Thursday, December 24, 2009

As long as the USA is engaged in war, the Debt Ceiling will increase and taxes will increase.

Merry Christmas al Qaeda !

Like I say, we have some great jets, ya know?

Yemeni air strike kills 30, targets home of cleric linked to Ft. Hood attack (click title to entry - thank you)




The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa was targeted in a bomb and rocket attack that killed more than a dozen people in September 2008.

SANAA (Reuters) -- A Yemeni air strike has killed 30 Al-Qaeda militants planning an attack on Yemeni and foreign oil targets, a security official said today.

The air strikes were in the eastern province of Shabwa, said the official, who asked not to be identified. The attacks took place as the militants were gathered for a meeting, he said.

The official said initial reports that two top Al-Qaeda members in the Arabian peninsula had been killed could not be verified.

"We are still unsure if two of the top leaders have been killed or not. One of them is the Saudi Al-Qaeda member Nasser al Weheshi," he added, declining to say whether more strikes would take place today.

Yemen's Supreme Security Committee issued a warning to citizens in the province of Shabwa not to aid the militants.

On December 21, Yemen said its security forces and warplanes last week foiled a planned series of suicide bombings. About 30 Al-Qaeda militants were killed in those air strikes with 17 arrested in Abyan and in Arhab, northeast of the capital, Sanaa.

Yemen, which has intensified its campaign against Al-Qaeda militants over recent weeks, is also facing a Shi'ite rebellion in the north and a secessionist violence in the south.

The children born in 2010 will never know the fear of facing illness without care.



I congratulate the Senate for passing necessary health care legislation.

We look forward to the President's signature.

Assassination attempt by al Qaeda revealed.



...The assassination was foiled when the Secret Service (click title to entry - thank you) picked up coded radio messages using the words ''bridge'' and ''wedding'' - a terrorist's code word for assassination - just as Mr Clinton was on his way to a meeting.

Mr Clinton's route was diverted away from a bridge, which was later found to have been planted with explosives.

An investigation into the plot ''revealed that it had been masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan - a man named Osama bin Laden''....

India confesses it helped derail Copenhagen deal



...On his return from Copenhagen, the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, told Parliament his mandate had been to protect India's right to fast economic growth, and listed killing off binding targets to reducing emissions as a key victory for his country.

''We can be satisfied that we were able to get our way on this issue [targets],'' Mr Ramesh said. Later he told a news conference that a bloc of key emerging economies - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - had worked to protect the rights of the developing world.

India is one of the world's top five greenhouse gas polluters, but one of the smallest emitters per person. The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, was reluctant to be drawn by the Indian Minister's comments, but admitted Australia had wanted more from the Copenhagen summit....

The Achievements of Copenhagen. Transparency to a Safer World.

Tropical Cyclone Laurence - Australia gets drenched on Christmas Day. Flooding expected, people to move to higher ground.



Wet, wet, wet: Sydney due for a drenching (click here)

GEORGINA ROBINSON
December 24, 2009 - 1:34PM

The big wet is on its way but Sydneysiders should have time for the Christmas lunch al fresco, with rain not predicted to hit the city until tomorrow afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology has put much of central and north western NSW on flood watch as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Laurence, by now a low pressure system, track east across the continent.

The system is expected to dump more than 200 millimetres on those parts, with the Castlereagh, Bogan, Lower Namoi, Lower Macquarie, Barwon, Paroo and Warrego Rivers all expected to flood between Boxing Day and Monday.

But the rain is not expected to hit the Sydney area until tomorrow afternoon, leaving time for a morning swim, lunch outside and an afternoon nap before the clouds open up.

"[Sydney] can expect extensive rainfall from Christmas Day afternoon to at least the 29th," Weatherzone forecaster Alex Krisman said...


Cyclone Laurence leaves a trail of damage in the Pilbara (click here)

December 23, 2009

TREES were torn from the ground and buildings were badly damaged as tropical cyclone Laurence roared through parts of Western Australia's Pilbara coast.

Karina Turner, whose father owns the Sandfire Roadhouse, 30 kilometres south of Eighty Mile Beach, said on Tuesday the ferocity and noise of the cyclone was frightening as its 250km/h winds lashed the roadhouse and surrounding buildings.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the category-five storm had crossed the coast about 5pm (WA time) on Monday about 1800 kilometres north-east of Perth, with wind gusts of up to 285km/h and almost 250 millimetres of rain.

The WA Fire and Emergency Services Authority said no one appeared to have been injured but several buildings were damaged in small communities.

Phone connections to most of the stricken centres were down yesterday and power has been disrupted in the Pilbara.

Ms Turner said she and her family were forced to take shelter about three hours before they felt the full brunt of Laurence shortly after 6pm.

She said the noise was deafening as rain battered the house and trees and bits of roofing iron were blown around.

''The first part of the cyclone was definitely the worst when it was coming from the east about 6.30,'' Ms Turner said.

''Water was coming in and you could hear tin rattling in the wind and see trees falling down and stuff going everywhere.''...