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Thanks to the irrefutable fact of evolution we can know the origins of diseases which aids in the ability to combat these diseases. On the contrary, creationists believe diseases are created by gods as a response to sinful behavior, and the cure is to sacrifice animals or something.
African Thicket Rat Malaria Linked To Virulent Human Form
ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2008) — Even though the most deadly form of malaria for humans, Plasmodium falciparum, has been linked to malaria found in chimpanzees, this group has been fairly isolated on the malarial family tree—until now. A new phylogenetic analysis from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History reveals that malarial parasites found in tree-dwelling rats share a close evolutionary relationship with P. falciparum and Plasmodium reichenowi.
The analysis is based on amplification of entire mitochondrial genomes of malarial parasites that use humans, rodents, birds, and lizards as their hosts.
“This is the first time that a relationship has been found between human and rodent malaria,” says Susan Perkins, Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Museum. “In all past studies, P. falciparum seemed to not be closely related to anything else but the chimpanzee parasite. But this study places it in a sister group of parasites from rodents.”
More real science (not creationist whining) at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081222122607.htm
Before someone yells “There is no Moon, the world is coming to an end,” let me caution you that today is the day of the New moon, or more appropriately “no” moon.
This morning, the Moon will rise at almost the same time as the Sun so all of the Sun’s light lands on the back side of the Moon … so no visible Moon facing the Earth except possibly by some small amount of Earth’s reflected light.
Of course, if the Moon, at roughly 240,000 miles distant, would be precisely in line with Sun light, coming from roughly 100,000,000 miles away, we would have an eclipse of the Sun … but that won’t happen on this wet damp morning of December 27th, 2008.
The Energy Challenge
No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’
“…In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer. “
Full piece here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
or
http://tinyurl.com/78bnkr
So you’re saying it’ll be really really dark outside tonight, right?
“JWink” –
Do you know the last time there was a total lunar eclipse of a New Moon?
What would be the dynamics? The positions of the sun and the moon and the earth? It’d be a New Moon for everyone on the planet, but what would be the positions on earth?
Is it possible that a total eclipse of the New Moon would, in fact, be as dark as it can get on Planet Earth? And then what would we see? Lots and lots more stars, if we’re away from artificial light?
I found myself in the middle of western Kansas years ago on a cold moonless night and was astounded you could see stars all the way down to the horizon. You sort of felt you were riding on a space ship that night. A big space ship, mind you… big enough to find me miles away from a gas station… but a space ship just the same.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the economy sputters and tax revenue plummets, governors and mayors across the United States are lining up to ask President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress for hundreds of billions of dollars to plug holes in their budgets, arguing that services will suffer and joblessness will rise if Washington does not come to the rescue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601837.html?hpid=topnews
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The pigs are lining up at the public trough. Pouring money into the top (banks) didn’t do much good. Maybe they should try getting some of that bail-out money into the hands of regular people for a change.
The real estate industry has their hands out and now so do state governments. Maybe the states should do what we’ve been doing all along; learn to live within their budgets.
I notice that the pickings are pretty slim on today’s blogs. Are the editors lazy, or is the blog “going south”?
The GOP Goes South
As a rule, a new president’s choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former representative from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601129.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
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Never thought I’d see the day that being a southerner would bring shame.
Here’s one for the drooling fans of Joe Arpaio
http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Img/Mission%20Unaccomplished.pdf
The Goldwater Institute is conservative.
That ash sludge spill in Tennessee –
Although the Domino Theory didn’t quite work out the way they though it would in the 60s, we’re seeing dominoes fall in some odd ways.
“No one could have predicted…” became a joke of the George WMD Bush administration. And perhaps all hindsight is 20/20 so there might be mitigating circumstances if Shrub got “Osama bin Laden Determined to Attack the US” and decided it was more important to go cut brush.
The sludgeslide brought the whole “clean coal” mythology down to earth… and in the rivers.
The most thoughtful and interesting debate of the two-year-long presidential campaign occurred last August at Saddleback Church between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren. So it is notable that President-elect Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month has brought forth hyperpartisan invective from the Democratic left. It has spent the past week conveying to the world its disappointment and disgust with the choice of Pastor Warren because he opposes gay marriage and abortion.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033836308436501.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Offered without comment
Good morning again, bloggers. Just returned from a sumptious breakfast at Wichita’s Riverside Cafe … #2 scrambled w bacon, hash browns and coffee.
PMOM: Even though no Moon anywhere in the World tonight, the stars might be bright absent a cloud cover.
MHAWK: “Do you know know last time there was a total lunar eclipse of the new moon?” Answer: There never was and never will be. Lunar eclipses only occur when the Moon is FULL. The reason is the the moon must be on the opposite side of the earth from the sun to be blocked by the earth’s shadow. That is also what makes a “Full Moon.”
If you ask why is there not always a luner eclipse when the moon is full … because the moon has a tilt of about 5 degrees so the moon is not always directly between the earth and sun when it is full.
Conversely, the new moon, or “NO MOON as I call it, can only occur when the moon is between the earth and the sun so the sun’s light lands on the back side of the moon from the earth. Eclipses of the sun can only happen when the moon is “new” but don’t happen very often because of the 5 degree tilt of the moon.
This five degree tilt is not to be confused with the 23 1/2 degree tilt of the earth to the line from the sun to the earth which is what gives us our four seasons. Thanks Intelligent Designer.
This is the best I can remember from our Pratt High School geometry teacher whose hobby was astronomy.
Well, I did it. Three of ‘em.
No – I didn’t have my vocal cords excised as a signer of the Justifiable Homicide Petition would like me to do – just ’cause I’m a dirty, filthy female.
No, I didn’t have a mishmashed menage a trois – I’m not into that sort of thang.
But I DID see three wonderful films this holiday weekend. I’m going to devote the most verbiage to only one of them, ’cause I don’t want to make this post too long. And also because the first two films weren’t as much about complexity as they were about certainty.
And this much is certain: I love animals. I love animals with all my heart and soul. I always have. I always will. Not too much nuance there – just pure, unabashed, perfect love – and I’ve felt this way since the day I met my family’s first cherished pet – way back in 1962.
Therefore, I loved “Marley and Me.” My only complaint is this: Someone should have warned me to bring about 172 boxes of Kleenex. ‘Cause I sobbed throughout the film’s closing 20 minutes. I can’t say exactly what elicited this titanic tearfest, ’cause if I do, I’ll lose it again. I composed myself (slightly) after exiting the auditorium and visiting the loo.
But I lost it again while walking to my car – or trying to find my car. ‘Cause I was crying so hard I couldn’t see straight. By the time I reached home, my eyes were nearly swollen shut.
If you’ve never loved a pet, you won’t know what I’m talking about – so nothing I can say will make any difference. If you HAVE loved a furry beast, however, you’ll understand implicitly.
To the published (national) critics of “Valkyrie” – I have this to say. If yer gonna nitpick, Mr. Scientology was probably miscast. But so the f— what? This film – based on a true story – has valuable lessons. I thought Mr. Cruise did a creditable job – not an excellent job. He’s not Sean Penn – but then, who is? I couldn’t quite escape the youthful gamboler from “Risky Business” while watching this film – Cruise is simply too jaunty, non-Germanic and non-world-weary to pull off this role completely.
But he did a creditable job. I’d probably like to tell all those effete, stuffy critics to leave the worst of their disdain somewhere near Goebbels’s rotting, rancid corpse. Where it belongs.
That leaves us with “Doubt”………
This film really hit home with this former papist. The two leads (Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman) carry this film. Streep, especially, conjured up a million images of the stuffier, sterner and scarier nuns of my youth and adolescence. Portraying Sister Aloysius, the principal of a Catholic school in 1964, Streep brought it all back home: The terror, the emotional distance (Streep cannot even bring herself to call her cherubs by their real names – “boy!” will do, as will her omnipresent distaste for her youthful subjects), and the austerity.
A scene contrasting the nuns’ dining behavior with that of a boisterous group of priests is instructive: The mere women cannot even speak until Sister rings a bell; the priests dig into their blood-raw meat with the same savage gusto as their vocal interaction.
It’s strangely perverse when the women (nuns) are far scarier than the priests. But this is something I observed – often – as a young person. We’re supposed to be the more compassionate sex – the gentler sex – and the implicitly understanding sex. (Pope John Paul II regularly intoned about this, by the way. Mine is hardly an isolated position.)
Therefore, when Sister begins to harbor concerns about the only black student at the school, and the priest (Hoffman) who ministers to him, my first reaction was suspicion. Why should a terrifying tyrant who treats her charges like cattle give a flying flip about (purported) sexual abuse?
The question is worth asking.
Moreover, Father Flynn (Hoffman) opens the film with a homily (sermon) about “doubt”. This resonated deeply with me as a fallen-away Catholic – and it’s not something I heard regularly at Mass, I must say. His (supposed) concern and care for his students is powerful (or so we desperately wish to believe).
But a trio of strange occurrences raise doubts in Streep’s mind – and that of a younger, more idealistic nun (played with great skill by Amy Adams). And the behavior of Father during a private meeting with the two Sisters was pivotal. As is a tactic Streep employs to coerce a confession. Get a frigging gander of Father’s behavior. Is he guilty? Or merely obfuscating?
The title of this riveting film is apt: It will keep you doubting until the very end – and then some.
And it made me ponder so many perplexities: Chief among them: How could a compassionate, caring, and seemingly altruistic priest prey upon a vulnerable young boy? How could he square this with his vocation? And his conscience? (How could his confessor do so?)
At my ripe old age, I believe there is much about pedophilia which we do not understand. As I am not a pedophile (nor are the vast majority of us), I simply cannot fathom it nor harbor much sympathy for it.
Yet the persona of Sister Aloysius leaves me cold. How altruistic is she? Or how much was her behavior informed by a personal vendetta? But if a child is truly being abused, what does it matter? The behavior must be stopped in its tracks (something the heirarchy spectacularly failed to do, as we all know by now).
Let me be blunt: Streep’s savvy portrayal reminded me of my former high school principal (and others). Do I believe my principal cared about me and other students? No, I do not. She cared about rigidity. She cared about obedience. Did she care for persons? F–k, no, she did not. And I can say this from personal observation.
Had my pregnancy been known, I would have been summarily expelled. Her hatred would have been manifest. (These are not febrile suspicions on my part – they are factual.) Therefore, if a priest had been abusing me and others (thankfully, this never occurred in my hometown to anyone’s knowledge), would my principal have cared? The answer, in my opinion, is a resounding “no.”
This film made me ask myself, “Who is the most errant here?” It’s a question the viewer will be at pains to answer – especially after viewing the film’s powerful final scene. But the priest’s (private) behavior with the mere women (nuns) is telling. We’ve heard it all before: the arrogance, the pretension to omnipotence, the smugness, the misguided moral certainty.
And that leads me to another point: Father’s florid musings about “doubt” were probably suspect: Of many things, he was quite certain: His superiority over the nuns, his conceit regarding his confession(s), the superiority of the male race, etc.
“Doubt?” What a f–king farce. It would appear, from this film, that the good Father engaged in dobut when it suited him best – and trotted out absolutism when it covered his a$$.
Harboring disagreements over a few church teachings is one thing. Disillusion is another. And few catastrophes elicit disillusion like the abuse of children.
This film will make you think – heartily. Who is the real villain of this piece? I’m still not sure. But there has been and continues to be a crisis of authority in the Church. “Doubt” brought it all home for me – and then some.
XXX: You more or less asked “Are the EAGLE opinion editors on a work slowdown?”
I attended the EAGLE’s Christmas open house a couple weeks ago. While there, I stumbled on the secret chambers of EAGLE assistant opinion editor, Rhonda Holman, hidden away in her Eagle’s nest offices high above Wichita’s Union Station railroad tracks. She informed me the EAGLE’s talented and vaunted pool of editorial writers is now down to Rhonda and EAGLE chief of opinions, Phillip Brownlee.
Perhaps they have gone to the water fountain shared with the reporters’ pool down the hall or to the Beacon Cafe next door before grinding out more editorials and Blog commentary.
So keep writing Phil and Rhonda … don’t put down those pencils … no time now for rest and relaxation.
JWink
Posted December 27, 2008 at 10:48 am | Permalink
XXX: You more or less asked “Are the EAGLE opinion editors on a work slowdown?”
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Thanks for the info, JWink.
The Eagle AND the blog have suffered since the loss of Randy Schofield and Richard Crowson.
WHAT possessed the Eagle to keep Rhonda?
Oh yeah, she’s a dowdy old con and we live in dowdy old con land.
‘Pew study: Internet takes over papers as news source’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10128861-93.html
Well I gave them a topic awhile back and they completely ignored it. It was a good one too and pertinent to a recent Wichita event.
Yes, the blog has become LAME-O.
The three days/nights leading up to the New Moon are also called the Dark of the Moon and used for banishing negativity. It’s also a good time for introspection.
Use tonight to look back on 2008 and start giving some thought to your New Year’s resolutions if you haven’t already. It’s also the best time to start getting rid of bad habits, i.e. stop smoking, drinking, overeating, etc.
Israel seems to be celebrating xmas a little late, blowing up civilians with their fireworks.
Always appreciate your comments BlueJay because you establish a kind of benchmark for the left.
Reminds me of a baseball game. “Who’s that fellow out there on the left, near third base?.”
“Oh, that’s BlueJay, our third baseman.”
“Why does he play way to the left of third base, up against the spectator seats?”
“He plays there waiting for a high pop-up to short left field. And from there he can also criticize fans along the left field fence and throw bubble gum at them. Of course, by playing so far left, he misses all line drives over third base and has never tagged out a runner that I remember. But he insists on playing as far left as he can and criticizing the batters.”
“Wonder where he learned his politics … er, I mean baseball?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
December 27, 2008
The Energy Challenge
No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
DARMSTADT, Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.
In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.
much more at link
#
Political_mama
Posted December 27, 2008 at 11:06 am | Permalink
Yes, the blog has become LAME-O.
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So true PM. It used to be interesting, but now not so much. I was looking forward to some serious blogging during my vacation, but that’s not looking promising.
I agree, BlueJay.
May be it’s time that Wichita had TWO newspapers again.
Now that Marlett’s weekly TheCityPaper folded, Wichitans have no alternative to the bourgeois Eagle.
Thanks for the reviews, FilmFan.
Slumdog Millionaire is an absolute “must see.”
Best movie I can remember seeing in a long time.
Artificial life coming to a store near you…
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/synthetic_genome
Science : Discoveries RSS
Scientists Build First Man-Made Genome; Synthetic Life Comes Next
By Alexis Madrigal Email 01.24.08
Biologist J. Craig Venter poses at his home in Alexandria, Virginia.
Matt Houston/AP
Scientists have built the first synthetic genome by stringing together 147 pages of letters representing the building blocks of DNA.
The researchers used yeast to stitch together four long strands of DNA into the genome of a bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium. They said it’s more than an order of magnitude longer than any previous synthetic DNA creation. Leading synthetic biologists said with the new work, published Thursday in the journal Science, the first synthetic life could be just months away — if it hasn’t been created already.
“We consider this the second in our three-step process to create the first synthetic organism,” said J. Craig Venter, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute where scientists performed the study, on Thursday during a teleconference. “What remains now that we have this complete synthetic chromosome … is to boot this up in a cell.”
With the new ability to sequence a genome, scientists can begin to custom-design organisms, essentially creating biological robots that can produce from scratch chemicals humans can use. Biofuels like ethanol, for example.
“The J. Craig Venter Institute will be able to take a file stored on a computer and using synthetic chemistry, turn that information into life,” said Chris Voigt, a University of California at San Francisco synthetic biologist. “I would be shocked if it doesn’t come out in six months. I think they’ve done it.”
The technique is basically a reverse of the Human Genome Project, which translated DNA into the letters A, C, T and G, which represent the body’s building blocks: the nucleotides adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. Synthetic biologists’ ambitious goal is to arrange those letters to create never-before-seen organisms that will do their bidding.
The first phase of Venter’s three-step process, which he published last year, involved transplanting and “booting up” the genome of one species of bacterium into another. The remaining step is to combine the first two steps, then insert the new synthetic genome into a standard bacterium. Scientists said they expect the announcement of man-made life this year.
life can survive in space
http://tardigradesinspace.blogspot.com/
Monday, September 29, 2008
Space tardigrades stood the test!
At last, the first results from the TARDIS experiment have been published! Thank you all for waiting patiently during the analyzing and publishing process! Many of you have probably read already about the results in news media, and I apologize for being so late with updating my blog. The main reason has been a very heavy work load from answering questions from media all over the world. Fun but time consuming.
YES, indeed many of the tardigrades survived the trip in space, and a few of them became the first animals to return alive after exposure to both space vacuum and solar radiation.
To recall our report in Current Biology, the space vacuum and cosmic radiation did not affect their survival or reproduction at all. This was true for both Richtersius coronifer and Milnesium tardigradum. What this means is that these animals can either protect their cells from expected damage of the extremely dehydration impact of space vacuum, or that they can repair damage that arise in some way. At the moment, we don’t know which is true.
Some of the samples were exposed to solar light (UV-radiation) in addition to space vacuum and cosmic radiation, and we used two different optical filters to discriminate between the combined effect of UV-A and UV-B (280-400 nm), on one hand, and effects of the full spectrum of UV, including also UV-C and Vacuum-UV (116-400 nm). Obviously, UV-radiation is difficult to handle also for tardigrades, since few animals survived these exposures.
But one of the species, Milnesium tardigradum, did better than the other, and about 12 % of those exposed to UV-A and UV-B managed to recover, although their egg production was lower than in the control animals that stayed on Earth. Also a few specimens exposed to the full UV range woke up and tried to get their bodies in shape again, but failed and died a few days later.
As almost always in science, our experiment gives rise to more questions than answers. How could these animals stand the extreme dehydration by space vacuum (at a pressure in the range of 0.00001 Pa compared to 100 000 Pa on Earth)? How could some of the tardigrades survive a dose of UV-A and UV-B of over 7000 kJ/sqm and still produce offspring? What molecular mechanisms are behind these remarkable achievements? To what extent do different wavelength of UV radiation penetrate the tardigrade cuticle? Why did one of the species better than the other? Etc, etc…..
The link at the NYTimes passive house article also has good info.
http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/Articles.html
If the blog is lame, it’s you to blame. You can suggest any topic you want in the open thread. What you can’t do is make people discuss it.
It was very unwise of humans to mess with Mother Nature.
‘Abrupt Climate Change Likely this Century: USGS ‘
http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2008/12/22/abrupt-climate-change-likely-this-century-usgs.htm
The editorial illustrations these days?
Pathetic. Letting Richard Crowson go was an unfathomably BAD decision.
What an utterly STUPID woman Caroline Kennedy is to be SURPRISED and DISMAYED by her own voting record.
SHE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HER OWN VOTING RECORD WAS!
I’m glad they BROUGHT THIS TO HER ATTENTION!
She’s Nuckin Futs!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/27/caroline-kennedy-dismayed-voting-record-184757411/
Caroline Kennedy ‘Dismayed’ by Own Voting Record
Daughter of President Kennedy makes no excuses for not voting in an election for the very Senate seat she hopes to take over.
Caroline Kennedy said she was “surprised and dismayed” by her own voting record, after failing to cast her pick for the very Senate seat she now hopes to take over.
Kennedy offered no excuses for why she failed to vote in a number of elections since registering in New York City in 1988, including in 1994 when Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was up for re-election as the state’s senior senator.
“I was really surprised and dismayed by my voting record,” she told the Associated Press. “I’m glad it’s been brought to my attention.”
First Steps to Regulating the Freedom of Speech!
1. Rate the web sites for content.
2. Then ban the web sites that are UNACCEPTABLE!
The Fairness Doctrine: Coming Soon to America!
Brought to you by the DemoRat Party.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473127,00.html
Report: Web Sites Could Be Given Film-Style Ratings
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Britain’s Culture Secretary Andy Burnham says he is pushing for new standards of decency to be applied to the Web and says giving film-style ratings to individual Web sites is a possibility, London’s Daily Telegraph reports.
Describing the Internet as a ‘quite a dangerous place,’ Burnham told the Daily Telegraph he is planning to negotiate with President-elect Obama’s incoming administration to draw up new international rules for English language Web sites.
Gotta See this movie if you haven’t already:
Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West
http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/learnmore_links_islam_Al-Islam.php
Then check out the news stories today or almost any day, if you doubt there is a war against the West.
Course the Libs blame America for this, because they are IGNORANT.
TERRORIST ATTACKS:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473164,00.html
BAGHDAD — A bomb tore through a busy square in Baghdad at midday Saturday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 54, the Iraqi army said.
Also Saturday, an Iraqi soldier and two other people were killed when a car bomb exploded as they were trying to defuse it in Musayyib, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, according to local police.
TERRORIST ATTACKS:
And Israel defends itself.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473145,00.html
Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge, including suicide attacks. Hamas “will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood,” Defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge, including suicide attacks. Hamas “will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood,” vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
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Gotta See this movie if you haven’t already:
Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West
http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/learnmore_links_islam_Al-Islam.php
A tiny minority of radical religious zealots hate Western civilisation. The vast majority of Muslims simply want to raise their families in peace and prosperity.
Keep some perspective if you see this inflammatory video.
You might care to see: http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/
We need more light and less heat in these times.
“What is the film’s main goal?
The film’s ultimate goal is to lay the grounds for a larger religious war that goes beyond our national security interests and has only two beneficiaries: radical evangelicals who hold an apocalyptic worldview, and war profiteers who gamble at the expense of thousands of American lives and trillions of tax-payer dollars.”
http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/
NO surprise that the ever hate-filled Johnson would propagate such a vile piece of propaganda…. No surprise at all!!
I guess all that “Peace on Earth” crap from Christmas just made “JimJohnson’s” head explode.
The CONs gotta get back in the fear-and-hate business. It’s all they’ve got.
New record high for Dec 26th yesterday at 69 in Wichita.
Followed by intense thunderstorms and a tornado in Oklahoma.
Wow.
Good thing that the so-called “global warming” is just junk science, right, CONs?
Good observation, MH.
Just think. Ignorant Muslims — exactly like Jim Johnsons except they pray to Mecca — are watching hate videos about how apocalyptic Christians want to convert the entire world to their fanatical religion.
http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/middle_east_and_north_africa/israel/kibbutzism.php
Sound like your looking for a little action jimi j I gotz something for you to look into
Kibbutz have a strong political and military tradition. In the past they’ve been vulnerable to Arab attack because of their remote locations, often close to borders and disputed land.
The reason Kibbutz exist in Israel is because on the farms there is more work than people, and the demanding National Service takes away many of the young fit workforce. Kibbutzism keeps Israel alive, supplying 50% of its foods, and 25% of its army commando units. Members of the Kibbutz are called “Kibbutzniks” and all property and income is communally owned, meals are eaten communally. Jobs vary depending on the trade of each Kibbutz but can range from factory work to working on a fish farm, picking orange in a grove, tending livestock, and tend to be repetitive, unskilled tasks. You can often request to change jobs and negotiated better work depending on how long you plan to stay. Hours will usually be between 6 – 8 hours, often starting at 6am or earlier, 6 days a week, resting on the Sabbath (Saturday).
How to Guide
You don’t get paid on a Kibbutz, it is voluntary work, but you will get a small allowance (maybe around $10 per week) to spend on beer, cigarettes or other basic from the shop. There’s plenty to do on a Kibbutz; social activities, drinking, meeting people and you can get days off every month for day trips or longer trips. The Kibbutz will organize every 3 months to do things likes beach bumming in Eilat or visiting Jerusalem. It’s also probably the only country in the world where the bottle of vodka is the same price as a cup of coffee. Kibbutz volunteers will stay in the Volie house, guests will stay two or three to a room, sometimes more in volunteer quarters. Accommodation is basic – think hostels – and get used to sharing. Facilities vary but better equipped Kibbutz will have swimming pools, sport facilities, cinema screenings, a pub and a disco.
You have to pay for your own travel costs to and from the Kibbutz and some may ask for a small administration charge and deposit, returned if you stay for 2 months. It is harder now to just turn up and join, so if you arrive in Tel Aviv you should visit the Kibbutz volunteer office at 103 Ben Yehuda Street. Be aware that now HIV tests are compulsory for volunteers.
DEVELOPING STORY
Looks like the GOP may have to sacrifice a queen in Mike Huckabee, who in turn may be (involuntarily) abandon the “values voter” segment of the GOP playing field to Sarah Palin:
—
GOP chair ‘appalled’ by ‘Magic Negro’ CD
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan issued a statement Saturday distancing the party’s leadership from one of the GOP’s best-known operatives, Chip Saltsman, who distributed a CD containing “Barack the Magic Negro” as part of his campaign to be elected chairman of the Republican National Committee next month.
Duncan, who has served the campaigns of five presidents dating back to Richard Nixon, is seeking reelection as the party’s 60th chairman in a hotly contested race that includes Saltsman and several other viable candidates.
Saltsman, 40, was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s campaign manager during the Republican presidential primaries.
—
LOL
Anybody with two brain cells to rub together knew that one day, sooner or later, the idiots currently running the GOP would get hoisted on the petard of their own racism (e.g., derision aimed at Obama using the words “magic negro”). To think that the petard is being wielded by the RNC chair? Priceless…
Looks like the big day may have arrived, and not a minute too soon!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081227/pl_politico/16876;_ylt=AtecMgyHCrVB5ZjmcLWw9TOs0NUE
“The disclosure by The Hill was met with an odd silence from Republican leaders. The story was posted at 12:10 p.m. on Friday, was quickly picked up by Talking Points Memo, and for a time was the banner headline on The Huffington Post, later replaced by Israeli’s strikes on Gaza.
Duncan issued his statement after Politico noted the party’s 22-hour silence.
Politico has exchanged e-mails with an aide to Saltsman, and will post a response when it arrives.
Saltsman is a former development director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and was elected chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party in 1998.
—
Anybody really think the continuing civil warfare within the GOP will end anytime soon?
lol
http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
Headlines you’ll never see in the Eagle:
Poll: 61% of Historians Rate the Bush Presidency Worst
By Robert S. McElvaine
Mr. McElvaine teaches history at Millsaps College. His latest book, Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, has just been published by Crown.
“As far as history goes and all of these quotes about people trying to guess what the history of the Bush administration is going to be, you know, I take great comfort in knowing that they don’t know what they are talking about, because history takes a long time for us to reach.”— George W. Bush, Fox News Sunday, Feb10, 2008
A Pew Research Center poll released last week found that the share of the American public that approves of President George W. Bush has dropped to a new low of 28 percent.
An unscientific poll of professional historians completed the same week produced results far worse for a president clinging to the hope that history will someday take a kinder view of his presidency than does contemporary public opinion.
In an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted over a three-week period through the History News Network, 98.2 percent assessed the presidency of Mr. Bush to be a failure while 1.8 percent classified it as a success.
Asked to rank the presidency of George W. Bush in comparison to those of the other 41 American presidents, more than 61 percent of the historians concluded that the current presidency is the worst in the nation’s history. Another 35 percent of the historians surveyed rated the Bush presidency in the 31st to 41st category, while only four of the 109 respondents ranked the current presidency as even among the top two-thirds of American administrations.
At least two of those who ranked the current president in the 31-41 ranking made it clear that they placed him next-to-last, with only James Buchanan, in their view, being worse. “He is easily one of the 10-worst of all time and—if the magnitude of the challenges and opportunities matter—then probably in the bottom five, alongside Buchanan, [Andrew] Johnson, Fillmore, and Pierce,” wrote another historian.
The reason for the hesitancy some historians had in categorizing the Bush presidency as the worst ever, which led them to place it instead in the “nearly the worst” group, was well expressed by another historian who said, “It is a bit too early to judge whether Bush’s presidency is the worst ever, though it certainly has a shot to take the title. Without a doubt, it is among the worst.”
More at link
“Kibbutz have a strong political and military tradition. In the past they’ve been vulnerable to Arab attack because of their remote locations, often close to borders and disputed land.”
As have the arab children living around them, whom the Kibbutzers, firing from their stolen land, use as target practice.
CapnAmerica
Posted December 27, 2008 at 4:28 pm | Permalink
Good observation, MH.
Just think. Ignorant Muslims — exactly like Jim Johnsons except they pray to Mecca — are watching hate videos about how apocalyptic Christians want to convert the entire world to their fanatical religion.
——————
Cap I distinctly remember you saying you were a Christian and even taught a Sunday school class. Was that just one of your lies or are you one of those apocalyptic Christians who want to convert the entire world to your fanatical religion?
From CapnA’s link:
[W displayed] “the paranoia of Nixon, the ethics of Harding and the good sense of Herbert Hoover. . . . . God willing, this will go down as the nadir of American politics.”
—
lol, ouch!
“It would be difficult to identify a President who, facing major international and domestic crises, has failed in both as clearly as President Bush,” concluded one respondent. “His domestic policies,” another noted, “have had the cumulative effect of shoring up a semi-permanent aristocracy of capital that dwarfs the aristocracy of land against which the founding fathers rebelled; of encouraging a mindless retreat from science and rationalism; and of crippling the nation’s economic base.”
—
‘Course, as Augustus Stupidus has been known to say, this ain’t really a problem for him because “history takes a long time to reach us.”
lol
This is a classified video from your government:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-5EcRMpRfhQk/congress_classified_vote_to_defend_against_classified/
Hey kids!
Here’s a great website.
http://www.nick.com/minisites/biggreen/index.jhtml?_requestid=2526033#
It’s a slow afternoon, so let me just ramble a bit.
I have a naive question –
If all this money (or wealth, or whatever) is “lost,” who found it?
Are there some people (apart from Madoff, I guess — but even he isn’t sitting on $50 Billion dollars in a Swiss bank account, is he?) who have actually profited from the economic collapse?
Or is all the wealth imaginary?
“Whatever the market will bear” is a concept I understand. No baseball player is worth $25 million a year, but then Sylvester Stallone doesn’t get paid $20 million a picture because he’s a great actor. They putt butts in the stands, attract eyes in front of the television or something.
But apart from those people who, y’know, actually make something, where is wealth created? Seems like the only things that have new value are commodities — there’s a new crop of corn every year, more oil pulled out of the ground, more gold mined — and manufactured goods which take commodities and transform them.
If it’s all perception — the Tinkerbell Economy — then how is anyone’s investment strategy different from Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme, or hedge funds or Enron or anything else? All this “lost wealth” is a chimera? Is capitalism — or economics, at least — nothing more than a house-of-cards?
And if that’s the case, is the solution to the economic crisis simply shuffle the deck and start on a new one?
Someone told me this story long ago:
It’s about a small European village where, one day, a fisherman spied a basket floating in the river. He pulled it ashore and inside was a tiny baby!
The village was astounded! All came out to tend to the needs of the baby, to change the diapers and provide food and a warm place to live.
Next day, two baskets came floating down the river. Well this was amazing but the villagers again turned out to provide for the foundlings.
Next day four baskets, four babies…
The villagers got together and established committees and recruited volunteers and donations and facilities to deal with what, sure ‘nuf, soon became dozens, then scores, then hundreds of baskets of babies floating down the river.
And by this time, the village was so busy and wrapped up with what was happening, no one could get away and walk upstream to find out who was putting babies in baskets in the river.
—
I know next to nothing about economics, but for a long time I’ve wondered if capitalism just doesn’t work. Just as, after a good run, mercantilism didn’t work. Just as barter worked for a while and didn’t. Just as going out and killing or raping or marrying the tribe that’s good at hunting so your tribe that’s good at gathering can get some protein. (That last/first system seems to be evergreen, though, now that I think about it. What were those Iraqis thinking, living atop all our oil?)
So you end up with the stock market and the commodities markets and futures and hedge funds and side bets and what ends up mattering isn’t the actual wealth, but the perceived wealth. What isn’t there anymore isn’t there anymore because it never existed? It was all illusion in the first place?
Is that any way to base a civilization?
Oh wait. Religion is better.
#
CapnAmerica
Posted December 27, 2008 at 4:24 pm | Permalink
New record high for Dec 26th yesterday at 69 in Wichita.
Followed by intense thunderstorms and a tornado in Oklahoma.
Wow.
Good thing that the so-called “global warming” is just junk science, right, CONs?
—————-
Cosmos, please tell CapnA the difference between weather and climate change (global warming). Oh, and also why longer periods of estimated temperature records (say 2,000 years) are better than shorter ones, because a tiny blip of warming like were experiencing (until 10 years ago) wouldn’t even show up on a graph.
Problem is, it’s real. Or at least it started out that way. Along the way, the money folk decided they wanted more of the pie. Pretty soon, the pie was taken, and no more was left. But that didn’t satisfy the money folk, so they created more pies in the name of derivatives, which didn’t have any filling at all. They bought and sold these derivatives in the name of CDO’s, CMO, etc., and, in a final nail in the coffin, decided to create credit default swaps.
Now CDS’s were designed to do nothing more than get around the insurance laws of the land. While the CDO’s, CMO’s, and the rest of the derivative market, were worth trillions, they weren’t backed with real money. Nobody thought they would start losing value, because nobody say the fall of home prices.
Now when the prices dropped, the derivatives dropped in value big time, so the CDS’s became due. But since there was no money backing the CDS’s, as with real insurance it would be a law, banks, financial institutes and the rest, started failing like black plague victims.
Then we gave them our money so they could continue to screw things up. Ain’t we brilliant?
Funny how duh Libs are so silent when people like the Crapn post a weather event, not a climate event.
Hypocrites
Every
Last
One
Oh just shut up, “Regular.”
Most of us saw the irony of “CapnAmerica’s” post.
It was 70 degrees here yesterday. It’s 29 degrees today. Tornadoes in Missouri in December. A foot-and-a-half of snow in Seattle. Australia’s wheat basket is turning into another Dust Bowl.
There are plenty of screwball things happening to the climate worldwide and those screwball things tend to manifest themselves in local weather anomalies.
For the past decade you CONs — for no reason really than Al Gore’s political leanings — have snarked any time there’s been a cold snap.
If it got down to the 50s in July in Kansas, you’d snark, “Har har har!!! Where’s Algore these days?!” If it got down to zero in December in Kansas you’d post the same such tripe.
“CapnAmerica” — and you just can’t restrain yourself can ya, “Regular,” from resorting to your 3rd-Grade-level name-calling? — both parodied you Climate Change deniers as he showed out local weather patterns are mere components to the macro-problem.
Hey Capn,
Looks like the dumb AGW deniers did not recognise that your 4:24 pm post was making fun of their false claim that cold weather events refute AGW.
Yeah, that’s it Cosmos. That’s the ticket. I was just saying that to make fun of the CONS. I know that tornadoes and hurricanes and crazy temperature extremes don’t have anything to do with global warming. I was just telling that to my wife, Morgan Fairchild. — CapnAmerica
———
Chuckle… You give CapnA way too much credit.
OK, that quote wasn’t really CapnA. But that’s an example of the tone of what he would have had to say to match Monkey and Cosmos’ perception.
“outlander” –
You wouldn’t recognize subtlety if it slapped you in the face.
outlander is also unable to understand how ENSO, volcanoes, and other natural factors cause short-term cooling and warming.
Yeah, duh Libs call stupidity, irony. No wonder they are confused.
#
Regular
Posted December 27, 2008 at 6:17 pm | Permalink
Funny how duh Libs are so silent when people like the Crapn post a weather event, not a climate event.
Hypocrites
Every
Last
One
=====================================================
Now if you would have posted,
Hypocrites
Every
Last
Liberal
One
I might have chuckled. However . . . Oh, hell, why try to explain to the mentally challenged.
Hamas calls for third intifada
Meshaal says Hamas is open to reconciliation
with Abbas
Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, has called for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.
In an interview on Al Jazeera, Meshaal said: “We called for a military intifada against the enemy. Resistance will continue through suicide missions.”
Meshaal’s call came after Israel hammered Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 220 people in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Meshaal said Hamas had accepted “all the peaceful options, but without results.”
He said that for there to be any talks with the people of Gaza, “the blockade must be lifted and the crossings [from Israel] opened … notably that in Rafah,” which leads to Egypt.
Meshaal was referring to a blockade imposed on Gaza after Hamas full seized control of the overcrowded, impoverished strip from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.
Meshaal said he was open to reconciliation with Abbas, but demanded that the Palestinian president cease peace negotiations with Israel.
“Neither rockets nor suicide operations are absurd, but negotiations are,” he said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081227232637589589.html
Hmmmm…
I wonder what the US would do if multiple rocket attacks were launched at us everyday?
http://www.alqassam.ps/english/?action=statements
2008-12-27
Al Qassam Brigades fired four mortars at Zionist special forces near Natif Etzra north of Gaza strip
2008-12-26
Al Qassam Brigades mourns the mujahed Hamza Shahin sustained of his wounds
2008-12-26
Al Qassam Brigades fired four mortars at the Zionist special forces in Khanyounis
2008-12-25
(31) Qassam rockets, (2) Grads, (54) mortars & sniping a Zionist soldiers
2008-12-25
Al Qassam Brigades mourns the mujahed Yehya Al-Sha’er due to a Zionist ari raid
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades fired seven mortars at the military base “Al Ersal”
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades fired four mortars at the military base “Nir Oz”
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades fired twenty four Qassam rockets at the military Bases near Gaza strip
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades fired four Qassam rockets at the military site “Nitifot”
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades mourns two of the mujahideen were in a mission east of Khanyounis city
2008-12-24
Al Qassam Brigades mourns three mujahideen were in a mission north of Gaza strip
2008-12-23
Al Qassam Brigades mourns Jaser Kedaih from east of Khanyounis city
2008-12-22
E.Q.B: Abbas militias is taking the full responsibility for the fate of the Mujahed “Rajab Al-Sharif”
2008-12-22
Al Qassam Brigades snipe a Zionist soldier east of Khanyounis city
2008-12-20
Al Qassam Brigades targeted two military bases east of Rafah with (6) mortars
2008-12-13
Al Qassam Brigades targeted Zionist special force east of Khanyounis city
2008-12-08
Al Qassam Brigades targeted a military jeep east of Jabalya camp
2008-12-03
Al Qassam Brigades shelled the military site inside Nahal Oz base with two mortars
2008-12-03
Al Qassam Brigades shelled the Zionist military bases Huleet and Sofa with (6) mortars
2008-12-03
Al Qassam Brigades shelled the military base Nir Oz & the Third Eye with five mortars
2008-12-02
Al Qassam Brigades shelled Zionist soldiers east of Rafah city with (8) mortars
2008-12-02
Al Qassam Brigades shelled Zionist soldiers east of Rafah city with (5) mortars
2008-11-29
Al Qassam Brigades shelled Zionist military sites near Gaza with (10) mortars
2008-11-28
Al Qassam Brigades 5 mortars at the Zionist soldiers east of Khanyounis
2008-11-20
Al Qassam Brigades mourns Mohammed Al Ar’er from Al Shoja’eya neighborhood
2008-11-18
Al Qassam Brigades fired a Qassam rockets at the Zionist tanks east of Rafah
Muslim Brotherhood defends President of Sudan. That little thing going on in Darfur is an internal problem.
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=17391&LevelID=3&SectionID=70
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Muslim Brotherhood denounced the genocide charges filed by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on Monday.
In the statement signed by MB Chairman Mahdi Akef, he emphasized MB”s condemnation of the decision, considering it “interference in Sudan”s internal affairs and violation of its sovereignty.”
The statement called on the Arab League to sponsor an exceptional summit of Arab presidents, kings, and leaders to unite in solidarity with Sudan. Further, it called on Egypt to assume its leading role at all international organizations to defend the Sudan, the strategic neighbor of Egypt.
In addition, the MB called on Al-Bashir to exert more efforts in communication with national and political forces in the country and give up all political disagreements.
It also called upon international institutions to respect their laws and charters and assume its original role for which they were supposedly established, instead of serving interests of the US Administration that “blackmails Sudan and seeks to control its wealth.”
Transalation of Zionist Skyscraper: New York City
http://www.alqassam.ps/english/?action=vrvote
Vote: As a response to Gaza massacre, will Hamas use exploded cars under Zionist skyscraper
No. All vote ( 30 )
Yes %43.3
No %36.6
I don’t Know %20
The EQB is the armed branch of Hamas. The goal: Destruction of Israel
http://www.alqassam.ps/english/?action=aboutus
Mission:
Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades (EQB) was established in the midst of the Palestinian Intifada (1987-1994) against the Zionist occupation. Established at the height of the occupation crackdown against popular and armed resistance, EQB considers its effort as part of the resistance movement against the Zionist occupation of Palestinian lands, which has been ongoing since the British occupation. In light of this understanding, EQB aims: “To contribute in the effort of liberating Palestine and restoring the rights of the Palestinian people under the sacred Islamic teachings of the Holy Quran, the Sunna (traditions) of Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the traditions of Muslims rulers and scholars noted for their piety and dedication.”
Israel, Israel,Israel.
ALL the time with you cons, it is Israel.
I COULD respect them. A small and scrappy nation.
But I’ve got this problem.
I don’t think God grants people real estate. Nor do I see it as my interest to protect theirs.
Now, if God has some land for me? I’ll take it into consideration.
Chas
Posted December 27, 2008 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
“What is the film’s main goal?
The film’s ultimate goal is to lay the grounds for a larger religious war that goes beyond our national security interests and has only two beneficiaries: radical evangelicals who hold an apocalyptic worldview, and war profiteers who gamble at the expense of thousands of American lives and trillions of tax-payer dollars.”
NO surprise that the ever hate-filled Johnson would propagate such a vile piece of propaganda…. No surprise at all!!
————————————————————
This comment comes from someone who has never seen the video he criticizes. Chas can only offer a link to a site he googled.
If you doubt the goals of the muslim fanatics, go to the source links above. THEIR OWN WEB SITES, clearly show their agenda.
RE: Bush’s Library >>>>
The library will also include many famous Quotes by George W. Bush:
‘The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.’
‘If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.’
‘Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.’
‘No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.’
‘I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.’
‘One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.’
‘Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.’
‘I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.’
‘The future will be better tomorrow.’
‘We’re going to have the best educated American people in the world.’
‘One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic
pictures.’ (during an education photo-op)
‘Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.’
‘We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.’
‘It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in
our air and water that are doing it.’
‘I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.’…George W. Bush to Sam
Donaldson
PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!
Sincerely,
Jack Abramoff, Co-Chair G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors
Israel is just one target. You don’t get it JR, it isn’t about protecting only Israel.
SOME TERRORISTS ARE ALREADY IN THE USA
http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE4BM4J920081223
NY man pleads guilty to broadcasting Hezbollah TV
Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:49pm GMT
(Reuters) – A New York City man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization by broadcasting Hezbollah television channel Al Manar to U.S. customers, federal prosecutors said.
In a plea deal, Javed Iqbal, 45, a Pakistani who moved to the United States more than 25 years ago, admitted that between about September 2005 and August 2006 he provided satellite transmission services through his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd to Al Manar, in exchange for thousands of dollars payment.
Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shi’ite Muslim group with a powerful guerrilla army, was designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization in 1997.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6528134
Homeland Security Forecasts 5-Year Terror Threats
Homeland Security Assessment Predicts Terror Threats Over Next 5 Years
By EILEEN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.
The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political “turmoil,” the assessment said.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction remains “the highest priority at the federal level.” Speaking to reporters on Dec. 3, Chertoff explained that more people, such as terrorists, will learn how to make dirty bombs, biological and chemical weapons. “The other side is going to continue to learn more about doing things,” he said.
Marked “for official use only,” the report does not specify its audience, but the assessments typically go to law enforcement, intelligence officials and the private sector. When determining threats, intelligence officials consider loss of life, economic and psychological consequences.
Intelligence officials also predict that in the next five years, terrorists will try to conduct a destructive biological attack. Officials are concerned about the possibility of infections to thousands of U.S. citizens, overwhelming regional health care systems.
There could also be dire economic impacts caused by workers’ illnesses and deaths. Officials are most concerned about biological agents stolen from labs or other storage facilities, such as anthrax.
“The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremist ideologies has not abated,” Chertoff said in his year-end address on Dec. 18. “This threat has not evaporated, and we can’t turn the page on it.”
These high-consequence threats are not the only kind of challenges that will confront the U.S. over the next five years.
Terrorists will continue to try to evade U.S. border security measures and place operatives inside the mainland to carry out attacks, the 38-page assessment said. It also said that they may pose as refugees or asylum seekers or try to exploit foreign travel channels such as the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of 34 countries to enter the U.S. without visas.
Long waits for immigration and more restrictive European refugee and asylum programs will cause more foreigners to try to enter the U.S. illegally. Increasing numbers of Iraqis are expected to migrate to the U.S. in the next five years; and refugees from Somalia and Sudan could increase because of conflicts in those countries, the assessment said.
Because there is a proposed cap of 12,000 refugees from Africa, officials expect more will try to enter the U.S. illegally as well. Officials predict the same scenario for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Intelligence officials predict the pool of radical Islamists within the U.S. will increase over the next five years due partly to the ease of online recruiting means. Officials foresee “a wave of young, self-identified Muslim ‘terrorist wannabes’ who aspire to carry out violent acts.”
The U.S. has already seen some examples of these homegrown terrorists. Recently five Muslim immigrants were convicted of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case the government said demonstrated its post-Sept. 11 determination to stop terrorist attacks in the planning stages.
The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah does not have a known history of fomenting attacks inside the U.S., but that could change if there is some kind of “triggering” event, the Homeland assessment cautions.
A 2008 Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism assessment said that Hezbollah members based in the U.S. do local fundraising through charity projects and criminal activity, like money laundering, smuggling, drug trafficking, fraud and extortion, according to the homeland security assessment.
In addition, the cyber terror threat is expected to increase over the next five years, as hacking tools become more sophisticated and available. “Youthful, Internet-savvy extremists might apply their online acumen to conduct cyber attacks rather than offer themselves up as operatives to conduct physical attacks,” according to the assessment.
Currently, Islamic terrorists, including al-Qaida, would like to conduct cyber attacks, but they lack the capability to do so, the assessment said. The large-scale attacks that are on al-Qaida’s wishlist — such as disrupting a major city’s water or power systems — require sophisticated cyber capabilities that the terrorist group does not possess.
But al-Qaida has the capability to hire sophisticated hackers to carry out these kinds of attacks, the assessment said. And federal officials believe that in the next three to five years, al-Qaida could direct or inspire cyber attacks that target the U.S. economy.
Counterterrorism expert Frank Cilluffo says the typical cyber attack would not achieve al-Qaida’s main goal of inflicting mass devastation with its resulting widespread media coverage. However, al-Qaida is likely to continue to rely on the Internet to spread its message, said Cilluffo, who runs the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University.
Officials also predict that domestic terrorists in the forms of radical animal rights and environmental extremists will become more adept with explosives and increase their use of arson attacks.
(Environmental Extremist…hmmmm. Sounds like Cosmos.)
Listen to Barak:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE4BQ1V120081227
Israel “cannot accept” ceasefire with Hamas says Barak
Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:13pm GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel “cannot really accept” a cease-fire with Hamas, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said in a U.S. television interview on Saturday, rejecting calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a truce after Israeli air strikes killed 227 people in Gaza.
“For us to be asked to have a cease-fire with Hamas is like asking you to have a cease-fire with al Qaeda. It’s something we cannot really accept,” Barak told Fox News from Tel Aviv.
MY darts are ever sharp.
IF Obama continues to pander to the right and talk to Fox “news”?
He is four years and out.
Or maybe less.
First BJ was against Obama.
Then he was for Obama.
Now he’s already threatening to be against Obama.
(Oh My! I bet Obama is very worried about what BJ thinks.)
Israel stole land in Palestine and created a new state in 1949.
The United States was first directly attacked by jihadis in 1993.
The two events are entirely unrelated, except by the apocolyptic Christian Taliban.
BTW, CONs,
A cold day in winter does not refute the Global Warming theory. It’s normal to have cold days in winter.
Record highs in winter do, on the other hand, tend to support the Global Warming theory. That’s the part that isn’t normal.
“Normal” is literally defined as falling within the norms.
A record high does not fall within the norms. That’s why it’s a new record.
Duh.
DavidB
Posted December 27, 2008 at 3:25 pm | Permalink
A tiny minority of radical religious zealots hate Western civilisation. The vast majority of Muslims simply want to raise their families in peace and prosperity.
Keep some perspective if you see this inflammatory video.
You might care to see: http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/
We need more light and less heat in these times.
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Just so everyone knows the intentional LIES of JimJohnson, my earlier post was not from Google…. My posted link came from the post of DavidB, above….
JimJohnson gets nowhere if he doesnt LIE incessantly… Note that Johnson doesnt attack DavidB for posting the same link I posted AFTER DavidB posted it first….
Do try to keep up, Johnson, the Anti-American…. :-)
good night; and god bless!!
the sunday after christmas >>>>
when the song of the angels is stilled;
and the star in the sky is gone;
when the magi and the shepherds
have found their way home —-
Then the work of Christmas is begun!!
blessings ALL!!!
so mote it be!!
Chas
Posted December 28, 2008 at 2:24 am | Permalink
Just so everyone knows the intentional LIES of JimJohnson, my earlier post was not from Google…. My posted link came from the post of DavidB, above….
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Oh, THAT is CREDIBLE. Chas’s post is from another bloggers post, who posted a link.
And neither have seen the movie they criticize, which is this:
Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West
http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/learnmore_links_islam_Al-Islam.php
Obsession never said all Muslims are bad. Obsession never said the majority of Muslims are bad.
Any specific criticism of this movie Chas/Dave? Or you want to just post another link, WITHOUT even seeing the movie?
Dolts.
And Chas, knock off the phony preacher crap.
With ‘preachers’ like you, God doesn’t need enemies.
ANYONE WHO HAS READ CHAS’S ALL CAPS HATEFUL FOUL-MOUTHED POSTS, knows who Chas really is, and he’s not a preacher, at least not a Christian one.
Notice how late Chas posted last night, right after bar time.
You think he’d be getting some sleep before Sunday morning church, IF he was a preacher.
Some preacher….
CapnAmerica
Posted December 28, 2008 at 1:45 am | Permalink
“Normal” is literally defined as falling within the norms.
A record high does not fall within the norms. That’s why it’s a new record.
Duh.
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BRILLIANT! SIMPLY BRILLIANT!
Yeah, “JimJohnson” –
We all look to you for the milk of human kindness.
Monkeybrain,
I have never pretended to be a Christian Preacher who can talk down to you from above. (Speaking of Kindness, that’s not exactly a word that would define yourself.)
Chas pretends to be holier than thou, yet his RANTS and FOUL-MOUTHED LUNATIC posts betray his inner core. The hypocracy of this supposed man of God is abhorrent.
As to the definition of kindness Monkeybrain, true kindness does not involve making people totally dependent upon Government for their every need.
True kindness would involve educating and not indoctrinating children to be productive and independent individuals.
You Libs prefer just to take from others who are more productive then you, and you call that kindness.
You Libs prefer to silence those with opinions other then your own, and you call that kindness.
You Libs prefer to not think on your own, or debate with facts, but you choose to follow your party line without regard for the facts, and you call that kindness.
Piglets Monkey, you are one of the Piglets lining up at the Liberal trough of milk and honey suckin as hard as you can to take everything you can, without producing anything on your own.
Oink like a pig Monkey. Let’s hear you squeal.
I somehow touched a nerve, huh, “JimJohnson?”
Care to restate your case for us, this time making some semblance of sense?
You just made my case Monkey.
Thanks.
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