In The News. [Archive] - Marine Corps

jamielang1951

09-14-11, 10:04 PM

New York's 9th district is a +20 Democrat district. 3-1 Democrat to Republican, where President Obama won in 2008 with 55% (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2011/09/republican-bob-turner-is-poised-to-pull-a-huge-upset-in-the-race-to-replace-anthony-weiner-as-the-congressman-from-new-yorks.html). 40% Jewish, making it among the most prominently Jewish districts in the country. It encompasses Queens and Brooklyn. This is not "bitter clinger" flyover territory.
And yet, for the first time since 1923, a Democrat lost that race. David Weprin didn't just lose, he lost by a full 8 points (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2011/by_county/NY_US_House_0913.html?SITE=AP&SECTION=POLITICS).
Meanwhile, in Nevada, there was a special election in CD-2. In 2008, District 2 went to John McCain by just 88 votes. Last night's election resulted in a 22 point blowout (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2011/by_county/NV_US_House_0913.html?SITE=AP&SECTION=POLITICS).
So, why? What has changed? Were these Republicans just that good?
Absolutely not. President Obama's policies are just that bad. This is a direct referendum on the economy and jobs.
In the event that this was just a fluke, a "special case in a specific district in a low turnout election (http://twitter.com/#%21/pinkelephantpun/status/113996708337295360)" that is a "difficult for Democrats (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/14/ridiculous-ny-09-spin-its-a-very-difficult-district-for-democrats/)" I looked into some more numbers from around the country, particularly in states that Barack Obama won in 2008. How's he doing in Florida? Ohio? Even California?
Let's start with Florida (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/08/24/obama-at-37-approval-re-elect-in-florida/) - an important swing state that President Obama carried by three points against John McCain in 2008. This poll a few weeks ago shows devastating numbers.
Among all respondents, only 37% approve of the job the President is doing and 57% disapprove of the job he is doing. Again looking at key voter subgroups, 53% of women, 56% of independents, 72% of Hispanics and 59% of seniors disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing. The most alarming number for the President and his election team is that 26% of Democrats disapprove of the job he is doing. Among voters aged 18 to 29, 48% approve of the job he is doing and 52% disapprove of thejob he is doing.
Okay, but Florida is unique and can swing either way during a Presidential cycle. Where is he at in, say, California? Obviously his policies will be playing well there, right? Isn't this what they asked for?
Apparently not (http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/09/obamas-approval-1.php).
Just 46 percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing, while 44 percent disapprove. That is eight points lower than the previous Field Poll, conducted in June.
Obama has lost ground among all groups. His approval rating is 10 points lower among Democrats, 2 points lower among Republicans, and a whopping 13 points lower among independents, down to 45 percent among that key group.
Well under 50% approval in his strongest state?
Let's take a look at another state he won in 2008: Ohio. He carried Ohio against John McCain by 4 points (http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/states/ohio.html).
From last month (http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/08/obama-gop-candidates-all-unpopular.html):
Barack Obama's approval rating in the state right now is 44%, with 52% of voters disapproving of him. His numbers with independents are horrid at 34/59. And there's a whole lot more Democrats (16%) who disapprove of him than there are Republicans (just 4%) who like him.
But that's from last month! Won't he get a bounce from his "jobs" proposal? Not likely (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/13/cnn-poll-president-gets-no-bounce-from-speech-but-disapproval-rating-peaks/).
Some other swing state numbers:
Was at just 35% in Pennsylvania (http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2011/08/20/ouch-obama-approval-35-pa) the end of August.
Down to 43% in North Carolina (http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2011/09/obama-hits-low-in-north-carolina.html).
He's at 45% in Wisconsin (http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/128344198.html), down 7 points since May.
These are all states that Obama carried in 2008, and Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio are critical to a Presidential win.
The conclusion: last night was not a fluke. This is a national trend. Democrats in power have refused to empower the public sector and have chosen instead to stimulate and regulate and legislate their way through this crisis, missing the point entirely.
Despite the broad dismissal and ridiculous claims from Democrats, NY-09 was a bellweather, and is indicative of what we're seeing everywhere.

Source:
By Tabitha Hale (http://www.freedomworks.org/users/thale) on September 14, 2011
FreedomWorks

jamielang1951

09-15-11, 02:13 AM

And to be fair and balanced; <br />
<br />
Washington (CNN) -- Republican victories in both special congressional elections Tuesday night either signal a major shift in the national electorate or are really...

jamielang1951

09-15-11, 03:25 AM

jamielang1951

09-15-11, 04:21 AM

Quickies.

Just now; A 6.0 earthquake hits Cuba.

4 hours ago;The United Auto Workers union extended its contracts with General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC early Thursday after failing to meet a deadline to reach a new agreement.

11 hours ago: The chilly IPO market just iced over. The hotly anticipated public debut of Facebook has been pushed back until late 2012.

I am 10-10.:cool:

jamielang1951

09-15-11, 01:42 PM

News flash:

Sgt Dakota Myer is about receive his MOH on Fox News.

jamielang1951

09-15-11, 02:31 PM

News flash:

Sgt Dakota Myer is about receive his MOH on Fox News.

This is a proud moment for our Country, Sgt. Dekota Myer, The United States Marine Corps and all of us.
May God bless and keep the families and those who were wounded and the heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country in the action of that day.

God Bless America and God Bless The United States Marine Corps.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/USMC%20Photos/SemperFibest.gif
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/USMC%20Photos/EGAa0a.gif

*Due to the type of ceremony please refrain from any derogatory remarks about the President*

jamielang1951

09-16-11, 02:13 PM

Documents obtained by Fox News suggest that for decades Pakistan spread nuclear weapon technology around the globe in exchange for cash, political influence and help with its own atomic bomb...

jamielang1951

09-16-11, 02:34 PM

Tom Borelli: Obama "Clueless" on Energy Policy

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Desperately clinging to a green energy agenda "driven by his crony capitalist advisors," President Obama is "clueless" about the fact that his energy policy is "brutalizing our economy." Tom notes that Obama's war on fossil fuels has "unleashed the EPA as a job-killing machine" that is also limiting the supply of electricity at a time when increasing demand may cause future brownouts and blackouts for the nation's consumers.

This discussion with host Chris Cotter, part of the Fox Business Network's "Regulation Nation" series, was broadcast on the 9/13/11 edition of "Fox Business."

jamielang1951

09-19-11, 10:19 AM

WASHINGTON – President Obama will unveil a new deficit reduction plan Monday anchored by $1.5 trillion in new taxes, a package that Republicans will surely deem dead-on-arrival after ruling out tax hikes as a way to rein in the debt.

The plan Obama is set to announce includes more than $2 trillion in entitlement cuts and tax increases over the next decade. While House Speaker John Boehner and other top Republicans have urged a newly formed bipartisan committee seeking long-term savings to avoid tax hikes, senior administration officials previewing the president's plan said that approach is untenable.

Officials said the president would issue a veto threat for any bill that cuts Medicare "without asking the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share."

Together with spending cuts enacted last month and projected savings from interest payments, the savings in the president's plan total more than $3 trillion. The Obama administration is also counting another $1 trillion in savings over 10 years from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though that kind of accounting has been dismissed in past debates as a gimmick.

The most controversial part of the plan was already shaping up to be the proposed tax increases.
The plan includes the tax hikes Obama already proposed to pay for his $447 billion jobs plan -- those proposals ranged from limits on deductions for wealthy filers to an end to certain corporate loopholes and subsidies for oil and gas companies. And it includes about $800 billion over 10 years from letting the Bush tax cuts expire for families making more than $250,000 a year.

In addition, officials said over the weekend the plan would include the so-called "Buffett Rule," named after billionaire Warren Buffett who complained he was paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. The provision would set a new tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year.

In total, the new tax revenue Obama is seeking is nearly double the $800 billion that Boehner had been willing to consider in July, before the so-called "grand bargain" fizzled..
Based on early details of the plan, Republicans on Sunday accused the president of playing "class warfare."

"Class warfare may make for really good politics but it makes for rotten economics," GOP Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the House Budget Committee chairman, said on "Fox News Sunday."
One administration official acknowledged that the plan represented the president's "vision," and not a "legislative compromise."
The plan includes $580 billion in cuts to mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion from Medicare and $72 billion from Medicaid and other health programs.

It includes no changes in Social Security and no increase in the Medicare eligibility age, which the president had been willing to accept this summer.

Administration officials said 90 percent of the $248 billion in 10-year Medicare cuts would be squeezed from service providers. The plan does shift some additional costs to beneficiaries, but those changes would not start until 2017.

Officials said that while the tax changes would raise revenue, the goal would also be to lower rates.

Fox News
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/19/obama-to-present-balanced-plan-to-tackle-deficit/#ixzz1YPZx2ZPI

jamielang1951

09-19-11, 10:32 AM

News Flash.

An appeals court has thrown out Jose Paddilla's 17 year conviction as being too lenient.
More to come as it is released.

Jose Padilla was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002, and a month later Attorney General John Ashcroft (http://www.nndb.com/people/352/000022286/) held a nationally-televised press conference announcing his arrest. "We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or 'dirty bomb,' in the United States," Ashcroft said. He described Padilla as "an enemy combatant who poses a serious and continued threat to the American people and our national security." The Justice Department said he had "trained with the enemy", met with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (http://www.nndb.com/people/429/000027348/) and other top men in Osama bin Laden (http://www.nndb.com/people/669/000023600/)'s terrorist group, been schooled by al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that he had become an expert in wiring explosives and devising 'dirty bombs' to spread radiation across densely-populated areas, and that this was the reason he returned to America. Undersecretary of State John Bolton (http://www.nndb.com/people/329/000048185/) said Padilla had been carrying plans for this attack when he was arrested.

jamielang1951

09-19-11, 12:52 PM

2 Stabbed to Death at Luke Air Force Base

Updated: Monday, 19 Sep 2011, 7:30 AM MST
Published : Sunday, 18 Sep 2011, 7:20 PM MST

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Two people have died in a double stabbing that occurred at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale on Sunday.
Just before 7 p.m., Glendale police responded to the base near Glendale Avenue and Litchfield Road.
They found two bodies in the post office on the base. They are believed to be husband and wife, and were reported missing earlier.
Police said the scene inside the post office is gruesome.
Officials are calling this an "isolated incident," but have not said how they know that information. Authorities are not actively looking for an outside assailant.
Base spokeswoman Capt. Carla Gleason says the couple both had legal access to the base and both may have been civilian workers.
It was unclear whether or not this was a domestic situation.
Police said they do not plan to release any names or suspect information Sunday night.

Source:
MyFoxPhoenix.com

jamielang1951

09-20-11, 01:32 PM

Here's the latest news headlines for Tuesday September 20th:

Don't Ask Don't Tell" officially repealed; At least 3 killed in explosion in Turkish capital; Four earthquakes strike Guatemala within hours; NASA tracking falling satellite.

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jamielang1951

09-20-11, 02:07 PM

Navy Lt. Gary Ross, right, and Dan Swezy celebrate after exchanging wedding vows on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011 in Duxbury, Vt. The two men recited their vows at the first possible moment after the...

jamielang1951

09-20-11, 04:10 PM

Editorial on the above post.

:sick:

This does not necessarily reflect the option of anyone other than myself.

And something to separate the next post from the last.

jamielang1951

09-20-11, 04:18 PM

DETROIT, MI-After 66 years, Navy Corpsman Bill “Doc” Lynne, George Company, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1ST MARDIV was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” attachment for heroic action during the Battle...

jamielang1951

09-20-11, 06:49 PM

Perry Blames Obama 'Appeasement' for Palestinian Statehood Bid

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry accused President Obama of fostering a policy of "appeasement" in the Middle East, blaming him for the standoff at the United Nations over the Palestinian bid for statehood recognition.

Diving into one of the most high-profile foreign policy disputes, the Texas governor appeared alongside Jewish leaders in New York Tuesday to pledge unwavering support to Israel and call on the Obama administration to take a stronger stance against the statehood bid.

"We are indignant that certain Middle Eastern leaders have discarded the principle of direct negotiations," he said. "We are equally indignant of the Obama administration and their Middle East policy of appeasement."
Perry called on the U.S. to approach the Middle East with a "new firmness and a new resolve." Perry criticized Obama for demanding concessions from the Jewish state that Perry says emboldened the Palestinians to seek recognition by the U.N.

"We would not be here today ... if the Obama policy in the Middle East wasn't naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous," he said.
Perry said the U.S. -- to show there are "consequences" for the action at the U.N. -- should reconsider its aid to the Palestinians and shut down the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Washington office if the vote proceeds. He also expressed support for continued settlement construction and suggested the U.S. Embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as a nod of support for a united Jerusalem under Israeli rule.
The U.S. has promised a veto in the Security Council, but the Palestinians can press for a more limited recognition of statehood before the full -- and much more supportive -- General Assembly.

The Obama administration has pushed hard for countries around the world to block the Palestinian bid, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday there was still time to avert a divisive showdown.
Obama has been criticized by Republicans and many pro-Israel activists for seeming to push the Jewish state harder than the Palestinians to make compromises to achieve peace. Obama has called on Israel to cease building housing settlements in the West Bank and to negotiate the scope of the Palestinian state using 1967 borders as a starting point. But Obama has been mostly silent in reiterating U.S. policy that the Palestinians recognize Israel and end terror attacks.

Complaints about Obama's Israel policy helped a Republican, Bob Turner, win a special election in a heavily Jewish and Democratic New York congressional district last week. Turner was among the leaders standing alongside Perry Tuesday.

Not to be outdone, GOP contender Mitt Romney issued a statement Tuesday, strongly criticizing Obama for the Palestinian situation at the U.N.
"What we are watching unfold at the United Nations is an unmitigated diplomatic disaster," Romney said in a statement. "It is the culmination of President Obama's repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus and undermine its negotiating position. That policy must stop now. ... he must make clear that if the Palestinian Authority succeeds in gaining any type of U.N. recognition, the United States will cut foreign assistance to the Palestinians, as well as re-evaluate its funding of U.N. programs and its relationship with any nation voting in favor of recognition."

Businessman Herman Cain, also a Republican candidate, wrote an op-ed for FoxNews.com in which he said Israel has been one of the United States' "strongest allies for decades -- at least until President Obama took office."
"As president, my top foreign policy priority would be to stand united with Israel. I will not allow the Arab Spring to be the fall of Israel," Cain wrote.
"And I'll add, growing up in Georgia during the civil rights movement and graduating from Morehouse College, following in the footsteps of our most famous alum -- Dr. Martin Luther King, the Palestinians could stand to learn a lot more from Reverend King than Malcolm X. It's the radical element among Palestinians that is keeping peace out of reach."

Obama is also in New York on Tuesday for meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly. He planned to meet later in the week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but does not have a meeting scheduled with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Fox News
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

jamielang1951

09-22-11, 01:40 PM

Very cool "In The News"

Invisible 'Chameleon' Tank Finally Revealed at World's Largest Weapons Fair
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Invisible tanks seem far-fetched? Not anymore. At least not to adversaries using infrared to see.
Adaptiv -- an armor encasing that looks and feels as one imagines a dragon's scales to -- turns tanks into chameleons, allowing them to disappear into the environment behind them or to even look like a snow drift, trash can, crowd, or a soccer mom’s station wagon.
A product of BAE working alongside the Swedish Defence Material Administration, Adaptiv flaunts the very latest in camouflage technology -- and FoxNews.com was given an exclusive look at the technology at the biannual 2001 Defense and Security Equipment International conference, the world's largest weapons show, where it's on display for the first time.
Research began at the end of the nineties in Sweden to look at the proliferation of sensors on the battlefield and to consider how they could meet this threat and defeat the advantage those sensors could give the enemy. The team looked at the best thermals to date and reverse engineered them focusing on 500 meters.
Infrared, used by devices such as night-vision goggles or aircraft, essentially sees in hot and cold, unlike the human eye. Adaptiv uses the reliance on thermals in the battlefield against adversaries by manipulating these hot and cold readings to deceive the surveillant.
A system of more than 1,000 5.5-inch hexagonal tiles made of thermo-electric material gives the tank its chameleon-like capability, which can confuse (if not convince) an adversary into thinking it is looking at something it is not. Hesitation can give the warfighters a few more seconds -- which may be the difference on the battlefield.
The tiles or pixels can rapidly change temperature directed by thermal cameras that monitor and quickly project adjustments onto them to conform with the tank’s immediate environment.
In its blending mode, it matches the temperature of its surroundings melding into the background to avoid detection.
“If you can’t see it, you can’t kill it," said Hakan Karlsson, director of marketing communications at BAW Systems. Blending can even be achieved when the tank is moving, and initial trials suggest that blending is at its best at 300 to 400 meters.
The blogosphere has been a buzz about Adaptiv’s invisibility power, but arguably even cooler is its ability to shapeshift to the eyes of infrared. Disguising vehicles as tanks with paint or netting is nothing new, but Adaptiv does it in a far smarter way.
To transform into an entirely different object, Adaptiv draws from its pattern library organized by terrain and projects itself as something native to the immediate area. For example, if it enters an Artic environment it can conjure up a polar bear and project itself as one so sensors scanning for a tank see a harmless animal.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/Forum%20Postings/hexarmor_604x500.jpg
Adaptiv is not limited by its pattern library however, and can even go chameleon on the spot shifting into something it has come across in its immediate terrain. For example, if it is entering an urban environment it can take a snapshot of an object on the street like a dumpster and then immediately change its appearance to be read as one to scanners.
Mounted on the tank is a large-ish ball with infrared cameras; press a button to capture an image and another to push that image out to the scales of the tank to go chameleon.
The armor also serves another very important purpose. Friendly fire is always a concern, and demarcating to your force as a friendly and not hostile is key. This signal needs to be discreet as well, so that you are not advertising to the enemy.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/Forum%20Postings/thecamo_604x341.jpg
Planes, for example, sometimes use a method of radiating their identity in all directions; Adaptiv is capable of signaling its identity to only the friendly side.
By projecting onto its skin a marker similar to a barcode, it can indicate it is a friendly in a way that is only readable to its force.
Balancing weight with protection is always a challenge. Heavy armor may seem to make soldiers safer but the additional weight can slow a vehicle down and reduce its agility -- thereby increasing possible risk.
The CV90 tank Adaptiv has on display was a smart choice. It carries the punch of a tank while weighing approximately half of the average tank. Adaptiv adds armor, can withstand ordnance and physical impact, consumes low power and is relatively light weight so it does not affect agility or movement. If a pixel is damaged, it can easily be removed and replaced.
The pixels can be scaled up or down so there is a range of other applications as well, from taking helicopters and warships stealth to rendering fixed installations invisible. Adaptiv could be a game changer.
What’s next for Adaptiv? I hear they are playing with other light frequencies such that invisibility to the naked eye is in the pipeline -- very cool indeed.
Source:
Fox News

jamielang1951

09-23-11, 11:21 AM

Solyndra Execs Plead Fifth at Congressional Hearing More Than a Dozen Times.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/Forum%20Postings/solyndraexec_092311.jpg

Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison. left, and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover,
right,
are sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Sept. 23 2011.

Top executives from a bankrupt California solar energy company pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than a dozen times Friday in a congressional hearing that went nowhere but gave members the opportunity to pose dozens of questions about the loss of a half billion dollars in government loans.

Solyndra Inc. CEO Brian Harrison and the company's chief financial officer, Bill Stover, had notified the House Energy and Commerce Committee they were going to invoke their Fifth Amendment right to decline to testify to avoid self-incrimination.

That didn't mean lawmakers didn't have questions for the executives, leading to complaints from committee Democrats that House Republicans were badgering the witnesses.

The Supreme Court has ruled it's considered prosecutorial misconduct when the government calls witnesses with the flagrant intent of questioning them to invoke their Fifth Amendment, said Rep.Henry Waxman D-Calif.
Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, who led the hearing, said that Democrats had agreed to the format ahead of time.

I agreed to the format. That doesn't mean I agreed to badgering the witnesses, said ranking committee member Diana DeGetter D-Colo.
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., told Fox News that the members asked questions that they would have liked to have answers. But he said the executives used their Fifth Amendment rights becaise they feared their testimony would incriminate themselves.
"And indeed I think they would," he said.

Silence from the two executives will not stop committee leaders from pursuing their investigation into the $528 million loan Solyndra received from the Energy Department in 2009.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, GOP lawmakers said they were expanding their inquiry into the Solyndra loan, which has become a rallying point for Republican critics of the Obama administration's push for so-called green jobs.

Lawmakers said they want the administration to turn over all communications between the Energy Department and White House related to Solyndra, as well as all communications between Energy and the Treasury, which lent Solyndra the money.

Committee leaders said the Obama administration may have violated the law when it restructured Solyndra's loan in February in such a way that private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default. The economic stimulus law provides for taxpayers to be ahead of other creditors in the event of bankruptcy or default.

"We are also determined to know why DOE allowed the taxpayers to be subordinated to the private investors during that restructuring in violation of the clear letter of the law. What we do not know is whether the Solyndra executives here today have something to hide. Was all the information they submitted to DOE accurate and complete?" added Stearns.

Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said Thursday that the restructuring was "entirely legal," noting that another aspect of the law requires Chu and other officials to protect the overall interests of taxpayers. He said the restructuring accomplished that because it gave the struggling company a better chance to succeed.

Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month and laid off its 1,100 employees.

The Fremont, Calif.-based company was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under a stimulus-law program to encourage green energy and was frequently touted by the Obama administration as a model President Obama.visited the company's Silicon Valley headquarters last year, and Vice President Biden spoke by satellite at its groundbreaking ceremony.

Since then, the company's implosion and revelations that the administration hurried Office of Management and Budget officials to finish their review of the loan in time for the September 2009 groundbreaking has become an embarrassment for Obama as he tries to sell his new job-creation program.

Source:
Fox News
The Associated Press contributed to this report .

jamielang1951

09-23-11, 12:41 PM

IMHO

Perhaps the Democrats and the Whitehouse is hoping for a new DADT for Solyndra and any other under the table deals they don't want to become public knowledge. Good luck with that! :cool:

jamielang1951

09-23-11, 01:13 PM

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Defying U.S. and Israel opposition, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas submits statehood application to the United Nations as riots with Israeli soldiers erupt in the West Bank, leaving one Palestinian dead.

Palestinians Formally Submit UN Statehood Bid.

Defying U.S. and Israeli opposition, Palestinians asked the United Nations on Friday to accept them as a member state, sidestepping nearly two decades of troubled negotiations in the hope this dramatic move on the world stage would reenergize their quest for an independent homeland.

"My people desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
The speech provoked cheers and chants of "With all our souls we sacrifice for the state of Palestine" from flag-waving Palestinians who watched the address on a big-screen television in a square in Ramallah in the West Bank.

The move at the United Nations in New York came shortly after 35-year-old Palestinian Issam Badram was killed by gunfire that erupted after rampaging Jewish settlers destroyed trees in a Palestinian grove, precisely the type of incident both Palestinians and Israelis feared.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was greeted by sustained applause and appreciative whistles as he approached the dais to deliver a speech outlining his people's hopes and dreams of becoming a full member of the United Nations. Negotiations with Israel "will be meaningless" as long as it continues building on lands the Palestinians claim for that state, he declared, warning that his government could collapse if the construction persists.

"This policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process," said Abbas, who has refused to negotiate until the construction stops. "This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence."

Rebuffing an intense U.S.-led effort to pressure him to drop the statehood bid, he said he had asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem and grant it full membership in the world body.

Source:
Fox News
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

jamielang1951

09-25-11, 04:36 PM

Thursday: President Obama speaks at the Brent Spence Bridge regarding his American Jobs Act legislation in Cincinnati, Ohio. <br />
<br />
<br />
Obama Adviser: Shutdown Looms as GOP Bends to Will of Tea Party ...

jamielang1951

09-25-11, 04:54 PM

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Sept. 23: Pakistani protesters burn representations of US and Indian flags at an anti-American rally in Multan, Pakistan. Pakistan lashed out at the U.S. for accusing the country's most powerful intelligence agency of supporting extremist attacks against American targets in Afghanistan - the most serious allegations against Islamabad since the beginning of the Afghan war.
Pentagon – POLITICS

Top Pakistan Army Commanders Meet After U.S. Claims on Militant Attacks

Published September 25, 2011
Source:
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's army chief convened a special meeting of senior commanders Sunday following U.S. allegations that the military's spy agency helped militants attack American targets in Afghanistan, the army said.

The government also summoned home the country's foreign minister early from a trip to the United States to attend a meeting of all major political parties to discuss the American allegations of support for the militant Haqqani network.

Senior Pakistani officials have lashed out against the allegations, accusing the U.S. of trying to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its troubled war in Afghanistan. The public confrontation has plunged the already troubled U.S.-Pakistan alliance to new lows.

Pakistan's leaders have shown no indication they plan to act on renewed American demands to attack the Haqqani network in its main base in Pakistan, even at the risk of further conflict with Washington, which has given the country billions in aid.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that the U.S. should consider military action to defend U.S. troops if Pakistan's spy agency continues supporting militants who are attacking American forces.

Unilateral U.S. raids into Pakistan could have explosive implications in a country where anti-American sentiment is widespread.
Pakistanis were outraged by the covert U.S. commando raid that killed Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden in a garrison town not far from Islamabad in May. The U.S. did not tell the Pakistani government about the operation beforehand for fear bin Laden would be tipped off.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik warned the U.S. on Sunday against sending troops into Pakistan.
"Any aggression will not be tolerated," Malik told reporters in Islamabad. "The nation is standing united behind the armed forces, which is the front line of Pakistan's defense."

The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, last week accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of supporting Haqqani insurgents in planning and executing a 22-hour assault on the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Sept. 13 as well as a truck bomb that wounded 77 American soldiers days earlier.

Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, widely considered the most powerful man in Pakistan, has dismissed the allegations, saying they were baseless and part of a public "blame game" detrimental to peace in Afghanistan.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Kayani presided over Sunday's commanders meeting but would not provide detail on the discussions.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office issued a statement saying Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar was summoned back to attend a meeting of all major political parties on "threats emanating from outside the country."

Pakistan claimed to have severed its ties with Afghan militants after the 9/11 attacks and supported America's campaign in Afghanistan, but U.S. officials have long suspected it maintained links. The comments by Mullen, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were the most serious yet accusing Pakistan of militant ties, although he didn't cite any specific evidence.

Despite the seriousness of the U.S. claims, which appear to accuse Pakistan of state-sponsored terrorism, Mullen and other U.S. officials have said Washington needs to keep engaging with Islamabad, a reflection of its limited options in dealing with the country.

Around half of the U.S. war supplies to Afghanistan are trucked over Pakistani soil, and even as it accuses Islamabad of complicity with Afghan insurgents, Washington knows that it will likely need Islamabad's cooperation in bringing them to the negotiating table. Washington is also concerned about the danger of further instability in the nuclear-armed state.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. James Mattis, called for continued cooperation after a meeting with Kayani in Islamabad. In a statement issued Sunday by the U.S. Embassy, Mattis emphasized "the need for persistent engagement among the militaries of the U.S., Pakistan and other states in the region."

Afghan officials have also accused Pakistan of stoking instability in Afghanistan. The Afghan Defense Ministry accused the Pakistani arm Sunday of firing more than 300 artillery and rockets into the country's northeast during the past five days.
The provinces of Kunar and Nuristan are a haven for hardcore insurgent groups fighting in both Pakistan and Afghanistan and have relatively few Afghan or foreign forces. Pakistan has complained that militants from the area have staged repeated cross-border attacks that have killed Pakistani security forces and civilians.

Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said he had asked security officials in the northwest about the Afghan allegations and was waiting for a reply. He said those officials were surprised by the accusations since no activity had been reported in the area.
"I assume this is not correct news," said Abbas, referring to the Afghan allegations.

:usmc:

jamielang1951

09-25-11, 05:14 PM

Latest Politics
Sen. Lindsey Graham on Foreign Policy Challenges

Sep 25, 2011
11:55
Key Republican lawmaker on 'Fox News Sunday'

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1181554186001&w=466&h=263"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com (http://video.foxnews.com)</noscript>

jamielang1951

09-26-11, 04:25 PM

AP Top News at 4:46 p.m. EDT

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/1/19add41e-ff5b-4886-a7a2-b3d65d3c6eda-small.jpg (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_SHUTDOWN_POLITICS?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

On spending, Congress can't agree on easy stuff (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_SHUTDOWN_POLITICS?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-09-26-14-35-55)
<table class="ap-newslisting-table" width="190" align="right" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr class="ap-newslisting-tr"><td class="ap-newslisting-td-image">
</td></tr></tbody></table> WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is once again allowing shutdown politics to bring the federal government to the brink of closing. For the second time in nine months, lawmakers are bickering and posturing over spending plans. The difference this time is that everyone agrees on the massive barrel of money to keep the government running for another seven weeks.

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/3/354e22b0-e05b-4869-b923-df662119f0dc-small.jpg (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

Obama defends push to raise taxes on rich (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-09-26-16-02-24)
<table class="ap-newslisting-table" align="LEFT" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr class="ap-newslisting-tr"><td class="image">
</td></tr></tbody></table> MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) - Inviting questions, President Barack Obama got one he was happy to answer. "Would you please raise my taxes?" one man asked the president at a town hall here Monday, hosted by the social networking company LinkedIn.

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/4/4b43885b-a03b-4260-b1e6-0f962af14e9f-small.jpg (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_LIBYA?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

Libya orders state security courts abolished (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_LIBYA?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-09-26-16-14-57)<table class="ap-newslisting-table" align="RIGHT" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr class="ap-newslisting-tr"><td class="image">
</td></tr></tbody></table> TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libya's transitional justice minister said Monday that he has approved a measure to abolish the country's state security prosecution and courts, which sentenced opponents of the old regime to prison. At a press conference in Tripoli, Mohammed al-Alagi, part of Libya's new leadership after the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi, said he has signed a document to disband the bodies. The step still needs to be approved by the National Transitional Council that now runs the country.

jamielang1951

09-27-11, 05:04 PM

Very Cool "In The News".
http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n491/jamielang1/Forum%20Postings/091911mc_pocketbot_800a.jpg
Pocket robots gain ground with Marines

By James K. Sanborn - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 26, 2011 7:51:18 EDT
Marine Corps Times

<form id="hidden"> </form> It takes guts to be the point man breaching a door and heading into the unknown. What’s on the other side? It could be an empty room. There could be a family huddled in the corner. Or a Marine could find himself staring down the barrel of an enemy AK47.

That’s where throwable robots, known as “pocketbots,” come into the picture. Small and easily transportable, these robots can be thrown through a door, through a window, onto a roof or around a corner. They have cameras that relay live video back to a small hand-held screen, feeding Marines instant intel that could save lives. Now the robots are on their way to Afghanistan.

About 100 robots are set for deployment “within the next year,” but that number could grow as Marines become more familiar with the robots’ capabilities, according to officials with Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico, Va.
Infantry units and those on dismounted operations will be the primary operators. Training would likely be minimal, as the systems are intuitive, according to the robots’ manufacturers. Marine officials said the brunt of training would be hands-on.

Robots under Marine Corps consideration are light and small. The Recon Scout XT robot by Recon Robotics weighs 1.2 pounds and is small enough to fit into a cargo pocket. The entire package, complete with its monitor/controller, weighs 3 pounds, making it easy for individual infantrymen to carry on the move.

The iRobot 110 First Look is larger and heftier but still weighs less than 5 pounds. At 10 by 9 by 4 inches, it isn’t much bigger than a laptop.
That means they could be used to survey areas too small for Marines, like crawl spaces, culverts or caves. And just because the robots are small doesn’t mean they’re dainty. They can be thrown through glass and survive significant drops.

The Recon Scout XT can take a 30-foot drop onto concrete, survive a throw of more than 120 feet and is water-resistant. It can take rain and submersion in up to one foot of water for up to five minutes.
The iRobot 110 First Look can take 15-foot drops and is waterproof up to 3 feet. It can also use a set of flippers to right itself if flipped, or it can scale steps up to 8 inches tall.

Both have infrared capabilities for low- and no-light conditions.
Miniature robots aren’t the first of their kind on the battlefield. Marines, especially explosive ordnance disposal technicians, have used larger robots for years to survey dangerous areas and even disarm bombs. Among them are Dragon Runner, a 14-pound robot, and Talon, a 115-pound robot, designed by QinetiQ.

jamielang1951

09-27-11, 05:25 PM

http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n491/jamielang1/Forum%20Postings/wvafans.jpg

Police: LSU fans attacked following W.Va. game

MORGANTOWN, WV (FOX44) — An attack after the WVU versus LSU football game in West Virginia sent one LSU fan to the hospital, while three others recover from minior injuries, Fox 44 reports.

The Morgantown Police Department confirms that the victims were in a vehicle leaving the game when an unknown person threw a rock at the open window of the victim’s car. The driver of the vehicle got out of the car and began asking a group of people nearby if they knew who threw the rock at the vehicle.

While seeking information, the LSU fans were approached by an unidentified group of individuals. They began assaulting the driver. That’s when the victim’s wife (who is pregnant) and two friends got out of the car. They too were assaulted.
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the most seriously injured LSU fan sustained a broken nose, a crushed eye socket and other injuries.He was taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for surgery.

The other victims in the attack only suffered minor injures.

An investigation is being conducted. The police request's that if anyone has information about the attack, call (304) 284-7454.

jamielang1951

09-27-11, 05:56 PM

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Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For.

'Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare,' Sen. Barbara Boxer says.

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By BRIAN ROSS (http://abcnews.go.com/author/brian_ross) and MATTHEW COLE
Sept. 27, 2011

The White House announced today it planned to expand a program to secure and destroy Libya's huge stockpile of dangerous surface-to-air missiles, following an ABC News report that large numbers of them continue to be stolen from unguarded military warehouses.

Currently the U.S. State Department has one official on the ground in Libya, as well as five contractors who specialize in "explosive ordinance disposal", all working with the rebel Transitional National Council to find the looted missiles, White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters.

"We expect to deploy additional personnel to assist the TNC as they expand efforts to secure conventional arms storage sites," Carney said. "We're obviously at a governmental level -- both State Department and at the U.N. and elsewhere -- working with the TNC on this."
ABC News reported today U.S. officials and security experts were concerned some of the thousands of heat-seeking missiles could easily end up in the hands of al Qaeda or other terrorists groups, creating a threat to commercial airliners.

"Matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that's our worst nightmare," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D.-California, a member of the Senate's Commerce, Energy and Transportation Committee.
Though Libya had an estimated 20,000 man-portable surface-to-air missiles before the popular uprising began in February, Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro told ABC News today the government does not have a clear picture of how many missiles they're trying to track down.

"We're making great progress and we expect in the coming days and weeks we will have a much greater picture of how many are missing," Shapiro said.
The missiles, four to six-feet long and Russian-made, can weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They lock on to the heat generated by the engines of aircraft, can be fired from a vehicle or from a combatant's shoulder, and are accurate and deadly at a range of more than two miles.
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch first warned about the problem after a trip to Libya six months ago. He took pictures of pickup truckloads of the missiles being carted off during another trip just a few weeks ago.

"I myself could have removed several hundred if I wanted to, and people can literally drive up with pickup trucks or even 18 wheelers and take away whatever they want," said Bouckaert, HRW's emergencies director. "Every time I arrive at one of these weapons facilities, the first thing we notice going missing is the surface-to-air missiles."
The ease with which rebels and other unknown parties have snatched thousands of the missiles has raised alarms that the weapons could end up in the hands of al Qaeda, which is active in Libya.

"There certainly are dangerous groups operating in the region, and we're very concerned that some of these weapons could end up in the wrong hands," said Bouckaert.
"I think the probability of al Qaeda being able to smuggle some of the stinger-like missiles out of Libya is probably pretty high," said Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism advisor and now a consultant to ABC News.

jamielang1951

09-29-11, 03:56 PM

Solyndra Loan: Now Treasury Dept. Is Launching Investigation

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By RONNIE GREENE and MATTHEW MOSK
iWATCH NEWS and ABC NEWS
Sept. 14, 2011

The Treasury Department's inspector general has opened a new front in the investigation of the government loan to Solyndra, the now bankrupt company that had been touted as a model of President Obama's ambitious green energy program, ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity/iWatch News have learned.

The new probe involves the $535 million loan, arranged by the Energy Department, but actually processed by the Federal Financing Bank, a government lending institution that falls under Treasury's control. Already, the FBI and the Energy Department's inspector general have executed search warrants at Solyndra's headquarters and questioned company executives.
"We're going to look at everything the FFB had to do with its role in this thing," Rich Delmar, a spokesman for the Treasury Department's inspector general, told ABC News and iWatch News.
Earlier this month, iWatch News and ABC News disclosed that Solyndra received a rock-bottom interest rate of 1 to 2 percent -- lower than those affixed to other Energy Department green energy projects. The low rate was set even as an outside agency, Fitch Rating, scored Solyndra as a B+ -- "speculative" -- investment. Energy Department officials said the bank set the rate, based on formulas including the payout length, and that Solyndra did not receive special treatment.

Word of the broadening probe came as the head of the Energy Department's loan program came before Congress at a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

After spending months touting the Obama administration's decision to loan $535 million toSolynda, top officials took a new tack Wednesday while testifying about the company's abrupt shut-down and bankruptcy: the loan, they said, was actually the Bush administration's idea.
The Energy Department's top lending officer told Congress that the Solyndra loan application was not only filed during President Bush's term, but it surged towards completion before Obama took office in January 2009.

"By the time the Obama administration took office in late January 2009, the loan programs' staff had already established a goal of, and timeline for, issuing the company a conditional loan guarantee commitment in March 2009," said Jonathan Silver, who heads the Energy loan program.

Even after the loan was restructured in 2011, the Energy Department and other administration officials continued to tout Solyndra's prospects.
In May, Silver told ABC News and iWatch News that questions about the loan guarantee were unfounded, and that Solyndra's canceled public offering and restructuring were hiccups that are typical for start-up companies.
"I have never seen a company go straight up without a bump along the way," Silver said. "I have no doubt they will continue to hire more people."

Republicans Push Back

Republicans pushed back hard against this version of events, unearthing internal Energy Department emails that indicate the panel evaluating the loans had made the unanimous decision to shelve Solyndra's application two weeks before Obama took office.

Blaming the failed loan on the Bush administration marked an abrupt turn for the Energy Department, which had championed the Solyndra loan as a model for its efforts to build a so-called "green energy" industry that creates jobs and safeguards the environment. The Solyndra loan was so central to this strategy that the administration initially planned to have Obama personally announce it, and later sent the president to the company's solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont, California to celebrate its work.

The $535 million loan to Solyndra included a quarterly interest rate that is now at 1.025 percent, the government bank reported in July. Of 18 Energy Department loans cited in the bank's report, Solyndra's rate was lowest. Eight other Energy Department projects, each also backed by the Federal Financing Bank, came with rates three or four times higher, the report shows.

That treatment is in keeping with the history of the loan to the California solar panel maker, an arrangement inked in September 2009 with great fanfare. Monthly government bank reports filed since then reveal Solyndra's rate as the lowest for any energy-related project in nearly every report; in every case its rate was well below that of most energy projects, which ranged from cutting-edge electric car makers to wind and solar ventures.
Department of Energy officials said the rates for all of its green energy loans were set by the bank using a formula, and Solyndra's favorable terms were not the result of special treatment.

"All borrowers under the [government loan guarantee] program receive the same treatment," Energy Department spokesman Damien LaVera wrote to iWatch and ABC News in response to questions.
Solyndra spokesman David Miller agreed, saying that the interest rate was based on hard data -- such as when the loan was granted and the length of the repayment period. Solyndra's loan was for seven years, he noted, while other energy loans would have longer repayment periods. Miller pointed to a Treasury spreadsheet showing rates for 20- and 30-year loans are higher than those that are to be repaid in seven.

"It depends on the terms you negotiated," Miller said. "You'd have to look at each one of those other companies and see what their term was and that would probably explain to you what the difference would be."

But records show the advantageous terms came in spite of red flags about the risks of investing in Solyndra. In 2008, as the loan agreement was moving forward, an outside rating agency gave the deal with a B+ grade, a less than optimum score, according to records obtained by iWatch and ABC under the Freedom of Information Act. That same year, the records show, Dun & Bradstreet assigned the company's credit appraisal as "fair."

The path taken by Solyndra's application for a massive government loan was just one of several questions explored by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative subcommittee Wednesday. Members grilled Silver and Jeffrey Zients, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, as to why the initial loan was approved, and why the Solyndra deal was restructured earlier this year. The restructuring came at a time when the company was already showing signs of financial stress, with Chinese competitors offering similar products for less money.

The House investigation into the matter had been underway well before the company collapsed. Federal auditors had already questioned the methods the energy department was using to analyze the loans. And beginning in March, ABC News, in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News, began reporting on simmering questions about the role political influence may have played in Solyndra's selection as the Obama administration's first loan guarantee recipient.

WATCH the Original ABC News Report on Solyndra (http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/profits-energy-independence-13260786)

On Tuesday, some of the fruits of that investigation began to surface in anticipation of the hearing.
Emails uncovered by investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee showed that the Obama White House closely monitored the Energy Department's deliberations over the $535 million government loan, which was backed by an Obama fundraiser. The internal emails uncovered by investigators showed the administration was keenly monitoring the progress of the loan, even as analysts were voicing serious concerns about the risk involved.
"This deal is NOT ready for prime time," one White House budget analyst wrote in a March 10, 2009 email, nine days before the administration formally announced the loan.

Solyndra Was Central to Obama Green Strategy

Both administration officials and Energy Department officials pushed back on suggestions from Republican critics that politics could have influenced the process. They said emails released Tuesday only show that the White House was eager to have the president make the Solyndra announcement, and that a great deal of advanced planning work was underway to try and accomplish that. They said Kaiser made no effort to influence the process, and noted that several Solyndra executives were Republicans -- including its chief executive.
Democrats in Congress spent much of the Wednesday hearing voicing those key points.
"The documents and briefings that I've reviewed show that the Department of Energy in both the Bush and Obama administrations supported Solyndra's loan guarantee application," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat.

But with the company in bankruptcy and FBI agents investigating elements of the deal, some Democrats in the House were still raising doubts about the wisdom of the investment.
"We need to understand what happened, who should be held accountable, and how we can avoid future losses," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D.-Calif.

In April, after ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity aired the first in a series of reports on the Solyndra deal, Waxman was an early critic of the decision by House investigators to pursue the matter. He wrote a letter saying his own review had not uncovered "any information or documents that suggest any impropriety, wrongdoing, or favoritism in the award of the Solyndra loan guarantee."
But Wednesday, Waxman expressed displeasure with the sudden collapse of the company, especially after the company's CEO had just weeks earlier visited his office and personally vouched for the promise of the company.

"Well, these rosy scenarios were not realized," Waxman said. "Today we'll ask why. Is the reason unforeseen developments in the global marketplace, as Solyndra and DOE argue? Or is the reason sloppy or inadequate vetting, or worse yet, corporate malfeasance?"

As the hearing was underway, the Department of Energy was sending out emails to the press intended to convey that Solyndra was a bipartisan problem.

"At several points in the hearing, folks have pointed out the party affiliation of the private investors who lost a billion dollars of their own private capital on this deal," wrote Dan Leistikow, the department's director of public affairs. "Of the two major investment firms who risked and lost the most, one happens to be associated with a Democratic donor and one with a Republican donor. I frankly can't understand what that has to do with anything, but I suppose it's always good to see a little bipartisanship."

But Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, made note during the hearing that "the administration officials held out the company as a shining example of how the stimulus was creating jobs and invigorating the economy."
Indeed, when the loan was announced in March of 2009, Energy Secretary Chu issued his own press release, identifying Solyndra as "part of President Obama's aggressive strategy to put Americans back to work and reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

jamielang1951

09-29-11, 11:34 PM

Anti-Obama sign in New Orleans Uptown neighborhood draws controversy.

http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n491/jamielang1/Forum%20Postings/9-28obamasign.jpg

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Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News

NEW ORLEANS -- There are several political signs attracting all kinds of attention in one Uptown neighborhood.

On Wednesday, crowds gathered at the corner of Calhoun and Coralie streets, looking at several signs depicting President Barack Obama as either a dunce, a puppet or a crying baby in a diaper.

"It disrespects the nation -- and President Barack Obama represents our nation," said Skip Alexander, as he looked at one of the signs. "He represents everybody, not some people."
Dozens of protesters came by the house in the 1500 block of Calhoun throughout the day, demanding the sign come down.

"He wouldn't do that to [President] Bush, I'm sure. It's just insulting. It's insulting," said C.C. Campbell-Rock. "He's going to have to take them down."

"This is nothing put pure racism," said Raymond Rock. "This is a disgrace."
The home is owned by Timothy Reily, who declined to be interviewed about the signs. Former Mayor Ray Nagin showed up at the house and went inside to speak with Reily. He emerged later and would not comment on what they discussed.

Some neighbors tell Eyewitness News that Reily has been putting the signs up for months. Some of the protesters learned about the signs through a local radio station on Wednesday morning.

"He can put up a sign if he wants to. It doesn't bother me," said Harold Gagnet, a neighbor.
"I think it's fine. It's on his property," said Katherine deMontluzin. "He can say whatever he wants."

The signs have created such a firestorm of controversy, though, that police came to the scene-- called in by City Council Member Susan Guidry. She represents the district where the home is located. Guidry said she was concerned about public safety and was trying to figure out if the sign was even legal. She also said she spoke to Reily, but didn't get far.

"We have to determine that there is a zoning law that prohibits perhaps the size of the sign, perhaps the way that it's erected, that it is leaning over onto public property," Guidry said. "Whatever we can use, we will, but of course, we do have to balance that with First Amendment rights."
Yet, the signs remain in place, fanning the flames of a free speech debate on both sides of the fence.

jamielang1951

09-30-11, 02:08 PM

Liberals Try to Remove Anti-Obama Signs in New Orleans.
Stephen Gutowski

Did you catch all that? A New Orleans resident posted a couple signs on his own private property criticizing President Obama. Some liberals wandered by and didn't like the fact the signs made fun of President Obama. These liberals freaked out so much that the media, police, and even some liberal politicians got involved.

In fact, city councilwoman Susan Guidry questions this guy's expression of his opinion so much that she openly admits that she will try to use ANY technicality she can find to squash it. She literally goes through a list of things she might use against the homeowner while being interviewed by WWL-TV saying "Whatever we can use, we will". Of course she is reportedly just "concerned about public safety".

Now, I'm not positive what country, or planet for that matter, these liberals live on but I've always been under the impression that here in America freedom of speech was a protected right given to us by God and protected from infringement by the Constitution. Heck, I'm not even the kind of person who would put up big provocative political signs on my property but I am certainly the kind of person who will push back against those who try to drum up bogus technicalities in order to infringe on speech they don't like.
If this attack on free speech goes unabated and succeeds it will be yet another dark day for our country.

IMHO

It's a story as old as time. Liberal comes across speech they don't like. Liberal does everything they can to silence that speech.
I would love to see just for once, when one of these people makes the statement "it's racist" for a reporter to stick the mic in their face and have them explain WHY "it's racist" or why do they "have to take it down."?
(http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2011/09/28/anti-obama-sign-draws-controversy)
Note:
When trying to preview the above post, the damn thing kept tell me I have FIVE images and could only use three. I have none! I had to restart it three times before it would allow me to post it. The reason I'm reporting this is that I have the first installment of my "Computer Learning Center" thread ready. It has seventeen screen shots for step by step on embedding videos. I had planed on posting three per page, but had so many problems I postponed it.
I use FireFox. It underlines misspelled words in red so you can right click and get a list of possible corrections. I thought this was the problem, but even after correcting the words, it still does it. :(
Guess I'll try using Internet Explorer to see if that helps. But compared to all the add-on for FireFox, it sucks.

:usmc: Semper Fi :usmc:

jamielang1951

09-30-11, 06:31 PM

U.S. Official: Al-Awlaki Tried to Use WMDs to Attack Westerners

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Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric killed Friday, sought to use weapons of mass destruction to attack westerners in his role as chief of external operations for Al Queda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to a senior U.S. official.

The terror leader specifically sought to use poisons including cyanide and ricin, as he planned and directed attacks against the United States from his foreign base, the official said.
The details of al-Awlaki's influence come as top U.S. officials privately tout the U.S. strike that killed him as a major get in a long string of Al Qaeda leaders taken out by the Obama administration, most notablyUsama bin Laden earlier this year.

But al-Awlaki was also a significant figure within Al Qaeda, with the senior U.S. official noting that Al Awlaki played a "significant operational role" in Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab's attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
The senior U.S. official said al-Awlaki "specifically instructed Abdulmutallab to detonate the device while over U.S. airspace to maximize casualties."

The senior U.S. official also noted that al-Awlaki also helped "oversee the October 2010 plot to detonate explosive devices" aboard U.S. cargo aircraft.
The terrorist "had a direct role in supervising and directing" Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's failed attempt to bring down two planes. That plot involved mail bombs that were sent to Chicago-area synagogues but was foiled when the devices were stopped inDubai and Europe.

Then there is al-Awlaki's ability to inspire violent attacks on the American homeland, including accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who attended al-Awlaki's sermons in Virginia and allegedly corresponded with him through email.
"After the attack, al-Awlaki posted commentary on his blog praising Hasan's actions and calling him his student and brother," said the senior U.S. official.
Faisal Shahzad who pled guilty to the Times Square car bombing attempt in the spring of 2010, also told interrogators that he was "inspired by" al-Awlaki.

The senior U.S. official is also pointing to a May 2010 video interview conducted by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's media wing in which al-Awlaki called for attacks against U.S. military personnel worldwide and "claimed all Americans were valid targets, and directed followers to engage in armed conflict with the United States."

jamielang1951

10-02-11, 05:16 PM

Courts - POLITICS

Kagan, Thomas Targeted in Hopes of Swaying Supreme Court's Health Care Ruling

Published October 02, 2011
FoxNews.com
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FILE: In this Oct. 8, 2010, file photo, members of the Supreme Court gather for a group portrait
at the Supreme Court in Washington. Seated from left are: Associate Justices Clarence Thomas,
Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, and Ruth
Bader Ginsburg. Standing, from left are: Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer,
Samuel Alito Jr., and Elena Kagan.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court hasn't even agreed yet to take the case questioning the constitutionality of the individual mandate -- the centerpiece of President Obama's health care law -- but already arguments are lined up to remove justices from trying to weigh in on deliberations.

Justice Elena Kagan's role in the Obama administration as it was formulating the legal defense for the health care law disqualifies her from participating in the decision, say groups who call the former solicitor general incapable of being objective. Kagan says she was not involved in developing the legal strategy of the Affordable Care Act, but opponents of the law have requested records of the administration's deliberation process to see who participated.

Conversely, liberal groups and some Democrats in Congress say Justice Clarence Thomas can't be jurisprudence because his wife worked for organizations that actively opposed the health care law. On Thursday, 20 House Democrats requested a federal investigation into whether Thomas broke federal disclosure laws by not listing his wife's pay on a disclosure form for 21 years -- even though her job at the time was no secret.

"The forms are simple and straightforward. Given that we now know he correctly completed them in at least five earlier years, it's hardly plausible -- indeed it's close to unbelievable -- that Justice Thomas did not understand the instructions," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar.

On Thursday, the Obama administration requested the court take up the case and deliver its verdict by June 2012, as Obama and his Republican opponent gear up for the fall campaign. That request got the backing of retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, suggesting that the court could be inclined to take it.

Twenty-six states and the National Federation of Independent Business would be opposing party to the case.
Tom Dupree, a former Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, said the justices will likely decide in the next few months when and whether it will hear the case, but a lot of combined factors "make it a pretty difficult invitation for the Supreme Court to turn down."

"You have a case that presents very important constitutional questions arising from the administration's signature domestic initiative and now you have both the states that are challenging the law as well as the administration itself telling the Supreme Court you need to decide this issue now," Dupree told Fox News. If it does take the case, pressure to sit it out will be especially acute on Kagan and Thomas, and possibly Justice Antonin Scalia, who spoke to a Tea Party group about potential weaknesses in the law last year.

No mechanism exists to force a justice to sit out a case, though Kagan sat out 28 cases in her first year on the court last year because of her prior work as the Obama administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.

This October, she has already announced she will be absent from one case, regarding Congress' power to give copyright protection to works by foreign composers, directors and other artist, among them Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," that long have been in the public domain.
But calling it a "humongous important case," Dupree said he doesn't think any justice will will decline to participate.

"Absolutely not," he told Fox News. "There's a good possibility it could be decided by a one-vote margin, and in that circumstance, where you have folks lining up on both sides of the political aisle trying to get whatever advantage they can, it doesn't surprise me that there are calls for recusal. But I think at the end of the day, Kagan and Thomas are both deciding this case."
Texas attorney general Greg Abbott, whose state is one of the parties in the suit, said the calls for recusal are "very predictable whenever you're dealing with a case of this magnitude."
But he projected that "when it's all said and done, all nine justices on the court will participate in the case."

Abbott added that the decision will likely come down to a 5-4 ruling, meaning only Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, will be the swing vote.
"Here's the very important thing," he said. "Twice in the past 16 years, Justice Kennedy has voted to strike down an act of Congress as going beyond the limit of the Commerce Clause. That is the legal theory upon which the states rest their claim. If Justice Kennedy votes again saying that Congress exceeded their authority on the Commerce Clause, I think that should prove a victory for the states in our challenge against Obama care."

jamielang1951

10-03-11, 06:26 AM

Tea Party Opposing More 'Establishment' Republicans In 2012
By Grant M. Dahl
September 30,

The Tea Party, which played a prominent role in several Republican primaries in 2010, has set its sights on removing more "Establishment" Republicans in the 2012 primaries.

Yesterday, the Tea Party Express organization endorsed Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in his primary challenge to sitting Indiana Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar for the Republican nomination for the Senate. Lugar has been criticized by Tea Party activists for voting for the Wall Street bailouts and, reportedly, for his “attitude of Distain for the Tea Party movement.”

The Tea Party Express was behind four large Tea Party victories in the 2010 Republican primaries. Joe Miller in Alaska, Sharron Angle in Nevada, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Mike Lee in Utah were all backed by the Tea Party Express and won the Republican nominations for the Senate in their respective states.

Two of them, Miller and Lee, defeated sitting Republican senators for the nominations and another, O’Donnell, defeated a sitting Republican congressman running for the Senate nomination.
Tea Party activists have also set their sights on removing Speaker of the House John Boehner in the 2012 primaries.

Tea Party activist David Lewis announced in mid-September 2011 to the Cincinnati Enquirer that he intends to challenge Boehner in the Republican primary for Boehner’s 8th Congressional District seat in Ohio.
Boehner has been criticized for his support of a federal budget which provided funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the largest abortion providers in the nation.

jamielang1951

10-03-11, 06:32 AM

Unzipping the Male 'X Factor'
By L. Brent Bozell III
September 30, 2011

(http://www.cnsnews.com/source/73023/feed)Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of discussion about the way TV executives were grabbing ratings with female jiggle. "T and A," it was called. The jiggle continues, but now it's coming from somewhere else. So far, the hot new trend of the 2011 TV season is ... dangling male genitalia. That's full-frontal male nudity... hidden behind graphic effects.

CBS was thrilled the Sept. 19 premiere of its reboot of the sleazy "Two and a Half Men" drew gonzo ratings. After all the Charlie Sheen drama, how could his TV character's funeral not attract a crowd? But that wasn't enough for Chuck Lorre and Co. They had to debut actor Ashton Kutcher in the nude. First, Kutcher pulled the pixilated-nudie stunt Monday afternoon on the season debut of the Ellen DeGeneres show. Then they repeated it on CBS Monday night — twice. The opening gag of the season is that Kutcher's character has a stunning endowment.

On Fox's "The X Factor," the network is ripping off its own "American Idol" formula, complete with former "Idol" judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul. But the "X" could stand for X-rated content. On the Sept. 21 premiere, the second hour began with what should be called an obscene five-minute prank.

"Idol" always airs wacky and untalented oddballs in its audition phase, but has featured nothing like the contestant named Geo Godley at the "X Factor" auditions in Seattle. As he began performing his own ridiculous song called "I'm a Stud," he dropped his pants and displayed his male parts for the studio audience. Fox playfully covered his crotch with the show's red X logo.

If this were an actual, unwelcome surprise, Godley would have been escorted off the stage in seconds by security staff like the human garbage he is. Instead, Fox milked the entire stunt for five minutes. First, he started singing the stupidly awful song. Then he dropped his pants. Fox even showed a close-up with the X. We saw revolted crowd shots. We saw appalled judge takes. Then he pulled up his pants and kept singing.

Then he dropped his pants again. Paula Abdul acted sick to her stomach and cameras tracked her all the way to a bathroom. On and on ... and on it went. We got to hear Paula puking. Then the remaining judges, one by one, denounced the performance.

Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls said, "I'm a little traumatized." Soul music producer L.A. Reid said it was "offensive, disgusting, distasteful, upsetting." Cowell put on his angry face: "What the bloody hell was that? I came here and I put 5 million dollars on the line, and ... that appeared. I don't know what you were thinking."

Oh, come on. This was expected — and milked by Fox. The better question is: What was Fox thinking? The network that's supposed to be airing a show trying to attract a family audience with millions of children watching is expected to edit this garbage out of the show. Fox did the opposite. It exploited the scene to grab eyeballs and ad revenue.

The segment ended with Abdul returning to the stage to applause for her apparent disgust. She looked into the camera and said, "I just witnessed a nightmare on stage. It literally got me sick." So why is Fox sickening the public?

This is not atypical of Cowell's "X Factor" folks. A similar publicity ploy emerged in the U.K. The flasher in this case was a fan, reported The Sun newspaper: "The incident took place on Wednesday as the panel introduced the first episode of the new series, to be screened on ITV1 tomorrow. A massive 200,000 fans applied to be in the audience...and the flasher was one of only 700 who won tickets. ...The fan's shocking behavior was seen by several audience members sitting nearby — including children." Notice the flasher conveniently pulled this stunt right around the series premiere.

When the Parents Television Council filed a complaint against Fox with the FCC, a new line of defense emerged. The blog Reality Blurred claimed Godley wasn't even naked. An audience member reported he was wearing a leopard-print thong. The blogger also noted Godley wore a thong in his YouTube audition video, further removing the idea that anyone at Fox didn't know what kind of indigestion they were manufacturing for the folks at home.

So now Fox is elaborately faking male nudity? That's going to be their defense? They will do anything, including sending Abdul to fake-vomit over the fake-flasher.

The show's host, Steve Jones, told The Sun the real story about Godley: "I spoke to Simon backstage after and asked him what he thought. He said it was probably his favorite audition ever — and I agreed."

jamielang1951

10-03-11, 06:43 AM

CIC must support gay troops, says Obama

President criticizes silence by GOP presidential candidates after gay soldier booed at debate

By Julie Pace - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Oct 2, 2011 10:24:13 EDT
Marine Corps Times
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WASHINGTON — In a sharp rebuke of his Republican rivals, President Barack Obama said anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members.
A combative Obama criticized GOP presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.

“You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient,” Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: “We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens.”
Obama touted his administration’s efforts to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that “every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law.”
Obama has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving”, but for now he only supports civil union.

Obama’s position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they’re otherwise pleased with the president’s handling of issues important to them. Some of the president’s backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn’t publicly advocate for gay marriage.

“If he doesn’t, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.
The president’s position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.
Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said “it’s pretty clear where the trend lines are going.”

Obama aides have given no indication of where the president’s evolution on gay marriage stands. And some gay rights advocates believe political considerations could keep Obama from publicly backing gay marriage until after the November 2012 election.

Joe Sudbay, among a group of bloggers who met with Obama last year, said most gay rights advocates won’t vote against Obama if he stops short of backing gay marriage. But he said they may be less likely to volunteer their time and money to the campaign.

“He might not lose votes, but he won’t gain enthusiasm,” said Sudbay, deputy editor of AmericaBlog.com.
While gay rights advocates may not be getting everything they want from the president, they see little support for their cause among the field of Republican primary contenders.

Most top Republican presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, favor limiting marriage to unions between one man and one woman.
Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president for communications, said he expects Obama to eventually declare his support for gay marriage. And even if that doesn’t happen before next year’s election, he said the president’s other actions on gay rights issued should not be ignored.

“He really has been an incredible champion for the issues that are important to us,” Sainz said. “It’s fair to say we’ve made more progress in the past two years than we have in the past 40 years combined.”
In his remarks Saturday night, Obama implored the supportive crowd of 3,200 to stand with him in his re-election campaign, declaring: “This is a contest of values.”

jamielang1951

10-10-11, 04:35 PM

jamielang1951

11-05-11, 11:06 AM

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Former '60 Minutes' Commentator Andy Rooney Dies

NEW YORK – Andy Rooney so dreaded the day he had to end his signature "60 Minutes" commentaries about life's large and small absurdities that he kept going until he was 92 years old.

Even then, he said he wasn't retiring. Writers never retire. But his life after the end of "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney" was short: He died Friday night, according to CBS, only a month after delivering his 1,097th and final televised commentary.
Rooney had gone to the hospital for an undisclosed surgery, but major complications developed and he never recovered.

Rooney talked on "60 Minutes" about what was in the news, and his opinions occasionally got him in trouble. But he was just as likely to discuss the old clothes in his closet, why air travel had become unpleasant and why banks needed to have important sounding names.
He won one of his three Emmy Awards for a piece on whether there was a real Mrs. Smith who made Mrs. Smith's Pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.

"I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought," Rooney once said. "And they say, `Hey, yeah!' And they like that."
Looking for something new to punctuate its weekly broadcast, "60 Minutes" aired its first Rooney commentary on July 2, 1987. He complained about people who keep track of how many people die in car accidents on holiday weekends. In fact, he said, the Fourth of July is "one of the safest weekends of the year to be going someplace."

More than three decades later, he was railing about how unpleasant air travel had become. "Let's make a statement to the airlines just to get their attention," he said. "We'll pick a week next year and we'll all agree not to go anywhere for seven days."
In early 2009, as he was about to turn 90, Rooney looked ahead to President Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration with a look at past inaugurations. He told viewers that Calvin Coolidge's 1925 swearing-in was the first to be broadcast on radio, adding, "That may have been the most interesting thing Coolidge ever did."
For his final essay, Rooney said that he'd live a life luckier than most.

"I wish I could do this forever. I can't, though," he said.
He said he probably hadn't said anything on "60 Minutes" that most of his viewers didn't already know or hadn't thought. "That's what a writer does," he said. "A writer's job is to tell the truth." True to his occasional crotchety nature, though, he complained about being famous or bothered by fans. His last wish from fans: If you see him in a restaurant, just let him eat his dinner.

Rooney wrote for CBS stars such as Arthur Godfrey and Garry Moore during the 1950s and early 1960s, before settling into a partnership with newsman Harry Reasoner. With Rooney as the writer, they collaborated on several news specials, including an Emmy-winning report on misrepresentations of black people in movies (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/05/former-60-minutes-commentator-andy-rooney-dies/) and history books. He wrote "An Essay on Doors" in 1964, and continued with contemplations on bridges, chairs and women.
"The best work I ever did," Rooney said. "But nobody knows I can do it or ever did it. Nobody knows that I'm a writer and producer. They think I'm this guy on television."

He became such a part of the culture that comic Joe Piscopo satirized Rooney's squeaky voice with the refrain, "Did you ever wonder ..." For many years, "60 Minutes" improbably was the most popular program on television and a dose of Rooney was what people came to expect for a knowing smile on the night before they had to go back to work.
Rooney left CBS in 1970 when it refused to air his angry essay about the Vietnam War. He went on TV for the first time, reading the essay on PBS and winning a Writers Guild of America award for it.

He returned to CBS three years later as a writer and producer of specials. Notable among them was the 1975 "Mr. Rooney Goes to Washington," whose lighthearted but serious look at government won him a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.
His words sometimes landed Rooney in hot water. CBS suspended him for three months in 1990 for making racist remarks in an interview, which he denied. Gay rights groups were mad, during the AIDS epidemic, when Rooney mentioned homosexual unions in saying "many of the ills which kill us are self-induced." Indians protested when Rooney suggested Native

Americans who made money from casinos weren't doing enough to help their own people.
The Associated Press learned the danger of getting on Rooney's cranky side. In 1996, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore wrote a column suggesting it was time for Rooney to retire. On Rooney's next "60 Minutes" appearance, he invited those who disagreed to make their opinions known. The AP switchboard was flooded by some 7,000 phone calls and countless postcards were sent to the AP mail room.

"Your piece made me mad," Rooney told Moore two years later. "One of my major shortcomings -- I'm vindictive. I don't know why that is. Even in petty things in my life I tend to strike back. It's a lot more pleasurable a sensation than feeling threatened."He was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq after the George W. Bush administration launched it in 2002. After the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, he said he was chastened by its quick fall but didn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.
"I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," Rooney said at the time.
Fox News/Associated Press

Early life

Andrew Rooney was born in Albany, New York, the son of Walter Scott Rooney (1888–1959) and Ellinor (née Reynolds) Rooney (1886–1980). He attended The Albany Academy, and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in Upstate New York, where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity, until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in August 1941. Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army when, in 1942, he began writing for Stars and Stripes in London during World War II.

In February 1943, flying with the Eighth Air Force, he was one of six correspondents who flew on the first American bombing raid over Germany.Later, he was one of the first American journalists to visit the Nazi concentration camps near the end of World War II, and one of the first to write about them.

During a segment on Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, Rooney confessed that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a Pacifist. He recounted that what he saw in those concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.

In London, during the war,Mary Hemingway made an accusation of plagiarism against several fellow journalists, including Andy Rooney, although the accusations were proven false.
Rooney's 1995 memoir, My War, chronicles his war reporting. In addition to recounting firsthand several notable historical events and people (including the entry into Paris and the Nazi concentration camps), Rooney describes how it shaped his experience both as a writer and reporter.
Wikipedia

jamielang1951

11-07-11, 07:22 PM

Crime & Courts - US <br />
Police Won't File Charges Against Texas Judge Caught on Video Beating Daughter <br />
<br />
Published November 03, 2011 <br />
Associated Press <br />
<br />
A Texas family law judge whose...

jamielang1951

11-07-11, 07:43 PM

I apologize for being lax on keeping up with this thread on a daily basis. I have been dealing with medical issues that are sure to get worst.

For the same reason I have not applied for a position as a moderator.
As much as I love this site and want to help out as much as possible, I'm not sure I would be able to perform my duties.
I will continue to add content as long as I can.

Thank you
Jamie

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jamielang1951

11-07-11, 08:24 PM

Very cool "In The News".
Navy's Lethal 'Lego' Ship.

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jamielang1951

11-08-11, 02:30 AM

More to come soon.

jamielang1951

11-08-11, 04:50 AM

News for Seniors

Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health

People with High Blood Pressure Not So Good at Recognizing Emotion in Faces

Big part of senior population has high blood pressure and may have ‘emotional dampening’

Nov. 3, 2011 – People with high blood pressure, and that’s a big hunk of the senior citizen population, have less ability than others to recognize anger, fearful, sad and happy faces. They are just not good at recognizing emotional content in faces and texts.
This recently published study by Clemson University psychology professor James A. McCubbin and colleagues has shown that people with higher blood pressure have reduced ability to recognize angry, fearful, sad and happy faces and text passages.

It’s like living in a world of email without smiley faces,” McCubbin said. “We put smiley faces in emails to show when we are just kidding. Otherwise some people may misinterpret our humor and get angry.”

Some people have what McCubbin calls “emotional dampening” that may cause them to respond inappropriately to anger or other emotions in others.
“For example, if your work supervisor is angry, you may mistakenly believe that he or she is just kidding,” McCubbin said.

“This can lead to miscommunication, poor job performance and increased psychosocial distress.”
In complex social situations like work settings, people rely on facial expressions and verbal emotional cues to interact with others.
“If you have emotional dampening, you may distrust others because you cannot read emotional meaning in their face or their verbal communications,” he said.

“You may even take more risks because you cannot fully appraise threats in the environment.”
McCubbin said the link between dampening of emotions and blood pressure is believed to be involved in the development of hypertension and risk for coronary heart disease, the biggest killer of both men and women in the U.S. Emotional dampening also may be involved in disorders of emotion regulation, such as bipolar disorders and depression.
His theory of emotional dampening also applies to positive emotions.

“Dampening of positive emotions may rob one of the restorative benefits of close personal relations, vacations and hobbies,“ he said.
McCubbin’s study, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/), was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging, both parts of the National Institutes of Health.

The journal article was co-authored by Marcellus M. Merritt of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee psychology department; John J. Sollers III if the psychological medicine department at the University of Auckland; Dr. Michele K. Evans of the Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute on Aging; Alan B. Zonderman, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging; Dr. Richard D. Lane of the psychiatry department, University of Arizona; and Julian F. Thayer of the Ohio State University psychology department.

jamielang1951

11-08-11, 04:57 PM

Boxing great Joe Frazier dies after cancer fight.
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PHILADELPHIA – He beat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century, battled him nearly to the death in the Thrilla in Manila. Then Joe Frazier spent the rest of his life trying to fight his way out of Ali's shadow.
That was one fight Frazier never could win.

He was once a heavyweight champion, and a great one at that. Ali would say as much after Frazier knocked him down in the 15th round en route to becoming the first man to beat Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971.
But he bore the burden of being Ali's foil, and he paid the price. Bitter for years about the taunts his former nemesis once threw his way, Frazier only in recent times came to terms with what happened in the past and said he had forgiven Ali for everything he said.
Frazier, who died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer at the age of 67, will forever be linked to Ali. But no one in boxing would ever dream of anointing Ali as The Greatest unless he, too, was linked to Smokin' Joe.

"I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration," Ali said in a statement. "My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones."
They fought three times, twice in the heart of New York City and once in the morning in a steamy arena in the Philippines. They went 41 rounds together, with neither giving an inch and both giving it their all.

In their last fight in Manila in 1975, they traded punches with a fervor that seemed unimaginable among heavyweights. Frazier gave almost as good as he got for 14 rounds, then had to be held back by trainer Eddie Futch as he tried to go out for the final round, unable to see.

"Closest thing to dying that I know of," Ali said afterward.
Ali was as merciless with Frazier out of the ring as he was inside it. He called him a gorilla, and mocked him as an Uncle Tom. But he respected him as a fighter, especially after Frazier won a decision to defend his heavyweight title against the then-unbeaten Ali in a fight that was so big Frank Sinatra was shooting pictures at ringside and both fighters earned an astonishing $2.5 million.

The night at the Garden 40 years ago remained fresh in Frazier's mind as he talked about his life, career and relationship with Ali a few months before he died.
"I can't go nowhere where it's not mentioned," he told The Associated Press. "That was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life."
Bob Arum, who once promoted Ali, said he was saddened by Frazier's passing.
"He was such an inspirational guy. A decent guy. A man of his word," Arum said. "I'm torn up by Joe dying at this relatively young age. I can't say enough about Joe."
Frazier's death was announced in a statement by his family, who asked to be able to grieve privately and said they would announce "our father's homecoming celebration" as soon as possible.

Manny Pacquiao learned of it shortly after he arrived in Las Vegas for his fight Saturday night with Juan Manuel Marquez. Like Frazier in his prime, Pacquiao has a powerful left hook that he has used in his remarkable run to stardom.
"Boxing lost a great champion, and the sport lost a great ambassador," Pacquiao said.
Don King, who promoted the Thrilla in Manila, was described by a spokesman as too upset to talk about Frazier's death.

Though slowed in his later years and his speech slurred by the toll of punches taken in the ring, Frazier was still active on the autograph circuit in the months before he died. In September he went to Las Vegas, where he signed autographs in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel-casino shortly before Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s fight against Victor Ortiz.
An old friend, Gene Kilroy, visited with him and watched Frazier work the crowd.

"He was so nice to everybody," Kilroy said. "He would say to each of them, 'Joe Frazier, sharp as a razor, what's your name?'"
Frazier was small for a heavyweight, weighing just 205 pounds when he won the title by stopping Jimmy Ellis in the fifth round of their 1970 fight at Madison Square Garden. But he fought every minute of every round going forward behind a vicious left hook, and there were few fighters who could withstand his constant pressure.

His reign as heavyweight champion lasted only four fights — including the win over Ali — before he ran into an even more fearsome slugger than himself. George Foreman responded to Frazier's constant attack by dropping him three times in the first round and three more in the second before their 1973 fight in Jamaica was waved to a close and the world had a new heavyweight champion.

Two fights later, he met Ali in a rematch of their first fight, only this time the outcome was different. Ali won a 12-round decision, and later that year stopped George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire.
There had to be a third fight, though, and what a fight it was. With Ali's heavyweight title at stake, the two met in Manila in a fight that will long be seared in boxing history. Frazier went after Ali round after round, landing his left hook with regularity as he made Ali backpedal around the ring. But Ali responded with left jabs and right hands that found their mark again and again. Even the intense heat inside the arena couldn't stop the two as they fought every minute of every round with neither willing to concede the other one second of the round.

"They told me Joe Frazier was through," Ali told Frazier at one point during the fight.
"They lied," Frazier said, before hitting Ali with a left hook.
Finally, though, Frazier simply couldn't see and Futch would not let him go out for the 15th round. Ali won the fight while on his stool, exhausted and contemplating himself whether to go on.
It was one of the greatest fights ever, but it took a toll. Frazier would fight only two more times, getting knocked out in a rematch with Foreman eight months later before coming back in 1981 for an ill advised fight with Jumbo Cummings.

"They should have both retired after the Manila fight," former AP boxing writer Ed Schuyler Jr. said. "They left every bit of talent they had in the ring that day."
Born in Beaufort, S.C., on Jan 12, 1944, Frazier took up boxing early after watching weekly fights on the black and white television on his family's small farm. He was a top amateur for several years, and became the only American fighter to win a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo despite fighting in the final bout with an injured left thumb.
"Joe Frazier should be remembered as one of the greatest fighters of all time and a real man," Arum told the AP in a telephone interview Monday night. "He's a guy that stood up for himself. He didn't compromise and always gave 100 percent in the ring. There was never a fight in the ring where Joe didn't give 100 percent."

After turning pro in 1965, Frazier quickly became known for his punching power, stopping his first 11 opponents. Within three years he was fighting world-class opposition and, in 1970, beat Ellis to win the heavyweight title that he would hold for more than two years.
A woman who answered Ellis' phone in Kentucky said the former champion suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, but she wanted to pass along the family's condolences.
In Philadelphia, a fellow Philadelphia fighter, longtime middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins, said Frazier was so big in the city that he should have his own statue, like the fictional Rocky character.

"I saw him at one of my car car washes a few weeks ago. He was in a car, just hollering at us, 'They're trying to get me!' That was his, hi," Hopkins said. "I'm glad I got to see him in the last couple of months. At the end of the day, I respect the man. I believe at the end of his life, he was fighting to get that respect."
It was his fights with Ali that would define Frazier. Though Ali was gracious in defeat in the first fight, he was as vicious with his words as he was with his punches in promoting all three fights — and he never missed a chance to get a jab in at Frazier.
Frazier, who in his later years would have financial trouble and end up running a gym in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia, took the jabs personally. He felt Ali made fun of him by calling him names and said things that were not true just to get under his skin. Those feelings were only magnified as Ali went from being an icon in the ring to one of the most beloved people in the world.

After a trembling Ali lit the Olympic torch in 1996 in Atlanta, Frazier was asked by a reporter what he thought about it.
"They should have thrown him in," Frazier responded.
He mellowed, though, in recent years, preferring to remember the good from his fights with Ali rather than the bad. Just before the 40th anniversary of his win over Ali earlier this year — a day Frazier celebrated with parties in New York — he said he no longer felt any bitterness toward Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's Syndrom and is mostly mute.
"I forgive him," Frazier. "He's in a bad way."

jamielang1951

11-10-11, 07:21 PM

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In The News from the VFW.

Friends,

This Veterans Day, be part of “The Biggest Haircut Day of the Year” and help America’s heroes call home.

Our patriotic friends at Sport Clips will donate $1 to VFW for every haircut given at more than 800 locations nationwide on November 11!

The donation will benefit VFW Operation Uplink™ (http://heroes.vfw.org/site/R?i=inRsBYubCVd9C0seAtorpw), the VFW program that provides free phone time to deployed troops.
Find a Sport Clips store near you (http://heroes.vfw.org/site/R?i=oiSQaghZqNBPHu9Yp0lgYQ).
This is the fifth year Sport Clips has hosted a Veterans Day campaign. Their past efforts have provided millions of free phone minutes to America’s defenders. With your help, Sport Clips can provide millions more.

jamielang1951

11-10-11, 08:17 PM

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http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p298/jamielang1951/Forum%20Postings/EatFree2.jpg

jamielang1951

11-10-11, 08:27 PM

News from the National World War II Museum.

Thank You for My Freedom

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our nation’s military: men and women who travel far from the comforts of home, away from friends and family, missing holidays, birthdays and anniversaries — all to protect our right to be free.

They have earned our thanks.
Go to MyVeteransDay.org (http://myveteransday.org/) and join The National WWII Museum as we raise our voices together to say “thank you for my freedom.” Our goal is to garner a million “thank yous” by Veterans Day on November 11. Add your thank you and encourage your friends and family to do so via
Veterans Day at the Museum

On Veterans Day, November 11, 2011, all veterans will receive free admission to the Museum galleries, and we are hosting a Celebration of Heroes to recognize and honor the service of all veterans in attendance. Registration is not required, however WWII veterans can RSVP to ensure seating (http://www.nationalww2museum.org/calendar/celebration-of-heroes.html).

jamielang1951

11-10-11, 08:42 PM

This is the palindrome Veterans Day -- 11/11/11 -- which may explain why so many places are offering discounts and freebies. Hopefully, the real reason is they want to show their support for our...

jamielang1951

11-11-11, 05:10 PM

Bump

jamielang1951

11-12-11, 06:29 AM

Smuggled Libyan Weapons Raise Al Qaeda Fears

TRIPOLI, Libya – Weapons smuggled from Libya after the collapse of Muammar Qaddafi's government are flowing through the surrounding region, the president of neighboring Niger said, a development that threatens to destabilize a swath of the continent already struggling against ethnic unrest and a regional branch of Al Qaeda.

"Arms were stolen in Libya and are being disseminated all over the region," Niger's president Mahamadou Issoufou said following a meeting with South African president Jacob Zuma. "Saharan countries are facing terrorist threats, arms and criminal trafficking. The Libya crisis is amplifying those crises."

Issoufou's remarks came days after Niger's military clashed with arms smugglers traveling from Libya. Six smugglers and one soldier died in Sunday's battle, he said.
Niger's foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum said the battle was the fourth such incident since February, the beginning of the uprising in Libya that resulted in Qaddafi's overthrow and the widespread looting of his vast armories.

The stretch of desert between Libya and West Africa already ranks among the world's principal smuggling routes, according to officials and locals. It is maintained by militants from the local Tuareg tribe who help to traffic arms, Europe-bound cocaine from Colombia, cigarettes and even household merchandise like diapers, these people say, over the ancient caravan route.

The inflow of missiles "adds a whole level to the arsenal," Peter Pham of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, said. "The one area where governments that are trying to assert control of this large, ungoverned space have had the advantage is on air superiority. If that's taken away, it's very difficult to control the ground."

jamielang1951

11-12-11, 10:44 AM

Internet Neutrality Debate

Nov 10, 2011
Chris Stirewalt discusses internet neutrality with FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1268589933001&w=466&h=263"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com (http://video.foxnews.com)</noscript>

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Crunch Time to Stop the FCC's Internet Takeover

Opinion
By Phil Kerpen
Published November 08, 2011
Fox News.com

This week, the United States Senate is expected to finally vote on overturning the most brazen of all of the Obama administration’s regulatory power grabs. Now, to be the most brazen is tough in light of the EPA’s regulatory onslaught and the NLRB’s effort to tell companies what states they can locate in. But the FCC takes the cake, because their astonishing net neutrality power grab is taking place despite nearly zero support from Congress, an emphatic federal court decision telling them they have no relevant jurisdiction, and a 2010 election in which all 95 candidates who campaigned on the issue lost. A perfect record of failure. But if the Senate fails to stop the FCC this week, they might get away with it.

On December 21, 2010, President Obama’s Feceral Communications commission, (FCC) fittingly chose the darkest day of the year to ignore Congress, the courts, the American people, and common sense. They voted to unravel a decade of remarkably successful hands-off Internet policy and impose potentially devastating regulations on the previously free market Internet.

Network neutrality sounds nice. Originally it was the idea that all of the traffic – the zeroes and ones – that travel over the networks that comprise the Internet should be treated exactly the same way. But engineers cried foul, because the routers that make the Internet work are highly sophisticated, with millions of lines of code that necessarily prioritize different types of traffic. Streaming video can’t tolerate the delays of a few seconds that, they say, and e-mail would not be affected by at all.

So network neutrality morphed into something even more dangerous – empowering FCC bureaucrats to play traffic cops, micro-managing networks and deciding which traffic can or can’t be prioritized. The result would be a precipitous decline in private investment because the companies that spend billions of dollars building networks could no longer be certain how the FCC bureaucrats would allow those networks to be used.

A recent study from NYU found that hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost. The tech sector – the brightest spot in our economy – would be burdened by federal regulations the way the rest of the economy has been.
The new leadership in the House of Representatives stepped up early to meet the challenge. Speaker Boehner has made overturning the net neutrality order a priority, as has Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden. On April 8, 2011 – the House used the Congressional Review Act to pass a resolution that would overturn the net neutrality order. It was a solid 240 to 179 vote.

Now, just days before the network neutrality order takes effect on November 20, the Senate is poised to vote on blocking it. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, (R-Texas) the lead sponsor of S.J.Res.6, the vehicle for stopping this power grab, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.) have brilliantly used the procedural tools available to them to force a Senate floor vote that cannot be filibustered. All 47 Republicans are likely to vote yes, with Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine – who supports network neutrality – signing on as a co-sponsor because she objects to the FCC attempting an end-run around Congress.

The question now is whether just four Democrats will vote to stop this power grab, and force Obama to use the veto pen and take personal responsibility if he insists on regulating the Internet.
This is crunch time. If the FCC can get away with this, then federal bureaucrats can disregard the Congress and the courts and do almost anything they want. Our representative form of government is at stake. If you’re ever going to contact your senator about a vote, please do it now.

Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of “Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him.”
__________________________________________________ __________________

Follow up story

Senate Rejects GOP Bid to Overturn 'Net Neutrality' Internet Rules
Fox News

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats have turned back a Republican effort to repeal federal rules designed to prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against those who send content and other services over their networks.

Republicans argued that "net neutrality" rules announced by the Federal Communications Commission last December were another example of federal regulatory overreach that would stifle Internet investment and innovation.

But Democrats said repealing the FCC rules would imperil openness and freedom on the Internet. The White House had issued a veto threat against the GOP-backed legislation.

The rules, slated to go into effect on Nov. 20, prevent the phone and cable companies that control the Internet's pipelines from restricting what their customers do online or from blocking competing services.

Fox News

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Senate Fails to Stop FCC Power Grab

AFP VP Policy Phil Kerpen issued the following statement on today's 46-52 Senate vote on S.J. Res. 6:

On a 46-52 party line vote today, the Senate failed to stop the FCC's net neutrality power grab, the first government regulation of broadband Internet access in a decade. This regulation will now take effect on November 20, undermining investment and job creation and setting the stage for more pervasive Internet regulation in the future. The order is being challenged in court, however, and is likely to be struck down.

That's because the FCC did this with no legal authority, as the DC Circuit already found recently in Comcast v. FCC. Congress never passed legislation authorizing these regulations, and in fact all 95 candidates who campaigned on the idea last year lost. Perfect record of failure.
When the court does strike down this lawless order, the 52 senators who voted to abdicate their responsibility as the legitimate legislative branch of government will look quite foolish.

Actually, I think they already do.