Tag: Six In The Morning

Blackwater Invades Somalia Hoping To Bring The Same Tragedy And Destruction They Gave Iraq      

Blackwater founder sets up new force to tackle piracy

‘Prince of Mercenaries’ who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia

Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.

The project, which emerged yesterday when an intelligence report was leaked to media in the United States, requires Mr Prince to help train a private army of 2,000 Somali troops that will be loyal to the country’s United Nations-backed government. Several neighbouring states, including the United Arab Emirates, will pay the bills.

You Must Destroy It So You Can Destroy it More    



House GOP group proposes deep spending cuts over next decade

Congressional conservatives on Thursday demanded far more dramatic reductions in government spending than House GOP leaders have recently proposed, in the first sign of a fissure between old-guard Republicans and tea-party-backed newcomers.

Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee said the GOP must keep its campaign pledge to immediately slice at least $100 billion from non-defense programs, an effort that would require lawmakers to reduce funding for most federal agencies by a third over the next seven months. And the group called for even deeper cuts over the next decade to return non-defense spending to 2006 levels.

Let The Show Trials Begin After All Who Needs Real Jurisprudence      



U.S. Prepares to Lift Ban on Guantánamo Cases

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is preparing to increase the use of military commissions to prosecute Guantánamo detainees, an acknowledgment that the prison in Cuba remains open for business after Congress imposed steep new impediments to closing the facility.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to soon lift an order blocking the initiation of new cases against detainees, which he imposed on the day of President Obama’s inauguration. That would clear the way for tribunal officials, for the first time under the Obama administration, to initiate new charges against detainees.

Who Cares If You Destroy The Environment Profit Margins Are At Stake      



Last refuge of rare fish threatened by Yangtze dam plans

The last refuge for many of China’s rarest and most economically important wild fish has mere days to secure public support before it is trimmed, dammed and ruinously diminished, conservationists warned today.

The alarm was raised after the authorities in Chongqing quietly moved to redraw the boundaries of a crucial freshwater reserve on the Yangtze, which was supposed to have been the bottom line for nature conservation in one of the world’s most important centres of biodiversity.

It’s OK You Can Tell I’m Hu Jintao! Really      



China Leader’s Limits Come Into Focus as U.S. Visit Nears

With President Hu Jintao at the helm, China has become a $5 trillion industrial colossus, a growing military force, and, it sometimes appears, a model of authoritarian decisiveness, navigating out of the global financial crisis and sealing its position as the world’s fastest rising power.

But as Mr. Hu prepares to visit Washington this week in an attempt to defuse tensions with the United States, Obama administration officials are grappling with what they describe as a more complex reality.

America The Only Industrialized Nation Whose Conservative Political Party Works To Deny  Health Care For Its Citizens        



The Truth and Consequences of Repeal

Get ready for more theater on Capitol Hill. House Republicans plan to push through legislation this week to repeal the health care reform law.In deference to the new vows of civility, the tone of the debate may be a bit more restrained. But Republicans have already said that they will not strip the word “killing” from the bill – which is titled, “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.” Civility apparently goes only so far.

While repeal will certainly pass the House, it has no chance in the Senate. So House Republicans are already planning other ways to undermine the reforms, like denying agencies enough money to hire personnel to carry out the program.

Two Countries That Have Vastly Different Views Of The World Whats Not To Mistrust    



‘Distrust lingers on both sides,’ Clinton says of U.S.-China relations

Reporting from Washington – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the U.S.- China relationship does not fall “neatly into black-and-white categories like ‘friend’ or ‘rival.’ ”

Clinton, assessing the important relationship in a speech in advance of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington next week, acknowledged that in President Obama’s first two years in office the two nations have had “some early successes, but also some frustrations.”

Not To Worry The NRA Will Make Sure That No New Restrictions Will Ever Be Put In Place No Matter How reasonable    



A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes

The National Rifle Association has gone uncommonly dark since the weekend shootings here. A posting on its Web site expresses sympathies for the victims of the violence, and N.R.A. officials said they would have nothing to say until the funerals and memorial services were over.

In Washington, bills were being drafted to step up background checks, create no-gun zones around members of Congress and ban the big-volume magazines that allowed the Tucson gunman to shoot so many bullets so fast. Gun control advocates say they believe the shock of the attack has altered the political atmosphere, in no small part because one of the victims is a member of Congress.

But Global Warming Has Nothing To With It   Queensland premier Anna Bligh said the crisis was the worst natural disaster the state had experienced   Australian floods: rebuilding task will reach ‘post-war proportions’ The task of rebuilding communities in Queensland submerged by floodwaters would reach that of “post-war proportions”, the state’s premier warned today, …

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Don’t worry the media in the U.S. and its political leaders wwon’t allow this happen as they enjoy conflict too much  



Spirit of unity after Arizona slayings may be fleeting

Reporting from Washington and Phoenix – Silence fell in Washington on Monday as President Obama, members of Congress and hundreds of officials bowed their heads in the wake of Arizona’s mass shooting and promised a new spirit of comity that harkened back to the days after the terrorist attacks of 2001.

“Harsh words are offered from both sides,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas). “I hope this tragedy will play a role in diminishing some of the strident statements that we have heard.”

Perhaps There Should Be A Look At Firearms Laws  

Gun control activists cite the shooting rampage as a reason to impose stricter background checks and reinstate an assault-weapons ban. Others say citizens should be armed for self-protection.

Focus turns to Arizona’s gun laws

Reporting from Tucson – It was a busy day at the Tucson Mountain Park shooting range Sunday, where the aroma of gunpowder filled the air one day after 20 people were shot, six fatally, at a shopping center.

Alex Anderson, 24, was armed with a 9-millimeter Taurus, the same caliber as the gun that authorities say Jared Lee Loughner used in the shootings. Anderson, who works at the Home Depot next to the Sportsman’s Warehouse where the gunman’s weapon was purchased, has a permit to carry his gun concealed but no longer needs that, thanks to a state law passed last year.

To Bad Those Who Incite Will Never Take Responsibility  



In Attack’s Wake, Political Repercussions

TUCSON – Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 18 others were shot Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents.

Six of the victims died, among them John M. Roll, the chief judge for the United States District Court for Arizona, and a 9-year-old girl, the Pima County sheriff, Clarence W. Dupnik, said.

Ms. Giffords, 40, whom the authorities called the target of the attack, was said to be in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons.