Gang of Four - I Love a Man in a Uniform - YouTube link
This video of U.S. snipers in Iraq has been on YouTube since Dec. of 2006. Though I like Metallica, I thought the guys deserved some fresh music -- especially for the ladies. Enjoy gals. ;) - c
Image from browningmgs.com
Federal Judge Hands Huge Defeat to Florida Business Lobby on "Guns-at-Work" Law
The Florida Chamber of Commerce and The Florida Retail Federation argued for three years that business owners had an absolute right to control their employees. That's why they kept calling it the "take-your-guns-to-work" legislation.
They claimed they could search employee vehicles and ban firearms from those vehicles in the employer's parking lot. They claimed businesses didn't care if customers had guns in cars, they only cared about their right to control employees. When the legislature passed the law protecting the rights of workers, The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation filed a lawsuit in federal court asking the Court to throw out the law.
They argued that the law requiring businesses to allow guns in vehicles in their parking lots constituted an unconstitutional "taking" of their property. In court, the federal judge ruled against them - THEY LOST.
They argued that OSHA regulations require them to provide a safe work environment for their workers, which required them to bans guns in parking lots to comply with OSHA requirements. In court, the federal judge ruled against them - THEY LOST.
They argued that, as employers, they had an absolute right to control the conduct of their employees and could ban guns from employee vehicles in company parking lots while employees were at work. In court, the federal judge ruled against them - THEY LOST.
Those are the three points argued by the Chamber and the Retail Federation. THEY LOST ON ALL THREE POINTS.
At the hearing and in his ruling, the judge complained about language drafted by the legislature saying that it doesn't give businesses clear guidance on whether the laws allows business owners to ban customers from having guns in their cars in parking lots. Rather that clear up the confusion according to the intent of the legislature, he ruled that businesses can prohibit customers from keeping guns in their in the parking lot.
CURRENT STATUS:
The judge upheld the new NRA-supported law.
If a business has a gun ban policy, employees who possess a valid Concealed Weapons License are exempt from the gun ban policy and cannot be fired for exercising their gun rights.
If a business has a gun ban policy and no employee has a valid CW license, then that business can also ban customers from having guns locked in their vehicles in the parking lot while they shop or conduct business.
A business may not search vehicles to see if a person has a firearm; may not ask if a person has a firearm in the vehicle; may not ask if a person has a CW license.
PRACTICAL EFFECT:
Before the law passed, employees had no protection from anti-gun employers. They had no recourse. They had to give up their firearm and self-defense rights or be fired. They now have protection. WORKERS WON - BUSINESS LOBBY LOST
Due to the judge's ruling based on inartful language, business owners can post signs notifying customers that they are prohibited from having firearms locked in their vehicles while in the parking lots. CUSTOMERS DON'T HAVE TO PATRONIZE A BUSINESS THAT DOESN'T RESPECT THEIR RIGHT TO KEEP A GUN IN THEIR CAR - THEY CAN SPEND THEIR MONEY ELSEWHERE - CUSTOMERS WIN - BUSINESS LOSES.
Spokespersons for the Florida Chamber and the Florida Retail Federation are claiming victory, praising the judge for ruling that businesses can keep customers from having firearms in their vehicles in parking lots. It remains to be seen if business owners will agree that they won anything. They probably wish the Florida Chamber and the Florida Retail Federation would just shut up and quit alienating customers.
Our position is: Big Business lost. The People won.
Prepared by The National Rifle Association of America & Unified Sportsmen of Florida
Document from Spies of the Revolution
While serving in Paris as an agent of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Silas Deane is known to have used a heat-developing invisible ink, compounded of cobalt chloride, glycerin and water, for some of his intelligence reports back to America.
Even more useful to him later was a "sympathetic stain" created for secret communications by James Jay, a physician and the brother of John Jay. Dr. Jay, who had been knighted by George III, used the "stain" for reporting military information from London to America. Later he supplied quantities of the stain to George Washington at home and to Silas Deane in Paris.
The stain required one chemical for writing the message and a second to develop it, affording greater security than the ink used by Deane earlier.
Once, in a letter of John Jay, Robert Morris spoke of an innocuous letter from "Timothy Jones" (Deane) and the "concealed beauties therein," noting "the cursory examinations of a sea captain would never discover them, but transferred from his hand to the penetrating eye of a Jay, the diamonds stand confessed at once."
Washington instructed his agents in the use of the "sympathetic stain," noting in connection with "Culper Junior" that the ink "will not only render his communications less exposed to detection, but relieve the fears of such persons as may be entrusted in its conveyance . . ."
Washington suggested that reports could be written in the invisible ink "on the blank leaves of a pamphlet . . . a common pocket book, or on the blank leaves at each end of registers, almanacs, or any publication or book of small value."
Washington especially recommended that agents conceal their reports by using the ink in correspondence: "A much better way is to write a letter in the Tory stile with some mixture of family matters and between the lines and on the remaining part of the sheet communicate with the stain the intended intelligence."
An older, white-haired man walked into a jewelry store one Friday evening with a beautiful young gal at his side.
He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend.
The jeweler looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring.
The old man said, "No, I'd like to see something more special."
At that statement, the jeweler went to his safe and brought back another ring. "Here's a stunning ring at only $40,000." he said.
The young lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement.
The old man seeing this said, "We'll take it."
The jeweler asked how payment would be made and the old man stated, "By check. I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I'll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds. I'll pick the ring up Monday afternoon."
Monday morning, the jeweler phoned the old man. "There is no money in your account, sir."
"I know," said the old man, "but let me tell you about my weekend!"
Click to enlarge images. - Photos courtesy Lockheed-Martin/Released
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The first ship in the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship class, the future USS Freedom (LCS 1), began Builder's Trials on Lake Michigan July 28.
LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission ship designed to defeat asymmetric "anti-access" threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The 378-foot Freedom is being designed and built by a Lockheed Martin-led industry team.
"Getting Freedom underway is a significant step in the ship's steady progress toward entering the fleet," said LCS Program Manager Capt. James Murdoch. "Freedom has overcome many challenges to reach this important milestone. LCS 1 will add tremendous capabilities to the fleet for our Sailors."
Builder's trials test the vessel's propulsion, communications, navigation and mission systems, as well as all related support systems. Following the completion of builder's trials, Freedom will return to Marinette Marine to prepare for acceptance trials that will be conducted by the U.S. Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey.
The LCS 1 Freedom class consists of two different hullforms – a semiplaning monohull and an aluminum trimaran – designed and built by two industry teams, respectively led by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. The seaframes will be outfitted with reconfigurable payloads, called mission packages, which can be changed out quickly. These mission packages focus on three mission areas: mine counter measures, surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare.
LCS 1 is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy later this year and will be homeported in San Diego.
For more news from Naval Sea Systems Command, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/navsea/.
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa reported today that, according to "highly reliable sources," Iranian authorities had begun construction of a secret nuclear reactor in the Al-Zarqan region close to the city of Ahwaz in southwest Iran, on the Iran-Iraq border.
The paper said that according to sources, Iran was working to distance its nuclear installations from international oversight. The English version of the report, published in the Kuwaiti Arab Times, said, "Disclosing [that] Tehran directed international A-bomb inspectors to other places, sources warned [that] the project poses a very serious threat to international security."
Also according to the sources, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not know about this site at all, since it was not included in negotiations with Iran in Geneva held in early July.
According to the report, the sources said that during 2000-2003, Iran expropriated the lands and homes of thousands of Arab citizens from the Al-Zarqan region, destroying homes of thousands of Arab citizens from the Al-Zarqan region.
Destroyed homes, fields, orchards, and wells, and built a three-meter-high wall around the project site, which allegedly measures hundreds of kilometers.
The report also said that "the construction of the reactor began with the laying of a pipeline for fresh water from the [nearby] Karoun River to the site, and the expansion of the Al-Zarqan power station."
Also, the sources said that "the construction works seem to be routine and do not arouse attention, but the tight security around the region is what arouses suspicions regarding the nature of the work." They added that the site is guarded by Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) personnel, reflecting its importance and sensitivity.
IRGC Commander's Letter to Construction Company: Maintain Complete Secrecy
In its report, Al-Siyassa included a letter dated April 7, 2008 from the office of the assistant of IRGC commander in Al-Ahwaz city Brig. Hassan Jalaliyan, marked "highly confidential," to Mohammed Kayafir, manager of the Mehab Qudus Company for Construction and Supervision, which is building the reactor. The following is a translation of the letter:
"From the IRGC Commander in the city of Al-Ahwas to the director in charge at the Mehab Qudus company for Construction and Supervision Mr. Mohammed Kayafir
"Re: The nuclear reactor at Al-Zarqan
"Greetings,
"I thank you for the good services of the Mehab Qudus company, and at the same time I must remind you of the following items:
"1. All construction materials must be transported from the warehouses to the construction site in top secrecy.
"2. As part of the doctrine of caution, we reiterate yet again that during the transport of all required materials, you must ensure that this [transport] does not arouse the suspicions of any citizen in the region through which you are moving.
"3. In general, it is absolutely forbidden to hire any Arabic speakers or any citizen from Khozestan in the framework of the 'Al-Zarqan Nuclear Reactor' construction project. You must ensure that all manpower, including the driver, the accountant, the warehouse manager, the laborer, the technician, or the guard, comes from the northern provinces.
"In conclusion, we say yet again that all the construction work in this project must be carried out under absolute secrecy.
"From the aide to IRGC commander in the city of Al-Ahwaz, Hassan Jalaliyan."
An Ideal Place to Build a Nuclear Reactor - The Local Residents Can Serve as a Human Shield
Al-Siyassa also reported that the "National Society for Arabstan State took satellite pictures of the location, which looked perfect for the construction of a secret nuclear reactor..." It added, "The site is more suitable for building a nuclear reactor than Bushehr, which is close to American bases." It noted that a nuclear power plant under construction at Darkhovin is in an open area on the main road between Ahwaz and Abadan - while the "Al-Zarqan nuclear reactor is in the middle of very highly populated areas, making it a very difficult target due to a possibility that the Iranian authorities will use civilians as human shields."
On January 31, 2008, the Iran Daily wrote that Iranian Atomic Energy Organization deputy head Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh had said that the nuclear power plant at Darkhovin, in southwestern Iran, would become operational in 2016.
Source: MEMRI
Music by Johnny Cash - Ragged Old Flag
By Amir Taheri for Ashara Al Awsat
"A picture is worth a thousand words!" This is the proverb invented by an American photographer in the 1920s but ascribed to the Chinese for good effect. While not always true, like all other proverbs, it is surprisingly accurate on some occasions. No picture could replace a thousand words by Neffari or Roumi. But no number of words could replace the 1990 photo of an Afghan teenage girl with terror in her green eyes, reflecting two decades of war and famine.
Sometimes, however, words are needed to reveal the hidden meanings of a photo. For, on occasions, pictures disguise more than they reveal. This is why some editors attach as much importance to the art of writing captions as to the magic of devising headlines.
Last Saturday, 19 July 2008, Asharq Al Awsat published on its front page a news picture that offers a deep, perhaps unintended, insight into the current political mood of the Khomeinist rank-and-file in Iran.
The picture had been taken a day earlier during the Friday prayer gathering at the campus of the Tehran University, an important weekly political event in the Iranian capital. Attended by up to 20,000 people, the gathering usually lasts around three hours of which about 20 minutes are devoted to prayer. The rest is taken up by sermons and political speeches during which senior clerics and official spokesmen introduce the government's latest slogans and political guidelines. The occasion also provides the leadership for a weekly check on the mood of its most ardent followers. Photographers and television crews are always on the look out for the one moment that might translate that mood into images.
One such moment was captured last Friday in the photo splashed across five columns by Asharq Al Awsat its front page.
The photo depicts a corner of the congregation. One can distinctly see the faces of 22 men and one boy aged perhaps seven or eight. It is towards the end of the main sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami when congregants are invited to wave their clenched fists and shout: "Death to America!", the signature slogan of Khomeinism.
But what do we see?
Of the 22 men, six have kept their mouths tightly shut, obviously wishing to show they are not shouting the required slogan. Another six keep their mouths moving, but are not waving clenched fists.
One man has raised both hands in a sign associated with surrender, and another is waving at the camera. Even those who seem to be shouting and waving clenched fists are doing so in a manner clearly designed to show that they are doing so reluctantly. With the exception of two individuals who seem camera-conscious and want to show their zeal, all others in the picture appear bored, tired and unhappy.
One young man is holding his chin in one hand, deep in his reverie as if he were all alone on a desert island. A middle-aged man is sneakily looking side ways, presumably towards the women's quarter, and ignoring what is going on around him. An older man stares into the camera and waves his hand as if to say "hello!" One man appears to be fast asleep in the middle of 20,000 supposed "volunteers for martyrdom".
Of the 22 men, only eight appear to be young, that is to say aged below 40, a sure sign that Khomeinism is no longer attracting the youth. Of the eight young men in this picture, four are clean-shaven, something unthinkable in the Islamic Republic even five years ago.
Over the past 30 years, Iranians have developed a new branch of semiology, the science of signs, known as "rish shenasi" (beard-spotting). This new science enables one to guess the social background and political tendencies of an individual from the form of his facial hair.
With the help of an amateur "rish shenas" (beard-spotter), we deconstructed the Asharq Al Awsat photo with some interesting results.
Of the 22 men in the photo, not one is sporting the mandatory radical style of beard associated with Khomeinist militants such as the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It is clear that nobody wishes to be mistaken for a Hezballahi, a species hated by most Iranians. Ten of the men wear traditional beards that have always been popular in Iran, especially in the countryside. Three have only moustaches, often associated with Iran with parties of the left such as the Communist Tudeh (Masses) or the Islamic-Marxists such as the Mujahedin Khalq. Two clean-shaven young men may well be mistaken for nostalgics of the Shah's regime. One could imagine them slipping into their designer suits and instantly feel at home at any middle class party anywhere in the world.
All the men in the picture wear shirts, four of them with short sleeves, something unthinkable a few years ago, and two more with sleeves rolled up. Needless to say, there is not a single necktie in sight, and only one of the shirts, a blue Yves Saint-Laurent one, looks expensive. Only one man is fondling a rosary, an object hat would have been almost universal in such a congregation only a few years ago.
The picture shows a congregation that is exclusively male, four-fifths middle aged or old, and, although appearances may be misleading, mostly from middle and lower middle class backgrounds. It does not represent a population that is 55 per cent female, 60 per cent young and 80 per cent urban working class and/or rural.
The Asharq Al Awsat's picture has a jewel right in the middle. This is the image of the young boy. We see him standing up and stretching one arm upwards with more enthusiasm than the old folk surrounding him. But what is he really doing? A closer look shows that he is trying to hang on to an imaginary object that would help him climb up. Why? Well, he is wearing an orange T-shirt showing the Spiderman, the American movie hero who climbs the highest walls.
The "Great Satan" is present in the inner sanctum of the Khomeinist religion, and, to make matters worse, by a young boy representing the future generation of Iranians.
~
Amir Taheri was born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. Between 1980 and 1984 he was Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times. Taheri has been a contributor to the International Herald Tribune since 1980. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Taheri has published nine books some of which have been translated into 20 languages. In 1988, Publishers' Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, "Holy Terror", as one of The Best Books of The Year. He has been a columnist of Asharq Al Awsat since 1987.
Zakia is a Muslim woman living under Sharia law, stigmatized as a criminal for brewing and selling illicit alcohol to feed the family that her father abandoned outside Sudan's booming capital.
It is a simple recipe and one cooked up by thousands of women in the squalid camps and impoverished neighborhoods of those who fled years of war across southern, western and eastern Sudan.
Put dates and baking powder in water. Cover with a plastic bag to fend off the perennial dust, then bury underground for two to five days depending on the season. Heat over a fire and drip the piping hot liquid through a sieve.
Add water.
One to two hours later, 23-year-old Zakia has enough bottled aragi to flog to local labourers for a week, earning enough cash to keep her, her mother, brother, niece and seven sisters in food and clothes.
She got married last year. But the relationship failed and they live apart. With a street attitude akin to the Bronx, she slices through the air with a defiant hand when asked if her husband looks after her financially.
"I don't even want to see his face," she says, recoiling in distaste, catching a whiff of aragi as she sits back on a plastic chair while her sisters giggle and plait their hair in the corner.
A gangly customer folds himself onto the bed behind, extending a boney arm along the back of her chair, already a bit drunk in the stifling heat of a leisurely Friday in Halfaya, 15 kilometres (nine miles) north of Khartoum.
Zakia puts financial independence and business ethics above religious dictums about not indulging. Besides she does not drink, perhaps wary of turning into one of her drunken, layabout customers.
"It's just a trade," she says, denying any pang of conscience in profiting from what the Koran forbids.
But it's a dangerous business. Police raids are frequent. Around 90 percent of inmates in the women's prison were arrested on suspicion of selling aragi. They complain of beatings, fines, ransacked homes and confiscated booze.
Community workers say police hide behind the cloak of Islam, running alchol rackets with what they confiscate to supplement poor pay. They talk about women sinking into prostitution and sexual favours in return for protection.
The women's prison in Omdurman, across the Nile from the seat of government, is dank, overcrowded and filthy. Ex-inmates say the food is too disgusting to eat, the wardens cruel and their children left unfed. Jail is a social stigma.
Chol Sakina, a Christian from the south, has been in Khartoum for more than two years. The poorest of the poor, she does not know how old she is and cannot afford to go home. She is too frightened to talk about alcohol.
She lives with her one-eyed aunt in a mud hut. They say they have not worked since police threw their equipment into the river four months ago.
A stale fish brought by well-wishers lies coated in dust on the ground. Her aunt's only knife is so blunt she can't hack through the scales.
"Sometimes we only eat flour with salt," says her aunt, Kadose. "This is poor people's food," she says tilting a bucket of grey, watery slop into view.
"We'll die from this food."
Magda Ali, a doctor who lost her government job after the Islamist-backed coup of 1989, helps run a charity that works to lift thousands of alcohol women out of the poverty and ignorance that trapped them into the trade.
"Poverty is everywhere in Sudan. To break the poverty cycle, the best thing is to start skills' training, such as caring for the elderly, bedside nursing. But the problem is the market does not accept them," says Ali.
Her Al Manar organisation has success stories. They train women in basic health and provide loans to encourage them into different small businesses.
The biggest country in Africa, Sudan is run by an Arab elite looking to the culture and Islam of the Arab world.
But most Sudanese see themselves as African, from a tribal culture in which fermented, or alcohol drinks, are perfectly acceptable.
Indeed many alcohol sellers list policemen, civil servants and middle class professionals among their customers.
"Fermented dates are a culture all over Sudan. It's not a crime. All over Sudan traditionally people make sherbet, fermented. Boiled dates with herbs. They especially make it for weddings. It is an alcoholic drink," says Ali.
"We have all the culture of Africa but since independence (from Britain in 1956) we have been ruled by a government with an Arab culture. They try to impose things that are not African," she adds.
Viviana John, a teenager who lives in a hut in the shadow of imposing villas built on the back of oil profits, dreams of becoming a doctor.
Her mother hopes to finance those dreams by selling alcohol, earning 300 dollars a month after her husband lost his job. But Viviana lives in fear.
"If the police come here to take her, we'd be in big trouble. If I could find a place to work, may be I could help, but I can't," she says, babysitting her four siblings while her mother Mary is out buying booze to sell.
"What can she do? My mum doesn't want to work as a housemaid in Arab people's houses. She used to work as a tea lady, but a fight broke out. She sort of got hit by mistake and didn't ever want to work there again," she said.
Her mother, Mary calls the area near the North Khartoum industrial zone where she goes shopping "the centre of the drunkards".
"If you go to jail you find things far worse than just selling drink, such as murder. It's the least of the vices. But it deserves to be controlled, kept illegal, otherwise people will drink to death."
"My son is 17. My daughter 16. One is seven years old, one five and the youngest seven months. I hope to educate them by selling this aragi so that when they grow up, they will feed me," she says in the pitch black of night.
Source AFP
"I try not to smile because I got my teeth knocked out by a chainsaw." - Turtle Man
Running full speed into a green pond is all part of the fun for the Turtle Man.
Watch as he reaches blindly into murky waters infested with snapping turtles in hopes of grabbing the tail end of this sharp beaked beast.
The Turtle Man is truly a one-of-a-kind character. You have to see him to believe it!
"I'm Kentucky's best kept secret." - Turtle Man
In a historic rendezvous, the Coast Guard Cutter Barque Eagle, and the cutter Bertholf passed along side each other near the San Francisco Ferry Terminal.
The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is a three-masted barque, and carries square-rigged sails on the fore and main masts. The sailing vessel is 295 feet long, can attain speeds of up to 17 knots under full sail, and has the capacity to carry 239 passengers and crew. The Eagle has been in service within the Coast Guard since 1946, serving as a training platform for cadets and officer candidates to learn leadership, teamwork, seamanship, and navigation skills. She is the only square-rigged sailing vessel still actively serving in the Unites States military. The Eagle is visiting San Francisco and five other West Coast ports, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Astoria, Tacoma, and Victoria, British Columbia.
The Bertholf is the lead ship in the new Legend class of cutters designed to be the flagship of the modern Coast Guard fleet. Bertholf will improve operational readiness and enable the Coast Guard to fulfill its multi-mission roles more effectively through better sea keeping, higher sustained transit speeds, greater endurance and range, and a greater ability to launch and recover improved small boats, helicopters, and eventually unmanned aerial vehicles - all key attributes in enabling the Coast Guard to implement increased security responsibilities.
2008 Olympic Games Target of Terror Plot
Chinese police claim to have cracked a terrorist cell planning to attack athletes at the Olympic Stadium in Shanghai.
Though China did not name the group responsible, a recent YouTube post by the Turkistan Islamic Party clearly shows the TIP plans to target the 2008 Olympic Games.
The 3-minute 24-second video (below,) dated July 23, entitled "Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan" features a statement by TIP Commander Seyfullah who warned, "Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely, using tactics that have never been employed." - Related story.
The Turkistan Islamic Party Threatens Olympic Games in China
Click to enlarge image.
Grand prize winner of the Sunkist Smiles photo contest:
Siblings Emma and Timber from Greensville, SC, taking the Sunkist orange wedged-smile to the max.
PRNewsFoto/Sunkist Growers, Inc.
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps by Cpl Erin A. Kirk
Iraqi women learn they can shoot as well as men.
Above, an Iraqi woman shoots an AK-47 type rifle at a range in Fallujah, Iraq, on April 29, 2008.
Women enrolled in becoming Sisters of Fallujah participated in a live-fire range as part of their police training.
source centcom.mil
Rifle make. - h/t: lazycat
Mount Rushmore circa 2108 political parody by Doctordawg.
Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. - George Washington
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. - Thomas Jefferson
No man can lead a public career really worth leading, no man can act with rugged independence in serious crises, nor strike at great abuses, nor afford to make powerful and unscrupulous foes, if he is himself vulnerable in his private character. - Theodore Roosevelt
I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. - Abraham Lincoln
~
NASA and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library based in San Francisco, made available the most comprehensive compilation ever of NASA's vast collection of photographs, historic film and video today.
Located at www.nasaimages.org, the Internet site combines for the first time 21 major NASA imagery collections into a single, searchable online resource.
North Korea May Develop Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon System
By Michael Ha, Staff Reporter, The Korea Times
A top U.S. scientist warned American lawmakers of a possible catastrophic national security scenario: a possible development of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons by rogue states, including North Korea, and a potential detonation of such a device on American soil.
William Graham, chairman of the U.S. government-sponsored "Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States," told U.S. lawmakers that the Stalinist state has the required technologies to develop such weapons.
In a testimony to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee this month, the scientist said EMP weapons are "one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences."
Graham told lawmakers that the detonation of such devices over the middle of the continental United States "has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures that support the fabric of U.S. society and the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and military power."
He warned: "Several potential adversaries have the capability to attack the United States with a high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse, and others appear to be pursuing efforts to obtain that capability."
What's worse, he noted, is that "a determined adversary can achieve EMP attack capability without having a high level of sophistication."
"For example, an adversary would not have to have long-range ballistic missiles to conduct an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack could be launched from a freighter off the U.S. coast using a short- or medium-range missile to loft a nuclear warhead to high altitude."
He said even small nuclear weapons can create massive EMP effects, giving out an intensely fluctuating magnetic field, over wide geographic areas. "United Nations investigators recently found that the design for an advanced nuclear weapon, miniaturized to fit on ballistic missiles currently in the inventory of Iran, North Korea and other potentially hostile states, was in the possession of Swiss criminals affiliated with the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network."
And because the United States relies heavily on electricity and electronics, the scientist told U.S. lawmakers, "the impact would be far worse than on a country less advanced technologically," adding that the weapon could cripple the U.S. financial system as well as the system of distribution for food and water and medical care.
Further reading: EMP Attack: Critical National Infrastructures
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Click to enlarge image.
The world's largest floating stage hosts Puccini's opera Tosca, in Philipp Himmelmann's staging, on July 23, at the Breganz Festival in Austria. (PRNewsFoto/Bregenzer Festspiele GmbH) - Related story.
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Joint Announcement from the U.S. Departments of State And Homeland Security on Passport Card Production
The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today that the new U.S. Passport Card is in full production and is now being distributed. The Passport Card is a convenient, wallet-sized document for land and sea travel between the United States and Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. It is not valid for international travel by air.
Beginning in June 2009, travelers will be required to present a single Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) compliant document denoting both citizenship and identity when entering the United States through a land or sea border.
More than 350,000 Americans pre-ordered the U.S. Passport Cards since the State Department began taking orders on February 1. Over 7,600 cards have already been mailed to advance customers, and all pre-orders are expected to be filled by September 30, 2008. After that initial distribution, we expect the processing time for passport cards to be the same as for passport books – less than four weeks. Customers will be able to track the progress of their passport card application online beginning in mid-August.
The passport card will facilitate the frequent travel of Americans living in border communities by utilizing a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip. With this technology, DHS’ U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will be able to access photographs and other biographical information stored in secure government databases before the traveler reaches the inspection booth so that inspection can be facilitated. For privacy protection, no personal information is stored on the electronic chip itself. The chip will have only a unique number pointing to a stored record contained in secure government databases.
“We are pleased to offer Americans a choice of documents, the traditional passport book, and now the passport card, to meet their personal needs for international travel,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Janice L. Jacobs. “The passport card is the newest addition to the Department’s long history of providing secure, reliable services to the American traveling public.”
“We have been working closely with the U.S. Department of State to be able to provide another type of secure identification that is vital to protecting our nation’s borders” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker. “The new passport cards will help facilitate legitimate travel while allowing our frontline personnel to focus more on those who may pose a threat.”
The Passport Card is available for $45 for first-time adult applicants and $35 for children under 16. Adults who currently have valid passports can apply for the passport card by mail for $20.
For information on how to apply for a U.S. Passport Card or the traditional passport book please visit the following website: travel.state.gov.
The Media is in Love with Barack
It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair. If it wasn't so serious, it would be funny.
"I'll bet this makes The New York Times."
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani attend a game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium July 20, 2008 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Sen. McCain was a guest of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, his former Republican rival in the presidential race. (Corey Sipkin-Pool/Getty Images/AFP) - Related story.
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To help commemorate its 100th anniversary, the FBI has produced its first coffee-table history, FBI: A Centennial History 1908-2008 (Hardcover)
The 132-page book traces the FBI’s journey from fledgling startup to one of the most respected names in national security, taking you on a walk through the seven key chapters in Bureau history.
It features overviews of more than 40 famous cases and an extensive collection of photographs.
You can purchase hardcover or paperback copies of the book from the Government Printing Office and from various online booksellers.
It is also available here free of charge, either as a printable pdf or in a text-only format.
Iran's answer to fashion week, the 3rd Festival of Women of My Land, is currently underway in Tehran at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.
A total number of 33 Islamic countries participated in the festival presenting new Islamic designs for women's dress.
The first journal of Islamic dress code in 100 colorful pages will be printed and offered during the festival.
Focusing on tribal wedding dress and costumes for young adults, the showcase will continue until June 25, 2008 at the venue.
Source: Tehran Times
Photos from last year's festival.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Blind man's bluff or Blind man's buff is a children's game played in a spacious area, such as outdoors or in a large room, in which one player, designated as "It," is blindfolded and gropes around attempting to touch the other players without being able to see them, while the other players scatter and try to avoid the person who is "it", hiding in plain sight and sometimes teasing them to make them change direction. The game is a variant of tag.
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"Am I in Afghanistan?"
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RNC: Obama's Afghanistan Travel Guide
The following is being issued by the Republican National Committee:
TIP #1: You Should Take The Opportunity To Learn About The Difficult Work Our Troops Are Doing, Before Assuming That They Are "Just Air-Raiding Villages And Killing Civilians" In Afghanistan:
Obama Said American Troops Were "Just Air-Raiding Villages And Killing Civilians." Obama: "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there." (Philip Elliott, "Obama Gets Warning From Friendly Voter," The Associated Press, 8/14/07)
NOTE: "It Will Be Obama's First Trip To Afghanistan. He Has Been To Iraq Once." (Dan Hoover, "Demint Asks Obama For Hearings On Afghanistan," The Greenville [South Carolina] News, 7/16/08)
TIP #2: Leave The English-To-Arabic Dictionary At The Hotel, Because Contrary To Your Earlier Assertion, The Arabic Language Is Not Widely Spoken There:
Obama Claimed That We Are Placing "All" Of Our Arabic Interpreters In Iraq When They Are Needed In Afghanistan. Obama: "Right now, we don't have enough troops and NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops by the way, it's like Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers. We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them, and obviously they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan often times people who speak Urdu or Pashto or whatever the languages are, they are going to be needed in those areas and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Cape Girardeau, MO, 5/13/08)
According To The CIA World Factbook, The Languages Spoken In Afghanistan Are: "Afghan Persian Or Dari (Official) 50%, Pashto (Official) 35%, Turkic Languages (Primarily Uzbek And Turkmen) 11%, 30 Minor Languages (Primarily Balochi And Pashai) 4%, Much Bilingualism." (CIA World Factbook Website, www.cia.gov, Accessed 5/13/08)
"The Vast Majority Of Military Translators In Both War Zones Are Drawn From The Local Population. Naturally They Speak The Local Language. In Iraq, That's Arabic Or Kurdish. In Afghanistan, It's Any Of A Half Dozen Other Languages -- Including Pashtu, Dari, And Farsi." (David Wright and Sunlen Miller, "Obama Gaffes On Iraq And Afghanistan," ABC News' "Political Radar" Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 5/13/08)
TIP #3: If You Claim To Be A Leader On Afghanistan, You Could Have Taken The Opportunity To Lead And Hold Hearings On Our NATO Operations There:
Obama: "I ask you to consider my judgment and vision for new American leadership. Leadership that brings our combat brigades out of Iraq in 16 months, renews American diplomacy, finishes the fight in Afghanistan..." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks On Foreign Policy, Des Moines, IA, 12/18/07)
The Subcommittee On European Affairs Has Jurisdiction Over The Countries Of Europe As Well As NATO Activities. "Jurisdiction: The subcommittee deals with all matters concerning U.S. relations with the countries on the continent of Europe...and with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe." (U.S. Senate Committee On Foreign Relations Website, foreign.senate.gov, Accessed 2/27/07)
As Chairman Of The Subcommittee On European Affairs, Obama Could Have Held Hearings On The Role Of NATO In Afghanistan. "[A]mbassador John Ritch, who served for two decades as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's senior staffer on European affairs and East-West relations...[P]oints out that as subcommittee chair, Obama could have examined a wide variety of urgent matters, from the role of NATO in Afghanistan and Iraq to European energy policy and European responses to climate change..." (Joe Conason, "Obama's European Problem," Salon.com, www.salon.com, 12/29/07)
TIP #4: If You Really Wanted To Increase The Resources Available For Afghanistan, You Could Have Voted For A Bill Providing Funding For Operations There:
Obama: "Perhaps most importantly, some of these troops could be redeployed to Afghanistan, where our lack of focus and commitment of resources has led to an increasing deterioration of the security situation there. ... By redeploying from Iraq to Afghanistan, we will answer NATO's call for more troops and provide a much-needed boost to this critical fight against terrorism." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks To The Chicago Council On Global Affairs, Chicago, IL, 11/20/06)
Obama Voted Against Providing $94.4 Billion In Critical Funding For The Troops In Iraq And Afghanistan. (H.R. 2206, CQ Vote #181: Passed 80-14: R 42-3; D 37-10; I 1-1, 5/24/07, Obama Voted Nay)
The Emergency Spending Bill Provided The Following For U.S. Operations In Afghanistan:
$40 million for new power generation
$314 million for rural road rebuilding
$155 million for rural development
$19 million for agriculture
$174 million for Provincial Reconstruction Teams
$25 million for governance capacity building
$10 million for a Civilian Assistance Program
$79 million to support Diplomatic and Consular Programs
$16 million for Migration and Refugee Assistance
$16 million for International Disaster and Famine Assistance for Internally Displaced Persons Assistance
$47 million for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement activities (Stephen Daggett, Amy Belasco, Pat Towell, Susan B. Epstein, Connie Veillette, Curt Tarnoff, Rhoda Margesson, and Bart Elias, "FY2007 Supplemental Appropriations For Defense, Foreign Affairs, And Other Purposes," Congressional Research Service, 7/2/07)
TIP #5: Do Not Insult Your Hosts:
Obama Said The Karzai Government "Has Not Gotten Out Of The Bunker" In Afghanistan. Obama: "I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker and helped organize Afghanistan and government, the judiciary, police forces, in ways that would give people confidence." (CNN's "GPS With Fareed Zakaria," 7/13/08)
Paid for by the Republican National Committee. Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate's Committee.
Apparently, while I was on vacation, my cat Puter was spending a lot of time on the Internet, filling in for me. The following is is an unpublished post she left in my inbox. (h/t: Puter for the video translation.)
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C, I found a new Osama video I thought you'd want to use for your blog... so I made a story of it for you. Love, P.
A Message From Osama Bin Laden
Puter takes covert action.
Hello, CIA Pizza? Yes. Delivery please.
Knock, knock. Pizza man!
al-Zawahiri: Another anchovy pizza?
Osama: A jihad on YouTube!!!
Click image to enlarge.
Sneak Peek from Beijing: New Satellite Image of the National Stadium and Aquatics Center captured by DigitalGlobe. See more satellite Imagery of Olympic sites at www.digitalglobe.com. (PRNewsFoto/DigitalGlobe)
Photo: PRNewswire
Automobili Lamborghini America, LLC delivered the first Gallardo LP560-4 to Benny Caiola, Jr., noted Italian car enthusiast and collector, this week at his home outside of New York City.
Mr. Caiola secured the right to the first LP560-4 through a generous bid at the East Side House Settlement charity auction during the 2008 New York International Auto Show.
Caiola's impressive garage, boasting dozens of exotic and collector cars, has housed many of Lamborghini's iconic and timeless models including the Countach, Diablo, Espada, Jalpa and the legendary Miura.
"Lamborghini was the first to garner my passion for automobiles," Caiola explained. "I've loved Lamborghinis my entire life and have owned nearly every model."
The Gallardo LP560-4 arrives at all 31 United States showrooms in late summer of 2008. The Gallardo, with more than 7,100 units sold worldwide, is Lamborghini's most successful model of all time.
The all-new 560 horsepower LP560-4, which replaces the previous Gallardo model, features a powerful new engine, permanent four-wheel drive system and an 18 percent reduction in fuel consumption and C02 emissions.
As of today, there is a six month waiting list for the new Gallardo LP560-4 signaling that the success of the Gallardo model will continue for years to come.
About Lamborghini
Founded in 1963, Automobili Lamborghini is headquartered in Sant'Agata Bolognese, in Northeastern Italy and manufactures some of the world's most sought after super sports cars. With 34 dealerships in North America and 114 worldwide, Automobili Lamborghini has created a succession of dynamic and elegant super sports cars including the Miura, Islero, Urraco, 350GT, Espada, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago LP640, Murcielago LP640 Roadster, Gallardo Coupe, Gallardo Spyder, Gallardo SE, Gallardo Superleggera, Reventon and the recently launched 2009 Gallardo LP560-4. For more information on Automobili Lamborghini, please visit the website at http://www.lamborghini.com/.
Precious Images by Chuck Workman is a movie montage featuring nearly 500 clips from the greatest films of all time. At one point, it was the most seen short film in history.
Complete list of all 469 film clips. h/t: Ike
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Having trouble choosing a movie to watch? This 7-minute film is sure to jog more than a few fantastic big screen memories.
Chaige Qingre Granule is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine used to treat the acute upper respiratory tract infection of wind heat syndrome (caused by inhaling too much hot air.)
T cell (shown in blue) interacting with an antigen-presenting cell (in green). The latter display molecular signatures of unknown pathogens. T cells can detect fewer than 10 such molecules based on cooperative interactions between membrane-bound and cytoplasmic molecules. SOURCE: Michael L. Dustin, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Program in Molecular Pathogenesis.
Scientists have long desired to create synthetic systems that function with the precision and efficiency of biological systems.
To assess the current work and future promise of the biology-materials science intersection, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation asked the NRC to identify the most compelling questions and opportunities at this interface, suggest strategies to address them, and consider connections with national priorities such as healthcare and economic growth.
This book presents a discussion of principles governing biomaterial design, a description of advanced materials for selected functions such as energy and national security, an assessment of biomolecular materials research tools, and an examination of infrastructure and resources for bridging biological and materials science.
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| Read this FREE online! Full Book PDF Summary | ||
Dillin Dam Road. Photo: Ryan Phelan
By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart, Stratfor
At the stroke of midnight July 8, the Denver Water Board closed the road over Dillon Dam in Summit County, Colorado, citing security concerns. The board’s decision, which was implemented without advance notice to local governments and citizens, has not been well-received. It has sparked protests by enraged residents and has even prompted officials from Summit County, three affected towns nearby and the local fire and rescue department to file suit in state district court in a bid to force Denver Water to reopen the road.
The road is one of only a few traversing Summit County, so residents are understandably upset at the inconvenience caused by the closure. Local fire and rescue departments also say closing the road negatively affects emergency response times. This not the first time the road has been closed, however. The road was shut down for a week in January after a report of suspicious activity in the area — activity investigated by authorities and found to be nothing more than two men from Denver filming a music video. The Water Board has spent several million dollars to improve security for the mile-long dam road, and in May it even hired a private security company to conduct 24-hour armed patrols of the dam.
Denver Water has said the decision to close the road was not made in response to a specific threat, and we tend to believe this. With the heat they’ve received over the issue, they surely would have cited evidence of a specific threat to assuage public anger if there had been such information.
But the ruckus raised over the closure of the Dillon Dam road provides a prime opportunity to re-examine the ability of jihadist militants to operate inside the United States, and to look at the types of targets militants might be most likely to select for an attack.
Assessing the Militant Threat
To assess a threat against a potential target like the Dillon Dam, several important tactical realities must be considered. The first is that as long as the ideology of jihadism exists and at least some jihadist militants embrace the philosophy of attacking the “far enemy” — aka the United States — there will be some threat of attacks against targets on U.S. soil. Indeed, there has not been a time since 1990 when some group of jihadists somewhere was not plotting such an attack.
A second tactical reality is that the U.S. government and the American people simply cannot protect every potential target. There are simply far too many of them. While insights gained from al Qaeda’s targeting criteria can help authorities protect select high-value targets, there are just too many potential targets to protect them all. The federal government might instruct state and local authorities to protect every dam, bridge, power plant and mass-transit system in their respective jurisdictions, but the reality on the ground is that there are not nearly enough resources to protect all of these, much less to protect the far more plentiful array of potential soft targets.
An Historic Truss Bridge over the Blue River at the base of Lake Dillon Dam. Photo: Bridgepix
Another tactical reality is that simple attacks against soft targets are very easy to conduct and very difficult to detect in advance and thwart. As an attack plan becomes larger and more complex, however, it requires more individuals, more materials and more infrastructure. This means that the bigger the attack plan is, the more difficult it is to conduct and the greater the chances it will be discovered and thwarted.
That said, just because attacks are possible — and indeed likely — and because there are a large number of vulnerable targets does not mean that all the vulnerable targets will be attacked. The capabilities and targeting criteria of militants also must be considered.
Capability
Let’s begin with the capability question first. When considering the capability of militants to strike in the United States, one must recognize that with regard to militant jihadists there are generally three different levels of actors to consider. First, there is the core al Qaeda organization; this is the small vanguard of jihadists led by Osama bin Laden attempting to lead a global rising of the Muslim masses. Second, there are al Qaeda’s regional franchises (such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), which are local or regional jihadist groups that have aligned themselves with al Qaeda, hoping to capitalize on the group’s popular brand name. And third, there are the local, self-motivated grassroots jihadists who think globally and act locally.
All three of these actors have different target selection criteria and different levels of capability. There is currently no al Qaeda franchise in the United States or even in the Western Hemisphere. This means that the main threat of an attack against a target in the United States will come from either the core al Qaeda group, a grassroots organization or a combination of the two, so we will focus our attention on those two actors.
Grassroots actors lack sophisticated terrorist tradecraft in crucial areas like preoperational planning and bomb making. Recent cases such as the July 7, 2005, attacks in London, the failed July 21, 2005, attacks in London, and the June 2007 attacks in London and Glasgow demonstrate the limited abilities of grassroots militants. They can sometimes kill people, but they do not have the ability to conduct large, strategic strikes.
Sunset reflected over partially frozen Lake Dillon. Photo: Bridgepix
Because of this, grassroots militants will often attempt to reach out for assistance if they desire to undertake a major attack. This is exactly what we saw in the early 1990s in New York. Grassroots operatives there were able to pull off a simple attack like the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, but they needed assistance for their bigger, more complex plans. In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the local cell received assistance in the form of Abdel Basit (aka Ramzi Yousef), who helped them organize, plan their attack and construct a large truck-borne explosive device. In the second 1993 case, the local cell turned to an FBI informant for bomb-making expertise and were apprehended before they could strike.
The 2006 plot to bomb a series of airliners in the United Kingdom was likewise a case where a local grassroots cell received assistance from an al Qaeda operational commander but was thwarted before it could carry out its attack — mainly due to the complexity of the plan and the number of people involved.
Thus, without assistance the odds of a successful attack by a grassroots group against a target like a dam are low. Perhaps the greatest threat posed by a grassroots group is that one of its operatives could gain employment as an engineer at a dam — therefore gaining the opportunity to sabotage the equipment controlling the dam from the inside and turning the dam into a weapon against itself. This is similar to the threat posed by insiders at chemical plants. There have also been concerns previously that a savvy cyber-jihadist could assume control of the dam’s equipment via gaps in the information security of the entity running the dam.
As for the al Qaeda core, while the group may theoretically have personnel with the expertise to undertake such an attack, they have been extremely limited in their operational ability since the U.S. response to 9/11. We came under widespread criticism last July when we wrote that the al Qaeda core was a spent force that did not pose a strategic threat to the U.S. homeland, but our assessment holds one year on. Indeed, the vast majority of attacks attributed to the al Qaeda brand name since September 2001 have been conducted by regional franchises like Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda in Iraq or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, not core al Qaeda. In our assessment, the al Qaeda core might have some ability to attack, but it no longer has the ability to conduct a devastating strategic attack such as 9/11.
The Dam as a Target
It is possible to destroy a dam. Indeed, the British Royal Air Force destroyed German dams during World War II, and aircraft from the United States and its U.N. allies destroyed a North Korean hydroelectric dam during the Korean War. In general, however, dams are very large structures designed and built to withstand powerful forces such as floods and earthquakes. Because of this, it would be very difficult to destroy one with an improvised explosive device, unless the attacker could strike at a strategic location that would cause a leak in the structure (as the British did in their attacks on German dams) or at a location that would allow the water to overtop the dam and erode it — in either case, using the power of the water behind the dam to cause the structure to fail catastrophically.
Dillon Dam. Photo: U.S. Army
Even with massive resources, however, it is not easy to destroy a large dam made of earth and rock. For proof, one need only to look at the massive efforts of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in China to unblock the Qingjiang River after it was dammed up by debris following the powerful May 12 earthquake. The PLA has used heavy machinery and massive amounts of explosives in their efforts. One July 2 blast on the Shibangou section of the river reportedly involved 6 tons of strategically placed explosives alone. It is very unlikely that militants would have the ability to carefully place that quantity of explosives on a dam in the United States without being detected.
Obtaining explosives in Western countries is also becoming more difficult in the post-9/11 era. Even the 2006 airliner plot involved small amounts of improvised explosives rather than an attack with a huge device, and the 9/11 attacks involved no explosives at all. The grassroots militants involved in the London and Glasgow attacks in the summer of 2007 also had problems obtaining explosives, and they instead chose to try using improvised (and ill-designed) fuel-air explosive devices in those incidents.
If a militant group planned properly and somehow amassed a sufficient quantity of explosives, it would be possible for it to destroy a dam. But that does not mean a group like al Qaeda would target a dam. Even if the group had the ability to conduct such an attack, it probably would choose to use such a large quantity of explosives to attack a far more symbolic target than a dam in rural Colorado.
While al Qaeda’s Taliban cousins have conducted several unsuccessful attacks against dams in southern Afghanistan, the situation on the ground in Afghanistan is far different than that in the United States. The Taliban in Afghanistan are a large, well-supplied insurgent force that regularly strikes at infrastructure such as roads, bridges and even schools.
Conversely, there is no large jihadist element in the United States. There are only scattered grassroots operatives and perhaps a few transnational al Qaeda-types available to conduct attacks. To our mind, that means that these operatives will want to maximize their efforts and undertake the most meaningful and symbolic attacks possible. Rather than choosing targets based on military utility (like the Taliban in Afghanistan), al Qaeda generally chooses targets in the United States for their potential symbolic value so as to elicit the greatest political or psychological impact, which they then hope will translate into economic impact.
Members of the Ohio Bass Clubs, Bill Walker with a 1 1/2 lb fish at Dillon Dam with Barry Bruckelmyer in the background having some fun.
This is not intended as an insult to the people of Colorado, but the Dillon Dam simply does not strike us as the kind of target that will carry the type of symbolic or economic impact al Qaeda would seek in an U.S. attack. Symbolic targets need to be readily recognizable not only by the people who live close to them, but also by people looking at a photo in a Pakistani newspaper. The World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, the United Nations, or even the Library Tower in Los Angeles, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the strip in Las Vegas or the Space Needle in Seattle are highly symbolic targets that would meet these requirements. The Dillon Dam does not. In fact, we are Americans and had not even heard of this specific dam until the reports of the controversy over the road closure emerged.
Does this mean that jihadists will never strike in Denver? Not at all. Lone wolf or grassroots operatives could very well strike there. As seen in past cases in New Jersey, Florida and California, such people normally seek to strike in familiar territory close to where they live, and there might well be jihadists residing in Denver. But again, such a strike by grassroots operatives or lone wolves would likely be a smaller attack aimed at a soft target. We remain skeptical of the idea of al Qaeda dispatching a team from their headquarters in Pakistan to travel to the United States to destroy the Dillon Dam. The Democratic National Convention in Denver, maybe — but not the Dillon Dam.
Click image to enlarge.
"The objective of the JSOW-ER [Joint Standoff Weapon Extended Range] program is to provide United States and international warfighters with a low-cost, extended-range missile," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Strike Weapons at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson. "We plan to offer the warfighter a 300 nautical mile (approximately 345 statute miles) weapon with a price goal of $350,000, far less expensive than similar capability weapons currently in the warfighter's inventory."
JSOW-ER will enable additional mission areas than possible with the current Joint Standoff Weapon range of up to 70 nautical miles (approximately 80.5 statute miles), and additional payload options will also be considered with JSOW-ER.
The development of a Block III variant of the Joint Standoff Weapon has begun. A weapons data link will be added to provide a moving target capability and the capability of in-flight communications. Missile health, status and position can be transmitted by the weapon up to the time of impact. The weapon can also receive in-flight target updates. The JSOW Block III, which will be designated AGM-154C-1, is scheduled for production in 2009.
PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN)
By Nir Boms and Shayan Arya for The Washington Times
As a sign of the troubled relations between Tehran and the West, Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno just renamed the street next to the Iranian embassy "July 9th St." - after the date symbolizing the 1999 student pro-democracy demonstrations in Tehran. Iran responded angrily, but at the same time released a statement by its foreign minister about possible progress in negotiations over its nuclear program. While the diplomatic rhetoric may appear ambivalent, Tehran's domestic actions appear much more clear and defiant. Last Tuesday, Iran hanged another teenager, 19-year-old Hamid Reza, who was convicted of murder. The country's parliament is also considering a bill that could result in the death penalty being used for those deemed to be promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet.
Ever since its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has had an abhorrent human-rights record, including summary executions of hundreds of the late Shah's supporters, executions of thousands of political prisoners and daily reports of executions, public hangings, floggings and torture. Mass graves can easily be found in any large Iranian city. Iran also tops the list for executing juveniles in direct violation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child - currently there are more than 70 children on death row. Juvenile offenders Mohammad Feda'i, Behnoud Shojaee and Saeed Jazee face imminent execution, according to Stop Child Execution and Amnesty International.
Mahmoud Asgari (16, left) and Ayaz Marhoni (18) were publicly hanged in Mashhad, Iran.
Over the past few years, since the Holocaust-denying hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power, the human-rights conditions in Iran have further deteriorated. There are virtually no segments of the Iranian population immune from these violations. Religious minorities such as the 300,000-member strong Bahai community, a peaceful nonpolitical offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, are under siege. Last May, seven members of its leadership group in Tehran were arrested. Fifty more were rounded up across the country in a deliberate campaign of terror and intimidation.
These young women of the Baha'i faith were convicted of the crime of teaching in a Bahai religious school and hanged in Shiraz, Iran on June 18, 1983. The women, ages 17 to 57, were led to the gallows one after the other. As there is "no compulsion in religion" under Islam, it is interesting that authorities were apparently hoping that as each woman saw the others slowly strangle to death, they would renounce their own faith. A rather persuasive argument of the superiority of Islam.
Since 1979 under the Islamic Republic, more than 200 Bahais have been executed. This campaign of terror and intimidation is not limited to the so-called "non-recognized" religious minorities such as Bahais. Ayatollah Borujerdi - a Shi'ite cleric who preaches a traditional nonpolitical version of Shi'ism - has also joined that list. Last year, Ayatollah Borujerdi, dared to question the Islamic regime's interpretation of political Shi'ite Islam. He was arrested during a violent clash involving his followers and was later severely tortured along with his entire family and many of his followers. There are reports that his condition is worsening.
The Sufis (the moderate mystics in the world of Islam) received their share of Islamist mistreatment in an unprecedented assault on the Sufi center in the city of Qom in 2005. Radio Free Europe reported that according to the deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, 1,200 worshippers (also known as dervishes) were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship. Sufi groups and human-rights activists put the number of the arrests at 2,000 and the number of injured at 350 people. Following the clashes, authorities demolished the house of worship as well as the homes of two leaders of the group.
Not only do the authorities torture and slaughter those who do not strictly adhere to their agenda, they take a perverse and ghoulish pleasure in their efforts. They brag about the suffering they inflict, they boast about stepping on the lifeless heads of their victims. Source: AmericanDaughter.com
Political dissent is likewise unwelcome. Amir Yaghoub-Ali, a 22-year-old student activist was arrested last year and has been sentenced to one year in prison. (He had been charged with having collected signatures on a petition seeking greater female rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.) At least three other Iranian women's-rights activists - Nahid Jafari, Nasrin Afzali and Marzieh Mortaz-langarudi - received flogging and jail sentences for their participation in the same campaign. Political activists such as Mr. Arzhang Davoodi and Dr. Seyed Mostafa Alavi are under increasing pressure in jail and are being ill-treated by the authorities.
Iran's Executions [WARNING: Graphic Violence]
Last May [81-year-old] human-rights activist Hassan Abdul Hussein Tafah, an Iraqi refugee who later became an Iranian citizen, was sentenced to 15 years in jail and fined the equivalent of 130,000 euros. He was originally sentenced to death. His crime? He attended an international conference where human-rights issues were discussed. (At least Mr. Tafah appears to be somewhat prepared. Before seeking refuge in Iran he had spent 15 years in Iraqi jails during the rule of Saddam Hussein.)
What will a regime capable of committing such a widespread human-rights violations of its own citizens without a nuclear arsenal do to its citizens and others if and when it acquires nuclear capabilities? The international community will be well advised to ponder that question.
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About the authors: Nir Boms is the vice president of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East. Shayan Arya is an Iranian activist and associate researcher at the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education.
Click to enlarge image.
Pop art wows crowd at the Houston Galleria (July 11-25) where the national Red Bull Art of Can Exhibit is on display featuring innovative works of art created using the energy drink cans. (PRNewsFoto/Red Bull) ~ Story.
entries from previous exhibits
h/t: photo by Sandow
My Official .50 Caliber 4-Shot Group
Now, if I can only get Mahmoud to help me practice... ;) - c
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Want to get in on the fun but don't have your own rifle? Try this online shooter's demo, Shooter Ready.
Note: Select option "G" to shoot .50 caliber at 1,000 yards.
P.S. It is possible.
Nuclear threats or terrorists use of nuclear weapons or highly active radiation sources has become a possibility and needs to be addressed. Such threats include:
A "dirty bomb" combines conventional explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive materials packed around the explosive core. The idea is to spread radioactive material into the area around the explosion and frighten people. Indeed, the main damage from a dirty bomb would be associated with the blast itself, while contamination with radioactive materials to people or the environment is expected to cause only limited harm.
Dirty Bombs - What to Do:
Even if people do not know whether radioactive materials were present, following the simple steps above can also help reduce any injury from chemicals present in the blast.
Information Sheets
Dirty Bombs [pdf 20kb] Explanation of what a Dirty Bomb is and its health effects.
Nuclear weapon explosion [pdf 29kb] Health protection guidance in the event of a nuclear weapon explosion.
Source: WHO
I'd been wondering what to do with that assorted pile of camping gear until I discovered this project. Now, to just tweak the dimensions to best fit my stuff, sand and high-temperature camo paint... ; ) - c
Just like an old-fashioned “chuck box,” this handy camp kitchen project keeps food and cooking supplies organized and easy to transport.
The top opens up for full access and the front panel drops down to create a handy work surface.
When closed, the project (pictured first) measures 30 inches long by 17 inches tall by 19 inches deep.
For the instruction-needy, the Camp Kitchen plan, No. 213, is available online ($10) at u-bild.com.
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Case of Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever Imported into the Netherlands from Uganda
WHO has been notified by the Government of the Netherlands of a case of Marburg haemorrhagic fever (MHF) in a Dutch tourist who visited Uganda.
Marburg virus infection has been demonstrated by laboratory tests performed by the Bernhard Nocht Institute in Hamburg, Germany.
The 40-year-old woman travelled in Uganda from 5-28 June, 2008, and entered caves on two occasions. The first cave was visited on 16 June at Fort Portal. No bats were seen in this cave.
She was reportedly exposed to fruit bats during a visit to the “python cave” in the Maramagambo Forest between Queen Elisabeth Park and Kabale on 19 June.
This cave is thought to harbour bat species that have been found to carry filoviruses in other locations in sub-Saharan Africa. Filoviruses cause two types of viral haemorrhagic fever: Marburg and Ebola.
A large bat population was seen in the cave and the woman is reported to have had direct contact with one bat.
The woman returned to the Netherlands on 28 June in good health. The first symptoms (fever, chills) occurred on 2 July and she was admitted to hospital on 5 July. Rapid clinical deterioration with liver failure and severe haemorrhaging occurred on 7 July. The patient remains in a critical clinical condition.
Contact tracing and temperature monitoring have been initiated for unprotected contacts with a history of possible exposure to the case after 2 July.
Although further epidemiological investigation is needed to exclude other possible sites of exposure to MHF virus, as a precaution Dutch authorities have alerted the tour operator to avoid visits to the caves until further information is available.
No citizens of other countries were involved in this trip except for a local tour guide, but the cave in the Maramagambo Forrest is known to be a tourist attraction.
No measures were taken with respect to the passengers on the flight from Uganda as the flight occurred four days before the onset of symptoms in the patient.
WHO has informed the Ministry of Health Uganda which will take appropriate steps nationally to investigate these events, and WHO has recommended that the MoH advise all residents and travellers to avoid entering caves with bat populations.
For more information- WHO Marburg haemorrhagic fever website
A short film by Jeremy Kipp Walker and J. Anderson Mitchell.
Winner of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival - Best Narrative Short Film.
Yet Another Amazing Use for Duct Tape
Sharon Dranko of Monaca, Pa., and Joshua Humm of Aliquippa, Pa., were named winners of the 2008 Duck(R) brand duct tape Stuck at Prom(R) Scholarship Contest. The contest challenges high school students to create and accessorize their prom outfits with America's favorite fix all - duct tape. (PRNewsFoto/Henkel Corporation)
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Pretty in Pink is a popular 1986 film about teenage love and social cliques in 1980s American high schools.
It is notable for belonging to the group of John Hughes movies starring Molly Ringwald and belongs to the Brat Pack movies.
The title of the film comes from the song of the same name by British music group The Psychedelic Furs.
The film was directed by Howard Deutch, produced by Lauren Shuler, and written by John Hughes.
Tagline: He's crazy about her, she's crazy about him, and he's just crazy.
Here's my favorite scene. Music by Otis Redding.
A child soldier victim in northern Uganda.
"I still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." — Mary, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier forced to join an armed rebel group in Central Africa
A Global Problem
Child soldiering is a unique and severe manifestation of trafficking in persons that involves the recruitment of children through force, fraud, or coercion to be exploited for their labor or to be abused as sex slaves in conflict areas. Government forces, paramilitary organizations, and rebel groups all recruit and utilize child soldiers.
UNICEF estimates that more than 300,000 children under 18 are currently being exploited in over 30 armed conflicts worldwide. While the majority of child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18, some are as young as 7 or 8 years of age.
Many children are abducted to be used as combatants. Others are made to serve as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Many young girls are forced to marry or perform sexual services for male combatants. Male and female child soldiers are often sexually abused, and are at high risk of unwanted pregnancies and contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
Some children have been forced to commit atrocities against their families and communities. Child soldiers are often killed or wounded, with survivors often suffering multiple traumas and psychological scarring. Their personal development is often irreparably damaged. Returning child soldiers are often rejected by their home communities.
Child soldiers are a global phenomenon. The problem is most critical in Africa and Asia, but armed groups in the Americas, Eurasia, and the Middle East also use children. All nations must work together with international organizations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to take urgent action to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate child soldiers.
Quick Facts
UNICEF Fact Sheet: Children Associated with Armed Groups (pdf)
Vanessa Ferbeyre, Nesie Daglis, Sara Hoots, Heather Brady and Serina Snelling were selected as the Top 5 Hooters Girls in the 12th Annual International Swimsuit Pageant. (PRNewsFoto/Hooters of America, Inc.)
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EAT sandwich shop in London throws out several bags of unsold food, including salads and sandwiches. This comes as the Prime Minister urges consumers not to waste food. Some street people have been spotted helping themselves. (Photoshot)
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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver are featured in a new television spot promoting the state's fabulous wine and food offerings, which will broadcast nationally during California Wine Month in September 2008. (PRNewsFoto/Wine Institute)
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Budweiser, the official international beer of the 2008 Olympic Games, will host eight exclusive parties at Club Bud in Beijing. (PRNewsFoto/Anheuser-Busch)
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Jason Nicodemus, from Port St. Lucie Florida, walked into a Domino's Pizza store and out with a Gotham City Pizza and a check for $10,000. (PRNewsFoto/Domino's Pizza)
That's amore! ~ And that's this week in food news.
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"Land of Enchantment"
Precious ammo?...
Check.
The BIG GUN?... Check.
I'm headed to get Osama!
(just kidding)
I'm going to...
for...
Covertress shooting for score.
A Califorina family enjoys a road trip in 1910.
Road Trip!
"The Long and Winding Road"...
took me to strange places... like:
Asseff - Rd., Louisiana
Kiblah - Arkansas
Malta - Texas
Atoka - Oklahoma
Sardis - Lake, Oklahoma
Arnot - Rd., Texas
Pakam - Rd., Texas
Endee, New Mexico
Destination:
1,000 yard range... I mean,...
the 10-football-field-length range.
Did I mention that this range is...
1,000 YARDS long?!
Holiday Inn Express - Rodeo Clown Commercial
After 40 winks,...
I felt refreshed (& smarter!)
First raising of the new F.C.S.A. flag.
The first match day was just beautiful.
My Steyr HS .50 with Zeiss scope was ready.
My gun is second in this photo.
The competition's guns were ready.
My first day's best? ~ An O.K., 16 1/4" group.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
After I'd finished, it started to rain.
Day two of the match was also lovely...
with balloons filling the sky.
My rifle's first, cold-bore shot of the day.
Having tuned in my rifle and...
received tips from a top contender...
like how not to hold the .50 for score...
I shot a 14 1/2" group...
and then... it hailed.
Some shot for score in the mud...
Some WON BIG! (me)
a NEW RIFLE!... and...
a 4-shot, 6 1/4" group...
at 1,000 yards...
in wind...
which left me with a wicked smile. ;)
Mission accomplished.
... anxious to see my kitty... - c
"On the Road Again"
Timeless hills look down upon the glittering lights of modern Matrah. The city fronts the strategic Gulf of Oman—sole entrance from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean to the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Photograph by James L. Stanfield.
The inhabitants of the area of Oman have long prospered on Indian Ocean trade. In the late 18th century, a newly established sultanate in Muscat signed the first in a series of friendship treaties with Britain. Over time, Oman's dependence on British political and military advisors increased, but it never became a British colony.
In 1970, Qaboos bin Said al-Said overthrew the restrictive rule of his father; he has ruled as sultan ever since. His extensive modernization program has opened the country to the outside world while preserving the longstanding close ties with the UK. Oman's moderate, independent foreign policy has sought to maintain good relations with all Middle Eastern countries.
The henna-dyed hands of an Omani bride. Photograph by James L. Stanfield.
But, the glamor of Oman hides a dirty secret.
Oman is a destination country for men and women primarily from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan who migrate willingly, some of whom become victims of human trafficking when subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude as domestic workers and laborers, including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement and withholding of passports, threats, and physical or sexual abuse.
Oman is believed to be a destination country for women from Asia, Eastern Europe, and North Africa for commercial sexual exploitation. Source: CIA factbook, Oman
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covertress' "vacation" hint:
I have been to neither Pakistan, Oman, Tanzania, Kenya, Wyoming nor South Africa recently. ;) - c
On television and the silver screen, serial killers are usually white males and dysfunctional loners who really want to get caught. Or, they’re super-intelligent monsters who frustrate law enforcement at every turn.
According to a new publication from the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime—entitled Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators—serial killers are much different in real life.
The report contains the collective insights of a group of experts from the law enforcement, academic, and mental health professions who took part in a symposium on serial murder. The symposium’s focus was actually two-fold: to bridge the gap between fact and fiction and to build up our collective body of knowledge to generate a more effective investigative response.
Here’s why that is so important: Serial killings are rare, probably less than one percent of all murders. They do, however, receive a lot of attention in the news and on screen—and much of the information out there is wrong. Yet, the public, the media, and even sometimes law enforcement professionals who have limited experience with serial murder, often believe what they read and hear. And this misinformation can hinder investigations.
According to the experts, there is no common thread tying serial killers together—no single cause, no single motive, no single profile. But there are some common "best practices" that they recommend for investigations:
For example:
As for serial killer myths, our group of experts had this to say about a few of them:
So much for the stereotypes!
Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators
Visit the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime website
Where in the world is covertress?
I've been to...
Asseff
Kiblah
Malta
Atoka
Sardis
Arnot
Pakam
Endee
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Disney is a prime offender when it comes to firing employees for exercising Second Amendment rights.
The following memo was sent out by Disney to Disney employees.
----- Original Message -----
From: WDW NewsRoom
To: #WDW X Corporate Executive Cast - Florida; #WDW X Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Vice Presidents; #WDW X Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Directors; #WDW X Walt Disney Parks and Resorts General Managers
Sent: Fri Jun 27 XXXXXXX 2008
Subject: Florida's Guns-At-Work Legislation
Below is a memo regarding the Florida Guns-at-Work law, effective July 1, 2008. Please share verbally with your teams, as appropriate.
*********************************************
To: Florida-site Executives Date: June 27, 2008
From: Shannon McAleavey,
Senior Vice President Public Affairs
Subject: Florida's Guns-at-Work Legislation
*********************************************
On July 1, a new Florida law will go into effect that will allow employees with a conceal-and-carry permit to have a weapon in their vehicle at their place of employment. This law does not apply to Walt Disney World Co. owned and leased properties due to an exemption.
This includes all theme parks, resorts, theme park and resort parking lots, Cast Member parking lots, administrative offices across the Walt Disney World(r) Resort, Downtown Disney(r), Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, hotels on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, Celebration and the Disney Reservation Centers (Orlando and Tampa).
However, the law will apply to property owned by Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney's Vero Beach Resort, the Disney Cruise Line Crew Member parking lot, the La Quinta warehouse on Orange Blossom Trail and Disney-owned liquidation stores off property.
Because this is a Florida law, it also does not apply to Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort.
Cast Members will continue to be prohibited from removing a weapon from their vehicle while at work. All Cast Members must comply with the gun policies in effect at the location they are visiting, regardless of where they work. For example, Disney's Vero Beach Cast Members must comply with the gun policies at a Walt Disney World Co. theme park when visiting that location.
Walt Disney World Co. continues to maintain a zero tolerance policy for guns and workplace violence. Possession of dangerous or unauthorized materials such as explosives, firearms, ammunition, weapons or other similar items on Walt Disney World Co. owned or leased property is grounds for termination (as outlined in the Employee Policy Manual).
A lawsuit filed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida Retail Federation to repeal the law is under review, and we are hopeful it will be overturned by mid-July. We support the ongoing efforts of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation to challenge the legislation.
The safety of our Cast and Guests is our top priority. Please encourage your teams to practice safe behaviors at any location. In an emergency, Cast Members should dial 911. If a gun is seen or suspected to be at any location, Cast Members should immediately contact their local Human Resources representative or Walt Disney World Security at x1990 or 407-560-1990.
Thanks for your support in verbally sharing this information with your teams. I will update you when a final ruling is made in the lawsuit.
[end memo]
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Today, July 1, 2008, House Bill 503 by Representative Greg Evers and Senator Durell Peaden takes effect.
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao Tzu
