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Kick Assiest Blog
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Phat-waa
Mood:
 d'oh
Topic: Funny Stuff
Terror leader arrested while having car sex near Arafat's grave,
The Goat was unable to be reached for comment... Terror leader arrested having car sex near Arafat's grave Israeli forces raid jeep of longtime wanted militant caught in compromising position  RAMALLAH -- Israel today arrested a longtime wanted terror leader here in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
According to Israeli security officials and Palestinian sources in Ramallah speaking to WND, the terrorist was arrested while having car sex just a few hundred feet from late PLO leader Yasser Arafat's gravesite. Khaled Shawish, an officer in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 presidential guards, was captured by undercover Israeli police forces following scores of shooting attacks he is suspected of carrying out. Shawish, who doubles as the Ramallah chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, previously boasted of involvement in a West Bank shooting attack in December 2000 that killed Israeli ultranationalist leader Benjamin Kahane and Kahane's wife, Talya.  The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party.
After the Kahane murder, Shawish was extended refuge by Arafat to live in the late PLO leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata. Arafat is buried at the entrance to the Muqata. Shawish continued the past seven years to live in the Muqata, from which, according to Israeli security officials, he directed the Brigades to carry out scores of shootings against Israelis driving on West Bank roads.  Several years ago Shawish sustained an injury during a gun battle with the Israel Defense Forces and has since been confined to a wheelchair, although he is still able to drive.
According to Israeli security officials and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sources in Ramallah, Shawish was arrested after the Israeli police stormed his jeep, which was parked in a lot outside the Muqata, about 200 feet from Arafat's grave. The sources said at the time of his arrest, Shawish was having intercourse in the back seat of his jeep with a Palestinian woman, whose identity is being withheld by WND. The woman was not his wife. The Brigades, founded by Arafat, largely considers the late PLO leader's resting place to be a sacred site. Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, is known for his regular interviews with Mideast terror leaders and his popular segments on America's top radio programs.
World Net Daily ~ Aaron Klein ** Terror leader arrested having car sex near Arafat's grave Uhm... Maybe they were playing 'Hide the Pipe Bomb'... Just couldn't wait for those 72 virgins, I guess. I wish there was a picture of the woman, so her neighbors could see her, invoke sharia law and stone her to death. Jihad martyrs deserve their martyrdom!
Posted by yaahoo_
at 6:07 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 29 May 2007 6:24 AM EDT
Monday, 28 May 2007
Kim Jong-ill
Mood:
 chatty
Topic: Yahoo Chat Stuff
Kim Jong-ill... Rumors Say Kim Jong-il's Health Deteriorating  South Korean intelligence officials are investigating information that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health has deteriorated recently, a source said.
"The National Intelligence Service has obtained information that the reclusive leader Kim's diabetes and heart disease have been worsening. This information is more reliable than former rumors," a government official said. "It is known that U.S. intelligence officials are also looking into similar information," the official added.  Kim was born in 1942 and is 66 years old this year. He has conducted official activities 23 times from January 1 to May 27 this year, which is half the number of activities he led by this time last year.
The North Korean leader's most recent official activity was a visit to a military base on May 5, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. But since North Korean media usually report Kim's activities later than when they actually occur, it is believed that Kim has not been involved in any official activities since the beginning of this month. Many experts say Kim's worsening health will ignite a fierce power struggle between his sons, Kim Jong-nam, who was born to the late Sung Hae-rim, and Kim Jong-chul and Kim Jong-woon, both born to the late Ko Young-hee. (englishnews@chosun.com)
Digital Chosun Ilbo ** Rumors Say Kim Jong-il's Health Deteriorating
Posted by yaahoo_
at 4:23 PM EDT
Charlie Sheen
Mood:
chatty
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
CHARLIE SHEEN RETHINKS NUTTY 9/11 FILM  Support for the loopy 9/11 documentary "Loose Change" - which argues that the World Trade Center terror attack was part of a secret U.S. government conspiracy - is quickly losing steam.
A source tells us Charlie Sheen "is having second thoughts" about being involved in an updated version of the flick, which has a huge following on YouTube. As Page Six reported in March, Sheen had agreed to narrate the ridiculous flick, presumably to give it some needed Hollywood sizzle. The conspiracy documentary got a further boost earlier this month when Virgin Atlantic announced it would offer the current, narration-free version as an in-flight movie choice. But just days later, it scrapped the idea. "After Virgin announced it, bloggers went nuts and there was so much negative feedback that [the airline] a few days later nixed it," the source said.  After we revealed Sheen's participation, the "Two and a Half Men" star told Extra: "It's a story that needs to be told. It's a story about the truth, and the truth needs to be exposed. It's not just me, not just the Hollywood community [that] is standing up saying what you have given us doesn't make sense. We just want better answers." As for Sheen now pulling his support, the star's flack, Stan Rosenfield, did not return calls over two days.
Another proponent of the "Loose Change" theory is Rosie O'Donnell, who trumpeted her feelings about it on "The View" and her blog, making ABC brass nervous and infuriating some viewers.  O'Donnell reportedly had booked the film's producers, Korey Rowe and Dylan Avery, on Thursday's show. But after getting into a fight with Elisabeth Hasselbeck Wednesday, and after her chief writer was caught defacing Hasselbeck's photos with mustaches, O'Donnell left the show.
"Loose Change" pushes the widely debunked "controlled demolition" theory, which claims the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center were blown up from within. It alleges the jet-fuel fires inside the towers weren't hot enough to melt the buildings' steel beams. Those claims were soundly refuted by Popular Mechanics magazine, which meticulously shot down every single one.  New York Post ~ Page Six ** Sheen Rethinks Nutty 9-11 Film
I wonder why Sheen would pull out. Perhaps he was afraid that he'd have to go on
"The View" to promote the film, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck would challenge him.
Or maybe Rosie O'Donut was behind it.
Posted by yaahoo_
at 3:44 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 28 May 2007 3:49 AM EDT
Sunday, 27 May 2007
China
Mood:
 don't ask
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Growing unrest shows Chinese one-child policy in tatters Broader sections of Chinese society are against the policy. Population controls are generating their own problems such as labour shortages, aging population, and a mounting welfare burden. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences scholars say changes are needed. Beijing -- Recent unrest in Guangxi is a sign that China’s population is less and less willing to put up with the one-child policy so much so that is ready to take to the streets. Many voices in the country’s scholarly community are also calling for a policy overhaul for the sake of society but also the economy. Riots broke out in several towns in Bobai County last weekend when thousands of people stormed a local government office, smashing furniture and destroying vehicles. Some even tried to set the building alight. All of them are fed up with government officials and police trying to enforce the one-child policy, reportedly using violence in some cases. Many families were hit with arbitrary fines for violating the policy. Those who could not pay had their homes ransacked by officers. The residents also accused the authorities of forcing women to have abortions in order to fulfil the annual newly-born quotas the central government has set for each city. Last April 61 women were forced to have an abortion in Youjiang County (Guangxi), two in the ninth month of pregnancy. Such is the situation that the government has been forced to station police units to protect the hospital where abortions were performed.  Last September legal scholar Teng Biao and blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng slammed the authorities in Linyi (Shandong) for using violence against families with “illegal” children.
In Gaoping (Hunan) in the last four years, officials took away 12 children from their families in order to get them to pay the fine because they failed to respect quotas. Also in Hunan province, the authorities forced unmarried women to under go “pregnancy checks” making the test compulsory for any woman seeking a share of community land-sale revenues and voting rights. The one-child policy is likely to fuel further social unrest as human rights activists have pointed out. Increasingly people are unwilling to accept the unfairness of a system that allows rich people -- for example, actors, landowners and business men -- to have more than one child because they can afford the fine whilst others cannot. The one-child policy is thus feeding into the debate over the growing gap between rich and poor and the rising corruption scandal among rank and file party officials, too ready to turn a blind eye on extra children in order to collect taxes and money. Officials at the State Family Planning Office are the first to be aware of the danger of unrest since they are caught between the government’s demands and threats against their job and the increasingly dissatisfied and belligerent population. China’s one-child policy came into being in the late 1970s as part of a strategy to put the country on a path of economic growth. However, it runs against the grain of Chinese mentality, which considers generational ties and ancestor worship the bases of the family unit. Ye Tingfang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said that only about 35 per cent of the population has observed the policy, and that it is increasingly criticised because of its many social and economic side effects like an ageing population and gender imbalance. Another CASS member, Prof Zhang Yi from the Institute of Population and Labour Economics, said that the country is ageing faster than expected and that the situation will worsen as the number of retired workers grows and the pool of people paying into pension funds shrinks.  As fewer rural workers stream into the cities, labour shortages are starting to appear in booming coastal regions. “In the beginning, it was believed that our big population would be a hindrance to our economic development. But over the past decades, experience has told us otherwise,” said Professor Ye. “Japan, for instance, has little in the way of resources and boasts one of the highest population densities in the world, but it is a thriving economy and one of the richest nations. Labour is the most important source of wealth.”
Asia News.it ** Growing unrest shows one-child policy in tatters  Ah, the wonders of government enforced abortion. Of course here in the United States we have Planned Parenthood which is subsidized and protected by the federal goverment but the ends are the same. Kill the unborn and solve all your problems. Now we face a labor shortage (according to our politicians) and need to have an endless supply of illegal aliens to meet that demand, and to fund Socialist Security, Medicare and the rest of the entitlements.
It's political / social / economic libtard bedlam in Washington D.C. just as it is in Peking, Beijing or whatever they call it now. What I find interesting about this, aside from Chinese people openly revolting about this one-child quota, is that for several years, the Chinese government has officially stated that by having less children, China is contributing to controlling global warming.  And in the USA, some libtards endorse the limitation of families to one or two kids to reduce global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Libtards have been espousing the population control agenda for long time (hidden under the guise of "family planning"). The global warming hoax just provides them with another poison arrow.
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:04 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 27 May 2007 2:10 AM EDT
Saturday, 26 May 2007
Kristen Byrnes 2
Mood:
 cheeky
Topic: Yahoo Chat Stuff
15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought  By Noel Sheppard
Last week, NewsBusters readers were introduced to Portland, Maine’s fabulous fifteen-year-old, Kristen Byrnes, whose website “Ponder the Maunder” marvelously takes on anthropogenic global warming myths including those being advanced by soon-to-be-Dr. Al Gore. As will be revealed post haste, this newest – and likely youngest – member of the growing list of folks skeptical about man’s role in climate change actually walks the walk better than she talks the talk. Yet, despite her youth and precocious scientific acumen, it seems quite unlikely that she’ll be sitting down with Matt Lauer or Diane Sawyer any time soon to discuss her research concerning one of the most popular subjects on the media’s front-burner. Why? Because a prediction that she made last month concerning Australia's drought has marvelously borne fruit making the scientists employed by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change look a bit foolish.  To set this up, here’s what the IPCC Summary for Policymakers report released on April 7 predicted regarding Australia (emphasis added):
As a result of reduced precipitation and increased evaporation, water security problems are projected to intensify by 2030 in southern and eastern Australia and, in New Zealand, in Northland and some eastern regions. ** D [11.4] […] Production from agriculture and forestry by 2030 is projected to decline over much of southern and eastern Australia, and over parts of eastern New Zealand, due to increased drought and fire.
About two weeks later, in an Internet discussion group which I belong to that deals exclusively with anthropogenic global warming issues, Byrnes wrote the following to an Australian participant (emphasis added, released with her permission and that of her parents): I was just looking at my ENSO 3.4 chart when I was responding to Eduardo's email. It looks like the ENSO has been positive for 95% of the last 6 years. Since Austrailia [sic] experiences warm and dry conditions during positive ENSO, six years of drought would not surprise me. But it is headed negative very quickly now, so you might want to dust off your umbrella.
 Well, just last week, there were signs from Australia that the six-year-old drought might be over. As reported by News.com.au on May 18 in an article deliciously titled “Drought Could Be Ending”:
THE El Nino weather system has run its course and the weather bureau says the worst drought in a century could be coming to an end, as heavy rain soaked parched southeastern Australia. Inland NSW and north-east Victoria enjoyed heavy rainfall today, with reports from 20-30mm falling in some areas and as high as 53mm in country Victoria, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) senior forecaster Phil King said. […] Mr King said the rainfall reflected a shift in weather patterns back to a more normal situation following an end to the drought-making El Nino and signs emerging of its opposite, a La Nina, which brings rain. "The El Nino is over,'' he said. "The global patterns are indicating there are more neutral and natural conditions and with the rainfalls, there are signs we have returned to more normal patterns.''
 Certainly great news for Australians, wouldn't you agee? And, the Canberra Times reported Wednesday (emphasis added):
Winter has arrived early on the Snowy Mountains in spectacular fashion. A blanket of snow has covered much of the high ranges of the Kosciuszko National Park over the past two days and hopes are running high for the coming ski season. After spending much of the summer season enduring the drought and feeling the threat of climate change, the residents of Jindabyne are alight with anticipation of a good season. The town, at the foot of the national park, almost triples in size during the snow season and relies heavily on the tourist dollar. "Don't you worry, this season will be a good one, this is a big one. You'll see, we can feel it," one long-time resident said.
As for agriculture, The Age reported Thursday: A good wet season in northern Australia has put Queensland-based cattle producer Australian Agricultural Co Ltd (AAco) on track for an improved performance this year. AAco managing director Don Mackay said recent rain in some parts of southern states had also boosted prospects.
 And, News.com.au reported the following on Thursday as well (emphasis added):
Recent storms over the northeast Top End put the icing on the cake for the Nothern [sic] Territory's rain totals, which have been more than 5 times the May average in some areas. Places such as Batchelor Airport in the north, and Kulgera in the Alice Springs district have had more than 500% of their average monthly rainfall. Lajamanu has done particularly well with more than 7 times their average monthly rain. Most of that was from a heavy downpour of 44mm. 20mm of that fell within 1 hour. On Thursday storms crossing the eastern Top End drenched Nhulunbuy, with 41mm recorded from this event. Showers will continue on Friday in moist, unstable easterly winds, with falls heaviest in the east.
 Obviously, Kristen’s April 20 suggestion that folks in Australia better dust off their umbrellas was rather prescient. Just imagine if this 15-year-old’s prediction supported the Global Warmingist-in-Chief Al Gore’s position on man’s role in climate change. Think she’d be Matt, Meredith, and Diane’s guest tomorrow?
Regardless of the answer, here’s what Kristen saw in the climate data that the global warming alarmists working for the U.N. either didn’t recognize or chose to ignore as shared with me by e-mail: There are certain rules in climate. One of them is that when there is an El Nino, there is dry weather in Australia, especially during their summer. Here is a map of what I am talking about:.
and during their winter: Australia has been in drought for about 6 years because there have been positive ENSO conditions for most of the past 6 years.
 ENSO stands for El Niño/Southern Oscillation; more information on this indicator is available here and here. Kristen continued her explanation:
This is the NOAA Oceanic Nino Index. There are many different ENSO indexes. I use this one because it is updated all the time. NOAA also publishes ENSO forecasts. They are usually pretty good a few months in advance but not perfect. Last month the La Nina was starting much faster but it has slowed down. This means that Australia will have normal rainfall for the planting season. The forecast for ENSO can be found here.
Kristen then addressed why so much of the alarmism is based on specious science: The reason that computer climate models do not work is because they cannot predict volcanoes, ENSO and solar variance. They also do not understand how water vapor and clouds work. Another rule in climate is that El Nino warms the average global temperature and La Nina is the opposite. During normal conditions the trade winds at the equator blow cool water off the coast of Peru to the east and cause warm water to pile up near Indonesia, the wind pressure actually causes sea water levels to be higher there. During La Nina, the winds blow even harder and pile the water up even more. During El Nino the winds slow down and the warm water flows back to Peru. The result is, during La Nina (cool event) the cold water coming from the bottom of the ocean near Peru is blown across the surface to Indonesia. The Earth's normal circulation that takes heat from the equator towards the poles has less heat to move to the poles. On the other hand, when there is an El Nino, the warm water spreads across the surface back to Peru. More warm water is in contact with the air above and the Earth's circulation takes that heat toward the poles. From about 1944 to 1976 the ENSO was mostly negative and solar increased then decreased. Temperatures during this time cooled a little. Since 1976 the ENSO has been more positive. This along with increasing solar activity has combined to warm the globe. What is expected over the next few years is for the ENSO to move back to a negative phase and for solar activity to level off then go down. That is why the weather guy said that in 5 years global warming will be a joke.
 Kristen was referring to a NewsBusters' article about New Zealand's favorite weatherman, Augie Auer, who was quoted last week as saying that over-hyped fears regarding climate change are "all going to be a joke in five years."
Kristen continued: I am already seeing signs that the climate is cooling. Since 2001 the oceans have not warmed. 2005 was supposed to be the warmest year on record but ENSO went a little negative that year. That means the base temperature (the oceans) was as warm as it is going to get because 2006 was an El Nino year and it was the 6th warmest on record. Keep in mind that for the last 70 years there has been an 11,000 year solar high. It takes time for all that heat to build up in the oceans, but it seems that the oceans are as warm as they will get from this 11,000 year solar high. This year will be cooler than last year because it will be an ENSO negative year and the solar cycle still has not started yet. Also keep in mind that just because there is no El Nino or La Nina, there is still heating or cooling. ENSO positive that does not get to the level of El Nino will still warm the climate, just a lot less. Same with ENSO negative that does not make the level of La Nina.
 So, what does all this tell us?
Well, if the drought in Australia and New Zealand is indeed ending – and, certainly, early-season rains and snowstorms do not yet prove this – one must question the models being used by the IPCC to forecast climate change in the future. After all, if a long-range forecast issued April 7 ends up being wrong five weeks later, why on earth would we trust these folks from the U.N. to be able to accurately predict what’s going to happen next year, or fifty to a hundred years from now? Maybe more important, should we actually enact policy changes that could negatively impact the economy on the recommendations of a group that can’t accurately predict events beyond just a month and a half?  Of course, the other likely more pivotal side of this revelation is whether the scientists involved are just incompetent, or willfully malfeasant. As Kristen wrote in her e-mail message to me, “They were probably trying to scare the people of Australia into signing Kyoto.”
Well, if this is the case, then aren’t all involved participating in a shameful scam? Think about it. If this is indeed about getting developed nations to agree to the Kyoto Protocol, isn’t the U.N. best served by predicting calamitous climate events regardless of their merit in order to scare the public into complacent support? If there is evidence to suggest that this is indeed the case – for example, proof of errant predictions by the IPCC – shouldn’t the veracity and integrity of the information emanating from this organization be much more thoroughly scrutinized? Sounds like questions good journalists should be asking, wouldn’t you agree?  So, why aren’t they?
Noel Sheppard's blog | login or register to post comments
Categories: Al Gore | An Inconvenient Truth | Environment | Global Warming | Weather News Busters ~ Noel Sheppard ** 15-Year-Old Outsmarts U.N. Climate Panel, Predicts End of Australia's Drought
Related: 15 Year-old Student Challenges Al Gore’s Enviro-mental Alarmism
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:49 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 26 May 2007 3:11 AM EDT
Al Suleikh
Mood:
 sharp
Topic: News
Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh  Capt. James Peay was starting to feel like a third wheel.
Peay, a battery commander with the 82nd Airborne Division from Nashville, Tenn., was accompanying Iraqi police chief Lt. Col. Ahmed Abdullah on a combined engagement patrol through the east Baghdad neighborhood of Suleikh. Whenever they stopped to speak with people on the street, Ahmed did most of the talking. Peay stood off to the side, listening as his interpreter translated. His comments were mostly limited to hellos, goodbyes, and thank-yous. This was Ahmed's show, and Peay was more than happy to give him the spotlight. It's not that he is shy, Peay said later, it's that, ultimately, stability in Iraq depends on the Iraqi security forces - and people like Lt. Col. Ahmed - taking the lead.  Successfully negotiating that difficult transition has become one of the major focuses of the entire war effort, especially since the kick-off of the new security plan for Baghdad, which has placed thousands of additional U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad communities, often living together in the same compounds.
Peay commands one of those new shared bases - the Suleikh Joint Security Station. For more than three months, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been living and working side-by-side with the Iraqi police and Iraqi army at the JSS to coordinate security efforts in Suleikh. The paratroopers from Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, man the JSS 24 hours a day. They have a cramped section of the building to themselves, stacked high with boxes of canned food, water and other supplies. The police stay on the other side of the same building, and the Iraqi soldiers stay in another part of the complex. At least once a day, liaisons from the three units meet in the conference room to discuss operations. When the JSS was first established, the area was so dangerous that the police rarely left the station. Some days, they went out only to pick up one of the dead bodies regularly dumped in the neighborhood.  Three months later, things changed. The U.S. presence helped bring the level of violence down significantly. At the same time, it emboldened the ISF to raise their profile in the area - particularly the police.
"They know we're here to support them, but at the same time, they're getting to a point where they know security as a whole is in their hands," said 2nd Lt. Jesse Bowman, an Alpha Battery platoon leader from Reynoldsburg, Ohio. The difficult part, now, will be to maintain the security while the U.S. forces step back and the ISF step up. Peay's patrol with Ahmed, May 18, his first as the new battery commander, gave an encouraging glimpse of the future. Before the patrol started, platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Nichols, of Lewisburgh, W.V., went over tactics and procedures with the Iraqis. When he was satisfied everyone was on the same page, the patrol moved out.  With a phalanx of police and paratroopers around them, Peay and Ahmed spent several hours walking a loop of the neighborhood around the JSS. They talked to people in their houses, outside washing their cars, on their way to work or anywhere else they found them.
Almost everyone complained about sewage or electricity, which, in the big scheme of things, Peay found promising.
"If they're complaining about the power, security must be pretty good," he said. Sometimes people came right out of their gates to talk with Ahmed in the middle of the street, an act that newly-arrived platoon leader, 1st Lt. Larry Rubal, from Old Forge, Pa., found incredible. At his old unit, people were afraid to be seen talking to U.S. or Iraqi security forces.  "I was very surprised by how willing people here were to come out and talk to us in the middle of the road," he said. "They were just very open."
Peay rarely had to ask a question. Ahmed was running the show. At one point Rubal asked his interpreter to make sure a man they were talking to received a pamphlet with the number of a crime tip line. The man produced one from his pocket. Ahmed had already given it to him. "You're too quick," Rubal said to Ahmed, laughing. Ahmed shrugged.  "He really took the lead and got out there," Peay said afterwards.
Peay said he'd like to build on the day's success by conducting more joint patrols and joint operations. And whenever possible, he'll continue to keep the U.S. in the background.
"I'd rather our guys just stand outside and have (the ISF) do everything," he said. In the meantime, Peay has another patrol scheduled with Lt. Col. Ahmed. And as the ISF continue to make gains in securing the streets of Baghdad, it looks like Peay will have to get used to being the third wheel. Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq
NewsBlaze, Daily News ** Iraqis Taking The Lead At Al Suleikh
Posted by yaahoo_
at 2:09 AM EDT
Friday, 25 May 2007
Libtard doves
Mood:
 silly
Now Playing: LIBTARDS ''SUPPORT THE TROOPS'' ALERT
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
Clintax, Obama Vote Against Funding... Clinton, Obama vote 'no' on Iraq bill  WASHINGTON -- Courting the anti-war constituency, Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) both voted against legislation that pays for the Iraq war but lacks a timeline for troop withdrawal.
"I fully support our troops" but the measure "fails to compel the president to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq," said Clinton, a New York senator. "Enough is enough," Obama, an Illinois senator, declared, adding that President Bush should not get "a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path." Their votes Thursday night continued a shift in position for the two presidential hopefuls, both of whom began the year shunning a deadline for a troop withdrawal. On a vote of 80-14, the Senate cleared the measure and sent it to Bush. Both Clinton and Obama have faced intense pressure from the party's liberal wing and Democratic presidential challengers who urged opposition to the measure because it doesn't include a timeline to pull forces out of Iraq. Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut, who also voted against the legislation, was among the Democratic candidates calling for rejection of it, along with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.  Of the four Democratic hopefuls in the Senate, only Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware supported the bill. He said he did so reluctantly because he viewed the measure as flawed. But he added: "As long as we have troops on the front lines, it is our shared responsibility to give them the equipment and protection they need."
With their "no" votes, Clinton, Obama and Dodd earned praise from the party's left flank, which has been pushing for a quick end to the war and is an important part of the Democratic base in the primaries. "This bold stand by three of the four presidential candidates in the Senate won't soon be forgotten," promised Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org's political action committee. Although they appeased the Democratic base, Clinton, Obama and Dodd did open themselves up to criticism from Republicans that they were denying 165,000 troops the resources they need — an argument that could be damaging in a general election.  Both Clinton and Obama had remained publicly uncommitted in the hours before the vote. Neither were on the Senate floor as voting began. Halfway through, Obama walked into the chamber and cast his "no" vote. Clinton did the same a few minutes later.
Obama framed the vote as a choice between "validating the same failed policy" and "demanding a new one." "I am demanding a new one," he said. "We must fund our troops. But we owe them something more," Obama said, calling for "a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war." Clinton put the blame on Bush, saying that he should have "followed the will of the people" and signed an earlier bill that would have both funded the war and started a troop withdrawal.  "But the president vetoed Congress's new strategy and so Congress must reject the president's failed policies," she said, adding that Bush should begin a phased withdrawal and "abandon this escalation."
Clinton voted to authorize the invasion in 2002. She has since become a constant critic of the Bush administration's handling of it but has refused to call her initial vote a mistake. She had adamantly opposed setting a hard deadline for troop withdrawals, but a week ago she voted to advance a bill that would cut off money to force a troop withdrawal by March 2008.  Obama wasn't in the Senate in 2002. But he, like Clinton, prominently shunned earlier proposals to set a fixed timetable for an end to the war only to vote to advance last week's bill that included a date to bring home troops.
The voting went as expected in the GOP field. Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a staunch supporter of the troop increase and the war itself but a longtime critic of the way Bush waged it, is the only top-tier Republican candidate in Congress, and he voted for the measure. A lesser-known GOP hopeful, Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas, did not vote. In the House, long-shot Reps. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif., and Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., supported the bill, while Rep. Ron Paul (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, opposed it. Yahoo News ~ Associated Press - Liz Sidoti ** Clinton, Obama vote 'no' on Iraq bill
Posted by yaahoo_
at 1:00 PM EDT
Updated: Friday, 25 May 2007 1:05 PM EDT
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Anbar
Mood:
 happy
Topic: News
 Al-Qaeda in Iraq Is in Retreat in Anbar Province Some 30 tribes in Al Anbar formed an alliance, the "Anbar Awakening," in September and pledged to fight Al Qaeda militants in the insurgency-plagued province by forming their own paramilitary units and sending recruits to the local police force. Time changed the title of the article... when it was origionally posted, it said "There's good news from Iraq"... Anybody wanna guess why Time changed the headline?!?! Is al-Qaeda on the Run in Iraq?
There is good news from Iraq, believe it or not. It comes from the most unlikely place: Anbar province, home of the Sunni insurgency. The level of violence has plummeted in recent weeks. An alliance of U.S. troops and local tribes has been very effective in moving against the al-Qaeda foreign fighters. A senior U.S. military official told me—confirming reports from several other sources—that there have been "a couple of days recently during which there were zero effective attacks and less than 10 attacks overall in the province (keep in mind that an attack can be as little as one round fired). This is a result of sheiks stepping up and opposing AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq] and volunteering their young men to serve in the police and army units there." The success in Anbar has led sheiks in at least two other Sunni-dominated provinces, Nineveh and Salahaddin, to ask for similar alliances against the foreign fighters. And, as TIME's Bobby Ghosh has reported, an influential leader of the Sunni insurgency, Harith al-Dari, has turned against al-Qaeda as well. It is possible that al-Qaeda is being rejected like a mismatched liver transplant by the body of the Iraqi insurgency.
 Which is why there is some very bad news from Iraq as well. There is a growing sense among senior U.S. military and intelligence officials that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki -- and the Shi'ite factions in general -- has little interest in making concessions to the Sunnis. "The Shi'ites suffer from a battered-child syndrome. They simply don't trust the Sunnis," said a senior U.S. official. There was a long history, even before Saddam Hussein's massacres, of Sunni prejudice and pogroms against the Shi'ites. In recent months, the al-Maliki government has sent several clear signals of anti-Sunni intransigence. It has supported the "voluntary" relocation of Sunni Arabs from the disputed, Kurdish-dominated city of Kirkuk. And in an instance that is particularly vexing to U.S. intelligence officials, al-Maliki has supported the creation of a parallel Shi'ite-dominated intelligence service to supplant the authority of the Iraq Intelligence Service, which has been run by a Sunni general named Mahmoud Shahwani, who is considered "very effective" by U.S. officials. It is beginning to seem quite implausible that the various Iraqi political factions will meet "benchmarks" like rescinding the punitive de-Baathification programs and passing a law guaranteeing fair distribution of oil profits anytime soon. And as General David Petraeus keeps reminding us, a political solution is necessary: a military victory is not possible. So let's try to put the good and bad news together. It's not impossible that the Iraqis will eventually remove the al-Qaeda cancer from the Sunni insurgency -- which would put a serious crimp in President George W. Bush's current rationale for the war, that we're there to fight al-Qaeda. But it's also probable that without a political deal, the sectarian conflict between the Sunnis and Shi'ites will intensify -- and eventually explode when the U.S. military pulls back from Iraq. The stakes in Iraq then become questions of moral responsibility and regional stability. "How many Srebrenicas do you have the stomach for?" a senior U.S. official asked me, referring to the Bosnian massacre by the Serbs in 1995. Given the antipathy of the American people for the war, I'd guess the public reaction would be, "Those Arabs are just a bunch of barbarians, and we could never tell the difference between Shi'ites and Sunnis anyway." A more pointed question is, How many massacres of Sunnis will the Saudis and Jordanians have the stomach for? How hard will Iran press its obvious advantage with a Shi'ite-dominated government in Iraq? The answers to those questions are completely out of American hands. They rest with the Iraqi Shi'ites. Eventually even battered children have to grow up.
Time.com ~ Joe Klein ** Is al-Qaeda on the Run in Iraq?
Related: Bush's intelligence on al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by yaahoo_
at 4:53 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 24 May 2007 5:53 AM EDT
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
iGasm
Mood:
 mischievious
Topic: Funny Stuff
Apple v Ann Summers in iGasm spat Ann Summers attract's Apple's ire for iGasm sex toy advertising  High street adult retailer Ann Summers has landed itself in a heap of trouble with Apple.
The retail chain has been promoting a £30 sex toy called the iGasm, a device which connects to any music player and offers users an erotic vibrating treat in time to the beat.  A News of the World report claims Apple is furious about Ann Summer's promotion of the device, and is demanding all posters for the gadget be taken down, under threat of court action. The neon-pink posters depict an underwear-clad female silhouette holding an oval white device with two cables - one connected to a pair of white headphones, the other heading down toward the female's knickers.  The sales pitch urges music fans to: "Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum 'n' bass track or chill with an ambient classic."
Apple is claiming the ad to be an abuse of the silhouette-based images it uses in its own advertising. Ann Summers hasn't bowed to Apple's threats, the report explains.
Posted by yaahoo_
at 9:49 PM EDT
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Paperwork Late
Mood:
d'oh
Now Playing: LIBTARD ''CULTURE OF CORRUPTION'' ALERT
Topic: Lib Loser Stories
 Murtha submitted earmark certification letter more than five weeks after deadline, violated House rules...Paperwork Late There's a related story about the complaint against Democratic Congressman John Murtha over his behavior toward a Republican colleague -- when Murtha was challenged on money for a program in his home district. Now The Hill newspaper reports Murtha submitted the earmark certification letter for the project more than five weeks after the deadline -- and apparently violated House rules by sending the letter only to the Intelligence Committee chairman -- and not also to the ranking Republican member. Democrats say the project was not considered an earmark at the time of the deadline. But Republicans say Murtha was trying to sneak it into the intelligence budget. The administration wants to close the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania -- saying it duplicates services provided elsewhere. Fox News ~ Brit Hume - Political Grapevine ** Paperwork Late
Posted by yaahoo_
at 10:16 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 10:44 PM EDT
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The good news comes with caveats, of course. The removal of AQI's havens in Anbar may ultimately hurt the terrorists' ability to blow up markets in Baghdad, but it hasn't yet. As I reported in September 2005, there is also the scandalous reality that an alliance with the tribes was proposed by U.S. Army intelligence officers as early as October 2003 and rejected by L. Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority on the grounds that "tribes are part of the past. They have no place in the new democratic Iraq." The damage caused by that myopic stupidity may never be repaired: it gave al-Qaeda a base in the Sunni tribal areas, which enabled the sustained, spectacular anti-Shi'ite bombing campaign, which, along with the Sunnis' historic disdain for the Shi'ite majority, created the conditions for the current civil war. "Just because the Sunni tribesmen have joined with us in Anbar doesn't mean they like the Baghdad government," a senior Administration official told me. "They just hate al-Qaeda more."