Saturday, March 24, 2007
FOX News 72%
We don't trust quite as much, poll finds: "Alabama voters, according to this month's poll, also have some or a great deal of confidence in the Red Cross and other voluntary organizations (83 percent), Fox TV news (72 percent), federal programs such as Social Security (67 percent), the presidency (63 percent) and CNN cable TV news (62 percent). "
Amazing this is news.......
The Idaho Statesman - Always Idaho: "A bill to make English Idaho's official language passed the House on Monday.
The bill dictates that all official government business should be done in English, with certain exceptions for such things as education, public health and public safety.
The bill has already passed the Senate and awaits only the approval of Gov. Butch Otter, who has said he will sign it. All Treasure Valley Democrats and Caldwell Republican Bob Ring voted against the bill. "
The bill dictates that all official government business should be done in English, with certain exceptions for such things as education, public health and public safety.
The bill has already passed the Senate and awaits only the approval of Gov. Butch Otter, who has said he will sign it. All Treasure Valley Democrats and Caldwell Republican Bob Ring voted against the bill. "
Thursday, March 22, 2007
State Spending Spree - WSJ.com
State Spending Spree - WSJ.com: "Jennifer Granholm, the Democratic governor of another declining Midwestern industrial state, is also seeking a $1 billion-plus tax business tax increase to fund what she's calling her 'invest in Michigan' budget. The state, with more last jobs than any except Hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, hopes to reward businesses that invest more funds and create more jobs in Motor City by socking them with a higher tax bill."
Water on the brain | Herald Sun
Water on the brain Herald Sun: "Premier Steve Bracks has a watering can in the sink to catch the water from the hot tap while he waits for it to run warm, and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu declares: 'When I swim I take particular care not to splash.' "
Deliberately clueless on intelligence
Deliberately clueless on intelligence: "SALT LAKE City Mayor Rocky Anderson wants to impeach President Bush. In arguing that point, he asked Fox News' Bill O'Reilly Tuesday, 'Have you seen the National Intelligence Estimate that was provided in October of 2002, in which the intelligence agency under the State Department said that Iraq was not building up a nuclear capability, that this whole story about the aluminum tubes (reportedly sought by Saddam Hussein in Niger) was completely off base?'
I decided to re-read the NIE excerpts that the administration released. What does the report say? 'Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of U.N. restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.' "
I decided to re-read the NIE excerpts that the administration released. What does the report say? 'Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of U.N. restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade.' "
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Roy Spencer Oral Testimony for 19 March 2007
Roy Spencer Oral Testimony for 19 March 2007: "University of Alabama Climatologist Roy Spencer's Oral Testimony
March, 19 2007
I would like to thank the Chairman and members of the Committee for the opportunity to provide my perspective on the subject of political interference in government-funded science.
I have been performing NASA-sponsored research for the last twenty-two years.
Prior to my current position as a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, I was Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and was an employee of NASA from 1987 to 2001."
During the period of my government employment, NASA had a rule that ANY interaction between its scientists and the press was to be coordinated through NASA management and public affairs. Understandably, NASA managers do not appreciate first learning of their scientists' findings and opinions in the morning newspapers.
It was no secret within NASA that I was skeptical of the size of the human influence on global climate. My views were diametrically opposed to those of Vice President Gore, and I believe that they were considered to be a possible hindrance to NASA getting full congressional funding for Mission to Planet Earth.
So, while Dr. Hansen was freely sounding the alarm over what HE believed to be dangerous levels of human influence on the climate, I tried to follow the rules. On many occasions I avoided answering questions from the media on the subject, and instead directed reporters to John Christy, my co-worker and a university employee.
Through the management chain, I was politely told what I was allowed to say in congressional testimony. In fact, my dodging of committee questions regarding my personal opinions on the subject of global warming was considered to be quite humorous by one committee, an exchange which is now part of the congressional record.
I want to make it very clear that I am not complaining -- I am only relating these things because I was asked to. I was, and still am, totally supportive of NASA's Earth satellite missions…but I understood that my position as a NASA employee was a privilege, not a right, and that there were rules I was expected to abide by.
Partly because of those limits on what I could and couldn't say to the press and congress, I voluntarily resigned from NASA in the fall of 2001. Even though my research responsibilities to NASA have NOT changed since resigning, being a university employee gives me much more freedom than government employees have to express opinions.
So, while you might think that the political influence on our climate research program started with the Bush Administration, that simply isn't true. It has ALWAYS existed. You just never heard about it because NASA's climate science program was aligned with Vice President Gore's desire to get rid of fossil fuels.
The bias started when the U.S. climate research program was first initiated. The emphasis on studying the PROBLEM of global warming, of course, presumes that a problem exists. As a result, the funding has ALWAYS favored the finding of evidence for climate CATASTROPHE rather than for climate STABILITY.
This biased approach to the funding of science serves several goals which favor a specific political ideology:
1) It grows government science, environmental, and policy programs, which depend upon global warming remaining as much a threat as possible.
2) It favors climate researchers, who quite naturally have vested interests in careers, pet theories, and personal incomes.
3) And, it provides justification for environmental lobbying groups, whose very existence depends upon sustaining public fears of environmental disaster.
I'm NOT claiming that a global warming science program isn't needed -- It IS. We DO need to find out how much of our current warmth is human-induced, and how much we might expect in the future. I'm just pointing out that the political interference flows both ways -- but not everyone has felt compelled to complain about it.
(This concludes my oral testimony).
March, 19 2007
I would like to thank the Chairman and members of the Committee for the opportunity to provide my perspective on the subject of political interference in government-funded science.
I have been performing NASA-sponsored research for the last twenty-two years.
Prior to my current position as a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, I was Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and was an employee of NASA from 1987 to 2001."
During the period of my government employment, NASA had a rule that ANY interaction between its scientists and the press was to be coordinated through NASA management and public affairs. Understandably, NASA managers do not appreciate first learning of their scientists' findings and opinions in the morning newspapers.
It was no secret within NASA that I was skeptical of the size of the human influence on global climate. My views were diametrically opposed to those of Vice President Gore, and I believe that they were considered to be a possible hindrance to NASA getting full congressional funding for Mission to Planet Earth.
So, while Dr. Hansen was freely sounding the alarm over what HE believed to be dangerous levels of human influence on the climate, I tried to follow the rules. On many occasions I avoided answering questions from the media on the subject, and instead directed reporters to John Christy, my co-worker and a university employee.
Through the management chain, I was politely told what I was allowed to say in congressional testimony. In fact, my dodging of committee questions regarding my personal opinions on the subject of global warming was considered to be quite humorous by one committee, an exchange which is now part of the congressional record.
I want to make it very clear that I am not complaining -- I am only relating these things because I was asked to. I was, and still am, totally supportive of NASA's Earth satellite missions…but I understood that my position as a NASA employee was a privilege, not a right, and that there were rules I was expected to abide by.
Partly because of those limits on what I could and couldn't say to the press and congress, I voluntarily resigned from NASA in the fall of 2001. Even though my research responsibilities to NASA have NOT changed since resigning, being a university employee gives me much more freedom than government employees have to express opinions.
So, while you might think that the political influence on our climate research program started with the Bush Administration, that simply isn't true. It has ALWAYS existed. You just never heard about it because NASA's climate science program was aligned with Vice President Gore's desire to get rid of fossil fuels.
The bias started when the U.S. climate research program was first initiated. The emphasis on studying the PROBLEM of global warming, of course, presumes that a problem exists. As a result, the funding has ALWAYS favored the finding of evidence for climate CATASTROPHE rather than for climate STABILITY.
This biased approach to the funding of science serves several goals which favor a specific political ideology:
1) It grows government science, environmental, and policy programs, which depend upon global warming remaining as much a threat as possible.
2) It favors climate researchers, who quite naturally have vested interests in careers, pet theories, and personal incomes.
3) And, it provides justification for environmental lobbying groups, whose very existence depends upon sustaining public fears of environmental disaster.
I'm NOT claiming that a global warming science program isn't needed -- It IS. We DO need to find out how much of our current warmth is human-induced, and how much we might expect in the future. I'm just pointing out that the political interference flows both ways -- but not everyone has felt compelled to complain about it.
(This concludes my oral testimony).
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Power Line: An Enemy So Evil...
Power Line: An Enemy So Evil...: "Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday. "
Hooters doesn't fit the image of the Big Beaver corridor?
Hooters: It's last chance to settle Troy: "Hooters has sought a liquor license transfer for its new location on Big Beaver and Rochester roads. The council voted against the transfer in June, saying the restaurant doesn't fit the image of the Big Beaver corridor."
I thought water levels were supposed to go up!
Is this what AlGore ment when he said "everything that is supposed to be up is down. And everything that's supposed to be down is up"?
Great Lakes levels plunge in February: "One other possible factor: A 1960s dredging project in the St. Clair River has eroded the river bottom to twice the depth originally intended. Federal officials have estimated the project, which essentially opened a bigger drain hole in a river that lets out water from Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, has lowered water levels in those two lakes by a foot or more."
Would the liberal media lie to us?
That would NEVER happen....would it....?
Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' International News News Telegraph: "However, Prof Derocher conceded that some polar bear-related evidence of the damaging effect of global warming was misplaced.
Contrary to concern over a celebrated photograph of a bear and its cub floating on a tiny iceberg, the animals often travel in that way, he said.
'Bears will often hang out on glacier ice or large pieces of multi-year ice,' he said."
Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' International News News Telegraph: "However, Prof Derocher conceded that some polar bear-related evidence of the damaging effect of global warming was misplaced.
Contrary to concern over a celebrated photograph of a bear and its cub floating on a tiny iceberg, the animals often travel in that way, he said.
'Bears will often hang out on glacier ice or large pieces of multi-year ice,' he said."
Monday, March 19, 2007
First class journalistic laziness
Airline Moves Dead Body to 1st Class: "A first-class passenger on a flight from Delhi to London awoke find the corpse of a woman who had died in the economy cabin being placed in a seat next to him, British Airways said Monday.
The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.
The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in an empty seat near him. "
Well, what is it? Next to Mr Trinder or "near" him? Why not report "on his lap"?
At least Drudge titled the link "The Final Upgrade". Now, that's journalism!
The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.
The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in an empty seat near him. "
Well, what is it? Next to Mr Trinder or "near" him? Why not report "on his lap"?
At least Drudge titled the link "The Final Upgrade". Now, that's journalism!
What a surprise!
Throwing money at a problem doesn't fix the problem. The graph looks similar to the money vs educated kids in American public schools.
TCS Daily - An Easterly Aid Wind Blows Out of Canada: "Apparently, Canada's Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has read the CGD and IMF reports and discovered an inconvenient truth. While the Committee knew with certitude the levels of ODA that have gone into Africa, it couldn't determine their effect on the intended beneficiaries—with the sole exception that they were worse off than before.
This must mean that these same funds have found a way Out of Africa. "
Thursday, March 15, 2007
So yer a crook, eh?
WendyMcElroy.com: The transaction costs of life are soaring: "Thus, one of the first phrases that came to mind when a friend recently vented to me over the phone was 'transaction cost.' He is/was used to crossing the Canadian-US border with ease and frequency in order to visit friends and family up here. However, in January new procedures came into force by which US police and court records on American citizens are being shared with Canadian customs agents, and vice versa. My friends problem: a DUI for which he was denied entry. It didn't matter how old the DUI was nor that it was a one-time offense. A DUI is now one of the minor infractions which can cause a de facto iron curtain to fall across the Canadian-US border; other infractions include possession of marijuana (perhaps in the '70s), possession of a medical marijuana card, shoplifting, an arrest for attending a peace rally or even an ill-conceived prank. "
Monday, March 12, 2007
From bite to "bite me"?
Greenandwhite.com: McCallie issues statement following husband's arrest: "McCallie also stated she has no comment on speculation that she is a candidate for the recently opened job at the University of Florida. McCallie said she does not comment on job openings."
IMAO: Frank Facts About Fred Thompson
IMAO: Frank Facts About Fred Thompson: "Actually, the more I find out about Fred Thompson, the more I think he needs to be President. And I mean he should be President right now, like Dick Cheney should resign, President Bush should then appoint Fred Thompson to be Vice-President, and then President Bush should resign."
Galactic warming?
My Way News - Theory: Saturn Moon's Heat From Decay: "Scientists believe heat from radioactive decay inside a tiny, icy Saturn moon shortly after it formed billions of years ago may explain why geysers are erupting from the surface today."
How can this be?
We just re-elected our lady democrat governor!
State homes no longer a profitable nest egg: "Michigan was the only state in the nation to see its home prices decline in value in 2006,"
State homes no longer a profitable nest egg: "Michigan was the only state in the nation to see its home prices decline in value in 2006,"
Imagine if Berger was a GOPer and Libby was a demo?
RealClearPolitics - Articles - Berger & Libby: A Tale of Two Crimes: "Did Bill Clinton ask him to destroy documents that would make him look bad in history? I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I ask that question. But this or something very much like it seems to be the only explanation that makes sense."
Bait and switch?
MyFox Tampa Bay Restaurants promise no more fake grouper: "Three Tampa Bay-area restaurants that were passing off some other kind of fish for grouper agreed to stop doing it, "
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Scientists threatened for 'climate denial' | Uk News | News | Telegraph
Scientists threatened for 'climate denial' Uk News News Telegraph: "Scientists who questioned mankind's impact on climate change have received death threats and claim to have been shunned by the scientific community.
They say the debate on global warming has been 'hijacked' by a powerful alliance of politicians, scientists and environmentalists who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has received five deaths threats by email since raising concerns about the degree to which man was affecting climate change."
They say the debate on global warming has been 'hijacked' by a powerful alliance of politicians, scientists and environmentalists who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has received five deaths threats by email since raising concerns about the degree to which man was affecting climate change."
Amazing friut?
Interesting Banana Facts: "If you want a quick fix for flagging energy levels there's no better snack than a banana."
Gotta love the Brits
Plus Patrick J Fitzgerald shows up again.
News Review: Lord Black's downfall Uk News News Telegraph:
"He was a bog-standard multi-millionaire, living like a billionaire. Plugging the gap cost a king's ransom".......
"Radler, who did Black's dirty work for 30 years - cutting jobs, squeezing suppliers, pinching pennies - is the archetypal rodent-faced hatchet man. He liked to quote from an early 19th-century manual on industrial relations, which asserted that any study must start from the premise that all employees are 'slothful, incompetent and dishonest'.
In the end, it was Radler himself who was as bent as a nine-cent dime."
News Review: Lord Black's downfall Uk News News Telegraph:
"He was a bog-standard multi-millionaire, living like a billionaire. Plugging the gap cost a king's ransom".......
"Radler, who did Black's dirty work for 30 years - cutting jobs, squeezing suppliers, pinching pennies - is the archetypal rodent-faced hatchet man. He liked to quote from an early 19th-century manual on industrial relations, which asserted that any study must start from the premise that all employees are 'slothful, incompetent and dishonest'.
In the end, it was Radler himself who was as bent as a nine-cent dime."
Saturday, March 10, 2007
An Inconvenient Truth?
Odd, I didn't see this on TV....and TV never lies....Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study.Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' International News News Telegraph: "A survey of the animals' numbers in Canada's eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind's interference in the environment.
In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today.
'There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears,' said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals.
His findings back the claims of Inuit hunters who have long claimed that they were seeing more bears."
In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today.
'There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears,' said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals.
His findings back the claims of Inuit hunters who have long claimed that they were seeing more bears."
Friday, March 09, 2007
Ummm, tasty police officer......
This'll be helpful for the NCAA tourney.
MSU professor arrested at Sarasota airport - MSNBC.com: "Police say a Michigan State University professor bit a police officer and was arrested for assault at a Florida airport.
John Douglas McCallie and his wife, Spartans women's basketball coach Joanne McCallie, arrived at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport Wednesday afternoon."
MSU professor arrested at Sarasota airport - MSNBC.com: "Police say a Michigan State University professor bit a police officer and was arrested for assault at a Florida airport.
John Douglas McCallie and his wife, Spartans women's basketball coach Joanne McCallie, arrived at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport Wednesday afternoon."
Why the global warming "science"?
A major reason is moolah. Government, or more accurately taxpayer, funding for grant funds.
OpinionJournal - Extra: "But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis."
The author is Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.
OpinionJournal - Extra: "But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis."
The author is Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.
Media bias?
"We don't need no stinkin' bias!"
The Muskegon Chronicle offered as their "proof of non-bias" the fact that they endorsed a similar number of demos and GOPers in the last election. Conveniently ignoring that they almost always endorse incumbents and Ottawa county had no democrat incumbents. Sophistry is the game.
When Anger Breeds Complacency
An interesting exchange from an interview on PBS's "Frontline" with Len Downie, executive editor of the Washington Post:
Every person we speak with who would identify themselves [sic] as a conservative journalist says: "Bias? If you think we're biased, look at The Washington Post, that liberal newspaper."
All I can say is that people just need to read us and then decide whether we're liberal or not. We're an independent newspaper. We have a strict separation, between the editorial page--which, last I heard, is a supporter, for instance, of the Iraq war and considered by many liberals to be rather conservative--and our news gathering.
In our news gathering, we seek to be strictly nonpartisan and nonideological. We're human beings, we make mistakes, but we do not set out to be, nor do I think we are, liberal. And judging from my e-mail traffic in recent years, the left is much more critical, and much more angrily critical, of our coverage than the right has been.
The implication of that last comment is that because the left is angrier than the right with the Post, the Post must not be biased toward the left. But this is a non sequitur. It seems to us more likely that (a) the Post is biased toward the left, but not biased enough to satisfy the Angry Left, (b) the left is angrier at this moment than the right is.
But note how the Angry Left's anger bolsters Downie's complacency: Both left and right accuse the Post of bias, therefore the Post must not be biased. We've long argued that the liberal media ill-serve liberal politicians by reflecting rather than challenging their prejudices (see this article, for example). By making it easier for journalists to deny that they are biased, the Angry Left may be exacerbating this problem.
The Muskegon Chronicle offered as their "proof of non-bias" the fact that they endorsed a similar number of demos and GOPers in the last election. Conveniently ignoring that they almost always endorse incumbents and Ottawa county had no democrat incumbents. Sophistry is the game.
When Anger Breeds Complacency
An interesting exchange from an interview on PBS's "Frontline" with Len Downie, executive editor of the Washington Post:
Every person we speak with who would identify themselves [sic] as a conservative journalist says: "Bias? If you think we're biased, look at The Washington Post, that liberal newspaper."
All I can say is that people just need to read us and then decide whether we're liberal or not. We're an independent newspaper. We have a strict separation, between the editorial page--which, last I heard, is a supporter, for instance, of the Iraq war and considered by many liberals to be rather conservative--and our news gathering.
In our news gathering, we seek to be strictly nonpartisan and nonideological. We're human beings, we make mistakes, but we do not set out to be, nor do I think we are, liberal. And judging from my e-mail traffic in recent years, the left is much more critical, and much more angrily critical, of our coverage than the right has been.
The implication of that last comment is that because the left is angrier than the right with the Post, the Post must not be biased toward the left. But this is a non sequitur. It seems to us more likely that (a) the Post is biased toward the left, but not biased enough to satisfy the Angry Left, (b) the left is angrier at this moment than the right is.
But note how the Angry Left's anger bolsters Downie's complacency: Both left and right accuse the Post of bias, therefore the Post must not be biased. We've long argued that the liberal media ill-serve liberal politicians by reflecting rather than challenging their prejudices (see this article, for example). By making it easier for journalists to deny that they are biased, the Angry Left may be exacerbating this problem.
Did you know?
from an e-mail
Did you know???
I didn't know!
How could we?
Did you know that 47 countries' have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?
Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?
Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?
Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?
They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!
WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?
OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!
Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes:
It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support, and
It is intended to discourage American citizens.
---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.
http://www.defenselink.mil/
.....Pass it on! Give it a Wide circulation
I didn't know!
How could we?
Did you know that 47 countries' have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?
Did you know that the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?
Did you know that 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?
Did you know that Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?
Did you know that 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?
Did you know that the Iraqi Navy is operational?
They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
Did you know that Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control) which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?
Did you know that Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
Did you know that the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
Did you know that there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
Did you know there are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
Did you know that 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
Did you know that 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
Did you know that there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
Did you know that Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
Did you know that the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW!
WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW?
OUR MEDIA WOULDN'T TELL US!
Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves two purposes:
It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support, and
It is intended to discourage American citizens.
---- Above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site.
http://www.defenselink.mil/
.....Pass it on! Give it a Wide circulation
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Could Edwards Become First Woman President? - March 8, 2007 - The New York Sun
Could Edwards Become First Woman President? - March 8, 2007 - The New York Sun: "Compared to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Edwards is short an ‘X' chromosome, but listening to Ms. Michelman, that is easy to forget. 'As a lawyer, as a senator, as a husband, as a father of two daughters, he understands the reality of women's lives. He understands the centrality of women's lives and experience to the health and well-being of society as a whole. … He understands that on an extremely personal level,' she said."
IBD Editorials: Ethanol Hypocrites
IBD Editorials: Ethanol Hypocrites: "President Bush has long been blasted by the left as big oil's tool, indifferent to alternative energy. Now that he's got a big plan to develop ethanol with Brazil, the left hates ethanol. Who needs this?"
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