18
March , 2010
Thursday
#1 -- BBC | China's exports see sharp increase China's exports jumped by 46% in February ...
NAWA, Afghanistan —  Thousands of U.S. Marines and hundreds of Afghan troops poured into Taliban-infested villages ...
The federal cabinet minister responsible for finding a replacement supply of medical isotopes after the ...
#1 -- BBC | Indian man attacked and set alight in Melbourne An Indian man ...
The Conservative government came under attack over its preparation and handling of the swine flu ...
In Iraq, the legacies of the Bush and Obama administrations have become intertwined. Should Iraq ...
News from around the world: In Britain, it is traditional on Shrove Tuesday to hold pancake ...
A one-night stay? Ninety dollars. Need to see a doctor? Ten bucks. Want toilet paper? ...
I don't know how many peope have had the experience of sitting by a bedside ...
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The women of the Canadian hockey team politely accepted their gold ...
And tidings of comfort and joy from Harry Reid too. The Senate Majority Leader has ...

Archive for the ‘Web Logs’ Category

It’s desperation time

Posted by Jack On March - 18 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

There’s no way Barack Obama would have appeared on Fox Wednesday night in a sit-down interview with Bret Baer had not the President’s health care bill been in serious trouble. Things must be really bad, even with all the legislative legerdemain being cooked up by Pelosi and company. The interview itself was testy with Baer doing relatively well, I thought. Nevertheless, the President was able to filibuster away from answering most of the questions. But whoever “won,” I doubt it changed many minds at this point; everybody’s already so disgusted with the process. (I was amused by the competition between Baer and Obama over the number of emails they received. When Baer claimed 18000 for Fox, Obama felt he had to best him with 40000 a day to the White House.)

When you think over the last year, it’s clear Obama has some of the most inept advisers in recent presidential history. Allowing him to risk his entire presidency on a global overhaul of health care – when an incremental overhaul could have been had simply for the asking – seems absurd politics, win or lose. It also isn’t worth that much in the grand scheme of things – other than the obvious, increasing the amount of the economy under government control. The nostalgia for marxism inherent in it all this almost pathetic. Don’t these people live in the real world?

And yet we have had virtually nothing but health care for the last twelve months. When Obama pops up to in the foreign policy sphere, you’re surprised to see him there. What does Iran have to do with health care? (Well, there’s nuclear fallout. That’s a health issue.) His reply on Iran at the end of Baer’s interview seemed almost perfunctory. He insisted he was wrangling other countries in opposition to the mullahs’ nukes. But we know it’s not true. He’s not really interested in that. What keeps Obama up at night is the House health care vote, member by member by member by member. Heaven help us.

[Source]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Needed: A Reset with Israel

Posted by Jack On March - 17 - 2010 9 COMMENTS

The Obama Administration reaches out to some of the world’s worst regimes in the name of their engagement policy. America and our allies watch as sanctions are eased on Cuba. Letters are written to Iran’s mullahs only to see that regime start killing protestors in the streets of Tehran. Envoys are sent to North Korea as they continue to defy the world’s demand to give up their nuclear weapons. The Burmese military junta’s representative is allowed to travel to our nation’s capital. The President’s envoy for Sudan talks about giving that genocidal regime “gold stars,” while the President shakes hands with Venezuela’s tyrannical leader. In the midst of all this embracing of enemies, where does the Obama Administration choose to escalate a minor incident into a major diplomatic confrontation? With Iran, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea or Burma? No. With our treasured ally, Israel.

Last October, Secretary of State Clinton recognized Israel’s desire for peace in the Middle East and praised Israel’s “unprecedented” concessions for agreeing to halt settlement construction in the West Bank, a concession that did NOT include halting construction of apartments for Jews in Jerusalem. Even last week after planned construction was announced, Vice President Biden still expressed “appreciation” for the “significant” steps taken by the Israeli government to address this minor issue. Now, however, we see the Obama Administration has decided to escalate, make unilateral demands of Israel, and threaten the very foundation of the US-Israel relationship. This is quickly leading to the worst crisis in US-Israel relations in decades, and yet this did not have to happen. More importantly, it needs to stop before it spirals out of control. Vice President Biden should rein in the overheated Obama Administration rhetoric and chill the political spin masters’ fire as they visit the Sunday media shows to criticize Israel.

Once again, the Obama Administration is missing the boat on a very, very important issue. They need to go back to the basics and acknowledge Palestinian leaders have not progressed any peace process since President Obama was elected. As Israel makes concessions (and is still criticized by the Obama Administration), Arab leaders are just sitting back waiting for the White House to further pressure Israel. The Obama Administration needs to open its eyes and recognize that it is only Iran and her terrorist allies that benefit from this manufactured Israeli controversy. Vice President Biden was actually right when he said last week, before the construction announcement, that “one necessary precondition for progress is that the rest of the world knows…there is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to security.” Right now, thanks to the Obama Administration, there is a chasm. It’s time for President Obama to push the reset button on our relations with our ally Israel.

- Sarah Palin

[Source]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Obama to Israel: ‘Drop Dead’ (1)

Posted by Jack On March - 16 - 2010 17 COMMENTS

It took awhile, 14 months to be exact, but both the ADL and AIPAC have issued very solid statements condemning the President’s new verbal war on Israel, and asking for the Administration to curtail the public berating of its supposed ally, and work with Israel in a more diplomatic fashion on both the peace process and Iran.

What is disgraceful is that so far, exactly one elected Democrat in Congress has done the same: Congresswoman Shelley Berkley of Nevada. Sadly, Democrats seem to care far more about passing health care legislation this week, than protecting the US-Israel relationship from Obama’s assault. It’s apparent that indifference if not hostility to Israel’s survival is at work. The infamous New York Daily News headline about Gerald Ford’s response to New York’s fiscal crisis was less fair to him (he never said these words) than the title of this article is to President Obama.

It is interesting that David Axelrod, who blasted Israel on network news programs on Sunday, and is a proud standard bearer of the Millard Fillmore label when it comes to the history and politics of the Middle East conflict (for the record, Fillmore headed the Know Nothing Party back in the 1850s), will be honored by the NJDC (National Jewish Democratic Council) at a coming event. Axelrod has pretty much a perfect record of having avoided any connection with any pro-Israel or Jewish communal activity in his long political career, with the notable exception of raising money from Jews for Democratic candidates.

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Updates:

3:35 pm EDT, March 16th, 2010 — Clinton backpedalling furiously

Popularity: 13% [?]

Organizing the Coffee Party

Posted by Jack On March - 15 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

When I heard about Annabel Park’s grassroots coffee party movement and her background in the Obama campaign it piqued my curiosity. The two most recent Obamaganda projects; pro-Obama letters to the editor (see Ellie Light) and the even less successful pro-Obamacare push on the conservative talk radio airwaves, were reliant on individual action supported and inspired by the future former president’s propaganda machine. The coffee party movement represents a shift back towards the sort of large scale community organizing that helped Team Obama win in 2008.

The Coffee Party USA website gave the time and locations of the March 13th “National Coffee Party Day” meetings and after some consideration I registered for the Milwaukee, Wisconsin event. Saturday morning I drove to the Alterra Café. As soon as my PGTOB (pre government take-over Buick) entered the parking lot I knew that this was the right place, there wasn’t an SUV, Truck or full size domestic car to be seen. I backed into a parking place in the rear of the lot, careful to conceal my “Impeach Obama” bumper sticker, walked past the numerous Hybrids and sub-compacts and quietly slipped into the café.

Once inside I found my way to the atrium where the coffee partiers were gathered. Although the folks who had gathered there seemed perfectly harmless, I still felt as out of place as a member of the Obama administration in a private sector job. I signed in, introduced myself and made small talk with several of the participants (being careful not to reveal myself as a conservative) until the meeting was called to order.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

Lonely Officers

Posted by Jack On March - 14 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

I suppose it is hard for people not involved in law enforcement to understand what the word “alone” truly means. I think I do because I was frequently in my last five years of service forty minutes away from my closest backup as I moved in to handle a call. I had no choice — the call could not wait. But I had something going for me that many young officers do not have — experience — and sneaky tricks which kept me safe.

The other day I contacted a friend (also a retired police officer) and asked a question in regards to this story:

“Am I completely nuts in feeling that a young officer right out of the academy should never have been posted to this location? I discussed this with my wife and she agrees with me that an older officer with field experience would never have been caught like this young man was (unless of course he/she was brain dead).

This was (in my mind) a useless death that didn’t have to occur. It did because the powers that be sent Scott into harms way without the requisite experience required to protect him.”

I already knew the answer but the reply was interesting:

“Recruits or cadets as they call them get posted out of the academy and as soon as they arrive at their first posting they have a ‘trainer’ assigned to work, mentor and monitor them for their first 6 months in the field. The trainer has to submit I think monthly progress reports on their cadet. Anyone aspiring to be a cadet trainer must undergo additional training themselves as to what is expected from them Although the trainer must not necessarily always work with their cadet, I believe (and I could be wrong) that a cadet undergoing field training is supposed to always have an experienced officer with him. In any event, I don’t believe that any cadet should be attending any calls alone other than maybe a cat stuck in a tree. There must be written policy specifically outlining do’s and don’ts in this regard, maybe somebody still serving (Mac) could assist there. Anyway, back to 1st postings. It is not at all uncommon for RCMP cadets to be posted to small units (as was Scott) wherein it is impossible due to the few officers at the unit, for him to be always accompanied by a experienced officer. The RCMP knows this fully well of course, but goes ahead and does it anyway. I don’t know what the compliment of Scott’s unit was buyt for sure it was small and I bet (with fellow officers on leave, sickness, on course of days off ) was working alone practically from day one. This is bullshit but the RCMP has gotten away with this crap so often and for so long when nothing happened they took it for granted that it would always work out ok. Well, obviously they finally got caught, or rather Scott did.

I can’t tell you how many times I expressed reservations about being required to attend potentially explosive situations alone and being told “you’ll be okay, besides if anything happens you can call for backup”. I don’t have to explain to you how utterly stupid that comment is. We used to get dropped off by aircraft alone on northern reserves with no radio contact and the plane would come back the next day or in 2 or 3 days to pick you up. You had to walk to the patrol cabin (a trailer) and walk around the reserve doing investigations because there were no vehicles. I was scheduled to fly into a reserve once, the first time I’d ever been there. I told my supervisor that I didn’t even know where the patrol cabin was (again no radio contact with the outside) and could an officer that knows the reserve fly in with me and show me around. My supervisor told me I’d be okay, just knock on doors and ask directions. Can you believe that shit? I ended up going in alone because to not do so made you out to be a coward (that was the RCMP mentality and probably still is) and would be reflected on your performance evaluation. How about driving 60 miles into the middle of nowehere onto a reserve known for its violence and brining up to your supervisor that 2 officers should always go on this patrol. The Sgt’s reply, you’ll be okay, if you get into trouble call for backup (over an hour away at best!). They simply did not want to inconvenience another officer by rescheduling them to accompany you or horrors pay overtime for anybody to do so. My first posting was to a trainng detachment in a town of 10,000. 2 weeks out of training I was working 7 day stretches of midnight to 8am shifts alone! I was crapping my pants all night everynight hoping nothing would happen because I didn’t know shit at this point in my short career. Bottom line, Jack. In my opinion the RCMP has blood on its hands in this case, in the other RCMP murder (was it Whitehorse) and even in Mayerthorpe., Alta. 2 officers left alone on a remole rural property at night while the suspect was on the loose, a known police hater, a guy with a violent past and access for firearms? Just how in hell were they guard a huge secluded dark rural property and watch their own backs let alone watch out for this jerk to sneak back onto his property without them knowing. Unfortunately the other two officers just happened by and paid with their lives also.

Anyway, enough of me I’m starting to get pissed off thinking back on all the crap I put up with and wouldn’t today). The RCMP’s attitude when an officer gets beat up attending a call alone, or dies, ‘well he shoulkd have known better and called for backup’ just doesn’t cut it, but they’ll never admit to that train of thought, but that’s exactly what it was and likely still is. The RCMP has been run on the attitude that things will all work out ok in the end for decades. Well, Scott’s family and friends would beg to differ and they should be suing the RCMP’s ass off for carelessly and needlessly sacrificing their son.

Now for the short answer. NO, you are not nuts. The RCMP has established detachments as training units (because of their size and manpower allotment). Cadets get plenty of mentoring and don’t ever have to work alone. But here’s the clincher, not all cadets are so lucky as to get posted to a ‘training detachment’ because it is not mandatory that they are. It’s a nice to…….not a have to. A body is a body and they get sent where they are needed with IMO zero consideration to them being inexperienced recruits. Filling that empty slot takes precedence. Things might have changed but I seriously doubt it.

Here’s another thing. I have coffee with guys still serving (that I used to work with). The last time was about 2 hrs ago with 2 sgts. Everybody I know can’t wait to get the hell out. It’s sad really. They’ve got their retirement day memorized to the exact day. They are all demoralized, are convinced that doing your job is just not worth it because the RCMP won’t back them up, and have little if anything good to say about the ‘new’ breed of Mountie’s dedication to duty and attitude coming right out of training. The RCMP from what I can gather is in deep shit internally.

I hope this sheds some light on your question(s).”

There was more in another mail:

“I should have added. Was he posted there for 6 months, or 5 1/2 months? No big time difference other than that it means the difference between strict adhereance to RCMP policy or not (working alone). Either way, an unacceptable expectation to work alone. Backup simply cannot arrive quickly enough to be of much if any use. Somebody’s got to get called at home, get dressed, get to the scene. If its a life and death struggle, well, you’re dead. But I don’t have to tell you that stuff anyway.”

No surprise. In Ontario young OPP police officers are often sent into harm’s way alone (many prefer to ride alone even though the contract provides for “doubling up” after 10:00 pm until 6:00 am). That would not have helped Vu Pham but it might have helped Scott.

But that didn’t happen did it?

Instead, he lost his life through a “rookie mistake” (driving into a domestic situation with no backup available rather than walking). I freely admit it is easy in hindsight to point fingers but the truth is this.

Had Scott served in a municipal detachment for five years with experienced officers mentoring him along the way he might still be alive today and that’s my point. Maybe nothing would be different this day but my view is that Scott’s chances of survival would have been immensely improved had he learned the basics before being dispatched into the back end of nowhere with no backup, a place where guns and drunken natives are as common as fleas on an old hound dogs back.

Something to consider as we all sit back and play “armchair quarterback”.

More to the point we need to ask ourselves what we are going to do about this because the situation is “fixable”.

Popularity: 2% [?]

$13 trillion in inches

Posted by Jack On March - 14 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

When press reports indicate that a CBO cost analysis of a health care proposal will exceed one trillion dollars, or when they report the February congressional vote to increase the federal debt ceiling to over 13 trillion dollars, most people do not have much of a concept of what that means. The following may help one gain a concept of the magnitude of a trillion dollars.

Take out a piece of paper and mark out 10 inches. Each inch in our chart will represent 100,000 dollars. This is roughly the equivalent to two years worth of the median household income in the United States. Ten inches, represents one million dollars and therefore about 20 years of family earnings.

Take your sheet outside and go for a walk. Count your paces. As you walk along occasionally glance at your chart to remind you how “far” one million dollars is. After 278 steps, stop. At typical pacing, one should have walked two complete football fields and almost 80 yards of a third. This distance is the equivalent of one billion dollars.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

British Tea Party Reaction

Posted by Jack On March - 13 - 2010 ADD COMMENTS

They drank real tea (and imbibed some stronger drink as well). But their concerns mirrored their American cousins’ cause from across the pond.

Surprisingly, there have been calls in the UK press for just such a tea party organization. Simon Jenkins made a strong case for such a movement to help bring Conservative leader David Cameron to sanity on the issues.

Why is there no British Tea Party? Where are the crowds of revenue slaves flocking to London to demand redress for the squandering of their money? Marginal tax is rising to 50%, VAT to 17.5% and state spending towards half the national product. The Treasury has lost control of public finance. So why no furious blue-rinses, bail-out ­haters, bonus-bleaters and embittered VAT victims storming parliament? Has a corrupt political class reduced the British people to quiescent gerbils?

Janet Daley in the Telegraph echoes this sentiment and calls for a return to passion in politics:

The two sides hurl knowledgeable quotes from the founding fathers and the Constitution at one another. Where is the major British party that will engage in an argument of such force and scope? Who will question the received wisdom of the middle-ground consensus?

The Freedom Association, which sponsored the tea party event, had several good reports on the goings-on. Alan M said this about it all:

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Popularity: 2% [?]

Moaning Ninnies (1)

Posted by Jack On March - 12 - 2010 1 COMMENT

The once-respected science journal Nature recently published a whining editorial to the effect that climate scientists are not criminals, really; that attacks on them by increasingly-skeptical news media are soooo unfair; and that the fundamental science showing that the planet is doomed unless the economies of the West are shut down at once is unchallengeable.

No doubt most climate scientists are not criminals. However, some are. Many of the two dozen Climategate emailers, who have for years driven the IPCC process, tampered with peer review in the learned journals, and fabricated, altered, concealed, or destroyed scientific data are criminals. Whether they or Nature like it or not, they will eventually stand trial, and deservedly so.

After all, the biofuel scam that is one of many disfiguring spin-offs from the “global warming” scare — driven by the poisonous clique of mad scientists whom Nature so uncritically defends — has taken millions of acres of farmland away from growing food for people who need it and towards growing biofuels for clunkers that don’t. Result: a doubling of world food prices, mass starvation, and death, leading to food riots in a dozen major regions of the globe.

You won’t have seen much about these riots in the Western news media: they are too busy reporting on every putative icicle putatively dribbling in putatively melting Greenland.

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See Also:

Climate change ‘makes birds shrink’ in North America

Popularity: 5% [?]

*Moral* courage

Posted by Jack On March - 11 - 2010 1 COMMENT

The time has come for somebody in the Democratic party to show moral courage.

Consider the situation. Despite a seventy vote majority in the House of Representatives and a then-twenty majority in the Senate, the Democratic party was only able to barely pass health care legislation in both Houses of Congress; and the two versions that were passed do not agree with each other. To get that far, Congressional Democrats made a series of ad hoc deals and temporary understandings, with no clear plan on how to reconcile them all; this, coupled with more or less every legislative and procedural trick on the books, have allowed them to get almost to their goal. Unfortunately, they don’t actually know what their goal even is at this point, but they’re almost there.

But also at this point they are, to use a cliche, grinding metal. The Democrats had made a choice last year to shut out the Republicans from any sort of meaningful discussion, interaction, or independent contribution in the process of health care legislation; and followed that with a healthy dose of attempting to demonizing the GOP when the GOP had the temerity to object. As a result, the Republican party has adamantly refused to provide any sort of a fig leaf to this steadily more unpopular legislation, and has been punished for that behavior by the American public by being more and more favored to win back at least the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the House members who voted ‘no’ on the bill the first time are growing more and more terrified of voting ‘yes:’ and some of the ones who voted ‘yes’ are trying to decide whether or not doom is less likely if they switch their votes or not. And every Democrat in Congress is aware that keeping their individual seats are considered to be less important than passing the bill.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

A clear understanding

Posted by Jack On March - 10 - 2010 3 COMMENTS

People may wonder where I am coming from and an explanation is required.

I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on January 3rd, 1944 in a Salvation Army hostel. I was the product of a “scot” mother and a Canadian father — both of whom were working against Hitler as volunteers. My father as part of the “BCR’s” and my mother as a “Waaf”.

I knew nothing about all that and came to Canada at the age of “two” as my father (who was seriously injured as his tank brewed up) called us home. So we came — arriving in the middle of winter, in snow up to our ass and then the years extended as the “little kid” started to grow up and went to school.

I learned to read and write and then I also learned that I was in a “no win” situation as my father found out that I was “color blind”. Immediately that happened…there were no jobs for me in a railroad town. I had to go elsewhere and so I did.

I left a young woman I was deeply in love with — never told her how I felt because I knew I couldn’t support her and the family I wanted to start. I just left and ended my problem.

In the years that followed she followed me in my mind until the present day. She didn’t know and I didn’t tell her. She became “ancient history” and I suppose this story hits home with a lot of soldiers. And so it should because it’s true.

Two families later I made the correct decision. While it has left me “cold” I have no doubt I made the right choice.

People should never forget that our soldiers — our police — have a story to tell and while they continue to maintain a staunch “We’re for you” there is much more to the story they present and many have made the choice I did.

It has to do with life –dreams killed — and people who gave up a lot to protect you because they didn’t know any other way.

God bless Vu Pham – a police officer that gave it his all.

And so they will in future. Your soldiers and your police represent all that is best about Canada. Putting YOU before themselves.

IF ONLY Jack Layton would.

It is to cry.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Drones and Terrorism

Posted by Jack On March - 10 - 2010 2 COMMENTS

Combat drones are much in the news these days. Such weapons constitute the major current focus of effort against organized jihadi terrorism, with nearly weekly strikes carried out in the unassimilated areas of northern Pakistan and the Taliban-occupied districts of Afghanistan, along with less frequent strikes elsewhere.

Drones have compiled an impressive record, taking out a number of high-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, many of whom likely believed that they were perfectly safe until that persistent whining sound started getting louder. The MQ-1 Predator has achieved the status of legend, with the MQ-9 Reaper not far behind. New models, such as the so-called Beast of Kandahar, evidently a high-speed stealth model, are beginning to enter combat.

The armed drone is peculiarly suited to the purposes of the Obama administration. Liberals like military gimmicks (does anyone recall the McNamara Line?), particularly if they allow for a standoff form of fighting that can be presented as the lowest level of involvement. In this sense, the combat drone campaign is the millennial version of Rolling Thunder, the limited air campaign against North Vietnam during the mid-’60s. Though considerably more successful, the drone strikes (notice there’s no catchy name that can provide a hanger for criticism) fill the same purpose of acting as a replacement for more decisive action.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Recent Comments

Male, retired and the rest is of little interest to anyone. The site keeps me busy and if it helps others to stay abreast of daily events then my time is well spent.

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