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Busted: TSA lied about promise not to grope children
TSA has defended the groping of a 6 year-old girl, saying it followed policy. Yet in Nov. 2010, TSA vowed no ‘enhanced’ pat-downs for children under 12.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) contradicted itself, even to the point of outright lying, in responding to controversy about a 6 year-old girl who received a groping pat-down AFTER already being sent through a body scanner. The video went viral after appearing on DrudgeReport.com and many other sites. TSA typically explained away this unnerving experience that left the girl in tears by arguing that the action is perfectly normal, follows all procedures and keeps us safe from terrorism, all, of course, in the name of ‘safety.’
You see, the TSA rationalized in its latest defense that, “terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection.” Thus, TSA would have it, we must abandon societal norms [and laws] like not touching children in their private parts, and instead subject them to pre-crime inspections. According to the logic, no women & children, little old ladies or men handicapped in wheelchairs or implanted with modern medical devices, no body Read more…
China-Russia relations and the United States: At a turning point?
By Dr. Richard WeitzSince the end of the Cold War, the improved political and economic relationship between Beijing and Moscow has affected a range of international security issues. China and Russia have expanded their bilateral economic and security cooperation. In addition, they have pursued distinct, yet parallel, policies regarding many global and regional issues.
Yet, Chinese and Russian approaches to a range of significant subjects are still largely uncoordinated and at times in conflict. Economic exchanges between China and Russia remain minimal compared to those found between most friendly countries, let alone allies.
Although stronger Chinese-Russian ties could present greater challenges to other countries (e.g., the establishment of a Moscow-Beijing condominium over Central Asia), several factors make it unlikely that the two countries will form such a bloc.
The relationship between the Chinese and Russian governments is perhaps the best it has ever been. The leaders of both countries engage in numerous high-level exchanges, make many mutually supportive statements, and manifest other displays of Russian-Chinese cooperation in what both governments refer to as their developing strategic partnership.
The current benign situation is due less to common values and shared interests than to the fact that Chinese and Russian security concerns are Read more…
School Thinks Moms Are Too Dumb to Make Kids’ Lunch
It was only a matter of time really. Our kids come home from kindergarten telling us that we’re not as smart as the teacher. Now a Chicago school has told all parents they’re too dumb to craft a healthy enough lunch for their kids. They’ve enacted a school-wide ban on the homemade lunch.
The kids now have the option to buy lunch or … well buy lunch (unless they have a medical condition and a doctor’s note). And all this is in the name, of course, of making the students healthier. Let me be the first to say bull-pucky! If I can’t make healthy enough food for my child, pray tell me, why are you even letting me be her parent?
Are you going to take her shoe shopping too? How about finding an orthodontist? Paying for it? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’m not responsible enough to take care of my kid … until it starts to inconvenience them.
Making all kids eat school lunch is easy for a school. There are no fights between the haves and the have nots. No separate lines for the “buyers” and the “carriers.” And the cafeteria has an almost exact count for food orders. No more wasted food. It’s perfect really — for the school.
But the news that a school building could be better able to meet an individual child’s needs is more than a little ironic considering schools are being called out more and more in recent months for painting kids with a broad brush rather than attempting to work with the individual. And what is a one-size-fits-all lunch program other than a washing away of a child’s individual needs?
Take, for example, the way we balance our kids’ food, meal to meal, snack to snack. It’s a process for most parents. We know that Little Johnny had Read more…
Saudi US Rift widening
goldandsilverlinings
Back when Egypt was falling apart, not that it still isn’t, the Saudi king was very upset with the US for allowing his good friend Hosni Mubarak to fall. Rumor has it that the King almost or in fact did suffer a heart attack after talking to Obama about the way things were going in the Egypt.
The Saudi’s are now raising concerns that the Bushehr reactor is another Fukushima waiting to happen. The US is turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s concerns, granted the Saudi’s are likely taking advantage of Fukushima to draw attention to their objective of halting Bushehr coming online. Israel has also been very quiet on Bushekr Read more…
US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011
AFP
WASHINGTON — The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.
The Treasury reported a deficit of $829 billion for the October-March period, compared with $717 billion a year earlier, as revenue rose a sluggish 6.9 percent as the economic recovery slowly gained pace.
The Treasury argued that the pace of increase in the deficit was deceptive because of large one-off reductions in expenditures made during the first half of fiscal 2010, compared with previous and subsequent periods.
Those included a $115 billion reduction in funds spent on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — the financial institution bailout program — in March 2010.
But 2011 so far has also seen significant increases in spending on defense, Social Read more…
North Korea Could Help Myanmar Obtain Nuke Tech, Expert Says
Myanmar could create systems for nuclear weapons with North Korean support, but the Southeast Asian state has yet to build such equipment, former International Atomic Energy Agency official Robert Kelley said on Monday (see GSN, April 11).
The nation possesses multiple facilities it might tap for uranium enrichment, the Yonhap News Agency quoted Kelley as saying. The enrichment process can produce civilian as well as weapons material.
The facilities incorporate German equipment, said Kelley, now a fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“When the Germans are inspecting, the factories appear to be civilian,” he said. “But Read more…
China blocks coastal waters, enlarges military
Pacific’s chief calls shadowy move ‘troubling’
**file photo **Chinese paramilitary police patrol in Urumqi, western China’s Xinjiang province. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
NavyAdm. Robert F. Willard said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that China’s intentions behind its decades-long buildup remain hidden and are undermining stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
The four-star admiral said the arms buildup is understandable because of China’s economic rise, but “the scope and pace of its modernization without clarity on China’s ultimate goals remains troubling.”
“For example, China continues to accelerate its offensive air and missile developments without corresponding public clarification about how these forces will be utilized,” he said.
Chinese officials, in meetings with their U.S. counterparts, have refused to explain the pace or goal of the arms buildup, defense Read more…
China and US gang up on N Korea
THE strategic rivals China and the US have been secretly sharing intelligence about North Korea.
Leaked records of highly sensitive US-China defence consultations reveal that despite Chinese complaints about US arms sales to Taiwan, and American concerns about a growing Chinese espionage threat, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Defence Department have held secret talks on North Korea with Chinese military intelligence.
According to US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and provided exclusively to the Herald, US-Chinese defence talks held in Beijing in July 2009 included long exchanges about North Korea between the US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Michele Flournoy, and top Chinese generals.
Cost of Libya war for US at $608 million: Pentagon
AFP
WASHINGTON – The cost of the air war in Libya for the US military has reached $608 million, a US defense official said Monday.
The cost estimate covers the period from the start of international air strikes in Libya on March 19 to April 4, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
US officials previously had said the operation had cost $550 million through March 28.
The Pentagon has estimated the air campaign will cost the United States about $40 million a month, even after NATO allies took the lead in the UN-mandated operation designed to protect civilians against Moamer Kadhafi’s forces.
For the US Air Force alone, the war costs about $4 million a day, the top civilian in the air force told reporters last week.
But Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said he expected that figure to come down with European allies carrying out bombing raids while US aircraft play a support role.
Speech By Comrade Chi Haotian Vice-Chairman Of China’s Military Commission
Revelation 9:13-16 comes to mind when I heard this
The following is the actual text of a speech delivered in December, 2005 by Comrade Chi Haotian the Vice-Chairman of China’s Military Commission to top officers and generals. Keep in mind that China has for many years advocated deceitful and covert warfare against its enemies. This is their Modus Operandi.
While 99% of Prudent Places USA uses data from scientific and government sources, we would be remiss not to mention one other piece of information. Numerous visionaries and "prophets" have seen troops invading America from China and Russia. Dumitru Duduman and Henry Gruver also predicted attacks along the East and Southeast coasts of America. Since September 11, 2001, nearly anything seems possible. Didn't we mistakenly think prior to 9-11 we were invincible? Impenetrable? Now we have to consider the unthinkable. The map below shows the "seen" routes of invasion.
Following Is Text From Speech:
“Comrades, I’m very excited today, because the large-scale online survey sina.com that was done for us showed that our next generation is quite promising and our Party’s cause will be carried on. In answering the question, “Will you shoot at women, children and prisoners of war,” more than 80 per cent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, exceeding by far our expectations. Today I’d like to focus on why we asked sina.com to conduct this online survey among our people. My speech today is a sequel to my speech last time, during which I started with a discussion of the issue of the three islands [Taiwan, Diaoyu Islands and the Spratley Islands — Ott] and mentioned that 20 years of the idyllic theme of ‘peace and development’ had come to an end, and concluded that modernization under the saber is the only option for China’s next phase. I also mentioned we have a vital stake overseas. The central issue of this survey appears to be whether one should shoot at women, children and prisoners of war, but its real significance goes far beyond that. Ostensibly, our intention is mainly to figure out what the Chinese people’s attitude towards war is: If these future soldiers do not hesitate to kill even noncombatants, they’ll naturally be doubly ready and ruthless in killing combatants. Therefore, the responses to the survey questions may reflect the general attitude people have towards war..We wanted to know: If China’s global development will necessitate massive deaths in enemy countries; will our people endorse that scenario? Will they be for or against it? The fact is, our ‘development’ refers to the great revitalization of the Chinese nation, which, of course, is not limited to the land we have now but also includes the whole world. As everybody Read more…
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