- EverVigilant.net - "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." - John Philpot Curran
LONDON (Reuters) - Global warming is such a threat to security that military planners must build it into their calculations, the head of the armed forces said on Monday.
Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff, said risks that climate change could cause weakened states to disintegrate and produce major humanitarian disasters or exploitation by armed groups had to become a feature of military planning.
But he said first analyses showed planners would not have to switch their geographical focus, because the areas most vulnerable to climate change are those where security risks are already high.
"Just glance at a map of the areas most likely to be affected and you are struck at once by the fact that they are exactly those parts of the world where we see fragility, instability and weak governance today.
"It seems to me rather like pouring petrol onto a burning fire," Stirrup told the Chatham House think-tank in London. ...
... He said the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington showed the devastation that attacks fuelled by political, economic and social deprivation could achieve.
"Now add in the effects of climate change. Poverty and despair multiply, resentment surges and people look for someone to blame," he said.
(Wait a minute. I thought they attacked us because of our freedom. Oh, well.)
That's it in a nutshell. If war really is the health of the state, then what could be healthier than a global catastrophe?
Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance will host a presidential candidates forum on Saturday, June 30th in Des Moines. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Tom Tancredo will participate.
Ron Paul, however, will not participate. Why? Because he wasn't invited.
We heard about this forum from numerous supporters in Iowa who asked why Dr. Paul was not going to participate. Those supporters assumed that Dr. Paul was invited.
The campaign office had not received an invitation so we called this morning; thinking we might have misplaced the invitation or simply overlooked it. Lew Moore, our campaign manager, called Mr. Edward Failor, an officer of Iowans for Tax Relief, to ask about it. To our shock, Mr. Failor told us Dr. Paul was not invited; he was not going to be invited; and he would not be allowed to participate. And when asked why, Mr. Failor refused to explain. The call ended.
Lew then called Mr. Steve Sheffler, president of the Iowa Christian Alliance, to talk with him. Mr. Sheffler did not answer so Lew left a message. He has yet to respond.
Why are the Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance excluding the one Republican candidate who scored at the top of every online poll taken after the MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN debates? Why are they denying Iowans the opportunity to hear from the Republican presidential candidate whose popularity is growing by the day?
We couldn't get answers to these questions from Messrs. Failor and Sheffler. Maybe you'll have better luck. Their contact information is below.
It's ironic that on the same day we learned the Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance excluded Dr. Paul from their candidates forum, we received a call from ABC News confirming Dr. Paul's participation in its nationally broadcast August 5th debate to be held in Des Moines.
Kent Snyder, Chairman Ron Paul 2008
Contact Information
Edward Failor Iowans for Tax Relief 2610 Park Avenue Muscatine, Iowa 52761 Phone: 563-288-3600 or 877-913-3600 Fax: 563-264-2413 E-mail: itr@taxrelief.org
Steve Sheffler, President Iowa Christian Alliance 939 Office Park Road, Suite 115 West Des Moines, Iowa 50265 Phone: 515-225-1515 Fax: 515-225-1826 E-mail: slscheffler@iowachristian.com
If nothing else, Paul's candidacy continues to expose pro-establishment Republicans for what they really are.
Why would the military be in favor of limited amnesty for illegal aliens? Here's one reason:
A senior US defense officials today urged the Congress to fast track a section of the stalled immigration bill that would allow the military to recruit illegal aliens, after recruitment figures released by Pentagon showed that the Army failed to reach its targets for May.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, provision in the immigration bill was expected to help boost military recruiting by allowing illegal aliens to enlist as way to obtain citizenship, Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told a veterans' group representatives.
"In other words, if you had come across (the border) with your parents, yet you were a minor child and have been in the U.S. school system for a number of years, then you could be eligible to enlist," he said. "And at the end of that enlistment, then you would be eligible to become a citizen.
Carr's remarks came as Defense Department figures showed that the Army only recruited 5,101 active-duty soldiers in May, 399 short of its 5,500-soldier goal. The Army National Guard fell 12 percent short of its goal while the Air National Guard numbers were 23 percent below the target.
Cannon fodder is cannon fodder. And with a military draft being a rather unpopular option right now, the president's push on the immigration issue is beginning to make sense.
President Bush visits Albania and is greeted by a throng of adoring fans -- maybe a little too adoring. As you begin watching, note the president's watch on his left wrist. Under a minute into the video (around the 3:13 mark), someone swipes it. One second it's there, the next it's gone:
I wonder if our government will consider this an act of war and ask us to support an invasion of Albania.
When Ron Paul supporters cast their votes in droves on an online poll, it's called "spamming." Not that they're cheating, mind you. They simply e-mail or IM their friends to say, "Hey! Ron Paul is listed on a poll. Be sure to go there and vote for him."
Hmmmmm. Now, where have I seen that before? Oh, yes. I remember now. We used to call that "FReeping."
I suspect the neocons are the targets of a vast grassroots conspiracy. Oh, the irony!
Once again, the federal government is trying to show that it knows better than business owners and consumers when it comes to the free market. From The Money Times:
The Federal Trade Commission has said that they would oppose the merger of Wild Oats Market Inc. and Whole Foods Market Inc. and have started legal proceedings in this regard. Whole Foods announced in February that it planned to acquire Wild Oats for $565 million.
The main reason for this according to the anti-trust regulators at FTC is that this merger, if it happens, would bring anti-competitiveness in the market. This would lead to higher prices, lower quality products and fewer choices for the consumers.
Both companies have said that they would fight against the FTC suit "tooth and nail" as FTC has completely ignored the robust competition in the supermarket industry. The FTC on its part argues that the market place is defined by natural and organic food stores and not the broader supermarket industry. ...
... Market experts believe that the merger is more important for Wild Oats than for Whole foods as it has struggled to compete against its larger rival. For Whole Foods, their future is much more going to be about organic growth and how their new stores do in places like London and Columbus, Ohio etc. If Whole Foods and Wild Oats never end up merging, it's not a game changer for Whole Foods. It is for Wild Oats.
I hope these companies fight and win. The feds have no business injecting themselves into the free market process. If for some reason this merger isn't in the best interest of consumers, then the market will take care of it.
The problem is that if this merger is blocked, then Wild Oats Market goes under. Kaput. That means consumers will suddenly find their choices limited. And depending on where they live, they may no longer have access to the wide selection of all-natural, organic foods to which they have grown accustomed. Who do the folks at the FTC think they are to decide what's best for the rest of us?
I doubt sincerely that the FTC's motivation has anything to do with protecting consumers. If I had to guess, I'd say the government is looking to protect "other interests."
NEW YORK -- According to NewsChannel4's Jonathan Dienst, three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plot to blow up jet-fuel lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials said.
Four people have been charged. Three suspects are in custody: Russell Defreitas, Kareem Ibrihim and Abdul Kadir. Abdul Nur is still at large.
Defreitas is to be arrainged Saturday in Brooklyn on terror conspiracy charges.
Sources said Defreitas, a cargo worker at JFK allegedly began to plot attacking the US last July or August. The cargo worker sought help in carrying out a plan and went to an FBI informant, who gathered information about the plot.
The cargo worker is a U.S. citizen with roots in Guyana. Sources said he may be a former government official in Guyana.
Sources said counter-terrorism officials have been following the plot for a little less than one year.
Yet another blow to the "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" argument.
WASHINGTON - Having spelled "serrefine" to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Evan O'Dorney is ready to tackle an even more unusual challenge for a 13-year-old boy.
"In the fall," said his mother, Jennifer, "he'll be taking calculus."
Evan, a home-schooled eighth-grader from Danville, Calif., breezed through the competition Thursday night to become the nation's top speller. He said he knew the winning word -- a noun describing small forceps -- the moment the pronouncer said it, but he was more enthusiastic when he spoke about an upcoming math camp this summer and the calculus class he'll be taking at the University of California at Berkeley.
