Homegrown Wheatie

Failed a "Cuteness Test"

2008-08-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

So check this out. http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/The-Chinese-pulled-a-Milli-Vanilli-during-the-Op?urn=oly,100162

The girl on the right was told she would sing in the Olympic opening ceremony. Then she was deemed not cute enough at the last minute, and was replaced by the girl on the left who seems to have straighter teeth. High marks for China on this one, ruining small children's dreams whenever it best benefits the state.

How Much I am Focusing on Work Right Now..

2008-06-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well here's the cats. New cat doesn't have a name, but I'll think of one. She's super nice. Zu is bigger now too.

My Favorite Sesame Street Characters Ever

2008-06-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

You have have have to watch these. They're bizzare but hilarious.....and timeless awesomeness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4VNMERVsC4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2ZkJd4u0Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtFEdhggOw0

Zu the Cat Pictures!

2008-05-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

They're finally here, and I'll figure out how to upload video of all this mayhem later. And somehow it posted two of the same picture. Hmm.

No Joke, a .50 caliber M4 in use by SF today...

2008-03-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.alexanderarms.com/beowulf.htm

New Title Picture...Cause Now I know my Job

2008-03-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so above me is a M119 105mm light howitzer. I recently found out that I am going to 2-32nd FA, which is a "Light" unit attached to an Infantry brigade combat team at Ft. Riley. Light basically means that we can pull our howitzers with Humvees, and can pick up and go at anytime, anywhere. This weapon will be my main tool for my job, so I felt obligated to post a compelling picture of it.

Thought this was funny

2008-03-08T19:12:00.001-08:00

Ok, so you've probably seen this image floating around as a joke on people's forums or computers....but I still think it sums up my view of Hillary pretty well. Go Obama!

An Amazing WWII story...

2008-03-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

Check this out, it's an amazing account of one pilot's being saved, and then returning the favor to the islanders of New Britain.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_re_au_an/mastah_preddi;_ylt=AhjHwUo.CASfjy76su1jDM8DW7oF

This is pretty darn cool....and for real...

2008-02-17T16:54:00.001-08:00

Thirty years after the movie thriller ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ hit the silver screen “sQuba” is the first car that can actually ‘fly’ under water.
“Dive it again, James!” If the situation gets too hot for the secret agent he’ll go underground - or under water. So demonstrated impressively by Roger Moore in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me” in 1977 when he dove below the waves in a sleek vehicle that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car. The only problem: The scene never really took place; it was an animation.

With the “sQuba,” the world’s first real submersible car, the movie fake now becomes reality for visitors of the Geneva Motor Show (March 6th - 16th, 2008). Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht (52) is known for his extraordinary automotive creations. The acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and Swiss automobile visionary kept revisiting this scene in his mind over and over: “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true.”

And it is this submerged stabile flight at a depth of 10 meters that sets the “sQuba” apart from military vehicles. While the latter can go under water, they are limited to driving slowly over the submerged ground. Rinderknecht: “It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water. The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water.”

It also had to be a sports car that was converted into a diving dream in the facilities of Swiss engineering specialist Esoro. In a first step the combustion engine was removed and replaced by several electric motors. Three motors are located in the rear. One provides propulsion on land, the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring. They are supported by two powerful Seabob jet drives in the front, which ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvers from HS Genion (for opening and closing the water intake). The rotating outlet jets were designed to be extremely light yet twist resistant by using high-tech nano materials, so-called Carbon Nano Tubes.

It is a sure bet that the “sQuba” will steal the show from any ‘Baywatch’ beauty on the beach. And easily, too: You drive the car into the water and the car floats. That is, until you crack the door to let the water in. Immediately the “sQuba” starts on his way to the underwater world. The occupants’ breathing air comes from an integrated tank of compressed air that divers know from scuba diving. Rinderknecht: “For safety reasons we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency. With an enclosed cabin opening the door might be impossible.” But safety wasn’t the only reason for choosing an open-top design: With an enclosed volume of just two cubic meters of air the vehicle weight would have to increase by two tons (!) to counteract the unwanted buoyancy, giving the “sQuba” the land mobility of a turtle. Without occupants the “sQuba” surfaces automatically. It is even capable of autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger.

Power is supplied by rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries. Rinderknecht: “The ‘sQuba’ is a zero-emission car as documented by the rotating license plate in the rear. It produces no exhaust emissions. The Swiss are among the world’s pioneers in the area of hydropower. The ‘sQuba’s’ filling station is the water reservoir.” It is no surprise that the vehicle features powerful yet energy-saving LED lighting technology.
3-D foil elements with embossed fish and sharkskin patterns from Wetzel Processing Group and Hornschuch add visual pizzazz and streamline the exterior. Together with styling elements from Foliatec they create a harmonious velvety matt-white appearance.
For shore leave the “sQuba” relies on a stainless coil-over suspension from KW automotive and large Pirelli tires mounted on custom-made forged light-weight wheels from AEZ with 17- and 18-inch diameters. But the “sQuba” is really at home in the water. To make the occupants feel at home there as well the innovative salt-water resistant interior from Strähle + Hess features genuine mother-of-pearl trim and diamond-plated non-slip inlays from KGS Diamond, normally used in high-tech abrasives. After all, ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friends.’ The high-tech VDO instrument cluster and controls create a futuristic ambiance and allow controlling all vehicle functions even while submerged.
Frank M. Rinderknecht and his partners - amongst them also the fleet specialist LeasePlan - have created a truly unusual vehicle and in the process have thought of everything. Even the Motorex lubricants used in the ‘sQuba” are biodegradable. For the Rinspeed boss that is a meticulousness stemming from conviction: “The ‘sQuba’ lets me be one with the elements and lets me immerse myself in a new and fascinating world - with Q factor. It is our duty to protect this world in which we are guests to the best of our ability.” Isn’t it, Miss Moneypenny? - James couldn’t have said it better himself glancing at the sporty Swiss precision chronograph from C.F. Bucherer. Eau la la - shaken, not stirred.

V-Day

2008-02-14T05:17:00.000-08:00

I've gotta run to work, but I quickly wanted to comment on Valentine's Day. Yes, I sent someone flowers and was a sucker to the rampant commercialism that this holiday basically lives off of. However, a thought struck me. Why not treat your special someone as well as you do on V-Day all the time? I don't mean buy them 100$ trinkets or send them flowers every day, cause honestly, they would start hating the mountains of flowers making a mess everywhere. BUT, love....love is the key thing here. People are superior to animals because of their logic and feeling. When feeling or affection leaves a person, they become a machine who only does what is best for him or her. Think about what somebody else needs, that's why I think V-Day might actually matter....even just a little bit..

Old Toys Not On the Floor Anymore, Hurray!

2008-02-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

Mom starts online toy rental service

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press WriterSun Feb 10, 3:09 PM ET
After scouring the Internet to fill her house with only the best toys for her infant twin sons, Lori Pope hated to watch the clutter build as the boys lost interest.
If you can rent movies, video games and even handbags online, she thought, why not toys?
That's the idea behind Baby Plays, a Web-based company Pope launched in October that allows parents to receive four or six toys in the mail every month, assembled and ready for playtime.
Call it Netflix for the toddler set.
Baby Plays subscribers visit the company's Web site to browse among nearly 200 toys for newborns through preschoolers. Customers build a wish list of toys they'd like to rent, and Pope's staff ships them to their door.
"It's going to take a load off of moms," Pope said.
The program has been great for Heidi Borden, a financial analyst from the Houston suburb of Katy who used to dread shopping for toys with her now 11-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son.
"She wants to get on the floor and he's running down the aisle and I'm just stressed to pick out something really good really quick, get in and out," said Borden, 39. "It's just a lot nicer to be able to do this online and not worry about if it's something that they don't like."
As the co-owner of an oilfield supply business, Pope also didn't have a lot of time to shop. To save time, money and space, she searched the Internet for a toy rental company. When she couldn't find one, she decided to start her own.
Pope started with 10 customers, shipping toys out of spare office space in her business. Now she's got about 200 customers nationwide, including about 40 grandparents, and is preparing to move into a 3,000-square-foot warehouse next door.
She has spent $250,000 of the money she's made from her other business to get the company off the ground, from buying toys and hiring employees to subletting the office and storage space. She still pours about $12,000 a month into the company but hopes to begin turning a profit by this fall.
Customers pay $28.99 a month to get four toys a month for three months and $35.99 a month to get six toys a month for three months. Families willing to sign a yearlong contract can get six toys a month for $31.99.
Baby Plays' inventory includes popular toys by brands such as VTech, LeapFrog and Playskool as well as more obscure European manufacturers. Pope keeps at least seven of each kind of toy in stock so she can fulfill almost every request. She plans to double her inventory over the next two months.
Pope mainly stocks sturdy, easy-to-clean toys with few parts or parts that are easily replaced. She searches Web sites and catalogs for popular toys that are appropriate for small children and meet all European and American safety standards.
Once a new toy comes in, Pope invites Houston-area customers and their children to her office for some hands-on testing. If the kids love them, she'll order more. If they ignore the toy or lose interest just a few minutes, it's cut.
The toys are sanitized with Clorox wipes and loaded with fresh batteries before being shrink wrapped and boxed for shipment. The few toys that are too big to be shipped fully assembled are boxed with a screwdriver and instructions.
Families generally keep the toys for one month and then send them back in the box they came in, using a postage-paid return label the company includes with each shipment. Most parents know that's long enough for little kids to exhaust their interest.
But it's no big deal if the little one wants to hang on to a couple of toys for several months, Pope said. Parents can just exchange the toys they don't want, and new toys are shipped out as the old ones are returned.
Pope also keeps a close eye on the merchandise, yanking toys that are broken or more than "gently worn" and donating them to needy families nominated by her customers.
"If it has a little scratch on it, we're not going to take it out of the program," she said. But, "we're not going to ever send anybody anything that they're going to feel like is junk."
Each type of toy is also tested for lead paint when a new shipment arrives from the wholesaler, Pope said. She also avoids toys with small pieces that a child could break off and choke on.
The lead testing was a big selling point for Regina Rubin Cody, a Cleveland mother of 8-month-old twin girls.
"With the two babies it's kind of a handful," she said. "To be able to have one less thing to worry about offers kind of a real peace of mind."

Project LAPCAT

2008-02-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hypersonic jet could reach Australia in under five hours

Tue Feb 5, 7:05 AM ET
British engineers unveiled plans Tuesday for a hypersonic jet which could fly from Europe to Australia in less than five hours.
The A2 plane, designed by engineering company Reaction Engines based in Oxfordshire, southern England, could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph (6,400 kmh), five times the speed of sound.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project, backed by the European Space Agency, could see the plane operating within 25 years, the firm's boss Alan Bond told the Guardian daily.
"The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia," he said.
The plane, which at 143 metres (469 feet) long would be about twice the size of the biggest current jets, could fly non-stop for up to 12,500 miles (20,000 km).
It operates on liquid hydrogen, which is more ecologically friendly as it gives off water and nitrous oxide instead of carbon emissions.
Passengers would have to put up with having no windows, due to problems with heat produced at high speeds. Instead designers may put flat screen televisions where the windows would be, giving the impression of seeing outside.
Fares would be comparable with current first class tickets on standard flights, of around 3,500 pounds (4,700 euros, 6,900 dollars).
The flight time from Brussels to Australia would be four hours and 40 minutes. "It sounds incredible by today's standards but I don't see why future generations can't make day trips to Australasia," he said.
"Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it."

Where is Love? ..Not at College...

2008-02-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus RomanceJanuary 31, 2008; Page D1Like many campuses, Purdue University has some traditional hot spots for romance -- "The Old Pump," where couples used to meet after dark, and a bell tower known as a lucky place to propose marriage.But engineering major Amy Penner has been so busy volunteering with a women's engineering group and planning her career that she's only dimly aware of them. Her boyfriend has left campus to get a doctorate overseas; asked how much time she spends dating, she says, "That would be zero."MORE WORK & FAMILY • Does marrying later push people to make a better choice for a mate? Join the discussion on The Juggle, the Journal's work and family blog.• Sue Shellenbarger talks with one woman who sacrificed her dreams of becoming an opera singer after she became a "trailing" spouse, following her Air Force husband around the country.Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.Replacing college as the top marital hunting ground is the office. Only 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met their partners in school or college, says a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults; 18% met at work. That's a reversal from 15 years ago, when 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college and only 15% cited work, according to a 1992 study of 3,432 adults by the University of Chicago.Gone are the days when sororities and dorms marked engagements with candle-passing ceremonies while men serenaded beneath the windows.
College romances like the one in 'Love Story' are becoming rarer these days.Even at tradition-steeped Transylvania University, a 228-year-old institution in Lexington, Ky., an old white ash called "The Kissing Tree," cited in 2003 by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the most romantic spots on campuses, is no longer an "icon of intimacy," says Richard Thompson, a longtime Transylvania professor and dean. Lucie Hartmann, 21, a senior, says "no one utilizes" the spot for romance; like most students, she's intent on "using college to set a foundation for a career."Researchers cite a couple of factors. Young adults are delaying marriage, for one thing. In the past 15 years, men's median age at first marriage has risen by 1.2 years to 27.5, and by 1.4 years for women, to 25.5, the highest in more than a century, Census Bureau data show.Also at work is "credential inflation" -- an increase in the qualifications required for many skilled jobs, says Janet Lever, a sociology professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Many young adults want the flexibility to relocate freely and immerse themselves in new work and educational opportunities before making room for marriage and family. As a result, students favor "light relationships that aren't going to compromise where they go to grad school or which job they take," she says.Cody Cheetham, 22, a Purdue senior, is looking for a marketing job after she graduates in May and plans on getting an MBA. "A lot of us don't even know where we're going to be living six months after we graduate," she says. "We don't want to bring another person into the chaos of our lives."If you're a parent, as I am, you may be wondering what all this means. Such sordid campus-life portrayals as Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons" aside, the news about students' social lives isn't all bad. To be sure, the "hookup culture" -- the campus trend toward casual sexual behavior, usually linked with alcohol and no expectations of a continuing relationship -- is rife. Some 76% of college students have engaged in hookups, which usually stop short of intercourse, according to a study of 4,000 students by Stanford University sociology professor Paula England. Students report having had an average 6.9 hookups and only 4.4 traditional dates by their senior year.On the bright side, more students are having fun on group dates; also, deep, but platonic, male-female friendships are more common.Many young adults return to traditional dating after graduation, says Kathleen Bogle, author of a new book, "Hooking Up," based on a study of 76 students and recent alumni. Young adults "want to find a quality person, a good person," to marry, says Ms. Bogle, an assistant sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia, "and traditional dating is seen as a better way to do that" than hooking up.With the benefit of hindsight, though, some grads may yearn for the stretches of time on campus for extracurricular activities and studying with the opposite sex. Julia Vasiliauskas broke up with her boyfriend at the University of Rochester in New York soon after her 2003 graduation, then went to grad school and began teaching near Seattle. Now that she feels ready, at 26, to find a partner, "I regret that I didn't find that person in college -- because now that I'm working, I don't have time."Write to Sue Shellenbarger at sue.shellenbarger@wsj.com

Some of the funniest videos I have ever seen...

2007-12-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I just got back from the FOB for a week, and I happened on two old favorites that I used to watch all the time. Then I thought, why not just post all them on the blog. These are short Trigon Medical Insurance commercials, but they have me literally laughing in tears right now at the Lawton Public Library.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5jVNsiM4IU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5DwIcnpBCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a189xAYBRv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41MtBhKrbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ia9ohCyEw

A Quick Thought About How Good We Have It..

2007-11-30T18:27:00.000-08:00

So I was out at the FOB (Foreward Operating Base) this whole week, and coming back to civilization this Friday made me really think about how good things are. The best part of of the FOB was believe it or not, the bathroom. Hot water, showerheads, mirrors. Simple things like this proved to be one of the bright parts of my day almost every day. We had pretty mediocre cafateria type food and MREs most of the time, but that food was some of the best I've had in awhile because it was all I had. There were 32 of us sleeping in a room no bigger than a small garage, and things like soft chairs, comfortable clothes, and riding inside of a car/truck were not to be had either.

I came back to Fort Sill's BOLC II barracks area, and felt like I was on vacation. There were only three of us to a room, you could take a shower as long as you wanted to, and I had my cin/raisen bagels in the drawer again. I came out to Atlanta Bread Company, had an italian and sausage pizza, a smoothie, and started posting on this blog and checking my email.

This is one thing I appreciate about the military. You realize how much you have once you leave it all, even if only for a week. Even simple things like sleep....yep, you don't get much in the military. This weekend I might as well be in the Colorado Rockies, on a Cancun beach, or home in Kansas City. For the next two days, I can do what I want, eat what I want, and sleep when I want. It's amazing. But, I'm off to the FOB again next week again, and while it's nothing close to what the deployed soldiers overseas endure, it definitly gives me a taste of very simple living.

So if you're bored, or think life is dull, you probably need to try life without several things you use daily. Things like free time, a soft chair, or even your own bed in your own room. I know I am much more appreciative of these "routine" good things.

Here's One Way To Get Rid of Drugs

2007-11-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

AP - Tue Nov 27, 8:21 PM ET
This photo provided by the Florida Highway Patrol shows a State Police cruiser covered with bags of marijuana Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. The Florida Highway Patrol says anyone missing two big bags of pot can call their Tampa area office.

Exhibit "A" of Radical Islamic Overreaction

2007-11-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton
By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press WriterFri Nov 30, 3:59 PM ET
Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."
In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said.
In Britain, Gibbons' son, John, told The Associated Press that her mother was "holding up well" and she made an appeal for tolerance.
"One of the things my mum said today was that 'I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people,'" John Gibbons said, relaying part of a telephone conversation with her.
The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.
"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.
They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."
Gibbons' chief lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, said she was moved from the prison for her safety for the final days of her sentence.
"They moved this lady from the prison department to put her in other hands and in other places to cover her and wait until she completes her imprisonment period," he said, adding that she was in good health.
"They want, by hook or by crook, to complete these nine days without any difficulties, which would have an impact on their foreign relationship," he said.
Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched from the square to Unity High School, about a mile away, where Gibbons worked. They chanted slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then headed toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.
The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.
Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday's rally was not organized by the government.
A Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.
"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.
"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.
Britain, meanwhile, pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.
"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.
The Foreign Office said consular staff had visited Gibbons in prison, and she was in good health.
Officials said Lord Ahmed, a Muslim Labour peer, would travel to Sudan to try to secure Gibbons' release. The Foreign Office said the trip was a private initiative.
In Washington, the U.S. government backed Britain's diplomatic efforts.
"We are very supportive of the British government. They are working to get their citizen back," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"There is a shared assessment that the punishment that has been imposed on this woman is in every way excessive, even though it has been reduced," he said. "Quite clearly there is an overreaction of the individuals involved in the prosecution of this case."
Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict by a court in Khartoum, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.
"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.
"In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."
Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."
"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies, which represents 90,000 Muslim students in Britain and Ireland, called on Sudan's government to free Gibbons, saying she had not meant to cause offense.
"We are deeply concerned that the verdict to jail a schoolteacher due to what's likely to be an innocent mistake is gravely disproportionate," said the group's president, Ali Alhadithi.
The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization, said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should pardon the teacher.
"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed and horrified by the conviction of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan," said spokesman Mohammed Shafiq.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.
Gibbons was arrested Sunday after another staff member at the school complained that she had allowed her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting.
The case put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other. Many saw the 15-day sentence as an attempt to appease both sides.
In The Times, columnist Bronwen Maddox said the verdict was "something of a fudge ... designed to give a nod to British reproof but also to appease the street."
Britain's response — applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam — had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.
In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."
Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.

A Present for Hillary Clinton

2007-11-30T18:12:00.000-08:00

Hostage crisis ends at Clinton office
By BEVERLEY WANG, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 18 minutes ago

A distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday and demanded to speak to the candidate during a hostage drama that dragged on for nearly six hours before he peacefully surrendered.
Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.

The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.
The man walked into the office shortly before 1 p.m. and took several hostages, police and witnesses said. He let a woman with an infant go immediately and at least one other woman got out about two hours later.

Seconds before he surrendered, shortly after 6 p.m., the last hostage walked from the office. The hostage then ran down the street toward the police roadblocks surrounding Clinton's office.
Police said earlier no one had been injured, and that appeared to still be true at the end.
Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.
Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, but the confrontation brought her campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, one of the first tests of the presidential campaign season. She canceled all appearances, as did her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the security around her was increased as a precaution.

The office, in a town of 30,000, is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire. The campaign said the people taken hostage were volunteers for the campaign.
A law enforcement official confirmed to The Associated Press earlier that the suspect's name was Leeland Eisenberg, and said Eisenberg was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable. The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The official said the man walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb, and that he demanded to speak with Clinton. Authorities did not know what Eisenberg wanted to talk to Clinton about.
They believe the device strapped to the man's chest was made with road flares, not a bomb, the official said.

Eisenberg made local headlines in March when he held a news conference on the steps of Rochester City Hall to complain about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their doors.
"This is nothing more than a gimmick to get around the Constitution and go around in the middle of the night upon unsuspecting citizens in their own yard and search their vehicles," Eisenberg said.
Police, who said they were just trying to reduce theft from motor vehicles, changed the policy in response.

Kansas is Injured, Injured Bad...

2007-11-24T19:07:00.000-08:00

Well, Kansas is currently getting kicked around by Mizzou at Arrowhead stadium 21-0. Wow, well maybe Kansas wasn't as good as they looked after all...

Off to the FOB

2007-11-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Hey hey hey, it's time to go out to the fob (Foreward Operating Base) to do land nav, us weapons, etc...

Sadly, the much anticipated army + awesome music slideshow did not get done because of time issues, but have no fear, that will be accompished during thanksgiving break.

In other news, I had a combatives level 1 "Clinch Drill" on last saturday morning. You have to run at your instructor and grab him in certain holds, all while he is drilling you with his boxing gloves. I got punched about 30 times in the head, so the rest of the day was a bit loopy. But, I am officially certified now, and even bought some super cool sunglasses(60$) for the FOB.

Exciting happenings during BOLC II's week 2

2007-11-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

So, seems I got heel kicked in the eye this last thursday. Doesn't really hurt but sure does draw the comments. Oh, and that's not acne on the side of my neck, it's scratches and abrasions from fighting people. Well, I need to go and find an apartment or house to rent for next spring's OBC here. I'll post more exciting things when I get the time.

Fort Sill Amenities

2007-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are two fun things about Fort Sill. First, this is the artillery howitzer I will soon train to command other people to fire.

Secondly, it seems Miss America 2007 is from Lawton-Fort Sill. She came back to visit, and here's a picture. Lol, pretty funny. I'm still at BOLC II though, pretty slow so far...but that's ok. PT test on Wednesday.

Just Found This, You Need to Watch it!

2007-10-25T18:25:00.001-07:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1805284474389135521&q=chubb+chubbs&total=343&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

An Amazing Poem About Why We Fight...

2007-10-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

WISH YOU WERE HERE

By Corporal Joshua Miles and the boys from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, Kuwait

For all the free people that still protest. You're welcome. We protect you and you are protected by the best. Your voices are strong and loud, but who will fight for you? No one standing in YOUR crowd. We are your fathers, brothers, and sons, wearing the boots and carrying the guns.We are the ones that leave all we own,to make sure your future is carved in stone. We are the ones who fight and die, we might not be able to save the world,but at least we try. We walked the paths to where we are atand we want no choice other than that. So when you rally your group to complain, take a look in the back of your brain. In order for that flag you love to fly, wars must be fought and young men must die...We came here to fight for the ones we hold dear. If that's not respected, we would rather stay here. Please stop yelling, put down your signs,and pray for those behind enemy lines. When the conflict is over and all is well, be thankful that WE chose to go through hell.

My Kind of Kid!

2007-10-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

6-year-old tries to drive to restaurant

Wed Oct 10, 8:13 AM ET

A hungry 6-year-old grabbed his grandmother's car keys, positioned his child seat behind the steering wheel and tried to drive himself to an Applebee's restaurant.
He didn't get far.
Unable to take the car out of reverse, the boy backed up 75 feet from her house into a transformer Tuesday, knocking out electricity and phone service to dozens of townhouses in this suburb north of Denver.
No one was injured and the boy, whose name was not released, got out of his car and told his grandmother what happened.
"He proceeded to start the car and started backing up," said Sgt. Colleen O'Connell of the Broomfield Police Department. "He went backward about 47 feet, hit the curb, then went backward another 29 feet."
Investigators couldn't figure out how the boy reached the accelerator.
No charges will be filed.
"I have five children of my own, so I know you cannot watch them every minute they're awake," said nearby resident Nancy Hollis, whose power was knocked out by the accident.

Looks Like "Success Tech Academy" wasn't too successfull...

2007-10-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Ohio school gunman kills self, wounds 4

By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer

A 14-year-old suspended student opened fire in his downtown high school Wednesday, wounding four people as terrified schoolmates hid in closets and bathrooms and huddled under laboratory desks. He then killed himself.
A fellow student at SuccessTech Academy alternative school said Asa H. Coon, who was suspended for fighting two days earlier, had made threats in front of students and teachers last week.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," Doneisha LeVert said. "We didn't think nothing of it."
Armed with two revolvers, Coon fired eight shots and may have targeted teachers, said Police Chief Michael McGrath. Police found a duffel bag stocked with ammunition and three knives in a bathroom but found no suicide note, he said.
Parents were angry that firearms got into a school equipped with metal detectors that students said were intermittently used.
Coon had a history of mental health problems and threatened to commit suicide last year while in a mental health center, according to juvenile court records obtained by The Plain Dealer.
He spent time in two juvenile facilities after a domestic violence episode and was also given home detention, and he was suspended from school last year for trying to injure a student, the paper reported.
Officials said two teachers and two students were shot, and that a 14-year-old girl fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school.
Witnesses said the shooter moved through the converted five-story downtown office building, working his way up through the first two floors of administrative offices to the third floor of classrooms. Officials said he was wearing a Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans and black-painted finger nails.
The first person shot, student Michael Peek, had punched Coon in the face right before the shootings began, said student Rasheem Smith, 15.
Coon "came out of the bathroom and bumped Mike and he (Mike) punched him in his face. Mike started walking. He shot Mike in the side." Peek, 14, didn't know Coon had a gun, Smith said.
Antonio Deberry, 17, said he and his classmates hid under laboratory tables and watched the shooter move down the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him." The shooter swore and shot several times, Deberry said.
LeVert said she hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker. She said she heard about 10 shots.
Darnell Rodgers, 18, was walking up to another floor when the stairway suddenly became flooded with students.
"It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was actually shot, when I felt my arm burning in the area, that's when I realized that I had got shot," Rodgers said.
"They were screaming, and they were saying, 'Oh my God, oh my God.' I knew something was wrong, but thought that it was probably just a fight, so I just kept going," Rodgers said.
Rodgers was released from a hospital after treatment for a graze wound to his right elbow.
Coon had been suspended since Monday for fighting near the school that day, said Charles Blackwell, president of SuccessTech's student-parent organization. He did not know how Coon got into the building Wednesday.
Blackwell said that there was a security guard on the first floor, but that the position of another guard on the third floor had been eliminated.
Student Frances Henderson, 14, said she often got into arguments with Coon, who once told her, "I got something for you all." He would often wear a trench coat, black boots and a dog collar, she said.
Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging one another and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, waiting for their children to be released.
Math teacher David Kachadourian, 57, was in good condition; Michael Grassie, a 42-year-old teacher, was in surgery, but his condition was unavailable. The other two injured teens were taken to a children's hospital, which would not release their names, ages or conditions.
People at Coon's home declined to comment Wednesday evening.
Deberry's mother, Lakisha Deberry, said she was upset that metal detectors at the school were not always in use.
"You never know what's going on in someone's mind," said Deberry, adding that she was required to go through a metal detector and present an identification card whenever she wanted to drop off something at school for her children.
The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.
Classes at all schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will be canceled Thursday, said Eugene Sanders, chief executive officer of the district. Counseling will be available Thursday for students at recreation centers throughout the city, Sanders said.
SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the public school district that stresses technology and entrepreneurship. It is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.
"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School system," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."
The school has about 240 students, most of them black, with a small number of white and Hispanic students.
Coon was white, and Henderson, the student who said she frequently argued with him, is black, but she said she didn't believe race played a role in the shootings.
The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent.

And, a slightly less serious map

2007-08-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

Go Royals!

An Interesting Map of the Immigration Issue

2007-08-03T13:13:00.001-07:00

Bourne Ultimatum!!

2007-08-03T12:21:00.001-07:00

Go See It!

Only on Telemundo...almost seems like one of their shows

2007-08-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

Telemundo Reporter Suspended for 2 Mos.

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON,

Posted: 2007-08-03 02:28:29

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Spanish-language newscaster who had an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles has been suspended from her job for two months for violating conflict-of-interest policies, her network said Thursday.

Mirthala Salinas was having the relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when she announced the news of his separation from his wife of 20 years on local Telemundo station KVEA, Channel 52.

Salinas was suspended after a three-week internal investigation reviewed by executives at Telemundo and parent company NBC Universal. Three Telemundo employees also were disciplined. Findings were reported on the network's national newscast and announced by executives.

"Her reading of copy during newscasts ... regarding the Mayor's separation from his wife was a flagrant violation of these guidelines," network president Don Browne wrote in a memo to employees.

Messages left with Salinas' representative were not immediately returned.

"I regret that decisions I have made in my personal life have been a distraction for the city, and I am deeply sorry that I have let so many people down, especially my family," Villaraigosa said in a statement. "Now that Telemundos internal review has reached a conclusion, it is my hope that we can all move forward."

In its newscast, Telemundo reported that others disciplined included KVEA news director Al Corral, who was suspended without pay for two months, and the station's general manager, Manuel Abud, who was removed from his post and will be transferred to a new position still undetermined. Ibra Morales, president of Telemundo stations, will be reprimanded.

Salinas, 35, was placed on leave July 5 while her employer investigated whether her romantic relationship with Villaraigosa breached journalistic ethics.

She has said station managers knew of her relationship with the mayor before she announced the news of his breakup. Salinas led into the story by saying, "The rumors were true."

Villaraigosa acknowledged the affair July 3. His wife, Corina Villaraigosa, filed for divorce in June.

Something Irritating..

2007-07-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

So here's a statement from Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California regarding General Petraeus and his grasp of the situation. I don't care if there's a difference of opinion, but see all those awards on his uniform, the stars on his shoulder? That means he knows a heck of a lot more than you ever will about what is really going on in Iraq, Mrs. Woolsey. To say he is flat wrong and inaccurate is sleazy politics, or dumb at best.

General Petraeus's Report on the Situation in Iraq

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, many of my colleagues are eagerly waiting for General Petraeus's report on the situation in Iraq this September. But I don't know why we are waiting because we have already heard from General Petraeus in September; September of 2004, that is.

On September 26, 2004, General Petraeus wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post giving his assessment of the situation in Iraq at that time. I think it would be very constructive for us to review that article, and I would like to read pieces from it.

Near the beginning General Petraeus says: "Eighteen months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up. The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously ..... ''

He goes on to recognize that the Iraqis face a violent insurgency, but he says: "Nonetheless, there are reasons for optimism ..... Iraqi police and soldiers ..... are performing a wide variety of security missions. Equipment is being delivered. Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired. Command and control structures and institutions are being reestablished.''

And after citing many other examples of progress, the general ended his piece this way: "I meet with Iraqi security force leaders every day ..... I have seen their determination and their desire to assume the full burden of security tasks for Iraq. There will be more tough times ..... along the way. Iraq's security forces are, however, developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders
out front and continued coalition support, this trend will continue.''

Obviously, the general could not have been more wrong.

Madam Speaker, we can only hope that when General Petraeus reports to us this September that he will take off his rose-colored glasses and see things more clearly. The American people deserve a full accounting of what is really going on. But it actually looks like we won't get it. Ambassador Crocker has said that the report will be just a "snapshot.'' So it looks like the White House spin machine is already trying to lower expectations and do preemptive damage control again.

But the damage in Iraq has already been done, and the American people deserve more than spin. What we need is a national security plan that is based on what will actually make our Nation safe. Such a plan must include diplomacy, strong international alliances against terrorism, initiatives to address the root cause of terrorism, and a new approach to foreign policy, an approach that restores America's credibility and moral leadership in the world.

I have proposed such a national security plan. It is called SMART, which stands for Sensible, Multilateral American Response to Terrorism. I invite all my colleagues to learn about it and consider this plan.

In the meantime, the runup to General Petraeus's report continues. I hope that this September he will be more accurate than he was in September 2004. But I am not holding my breath. In fact, I will not breathe easily until all of our troops are home safely.

Funny and Ironic

2007-07-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

So here's what happened regarding a user at a very liberal blog called "Daily Kos". Made me laugh.

"BooshH4ter4000 is against war though he thinks that violence against Republicans is sometimes justified. He believes that terrorism is simply media hype and that President Bush is going to turn America into dictatorship and refuse to leave office in 2009. He also takes pride in how much smarter he and the rest of DailyKos are than the American public. Such a proclamation was met with great agreement in the comments, a few of which were grammatically correct.

"Posting on the front page of the Daily Kos, this is one of the more prominent DailyKos members that Hillary and Obama will try to seek the approval of at YearlyKos."

Scary, Found This at http://stubbornfacts.us/

2007-07-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sen. Clinton's worst idea yet

As Tully mentioned briefly in the weekend round-up, Sen. Hillary Clinton has proposed a "national service academy" to train public servants for government work:

"I'm going to be asking a new generation to serve," she said. "I think just like our military academies, we need to give a totally all-paid education to young men and women who will serve their country in a public service position."

As someone who has spent most of my professional career working for the government, I think that public service can be a noble and rewarding profession, often understandably (if regrettably) maligned by our ultimate bosses, the people. Getting things done in government is not easy, and angering the wrong people (even when promoting great ideas) can quickly cut short your professional advancement or send you packing out the door. Most of us deserve more respect than we get.

Military academies make sense because the military is a very special, unusual sort of job. Ordinary university training does not prepare one to lead men (and increasingly women) into battle. It does not teach one how to mold excitable, hyperactive, undisciplined teenagers into clear-thinking professionals capable of operating $100 million pieces of equipment, with thousands of lives at stake.

Civilian public service, worthy as it is, however, requires no such specialized training. The rules are occasionally different than in the private sector (a LOT more record keeping, for example), but the jobs for the government, outside of law enforcement and the foreign service, are pretty much the same as in the private sector.

The public is already separated enough from government. Much of the highest bureaucracies of federal government are dominated by people like Sen. Clinton, graduates of Yale and Harvard, tightly connected to a relatively small group of like-minded people who bounce back and forth between the public and private sectors.

Why does Sen. Clinton wish to adopt a French program, Ecole Nationale d'Administration, which is under fire even in France? As long ago as 1995, Jacques Chirac warned of the dangers of a "dictatorship of a technocratic élite," the civil servants produced by a single school dedicated to producing "right-thinking" civil servants.

In a career of profoundly bad, leftist ideas, this just may be her worst ever. On a practical level, does she think that John Kerry's campaign was helped by his love affair with all things French?

An Interesting Map on Cannabis

2007-07-30T09:09:00.001-07:00

Was doing some radio calls about a Medical Marijuana bill that failed today, and thought this graph of worldwide legality was really interesting.

Why Privates Aren't Allowed to Command Anything

2007-07-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

PVT Beauchamp in Big Trouble

If what Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp wrote in the New Republic isn't true, he's in trouble, and so is the magazine.

If what Pvt. Beauchamp wrote is true, he's in bigger trouble.
Pvt. Beauchamp is the Baghdad Diarist whose July 13 article, written under the clever pseudonym "Scott Thomas," drew much skepticism.
Pvt. Beauchamp described how he made fun of a woman whose face had been severely scarred by an IED: "I love chicks that have been intimate with IEDS," Pvt. Beauchamp quotes himself as saying, loudly, to his buddies in the chow hall. "It really turns me on -- melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses."
"My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing," Pvt. Beauchamp recounted. "The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall."

Next he described finding the remains of children in a Saddam-era mass grave uncovered when his unit was constructing a combat outpost: "One private...found the top part of a human skull...He marched around with the skull on his head...No one was disgusted. Me included."

Finally, Pvt. Beauchamp described another friend "who only really enjoyed driving Bradley Fighting Vehicles because it gave him the opportunity to run things over. He took out curbs, concrete barriers, corners of buildings, stands in the market, and his favorite target: dogs."

Pvt. Beauchamp described how his friend killed three dogs in one day: "He slowed the Bradley down to lure the first kill in, and, as the diesel engine grew quieter, the dog walked close enough for him to jerk the machine hard to the right and snag its leg under the tracks."

The New Republic's editors told Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard the chow hall incident occurred at Forward Operating Base Falcon near Baghdad. Since only one company of soldiers at FOB Falcon have Bradleys, the outing of "Scott Thomas" was just a matter of time.

Now that they've demonstrated their diarist is a real soldier, the New Republic's editors feel vindicated. But the issue is not whether Pvt. Beauchamp is a soldier. It's whether he's telling the truth or not. And his story stinks to high heaven. No one else at the base ever seems to have a seen a woman who fits the description of the woman in the chow hall. No mass graves have been discovered during the time Pvt. Beauchamp has been at FOB Falcon. It is physically impossible for the driver of a Bradley to see a dog to the immediate right of his vehicle.

It would be better for Pvt. Beauchamp if he made his stories up. It breaks no military rule to BS gullible liberal journalists. But if Pvt. Beauchamp is telling the truth, he and his buddies have broken so many articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that I haven't space to list them all.

It isn't only Pvt. Beauchamp who'd be in trouble. If the latter two stories are true, then his fire team leader, squad leader, platoon sergeant and platoon leader either witnessed them, and did nothing about them, or were negligent in supervising their soldiers. And if I were his company commander, I wouldn't be expecting below the zone promotion to major anytime soon.

His superiors won't be happy campers, and neither will his fellow troops, to whom he has brought unwanted scrutiny, deserved or not. I suspect Pvt. Beauchamp soon will be the guest of honor at a blanket party.

That he is Pvt. Beauchamp suggests this is not his first brush with the UCMJ. He called himself PFC Beauchamp on his Web site last September, which indicates he's been busted a stripe. He's been in the Army long enough to be a Spec 4.

On his blog (Sir Real Scott Thomas), Pvt. Beauchamp indicates he's an aspiring writer who joined the Army to establish credentials for voicing his liberal political opinions.

"I know that NOT participating in a war (and such a misguided one at that) should be considered better than wanting to be in one just to write a book," he wrote May 18, 2006. "But...maybe I'd rather be both."

But is Pvt. Beauchamp telling the truth about what he sees in Iraq?

In a blog entry for May 8, 2006, Pvt. Beauchamp describes an atrocity: "'Put a 556 in his head.' (The caliber of an M-16 rifle is 5.56 millimeters.) On the street below, the man's brown face dissolves in a thick red mist. The lights in the city's houses shut off in unison. Electricity rationing. Water rationing too. You ever tried to survive for more than a few hours in 120 degree weather?"

On May 8, 2006, Pvt. Beauchamp was in Germany, where temperatures rarely reach 120 degrees, and the electricity and water work just fine.

This is terrible but hilarious

2007-07-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't photoshopped. It's a real book. Seriously. What kind of poems are in it? No idea, but my guess is that they probably go something about like this....

Roses are red
Violets are blue
When I blow up that school bus full of kids
it will be the fault of the Jew

or maybe the poems are more like this...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And I was sorry I could not kill infidels on both
Two roads diverged, and I-
killed infidels on the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Kim Jung il is actually crazy, and here's another example of his fine diplomacy

2007-07-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

Military talks between Koreas break down

1 hour, 49 minutes ago

North Korea walked out of military talks with South Korea, ending three days of high-level negotiations Thursday with no agreement amid a lingering dispute over their shared sea border.

"We've come to the conclusion that we don't need these fruitless talks any more," North Korea's chief delegate Lt. Gen. Kim Yong Chol said at the final session in the truce village of Panmunjom.

Kim criticized the South for avoiding discussions of what he termed the "illegal" sea border. The frontier was drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and Seoul has repeatedly rejected the North's demands that it be changed.

The issue has been a constant obstacle at military talks between the sides, and the disputed waters that contain rich fishing grounds have previously been the scene of deadly battles in 1999 and 2002.

South Korea's chief envoy, Maj. Gen. Jung Seung-jo told Kim it was "highly regrettable" that the negotiations would end without results.

"Your side continued making this demand even though your side knows very well that our side cannot accept it," Jung said, referring to the border issue.

The generals from the North and South left the room after the 40-minute session without shaking hands or setting any date for a next meeting — with Kim appearing red-faced and visibly angry.

The South had called for the two sides to at least reach consensus on less controversial issues, such as opening a hotline between Navy commanders to prevent future clashes in waters off the peninsula's western coast.

At the start of Thursday's meeting, the North's Kim mocked his South Korean counterparts.

"Throughout the past few days, I feel as if I had become a victim of April Fool's Day jokes," Kim said.

Jung had tried to seek compromise and called for understanding the other side's position, but Kim flatly refused and retorted that "it would go against respecting principles and truth if you have to respect and accept anything just because it is the other side's view."

This week's talks are the highest-level dialogue channel between the two militaries, and were intended to follow up on agreements reached in May on setting up a joint fishing area around the contended border and cooperation on security arrangements for joint economic projects there.

Waters around the sea border are rich fishing areas and have been a past scene of deadly conflicts in 1999 and 2002.

The two Koreas have made strides toward reconciliation since a 2000 summit between their leaders, but they remain technically at war because the Korean War cease-fire has never been replaced by a peace treaty.

Today's Theme is Cool Cat Stories, so here's another

2007-07-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

By Julie Steenhuysen, Wed Jul 25, 5:31 PM ET

When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jumps into action -- Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.

In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence.

He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."

Raised at the nursing home since he was a kitten, Oscar often checks in on residents, but when he curls up for a visit, physicians and nursing home staff know it's time to call the family.

"I don't think this is a psychic cat," said Teno. "I think there's probably a biochemical explanation," she said in a telephone interview.

While pets are often used to bring comfort to the elderly in nursing home settings, Oscar's talent is special, though not unexpected.

"That is such a cat thing to do," said Thomas Graves, a feline expert and chief of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Graves said there is no evidence to suggest cats can sense death, but he doesn't discount it for a minute.

"Those things are hard to study. I think probably dogs and cats can sense things we can't," he said.

On a particular day detailed by Dr. Dosa, Oscar settled onto the bed of a patient in room 313.

His presence sent staff off to make calls and set up vigil.

When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven," according to Dosa's account.

She died a half an hour later.

Weapons of Mass Defusion

2007-07-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Tue Jul 24, 10:47 PM ET

Who says Tom and Jerry can't be friends? For the past year, a special Colombian police unit has been locking rats in cages with cats as part of a project to train the rodents to sniff out the more than 100,000 landmines planted mostly by leftist rebels across this conflict-wracked Andean country.

Bringing the rats face to face with an enemy allows them to stay more focused once they are released, veterinarian Luisa Mendez, who's been working with the animals for two years, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"Here the cats play with the rats instead of attacking them," Mendez said. "The cats wear shields on their nails so they can't cause any injuries and as a result the rats feel comfortable playing around them."

The rodents are taught to freeze in front of mines, but had difficulty staying put for fear of being attacked by predators.

Col. Javier Cifuentes, who oversees the project, said the rats' success rate in mine detection is 96 percent. Unlike dogs, the rats weigh a lot less and therefore don't trigger explosions.

Colombia is home to the world's largest number of land mine victims. Last year, there were 1,108 victims, or about one every eight hours, the government says. Nearly a quarter of the victims die from their injuries.

The nation's rat project was recognized last month as one of the five most innovative projects at a conference of behavior psychologists in Mexico, and its initial findings will soon be presented at a similar conference in Argentina.

Harry Potter Mania

2007-07-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ok,

So the last of the Harry Potter books (Deathly Hallows) has finally come out. Everyone is reading it, and some have already read it four times. That is fine, and their legitimate choice.

What is not fine is the crazed cultural phenomenon that has lured readers into easy adventure stories. I have read the first three myself, and they are hard to put down. But, that's just it. To me, reading these books are like the difference between watching a sitcom like Friends, and watching the Band of Brothers Series. Cheap thrills verse substance.

One has entertertainment value for the moment, and basic/common sense life lessons about things like why it's bad to lie....to hurt someone's feelings, etc. The other is based on a book of truely meaningful events that have been verified by the very people who participated in them. Incredible lessons on love, hate, sacrifice, courage, fear, religion, and leadership are just a few of the things that make this second choice timeless.

Will Friends be timeless? I think only with those who grew up with it or who were made to watch it. Will Band of Brothers stand the test of time? Without a doubt. Of course, someone would then shoot back and say, "Hey, you're in the Army, of course you are partial to Band of Brothers". And yes, I am in the Army, but everyone I have ever shown Band of Brothers has remarked about the amazing lessons involved. These are normal men thrown into a fiery crucible of extraordinary events. They go far beyond war to the basic mettle of human nature and how we live with each other.

Bringing this back to Harry Potter, I will be blunt and say I see this as an easy read, aka...a child's book. It's fine for people to enjoy it, but for goodness sake, move on to bigger and better things. I like reading the Sunday Morning comics in the newspaper, but those are not my source of political news. The Colbert Report is funny, but that is no place to get news.

What are these fabled bigger and better things? Anything else. Here are some of my all-time favorites

-The Lord of the Rings BOOKS

-Any CS Lewis book, and yes I love the Chronicles of Narnia he wrote for children. Narnia could take Harry Potter and knock his socks off any day. They are that good.

-Last of the Mohicans

-Alas Babylon

-Black Hawk Down

-Jurassic Park- Entertaining, but for adults.

-Platoon Leader-Real story of a 2nd Lietenant in Vietnam that inspired the movie "Platoon"

-The Kite Runner

-Crime and Punishment

-All the Bertie and Jeeves stories, they are hilarious
-In the Heart of the Sea
-Any classic novel like Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, White Fang, Call of the Wild, Pride and Prejudice, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc...

-Anything history......history is man's best teacher. Those who fail to learn from it are doomed to repeat it.

ANYWAY, so all I'm saying is, read Harry Potter, but use it for kids as a springboard to bigger and better things. I'm not talking Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics or anything, but if you feed your mind junkfood all the time, your mind will get fat. Maybe that's what you want, but I don't.

Why I never like diet sodas

2007-07-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Study Links Diet Soft Drinks With Cardiac Risk

By Ed EdelsonHealthDay Reporter2 hours, 46 minutes ago

MONDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- Drinking more than one soda a day -- even if it's the sugar-free diet kind -- is associated with an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a study finds.

The link to diet soda found in the study was "striking" but not entirely a surprise, said Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, study senior author and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. There had been some hints of it in earlier studies, he said.

"But this is the first study to show the association in a prospective fashion and in a large population," Vasan said. That population consisted of more than 6,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following residents of a Massachusetts town since 1948.

When the soda portion of the study began, all participants were free of metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors including high blood pressure, elevated levels of the blood fats called triglycerides, low levels of the artery-protecting HDL cholesterol, high fasting blood sugar levels and excessive waist circumference. Metabolic syndrome is the presence of three or more of these risk factors.

Over the four years of the study, people who consumed more than one soft drink of any kind a day were 44 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who didn't drink a soda a day.

The findings are published in the July 24 issue of the journal Circulation.
A variety of explanations, none proven, have been proposed for the link between diet soft drink consumption and metabolic syndrome, Vasan said. That association was evident even when the researchers accounted for other factors, such as levels of saturated fat and fiber in the diet, total calorie intake, smoking and physical activity.

One theory is that the high sweetness of all soft drinks makes a person more prone to eat sugary, fattening foods. Another is that the caramel content of soft drinks promotes metabolic changes that lead to insulin resistance. "These are hotly debated by nutritional experts," Vasan said.

Vasan, who noted that he is not a nutritional expert, said he leans toward the theory that "this is a marker of dietary behavior" -- that people who like to drink sweet soda also like to eat the kind of foods that cardiac nutritionists warn against.

"But we cannot infer causality," Vasan said, meaning there is no proof that soda itself is the villain. "We have an association. Maybe it is a causal one or maybe it is a marker of something else."

Carefully controlled animal studies might resolve the cause-and-effect issue, he said.
Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funds the Framingham Heart Study, said in a prepared statement: "Other studies have shown that the extra calories and sugar in soft drinks contribute to weight gain, and therefore heart disease risk. This study echoes those findings by extending the link to all soft drinks and the metabolic syndrome."

Dr. Suzanne R. Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, "There is no safe way of eating junk food, just as we learned the lesson from trans fats and partially hydrogenated oils often found in fat-free or low-fat cookies. Diet soda does not protect us from the development of what we are trying to avoid by consuming it."

Eating Healthy and Exercise

2007-07-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Study predicts 75 percent overweight in U.S. by 2015

Wed Jul 18, 6:45 PM ET

If people keep gaining weight at the current rate, fat will be the norm by 2015, with 75 percent of U.S. adults overweight and 41 percent obese, U.S. researchers predicted on Wednesday.
A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined 20 studies published in journals and looked at national surveys of weight and behavior for their analysis, published in the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.

"Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese," Dr. Youfa Wang, who led the study, said in a statement.
They defined adult overweight and obesity using a standard medical definition called body mass index. People with a BMI of 25 or above are considered overweight, while those with BMIs of 30 or above are obese and at serious risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

Studies show that 66 percent of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003 and 2004. An alarming 80 percent of black women aged 40 or over are overweight and 50 percent are obese.
Sixteen percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 34 percent are at risk of becoming overweight, according to federal government figures.
Every group is steadily getting heavier, Wang said.

"Our analysis showed patterns of obesity or overweight for various groups of Americans," said May Beydoun, who worked on the study.
"Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."

Rescue Dawn

2007-07-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Go see this right now.....cause I bet there's a theater within 60 miles of you. I'm not so lucky.

I need this, now.

2007-07-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

Swedish woman gets superfast Internet

1 hour, 40 minutes ago

She is a latecomer to the information superhighway, but 75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg is now cruising the Internet with a dizzying speed. Lothberg's 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection in Karlstad is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said.

In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer — many thousand times faster than most residential connections, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit.

Jonsson and Lothberg's son, Peter, worked together to install the connection.

The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between, Jonsson said.

"We wanted to show that that there are no limitations to Internet speed," he said.

Peter Lothberg, who is a networking expert, said he wanted to demonstrate the new technology while providing a computer link for his mother.

"She's a brand-new Internet user," Lothberg said by phone from California, where he lives. "She didn't even have a computer before."

His mother isn't exactly making the most of her high-speed connection. She only uses it to read Web-based newspapers.

Yep, not the best of choices...for both parties involved

2007-07-19T12:25:00.001-07:00

"On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage.

So he parked the seven-foot-tall behemoth on the street in front of his house and smiled politely when his eco-friendly neighbors looked on in disapproval at his "dream car."

It lasted five days on the street before two masked men took a bat to every window, a knife to each 38-inch tire and scratched into the body: "FOR THE ENVIRON."

"The thought of somebody vandalizing it never crossed my mind," said Gareth Groves, 32, who lives with his mother in a three-story home in the 3400 block of Brandywine Street NW in American University Park. "I've kind of been in shock."

Now, as Groves ponders what to do with the remains of his $38,000 SUV, he has been the target of a number of people who have driven by the crime scene in his upscale neighborhood and glared at him in smug satisfaction."

Yet another presidential candidate, I thought it needed the picture

2007-07-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

A Plan For a Better America

Here’s what the candidate (John Bowles) stands for:

A sound education for every White child which will teach honesty, morality, and strength of character, and instill a sense of pride in the great heritage and traditions of the White Race.
Law and order, so White citizens can walk the streets of their city at any time without fear, ruthless action against the city’s criminal population.
Right to keep and bear arms. I oppose any attempt to disarm law-abiding White citizens. Law abiding White citizens should have the right to carry a concealed firearm for protection from rampant black-on-white crime.
Free health care for all White citizens.
Encourage states to have easier ballot access laws for third political parties.
Return to the gold standard to get the money supply under control, reverse the wage-price spiral, and get the cost of living under control and to greatly reduce the cost of real property so White citizens can buy a house and land to raise their children and not be in debt their entire life.
Recognize the traditional marriage of a male and female.
Rights of homeowners. The elimination of property tax. No more family farm foreclosures. Zero interest home mortgage loans.
Abolish the present tax system. A new 5% flat tax rate system on earned income. This will be the one and only tax allowed. No more wasting of White taxpayers money by the government. In addition, all overtime will not be taxed.
Right of state sovereignty. Each state should be able to officially declare that any power of law not directly given to the federal government by the constitution can be nullified by the state congress. Also, to recognize that the 10th Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states to be an agent of the states instead of the states being an agent of the federal government.
White soldiers should never be placed in harm's way except to meet and defeat any direct and immediate threat. The USA military should not be used to further the interests of another country, i.e., Israel.
Every qualified White citizen should have a a fair crack at all job openings, regardless of any racial-quota system. I oppose any anti-White discriminatory practices in this Nation.
Generous help for every needy White citizen, but not one cent for non-White welfare parasites now living off the White taxpayer.
Encouraging illegal non-White immigrants to leave, telling pushy minority agitators where they go.
Asians to Asia, African-Americans to Africa, mixed racial populations will be sent to Northern Africa or the Middle East, which are traditionally the areas for racial mixing. No public scorn or retribution against these forementioned people will be permitted; they will be allowed to keep whatever wealth they have accrued and will be treated honorably.
A government of, by, and for the people, not for special minorities, illegal non-White immigrants, traitors, race-mixers, and sellout politicians. I will not yield the interests of the White majority to any non-White minority interests.
America needs a President with the courage and honesty to stand up as a White man for the White citizens.

Team America, heck yeah

2007-07-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Thought this was funny. To some extent, it's true.

Oh no....not the truth...

2007-07-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

Mon Jul 16, 12:35 AM ET

The Internet, mobile phones and other new technologies are making it harder for China's communist rulers to block negative news, a top government official said in comments published Monday.

"It has been repeatedly proved that information blocking is like walking into a dead end," the state-run China Daily newspaper quoted Wang Guoqing, a vice minister with the cabinet's information office, as saying.

Wang said local governments needed to be more transparent, describing some as being "too naive" in thinking they could hide damaging information.

"Wang revealed that some local government spokespeople used to believe that 90 percent of bad news could be muffled while only 10 percent would be unluckily exposed by the media," the China Daily said.

He cited the recent case of a slavery scandal that emerged in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces as proving that bad news needs to be managed and controlled, rather than covered up.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people had been forced to work as slaves in brickyards for years, but the governments there refused to acknowledge any problem until relatives of victims posted information about the scandal on the Internet.

"Keeping the information out of the media spotlight until the scandal came under full public scrutiny left the Shanxi government in a very vulnerable position," the paper said, paraphrasing Wang.

Wang said the central government's commitment to transparency, as well as new information technologies such as the Internet and mobile phones, were making it more difficult for local officials to hide bad news.

However, Reporters Without Borders describes the Chinese government as an "enemy of the Internet."

In its annual report in February, the global media watchdog said that China, using "armies" of cyber-police, was spearheading an increasingly sophisticated movement by repressive regimes around the world to restrict the Internet.

In a speech in January, Chinese President Hu Jintao also said that the central government intended to keep as tight a rein on the Internet as it does on traditional forms of the media such as newspapers and television.

New Telescope!

2007-07-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS, Associated Press WriterMon Jul 16, 8:19 AM ET

One of the world's largest and most powerful telescopes opened its shutters, turned its 34-foot wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.

The $179 million Great Canary Telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.

On a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.

Slowly, 12 of the telescope's eventual 36 mirrors aimed at a twin star close to the Earth's northern axis, near the North Star. Twelve images merged into one as the telescope focused.

Among those in La Palma for the opening was Brian May, lead guitarist of pop group Queen, who studied part of his doctorate in astrophysics at the Canary Island institute.

May, who recently published "BANG! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, said he was adding the finishing touches to a musical score which will be played at the telescope's inauguration next summer.

"The GTC will be able to reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe," the institute said.

Planning for the GTC began as long ago as 1987, when the nearby William Herschel telescope with a 13.8 feet diameter mirror became operational. Construction work took seven years and involved more than 1,000 people from nearly 100 companies.

"With this (telescope) it will possible to capture the birth of new stars, to study more profoundly the characteristics of black holes or to decipher the chemical components generated by the Big Bang," the institute said.

Large reflecting telescopes entered a new era in January 1949 when Edwin Hubble began capturing photographic exposures of space with the then massive 200-inch mirror at Mount Palomar Observatory, in north San Diego County, California.

The GCT is among the world's largest telescopes like the newly opened Southern African Large Telescope — Salt — which has a 36-foot mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope and the Hobby-Eberly telescope on Mount Fowlkes, Texas, which also has an 36-foot mirror.

The Canary institute is considered one of the world's centers of excellence in astrophysics owing to the special geographical situation of the islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, which offers unusually transparent skies.

The cost of building the GTC was borne by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida.

____

Associated Press Writer Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

And this candidate's even worse...

2007-07-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

From time to time I re read my writings and correct them. This is one of those times that I see a blatant flaw in what I have written. I hate the phrase "The End Times," because even though I feel we are living in the time of evil recounted and discussed in The Book of Revelations and I completely realize that if the people do not rise up and stop Little George and the zioni$t communi$t bad guys the planet could end, I do not in any way believe the end of the planet is at hand. Actually I am a firm believer in "The world without end. Amen."

Little George is the antiChrist as described in the Book of Revelations. Jesus has returned. So the stage is set for the final battle of good against evil. Little George and the Omega Agency zioni$t$ and communi$t$ will continue destitute the the people through man made manipulated unnecessary high gasoline prices. Russia will work with India and China to keep oil prices down and will figure out the bad guys have a plan to destitute them.

Little George as his evil is being exposed and the world he is behind high gasoline prices and why, in his economy (USA economy, that is) is a hot air Ponzi economy will try to divert attention away from the sick economy and manipulate nuclear Holocausts.

As the world nears extinction people will have an attitude adjustment and many people who did not believe there is a God will become believers. Voters will want a change and this is when I feel people will start looking at me from a different perspective and attitude and I may have a more reasonable chance of being considered for US President.

Of course God and Jesus would love for people to realize the power of God and do right without billions dying. Actually Jesus will rate his job success as the Messiah by the number of people who are not killed. So if the owners of the Federal Reserve Fraud will abolish it, Little George and the Neocon zioni$t communi$t$ will stop doing bad and lying to the people, stop the rigged electronic voting machine fraud, admit they are evil and stick out their arms to get the needle like a brave person this deal can be done without all that many deaths. Or the Mother of Prostitutes, Abominations of the Earth, Big George and the zioni$t$ can keep up their evil ways and lead the planet to a nuclear war which we may or may not live.

An Actual Candidate for President...uh oh...

2007-07-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the United Fascist Union's Website.

The United Fascist Union was incorporated in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1996 as a non-profit political club to promote the economic theories and political ideologies of Benito Mussolini and Saddam Hussein.

Since that time our Director, Jack Grimes has appeared on television and done hundreds of radio shows for the United Fascist Union and has ran as a Presidential Candidate in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections.

On this website you can read Mr. Jack Grimes’ Statement of Candidacy for the 2008 U. S. Presidential Election as well as a FAQ sheet for the United Fascist Union which will explain to you why it is important that you vote for our candidate and help us establish a Corporate State.

Fascism is the one economic theory that has been proven time after time. It can raise the standard-of-living and improve the quality of life for all citizens fortunate enough to live in a Fascist Country. This should be a very good reason for importing these ideologies to America as everyone deserves a better quality of life than they have had under the oligarchy of the mega bankers and billionaire elite.

Iraq Update

2007-07-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

Moving Forward in Iraq
The "surge" is working. Will Washington allow the current progress to continue?

BY KIMBERLY KAGAN
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 12:01 a.m.

In Washington perception is often mistaken for reality. And as Congress prepares for a fresh debate on Iraq, the perception many members have is that the new strategy has already failed.

This isn't an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground, as I saw during my visit to Iraq in May. Reports from the field show that remarkable progress is being made. Violence in Baghdad and Anbar Province is down dramatically, grassroots political movements have begun in the Sunni Arab community, and American and Iraqi forces are clearing al Qaeda fighters and Shiite militias out of long-established bases around the country.

This is remarkable because the military operation that is making these changes possible only began in full strength on June 15. To say that the surge is failing is absurd. Instead Congress should be asking this question: Can the current progress continue?

From 2004 to 2006, al Qaeda established safe havens, transport routes, vehicle-bomb factories and training camps in the rural areas surrounding Baghdad, where U.S. forces had little or no footprint. Al Qaeda used these bases to conduct bombings in Baghdad, to displace Shia and Sunni from local towns by sparking sectarian killings, and to force Iraqis to comply with the group's interpretation of Islamic law. Shiite death squads roamed freely around Baghdad and the countryside. The number of execution-style killings rose monthly after the Samarra mosque bombing of February 2006, reaching a high in December 2006. Iranian special operations groups moved weapons across the borders and into Iraq along major highways and rivers. U.S. forces, engaged primarily in training Iraqis, did little to disrupt this movement.

Today, Iraq is a different place from what it was six months ago. U.S. and Iraqi forces began their counterinsurgency campaign in Baghdad in February. They moved into the neighborhoods and worked side-by-side with Baghdadis. As a result, sectarian violence is down. The counterinsurgency strategy has dramatically decreased Shiite death squad activity in the capital. Furthermore, U.S. and Iraqi special forces have removed many rogue militia leaders and Iranian advisers from Sadr City and other locations, reducing the power of militias.

As a consequence, execution-style killings, the hallmark of Shiite militias, have fallen to the lowest level in a year; some Iranian- and militia-backed mortar teams firing on the Green Zone have been destroyed. Equally important, U.S. and Iraqi forces have restricted al Qaeda's bases to ever smaller areas of the city, so that reinforcements cannot flow easily from one neighborhood to another.

Many in Washington say the Baghdad Security Plan has just pushed the enemy to other locations in Iraq. Though some of the enemy certainly left Baghdad when the security plan began, this metaphor is inaccurate. The enemy has long been located outside of Baghdad and was causing violence from suburban bases. What has changed is the disposition of U.S. forces, which are now actively working to expel the enemy from its safe havens rather than ignoring them.

To accomplish this, Gens. David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno have encircled Baghdad with a double cordon of U.S. and Iraqi forces. They have been preparing the cordons patiently since February, as the new "surge" units arrived. The surge was completed only in mid-June, and the first phase of the large-scale operations it was intended to support began only on June 15. Since then, U.S. forces have begun blocking major road, river, and transportation route around Baghdad. They are also deployed in critical neighborhoods around outskirts and the interior of the city.

On June 15, Gens. Petraeus and Odierno launched a major offensive against al Qaeda strongholds all around Baghdad. "Phantom Thunder" is the largest operation in Iraq since 2003, and a milestone in the counterinsurgency strategy. For the first time, U.S. forces are working systematically throughout central Iraq to secure Baghdad by clearing its rural "belts" and its interior, so that the enemy cannot move from one safe haven to another. Together, the operations in Baghdad and the "belts" are increasing security in and around the capital.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are thereby attacking enemy strongholds and cutting supply routes all around the city, along which fighters and weapons moved freely in 2006. Coordinated operations south and east of Baghdad are at last interdicting the supply of weapons moving along the Tigris River to the capital. U.S. and Iraqi forces are operating east of Baghdad for the first time in years, disrupting al Qaeda's movement between bases on the Tigris and in Sadr City, a frequent target of its car bombs. North of Baghdad, U.S. forces recently cleared al Qaeda from the city of Baqubah, from which terrorists flowed into Baghdad. They are clearing al Qaeda's car bomb factories from Karmah, northwest of Baghdad, and its sanctuaries toward Lake Tharthar. These operations are supported by counterinsurgency operations west of the capital, from Fallujah to Abu Ghraib. U.S. forces are now, for the first time, fighting the enemy in the entire ring of cities and villages around Baghdad.

This is the Baghdad Security Plan, and its mission is to secure the people of Baghdad. Even so, commanders are not ignoring the outlying areas of Iraq. U.S. forces have killed or captured many important al Qaeda leaders in Mosul recently, and destroyed safe havens throughout northern Iraq. Troops are conducting counterinsurgency operations in Bayji, north of Tikrit. And Iraqi forces have "stepped up" to secure some southern cities. The Eighth Iraqi Army Division has been fighting Shiite militias in Diwaniyah, an important city halfway between Basrah and Baghdad. As commanders stabilize central Iraq, they will undoubtedly conduct successive operations in outlying regions to follow up on their successes and make them lasting.

The larger aim of the new strategy is creating an opportunity for Iraq's leaders to negotiate a political settlement. These negotiations are underway. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is attempting to form a political coalition with Amar al-Hakim and Kurdish political leaders, but excluding Moqtada al-Sadr, and has invited Sunnis to participate. He has confronted Moqtada al-Sadr for promoting illegal militia activity, and has apparently prompted this so-called Iraqi nationalist to leave for Iran for the second time since January.

Provincial and local government is growing stronger. Local and tribal leaders in Anbar, Diyala, Salah ad-Din, North Babil and even Baghdad have agreed to fight insurgents and terrorists as U.S. forces have moved in to secure the population alongside their Iraqi partners. As a result, the number of Iraqis recruited for the police forces, in particular, has risen exponentially since 2006.

This is war, and the enemy is reacting. The enemy uses suicide bombs, car bombs and brutal executions to break our will and that of our Iraqi allies. American casualties often increase as troops move into areas that the enemy has fortified; these casualties will start to fall again once the enemy positions are destroyed. Al Qaeda will manage to get some car and truck bombs through, particularly in areas well-removed from the capital and its belts.

But we should not allow individual atrocities to obscure the larger picture. A new campaign has just begun, it is already yielding important results, and its effects are increasing daily. Demands for withdrawal are no longer demands to pull out of a deteriorating situation with little hope; they are now demands to end a new approach to this conflict that shows every sign of succeeding.

Ms. Kagan, an affiliate of Harvard's John M. Olin Institute of Strategic Studies, is executive director of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.

It's the sweater's fault

2007-07-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

In the final days of his imploding candidacy, John McCain has taken a page out of Richard Nixon's play book, finding increasingly bizarre explanations for his political failures. Strangest of all: He reportedly feels his handlers forced him to wear "gay sweaters."

According to one insider, the knit-picking was the crescendo of a tirade by the Arizona senator, in which he blistered aides about the minutiae of the campaign. While many septuagenarians live in a perpetual state of sweater weather, McCain reportedly declared his frustration with being told to don the perceived homosexual outerwear in order to look younger and more approachable.

"He wasn't happy being dictated to. The sweaters were part of that," the source says.

The Mr. Rogers-inspired wardrobe was on its finest display last spring, when the candidate wore a roomy black snuggly while standing under the pounding Iraq sun. Washington insiders wondered why the campaign would place the candidate in such obviously awkward garb.

While it may seem as if the senator is screaming at the rain, one source from a rival campaign explains the real importance of Sweater-gate. "Do those [unflattering] sweaters matter in the grand scheme of things? Probably not. But it's indicative of how [McCain] lost his way. He just allowed himself to be managed into oblivion."

The McCain campaign did not officially respond for comment, but one source that has been close to the senator poses the question most J. Crew shoppers are no doubt asking: "How can a crew-neck sweater make you look gay? They make him look silly, sure. Old, too. But not gay. That's Romney's department."

Mammoth!

2007-07-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

The discovery of a baby mammoth preserved in the Russian permafrost gives researchers their best chance yet to build a genetic map of a species extinct since the Ice Age, a Russian scientist said on Wednesday.

"It's a lovely little baby mammoth indeed, found in perfect condition," said Alexei Tikhonov, deputy director of the Russian Academy of Science's Zoological Institute, which has been taking care of the mammoth since it was uncovered in May.

"This specimen may provide unique material allowing us to ultimately decipher the genetic makeup of the mammoth," he told Reuters by telephone.

The mammoth, a female who died at the age of six months, was named "Lyuba" after the wife of reindeer breeder and hunter Yuri Khudi who found her in Russia's Arctic Yamalo-Nenetsk region.

She had been lying in the frozen ground for up to 40,000 years, said Tikhonov.

The hunter initially thought the mammoth was a dead reindeer when he spotted parts of her body sticking out of damp snow.

When he realized it was a mammoth, scientists were called in and transported the body to regional capital Salekhard, where she is now being kept in a special refrigerator.

TREASURE TROVE FOR SCIENTISTS

Weighing 50 kg (110 lb), and measuring 85 centimeters high and 130 centimeters from trunk to tail, Lyuba is roughly the same size as a large dog.

Tikhonov said the fact the mammoth was so remarkably well-preserved -- its shaggy coat was gone but otherwise it looked as though it had only recently died -- meant it was a potential treasure trove for scientists.

"Such a unique skin condition protects all the internal organs from modern microbes and micro-organisms ... In terms of its future genetic, molecular and microbiological studies, this is just an unprecedented specimen."

But Tikhonov dismissed suggestions the mammoth could be cloned and used to breed a live mammoth. Cloning can only be done if whole cells are intact, but the freezing conditions will have caused the cells to burst, he Tikhonov.

Tikhonov said the next stop on Lyuba's odyssey would be the Zoological Museum in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

There, Lyuba will join a male baby mammoth called Dima who was unearthed in Magadan in Russia's Far East in 1977 and until now was Russia's best-known example of the species.

"They will make a nice couple, both roughly aged 40,000 years," Tikhonov said.

From St Petersburg, Lyuba will go to Jikei University in Japan to undergo three-dimensional computer mapping of her body. The mammoth will then return to St Petersburg for an autopsy before being put on display in Salekhard.

Nice...

2007-07-10T15:41:00.001-07:00

First Drive: The Tesla Roadster

We’ve taken a look at the Tesla Roadster from afar and we’ve taken a ride in the spunky electric sports car too. But recently we had a chance to pry the keys away from a Tesla engineer and climb behind the wheel of a hand-built $350,000 Development Prototype Tesla Roadster.

Slide into the thinly padded driver’s seat of the Tesla and it looks and feels very familiar. That’s not surprising since the car’s chassis and many interior bits are shared with Lotus. But twist the key and things get strange. Of course my brain knows this is an electric car but I still wait for a starter to crank over a highly stressed internal combustion sports car engine. It doesn’t happen. It’s all quiet until a small dash light illuminates and tells you its “on” and a faint “click” from behind my head says it’s ready to go. Weird.

The Tesla’s transmission has two speeds but for our drive, the car was purposely locked in Second. Step on the gas, whoops, I mean the accelerator, and it scoots away nearly silently in a rush of instant torque. First gear would essentially double that torque, but unless we were racing a Vette or a Viper, Second is enough. Even without the lower First gear the Tesla really hauls. Tesla’s claim of running 0-60 in around 4 seconds sounds plausible. You squirt through traffic holes without the hesitation—it’s absolutely always in meat of the powerband. And all you hear from the powertrain is a hushed turbine-like wail from behind your head. Ferraris and Lamborghinis are known for making great noises. But the Tesla plays its own tune and it’s a futuristically cool one.

The downside of a relatively silent powertrain is that other sounds naturally get amplified. Stuff you’d need a trained ear to hear on a regular car. On this prototype we could clearly detect the chassis bushings squeaking. Our co-pilot, Mike Harrigan, Tesla’s VP of Sales and Service tells us that those noises are being addressed now. The second round of cars, the Evaluation Prototypes, should be nearly squeak and creak free.

Like its platform cousin, the Lotus Elise, the Tesla feels at home on twisty roads. The chassis is very taut and communicates exactly what those tire patches are doing right up through the steering wheel. On our test drive around Pebble Beach, California it was like driving a big electric go-kart. Who knew saving the planet could be this much fun?

As we roll back into The Lodge at Pebble Beach, where we began our drive, a crowd gathers. Within minutes well-heeled car nuts are pouring over the car. The Tesla seems to be a hit. In fact the first “Signature One Hundred” special edition cars are already sold out.

Good news does indeed travel fast.—Ben Stewart

America's Population of 1014

2007-07-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is from a comment I just saw on a USA Today poll that said Bush's approval rating was 29%. Honestly makes me sad.

Problem is, I looked deeper into how USA today conducted that poll, and they only polled 1014 adult Americans. Come on now, I think there are more than 1014 people who live in America. If you say "Americans dissaprove of President Bush at 29%", then you need to also say, "700 out of 1014 Americans WE CHOSE TO CALL dissaprove of Bush". Reall, all it takes is basic polling skills here. Or is it basic news manipulation skills?

Tom Griffith wrote: 5m ago

Our grand Chickenhawk-in-Chief, the venerable George Herbert Walker Bush III, is a drug- and alcohol adled, rich-boy, phoney West Texas accented sissy who loves to talk about being the "War President." He shirked his duty to country in Vietnam, has no conscience and is the ONLY American President in our history never to have attended the funeral of a serviceman or woman. He is a pathetic excuse for a human being, let alone for a President. He should be impeached along with Cheney before they do even more damage to our government and financial institutions. They are the greatest threats to our democracy since its inception.

I want to wear this in Iraq, not SAPI plates

2007-07-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Army Seeks Body Armor for Deadlier Threat

Military.com | By Christian Lowe | June 27, 2007

The Army has issued an industry-wide request for a new kind of body armor that can defeat even more powerful rounds than the current ceramic plate and has opened the door for the new armor construction that includes flexible systems many say are more comfortable than today's vests.

The new armor insert, dubbed "XSAPI," is intended to stop armor-piercing rounds more deadly than the ones the current "enhanced small arms protective insert" can defeat, will weigh less than a pound more than today's ESAPI and could have more coverage than the rigid ceramic plates currently fielded to U.S. troops in combat.

The Army's latest solicitation - dated June 20 - marks yet another chapter in the ongoing debate over allegations that the Army has ignored armor technology that could yield more protection and comfort than its current "Interceptor" vest. In May, an NBC investigative report raised questions over whether a certain type of body armor called "Dragon Skin" was stronger than the Interceptor - which is worn by most American troops in the field.

The NBC report - and the Army counter-attack that followed - gained the attention of the top lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee, which held a hearing on the subject June 6 and demanded a new set of tests to prove once and for all whether Dragon Skin - or other armor using similar technology - was better than Interceptor.

Dragon Skin employs a flexible system of interlocking ceramic disks that the manufacturer, Fresno, Calif.-based Pinnacle Armor, says is more comfortable and can endure more rifle shots than Interceptor. The ESAPI employs a series of rigid ceramic plates inserted into the front, back and sides of the Interceptor "outer tactical vest."

After the congressional hearing, the Army revised its earlier May 27 request for new armor to test, adding the XSAPI specs and opening the offer to flexible, or "scalar," systems. The Army also extended the period for manufacturers to submit their proposals by 30 days - until the end of August - a move congressional staffers say will give Pinnacle plenty of time to submit the vests needed for testing.

"The Army seems to be accommodating Pinnacle as far as it can," a top House Armed Services Committee aide told Military.com.

The Army declined to comment on the new XSAPI requirement or on upcoming tests until after the service has determined a contract winner.

Pinnacle president Murray Neal faced sharp questions from skeptical Armed Services Committee members during the June 6 hearing, many of whom wondered how earlier Army tests that showed massive failures of Dragon Skin could jibe with the NBC report and Neal's own contention that the government tests were inaccurate or rigged.

Neal demanded another "independent" test of his armor with outside government observers who could verify the truthfulness of the Army evaluation.

"I would like to recommend that the Army Test Center facility located in Aberdeen, Md., be used. It is independent of all parties [and] is the only [Pentagon] oversight ballistic laboratory capable of doing such testing left in the U.S.," Neal said in a recent letter sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"My company stands ready to cooperate in any reasonable manner with your staff and designated agents when they begin the process that will result in the requested comprehensive technical assessment."

The Army acquiesced, writing in a June 22 letter to top Armed Services lawmakers in the House and Senate that both flexible and rigid ESAPI and XSAPI armor would be tested at Aberdeen and would include officials from the Operational Test and Evaluation office of the Pentagon.

In an effort Army officials have said was designed to deflect criticism that armor tests at Aberdeen could be rigged in their favor, the service has conducted most of its ballistic body armor evaluations at H.P. White labs, a civilian-run ballistic test facility in Street, Md.

"All potential body armor suppliers, including Pinnacle Armor, are welcome to compete," acting Army Secretary Pete Geren wrote lawmakers. "Pinnacle Armor has never submitted a proposal for a U.S. Army body armor solicitation. However, the U.S. Army stands ready to fairly evaluate their product and all products in response to the current solicitation."

The House committee aide added that representatives of the Government Accountability Office - the investigative arm of Congress - would also be present at the tests, satisfying lawmakers' desire for oversight.

The new armor solicitation also makes good on the Army claim that the service is always looking for new ways to protect its troops from enemy threats that continue to grow in sophistication and lethality. In late 2005, Army and Marine officials were shocked to find earlier versions of their rifle-defeating plates penetrated by a type of armor-piercing round previously unseen in Iraq.

Both the Army and Marine Corps moved quickly to strengthen their plates, fielding hundreds of thousands of ESAPIs within months.

The call for XSAPI technology raises the bar on armor protection offered to Army troops by providing a vest that can resist both 7.62mm and 5.56mm rounds with velocities much higher than the ESAPI and bullets with construction that might penetrate current plates, the Army says.

"The current body armor system provided to our Soldiers has been live-fire tested and combat proven - but we are always looking for something better," Geren's June 22 letter stated.

National Institute Of Justice Body Armor Standards– >click to download .PDF

The classification of an armor panel that provides two or more levels of NIJ ballistic protection at different locations on the ballistic panel shall be that of the minimum ballistic protection provided at any location on the panel.

Type I (22 LR; 380 ACP)
This armor protects against .22 caliber Long Rifle Lead Round Nose (LR LRN) bullets, with nominal masses of 2.6 g (40 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 320 m/s (1050 ft/s) or less, and 380 ACP Full Metal Jacketed Round Nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 6.2 g (95 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 312 m/s (1025 ft/s) or less.

Type IIA (9 mm; 40 S&W)
This armor protects against 9 mm Full Metal Jacketed Round Nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 332 m/s (1090 ft/s) or less, and 40 S&W caliber Full Metal Jacketed (FMJ) bullets, with nominal masses of 11.7 g (180 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 312 m/s (1025 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against the threats mentioned in section 2.1.

Type II (9 mm; 357 Magnum)
This armor protects against 9 mm Full Metal Jacketed Round Nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 358 m/s (1175 ft/s) or less, and 357 Magnum Jacketed Soft Point (JSP) bullets, with nominal masses of 10.2 g (158 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against the threats mentioned in sections 2.1 and 2.2.

Type IIIA (High Velocity 9 mm; 44 Magnum)
This armor protects against 9 mm Full Metal Jacketed Round Nose (FMJ RN) bullets, with nominal masses of 8.0 g (124 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less, and 44 Magnum Semi Jacketed Hollow Point (SJHP) bullets, with nominal masses of 15.6 g (240 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 427 m/s (1400 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against most handgun threats, as well as the threats mentioned in sections 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.

Type III (Rifles)
This armor protects against 7.62 mm Full Metal Jacketed (FMJ) bullets (U.S. Military designation M80), with nominal masses of 9.6 g (148 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 838 m/s (2750 ft/s) or less. It also provides protection against the threats mentioned in sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4.

Type IV (Armor Piercing Rifle)
This armor protects against .30 caliber armor piercing (AP) bullets (U.S. Military designation M2 AP), with nominal masses of 10.8 g (166 gr) impacting at a minimum velocity of 869 m/s (2850 ft/s) or less. It also provides at least single hit protection against the threats mentioned in sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5.

U.S. Army - Level V

7.62 x 54R mm 187 GR, steel case, armor piercing incendiary BS40 - Classified

7.62 x 51 mm GR, M948 - Classified

7.62 x 51 mm 126.5 GR, M993 - Classified

5.56 x 45 mm 52.5 GR, M995 - Classified

Be cool, everyone's doing it. Oh wait, that's a terrible idea

2007-07-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

Smoking could kill 1 billion this century:
By Ed CropleyMon Jul 2, 7:22 AM ET

One billion people will die of tobacco-related diseases this century unless governments in rich and poor countries alike get serious about preventing smoking, top World Health Organization (WHO) experts said on Monday.
"Tobacco is a defective product. It kills half of its customers," Douglas Bettcher, head of the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said at the start of an international conference in Bangkok to draw up a masterplan for the world to kick the habit.
"It kills 5.4 million people per year and half of those deaths are in developing countries. That's like one jumbo jet going down every hour," he said.
With smoking rates in many developing countries on the rise, particularly among teenagers, that annual death toll would rise to 8.3 million within the next 20 years, he added.
However, if governments introduced measures such as aggressive taxation, banning cigarette advertising and making offices and public places totally tobacco-free, smoking rates could halve by 2050, he said.
"It's a completely preventable epidemic," Bettcher said, citing countries such as Singapore, Australia and Thailand where tough anti-smoking laws have helped people to quit.
"If we do that, by 2050 we can save 200 million lives."
Officials from 147 countries are attending the week-long conference, which is likely to agree on binding laws against cross-border tobacco advertising -- a move against events such as Formula One -- as well as tougher legislation against cigarette smuggling.
Around 600 billion cigarettes were smuggled in 2006 -- 11 percent of the world's consumption -- according to the Framework Convention Alliance (FAC), an umbrella group of hundreds of anti-tobacco organizations.
As well as keeping the prices artificially low and thereby stimulating demand, the counterfeit cigarette industry also deprives governments of more than $40 billion in missed taxes, the FCA estimates.
BAN ON ADS
In Thailand, smoking rates have fallen from 30 percent in 1992 to around 18 percent, a decline health officials attribute to a ban on all domestic tobacco advertising 15 years ago.
"The most important medicines in tobacco control are: number one, increasing taxation; number two, bans on advertising; and number three, smoke-free public places," said Hatai Chitanondh of the Thailand Health Promotion Institute.
Besides agreeing laws on cross-border advertising and smuggling, the conference is also likely to issue guidelines for countries introducing legislation on "second-hand smoke" and "smoke-free" areas.
Although not legally binding, anti-smoking campaigners are delighted with the explicit wording of the guidelines.
"There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and notions such as a threshold value for toxicity from second-hand smoke should be rejected as they are contradicted by scientific evidence," a draft copy of the guidelines said.
"Approaches other than 100 percent smoke-free environments, including ventilation, air filtration and use of designated smoking areas have repeatedly been shown to be ineffective."

Why being active is so important

2007-06-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

Exercise Grows New Brain Cells

Jeanna BrynerLiveScience Staff WriterLiveScience.comThu Jun 28, 12:35 PM ET
Exercise stimulates the growth of new brain cells, a new study on rats finds. The new cells could be the key to why working out relieves depression.
Previous research showed physical exercise can have antidepressant effects, but until now scientists didn’t fully understand how it worked.
Astrid Bjornebekk of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and her colleagues studied rats that had been genetically tweaked to show depressive behaviors, plus a second group of control rats. For 30 days, some of the rats had free access to running wheels and others did not.
Then, to figure out if running turned the down-and-out rats into happy campers, the scientists used a standard “swim test.” They measured the amount of time the rats spent immobile in the water and the time they spent swimming around in active mode. When depressed, rats spend most of the time not moving.
“In the depressed rats, running had an antidepressant-like effect after running for 30 days,” Bjornebekk told LiveScience. The once-slothful rodents spent much more time in active swimming compared with the non-running depressed rats.
The researchers also examined the hippocampus region of the brain, involved in learning and memory. Neurons there increased dramatically in the depressed rats after wheel-running.
Past studies have found that the human brain’s hippocampus shrinks in depressed individuals, a phenomenon thought to cause some of the mental problems often linked with depression.
“The hippocampus formation is one of the regions they have actually seen structural changes in depressed patients,” Bjornebekk said.
Running had a similar effect as common antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on lifting depression.
The research is published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.

This is an actual book

2007-06-29T15:53:00.001-07:00

No offense to any Democrats, but what in the WORLD is this? Reminds me of Soviet propoganda for communism.

Why Dogs Need to Ride IN the Car

2007-06-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

"Before beginning the (12 hour) drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.

Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it.

The ride was largely what you'd expect with five brothers, ages 13 and under, packed into a wagon they called the ''white whale.''

As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management."

Seems Mickey's become a terrorist

2007-06-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

A program using a Mickey Mouse-like character to urge Palestinian children to fight Israel and the West and work for world Islamic domination has been pulled off Hamas' television station for review, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday.

Mustafa Barghouti said the use of the cartoon character in such a role represented a mistaken approach to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.
Barghouti said that following a request from his ministry, the program was pulled from the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV and placed under review.
"I demanded that Hamas suspend the program and they have withdrawn it, because it was wrong to use a program directed at children to convey political messages," he said.
In the statement, Barghouti said his ministry would continue to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of the press, but addded that, "Any media outlet that breaks Palestinian broadcasting law will be penalized by the Information Ministry."
Barghouti complained that the story continued to receive attention by some American television stations after it was resolved, and that media did not broadcast video of Israeli human rights violations supplied by his ministry in recent weeks.
Israel has long complained that the Palestinian airwaves are filled with incitement.
"You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists," the cartoon character named Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, entitled "Tomorrow's Pioneers."
"We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers."
Children call in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel. Disney declined comment on "Tomorrow's Pioneers," but a daughter of the U.S. entertainment firm's founder cried foul. "The world loves children and this [show] is just going against the grain of humanity," Diane Disney Miller told the New York Daily News.
"What we're dealing with here is pure evil and you can't ignore that."

He Just Wanted to Play..

2007-06-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

A NATURE lover north of Sydney has saved a catfish stuck at the surface of a lake after swallowing a basketball.

The man saw a basketball bobbing on the surface of Lake Macquarie and went to investigate.
Much to his surprise, he discovered a flathead catfish that had bitten off more than it could chew by trying to swallow a basketball.
The fish was completly exhausted from trying to dive with its flotsome fare, which popped it back to the surface each time it tried to dive.
The concerned rescuer tried unsuccessfully to free the hapless fish from its unfortunate predicament.
Finally, he and his wife improvised a solution by slashing, and thereby deflating, the basketball.

How About a New Civil War?

2007-06-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Seems America is divided. Blue is democrat voting, red is republican. Look how gigantic LA, Chicago, and New York's voter number bars are.

He's stealthy as a B2 bomber..

2007-06-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Apparantly, this inmate escaped from prison after somehow shooting his guard. He was identified and arrested two days later. It's a wonder people knew what he looked like.

2007-06-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone realizes the answer is NOT to give her more attention. I've told my friends this in the past, but she epitomizes everything I am not looking for in a woman.

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 26, 9:59 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton gets out of jail on Tuesday and she won't be on the cover of US Weekly on Friday? How, short of the Apocalypse, is this possible?
"When it came down to it, the staff and I felt what I believe a lot of people in America are feeling. Which is just enormous Paris fatigue," US Weekly Editor Janice Min told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
As a result, Hilton not only won't be on the cover, there won't even be a mention of her in the magazine.
"I don't think," Min joked, "we even mention the city of Paris."
That was no easy task, she said, adding US Weekly editors had to comb carefully through every beauty story and every fashion item to make sure there wasn't an offhand mention of the hotel heiress somewhere.
The Associated Press put in place a similar Hilton moratorium for a week earlier this year, just to see what would happen.

45 million, no wait, 8 million

2007-06-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

"We hear a lot these days about 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance.

...According to the US Census Bureau, 17 million of those without health insurance live in households having over $50,000 in annual income. That's 38% of the uninsured in America.(2)

In fact, 9 million - 20% of the uninsured - reside in households pulling down more than $75K a year. (3)

...And then there are the young invincibles. Over 18 million of the uninsured are people between the ages of 18 and 34. (4) They spend more than four times as much on alcohol, tobacco, entertainment and dining out as they do for out-of-pocket spending on health care.(5) They represent 40% of the uninsured in America.

...14 million people without health insurance are eligible for government health care programs like Medicaid and S-CHIP but choose not to enroll. (7) They represent %31 - nearly one third - of the uninsured in America.

...The U.S. has 12 million illegal immigrants who don't buy health insurance but still get health care.

...So, how many are truly uninsured? Around eight million. Just 18% of the 45 million that we hear about so often."

I vote for Sticky Rice!

2007-06-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hmm...

Jun 26, 8:45 AM (ET)

BOSTON (AP) - Mitt Romney's been called many things as he runs for president, but chances are "Sticky Rice" isn't one of them.

That's how his name might be read on some ballots, according to state Secretary William Galvin.

Galvin says the federal Justice Department is pressuring Boston election officials to translate candidates' names into Chinese characters in precincts with prominent Chinese-speaking populations.

But there's more than a little lost in translation, according to Galvin.

Since there's no Chinese character for "Romney," translators have resorted to finding characters that most closely match the sound of each syllable in the name.

The problem is that there are many different characters that could be used to match the sound of each syllable, and many different meanings for each character.

So Mitt Romney could be read as "Sticky Rice" or "Uncooked Rice." Fred Thompson might be read as "Virtue Soup." And Barack Obama could be read as "Oh Bus Horse."

Galvin's own name could be read at least two different ways, as "High Prominent Noble Educated" or "Stick Mosquito."

But perhaps the most perplexing translation would be for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's name, which could be read as "Sun Moon Rainbow Farmer" or "Imbecile," or "Barbarian Mud No Mind of His Own."

"To try to make rhymes or approximations in Chinese, you can have unintended negative meanings," Galvin said. "It leads to confusion. You can render it with a good meaning or a bad meaning."

To add to the confusion, Galvin said, the ballots have to be offered in two major Chinese dialects, Mandarin and Cantonese, leading to even more potential variations of candidates's names.

But advocates for minority voting rights say Galvin's objections are misdirected. If the translations are awkward, they say, the candidates should be free to offer variations, or look to the way Asian language newspapers already transliterate their names.

"We are looking to make sure Asian Americans are able to vote for their candidates of choice," Glenn Magpantay, staff attorney of the New York-based Asian American Defense Fund, told the Boston Globe. "This is difficult to do when voters with limited English proficiency cannot find those candidates."

Cynthia Magnuson, spokeswoman to the Justice Department's civil rights division, said a system is needed to let voters with limited English vote without the aid of election monitors.

"This will allow them to vote independently," she said.

Galvin said he supports translating the bulk of the ballots into Chinese as required by a 2005 agreement with the justice department, as long as the names of the candidates' names remain in Roman letters.

Longer but totally worth the read

2007-06-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

Scoring The War

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 6/25/2007

War And The Media: Day after day, Americans are treated to a never-ending, mind-numbing parade of statistics about the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But what about the terrorists?

Related Topics: Media & Culture | Iraq

One way the media distort Americans' view of the ongoing war against terrorists is by focusing on just one side in the conflict: ours. Whether it's the daily body count or alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, the public could be forgiven for thinking the U.S. is not only losing the war, but behaving badly in doing so.
But neither is true. This year, for instance, the U.S. has killed roughly 650 terrorists a month, according to published reports and Defense Department estimates. That compares with about 37 U.S. combat deaths per month, through May.
The ratio, thus, is about 18 terrorists killed in combat for every allied soldier killed. And that doesn't include the current offensive in Diayala Province, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which dispatched 159 enemy combatants in just the first five days.
Since the war began, we've lost about 70 troops a month. This compares with 526 a month in Vietnam, more than 900 a month in Korea and 6,639 a month during World War II.
In other words, by any meaningful metric employed, the U.S. is winning this war. But it will never be reported that way.
This is nothing new. Go back to Vietnam. Remember the "five o'clock follies," when the press routinely ridiculed Pentagon casualty reports? The Vietnam syndrome continues to this day.
Only now it's the media misreporting the numbers. Just weeks into the war in 2003, we started hearing the now-oft-repeated canard that Iraq was worse off with the U.S. than with Saddam. This is so plainly wrong that it must be called what it is: a lie.
And yet, it's repeated to this day. Here again, the numbers tell the tale. In his 24 years as Iraq's Stalinist supreme leader, Saddam Hussein killed at least 2 million people. That averages out to about 6,944 a month for the better part of three decades.
Most responsible estimates show that, at most, 60,000 or so civilians have been killed since the war started, about 1,200 a month.
Moreover, no one doubts that Saddam was responsible for all 2 million of his deaths. In the case of the U.S., most of the civilian deaths come from al-Qaida and other terrorists, not U.S. troops.
We got to thinking about this as a result of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which began a week ago. It involves some 10,000 U.S. troops trying to rid Diyala Province of al-Qaida terrorists. It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, operations since the war began.
And yet, when we looked for news of how this huge effort in the war on terror was going, the focus was all on American fatalities.
Since Vietnam, the media have approached each military conflict with the same template: "U.S. Wrong, Foe Right." And they've reported accordingly. That's why wanton murderers of women and children are generously called "fighters" by our own media, while errors by our own troops are tarred as war crimes.
So, in a sense, we are losing a war — the war for Americans' hearts and minds, fought daily on America's TV screens and front pages. But in the real war, our troops are fighting bravely and well — and it's about time someone started keeping score.

If the USA was the world...

2007-06-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty neat map. It shows how much each state makes economically in comparison to other countries. Click on it to make it bigger, and go Malaysia!

Where I am for the Summer

2007-06-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

I don't live in that barn of course, but see those Pintler mountains back there? Yeah I live on a ranch right at the foot of those.

Maybe Rats CAN cook!

2007-06-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

Go see Ratatouille on Friday....just do it, it looks amazing.

Global Worming

2007-06-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Watch out for them worms!

06/25/2007 09:20 AM ID: 63227
Scientist Implicates Worms in Global Warming
	Jim Frederickson, the research director at the Composting Association has called for data on worms and composting to be re-examined after a German study found that worms produce greenhouse gases 290 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Worms are being used commercially to compost organic material and is in preference to putting it into the landfill. The German government wants 45% of all waste to be composted by 2015. "Everybody... thinks they can do no harm but they contribute to global warming. People are looking into alternative waste treatments but we have to make sure that we are not jumping from the frying pan into the fire," said Frederickson.

Military mess up...

2007-06-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Thought these were hilarious. It's from Nancy Pelosi and the Official Democrat Party's websites. Seems that black rank on the "American Soldier" actually says Canada in bright gold letters. And, that African American soldier standing there, seems he is Canadian. Even worse, it's a stock photo from 5 years ago. Wow and whoops.

Welcome one and all!

2007-06-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hey, just got this thing kicked off. I've been assigned critically examining blogs for so long as a volunteer, I thought I ought to make my own just for the fun of it. Feel free to post about whatever.