Fisk: Who Cares What Obama Says or Thinks

I do not care for Fisk.  He is a loathesome fool who has attached himself to causes based not on reason and logic but on emotional poppycock riddled with guilt and irrational hatred for self.  However, when the far left cares less about Obama ... he is certainly doomed. 





Who cares in the Middle East what Obama says?

President Obama has shown himself to be weak in his dealings with the Middle East, says Robert Fisk, and the Arab world is turning its back with contempt. Its future will be shaped without American influence



Monday, 30 May 2011
The Independent


This month, in the Middle East, has seen the unmaking of the President of the United States. More than that, it has witnessed the lowest prestige of America in the region since Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz on the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake in 1945.

While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in Washington – Obama grovelling as usual – the Arabs got on with the serious business of changing their world, demonstrating and fighting and dying for freedoms they have never possessed. Obama waffled on about change in the Middle East – and about America's new role in the region. It was pathetic. "What is this 'role' thing?" an Egyptian friend asked me at the weekend. "Do they still believe we care about what they think?"

And it is true. Obama's failure to support the Arab revolutions until they were all but over lost the US most of its surviving credit in the region. Obama was silent on the overthrow of Ben Ali, only joined in the chorus of contempt for Mubarak two days before his flight, condemned the Syrian regime – which has killed more of its people than any other dynasty in this Arab "spring", save for the frightful Gaddafi – but makes it clear that he would be happy to see Assad survive, waves his puny fist at puny Bahrain's cruelty and remains absolutely, stunningly silent over Saudi Arabia. And he goes on his knees before Israel. Is it any wonder, then, that Arabs are turning their backs on America, not out of fury or anger, nor with threats or violence, but with contempt? It is the Arabs and their fellow Muslims of the Middle East who are themselves now making the decisions.

Turkey is furious with Assad because he twice promised to speak of reform and democratic elections – and then failed to honour his word. The Turkish government has twice flown delegations to Damascus and, according to the Turks, Assad lied to the foreign minister on the second visit, baldly insisting that he would recall his brother Maher's legions from the streets of Syrian cities. He failed to do so. The torturers continue their work.

Watching the hundreds of refugees pouring from Syria across the northern border of Lebanon, the Turkish government is now so fearful of a repeat of the great mass Iraqi Kurdish refugee tide that overwhelmed their border in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war that it has drawn up its own secret plans to prevent the Kurds of Syria moving in their thousands into the Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey. Turkish generals have thus prepared an operation that would send several battalions of Turkish troops into Syria itself to carve out a "safe area" for Syrian refugees inside Assad's caliphate. The Turks are prepared to advance well beyond the Syrian border town of Al Qamishli – perhaps half way to Deir el-Zour (the old desert killing fields of the 1915 Armenian Holocaust, though speak it not) – to provide a "safe haven" for those fleeing the slaughter in Syria's cities.

The Qataris are meanwhile trying to prevent Algeria from resupplying Gaddafi with tanks and armoured vehicles – this was one of the reasons why the Emir of Qatar, the wisest bird in the Arabian Gulf, visited the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, last week. Qatar is committed to the Libyan rebels in Benghazi; its planes are flying over Libya from Crete and – undisclosed until now – it has Qatari officers advising the rebels inside the city of Misrata in western Libya; but if Algerian armour is indeed being handed over to Gaddafi to replace the material that has been destroyed in air strikes, it would account for the ridiculously slow progress which the Nato campaign is making against Gaddafi.

Of course, it all depends on whether Bouteflika really controls his army – or whether the Algerian "pouvoir", which includes plenty of secretive and corrupt generals, are doing the deals. Algerian equipment is superior to Gaddafi's and thus for every tank he loses, Ghaddafi might be getting an improved model to replace it. Below Tunisia, Algeria and Libya share a 750-mile desert frontier, an easy access route for weapons to pass across the border.

But the Qataris are also attracting Assad's venom. Al Jazeera's concentration on the Syrian uprising – its graphic images of the dead and wounded far more devastating than anything our soft western television news shows would dare broadcast – has Syrian state television nightly spitting at the Emir and at the state of Qatar. The Syrian government has now suspended up to £4 billion of Qatari investment projects, including one belonging to the Qatar Electricity and Water Company.

Amid all these vast and epic events – Yemen itself may yet prove to be the biggest bloodbath of all, while the number of Syria's "martyrs" have now exceeded the victims of Mubarak's death squads five months ago – is it any surprise that the frolics of Messrs Netanyahu and Obama appear so irrelevant? Indeed, Obama's policy towards the Middle East – whatever it is – sometimes appears so muddled that it is scarcely worthy of study. He supports, of course, democracy – then admits that this may conflict with America's interests. In that wonderful democracy called Saudi Arabia, the US is now pushing ahead with a £40 billion arms deal and helping the Saudis to develop a new "elite" force to protect the kingdom's oil and future nuclear sites. Hence Obama's fear of upsetting Saudi Arabia, two of whose three leading brothers are now so incapacitated that they can no longer make sane decisions – unfortunately, one of these two happens to be King Abdullah – and his willingness to allow the Assad family's atrocity-prone regime to survive. Of course, the Israelis would far prefer the "stability" of the Syrian dictatorship to continue; better the dark caliphate you know than the hateful Islamists who might emerge from the ruins. But is this argument really good enough for Obama to support when the people of Syria are dying in the streets for the kind of democracy that the US president says he wants to see in the region?

One of the vainest elements of American foreign policy towards the Middle East is the foundational idea that the Arabs are somehow more stupid than the rest of us, certainly than the Israelis, more out of touch with reality than the West, that they don't understand their own history. Thus they have to be preached at, lectured, and cajoled by La Clinton and her ilk – much as their dictators did and do, father figures guiding their children through life. But Arabs are far more literate than they were a generation ago; millions speak perfect English and can understand all too well the political weakness and irrelevance in the president's words. Listening to Obama's 45-minute speech this month – the "kick off' to four whole days of weasel words and puffery by the man who tried to reach out to the Muslim world in Cairo two years ago, and then did nothing – one might have thought that the American President had initiated the Arab revolts, rather than sat on the sidelines in fear.

There was an interesting linguistic collapse in the president's language over those critical four days. On Thursday 19 May, he referred to the continuation of Israeli "settlements". A day later, Netanyahu was lecturing him on "certain demographic changes that have taken place on the ground". Then when Obama addressed the American Aipac lobby group (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) on the Sunday, he had cravenly adopted Netanyahu's own preposterous expression. Now he, too, spoke of "new demographic realities on the ground." Who would believe that he was talking about internationally illegal Jewish colonies built on land stolen from Arabs in one of the biggest property heists in the history of "Palestine"? Delay in peace-making will undermine Israeli security, Obama announced – apparently unaware that Netanyahu's project is to go on delaying and delaying and delaying until there is no land left for the "viable" Palestinian state which the United States and the European Union supposedly wish to see.

Then we had the endless waffle about the 1967 borders. Netanyahu called them "defenceless" (though they seemed to have been pretty defendable for the 18 years prior to the Six Day War) and Obama – oblivious to the fact that Israel must be the only country in the world to have an eastern land frontier but doesn't know where it is – then says he was misunderstood when he talked about 1967. It doesn't matter what he says. George W Bush caved in years ago when he gave Ariel Sharon a letter which stated America's acceptance of "already existing major Israeli population centres" beyond the 1967 lines. To those Arabs prepared to listen to Obama's spineless oration, this was a grovel too far. They simply could not understand the reaction of Netanyahu's address to Congress. How could American politicians rise and applaud Netanyahu 55 times – 55 times – with more enthusiasm than one of the rubber parliaments of Assad, Saleh and the rest?

And what on earth did the Great Speechifier mean when he said that "every country has the right to self-defence" but that Palestine would be "demilitarised"? What he meant was that Israel could go on attacking the Palestinians (as in 2009, for example, when Obama was treacherously silent) while the Palestinians would have to take what was coming to them if they did not behave according to the rules – because they would have no weapons to defend themselves. As for Netanyahu, the Palestinians must choose between unity with Hamas or peace with Israel. All of which was very odd. When there was no unity, Netanyahu told us all that he had no Palestinian interlocutor because the Palestinians were disunited. Yet when they unite, they are disqualified from peace talks.

Of course, cynicism grows the longer you live in the Middle East. I recall, for example, travelling to Gaza in the early 1980s when Yasser Arafat was running his PLO statelet in Beirut. Anxious to destroy Arafat's prestige in the occupied territories, the Israeli government decided to give its support to an Islamist group in Gaza called Hamas. In fact, I actually saw with my own eyes the head of the Israeli army's Southern Command negotiating with bearded Hamas officials, giving them permission to build more mosques. It's only fair to say, of course, that we were also busy at the time, encouraging a certain Osama bin Laden to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan. But the Israelis did not give up on Hamas. They later held another meeting with the organisation in the West Bank; the story was on the front page of the Jerusalem Post the next day. But there wasn't a whimper from the Americans.

Then another moment that I can recall over the long years. Hamas and Islamic Jihad members – all Palestinians – were, in the early 1990s, thrown across the Israeli border into southern Lebanon where they spent more than a year camping on a freezing mountainside. I would visit them from time to time and on one occasion mentioned that I would be travelling to Israel next day. Immediately, one of the Hamas men ran to his tent and returned with a notebook. He then proceeded to give me the home telephone numbers of three senior Israeli politicians – two of whom are still prominent today – and, when I reached Jerusalem and called the numbers, they all turned out to be correct. In other words, the Israeli government had been in personal and direct contact with Hamas.

But now the narrative has been twisted out of all recognition. Hamas are the super-terrorists, the "al-Qa'ida" representatives in the unified Palestinian leadership, the men of evil who will ensure that no peace ever takes place between Palestinians and Israeli. If only this were true, the real al-Qa'ida would be more than happy to take responsibility. But it is not true. In the same context, Obama stated that the Palestinians would have to answer questions about Hamas. But why should they? What Obama and Netanyahu think about Hamas is now irrelevant to them. Obama warns the Palestinians not to ask for statehood at the United Nations in September. But why on earth not? If the people of Egypt and Tunisia and Yemen and Libya and Syria – we are all waiting for the next revolution (Jordan? Bahrain again? Morocco?) – can fight for freedom and dignity, why shouldn't the Palestinians? Lectured for decades on the need for non-violent protest, the Palestinians elect to go to the UN with their cry for legitimacy – only to be slapped down by Obama.

Having read all of the "Palestine Papers" which Al-Jazeera revealed, there is no doubt that "Palestine's" official negotiators will go to any lengths to produce some kind of statelet. Mahmoud Abbas, who managed to write a 600-page book on the "peace process" without once mentioning the word "occupation", could even cave in over the UN project, fearful of Obama's warning that it would be an attempt to "isolate" Israel and thus de-legitimise the Israeli state – or "the Jewish state" as the US president now calls it. But Netanyahu is doing more than anyone to delegitimise his own state; indeed, he is looking more and more like the Arab buffoons who have hitherto littered the Middle East. Mubarak saw a "foreign hand" in the Egyptian revolution (Iran, of course). So did the Crown Prince of Bahrain (Iran again). So did Gaddafi (al-Qa'ida, western imperialism, you name it), So did Saleh of Yemen (al-Qa'ida, Mossad and America). So did Assad of Syria (Islamism, probably Mossad, etc). And so does Netanyahu (Iran, naturally enough, Syria, Lebanon, just about anyone you can think of except for Israel itself).

But as this nonsense continues, so the tectonic plates shudder. I doubt very much if the Palestinians will remain silent. If there's an "intifada" in Syria, why not a Third Intifada in "Palestine"? Not a struggle of suicide bombers but of mass, million-strong protests. If the Israelis have to shoot down a mere few hundred demonstrators who tried – and in some cases succeeded – in crossing the Israeli border almost two weeks ago, what will they do if confronted by thousands or a million. Obama says no Palestinian state must be declared at the UN. But why not? Who cares in the Middle East what Obama says? Not even, it seems, the Israelis. The Arab spring will soon become a hot summer and there will be an Arab autumn, too. By then, the Middle East may have changed forever. What America says will matter nothing.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
fisk

Social media creates new teen ailment -- 'Facebook depression' .


by Keely Chalmers
May 26, 2011 at 12:06 PM



Doctors say what may seem fun and innocent may actually be leading teens into what's being termed "Facebook Depression."

If you're a teenager you're most likely on a social networking site like "Facebook." For most it's a fun, easy way to keep in touch and find out what's going on with friends. But new research shows a growing number of youngsters who obsess over the on-line sites may be headed down a troubled path.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warns of a new problem called "Facebook Depression." It results from being bombarded with friend tallies, status updates, and photos of people happy, having the time of their lives, when you are not.

"If I’m just like sad or something and just kind of chillin’ at home and I see pictures of people having a party I’m like oh that's awesome… like I’m not there... that's kind of depressing,” explained high school student Elizabeth Kisch. But Kisch also says she doesn't take Facebook too seriously.

“It's very easy to compare yourself to others when you just see what they show in their Facebook page which may or may not match reality,” explained Dr. Ken Ensroth, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Ensroth doesn't believe that social networking sites alone cause depression but says if a child already has a fragile self-esteem they can further damage it. That's because, for some, the sites can be perceived as a popularity contest.

“There's a real emphasis in some aspects of it... status… there's even a category… your status,” said Ensroth.

But he also points out much of what is posted on the sites isn't reality. The problem, he says, is that for some people the social networking world becomes their reality.

So how do parents know if their child is slipping into a "Facebook Depression." Dr. Ensroth says parents need to talk to their children, ask questions, and look for signs they're not happy.

“Stomach aches, lot of headaches... I’m sick I don't want to go to school... low energy... fatigue… trouble sleeping,” he explained.

Because while for most teens social networking is a positive experience, for others it can become a tangled troubled web.

Dr. Ensroth points out there are a lot of positive aspects of Facebook and other social networking sites. For one the sites can bring kids together and give them a place to share and make connections. They can also helps kids feel included when they may not otherwise feel that way.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
social

Those silly Swedes

This article is funny.  It is interesting how we change words and change understandings yet try to have the new understanding conform to the old belief and it becomes tricky doing so.  Consequently, we need experts to investigate and find out.




Swedish man accused of sex with sheep





20 May 11 08:49 CET



A Swedish man in his fifties who was allegedly caught having sex with a sheep near Alingsås in western Sweden denies being guilty of animal cruelty.

In the beginning of June last year a sheep farmer and his wife heard a curious bleating sound from one of the farm’s pastures. When they went to investigate they were shocked to find a man engaged in sexual conduct with one of the ewes.

“This is an unusual case. Earlier it would have been classified as bestiality but nowadays it is seen as cruelty to animals,” Tomas Tell of the police told daily Göteborgsposten (GP).

The witness reports are in themselves not enough to convict the man of cruelty to animals.

Therefore a specialist veterinary surgeon has been called in from the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) as an expert witness.


“Because there were no visible injuries the prosecutor must be able to prove that the ewe has suffered from the unpleasant event,” Tell told GP.

At the trial the specialist will be heard on the subject of sheep physiology and behaviour. But according to GP, the main issue will be whether the ewe has suffered any lasting distress due to sexual abuse or not.

The farmers will have to testify as to what they witnessed the man do with their grazing livestock and the police officer that apprehended the culprit will also be heard during the trial.

Sex crimes against animals have been reported to be on the rise in Sweden earlier this year with an increase in reported cases of sexual mutilation of horses and other livestock.

The man denies the charges, despite the witnesses' claim to have caught him in the act. If found guilty he could be sentenced to anything from a fine to two years in prison.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
strange things

Obama and Bush

I remember, quite well, the litany of charges brought by the left-fringe of the Democratic party - Bush was violating the laws of foreign countries by our actions abroad, whether secret prisons existing in foreign countries without the permission of the local governments.  This part of the claim included our ignoring the laws of foreign countries as we forced our will upon all nations in the search for terrorists.

Obama was going to be different.  He was going to respect people and countries.  Rebuild relations.

Thank you Mr. President, for carrying on all the Bush policies, for allowing intelligence agents to build on the  groundwork Bush laid for the United States in 2001.  Thank you Mr. President for pursuing terrorists wherever they may hide, as Bush told the world we would do.

Thank you for continuing the Bush Doctrine, even if you call it something else.




US ran 'secret terror hunt' in Sweden: report





23 May 11 11:56 CET


US intelligence agents have staked out suspected "terrorists" in Sweden, without the authorisation of the government there, the online edition of a Swedish daily reported Sunday.

Sweden's intelligence service Säpo discovered in 2009 that two Americans were conducting illegal, under-cover investigations in Sweden, the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) daily reported.

The two men were discovered when Säpo noticed them tracking people who it was also investigating for suspected ties to terrorist groups, the paper said, quoting several unnamed sources close to Säpo.

Washington had not informed Swedish authorities of the agents' activities in the country, and soon after their activities were discovered, the two US citizens left the country, the paper added.

Referring to Washington's failure to inform Pakistan before it tracked and killed Osama bin Laden three weeks ago, Svenska Dagladet insisted "the US has also carried out intelligence against terrorists on Swedish territory.

"Sweden has thus become the scene of a foreign power's terror hunt without the knowledge of the Swedish government," it said.

Säpo could not be reached late Sunday. Head of the agency Anders Danielsson refused to comment when confronted by the paper.

Following the report, US embassy spokesperson Christopher Dunnett stressed the importance of cooperation between the United States and Sweden.

"We have excellent cooperation with Swedish authorities in a several areas, including anti-terror activities," he told the TT news agency on Monday morning.

He refused to elaborate, however, on the allegations of unauthorised spying.

"We don't comment on security issues in detail," he said.

Neither justice minister Beatrice Ask nor foreign minister Carl Bildt were willing to comment on the matter Sunday night.

Speaking on Monday, prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said he wasn't aware of the details surrounding the US agents' alleged activities in Sweden.

"I don't want to speculate on information in the media because we have very independent agencies in Sweden which operate in their respective areas of responsibility," he told TT.

"I want to note that in this case the responsible agency hasn't confirmed or denied (the report)."

Reinfeldt didn't expect to pursue the matter further and emphasised that Sweden has a solid and close cooperation with the United States.

If the report about the unauthorised US spying is true, it amounts to a serious allegation, according intelligence expert professor Wilhelm Agrell.

"There's no support for this in international law. What's problematic is running an operation like this without going through the Swedish authorities," he told the TT news agency.

According to Agrell, it's more common for "less friendly states" to carry out unauthorised intelligence activities against exile groups, for example.

At the same time, he's not surprised that the United States would do the same thing.

"It's been common practice for the Americans since September 11th, 2001 to carry out operations both with and without consent from the country where the operation takes place," he said.

Legal scholar Dennis Töllborg said it was "incredibly strange" that the CIA reportedly chose not to follow normal procedures by allowing Säpo to conduct surveillance on the suspected terrorists.

However, he doesn't think that the CIA's alleged decision to go behind Säpo's back indicates that the US spy agency lacks confidence in agents from its Swedish counterpart.

"I believe more that after 9/11, the CIA has given itself rights which don't have any limits at all, here and everywhere," he told TT.

Töllborg added that he doubts the incident has damaged CIA-Säpo relations, but more that it amounts to an embarrassment for the Americans.

The new revelations cover operations different from the US embassy's Surveillance Detection Unit (SDU) which was the focus of an investigation by Sweden's top prosecutor after reports surfaced in the media suggesting that the unit may have engaged in unlawful intelligence gathering.

However, prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand dropped the probe in early April because he was unable to gather sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
obama

European Civility and Humanity: Enlightened and Educated. Wise beyond their eons.

The issue of life and death, and whether the state has a right to take your life - a question that does not seem to ever be resolved when discussed by reasonable people of opposing views.  Europeans, who pride themselves on how enlightened they are (saving Paris from being bombed and all that art being preserved for all time, or that they are peace loving people and do not rush into war - unless we look at the curious case of Libya which was entirely European driven and for seemingly no good reason) often raise the fact the US does have the death penalty as a measure of our humanity and civility.

Perhaps.

Perhaps we do not make pretenses about how peaceful we are, wage war for utterly no reason that makes sense to anyone to drive out a leader who was your friend the day before (almost literally).  The rapist Frenchman who was head of the IMF - for many Frenchmen it was all set-up (unfortunately the ability of a Frenchman to examine any two pieces of information critically and arrive at a rational and logical conclusion is unknown to the French, so they prefer to muddle through and make up facts as they go - and then recreate history to conform to their peculiar belief system), he didn't do it.  I don't want to cause any capillaries to burst but that would mean the woman he assaulted was in on the conspiracy.

Further, it requires the simple Frenchman to add other rivals - anyone and everyone can become part of the conspiracy - Sarkozy for sure.  The woman who is about to become the head of the IMF would possibly be involved.  Obama - well, he seems to do what Sarkozy tells him to do (on Libya) so he may be involved which means the CIA is involved and you know what that means (that bin Laden was dead several years ago and the CIA kept him alive in spirit to allow Obama to look good).  The hospital staff where the woman he assaulted was taken would almost certainly be involved - they took DNA from her that came from the former IMF member.  As I recall, it was his body fluid removed from her that linked him to the assault conclusively.  We all know how quickly our police jump to conclusions and rush to airports to arrest foreign potentates.   This conspiracy would also require a Muslim woman to lie on behalf of governments and ideologies her belief system does not agree with nor accept.  Happens all the time - bin Laden was working with CIA, you know, for his kidney medicine and to allow Bush to become so powerful and Obama to be so popular ... 

There is a reason we should keep abortion legal in some countries.  Hopefully it weeds out these moronic idiots.

Alas, that is not the purpose for this post - rather, the point is the European idea of civility and humanity - that the death penalty is ghastly and always happens to the innocent and ... but the Europeans are so much more enlightened on the issue.  When they murder someone, they often receive 10-15 years.  Until recently, the only person charged in regard to the 9/11 attacks was in Germany and he was charged as an accessory - he received 10 or so years for the murder of 3,000 human beings.  Average worth of one human life  -1.5 days.  Very enlightened.

The story of Amanda Knox - a female living in Italy accused of killing her roommate in some twisted sex game or rape.  She was found guilty - consequently no longer accused.  She was sentenced to 26 (or 25) years for murdering Meredith Kercher.  She was not found guilty of being the single person to stab and murder Kercher, rather she was part of the murder and retrieved a knife for two others, who played the primary role, after which Knox purportedly stabbed her. 

The other two people involved - Rudy Guede and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele ­Sollecito.  Sollecito received the same length of sentence as Knox (25-26 years), while Guede received 30 years (he was also the primary actor in the killing).

Justice done.  30 years for the taking of one human life.  Except Guede had his sentence cut to 16 years. 

Justice.


This is not an isolated case.

















euro

You have to wonder: Russian and Iranian Ignorance

Surely we all have populations that need serious medical assistance.  Perhaps they need to sit quietly in the corner for a few hours and de-stress.  Perhaps they need to consult a medical professional for help with prescription medication to aide their well-being.

Whether it is the 'birthers' or the '9/11 Loose Change' nuts, we have enough. 

Those people tend to be the average person - run of the mill, daily type.

Whereas in Iran - it reaches to the highest reaches of government where insanity has found a home, and in Russia where insanity is required to work in the media, and the ability to pervert the truth so your citizens are completely daft all the time is crucial.


Iran's intelligence: Bin Laden had died of illness long before the U.S. operation




By Eugene Gribanov
10-05-2011, 06:02


Iran's Minister of Information, Heidar Moslehi said that he had documentary evidence that the leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden died of illness long before the American special forces operations to eliminate it in Pakistan.

"Why is the U.S. military and U.S. security forces have refused to show bin Laden's body and dumped it into the sea, if in fact they arrested and killed him?" We have precise information that bin Laden had died some time ago ... and we have documents confirming this fact, "- Iranian media quoted words of the head of the Ministry, which serves as the Islamic Republic Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

As noted by RIA Novosti news agency, earlier information about the death of the terrorist number one not once appeared in various media.

In particular, in 2006 the French newspaper Est Republicain citing a secret intelligence report of France said that the leader of al-Qaida had died of typhoid in Pakistan. Later refuted this information, several foreign governments. In 2007, shortly before her death, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said that bin Laden is killed.

[there is more but it is all drivel anyway]

The Russian newspapers publish this rubbish so as to enlighten their readers with horribly stupid lies that require a restructuring of reality.  In Iran, it tends to be more common - they all tend to be living in a delusional world.


Keep in mind that bin Laden's daughter told the world press they came in and shot her father.

That the world saw the compound burning after - they had come in and shot her father dead.

That his wife was shot while protecting him, after they came in and shot him dead.

That his other wife was also protecting him and publicly stated they came in and shot him dead and tied them up and left and would have taken them all had it not been for the crashed helicopter, on fire in the compound after it crashed, when they came to shoot bin Laden dead.

Al Qaida admitted they killed him dead.

Pakistan confirmed they came in and killed him dead.

But Iran knows he died years earlier, even though his ghost was watching a video of Obama on TV and we see the screen image in the photo  and the video.

That previous video messages have all been confirmed to be him, including the most recent one - commenting on events which occurred days before he was killed dead by the Seal team after their chopper was destroyed and the compound caught fire.

Reality must be ignored in favor of delusion.  There is a word for this - INSANITY.














russia and iran

End of the World

End of the world movies have always mesmerized the viewing audience - especially in the United States.  I am not sure whether people in Tibet watch films or care if the world ends.  In some cultures, perhaps they await the end the way some sixteen year old boys await the last day of their being a virgin.  In the United States, end of the world films are resilient - facing the test of time and financial support by viewing audiences.

Yet so often the end is merely a new beginning (2012).  Planet of the Apes is great, except the end is merely the beginning which ends where it began and begins again with humans in charge followed by Apes - a singularly circular life we cannot escape.  I am Legend - a great film, except life does exist outside the walls of New York or whatever the city.  Smith doesn't know, but eventually learns of the colony in the upstate area (in one version of the film) - again, not the end, a new beginning, with far less traffic.

Dawn of the Dead - in some ways similar to the end of I am Legend - thinking, evolving zombies ... a new beginning?  In any case, there are scores of humans alive around the world and we meet them in various other films.  Enough to repopulate at some point - a new beginning, even while you must kill off the zombies or at least await their demise from lack of brain food.

Armageddon, Deep Impact, Core - all start off as end of the world events and we are saved by heroic deeds and man continues.

Day after Tomorrow or Day After - life continues, minus 200-300 million people at most.  Earth manages fine.

Independence Day and Battle LA, Skyline, Cloverfield - potentially devastating, but the Marines will win the day and capture or kill whatever it is.  We win in each, even if 100-300 million die, mankind continues.

12 Monkeys - idiotic.

Terminator:  Requires man to survive for the film to exist.

However, there are a few films that really do take us where we fear to tread - the End of the World.


Knowing !!!  1 of 5

On the Beach !!!  2 of 5

Seventh Sign !!!   3 of 5

When Worlds Collide !!!  4 of 5

Questionable ??    The Day the Earth Caught Fire!!  Although this one is not a certainty.  5 of 5



This is it.  The End.  After watching the first 4, you'd walk the streets telling all to repent and prepare!














the end

$50 light bulbs - MANDATED

I am going shopping



LED bulbs hit 100 watts as federal ban looms




By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
Mon May 16, 2011



.NEW YORK – Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January.

Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week mean that brighter LED bulbs will likely go on sale next year, but after a government ban takes effect.

The new bulbs will also be expensive — about $50 each — so the development may not prevent consumers from hoarding traditional bulbs.

The technology in traditional "incandescent" bulbs is more than a century old. Such bulbs waste most of the electricity that feeds them, turning it into heat. The 100-watt bulb, in particular, produces so much heat that it's used in Hasbro's Easy-Bake Oven.

To encourage energy efficiency, Congress passed a law in 2007 mandating that bulbs producing 100 watts worth of light meet certain efficiency goals, starting in 2012. Conventional light bulbs don't meet those goals, so the law will prohibit making or importing them. The same rule will start apply to remaining bulbs 40 watts and above in 2014. Since January, California has already banned stores from restocking 100-watt incandescent bulbs.

Creating good alternatives to the light bulb has been more difficult than expected, especially for the very bright 100-watt bulbs. Part of the problem is that these new bulbs have to fit into lamps and ceiling fixtures designed for older technology.

Compact fluorescents are the most obvious replacement, but they have drawbacks. They contain a small amount of toxic mercury vapor, which is released if they break or are improperly thrown away. They last longer than traditional bulbs but not as long as LEDs. Brighter models are bulky and may not fit in existing fixtures.

Another new lighting technology, organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, has had problems reaching mass production. OLEDs are glowing sheets or tiles, rather than pinprick light sources, as LEDs are. They're used as vibrant color screens for smartphones, particularly from Samsung Electronics Co.

But making OLEDs that are big, bright, cheap and long-lasting enough for use as light sources has proved difficult, in part because they use chemicals that are sensitive to oxygen and spoil unless sealed very carefully.

Acuity Brands Inc., an Atlanta-based maker of light fixtures, will be showing some OLED panels at the show. They will go on sale next year, but the price will likely make them technology showpieces rather than candidates for everyday lighting.

LEDs are efficient, durable and produced in great quantities, but they're still expensive. An LED bulb can contain a dozen light-emitting diodes, or tiny semiconductor chips, which cost about $1 each.

The big problem with LEDs is that although they don't produce as much heat as incandescent bulbs, the heat they do create shortens the lifespan and reduces the efficiency of the chips. Cramming a dozen chips together in a tight bulb-shaped package that fits in today's lamps and sockets makes the heat problem worse. The brighter the bulb, the bigger the problem is.

The most powerful pear-shaped LED bulbs in stores today — the kind that fits existing lamps — produce light equivalent to a 60-watt bulb, though there are more powerful ones for directional or flood lighting.

Osram Sylvania, a unit of Germany's Siemens AG, said it has overcome the heat problem and will be showing a pear-shaped 100-watt-equivalent LED bulb this week. It doesn't have a firm launch date, but it usually shows products about a year before they hit store shelves.

Lighting Sciences Group Corp., a Satellite Beach, Fla.-based company that specializes in LED lighting, will be showing several 100-watt-equivalent prototypes, including some that solve the problem of cooling the LEDs by using microscopic devices that move air over the chips, like miniature fans.

Before the 100-watters, there will be 75-watters on the shelves this year. Osram Sylvania will be selling them at Lowe's starting in July. Royal Philips Electronics NV, the world's biggest lighting maker, will have them in stores late this year for $40 to $45.

However, 60-watt bulbs are the big prize, since they're the most common. There are 425 million incandescent light bulbs in the 60-watt range in use in the U.S. today, said Zia Eftekhar, the head of Philips' North American lighting division. The energy savings that could be realized by replacing them with 10-watt LED bulbs is staggering.

To stimulate LED development, the federal government has instituted a $10 million "L Prize" for an energy-efficient replacement for the 60-watt bulb. Philips is so far the only entrant in testing, and Eftekhar expects the company to win it soon. But Lighting Sciences Group plans its own entry, which it will demonstrate at the trade show.

Philips has been selling a 60-watt-equivalent bulb at Home Depot since December that's quite similar to the one submitted to the contest. But it's slightly dimmer, consumes 2 watts too much power and costs $40, whereas the L Prize target is $22. Sylvania sells a similar LED bulb at Lowe's, also for $40.

However, LED prices are coming down quickly. The DoE expects a 60-watt equivalent LED bulb to cost $10 by 2015, putting them within striking range of the price of a compact fluorescent bulb.

Bob Karlicek, the director of the Smart Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., thinks that price is achievable.

But, he said, "it's not necessarily clear to people in the lighting industry that LED chips were ever meant to go into a bulb."

What's really needed, he said, is a new approach to lighting — new fixtures and lamps that spread out the LEDs, avoiding the heat problem.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
way to go

Racism and Hatred in Egypt

Have you ever heard that only whites can be racist? 

The argument basically treads the following:  only those who hold power can be racist, therefore, blacks cannot be.  Whites can be, because they have always held power.

One doesn't need to agree, just understand this view, held by many people who would self-identify themselves as left or left of left.   Most large media sources would fall into the left of center category based on the fact a majority of their employees / reporters/ anchors self-identify as left.

Even when blacks protested or rioted, it was regarded as significant because they held no power, and consequently, their choice to risk all, meant that the system was truly broken (whatever the issue they were demonstrating / protesting).

So, in Egypt when Christians are protesting ....





Mob attacks Christian protest in Egypt


5/15/2011

CAIRO (AP) — An angry mob attacked a group of mainly Christian protesters demanding drastic measures to heal religious tension amid a spike in violence, leaving 65 people injured, officials said Sunday.

The Christian protesters have been holding their sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week following deadly Christian-Muslim clashes that left a church burned and 15 people dead.

More than 100 people rushed into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks and fire bombs from an overpass and charging toward the few hundred protesters sleeping in the area. Vehicles were set on fire and fires burned in the middle of the street.

Police and army troops fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and a tree was set on fire under the overpass.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the attackers had returned to avenge an earlier scuffle with the protesters who prevented a motorist from going through the area. A fight ensued, and the motorists fired blank rounds. The protesters chased the motorist and beat him badly.

Marc Mino, a protest organizer, told state TV the motorists had provoked the fight after refusing to be searched before entering the protest area, then provoking the protesters.

Medics said 65 were injured in Sunday's melee, two in critical condition. The security official said nearly 50 of the riot instigators were arrested.

A witness, Alfred Raouf, said armored vehicles later blocked traffic and pedestrians from going down from the bridge toward the protest area. The number of protesters at the sit-in shrunk, but those remaining insisted the strike would continue as their area was cordoned off by the security, Raouf said.

Religious clashes and a rising wave of crime have proved to be a major challenge for Egypt's military rulers in the days following the 18-day uprising that led to the Feb. 11 ouster of ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

Following the religious violence, the military vowed to respond firmly to instigators of violence and promised to respond to a number of the Christian demands, including reopening nearly 50 churches. But no trial date has been set for those responsible for the church burning or the violence last week.

Just hours before the Cairo violence, several suspected Islamic extremists bombed the tomb of a Muslim saint in the northern Sinai town of Sheik Zweid, said a security official, also declining to be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the information. The official said the eight or nine attackers fled the area. Muslim radicals have blown up at least five other Muslim shrines, because they believe the veneration of saints as a violation of Islam.

Meanwhile, doctors said Egypt's ex-first lady Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition after treatment for a "panic attack" and has effectively been put under arrest in the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh pending further investigation of corruption allegations, officials said Saturday.


Suzanne Mubarak fainted and suffered chest pains following a three-hour interrogation Friday which ended with a decision to detain her for 15 days as prosecutors looked at the sources of her wealth. She has been accused of taking advantage of his position for personal gain.

Health Minister Ashraf Hatem said the 70-year old Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition Saturday after a 24-hour monitoring period in the intensive care unit of the hospital in the Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh. She is in the custody of the police, Hatem said, according to Egypt's state news agency MENA.

Later, a second team recommended she remain under observation for an additional 48 hours, according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammed Fatahallah. He said the team determined that Mrs. Mubarak still has high blood pressure and suffers from chest pains, and an angioplasty may be necessary. He was speaking to the Associated Press.

The continuing treatment makes it unlikely she will be transferred quickly to a Cairo women's prison facility, where she had been expected to be moved.

Earlier, a hospital official had told the Associated Press that Mrs. Mubarak on Friday "suffered from a sudden panic attack after hearing that she will be sent to prison." The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to release the information before further tests were conducted.

Suzanne Mubarak's 83-year-old husband also is being treated in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital, for a heart condition.

The former president had been questioned several times about allegations that he illegally amassed vast wealth, but Mrs. Mubarak was interrogated on Thursday for the first time on corruption charges.

The Mubaraks and other members of the former regime have been the subject of legal efforts to bring them to trial since the ex-president was forced to resign Feb. 11.

The process has been complicated by slow procedures and — in the Mubaraks' case — by health issues. Many in the protest movement have been critical of the current military rulers for being slow in pursuing corrupt officials, although many former regime members have been jailed.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
egypt

French Socialist IMF: Rape and Assault and an attempt to flee

You can't make this stuff up.

Of course there will be people who claim this was all set up by Sarkozy, but sometimes people just stumble into their own mess.


- he has had 3 wives (which in itself means nothing except)
- he admitted to an indiscretion last year (which does not indicate guilt of a crime)
- he has a special relationship with Air France to get on any of their planes at any time in First Class, which he did (odd for a socialist isn't it - to expect such perks from a capitalist enterprise).
- he left without his phone and other personal items





IMF boss Strauss-Kahn pulled off plane, arrested in sodomy probe



By PHILIP MESSING, JAMIE SCHRAM, LARRY CELONA and BILL SANDERSON
May 14, 2011
New York Post




The French political bigshot who heads the International Monetary Fund was arrested for allegedly sodomizing a Manhattan hotel maid today — hauled off an Air France flight just moments before takeoff from Kennedy Airport, police said.

Three Port Authority detectives pulled Dominique Strauss-Kahn from the plane’s first-class cabin just two minutes before it was due to depart for Paris, according to police sources said.

Strauss-Kahn, 62 — who was expected to challenge Nicholas Sarkozy in the 2012 French presidential election — was turned over to NYPD officers and brought to the Special Victims Unit’s uptown squadroom.

The trouble began around noon, when a 32-year-old housekeeper entered Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel on West 44th Street — apparently unaware he was still inside.

The married Strauss-Kahn was in his bathroom, said sources. He emerged naked, grabbed her and "he jumps her," a source said.

Then, Strauss-Kahn allegedly threw the housekeeper on the room’s bed and forced her to perform oral sex on him, said the sources.

The maid managed to break free and ran to a hotel worker to tell what happened, said a source. Soon afterward, Strauss-Kahn got dressed and headed off to Kennedy Airport for his flight to Paris.

When he was approached on the plane by Port Authority cops, he said, "What is this about?" sources said. He was then taken off without handcuffs.

Two law enforcement sources said Strauss-Kahn was trying to flee the US. Police said he left his cellphone and other personal items in the room.

Strauss-Kahn, who had a meeting planned for today with German chancellor Angela Merkel, has a special arrangement with Air France that allows him to get on any flight and sit in first class, the sources said. He was traveling alone.

The NYPD’s Special Victims Unit is investigating the case, the sources said.

The victim was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where she was being treated for trauma.

Strauss-Kahn, a leader of France’s Socialist Party, is a longtime rival to Sarkozy, who was said in a news report today to have kicked off a smear campaign that focused on his lavish lifestyle. It included Strauss-Kahn’s purchase of suits from the same tailor who clothes President Obama.

But Strauss-Kahn seems able to find trouble on his own. In 2008, he publicly admitted to "an error of judgment" for having an affair with an IMF subordinate.

In France’s 2007 vote, Strauss-Kahn lost the Socialist Party nomination to Segolene Royal, who in turn fell to defeat against Sarkozy, leader of the right-wing Union for a Popular Movement.

But Sarkozy, who still sees Strauss-Kahn as his likeliest electoral rival, is believed to have maneuvered him out of France by backing him to head the Washington-based International Monetary Fund.

Strauss-Kahn is married to New York-born Anne Sinclair, a leading French TV journalist. She is his third wife; he has four children from two prior marriages.

A spokeswoman for the US State Department had no immediate comment. IMF did not immediately return calls.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
elitists

How much do things cost: Taxed on the taxes.

I went to the store today to buy a widget.  The price was $3.28.  I decided that was too much to pay and came home and looked on the internet.  I found the company that makes this widget and after several hours of scouring the reports and white papers on this widget, I learned that the cost to manufacture the item was .0475.

I was livid until I saw the company records.  They made a profit, quite a bit of profit as a matter of fact.  About 3000% profit.  But that is not the entire story.  If 3000% was not bad enough, the cost for packaging, boxing, transporting, and ancillary costs to the process is another $1.17.  Combined the entire cost from start through the sales is $2.7175.   That does not explain the other .56.   

There is a State fee on transportation, a green fee on development, a federal fee for waste, a state fee for waste disposal, a federal processing assessment (F.P.A.), a federal highway transportation fee, a federal and state packaging fee disposal assessment, and a national sales assessmnent fee.  Total, those fees and assessments equal 56 cents.

The item I held cost 4 cents and the fees were over 56 cents.

Then came the tax.  Los Angeles county tax and state tax.

(Even assuming the profit of $1.50 plus the .0475 cost and rounding that up to 5 cents, would give us $1.55 before tax, but no, the fees and assessments are more than the item.)


When it was done, the total charge was $3.84 for the item that cost .0475 to produce.













fees

New York: Population: Dwindling

You CANNOT tax people on taxes on top of taxed products and still believe in any delusional state of mind that they will stay around very long.  When they leave, you must necessrily raise more taxes to compensate for their having left (and reducing your revenue).

The answer - cut and slash.  Don't tax.




1 in 3 Young New Yorkers Want to Leave State

Those under 30 say it's too expensive


By John Johnson, Newser Staff
May 13, 2011 4:24 PM CDT



(Newser) – This can't bode well for New York state: A new poll shows that more than a third of residents under 30 want to move away within five years, notes DNAinfo. The big reasons: Jobs, taxes, and the cost of living. The percentage of wannabe bag-packers drops from 36% to 24% for those living specifically in New York City, notes the Gothamist blog. A hefty 77% of the 941 poll respondents of all ages consider the state expensive for an average family.

“New Yorkers are feeling the financial squeeze on the home front," writes Lee M. Miringoff of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Right now, many young people do not see their future in New York state. Unchecked, this threatens to drain the state of the next generation."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
taxes

Russia's Sham Democracy

If this was stated by an American, few would listen.  When it is the last Soviet leader, speaking about what he sees in Russia today - I surely hope so.  I wouldn't listen to Gorbachev on issues related to non-Russian issues, but when it comes to Russia and Democracy ... he has a clue.



Mikhail Gorbachev lambasts Vladimir Putin's 'sham' democracy

Former Soviet leader launches harshest criticism yet of Russia's ruling regime ahead of 80th-birthday celebrations




Miriam Elder in Moscow
guardian.co.uk
Monday 21 February 2011


Russia under prime minister Vladimir Putin is a sham democracy, Mikhail Gorbachev has said in his harshest criticism yet of the ruling regime.

"We have everything – a parliament, courts, a president, a prime minister and so on. But it's more of an imitation," the last president of the Soviet Union said.

Gorbachev, who oversaw the , has become increasingly critical of the modern Russian state, accusing its leaders of rolling back the democratic reforms of the 1990s.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of his 80th birthday, Gorbachev criticised Putin for manipulating elections.

In response to the prime minister and former president's comments that he and his protégé, President Dmitry Medvedev, would decide between them who would run for office in March 2012, Gorbachev said: "It's not Putin's business. It must be decided by the nation in elections."

He called Putin's statements a sign of "incredible conceit".

Asked how he thought the regime approached human rights, Gorbachev said: "There's a problem there. It's a sign of the state of our democracy." He was echoing statements made by Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, during a visit to Russia last week.

Gorbachev said United Russia, the ruling party founded with the sole goal of supporting Putin's leadership, was a throwback.

"United Russia reminds me of the worst copy of the Communist party," he said. "We have institutions but they don't work. We have laws but they must be enforced."

Its stranglehold over political life would eventually backfire. "The monopoly ends in rotting and hampers the development of democratic processes."

Gobachev said he did not like how Putin and Medvedev were behaving. "It's a shame that our modern leaders aren't very modern," he said.

Gorbachev now runs a charity foundation that will hold a gala at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 30 March to mark his birthday. He co-owns the country's leading opposition newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.

Held up in the west as a hero for his softening of the Soviet system and eventual acceptance of its fall, Gorbachev remains widely despised inside Russia, where he is seen as a traitor who allowed the empire to crumble and ushered in a period of great uncertainty. Over the years he has aligned himself with the cause of Russia's sidelined liberals.

On Monday, Gorbachev called the regime's campaign against jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky politically motivated. "Politics shouldn't have been involved in [the case], but they were," he said.

He noted the case of Natalya Vasilieva, a court clerk who worked on the Khodorkovsky trial and broke ranks to publicly announce that the judge had been pressured throughout and had a verdict and sentence pushed on him.

"I fully believe her," Gorbachev said. "People can't stand it anymore – she saw what was happening with her own eyes."


















russia

Scientists warn of $2,000bn solar ‘Katrina’

By Clive Cookson in Washington
February 20 2011 17:50
Financial Times


The sun is waking up from a long quiet spell. Last week it sent out the strongest flare for four years – and scientists are warning that earth should prepare for an intense electromagnetic storm that, in the worst case, could be a “global Katrina” costing the world economy $2,000bn.

Senior officials responsible for policy on solar storms – also known as space weather – in the US, UK and Sweden urged more preparedness at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

We have to take the issue of space weather seriously,” said Sir John Beddington, UK chief scientist. “The sun is coming out of a quiet period, and our vulnerability has increased since the last solar maximum [around 2000].”

“Predict and prepare should be the watchwords,” agreed Jane Lubchenco, head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So much more of our technology is vulnerable than it was 10 years ago.”

A solar storm starts with an eruption of super-hot gas travelling out from the sun at speeds of up to 5m miles an hour. Electrically charged particles hit earth’s atmosphere 20 to 30 hours later, causing electromagnetic havoc.

Last week’s solar storm may have been the biggest since 2007, but it was relatively small in historical terms.

It caused some radio communications problems and minor disruption of civil aviation as airlines routed flights away from the polar regions, said Dr Lubchenco.

A more extreme storm can shut down communications satellites for many hours – or even cause permanent damage to their components. On the ground, the intense magnetic fluctuations can induce surges in power lines, leading to grid failures such as the one that blacked out the whole of Quebec in 1989.

The 11-year cycle of solar activity is quite variable and the present one is running late, with the next maximum expected in 2013.

The peak was not expected to be very strong but that should not cause complacency, said Tom Bogdan, director of the US Space Weather Prediction Center.

The most intense solar storm on record, which ruined much of the world’s newly installed telegraph network in 1859, took place during an otherwise weak cycle. An 1859-type storm today could knock out the world’s information, communications and electricity distribution systems, at a cost estimated by the US government at $2,000bn.

In terms of terrestrial vulnerability, the biggest change since the 2000 peak is that the world has become more dependent on global positioning system satellites – and not just for navigation. The world’s mobile phone networks depend on ultra-precise GPS time signals for their co-ordination.



























solar

Navy SEALs Fear for Safety



SECURITY BOOSTED AS FORCES EXPRESS WORRY



By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff
May 13, 2011 3:25 AM CDT



(NEWSER) – New security precautions are being implemented as US Navy SEALs involved in Osama bin Laden's killing are expressing fears for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. The team communicated their worries to Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a meeting last week, he revealed. Al-Qaeda has vowed to avenge the death of their leader, and threats against US forces has increased, reports the BBC. "We are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security" for the team, Gates told Marines during an appearance at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

"There has been a consistent and effective effort to protect the identities of those who participated in the raid. I think that has to continue," he added. Security has also been beefed up to protect President Obama's grandmother in Africa, who has also been the target of threats


**********************************************

Not interested in the grandmother.  That would be unmanly for them to go after her, and that alone might prevent that.  As for Kenyan police protecting her... she would be better off giving up now and sparing the policemen their lives.

What is interesting, I think, is the comment section of the paper - nutters tend to read this as if the SEALS have a fear for their lives.  Please.  These men have no fear of anyone at anytime.  The writing was done poorly and worse, the readers were less than able to make any large steps in reading a few paragraphs without falling asleep.

They are afraid for their families.  Al Qaida will spend considerable time combing all research available to find out who is in the SEALS, they will locate their families, and will strike. 

The media in this country are not jumping around - this is even worse than that foolish twit who worked at CIA.  These assassins will slaughter the entire family, as many as they can find - all because one or two people at the White House or an idiot in Congress released the unit and name.  Rather than simply saying - US Special Forces ... they were specific to a unit.  Wrong and now it will impact every future action by this unit - the men will be thinking of their families when they need to be thinking about their job - all thanks to the idiot in the White House or Congress.

Talk about investigations - this one needs a thorough investigation to find the first two people who opened their mouths, and have them fired, whoever they might be.

If any family member is harmed it will be their personal responsibility.
























idiots

Superman hates then loves America

Superman: I Still Love America


After dropping citizenship, hero salutes land of 'second chances'

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff
 May 13, 2011 12:25 PM CDT


(Newser) – Superman made headlines last month with his decision to drop his US citizenship—but he’s still American at heart. That’s made clear in a new issue of Superman, which features the superhero reaffirming his love for the country, Bleeding Cool reports. “That’s the American way. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness—and second chances. None of us are forced to be anything we don’t want to be,” he says, gazing up at Metropolis.

The Man of Steel then reflects on “people from all over America—from all over the world —who went to the city to live the lives they wanted, to be the people they wanted to be. That’s the idea that America was founded on, but it’s not just for people born here. It’s for everyone.” Even people from different planets, apparently. Says Allahpundit at Hot Air: “I’m willing to let him stay if he undergoes a background check, pays back taxes, and learns English.”


Now, why might this be ... well, he renounced his citizenship in #900 (we'll call this Monday) and then decides he loves America on Tuesday.  One cannot give up citizenship and then call it fair and square but still love America.  Sorry, it does not work like that, even if you think it does.  Nope.  DC received so much opposition, so many angry people, it was a tidal wave that would capsize the house of DC, and they went to work to fix the boo boo.

They lost their honor in the process, but may have saved the house of DC.




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
comics

2012: It's the end of the world, and they seem to know it.

Apocalypse Angst Adds to Terrorist Threat as Rich Russians Acquire Bunkers




By Lyubov Pronina –
May 12, 2011 1:01 PM PT



Terrorism can be good for bunker builders. An apocalypse can be even better for business.

Danila Andreyev started building “panic rooms” three years ago, when fears of terrorist attacks and commercial disputes turning violent created demand in Russia. Now he’s selling “survival bunkers” for as much as $400,000 each to capitalize on angst over theories the world will end next year.

“I myself am not a believer in doomsday scenarios,” Andreyev, 31, whose Spetsgeoproekt company is completing 15 bunkers at hidden locations across Russia, said at his office in central Moscow. “But when you start hearing clients talking about the end of the world, it gets you thinking.”

While Russia has been a target for terrorists, with 37 people dying in a blast at Moscow’s busiest airport in January, more people are looking to protect themselves from what Andreyev calls a “global cataclysm” in 2012 based on predictions such as interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar.

Northwest Shelter Systems, a company based in Sandpoint, Idaho, that specializes in nuclear bomb shelters, has seen the number of inquiries from potential customers rise as much as 60 percent since the March tsunami and earthquake in Japan, Allen Thompson, vice president, said by e-mail.

The Vivos Group, a California-based bunker builder with a website that features a meteor striking Earth, said requests for a shelter in one of its facilities jumped by 10 times since the disaster, which left about 25,000 people dead or missing.

Be Prepared

“Hundreds of applications” come from Russia and other former Soviet states, Vivos founder Robert Vicino said by e- mail. The nearest Vivos shelter is at an unidentified location in central Europe, he said. It costs about $25,000 per person.

“Every person has a different belief or sense of what may be ahead for all of us,” Vicino said. “Vivos is not about 2012, but having a life assurance solution for our families for whenever disaster strikes.”

Vivos is building facilities in the U.S. and elsewhere. It said in January it was considering buying a two-story bunker constructed for the U.K. government in 1990 in rural Scotland.

Spetsgeoproekt, which stands for Special Geological Projects, plans to open a showroom in the affluent Moscow neighborhood of Rublevka this year and is expanding into Russia’s regions, Andreyev said.

The company’s bunkers range from 35 to 90 square meters (377 to 969 square feet). Maintaining the unit, including the air system, runs about $2,500 a year, he said.

Avoiding Floods

Altai, the mountainous southern Siberian region that borders China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, is of particular interest because it’s believed to be “flood proof,” Andreyev said. Spetsgeoproekt started building an 80 square-meter, $350,000 bunker in Altai.

“They all say the same thing: Next year there’ll be a polar shift or something and most of Russia will be flooded except for Altai and a few other regions,” Andreyev said.

Alexei, 35, one of Andreyev’s clients, said distress over the coming apocalypse prompted him in February to order the construction of a $150,000 bunker big enough to shelter eight people outside of Moscow. He declined to give his full name to keep it secret that he ordered a bunker.

Something catastrophic will certainly happen next year, Alexei said in a telephone interview.

“It all points to some shake-up on Dec. 21, 2012,” Alexei said, citing his interpretations of the doomsday predictions of 16th century French apothecary Nostradamus, the blind Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga and the Mayan calendar.

Soviet Designs

Andreyev said his bunkers are based on Soviet military designs from the 1970s and modified with modern technologies. The walls resemble those used in nuclear power stations and the air systems are akin to those used in spaceships and submarines. The doors are similar to those in Swiss bank vaults, he said.

Russia has a history of bunker building, particularly during the Cold War amid fears of a nuclear attack.

Several previously secret facilities in and around Moscow opened to the public since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, including a 7,000 square-meter compound 60 meters below Taganka Square in central Moscow that’s been turned into a Cold War museum. It can be rented for parties and weddings.

It may be a sign of the times that Yevgeny Ubiyko, a former Red Army engineer who served in what was once Czechoslovakia, feels the need to start producing floating bunkers. Ubiyko, 45, built his own 32 square-meter “mobile safe” that he now advertises on his website, offering to replicate it for anyone willing to pay at least $80,000. He has four orders so far.

“With seismic activity increasing and abnormal weather events becoming more frequent, it’s clear the trend is such that soon the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan will seem like a minor event,” Ubiyko said by telephone. “People are starting to think about shelters, like Noah and his ark.”





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
end of the world

Pakistani Intellect

And we are supposed to care what other people think.  Respect what they believe?

Even when they are complete and total idiots? 



ROBBINS: Pakistanis say bin Laden was not behind 9/11


James S. Robbins
Washington Times
Published on May 9, 2011

Most people in Pakistan either think Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, or that he did and they were justified. According to a survey of Pakistanis released last Friday by YouGov, 46% believe that "Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with the [9/11] attacks" and 6% say that "Osama Bin Laden rightly authorized the attacks as part of a justified war against American values and imperialism." Only 16% were willing to say that the attacks "were a criminal, terrorist action organized by Al-Qaeda and authorized by Osama Bin Laden," while 31% chose not to offer an opinion.

Other key results from the survey include:

Two thirds of respondents do not believe the person killed in the Abbottabad raid was Osama bin Laden;

Despite Obama administration claims that bin Laden's burial at sea was in accordance with Islamic practices, 75% disapproved of it and say "he should have been given a Muslim burial on land;"

75% disapprove of U.S. actions in the takedown, while only 11% approve;

77% oppose a U.S. troop presence in Pakistan;

Despite the Obama administration's obsequious outreach to Islam, 74% believe the U.S. government does not respect Islam and considers itself at war with the Muslim world;

86% oppose Pakistan government cooperation with U.S. drone attacks on militant groups.

To their credit, 70% of Pakistanis do not believe that Islamabad should accept U.S. foreign assistance, so at least they are sincere in their dislike of our country. But it says a lot about the Obama administration's failure to deliver the promised new era of relations between Pakistan and the United States.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pakistan

Amid Arab protests, U.S. influence has waned




By Liz Sly
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 4, 2011; 4:04 AM

BAGHDAD - In days gone by, it was pretty much guaranteed that any demonstration in the Arab world would feature burning American flags and a blazing effigy or two of the U.S. president.

At the pro-democracy demonstrations on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, references to the United States have been conspicuously absent, a sign of what some analysts are already calling a "post-American Middle East" of diminished U.S. influence and far greater uncertainty about America's role.


For just as burning flags are not part of the current repertoire, neither are demonstrators carrying around models of the Statue of Liberty, as Chinese activists brought to Tiananmen Square in 1989. Middle East activists say they avoid references to the United States as a political role model for fear of alienating potential supporters, said Toujan Faisal, a veteran democracy campaigner in Jordan who has been advising young protesters in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"I don't think America appeals to the younger generation," she said. "I'm cautious not to present them with the American example because there's a negative attitude to America, a disappointment."






















foolishness

Iraq - Pay us for the roads you damaged when you drove on them

I believe we should pay them.

After they pay us for the sanitation plants we built they never had.  After they pay us for the electric plants that did not function, that do now.

After they pay us for the schools we built, the books we brought, the roads we built, the infrastructure we provided via our urban planning engineers.

After they pay for the time and labor on the above - we will still owe them a bit.

Then we can bill for the rebuilt cities - the shia now live in communities with services and hope.  Schools and stores, jobs and opportunity for some.

They can pay us for removing the tyrant and the cost of military equipment.

They can pay us for the loss of American lives and for the cost of maintaining the stability of Iraq for seven years so they can now be at a point to ask us to pay for their roads.

We can bill for man hours, air hours, fuel costs, food costs ...

When we finish, we can spread the debt they owe us over 100 years and they can pay us in oil, and we promise we will not raise this issue again - unless they raise the issue of their roads again.




Baghdad wants U.S. to pay $1 billion for damage to city




BAGHDAD

Thu Feb 17, 2011 10:44am EST




(Reuters) - Iraq's capital wants the United States to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done to the city not by bombs but by blast walls and Humvees since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The city's government issued its demands in a statement on Wednesday that said Baghdad's infrastructure and aesthetics have been seriously damaged by the American military.

"The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which reflected deliberate ignorance and carelessness about the simplest forms of public taste," the statement said.

"Due to the huge damage, leading to a loss the Baghdad municipality cannot afford...we demand the American side apologize to Baghdad's people and pay back these expenses."

The statement made no mention of damage caused by bombing.

Baghdad's neighborhoods have been sealed off by miles of concrete blast walls, transforming the city into a tangled maze that contributes to massive traffic jams. Despite a sharp reduction in overall violence in recent years only 5 percent of the walls have been removed, officials said.

The heavy blast walls have damaged sewer and water systems, pavement and parks, said Hakeem Abdul Zahra, the city spokesman.

U.S. military Humvees, driven on street medians and through gardens, have also caused major damage, he said.

"The city of Baghdad feels these violations, which have taken place for years, have caused economic and moral damage," he said.

U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq's cities in June 2009 before formally ending combat operations last August. Around 50,000 remain in Iraq but they are scheduled to withdraw by year end.

Baghdad is badly in need of a facelift. Electricity and trash collection are sporadic, streets are potholed and sewage treatment plants and pipes have not been renovated for years.

Iraq has seen growing protests in recent weeks over poor government services.

Zahra said the city's statement issued on Wednesday would be the start of its measures to get the United States to pay for damages but he did not say what other steps might be taken.















iraq