HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Independent Voters May Give Obama Edge in Iowa - With two days before Iowans go to the polls, significant support for Sen. Barack Obama from political independents has put rival Democratic campaigns on edge, challenging the traditional model of the state's caucuses as a low-turnout exercise dominated by partisan insiders. (READ MORE)
To Be Young And in Love With Ron Paul - The Ron Paul boys have come to this great state by bus and borrowed ride, with long johns under their jeans and little in their pockets. (READ MORE)
Suicide Blast at Baghdad Funeral of Bomb Victim Kills Dozens - By the time he reached the front gate of his neighbor's house, just minutes after the blast, Adil Ahmed saw flames leaping off the funeral tent. The guests' cars parked outside were blasted and burned. (READ MORE)
Iowans insist role is deserved - Iowans say they deserve the first presidential nominating contest because they know how to kick the campaigns' tires — but kick the tires of the voters and you find an unlikely cast of voters to have such a disproportionate say in the next president. (READ MORE)
Romney dismisses his 'one-hit wonder' rivals - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney yesterday urged voters to turn out for him at the caucuses tomorrow because his appeal extends beyond Iowa and he is not a "one-hit wonder" like his closest rivals for the Republican nomination. (READ MORE)
Carnage, chaos in Kenya - A mob torched a church sheltering hundreds of Kenyans fleeing election violence yesterday, killing up to 50 people as four days of rioting and ethnic clashes marked some of the darkest times in this country's history. (READ MORE)
Rove's successor keeps low profile - President Bush is benefiting from a Karl Rove-free White House and the lower-profile approach of his successor, who high-ranking Republican Party activists and operatives say helped the administration to key victories at the end of last year. (READ MORE)
'Sudden jihad syndrome' poses domestic risk - Sympathy for al Qaeda has produced "sudden jihad syndrome" in domestic terror cells unaffiliated with foreign terrorists and people seeking to carry out attacks in the U.S., a law-enforcement intelligence analysis says. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
1romad: Welcome to 2008 - now back to your regularly scheduled war - Tonight I heard someone say, "Hey, its 2008." Then those of us working the swing shift at the TOC (tactical ops center) looked at the red digital clocks, found the one that said 00:00 L, and nodded in agreement. I went back to my computer scrabble game, the fires guys to my right went back to the AFN channel showing the Air Force vs Cal game, and everyone else settled back into their routines. Many nights in the TOC are like tonight--quiet and uneventful. We pass the time with various computer games, chess, scrabble, books, and magazines. And mIRC of course. (READ MORE)
A Battlefield Tourist: A Tour of Kabul - Since my Iraq presentations went over so well, I decided to post my Afghan archive as well. This is the first of more than a dozen planned presentations that will take you around Afghanistan in 2004. It was in this year that I covered the country, from the ground, in expectation of that country’s first free presidential election. The following 57 pictures are from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as some shots from nearby Bagram Airfield. (READ MORE)
all expenses paid afghan vacation: New Year’s Eve fireworks - Happy New Year’s everyone. In the holiday spirit I put together a compilation from some of the videos I had of our own “fireworks” we’ve seen over the year, some that I’ve taken and some from a couple other guys in my platoon. They range from QRF missions to go blow up IED’s or other munitions - sometimes in place and sometimes relocating them…to a mortar mission and firing AT-4 rocket launchers. (READ MORE)
Badger 6: Badgers Forward 2007 Year in Review - If you had asked me in January of this year whether I thought I would have been writing a year in review, I certainly would have answered in the negative. This year brought many interesting developments as we carried out our mission; several dark days for the Task Force and the Team; big changes in Iraq; and ultimately the redeployment of the unit and Mrs. Badger 6's and my decision for me to remain. This is how it broke down. (READ MORE)
Bill and Bob's Excellent Afghan Adventure: Lucky 7 - 2007 was all about Afghanistan. It was training to do this job, getting here, and being here. I spent one day in 2007 not on active duty in the service of my country; the first day. A year ago today, I enjoyed New Year's Day with an elephant in my head. The day that I was to arrive in Ft Riley was looming large in front of me, the symbolic beginning of the kinetic part of this journey. (READ MORE)
Desert Dude: 30 December - Just another day on the FOB…last night we changed a power steering pump on one of the new trucks…brand new truck with a bad steering pump—where are the hummer dealerships so we can take this stuff in for warranty work…oh yeah, we are the ones to do the warranty work…also, one of the trucks has bad batteries…brand new trucks and already breaking down…it’s all good tho, it gives us something to do… (READ MORE)
Eighty Deuce on the Loose in Iraq: Goodbye 2007!!! - Today is Dec 31st, the last day of the year 2007. This year has brought many memories, experiences and friendships and one big event in my life, that will forever be with me. On Jan 3rd of this year, we deployed to Kuwait and then finally up in to Baghdad, Iraq. Most of this year has been spent deployed, running missions, fighting a war within a concrete jungle, and just plain being bored out of my mind. But if theres one thing that this year has brought me, it would be the friends and brothers that I have been with and have come to think of as family. We have been through it all together and Im sure we will remain together for the rest of our lives. (READ MORE)
ETT PA-C: Happy New Year - Hello all. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for all your support and prayers over this last year. It's been a long, trying year but ironically fruitful in many ways. I can't thank you all enough for all that you've done at home to keep us, the soldiers, motivated to do our jobs. We are here for you and you've been there for me, as well as my team. (READ MORE)
Far From Perfect: Repeating Realities - This particular dream occurred about a month before I came home. Now that the holiday is over and the superstitious deja vu that accompanies strange dreams cannot occur, I decided it was safe to relate. The dream hasn’t recurred at all, but it has sort of stuck around my subconscious so I am putting in down “on paper.” Its Christmas Morning, and I am sitting at home in pajamas feeling content and enjoying myself. The tree is decorated, the house is warm and bright, and for some reason I can smell fresh bread. I am sitting on the couch watching my daughter get excited about all her presents. Outside the window the desert winds blow and I can see the Kurdish mountains in the distance. I think about it for a second, but brush it off. (READ MORE)
Fightin' 6th Marines: Setting aside differences - Pfc. Brian Jones made his way out recently to hang with the Marines of "America's Battalion" for a few days. During his trip, he covered some of the Iraqi Police training offered by the Marines. In today's world, you will find several forms of discrimination and it is no different in the greater Fallujah area. The difference in tribes can often bring feuding and this is an example of how these Iraqis put that to the side and use teamwork towards a common goal... (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Iowa - As the candidates for president prepare for the Iowa vote, their statements become more bizarre each day. I can't help but ask are there any serious candidates? Check out Hillary Clinton's: "We're not only talking about bringing our troops home. We have to bring our equipment home;" John Edwards's bring the troops home within 10 months; Fred Thompson's I'm not sure I really want this; and Huckabee's comments on Pakistani illegals. (READ MORE)
Jason's Iraq Vacation: Corruption: Standard Issue? - Of course, I don’t mean to imply that all Iraqi’s are corrupt – it’s just the one’s I work with (and not even all of them, either). Applying a broad generalization like that is no fairer than saying all state department Foreign Service Officers are pansies. I know that there are alot more courageous, patriotic FSOs than there are sniveling cowards, just as I know there is a lot of honest, loyal, hard working Iraqis. By this point you have to be wondering what happened to bring on this rambling rant, and you’d be right to assume there is a story behind it. (READ MORE)
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: First Impressions - Machine gun fire crackled in the distance as I sat down to type this. Fitting, in that “for real, dude?” kind of way. Yes, for real. Dude. Machine guns. And not the ones that fire blanks. Here are a few additional, often unrelated, thoughts, after my first day spent in the combat zone of Iraq. (Apologies, some serious sleep deprivation is keeping me from organizing these into a more literary-pleasing form of thematic structure.) (READ MORE)
A Surgeon's Letters Home From Iraq: 1 JAN 2008 The year I go home - My New Year’s Eve was peaceful and quiet. After helping to get the two pigs to grilling and roasting, I had a quick dinner at the hospital DFAC and then headed to the hooch. I watched “Anger Management” with Adam Sandler and wrote some letters. Some wonderful students from Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT had sent cookies and Christmas cards. Their tasty brownies and rice crispy treats kept the hospital working through some long hours of operations. I sent them letters to make sure they knew how much it meant to us to be remembered back home. (READ MORE)
Michael J. Totten: A Plan to Kill Everyone - FALLUJAH — A sign on the door leading out of India Company’s Combat Operations Center says “Have a Plan to Kill Everyone You Meet.” For a fraction of second I thought it might be some kind of joke. But I was with the Marine Corps in Fallujah, and it wasn’t a joke. I asked Captain Stewart Glenn if he could explain and perhaps elaborate a bit on what, exactly, that sign is about. “It’s pretty straightforward,” he said rather bluntly. “It means exactly what it says.” Welcome to counterinsurgency. (READ MORE)
6 Months in Kabul: Smile In Times of Trouble - I thought that it would be interesting if I showcased some of Dr. Massoud's photos. The first bunch is him giving away some of the donations that were sent by 6 M.I.K. readers. What always gets me is the ever-present smile on people's faces. We could really learn a lot from them. It does not matter if they are homeless children living in street having to make a small fires out of trash to keep warm, or young police men that are paralyzed from the waist down with large abdominal wounds and a colostomy bag, to a criminal that is handcuffed to a bed post and that has been waiting 10 days to get his fractured leg fixed, they all return back a genuine smile when you smile at them and they are very warm and friendly when you talk with them. (READ MORE)
never as funny the second time…: short-attention-span theater - far from letting the routine dull our senses, i find that we strive harder to invest even the most mundane discussion with some sort of intellectually stimulating content. as the following will illustrate. 1) the scene: dinner yesterday. the catalyst: i had just drunk a diet pepsi and a carton of soy milk in quick succession, and the inevitable mixing in my stomach was turning out to be somewhat uncomfortable. (READ MORE)
Northern Disclosure: TROLLING FOR CONTACT - Christmas arrived at BAD VOO DOO land only 1 day late. Some of the guys were up north earning a great "Last Christmas.." story for when they are back in civilization while the rest of us waited like little kids for their return so we could open gifts and be together. As you probably saw in a previous post the tree was set up and hidden from the platoon so only a select few of us knew of it and we were able to surprise and impress those who didn't know or expect to have christmas. (READ MORE)
On Point: Marines in Anbar: from war to a wary peace - There is a reason why the New York Times has earned its reputation for excellent reporting, and today's feature brings our readers of those articles. Written from Fallujah, our Feature bring you the trials and conflicts that our Marines are dealing with every day in Iraq: "A Tall Order For A Marine: Feeding The Hand That Bit You - FALLUJA, Iraq--CAPT. SEAN MILLER shook his head like a big brother. He and his marines had just walked by a cluster of large orange garbage bins, American-bought, from which thieves had ripped the wheels, and now they confronted a cemetery entrance that Captain Miller had paid an Iraqi contractor to fix. It was still broken. He snapped a photograph and moved on." (READ MORE)
Sgt Hook: A New Year - Just before midnight on the eve of the new year, I stopped out at the FARP (Forward Arming and Refuel Point) to visit the night crews who work a thankless 12-hour shift refueling and rearming all types of helicpters that come in at all hours. I arrived just as two OH58 Kiowa Warriors and two AH64 Apaches pulled in for gas and rockets. I watched a dozen or so of my soldiers run to their assigned stations in the cold dark night servicing the aircraft as efficiently as a NASCAR pit crew. Within minutes, the warfighters were back in the air and on mission. No champagne, no fireworks, and the only noise makers were that of turbine engines and turning rotors. I will spend the bulk of this year here in Iraq, but my gut is telling me that 2008 will be one for the history books. (READ MORE)
This War and Me: Year in Review - It’s hard to believe that in another three weeks I will have been in Iraq for a year. One year ago today I started my blog on MySpace with a short poem about heading to the frontlines in defense of America and how I willingly stand on the wall of freedom for my country. It is much more than that I know now. I have also learned to fight for the people of Iraq that have been bullied, tortured and murdered by the thousands. I also willingly fight for them; so they may live, learn and prosper without retribution of death. I fight to rid this country of extremist that torture and mutilate the children of men that refuse to be terrorist; I fight for Doodah and her father. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Lawrence B. Lindsey: What We Want in a President - In the next six weeks Americans are going to pick the two finalists in the long job search for the most important CEO position on the planet. As someone who has served in three White Houses and been a Federal Reserve governor during a fourth, I have become a firm believer that the character traits someone brings to the job are more important than the issue papers or debate sound bites that get so much attention in the primaries. (READ MORE)
Stanley Kurtz: Tribes of Terror - Lord Curzon, Britain's viceroy of India and foreign secretary during the initial decades of the 20th century, once declared: No patchwork scheme--and all our present recent schemes . . . are mere patchwork--will settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steam-roller has passed over the country from end to end, will there be peace. But I do not want to be the person to start that machine. (READ MORE)
Brian M. Carney: Bye Bye, Light Bulb - Just like that--like flipping a switch--Congress and the president banned incandescent light bulbs last month. OK, they did not exactly ban them. But the energy bill passed by Congress and signed by President Bush sets energy-efficiency standards for light bulbs that traditional incandescent bulbs cannot meet. The new rules phase in starting in 2012, but don't be lulled by that five-year delay. Whether it's next week or next decade, you will one day walk into a hardware store looking for a 100-watt bulb--and there won't be any. By 2014, the new efficiency standards will apply to 75-watt, 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs too. (READ MORE)
Walter E. Williams: Greed, Need and Money - Demagoguery about greedy rich people or greedy corporate executives being paid 100 or 200 times their workers' salaries is a key weapon in the politics of envy. Let's talk about greed, starting off with Merriam-Webster's definition: "a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed." That definition is a bit worrisome because how does one know what a person really needs? It's something my economics students and I spend a bit of time on in the first lecture. (READ MORE)
Michael Medved: Iowa Eve: Misconceptions, Secret Weapons And The G.O.P. Big Five - No one knows with certainty who will win the Iowa Caucuses on Thursday night or, for that matter, the New Hampshire Primary a mere five days later. Today, Wednesday, five different candidates still retain a real (if in some cases remote) chance of winning the Republican nomination for President of the United States but within a week one or more of those contenders may have been forced from serious competition. (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: Romney Hits Huck in Living Rooms - AMES, IOWA -- A Des Moines Register poll put Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee ahead longtime Iowa favorite Mitt Romney, but Romney told Iowans he was the best candidate to take both Iowa and New Hampshire Tuesday. “It’s going to be important that we get a nominee who can play in each of these states and isn’t a one hit wonder,” Romney said. Romney didn’t mention the former Arkansas governor by name, but was likely referring to Huckabee, who is his chief opponent in Iowa and plays guitar in a band called Capital Offense. (READ MORE)
Dennis Prager: Will Smith, Hitler and Diminishing Value of Truth - On Dec. 22, the Scottish newspaper The Daily Record published an article summarizing an interview its reporter Siobhan Synnot had with the superstar actor Will Smith. Near the end of the highly laudatory piece, the reporter wrote: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good" and immediately cited the actor saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'Let me do the most evil thing I can do today,'" said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and, using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'" (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: Santa Claus Politics - Senator Hillary Clinton's Christmas commercial, showing various government programs as presents under a Christmas tree, was a classic example of calculated confusion in politics. Anyone who believes that the government can give the country presents has fallen for the oldest political illusion of all -- the illusion of something for nothing. Santa Claus may turn out to be the real front-runner in the primaries, judging by the way candidates are vying with one another to give away government goodies to the voters. (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan: The Impotent Hegemon - "Things are in the saddle, and ride mankind." Emerson's couplet comes to mind as the New Year opens with Pakistan, the second largest Muslim country on Earth, in social and political chaos, trending toward a failed state with nuclear weapons. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whom the White House pressed to return home from exile to form an anti-Islamist alliance with President Pervez Musharraf, is dead, assassinated on the second try in two months. (READ MORE)
Tony Blankley: Seeking Psychological Victory in the 'Global War on Terror' - In Iraq, as military and security conditions continue to improve, American war politics enters one of its stranger moments in our history. Certainly it is historically odd for war reporting to diminish almost to the point of public invisibility -- just as our troops are starting to gain the upper hand. But we are fighting this war with the journalists we have, not the ones we want. However, although the media maintained a virtual radio silence once things started going our way, the public has come to recognize the military success. (READ MORE)
Rich Lowry: John Edwards: The Hater - KNOXVILLE, Iowa -- John Edwards is angry, and he wants people to know it. Republicans complain of Democratic class warfare all the time. It's usually an overwrought charge. But Edwards is the real thing. His message is resentful, confrontational and paranoid, verging on the openly hateful. And Iowa audiences are loving it. Edwards is like a stand-up comedian who has honed his act down to the most effective material. In the case of the comedian, all that's left is laughs; in the case of Edwards, almost all that is left is unbridled hostility. His campaign pitch is a well-polished mailed fist aimed at the gut of the establishment, defined by Edwards as heartless, money-grubbing corporations. (READ MORE)
Bill Whittle: Forty Second Boyd and the Big Picture (Part 1) - This is a story about success and failure. It is a story about Iraq, and of something much bigger than Iraq. It is, perhaps, a small look into what makes victory, and defeat. It is a tale of infantrymen, of brave soldiers in dusty alleys a world away. It is a story of generals and strategies, too. But to understand our newfound success there, to know perhaps a little of how we achieved it and most importantly, how to keep it, we need to move away from that Mesopotamian desert and those boots on the ground, and back to a different desert on the other side of the world a half century ago. For there, perhaps, a vision was vouchsafed to a most unlikely warrior priest… the kind of insight that comes perhaps once or twice in all of human history. (READ MORE)
Bill Whittle: Forty Second Boyd and the Big Picture (Part 2) - I bow to no one in my respect for the courage and integrity of the American soldier. From Bunker Hill to Missionary Ridge, from the stinking black sand of Iwo Jima to the jungles of Vietnam, these men have shown a tenacity, decency and valor unmatched in history. My respect and admiration for them all is boundless. But with that said, there have never been soldiers like the ones we have deployed today. Never. These men and women have been asked not only to be warriors, but also policemen, judges, marriage counselors, businessmen, administrators, referees, bodyguards, traffic cops, teachers and ambassadors. They deserve the very best that we as a nation can provide. That means not only material and spiritual support. It means they deserve the best leadership this country can possibly deliver. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Edwards adopts Bush’s plan - The Surge worked. U.S. troops will leave — but with their heads held high. So the big news out of the New York Times is “Edwards Calls for Pullout of Troops Training Iraqis.” And I’m supposed to get my rightwing, hard-nosed hawk underwear in a bunch over this. I’m supposed to point out that he co-sponsored the Iraqi war resolution in October 2002. I’m supposed to call him a political opportunist. Well, he is a political opportunist — and a smart one at that. But he also is supporting President Bush’s plan. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: US, UK = Russia, PRC - As surveillance-rating group fails to tell the difference. Here’s your world: Surveillance, privacy violations apparently take place in a vacuum as this survey by the US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International details how supposedly free societies have trampled human rights with public surveillance cameras, fingerprint checks at borders, monitoring of money movement, etc. Survey notes this is in part due to efforts to oppress migrant masses yearning to make megabucks. Touches briefly on institutional suppression of political rights in Russia and PRC, skirts that touchy political prisoner, murder of opposition thing. Neglects to mention repeatedly demonstrated threat of terrorism in formerly free world. (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Team Hillary doubles down on her Pakistan mistakes - I say “mistakes” because there are more than one. ABC, following Politico’s lead, only reports on Hillary’s saying that Musharraf is “on the ballot” when he’s not in fact on the ballot, having been re-elected to a third five-year term as president back in October. But that’s just one of the mistakes that Hillary made on Sunday. She also mischaracterized Benazir Bhutto’s PPP and she put Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif on the ballot to run against Musharraf. Neither Bhutto nor Sharif were running for Musharraf’s office, and Sharif couldn’t run at all because he’s a convicted felon. So both ABC and Politico don’t have the story entirely right, either. Their reporting is an inch deep on this. (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: New McCain ad: It’s the jihad, stupid - The sort of ad that the press will happily tolerate when aimed by one Republican at another, but when it’s reprised in the general against the Democrats, look out. MM told me last me night she was shocked to find that even among the anti-amnesty stalwarts of the Malkin readership, 57% are still willing to pull the lever for Maverick next year if it comes to that. Here, in 30 seconds, is why. Exit question, per the new NBC poll showing Maverick leading in NH: If Mitt gets beat by Huck in Iowa and then by Mac in New Hampshire, how long does he stay in the race? Surely at least until Michigan, where he’s still got the Romney name to run on, and probably until South Carolina, where he’ll make his last stand by flooding the state with ads. (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo @ Blackfive: Immigration- A Law not A Wall - The main objection to McCain from many on the right is his support for immigration reform that includes recognition of the fact we are not going to deport 12M people. Allah at Hot Air notes: “MM told me last me night she was shocked to find that even among the anti-amnesty stalwarts of the Malkin readership, 57% are still willing to pull the lever for Maverick next year if it comes to that.” His support for amnesty is supposed to make him apostate because any amnesty is bad. Now everyone is free to hold any opinion they want, but if the goal is to actually make our borders more secure and take control of who is in our country, then you need to look at whether your positions and tactics are helping that.” (READ MORE)
Bill Jempty: Guns don't kill people, bullets do - Apparently that is the philosophy of the TSA. As one pro golfer found out as he travelled out to Hawaii for the first event of the 2008 season. "Boo Weekley thought he might be staying home, too, although not by choice. He left his tiny town in the Florida Panhandle at the crack of dawn Friday and didn't arrive in paradise until the early morning hours Sunday. That he made it as far as Kapalua was a minor miracle, considering an oversight that showed how little golf and how much time Weekley has been spending in his beloved outdoors. Airport security found two bullets from his rifle in his carry-on bag." (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Child's Play - Over at Say Anything, my blog-chum (and sometime colleague) Rob Port discusses an encounter between Chelsea Clinton and a nine-year-old "reporter." I've made a point in the past about excluding children of politicians (hell, children in general) from the normal course of politics, but this story hits several key points. First, with all respect to my chum Rob (who's recovering from recent surgery), I don't think Chelsea Clinton was rude. She did give the kid a brush-off, but a polite one. "‘Do you think your dad would be a good “first man” in the White House?’ Sydney asked, but Chelsea brushed her question aside. ‘I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute,’ Chelsea told the pint-sized journalist.” You might make an argument for Chelsea being a bit condescending, but rude? I don't think so. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: PA “security”: Rife with terrorists - The big lie of the Palestinian “security forces” continues. That lie is the pretense that if only Mahmoud Abbas (and before him, Yasser Arafat) were allowed to use Palestinian security forces in the territories, terror would cease. The problem is, the security forces are made up of the very people that carry out terrorist attacks. This has been proven time and time again. But the evidence is continually ignored. “Two of the terrorists who shot dead off-duty IDF soldiers Cpl. Ahikam Amihai (20) and Sgt. David Ruben (21) as they were hiking near Hebron last Friday were members of Fatah’s security forces and are on the Palestinian Authority’s payroll, Israeli sources said.” (READ MORE)
Mark Steyn: The Bounty Hunters - "This is for these guys," bellowed Goldie Hawn, directing the crowd's attention to the giant fibre-glass elephant she was standing on, "these wonderful creatures in Asia that need our help." Below her, on the pavements of Knightsbridge, people nodded thoughtfully. "We are the highest of the animal kingdom," she continued. "We have a mind and heart and a conscience and this is what this is all about. We know how to help and this is what we're doing today." But at that moment the clock struck nine, Captain Peacock unbolted the door, and the mob stampeded past Goldie and her glass-fibre friend, scattering the Dixieland jazz band and the Highland pipers in the rush to be first to the china department. The 1997 Harrods sale had begun. (READ MORE)
McQ: RFID: Your privacy at risk? - One of the complaints of many civil libertarians, to include many of us on QandO, is that today’s technology and the concerns about terrorism have combined to present an opportunity, through government, to seriously compromise your privacy. For instance, Arizona, Michigan, Vermont, and Washington have added RFID chips to their driver’s licenses. If you have a US Passport, you probably already know they’re tagged with these chips. So what does that mean? Well, for the holders of those licenses, it means that someone withing a 30 foot range with the proper monitoring equipment is privy to the information contained therein. “Information contained will include name, DOB, physical characteristics, and a private identity number that will allow access to further information stored in the state’s DMV database.” (READ MORE)
lawhawk: Pandering For Votes - Pandering for votes is a politician's staple, but this shows just how foolish John Edwards truly is. He thinks that Americans will go for his latest proposal to bring home virtually all the US troops in Iraq just before the 2008 election. The number of troops needed or necessary in Iraq to fight al Qaeda and continue to support the Iraqi government - the key missions in Iraq at present - is determined by the military commanders in Iraq and General Petraeus has hit upon a winning strategy in defeating al Qaeda and squashing the insurgency with using additional troops and concentrating efforts to reduce the area in which the insurgents and al Qaeda operate. (READ MORE)
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Kenyan police battle thousands of protesters, and inspire dialogue about Bhutto and Musharraf betwee from Pros and Cons
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