We already know 'social climber' Judy Guiliani will be a new and welcome member of his cabinet.

Judy, Judy, Judy (click here). We all know she wore the tierra to 'rub' the ex-wife's nose in it.' Judy was making a statement of whom was now the winner, regardless, of the children Rudy was leaving behind for her. In a way it was a reflection of her own insecurity in her self-righteousness. The tierra was an overstatement of ego so no one got the wrong message about whom was now boss.


"...In an interview with Barbara Walters, former New York City Mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said that if elected president, he would have no problem allowing his wife Judith Giuliani to sit in on cabinet meetings, "If she wanted to. If they were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean that would be something that I'd be very, very comfortable with," he said...."

"...Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Michael Moore want to go to Cuba for health care..."

The above statement came from the mouth of Rudy Guiliani within the past few weeks. It was a statement to elicit slander and not policy and I am tired of 'good old politics' which does NOTHING to speak to what is best for the USA.

I began to realize with Guiliani confident enough in his bid for the Republican nominee there should be some 'real' discussion about what the Guiliani Presidential Cabinet might look like.

Currently, the Bush Cabinet contains all the traditional and LEGISLATED officer but a few free lancers. There is no knowing how many advisors will sit on any Republican Cabinet. One has to ask whom is actually advising the President of the USA and how man Cabinet Secretaries are simply 'figure heads,' which leaves wide open the discussion as to why Bush never bothers filling high level positions in the Executive Branch.

The current Bush Cabinet-level rank also has been accorded:
Administrator,
Environmental Protection Agency; Director,
Office of Management and Budget; the
Director, National Drug Control Policy; and the
U.S. Trade Representative.

It's Saturday Morning

"The Way We Were" by Barbara Streisand

Mem'ries,

Light the corners of my mind

Misty water-colored memories

Of the way we were

Scattered pictures,

Of the smiles we left behind

Smiles we gave to one another

For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

Or has time re-written every line?

If we had the chance to do it all again

Tell me, would we? Could we?

Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet

What's too painful to remember

We simply choose to forget

So it's the laughter

We will remember

Whenever we remember...

The way we were...

The way we were...

There are a couple of issues with the climate in West and Northern Hemisphere

August 3, 2007
1430z
Enhanced Infrared UNISYS Satellite

There is two, no actually three, low pressure systems. One is a vortex over Mexico the other over South Dakota. Both these systems have potential for catatrophic damage. The vortex over Mexico could conceivably move into the Gulf and become a huge tropical depression accelerating into a hurricane in a very short period of time.

The third low pressure is more covert and contains potential of tropical storm capacity. It is 'currently' between Jamaica and Cuba. It came through the 'Windward Passage,' east of Cuba. It has greater potential because it is entering the hotter waters of the Carribean.


August 3, 2007
1430z
Water Vapor UNISYS of North and Western Hemisphere (click link at title above. thank you.)

There is a vortex street at high latitudes, primarily the latitudes that include Canada. The Arctic Circle.

I am on vacation this week in case you haven't guessed.

Firemen hose down a burning fuel truck at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad August 1, 2007. (click here)

Four more American soldiers die in Iraq (click here)


I intend to 'feature' issues until back home. Obviously, the 'mistrust' of this administration goes beyond the possibility of actually taking a 'real' vacation, as there just isn't a day that goes by the USA can claim it has a 'good government.' It doesn't.

In regard to 'wise' infrastructure investments it hasn't existed for the entire 30 year Republican RULE. There has been 'a chance' to move the nation toward better choices with intermittent Democratic administrations but they never had the support of a strong Democratic legislature. The 'crumbling' USA is today the responsibility of the last Republican dominated decade. I remind everyone, Gingrich 'ran game' against the Clinton Administration and successfully 'collapsed,' American healthcare and American infrastructure. The Republicans are TOXIC to the American landscape on all fronts. It's time for a major 'overhaul' of the 'DC infrastructure.

The Republicans have no conscience when it comes to 'occupying' the power of government. They'll do anything including 'The Contract with America' and 'pretending' to be moral and honorable men. There is no way. George Walker Bush says his prayers, questionably daily, while the corruption of his party is faciliated by his ruthless attacks against the USA Constitution. It's verifible. People could write books regarding 'The Bush Attack' on the USA Constitution.

In Iraq today there is a very high level of 'mistrust' by the people of Iraq and rightfully so. The Bush Administration, whom is COMPLETELY and DIRECTLY responsible for ALL that has happened in Iraq has never accepted the fact the people of that country don't want what he offers as a political solutoin. We need to leave Iraq to the Iraqis.

When the politicians in the White House state the 'mistrust' is unforeseen they are simply lying. The mistrust of the Bush Administration by EVERYONE including the American Populous was predictable and measurable. The damages started with incompetents that Bush still rely on regarding Iraq, the Commanders. Currently, Colonel Michael Steele is STILL in the military while he openly and aggressively lied to troops regarding their mission and brainwashed them to kill anyone in their path to insure they would return home alive if not intact.

The 'insurgency' was more than justified and continues to be legitimate as a rebellion against an American military that is "W"rongly deployed into a sovereign country. It's just that simple. Over and over again Bush states how he relies on 'HIS Commanders' to tell him what is happening in Iraq to JUSTIFY the continued occupation. His Commanders are corrupt and desperate to maintain as low a level of American troop deaths as possible otherwise they don't have a war to fight or a career under this Commander and Chief.

Very early on, Don Rumsfeld stated when the troop death toll hits 5000 the American people would not tolerate the losses anymore. It was a priority of The Bush Commanders to kill regardless of the chaos and justified mistrust that would result of their very aggressive and desperate battlefield strategies.

Colonel Michael Steele is a prime example of this "W"rong-headed war. He brainwashed American troops to believe they were fighting the people that caused the events of September 11th and developed a 'culture' that supported that all the way to deceiving the families of dead soldiers in memorial ceremonies.

Bush has to go and the troops have to come home. It just needs to be done. The evidence to that fact is far to voluminous to even begin to cover here.

I'll pursue "It's Saturday Night" but it might appear as early as tomorrow morning.

This year, vote to save your country, it's future which includes "The Rebuilding of the USA without Regrets."

In the article below, Gates is lying, The Mistrust of the USA started with the initial invasion and has been palpable. Colonel Michael Steele never killed one insurgent, but, massacred innocent civilians out of paranoia. It is easily stated that Colonel Michael Steele not only started the insurgency by reinforced it. It only grew after that and today we are still witnessing the aftermath of the initial illegal invasion. Gates is just trying to 'cover up' the reason for the political failure with excuses. There is no excuse for Iraq and it is easily stated with 8 million Iraqis holding on to life by threads of humanitarian support we could be looking at a genocide that dwafts Rwanda. Iran has to be let into Iraq to save lives and restore faith in leadership of the Shi'ites. Otherwise the people of Iraq are doomed to die.

The Saudis are already in An Albar and need to continue to support the people there, but, the 'no bid' military contracts currently proposed by Rice, Gates and Bush have to be defeated by the American Legislature. There is no way billion upon billions of munitions can be allowed into the Middle East. It is simply an outrage to propose to a highly unstable and volitile region of the world.

'Depth of mistrust' in Iraq unforeseen (click here)

With Sunnis' exit from government, Pentagon chief Gates says the focus will be on achieving reconciliation at a provincial level.
By Peter Spiegel and Alexandra Zavis, Times Staff WritersAugust 3, 2007

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates acknowledged Thursday that the Bush administration underestimated the difficulty of getting a political truce in Iraq, where Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government has been crippled by a walkout by Sunni Arab ministers.

Gates said he was optimistic about military progress in several Iraqi regions, particularly Al Anbar, a western province that was once a haven for insurgents.

But he said he was discouraged by the Shiite-dominated government's inability to reach a compromise to pass legislation aimed at reconciling the country's ethnic and sectarian groups. Reaching such political agreements, a central goal of the troop buildup strategy, may still be a long way off, he said.

"I just think in some ways we probably all underestimated the depth of the mistrust and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together," Gates said....

US 'underestimated' mistrust in Iraq (click here)

Compiled by Daily Star staff

Friday, August 03, 2007
Washington underestimated the difficulty of getting Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites to agree on key national reconciliation measures, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted Thursday. At the end of a regional tour, he called the withdrawal of the main Sunni bloc from the Baghdad government "discouraging."
Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians said they were hoping for a breakthrough to restore a unity government after the withdrawal of the Accordance Front, but the magnitude of the sectarian conflict was underlined by the slaying of five brothers.
A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into a queue of recruits at a police station north of Baghdad, killing 13 people a day after bombs killed more than 70 people in the capital.
Gates told reporters as he flew back to Washington that gains made in security in western Iraq's Anbar Province and at the local level were cause for optimism, but he also acknowledged they were offset by divisions at the top....

Marine found guilty in death of Iraq civilian (click here)
Boston Globe

A Marine Corps squad leader from Plymouth, who his family said was haunted by his tour of duty in Iraq, was convicted yesterday of murdering an Iraqi civilian during a frustrated search for an insurgent.

Peter Schworm
August 3, 2007

Marine found guilty in death of Iraq civilian
Plymouth serviceman faces up to life term for murder.

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff August 3, 2007
A Marine Corps squad leader from Plymouth, who his family said was haunted by his tour of duty in Iraq, was convicted yesterday of murdering an Iraqi civilian during a frustrated search for an insurgent.
Sergeant Lawrence G. Hutchins III, 23, faces a maximum punishment of life in prison without parole. He had been charged with premeditated murder, but premeditation was stricken from the verdict that was returned by a military jury at Camp Pendleton in California.
A verdict of premeditated murder would have meant a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Hutchins was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, making a false official statement, and larceny. He was acquitted of kidnapping, assault, and housebreaking....

...later...

Katrina II - If Bush waits much longer to remove the debris...

...it will be winter and the recovery of the dead will become more and more impossible and then they just become some unprovable 'missing' number that will be disputed to water down the reality of the Republican agenda of 'negligence until emergency.'

Sooooo, maybe this time next year we'll actually be seeing heavy construction equipment, arch welders and removal of torturous steel. Then the question will be whatever happended to the $5 million and $100 million that was dedicated to emergency management and reconstruction.

Reconstruction and body counts, the new American fate.

Starting to sound like Iraq.

The "Feel Good Tax" - I don't consider donations in the face of government FAILURE appropriate

GET OVER THIS MESS !!! The Red Cross and other charity organization are important but this is a detrimental phenomena as an excuse for poor government oversight.

STOP THIS MESS, people feel compelled to be a part of. Please remember Katrina was never supposed to have happened. It was 100% preventable and so it this bridge collapse. Get a handle on this.

Big Rise in Pay for CEO's, Charity and foundation heads see 7.5% median gain in salary

By Harvy Lipman and Martha Voelz
In a year that saw the economy dip into its first recession in 10 years, salaries paid in 2001 to...

ALSO SEE:2002 Compensation SurveyHow The Chronicle's 2002 Survey of Nonprofit Compensation Was Compiled, Chief Executives Who Received $100,000 or More in Fringe Benefits, Employees Who Earned More Than Their Organization's Chief Executive

...the top executives of the nation's largest nonprofit organizations rose by more than twice the inflation rate, according to The Chronicle's 11th annual survey of compensation and benefits.
The heads of the biggest charities and foundations received percentage increases in pay more than double those paid to corporate chief executives last year, with a median increase of 7.5 percent.
That median raise was higher than the 6.7-percent gain in pay in 2000. The median figure for 2001 means that half the 216 groups that provided The Chronicle with information for both the 2000 and 2001 fiscal years increased pay by more than that and half by less....

George Walker Bush is very, very worried about 'spending bills.'

He said he was sorry for all the trouble in Minnesota and stated he was praying.

Does this man do nothing but give American issues lip service? Yeah. He is more worried about money than he is about 'being' at a collapsing infrastructure that HE and HIS REPUBLICAN 'infrastructure' has CAUSED in these emergencies and resultant deaths.

What a jerk Bush and the Republicans are.

The American people need new representation in DC. Dear God, all he has to say is dollars and cents and tax cuts.

Someone SHUT THIS IDIOT OF A PRESIDENT UP !!!!!!

ONLY after deaths occur do Republicans come forward to 'invest' in infrastructure. OVERNIGHT. There are $5 million for emergency measures to provide the people of Minnesota with 'options' with a major thurway collapse to prevent lose of income and job attendance at work.

There is IMMEDIATELY $100 million for reconstruction of the bridge.

WHERE were these monies BEFORE people died?

The people of the USA need to identify the lack of leadership in the Republicans they elect. They are reactionaries for a reason. So long as nothing 'happens' they don't have to spend money, allowing the appearance of 'good government.' Good government does not allow deaths to occur and lose of 'function' of infrastructure that interrupt American lives.

This is an unforgiveable incident and all the leadership responsible for it through out of office ASAP.

Being a proud Minnesotan is 'rhetorical' political speech. Americans should not have to rely on having 'heroes' around to save their lives. Their lives should be guaranteed to them.

Get rid of these people. The Secretary of Transportation should be highly ridiculed and discharged from office for this tragedy.

"I'm sorry" is NOT good enough anymore !

I strongly suggest Bush put his veto pen away.


Bush to Congress: Finish Defense budget (click here)
Updated
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Bush said Thursday the Democratic-run Congress shouldn't leave Washington for its August recess without at least finishing a spending bill covering the Defense Department.
"In a time of war, one spending bill ought to take precedence over all the rest," Bush said in a speech before a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council.
"Members of Congress ought to finish the spending bill for the Department of Defense before they go on recess so I can sign it into law," the president said. "We got troops in harm's way. They need to exercise their responsibility."
Congress is due to begin a month-long recess in about two weeks, and Bush said lawmakers must finish work on that defense bill even if they don't get to 11 other government spending bills by then.
But with the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, not a single one of the 12 annual spending bills for agency budgets and programs has yet been passed by the full Congress. Democrats are adding about $23 billion to Bush's proposed budget — or about 2% of the so-called discretionary budget covering non-security-related domestic programs. The White House has reacted with several veto threats, and the two branches remain entrenched in a protracted wrestling match over spending.


Bush threatens to veto extra spending (click here)
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — President Bush warned Congress on Saturday that he will use his veto power to stop runaway government spending.
"The American people do not want to return to the days of tax-and-spend policies," Bush said in his radio address.
The House passed a $37 billion budget for the Homeland Security Department on Friday, but Republicans rallied enough votes to uphold a promised veto from Bush.
The measure — one of several annual spending bills that Congress began to consider this week — exceeds Bush's request for the department by $2.1 billion.
Democrats on Friday defended the extra money in the homeland security bill, noting it contains money to hire 3,000 additional border agents, improve explosive detection at airports and provides money to double the amount of cargo screened on passenger aircraft.

THE SAFETY RATINGS SYSTEM has been changed by The Bush Administration. The rating systems previous to January of 2001 need to be returned and scrutinized for IMPROVMENT rather than ratings that were 'rolled back' in their aggressiveness to protect people. I don't trust ANY of the changes The Bush Administration has made to the 'safety' infrastructure of government either. It allows them to say 'oops' we need to improve what we are doing. NO MORE. ONE of the importance of this collapse has to be the issue of what 'The Republicans have done to secure tax cuts OVER the safety and security of Americans' on all fronts. We have poisoned food supplies, collapsing infrastructures as well as the mess internationally and on any and all war fronts. This Republican leadership when they held majority have done huge amounts of damage to the well being of American and Americans.

I demand an investigation to all measures having contributed to this and the possiblity of this happening to other infrastructure in the USA. It is going to require 'huge amounts of money' to RETURN the American infrastructure to the safety of the people. Americans' well being have been marginalized to allow previous redundancy to safety to come into lack of that redundancy 'giving the appearance' of 'good government.' The UPGRADES to the American Infrastructure ahve been postponed and postponed and postponed to fund an illegal war. I think Bush and his administration and other Republicans call it 'prudent' government? I remind, these people believe in PUSHING Americans to their limits of heroship and prayerfulness to prevent and survive tragedy. Americans have become 'used to' these issues of tragedy (ie. Katrina, Americans learned they were 'on their own.) and their rewards are personal in 'atta boys' rather than their insured safety.

"Atta Boys" don't prevent infrastructure collapse that is catatrophic to American lives.

Sorry, to insult, but people HAVE TO come to terms with this !

...later...

A word about seatbelts/safety restraints for children. By the way Bob Herbert has addressed an Op-Ed this year regarding the nation's infrastructure.

It is important for people to wear safety restraints in cars. A New Jersey Governor found that out the hard way. This bridge collapse and the 'amazing' stories of survivors speaks loud and clear to the reality of such an important and simple safety measure. When the USA government mandated safety restraints for people of all ages in moving vehicles on roadways they did a great deal of service to the country.

The reason there are 'few' injuries where people have 'ridden' WITH their cars in the fall, is because they were falling at the same rate and in the same direction of the car. Where people were NOT 'trapped' under concrete or metal they will walk away unharmed.

Imagine being in a ferris wheel at a carnival. What keeps a person in the seat as the 'basket' they are riding in goes round and round and up and down? That same principle applies to seat beats and the 'idea' of maintaining people's safety turning turbulent movement.

So, what occurred and not to make light of the seriousness of the impact to all people as they will 'feel' the fall, sometimes three stories, over time; they won't immediately experience serious injury because they were wearing seat belts and fell at the same rate/speed/velocity and direction as their vehicle.

The Governor of Minnesota needs to declare a state of emergency and deploy the Minnesota National Guard to assist in the recovery. That's my opinion. Actually, I think 'The Guard' should have been deployed as soon as it occurred. There is no way a local or county emergency department can handle this. There just isn't. This is catatrophic.

April 5, 2007
Our Crumbling Foundation
By BOB HERBERT
Fifty-nine years ago this week -- on April 3, 1948 -- President Truman signed the legislation establishing the Marshall Plan, which contributed so much to the rebuilding of postwar Europe. Now, more than half a century later, the U.S. can't even rebuild New Orleans.

It doesn't seem able to build much of anything, really. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. infrastructure is in sad shape, and it would take more than a trillion and a half dollars over a five-year period to bring it back to a reasonably adequate condition.

If there's a less sexy story floating around, I can't find it. It certainly can't compete with the Sanjaya Malakar saga, or with the claim by Keith Richards that he snorted his dad's ashes with ''a little bit of blow.''

But, as we learned with New Orleans, there are consequences to neglecting the infrastructure. Just a little over a year ago, a dam in Hawaii gave way, unleashing a wave 70 feet high and 200 yards wide. It swept away virtually everything in its path, including cars, houses and trees. Seven people drowned.

On the day after Christmas in Portland, Ore., a sinkhole opened up like something from a science fiction movie and swallowed a 25-ton sewer-repair truck. Authorities blamed the sinkhole on the collapse of aging underground pipes.

Blackouts, school buildings in advanced states of disrepair, decrepit highway and railroad bridges -- the American infrastructure is growing increasingly old and obsolete. In addition to being an invitation to tragedy, this is a problem that is putting Americans at a disadvantage in the ever more competitive global economy.

Felix Rohatyn, the investment banker who helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, has been prominent among those trying to sound the infrastructure alarm. Along with former Senator Warren Rudman, he has been criticizing the government's unwillingness to invest adequately in public transportation systems, water projects, dams, schools, the electrical grid, and so on.

He recently told a House committee that Congress should begin a major effort to rebuild the American infrastructure ''before it is too late.''

''Since the beginning of the republic,'' he said, ''transportation, infrastructure and education have played a central role in advancing the American economy, whether it was the canals in upstate New York, or the railroads that linked our heartland to our industrial centers; whether it was the opening of education to average Americans by land grant colleges and the G.I. bill, making education basic to American life; or whether it was the interstate highway system that ultimately connected all regions of the nation.

''This did not happen by chance, but was the result of major investments financed by the federal and state governments over the last century and a half. We need to make similar investments now.''

Politics and ideology are the main reasons that government has turned away from public investment over the past several years. Zealots marching under the banner of small government have been remarkably effective in thwarting efforts to raise taxes or borrow substantial sums for the kind of public investment that has always been essential to a dynamic economy.

That this is counterproductive in a post-20th-century world should be as obvious as the sun rising in the morning. There is a reason why countries like China and India are racing like mad to develop their infrastructure and educational capacity.

''A modern economy needs a modern platform, and that's the infrastructure,'' Mr. Rohatyn said in an interview. ''It has been shown that the productivity of an economy is related to the quality of its infrastructure. For example, if you don't have enough schools to teach your kids, or your kids are taught in schools that have holes in the ceilings, that are dilapidated, they're not going to be as educated and as competitive in a world economy as they need to be.''

Mr. Rohatyn and Mr. Rudman are co-chairmen of the Commission on Public Infrastructure at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They believe that failing to move quickly to address the nation's infrastructure needs -- through the establishment of a national trust fund, for example, or a federal capital budget -- could lead to long-term disaster.

But words like trust fund and long-term and infrastructure find it very difficult to elbow their way into the nation's consciousness. We may have to wait for another New Orleans before beginning to take this seriously.

It's my concern. There has been deluges of rain all along the Mississippi/Red River river system.

I realize the crytalline rock is stable but it is also erosive. There is also sedimentary rock that could have eroded.

There is an important witness. A young girl on the bus stated the 'bus' first went 'up' before it plummeted. That would have been a 'see-saw' effect. In other words the section opposite the school bus would have collapsed first. With the breaking of the structure of the joint where the bus was, there was nothing to prevent it from plummeting down into the river after the initial structure failure.

The bridge would have collapsed 'first' opposite the bus location. If that was the first location of the collapse it could be the riverbed or banks that would have undermined the integrity of the bridge structure.

There are geological integrity issues that the Army Corp could be called on to validate. There are currently mudslides in New Mexico as well due to flooding of the Red River.


Rescuers Search for Minn. Sewer Workers (click here)
Friday July 27, 2007 10:16 PM
By AMY FORLITI
Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL (AP) - Searchers in boats continued looking Friday for two workers who were feared dead after getting caught by a surge of water in the underground sewer system here and possibly swept into the Mississippi River....

...Kasper said Lametti and Sons, the contractor that employed the two men, had a good reputation for safety. ``It was a fluke thing,'' he said.
According the National Weather Service, nearly a half-inch of rain fell in St. Paul in about 30 minutes.
In neighboring Minneapolis, 16 children and adults were pitched into the water when five sailboats capsized on two city lakes. Authorities said the boaters got to shore safely.
High winds and hail damaged crops, trees, homes and vehicles in the Twin Cities area, authorities said....

I hope this perspective is helpful to all the possibilities. Good luck to all the rescue and recovery efforts. Sympathies to the family of those lost.

Good night.

Before I finish the review of Antarctica below, let's get something straight. I am dead serious. Boycott the Murdock Media services. All of them.

N Y Times today (click here).

My son is a mortgage broker with a vested interest in knowing what's best for people that seek help with their finances through housing refinance. My last conversation with him two days ago was serious but stable. He states the office is making ends (which is no small statement) meet and their custormers aren't upset with them. He is optimistic today that everyone coming to them will still be well served. He finds 'his grounding' in seeing the future two years ahead of it's arrival. Have a better day.

The Murdock Empire is a danger to international stability. He is a Neocon and every one of his media services reflect that.

I never needed The Wall Street Journal and the front page reflects further and further egotistical control of that 'news rag.'

All I ever needed was The New York Times' Editor, Dr. Paul Krugman !

That Hissing Sound

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 8, 2005

This is the way the bubble ends: not with a pop, but with a hiss.
Housing prices move much more slowly than stock prices. There are no Black Mondays, when prices fall 23 percent in a day. In fact, prices often keep rising for a while even after a housing boom goes bust.

So the news that the U.S. housing bubble is over won't come in the form of plunging prices; it will come in the form of falling sales and rising inventory, as sellers try to get prices that buyers are no longer willing to pay. And the process may already have started.

Of course, some people still deny that there's a housing bubble. Let me explain how we know that they're wrong.

One piece of evidence is the sense of frenzy about real estate, which irresistibly brings to mind the stock frenzy of 1999. Even some of the players are the same. The authors of the 1999 best seller ''Dow 36,000'' are now among the most vocal proponents of the view that there is no housing bubble.

Then there are the numbers. Many bubble deniers point to average prices for the country as a whole, which look worrisome but not totally crazy. When it comes to housing, however, the United States is really two countries, Flatland and the Zoned Zone.

In Flatland, which occupies the middle of the country, it's easy to build houses. When the demand for houses rises, Flatland metropolitan areas, which don't really have traditional downtowns, just sprawl some more. As a result, housing prices are basically determined by the cost of construction. In Flatland, a housing bubble can't even get started.

But in the Zoned Zone, which lies along the coasts, a combination of high population density and land-use restrictions -- hence ''zoned'' -- makes it hard to build new houses. So when people become willing to spend more on houses, say because of a fall in mortgage rates, some houses get built, but the prices of existing houses also go up. And if people think that prices will continue to rise, they become willing to spend even more, driving prices still higher, and so on. In other words, the Zoned Zone is prone to housing bubbles.

And Zoned Zone housing prices, which have risen much faster than the national average, clearly point to a bubble.

In the nation as a whole, housing prices rose about 50 percent between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2005. But that average blends results from Flatland metropolitan areas like Houston and Atlanta, where prices rose 26 and 29 percent respectively, with results from Zoned Zone areas like New York, Miami and San Diego, where prices rose 77, 96 and 118 percent.

Nobody would pay San Diego prices without believing that prices will continue to rise. Rents rose much more slowly than prices: the Bureau of Labor Statistics index of ''owners' equivalent rent'' rose only 27 percent from late 1999 to late 2004. Business Week reports that by 2004 the cost of renting a house in San Diego was only 40 percent of the cost of owning a similar house -- even taking into account low interest rates on mortgages. So it makes sense to buy in San Diego only if you believe that prices will keep rising rapidly, generating big capital gains. That's pretty much the definition of a bubble.

Bubbles end when people stop believing that big capital gains are a sure thing. That's what happened in San Diego at the end of its last housing bubble: after a rapid rise, house prices peaked in 1990. Soon there was a glut of houses on the market, and prices began falling. By 1996, they had declined about 25 percent after adjusting for inflation.

And that's what's happening in San Diego right now, after a rise in house prices that dwarfs the boom of the 1980's. The number of single-family houses and condos on the market has doubled over the past year. ''Homes that a year or two ago sold virtually overnight -- in many cases triggering bidding wars -- are on the market for weeks,'' reports The Los Angeles Times. The same thing is happening in other formerly hot markets.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy has become deeply dependent on the housing bubble. The economic recovery since 2001 has been disappointing in many ways, but it wouldn't have happened at all without soaring spending on residential construction, plus a surge in consumer spending largely based on mortgage refinancing. Did I mention that the personal savings rate has fallen to zero?

Now we're starting to hear a hissing sound, as the air begins to leak out of the bubble. And everyone -- not just those who own Zoned Zone real estate -- should be worried.

E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

24 hour loop - only four satellite views - The Peninsula is to back warming, ground temperatures reflect same.

August 01, 2007
0721 gmt
South Pole Satellite

Indeed, the very 'southern shore' I thought was experiencing a vortex arrival is noted to have 'exactly' that occurring.


August 1, 2007
9:00 AM
Surface Winds

On animation (click here) the surface winds of Antarctica show a lot of turbulence. As a matter of fact the southern shore is so turbulent in it's 'center' one can easily discern an arrival of a vortex.



July 31, 2007
6:00 gmt
Antarctica Jet Stream

On animation (click here) it is easy to see there are huge movements of the normally inertia stricken air masse over Antarctica including Vostok. So what is happening to ice that is exposed to 'still' very cold air? Sublimination. A forty degree increase at Vostok shows the change in temperature because the frigid ice masse, once exposed to heat, maintains a cold air masse because the ice is sublimed into vapor to cool the heat.


August 1, 2007
6:00 AM
Antarctica

The vortices have arrived back to Antarctica along with direct sunlight from Sol.

The warmest temperatures on the ice continent are rising as 'notedly' the pressure is falling indicating the arrival of low pressure systems that also carry heat.

Base Jubany, Antarctica

9:00 AM GMT

Elevation :: 13 ft / 4 m

Temperature :: 31 °F / -1 °C

Conditions :: Overcast

Humidity :: 84%

Dew Point :: 28 °F / -2 °C

Wind :: 25 mph / 41 km/h / from the West

Wind Gust: -

Pressure :: 29.48 in / 998 hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 6.0 miles / 10.0 kilometers

UV :: 0 out of 16

Clouds :: Overcast 689 ft / 210 m

(Above Ground Level)

Aviation

Flight Rule:

IFR ()

Wind Speed :: 25 mph / 41 km/h /

Wind Dir :: 270° (West)

Ceiling :: 700 ft / 210 m

Palmer Station, Antarctica

Time :: 2:00 AM CLT

Elevation :: 26 ft / 8 m

Temperature :: 25 °F / -4 °C

Conditions :: Snow

Humidity :: 87%

Dew Point :: 23 °F / -5 °C

Wind :: Calm

Wind Gust :: -

Pressure :: 29.46 in / 998 hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.0 kilometers

Aviation

Flight Rule :: VFR ()

Wind Speed :: 0 mph / 0 km/h /

Wind Dir :: N/A

Ceiling :: 100000 ft / 100000 m

The coldest stations in Antarctica:

Whatever happened to our very frigid Russian reporting station? On July 17, 2007 the temperature in Vostok was Temperature :: -101 °F / -74 °C. That is nearly a forty degree increase of temperature in the coldest place on Earth. Like. What?


Vostok, Antarctica

Elevation :: 11220 ft / 3420 m

Temperature :: -66 °F / -55 °C

Conditions :: Snow

Humidity :: 57%

Dew Point :: -70 °F / -57 °C

Wind :: 8 mph / 13 km/h / from the South

Wind Gust :: -

Pressure :: in / hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 1.0 miles / 2.0 kilometers

UV :: 0 out of 16

Aviation

Flight Rule :: IFR ()

Wind Speed :: 8 mph / 13 km/h /

Wind Dir :: 190° (South)

Ceiling :: 100000 ft / 100000 m

Clean Air, Antarctica (NOAA reporting station, click here)

For some reason the NOAA reporting is absent although the 'computer link' at the Weather Underground still has a reporting but it appears with Amundsen-Scott data (click here). That was not the case two weeks ago. More than likely someone in DC is playing with the reporting of the USA stations andthat would not be new. The Carbon Dioxide daily 'raw data' monitors from the Mauna Loa Observatories have been taken off line a while ago. The 'reality' is too much for the Bush White House to endure as witnessed by the public and their advocates.

Elevation of Clean Air :: 2810.00 masl

Time Zone :: Local Time + -12 hour(s) = UTC

Amundsen-Scott, Antarctica

Elevation :: 9285 ft / 2830 m

Temperature :: -60 °F / -51 °C

Conditions :: Ice Crystals Blowing Snow

Wind :: 15 mph / 24 km/h / 6.7 m/s from the ENE

Pressure :: 29.32 in / 993 hPa (Falling)

Windchill :: -96 °F / -71 °C

Visibility :: -

UV :: 0 out of 16

Clouds:
Few 2500 ft / 762 m
Scattered Clouds 7000 ft / 2133 m
Mostly Cloudy 18000 ft / 5486 m
(Above Ground Level)

Aviation
Flight Rule :: VFR (NZSP)
Wind Speed :: 15 mph / 24 km/h / 6.7 m/s
Wind Dir :: 60° (ENE)
Ceiling :: 18000 ft / 5486 m

Moon
No Moon Rise
No Moon Set

Length Of Visible Light:
0h 00m
Length of Day
0h 00m
Tomorrow will be 0m 0s shorter.

continued...

The weather at Scott Base, Ross Island, Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

But, to realize the 'amount' of light reaching Antarctica's stations this photo is from the German Reporting Station on July 31, 2007 at 1540 or 3:40 PM. It is only twilight at nearly four o'clock in the afternoon their time.


August 1, 2007
0353 AM so it would still be dark at this point.
Scott Base



The most light I found was at the link above of the German Reporting Station Cam. Scott Base is basically still in darkness (click here).

The relative humidity of the USA is obvious. There isn't any, except along the flood zones.

July 24, 2007
6:00 AM
Drought Map of the USA
There is drought EVERYWHERE in the USA EXCEPT where the floods have occurred. Yesterday I was traveling across New York State along the New York Thruway. It's a great highway by the way, but, that wasn't my concern. I saw some of the healthiest farm operations in the nation so far. As noted above these farms are not suffering from drought currently. There were huge sprinkler operations for these farms as well. If this drought and flooding continues and destroys much of the capacity of the heartland, New York State will have premium farmland so long as it remains climatically healthy. With a tropical storm to it's east in the North Atlantic there is an indication that New York State will have significantly healthy and lush climate for some time. New York State has a very smart farming community, the state government needs to work with them to keep them State-of-the-Art and producing. Those farmers can't do it on their own, necessarily.

These are four maps are from four sources that express time zones differently. The redundancy of these maps to 'the truth' of Human Induced Global Warming speaks for itself and I am more than happy to point it out to all those that seek 'the truth.'


July 31, 1007
1714 gmt
Percipitation Map from The Weather Channel

This is the amount of rainfall expected over the USA today. The majority of the area that will receive rain will receive 0.1 inch. One-tenth of an inch. Now, if that one tenth of an inch, about 2.5 mm, reaches the ground at all, it will more than likely evaporate as soon as it does. The nation as a whole has an overall negative rainfall balance compared to 'the norm.'


July 31, 2007
1830z
Visual satellite of UNISYS.

In other words this is a picture of the clouds over the USA. Just because there are clouds that doesn't mean there is percipitation either. The troposhere is so hot, clouds can form from evaporated water, but, they don't necessarily build a concentration high enough to rain.


July 31, 2007

2:30 edt

Humidity map of the USA.


I took a walk to a book store/coffee shop this morning about 9:30 AM. Along the road there were lawns being watered by automatic sprinklers.

There was no law against it and that is not my concern, as a matter of fact, the more green terra firma the better. The point to this is that even before the sun was at it's strongest point of the traverse across the sky, the air was very hot and dry.


The sprinklers were delivering some of their water to the sidewalk. I stopped to watch it because for the genuine dampness and greenness of the lawns, the sidewalks were nearly dry. So for about ten minutes in some significant dry heat already reaching 93 degrees Fahrenheit I wanted to see what was happening to the water.


It evaporated nearly as fast as it hit the ground. The concrete was moist but not very wet. The lawn was wet and I would have gotten my feet wet if I walked across it. But, in the same moment if I walked barefoot across the sidewalk I wouldn't have wet feet. Cooler feet as the water was leaving a stain on the concrete but not wet.


The surface of Earth is so hot that water turns immediately to vapor when it hits the ground.


Oh, one more thing, The lawn I observed was under a full canopy of several huge beautiful trees and so was the sidewalk. The sky over head, was beautiful, blue, clear, without a cloud in it. And were was I? I was in a place on this map where humidity is stated to be 33%. Like I said, there just isn't any !


Let's hope the current vortex over the Gulf isn't the one that manifests and heads inland. Because if it does we are looking at far more flooding.

How bizaare is this? A tropical storm in the North Atlantic.

Tropical Storm Chantal



July 31, 2007 1430 UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite

There is a great deal of promise for the low pressure just south of Chantal off the Carolinas and one in the Gulf of Mexico. These are all 'near shore' storms where humidity is currently available.

There is also a communicating system tied to the low pressure off the Carolinas that extends to the African coast. It is best noted on the Water Vapor Hemispheric satellite (click here). The 'paint splatter' cloud mass just north of Haiti and the small oscillating cloud north of the Lesser Antilles are all part of the system which connects to the equatorial humidity north of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (crystal ice chime) is:

Elevation :: 33 feet

Temperature :: 54 F / 12C

Conditions :: Overcast

Humidity :: 82%

Dew Point :: 48 F / 9C

Wind :: Calm

Pressure :: 30.20 in / 1023 hPa (Rising)

Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV :: 0 out of 16

Clouds :: Scattered Clouds
2100 ft / 640 m
Overcast 3800 ft / 1158 m (Above Ground Level)

A word about Hazelton - the decision was 'designed' for an appeal

There is federal law on the books that state:

Sec. 211. [8 U.S.C. 1181]
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) and subsection (c) no immigrant shall be admitted into the United States unless at the time of application for admission he (1) has a valid unexpired immigrant visa or was born subsequent to the issuance of such visa of the accompanying parent, and (2) presents a valid unexpired passport or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality, if such document is required under the regulations issued by the Attorney General. With respect to immigrants to be admitted under quotas of quota areas prior to June 30, 1968, no immigrant visa shall be deemed valid unless the immigrant is properly chargeable to the quota area under the quota of which the visa is issued.

Anyone not included in this description is breaking the law and can be arrested and denied rights under the USA Constitution. American law clearly states ANYONE in violation of the law and found guilty and imprisoned have lost their Constitutional Rights. A person in violation of USA immigration law when arrested and found guilty and jailed have no right to remain in the USA. Just that simple.

What Hazelton has done is extended that provision of the law to include all aspects of their municipal laws to insure the criminal alien cannot hide from authority. No one is denying these people their 'human rights' but they are 'by virtue of their lack of status' chargable under the USA Immigration Laws as they exist. Insuring public safety by criminalizing the presence of illegals in the USA provides for the common good and upholds current immigration law.

U.S. District Judge James Munley neglected to state that when an illegal alien is asked to produce documents for rental and employment and they cannot; then they have then violated the law. I don't know about anyone else, but, when I rent 'anything' even a car or hotel room I have to produce a legal document of identification. If I can't provide legal identity then the rental agent has every right not to rent to me or employ me. The Hazelton Laws are built on the current laws carrying forward the demand for identification in all municipal transactions of any business. It's legal. It's good business and it's safe government. The judge designed a case to go to appeal. The decision makes no sense to me. Human rights apply to all people in the USA, citizen's right apply to those that qualify. Hazelton asked all people to qualify within their municipality. There isn't anything wrong with that.

Bush/Cheney/Patraeus/ 'Surge' startegy will never work. It is based in the ideology of defeating an insurgency. This is civil war, NOT an insurgency!

An Iraqi boy drinks from a tap at a camp for displaced people in Najaf. Photograph: Qassem Neim/AFP/Getty Images

Iraq: At least eight dead including another journalist (click here)
Posted: 28-07-2007 , 08:58 GMT
Seven people, including two policemen died and at least 11 others were hurt in two bomb attacks in the city of Fallujah, a local police source said on Saturday.

Elsewhere, an Iraqi journalist working for a Kuwaiti-owned satellite channel has died after being shot in the head by a sniper on his way home from work, an Iraq-based watchdog said on Saturday. “The Iraqi reporter Adnan al-Safi, 40, who works for Al-Anwar space channel, died on Friday morning after he had been shot by a sniper in the head on Wednesday,” a statement from the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said, according to AFP.

Safi, who also worked as an adviser to the Iraqi journalists’ union and as a reporter for Sawt al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq), is survived by his wife and three children.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said Saturday that the death toll in an attack on a Shiite market district in Baghdad had risen to 61 after dozens more bodies were pulled from the rubble. Blasts struck the Karradah district in central Baghdad as it was packed with shoppers at about 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, setting buildings and cars on fire and sending three huge columns of smoke billowing into the sky.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (http://www.albawaba.com/)

YET, what are the propagandists reporting? They are reporting the war is over because Iraq won a soccer tournament. Then I guess more than ever it's time to bring the troops home and we'll see Iraq at the Olympics.

Calls for Unity After Iraq Upsets Saudi Arabia at Asian Cup (click here)
Monday, July 30, 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Hundreds of pages have been ripped from the calendar since Iraqis last showed the unity and happiness that flowed across the land on Sunday.
And it would have been foolhardy to predict a soccer team — the determined Lions of the Two Rivers — would unleash a flood of joy held back for decades by the dam of Saddam Hussein's tyranny and four-plus years of war since America toppled him.
But after the team's victory in the prestigious 2007 Asian Cup, the Iraqi people seemed far ahead of their leaders in letting sectarian bygones be bygones and allowing ethnic atrocities to fade.
Despite a security crackdown, curfews banning vehicles, and decrees forbidding the penchant in this part of the world to grab an AK-47 and rip off celebratory rounds, people rejoiced in the streets — and gunfire roared.
It roared across Baghdad at the second-half goal against Saudi Arabia. It was deafening when the underdog Lions sealed the 1-0 victory in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Bring the troops home now ! American occupation of Iraq is a crime against humanity. 8 million Iraqis is over a third of the current citizens.

8 million Iraqis need urgent aid, report says (click here)
One third of the Iraqi population needs emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by war and ongoing violence, according to a new report.
Around 8 million Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, a joint report (pdf)released today by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq said.
The document said that although armed violence is the greatest threat facing Iraqis, the population is also experiencing another crisis of "an alarming scale and severity"....

The Iraqis cannot do worse than this. It's just not possible.

Attrition of Bush Policy, not the success of 'The Surge.' Basically, the USA has surrendered to the will of the Iraqi people.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with an Iraqi army officer in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, July 26, 2007. Prime Minister al-Maliki was in Baqouba to meet with local leaders about improving the quality of life for local residents following military operations to drive out Sunni extremists. (AP Photo/Talal Mohammed)

Heat rises between Iraq PM and Petraeus (click here for Boston Globe article)

The title of this editorial is "A War We Just Might Win" (click link at title) when it should state "A War We Have Already Lost." The editorial is rhetorical. It is to 'save face' for the military. I wish the propaganda that affects the lives of Iraqis would just stop. This editorial claims no real progress EXCEPT the organized surrender by Petraeus. It is covert in it's reailty.

After a lengthy touting of accomplishmenst the editorial FINALLY states this:

...In the end, the situation in Iraq remains grave. In particular, we still face huge hurdles on the political front. Iraqi politicians of all stripes continue to dawdle and maneuver for position against one another when major steps towards reconciliation — or at least accommodation — are needed. This cannot continue indefinitely....

Every expert on Earth states the answer to the violence in Iraq is what? What does everyone state is the answer to end the violence in Iraq? A POLITICAL SOLUTION !! In the same paragraph the authors, whom claim to be experts states this:

...Otherwise, once we begin to downsize, important communities may not feel committed to the status quo, and Iraqi security forces may splinter along ethnic and religious lines....

The division of Iraq into sectarian (ethnic and religious) lines has already been establish. What this statement tells me is that there is a 'waiting game' going on with Iraqis. Although they don't want the violence, they also don't want the 'status quo.' At first light, these folks will divide into enclaves of sectarian interests and remain there, while defending their homes. The ONLY reason that is not happening now is because of the precense of USA military. The tensions that exist in areas such as this results in attacks on USA troops and the recruitment of 'strong men' such as al Qaeda. Literally, what has happened is that the occupation forces of the USA are just occupying one sector of Iraq now. The longevity of such 'successes' is dependant on whether or not the USA occupies that sector forever.

I want to point to something else as well. There is 'attrition' of the population that exists in Iraq today. At the onset of the invasion Iraq was a country of 25 million people. That is down by at least 3 million due to the absence of refugees and the dead from the violence and war in Iraq. When statements such as this below are made it is with complete abandon in realizing 'statistically' the violence has decreased in the face of a changing demographic that is adverse to the best outcome for Iraqis. A country diminished in it's populous by 3 million people is a form of genocide.

...As a result, civilian fatality rates are down roughly a third since the surge began — though they remain very high, underscoring how much more still needs to be done....

What is even more troubling is the fact these authors see 'more that needs to be done' without realizing what that 'more' actually entails. Reducing the number of fighters in any war is definately a way to victory. A decrease of over 10 percent of the Iraqi population since the beginnings of the war is what is realized here, NOT the success of Bush's Surge. More of the same is simply murder and alienation of the citizens of Iraq. The USA is a blight to that country and why a political resolve is impossible with the presence of the USA. The people of Iraq simply want to be left alone and are in a waiting game for the exit of these troops.

This is what the authors and the USA military is touting as 'success.'

...In Baghdad’s Ghazaliya neighborhood, which has seen some of the worst sectarian combat, we walked a street slowly coming back to life with stores and shoppers. The Sunni residents were unhappy with the nearby police checkpoint, where Shiite officers reportedly abused them, but they seemed genuinely happy with the American soldiers and a mostly Kurdish Iraqi Army company patrolling the street. The local Sunni militia even had agreed to confine itself to its compound once the Americans and Iraqi units arrived....

The USA military is a 'coersion force' to the demands of returning a sovereign state called Iraq to the political leaders 'hold up' in The Green Zone. "The local Sunni militia." "The local Sunni militia." Ah, ha. In other words, the people of the Ghazaliya neighborhood will 'stand down' when the USA arrives because there local militia which normally protects them can't defeat an armed American unit. But, will the people of Ghazaliya neighborhood FOREVER relinquish their 'own' Sunni militia? Heck, no. They are involved in a civil war of control. In this case the author states the people of Ghazaliya neighborhood are afraid of the IRAQI POLICE. Hello? These folks don't trust the USA military either. They reserve the right to house their own militia until the point where something goes "W"rong again and the militia needs to 'take up the fight again.'

What will go "W"rong? Let's see.

Literally, in this video, the USA military create their own war. There was absolutely no threat to the men of this unit, however, in their 'urban surge strategy' the unit goes into full aggression 'at the thought' of dying. They create their own emergency when they assassinate a taxi driver because he didn't understand he had to stop for inspection by the troops. Living on 'the street' in Iraq doesn't come with instructions although 'the police tactics' of this unit believes it does.

Video: Inside the surge, part one (click here)
The Guardian's award-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers.

These soldiers not only 'take control' of their immediate area to prevent any of their deaths, they bring about a scenario which was never a threat in the first place. They traumatize an old woman not just once but many times 'in the face' of a reality that they haven't been assaulted by anyone. All that happened in the scenario with the taxi cab driver was that he didn't stop. He was circling the neighborhood looking for business.

The USA military is simply seeking the people whom are long gone after planting a road side bomb like 'chickens with their heads cut off.' Sorry for the graphic example. But they have no 'intelligence' of the area. It is completely obvious, their boss isn't in charge of any strategy, the leaders of the USA units simply 'react' to the conditions before them without direction, 'rest' or a sincere strategy. They see themselves dead day in and day out and they react to any 'preceived' threat 'real' or 'unreal.' And people don't want to hear this but this is simply the 'fly by the seat of your pants' strategy that existed in Vietnam when the USA occupied that country with the help of Bell Helicopter.

What will bring about the deaths of any American entrenched and trapped in the Iraq Civil War is when a local resident takes food to the local militia and reports 'the goings on' of the death of the local taxi driver and the traumaticed old woman. The local militia will then seek to 'move' the American troops from the area, and rightfully so, they are out of control and in an aggressive stance because someone and more than likely from the local militia planted a successful road side bomb. The local militia will continue to have the loyalty of the locals and will continue to be that neighborhoods protectors. The USA cannot offer these Iraqi neighborhoods any option other than occupation and that occupation comes with adverse outcomes to the people on a daily basis.

This is hideous. It's genocidal and it has successfully killed 3648 American troops to date and over 15 thousand maimed and permanently disabled.

The Surge is an abject failure. It has no strategy except to send out on patrol in Sunni areas units that have orders to 'survive the day' in whatever that means.

Additionally, Patraeus sees fit to arm the local militias in order to carry out attacks against al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq is the 'reinforcements' to the militias when they don't have enough fire power to defeat the occupying Americans or opposing ethnicities. When these militias are armed to turn against a force they invited into their own territory it isn't with loyalty to anyone except their own empowerment leading to 'warlord' status based in religious preference to their neighborhood. This is a civil war and Patraeus is fueling it. There will be no end in sight for the Iraqis so long as 'this gaming' of an accepted insurgency continues.

One question. When the USA military arms militias to DEFEAT al Qaeda do they accept the weapons back after the defeat of al Qaeda because if they don't then I guess al Qaeda isn't defeated and will be returning. So, therefore, in 'the light' of having overwhelming numbers of USA ground troops, the local militias will do just fine.

The USA military needs to come home. There is no support for their mission in the populous of the USA and these 'type' of editorials amount to nothing but Bush propaganda 'designed' to lend support to the elections of 2008.