it's not a question of who is rght or wrong but what is right or wrong that counts.
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  		today

today

Friday July 3rd, 2009



World & National News

Soviet parts in NKorean rocket

With concerns rising about a possible North Korean long-range missile test this weekend, two independent scientists say the regime may be using an old Soviet ballistic missile to boost a rocket capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.

North Korea is not known to have nuclear warheads and faces years of research and testing before building such a reliable weapon.

But the scientists say that if North Korea does have such a Russian-made ballistic missile in its arsenal, it could modify the rocket into a two-stage missile that could reach Seattle, Wash., carrying a 900-kilogram warhead, or San Francisco carrying a 700-kilogram charge.

U.S. 'ready' for NKoran missile
Pyongyang expected to test ICBM

U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times.

"The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I'm very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I've got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory," said Air Force Gen. Victor E. "Gene" Renuart, Northcom commander.


U.S. Marines push deeper into southern Afghan towns
 
U.S. Marines moved into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan on Friday, meeting little resistance as they tried to win over local chiefs on the second day of the biggest American military operation here since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.

One Marine was killed and several others injured or wounded on Thursday, when some 4,000 Marines launched the operation in Helmand province — a remote area that is at the center of the country's illegal opium cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency.
    
GOP, White House at odds on Sotomayor documents
Obama Downplays Affirmative Action as an Issue

A top Republican pressed for more information Thursday about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's ties to a Puerto Rican civil rights group he said took extreme positions on race, as the White House argued that the material was irrelevant to the judge's nomination.

White House Counsel Greg Craig told Sen. Jeff Sessions, in a letter that board meeting minutes and other papers detailing the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund's activities while Sotomayor was an outside adviser shouldn't impact her nomination because she had no role in writing or approving them. But Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate committee that will consider her nomination, said the papers could shed light on Sotomayor's judicial approach, particularly her view of racial preferences in hiring.


Iranian cleric says British Embassy employees will be tried

A senior Iranian cleric said today that several employees of the British Embassy in Tehran arrested in recent days would be put on trial for unspecified charges of acting against Iran's national security, potentially escalating a confrontation with the West over last month's disputed presidential election.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the conservative Guardian Council, said in a Friday prayer sermon that the employees, all of them Iranian nationals, "will definitely be tried" for taking part or promoting weeks of unrest surrounding the June 12 election, which was marred by opposition allegations of massive vote-rigging.

US, Russia ot Sign Framework Arms Document

A top Russian official says U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, will sign a framework declaration on arms reductions at next week's Moscow summit.

Sergei Prikhodko, a key advisor to Mr. Medvedev, says the declaration will outline key instructions to negotiators of both countries working on an agreement to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expires in December.

UN chief gambles on Burma breakthrough

Ban Ki-moon is not a man known for taking risks. Yet his decision to visit Burma and meet its secretive military rulers - at a time when the rest of the world is outraged by their decision to put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial - is quite a gamble.

The visit was requested by the Burmese government.

The generals are rarely graced by the presence of figures of Mr Ban's international stature in their bunker-like capital Nay Pyi Taw.

Washington Posts scraps plans for 'salons' after uproar
Fliers sought money from lobbyists wanting to mingle with lawmakers at the publisher's house.

The Washington Post's publisher abruptly canceled a series of policy dinners Thursday that were to have been underwritten by lobbyists or corporations willing to pay thousands of dollars to be in the same room as journalists and lawmakers, saying the marketing department had misrepresented the newspaper's intent.

Lawmakers who had been invited said they were not told the events would make money for the newspaper. But the Post had separately sent fliers seeking sponsors who would pay $25,000 for a single "salon" or $250,000 for 11 events.

Vice President Biden discusses US future in Iraq

Vice President Joe Biden discussed the future of the American mission in Iraq Friday with the top two U.S. officials there following the withdrawal of most troops from the cities.

It was the vice president's first visit to Baghdad after being appointed to oversee the administration's Iraq policy.

Biden's arrival in Baghdad late Thursday came after all U.S. combat troops were pulled out of Iraq's cities and towns on Tuesday, as part of a security agreement that will see all American soldiers out of the country by the end of 2011.

Obama Uses 'Letter" to Stop Illegals

The Obama administration is launching investigations of hundreds of businesses around the country as part of its strategy to focus immigration enforcement on the employers who hire illegal workers.

But instead of cracking down with well-publicized raids featuring dozens of agents storming a suspect business or factory, the administration is sending a simple form letter identifying businesses as potentially being in violation of immigration laws.


EPA Silences a Climate Skeptic
The professional penalty for offering a contrary view to elites like Al Gore is a smear campaign.

Wherever Jim Hansen is right now -- whatever speech the "censored" NASA scientist is giving -- perhaps he'll find time to mention the plight of Alan Carlin. Though don't count on it.

Mr. Hansen, as everyone in this solar system knows, is the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Starting in 2004, he launched a campaign against the Bush administration, claiming it was censoring his global-warming thoughts and fiddling with the science. It was all a bit of a hoot, given Mr. Hansen was already a world-famous devotee of the theory of man-made global warming, a reputation earned with some 1,400 speeches he'd given, many while working for Mr. Bush. But it gave Democrats a fun talking point, one the Obama team later picked up.

The Carbonated Congress
Orszag nails it: The 'largest corporate welfare program' ever.

President Obama is calling the climate bill that the House passed last week an "extraordinary" achievement, and so it is. The 1,200-page wonder manages the supreme feat of being both hugely expensive while doing almost nothing to reduce carbon emissions.

The Washington press corps is playing the bill's 219-212 passage as a political triumph, even though one of five Democrats voted against it. The real story is what Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House baron Henry Waxman and the President himself had to concede to secure even that eyelash margin among the House's liberal majority. Not even Tom DeLay would have imagined the extravaganza of log-rolling, vote-buying, outright corporate bribes, side deals, subsidies and policy loopholes. Every green goal, even taken on its own terms, was watered down or given up for the sake of political rents.

Pursuing Failure
        by Geoff Metcalf
“Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
          --Ronald Reagan

In the perpetual battle of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ and the left/right spitting match-rock fight, it is oftentimes too easy for ideology and partisanship to overshadow reality.  Both the “Us” team and the “Them” team are rock solid convinced they are right, the other guys are wrong and don’t want to confused with any facts that contradict their preconceived opinions and prejudices.  Meanwhile, the nation is pretty evenly divided between mutually exclusive polar opposites. The gospel according to the left and the gospel according to the right do not synthesize and it there is any room for reasonable compromise the disciples flat out reject it on principle (or stubbornness).

The mantra of disciples of the left is “We won! Shut up already…” The mantra of the disciples of the right is “We’re coming back…”

This petty partisan spitting match has been ebbing and flowing for decades. Each side clings to the belief they are right and their opponents are wrong. Compromise is anathema despite a growing abundance of facts in evidence.

Despite overwhelming empirical evidence that we cannot tax and spend our out to prosperity, the Obama administration remains committed to making a failed model work based on faith and hope.

There is no constitutional basis for the Obama dream quest. There is no law, and for sure, there is no statistical model to even suggest what the administration wants to do can or would work. In fact, there is good evidence that the policy direction embraced by Obama (which has already been tried and implemented in some states) routinely fails.

Perhaps my favorite P.J. O’Rourke quote is, “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” This time around the vehicle in jeopardy is nothing less than the country and the potential fatalities are frankly “we the people”.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a perfect example (complete with those annoying facts, details and statistics).

Basically the WSJ demonstrates how three states which have already embraced (and implemented) Obama style progressive policies have suffered significant negative consequences.
•    Once upon a time California, New York and New Jersey were, among the most prosperous in the union.  
•    How did three successful states snatch defeat from the laws of victory?
•    They did it by implementing polices that Obama is suggesting for the federal government.

I can’t help but think of the old joke about the guy who goes to his doctor and says, “Doctor, it hurts when I go like ‘this’…” The doctor nods and replies “Don’t go like that.”

MBA types are always ‘case studying’ models and preaching the need to ‘test market’ concepts in a microcosm before rolling it out into the macro. It is good advice and inevitably results in lessons learned that can be replicated or mitigated before “going long”. Hey, just read the WSJ numbers to see what happened to California, New York and New Jersey. And the administration wants to replicate THAT model for the nation?

Ideology aside, the demonstrated realities of progressive governance, complete with mega taxes subsidizing assorted flavors of welfare, enabled by gutless (clueless) politicians and bludgeoned by public employee unions is NOT the solution to our national challenges.

For decades the once upon a time golden state was warned that tax and spend anti-business practices would eviscerate small business and the middle class. California politicians got the memo…but they never bothered to read it. In fact, they went out of their way to ignore the dire forecasts. The result has been businesses seeking less oppressive tax environments in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona etc.

North Carolina loves the obstinate myopia of those progressive states wallowing in their own muck. The Raleigh-Durham Triangle is growing like California ‘used to’ once upon a time.

However, whereas states have been free to experiment with models guaranteed to drive away the tax base, Americans have had the luxury of being able to bail on failed states for oasis-like North Carolina alternatives.

Listen, it is not a partisan bumper sticker or election finesse but a bona fide documented fact that more government involvement results in increased costs and reduced services. The ‘case studies’ of California, New York and New Jersey document the negative results of the counter intuitive brain flatulence proposed by the administration. If Obamaism is mandated nationally, there will be no safe havens left in the country. THEN we are really S.O.L. (simply out of luck?).

Ronald Reagan articulated an axiom when he said, “Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”

Metcalf Still on Amazon Shorts 'Best Seller List'

Last year I had my third book posted to Amazon Shorts.  'Will in Acquinistere' it is a novel about a young boy with cerebral palsey who goes on a Tolkein like adventure to a far away place to save the world.

I was delighted to learn the story made it onto Amazon's 'Best Seller' list on Amazon Shorts. They update it every hour so I could be in #2 or #14 position depending on when you check.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/334884011

Despite two harshly critical reviews, I still remain on the Amazon Short best sellers lists.

Special thanks to Anne Rice for her continued encouragement.

I encourage you to please check out the story which I feel is much more than just a 'childrens book'. It is serialized into five downloads and is very inexpensive.  Please sample at least the first part and let me know what you think.

Will Part One



Untitled
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