Doctors at Chulalongkorn Hospital said Mr Moron Moradi remains unconscious but in a stable condition after undergoing 10 hours of surgery on Tuesday for severe injuries to his stumps legs, stomach and right eye.
Chulalongkorn Hospital is top-rate, probably the best in Bangkok.
Gallup polled small-business owners (value under $20M) about their expansion plans in early January, which for some strange reason didn't get reported until today. Among those who do not plan to hire -- 85% of the entire sample -- almost half of all such businesses cited expected costs from health care coverage and government regulation:
U.S. small-business owners who aren't hiring -- 85% of those surveyed -- are most likely to say the reasons they are not doing so include not needing additional employees; worries about weak business conditions, including revenues; cash flow; and the overall U.S. economy. Additionally, nearly half of small-business owners point to potential healthcare costs (48%) and government regulations (46%) as reasons. One in four are not hiring because they worry they may not be in business in 12 months.
Remember all of those hiring tax credits Obama included in his stimulus bill and in his proposals in the State of the Union speech? What kind of impact did they have on hiring plans among the 15% of businesses looking to expand? Not much:
Small-business owners who are currently hiring are most likely to say they are doing so because their business operations expanded, consumer or business demand increased, sales and revenues justify adding more employees, and they need to replace an employee who left. Thirteen percent of owners point to their ability to get new capital, while 7% indicate they were influenced by government tax incentives.
Seven percent of a subset of 15% think Obama's economic plans have helped them. Forty-six percent of a subset of 85% think Obama's regulations hurt them. What does that say about Obama's policies? Small businesses are looking at this administration and seeing hostility and costly interference rather than a partner for long-term investment -- and for very good reasons, one might add.
Respondents could choose multiple reasons in the survey, and the two most cited reasons for non-expansion are a lack of need for more employees and a lack of sales volume to justify hiring, which are of course related. Coming in a close third at 66% are worries over the status of the economy, which probably comes rationally from seeing the lack of demand that would allow these businesses to grow. Considering that small businesses of this class are the engine of job creation, this signals that we will not see any rapid expansion of employment in the near term, much as the CBO predicted last month. It's a vote of no-confidence from the innovators and risk-takers that drive our economy. The Republicans NEED to keep hamming this fact home in 2012. Get the boot of government off the businesses. The only way to do it is to vote Bambi out.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/15/2012 14:54
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#2
Agreed no mo. Except for the young veterans (Obama is firing as fast as he can) and former contractors who just returned from working in the war on terror in Iraq. Hire them and only them.
On the one hand that is what I recommend, on the other, desperation is setting in, in some communities.
#3
I still think many of the unemployed who voted for Obama in 2008 will vote to re-elect this year even if they still lacks jobs. You can't cure stupid.
#4
I recall that GE is going to hire Vets. I believe the number was 4000. I guess McDonalds is going to save the day again?. Many who could sell did but still many others could not get bank loans.
Those that sold have no interest in getting back in again unless it is worth the risk.
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday.
She has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years. Associates say Clinton has expressed interest in having the World Bank job should the bank's current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012.
"Hillary Clinton wants the job," said one source who knows the secretary well.
A second source wailed also said Clinton wants the position. A third source screamed said Obama had already expressed support for the change in her role. It is unclear whether Obama has formally agreed to nominate her for the post, which would require approval by the 187 member countries of the World Bank.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied the discussions. "It's totally wrong," he told Reuters.
A spokesman for Clinton, Philippe Reines, denied Clinton wanted the job, had conversations with the White House about it or would accept it.
People familiar with the situation, told of the denials from the White House and State Department, reaffirmed the accuracy of the report.
Revelations of the discussions could hurt Clinton's efforts as America's top diplomat if she is seen as a lame duck in the job at a time of great foreign policy challenges for the Obama administration.
Under normal circumstances, names of potential candidates for the World Bank would not surface more than a year before the post becomes vacant. But the timing of the discussions is not unusual this year given the sudden opening of the top job at the bank's sister organization, the IMF, after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resignation following his arrest on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York.
And totally fits the kind of scheming you'd expect from Hilde and Bill...
The World Bank provides billions of dollars in development funds to the poorest countries and is also at the center of issues such as climate change, rebuilding countries emerging from conflict and recently the transitions to democracy in Tunisia and Egypt.
No, it provides the money to the connected who salt it away in banks around the world, leaving a few crumbs for the rubes and fools who think that the World Bank does anything other than redistribute money to the connected...
If Clinton were to leave State, John Kerry, a close Obama ally who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is among those who could be considered as a possible replacement for her.
It just gets worse...
Clinton's star power and work ethic were seen by Obama as crucial qualities for her role as the nation's top diplomat, even though she did not arrive in the job with an extensive foreign policy background.
In fact, she didn't know much of anything...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/15/2012
13:30 ||
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#1
she didn't know much of anything and knows less about finance.
Let's see...will Mittens appoint Kerry? That's the only way he'll get anything next year.
#3
Fabulous cocktail parties, even more fabulous dinner parties, first class travel accomodations the underlings are extremely competent, and plenty of enthusiastic or at least accepting of the inevitable objects for the adventurous looking to stray from the marital bed. What could be more perfect for the Clintons, Sr., especially as they look around for an opportunity for their daughter now that she's given up on her television experiment? There might even be a space found for her husband, poor man, if he's very, very good.
#8
Hillary is the most competent member of the administration and I will be sorry to see her go. John Kerry as SecState? Seriously? Apparently B.O. is not satisfied with a mere train wreck, and is aiming for balls-out disaster.
#4
Maybe the scrubbed all their equipment with Arm & Hammer, and applied insh'Allah techniques to rinsing... a little bit of borax can go a long way to messing up one's nukes.
#5
we don't know what reactor the rods were loaded into
it surely wasn't the Bushehr reactor because bad fuel rods in that one (a 1000 MW) would stop the production of electricity
so, if they placed the fuel rods in a reactor, was it a pint sized experimental reactor or a Potempkin reactor or a reactor that we don't know about
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/15/2012 21:33
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#6
IMO Iran is prob being smart - by the time it formally declares to the World Community it has enough of a reliable, "Civilian-only" NucEnergy Prog in place IT WILL ALSO COVERTLY HAVE THE ABILITY TO QUICKLY MASS PRODUCE INDIGENOUS NUCBOMBS.
Lest we fergit, IIRC it was MOUD? = Iran whom said that Iran would like to emulate the CivEnerNucProg of JAPAN + EGYPT [ + other Countries].
Wehell, what is "JAPAN"?
"JAPAN" = lots of CIVILIAN NUC ENERGY PLANTS in operat all over the Country while also possessing the PARALLEL national contingency ability/proficiency to quickly produce ADVANCED NucBombs + LRBM Sys, etc. in short lead time iff the Armies of the the USSR + Red China ever come charging over the hill.
Ditto "EGYPT", although an Egyptian NucBomb is perceived by Perts as most likely being less sophisticated that a Nippon NucBomb would be.
THE ABOVE = RADICAL ISLAMIST MILTERRS/
NGOS/TANGOS W-I-L-L HAVE NUKE BOMBS = US HAS LOST THE GWOT IRREGARDLESS OF ITS TACTICAL SUCCESSES IN AFPAK OR ELSEWHERE.
* TOPIX > WHAT IFF IRAN GETS THE BOMB?
* SAME > [WSJ] OPINION: IFF IRAN GETS THE BOMB?
* SAME > BOMB, BOMB, BOMB IRAN!
* NEWSMAX > [Deputy PM Silvan Shalom]ISRAELI MINISTER: IRAN NEARING "POINT OF NO RETURN", on its ability to dev NucWeaps.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > TALIBAN SAY US TO REPEAT SOVIET DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN.
Maha-Rushian Histoire' as Prologue???
* TOPIX > [post 03/11 = Tohoku/Fukushima]JAPAN ATOMIC POWER DEFENDERS: KEEP ABILITY TO BUILD NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
-----------------
Also from TOPIX > WORLD LEADERS TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM AS IRAN ANNOUNCES NEW STRIDES.
Eyes wide open.
* SAME > REPORT: SAUDIS TO BUY NUKES IFF IRAN TESTS A-BOMB.
* SAME > ISRAELI AIDE: US WILL LOSE STANDING IFF IRAN GETS NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
A third Iranian suspect sought after bomb blasts in Bangkok has been arrested in Malaysia. A statement from Malaysian federal police says that Masoud Sedaghatzadeh is being investigated for terrorism linked to the blasts in Bangkok.
The Iranian State media just announced that another high ranking Revolutionary Guard commander, Ahmad Sodagar, has died of a heart attack.
You sure it wasn't acute cirrhosis?
Sodagar, a major general, had served as the head of security and intelligence of the Guards' Khatam-al-Anbia Base and was the chief commander of the Guards' Prophet Mohammad Division. He had served in the Iran-Iraq war and, at the time of his death, was the head of the program "Defaeh Moghadas" or Holy Defense.
This is the fifth Guard commander to die because of a heart attack or stroke in the past month.
This is the fifth Guard commander to die because of a heart attack or stroke in the past month.
Those reported to have died before him were:
Vafa Ghafarian (52), a senior Guard officer, former senior manager of the Guards defense industry and electronic warfare, and the active chairman of Iran's telecommunications. It was announced that he died due to illness, although the exact cause of death was not reported.
Abbas Mehri (52), another senior commander of the Guards, was reported by the Iranian authorities to have died in recent days of a stroke.
Ahmad Siafzadeh (55), former head of the Guards University died in recent days due to heart attack.
Mansour Torkan (50), former Guard commander and general manager of a company affiliated with the municipal office of Tehran. The cause of his death was announced as a stroke.
As reported before, a "Removal Committee" was formed recently by the order of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The agenda of this committee is based on the possibility of war with the United States. Its mission includes sabotage and assassination before the war, during the war and after the war.
The activities also include "accidental" deaths of opposition members, "suspicious deaths" of those commanders within the Iranian armed forces opposing war, and terrorizing known personalities not in line with Khamenei, then blaming it all on the regime's enemies. Bombings in public places would again be blamed on the enemies to heighten fear among the populace and consolidate power within loyal forces.
#2
It is a hilarious irony that the Iranians, after years of being the Soviet Union's enemy, are now adopting purge techniques well known in Russia.
The amusing thing is that such purges are usually based on personalities, not objective reasons, so they end up killing what would otherwise be loyal and effective personnel.
#12
I would think that if internal purges are going on, it would create some intelligence opportunities, what with some people looking for a ride out of town before the next scheduled mishap. Maybe expect a few more Iranians to get 'rescued' by the US Navy?
In an interview with Atlanta's local Fox affiliate WAGA-TV President Obama explains why he was unable to cut the deficit in half in his first term, a promise he made as a candidate.
He has to say something...
Obama was lobbed the question by a sympathetic reporter who said he is getting "pelted in the media" for making a campaign promise he did not keep.
Champ can always find a sympathetic reporter. They leap out of the woodwork. Champ can't help it, they're drawn to him...
"Well we're not there because this recession turned out to be a lot deeper than any of us realized," Obama said about his inability to cut the deficit in half.
Just figuring that out, are ya Champ?
"Everybody who is out there back in 2009, if you look back what their estimates were in terms of how many jobs had been lost, how bad the economy had contracted when I took office, everybody underestimated it. People thought that the economy contracted 3%. It turns it retracted close to 9%. We lost 8 million jobs just in a year's span, about half a year before I took office and half a year after I took office," Obama said.
But that didn't dissuade you from plowing full speed ahead with your progressive agenda. As Rahm said once, 'never let a crisis go to waste.'
The startling thing is that he admitted half of the decline took place on his watch.
"So, the die had been cast, but a lot of us didn't understand at that point how bad it was going to get. That increases the deficit because less tax revenues come in, and it means that more people are getting unemployment insurance, we're helping states more so they don't teachers, etc. The key though is we're setting ourselves on a path where we can get our debt under control."
Someday. But in the meantime let's spend like there's no tomorrow.
"a lot of us didn't understand at that point how bad it was going to get" - sounds like a political epitaph.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/15/2012
11:05 ||
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#1
Either he wasn't competent enough to recognize a problem over twice as bad as he thought, or he wasn't competent enough to keep it from getting twice as bad on his own.
#2
I keep hearing this refrain among Obama supporters: "No one knew/ could have known how big the recession was" (often followed by the idea that this proves his 'stimulus' wasn't big enough). Is there a good internet source that puts a clear analysis of this claim in context?
But I think this is all according to plan - he basically said he was going to do this during his campaign - but nobody listened or the media hushed it all up.
#5
LOL AH
Clearly the "people thought it was 3% when it was 9%" is based on something (presumably). I'd just like to know what these numbers are based on, and how he's manipulating this data to reach this talking point. I don't like getting into a dispute and then being given a superficially reasonable 'explanation' that I'm unprepared for.
#6
I don't like getting into a dispute and then being given a superficially reasonable 'explanation' that I'm unprepared for.
It's been 4 years since the crisis began. A great deal of analysis and information about the severity of the problem was ALREADY available by the time Obama took office 3 years ago.
At this point in history, anyone backing this faux 'claim' is either pig ignorant or disingenuous. I avoid disputes with such people.
#7
3 years ago Obama was the one that kept saying we had the worst economy since the Great Depression. I guess if it was worse than he thought we must be in a Depression.
#8
At this point in history, anyone backing this faux 'claim' is either pig ignorant or disingenuous
AKA Obamanauts: voters and the MSM
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2012 16:26
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#9
No one has shown me that any deep thought has gone into or come out of the Obama Administration. Except, of course, for new ways to loot the treasury and pay off their friends.
Iran struck back against a European oil embargo by cutting supplies to six European countries Wednesday as state media in Tehran said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was being briefed "on new nuclear achievements" expected to be announced later in the day. The oil cutoff affects the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal.
The announcement appeared timed to convey the defiant message that the increasingly harsh Western economic sanctions imposed on Iran were having no effect on the government's determination to proceed with its disputed nuclear program. The defiant stance seemed ever more pronounced on Wednesday when Press TV, a state-financed satellite broadcaster, said Tehran planned to cut oil exports to the six European countries in response to the latest sanctions imposed by the European Union against Iran's energy and banking sectors
No further details of the Iranian measures were immediately available.
The Iranian response had been expected since late January when the European Union agreed to impose a phased ban on oil purchases from Iran that officials said was needed to help force a shift in policy and avert the risk of military strikes against Tehran.
Under the embargo, European Union countries will not sign new oil contracts with Iran and will end existing ones by July 1. The ban will cover imports of crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemical products. It will also cover the export of major equipment and technology for the sector. The European market accounts for about a fifth of Iran's oil exports.
Underlining the high stakes and at times nervous confusion arising from the nuclear stand-off, Iran's Oil Ministry denied a state media report that it had cut off oil exports to six European Union states. Brent crude oil prices jumped up $1 a barrel to $118.35 in reaction to the announcement.
"We deny this report ... If such a decision is made, it will be announced by Iran's Supreme National Security Council," a spokesman for the ministry told Reuters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/15/2012
11:02 ||
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#1
Decided they needed the cash, did they?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/15/2012 11:44
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Thailand today charged two Iranians over an alleged bomb plot against Israeli diplomats, increasing pressure on Tehran over accusations of a terror plot against the Jewish state. Iran has angrily rejected accusations that it was to blame.
Thai authorities said they had pressed criminal charges against two Iranian suspects accused of involvement in a string of blasts in Bangkok yesterday.
One of the men -- named as 28-year-old Saeid Morati -- blew his own legs off as he hurled an explosive device at Thai police while fleeing an earlier blast at a house in the capital city. I think most Rantburgers are still chuckling about that.
A second Iranian suspect was detained trying to board a flight leaving country and a third suspect is believed to have fled to Malaysia. And has since been caught by the Malays.
A senior Thai intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "These three Iranian men are an assassination team and their targets were Israeli diplomats including the ambassador. Their plan was to attach bombs to diplomats' cars."
Police said that explosives and magnets were later found inside the partially destroyed house. The two suspects were charged for explosion and attempting to kill police officers and others.
Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said, "We cannot say yet if it's a terrorist act, but it's similar to the assassination attempt against a diplomat in India."
Iran, which had already denied responsibility for the Delhi and Tbilisi incidents, said it had no link to the Bangkok blasts and blamed what it called "elements linked with the Zionist regime."
However, the use of motorbike assassins to blow up targets' cars is similar to the method used to kill nuclear scientists in Iran.
Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoham, said the Bangkok suspects seemed to be "part of the same network" that targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.
#1
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
The Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ended a three days of peace talks in Malaysia with both sides making a deal that would extend joint anti-criminality campaign in areas where guerrillas are actively operating. Peace negotiators renewed for another year the mandate of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).
The MILF and the Philippines reached an agreement in 2004 that paved the way for rebel forces through the AHJAG to help authorities hunt down terrorists and criminal elements in areas where the MILF operates.
MIAMI - US prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals filed charges on Tuesday against a Pakistani man who grew up in suburban Baltimore, alleging he plotted with al-Qaida to attack US targets and assassinate former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
The charges against defendant Majid Khan allege that in 2002, he donned an explosives vest and sat in a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, where Musharraf was expected. He planned to blow himself up and kill Musharraf but the plot was foiled when the president failed to show up, the charges said.
So he went home and took the boom vest off?
No doubt he hung it up very carefully in the closet against future need.
Prosecutors allege Khan also conspired with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the September 11 attacks, to blow up underground gasoline storage tanks in the United States - attacks that apparently were not carried out.
Apparently not.
And Khan is accused of conspiring with al-Qaida operatives in Indonesia to bomb bars, cafes and nightclubs frequented by Westerners.
#1
we've had pro Thorium Reactor (aka Molton Salt Reactor) news on Rantburg before
Several countries are working on it.
Yes there are advantages (safety, thermal efficiency, plentiful supply of Thorium); however there are some disadvantages also not mentioned in the American Thinker article, e.g., the complexity of the operational chemical management of the reactor and the long term potential for corrosion.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/15/2012 8:48
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#2
A nasty liquid sodium cooled reactor is buried just south of Lincoln NE. Core was removed. It was designed under Atoms for Peace to purify food.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/15/2012 12:17
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#3
So how does thorium reactor technology compare to the technology currently in use in the USA? This sort of thing never gets adequate discussion. The greenies and the Global Warmists have sucked all the oxygen out of the discussion space. Maybe things will change after rolling blackouts become common in the USA.
KARACHI: Three people, including two activists of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP), were rubbed out in a fresh spate of murders across the metropolis on Tuesday.
Two activists of banned SSP were bumped off near Rickshaw Stand, Nazimabad within the precincts of Shamim Shaheed police check post.
Two friends 35-year-old Shabbir, son of Wakeel and Ateeq, 40, son of Hanif, also the activists of SSP were on a cycle of violence when unidentified gunnies in a hi-roof van sprayed bullets. As a result, Shabbir was struck down in his prime whereas Ateeq was critically injured. The culprits managed to flee after their swift operation.
Subsequently, police rushed to the scene and shifted the body and injured to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Ateeq also departed this vale of tears during treatment. Soon as the news spread, scores of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat - ASWJ (formerly known as SSP) activists rushed to the hospital.
SHO Rao Ehsan said culprits used 9mm pistols and both victims were affiliated with SSP. He further informed that police assume that the victims were killed over sectarian bias. Officer further said both victims were the residents of Firdous Colony, Gulbahar and Shabbir used to run a sweet shop whereas Ateeq was an air-conditioning technician. Later police handed over their bodies to the heirs.
ASWJ front man Maulana Taj Hanfi, condemning the incident, said both victims were the activists of ASWJ, Gulbahar unit. He informed that at least 15 activists of the ASWJ had been killed in the current year and the police had failed to arrest any single culprit.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... funeral prayers of both victims were offered at Khajji Ground, Nazimabad. Case could not be registered till filing of this report.
Separately, a butcher was rubbed out in an act of murder at Bhimpura within the remit of Risala cop shoppe. Police officials said that the victim was identified as Saleem Qureshi, son of Abdul Aziz. He was sitting at a friend's shop when two armed motorcyclists shot him four times and decamped.
The victim was struck down in his prime and body was taken to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... for an appointment with Dr. Quincy. Police officials said that the dear departed lived in New Bloody Karachi and was a butcher by profession.
#4
Yeah, well, it certainly sounds like the city that Superman defends. Should have just said Karachi in the headline, it's more informative, and I would have known to not even bother clicking on it.
#6
metropolis
1.
any large, busy city.
2.
the chief, and sometimes capital, city of a country, state, or region.
3.
a central or principal place, as of some activity: the music metropolis of France.
4.
the mother city or parent state of a colony,
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2012 14:12
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#8
Metropolis is the analogue to New York City in comic books and their related films, not out in the real world. Nor is New York "the City", no matter what parochial residents might think.
#9
Proper nouns get capitalized. These are the names of people, places and things. Therefore the Metropolis in the Superman comic books is capitalized. But the common noun metropolis is not capitalized and can be used in reference to any big city.
There's your English lesson for the day, folks. That's why it's important when writing to use both upper and lower case letters.
#3
So goes California, so goes the Nation. You non-Californian's have a Welfare Centered, Democrat Oligarchy coming to your state in the near future.
The change here from 70% to a 40% Anglo population in just 30 years has been breathtaking.
The need to replace the States brain drain with immigrants from such locales as the Sub-Continent has helped but brings it's own set of problems. Once anchored they bring in their aging parents, aunts and uncles who quickly tap into the social safety net. Yes Obama, free healthcare already exist to those who know how to work the system. Other goodies such as section 8 housing and SSI are readily available.
CA's sky high taxes and chronic multibillion dollar budget deficits can only go one way - UP!
We only have to watch the pictures from Greece to see what will happen if we try to reverse this welfare state of mind. What a mess...
Also, there is plenty of guilt to go around here. Bush did nothing to stop it. Clinton did nothing to stop it. Bush, Sr. did nothing to stop it. Reagan may have thought he did something to stop it but we can all see how that worked. McCain tried to act like it wasn't even happening. Obama may be the most candid about actively encouraging it but he certainly didn't start it. Somehow I'm afraid that Romney, in spite of what he says now, will do nothing about it.
I've been here a long, long time and I have indeed seen some breathtaking changes. It makes me want to leave but, hey, after you've ruined San Diego where do you go?
#6
I hate the assumption of this article that Mexican Americans are just as monolithic, shiftless, leftist, etc., as another, unnamed ethnic group. They aren't.
Let me quote an example from just today. Southern Arizona has a congressman named Grijalva, who some consider the most leftist congressman in Washington. However today, he just got his 3rd Democrat primary challenger.
His latest opponent was born in Mexico, came to the US when he was 2 year old, was educated in the US and has become an M.D. obstetrician/gynecologist. As a Democrat, he wants to substantially *overturn* Obamacare and tightly seal the US border with Mexico.
Granted, he does want to see a means by which illegal aliens living here can get US citizenship without leaving the US, but that is about it as far as his leftism goes.
Some contrast with Grijalva, yes?
I have known several Mexican-Americans who were to the political *right* of Jesse Helms.
So what about California? Well, indeed ethnic Mexicans may soon displace ethnic Europeans as the majority. But this *does not* mean that they will continue with the white liberals agenda.
Nor does it mean that they will be unpatriotic, like white liberals, either.
Comparatively, *legal* Mexican Americans track almost identically to white Americans in many ways. About the same political breakdown in a given state. About the same crime rate per capita as among whites. They do lag in higher education somewhat.
But they are very different from that other, unnamed ethnic group.
#7
Check out the California State Assembly roster. You might find one or two Republicans with Hispanic names. But then look at all the Hispanic Democrats. Not monolithic? Not entirely. And there is the hope that as they assimilate and become more prosperous more of them will become more conservative. But what do we do in the meantime?
TEHRAN Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to unveil several unspecified nuclear achievements on Wednesday, his governments website said.
Several completed nuclear projects will be unveiled tomorrow in the presence of the president, the official website said on Tuesday. Experts believe these achievements will show the world the extraordinary capability and knowledge of Iranians.
Oh, we can't wait...
It added that the progress will underline Irans scientific adherence to nuclear power for all and nuclear weapons for none, the website said.
The announcement confirmed a vow made by Ahmadinejad on Saturday to inaugurate important nuclear projects within days, in a speech marking the anniversary of Irans 1979 Islamic revolution.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/15/2012
00:00 ||
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See also TOPIX > EXPERT: US TO NOT LAUNCH ATTACK ON IRAN FEARING LOSS OF IRANIAN PEOPLE'S AFFECTIONS, as Iran's people historically have always liked the US.
and
* SAME > [Russ ISS Chief Eduard Popov]RUSSIAN EXPERT: VICTORY OF ASSAD REGIME PUTS WEST IN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION.
ARTIC = Although Syria provides security for ally Iran, the US-West risk destroying the very ME stability they desire vee the "ARAB/SYRIAN SPRING"; SHORT OF WAGING WAR AGZ THE US-WEST, THERE IS LITTLE RUSSIA CAN DO TO STOP OR PREVENT ANY DIRECT INVASION OF SYRIA BY [US-led] WESTERN COALITION OF COUNTRIES, ESPEC AS ACTING UNDER UNO/UNSC MANDATE, e.g. No-Fly Zones.
#2
EXPERT: US TO NOT LAUNCH ATTACK ON IRAN FEARING LOSS OF IRANIAN PEOPLE'S AFFECTIONS, as Iran's people historically have always liked the US.
Far be it from me to contradict the 'perts on Topix, but exactly when was this golden age? Back before the Shah? Seems to me that we've been in a simmering conflict since Mr. Peanut was President.
#3
actually, the educated peeps in the cities are generally pro-America/western culture. They are the ones getting shot and beat without a word of protest from Obama, because he's unsympathetic to them
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2012 15:44
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#4
"Iranian people's affections" ?? Those 'affections' and $1.65 will get me a cup of Starbucks. Otherwise Oderint dum metuant. Let those misguided affections work to make Iran a better place for Iranians to live in rather than a hotbed of JIHAD.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN ACTIVATES 3000 NEW new generation]CENTRIFUGES, increasing its production of 3.5% EU by 50%.
* SAME > IRAN INSERTS [indigenous] DOMESTICALLY-MANUFACTURED FUEL RODS INTO REACTOR.
MOUD = Thanks but no thanks, we can produce our own now - no need for Iran anymore to acquire wily dastardly infidel fuel rods from abroad.
WEEZ IZZ [minimally = sufficiently] INDEPENDENT NOW.
* WAFF > IRAN TO BUILD FOUR NEW REACTORS AS WEST REALIZES THEIR LIMITED OPTIONS | [India Times] GO BUILD FOUR NEW REACTORS, AHMADINEJAD ORDERS IRAN.
POSTER = opined that the US-WEST HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO WATCH IRAN GO NUCLEAR!?
CAIRO - State-run newspapers splashed accusations of a US plan to spread "anarchy" in Egypt, escalating a dispute that Washington said on Tuesday must be resolved to ensure their continued military cooperation.
Boy howdy, good thing Obama is going to give them economic and military aid. Just think what the Egyptians would think of us otherwise...
Based on remarks by a government minister, the headlines marked another low in the crisis between Washington and Cairo triggered by the investigation into US-based non-governmental organisations that has resulted in criminal charges against Americans who have been banned from leaving the country.
Another low. Seems like we've had a lot of those since Hosni got tossed...
We are an ambitious people, ever striving to break barriers.
"America is behind the anarchy," declared the front page of Al Gomhuria newspaper. "American funding aims to spread anarchy in Egypt," read the front page of Al Ahram newspaper. The papers are two of Egypt's most widely distributed dailies.
Newspapers have to sell, governments need enemies...
The headlines were based on comments made in October to the investigating judges by Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Abul Naga - but which only came to light on Monday when they were released to the state news agency MENA. Like Al Ahram and Al Gomhuria, MENA is part of a state-run media loyal to the government and which has long been a tool for shaping public opinion in favour of the establishment.
In her remarks, Abul Naga linked what she said was a surge in US funding for civil society groups last year to an attempt to steer the course of the post-Hosni Mubarak transition in "a direction that realised American and Israeli interests".
If we wanted to do that we would have just implemented the Bernard Lewis map...
"All the indications show that there was a clear desire to abort any chance for Egypt to emerge as a modern democratic state with a strong economy," she was quoted as saying, adding that such a prospect would be a threat to "American and Israeli interests".
Egypt insists the NGO case is a judicial matter and that all NGOs, regardless of origin, must heed Egyptian law. But the timing of the statement's release is as telling as its contents, coming just days after Egypt's military ruler appeared to try to contain the tension that now threatens $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Cairo.
No, it underscores that they know they're going to get the money anyway, so they can say what they like and threaten our citizens. They've taken Obama's measure and know that he's weak.
General Martin Dempsey, the top US military officer as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a US Senate hearing on Tuesday he had tried to convince Egypt's ruling generals of the gravity of the case.
"I spent about a day and a half in conversation with them encouraging them in the strongest possible terms to resolve this so that our mil-to-mil (military-to-military) relationship could continue," Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"I'm convinced, potentially they were underestimating the impact of this on our relationship. When I left there, there was no doubt that they understood the seriousness of it," Dempsey said of his visit to Cairo at the weekend.
And notice how the generals reacted, sir.
U.S. officials have called for the travel ban to be lifted, and the US Congress has warned that the dispute could endanger aid to Egypt.
Don't worry, Harry Reid will find a way to push the money through.
While the White House announced plans on Monday to keep aid to Egypt at the level of recent years, a State Department spokeswoman said that "if we cannot resolve the current impasse it could have implications for this relationship and for our ability to disburse this money".
Until we cave...
Dempsey said he was opposed to proposed legislation in Congress that would break off military relations and cut off aid. "My personal military judgment is that would be a mistake," he said.
Senator John McCain, the top Republican on the panel, assured Dempsey he was seeking ways to avoid Congress adopting the legislation. But he said he hoped Egyptian officials understood the situation was unacceptable to the United States.
"Our relationship with Egypt is vital, but the fact is that the welfare of our citizens (is) even more vital," McCain said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Spreading entropy, yes. Anarchy spreading, no.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/15/2012 13:54
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Better, and less explosive, living through chemistry.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/15/2012
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#1
While this would be good for foreign manufacturers, especially in Pakistan, they would only do it if they got perpetual subsidies from the US to do it.
And, if the baddies made an investment, they could convert ammonium sulfate to ammonium nitrate fairly easily. It would cost twice as much, but could be delivered in volume.
#2
Shh.....
Actually something better was done in the USA.
It's cheap, it works, it's in use.
Shhh...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/15/2012 12:21
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#3
Actually I am not worried. There are so many things that can be turned into explosives out there, St. Darwin gets a regular supply of fools who can't resist mucking with them.
#4
Good point 'moose. I remember my 4th grade "talented and gifted" science class project involved blowing the lid off a paint can with nothing more than a candle and 2 tablespoons of flour.
Extra credit: Anyone ever sprinkle non-dairy creamer powder above a cigarette lighter?
PARIS -- The Syrian National Council, the main opposition group against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, said it will meet Wednesday in Doha to choose a new leader or extend the term of current head Burhan Ghalioun.
"We are meeting tomorrow in Doha to choose a president. There will be several candidates and we want to take an independent decision, without external interference," SNC spokeswoman Basma Kodmani told AFP by telephone from Doha. She said the group wanted to make a choice based on who would do the best job and not on "denominational etiquette."
Kodmani said the council's rules require it to choose its leader every three months. "In general there is a rotation, but there can be exceptions," she said.
Like, for example, when a strongman emerges...
According to several sources within the SNC, three candidates have emerged for the leadership: Ghalioun, the leader since the SNC's founding last October, Kodmani and George Sabra, a long-time dissident.
The SNC is hoping to win recognition abroad as Syria's legitimate authority amid an anti-regime uprising that has seen more than 6,000 people killed since Assad's forces began their brutal crackdown on protesters in March
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#8
Sounded to me like people were more concerned that if it burned and the explosives from the torpedoes went off, there could have been a lot of fallout from the ICBMs. Aka, dirty bomb.
#13
There was a fire. Thing didn't blow up. Sounds positive to me.
Problem with the Russky PAO is getting the story straight, if not truthful. Hate to be a PAO in anybody's military, but especially not theirs.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
02/15/2012 22:46
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The Afghan Ministry of Mines said on Monday that Afghan-Tajik Oil Zone Mapping has begun and will end by mid next month.
After completion of Mapping and determination of the level of oil, the bidding process will start, a front man for the Ministry of Mines, Jawad Omer, told TOLOnews.
Afghan-Tajik Oil Zone is one of the biggest oil sources in the country and preliminary surveys show that more than one and half million barrels of oil are available in this mine which costs nearly $100b.
A Canadian company has started the mapping process of the area and it will end by 1st March this year. The bidding process will also start by March 7th 2012.
The oil zone covers northern and northeastern parts of Afghanistan.
According to studies conducted by Major international companies, besides Afghan-Tajik Oil Zone, there are other oil zones such as Amu Darya oil zone, Kashka, Katawaz, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... and Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... oil zones.
The exploration of Amu Darya oil zone was recently awarded to a Chinese company.
The Chinese CNPC company will invest $700m on the mine in the next five years.
The practical phase of the oil exploration will start this year.
PDF copy of Issa's letter to AG Holder yesterday is at the link, excerpted:
please specify a Department [of Justice] representative who with interface with the Committee for production purposes. This individual should also serve as the conduit for dealing with the contempt proceedings, should the Department continue to ignore the Committee's subpoena
#2
Serve that scum holder the papers and perp-walk him around Judicial Square a few times; maybe in chains...
That'll really get his local constituency fired-up while his Pharaoh be out West panhandling. Um-um-um...
#3
mojo: could be Issa is taking a leisurely pace for now, so that elections are closer as documents are disclosed and things heat up. If impeaching Holder becomes a real possibility, B.O. will have to throw him under the bus, but by then the stink will stick to him anyway.
Revolutionary Guards, Hezbullies operatives aiding Assad's brutal crackdown on protesters now number in the hundreds
Iran has significantly increased its involvement in Syria over the past few days, Ynet learned Monday.
The presence of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbullies operatives assisting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's in his brutal crackdown of protesters now number in the high hundreds; while the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... said that it will not supply the rebels with arms unless the bloodshed comes to a halt.
The majority of Iranian and Hezbullies operatives in Syria supply Assad's army with intelligence and train the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... forces on weapons' maintenance and reconnaissance. A smaller group of operatives is involved in the actual fighting.
Tehran has also increased the financial assistance it lends Damascus. It also maintains regular flights to the Syrian capital -- a practice Arab League members have suspended due to the escalating violence.
Iran's financial aid is one of Assad's lifelines, as it keeps the middle class in Damascus and Halab (Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... ) from rising against him as well.
The Islamic Theocratic Republic's decision to bolster ties with Syria at a time when Tehran has to deal with growing international sanctions, imposed on it over its refusal to suspend its nuclear program, indicates that the ayatollah's regime believes Assad and his government can survive the uprising.
Israeli intelligence agency collaborating with CIA to revive spy network after revolution, Tunisian journal reports
The Mossad has bolstered its activity in several Tunisian cities since the start of the revolt that ousted President-for-Life Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ...who departed by popular demand in January, 2011, precipitating the Arab Spring... last January, a Tunisian magazine reported.
According to the Al-Musawar, the Israeli intelligence agency has been working with its US-based counterpart, the CIA, to revive its spy network in post-revolution Tunisia. The journal cited a report compiled by the Egyptian Yafa Research Center, which found that the Mossad's intelligence net is spread across several Tunisian metropolises -- each branch with its own speciality.
The branch stationed in Tunis, for example, tracks targets in Alegria. The one placed in Djerba, an island located 500 kilometers southeast of the capital, traces Libyan targets. The Sousse office deals with Tunisian internal affairs, the report claimed.
According to the Tunisian journal, the Mossad has three primary goals for its activity in the north African country; to form spy rings for sabotage and incitement purposes, to follow the development of events in neighboring Algeria and Libya, and to track what is left of the Paleostinian groups in Tunisia as well as Islamic and Salafi movements that are active there.
Another goal that the Mossad has assigned its agents, Al-Musawar reported, is to shadow the opposition groups in Tunisia -- especially those who oppose the grinding of the peace processor with Israel, while also protecting the interests of the Jewish communities in Tunisia, Algeria and Libya.
BEIJING/BEIRUT/BERLIN: China will not protect the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, Premier Wen Jiabao said, after Beijing drew international ire for vetoing a UN resolution on the country.
Wen's comments, during an EU-China summit on Tuesday, came after the United Nations' top human rights representative said the world body's inaction had "emboldened" the Syrian government to use overwhelming force against its own civilians. "China will absolutely not protect any party, including the government in Syria," Wen said in Beijing.
He added that the priority now was to "prevent war and chaos" in the violence-hit country.
China and Russia have faced a barrage of criticism for blocking a UN Security Council resolution condemning the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria, including from Arab nations with which Beijing normally has good ties.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday the EU backs the Arab League's "firm stance" on Syria and will support it through further sanctions, ahead of talks with the head of the pan-Arab body. The EU plans to adopt a new round of sanctions against Assad's regime on Feb. 27, according to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann.
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From the Apee. It looks like the Pentagon is proposing cutting it's nuclear weapons inventory by 80%. Cost cutting or political theater? What if any, will there be any benefits for the U.S.?
Meanwhile, both China and Russia are bolstering their Nuclear capability. Especially China in this equation.
Written by Robert Burns so it's thoughtful. The issue is: how few nuclear weapons deter in an ideal world? And how many do you need in a world filled with cheaters, thugs and fools?
#2
Reminds me of LAST OF THE MOHICANS > COL. MUNRO as per SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY = "THE SITUATION IS HIS [Montcalm's] GUNS ARE BIGGER THAN MINE + HE HAS MORE OF THEM"!
#5
The US has a vital interest in preventing nuclear war anywhere in the northern hemisphere, for an odd reason: the jet stream.
For some reason, the northern hemisphere jet stream, in its circuit around the world, has a downdraft exhaust right over middle America. Right over our most prolific agricultural areas.
This was why we were adamant about passing the Atmospheric Test Ban treaty. Whenever the Russians popped an airburst over Novaya Zemlya, in a short period of time, strontium-90 would start showing up in cow milk in the Midwest.
And we soon discovered that even ground burst nukes sent fallout high enough to be picked up by the jet stream.
Were it not for this, the US would not have any personal stake if Israel decided to nuke every Muslim country in range.
#6
Moose, I grew up during the 50s and open air testing, to the east of the stuff by a day or two. Yeah, it dumped into the agricultural areas of America. We're all not mutants as Hollyweird would have you believe. Nukes were the 50s/60s Hollyweird's props just like MMGW or whatever is the political fear factor they're selling today.
#7
Strontium-90 is chemically similar to calcium, and tends to deposit in bone and blood-forming tissue (bone marrow). Thus, strontium-90 is referred to as a "bone seeker." Internal exposure to Sr-90 is linked to bone cancer, cancer of the soft tissue near the bone, and leukemia.
While eco-hysterics have tried to create a public panic about Sr-90 from nuke plants, the reality is that 99% of the Sr-90 still around is from Cold War testing. With a half-life of 28.5 years, that means a heck of a lot of Sr-90 was created and put into the atmosphere back then.
And would be again, were there to be a medium sized nuclear war.
A big problem with Sr-90 is detecting it, because it solely emits beta particles. But it is similar to the equally bad radioactive cesium in half life and medical effects, but cesium gives off gamma radiation, much easier to detect in the body. The two are often created together.
This means it is hard to tell if one child has a less than harmful amount, and another child will be very vulnerable to leukemia.
#8
The aerial application of agricultural chemicals and resulting diseases and chronic conditions in California alone likely make the radiation poisoning in the states associated with a few nukes in Iran via Israeli attacks a statistical joke in terms of effect.
I grew up in agribusiness and we messed with some serious shit.
I'm not all about casting radium and whatnot into the atmosphere, however the risk/reward calculation on our lives and health is made everyday by our corporate and govt masters and most could give a shit less, while everyone seems a concerned citizen against nuclear weapons.
In any case all of these are horrific choices for any parent of the countless children with leukemia/kidney disease/etc. etc. who either get nuked or are just exposed everyday by the shit we use to grow our food.
I hope Israel is not forced to use nukes, but our nuclear future looks very real from where I am sitting right now.
#9
Perhaps if our politics against R&D of new nuclear weapons were not so strong we would have pure fusion weapons by now with low radiation emission and our mass destruction would be efficient and localized enough to be used when ultimately necessary.
I dont know what neutrons do to you though, and with pure fusion you're just trading radiation for neutron exposure right?
#11
There's several things there. To start with, after the rush towards gigantic nuclear weapons ended with the Tsar Bomba, from that point, the emphasis was on making both smaller weapons, and tailoring yield.
One such is the neutron bomb, aka enhanced radiation weapon (ERW). Its purpose is to convert as much of the blast energy as possible into making high speed neutrons. Only its remnants, deposited directly beneath the airburst in a small area, are still highly radioactive, along with previously non-radioactive metal on the ground hit with so many neutrons that it has itself become somewhat radioactive.
A nuclear 155mm howitzer round blast area will only be radioactive for a few days before it returns to background levels.
#14
Neutron radiation is ionizing radiation, i. e., it destroys tissue by ionizing atoms in the tissue. It won't make tissue disappear but will kill quickly if one is close but more slowly the further away one is.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/15/2012 17:44
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#15
how many do you need in a world filled with cheaters, thugs and fools? Fewer than in a world with wealthy, deluded, suicidal religious fanatics.
Iranian engineers have succeeded in neutralizing and purging the computer virus known as Stuxnet from their country's nuclear machinery, European and U.S. officials and private experts have told Reuters.
For now...
What about the four or five similar viruses they recently discovered had been floating around for a while? Have those also been neutralized and purged? Have they yet determined how the darned things got in to secure, hidden facilities?
The malicious code, whose precise origin and authorship remain unconfirmed, made its way as early as 2009 into equipment controlling centrifuges Iran is using to enrich uranium, dealing a significant but perhaps temporary setback to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons work.
Many experts believe that Israel, possibly with assistance from the United States, was responsible for creating and deploying Stuxnet. But no authoritative account of who invented Stuxnet or how it got into Iran's centrifuge control equipment has surfaced.
U.S. and European officials, who insisted on anonymity when discussing a highly sensitive subject, said their governments' experts agreed that the Iranians had succeeded in disabling Stuxnet and getting it out of their machinery.
How can that be determined without examining every single machine, access to which the US and European experts most certainly did not get?
The officials declined to provide any details on how their governments verified that the Iranians had ultimately defeated the virus. It was not clear when it occurred but secrecy on the subject has been so tight that news is only now emerging.
They don't know who created it or how it got into Iranian equipment, but they're certain the Iranians have fixed it. Right...
Some officials said they believe that the Iranians were helped in their efforts by Western cybersecurity experts, whose detailed technical analyses of Stuxnet's computer code have circulated widely on the Internet. Once the Iranians became aware that their equipment had been infected by the virus, experts said it would only have been a matter of time before they would have been able to figure out a way of shutting down the malicious code and getting it out of their systems.
"If Iran would not have gotten rid of Stuxnet by now (or even months ago), that would indicate that they were complete idiots," said German computer security consultant Ralph Langner. Langner is regarded as the first Western expert to identify the ultra-complex worm and conclude that it was specifically targeted toward equipment controlling Iranian nuclear centrifuges.
Peter Sommer, a computer security expert based in Britain, said that once Iran had detected the presence of the worm and figured out how it worked, it shouldn't have been too hard for them to disable it. "Once you know that it's there it's not that difficult to reverse engineer... Neutralization of Stuxnet, once its operation is understood, would not be that difficult as it was precisely engineered to disrupt a specific item of machinery.
"Once Stuxnet's signature is identified it can be eliminated from a system," Sommer added.
Private experts say that however well-crafted the original Stuxnet was, whoever created it probably would have to be even more clever if they want to try to supplant it with new cyber-weapons directed at Iran's nuclear program.
"Aspects of Stuxnet could be re-used, but it is important to understand that its success depended not only on 'clever coding' but also required a great deal of specific intelligence and testing. It was the first known highly-targeted cyber-weapon, as opposed to more usual cyber weapons which are more diffuse in their targeting," Sommer said.
David Albright, a former United Nations weapons inspector who has extensively investigated Iran's nuclear program for the private Institute for Science and International Security, which he leads, said that spy agencies would have to go back to the drawing board if they're intent on continuing to try to hobble Iran's nuclear program via cyber-warfare.
"I would assume that once Iran learned of Stuxnet, then intelligence agencies looked at this method of cyber attack as compromised regardless of how long it has taken Iran to neutralize it. It is a cat and mouse game."
But Albright added that "intelligence agencies have likely been looking at more advanced forms of attack for a couple of years that they hope will catch the Iranians unprepared."
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#1
"How can that be determined without examining every single machine, access to which the US and European experts most certainly did not get?"
Don't give them any ideas.
Seriously, this exactly what we'd want them to say.
#2
Computer experts say that if they haven't managed to remove it by now, they are complete idiots. Their claim is actually fairly hollow, it basically says "we aren't total dumbasses".
There was a article recently that said the Stuxnet virus was built to be a modular component of several building blocks that could be mixed and matched to attack machinery in several different ways.
The fact that they have neutralized virus A tells you nothing about viruses B, C, and D. They probably have not even detected all the viruses floating around in their system.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/15/2012 9:46
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#6
Stuxnet did it's job. The one after it collected information and sent it all back.
#7
These guys can't neutralize their own BO. Good luck with Stuxnet.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/15/2012 13:30
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#8
It's just hiding, Stuxnet will jump back out at any time. Preferably when Dinnerjacket is nearby.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/15/2012 13:40
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#9
Stuxnet virus was built to be a modular component of several building blocks that could be mixed and matched to attack machinery in several different ways.
Interesting. Kinda like real viruses. Those little modular components are what makes flu immunization such a bitch.
Computer viruses are like having chipmunks in your house. Once you are infested, you might as well burn the house down along with everything in it. It's the only way to be sure you got them all.
As for the thread itself, Bangkok Billy is in the lead with #7.
Tunisia has broken up a "terrorist organization" and placed in long-term storage 12 members who had received military training in Libya and were seeking to set up an Islamic state, Interior Minister Ali Larayed said on Monday.
"Those accused in this case had mostly been in prison on terrorism charges and a number of them received training in Libya during the Libyan revolution," he told news hounds.
"We have confiscated several weapons including 25 Kalashnikov rifles and 2,500 bullets," he added. "They were intending to establish an Islamist state."
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Tuesday raised the level of alert across the country following Monday's terror attacks in Georgia and India.
Israel boosted the level of alert at all of its embassies abroad following the attacks on Monday.
Nineteen bully boyz including their commanders laid down their weapons and surrendered to authorities in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... on Monday, local officials said.
"A total of 19 Talibs led by Taj Mohammad and Masood surrendered to the government in Kunar province," provincial head of peace council, Mawlawi Mohammad Hashim Munib said.
The men were active in Kunar and organised anti-government activities there, he said.
The commanders and his men submitted their weapons to Kunar police, officials said.
Mr Munib is confident that security will improve as more bully boyz renounce violence in the province.
It comes as a total of 19 Taliban led by a Taliban shadow governor on Monday surrendered to the government in Chisht-e-Sharif district of Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province, around 640 km from Kabul, provincial governor Daud Saba said.
The men were active in the province and fought against the government, he said. The shadow governor and their men submitted their weapons to security troops, he added.
In the past six months, five Death Eater groups have joined the Afghan grinding of the peace processor in the province, officials said.
Dozens of bully boyz have recently joined the grinding of the peace processor in the province after Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces increased military operations in the country to clear Death Eaters.
LAHORE: The contempt of court case is a question of $60 million [allegedly laundered by President Zardari] so it will take time to solve, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan said on Tuesday. Aitzaz Ahsan, who happens to be the counsel for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the Supreme Court contempt case, was taking to the media after submitting his documents in the Election Commission office.
He said the respect of parliament would not be at stake due to pending cases. Although the judiciary has respect, parliament is the supreme institution of the country, he said, adding that representatives of parliament would be released from all cases with respect and honour.
He made it clear that there was no threat to the Supreme Court and all institutions of the country were working within their limits. The PPP leader said his party wanted all institutions of the country to work within their constitutional limits. Aitzaz said that after getting elected a member of parliament, he would work to ensure supremacy of the constitution and the law.
Until the next coup...
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The US President Barack Obama I am the change that you seek... 's administration on Monday proposed $2.4 billion in financial aid to Pakistain for the fiscal year 2012-13 while unveiling its annual budget of $3.8 trillion that calls for tax hikes on the rich, reports said.
Of this, $2.2 billion is in assistance to strengthen democratic and civil institutions that provide a bulwark against extremism and support joint security and counter- terrorism efforts, including $800 million for the Pakistain Counter-insurgency Capability Fund, the State Department said soon after the White House sent the budgetary proposals to the Congress.
In all, the budgetary proposals of President Barack Obama provides $8.2 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations to support the extraordinary and temporary costs of civilian- led programmes and missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistain.
#8
Yes, to all of your questions, Besoeker. But you missed a few. It's also the same Pakistan that harbored Osama bin Laden. It's also the same Pakistan the continues to harbor Mullah Omar and Ayman al Zawahiri.
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > EX-ISI CHIEF [Gen. Ziauddin Butt] CLAIMS MUSHARAFF HOSTED OSAMA IN ABBOTTABAD | PERVEZ MUSHARAFF KNEW OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS IN ABBOTTABAD.
Mushie 'twas allegedly the One whom ordered or arranged the acquisition of Osama + Family's bungalow-in-paradise there for them.
QUETTA: Nine people, including seven labourers, were killed and two others injured in separate incidents in Miskan area of Bulieda Kech and Qila Saifullah on Tuesday.
According to the Balochistan Levies official Mujeeb Ahmed, a group of terrorists armed men opened fire on labourers who were busy in construction of Turbat-Bulieda road. As a result, five labourers were killed on the spot and four others were injured. The Balochistan Levies officials rushed to the spot and shifted the bodies and injured to the District Headquarters Hospital where two of the injured also died.
The banned outfit Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) spokesman Duda Baloch accepted the responsibility for the attack. Calling from an undisclosed location, he urged private companies to avoid working in Balochistan.
Meanwhile, unidentified armed terrorists men gunned down two people in Ali Khail area of Qila Saifullah. The victims were identified as Muhammad Hussain and Shah Wali and the terrorists assailants fled from the scene after committing the crime.
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BEIJING: A Tibetan monk set himself on fire in western China and was beaten by security forces as they put out the flames, a rights group said, marking the latest in a series of dramatic protests against Chinas handling of its vast Tibetan areas.
Lobsang Gyatso, a 19-year-old monk from the Kirti monastery in Sichuan provinces Aba prefecture, set himself ablaze on Abas main street Monday afternoon, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. Security forces beat Gyatso while extinguishing the flames, then took him away, the group said in an online statement posted late Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he survived.
Two Tibetans who tried to help Gyatso were severely beaten by police, ICTs statement said.
Aba prefecture has been the scene of numerous protests over the past several years against the Chinese government. Most are led by monks who are fiercely loyal to Tibets exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled the Himalayan region in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and is reviled by Beijing.
According to ICT, 20 Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople have set themselves on fire in China over the past year, with at least 13 dying from their injuries. The self-immolations have occurred with increasing frequency in recent weeks, and most have taken place in Sichuans remote and mountainous Tibetan areas.
An official with the local Communist Partys propaganda department in Aba said he was unaware of the latest case. He referred media to Chinas official Xinhua News Agency or the Foreign Ministry for reports about self-immolations, saying that only they were authorized to release such news.
Activist groups say the self-immolations are a protest against Chinas policies and a call for the return of the Dalai Lama. The Chinese government has condemned the self-immolations and says an upsurge in violence in Tibetan areas, including some deadly clashes between Tibetan protesters and security forces, are being instigated by forces outside the country wanting to separate Tibet from China.
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The American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, shadowed by Iranian patrol boats.
But there were no incidents on Tuesday as the Lincoln's battle group crossed through the narrow strait, which Iran has threatened to close in retaliation for tighter Western sanctions.
#1
Perhaps the Abraham Lincoln should deploy some SH-60 Seahawk's in an anti-ship configuration to shadow the Iranian patrol boats.
Of course, having a B1B do a full engine climb from near sea level over those self same boats might also have the desired affect...
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/15/2012 0:22
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#2
As long as US-NATO Warships stay offshore + no ground invasion takes place, Iran feels it can survive any International Sanctions levied agz it + still get its Nukes [2012/13-2015].
However, any Israeli attack on Iran may cause Iran BFF? Russia to push for closure of the NDN supply routes into Afghanistan, which the US-NATO use for the majority of their supplies ever since Pakistan formally closed off its domestic land routes. IFF IT DOES OCCUR + THE NDN STAYS CLOSED FOR YEARS, IT WILL PREVENT THE US = US-NATO FROM SUPPORTING POST-2014 AFGHANISTAN, ESPEC IFF BALUCHISTAN STAYS DIVIDED BETWEEN SOVEREIGN IRAN + PAKISTAN. The US-NATO will have to resort to cost-prohibitive Air Delivery, as opposed to the current cheap Land Routes.
--------
* WORLD NEWS > ISRAELI MINISTER: IRAN WANTS TO BE A [major = global] SUPERPOWER WID NUCLEAR BOMBS.
Plus that whole "revive the great Persian Empire" thingy.
#7
We're sweating this one out here in our den and have broken open our MRE/Sterno/stick matches module from the doomsday crate in the garage. We place our faith in Him, our Pharaoh and teleprompter prophesy interpreter. Pharaoh say, Newport cigs will soon be liberally distributed across this great country of His. Stand-by for Blessings...
(Ma'an) -- The United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... Relief and Works Agency said Monday that it will not be able to continue cash allowances for impoverished families in the Gazoo Strip.
UNRWA front man Adnan Abu Hasna said a program providing 40 shekels to each individual in poor families will have to be cut after April due to a shortage in donor funds.
The financial support is used by families below the poverty line to meet their basic needs, he said.
Despite the financial crisis, UNRWA will continue with its food programs in the coastal enclave, and to highlight to the international community the issue of impoverished refugee families in Gazoo, he added.
Abu Hasna called on the international community and donor countries to save the financial aid program in Gazoo.
UNRWA was founded in 1949 to serve refugees in Gazoo, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries after hundreds of thousands were displaced from Paleostine when Israel was created. The agency's most recent mandate extends to June 30, 2014.
#3
"Wombs of Palestinian women = best weapon of Palestinian People"?
That was a wonderful idea, g(r)omgoru, until it came out a few years ago that they'd overcounted by about a million people. And then it was noticed that the birth rate has been falling...
PESHAWAR: A Frontier Corps (FC) soldier deployed at the US consulate general died of bullet injuries on Tuesday, authorities said.
The soldier, Sadiq, was on duty when all of a sudden the sound of bullet being fired was heard... He was on ground in an injured condition, authorities said. A public affairs officer at the US consulate general refused to comment on the incident.
As for the report on the Frontier Constabulary shooting, we refer you to the police/MoI (Ministry of Interior) for any inquiries, the officer said in an email message. An investigation is underway to know the reason behind the soldiers death, authorities said, adding that he could have committed suicide using his own pistol or might have been killed by an accidental fire.
Sure. Happens all the time around US consulates...
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Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's regime has used chemical warfare in order to ease its entrance into Homs, said Awad Al-Razak, an officer who defected from the Syrian armed forces.
Al-Razak, who served in the chemical warfare department of the Syrian military, told the Al-Arabiya network that the government used nerve gas under the supervision of Russian and Iranian scientists, and intends to do so again in other parts of the country.
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Ashley (Cafagna) Tesoro aka Ali in "The Skulls II (Video 2002)" aka Young Dorothea in "Lord of Illusions (1995)" aka Eleanore Crane in "Frankenstein & the Werewolf Reborn! (2005)(France)" aka Eleanore Crane in "The Werewolf Reborn! (1998)" aka Susie in "Mystery Monsters (1997)" (age 29)
PARIS - France said on Tuesday it had created an emergency fund for aid agencies looking to help the Syrian people and would propose a similar one at an international level next week when countries meet in Tunisia to discuss the escalating crisis.
The French version of the 'Widows Ammunition Fund'?
Paris had previously proposed humanitarian corridors with Syrian approval or with an international mandate for shipping food and medicine to alleviate civilian suffering while Damascus cracks down on an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe met humanitarian organisations on Tuesday and pledged 1 million euros to finance groups trying to offer humanitarian help to Syria.
(The minister) insisted that France is working at all international levels to ensure the right to access the population, said a foreign ministry statement.
International powers are due to meet in Tunis on Feb. 24 as part of a newly-created Friends of Syria Group aimed at trying to find a way of peacefully ending the conflict in Syria
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ISLAMABAD: Islamabad publicly admitted on Tuesday that it had allowed NATO to use Pakistani airspace to fly supplies into Afghanistan, despite a more than two-month blockade on the border crossings.
Pakistan has allowed the US and NATO to use its airspace for supplies to their forces in Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds. The permission has been given for food items, a defence ministry official quoted Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar as saying at a function in Islamabad. Since the food items were perishable, we have allowed them to transport them by air to Afghanistan. We have told them to take the supplies out by air and dont bring more for the time being, the official quoted him as saying.
US ambassador to Islamabad, Cameron Munter, last week confirmed that NATO had continued to fly supplies into Afghanistan despite Pakistans closure of the border to NATO trucks and oil tankers on November 26.
Parliament is expected to vote on a revised framework for relations with the US this week that could pave the way for the government to reopen the supply line. Also, senior Pakistani officials have said in recent days that the government should fully reopen its border to NATO supplies as long as it can negotiate better fees from the coalition.
Since it's all about the boodle...
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#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTANI POLITICIANS DON'T WANT US TO GO AWAY: MUNTER [US Ambassador].
CIA-ISI inter-relationship still intact despite post-Abbottabad, post-Shilala 2011 US-PAK brouhahas.
PA President Abbas waiting for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, confirmation to implement Doha deal, senior Fatah member Sha'ath tells Ma'an.
Disagreement within the Hamas leadership over a reconciliation deal signed by leaders of Hamas and the Paleostinian Authority in Qatar is stalling the formation of a unity government, senior Fatah member Nabil Sha'ath said Monday.
Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... is waiting to hear confirmation from Hamas that they will stand behind an interim government under his premiership, Sha'ath told Paleostinian news agency Ma'an.
Sha'ath made the comments as an open leadership split within Hamas - the first of its kind in the history of the Islamist movement - arose over how far it should go in closing ranks with Fatah. Hamas has been working with the PA to end a conflict with Fatah that erupted after Hamas won Paleostinian elections in 2006, and forcefully ejected Fatah from the Gazoo Strip the following year.
Some leaders in Hamas have said it would be illegal for Abbas to become prime minister of an interim government while he is still president, a part of the deal that Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal signed in Doha. Sha'ath rejected such claims on Monday as untrue.
The senior Fatah leader - who has visited Gazoo since the signing of a reconciliation agreement between the PA and Hamas in Cairo last May - said there is nothing in Paleostinian law which prevents the president from appointing himself to the position of prime minister.
"The issue here is not constitutional," he said. "The solution is a political solution."
Sha'ath said he hoped that "Hamas does not make [the deal] an obstacle," adding that "we in Fatah will not use this as an excuse to stop working towards unity."
Sha'ath said Fatah would have "no role" in helping to solve what he called an "internal issue" within Hamas.
For a map, click here For a map of Coahuila state, click here
For the second time in two months a Secretaria Seguirdad Publica (SSP) or police chief of Saltillo, Coahuila has been killed, according to Mexican news accounts.
Sergio Armando Sibeles Alvarado was shot to death Tuesday morning in front of his home in the Lomas de Guadalupe colony in the southwest quandrant of the city at about 0800 hrs.
Sisbeles Alvarado was only two months on the job after his predecessor, Emmanuel Almaguer Perez, was shot to death December 5th. Like Sisbeles Alvarado, Almaguer Perez was shot in front of his home, this time in the Magisterium colony of Saltillo.
Saltillo is the capital of Coahuila state, and has been the scene of a large number of shootouts between Mexican security forces and drug gang shooters.
Four armed suspects were killed last January 23rd in the Ramos Arzipe colony after they were cornered by a Mexican Army unit at a residence. To read the Rantburg.com report on the January 23rd shootout between drug bad guys and the Mexican Army, click here
#3
Original link worked for me. Maybe a mod fixed it.
The kid will be one to keep track of. It sounds like his parents have managed to gently guide him in a positive direction. May his potential benefit all mankind.
#4
It sounds like his parents have managed to gently guide him in a positive direction.
It sounds like his parents failed to teach him the meaning of the word "no".
I predict that his career will come to a halt when he has to justify his projects to people who will say no. Then he'll probably wind up failed and embittered, working on some loony theory. See The Genius from Another Dimension.
I hate these stories. When I was very young I was like this kid. My parents laughed and told me to Shut Up and Sit Down. I cannot imagine the cataclysm that would have resulted if I had announced at Thanksgiving that I'd be taking blood samples. It would've involved a sample of blood being drawn from my backside, that's for damned sure.
#7
Grunter your post made my day. Where I lived for a time were several bright young people. Science fairs and home projects were the norm. It could have been viewed as obsessive compulsive disorter. We were young so no one bothered us.
The key ingredient was we had parents that worked in technical or were instructors. The sky was the limit. They left us alone doing what was thought to be normal. I am not saying I was bright but others of us were. We each made a contribution. These were some of the best of times. To us the Moon was just the first step. We have gone to sleep. I think of where we could be, even today.
Remember those of you who have these gifts, you have impact upon those around you.
#8
There's just something deliciously ironic about this:
We land in Reno and make our way toward the baggage claim. I hope that box held up, Taylor says, as we approach the carousel. And if it didnt, I hope they give us back the radioactive goodies scattered all over the airplane. Soon the box appears, adorned with a bright strip of tape and a note inside explaining that the package has been opened and inspected by the TSA. They had no idea, Taylor says, smiling, what they were looking at.
The thought of TSA agents dutifully opening the packgage, inspecting the radioactive remnants of a thermonuclear weapon, then inserting a note and passing it along it almost too good to be real. It'll be years before I stop laughing about this every time I'm in an airport.
RABAT, Morocco -- A Moroccan court has convicted a student of "violating the sacred values" of the kingdom and sentenced him to three years in prison after a video posted online showed him criticizing the king, the state news agency reported Tuesday.
Abdelsamad Haydour, from Taza, a mountain town 187 miles (300 kilometers) east of the capital that has been a hot spot for violent protests, accused King Mohammed VI of oppressing his people in the 4-minute clip, and also called the monarch a dog, a dictator and a murder.
The monarchy has tolerated widespread protests over the last year, but the latest incident shows that there are still limits to the kind of criticisms permitted.
The video, available on YouTube.com, showed the 24-year-old talking with a friend outside on the street, surrounded by a group of young people. At one point, Haydour points to the camera while making his statements.
"For years they have just been educating us to be consumers and buy the products of the colonizers and their representatives in Rabat," the Moroccan capital, said Haydour, who also was fined $1,250.
On Feb. 7, another young Moroccan also was charged with attacking "sacred values" when he posted on Facebook mocking cartoons of the king. His trial is pending.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Doctors at Chulalongkorn Hospital said Mr 
Gallup polled small-business owners (value under $20M) about their expansion plans in early January, which for some strange reason didn't get reported until today. Among those who do not plan to hire -- 85% of the entire sample -- almost half of all such businesses cited expected costs from health care coverage and government regulation:
A third Iranian suspect sought after bomb blasts in Bangkok has been arrested in Malaysia. A statement from Malaysian federal police says that 
In an interview with Atlanta's local Fox affiliate WAGA-TV President Obama explains why he was unable to cut the deficit in half in his first term, a promise he made as a candidate.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
BEIJING/BEIRUT/BERLIN: China will not protect the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, Premier Wen Jiabao said, after Beijing drew international ire for vetoing a UN resolution on the country.
laid down their weapons
(Ma'an) -- The 
At least six Taliban 
PARIS - France said on Tuesday it had created an emergency fund for aid agencies looking to help the Syrian people and would propose a similar one at an international level next week when countries meet in Tunisia to discuss the escalating crisis.
PA President Abbas waiting for 
