Thousands attended the burial of Dulmatin, a key wanted terrorist slain during a police raid in Tangerang this week, at a family cemetery in his hometown of Pemalang in Central Java on Friday.
Along the way from his house to the cemetery in Loning village, mourners shouted “Allahu akbar” and called Dulmatin a mujahideen.
Dulmatin’s body arrived in Pemalang at 3:20 p.m. on Friday, to the frenzied greetings of members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). A banner in front of Dulmatin’s house read, “Ammar Usman Sofie was not a terrorist. He was a mujahideen.”
Police forces banned journalists from entering Dulmatin’s house to take pictures but they were themselves later barred from going to the cemetery. “Back off, back off. We do not need police officers,” said mourners.
Only male relatives and friends were allowed to attend the funeral and the prayers at the Baitul Muttaqin mosque near the cemetery. Istiadah, Dulmatin’s widow, and the other women remained at home.
“The funeral has gone well, with no problems or difficulties. Everybody in this village came and helped us,” Dulmatin’s eldest brother Azam Ba’afut said. “This shows that my brother was a good man.”
Dulmatin, 39, and two other people were shot dead on Tuesday in a gunfight with counterterrorism forces in Tangerang.
With a $10 million bounty on his head, Dulmatin was accused of having been one of the key people in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 people dead, mostly foreign tourists.
“He was not a terrorist but a holy warrior,” another relative, Sahid Ahmad Sungkar, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. “His death is the will of Allah, who will decide who’s right or wrong.”
FPI Pekalongan chairman Abu Ayas said mourners had come from nearby Pekalongan and Batang as well as regions as far away as Solo and Banyuwangi.
Abu Wildan, a former member of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist group to which Dulmatin used to belong, also appeared at the funeral. Widlan split from the group, disagreeing with the path of violence it had chosen.
Heru Kuncoro, Dulmatin’s brother-in-law and now the most wanted person after terrorism suspect Umar Patek, was rumored to have attended the funeral but Zaid Ahmad Sungkar denied it.
In Solo, Central Java, hard-line cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said: “I do not know Dulmatin and we’ve never met. But he did not deserve to be called a terrorist. Dulmatin was a mujahideen even if I don’t agree with his struggle and use of violence in the country in times of peace.”
Meanwhile, the Densus 88 antiterrorism police unit continued to pursue accomplices of Dulmatin in Solo, Wonogiri, Yogyakarta and Klaten, all in Central Java. |
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| Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-12 12:46 ||Comments
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| A French fast food chain's decision to serve only halal meat in eight restaurants with a strong Muslim clientele has sparked a wave of criticism from politicians decrying the step as unacceptable. A far-right leader said the 350-branch Quick chain was imposing "an Islamic tax" on its customers. A Socialist mayor has threatened a law suit for discrimination against customers who do not want to eat according to Muslim dietary laws. |
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| Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-12 12:26 ||Comments
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| Posted by: mweather@q.com||http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/|| 2010-03-12 12:46 ||Comments
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 By Gary Solis
In our current armed conflicts, there are two U.S. drone offensives. One is conducted by our armed forces, the other by the CIA. Every day, CIA agents and CIA contractors arm and pilot armed unmanned drones over combat zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including Pakistani tribal areas, to search out and kill Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. In terms of international armed conflict, those CIA agents are, unlike their military counterparts but like the fighters they target, unlawful combatants. No less than their insurgent targets, they are fighters without uniforms or insignia, directly participating in hostilities, employing armed force contrary to the laws and customs of war. Even if they are sitting in Langley, the CIA pilots are civilians violating the requirement of distinction, a core concept of armed conflict, as they directly participate in hostilities.
| No one doubts that CIA pilots are instruments of war, but if it makes you feel better we could design some cool T-shirts for them. |
Before the 1863 Lieber Code condemned civilian participation in combat, it was contrary to customary law. Today, civilian participation in combat is still prohibited by two 1977 protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Although the United States has not ratified the protocols, ...
| ... which means, oh doctor law professor, that we aren't bound by them ... |
... we consider the prohibition to be customary law, binding on all nations. Whether in international or non-international armed conflict, we kill terrorists who take a direct part in hostilities because their doing so negates their protection as civilians and renders them lawful targets. If captured, the unlawful acts committed during their direct participation makes them subject to prosecution in civilian courts or military tribunals. They are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status.
| Do you know why? Because they explicitly target civilians. That's the whole point of 'terrorism'. Whereas, our CIA personnel are explicitly targeting combatants (be they legal or illegal). That's the difference. |
If the CIA civilian personnel recently killed by a suicide bomber in Khost, Afghanistan, were directly involved in supplying targeting data, arming or flying drones in the combat zone, they were lawful targets of the enemy, although the enemy himself was not a lawful combatant. It makes no difference that CIA civilians are employed by, or in the service of, the U.S. government or its armed forces.
| Yes, yes it does. Go look at the how the CIA came to be. It grew out of the OSS which was explicitly a paramilitary organization. The CIA has the same legacy; indeed, CIA field operatives have a rank that correspond to the uniform military ranks (O-3, O-5, etc). They not not civilians even as they are not uniformed military. |
They are civilians; they wear no distinguishing uniform or sign, and if they input target data or pilot armed drones in the combat zone, they directly participate in hostilities -- which means they may be lawfully targeted.
| We're not going to get into fine legal arguments as to whether our CIA agents in Afghanistan were 'lawfully' targeted by that Jordanian mook, we're just going to find the guys who directed him. And kill them. |
Moreover, CIA civilian personnel who repeatedly and directly participate in hostilities may have what recent guidance from the International Committee of the Red Cross terms "a continuous combat function." That status, the ICRC guidance says, makes them legitimate targets whenever and wherever they may be found, including Langley. While the guidance speaks in terms of non-state actors, there is no reason why the same is not true of civilian agents of state actors such as the United States.
| Again, the CIA is not strictly civilian. But every CIA employee understands that he/she is putting his/her life on the line for our country. Have you considered thanking them? |
It is, of course, hardly likely that a Taliban or al-Qaeda bomber or sniper could operate in Northern Virginia. (In 1993, a Pakistani citizen illegally in the United States shot and killed two CIA employees en route to the agency's headquarters. He was not, however, affiliated with any political or religious group.)
And while the prosecution of CIA personnel is certainly not suggested, ...
| ... at least not today, not by you, but tomorrow is another day ... |
... one wonders whether CIA civilians who are associated with armed drones appreciate their position in the law of armed conflict. Their superiors surely do.
Gary Solis, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, is the author of "The Law of Armed Conflict." |
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| Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-12 11:02 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 11:07 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-12 11:30 ||Comments
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| Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-12 13:00 ||Comments
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But John Brown's body is a-moulderin' in the grave.
James Brown's daughter has claimed the singer's body has gone missing from its crypt. LaRhonda Pettit, 48, alleges the body of Brown, who died in December 2006 aged 73, is being hidden to prevent a full autopsy being carried out. Ms Pettit said the official cause of death, which was said to be a heart attack brought by pneumonia, is not the real reason behind the Godfather of Soul's passing. |
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| Posted by: James Brown|| 2010-03-12 12:41 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-12 13:20 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-12 13:39 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-12 14:41 ||Comments
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 Acknowledging that the House won't meet his March 18th deadline for passing the Senate version of his health care bill, President Obama is delaying his Asia/Pacific trip until March 21st.
That'll give him more time to pressure reluctant Democrats to cast their votes in support of the embattled legislation.
The change in travel plans was announced Friday morning on Twitter by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. He also announced that neither First Lady Michelle Obama nor daughters Malia and Sasha would accompany the president on the trip as previously scheduled.
It would have given Mr. Obama a chance to show his family where he lived as a boy during four years in Indonesia. His trip also takes him to Australia and the U.S. territory of Guam.
But he concluded he needed to delay his departure if he's to win a House health care vote.
"See, they just think I'm an idiot because I'm doing something that's not immediately popular," Mr. Obama said Wednesday of those opposed to his year-long effort to enact an overhaul of health care coverage in America.
He said he was "tired of talking about it," but it's clear he'll have to do a lot more talking if he's to win passage of the plan in the House. It's also clear to Democratic leaders they still don't have the votes.
And the president has shown himself to be indefatigable when it comes to his health care objectives.
"I don't know about the politics," he said Wednesday in his 52nd health care speech since taking office, "but I know it is the right thing to do, and that's why I'm fighting so hard to get it done." |
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| Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-12 12:23 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305|| 2010-03-12 14:55 ||Comments
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An activist from New Zealand has been arrested by Japan's coastguard after he boarded a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean last month. Peter Bethune said he had boarded the ship intending to make a citizen's arrest of the Japanese crew.
Instead, the Shonan Maru 2 immediately set sail for Japan with him on board.
He is a member of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has been trying to disrupt the annual hunt of the Japanese whaling fleet. Scores of camera crews and photographers waited on the quayside as the whaling ship sailed into Tokyo bay with the anti-whaling activist on board.
Nationalist protestors were carrying Rising Sun flags and placards branding Peter Bethune an "eco-terrorist".
After the Shonan Maru 2 docked, Japanese coastguard officials went on board and arrested him. He had been detained on the ship as it sailed back to Japan after he boarded it from a jet-ski in the Southern Ocean last month.
His intention was to perform a citizen's arrest on the Shonan Maru 2's captain for what he said was the attempted murder of his crew, and demand compensation.
Mr Bethune was in command of a Sea Shepherd hi-tech stealth boat when it was sliced in two in a collision with the ship as anti-whaling activists clashed with the fleet.
He could now be charged with trespassing on a vessel, and if convicted, face a fine or prison.
If you've never seen the ultraviolent, high camp, martial arts, Japanese prison, drugs, spoiled fat kid, and monster movie "The Story of Ricky", which is available in its entirety on YouTube, you don't know what you have been missing. Keywords "Ricky Oh". Even its Japanese title is a hoot: "Lik Wong". |
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| Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-12 10:49 ||Comments
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| Posted by: tipover|| 2010-03-12 11:36 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Bright Pebbles|| 2010-03-12 13:13 ||Comments
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In a letter today, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid informed his colleague Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of his intention to move forward with the budget reconciliation process to pass "fixes" to the health care legislation that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve Day last year. Here's the full text of Reid's letter:
March 11, 2009
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Leader McConnell:
Eleven months ago, I wrote you to share my expectations for the coming health reform debate. At the time, I expressed Democrats' intention to work in good faith with Republicans, and my desire that -- while we would disagree at times -- we could engage in an honest discussion grounded in facts rather than fear, and focused on producing results, not playing partisan politics.
Obviously, the opposite has happened, as many Republicans have spent the past year mischaracterizing the health reform bill and misleading the public. Though we have tried to engage in a serious discussion, our efforts have been met by repeatedly debunked myths and outright lies. At the same time, Republicans have resorted to extraordinary legislative maneuvers in an effort not to improve the bill, but to delay and kill it. After watching these tactics for nearly a year, there is only one conclusion an objective observer could make: these Republican maneuvers are rooted less in substantive policy concerns and more in a partisan desire to discredit Democrats, bolster Republicans, and protect the status quo on behalf of the insurance industry.
In fact, the attacks on the health care bill are part of a broader pattern. As has been well documented, your caucus conspicuously shattered the record for obstruction last Congress by demanding gratuitous procedural votes on even the most non-controversial matters, and by stalling the work of the Senate despite the urgency of the serious problems facing our country. Senate Republicans are on pace to again break their own record this Congress, illustrated by Sen. Bunning's effort to prevent the Senate from acting to extend families' unemployment and health benefits even after those benefits had expired.
While Republicans were distorting the facts in the health care debate and inflicting delay after needless delay, millions of Americans have continued to suffer as they struggle to afford to stay healthy, stay out of bankruptcy and stay in their homes. Thousands of Americans lose their health care every day, and tens of thousands of the uninsured have lost their lives since this debate began. Meanwhile, rising health costs have contributed to a rising federal budget deficit.
To address these problems, 60 Senators voted to pass historic reform that will make health insurance more affordable, make health insurance companies more accountable and reduce our deficit by roughly a trillion dollars. The House passed a similar bill. However, many Republicans now are demanding that we simply ignore the progress we've made, the extensive debate and negotiations we've held, the amendments we've added (including more than 100 from Republicans) and the votes of a supermajority in favor of a bill whose contents the American people unambiguously support. We will not. We will finish the job. We will do so by revising individual elements of the bills both Houses of Congress passed last year, and we plan to use the regular budget reconciliation process that the Republican caucus has used many times.
I know that many Republicans have expressed concerns with our use of the existing Senate rules, but their argument is unjustified. There is nothing unusual or extraordinary about the use of reconciliation. As one of the most senior Senators in your caucus, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said in explaining the use of this very same option, "Is there something wrong with majority rules? I don't think so." Similarly, as non-partisan congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein said in this Sunday's New York Times, our proposal is "compatible with the law, Senate rules and the framers' intent."
Reconciliation is designed to deal with budget-related matters, and some have expressed doubt that it could be used for comprehensive health care reform that includes many policies with no budget implications. But the reconciliation bill now under consideration would not be the vehicle for comprehensive reform -- that bill already passed outside of reconciliation with 60 votes. Instead, reconciliation would be used to make a modest number of changes to the original legislation, all of which would be budget-related. There is nothing inappropriate about this. Reconciliation has been used many times for a variety of health-related matters, including the establishment of the Children's Health Insurance Program and COBRA benefits, and many changes to Medicare and Medicaid.
As you know, the vast majority of bills developed through reconciliation were passed by Republican Congresses and signed into law by Republican Presidents -- including President Bush's massive, budget-busting tax breaks for multi-millionaires. Given this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.
Keep in mind that reconciliation will not exclude Republicans from the legislative process. You will continue to have an opportunity to offer amendments and change the shape of the legislation. In addition, at the end of the process, the bill can pass only if it wins a democratic, up-or-down majority vote. If Republicans want to vote against a bill that reduces health care costs, fills the prescription drug "donut hole" for seniors and reduces the deficit, you will have every right to do so.
Sincerely,
HARRY REID
United States Senator
Nevada |
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| Posted by: swksvolFF|| 2010-03-12 12:03 ||Comments
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Three Turkish nationals went on trial in Germany on Thursday, accused of raising money to help finance a series of terrorist attacks in Turkey. Prosecutors claim all three suspects, two men and one woman, have recruited members for the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C), a radical Marxist-Leninist group that has mounted bomb attacks in pursuit of its goal of overthrowing Turkey's government.
The woman, 34-year-old Nurhan E., was allegedly the head of the European wing of the DHKP-C and raised a total of 840,000 euros ($1.1 million) for the organization. Ahmet I., 40, is accused of leading the group's Cologne cell, and Cengiz O., 36, of heading the regional Westfalia cell.
Police arrested the three suspects after searching their residences in November 2008. A verdict is expected on August 31, and they could face up to 15 years in prison.
The DHKP-C was originally founded in the 1970s as Devrimci Sol and renamed in 1994. The group has practiced suicide bombings since 2001, and has been blamed for numerous attacks in Turkey and in Germany, including bombings at Turkish banks in Duisburg and Cologne in 1995. Ankara, the United States and the European Union classify it as a terrorist organization. The DHKP-C was banned in Germany in 1998, but German officials estimate some 650 members still exist in the country.
While the principle struggle of the DHKP-C is in Turkey, members have used German soil for "training, indoctrination, collecting money and logistical support," Rolf Tophoven, head of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy in Essen told Deutsche Welle.
Tophoven cautioned against comparing the DHKP-C with the four members of the so-called "Sauerland" group, who received sentences earlier this month of five to 12 years for a failed plot to attack United States targets in Germany. "I would say (the DHKP-C) are not operating directly against German targets inside Germany," he said. "The biggest threat, as far as the intelligence community knows, comes from the radical militant Islamic cadres like the so-called Jihad Union or Al-Qaeda."
But while Germany is not the direct target of the DHKP-C, Tophoven said the group's presence in Germany could have a negative influence on the huge - and largely peaceful - German-Turkish community. "The problem is that if you have young Turkish Muslim people which are unemployed and have no further perspective for the future, maybe they can be recruited by these groups," he said. |
BROWNSVILLE — The Zapata County sheriff Thursday was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
It was one of the more jarring incidents of the fourth week of border tensions sparked by drug killings, and rumors of such killings, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he'd reviewed photos of the chopper flown by armed personnel Tuesday over a residential area known as Falcon Heights-Falcon Village near the binational Falcon Lake, just south of the Starr-Zapata county line. He said the helicopter appeared to have the insignia of the Mexican navy.
“It's always been said that the Mexican military does in fact ... that there have been incursions,” Gonzalez said. “But this is not New Mexico or Arizona. Here we've got a river; there's a boundary line. And then of course having Falcon Lake, Falcon Dam, it's a lot wider. It's not just a trickle of a river, it's an actual dam. You know where the boundary's at.”
The sighting came amid ongoing fighting between the Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, Los Zetas. The mounting death toll and crisis of fear in cities across from the Texas border have drawn global attention, as has a news blackout in affected cities due to the kidnappings of eight Mexican journalists, at least one of whom was killed.
As violence continued Thursday with a highway shootout in Tamaulipas, a Senate subcommittee in Washington heard testimony that drug cartels are trying to infiltrate U.S. agencies along the border, with corruption cases among Homeland Security personnel on the rise.
In the past two years, there have been 400 public corruption cases involving federal, state and local law enforcement agents originating from the Southwest border region, Kevin Perkins, FBI assistant director for criminal investigations, told the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on preparedness.
James Tomsheck, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection assistant commissioner, told the panel the drug cartels operating in Mexico are making a concerted effort to infiltrate CBP, and the agency is responding with more screening of job applicants with polygraph tests and background investigations. Corruption cases were opened last year on 576 CBP officers and Border Patrol agents.
A military operation Wednesday in Reynosa reportedly resulted in the wounding and arrest of a man identified by witnesses as a former engineer for Pemex, the government oil monopoly. The witnesses told the Mexican newspaper El Universal that an attempt by army soldiers to stop his late-model white Suburban escalated into a pursuit with gunfire. More than 100 soldiers closed off neighborhood streets as part of the operation.
Gonzalez, the Zapata sheriff, said he couldn't confirm reports that the helicopter was scoping out the home of a drug criminal. He said the incursion about a mile over the border took place over a neighborhood populated by many U.S. Customs officers who work at area border crossings — and that they knew what they were seeing.
“My understanding is the U.S. military were informed,” he said. “I don't know what action was taken, if any.” |
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 10:21 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091|| 2010-03-12 10:23 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091|| 2010-03-12 10:30 ||Comments
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| Posted by: 746|| 2010-03-12 10:36 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 10:49 ||Comments
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| Posted by: lotp|| 2010-03-12 12:41 ||Comments
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| Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-12 14:53 ||Comments
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 A police station chief here, who made headlines when he asked for a transfer out of the southern border province, was fatally injured in an ambush by terrorists insurgents Friday afternoon.
Pol Col Sompien Eksomya was fatally injured when his pick-up truck was hit by a blast in Ban Thabchang village in Tambon Talingchan of Bannang Sata district at 1:30 pm. He was visiting villagers with three subordinates who were also injured.
The terrorists insurgents used a wired remote to detonate the bomb buried under the road surface.
Sompien has been working in the deep South for 20 years and has been recognised for his good relation with local people. He once made headlines when went to the Government House to file a complaint that he wanted to be moved out of the region so that he could spend the rest of police service peacefully.
According to this article:
Songkhla native Col Sompien was known as the “Fighter at Budo Mountain” and “Iron Leg” as most of his patrols were carried out on foot.
He sounds like a good man. The terrorists' have, once again, demoralized the local community, which is a 'victory' from their perspective. I hope that the families of these terrorists are proud of the monsters in their midst. *spit* |
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| Posted by: mweather@q.com||http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/|| 2010-03-12 13:19 ||Comments
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I'm suggesting this article be put under "WOT Politix" since Gaddafi has officially declared it a matter of Jihad.
The article is in German. Google's translation is here.
| Thank you for bringing this to us, Ebbenter Snirt8446. Agreed with your characterization. Has the good colonel done anything like this before, or is this a significant new behaviour? |
As that translation isn't too good, here's a short summary:
In addition to the two Swiss hostages Gaddafi took over 50 additional foreign nationals hostage. They all were employees of Swiss companies in Libya, hailing from Europe, Indonesia and the Philipines.
This has been confirmed by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. These organizations have not received any information concerning the hostages' fate from either Libya, Switzerland or the Swiss companies.
The Swiss companies have kept this matter under wraps because they did not want to compromise the negotiations between Switzerland and Libya or their own business interests. |
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| Posted by: Paul2|| 2010-03-12 10:04 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Ebbenter Snirt8446|| 2010-03-12 13:36 ||Comments
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In a groundbreaking report released Monday by a leading economic research group, social scientists turned a spotlight on the grave financial challenges facing an often overlooked group of women, many of whom could not take an unpaid sick day or repair a major appliance without going into debt.
"It's rather shocking," said Meizhu Lui, director of the Closing the Gap Initiative based in Oakland, Calif., who contributed to the report "Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color,
The reasons behind the daunting financial challenges black women face are numerous and complex.
"There are excuses and circumstances that have evolved in society, which put black women where they are," said Esther Bush, executive director of the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, who said in Pittsburgh more than 70 percent of African-American families are headed by single women.
The recession has hit single mothers especially hard.
High unemployment and high incarceration rates for black men also lower the likelihood of single black women finding a partner to help build a more secure financial future.
Ms. Lui said the Insight report would be used to encourage the government to close the wealth gap and improve the outlook for women of color, just as it did for Americans who received land through the Homestead Act, and education through the GI bill.
"If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be the wealthiest people in our nation," she said. "It's not about behavior. It's about government policies. Who does the government help and who is it not helping?
"Our government knows how to build wealth for people. They've done it for others and they can do it for all of us. They need to focus some attention on women of color. Look at the situation and see what we need." |
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| Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-12 08:28 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-12 08:44 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Beldar Threreling9726|| 2010-03-12 09:13 ||Comments
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| Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-12 14:33 ||Comments
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The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint against the Rapid City Police Department, saying two officers were responsible for getting a lesbian Air Force sergeant tossed out of the military.
Police went to Jene Newsome's Rapid City home last November to serve an out-of-state warrant on Cheryl Hutson, Newsome's partner.
The officers allegedly noticed an Iowa marriage certificate showing the two were married and notified Ellsworth Air Force Base, which later gave Newsome an honorable discharge.
The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy bans service members from acknowledging they are gay or engaging in homosexual behavior.
Police Chief Steve Allender declined comment, other than to say that it is routine to notify the base of criminal matters involving military personnel.
Newsome had been in the military for nine years and said she planned to make it a career. |
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| Posted by: Bisa|| 2010-03-12 11:57 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 12:04 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-12 12:56 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Gomez Threter7450|| 2010-03-12 14:10 ||Comments
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During a segment of Glenn Beck's Fox News Channel show, the controversial host declared that while the Chinese government and businesses pose a threat to U.S. economic stability, the Obama White House and government agencies are powerless to stop the enormous amount of espionage perpetrated by Chinese spies. Beck claimed that his government sources revealed to him that the U.S. intelligence community was ordered to stand down because of the huge amount of debt owed to China by the United States.
The almost legendary MI5 British counterintelligence service is said to be deeply concerned over an increase in spying by Chinese operatives in the United Kingdom. Although intelligence experts aren't certain how widespread the problem is, they believe the espionage is rampant and a serious consequence of the global economy.
MI5 suspects upwards of 15 foreign intelligence services are working within the UK and are a threat to the United Kingdom's interests, and the primary focus of their counterespionage efforts are the Chinese and Russians.
In the United States, the FBI is suspicious of Russia, Iran, and North Korea but there needs to be more focus on the Chinese. The feds estimate that there are over 2,600 Chinese front companies in the U.S.
The foreign intelligence threat within the United States is far more complex than it has ever been historically. The threat is increasingly asymmetrical insofar as it comes not only from traditional foreign intelligence services but also from nontraditional, non-state actors who operate from decentralized organizations.
Intelligence collection is no longer limited to classified national defense information but now includes targeting of the elements of national power, including our national economic interests. Moreover, foreign intelligence trade craft is increasingly sophisticated and takes full advantage of advances in communications security and the general openness of U.S. society.
In short, the foreign intelligence threat is more challenging than ever. In the fall of 2003, the Foreign Counterintelligence Program had investigations involving dozens of countries that focused on hundreds of known or suspected intelligence officers who were assigned to enter or travel within the United States. These investigations spanned all 56 field offices. |
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| Posted by: Icerigger||http://coonlakebeach.com|| 2010-03-12 06:29 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091|| 2010-03-12 10:50 ||Comments
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The South Jersey man who Yemini officials are calling a terrorist with links to al-Qaeda previously worked at three local nuclear power plants.
Sharif Mobley, 26, is being held in a jail in Yemen after he allegedly killed a police guard and seriously injured another during a shootout at a hospital on Monday.
The Buena, N.J. native has also been accused of taking part in several acts of terrorism, Yemini officials say. He also purportedly has ties to the same branch of al-Qaeda who are suspected of attempting to blow up a U.S. airliner on its way to Detroit on Christmas.
As details of Mobley's arrest trickle back to the U.S., more people who knew him are coming forward.
Former high school classmate Roman Castro says Mobley was always fiercely religious and tried to convert high school friends to Islam.
Castro says he ran into Mobley during an Army tour in Iraq around four years ago. The two had a short exchange, with Mobley telling him to "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer," according to Castro.
A former neighbor said Mobley moved to Yemen two years ago to study Islam.
Mobley, who was born in the U.S., also worked as a laborer at three Salem County nuclear power plants, power company officials say.
Working for several contractors, Mobley carried supplies and did maintenance work at the plants on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek from 2002 to 2008, PSE&G spokesperson Joe Delmar said.
Mobley also worked at other plants in the area, Delmar said.
Speaking to NBC Philadelphia Wednesday, Mobley's mother denied claims her son was a terrorist. She called Sharif a "good Muslim" and said he's "absolutely not a terrorist."
However, she did confirm that when she last spoke to her son in late January he was in Yemen. The FBI also visited their home, but the mother would not say for what reason.
Federal authorities including the FBI, State department and others confirm they are gathering information on Mobley, but would not ellaborate further.
Mobley was captured after trying to escape the hospital. He is now in Yemini custody. |
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| Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-12 07:46 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091|| 2010-03-12 10:19 ||Comments
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 11:39 ||Comments
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A TWIN suicide attack targeting Pakistani army vehicles in the eastern city of Lahore killed 20 people, a senior police official said.
"We have the heads of both the bombers," Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq said. "There was an interval of 15 seconds between the two attacks. They were on foot. Their target was army vehicles."
He said at least 20 people were killed, and a number of army personnel are in a serious condition. The blasts came four days after a suicide car bomber destroyed offices used to interrogate suspected militants in an upmarket district of Lahore.
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Claudia Rosett
Movies and television teach us that evil comes draped in drama, set to a sinister sound track, often with lots of visible gore. But all too often, especially in matters of tyranny, evil appears in banal ways that blend into the accepted landscape.
For years I have remembered a scene of this kind. It involves a thin Asian man in a shabby coat, standing by a gate in the snow of eastern Russia, wearing sneakers with no laces or socks.
But I am getting ahead of my tale.
What brought this scene again to mind were news reports this week that in Russia's eastern port city of Vladivostok, two North Korean defectors climbed over a wall to enter the South Korean consulate, asking for asylum. South Korean authorities have been refusing to comment. But both South Korea's Yonhap News Agency and China's People's Daily describe these defectors as lumberjacks.
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Kang Chol-hwan
I visited Hamhung many times before defecting to South Korea, and whenever I went I felt distinctly uncomfortable. Hooligans clustering at the railroad station glared at the goods carried by pedestrians and provoked quarrels if they thought you were looking at them. At construction sites in Pyongyang, the word was that Hamhung people were wild. Often there were gang fights at project sites where tens of thousands of youths from different regions had been mobilized, and Hamhung youngsters were always the most violent. The city was home to the greatest number of organized gangs, and even police officers couldn't handle them. Hamhung also has more access to outside world as it is an intermediary place through which all things coming in through the northern border with China pass.
As long as 20 years ago, markets in Hamhung were so active that almost everything was available there. It was here, among other cities, that market traders rioted in the wake of a recent disastrous currency reform since they suffered greater damage due to the bigger size of the markets.
I also got the impression that many young people in Hamhung listened to South Korean broadcasts, and those who didn't know South Korean pop songs were treated as country bumpkins. The people there struck me as more resilient than in any other city, and that may be a reason that the city often sees public executions.
Now, Kim Jong-il showed up in the city to attend a mass rally celebrating the re-dedication of the February 8 Vinalon Complex. Kim has never attended a mass rally in a provincial city. He must have had a very good reason to do so.
Considering what the North needs most urgently at the moment is fertilizer, it would have been natural for Kim to visit the nearby Hungnam fertilizer plant. But instead he went to the vinalon plant, a symbol of the failed socialist planned economy. Vinalon, a synthetic fiber North Korea has developed using carbide extracted from anthracite, is a poor-quality and no longer economically viable. At the same cost, more, better-quality fabric can be imported from China, so no other country in the world produces vinalon for clothing. North Korean founder Kim Il-sung spent no less than US$10 billion on a vinalon plant in Pyongyan Province, which turned in the end into scrap metal. That was a decisive incident that led to the economy's collapse. The February 8 Vinalon Complex was shut down a long time ago.
With the mass rally for its reopening, Kim evidently intended to demonstrate his pathetic determination that nothing will change in North Korea, ever. There will be no reform nor market opening, even if its economy collapses or it is driven into chaos, and although the prime minister apologized for the failed currency reform. It is a clear signal that Kim will go his own way against the current of history and regardless of what outsiders think. Under these circumstances, how likely is it that Kim will make a forward-looking choice in the nuclear issue?
It has been unimaginable for the paranoid leader to go to any mass event in the provinces. That he has chosen to throw caution to the wind and go to one of the most volatile cities in the country suggests he has declared open war against his people and their grievances. I feel this is a bad omen. |
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| Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-12 00:59 ||Comments
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| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC|| 2010-03-12 02:03 ||Comments
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| Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-12 12:44 ||Comments
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| What the Brits used to do to those who sought to conquer and enslave. |
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| Posted by: Icerigger||http://coonlakebeach.com|| 2010-03-12 06:35 ||Comments
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| Posted by: idontknowbut@gmail.com|| 2010-03-12 11:59 ||Comments
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U.S. soldiers will take over security from British troops in the Musa Qala area of southern Afghanistan as Washington builds up its force as part of a new counter-insurgency strategy, Britain said on Thursday. The British government said the move was a first step in a “rebalancing” of forces in the southern province of Helmand to ensure NATO forces are fully effective in countering Taliban insurgents and protecting civilians.
Helmand is the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between U.S. and NATO forces and a resurgent Taliban.
About 500 British troops based in the Musa Qala district, in the northeast of the province, will move in the coming weeks to central Helmand, the most heavily populated part of the province where most British troops are already based. There will be no change to Britain’s overall force of around 9,500 troops in Afghanistan.
Twenty-three British troops have been killed in Musa Qala since British forces first deployed there in 2006. Control of the town of Musa Qala has passed back and forth between British forces and the Taliban in recent years.
The new strategy, designed by U.S. and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal, puts greater emphasis on securing Afghan population centres and on training Afghan security forces so that they can gradually assume control.
The arrival of U.S. reinforcements “allows us to rebalance all our forces to achieve much improved force densities in central Helmand delivering better protection of the Afghan people,” Major General Nick Carter, the British commander of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, said in a statement. The improving situation in Musa Qala and nearby Now Zad had also made the move possible, he said.
Further changes in how the forces are deployed were likely “in due course”, the government said. |
 SANAA - Yemeni forces launched an attack on Thursday to recapture a government building occupied by rebels in the south of the country, setting off a gun battle in which a passer-by was killed, a local official said.
“Large military forces launched a campaign this morning to retake the municipality building (in a southern province). But gunmen from the southern movement confronted them and the two sides exchanged fire,” the official said.
“One person was killed and a gunman was wounded. Clashes are continuing,” he added. He said a large group of armed separatists had been occupying the municipal headquarters in the southern town of Tor al-Baha for months. |
GAZA - A British journalist arrested by Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month and held for nearly four weeks on suspicion of spying for Israel, was being released on Thursday, his lawyer and Palestinian officials said. Paul Martin was detained on Feb. 14 while on a visit to Hamas-run Gaza to give evidence in a court case involving a local man accused of working with the Israeli security services.
Martin’s lawyer, Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, told Reuters he expected the journalist to be freed without penalty shortly and to be handed over to British and South African consular officials. They would escort him out of Gaza into Israel later in the day, he added.
“Paul Martin will be expelled today,” a senior Palestinian source in the Hamas-run government of Gaza told Reuters.
London-based Martin, who is in his 50s, has reported frequently from Gaza, providing freelance reports for television and newspapers. British officials have said throughout his detention that they were providing consular support. They have made little other public comment on the case.
Human rights groups have criticised both Hamas Islamists and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which rules in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for detaining journalists and placing other curbs on media freedoms. |
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in a tight contest to keep his job as he vied with ex-premier Iyad Allawi, initial election results from four of the country’s 18 provinces showed Thursday. Four days after the election, Maliki and Allawi, both Shiite, have emerged nationally as the main candidates for the post of prime minister, with their blocs appearing to have fared best in Sunday’s polls.
The preliminary figures, which were announced once 30 percent of votes had been counted in the southern provinces of Najaf and Babil, put Maliki’s State of Law Alliance first and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, in second place.
Allawi’s secular Iraqiya alliance was in third place.
The State of Law Alliance held a lead of around 7,000 votes in Najaf and of 14,000 in Babil, the figures showed. An election official later added that Iraqiya was in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin, two majority Sunni provinces north of Baghdad, with 17 percent of votes counted.
In the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan, meanwhile, Kinaani said the Kurdistania alliance, made up of the region’s two long-dominant parties, was in the lead in Arbil province with 27 percent of votes counted. Kurdistania is made up of regional president Massud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
In second place was the opposition Goran bloc (“Change” in Kurdish), which surprised observers by snaring nearly a quarter of the vote in Kurdish regional elections last year.
Complete results are expected to be announced on March 18 and the final ones — after any appeals are dealt with — will come at the end of the month.
Analysts have predicted protracted coalition building, as no single grouping is expected to win the 163 seats necessary to form a government on its own.
Several blocs called on Thursday for individual polling station tally sheets to be published online, expressing concerns the nationwide vote would not be in line with the total from individual stations. Were the polling station tally sheets posted online, political blocs could check to see if their sum corresponded with the nationwide results tabulated by the election commission. |
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| Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-12 03:38 ||Comments
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JERUSALEM - Israeli police said they would bar Muslim men under the age of 50 from prayers on Friday at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of Islam’s holiest sites, fearing clashes. The move comes after violent clashes at the disputed holy site at last week’s prayers and fresh tensions over Israeli plans to build 1,600 houses in mostly Arab east Jerusalem.
More cause and effect ...
Men under the age of 50 would be barred from the Friday prayers, while women of all ages would be permitted, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that police would bolster their forces.
“We are stepping up security in east Jerusalem after getting information of plans to cause disturbances,” he said.
The compound containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock is Islam’s third-holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. It is Judaism’s holiest site, known as the Temple Mount.
Last week riot police stormed the hilltop enclosure when the Muslim protestors threw stones after the main weekly prayers. The police fired tear gas and threw stun grenades to disperse the protestors, before skirmishes continued in the lanes and alleys of the Old City outside the compound.
Several dozen people were wounded, including about 15 police, before the confrontation ended with the Israeli forces leaving the compound after negotiating with Muslim authorities there. |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:20 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-12 09:29 ||Comments
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| Posted by: gorb|| 2010-03-12 12:48 ||Comments
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ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan will not allow the use of its soil by India for a proxy war with Pakistan or for any such war between any other countries, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday.
They'll all be 'Ruritanians' ...
| And everyone knows the Ruritanians don't do things like that, so if it looks like they are, you are mistaken. |
Addressing a joint press conference, Karzai and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said peace in their countries depended on the situation on either side of the border, and vowed to improve bilateral ties. Karzai called Pakistan and Afghanistan "conjoined twins" with "linked destinies", and said his country would not allow its territory to be used against any of its neighbours, especially Pakistan.
| That'll make the generals happy. To them it'll sound like he's promising to be Pakistan's hinterland, which is why they sent in the Taliban in the first place. |
He said Pakistan had offered providing training and the sale of arms and ammunitions to the Afghan Army. He said he had accepted the offer for the sale of arms and ammunition, while he would make a decision on training for the army after deliberations. He admitted that Pakistan was playing a vital role to facilitate his government's efforts for reconciliation with the Taliban.
The two leaders earlier held a one-on-one meeting and delegation-level talks.
Replying to a question about the extradition of arrested Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Baradar, Gilani said his government would make a decision after consulting its legal experts. However, he said courts in Pakistan were fully functional. Addressing a luncheon reception in Karzai's honour earlier, the prime minister said Pakistan supported Karzai's reintegration plan for the Taliban.
Diplomatic sources told Daily Times that Afghanistan had formally asked Pakistan to hand over Baradar for a trial in Afghanistan. The request was made by Afghan security officials accompanying Karzai. The Afghan president told a group of journalists over breakfast that his government was eager to get hold of all Taliban leaders, including Baradar, as they were Afghan nationals and should be tried there.
He said he was unaware of a "formal extradition request", but would discuss the matter Pakistani leaders.
Karzai confirmed his government is in contact with senior Taliban, and said Afghanistan was ready to talk to all Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar. "We have contacts [with the Taliban] as high as you wish to go. We are ready to talk to them, including Mullah Omar," he said. The AP news agency quoted him as saying that he was dedicated to pursuing the process despite lukewarm enthusiasm from the US.
Karzai said India was a very close friend, but Pakistan was like a brother.
| Cain and Abel were brothers. I don't imagine they show up in the Koranic version of history. |
"We, in Afghanistan, are fully aware ... that without Pakistan ... Afghanistan cannot be stable or peaceful," he was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
| Truer words were likely never spoken at that meeting. |
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[Bangla Daily Star] Sri Lanka's military yesterday announced court martial proceedings against its former chief Sarath Fonseka for engaging in politics while in uniform and violating military procurement laws.
Valentinian III killed Aetius with his own hand, once Attila was out of the way. Of course, Valentinian was murdered within a year, and 20 years later there was no Western Empire.
Army spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe made no mention of the more serious conspiracy and assassination plot charges that | Fonseka and Rajapakse were allies in the crushing of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels last May, which ended their 37-year struggle that left up to 100,000 people dead according to a UN estimate. Fonseka later fell out with Rajapakse over who should claim credit for the victory. |
some in the ruling party had levelled at Fonseka after his defeat in presidential elections in January.
The highly decorated ex-army commander will be charged on seven counts of breaking army rules, Samarasinghe said, adding that a court martial would start hearing the case on Tuesday at the navy headquarters in Colombo. "There is no time frame to end the court martial proceedings," Samarasinghe said, adding that Fonseka, who is under military custody at a naval detention centre, could appeal to a civilian court after the military verdict.
Supporters of Fonseka say the court martial is an attempt to stop the 59-year-old campaigning in parliamentary elections due next month.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has been accused by rights groups and other critics of cracking down on the opposition and dissent since he defeated Fonseka, a former ally and now bitter enemy, in a poll in January.
Fonseka was arrested by the military on February 8, two weeks after he lost the presidential election. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is the president's younger brother, had said that the government had clear evidence of Fonseka plotting a coup and planning to assassinate the president.
The defence secretary had speculated that the hearing against Fonseka could go on for at least six months and on conviction he could be sentenced to five years in prison.
Ruling party politicians had also accused Fonseka of planning to overthrow the government and had labelled him a "traitor" for standing against his former commander-in-chief at the presidential polls.
Spokesman Samarasinghe said he was unaware of "conspiracy charges" against Fonseka, but said an investigation was being carried out by the police Criminal Investigations Department too. "The CID is doing a separate investigation on General Fonseka," Samarasinghe said. "It might be related to charges to overthrow the government. That is a civil matter. The military will limit itself to violations of the Army Act."
Samarsinghe said Fonseka said the seven counts related to two charges -- engaging in politics and wrongdoing in military procurements. Fonseka is accused of "conduct unbecoming" an officer, as well as maintaining contacts with opposition politicians while being head of the army and unfairly granting an arms contract to a company run by his son-in-law.
The police have already mounted a search for Fonseka's son-in-law, whose bank accounts have been frozen by the authorities.
Fonseka has challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court, which has fixed a hearing for April 26.
Fonseka and Rajapakse were allies in the crushing of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels last May, which ended their 37-year struggle that left up to 100,000 people dead according to a UN estimate. Fonseka later fell out with Rajapakse over who should claim credit for the victory.
Despite his detention, he still intends to contest the April 8 parliamentary elections, which Rajapakse is expected to win. |
[Iran Press TV Latest] Two female aid workers with the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in quake-ravaged Haiti, who have been adducted last week, were freed Thursday and are "safe and sound."
For security reasons and in a bid not to "complicate" negotiations to free the women, the Friday kidnapping had been kept secret.
"We confirm that there was a kidnapping," spokesman Michel Peremans told AFP on Thursday. The two women "were freed today."
According to Peremans, the kidnapping of foreign aid workers was the first such incident in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti that took the lives of more than 220,000 people and left 1.3 million people homeless.
"We will see how we can keep working," Peremans said, adding that providing security for workers was of high importance to the group.
The organization maintains 400 foreign employees along with 3,000 Haitians who work in the Central American nation.
"It's very important for us. We want to keep working in Haiti," said the spokesman.
It is believed that the prisoners, who following the quake broke out of their jails, are responsible for the criminal acts underway in the quake-ravaged country. Most of these criminals have sought refuge in Cite Soleil, a city slum ruined by the quake, where police and UN peacekeepers struggle to impose the law. |
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Israel that initiating a new military conflict in the Middle East would not save it from downfall.
Speaking in the southern Iranian Province of Hormozagan on Thursday, Ahmadinejad said that Israel was a Western prodigy that had now "reached the end of its road."
"See what has become of Israel. They [the West] gathered the most criminal people in the world and stationed them in our region with lies and fabricated scenarios. They waged wars, committed massive aggression... and made millions of people homeless," he told a crowd of supporters in the provincial capital, Bandar-Abbas.
"Today, it is clear that Israel is the most hated regime in the world... It is not useful for its masters [the West] anymore. They are in doubt now. They wonder whether to continue spending money on this regime or not," said Ahmadinejad.
"But whether they want it or not, with god's grace, this regime will be annihilated and Palestinians and other regional nations will be rid of its bad omen," he added.
The top Iranian executive official pointed out that he did not believe that "even a new military conflict" could save the Israeli regime.
"They think in their underdeveloped minds that if they launch another war against Lebanon or Syria it might help them survive a little longer. I am telling them that you are in a situation now that more aggressions or wars will not save you."
Ahmadinejad also advised the US and its allies to pull their troops out of the Middle East and stop "making mischief."
"What are you doing in our region? Why are you deploying military forces here," he asked.
"If you think military deployment will help you seize the oil in Iraq and in the Persian Gulf, I must tell you that the young generation of the Middle East will cut your hands off from the oil reserves of the Persian Gulf," he added.
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:32 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Mike Hunt|| 2010-03-12 09:53 ||Comments
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Several Palestinians have been injured as Israeli aircraft bomb two sites in southern Gaza Strip early Friday, the army and witnesses said.
The Israeli military said it blew up a metal workshop in Khan Yunis in the early hours of Friday, injuring several people.
The condition of the injured was not immediately clear, witnesses said.
Minutes later, a second strike targeted a tunnel in the border town of Rafah, the Israeli military said.
The army claims that the two strikes were in retaliation to a Thursday rocket attack that hit an empty workshop on a kibbutz in southern Israel, but caused no casualties. |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:18 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Redneck Jim|| 2010-03-12 05:11 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Mike Hunt|| 2010-03-12 09:49 ||Comments
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 [Dawn] In yet another incident of target killing, also sectarian in nature, the son of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Chief, Maulana Ghafoor has been shot dead in Nazimabad, Karachi on Thursday, police officials said. Maulana Ghafoor himself is also said to be in critical condition.
Maulana Ghafoor was on his way to the court in the morning when two pillion riders approached his car and opened indiscriminate fire on him, reports DawnNews. Maulana was near the A.O. Clinic in Nazimabad when his car came under attack.
Maulana Ghafoor's son was killed in the incident, while Maulana himself is in critical condition at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Maulana Ghafoor has been affiliated with the banned sectarian organization Sipah-e-Sahaba. |
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| Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-12 07:43 ||Comments
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 WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The average cost of Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase yet, will soar more than 50 percent above what was projected when its development began nine years ago, the Pentagon's top arms buyer told Congress.
We wrote off the F-22 for this?
The U.S. Air Force is set to formally notify Congress that the program has crashed through a key cost-containment threshold that will force a thorough review, Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said on Thursday.
But the net impact of such a notification may be minimal since the program is widely said by U.S. officials to be too big to fail. Washington has no other way to replace aging warplanes like Lockheed's F-16 and the program is a linchpin of fighter modernization for several U.S. allies.
The cost blowout has occurred despite a restructuring announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in February to keep the program on track, including adding 13 months and $2.8 billion to the development phase.
"The JSF program has fallen short on performance over the past several years," Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said the Defense Department planned to aggressively manage it over coming years as it goes from development and testing toward full production.
Affordability was supposed to be a hallmark of the F-35, which is being built in three versions for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps; eight overseas co-development partners; and other projected foreign buyers.
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the committee, said the cost growth could have significant implications for the rest of the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar acquisition programs and for its budget as a whole. The United States alone is scheduled to buy more than 2,400 F-35s, the backbone of its air combat fleet for coming decades.
"People should not conclude that we will be willing to continue... strong support without regard to increased costs coming from poor program management or from lack of focus on affordability," the Michigan Democrat said.
Carter said he expected Air Force Secretary Michael Donley to notify Congress of the cost-containment breach formally under a law known as Nunn-McCurdy within days. If unit-cost growth tops 25 percent, Nunn-McCurdy requires the Pentagon to justify continuing the program based on three main criteria: its importance to U.S. national security; the lack of a viable alternative; and evidence that the problems that led to the cost growth are under control.
In 2001, when the development began, the F-35 procurement cost had been projected to be $50.2 million per aircraft in base-year 2002 dollars. Pentagon estimators, based on a projected procurement of 2,443 aircraft, including all variants, now expect the average price to range from $80 million to $95 million in 2002 dollars, said Christine Fox, director of cost assessment and program evaluation for Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The eight U.S. co-development partners are Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway. Israel has begun a process that could lead it to buy 75 F-35s. Singapore is also mulling a purchase, but cost growth could eat into overseas sales, to the benefit of rival fighters from Europe, Russia and China.
Completing development and approving full-rate production is now expected in April 2016, about 2-1/2 years later than planned in the baseline program approved in 2007, congressional auditors told the committee. Carter said initial operational capability was now set for 2012 for the U.S. Marine Corps version and 2016 for the Air Force and Navy models.
Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, said F-35 production trends showed significant improvement, indicating aircraft deliveries will be back on schedule in 2011. The three most recent aircraft loaded into production tooling are now on schedule, said Jeffery Adams, a company spokesman. "We are committed to delivering our airplanes on time." |
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 [Dawn] A suicide bomber who stumbled and blew up his vest of explosives prematurely on the outskirts of Pakistan's city of Peshawar killed three civilians, police said.
"Three people were killed and nine wounded. All are civilians. The dead include a small child and two men," police official Fazal Maula.
The bomber intended to target a convoy of paramilitary Frontier Corps about 10 kilometers outside central Peshawar, police said.
"The suicide bomber wanted to hit an FC convoy. It was a small bazaar outside Peshawar. He was wearing a suicide jacket, he fell down and it exploded prematurely. He could not reach the target," said Maula. |
NEW DELHI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Six years ago, New Delhi signed a deal worth almost one billion U.S. dollars with Moscow to pull out an abandoned aircraft carrier from the Russian junkyard and arm it with some of the most modern MiGs: the Mig29Ks.
Russia delivered the first four of the 16 combat jets recently but there is no sign yet of the carrier.
With Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arriving here for a one-day visit on Friday, the two countries are expected to definitely settle the aircraft issue with a possible signing of agreement, said Indian official sources. India recently has agreed to shell out 2.34 billion U.S. dollars for the aircraft.
According to highly placed sources in the Indian Defense Ministry, a price row between India and Russia had delayed the delivery of the carrier, which was originally named after the legendry Soviet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov and now rechristened by India as INS Vikramaditya, an ancient Hindu king.
Russia has told India that it cannot build the ship at the cost offered in 2004 and added a new price tag of 2.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Going back in time, the price of military equipment had never become an issue in India-Russia military relations which are an extension of the Cold War legacy, when such irritants were often overlooked in the name of friendship. But the economics of military ties between India and Russia have changed rapidly with time and the emergence of new players on the scene.
According to Defense Ministry sources, as recently as 15 years ago, India would not have imagined buying military equipment from countries like Israel and the United States, who are now its fastest growing arms partners. So in that sense, the entire dynamics of India-Russia relationship is undergoing a silent change.
The delay in the delivery of Gorshkov-Vikramaditya has already derailed Indian navy's ambitious plans to operate three aircraft carriers to play the dominant role of a sea power in the Indian Ocean.
The carrier will be inducted in 2013 though it was intended to enter the Indian navy fleet by 2008.
Indian navy's sole power projector -- Royal Navy's Hermes which is known as Viraat, or the majestic, in its Indian avatar -- is running on borrowed time. The ship would have been decommissioned by now but its life has been extended after several rounds of overhauling.
"Ideally speaking, the Vikramaditya would have joined the force by now. But the current estimate is that even if the price issue is settled this year, the ship would not be ready to be delivered by the end of 2013," the sources said.
According to the contract signed in January 2004, Russia's Rosoboronexport was to deliver the 44,570-ton aircraft carrier to India in 2008. The 1.5 billion U.S. dollar contract earmarked 964 million U.S. dollars for Gorshkov refurbishment and 536 million U.S. dollar for the complement of 16 MiG-29K fighter aircraft on board.
Indian Navy does own the responsibility for the price hike and the resultant delay in the delivery of the Gorshkov carrier. Recently in response to an Right to Information (RTI) application, Indian Navy admitted that it placed the 1.5 billion U. S. dollar Gorshkov order without visual inspection.
"As per the contract signed in January 2004, the original package was drawn up based on visual examination in as-is condition wherein it was found that the majority of the equipment, systems could be repaired while the electronic equipment could be renewed," Vice-Admiral S. P. S. Cheema with the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defense (Navy), wrote in his RTI response.
"On opening up the equipment for a detailed examination and survey of the state of the hull structures, systems, cabling, etc, it emerged that these could not be repaired and hence would have to be replaced with new ones. These additionalities have resulted in the increase in project costs," Cheema said.
Interestingly, India is building another aircraft carrier, known as the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) at home and this would not be ready before 2015. But The ship is still on the drawing board. |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:39 ||Comments
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| Posted by: john frum|| 2010-03-12 07:46 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-12 07:49 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Mike Hunt|| 2010-03-12 11:49 ||Comments
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[Straits Times] SUSPICION is mounting that the fugitive militant Umar Patek may be in Aceh, after word spread on Wednesday that the Indonesian counter-terrorism force was hot on his trail.
Umar was a key leader of the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) in Indonesia until he fled to the southern Philippines in 2003.
He is thought to have returned to Indonesia last year with another fugitive JI member, Dulmatin, the 40-year-old bomb-maker who was shot dead on Tuesday in West Jakarta.
Security experts predicted yesterday that it would not be long before Umar, 40, was caught if he was in Indonesia.
Security analyst Ken Conboy, referring to Indonesia's crack anti-terror squad, said: 'With only 10 days to go before Obama gets here, you can be sure Densus 88 (Detachment 88) is working overtime to follow up on any leads they have.'
United States President Barack Obama is scheduled to make an official visit to Jakarta and Bali next weekend. |
 [Al Arabiya Latest] Dubai's Police Chief ordered foreign spies operating in the Gulf emirate to leave within a week or risk being hunted down by security forces, according to press reports on Thursday.
"They (foreign spies) better leave or they will face extreme measures," Police chief Dahi Khalfan told UAE. newspaper al-Khaleej.
Khalfan added that the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency Meir Dagan opened Pandora's Box executing the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel. "His audacity was unprecedented when he made his operatives use European passports."
| Assuming it was Mossad. Somebody's trying real hard to get us all to believe it was Mossad when in fact it has yet to be proven. Khalfan pro'ly sells used camels on the side ... |
| Very beautiful she-camels they appear, too, until one gets close. |
Dagan's actions, Khalfan explained, were extremely daring and yet he still had the arrogance to assume that the operation would go unnoticed. "Unraveling the mystery of Mabhouh's case was a serious blow that he had never anticipated."
Khalfan announced that the Dubai Police now has the DNA of four Mossad agents
| or not-Mossad agents -- without an actual subject to compare the found DNA to, it's awfully hard to say, unless all four were males with the last name of Cohen. |
| They did a PCR reaction using ebil Juice primers ... |
involved in the murder. "As a policeman, I've learned that having the DNA of suspects means there is hope that we can arrest them," Khalfan told the UAE newspaper al-Ittihad Wednesday.
Khalfan reiterated that Mabhouh was betrayed by a Hamas member since the suspects arrived in Dubai 10 or 12 hours before him. "It must have been someone very close to him who leaked information about his movements," he told the paper.
Khalfan blamed Hamas for not sending one of their operatives to escort Mabhouh and said that the crime might not have taken place had the victim been escorted by a guard. "The crime wouldn't have been that easy to commit, the culprits wouldn't have been able to hunt him down that easily."
| Maybe Hamas didn't protect him because they were the ones who whacked him ... |
| Hamas 'protection' follows the ancient tradition. |
Khalfan denied reports that Mabhouh booked his ticket to Dubai over the internet or that he called his family from Syria to tell them he was travelling. His travel plans were shrouded in secrecy and his passport did not even have his last name.
"His passport name was Abdul Raaouf Mohamed."
Regarding the Palestinian detainees, Khalfan said that one of them booked a room for the culprits to stay in. "At first he denied then later confessed to meeting them. The second Palestinian detainee was in contact with the culprits and we have found out that he is sentenced to death by a Palestinian faction."
Khalfan denied that detaining those Palestinians implies incriminating Hamas itself,
since the detainees are traitors. He also denied reports that two of the assassins fled from Dubai to Abu Dhabi on the plane of the Israeli Minister of Environment, who was taking part in a conference in the country.
| But isn't it a wonderful rumour! |
"All members of the assassination team came to the country from Dubai Airport and left from Dubai Airport. Surveillance cameras detected them both at the airport and in the hotel."
The issue of the passports, Khalfan added, is still unresolved since there is a possibility that not all of them are fake. "We are not sure yet. Two of the suspects traveled to the United States on Feb. 14 and 21. I find it very hard to believe that airport security did not discover that the passports were fake. They could have had dual nationalities"
Khalfan is, however, certain beyond all doubt it that it is Mossad that assassinated Mabhouh. "When the assassination took place in January, I was 99% sure Mossad was behind it, now I am 100% sure."
| "And I continue not to care a fig what the piles of evidence may say." |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:28 ||Comments
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| Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-12 09:35 ||Comments
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| Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-12 10:37 ||Comments
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Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Thursday warned of "global calamity" if nuclear weapons proliferate due to North Korea's nuclear program.
| That's better than the headline. We can handle the Norks if they keep nukes; the problem is that they're spreading them around to Pakistan, Iran and perhaps others. |
| There were a number of North Korean scientists at that site in Syria when the Israelis levelled it, as I recall... |
| They aren't feeling so good these days, either ... |
He was giving a lecture at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, an independent think tank in Seoul. "We have very little fear from North Korea's nuclear capability. The kind of weapons that North Korea can produce we can surely handle with whatever defensive system we have," Kissinger said. "But the real danger is, if North Korea, a state which has no significant resources, by starving its population can create nuclear capability, the temptation for other countries to follow that road would be overwhelming."
| So it would appear. Former head of the IAEA El Baradai is running for president in Egypt -- and he won't win based on his charm and rugged good looks. |
He expressed support for a combined strategy of sanctions and dialogue pursued by the current U.S. administration.
| Because sanctions and dialogue have worked so well thus far to prevent North Korea from proliferating their nuclear technology. (See Syria, above.) |
North Korea's nuclear weapons program is not just a problem for the U.S., but a problem for all countries that are affected by it, he said.
Kissinger said if North Korea really wants to solve the problem through negotiations, it must demonstrate that by returning to the six-party talks without preconditions. "My general view is that unless all parties are equally interested in the outcome, you can't make them interested by paying them a price for entering the negotiations," he said.
| I'd want them to demonstrate seriousness by agreeing to the removal of their nuclear program, and then actually following through. Anything else would be an act unmentionable in a family blog. |
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A U.S. unit specializing in the removal of weapons of mass destruction from North Korea in the event of a war is taking part in this year's South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises known as "Key Resolve," according to U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Walter Sharp.
Sharp told reporters at the Combined Forces Command headquarters in Seoul the North's WMD threat is a "shared responsibility" between South Korea and the U.S. The allies will closely cooperate to locate, secure, and eliminate WMDs.
The crack team "are here for this exercise and if we ever went to war, they would naturally come also," he said. That will continue once full operational control of South Korean troops is transferred to Seoul, he added.
This year is the second year the crack team has been dispatched to participate in the exercises. It is part of the Combined Joint Task Force for the Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the U.S. Army 20th Support Command based in Maryland, according to a military source.
Sharp dismissed calls by some Koreans and Americans to delay the transfer of the wartime operational control, saying the transfer will happen in 2012 and the bilateral alliance will be further consolidated in the process.
He also shrugged off North Korea's denunciation of the joint exercises as aimed at a "pre-emptive strike," saying they are normal exercises aimed at preparing for a war like those conducted by armies anywhere else in the world.
The Norks always sound off like that. |
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| Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-12 09:38 ||Comments
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The decision by the U.S. to hand full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul by 2012 needs to be reconsidered, said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the conservative Brookings Institution.
In an article for the Los Angeles Times headlined "Divide, and be conquered," O'Hanlon on Wednesday points out that once wartime operational control is handed over to Seoul in April 2012 as scheduled, the two countries will have separate command systems. "If the plan is implemented, the long-standing system whereby a U.S. general would command both countries' armed forces in any wartime scenario against North Korea is to be dissolved. Instead, a new approach would have each country in effect command its own military units," he said. "But to my mind, the basic concept of dividing command never made sense and perhaps should even be repudiated."
| A better solution is to hand over command to the ROK senior general and to remove US ground forces. They aren't needed anymore. The Norks can't and won't invade; and the ROK understands that it just has to wait until the Norks implode. We have better uses for our ground forces elsewhere. We can leave an air screen if needed but even there the ROK can fly F16s as well as our guys, and that's all they need to stop the Norks. |
| What about the Chinese when they get rambunctious? |
| They won't. It's not in their best interests to get into a public display of force. They won't mess with the South, they'll co-opt the ROK -- indeed, the ROK would be happy to be co-opted and left alone to make money and enjoy life. |
He suggested the decision was made from political rather than sound military considerations. "The main drivers included secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. The motives of both men were less than sound," O'Hanlon wrote.
"Frustrated by South Korea's resistance to various U.S. diplomatic ideas of the time, as well as the difficulty in deploying U.S. forces in Korea elsewhere in a manner that would help with his concept of a more flexible American global military system, Rumsfeld may have seen the idea as a way to weaken and downplay the U.S.-South Korea alliance," he said. "For his part, Roh was anxious to assert Korean prerogatives, especially against a U.S. administration with which he often clashed. So he liked the idea of a plan that would seem to advance South Korean sovereign rights."
But he said now presidents Lee Myung-bak and Barack Obama "have established a reasonably solid relationship." "As such, any consideration of a delay in [the handover] -- or even a fundamental rethinking of it -- should be seen as a sign of confidence and maturity in the alliance rather than the opposite," he concluded.
Meanwhile, in an article for the Asia Foundation's Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, Bruce Bechtol, a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, also called for a delay of the handover. "It is extremely important to note that while the South Korean military is highly capable of combating a traditional conventional forces threat from North Korea, it is still heavily dependent on the capabilities of the U.S. military to deter and defeat the highly evolved North Korean asymmetric threat," he said.
The "asymmetric threat" refers to the North's putative nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
| Nonsense. The only promise the ROK needs is the one that says we'll back them up if the Norks uses such weapons. If the world doesn't believe that then it doesn't matter who is in command. The Chinese need to understand that if the Norks use a nuke, so will we. That's all that needs to be said. |
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| Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-12 00:22 ||Comments
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| Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-12 02:32 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 03:36 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-12 09:42 ||Comments
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| Posted by: DarthVader|| 2010-03-12 13:31 ||Comments
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 [Al Arabiya Latest] The death toll from two days of fighting in Somalia's capital between government forces and al-Shabaab rebels has risen to 54, ambulance services said on Thursday as clashes subsided with both sides claiming successes.
The government urged residents to vacate the areas where fighting had taken place as it planned to take on the rebels again, but said it had not yet started a long-awaited offensive to dislodge the insurgents from Mogadishu once and for all.
"The government was just counter-attacking the rebels. We are going to fight the rebels as planned, let civilians around those areas vacate," Abdul Rasaq Mohammed Nur, Mogadishu's mayor, told reporters.
Insurgents have fought the government since the start of 2007 and the Western-backed administration has been hemmed into a few blocks of the capital since a rebel offensive last May.
"We have carried 54 dead people and 140 others injured yesterday and today," Ali Muse, coordinator of ambulance services, told Reuters.
Earlier in the day the Elman human rights group had put the death toll at 38 and 104 wounded.
"The death toll may rise because the shelling was terrible. Hundreds of families have been displaced from at least four districts of Mogadishu," Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the group, told Reuters. |
[Al Arabiya Latest] The European Union says it will send 130 future hostages observers to make sure Sudan's general elections in April are free and fair.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Thursday the April 11-18 vote will be "an important milestone" in bringing lasting peace to a country wracked by decades of fighting.
Veronique De Keyser, a member of the European Parliament, will lead more than 130 future hostages observers from 22 countries to assess the presidential and legislative elections in April. "If the people don't understand really what is the meaning of the vote this could be for me at least the major trap, the major pitfall," she told reporters in Khartoum. "And it's difficult because ... some people have never voted," she said, stressing this was not deliberate and that the EU has pledged money for voter education.
"So at the beginning of the process we have to admit that it will not be perfect but we have to pay attention to that," she said, adding the road to democracy was long.
A 2005 peace deal ended a north-south conflict that killed 2 million people, but by then the western Darfur region was at war. The election will be a test run for a 2011 independence referendum in southern Sudan.
The vote will be Sudan's first multiparty election in 24 years. |
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni forces launched an attack on Thursday to recapture a government building occupied by separatists in the south of the country, setting off a gunfight, a local official and witnesses said.
Three protesters were shot dead as security forces tried to quash a separatist demonstration in another southern province. Elsewhere in Yemen, thousands gathered for demonstrations to demand an easing of the crackdown on the south.
Under international pressure to quell domestic unrest and focus its sights on al-Qaeda, Yemen earlier this week offered to hold talks with southern separatists and hear their grievances.
The offer by President Ali Abdullah Saleh followed an escalation of violence on both sides in south Yemen which left a trail of dead and wounded in recent weeks while insurgent violence elsewhere in the country has faded.
Demonstrations were being held in several cities, with crowds calling for the military to withdraw from southern cities and for the government to halt a sweeping campaign of arrests.
In the southern town of Tor al-Baha, Yemeni forces launched an attack to recapture a government building occupied by armed tribesmen, sparking a gun battle in which two people, including a passer-by, were killed, a local official said.
Tribal gunmen closed off all roads leading to the center of the town and surrounded security forces, witnesses told Reuters.
"Large military forces launched a campaign this morning to retake the municipality building (in a southern province). But gunmen from the southern movement confronted them and the two sides exchanged fire," the local official said.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in a tight contest to keep his job as he vied with ex-premier Iyad Allawi, initial election results from four of the country's 18 provinces showed Thursday.
Four days after the election, Maliki and Allawi, both Shiite, have emerged nationally as the main candidates for the post of prime minister, with their blocs appearing to have fared best in Sunday's polls.
The preliminary figures, which were announced once 30 percent of votes had been counted in the southern provinces of Najaf and Babil, put Maliki's State of Law Alliance first and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, in second place.
Allawi's secular Iraqiya alliance was in third place.
State of Law Alliance
The State of Law Alliance held a lead of around 7,000 votes in Najaf and of 14,000 in Babil, the figures showed.
An election official later added that Iraqiya was in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin, two majority Sunni provinces north of Baghdad, with 17 percent of votes counted.
"Allawi is in the lead in Diyala and Salaheddin," Iyad al-Kinaani, an official in Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said.
In the Iraqi autonomous region of Kurdistan, meanwhile, Kinaani said the Kurdistania alliance, made up of the region's two long-dominant parties, was in the lead in Arbil province with 27 percent of votes counted.
Kurdistania is made up of regional president Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
In second place was the opposition Goran bloc ("Change" in Kurdish), which surprised observers by snaring nearly a quarter of the vote in Kurdish regional elections last year.
Complete results are expected to be announced on March 18 and the final ones -- after any appeals are dealt with -- will come at the end of the month.
Analysts have predicted protracted coalition building, as no single grouping is expected to win the 163 seats necessary to form a government on its own.
Several blocs called on Thursday for individual polling station tally sheets to be published online, expressing concerns the nationwide vote would not be in line with the total from individual stations. |
| The President ended up giving it all away to charity, including a chunk to the Fisher House, a national non-profit organization that provides housing for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. |
| Credit where due, although I wonder if we'd approve of the rest of his donations. |
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| Posted by: Bobby|| 2010-03-12 07:00 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Nimble Spemble|| 2010-03-12 07:04 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Tom--Pa|| 2010-03-12 07:27 ||Comments
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| Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-12 08:03 ||Comments
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| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839|| 2010-03-12 08:04 ||Comments
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| Posted by: lord garth|| 2010-03-12 08:33 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Slearong Henbane8806|| 2010-03-12 09:18 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-12 14:50 ||Comments
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 The House GOP caucus has agreed to call for a 1-year moratorium on all earmarks, Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., confirmed to IBD's David Hogberg. Republicans appear to be raising the stakes a day after House Democratic leaders announced a ban on corporate earmarks. That followed a rash of ethics troubles for House Democrats, which forced Charlie Rangel to step down as Ways and Means chairman and Eric Massa to resign.
Come on, Dems. Are you really going to let Republicans get the upper hand on this issue in an election year? How about a 10-year halt to earmarks?
How about a permanent ban on earmarks and turning the lot of them out of office? They're obviously not getting the message.
| Alinsky rules. First raise the issue, then polarize the issue, then freeze those who object, then turn them out of office. |
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| Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-12 09:47 ||Comments
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 More than two dozen Democrats are expected to vote against the healthcare reform bill that will hit the House floor in the coming weeks.
"You want me to put my testicles on the table?"
At least 25 House Democrats will reject the healthcare reform legislation, according to a survey by The Hill, a review of other media reports and interviews with lawmakers, aides and lobbyists. Dozens of House Democrats are undecided or won't comment on their position on the measure.
"... while you're holding a claw hammer?"
The 25 opposed include firm "no" votes and members who are likely "no" votes. Most Democrats on The Hill's whip list are definitely going to vote no, but others, such as Reps. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.) and Harry Teague (N.M.), could vote yes.
"Well, I guess I could vote yes. I'm sure my constituents will understand."
However, The Hill has not yet put Democrats who are insisting on Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) language on abortion in the "no" category. Stupak has said there are 12 Democrats who supported the House bill in November who will vote no unless his anti-abortion-rights measure is melded into the final bill.
"Steney, what can we do to buy off those abortion nitwits?"
"How much money do we have to throw at them, Nancy?"
"All the money in the country. And more we can borrow until the international rubes catch on."
"There's your answer."
If leadership doesn't make changes to the abortion language and Stupak does indeed have 12 votes in his pocket, it will be very difficult to pass a bill.
"You want to give me several billion dollars? But Nancy, why?"
"'Cause you gotta honest face, Bart."
Yet if they do change the provisions, supporters of abortion rights in the House will threaten to vote no.
"How come he can have several billion and we can't? We're voting 'no'!"
The Hill's list does not include members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who are threatening to vote no unless changes are made to the bill's immigration-related provisions.
"And we want the entire bill written in Spanish!"
Most on Capitol Hill believe that language will not be changed and that most members of the CHC will still back the final measure.
"You don't vote with us, no boodle for you. Understand, Pablo?"
With all Republicans expected to reject the bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) needs to minimize defections. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the House healthcare bill that passed 220-215 last November. |
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| Posted by: Gomez Threter7450|| 2010-03-12 14:47 ||Comments
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 A top priority of the Obama presidency has been to restore the image of the United States in the world; in image allegedly left in tatters by the Bush administration. Unfortunately for the president, however, Americans by a wide margin now believe that that the United States standing in the world has not improved, but actually declined since President Obama took office.
I'd really care about that if I wasn't caught up in this indescribable malaise...
According to a poll conducted in late February and released this week by Democracy Corps-Third Way, Americans by a 10-point margin think that the standing of the United States has dropped under Obama -- by a whopping 51 percent to 41 percent. On the question of national security, Democrats now trail Republicans by 17 percent, and on the "right-track, wrong track," question just 31 feel the country is headed in the right directions, with a massive 62 percent registering discontent.
I'm holding my breath, waiting for another debacle in the Iranian desert.
Reported in The Washington Times, though not much in evidence in other "mainstream media," the poll is far from the product of a hopeful conservative imagination. Democracy Corps-Third Way is a Democratic polling group headed by former Clinton adviser James Carville and Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg. Their purpose is to warn Democrats of the electoral turbulence ahead. "We would not want the election to be held today, with this poll, Greenberg told the newspaper. "If the election were held today, this would be a 'change election.'"
We're not yet at the 'get a rope' stage, but the tar's starting to bubble and that squawking you hear is the chickens being plucked. |
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| Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-12 00:40 ||Comments
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| Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-12 01:14 ||Comments
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 04:20 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Free Radical|| 2010-03-12 06:39 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-12 08:45 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 08:52 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Mike|| 2010-03-12 13:11 ||Comments
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| Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-12 14:42 ||Comments
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 The Energy Department worked closely with the wind industry lobby to discredit a Spanish report that criticized wind power as a job killer, internal DOE e-mails reveal.
The e-mails obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request show how, starting last April, lobbyists at the American Wind Energy Association became alarmed that lawmakers were citing a study by Spain's King Juan Carlos University. The study found that Spain's massive investments in wind power cost 2.2 jobs for every "green" job created.
The study came out in early 2009 just as the wind lobby was building up its presence in Washington, hoping it could score big in an energy bill then being debated in Congress. Industry lobbyists feared the Spanish study would halt momentum for pro-wind legislation.
Study Fanned Wind's Fears
The e-mails show the wind lobbyists shared their concerns with DOE employees, who agreed the study needed to be refuted. In August, DOE produced a white paper specifically attacking the study.
For example, e-mails show the lobbyists requesting to know when the report would come out and DOE employees hustling to get it published because it was late.
"Is it okay if we send out our response (paper) to colleagues at AWEA and CAP? We promised it to them many weeks ago. It will soon be irrelevant," said energy analyst Suzanne Tegen, co-author of the DOE paper, in a July 29 e-mail to colleagues. CAP refers to the liberal Center for American Progress, which has pushed for renewable energy subsidies and has close ties to the Democratic Party.
CAP Senior Fellow Dan Weiss told IBD the center wasn't involved in drafting or editing the report, though it did promote it on its Web site.
The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute obtained the e-mails via a Freedom of Information Act request and shared them with IBD. Many of the messages were redacted.
The e-mails are mainly between employees at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. |
 China wants to crack down on press freedom and introduce a new training system that requires journalists to train in Marxist and communist theories of news.
"It's 'running dog lackies'? I always thought it was 'running lackie dogs'!"
"Wang, shoot him!"
Li Dongdong, deputy director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, told the South China Morning Post that some mainland reporters were giving Chinese journalism a bad name because they were not properly trained. Under communist theories of journalism, media should support the leadership rather than operate as a watchdog.
"Woof! Woof! Arf! Bark!"
[BEAT! BEAT! BEAT!]
"Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!... [LICK! LICK! LICK!]"
"Good boys!"
The initiative seems to be aimed at mainland journalists only.
Hong Kong journalists get to watch.
Chinese officials already routinely censor journalists, but Chinese media has become less restricted in recent years as they have gained more revenue from independent sources via advertising. |
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| Posted by: gromky|| 2010-03-12 00:29 ||Comments
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| Posted by: badanov|| 2010-03-12 00:53 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-12 00:57 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Cravitle McGurque3255|| 2010-03-12 05:39 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-12 13:51 ||Comments
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 University of Alabama in Huntsville officials have fired professor Amy Bishop, who's accused of shooting and killing three colleagues last month.
I'm sure she'll appeal.
A one-paragraph letter dated Feb. 26 was mailed to Bishop informing her the university had terminated her employment effective Feb. 12, said UAH spokesman Ray Garner.
If we're all lucky she'll have a job for the rest of her life.
Bishop was suspended without pay retroactively on the day of the attack, Garner said. Bishop has been charged with capital murder in a shooting that also injured three others in a faculty meeting on Feb. 12. She has been also charged with three counts of attempted murder. |
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| Posted by: SteveS|| 2010-03-12 02:35 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Redneck Jim|| 2010-03-12 05:27 ||Comments
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| Posted by: armyguy|| 2010-03-12 07:23 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-12 08:37 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Oscar|| 2010-03-12 09:23 ||Comments
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| Posted by: tu3031|| 2010-03-12 10:57 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Beavis|| 2010-03-12 11:08 ||Comments
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In a number of places around the world, it is open season on Christians. We read of Christians burned out of their homes and slaughtered in Pakistan. Most recently, at least 500 Christians were murdered in Nigeria. The attackers in all cases are Muslims.
"We have over 500 killed in three villages and the survivors are busy burying their dead," said state information commissioner Gregory Yenlong. "People were attacked with axes, daggers and cutlasses -- many of them children, the aged and pregnant women."
I don't know what denomination those Nigerian Christians were, but Lutherans are the most numerous Christian denomination in Africa. I'm a Lutheran, but I have never heard a single word from any church source, local or national, about the mass murder of African Christians. No one
he means, I think, no one in the Lutheran Church hierarchy
seems to care.
No doubt readers can refer us to some Christian sources--evangelical, most likely--who have tried to draw attention to the plight of Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia who are being exterminated. But any such effort has wholly failed to gain traction in the "mainstream" Christian community
similarly the historic arab slave trade never seems to be noticed by blacks, the anti homosexual pronouncements of various Imans never seems to be noticed by gays, the misogynist actions in the Umma never seem to be protested by women.
Why? I can't explain it. Maybe "mainstream" Christianity is dead, except as an appendage of secular liberal opinion. Maybe, as the world's largest religion, Christianity has become so diffused that New World Christians don't much relate to their co-religionists in Africa and Asia. I don't know. What I do know is that it is much more dangerous to publish a cartoon of Mohammed than to slice apart a Christian with a machete. |
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| Posted by: g(r)omgoru|| 2010-03-12 03:55 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Highlander|| 2010-03-12 10:54 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305|| 2010-03-12 13:17 ||Comments
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Gov. Chris Christie today will create a commission to privatize as many as 2,000 state jobs beginning next January, officials said Wednesday night.
As he grapples with an $11 billion deficit in the budget he will present on Tuesday, Christie is also considering invoking the Disaster Control Act to suspend Civil Service rules to make it easier for him to lay off higher-paid workers, according to two administration officials.
Privatizing jobs would require layoffs. By beginning them in January, Christie would not be subject to a deal between former Gov. Jon Corzine and state worker unions that would require the state to pay millions in raises to remaining workers if he orders layoffs before then.
Privatizing also has the benefit of slowing the drain on the public employee pensions.
Suspending civil service would allow Christie to order layoffs of higher-paid unionized state employees with many years of service, rather than the usual practice of layoffs that affect lower-paid new employees first, the officials said. Currently, workers with more seniority can "bump" less-experienced workers from their jobs.
The privatization effort deals a blow to state worker unions just 48 hours after Christie publicly acknowledged he is bound by the agreement struck by Corzine where state workers would get two 3.5 percent raises in the coming fiscal year -- one in July and one in January. They deferred one raise and took 10 unpaid furlough days last year in exchange for the no-layoff pledge.
This guy is doing what needs to be done. |
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| Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-12 14:45 ||Comments
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HAMBALI, the alleged Bali bomb mastermind who is suspected of links to Al-Qaeda, has filed a petition seeking his release from Guantanamo where he has been detained for more than three years.
Um, no ...
Considered the operational chief of Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) until his capture in Thailand in 2003, Hambali, whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, filed a habeas petition with the US District Court in Washington.
Hambali, accused of plotting the October 2002 attack in Bali that killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists, was held for three years in secret CIA prisons before being transferred to Guantanamo in September 2006.
In addition to the Bali bombing he is thought to have raised funds from Al-Qaeda, with whom he has denied any links, for the 2003 attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that left 12 people dead.
JI has long been suspected of having ties to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed close to 3,000 people, most in New York.
Hambali allegedly headed JI until late 2002. He was arrested in Thailand in August 2003 and handed over to US authorities, who are currently detaining him at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The US also accuses Hambali of orchestrating and funding an attack on an Indonesian church on Christmas Eve 2000 that left 18 dead, and of plotting attacks on the embassies of the US, Britain and Australia in Singapore.
In a major setback for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court ruled in June 2008 that detainees being held without charge at Guantanamo enjoy the constitutional right of habeas corpus, which allows them to challenge their detention. |
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| Posted by: Bangkok Billy|| 2010-03-12 08:49 ||Comments
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| Ay Pee. The key point is that they aren't to come back under another name, unlike in New York and California. |
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Excerpt: The deadly drone could find and dispatch single-person targets, with "very low collateral damage"
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| Posted by: OldSpook|| 2010-03-12 00:07 ||Comments
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| Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-12 04:58 ||Comments
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| Posted by: ed|| 2010-03-12 07:58 ||Comments
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| Posted by: phil_b|| 2010-03-12 08:42 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Glenmore|| 2010-03-12 13:18 ||Comments
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Civilian Bloggers Warn of Others Like 'Jane' on the 'Net Who Are More Dangerous
While the rest of America was stunned to hear that a suburban Pennsylvania woman allegedly used the Internet identity of Jihad Jane and tried to join militant jihadists, for a group of 'Net vigilantes it was old news. In fact, at least one of the Web sleuths claims to have alerted the feds to Colleen LaRose's alleged efforts to raise money and recruit fighters for Islamic terrorists and to carry out her own jihad.
Groups like JawaReport, Quoth the Raven and the YouTube Smackdown Corps claim they had been monitoring LaRose's growing militancy for three years, and watched as the Internet -- particularly YouTube -- fed her fervor. They also said "Jihad Jane" is not the only one on the Internet that the groups are monitoring. "There are certainly many others out there who are more eloquent and appear to be more dangerous from the way they talk," a man calling himself Rusty Shackleford told ABC News. |
by Steve White
Moderator, Rantburg Defender-Scimitar & Times-Picayune
March 11, 2010, 1430 CT
Mark this date on your calendars. This is the day that Nancy Pelosi's term as Speaker of the House began to end.
Sometimes the end of a politician's career is indistinct. Scandal sometimes unfolds over weeks and months, and it isn't clear exactly when a politician's peers and the public reach the conclusion that said politician just isn't worth it.
But this one is clear.
As reported in the Corner this afternoon, the House voted 402-1 today to open an investigation of the House Democratic leaders and their handling of ethical allegations concerning former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY). The question is a simple one: what did Nancy Pelosi know and when did she know it?
The issue isn't just Mr. Massa's behavior and whether he violated House rules. That's bad enough for Speaker Pelosi and it conjures up images of the Mark Foley affair in 2006, which blew away whatever pretense the Republicans had then that they were fit to continue to govern.
The Corner notes the comparison to the Foley affair in 2006, but this is worse: apparently Rep. Massa had hired young gay men, underpaid them, and required them to live in his home. As the article says:
In hindsight, Democratic insiders wondered about activities that before had just seemed odd. They said Massa hired a surprisingly large percentage of young gay men, and paid them so little that staffers were forced to live in the house with him.
"Its not the gay part thats a problem, its the abuse, if its true," said one Hill source.
Nor has the last shoe dropped. While the national media has soft-pedaled Mr. Massa's problems, newspapers are starting to jump on the story. Today's big article is in the New York Daily News, and editors around the country are texting their political reporters demanding that they 'match' the story. A feeding frenzy will start; it is one of the things the media is good at, and once started it will continue until the story, and the people behind the story, have been devoured.
It is becoming clear that Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and other key members of the Democratic leadership in the House were aware, at least to some extent, of Mr. Massa's problems and did nothing about it. Did they know about Mr. Massa's 'massages'? Did they know of his living arrangements? Did they know about his payroll and who was on it, and why? Did any of the staffers complain and if so, did that news reach the leadership? If so, what did they do about it?
We don't know what they knew and didn't know, and so far other than the usual denials, no one is talking.
That's the problem, and that's why today marks the first day of the end for Speaker Pelosi. The last day will come whenever the Speaker, and perhaps others in the Democratic Leadership, decide to put the House above their party and principle above politics, and resign their leadership positions. This will be painful for them and it will cost their party heavily in the midterm election, just as the Foley affair cost Republicans in 2006.
More than just a sex scandal, the current affair puts into focus what is wrong with the House today, as surely as the Foley affair did in 2006. Greed. Corruption. Abuse of power. Abuse of process. These are age-old problems and too many times such stories are buried as just politics as usual, as 'inside baseball' for Washington. Sometimes it takes a sex scandal to make clear just how corrupt the current leaders are.
This is such a time.
Speaker Pelosi should resign now. She should make clear what she knew, how she failed her responsibilities, and step aside so that new leadership in her party can step forward and begin to fix the many problems in the House.
The alternative is the water torture of the 24 hour news cycle, as drip, drip, drip the details will come out. That will be the end for her party.
It will also be a warning to the other party should it win power. Politicians being who they are, the Republicans likely won't learn from the experience. Pity. |
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Posted by: Procopius2k|| 2010-03-11 16:30
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Posted by: spotnpuff@hotmail.com|| 2010-03-11 16:34
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Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-11 16:39
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Posted by: DoDo|| 2010-03-11 17:10
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Posted by: Nimble Spemble|| 2010-03-11 17:14
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Posted by: Nimble Spemble|| 2010-03-11 17:43
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Posted by: no mo uro|| 2010-03-11 18:22
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Posted by: lex|| 2010-03-11 19:17
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Posted by: eLarson|| 2010-03-11 19:37
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Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2010-03-11 20:00
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Posted by: Steve White|| 2010-03-11 20:38
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Posted by: Frank G|| 2010-03-11 20:51
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Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-11 22:11
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Posted by: Sherry|| 2010-03-11 22:25
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| Posted by: Mike|| 2010-03-12 06:48 ||Comments
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| Posted by: DepotGuy|| 2010-03-12 09:33 ||Comments
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| Posted by: trailing wife|| 2010-03-12 09:50 ||Comments
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| Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-12 09:58 ||Comments
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| Posted by: crazyhorse|| 2010-03-12 11:32 ||Comments
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| Posted by: nobody@home.com|| 2010-03-12 12:05 ||Comments
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Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailing federal investigations into the alleged corrupt activities of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The documents reference serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN as well as the Obama administration's decision to shut down a criminal investigation without filing criminal charges.
The documents include background information on two specific complaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges, Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election season.
According to Corelli, on August 1, 2008, her office received 1,200 ACORN voter registration cards from the Secretary of State's office. Over 300 of these cards were rejected because of "duplicates, underage, illegible and invalid addresses," which "put a tremendous strain on our office staff and caused endless work hours at taxpayers' expense." Corelli claimed the total cost of the extra work caused by ACORN corruption was $20,000. Likewise, Borges contended that: "The organization ACORN during the summer of 2008 conducted a registration drive which has produced over 100 rejections due to incomplete forms and individuals who are not citizens..." Among the examples cited by Borges was a seven-year old child who was registered to vote by ACORN through the use of a forged signature and a fake birth certificate claiming she was 27-years old.
The FBI and Department of Justice opened an investigation. However, the Obama Justice Department, while noting that ACORN had engaged in "questionable hiring and training practices," closed down the investigation in March 2009, claiming ACORN broke no laws.
By contrast, the documents also include records related to a federal investigation of ACORN corruption in St. Louis, Missouri, involving 1,492 allegedly fraudulent voter registration cards submitted by Project Vote, a liberal non-profit organization affiliated with ACORN on voter registration drives, during the 2006 election season. Assistant United States Attorney Hal Goldsmith initiated the investigation with "concurrence" from the Department of Justice and the participation of the FBI. According to a Justice Department memo, Goldsmith "advised he would prosecute any individual responsible for submitting fraudulent voter registration cards." Goldsmith identified the statute for prosecution: Title 42, USC 1973 (gg), which provides for criminal penalties for fraudulent voter registrations. In April 2008, eight former ACORN employees from the St. Louis office pled guilty to voter registration fraud.
Other documents show that the Bush Justice Department failed to prosecute ACORN voter registration fraud of non-citizens in Phoenix, Arizona in 2007 because the allegations that led to the opening of the investigation were "unverifiable." Notably, the FBI document detailing this questionable decision reveals that a "draft Intelligence Bulletin... concludes that ACORN's employment practices perpetuate fraudulent voter registration."
The ACORN documents uncovered by Judicial Watch include internal FBI memoranda, signed affidavits, subpoenas, fraudulent voter registration cards, and publications describing ACORN's policies and practices. The documents also include details regarding numerous allegations of corruption extending beyond voter registration fraud, to include attempts by ACORN employees to coerce workers to participate in campaign activities on behalf of Democratic candidates.
"These documents reflect systematic voter registration fraud by ACORN," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "It is a scandal that there has been no comprehensive criminal investigation and prosecution by the Justice Department into this evident criminal conduct. Given President Obama's close connections to ACORN, including his campaign's hiring of the ACORN's Project Vote organization, it seems rather obvious why Attorney General Holder has failed to seriously investigate these and other alleged ACORN criminal activities."
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| Posted by: Beldar Threreling9726|| 2010-03-12 09:10 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Beldar Threreling9726|| 2010-03-12 09:12 ||Comments
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| Posted by: JohnQC|| 2010-03-12 10:05 ||Comments
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| Posted by: Besoeker|| 2010-03-12 10:15 ||Comments
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