It must be his well-known role in the instigation of the Iraq War, but according to the latest poll, 61.5% of post-war Iraqis now feel their country is headed in the right direction as opposed to 23.2 thinking negatively, a stunning differential of nearly 40% which dwarfs any similar polls I have ever seen about America and Europe. The only conclusion we can draw from this is perhaps we should have invaded Europe. It would have cheered them up.Haw!
Unlike the Hezbollah demonstrators with their chants of "Death to America," many in the crowd were friendly to Americans. "Thank's Free World," (sic) said one poster, held high by a woman in a bright red jacket, Rawya Okal, who told me: "We thank Mr. Bush for his position." Overhearing this in the throng, a middle-aged man in a green baseball cap, Louis Nahanna, leaned over to say, "We love the American people" - adding, "Please don't let Bush forget us. Your support is very important."
Mercury from China, dust from Africa, smog from Mexico — all of it drifts freely across U.S. borders and contaminates the air millions of Americans breathe, according to recent research from Harvard University, the University of Washington and many other institutions where scientists are studying air pollution. There are no boundaries in the sky to stop such pollution, no Border Patrol agents to capture it.
Pollution wafting into the USA accounts for 30% of the nation's ozone, an important component of smog, says researcher David Parrish of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By the year 2020, Harvard University's Daniel Jacob says, imported pollution will be the primary factor degrading visibility in our national parks.
The EPA will announce limits Tuesday on mercury emitted by U.S. power plants. But the agency estimates that 40% of the mercury that sinks out of the air and lands in the USA comes from overseas.
Readership and audiences of the mainstream media are dropping like a stone, but the reporting by the mainstream media on Rathergate and Easongate give little sign that anyone understands why. CJR Daily managing editor Steve Lovelady gave a pretty accurate consensus of the mainstream media's view of what the real problem was: the bloggers did it! Rather and Jordan went down, he said, because: "The salivating morons who make up the lynch mob prevail."
If it takes “salivating morons” to get major news organizations to clean up their acts and remember Journalism 101, may they slobber on -- before the American people stop paying any attention to big media at all. In the end, as The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz points out, Jordan only resigned “following a relentless campaign by online critics but scant coverage in the mainstream press.” Those of us in mainstream media had better ask why we didn’t do a better job ourselves.
In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms.....
Consumer confidence, which had plunged sharply in February, jumped by the largest amount in seven months in early March as Americans were heartened by a big surge in hiring.Yahoo! News - Consumer Confidence Jumps Sharply in March
The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index rose to 84.2 in early March, a gain of 6.4 percent from a February reading of 79.1. It was the largest one-month gain since a 13.9 percent rise last August.
The March rebound came from stronger confidence about current economic conditions, job prospects and personal finances. The survey was taken the first three days of this week, following the news last Friday that the economy created 262,000 jobs last month, the best showing in four months.
Liberals have been completely intellectually vanquished. Actually, they lost the war of ideas long ago. It's just that now their defeat is so obvious, even they've noticed. As new DNC Chairman Howard Dean might say, it's all over but the screaming.Oy!
"The Soviet Union was already collapsing. Gorbachev saw this and made the only decision he could. Reagan maybe sped things up a little bit, at most. But the Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway."Maybe you've heard that one, too.
There was, at the time of this, the policy of the Clinton administration to deny access to the US Naval base by refugees. One day, while I was serving as part of a reactionary force, a group of refugees were spotted heading towards the base. As the reactionary force, it was our duty to react to whatever came up. We did so in this case as well.
We deployed in the vicinity of the fenceline. We met the refugees as they approached, and with weapns in hand, denied them entry to the base. They had managed to traverse a kilometer deep minefield covered by towers with machine guns to get to this point. They had left everything they had ever known in order to get out of there. And we stopped them. We had orders. We had our orders, so we followed them. After enough shouting and threatening, the refugees eventualy gave up and headed back. Back into Cuba. While I was sweating my balls off under the hot sun, these refugees made a mistake. They had gotten through the minefield the first time, but they had not followed in their own footsteps going back. While I was thinking to myself how I wish these people would hurry up and go back so that I could head back to someplace with air-conditioning, one of them stepped on a landmine.
That explosion touched my world.
Then, I witnessed the worst thing I ever saw in my life.
As the dust cloud wafted away from those refugees, nobody ran. Nobody screamed. Nobody said anything.
They just laid down to die in the middle of a minefield that was the sun's anvil.
Think of how badly you would not want to die like that. Think about that real hard. Think about slowly dying of exposure in a minefield. Think about what would make you risk such an outcome. Think about it real hard, and then remember that as bad as that was, it was better than going back.
Despair was once described to me by a college english professor as "the death throes of hope." That day in the minefield was despair incarnate, and it was the worst thing I have ever seen with mine own eyes.
Make a fucking documentary of that.
A native of San Clemente, Calif., Mr. Stevens began his career working for the California Republican Party, and later worked on the Bush/Quayle 1988 presidential campaign. ............
"He was very popular, and had tons of connections in Hollywood," said Haley Barbour, one of the firm's founding partners, who resigned to take office as governor of Mississippi in 2004. "They found him fun, engaging, energetic. Just the way people in Washington did," Mr. Barbour said yesterday from his Jackson office. ...............
Mr. Stevens served on the 2001 presidential inaugural committee, where he recruited numerous celebrity performers. For the most recent inauguration, Mr. Stevens reached out to Hollywood, trying to invite numerous celebrities to perform. ..........
"He was in good shape," Miss Fisher recalled. "Tons and tons of people saw him. He was Greg." She said Mr. Stevens returned home shortly afterward, and the two watched the 1942 classic film "Mrs. Miniver," then went to bed. The next morning they had planned to have brunch and tango lessons with other houseguests. Miss Fisher said she went to his room and Mr. Stevens was lying on his back in the bed. "He passed away here, and in a place where he was loved," Miss Fisher said yesterday from her home in Los Angeles.
"Your estimated benefits are based on current law. Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can do so at any time. The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2042, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 73% of the scheduled benefits."
In truth, "blogs" are nothing more than a relatively new way of distributing information, just as radio, television, newsprint, and conventional Web sites once were. Blogs differ from other media in that they provide links for easy referencing, they're more easily and quickly updated (and, consequently, many times less carefully edited), they allow for more interaction between reader and publisher, and there's virtually no barrier to entry — meaning just about anyone can start his or her own blog. You don't need to win the approval of an editor. You don't need start-up money from a publisher. You don't need a radio tower.
Bloggers also can operate outside the "rules" and standards — in terms of attribution, verification of sources, objectivity and concerns for libel and lawsuits — that are supposed to govern traditional journalism.
A consumer group has filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration for failing to make good on a 20-year-old promise to consider regulating salt in the food supply.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (search), the watchdog group behind the lawsuit, salt consumption (search) for adults in America has drifted upwards over the past three decades. The group estimates that the daily consumption of salt is near 4,000 mg per day — nearly twice the recommended amount.
The CSPI says that packaged food nutrition labels have failed to reduce Americans’ sodium intake to recommended levels, and that cutting the nation’s sodium intake could substantially reduce the incidence of health problems associated with high blood pressure.
And yet Will is firmly convinced that he’s the one who really, truly “supports the troops.” Support them, hell; he doesn’t even respect them. It’s kind of hard to credibly claim you “support” some group or other when you’re sneering down your nose at them, or pitying their shameful ignorance.
But tell me, does the arrogance of that approach sound at all familiar? It should by now; we’ve heard plenty of it over the years, and the latest incarnation (besides Will’s, I mean) surfaced just after the ‘04 election, with the phrase “they (meaning red-state Americans) voted against their own best interests.”
Well, thanks a lot for coming down from the mountaintop to render that enlightened judgment, fellas. And I’se sho’ the soldiers would want to thanks you too for not laughing right out loud at they po’ ign’ant selfs, Marse Will. I take that tone advisedly; liberal condescension reminds me of nothing so much as the old slave-owner’s rationalization that the Negro actually needed slavery because without it, he was too darn stupid to be counted on to come in out of the rain. The difference between that attitude and the one these Lefties are taking with soldiers—and anybody notice how often they refer to these mostly in-their-20s men and women as “kids” or “children,” by the way?—is one only of degree.
At issue is whether governments can forcibly seize homes and businesses, for private economic development. Under a practice known as eminent domain, a person's property may be condemned and the land converted for a greater "public use." It has traditionally been employed to eliminate slums, or to build highways, schools or other public works.
The New London case tests the muscle of local and state governments to raise what they see as much-needed revenue, which they argue serves a greater "public purpose."
Henze, an assistant vice president of finance, testified she told her supervisor, then-assistant controller Ken Livesay, that the big jumps "looked very suspicious" and that she suspected "something was going on."Nothing like the election of a Republican to bring out the greed in people...
Henze said she was transferred to the information technology division for about a year after reporting her suspicions of fraud, but she has since returned to the accounting office, where she is currently vice president of finance.
Just back from maternity leave in spring 1999, Diana Henze said she noticed a $60 million jump in net income and a boost of 14 cents in earnings per share as quarterly reports were being put in final form. She'd noticed odd numbers in 1998, too.Oh.
Prosecutors allege [CEO Richard] Scrushy was behind a scheme to overstate HealthSouth earnings by some $2.7 billion from 1996 through '02. Scrushy made millions off the conspiracy by keeping stock prices high, they charge.
"Nevermind."
One girl wrote that she believes Jacobs is "being forced to kill innocent people" and challenged him to name an Iraqi terrorist, concluding, "I know I can't."FOXNews.com - NYC Kids Send Anti-War Letters to Soldier
Another girl wrote, "I strongly feel this war is pointless," while a classmate predicted that because Bush was re-elected, "only 50 or 100 [soldiers] will survive."
A boy accused soldiers of "destroying holy places like mosques."
"It is my civic duty as a Lebanese to take part in this uprising," said Youssef Mukhtar, a 47-year-old engineer. "Enough bloodshed and disasters. It is the 21st century, and people should be able to govern themselves. The situation has become unbearable and we have to regain our country."Self-determination is contagious.
In Damascus, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement. It was not clear whether that meant Syria would completely leave Lebanon as demanded by the international community.How woeful is the "international community" - demanding something for 16 years??
Schweizer, after scouring once-classified KGB, East German Stasi and Soviet Communist Party files, discovered incontrovertible evidence that the Soviets not only played footsie with high-ranking Democrats, they also worked behind the scenes to influence American elections.
In "Reagan's War," Schweizer shows how the Democrats worked with Moscow to try to undermine Reagan before and after he became president.
Soviet diplomatic accounts and material from the archives show that in January 1984 former President Jimmy Carter dropped by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin's residence for a private meeting.Carter expressed his concern about and opposition to Reagan's defense buildup. He boldly told Dobrynin that Moscow would be better off with someone else in the White House. If Reagan won, he warned, "There would not be a single agreement on arms control, especially on nuclear arms, as long as Reagan remained in power."
Using the Russians to influence the presidential election was nothing new for Carter.
Schweizer reveals Russian documents that show that in the waning days of the 1980 campaign, the Carter White House dispatched businessman Armand Hammer to the Soviet Embassy.
Hammer was a longtime Soviet-phile, and he explained to the Soviet ambassador that Carter was "clearly alarmed" at the prospect of losing to Reagan.
Given the propensity of the Democrats to espouse Communist ideals, and given the Democrats powerbase openly opposing every American ideal that they can, it should come as no surprise that the Democrats are essentially Communists who simply can't admit it to the sane people of this country.
When you talk to a 20-something German factory worker, and they say that they can't wait to make it to their 40's, so they can start sucking off their pension checks, it shouldn't require much deduction to find the problem. Talk to the same 20-something American factory worker, and he'll probably tell you not to waste his time, he's pulling a double shift to help pay off his new Corvette.
The bottom line is, Americans have no obligation to soothe the aches and clothe the bodies of those in the world who aren't willing to stand up for their own freedom, nor work for their own success. We do, in many ways, and to many times the degree of other nations, out of compassion and friendship. But we do not have to. We are not obligated to do so simply because some idiot thinks it's a moral sin for a "certain kind" of people to stand at an SUV dealership and wonder, gee, do I want the tan leather or the white?
The prattling socialist nimrods of the world think John Q. Taxpayer should give the $60,000 he wants to spend on a Cadillac Escalade to those who "need it" more than he does, even though he's the one who created the wealth he spends. They're the same ones who don't think there should be "winners" or "losers" in society, the same who think personal responsibility is a naughty word.
Well, those of us who are not insane don't, and that's why we have more millionaires per capita than any nation in the history of the planet.
The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits fell unexpectedly by 2,000 last week to the lowest level in more than four years as the U.S. labor market continued to strengthen, a government report showed Thursday.Peter Jennings' lead story, no doubt.
"Good news from Iraq. Because you won’t hear it elsewhere."
Did you know that 47 countries have re-established their embassies in Iraq?
Did you know that the Iraqi government employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?
Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been built in Iraq?
Did you know that Iraq¹s higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2004 for the re-established Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5-100ft patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a navel infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq¹s Air Force consists of three operation squadrons, 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 bell jet rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consist of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
Did you know that 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a recent televised debate recently?
As Analog Kid says: "If you can answer yes to every one, or even two-thirds of these questions, I want to know where you get your news."Kim Jong Il beat Clinton and Carter...that is evident in the fact that he now is claiming that he has WMD's. He was brought up to their level...a petty tin-horn with spazzed-out hair and a vertical challenge...brought to the level of the American President(s). And, he got over on them. He did what he wanted, got what he wanted, and laughed all the way to the bank. He only got verbose after he saw that the new American President saw right through the bullcrap. He only started throwing his tantrum when Bush called him out.I'd be much happier if I couldn't gloat at the Donks right now, telling them just how wrong they've been. I'd be much happier if ONE SINGLE DEMOCRAT would come out and admit that Carter and Clinton screwed the pooch.
My American Presidency class had just gotten out and a couple of us stood around discussing politics. The teacher (Democrat) asked if there was anything we agreed with about the Democratic Party and the president of the College Republicans brought up public education. I did my John Dewey socialist rant and when that didn't seem to work I brought up the Constitution. I asked him where in the Constitution the feds have the power to control education. He acknowledged that it didn't but remarked:
"I don't really believe in the Constitution"
U.S. troops shot dead an award-winning Reuters cameraman while he was filming on Sunday near a U.S.-run prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Eyewitnesses said soldiers on an American tank shot at Mazen Dana, 43, as he filmed outside Abu Ghraib prison in western Baghdad which had earlier come under a mortar attack.
Dana's last pictures show a U.S. tank driving toward him outside the prison walls. Several shots ring out from the tank, and Dana's camera falls to the ground.
The U.S. military acknowledged on Sunday that its troops had "engaged" a Reuters cameraman, saying they had thought his camera was a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
 Dana with his camera |  Soldier with an Eastern bloc RPO-A |
They were supposed to have canvassed black neighborhoods and recorded names of potential voters to be contacted later to vote in the Nov. 7 election. And they were paid by the number of cards they filled out.Jeepers.
Instead of knocking on doors, however, they sat down at a fast-food restaurant and wrote out names and information from an outdated voter list.
Two U.S. Representatives have resuscitated a bill to enact a national recycling program for electronic waste, following the successful launch of two state-run programs.
The bill, co-authored by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) last week, would create the National Computer Recycling Act. The act, if approved by Congress and signed into law, would tack on a $10 administrative fee to the sale price of computers and monitors to fund recycling efforts.
The goal is to establish a national standard for e-cycling efforts, overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, the issue is handled at the state level, with efforts by Maine and California leading the way.
However, the bill marks the third time that Thompson has attempted to push forward recycling legislation. In 2003, Thompson tried to enact a similar bill that also assessed a $10 fee, tacking on a clause that would exempt the sale of used computers between individuals. A spokesman confirmed that the text of the NCRA is the same as H.R. 1165, which died in committee during the 108th Congress.
Unclassified
Planning in the U.S. Government for post-war Iraq was an interagency process involving officials from the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, Energy, and Commerce; the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Central Intelligence Agency, as well as from the staffs of the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget.
Two teenage girls decided one summer's evening to skip a dance where there might be cursing and drinking to stay home and bake cookies for their neighbors.
Big mistake.
They were sued, successfully, for an unauthorized cookie drop on one porch.
Sudan have some of the An-26 versions of the An-24, which has a rear ramp, which bombs are rolled out of. The African Union and various relief agencies report that Sudanese planes bombed the village of Rahad Kabolong in North Darfur state. The attack took place on January 26 and left more than 100 people dead. Some 9000 people fled the village and the surrounding area after the air attack. A monitoring team reported that most of the dead were women and children.Not genocide.
Hi Everybody!
Well, the Iraq Elections went off pretty good. Out of all the registered voters (I don't know the number, but it's ALOT of people), 72% voted. I think thats more voters than we had in our country. Kinda makes a year over here worth it. We had a Mass Casualty Point setup, just in case, but it didn't need to be used. Not even once.
I'm sure that in the news there talking about the suicide bomber that got within 500 meters of a polling site and blew himself up. The reporters probably didn't tell you the Iraqi voters spit on this guys body parts as they walked past hime to vote. I'm sure that part wasn't put on the news.
The unit thats replacing us is almost here. Only a little over a month to go. I'll talk to you all later, Joe.
6) The elections in Iraq—contrary to repeated shrill predictions from the Left and the mainstream press of disaster, postponement, cancellation, and subterfuge on the part of the US —will take place as scheduled this Sunday. It will be an historic first step on the road to self-determination for a people who have not known it in our lifetimes. Despite the Left’s overheated rhetoric accusing Bush of being a “despot,” a “tyrant,” a “dictator,” and so on, the real dictator is even now incarcerated, held by the people he so viciously wronged, and it’s directly due to Bush’s steadfastness and determination and not at all to the resistance to taking any action repeatedly and embarrassingly demonstrated by you on the Left. It’s a cliche, but it’s true: freedom is not free, and its cost is not measured in dollars but in blood. That blood has been shed by both Americans and Iraqis in pursuit of a dream of liberty and self-determination that you on the Left would deny them even now. You are not serious in your protestations of concern for the Iraqi people. You are dead wrong, and you do not deserve to be taken seriously.
