Dennys Funny Quotes: 3 Funny Videos: Jon Stewart At Not War, Obama Defends Libya War

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Dennys Funny Quotes: 3 Funny Videos: Jon Stewart At Not War, Obama Defends Libya War: "Jon Stewart sure keeps this White House on their toes. Actually, he agrees with the President on going into Libya for the most part. But, being a comedian, it's his patriotic duty to lampoon politics wherever and whenever possible. These video clips are Stewart's response to when Obama and the coalition began bombing Gadafi to gain air superiority, establishing the No-Fly Zone."

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 19 Sept 2010

*** Check out news, political opinion, political humor and funny cartoons, recipes, poetry, funny posts, photography, science news, spiritual thoughts and great quotes.





From Denny: Am I'm busy playing "catch up" with all these posts in draft form - after 10 days off line, changing internet providers. :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!


The Social Poets:

Economy, World Politics, BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 18 Sept 2010 - Check out what the cartoonists think this week about the American economy, world and American politics and villainous BP's oil spill aftermath.

Waking The Day poem - Libations Friday 17 Sept 2010 - When the day - and I - awaken, present in the moment.

Obamas Popularity, Polls Roundup of American Opinion - 16 Sept 2010 - Check out this week's polling of Americans from the President's approval rating, tax cuts, anti-Muslim feelings to frustration with our politicians.

Good Move, Mr. Prez: Safeguarding The Gulf on Oil Production - Today the President took new measures to watch dog the oil and gas industry, increasing the safety of our environment.

Roundup of Late Night Funnies - 14 Sept 2010 - Catch up on the latest comedic musings and amusements from Colbert, Stewart and late night show jokes, funny video clips and newest cartoons before they post for the week at other sites.

Funny Video: Stewart Mocks Gov. Jan Brewer Fiasco, Wonders Why Dems Are Lame - One of the best political critics around, Jon Stewart wonders why the Democrats just can't seem to win against inept lying Republicans.

Funny Video: Colbert Mocks Beck On His Restore Honor Rally - Only Colbert has the truthful tongue to whiplash Glenn Beck's bizarre arrogance with just the right touch of comedic art and campy irreverence.

Funny Video: Letterman and Olbermann Laugh at Republican 2012 Contenders - and Beck - Letterman and Olbermann suggest unlikely crazy Republican possibilities for the 2012 Presidential season.

Funny Video: Letterman Teases Obama For Frequent Vacations - Irreverent comic Letterman chides both Tiger Woods and Prez Obama for their ideas of relaxation.

Funny Video: Jon Stewart Mocks Florida Pastor Behind Planned Koran Bonfire - Comic Jon Stewart wasted no time in analyzing the Burn a Koran Day incident that had the entire world in an uproar from every religious corner.

Who Will Be Prez Obamas Next Chief of Staff? - Check out the leading contenders who can make or break the Democratic agenda.

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 12 Sept 2010 - Check out news, political opinion, political humor and funny cartoons, recipes, poetry, funny posts, photography, spiritual thoughts and great quotes.







Beautiful Illustrated Quotations:


7 Thoughtful Quotes About The Future - Enjoy these reflections upon how we think about our future.

A Healing Spiritual Poem: Waking The Day - Spiritual symbolism is all around us in our daily life, ready to help heal and balance.







Dennys Funny Quotes:


22 Funny Situational Hunh?! Cartoons - 18 Sept 2010 - Check out the funny twisted minds of cartoonists as they envision various life situations.

Republican Tea Party of the Devil: Meet Satanist Christine ODonnell - Tea Party Delaware Senate nominee admits to practicing witchcraft and Satanism.








Visual Insights:


Koran Book Burning, September 11th Cartoons - 18 Sept 2010 - Check out what the nation's cartoonists had to say about the Burn a Koran Day call from a Florida pastor who eventually backed down from his threat.

Dennys Photo Gallery: Our Mysterious Moon - The moon continues to fascinate humanity - and creative photographers.







Dennys Food and Recipes:


5 Easy Game Day Recipes For A Barbecue - Simple crowd pleasing recipes, easy to make, for your successful tailgating on game day weekends.

Cake Tuesday: Lemon Cheese-Filled Cake - Check out what heavenly confection you can do with a simple cake mix.







The Soul Calendar:


Mapping Our Complex Brains: Human Connectome Project - Fascinating new project mapping the complex circuitry of our brains.


*** Coffee photo by Quoquo @ flickr



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The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

Spies Among Us, Scumbag Congress Denies Food to Children of Unemployed - News Headlines 29 June 2010

*** Spies play games in America and scumbag Congress denies extension of unemployment benefits to desperate jobless in America.





Lucky Gen. McChrystal

From Denny: Gen. McChrystal is toast and was forced to retire. Lucky him that the President is such a decent guy. McChrystal would not have done the same for him if their roles had been reversed. Let's hope the general gets it and appreciates it over the years, not mistaking kindness for weakness.

The President made it possible to override Army regulations and helped McChrystal retire at four star status. Technically, he did not have enough time on the job to quality for retiring at the four star level. The four star level pension sure pays out a helluva lot better than the three star level. He should take this huge gift, shut up and disappear as quickly as he can before the President changes his mind.

Russian spies finally hauled in after FBI watches them for decade

Since I grew up in the American intelligence community I always get a good laugh when "the other side's" spies are found to be operating in our midst. Just like now, usually the FBI and the CIA have had tabs on them for some time. In this case, it's been over a decade of watching these bumbling Russian spies.

The media keeps asking the obvious questions like "They had no direct access to any high level information. What did Russia hope to gain? After all, they could find out all the information they wanted about President Obama's trips by Google search on the internet."

Of course, what the American media is missing is duh, the obvious. The Russian media is state owned and state run propaganda. In a word, the Russian intelligence community does not believe the media to be telling the truth. So, their inept old school handlers wanted these family spies to verify the American media information as truthful or not. The Russian handlers figured if their spies lived in America they would come to relate to and understand the American mindset and know if information was true as told.

This pathetic former Cold War spy ring really comes across as the last gasp of the Old Russia that just couldn't let go of their paranoid ways. These guys always were the ultimate control freaks so none of this surprises me. In the end, it all comes down to trust, of which the Russians have none. That's how their society has worked for decades, on fear and mistrust. In their minds, surely nothing could be as simple as doing a Google search. Earth to Russia: yes, it is.

OK, I've laughed enough at this one, moving along...

BP oil spill disaster and scummy corporate deeds

Oh, goodie, BP is now taking money out of the claims fund to funnel to their BP gas station owners because of the boycotts against BP. So now BP gas station owners are victims? You have got to be kidding me. BP should be paying them out of another fund and not the one for the fishermen and other business owners. Yet more scummy doings from the BP crowd.

As it is, they play games with the claims process even after Ken Feinberg got involved. Everything they do is arbitrary and delay, delay, delay for as long as they can until they get caught and profiled on some news story. Then they go into public relations over drive and churn out the glossy expensive New York ads to the tune of "me thinks thou dost protest too much."

Car sales plummet do to job loss

GM auto sales nosedived by 13 percent from last year when they were in the tubes. That is what happens when you take taxpayer stimulus money, claim to pay it back but actually just took another form of a taxpayer loan from the Federal Reserve, and then had the audacity to fire 5,000 employees. They sent those jobs overseas so obviously they still needed the work to be done. They were just too cheap to pay American workers. And these guys still think American's owe them brand loyalty? What drugs are they smoking?

Unemployment benefits denied by Congress who goes on holiday

The biggest shocker this week was Congress refusing to extend unemployment benefits to the millions of desperate people out there. Bankruptcies are way up as are home foreclosures. You can't keep squeezing people and the politicians think they will not pay some kind of price for their cruelty.

The American public is in an ugly mood and no longer mollified by inspiring words of hope or empty words about how this denial is good for the deficit. Try telling that to a hungry three year old crying because she can only eat one meal a day. Yeah, this is the same Congress that took away breakfast and lunch at America's public schools. Talk about people who will be burning in hell for eternity for such depraved indifference to the suffering of little children.


Financial Reform Deal in Doubt

House Rejects Unemployment Benefits Extension
Amid GOP Concerns About Debt and Deficit, House Vote on Extending Unemployment Benefits Fails; Another Vote Expected

Drilling Moratorium Costing Gulf Docks Business
BP Compensation Fund Not Likely to Cover Costs of Expected Losses if Obama Deepwater Moratorium Becomes Permanent

BP Meets U.S. Deadline for Oil Spill Payments
Oil Company Has Paid Gov't About $71 Million for Costs Associated With Cleanup

BP Tosses Lifeline to Gas Stations, Group Says
Energy Giant to Give up to $70M Local Stations, Suppliers Struggling Due to Boycotts, According to Industry Group

Moscow: Suspected Spies Include Russian Citizens
But Russia Urges Restraint, Insists Alleged Spies Did Nothing to Hurt U.S. Interests; State Department Plays Down Fallout

U.S. Officials Play Down U.S.-Russia Spy Fallout
White House, Pentagon Play Down Political Ramifications of Spy Ring Arrests; Obama Declines to Comment

Ex-KGB: Russia May Have 50 Spy Couples in U.S.
Cold War Defector Oleg Gordievsky Says Alleged Spy Ring May Extend Well Beyond Those Arrested

White House: McChrystal to Retire with 4 Stars
Ousted General Will Be Allowed to Retire as a Four Star General Despite Serving in that Position for Less Than a Year

A Good General Is Not Enough
Thomas Joscelyn: Winning in Afghanistan Will also Require Pressure on Pakistan.

Kagan Calm, Poised at Hearings - but Questions Linger

Cynicism in the Supreme Court Hearings
Ari Melber: Knocking Kagan’s Experience, the Republican Attack May Backfire

Auto Sales Slowing as Americans Doubt Recovery
Automakers Expected to Report Sales Decline Between 9.5 Percent, 12 Percent from May to June Later This Week


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The Social Poets
Dennys Global Politics
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Visual Insights
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations
Poems From A Spiritual Heart
The Healing Waters
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Russia Furious With America Over Afghan Drugs, Terrorism Financing Un-Islamic, White House Food - News Headlines 19 May 2010

*** Russia Furious With America Over Afghan Drugs, Terrorism Financing Un-Islamic, White House Food - News Headlines 19 May 2010




From Denny: Seems like everyone is angry at Prez Obama these days - even the Russians. Sounds like they good reason too. America just can't win this drug war in Afghanistan without the cooperation of the Afghan people. As a result, the drug dealers have gone across the border into Russian territory, peddling their crime. Russia has enough to deal with considering the huge Russian mob factor as a parallel government to the official one. Russia is pressuring NATO to get serious and put some teeth into prosecuting a drug war effort to prevent cheap heroin from escaping over the borders, plaguing their country.

On another front, the Saudi Arabian monarchy seems eager to please the American government by declaring the funding of terrorism to be un-Islamic. Like the terrorists are actually going to take that seriously. Even the people of Saudi Arabia don't take it seriously and just roll their eyes at their monarchy. If the war of terrorism is going to succeed then countries like Saudi Arabia have to get serious and start executing those who fund terrorism at home and abroad. Until they do violence will continue unabated. It's really in the best interests of Saudi Arabia's government and monarchy to survive to deal with terrorists before they take down their government.

And the folks running the SEC are as tone deaf and clueless as ever. They claim to have some security fixes to prevent more wild cards like the last 1,000 point crash. Yet they claim they also still don't understand exactly what happened. Would it not go to logic that if you don't understand the process of how a crash came to be that you would not also not know how to put in place a firewall to prevent it? Somebody fire these incompetent government employees. How many are former Bush appointees set in place to sabotage the Democrats?

As to the Iran uranium swap with Turkey, Christian Science Monitor, who does some of the more detailed straight forward agenda-less news writing these days, had a detailed story about this international mess with Iran provoking the United Nations over nukes.

Check it out that our own American chef, a huge promoter of Mexican cuisine, turned out to be the chef of the hour at the White House when Mexico's President visited for the State Dinner. Talk about pressure for the chef! See what Rick Bayless chose to serve the visiting Mexican head of state. It sure wasn't Taco Bell fare. :)





Moscow furious, says US not pushing drug war in Afghanistan (CSMonitor)

Moscow's new drug czar, Viktor Ivanov, claims Russia is being flooded with cheap heroin and charges that the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan are reluctant to pursue a drug war that could drive poppy farmers into the arms of the Taliban.


*** Click on the story link for the rest of the article.





Saudi Arabia religious leaders call terrorism financing un-Islamic (CSMonitor)

A government-appointed council of senior religious scholars in Saudi Arabia condemned terrorism financing and said it is forbidden by Islamic law.

Saudi Arabia’s top religious leaders have condemned terrorism financing as forbidden by Islamic law, giving added religious weight and potentially larger punishments to existing civil statutes.


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.





SEC unveils 'flash crash' fixes, but Dow plunge still mysterious (CSMonitor)

A report on the May 6 stock market 'flash crash' released by regulators Tuesday is thin on answers for why the Dow took a 1,000-point dive.

Regulators have issued a long report on the May 6 "flash crash" in stocks, but much of it boils down to this: We still don't know what happened. (There's a PDF file of the report if you click on the title link.)

The two agencies that oversee key US financial exchanges said several steps are being pursued or considered to reduce the risk of such crashes, including new "circuit breakers" when individual stocks become unusually volatile.


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.






Rick Bayless brings Mexico to the White House kitchen, by way of Chicago (CSMonitor)

Chicago chef Rick Bayless is a Decoder favorite, and Wednesday night he'll feed Obama and Mexico President Felipe Calderón at a White House state dinner.

How do you get to be the guest chef at a White House state dinner? Easy – run popular restaurants in the president’s home town......

It’s an unenviable task, really. Think about it – a US-born cook whipping up Mexican food for a powerful Mexican native. If President Obama went to Mexico, would they get the best US-style chef in the country to cook burgers and apple pie? It would be hard to top what Obama can get at home........


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.






Iran nuclear fuel swap deal: What it involves, and how it will affect US push for sanctions (CSMonitor)

The Iran nuclear fuel swap deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil, was cast by many as a confidence-building measure. But Iran would still continue enriching uranium, in defiance of the UN Security Council.


Tehran has agreed to ship the bulk of its enriched uranium to Turkey, in an Iran nuclear fuel swap brokered by Brazil and Turkey that is certain to complicate American efforts to impose new United Nations sanctions on Iran.

Under the deal, Iran would ship 1,200 kg (2,640 lbs) of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey, where it would be held. In exchange, it would be entitled to 120 kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent for its medical reactor, likely to be provided by France and Russia.........


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.





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Those Funny Mothers Day Quotes and Trivia

From Denny: Check out the sampling from one of many funny posts just in time to enjoy for Mothers Day! From the latest Mothers Day cartoons to funny facts about Mothers Day traditions around the world to funny quotes from mothers and about mothering to laugh out loud "how you know you are a mother when..."

See Cartoons by Cartoon by David Fitzsimmons - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

Check this out on the way to facts about Mothers Day:

So when do they think the first celebrations of a Mother's Day were honored? As with so many traditions it goes back to ancient Greece where that culture celebrated the Mother of the Gods, Rhea. Their version of the perfect mother received gifts of cakes made with the sweetest honey, lovely flowers and drinks at dawn. Sounds pretty good to me. Make my drink a Margarita on the rocks with Silver Patron Tequila - though I'm not so sure alcoholic drinks were on that Mother's Day menu. :)

Well, we all know you can't talk "ancient" without bringing up the ancient Egyptians into the conversation. They honored the glorious goddess Isis because she was celebrated as the Mother of the Pharaohs - and we all know it's good PR to talk good about the government when getting your head cut off is at stake.

Speaking of an ancient culture, the Chinese are rather sentimental about how they celebrate motherhood. The tradition with them is that their family name often begins with the character for the word "mother." It's the way they like to honor their ancestral mothers who brought their line into this world.





You Know You Are Really A Mom When...

* You want to take out a contract on the kid who broke your child's favorite toy and made them cry.

* You consider finger paint to be a controlled substance.

* You mastered the art of placing food on a plate without anything touching.

* Your child insists that you read "Once upon a Potty" out loud in the lobby of the doctor's office and you do it.





My Mother Taught Me...

To Value A Job Well Done: If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.

Time Travel: If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!

Logic: Because I said so, that's why.


*** Make sure to pay a visit to The Mother Post for the full post and all the funny links from several other Mothers Day posts to enjoy:

Funny Mothers Day Quotes and Trivia - Cheeky Quote Day 28 Apr 2010


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Worlds Nuke Security, Attacking Glenn Beck, Unsafe Meats, More Nuke Plants in America, Boy Scouts Penalized 4 Abuse - News Headlines 13 Apr 2010

From Denny: America and the world have to start the process of a collective coordinated effort to tighten up the access to the world's most dangerous weapons. This summit is a good beginning but will require constant vigilance and participation from the policing and intelligence units of all countries - a real logistical nightmare. You certainly cannot rely upon the United Nations for coordination or troops because of terrorist countries usually on - or in control of - key posts that would be vital to curtailing terrorist interests.


Leaders Pledge To Improve Security Of Nuclear Stocks: (NPR) President Obama warned world leaders gathered at an international security summit in Washington on Tuesday that it would be a catastrophe if they failed to act decisively to keep nuclear weapons from terrorists.

"Two decades after the end of the Cold War, we face a cruel irony of history," Obama said. "The risk of a nuclear confrontation between nations has gone down, but the risk of nuclear attack has gone up."

The president underscored the danger of nuclear materials in the hands of terrorist groups: "Just the smallest amount of plutonium, about the size of an apple, could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people," he said...

The two-day summit closed Tuesday, with rulers from 47 nations attending. At a news conference at the end of the day, the president said he was confident China will cooperate on possible new sanctions aimed at getting Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions...

Obama said that the new sanctions would make it easier to isolate Iran, as the global community had done for North Korea as it continued to develop nuclear weapons...

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu added more uncertainty, saying that "pressure and sanctions cannot fundamentally solve" the dispute. She added that Beijing supports a "dual-track strategy" combining diplomacy with the possibility of international sanctions against Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday that China's comments did not confirm the U.S. statement, nor did it mean Beijing would cooperate with Washington "in any kind of unjust action" against Iran.

Great Britain, France and Germany have firmly backed sanctions, while Russia has indicated a willingness to join in the effort.

Obama opened the two-day Nuclear Security Summit after rounds of meetings with selected leaders of the 47 countries gathered to discuss ways of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and keeping bomb-making materials and technology out of the hands of terrorist organizations...




Laser Nuclear Technology Might Pose Security Risk: (NPR) World leaders have gathered in Washington to talk about how to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. The discussions are mainly about keeping actual weapons, and weapons-grade material, under strict control.

Some researchers are also concerned about the spread of a new technology that could make it much easier to secretly refine uranium for bombs.

Right now, the technology to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons is big and cumbersome. Typically, countries build enormous centrifuge plants.

And Francis Slakey, a physicist at Georgetown University, says it's relatively easy to catch wind of a project like that.

"If someone's trying to build a covert plant to enrich uranium, they're going to have to move a lot of dirt," Slakey says. "We're going to see that with our satellites. They're going to have to feed it a lot of power. So we're either going to see power lines going in, we're going to see the construction of a dedicated power plant. Or maybe it's going to even just glow, and our infrared sensors can pick it up."

Slakey is nervous about a new technology that's been developed to enrich uranium. It's intended to make fuel for nuclear power plants — but it could be used for weapons, too. This technology uses lasers to separate out the desired isotope of uranium...

But the downside is that a laser-based enrichment plant can be much smaller and use much less electricity. And that could make a clandestine operation much harder to detect, he says.

"That's the worry — things are starting to get so small and so efficient that it's below the detection limit," Slakey says. "Which creates an enormous proliferation challenge."

More than a dozen nations have tried at one time or another to develop laser enrichment technologies, Slakey says. Most gave up, but an Australian company called Silex has apparently succeeded...

"There's been a number of different technologies to enrich uranium," Slakey says. "Every single one of them — despite best efforts to keep secrets — every single one of them has proliferated."




Well, France is nothing but an entire country of nuclear power plants all over the landscape and the populace has adjusted to it. I'm still not thrilled to see America go nuclear for the nation's energy needs when two things are still not resolved: proper security against terrorism, both international and domestic, and, the issue of finding effective inexpensive ways to reprocess the spent fuel.

As in this story, here we go again with the taxpayer getting no say in the matter of risking our funds for unsuccessful projects known for a high failure rate. Why should we guarantee another "too big to fail" group of projects?

Government May Support Nuclear Power's Comeback: (NPR) President Obama is turning his attention to energy. Recently he allowed new drilling for oil and gas along American coastlines. And he's agreed to subsidize new nuclear power plants.

Besides satisfying demands for more energy, these actions could help the president win votes for a new climate and energy bill pending in Congress. But restarting the nuclear power industry — which has been treading water for 30 years — won't be easy.

The threat of global warming might be the best thing to happen to nuclear energy. For three decades, no one built a new plant in the U.S., though some have been built abroad. Now nuclear looks better because it doesn't emit greenhouse gases that warm the planet.

But nuclear power still scares lots of banks and investors. Leslie Kass, director of business policy at the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute, gives two reasons.

"One would be some of the unknowns, because we haven't built here in 30 years," Kass says. "And they want to watch the licensing process work and they want to prove us at our word that we can replicate what's happened overseas."

And No. 2 would be the cost. Kass says American utility companies tend to be smaller than their foreign counterparts. They don't have as much cash, so they have to borrow more. And the typical nuclear project runs about $10 billion, give or take.

"Once you start borrowing almost as much as your net worth, you get penalized by the rating agencies," she says. "Your rating goes down and then your access to capital, the cost of that goes up."

So the Department of Energy is offering a carrot to investors. If a nuclear project goes belly up, the government will pay them back — up to 80 percent of their financial loss.

Kass and DOE say this will help kick-start the industry.

But groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense and environmental organizations say taxpayers are getting a raw deal here. Nuclear projects elsewhere have gone belly up or way over budget.

A congressional study in 2003 said a 50 percent failure rate for nuclear projects isn't an unreasonable estimate. The U.S. industry says it's actually far less than that. But no one knows for sure.

So the government now says it will offer something more to encourage investors to part with their cash: It will make the utilities and developers first pay an upfront fee.

"[The fee will] account for the risk to the federal government that the nuclear developer defaults on the loan," says Richard Caperton, a policy analyst with the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C.

But calculating the fee is the tricky part.

The industry proposes 1 percent of the loan guarantee. So for a typical project, a developer might pay an upfront fee of $80 million. If the project dies, the taxpayer would be responsible for the rest of the loss, which would very likely run several billion dollars.

Caperton and other analysts say 1 percent is too low. He recommends developers pay a 10 percent fee, or $800 million for a typical project.

This may be more than any utility can afford to pay.

"It seems unlikely to me that they'd be able to get any sort of low-risk financing for the $800 million," Caperton says. "You can see where it becomes a big problem."

So right now, the future of the nuclear industry hangs in part on what DOE and utilities decide that fee will be.

Even if the fee is acceptable, nuclear developers can't depend on government help for long. DOE says it's just for the first few projects. Then the industry will have to swim on its own.

Nuclear analyst Matthew Bunn at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government says it'll have to be a long swim for nuclear power to slow global warming. Right now, he says, only four new nuclear plants are built every year worldwide.

"We have to shift from that to something like 25 every year from now until 2050," Bunn says, "if we want to provide, say, even say 10 percent of the carbon-free energy that's going to be needed to address the climate change problem."

Bunn says that kind of building spree, at least in the U.S., isn't likely. But Charles Forsberg, an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says what's important is just getting nuclear power back on its feet.





This headline should be rewritten as Depraved Indifference of Boy Scouts Toward Abused Children...

Boy Scouts of America Found Negligent in Landmark Sex Abuse Case: (ABC) Former Scouts Claimed Were Abused for Years While Organization Stood By.

An Oregon jury found the Boy Scouts of America and the local scout chapter negligent today in a landmark case that accused the iconic organization of covering up alleged sexual abuse of several of its boy scouts for years.

The nine-member jury ordered the organization to pay $1.4 million in damages, and will now move into a punitive phase that could result in the Boy Scouts of America paying a penalty that could reach $25 million. That decision is not expected for weeks.

In a written statement, the Boy Scouts of America said that they are "gravely disappointed with the verdict."

"We believe that the allegations made against our youth protection efforts are not valid. We intend to appeal," read the statement...





*** ABC often has problems with their embedded videos, just click on the title link.





There is still a whole lot of living in tents going on in this island nation since the January earthquake. The Haitians seem to be keeping a good sense of humor in the face of this adversity and upheaval, working hard to rebuild their lives. I'm glad to see the First and Second Ladies present to encourage them and let them know America has not forgotten them. It's also a reminder to the rest of the world to keep coming to Haiti and sending help to rebuild and restore.


First Lady: Still 'So Much to Do' in Haiti: (ABC) Michelle Obama Says Visit Comes as Global Attention Starts to Wane.

Michelle Obama said it was evident in her short visit to Haiti today that there is still "so much to do" to get the country back on its feet after January's devastating earthquake.

Michelle Obama tours Haiti, aiming to highlighting U.S. commitment to region.

Obama, on the first stop of her first solo trip out of the United States as first lady, said it was important to come now because Haiti has reached a point when "the relief efforts are under way but the attention of the world starts to wane a bit."

"In order for Haiti to get back to where it needs to be, it's going to take the world continuing to invest, to partner, to show that sense of compassion," she said at the United Nations logistics center in Port-au-Prince.

The first lady said the relief efforts in Haiti have been more than just a U.S. effort, but a global effort.

"America has been a leader, but it has not been the only leader, by any close margin," she said.

Asked if she felt the aid money that Americans have contributed is actually reaching the Haitian people, Obama said yes.

"By all accounts, the Haitian people are very happy with the relief efforts," the first lady said. "Still, accountability is key. And, you know, I know that the governments are going to continue to work together.

"But I think that my sense is the Haitian people feel a deep appreciation for what the world has done, that's for sure," she said...





Oh, this is an interesting comeback to the loud and bizarre entertainment crowd the Republicans hire to fire up the airwaves... What took the progressives so long? Have they finally heard my lone voice crying in the wilderness? After all, there is only so much one prophet can do to get the attention of the people and be heard. :) Sooner or later more voices need to join in and push back against lies and distortions of the truth.


Countering the 'Glenn Beck Effect': (ABC) Progressive Leaders Say Fox News Anchor Distorts Meaning of 'Social Justice.'

Fox News host Glenn Beck has been targeting liberals for years but labor unions and other progressive groups are beginning to fight back.

"We are working to counter the Glenn Beck effect and turn anger into action for real change," said AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka during a Wednesday speech at Harvard University.

Trumka's speech, which was delivered to Harvard's Institute of Politics, suggested that Beck was one of the forces in the country who is working to "convert justifiable anger about an economy that only seems to work for a few of us into racist and homophobic hate and violence directed at our President and heroes like Congressman John Lewis."

The head of the AFL-CIO is not alone in trying to counter Beck.

Last month, the 2.2-million member Service Employees International Union began pressuring Beck's advertisers to "stop supporting his dangerous brand of crazy."

"Beck's irresponsible comparisons of progressive leaders to Stalin, Mao and Nazi Germany cannot be dismissed as merely silly or stupid," wrote SEIU Director of Strategic Affairs Michelle Ringuette in an e-mail to the union's supporters. "This kind of rhetoric can instigate unbalanced individuals into committing rash and violent acts. And if Fox News wants to continue giving him a platform to spread hate, they should not profit from it."

The SEIU e-mail asked its supporters to add their names to the letter being sent to Beck's advertisers.

applying pressure to Fox News.

On Thursday, after the mother of Gregory Giusti -- the man arrested for allegedly threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., life over health care reform -- said that Fox News was a factor in her son's alleged actions, Eric Burns, the president of Media Matters, issued a statement denouncing that the tactics of Fox News.

"The violent language and scare tactics we see on Fox News every day have real consequences," Burns said. "This is a network that ran a 14-month campaign against health care reform, which left their viewers confused and angry. The question is, now that one of those viewers has allegedly threatened Speaker Pelosi's life over health care reform, is Fox News going to do anything about it?"

launched a 24-hour "Twitterstorm" against Beck after he urged listeners of his radio program to leave churches that speak of "social justice."

The "Twitterstorm" entailed tweeting thousands of haikus to Beck's Twitter account in protest of his effort to tie the social justice concept to communism and Nazism...





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OK, guys, if you are a big steak eater then be warned about the serious heavy metal contaminants possibly in your favorite meat. Oh, thank you, George Bush for under funding and breaking all the agencies who used to safeguard our food supply in America. "May the food poisoning be with you" as Lady Karma hitchhikes on your back for your next visit to a steak house.


Weak Regulation Means Tainted Beef on U.S. Plates: (ABC) USDA Report Urges Greater Government Effort to Limit Contaminants in Meat.

The government is doing too little to ensure that the beef Americans eat is uncontaminated by "residual veterinary drugs, pesticides and heavy metals," according to an audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's inspector general.

The findings appear in a report issued March 25. Among the recommendations of the report is a call for better coordination among the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure the safety of the country's meat supply.

"We found that the national residue program is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for harmful residues," the report concluded. "Together, FSIS, FDA, and EPA have not established thresholds for many dangerous substances (e.g., copper or dioxin), which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce."

The report continued, "Additionally, FSIS does not attempt to recall meat, even when its tests have confirmed the excessive presence of veterinary drugs."

At the heart of the problem, according to the report, is that while FSIS inspectors may be able to detect contaminants in meat before it is released to the market, the lack of guidelines on potentially toxic substances prevents a recall. Such guidelines for pesticides and other chemicals would fall under the purview of the EPA, while limits for antibiotics used in the cattle industry would be the responsibility of the FDA.

The report cited one example of the problem. In 2008, Mexican authorities rejected a shipment of U.S. beef because it contained copper in excess of Mexico's tolerances. But upon the meat's return, the FSIS had no way to prevent the meat from being distributed in the United States because the FDA has no guidelines for copper levels in meat...





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This is humorous and actually useful information too!


Your Chances of Getting Bumped (and Dating Supermodels): (ABC) Flying Today Can Lead to Lost Luggage and Other Mishaps, but What are the Odds?

Yes, I will get to the part about the supermodels shortly, but first, let's talk flying -- and specifically, your odds of getting bumped from a plane.

In a word, the chances of this happening are "slim." But it varies from airline to airline, and thanks to a wonderful Web site called "Book of Odds" I can tell you which carriers are the best and worst when it comes to bumping, based on 2008 data.

You know what bumping is: that ugly event that occasionally occurs when your airline oversells its seats to avoid the no-shows. Usually, gate agents start out asking for volunteers who get a sweetener such as a $100 voucher (or more) for future travel; if that doesn't work, the bumping becomes "involuntary." In other words, you're the poor sap who gets kicked off the flight.

For more air travel news and insights visit Rick's blog at: http://farecompare.com.

It is rare, though -- the chances it'll happen to you involuntarily are about 1 in 10,040 (though the chances of getting bumped when you combine voluntarily and involuntarily drop to 1 in 872). Still, it pays to know your rights: involuntary bumpees now get paid as much as $800 for the inconvenience...


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USAs New Weapon Global Strike, U.S.-Russia Nuke Deal, Who Does Not Pay Taxes in America, U.S. Kill Order 4 Cleric - News Headlines 8 Apr 2010

From Denny: This little unintended surprise turned out to be a national security exercise that turned out quite well. Various government agencies worked hand in glove to solve the problem and quickly.

Air scare diplomat was to meet jailed terrorist: (NBC) Qatari official touched off bomb scare by smoking in jetliner bathroom.

A Qatari diplomat was on his way to an official visit with an imprisoned al-Qaida sleeper agent when he touched off a bomb scare by slipping into an airliner bathroom for a smoke, officials said Thursday as the diplomat prepared to leave the U.S.

The diplomat, Mohammed Al-Madadi, was going to pay a consular visit to the prisoner, said Alison Bradley, a public relations executive hired to speak for the Qatari Embassy, and a State Department official.

The prisoner, Ali Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, is serving eight years after pleading guilty last year to conspiring to support terrorism. Al-Marri was arrested after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, accused of being a sleeper agent researching poisonous gasses and plotting a cyberattack.

Consular officials frequently visit foreigners held in the United States to make sure they are being treated well.

Bradley said Qatari diplomats have made multiple visits to Al-Marri in prison since he pleaded guilty. The right to such visits is guaranteed by international agreements, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons had approved this visit by Al-Madadi in advance.

Why flout security rules?

Questions remained about why a diplomat on an official trip, like Al-Madadi, would apparently flout airline security rules. Law enforcement officials said Al-Madadi later joked that he had been trying to light his shoe — an apparent reference to the 2001 so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid...

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Considering America and Russia warehouse and control literally 90% of the world's nukes it's a good idea that we both exercise self-discipline and power down. Besides, it's an aging arsenal that is expensive to maintain. It's in the interest of our national treasuries to dial back high inventories of nukes.

Obama, Medvedev sign historic arms deal: (NBC) ‘Important milestone’ commits nations to cut nuclear warheads by one-third

Seeking to end years of rancor, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation and envisioned a day when they can compromise on the divisive issue of missile defense.

The new treaty, the first of its kind in two decades and nearly a year in the making, signaled a bold new opening in relations between the former Cold War foes. Both leaders hoped for more progress on economic matters and potentially even deeper cuts in their robust nuclear arsenals, while the Russian president still warned of potential pitfalls ahead.

The pact will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to 1,550 per country over seven years. That still allows for mutual destruction several times over. But it is intended to send a strong signal that Russia and the U.S. — which between them own more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons — are serious about disarmament.

Obama and Medvedev reaffirmed their commitment to considering new sanctions against Iran if the Islamic republic continues to refuse to suspend uranium enrichment and start talks on its nuclear program.

Medvedev said it's regrettable that Iran has not responded to many constructive proposals the international community has offered, and it's possible the United Nations Security Council will have to take up the issue. And Obama said the U.S. will not tolerate any actions by Iran that risk an arms race in the Middle East or threaten the credibility of the international community...

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U.S. developing new non-nuclear missiles: (NBC) Conventional warheads could strike anywhere in less than an hour.

As the White House pushes for cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, the Pentagon is developing a weapon to help fill the gap: missiles armed with conventional warheads that could strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

U.S. military officials say the intercontinental ballistic missiles, known as Prompt Global Strike weapons, are a necessary new form of deterrence against terrorist networks and other adversaries. As envisioned, the conventional missiles would give the White House a fresh military option to consider in a crisis that would not result in a radioactive mushroom cloud.

The Prompt Global Strike program, which the Pentagon has been developing for several years, is already raising hackles in Moscow, where Russian officials predict it could trigger a non-nuclear arms race and complicate President Obama's long-term vision of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. U.S. military officials are also struggling to solve a separate major obstacle: the risk that Russia or China could mistake the launch of a conventional Prompt Global Strike missile for a nuclear one...

The White House says that development of Prompt Global Strike is not affected by the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are scheduled to sign Thursday in Prague. Analysts say, however, that any conventional ballistic missiles would count the same as nuclear ones under the treaty, which places new limits on each country's stockpile.

Deployment of a conventional ballistic missile is not expected until 2015 at the earliest. But the program has received a recent boost from the Obama administration, which sees the missiles as one cog in an array of defensive and offensive weapons that could ultimately replace nuclear arms.

The administration has asked Congress for $240 million for next year's Prompt Global Strike development programs, a 45 percent increase from the current budget. The military forecasts a total of $2 billion in development costs through 2015 — a relative bargain by Pentagon standards.

After years of preparation, the Air Force is scheduled to perform an initial flight test of a prototype next month...

The Air Force prototype Prompt Global Strike design is a modified Peacekeeper III intercontinental ballistic missile. If it is successful, the plan is to deploy a handful of the missiles at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The weapons would be overseen by the U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, who leads the command, based near Omaha, has said he sees Prompt Global Strike as a niche weapon, not one that could substitute for nuclear arms...

To alleviate the risk of an accidental Russian nuclear retaliation, the Air Force is developing a conventional, land-based ballistic missile that would fire into space at a much lower altitude than nuclear warheads, something that could be detected by Russian early-warning radar systems. U.S. military officials have also said they might be willing to grant access to Russian inspectors, or warn Moscow about a conventional strike on a third-party target...





Now here's a story to kick up your anger management meter a few notches:

Half of U.S. pays no federal income tax: (NBC) Credits for low- and middle-income families exempt many. Tax Day is a dreaded deadline for millions, but for nearly half of U.S. households it's simply somebody else's problem.

About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization.

Most people still are required to file returns by the April 15 deadline. The penalty for skipping it is limited to the amount of taxes owed, but it's still almost always better to file: That's the only way to get a refund of all the income taxes withheld by employers.

In recent years, credits for low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal income tax for 2009, as long as there are two children younger than 17, according to a separate analysis by the consulting firm Deloitte Tax.

Tax cuts enacted in the past decade have been generous to wealthy taxpayers, too, making them a target for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. Less noticed were tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, which were expanded when Obama signed the massive economic recovery package last year.

The result is a tax system that exempts almost half the country from paying for programs that benefit everyone, including national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system in which the top 10 percent of earners — households making an average of $366,400 in 2006 — paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.

The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment.

"We have 50 percent of people who are getting something for nothing," said Curtis Dubay, senior tax policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation...





We have all been wondering how these rescuers have been faring these years later with such horrific issues:

9/11 rescuers may have long-term lung damage: (NBC) Breathing tests show lung function not improving over time.

Among emergency medical technicians, the numbers were worse. Of the nearly 2,000 EMTs included in the analysis, 22 percent of the nonsmokers scored below normal on their most recent breathing test.

The research is in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The study dims hopes that workers who developed respiratory problems after being exposed to the trade center’s powdery and smoking remnants would gradually return to normal.

Firefighters commonly suffer some lung damage after being exposed to heavy smoke, but the problem is not usually long term. Previous studies of firefighters who lost breathing capacity after battling chemical and forest fires found that they generally recovered within days or weeks.

That hasn’t happened with 9/11 responders, said Dr. David Prezant, the Fire Department’s chief medical officer and a lead author of the study. He and other researchers noted that the particle cloud released by the trade center collapse was unique.

In the immediate aftermath, they were exposed to “unprecedented density of dust, smoke, all kinds of materials that they don’t encounter in a routine course of firefighting,” said Dr. Thomas Aldrich, professor of medicine at Albert Einstein.

Overall, firefighters in the study experienced, in one event, the normal loss of lung function caused by aging 12 years, Prezant said.

The research was based on tests that measure how fast a person can exhale...

Researchers don’t know what is causing the loss of lung function to persist, Prezant said. He said the problems may be due to chronic inflammation, originally caused by particles or chemical exposure, that is causing the airways to remain partially obstructed.

Dr. Philip Landrigan, who oversees the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, said the study does contain a positive note: It also shows that the firefighters who lost lung function generally aren’t getting worse over time, aside from the normal decline due to aging.





When adult allergies attack, you can fight back: (NBC) Symptoms can strike at any age, but there are ways to beat the sniffles.

Robert never had any allergies — nary a sniffle or a wheeze his entire life. Then he met his sister's new dog, a Lab named Finn. On a recent visit, Finn's copious dander ambushed the 39-year-old, causing sniffling, wheezing, runny eyes, scratchy throat, and relentless sneezing fits. "I'd never had reactions to any animals," he said. "Now I won't come in the door without drugging myself up."

Allergists and immunologists are seeing more men like Robert, men who've been blindsided by new allergies. "We used to think you couldn't develop allergies later in life," says immunologist Donata Vercelli, M.D., a professor of cell biology and anatomy at the University of Arizona. "They usually arrived when you were young, and you typically outgrew them."

Adult-onset allergies may be part of a broader phenomenon. Scientists call it the hygiene hypothesis: The less you've been exposed to allergens in your life, the more likely you may be to develop allergies as an adult, according to a 2009 Australian review in Allergy. The theory is that when your system is out of practice, it becomes sloppy, Dr. Vercelli says. Instead of idly standing by, it launches all-out attacks against harmless dander and pollen, leaving you congested, itchy, and inflamed. "Your immune system will work, not less effectively, but less appropriately," Dr. Vercelli says.

The next time your boss blames your productivity dip on slacking, tell him it may be something in the air. Allergic rhinitis — a reaction that occurs inside the nasal passages and upper airways — costs employers millions in lost productivity and absenteeism each year. Often mistaken for bronchitis because both conditions cause coughing, it's actually triggered by pollen, pet dander, or dust mites.

When you're confronted with these invaders, a flood of chemicals — including histamine, bradykinin, and leukotrienes — dilates your mucous membranes, inflames your nose and throat, and causes your eyes to itch. Taking antihistamines such as generic Zyrtec or generic Claritin can help prevent allergic rhinitis symptoms in most people — as long as they take the meds early in the day and not just when the symptoms appear. But these drugs target only one part of your reaction, histamine, says pulmonologist Paul Enright, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Arizona. This may not be enough to clear you up.

Your strategies: When your throat starts to itch, raid the spice rack. "Hot pepper, especially cayenne pepper, turns on mucus production," says James Dillard, M.D., Men's Health's integrative-medicine advisor. "So if you have pollen sitting there, you may be able to rinse it out just by adding some pepper to your dish..."

At home, turn down the thermostat. Warm indoor temperatures in winter can bring on a stuffy nose, irritated eyes, and wheezing, according to a recent U.S. government study. Make sure your house stays below 73ºF, the temperature at which the symptoms began in study participants. When it comes to pets, if you have an allergy and will be visiting a pet-friendly home, start using a nasal steroid spray 5 days beforehand, says George Pyrgos, M.D., an allergy and immunology fellow at Johns Hopkins University. These products, including Nasonex and Flonase, help prevent the inflammation caused by pet dander...





It's about time our government took action against this traitor. He is a disgrace to those who gave him safe quarter when he was growing up in America and to others who gave him respect as a fellow American. There is nothing holy about this man. He is an imposter as a representative of God or just plain insane - or both.

As to the current White House claiming how rare it is to target other Americans for killing, well, that's not true. It is true under Democratic administrations. It has never been true under Republican administrations who kill on a whim and at will regularly. Republicans have never been known for doing their due diligence as thoroughly and properly investigating whether allegations are true or not against other Americans, whether they are overseas or not. Nor do the targeted Americans ever get the chance to prove the allegations are wrong. They are just slaughtered.

Depraved Republican Presidents, notably Nixon, have been known to target American children for killing just to get an international incident with one country or another. And that is the core of why I NEVER vote for a Republican in the White House - they just can't stop themselves from callous depraved indifference toward the American people they are supposed to serve and protect.

Republican Presidents use the king mentality and have exercised kill orders on a constant and willful basis in every Republican administration. A notable exception was President Eisenhower who was war weary after World World 2 just like the rest of the country. His military-Big Business industrial complex was quite another - they had a blood lust and wanted to kill on a petty ego's whim. President Kennedy should have taken outgoing President Eisenhower's warning more seriously about the heads of the military and their Big Business handlers. It cost him his life.

The fact that the Obama administration took this long to decide to issue a kill order against another American, a radical terrorist Muslim at that, tells me they took the time to investigate if he was truly a threat.


U.S. approves killing of American cleric: (NBC) New Mexico - born extremist is believed to be recruiting terrorists in Yemen.

The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States as an imam, is in hiding in Yemen. He has been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November, and then to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25.

American counterterrorism officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They say they believe that he has become a recruiter for the terrorist network, feeding prospects into plots aimed at the United States and at Americans abroad, the officials said.

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president.

But the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told a House hearing in February that such a step was possible. “We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” he said. “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.” He did not name Mr. Awlaki as a target.

The step taken against Mr. Awlaki, which occurred earlier this year, is a vivid illustration of his rise to prominence in the constellation of terrorist leaders. But his popularity as a cleric, whose lectures on Islamic scripture have a large following among English-speaking Muslims, means any action against him could rebound against the United States in the larger ideological campaign against Al Qaeda.

The possibility that Mr. Awlaki might be added to the target list was reported by The Los Angeles Times in January, and Reuters reported on Tuesday that he was approved for capture or killing.

“The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words,” said an American official, who like other current and former officials interviewed for this article spoke of the classified counterterrorism measures on the condition of anonymity. “He’s gotten involved in plots.”

The official added: “The United States works, exactly as the American people expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual — through his own actions — has become one. Awlaki knows what he’s done, and he knows he won’t be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone.”





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Obama Tightens Choke Chain on Junkyard Dog Terrorists

From Denny: The President has ordered a complete review of our nation's air safety capabilities. Since an international flight that came in from The Netherlands, sending a terrorist complete with bomb on a flight into Detroit, Michigan, America realizes we can no longer count on other countries to take our safety seriously.

Frankly, considering America is still at war in Middle Eastern countries we should have enough sense to limit to a few airports that can accept international flights. Limiting those flights to cities like New York City, Los Angeles and a few others who are adequately prepared to deal with terrorism. Somehow, Detroit is not my idea of a place with the funds or the experience for dealing with international terrorism which is precisely why it was targeted. The good news is that terrorists have grossly underestimated the American public's courage to intervene, not waiting for the cavalry to save them.

As to another precaution, how about limiting point of departure globally into America? We could have our own profilers working the airport passengers before they board. If there are only a few cities allowed to fly from into America we could easily man them. One thing is for sure, we must get a much tighter control on who goes in and out of our borders, especially in the air.

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As much as we would like more specifics about this terrorist, just how much can the government reveal safely? Both the intelligence and justice communities have to be lobbying the President to keep a lid on the details until investigations are complete.

When a politician says they are "ordering an air safety review" that is basically "polite speak" for rattling a lot of cages overseas and in the various agencies responsible for air safety. Heads have probably already rolled or are a step away from firing if this is not satisfactorily resolved. What will come out of this incident is an acute awareness to tighten the safety net to a choke chain on a junkyard dog: Al Qaeda.

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