Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A new approach to Cuba
U.S. vacates Baghdad palace ahead of handover
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. officials withdrew on Wednesday from the vast Saddam Hussein-era palace they have occupied in Baghdad since 2003, a sign of the historic change of power when their troops come under Iraqi authority at midnight.
Mortgage applications hit five-year high
Mortgage applications in the U.S. last week reached a five-year high as borrowing costs slid.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a loan rose to 1,245.7, the highest level since 2003, from the prior week’s 1,245.4. The group’s purchase gauge climbed 1.4 percent and the refinancing measure fell 0.4 percent.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
GM, GMAC seek to jump-start car loans after bailout
GMAC, which has long been the financial arm of General Motors, said it would modify its credit criteria two months after placing tight restrictions on loans to only the most creditworthy borrowers.
I always wonder what genius in the board room reminds bankers they don't make money unless they make loans.
Pakistan shuts down NATO supply line through the Khyber Pass
NATO's vital supply link through the Northwest Frontier Province has been shut down as the Pakistani military launched an operation to clear the Taliban from the area.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Hand Of Hope
The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.
The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.
During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed
hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile
The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the
finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'
Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.'Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.
Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible....and hey, pass it on. The world needs to see this one!
Don't tell me our God isn't an awesome God
Life at New Animal Farm Won't Be All That Bad
By July, we will come to feel that 2009 will be one of the most upbeat years in our history, as that used to be the news media begins to get behind America and report on all the mysteriously wonderful things that are suddenly taking place.
All the campaign talk of the Great Depression, a Vietnam-like war, and our shredded Constitution will now thankfully subside as the Obama administration assumes office and solves problems with conciliation, dialogue, and multilateral wisdom, rather than shrillness, unilateralism, preemption, and my-way-or-the-highway dogmatism. We will hear that, by historical levels, unemployment is still not that bad, that GDP growth is not historically all that low, and that deficits, inflation, interest rates, and housing starts are all within manageable parameters. "Depression" will transmogrify into "recession" which in turn by July will be a "downturn" and by year next an "upswing" on its way to boom times.
Taliban suicide bombers strike in Pakistan, Afghanistan
US military video footage of the suicide attack in Khost. The suicide bomber weaves through the barriers and detonates just as a line of school children passes.
Israeli assault targets symbols of Hamas power
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel's air force obliterated symbols of Hamas power on the third day of its Gaza assault today, striking next to the Hamas premier's home, devastating a security compound and flattening a building at a university linked to the Islamic group.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Year in Review - Dave Barry
...Barack Obama, in a historic triumph, is elected the nation's first black president since the second season of "24," setting off an ecstatically joyful and boisterous all-night celebration that at times threatens to spill out of the New York Times newsroom. Obama, following through on his promise to bring change to Washington, quickly begins assembling an administration consisting of a diverse group of renegade outsiders, ranging all the way from lawyers who attended Ivy League schools and then worked in the Clinton administration to lawyers who attended entirely different Ivy league schools and then worked in the Clinton administration, to Hillary Clinton...
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Hero: Sgt. Monica Brown
Then-Spc Monica Brown, recognized for her gallant actions during combat in Afghanistan in 2007, is the second female soldier since World War II to receive a Silver Star, the third highest award given for valor in enemy action. She received the medal from Vice President Richard B. Cheney during a ceremony March 20.
It was dusk on April 25, 2007, when Brown, a medic from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, was on a routine security patrol along the rolling, rocky plains of the isolated Jani Khail district in Afghanistan’s Paktika province when insurgents attacked her convoy.
“We’d been out on the mission for a couple of days,” said Brown, who at the time was attached to the brigade’s 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment’s Troop C. “We had just turned into a wadi (empty river bed) when our gunner yelled at us that the vehicle behind us had hit an (improvised explosive device).” The soldiers looked out of their windows in time to see one of the struck vehicle’s tires flying through the field next to them. Brown had just opened her door to see what was going on when the attack began.
“I only saw the smoke from the vehicle when suddenly we started taking small-arms fire from all around us,” she said. “Our gunner starting firing back, and my platoon sergeant yelled, ‘Doc! Let’s go.’
Brown and her platoon sergeant, Staff Sgt. Jose Santos, exited their vehicle, and while under fire, ran the few hundred meters to the site of the downed Humvee. “Everyone was already out of the burning vehicle,” she said. “But even before I got there, I could tell that two of them were injured very seriously.”
In fact, all five of the passengers who had stumbled out were burned and cut. Two soldiers suffered life-threatening injuries. With help from two less-injured vehicle crewmen, Sgt. Zachary Tellier and Spc. Jack Bodani, Brown moved the immobile soldiers to a relatively safe distance from the burning Humvee.
“There was pretty heavy incoming fire at this point,” she said. “Rounds were literally missing her by inches,” said Bodani, who provided suppressive fire as Brown aided the casualties. “We needed to get away from there.”
Attempting to provide proper medical care under the heavy fire became impossible, especially when the attackers stepped up efforts to kill the soldiers.
“Another vehicle had just maneuvered to our position to shield us from the rounds now exploding in the fire from the Humvee behind us,” Brown said. “Somewhere in the mix, we started taking mortar rounds. It became a huge commotion, but all I could let myself think about were my patients.”
With the other vehicles spread out in a crescent formation, Brown and her casualties were stuck with nowhere to go. Suddenly, Santos arrived with one of the unit’s vehicles and backed it up to their position, and Brown began loading the wounded soldiers inside.
“We took off to a more secure location several hundred meters away, where we were able to call in the (medical evacuation mission),” Brown said. She then directed other combat-life-saver-qualified soldiers to help by holding intravenous bags and assisting her in preparing the casualties for evacuation.
After what seemed like an eternity, Brown said, the attackers finally began retreating, and she was able to perform more thorough aid procedures before the helicopter finally arrived to transport the casualties to safety.
Two hours after the initial attack, everything was over. In the darkness, Brown recalled standing in a field, knee-deep in grass, her only source of light coming from her red head-light, trying to piece together the events that had just taken place.
“Looking back, it was just a blur of noise and movement,” the Lake Jackson, Texas, native said. “What just happened? Did I do everything right? It was a hard thing to think about.”
Before joining the Army at the age of 17, the bright-eyed young woman said she never pictured herself being in a situation like this. Originally wanting to be an X-ray technician, she changed her mind when she realized that by becoming a medic, she’d be in the best place to help people.
“At first, I didn’t think I could do it,” she said. “I was actually afraid of blood. When I saw my first airway-opening operation, I threw up.” She quickly adjusted to her job and received additional training both before and during her deployment to Afghanistan.
“I realized that everything I had done during the attack was just rote memory,” she said. “Kudos to my chain of command for that. I know with training, like I was given, any medic would have done the same in my position.”
“To say she handled herself well would be an understatement,” said Bodani, who quickly recovered from his injuries and immediately returned to work. “It was amazing to see her keep completely calm and take care of our guys with all that going on around her. Of all the medics we’ve had with us throughout the year, she was the one I trusted the most.”
Earning trust with a combat unit is not something easily earned, said Army Capt. Todd Book, Troop C’s commander at the time of the attack, but it was something Brown had taken upon herself to prove long before the Jani Khail ambush.
“Our regular medic was on leave at the time,” Book said. “We had other medics to choose from, but Brown had shown us that she was more technically proficient than any of her peers.”
Having people call her “Doc” means a lot to Brown because of the trust it engenders. “When people I’ve treated come back to me later and tell me the difference I was able to make in their life is the best part of this job,” she said.
During her rest and recuperation leave in May, Brown visited Spc. Larry Spray, one of the severely injured soldiers from the burning Humvee, in the hospital and met his mother.
“I almost cried,” Brown said. “Spray’s mother was so thankful, and she hugged me. That was the moment that made me feel the best about what I did.”
Even though she felt proud when she was informed that she was going to receive a Silver Star, she considers her actions to be the result of effort put into her by everyone she’s worked for.
“While I’m not scared to get my hands dirty, I have to say that I never fully became a medic until I came over here and did it first-hand,” she said. “I just reacted when the time came.”
Due to her quick and selfless actions, both Smith and Spray survived their injuries.
The Future Of Health Care
It's not just automakers, finance firms and state coffers that stand to gain from government loans and stimulus spending. If President-elect Obama is able to pass a stimulus package early next year, rumored to cost $850 billion, it could be a boon for the health care industry as well.
States Reach for A Lifeline
As the economy sputters and tax revenue plummets, governors and mayors across the United States are lining up to ask President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress for hundreds of billions of dollars to plug holes in their budgets, arguing that services will suffer and joblessness will rise if Washington does not come to the rescue.
President elect DuckNCover could not be reached for comment
Pakistan deploys troops from tribal areas to the Indian border
As tensions rise between India and Pakistan over last month's terror assault in Mumbai, Pakistan is withdrawing troops from the tribal areas and redeploying to the eastern border with India.
We get much more international crises and President HopeNchange will become president duckNcover
Iceland ‘Like Chernobyl’ as Meltdown Shows Anger Can Boil Over
“Pay your own debts,” they yelled as they visited one bank office after another in Iceland’s capital. “Don’t make the children pay.”
NY Times: We Need The Gas Tax
Just keep repeating, it was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare...when will these guys go out of business?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Huffington vs. Capitalism - David Harsanyi, Denver Post
Celebrated progressive doyenne Arianna Huffington recently penned a brilliantly absurd piece, titled "Laissez-Faire Capitalism Should Be as Dead as Soviet Communism."
Huffington argues, in effect, that communism and "laissez-faire" (minimal-intervention) capitalism are equivalent ideological extremes.
Sure, one of these philosophies spurred the murder and misery of hundreds of millions worldwide; the other promotes liberty, innovation and welcomes foreigners to lounge around in expansive mansions paid for by their former oil baron husbands.
So we can agree; there is no such thing as a flawless ideology.
Pakistan moves troops toward Indian border
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan began moving thousands of troops to the Indian border Friday, intelligence officials said, sharply raising tensions triggered by the Mumbai terror attacks.
Boom In U.S. Production Drives Down Natural Gas Prices
Natural gas prices have fallen dramatically this year much like crude prices, but shrinking demand is only one culprit. The other is a gas glut from a boom in U.S. production.
"The industry is suffering from its own success in some respects," said Karr Ingham, head of Ingham Economic Reporting in Amarillo. "We’ve added a lot of natural gas production in Texas and elsewhere just because of high prices."
Bush's health success: More community clinics
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Although the number of uninsured and the cost of coverage have ballooned under his watch, President Bush leaves office with a health care legacy in bricks and mortar: He has doubled federal financing for community health centers, enabling the creation or expansion of 1,297 clinics in medically underserved areas.
CIA Wins Friends In A Stiffer Afghanistan
The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.
Four blue pills. Viagra.
"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.
A New New Deal?
Progressives shouldn't see this fight as a spectator sport. The New Deal we remember from Roosevelt--Social Security, the Wagner Act, the forty-hour week and fair labor standards--didn't take shape in his first 100 days or in his first year in office. It came only as Roosevelt was preparing for re-election and dealing with a broad populist challenge--a growing and militant labor movement, Huey Long, the Townsendites and more. The threat they posed helped spur Roosevelt and persuade legislators to move on what became known as the second New Deal. Progressives should be pushing hard now, girding ourselves for the battle royal that can no longer be avoided.
Amazon says 2008 holiday season was 'best ever'
SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon.com Inc. said Friday that the 2008 holiday season was the online retailer's "best ever," with more than 6.3 million items ordered and 5.6 million units shipped during its peak day on Dec. 15.
Punjabi Taliban group takes credit for Lahore bombing
A little-known Taliban commander based in North Waziristan claimed credit for the Dec. 24 bombing in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. The claim contradicts a report from Pakistani intelligence agencies, which attempted to blame Indian intelligence for the attack.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
States set to impose bevy of new taxes
Monday, December 22, 2008
Oil prices fall with few signs of economic rebound
Oil prices fell below $42 a barrel Monday as reports from manufacturers like Toyota and Caterpillar pointed to a worsening global economic climate and serious deterioration in energy demand.
This Day In History
On this day in 1956, a baby gorilla named Colo enters the world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, becoming the first-ever gorilla born in captivity.... MORE >
Myths and Facts About the Real Bush Record
As the year draws to an end and President Bush enters his final month in office, there is much commentary about the Administration's record over the past eight years. Unsurprisingly, many of these stories assail and distort the President's record and recycle myths and unfounded allegations that have been leveled for the better part of his two terms. Historical accuracy requires a response to the litany of attacks leveled against President Bush, and while there's not enough space to respond to all of them, here are five of the most egregious:
Myth 1: The last eight years were awful for most Americans economically and President Bush's deregulatory policies caused the current financial crisis.
Reality:
President Bush's time in office is ending as it began, with our economy under stress. The recession President Bush inherited as he entered office ran through the attacks of September 11, 2001, but during the recovery that followed, and due in no small part to the tax relief President Bush worked with Congress to provide, this country experienced its longest run of uninterrupted job growth - 52 straight months, with 8.3 million jobs created.
This reflected six consecutive years of economic growth from the Fourth Quarter of 2001 until the Fourth Quarter of 2007. From 2000 to 2007, real GDP grew by more than 17 percent, a remarkable gain of nearly 2.1 trillion dollars. This growth was driven in part by increased labor productivity gains that have averaged 2.5 percent annually since 2001, a rate that exceeds the averages of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. In the same period, real after-tax income per capita increased by more than 11 percent, and there was a 4.7 percent increase in the number of new businesses formed. The current economic challenges, which the President and his Administration have responded to aggressively, threaten to reverse some of these gains - but the gains cannot be denied.
As for the current crisis, the President and his economic team have taken unprecedented actions to stabilize the financial sector and avert a collapse. While there are a number of causes of the housing and credit crises that are at the root of our current economic troubles, deregulation by the Bush Administration is simply not one of them. In fact, one of the circumstances that contributed to the crisis was the failure of the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which President Bush long tried to subject to greater regulation. In April 2001, three months after taking office, the President warned in his first budget that the size of the two GSEs were a "potential problem" that "could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity." In 2003, the Administration began calling for a new GSE regulator, and over the next five years, the Administration continued to call for GSE reform only to be accused by Democrats in Congress of creating artificial fears and advocating for ill-advised proposals. By the time Congress finally acted in 2008 to provide the oversight the President requested, it was too late to prevent systemic consequences. Had the Administration's initial reform proposals been adopted, some of today's turmoil in our financial markets may have been averted.
Myth 2: President Bush's tax cuts only benefitted the wealthy and were paid for by sacrificing investments in health care and education.
Reality:
There are not 116 million "wealthy Americans," but that's how many taxpayers benefited from the President's tax relief. The across-the-board tax cuts provided tax relief to every American who pays income taxes, created a new bottom 10 percent bracket rate, doubled the child tax credit to $1,000, and actually increased the share of the Federal income tax burden paid by the top 10 percent of individual earners from 67 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2005. Furthermore, this Administration removed 13 million low-income earners from the income tax rolls completely.
The economic growth spurred by tax relief also spurred growth in Federal tax receipts. In fact, the Federal Treasury realized the largest three-year increase of revenue in 26 years, and tax receipts grew more than $542 billion between 2000 and 2007. And yes, much of that money went to investments in health care and education.
President Bush provided more than 40 million Americans with better access to prescription drugs by creating the market-based Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. And it is one of the rare government programs that actually costs less than expected. Projected overall program spending between 2004 and 2013 is approximately $240 billion lower, nearly 38 percent, than originally estimated, thanks to the market-oriented principles included at President Bush's insistence.
Despite the heated rhetoric over children's health insurance (S-CHIP) legislation last year, estimates from a 2007 Federal survey show that the number of uninsured children under the age of 18 actually declined by 800,000 from 2001 to 2007. From 2007 to 2008, the number of people covered by affordable and portable Health Savings Account-eligible plans increased 35 percent. Additionally, since President Bush took office, more than 1,200 community health centers have opened or expanded nationwide, which has helped provide treatment to nearly 17 million people.
Federal spending on education has increased nearly 40 percent under President Bush. Additionally, Pell Grant funding nearly doubled during the Administration, which is expected to help more than 5.5 million students attend college in the 2008-09 school year, 1.2 million more students than were assisted by Pell Grants in the 2001-02 school year. This financial aid assistance also helps account for the fact that 66 percent of high school graduates from the class of 2006 enrolled in colleges, compared to 63 percent in 2000.
Perhaps more importantly, the President's No Child Left Behind Act has delivered tangible results to students. Since the law was enacted, fourth-grade students have achieved their highest reading and math scores on record, eighth-grade students have achieved their highest math scores on record, and African-American and Hispanic students have posted all-time high scores in a number of categories, narrowing the gap between minority students and white students.
Myth 3: The President's "go it alone" foreign policy ruined America's standing in the world.
Reality:
Rarely can one see revisionist history occurring in the present, but this charge is nothing short of that. The United States acted with a multilateral coalition of partner nations to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq after he failed to comply with the will of the international community, including numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions. To ignore this fact is not only a distortion of history, but it is also an insult to the service members of our coalition partners who sacrificed their lives to contribute to the success we are now witnessing in Iraq. And in Afghanistan, approximately forty countries are currently deployed with American forces, including every one of our NATO allies.
The President also created a worldwide coalition of more than 90 nations to combat terrorist networks by sharing information, drying up their financing, and bringing their leaders to justice. To date, we have captured or killed hundreds of al-Qaeda leaders and operatives with the help of partner nations. Furthermore, the Administration established the Proliferation Security Initiative, which now includes more than 90 nations, and other multilateral coalitions to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The President successfully pushed for expanding NATO membership, generated international pressure on Iran to stop it from developing nuclear weapons, and organized the Six-Party Talks, which have resulted in North Korea committing to give up its nuclear weapons and abandon its nuclear programs. Verifying North Korea's commitment will be a challenge, but at the most recent Six-Party Talks meeting, there was strong consensus among the five parties that North Korea must submit to a comprehensive verification regime that accords with international standards.
U.S. ties in Asia have been strengthened over the past eight years, and the Administration has built strong relationships with China, Japan, and South Korea, among others. We have signed an historic civilian nuclear power agreement with India, reflecting a fundamental change in our relationship. Pro-American leaders have been elected in Germany, France, and Italy. Eastern European countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, and Kosovo treasure their relationships with the United States, and no president has done more to improve health and security in the nations of Africa. We have also strengthened cooperation with Latin America, including initiatives with Brazil on biofuels and with Mexico and Central America on fighting organized crime. Finally, when the President took office, America had trade agreements in force with only three countries, versus 14 today - with three additional agreements approved by Congress but not yet in force and agreements with three countries that are awaiting Congressional approval.
Myth 4: The war in Iraq caused us to "take our eye off the ball" in Afghanistan and with al Qaeda.
Reality:
Iraq and Afghanistan are two fronts in the same war, and while the success of the surge in Iraq has been visible, we have also had a quiet surge in Afghanistan. The U.S. has continuously and aggressively fought side-by-side with Afghans and our allies to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The United States has provided nearly $32 billion for security, political, and economic development assistance and the international community has provided more than $55 billion to Afghanistan since 2001.
An additional U.S. Marine battalion deployed to Afghanistan in November and they will be followed by an Army combat brigade of about 3,400 troops in early 2009. U.S. forces now total approximately 31,000, and are joined by nearly as many coalition troops. The United States and our allies are working with Afghanistan to help it nearly double the size of the Afghan National Army over the next five years, from 79,000 now trained to 134,000 in 2014.
We have also deployed Provincial Reconstruction Teams to ensure security gains are followed by real improvements in daily life, and we have helped local communities strengthen their economies and create jobs, deliver basic services, improve governance and fight corruption, and build or repair key infrastructure such as roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools. More than six million children, approximately two million of them girls, are now in Afghan schools, compared to fewer than one million in 2001.
In this Global War on Terror, we do not have the luxury to fight on one battlefront at a time. To defeat the terrorists, we must fight them overseas so we don't have to fight them here at home. Since 9/11, we have successfully captured or killed dozens of al-Qaeda's senior leadership and hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives in two dozen countries, removed al-Qaeda's safe-haven in Afghanistan and crippled al-Qaeda in Iraq, and disrupted numerous al Qaeda terrorist plots against the U.S., including a 2006 plot to blow up passenger planes traveling from London.
Myth 5: This Administration has been bad for the environment and ignored the problem of global warming.
Reality:
Given the liberal media's failure to acknowledge this Administration's true record on alternative energy, conservation, and climate change, it's not surprising this charge has stuck. But here are some irrefutable data points: From 2001 to 2007, air pollution decreased by 12 percent, and fine particulate matter pollution is down 17 percent since 2001. Ethanol production quadrupled from 1.6 billion gallons in 2000 to 6.5 billion gallons in 2007, wind energy production has increased by more than 400 percent, and solar energy capacity has doubled. In 2007, solar installations increased more than 32 percent and the U.S. produced 96 percent more biodiesel (490 million gallons) than in 2006. The Administration also provided nearly $18 billion to research, develop, and promote alternative and more efficient energy technologies such as biofuels, solar, wind, clean coal, nuclear, and hydrogen.
This Administration has improved and protected the health of more than 27 million acres of Federal forest and grasslands, protected, restored, and improved more than three million acres of wetlands, and established the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the world's largest fully protected marine conservation area (nearly 140,000 square miles).
Much of the misperception about the President's environmental record is born out of the President's withdrawing the United States from the Kyoto Protocol, which did not include the effective participation of major developing countries such as India and China. Instead, the President worked to address climate change by launching the Major Economies Process, which convened the leaders of the world's major economies, both developed and developing, to work on ways to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security without harming our economies or giving any nation a free ride. Finally, the President set the country on course to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions below projected levels by 2025 and invested more than $44 billion in climate change-related programs.
Some other items that are infrequently mentioned about the real record of the Bush Administration but are worth noting: Teenage drug use has declined 25 percent; in 2007, the violent crime rate was 43 percent lower than the rate in 1998; between 2005 and 2007, the chronically homeless population decreased approximately 30 percent; funding for veterans' medical care has increased more than 115 percent; and as of 2005, the most recent abortion rate is at its lowest since 1974.
And one last fact: Our homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. That, too, is part of the real Bush record.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tokyo: MOF tables record 88.55 trillion yen budget to buoy economy
The Finance Ministry on Saturday proposed a state budget for fiscal 2009 reaching an all-time high of 88,548.0 billion yen, which embodies an all-out effort by the government to stave off a negative impact from the sharp downturn in the global economy while temporarily shelving fiscal reconstruction efforts.
Warren pick insults struggle for justice
To gay rights activists, there is not much difference between Warren and the racists who opposed the civil rights movement.
As with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose inflammatory remarks from the pulpit outraged whites and conservative pundits, Warren ignited similar controversy when he compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia, incest and polygamy during an interview.
Yet while you can rest assured Wright won't be anywhere near the inaugural festivities, Warren will have a front-row seat.
Can You Still See the USA in Your Chevrolet?
Expectations of Hope and Change - Barone
The advantage of a new generation is that it brings fresh ideas and perspectives, a greater sense of possibility and none of the weariness of fighting the same old battles over and over. The disadvantage is that it lacks experience and doesn't know the lessons of the past.
Bill Clinton's Complicated World
Bill Clinton's ties to Nigerian businessman Gilbert Chagoury illustrate the kind of complicated relationships with foreign figures the former president is now disclosing to pave the way for Hillary Clinton to become secretary of state.
Mr. Chagoury is one of the biggest donors to the Clinton Foundation, having given between $1 million and $5 million, according to the list of over 200,000 contributors released Thursday by the former president's charitable organization. The release of the names came as part of an effort by Mr. Clinton to satisfy the incoming Obama administration that his extensive array of foreign donors wouldn't present problems for Mrs. Clinton as the nation's top diplomat.
TV Studio in a Box
If you were impressed when manufacturers began putting home theaters in boxes, wait until you feast your eyes on NewTek's TriCaster, which packs an entire live television production studio into a comparable cube of space. With minimal training, anyone who can operate a computer can use it to broadcast professional-quality live video over the internet or on television.
More Hope From The New Bosses: Biden: U.S. Economy in Danger of 'Absolutely Tanking'
Flawed Science Advice for Obama?
Does being spectacularly wrong about a major issue in your field of expertise hurt your chances of becoming the presidential science advisor? Apparently not, judging by reports from DotEarth and ScienceInsider that Barack Obama will name John P. Holdren as his science advisor on Saturday.
Dr. Holdren, now a physicist at Harvard, was one of the experts in natural resources whom Paul Ehrlich enlisted in his famous bet against the economist Julian Simon during the “energy crisis” of the 1980s. Dr. Simon, who disagreed with environmentalists’ predictions of a new “age of scarcity” of natural resources, offered to bet that any natural resource would be cheaper at any date in the future. Dr. Ehrlich accepted the challenge and asked Dr. Holdren, then the co-director of the graduate program in energy and
resources at the University of California, Berkeley, and another Berkeley professor, John Harte, for help in choosing which resources would become scarce.
In 1980 Dr. Holdren helped select five metals — chrome, copper, nickel, tin and tungsten — and joined Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Harte in betting $1,000 that those metals would be more expensive ten years later. They turned out to be wrong on all five metals, and had to pay up when the bet came due in 1990.
Now, you could argue that anyone’s entitled to a mistake, and that mistakes can be valuable if people learn to become open to ideas that conflict with their preconceptions and ideology. That could be a useful skill in an advisor who’s supposed to be presenting the president with a wide range of views. Someone who’d seen how wrong environmentalists had been in ridiculing Dr. Simon’s predictions could, in theory, become more open to dissenting from today’s environmentalist orthodoxy. But I haven’t seen much evidence of such open-mindedness in Dr. Holdren.
Consider what happened when a successor to Dr. Simon, Bjorn Lomborg, published “The Skeptical Environmentalist” in 2001. Dr. Holdren joined in an an extraordinary attack on the book in Scientific American — an attack that I thought did far more harm to the magazine’s reputation than to Dr. Lomborg’s. The Economist called the critique “strong on contempt and sneering, but weak on substance”; Dr. Lomborg’s defenders said the critics made more mistakes in 11 pages than they were able to find in his 540-page book. (You can read Dr. Lomborg’s rebuttal here.) In an earlier post, I wrote about Dr. Holdren’s critique of the chapter on energy, in which Dr. Lomborg reviewed the history of energy scares and predicted there would not be dire shortages in the future:
Friday, December 19, 2008
President Elect "Hope" says it may be years for economy to recover.
CHICAGO (AP) — Completing his Cabinet a month before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama named officials to oversee transportation, labor, trade and small business policy Friday but warned that economic recovery won't be nearly as swift. "It will take longer than any of us would like — years, not months. It will get worse before it gets better. But it will get better if we are willing to act boldly and swiftly," Obama said — and he promised to do just that.
geez talk about trying to lower the bar
Nina Easton: Unions: Obama 'gays in military' moment?
Obama the campaigner promised labor he'd support a bill to make unionizing easier. But business is opposed and the GOP hopes it has found an issue to seize on.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Fortune) -- Will he, or won't he dare? That was the question that consumed an otherwise social luncheon of Republican women at the White House last week.The "he" was President-elect Obama and the subject was "card check," a union organizing tool that is already igniting the business community in a virulent and well-funded campaign to stop it.
No mercy for Jihad Johnny By Michelle Malkin
If it’s December, it’s time for the Left to throw another shameless pity party for convicted American jihadist John Walker Lindh (aka Suleyman al-Faris, aka Abdul Hamid). Every Christmas season for the last four years, the Taliban accomplice and his parents have asked President Bush to pardon him. This country should save its tears and mercy for the defenders of freedom.
Democrats Are the New Ethics Story
That would be the swamp Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to drain when she led her party to victory in 2006. The GOP had been rocked by scandal, and Mrs. Pelosi and Democrats won, in part, by promising to clean up the "culture of corruption" that pervaded Washington.
This Day In History: President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him... MORE >
Christine M. Flowers: Another Sen. Kennedy?
Aside from the slightly creepy aspect of a grown man taking a prepubescent teen as his muse (although Dante did some mean stuff with his own Beatrice), it reminded all of us just how important the Kennedy family was - and is - to the modern American psyche. While I was never inspired to dedicate anything to Jackie's kid, I was always aware of her presence on the periphery of my consciousness. Unlike Grace Kelly's blue-blooded Caroline, Princess Kennedy seemed to be more approachable, more intelligent, and generally nicer.
Sweet. Yeah, that fit.
Dam Pesky Reporters! Emanuel talked directly to gov: source
President-elect Barack Obama's incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned. Emanuel had direct discussions about the seat with Gov. Blagojevich, who is is accused of trying to auction it to the highest bidder.
Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however.
Organizing the White House Is Obama's First Test
All presidents come to realize how much structure matters.
Omar Saeed Sheikh plots assassination from Pakistani jail
Senior al Qaeda operative Omar Saeed Sheikh plotted to kill Pakistan’s former president while serving a jail sentence, and is also beleived to be complicit in the murder of a senior Pakistani counterterrorism officer.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bigger Government = More Prosperous Country?
The Harvard economist Greg Mankiw reprints a chart, from his economics textbook, that shows how much bigger the U.S. government became as a result of the Great Depression and the Second World War. In the early nineteen-thirties, federal government revenue was less than five per cent of U.S. G.D.P. By the mid nineteen-forties, it was nearly twenty per cent of G.D.P., and has essentially stayed between fifteen and twenty per cent ever since. Mankiw’s point is that while the Great Depression and the Second World War were short-term crises, the increase in government spending (which was a response to those crises) was permanent.
Mortgage rates at 37-year low
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rates on 30-year-fixed mortgages dropped this week to their lowest levels in at least 37 years, as the Federal Reserve pledged to pour money into the mortgage market in an effort to spur the moribund U.S. housing market.
How To Start A Ponzi Scheme
Bernie Madoff paid meticulous attention to the finer points of scamming. You can, too, and here's how.
Every investor on the planet has experienced a range of emotions in recent days in response to the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, in which Madoff says he scammed unsuspecting investors out of $50 billion. The biggest question now is where did he stash the money?
Questions remain on the development of the Iraqi Security Forces
BP’s Thunder Horse fully online, finally
BP’s star-crossed Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico has begun full production now that its third and fourth wells are flowing, the company said today.
The field is pumping more than 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A nearby field, Thunder Horse North, is set to begin producing within in the next six months.
Today In History: Mayflower passengers come ashore at Plymouth Harbor
Mayflower passengers come ashore at Plymouth Harbor
On December 18, 1620, passengers on the British ship Mayflower come ashore at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, to begin their new settlement... MORE >
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Hero: 1LT Neil Prakash
After leading his platoon through a fierce onslaught with enemy fire pounding them from every direction, 1st Lt. Neil Prakash went back in for more.
For Prakash, June 24, 2004, began with he and two of his soldiers manning an observation point on Blue Babe Highway in two shifts from midnight to 7 a.m. “When we came in (to Forward Operating Base Scunion) at 7, we thought we were done,” Prakash said. “We were smoked after being out there all night.”
Instead, Prakash’s crew was sent back out to Blue Babe Highway after there were reports of 25 to 30 insurgents on the roadway, which was a trouble spot for improvised explosive devices.
Three hours later, Prakash returned to FOB Scunion and learned that his entire company, Company A, was going to Baqouba, where the city was under siege.
With Prakash’s 1st Platoon in the lead, the company headed into Baqouba with the mission of securing two bridges in the city. If successful, his platoon would set up a blocking position to prevent the enemy from reinforcing.
“When we learned we were going in, we were really pumped up,” Prakash said. At about 11 a.m., the company was driving south in Baqouba with Prakash’s tank taking the point. “It was very quiet, like a ghost town,” Prakash said. “There was just nobody there.”
Suddenly a call from the operations center warned that, based on intelligence from unmanned aerial flights, insurgents were in groups of four; they were well-trained and they were going to stand and fight, Prakash said.
It wasn’t long thereafter that Prakash heard an explosion behind his tank. A rocket-propelled grenade fired from a house on the left hit his tank.
“We fired the main gun at the house and there was just this big giant blob of a hole in the house,” he said. “They were everywhere, running up to within 30 meters of the tank shooting RPGs at us.” As the lead vehicle, Prakash and his gunner and driver were the main target in the ambush of IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades.
His tank took several hits without much damage, but eventually one RPG took out the tank’s navigation system while another hit the turret, making it impossible to rotate. The tank was hit by seven RPGs as well as multiple IED blasts. Prakash maneuvered the entire vehicle in order to engage the enemy with the main weapon system and .50-caliber machinegun.
“Someone told me right afterward that we were fighting for an hour,” Prakash said. “I thought it was more like 15 minutes. Everything happened so fast.” Prakash’s tank returned to FOB Scunion for more ammo and to have the damaged turret repaired. He volunteered to go back into battle to secure and hold the two bridges. The insurgents had fled.
“He was incredible,” said Spc. John Langford, Prakash’s loader in the battle. “He kept us in line and kept us calm. I couldn’t have chosen a better tank commander or platoon leader for what we experienced that day.”
Prakash, who was born in India and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., earned a Silver Star for his actions. He was personally credited with the destruction of eight enemy strong-points, one enemy resupply vehicle, and multiple dismounted enemy fighters.
Free Shipping an Important Stimulus of E-Commerce Spending Again This Holiday Season
Fitness impacts diabetics more than fatness
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with type 2 diabetes may be able to improve their health-related quality of life by getting fit, new research shows.
Why we should bail out automakers
China After 30 Years of Reform
Every society changes, but China's changes faster. The startling transformation that began 30 years ago this month with the accession of Deng Xiaoping has been one of the world's great stories.
Taliban desecrate body of slain opposing tribal leader
The Taliban have defeated the primary tribal opposition organized against it in the insurgency-wracked district of Swat in Pakistan's northwest. The leader of the tribal resistance was killed and two of his aides were beheaded last weekend after the Taliban overran the region controlled by the opposition.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Hero: Captain Alex Houston
In most ways, Army Capt. Alex Houston is like any other Army commander. He comes to work every day ready to lead and set the standard for the soldiers who work for him. He diligently performs all of his administrative duties as the 21st Signal Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander, and he gets down and dirty with the unit during company physical training. He jokes with his staff, and even has been known to sing off-key for them.
And he does this all as a wounded warrior. As a platoon leader in Iraq, Houston lost his left hand when his convoy was attacked during a night mission.
The electricity was going on and off while his 1st Cavalry Division unit was on patrol, Houston recalled. “It was so dark -- the kind of dark that you can’t even see your hand in front of your face,” he said. As the lights flickered off, the unit’s battalion commander came under fire from enemy forces. Although others were in the area, Houston said, he was trained to step up as the ranking officer on the mission, and he headed into the battle to support his commander. He took charge, and while on the radio, he also took a hit.
“There was melted metal all around my hand, and shrapnel went through my arm,” he said, “but I was still on the radio giving information to headquarters.” His duty came before the pain, he said, and his faith in God allowed him to remain calm and accomplish the mission of getting the convoy through the area. “After everyone came over to see how I was, I kept saying, ‘I’m OK.’ And I was,” he said.
He was rushed to the combat support hospital, and doctors later told him they couldn’t save his hand. The division commander presented his Purple Heart while he was still sedated in the combat hospital. “I just said ‘Hooah,’” said Houston, “and they saw the soldier in me.”
Houston spent about a year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. While there, he had access to many programs that helped wounded warriors transition into the civilian job market. But, when the Army asked him if he wanted to stay in, he said he knew his answer was yes. Houston, who started out as an enlisted soldier, already had made a commitment to a career in the Army. “I made a decision a long time ago that I’m going to give 100 percent,” he said. His injury has not been an impediment at all. According to 21st Signal Brigade Commander Col. Theresa Coles, “He’s a true testament to the Warrior Ethos.”
US Predator strikes in North Waziristan
The US has attacked a Taliban safe house in the lawless tribal agency of North Waziristan, killing two people, according to reports from the region.
Alleged Madoff fraud has worldwide exposure
In a Connecticut town, local officials scrambled to get a handle on damage to pension funds held for its police officers and firefighters. A Massachusetts charity announced it was shutting down. In New York, a distinguished economist feared he had lost his $2.2 million nestegg.
Damage continued to ripple from the massive fraud allegedly engineered by storied Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff Monday, even as investigators worked to unravel the scheme's working and its reach.
The crisis gives the US new financial power
The economic crisis in the US signals the end of American global hegemony. Or does it? Pundits from different camps, some with fear and others with glee, contemplate a future where the US will have a much diminished weight in global affairs. But if the US plays its hand well, things will turn out to be just the opposite.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Afghanistan Today
Christine M. Flowers: The little Viet who could
Anh "Joseph" Cao defeated Rep. William "Cold Cash" Jefferson on Saturday in an election delayed for a month by Hurricane Gustav. Cao, a Republican immigration attorney (Go team!) is the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to Congress in this country's 232-year history.
What Pakistan Won't Do, the World Should
"We don't think the world's great nations and countries can be held hostage by non-state actors," Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said yesterday. Fair enough. But what is the world to do when those non-state actors operate from the territory of a state and are the creation of that state's intelligence services?
BREITBART: Sinise: A man for all services
Since war became a geographically distant but very real way of life after Sept. 11, 2001, no Hollywood star has stepped up to support active duty U.S. military personnel and wounded veterans like Gary Sinise. There is no close second. And quietly, as is in his nature, he is becoming something akin to this generation´s Bob Hope.
Grand Jury Probes Richardson Donor’s New Mexico Financing Fee
US pyramid fraud scam hits Europe's biggest bank
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Other American Auto Industry
Friday, December 12, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Return of the Old Left
It looks as if we are going to have to relive all of the mistakes of the 20th century one more time--let's hope it is one last time--before we relearn the big lesson of that century: the moral and material superiority of capitalism and the disastrous consequences of socialism in all its forms.
Drought-Resistant Rice Genes Make Sturdy Crop
Dec. 11, 2008 -- Around the world, rice sustains billions of people with a cheap source of nutrition. There's only one problem: Rice generally requires lots of water, and many people who depend on the crop live in extremely dry places. When the rain stops, rice wilts. Hunger follows.
An Italian solution: Parmesan for the needy
UN declares Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist front group
The United Nations Security Council has added Pakistan-based terrorist group and four of its leaders to the list of entities and organizations known to support al Qaeda and the Taliban. The declaration came the same day that Pakistani officials said they would act against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa if the United Nations declared it a terrorist group as part of Resolution 1267, which also known as the al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee.
'Iran wants to devour the Arab world'
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke out against Iran during a meeting with members of the Egyptian ruling party, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida on Thursday, cited by Israel Radio.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Barack Obama plans to reach out to Muslim world
DIRTY DEMS:The Democrat culture of corruption
ABC: Candidate who allegedly offered Blago money for Senate seat is Jesse Jackson Jr
A rare and curious thing - Michael Yon
Here is a rare and curious thing: an antique British [WB-57] bomber flying over Afghan skies. These planes flew in the 1950s and 60s, performing top of the atmosphere reconnaissance. The U.S. Air Force retired the WB-57 decades ago. But NASA owns two, which it uses for an odd group of missions, including collecting cosmic dust from extremely high altitudes. It seems doubtful that NASA came all the way to Afghanistan to collect cosmic dust, but this would be an interesting region in which to search for traces of nuclear debris, drifting upwards from Iran, Pakistan, various Central Asian states, China, or India.
Iraq develops the National Police mechanized forces
Grim Times For Japan Inc.
$73 an Hour: Adding It Up
What do the Clintons have on Obama?
As for Obama's appointment of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, what sense does that make except within parochial Democratic politics? Awarding such a prize plum to Hillary may be a sop to her aggrieved fan base, but what exactly are her credentials for that position? Aside from being a mediocre senator (who, contrary to press reports, did very little for upstate New York), Hillary has a poor track record as both a negotiator and a manager. And of course both Clintons constantly view the world through the milky lens of their own self-interest. Well, it's time for Hillary to put up or shut up. If she gets as little traction in world affairs as Condoleezza Rice has, Hillary will be flushed down the rabbit hole with her feckless husband and effectively neutralized as a future presidential contender. If that's Obama's clever plan, is it worth the gamble? The secretary of state should be a more reserved, unflappable character -- not a drama queen who, even in her acceptance speech, morphed into three different personalities in the space of five minutes.
Given Obama's elaborate deference to the Clintons, beginning with his over-accommodation of them at the Democratic convention in August, a nagging question has floated around the Web: What do the Clintons have on him? No one doubts that the Clinton opposition research team was turning over every rock in its mission to propel Hillary into the White House. There's an information vacuum here that conspiracy theorists have been rushing to fill.
My love machine
Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features.
She even remembers his favorite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks.
But if she doesn't complain it just wouldn't feel right!!!!!
Wounded Warrior Project Needs Our Help
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