Whiteriver, AZ -- A pregnancy center in rural eastern Arizona that serves a predominantly native American population was severely burned in what appears to be an arson attack. The Living Hope Women's Center clinic has closed indefinitely as a result of a fire that gutted a portion of the building on December 20.
Dinah Monahan, the former executive director and current board president of the group of pregnancy centers that operate as Living Hope, says it appears to her the fire was deliberate.
The center maintains a Fatherhood Store and Mommy Store to help low-income residents earn the ability to purchases critically needed pregnancy and other items and Monahan says they were raided.
She told the White Mountain Independent newspaper that whoever started the fire vandalized televisions, VCRs and other equipment before setting the blaze in the back of the building.
The board president indicated that a local resident who lives next door to the clinic heard and saw people at the scene and chased them away from the clinic after the fire began. The neighbor was able to wrestle one person to the ground and the newspaper indicates the individual is now in police custody.
Monahan indicated the fire did not burn the clinic to the ground but caused enough fire and smoke damage that the clinic facility is useless until it undergoes major repairs.
Monahan told the WMI the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is investigating the fire and that a representative from the Phoenix Bureau of Indian Affairs has investigate as well because the fire would be a federal crime since it occurred on an Indian reservation.
The center president told the newspaper that ATF officials asked her if the pregnancy center was involved in anything controversial that might have sparked a hate crime.
"The agent very gingerly asked if we were involved in 'anything controversial' in our ministry," she said. "You can imagine what they hear about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, abortion clinic bombings and the like. I assured him that even though we are a CPC ), our work was mostly pre-natal and parenting and that the culture in Whiteriver is very pro-life."
She told the newspaper the apparent arson will set the pregnancy center back quite a bit financially and logistically.
"When we think of everything we had in there it is a bit overwhelming. We had just gotten two new computers, a new ultrasound machine, a very large screen TV and of course our beautiful, huge Mommy Store. But these are things that can be replaced. One greater challenge will be where do we go from here?" Monahan asked.
She is concerned because the availability of buildings in Whiteriver is very scarce.
Monahan indicated the Whiteriver pregnancy center had 400-600 visits every month from the low-income people who live in the community. Pro-life is an understatement. If anyone dies in a building, that building becomes taboo. A common practice among the western tribes.
Phoenix -- A man in his late 30s was roasting a pig at a family gathering Wednesday night when he somehow fell into the cylindrical pit. It happened on East Kristal Way in North Phoenix.
Despite the fact that the pit was only 3 feet deep, the man was overcome by the heat and failed to get out. Neighbors heard his screams for help, but by the time his family got to him, it was already too late. A spokesman from the Phoenix Fire Department told CBS 5 News that one of the victim's friends was so distraught, he had to be transported to the hospital.
Phoenix police are investigating to see if alcohol may have been a contributing factor, but at this time, they believe it was just a horrible accident.
HONOLULU (AP) - A Honolulu television station is reporting that conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was taken to a hospital with chest pains.
KITV reported Wednesday that paramedics responded to a call at 2:41 p.m. from the Kahala Hotel and Resort where Limbaugh is vacationing. The station, citing unnamed sources, said paramedics treated Limbaugh and took him to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.
Queen's spokesman N. Makana Shook says the hospital is unable to comment on the report.
Limbaugh was seen golfing at Waialae Country Club earlier this week. The country club is next to the Kahala Hotel and Resort. Just hope Obama doesn't see this as an opportunity to drop by to "wish him well", eh?
Rush was admitted to a Honolulu hospital today and is resting comfortably after suffering chest pains. Rush appreciates your prayers and well wishes. He will keep you updated via RushLimbaugh.com and on Thursday's radio program.
It started with a cough, a cool-season hack that refused to go away.
Then came the fevers. They bathed and chilled the skinny frame of Oswaldo Juarez, a 19-year-old Peruvian visiting to study English. His lungs clattered, his chest tightened and he ached with every gasp. During a wheezing fit at 4 a.m., Juarez felt a warm knot rise from his throat. He ran to the bathroom sink and spewed a mouthful of blood.
Juarez's strain -- so-called extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB -- has never before been seen in the United States, according to Dr. David Ashkin, one of the nation's leading experts on tuberculosis. XXDR tuberculosis is so rare that only a handful of other people in the world are thought to have had it.
"These are the ones we really fear because I'm not sure how we treat them," Ashkin said.
Isolation? That's what they did with Typhoid Mary. While harsh, it's not as bad now that there's the internet.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Rab team yesterday busted a forged money factory in the city's Dakshinkhan area and seized fake notes worth Tk 2.3 lakh.
During an hour-long raid at Faidabad Madhyapara from midnight on the third floor of a four-storied building, Rab members also recovered some equipment and chemicals used in printing fake notes and arrested two people in this connection.
Detained Jahirul Islam, 27, and his wife Ayesha Akter, 25, had been involved in the fake note scam for the last one and half a year, Rab sources said.
Maj Mohammad Mahbubul Haque of Rab-3, who led the drive, told The Daily Star that the forgers had spread their network in the capital.
Fake notes worth around Tk 1.5 crore put by them in circulation are still in the market.
Maj Haque suspects that international gangs might have connection with the local syndicate. Replying to a query he however said the equipment and raw materials used in forging notes are available in local market.
Rab sources said the gang was capable of printing Tk 50, Tk 100, Tk 500 and Tk 1000 notes worth Tk 10 lakh a day. They recently have developed the technology to make the fake notes as strong as the real ones.
Rab members also found huge amount of papers to print notes, half-printed forged notes, one computer monitor and two CPUs, three colour printers and several scanning machines.
"We have also seized some embossers and computer software needed for making Indian notes," Maj Haque said.
Rab said the busting of the forgery factory is an outcome of three months of investigation by the Rapid Action Battalion members who contacted with the syndicate to purchase Tk 10 lakh counterfeit notes in exchange of Tk 2 lakh.
Rab said apprehending the arrest, the gang used to shift residences every three months and use pseudonyms.
Maj Haque said, "The amount of fake currency notes seized from the market in different times suggests that a number of gangs are active in this illegal business."
THE FORGERY GANG
The two arrestees, now under intensive interrogation, disclosed to the elite force members that they had also a plan to forge Indian notes.
Zahurul hailing from Charghat in Rajshahi passed diploma from Government Commercial Institute in Rangpur in 2003 and then worked at the Proshika, an NGO, for four years.
He admitted to Rab that he got involved in the illegal business through their ringleader Rana in 2008.
The syndicate led by Rana has around 50 members in three groups -- general workers, team leaders and suppliers, Rab sources said.
They added the gang worked so secretly that even their neighbours did not know anything about their clandestine activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2009 00:00 ||
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In the US police should be searching for the person who printed 10 trillion dollars.
Officials in Bolivia issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a leading political rival of leftist President Evo Morales, charging the conservative politician with tax evasion and election fraud.
Manfred Reyes Villa, a former governor of the state of Cochabamba who challenged Morales for Bolivia's presidency, has been in hiding since the December 6 election. An arrest order has also been issued for his wife.
Morales won the election in a landslide, which gave him unfettered control of Bolivia's legislature and a solid grip on the reins of governmental power.
Since the vote, regional prosecutor Mauricio Julio Quintana, whose jurisdiction covers Reyes's home province of Cochabamba, has stepped up his investigation of the former military officer, who was ousted from his governor's post in a January recall vote, along with several other "rebel" governors opposed to Morales.
Reyes -- who has called himself a "victim" of persecution at the hands of Morales's government -- has gone into hiding and is believed to be holed up somewhere in Bolivia, according to a few media outlets which report having had contact with him.
Reyes has filed a complaint pending against the Morales government with the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights.
His attorney, Daniel Humerez, decried what he called a "politicized" investigation, noting that Quintana has close personal and political ties with Morales. "We want the prosecutor to recuse himself" from the investigation against Reyes, Humerez said.
Not that I believe this, but if the economy does start to recover in mid 2010 you can be sure Bambi and the Dhimmicrats will jump all over it. This is why the Pubs and Tea Party folks had better be focused on spending, corruption and deficits and not just the failing economy.
(Bloomberg) The U.S. economy next year will turn in its best performance since 2004 as spending perks up and companies increase investment and hiring, says Dean Maki, the most-accurate forecaster in a Bloomberg News survey.
The world's largest economy will expand 3.5 percent in 2010, according to Maki, the chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York. The rebound in stocks and rising incomes will prompt Americans to do what they do bestconsume, said Maki, a former economist at the Federal Reserve. Faced with dwindling inventories and growing demand, companies will soon become confident the expansion will be sustained, he said.
Household spending "will pick up steam as we move into the second half of 2010," said Maki, 44, who topped all 60 forecasters in the Bloomberg News ranking of gross domestic product projections for the first three quarters of 2009. "The overall picture for 2010 will be an economy growing rapidly enough to bring down the unemployment rate" to an average of 9.6 percent. The rate will reach about 9 percent by the end of 2010, he said today in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Maki, who specialized in researching household finances at the Fed from 1995 to 2000, said the economic recovery this time will be similar to past rebounds. Consumer purchases improved after last year's 61 percent plunge in gasoline prices and will keep growing in 2010, reflecting the surge in stocks. Faster growth will push Treasury yields higher and help the dollar strengthen as the Fed raises interest rates, he predicts.
"One area that we put more weight on perhaps than others is the stock market," he said in a telephone interview last week. The 67 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index since a 12-year low on March 9 has helped shore up family balance sheets, putting Americans in a better position to spend. "That's going to help consumer spending as we move through 2010," he said today in a separate interview with Bloomberg Television.
The prospects for a stronger rebound are consistent with recoveries from past recessions, he said.
"We don't believe this time is different from all other business cycles," said Maki. "The consensus view that growth will stay subdued all through next yearthere's no parallel to that in modern U.S. history."
Maki's forecast for 2010 is among the highest of the 58 economists in a Bloomberg News survey this month. He is more optimistic than Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in New York, who was No. 1 among forecasters of GDP during the 12 months through June 2009. Hatzius, 41, estimates the economy will expand 2.4 percent in 2010, and his 2.5 percent first-quarter growth forecast is half the pace Maki anticipates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/31/2009 00:00 ||
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I'm not an economist, but I strongly suspect that most of those who were unemployed when 0 was sworn into office will still be unemployed next year.
#5
Good thing we're at 7.75% unemployment according to Obama administration forecasts. Can't wait for next Christmas when unemployment goes down to 6.9%.
Posted by: ed ||
12/31/2009 8:10 Comments ||
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#6
Economic recovery is a matter of perception. When people believe that they will have/keep jobs they will borrow and spend. Or when they believe that their money will have no value in the future they will borrow and spend. Either way, the economy will improve - or appear to. The government will keep shoveling our money to banks until they will loan it to people to borrow and spend. And the government will hire people until the unemployment rate goes down. In the end we'll all work for the government and be dependent on our plantation masters for our subsistence.
#9
Either way, the economy will improve - or appear to. The government will keep shoveling our money to banks until they will loan it to people to borrow and spend. And the government will hire people until the unemployment rate goes down. In the end we'll all work for the government and be dependent on our plantation masters for our subsistence.
The government of both parties have been cooking the books since at least the Carter years.
I have a theory about the Obamanation:
These guys for all their gold plated academic pedigrees don't really know what they are doing.
They all grew up in the hyper bright glow of the fantasy that FDR saved the nation with the New Deal, and they read about the the budget busting that went on.
The fact is FDR hired a buncha leftist writers to give them employment/income, and they paid him back with fawning and false stories of government bravado in the face of evil capitalists.
The guys who read this garbage, bought and paid for by FDR, to them it's an article of faith that the whole economy improves when government whips out the ol' plastic, regardless of actual conditions on the ground.
It's like a three year old who watches his father get into a fight with company thugs in a labor action.
The three year old only knows what he's been told, so when he grows up, he's gonna be ready to deliver the trimmin' his Daddy suffered.
There's no context for them. There's no there there. There's only what they are told and that is all.
They read about the old times and they are gonna do the same things the forefathers did regardless or actual conditions come hell or high water.
If you owned a machine shop and a recently minted graduate from a university came calling looking for work, would you hire him, as smart as he may be? Chances are if you did within a day or two the new hire's nickname may as well be "Stumpy."
Welcome, if you will, Barak Hussein "Stumpy" Obama, a guy so smart he couldn't keep his hands out of the machinery and now he is as worthless as a leader as we have ever had.
The Upshot, is that these people really don't known what they are doing: Ideology prevents them from doing the things we all know will work and hubris prevents them from admitting that maybe they should try something else.
#10
Isn't Business Week the old media dinosaur that fetched $1 when it went on the block this year?
Couldn't be that they've decided on stock-touting as a hail-mary strategy to increase readership, could it, now?
Consumer purchases improved after last year's 61 percent plunge in gasoline prices and will keep growing in 2010
um, price of crude's soon going to be back into the triple digits.
Also, most companies are using internal transfers to fill vacancies now, and, as always in US big-company capitalism, are using the downturn to relentlessly reduce their domestically-based payrolls and shift functions overseas.
Add the above to the fact that the REAL unemployment rate is north of 15% when you factor in the BLS's bogus baseline assumptions, the off-the-radar discouraged workers, and all the slack left to be filled due to unpaid furloughs, and there's no way that the unemployment rate will be below 12% nine months from now.
BW is a dying publication that has always served as the Democratic Party's #1 booster in the business press. Means, motive, opportunity for shameless BS'ing to support The One.
#11
A U-3 rate of 9% (the U-3 is the rate the media usually quote)would imply about a 16% U-6 rate.
This doesn't seem unreasonable for the end of 2010. However, it hardly amounts to a surge and I think most people would consider it anemic. On the other hand, at 9%, the interest rates wouldn't climb very much.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/31/2009 13:53 Comments ||
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Consumer confidence and expectations have risen, and more employers are planning to hire workers in 2010, according to studies released Tuesday, signaling increasing economic strength. A consumer expectations index formulated by the Conference Board rose to its highest level in two years, but Americans still feel pessimistic about their current state. The nonprofit organization's "present situation index" fell to its lowest point in 26 years.
The consumer confidence index rose to 52.9 in December, a three-month high after increasing to 50.6 in November from October's 48.7 and February's historic low of 25.3. But confidence is still shaky, according to the index, which last reached a "stable" 90.6 reading in 2007. The data are based on a monthly survey conducted by research firm TNS covering a sample of 5,000 U.S. households.
Consumer spending, however, is still moving ahead at "fairly respectable rates," said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. financial economist for IHS Global Insight. But the steep discounts and inventory clearance sales that are helping spending now could create a vacuum in early 2010.
"Barring a New Year's miracle in the labor markets, it will be an enormous challenge to maintain forward momentum on real consumer spending early next year," he said in a statement.
Still, expectations are high for the next six months, buoyed by improvements in the business and labor markets. The Conference Board expectations index jumped to 75.6 from 70.3 in November, reaching the highest level since the 75.8 recorded in December 2007.
But worries about short-term income, which Franco said probably would affect spending early in the new year, dragged down the present-situation index to 18.8 from 21.2 in November. The index hit a low of 17.5 in February 1983.
A separate report by online jobs site CareerBuilder.com had more mixed news. While 20% of employers said they would add full-time, permanent workers in 2010, compared with 14% who said they would do so in 2009, actual job growth probably won't arrive until the second quarter.
Just 9% of employers intend to cut workers in 2010, while 16% said they would swing the ax in 2009. Another 61% said their staffing levels probably would stay the same, according to the study, which surveyed more than 2,700 hiring and human resource professionals in November.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/31/2009 00:00 ||
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Today I went out and bought a new kitchen range. Not because I was optimistic, but because my old one died.
The Czech Republic followed Portugal to become the second European country to formally decriminalise drug possession this week, announcing specific quantities beneath which users will not be prosecuted.
Under the new laws (which come into force on January 1) Czech people will be allowed to possess up to 4 ecstasy tablets. 15 grams (half an ounce) of marijuana, 5 grams of hash and 1 gram of cocaine with prison sentences still a potential threat for those in possession of more.
Legendary Czech club promoter Ales Bleha told Skrufff hes delighted about the new laws though said he expects them to have minimal impact on people in Czech.
Few people have any problems with drugs here already, unless they deliberately provoke the police or do stupid things and people who already smoke marijuana or use hard drugs will do so the same as before, he predicted. The Czech Republic is already sometimes called the 2nd Amsterdam or Amsterdam of the East.
The body of a man who shot dead four people in a shopping centre after killing his ex-girlfriend has been found in an apartment on the outskirts of Helsinki.
Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43, killed his former partner before apparently hunting down her lover at the shopping mall where he worked. He took out out a 9mm pistol and started shooting early this morning as shoppers stocked up on food and drink for the new year holiday at the Prisma supermarket on the second floor of a mall in Espoo, a large town close to the capital Helsinki.
His body was found at his apartment in a suburb of Helsinki shortly after his ex-girlfriend was found dead in a house in Espoo. Police believe her killing had a domestic motive. It is thought the woman worked in the mall where Shkupolli embarked on his rampage, and that he was subject to a restraining order.
Jyrkky Kallio, a local police chief, said there were hundreds of people in the mall at the time of the shooting. One male victim had been shot twice in the head, said Stefan Soederstroem, head of Espoo police. It is believed that he was the lover of the gunman's ex-girlfriend. Altogether, four people appear to have been killed at the mall three men and a female shop assistant who was shot in the stomach.
After the shootings, police launched a manhunt for Shkupolli, issuing a picture of the suspect and advising people not to attempt to overpower him. They were able to narrow down the prime suspect relatively quickly on the basis of witness testimony. His name appears to be of Kosovan-Albanian origin and police said he was not born in Finland.
Members of Finland's anti-terror squad, wearing heavy body armour, scoured the labyrinthine shopping mall. Evacuated shoppers were told to leave their purchases and not to collect their cars. Trains were ordered not to stop at the station closest to the mall and armed units were stationed in Helsinki train station in case the gunman had already slipped into the capital.
Although Espoo is big by Finnish standards, the community is close and it is not a place associated with violent crime. Many of the 240,000 inhabitants work for Nokia, and the town has a university research centre and well-funded schools. It was, however, the third mass shooting in Finland in two years and is likely to prompt a new debate about gun control. Naturally, the rest of the article is about "the slow progress that has been made in tightening gun ownership" in Finland.
h/t Instapundit
This new French carbon tax was scheduled to go into law on Jan1, 2010. The tax was steep: 17 euros per ton of carbon dioxide (USD $24.40). In a stunning move, and surely a blow to warmists everywhere, the tax has been found unconstitutional and thrown out.
OTTAWA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday asked the governor general to prorogue Parliament until March when the Vancouver Olympics are complete, his press secretary said. The new session of the parliament will resume on March 3 and the government will present a new budget by then, said Dimitri Soudas.
Harper spoke with Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean Wednesday morning by telephone, Soudas said.
Canada's Parliament is currently on Christmas break and the parliament members were scheduled to return to the House on January 25. But speculation has been rampant in recent weeks that Harper would ask to shut down Parliament until at least after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are complete.
Although in the name of the winter Olympics, Harper's act is seen as a strategic move to gain a majority on Senate committees while possibly avoiding criticism over the Afghan detainee issue. The Conservative government has been under attack over allegations that it ignored warnings about the torture of Afghan detainees and allowed the Canadian military to continue with the transfer of detainees to local police. A parliamentary committee is now looking into the accusations.
Meanwhile it would also help the Conservatives to gain a majority in the Senate committees. Reports indicate the parliamentmembers would not come back to work until early March, when the government would present a speech from the throne and its 2010 budget. By then, Harper would have had time to ask Gov. General Michaelle Jean to name five new senators, which would give the Conservatives a majority on the newly formed Senate committees and greater control for passing its own legislation.
Harper successfully appealed to Jean to prorogue Parliament last December, thwarting all three opposition parties in their attempt to defeat his government in a non-confidence vote, and replace it with a proposed coalition between then Liberal and the NDP, with support from the Bloc Quebecois. The move means a halt to the work of Parliamentary committees, including one that is investigating Afghan detainee abuse, an issue that has been plaguing the Conservatives for months.
Canada's opposition parties on Wednesday criticized Harper's move. Leader of the biggest opposition group the Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff called the prorogation undemocratic. Paul Dewar, the New Democrats' foreign affairs critic, said the decision to prorogue Parliament also delays important legislation from being passed such as the pension reform, the unemployment benefit reform.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/31/2009 00:00 ||
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Can't wait for the women's ski jump competition. Oh, wait.
Okay, I'll settle for curling.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/31/2009 10:50 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said that Indian Army's new military doctrine including scenarios such as a two-front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan "betrays a hostile intent" and a "jingoistic mindset".
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement that the Indian Army's new military doctrine "betray a hostile intent as well as a hegemonic and jingoistic mindset which is quite out of step with the realities of our time".
Pakistan is prepared to defend itself in the face of all contingencies, Basit said. "No one should ever underestimate our capability and determination to foil any nefarious designs against the security of Pakistan," he said.
Indian Army officials have said that the doctrine, which is reviewed every five years at the Army's Shimla-based Training Command, will now include scenarios such as a two- front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan.
Basit called on the world community to take "due notice of such statements".
He added: "Pakistan remains mindful of the threats posed to its security as well as the importance of promoting peace in South Asia."
The spokesman also told a weekly news briefing at the Foreign Office that Pakistan's desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness
Posted by: john frum ||
12/31/2009 09:29 ||
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AFCEA Intelligence India: Update. The Times of India reported today the Indian Army is revising its five-year-old doctrine to meet effectively the challenges of a possible 'two-front war' with China and Pakistan. The Army has identified five thrust areas that will propel the new doctrine be ready for a two-front war, to optimize capabilities to fight asymmetric warfare including cyber and electronic warfare, to enhance strategic reach and capability to fight a war away from Indian shores particularly in the Indian Ocean Region, tri-services joint operations including space-based capability, and to achieve technological edge over the enemy, according to a military spokesman.
Work on the new war doctrine -- to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges -- is on under the aegis of the Shimla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-Gen A S Lamba, Times sources reported. The doctrinal revision is the next step after multiple war games during the past five years to practice the Armys pro-active or cold start strategy to mobilize and move fast and strike hard. A review of warfighting doctrine is mandatory every five years, Brahmand.com reported.
The cold start strategy, including provisions for operations in NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) warfare conditions, emerged from the 'harsh lessons' of Operation Parakram, during which the Army took just under a month to prepare 750,000 soldiers for war with Pakistan in January 2002, after the attack against the Indian Parliament by Pakistani Muslim terrorists in December 2001.
The Army has been developing and testing the new doctrine for nine years. In the past two years it began significant reinforcement of forces on the China border in eastern India and in the disputed Aksai Chin region, adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir State in the west.
The new doctrine assumes that in any conflict Pakistan and China will coordinate their military moves. Pakistans forces act as pawns in Chinas drive for dominance of Asia. The news is that India perceives no reason to change its strategic assumptions and directions. The aim is to knock Pakistan out of a war through surprise, speed and combat power, before it can retaliate and before outside political intervention produces another inconclusive outcome.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/31/2009 9:34 Comments ||
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India is preparing for a possible two-front war with China and Pakistan, Geo News quoted an Indian newspaper as saying on Wednesday.
The newspaper said the Indian Army is now revising its five-year-old doctrine to effectively meet the challenges of war with China and Pakistan, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy.
Work on the new war doctrine to reflect the reconfiguration of threat perceptions and security challenges is already under way under the aegis of Simla-based Army Training Command, headed by Lt-Gen A S Lamba, sources told the Indian newspaper.
It comes in the backdrop of the 1.13-million strong army having practiced through several wargames over the last five years its pro-active war strategy to mobilise fast and strike hard to pulverize the enemy.
This cold start strategy, under a NBC (nuclear-chemical-biological) overhang, emerged from the harsh lessons learnt during Operation Parakram, where it took armys strike formations almost a month to mobilise at the border launch pads after the December 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament.
This gave ample opportunity to Pakistan to shore up its defences as well as adequate time to the international community, primarily the US, to intervene. The lack of clear directives from the then NDA government only made matters worse.
A major leap in our approach to conduct of operations (since then) has been the successful firming-up of the cold start strategy (to be able to go to war promptly), said Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, at a closed-door seminar on Tuesday.
The plan now is to launch self-contained and highly-mobile battle groups, with Russian-origin T-90S tanks and upgraded T-72 M1 tanks at their core, adequately backed by air cover and artillery fire assaults, for rapid thrusts into enemy territory within 96 hours.
Gen Kapoor identified five thrust areas that will drive the new doctrine. One, even as the armed forces prepare for their primary task of conventional wars, they must also factor in the eventuality of a two-front war breaking out.
In tune with this, after acquiring a greater offensive punch along the entire western front with Pakistan by the creation of a new South-Western Army Command in 2005, India is now taking steps albeit belatedly to strategically counter the stark military asymmetry with China in the eastern sector. There is now a proportionate focus towards the western and north-eastern fronts, said Gen Kapoor.
Two, the army needs to optimise its capability to effectively counter both military and non-military facets of asymmetric and sub-conventional threats like WMD terrorism, cyber warfare, electronic warfare and information warfare.
Three, the armed forces have to substantially enhance their strategic reach and out-of-area capabilities to protect Indias geo-political interests stretching from Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait. This would enable us to protect our island territories; as also give assistance to the littoral states in the Indian ocean region, said Gen Kapoor.
Four, interdependence and operational synergy among Army, Navy and IAF must become the essence of strategic planning and execution in future wars. For this, joint operations, strategic and space-based capability, ballistic missile defence and amphibious, air-borne and air-land operations must be addressed comprehensively, he said.
And five, India must strive to achieve a technological edge over its adversaries. Harnessing and exploitation of technology also includes integration of network centricity, decision-support systems, information warfare and electronic warfare into our operational plans, he added.
Apart from analysing the evolving military strategy and doctrines of China and Pakistan, the army is also studying the lessons learnt from the US-launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and their relevance to India.
#2
Ha! Story was just like I called it. Right up to the point where Erin didn't get arrested for assault, whereas Tiger would have (and promptly been defended by Jessie and Al for daring to strike a white woman).
#7
Y'know, I think most of us would have tried to find a way to be _happy_ with a blonde swedish model-type for a wife and 700 million in the bank. Or at least I would have.
#8
Y'know, I think most of us would have tried to find a way to be _happy_ with a blonde swedish model-type for a wife and 700 million in the bank. Or at least I would have.
Since my wife is, to me, far more beautiful than any swedish model-type let's split it. You can have the blonde and I will take the 700 millions.
#9
If he didn't like scandis he shouldn't have married one. He did. Given that situation, I think most of us would have tried to "make do" instead of thinking, "gee, y'know, that cocktail waitress/ihop waitress/'hostess' is looking pretty good..."
#11
Maybe she should be, but this article is just third hand rumor. A friend of a friend who knows somebody who ... type of thing.
That said if Mr. Lotp were whoring around and went so far as to text a mistress from the family sofa on Thanksgiving, I would't use violence, except perhaps in slamming the door on my way out.
At least one Colorado Department of Transportation employee is being investigated for sending an inappropriate email featuring President Barack Obama and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
When we got our hands on the email Tuesday, we immediately contacted CDOT.
They tell us at least one employee could be fired for this.
"We're taking this very seriously," said Mindy Crane, Spokesperson for CDOT.
The attachment is a photo-shopped picture of President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The sender of the email is a 73 year-old CDOT supervisor.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/31/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
If he is 73 as stated he won't give a sh#t. He's probably been there 45 years minimum. While it's probably against State policy for use of State computers I suspect it really comes down to NO sense of humor on the part of the Colorado liberals in CDOT and the State Capitol.
#3
I think Karl Rove II (Rahm Emanuel)planted this to distract from the Christmas Bomber disaster.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/31/2009 7:23 Comments ||
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#4
President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin
pretty obviously that's a photoshop. Shining shoes is hard work
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/31/2009 9:24 Comments ||
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#5
He claims to be good with a mop too.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/31/2009 12:17 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder what would happen to him if it was the other way around?
He'd be on the NEA call-down list, of artists rallied to support The One. If he could learn a bit of graphic design, he could follow in Shep Fairey's footsteps.
#8
if he is smart he can get placed on administrative leave with pay for a while
The Colorado DOT is in an unfortunate position also. Surely this is not the only fellow who has sent non work email with a non work attachment during biz hours. Almost every large company acknowledged that employees use their computers for some non work functions and, as long as it is minor (say done during lunch), that there should be no penalty.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/31/2009 13:47 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Phoenix -- A man in his late 30s was roasting a pig at a family gathering Wednesday night when he somehow fell into the cylindrical pit. It happened on East Kristal Way in North Phoenix.
Officials in Bolivia issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a leading political rival of leftist President Evo Morales, charging the conservative politician with tax evasion and election fraud. 
Consumer confidence and expectations have risen, and more employers are planning to hire workers in 2010, according to studies released Tuesday, signaling increasing economic strength. A consumer expectations index formulated by the Conference Board rose to its highest level in two years, but Americans still feel pessimistic about their current state. The nonprofit organization's "present situation index" fell to its lowest point in 26 years.
