Israeli military said troops only opened fire after encountering unexpected resistance from the activists. Activists attacked troops with knives and iron rods, and opened fire with two pistols seized from the forces.

A total of five soldiers were wounded, two seriously, including at least one hit by live fire, the army said. Two of the dead activists had fired at soldiers with pistols, the army said.

"They planned this attack," said Israeli military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch. "Our soldiers were injured from these knives and sharp metal objects ... as well as from live fire."

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

DETAILS: FARRAKHAN. PRESS 'STAND OFF' IN OBAMA'S NEIGHBORHOOD

Sent: Sat May 29 21:08:47 2010
Subject: White House Pool Report

At 7:20 local time the pool was holding at Woodlawn and 49th, next to a large sandstone mansion that the Chicago reporters say is the home of one Louis Farrakhan. Our Secret Service agent allowed us off the bus (Air!) and as a dozen of us congregated on the sidewalk, inevitably some shoes touched grass. Immediately a polite man in jeans and Tshirt emerged to ask us to stay off the grass. Though this grass was the curbside city property, we obliged.

Soon, however, he was pacing and talking on a cell phone. He went inside the mansion's black wrought iron fence, crossed the well-landscaped yard, lifted a water bucket behind rose bushes and, voila!, a walkie-talkie. He was heard to refer to "the CIA" once he began speaking into it. Soon he approached our agent, asking him to move the van and its occupants, though your pooler could not hear much else he said. But the agent said, "How is this a security breach?" And he asked if the house was a government property.

The man said something else and at that point the agent stuck out his hand to shake hands and introduced himself as a Secret Service agent. He added, "Sir, I can assure you that we will do nothing to interfere with whatever is going on in there."

The man is back to pacing and talking on his cell, walkie-talkie in hand.

A co-pooler searched the Internet for the address and found it listed on a Web site called NotForTourists and another called Taxexemptworld.com. Indeed, another pooler found a county Web site that confirmed this property is tax exempt for being a religious institution.

Reinforcements arrived--three men in Tshirts reading "Wide or Die!" One surly man has been staring daggers at us. Asked if this is Minister Farrakhan's house, he just stared at your pooler. Asked again, he said, "I don't have no comment."

You should have the WH statement on top kill's failure. At nearly 8 pm local time we are still holding while POTUS and family remain at the Nesbitts.

Sent: Sat May 29 22:07:24 2010
Subject: Pool Report

It's 8:45 and nearly dark; your pool has retreated back inside the van. We're outnumbered now by roughly a dozen Fruit of Islam agents for the Nation of Islam. As each casually dressed man arrives, he exchanges elaborate handshake/hug/double air-kisses with others. Two walked by your pooler chanting "Islam."

Several have filmed and photographed your poolers, the van and its license plates with their cell phones.

One came and stood close to a couple poolers and OUR agent. He asked if he could help. No answer. He asked again. The man said no. The agent said, "Secret Service -- Please move away from this group of people."

He did.

Soon the agent asked us to go in the bus.

We did.

But several poolers, hearing the call of nature, are asking whether they might ask the Fruit about using their bathroom.

Sent: Sat May 29 22:31:56 2010
Subject: Pool Report

9:20 local time and our agent got reinforcements from three Secret Service agents. One shook hands with one of the 22 Fruit members we now can count from the van. After a short discussion the three Secret Service agents walked away again.

No word on when we get to leave. We're guessing POTUS is watching the Blackhawks game at the Nesbitts' home.

Sent: Sat May 29 23:45:48 2010
Subject: Pool Report 5c

The power of pool reportage! Standoff ends, apparently with help of intermediary in Detroit:

Your pooler got a call at about 10:15 local time from a pool report reader who identified himself as the Rev. Gary Hunter, a Baptist minister in Motown who writes and blogs for the Detroit Times. He said he had called Minister Farrakhan and his son and asked them to have the Fruit stand down.

"I told him you were good people," Rev. Hunter said. "He said he didn't know you all were just waiting for the president."

As it happens, the FOI indeed had mostly gone by then. The Rev Hunter apparently is remembered by Ms. Tubman, and he said he knows our frequent press rustler Ben Finkenbinder from past travels with Obama, and -- sorry, Ben -- could he make that name up?

Anyway, at 10:33 we pulled away and we are at the Obama residence. Never saw Potus et al. WE HAVE A FULL LID.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,593331,00.html?test=latestnews

New evidence emerging in the details about the Times Square bomber, the failed attempt to blow up a plane on Christmas Day and the massacre at Fort Hood has put for the first time a U.S. citizen on the CIA's "capture or kill" list.

Evidence includes documents that relate to the investigation of Anwar Al-Awlaki, the Muslim cleric who has been associated with 9/11 hijackers, Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged-Fort Hood shooter, and Umar Abdulmutallab, the so-called Christmas Day bomber.

They include declassified memoranda for the record from the 9/11 Commission, the warrant for Awlaki's arrest from June 2002 as well as the motion to dismiss the warrant from October 2002.

Also included is the Justice Department's statement to Fox News regarding our inquiry into the decision to rescind Awlaki's arrest warrant.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/23238

3. Personal Attack (Ad Hominem)
This fallacy is committed when a person is insulted for delivering criticism.

Example: After broadcaster Rush Limbaugh launches a blistering attack upon Obama, claiming his actions were "socialist," Obama asks a friend to respond. US Senator Al Franken officially replies, pointing out that claim is wrong because... "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot."

Analysis: Even the most ponderous commentators can deliver accurate critiques of politicians. Further, doing counter-commentary like explaining Sarah Palin is a transparent "moron," or that Dick Cheney is clearly "evil" is not so much a way of sharing genuine information, as a manner of circling the wagons against officially denoted enemies to destroy them. It's a tribal response designed as a defensive maneuver.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/breaking-taliban-using-chemical-weapons-against-us-troops-4-5-troops-reportedly-fall-ill/

Five US troops serving in Afghanistan recently fell ill after a suspected chemical weapons attack. Four or five members fell ill after the attack. One soldier is very sick. They are having trouble breathing.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/29/20100529phoenix-hospitals-fight-supergerm.html

Maricopa County health officials have confirmed that a relatively new, extremely toxic strain of bacteria has been found in hospitals and other health-care facilities in the Valley.

The germ, known as Clostridium difficile, has long plagued the medical profession and is blamed for an increasing amount of illness in patients.

But this is the first time the new strain, known in medical circles as "NAP1," is believed to have been linked to patient illness and deaths in Arizona, health officials said. It carries at least 20 times as much toxin as the original strain.

According to the county, at least 10 patients have fallen severely ill from this new type of C. diff since early March. Two of those who were infected have died, though the germ has not been named conclusively as the cause of death. All the patients were elderly and suffered from health problems.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsf/articles/20100528.aspx

Fact is, fighting the Taliban has never been difficult. Despite their fearsome reputation, Afghans with guns are not particularly dangerous to trained soldiers. Most of the Russian troops sent in during the 1980s were poorly trained, and inexperienced, conscripts. But the professional Russian troops (airborne and special operations), tore up the Afghan warriors. The Russians were not chased out of Afghanistan, they just got tired of killing Afghans and left. Plus, Russia was sliding towards insolvency back home. Afghanistan was an operation they could no longer afford to pay for. The Soviet Union disintegrated two years after Russians left Afghanistan. The current situation in Afghanistan is very different. The new American tactics take advantage of the fact that most Afghans would like some peace for a change, and are willing to help, if you just sit down and discuss it with them.

I am so glad that Obama has promised to release all the Gitmo terrorists. Now he is eating those words. I am so very tired of politicians making promises that are completely unrealistic. I thought Clinton was bad, this guy is just completely over his head. He had no concept of what he was getting into and reality is kicking his but. Government is NOT the solution to the problems of the world.

Time for this man to give up and let the adults take over. It was bad enough with Bush and his trying to make everyone happy, but this out right pandering to anyone who dislikes us is dangerous. Time to move on.

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/05/former_gitmo_detaine_4.php

A videotape released by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) earlier this week says that a former Guantanamo detainee is now a commander within the terrorist organization.

The former detainee, Othman Ahmed al Ghamdi, has risen to the rank of operational commander within AQAP as other senior terrorists within the organization have been killed in recent strikes. The tape, which is titled "America and the Final Trap," confirms that three AQAP leaders were killed in a strike last December.

According to a translation of the tape obtained by the Long War Journal, al Ghamdi denounces the airstrikes, claiming that America refuses to confront al Qaeda directly on the battlefield. (Of course, al Qaeda itself prefers terrorist attacks against civilians, rather than direct warfare.) Along with other AQAP leaders featured in the video, al Ghamdi portrays counterterrorism operations in Yemen as part of a crusade led by America against the Muslim world. This is a standard part of al Qaeda's propaganda.

Also featured in the tape are Qasim al Raymi, AQAP's military commander, and Fahd al Quso, an al Qaeda operative wanted for his role in the USS Cole bombing.

In the tape, AQAP threatens America with further terrorist attacks. The AQAP leaders also celebrate previous AQAP-linked terrorist plots. Both Major Nidal Malik Hasan (who killed 13 Americans during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas last year) and Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab (who attempted to bomb a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day 2009) are celebrated as heroes.

The tape includes a short segment in which Abdulmutallab calls on Muslims to wage jihad.

http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/inside-gitmo-task-forces-final-report
On January 22, President Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force completed its final report, which outlined the administration's plan for the remaining detainees held at Guantanamo. The Task Force was set up as part of the president's effort to close Gitmo.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained a copy of the report, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder's transmittal memorandum. As explained below, the Task Force concluded that 95 percent of the detainees held at Gitmo, as of January 2009, had at least some noteworthy connection to the terrorist network.

The Task Force also concluded that the 240 detainees subject to its review, and held at Gitmo on President Obama's first day in office, should be treated as follows:

126 of the detainees were approved for transfer to either their home nations or third countries. 59 of the 126 detainees had previously been approved for transfer by the Bush administration. As of the date the report was finalized, January 22, 44 of the 126 detainees had already been transferred. Several more detainees have been transferred since then.

36 detainees were referred for active prosecutions, either by a federal court or military commission. Initially, the Task Force recommended 44 detainees be prosecuted, but 8 were taken off the prosecution list for various reasons. 1 of those 8 was granted his habeas corpus petition by a District Court Judge.

48 detainees will be held indefinitely under Obama's plan. These detainees "were determined to be too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution."

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/05/27/109744.html

Bandleader Jamal Al-Bayouk said he and his musicians would not risk performing in the southern Gaza Strip any more after extremists threatened to kill them at a wedding party.

They had just finished performing east of Khan Younis when armed militants burst in, set fire to $40,000 worth of instruments and fired shots between the legs of band members.
Top

"Shoot at the legs"
" One gunman told another: Don't shoot between the legs. Shoot at the legs "
Bandleader Jamal Al-Bayouk

"One gunman told another: Don't shoot between the legs. Shoot at the legs!" Bayouk told Reuters.

"Another told me: Prepare for death, you immoral infidel," the 49-year-old man said, at the Gaza shop where he fixes musical instruments and rents sound systems.

He said several other singers and members of bands had been beaten up by Qaeda style jihadists who disapprove of their music and added that in his opinion there could be further attacks as summer begins and people hold weddings and parties.

"I am afraid and I am not optimistic but I will continue because there are 20 families depending on my profession," Bayouk said.

The threat comes from Salafi jihadists whose agenda of global holy war against the West is against the nationalist goals of Gaza's rulers Hamas, an Islamist movement which denies seeking to create a theocracy in the enclave.

While seen in Israel as a dangerously fundamentalist Palestinian enemy force, Hamas is not Islamist enough in the eyes of hardline groups which have stepped up attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past several months, targeting Hamas security men and offices.

Hamas accuses them of attacking wedding parties, Christian sites, internet cafes and women's hair dressing salons. The groups deny the accusations.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37371442

A second, much larger volcano in Iceland is showing signs that it may be about to erupt, scientists have warned.

Since the start of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which caused cancellations of thousands of flights in Europe because of a giant ash cloud, there has been much speculation about neighboring Katla.

An initial research paper by the University College of London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction said: "Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano."
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

"Earlier seismic energy release at Katla is associated with the inflation of the volcano, which indicates it is close to failure, although this does not appear to be linked to seismicity around Eyjafjallajökull," it added.

"We conclude that given the high frequency of Katla activity, an eruption in the short term is a strong possibility," the report said. "It is likely to be preceded by new earthquake activity. Presently there is no unusual seismicity under Katla."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20100527%2FBREAKING%2F100527021%2FMedal+of+Honor+recipient+John+Finn+dies+at+100

John Finn, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Hawaii on the day the United States was plunged into World War II, died today at his Southern California home at the age of 100.
Click here to find out more!

Finn, a retired Navy lieutenant, was stationed at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station on Dec. 7, 1941.

As Japanese planes strafed the base, Finn took up a .50-caliber machine gun in defense.

Firing from an exposed position, Finn was wounded several times during the first wave of the attack. Still, he refused to be evacuated, and his actions were credited with rallying other sailors to take up weapons.

On Sept. 15, he received the Medal of Honor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his actions.

Last December, when he was in Hawaii for a memorial event at what is now called Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay, Finn told The Advertiser he would never forget the attack.

"I grew up thinking the Navy, Marines and Army were invincible," he said, "and here we were, getting our clocks cleaned.

"We got caught so flat-footed. ... They really kicked the living hell out of us."

The event at Kaneohe honored the 18 sailors and two civilians who lost their lives in the attack.

Finn, who regularly returned to Hawaii for Dec. 7 commemorations, was born July 23, 1909, in Los Angeles.

He was the oldest of the 97 Medal of Honor recipients still living.

http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/2010/05/26/census-workers-can-enter-your-apartment-in-your-absence/

Thousands of census workers, including many temporary employees, are fanning out across America to gather information on the citizenry. This is a process that takes place not only every decade in order to complete the constitutionally-mandated census; but also as part of the continuing "American Community Survey" conducted by the Census Bureau on a regular basis year in and year out.

What many Americans don't realize, is that census workers -- from the head of the Bureau and the Secretary of Commerce (its parent agency) down to the lowliest and newest Census employee -- are empowered under federal law to actually demand access to any apartment or any other type of home or room that is rented out, in order to count persons in the abode and for "the collection of statistics." If the landlord of such apartment or other leased premises refuses to grant the government worker access to your living quarters, whether you are present or not, the landlord can be fined $500.00.

That's right -- not only can citizens be fined if they fail to answer the increasingly intrusive questions asked of them by the federal government under the guise of simply counting the number of people in the country; but a landlord must give them access to your apartment whether you're there or not, in order to gather whatever "statistics" the law permits.

In fact, some census workers apparently are going even further and demanding -- and receiving -- private cell phone numbers from landlords in order to call tenants and obtain information from them. Isn't it great to live in a "free" country?

http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=22563

We want to stop forced marriages:

TYRANNY We note that honor repression has been accused of racism, but forced marriages exist in Sweden. (FP). Therefore, the government presents today a new strategy to prevent young are married against their will, writes Nyamko Sabuni (PF).

A girl in Malmö was married when she was in fifth grade. She was twelve years old. The following year she started in sixth grade. Still too young to drive a moped, see adult films at the cinema or even get the scores. By that time she lived with her husband and gave birth to her first child. This was depicted in a series of articles about forced marriages in Sydsvenska Dagbladet. At least 25 high school girls Scanian was reported to be married every summer, but that the community responded.

It has long been lacking a solid knowledge of forced marriage in Sweden. Those of us who warned of honor repression has been questioned. Like when the Socialist government investigators Masoud Kamali accused us of fomenting racism.

But culture relative addicts can no longer deny that this oppression affects thousands of young people. A number of institutions on behalf of the Government reported on the prevalence of violence and oppression. According to the Youth Board, there are at least 70 000 young people who feel that parents, religion and culture set limits on who they can marry.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20100527.aspx

In Afghanistan, and surrounding countries, opium and heroin addiction is seen as a curse and a growing problem. The addicts become economically useless, and turn to crime to feed their habit. These nations cannot afford to jail or treat all these addicts, but do know that if they can eliminate the source of the drugs in Afghanistan, the number of addicts will decline. It's a simple matter of economics. Coming from nearby Afghanistan, the drugs are much cheaper, costing less than a tenth what addicts in Western nations pay. If the source of most of the world's heroin were farther away, the cost to local addicts would increase to the point where most could not afford it. That was the situation before the 1980s, and such addiction was restricted to a small proportion of the wealthier classes. It's got nothing to do with religion, except in the sense that the Moslem clergy condemns the addiction. Many clergy who back Islamic radicalism are increasingly hostile to the Taliban and al Qaeda, because those two groups encourage the drug production and profit from it.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20100526.aspx

The Taliban, like their Sunni Arab counterparts in Iraq, pay for most of the terrorist violence. While some of the Taliban are true believers, who will fight for free, everyone has to eat and obtain other necessities (like ammunition and weapons.) Some Taliban have families to support, and all have families they belong to. The families don't appreciate seeing their kids getting killed while working for any group. Without compensation, that is. It's the law of the hills, and if you can't meet your payroll, you have no army. That's why the Taliban began their comeback when their fundraisers found the drug gangs, and made a deal. The Taliban provide security services for the drug lords, and get lots of cash (and some drugs) in return.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16275_9-most-devastating-insults-from-around-world.html#ixzz0p5frjNOb

A responsible traveler won't set foot in another country without knowing how to viciously insult the people in their native language. Odds are, you won't even make it out of the airport before a situation arises that requires obscenities.

But "obscenity" is an ever-moving target. It's an amalgamation of cultural taboos, the impact of current events and your mom. Accordingly, every country has developed a uniquely beautiful set of curses and insults that set it apart. While some insults are broadly accessible, like your mom, others will require a little background for the new student. Thus, we offer this helpful guide to the best and most vulgar (and very real) insults from around the world:

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/23628#When:07:36:31Z

Barack Hussein Obama had served 14-State Governors in the United States, National Security Letters (NSLs) warning that the Governor's actions in attempting to form "State Defense Forces" needs to be halted "immediately" or they will face arrest for the crime of treason. The employment of NSLs was authorized by the Patriot Act introduced by George W. Bush. Contained within the section related to these letters, it is forbidden for anyone receiving a NSL warning to even acknowledge the existence of said communication.

Obama is angered by the several State Governors who have reestablished "State Defense Forces." These forces are described as: "State Defense Forces (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the Army National Guard of the United States. State Defense Forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. State Defense Forces are distinct from their state's National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities."

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/24/1967998/mcchrystal-calls-marjah-a-bleeding.html#ixzz0oxvbTD3l

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top allied military commander in Afghanistan, sat gazing at maps of Marjah as a Marine battalion commander asked him for more time to oust Taliban fighters from a longtime stronghold in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

"You've got to be patient," Lt. Col. Brian Christmas told McChrystal. "We've only been here 90 days."

"How many days do you think we have before we run out of support by the international community?" McChrystal replied.

A charged silence settled in the stuffy, crowded chapel tent at the Marine base in the Marjah district.

"I can't tell you, sir," the tall, towheaded, Fort Bragg, N.C., native finally answered.

"I'm telling you," McChrystal said. "We don't have as many days as we'd like."

The operation in Marjah is supposed to be the first blow in a decisive campaign to oust the Taliban from their spiritual homeland in adjacent Kandahar province, one that McChrystal had hoped would bring security and stability to Marjah and begin to convey an "irreversible sense of momentum" in the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan.

http://bigjournalism.com/bparks/2010/05/26/when-searching-for-racists-democrats-should-back-off-rand-paul-and-look-in-the-mirror/

Let me preface this by saying I'm not fan of the Paulies and some of their rude, pushy tendencies. With that, the recent email blast from MoveOn's Steven Biel must be addressed as the deliberate race-baiting trash it is.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/two_more_census_workers_blow_the_OqY80N3DBTvL17VmxKKR0O?sms_ss=facebook

Each month Census gives Labor a figure on the number of workers it has hired. That figure goes into the closely followed monthly employment report Labor provides. For the past two months the hiring by Census has made up a good portion of the new jobs.

Labor doesn't check the Census hiring figure or whether the jobs are actually new or recycled. It considers a new job to have been created if someone is hired to work at least one hour a month.

One hour! A month! So, if a worker is terminated after only one hour and another is hired in her place, then a second new job can apparently be reported to Labor . (I've been unable to get Census to explain this to me.)

Here's a note from a Census worker -- this one from Manhattan:

"John: I am on my fourth rehire with the 2010 Census.

"I have been hired, trained for a week, given a few hours of work, then laid off. So my unemployed self now counts for four new jobs.

"I have been paid more to train all four times than I have been paid to actually produce results. These are my tax dollars and your tax dollars at work.

http://www.thejidf.org/2010/05/islamic-terrorists-blow-up-donkey-on.html

Earlier this week, masked gunmen from an Islamist group torched a UN-run summer camp for children and teens in Gaza.

The head of UNRWA in Gaza, John Ging, said the assailants tied up the guard, burned tents and vandalized bathrooms at the campgrounds. UN officials said the attackers left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill Ging and others unless the UN cancels its activities for some 250,000 Gaza children.

Two days before the incident, the previously unknown "The Free of the Homeland" group issued a statement criticizing the camp's organizer, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), for "teaching schoolgirls fitness, dancing and immorality."

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2010/05/it-pays-to-advertise.html

According to my dog-eared copy of How to Become a Blog Billionaire, the secret key to cashing in on this wacky internet craze is "amassing eyeballs." At first I assumed this had something to do with stockpiling and selling spare body parts, but it turns out this means attracting an unsuspecting horde of high-value readers. Unfortunately, Iowahawk has so far only shown a selective appeal to a niche audience. A very, very, very niche audience. Consisting, sadly, of people like you. And, if my latest site stats are any indication, that appeal continues to grow evermore niche-ier.

Therein lies my dilemma: in an economy like this, and with readers like you, I'll never be able to fulfill my dream of quitting this stupid blog and laughing all the way to the bank. So what's one to do with a low market share defective product? Duhhh --- advertising campaign! So last week I set up a top-level media brainstorming session with the creative team at Leo Burnett aimed at taking Iowahawk to the next level, Malibu retirement beach house-wise. Man, talk about a waste of time. I ended up sitting through five or six pitches before they came up with one I didn't totally reject -- and THEN the head creative guy starts talking about how it would actually cost me money! Like I told the security guy who escorted me from the building, it's a wonder you ad guys can even sleep at night.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100524/sc_afp/usscienceastronomy

The Hubble space telescope has discovered a planet in our galaxy in the process of being devoured by the star that it orbits, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The doomed planet, dubbed WASP-12b, has the highest known surface temperature of any planet in the Milky Way -- around 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

But it could be enveloped by its own parent star over the next ten million years, the paper's authors have concluded.

Using a new instrument called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph that was installed on Hubble in 2009, the researchers observed how the planet was whipped into an elongated shape by gravitational forces.

"We see a huge cloud of material around the planet, which is escaping and will be captured by the star. We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own solar system," team leader Carole Haswell of The Open University in Great Britain said.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Remember-Obamas-emergency-Gulf-Oil-SWAT-team-inspections-94727604.html

Anybody want to guess why these results have gotten no coverage? At a time when lots of people naturally wonder how safe are the rest of the drilling rigs in the Gulf, wouldn't it be useful to know the results of those emergency SWAT team investigations? You can read the full report of the inspections here.

How did this happen?? Common sense from a US judge? I am impressed! I thought that was forbidden. I hope he can keep his job after this appalling lack of political correctness.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/court-decisions-on-bagram-detainees.htm

We all are aware that war leads to difficult situations. In regard to detainees, we've seen terrorists released only to strike again. Yet in the interest of justice we are concerned about detaining potentially innocent people. Difficult times, difficult answers. In summary, some detainees at Bagram are trying to use American courts to chisel their way out.

Last year, a group of people were asked to join in offering an opinion to the court. Those were: Special Forces Association, U.S. Army Ranger Association, Senator Lindsey Graham, Col. (ret) Abraham German, Wade Ishimoto, Prof. Andrew Nichols Pratt, Dr. Dennis Walters, Rear Admiral (ret) George Worthington, Michael Yon and Senator Ryan Zinke.

The good attorneys who are trying to keep us from getting blown up by repeat offenders emailed today. The above parties received the following message from Attorneys David Rivkin and Carlos Ramos Mrosovsky:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/24/issues-warnings-citizens-killed-kidnapping-attempts-nigeria/

The U.S. government is warning its citizens about rising violent attacks in Nigeria after two Americans died in separate kidnappings in April.

The State Department announced the two deaths in a new travel warning for Nigeria issued Monday. In the statement, the State Department said six foreign nationals had been killed in kidnappings since 2009, including the two U.S. citizens.

The State Department said more than 110 expatriates have been kidnapped in Nigeria since January 2009.

Militants in the Nigeria's southern delta have targeted oil workers for kidnapping in the past during their campaign to bring more oil money to a region that suffered environmental damage and economic neglect over 50 years of production. Criminal gangs also kidnap foreigners and wealthy Nigerians for ransom.

http://www.academia.org/arizona-ethnic-studies-exposed/

Occupied America, the fifth edition, includes an image of Fidel Castro on the front cover, and Castro and Che Guevara on the back cover. It refers to white people as "gringos" and actually includes a quotation on page 323 from Jose Angel Gutierrez of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), who was angry over the cancellation of a government program. He declared:

"We are fed up. We are going to move to do away with the injustice to the Chicano and if the 'gringo' doesn't get out of our way, we will stampede over him."

The book goes on:

"Gutierrez attacked the gringo establishment angrily at a press conference and called upon Chicanos to 'Kill the gringo,' which meant to end white control over Mexicans."

Reviewing this material for the National Association of Scholars, Ashley Thorne commented that, "Actually, 'kill the gringo' meant 'kill the gringo.' But admitting that makes Mexicans look radical, infuriated, revolutionary, Acuña sidestepped that image and substituted it with one of browbeaten Latinos rising to overthrow injustice."

The Arizona citizens upset about this kind of material said that they initiated an investigation into the problem back in 2007 and found it difficult to get access to the books. One activist said the concern began when parents came to be aware of violence in the schools directed against white and black children. "This investigation was undertaken to find the roots of this hate," she told me. Another person, in turn, "told me the books in their Mexican-American classes are kept under 'lock and key' and the kids can't even take them home. She said she asked to see them but they were very secretive about them and she was prohibited."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/23/jamaica-police-urge-alleged-drug-kingpin-surrender-barricaded-stronghold/?test=latestnews

Masked men defending a reputed drug lord sought by the United States torched a police station and traded gunfire with security forces in a patchwork of barricaded slums in Jamaica's capital Sunday.

The government declared a state of emergency as sporadic gunshots rang out in gritty West Kingston, stronghold of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a Jamaican "don" charged in the U.S. with drug and arms trafficking. His defiant supporters turned his Tivoli Gardens neighborhood and other areas into a virtual fortress with trashed cars and barbed wire.

Four police stations came under heavy fire from gangsters roaming the streets with high-powered guns. In barricaded Hannah Town, close to Tivoli Gardens, black smoke spiraled into the sky from one that was set aflame by molotov cocktails.

Officers fled the burning station in impoverished West Kingston, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces killed 25 civilians as well as a soldier and a constable.

Authorities said two security officers had been wounded by Sunday night.

Police said the attacks were unprovoked. It called for all "decent and law-abiding citizens" in the troubled areas to immediately evacuate their homes and said security forces would ferry them out safely.

Police Commissioner Owen Ellington said "scores of criminals" from gangs across the Caribbean island had traveled to West Kingston to join the fight. "It is now clear that criminal elements are determined to launch coordinated attacks on the security forces," he said.

http://bigjournalism.com/otockfield/2010/05/22/in-britain-media-frets-as-suicide-cult-meets-death-cult/

Recently, though, a British judge, John Mitting, signed a suicide pact between his nation and violent Islamic extremists when he ruled that two Pakistani men, one a known al-Qaeda operative, could not be deported due to the possibility of their being harmed if they were sent home.

The private reaction of many British citizens has been fury and dismay. From the right-wing newspapers, the same. Let us for this story turn instead to the left-wing, "insurgent"-accommodating Guardian newspaper, just to assure readers new to Big Journalism that this is not a "stretcher":

Britain's counter-terrorism strategy was thrown into turmoil today when a judge ruled that two Pakistani students posed a serious threat to national security but could not be deported because of the risk they would be tortured or killed in their own country.

A special immigration court ruled that Abid Naseer was an al-Qaida operative who remained a serious threat, while his friend Ahmed Faraz Khan had been radicalised before coming to the UK and was willing to participate in terrorist activity.

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/Smaller-Bullet-Gets-The-Longer-Shot-5-17-2010.asp

Smaller Bullet Gets The Longer Shot
by James Dunnigan
May 17, 2010
It was recently revealed that, last November, a British sniper (corporal Craig Harrison) set a new distance record when he killed two Taliban in Afghanistan, at a range of 2,620 meters (8,596 feet). He did this with a L115A3 rifle firing the 8.6mm Lapua Magnum round. The previous record was held by a Canadian soldier, corporal Rob Furlong, who dropped an al Qaeda gunman at 2,573 meters (7,972 feet) in 2002, also in Afghanistan. Furlong, however, was using a 12.7mm (.50 caliber) rifle. These weapons are good at 2,000 meters or more, but weigh twice as much as the 6.8 kg (15 pound) 8.6mm rifles.

Three years ago, the British Army began replacing most of its 3,000 7.62mm L96A1 sniper rifles with one modified to use the .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum caliber round. This Accuracy International "Super Magnum" rifle is basically a L96A1 "Arctic Warfare" rifle modified to handle the larger, 8.6mm Lapua Magnum round. The new rifle (the L115A1) weighed 6.8 kg (without a scope), was fifty inches long and had a 27 inch barrel and a five round magazine.

Snipers in Iraq, and especially Afghanistan, have been calling for a longer range round, but find the 12.7mm (.50 caliber) weapons too heavy. The .338 (8.6mm) Lapua Magnum round has an effective range (about 1,500 meters) about 50 percent greater than the 7.62mm standard NATO round. Like most long range rounds, if the weather (clear) and winds (calm) are right, you can hit targets farther away. Those were the conditions Harrison encountered when he took his three shots (the third one hit the machine-gun the two Taliban were using.)

The 8.6mm round entered use in the early 1990s, and became increasingly popular with police and military snipers. Dutch snipers have also used this round in Afghanistan with much success, and have a decade of experience with these larger caliber rifles. Recognizing the popularity of the 8.6mm round, Barrett, the pioneer in 12.7mm sniper rifles, came out with a 7 kg (15.5 pound) version of its rifle, chambered for the 8.6mm.

Corporal Harrison, a member of the Household Cavalry Regiment, recently returned from Afghanistan. While there, he was lightly wounded by gunfire, and later suffered a broken arm when his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb. It took a while for someone to go double check the distance of his shot, using GPS. He only learned that he broke a record after he returned to Britain last month.

http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/hezbollah.htm

Now that the Obama has decided to start making Peace with Hezbollah, I thought it would be good to remind people about the history of the organization.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/feds-remove-second-mojave-cross-on-sunrise-rock/

The Mojave Cross saga took yet another unexpected turn Thursday, when the contested symbol that vanished last week reappeared briefly before being taken down by federal officials.

National Park Service officials learned Thursday morning that a cross again was on top of Sunrise Rock, about 10 miles south of Interstate 15 near Cima Road, a sparsely traveled route into the Mojave National Preserve. It's about 30 miles east of Baker.

Some version of the cross has stood there for 75 years as a tribute to fallen World War I soldiers. Vandals made off with the cross May 9, 10 days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it could remain pending the outcome of a decade-long court battle over whether it should be permitted on public land.

Once federal officials discovered Thursday that it was a replica of the stolen cross, the Justice Department said it had to be taken down.

"It just gets crazier and crazier," said Wanda Sandoz, who together with her husband, Henry, has acted as a caretaker for the cross for more than 25 years.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/information-blackout-on-west-memphis-police-killers-wildlife-officer-confronted-killers/

2 police officers were killed in West Memphis on Thursday. 2 more were injured.
The suspects were pulled over on a drug interdiction stop around noon on Interstate 40. The suspects shot the officers with AK-47s. A later report said the suspects used a rifle and a handgun in the killings.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100519_look_kidnapping_through_lens_protective_intelligence

Types of Kidnappings

There are many different types of kidnappings. Although kidnappings for ransom and political kidnappings generate considerable news interest, most kidnappings have nothing to do with money or political statements. They are typically kidnappings conducted by family members in custody disputes, emotionally disturbed strangers wanting to take a child to raise or strangers who abduct a victim for sexual exploitation.

Even in financially motivated kidnappings, there are a number of different types. The stereotypical kidnapping of a high-value target comes most readily to mind, but there are also more spur-of-the-moment express kidnappings, where a person is held until his bank account can be drained using an ATM card, and even virtual kidnappings, where no kidnapping occurs at all but the victim is frightened by a claim that a loved one has been kidnapped and pays a ransom to the alleged abductors. Some of the piracy incidents in Somalia also move into the economic kidnapping realm, especially in cases where the crew or passengers are seen as being more valuable than the boat or its cargo.

Since kidnapping is such a broad topic, for the sake of this discussion, we will focus primarily on kidnappings that are financially motivated and those that are politically motivated. Financially motivated kidnappings can be conducted by a variety of criminal elements. At the highest level are highly trained professional kidnapping gangs that specialize in abducting high-net-worth individuals and who will frequently demand ransoms in the millions of dollars. Such groups often employ teams of specialists who carry out a variety of specific tasks such as collecting intelligence, conducting surveillance, snatching the target, negotiating with the victim's family and establishing and guarding the safe-houses.

At the other end of the spectrum are gangs that randomly kidnap targets of opportunity. These gangs are generally far less skilled than the professional gangs and often will hold a victim for only a short time, as in an express kidnapping. Sometimes express kidnapping victims are held in the trunk of a car for the duration of their ordeal, which can sometimes last for days if the victim has a large amount in a checking account and a small daily ATM withdrawal limit. Other times, if an express kidnapping gang discovers it has grabbed a high-value target by accident, the gang will hold the victim longer and demand a much higher ransom. Occasionally, these express kidnapping groups will even "sell" a high-value victim to a more professional kidnapping gang. (On a side note, most express kidnapping victims tend to be male and are most frequently abducted while walking on the street after dark, and many have impaired their senses by consuming alcohol.)

In the United States, it is far more common for a relatively poor person to be kidnapped for financial motives than it is for a high-net-worth individual. This is because kidnapping groups frequently target groups of illegal immigrants, who they believe are far less likely to seek help from the authorities. In some cases, the police have found dozens of immigrant hostages being held in safe-houses.

Between the two extremes of kidnapping groups -- those targeting the rich and those targeting the poor -- there is a wide range of kidnapping gangs that might target a bank vice president or branch manager rather than the bank's CEO, or that might kidnap the owner of a restaurant or other small business rather than an industrialist.

In the realm of political kidnappings, there are abductions that are very well-planned, such as the December 1981 kidnapping of Gen. James Dozier by the Italian Red Brigades, or Hezbollah's March 1985 kidnapping of journalist Terry Anderson. However, there are also opportunistic cases of politically motivated kidnappings, such as when foreigners are abducted at a Taliban checkpoint in Afghanistan or AQIM militants grab a European tourist in the Sahel area of Africa. Of course, in the case of both the Taliban and AQIM, the groups see kidnapping as an important source of funding as well as a politically useful tool.

God Bless the US Marine Corps!

http://article.nationalreview.com/434537/marinestan/victor-davis-hanson?page=1

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, retired three-star Army general Karl W. Eikenberry, reportedly made a comment about there being 41 nations serving in Afghanistan -- and a 42nd composed of the Marine Corps. One unnamed Obama-administration official was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "We have better operational coherence with virtually all of our NATO allies than we have with the U.S. Marine Corps."

Some officials call the new Marine enclave in Nimruz Province "Marinestan" -- as if, out of a Kipling or Conrad novel, the Marines has gone rogue to set up their own independent province of operations.

Yet once again, it would be wise not to tamper with the independence of the Marine Corps, given that its methods of training, deployment, fighting, counterinsurgency, and conventional warfare usually pay off in the end.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/13/2898836.htm?section=justin

A taxi driver who raped a teenager after she passed out on his back seat has asked for mercy in Adelaide's District Court.

Hajy Baba Rahmanian, 60, was found guilty of rape by a jury and is awaiting sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction.

The court heard that in June 2006 the 19-year-old victim got into Rahmanian's taxi after a party at North Adelaide.

Her friends rode with her to Hindley Street in the city where they got out to continue celebrations and told the taxi driver to take the victim home because she had been passing out and was severely intoxicated.

The Court of Criminal Appeal judgment said a GPS tracking system in the taxi showed Rahmanian travelled towards the victim's house in Adelaide's southern suburbs but then veered off course.

He took her to his own house at Dover Gardens and had sexual intercourse with the unconscious teenager.

The victim remembers nothing of what happened, except for waking up some hours later with some clothing removed.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.376249283

At least 30 schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, the third such attack on a girls' school in the city in less than a month, officials said. It is unclear who was behind the attacks.

"A masked man, dressed in black, came into the classroom and threw a small box at us. When we saw the box, we tried to run away, but I passed out. When I regained consciousness, I was in hospital," said 13-year-old Nafeesa, quoted by Pajhwork Afghan News.

The girls who fell ill on Tuesday were taken to a local hospital. Some of them were unconscious and in a critical condition, head of the city hospital, Homayoon Khamosh, told Pajhwok.

He said the cause of their sickness was a poisonous gas, similar to the one that had been used at Khodeja-ul-Kubra and Fatima-tu-Zahara girls' schools in Kunduz last month.

Pajhwok quoted provincial police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Razaq Yaqubi blaming the attacks on reactionaries who opposed education for girls.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/05/09/afghanistan.last.jew/index.html

Zablon Simintov is always guaranteed the best seat in his local synagogue here, but the privilege comes with a downside: he's the last Jew in Afghanistan.

The country's 800-year-old Jewish community -- an estimated 40,000 strong at its peak -- is now a party of one.

But Simintov, for his part, isn't going anywhere soon. For more than a decade, he has refused to join his wife and two teenage daughters in Israel.

"My family call me all the time and say, 'Come here, you're the last Jew in Afghanistan, what are you doing there?' " he says.

Simintov, a former carpet dealer, refuses to answer that question. "I don't know why I'm still living here," he says. "It's God's will."

He hasn't seen his daughters -- now ages 14 and 16 -- since his one trip to Israel 12 years ago.

But the bald and bespectacled Simintov says he is content guarding a cupboard full of dusty prayer books -- one is 400 years old, he says -- spending holidays with visitors from Europe and the U.S. and surviving off donations from Jews around the world.

Historical evidence suggests a sizable Jewish community in Afghanistan since the Middle Ages, according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, a nonprofit group.

http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME07.XAM19102.html

DUBAI, MAY 10 - According to the Emirati daily newspaper The National, there could be close links between the use of henna, the traditional red dye commonly used in the Middle East for decorating the body and colouring hair, and the onset of leukaemia, the cancer of the blood. The National quotes a study by the University of the United Arab Emirates in Al-Ain, which says that there are 93% more instances of blood and bone marrow cancer in the country's women than in men. On top of this, according to research carried out between 2000 and 2006 into 263 cases, the rate of tumours in Emirati women is 63% higher than for foreign women living in the country. The frequent use of henna to decorate hands, arms, ankles and other parts of the body, combined with a limited exposure to the sun due to the headscarfs and ample robes that cover the female body, could be two important factors in accentuating the phenomenon among local women. Traditionally, henna is a pigment drawn from the shrub of the same name that grows on the Arabian peninsula, but a large range of dyes being sold today are drawn synthetically from chemical substances, including benzene, which is used in oil and tobacco and is known for carcinogenic properties. A previous study carried out by the same research team suggested that the enveloping black dress of women in the region could also favour the tumour, in that it prevents the formation of Vitamin D, which needs exposure to sunlight. The UAE's health authorities have underlined that frequent inspections are carried out to check for use of harmful or illegal substances in the composition of henna.(ANSAmed).

http://uppompeii1.uppompeii.com/2010/05/11/obamacare--female-genital-mutilation-is-ok-in-america.aspx

NEW YORK, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- International human rights organization Equality Now is stunned by a new policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which essentially promotes female genital mutilation (FGM) and advocates for "federal and state laws [to] enable pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a 'ritual nick'," such as pricking or minor incisions of girls' clitorises. The Policy Statement "Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors", issued by the AAP on April 26, 2010, is a significant set-back to the Academy's own prior statements on the issue of FGM and is antithetical to decades of noteworthy advancement across Africa and around the world in combating this human rights violation against women and girls. It is ironic that the AAP issued its statement the very same day that Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) announced the introduction of new bipartisan legislation, The Girls Protection Act (H.R. 5137), to close the loophole in the federal law prohibiting FGM by making it illegal to transport a minor girl living in the U.S. out of the country for the purpose of FGM.

FGM is a harmful traditional practice that involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia and is carried out across Africa, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and by immigrants of practicing communities living around the world, including in Europe and the U.S. It is estimated that up to 140 million women and girls around the world are affected by FGM. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 1997 that over 168,000 girls and women living in the U.S. have either been, or are at risk of being, subjected to FGM.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/

An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.

His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/19/the-shiite-stripper-girl-next-door/

The new Miss USA is a pole-dancing Shi'ite Muslim who counts the Hezbollah terrorist group as part of her loyal fan base. Or, as the Los Angeles Times put it, Rima Fakih is "the poster girl for modern America."

Miss Fakih, who as Miss Michigan took the Miss USA crown last weekend, was born in southern Lebanon and, as commentator Debbie Schlussel has reported, has extensive family connections to Hezbollah. But that reportage has been overshadowed by the more politically correct "first Arab-American Miss USA" storyline, dovetailing as it does with President Obama's efforts to promote Islam at home and abroad.

The first Arab-American to win the Miss USA crown was really Julie Hayek in 1983. However, Miss Hayek was a Lebanese Christian, and the notion of Christian Arabs is probably too complicated for the liberal media to bother explaining.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/top-obama-officials-now-calling-jerusalem-al-quds-video/

John Brenna talks about his favorite city "al-Quds" and praises the Middle East for the freedom to practice your faith(?)

"I did spend time with classmates at the American University in Cairo in the 1970's. And, time spent with classmates from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine from around the world who taught me that whatever our differences in nationality, or race, or religion, or language, there are certain aspirations that we all share. To get an education. To provide for our family. To practice our faith freely (huh?). To live in peace and security. And in a 25 year career in government, I was privileged to serve in positions across the Middle East... In Saudi Arabia, I saw how our Saudi partners fulfilled their duty as custodians of the two holy mosques at Mecca and Medina. I marveled at the majesty of the Hajj and the devotion of those who fulfilled their duty as Muslims by making that pilgrimage. And, in all my travels the city I have come to love most is al-Quds, Jerusalem where three great faiths come together."

http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/some-us-troops-in-afghanistan-may-patrol-with-no-rounds-cham.html

Commanders have reportedly ordered a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan to patrol in a manner that could handicap them.

Some soldiers are being ordered to conduct patrols without a round chambered in their weapons, The US Report has learned from an anonymous source at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. Our source was unsure if the order came from his unit or if it affected other units.

On war correspondent Michael Yon's Facebook page, commenters stated that this is a common practice in Iraq, while others said that it is occurring in Afghanistan as well. According to military protocol, "Amber" status requires weapons to have a loaded magazine, but the safety on and no round chambered.

"The idea that any combat unit would conduct any operation, including patrolling and even manning a security post -- in which direct action may-or-may not take place -- and not having weapons loaded, borders on being criminally negligent in my opinion," says Lt. Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr., a recognized expert on terrorism and military/national defense issues. "This is nothing more than infusing politically correct restrictions into already overly restrictive rules of engagement. And this PC nonsense is going to get people killed."

http://www.homeland1.com/homeland-security-products/decontamination-decon-equipment/articles/813577-laser-decontamination-technology-gets-green-light/

ndustry uses lasers to make precision cuts and welds. Surgeons use them to repair delicate tissue. Soon, homeland security personnel may be using lasers to decontaminate sites of chemical attack.

Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have come up with a novel way to decontaminate difficult-to-clean material, such as porous cement or brick surfaces.

Getting toxic contaminants off these surfaces with conventional cleaning methods is difficult, since the toxins leach into the smallest cracks and holes. Conventional cleaning techniques tend to rely on other chemicals, like bleaches, which, while not toxic themselves, are corrosive and can damage surfaces. The INL scientists have found a safe way to use laser power to decontaminate surfaces using ambient water found in porous building material.

Basically, what happens is, the laser power and heat pulverizes toxic chemical compounds. The heat also flashes ambient water into steam, which carries the contaminants back to the surface for removal by an integrated vacuum system or other means.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/05/nypd-shield-report-times-square-car-bomb-arrest-.html

Implications

* •New York City remains a major target for terrorist attacks
* •Vehicles loaded with incendiary materials could potentially cause significant damage
* •The arrest adds evidence that terrorist will go to great lengths to fit into our society while planning their attack on American citizens
* •The public's cooperation and partnership with law enforcement authorities is critical for security in New York City neighborhoods
* •If You See Something, Say Something!

http://www.aina.org/news/20100505124828.htm

In an unprecedented victory for free people everywhere, a monster mosque costing $27 million that had been planned for the English town of Dudley despite overwhelming opposition from the townspeople has been scrapped. Fifty-five thousand locals had signed a petition against the mosque, but the dhimmi government went over their heads and said it was going to be built anyway. But in the end, the Muslims and the government didn't get their way.

That this mosque would have gone ahead at all after the petitions shows a contempt for the people that is breathtaking. But now it has been scrapped after a brilliant protest staged by the courageous English patriots of the much-maligned English Defence League.

The EDL on Sunday occupied and camped out on the rooftop of the abandoned building slated to be turned into the mammoth new mosque. The EDL's website said that the protesters had "food and water to last them weeks, and a PA system to give speeches." They played the Muslim call to prayer over their PA system, to give the locals a taste of what was in store for them.

Police closed streets as EDL members streamed into Dudley to show support. Riot vans and helicopters converged on the scene, hoping to bring the EDL's protest to a swift end. Muslims also trekked to Dudley to counter the EDL. Senior EDL leadership informed me that thousands of Muslims soon began rioting in Dudley, throwing missiles and objects at the protesters (although they were unable to reach them) -- and in the process, showing the true face of Islam.

EDL leaders also reported that in addition to the thousands of rioting Muslims, numerous Muslim gangs were roaming Dudley. Beatings and stabbings were reported as well. The West Midlands police, the second largest police force in the United Kingdom, could not control the wilding Muslims.

Yet in the mainstream media reports, they held back from reporting on how the Muslims were beating non-Muslims, and they never identified the assailants. What makes this more egregious is that the media has no trouble demonizing the EDL, which, ironically enough, is fighting for the very freedoms those decayed liberal journalist hacks so richly enjoy. Oh, the irony.

http://www.homeland1.com/domestic-international-terrorism/articles/815428-53-hours-20-minutes-From-NYC-terror-plot-to-arrest/

The license plate had been switched and the vehicle identification number stripped from the dashboard of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder holding a crude bomb in Times Square. Smoke from the faulty firecracker detonators might have ruined evidence.

Then investigators managed to recover the VIN, hidden on the SUV's engine block -- and thus began a chase that led to the arrest of the would-be bomber 53 hours and 20 minutes after the smoking vehicle was spotted on one of the busiest streets in America.

A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, Faisal Shahzad, was hauled off a flight to Dubai and arrested late Monday; federal authorities say he has admitted to plotting the attack. He was charged Tuesday with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

"Jack Bauer might have caught him in '24'," said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, referring to Fox's popular TV show "24." "But in the real world, 53's not bad."

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=114361#axzz0madIJ3CU

An Egyptian intelligence official on Thursday denied allegations leveled by Hamas that Egypt pumped gas into a cross-border tunnel used to smuggle goods into the Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians.

Egypt has been under pressure to shut down the hundreds of tunnels that are a key economic lifeline for the blockaded Palestinian territory but which are also used to bring in weapons for the Islamic militant group.

The intelligence official confirmed that Egyptian security forces destroyed the entrances to several tunnels this week but said that no gas was used in the operations. He said that Egypt routinely blows up the mouths to the tunnels to seal them off and that the blast and an ensuing fire could quickly use up all the oxygen in the confined space, causing people caught inside to suffocate.

Egypt's denial comes a day after Hamas accused Egyptian forces of killing four Palestinians by pumping gas into a smuggling tunnel. The Hamas Interior Ministry said in a statement late Wednesday that the gas used to try to clear the tunnel was poisonous. It said six people were also injured.

It was not immediately clear what evidence Hamas was basing its allegations on.

Mohammad al-Osh, the medical director of the Abu Yusef al-Najar hospital in the Gaza border town of Rafah where some of the dead and injured were taken, could not confirm those killed had inhaled poison gas. He said the hospital did not have the equipment or specialists needed to conduct the necessary tests on lungs and clothing.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/01/the-gulf-oil-rig-explosion-on-the-scene-photos/

You may have heard the news in the last week about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which caught fire, burned for two days, then sank in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found.

The rig belongs to Transocean, the world's biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP's Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract. The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.

The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning.

The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the work necessary to bring the well into production.

It is thought that somehow formation fluids - oil /gas - got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the seabed - the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment - the Blowout Preventers, or 'BOP's" as they're called, are controlled with redundant systems from the rig. In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even fail-safe Deadman systems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface. The flames were visible up to about 35 miles away. Not the glow - the flames. They were 200 - 300 ft high.

All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.

This is insane! What kind of storm does this? How can we protect from it? How do we prepare for an insanely deadly storm?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/02/report-lightning-kills-injures-scores-parts-bangladesh/?test=latestnews

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- A domestic news agency reports lightning has left at least 16 people dead and scores others injured in parts of Bangladesh.

The United News of Bangladesh agency says most victims were on farmland or at their homes. Others were walking along roads.

The agency says six people died in the northeastern district of Habiganj, 75 miles (120 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Dhaka. It said four others were injured in the district.

It said 10 more people died in five other districts in northern, central, southern and northeastern Bangladesh.

The report said the injured were taken to hospital.

Officials could not be reached immediately for comment.