Monday, March 10, 2008
Does Elliot Spitzer look like a terrorist to you? He doesn't to me and this is the kind of 'gaming' the Republicans pull with illegal wiretaps !
Governor Spitzer is a very lucky man, he has a beautiful and devoted spouse that was at his side the entire time he ran for governor.
How much did the woman get in the way of lightening her sentence when she came up with this one?
Go, get 'em, Eliot !!!!
Spitzer was charged to diminish his political clout. Its been speculated he would be capable of running for President and Bush could never allow anyone to challenge Jeb's opportunity in 2012. That is all it's about. He should not resign as Governor, he has many years to serve before re-election and he needs to address this issue from the standpoint of entrapment, if indeed this was a 'favor' for the federal government by someone that solicited him. It sounds like a set up to me.
"The Mann Act ?" Give me a break !
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park is above freezing.
Tara has finished her 'drift' and is now in dry dock after 2 years of scientific investigation (click here).
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Time 8:35 EDT
Temperature :: 34 °F / 1 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Windchill :: 34 °F / 1 °C
Humidity :: 87%
Dew Point :: 30 °F / -1 °C
Wind :: Calm
Pressure :: 29.99 in / 1016 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 3600 ft / 1097 m
Mostly Cloudy 4800 ft / 1463 m
Overcast 5000 ft / 1524 m
(Above Ground Level)
On average Tara drifted 100km per month during the first 8 months since September 2006. During the last month Tara drifted 90 miles in a direction of Fram Strait indicative of an acceleration of the transpolar sea-ice drift....
Glacier Bay Weather
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Time 8:35 EDT
Temperature :: 34 °F / 1 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Windchill :: 34 °F / 1 °C
Humidity :: 87%
Dew Point :: 30 °F / -1 °C
Wind :: Calm
Pressure :: 29.99 in / 1016 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 3600 ft / 1097 m
Mostly Cloudy 4800 ft / 1463 m
Overcast 5000 ft / 1524 m
(Above Ground Level)
Sunday, March 09, 2008
The 'fears' of the American Neocon does not have to translate into the 'actions' of the world
His Majesty King Abdullah is greeted by US Vice President Dick Cheney ahead of their Washington, DC meeting on Wednesday (Photo by Yousef Allan)
...King Abdullah emphasised that the use of military force against the Palestinians will not help foster the region’s security and stability....
Good night.
What started out as fantasy decades ago, has grown into the world's worst nightmare.
While the United Naitons has limited capacity to 'thwart' government policy, it is best if they DECIDE on 'directions' governments should follow regarding nuclear capacity, its potential for weaponry and the limits to civil negotiations leading to peace that capacity brings.
The 'Bottom Line' for the Czechs and the Poles is NOT MDS, it's advancing their militaries in conventional methodologies
The implications of privatizing space industries speaks for itself.
We criticized Pakistan's Kahn for privatizing the growth of nuclear technologies among what The West calls 'rouge states,' yet when it comes to privatizing space industries that include technologies as MDS the horizon is 'wide open' unless the world stops this insanity.
There has been growing aggressive 'incidents' in military venues when it comes to 'brush burn' issues including the noted exploitation of the confrontation of the USA by Iranian gun boats in the straights of Hormuz. These 'confrontations' are not simply 'boys being boys' but are conducted for the purpose of discouraging the USA from aggressive military policy. Unless this aggressive American agenda is thwarted by those that seek peace before war, there will be escalating overatures to war on a larger scale. This especially so considering that countries such as Russia see a timeline to completion of a potential capacity of the USA to a Missile Defense Shield that would lend the rest of the world vulnerable to that reality.
There needs to be aggressive 'management' of space privatization and soon.
The Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar System (BMEWS) at Fylingdales, U.K.
CzechRep, USA may sign treaty on radar base in the spring (click here)
Prague- The Czech Republic and the United States might sign the bilateral treaty to create a legal framework for the stay of U.S. soldiers on Czech soil at the planned U.S. radar base in early spring, the Defence Ministry said today after three-day bilateral talks.
US Needs 6 Months for Offer to Poland (click here)
By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA – 2 days ago
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The U.S. has asked for six months to prepare an offer for modernizing Poland's army in return for permission to locate a missile defense base in the country, the Polish prime minister said.
The U.S. proposal to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a global missile defense shield is expected to be on the agenda when Prime Minister Donald Tusk meets President Bush in Washington on Monday.
"The Americans have asked for time to prepare an offer concerning the modernization of Poland's armed forces within the missile defense deal," Tusk said in remarks published Friday by the Super Express tabloid. "They need about six months."
Reiterating Poland's insistence that Warsaw get something in return for the deal, he also said that, "increasing our security is a condition for the base's construction."
Poland is deeply concerned about Russian outrage over plans for a U.S. installation close to its borders and argues the Washington should outfit Poland with an additional air defense system such as THAAD or Patriot missiles....
We criticized Pakistan's Kahn for privatizing the growth of nuclear technologies among what The West calls 'rouge states,' yet when it comes to privatizing space industries that include technologies as MDS the horizon is 'wide open' unless the world stops this insanity.
There has been growing aggressive 'incidents' in military venues when it comes to 'brush burn' issues including the noted exploitation of the confrontation of the USA by Iranian gun boats in the straights of Hormuz. These 'confrontations' are not simply 'boys being boys' but are conducted for the purpose of discouraging the USA from aggressive military policy. Unless this aggressive American agenda is thwarted by those that seek peace before war, there will be escalating overatures to war on a larger scale. This especially so considering that countries such as Russia see a timeline to completion of a potential capacity of the USA to a Missile Defense Shield that would lend the rest of the world vulnerable to that reality.
There needs to be aggressive 'management' of space privatization and soon.
The Ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar System (BMEWS) at Fylingdales, U.K.
CzechRep, USA may sign treaty on radar base in the spring (click here)
Prague- The Czech Republic and the United States might sign the bilateral treaty to create a legal framework for the stay of U.S. soldiers on Czech soil at the planned U.S. radar base in early spring, the Defence Ministry said today after three-day bilateral talks.
US Needs 6 Months for Offer to Poland (click here)
By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA – 2 days ago
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The U.S. has asked for six months to prepare an offer for modernizing Poland's army in return for permission to locate a missile defense base in the country, the Polish prime minister said.
The U.S. proposal to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a global missile defense shield is expected to be on the agenda when Prime Minister Donald Tusk meets President Bush in Washington on Monday.
"The Americans have asked for time to prepare an offer concerning the modernization of Poland's armed forces within the missile defense deal," Tusk said in remarks published Friday by the Super Express tabloid. "They need about six months."
Reiterating Poland's insistence that Warsaw get something in return for the deal, he also said that, "increasing our security is a condition for the base's construction."
Poland is deeply concerned about Russian outrage over plans for a U.S. installation close to its borders and argues the Washington should outfit Poland with an additional air defense system such as THAAD or Patriot missiles....
When Bush abandoned the ABM Treaty and embarked on nuclear missile research it became obvious there was no benevolence intended to any MDS goal
The 'privatization' of the USA military is a matter of national concern and a national shame on behalf of the American people. However, the privatization of space is simply a gross error in judgement by governments that simply look the other way to allow national pride without costing their 'national budget' any strains.
True to form, the Republicans would take a space initiative where it should never have gone.
The Missile Defense System became an obsession by the Republicans of the USA (click here). Noted in the video at the title of this entry, a forum at MIT, the primary 'cowards' behind much of the MDS movement was/is Lewis Libby and Paul Wolfowitz (9:55 on the video).
The 'idea' that the USA could be completely 'immune' from a nuclear technology that it currently spreads widely throughout the world, including India and the Middle East, is an aborition of the presumption of peace. That in itself is flawed and should never be viewed as a 'strategic' goal of any country. If Hitler were to have such a weapon/defense system, the world would know a different reality.
The balance of power throughout the world is a matter of a fine balance of 'equity.' The 'space component' to peace and its diplomatic inititative envisoned by the late President John F. Kennedy cannot be abandoned by the global community. Its preposterous to believe that any nation regardless of 'its image' in regard to democracy and peace can be completely trusted with the 'power' that can be harnessed in space weaponry.
Peace, when pursued vigorously, is in little need of such advanced technology or goals. The pursuit of such technology by the Republicans of the USA, in the face of its aggressive advocacy for nuclear technology globally that will lead nations into nuclear weaponry; is a complete contradiction of the 'idea' that MDS is a deterrent for any nuclear military capacity. Quite the contrary, as Bush demands concessions from Russia in regard to MDS in Europe, there is exceeding evidence that his advocacy for a nuclear capacity of India in sales to the Middle East is simply to expand the ability to manifest war rather than deter it.
The Space Race would end along with The Cold War in cooperation and mutual interest and esteem
The International Space Station
Flawless launch for Europe's automated space freighter (click on title to entry)
Craft ferries supplies to orbiting astronauts
20-tonne vehicle will take over role of Nasa's shuttle
A space freighter loaded with crucial supplies and an ageing copy of a Jules Verne novel thundered into orbit in the early hours of yesterday on its maiden voyage to the International Space Station.
Officials celebrated what they described as a flawless launch of the 20-tonne Automated Transfer Vehicle as it lit up the night sky before clearing the thick cloud cover that hung over the European Space Agency's damp, forest-bordered spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana at 4.03GMT.
Unusually, the take-off had to be timed to the second, to ensure the ATV would be released into an orbit that exactly matches that of the space station. Seconds after launch, the rocket turned north-east on to a trajectory that took it over the southern tip of Britain and onwards towards the Pacific.
"It was a perfect launch: everything was right on the spot to the point that it was boring, and that is exactly what we hoped for. We have separated from the rocket, we have the solar panels deployed, and we have power," said Alan Thirkettle, the European Space Agency's programme manager for the International Space Station....
...and do it right, and do it first...
And the USA did exactly what their President mapped out for them. Within the decades, only a few short years following his death, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon and took their first steps on the lunar surface. Half a billion people around the world watched live television images that recorded the event (click here). The landing was, without a doubt, one of the most significant achievements of modern civilization.
It started with Sputnik. JFK was correct. Russian genius had to be met with American will and power.
...This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward....
...We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding....
...I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours....
"Astronauts bound for orbit this week will dabble in science fiction." I thought Buck Rogers was SciFi. Not NASA.
Astronauts to assemble space station robot (click here)
Associated Press
March 9, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts bound for orbit this week will assemble a two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein's monster from its transport bed.
Putting together Dextre, the robot, will be one of the main jobs for the seven Endeavour astronauts, who are scheduled to blast off early Tuesday, less than three weeks after the most recent shuttle flight.
They will also deliver the first piece of Japan's huge Kibo space station laboratory, a float-in closet for storing tools, experiments and spare parts. For the first time, each of the five major International Space Station partners will own a piece of the station....
Associated Press
March 9, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts bound for orbit this week will assemble a two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein's monster from its transport bed.
Putting together Dextre, the robot, will be one of the main jobs for the seven Endeavour astronauts, who are scheduled to blast off early Tuesday, less than three weeks after the most recent shuttle flight.
They will also deliver the first piece of Japan's huge Kibo space station laboratory, a float-in closet for storing tools, experiments and spare parts. For the first time, each of the five major International Space Station partners will own a piece of the station....
What exactly, besides the launch vehicle, is needed to conduct a space program? Not as much as one believes.
"It provides oxygen. It provides water. It provides food and other equipment and that's what you're going to need if you're going to live up there," says Venture Southland Project Manager Robin McNeill.
Currently, Canada is facing a crisis. Who is allowed to exploit government sponsored space ventures? International regulation is needed.
Outrage greets U.S. bid to buy Canada's largest space firm; sale to include taxpayer-funded $524-million Radarsat-2 satellite (click title to article)
Physicist Lawrence Morley wants the auditor general to probe the pending sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates' space division to a U.S. firm because it would include the Radarsat-2 satellite, a piece of cutting-edge technology that has received millions in taxpayer funding.Photograph by : Cole Garside, The Ottawa Citizen
All in the name of 'privatization' the world encounters 'national security' in ways one would never expect.
The Republicans believe turning imagination loose along with millions/billions of personal wealth is 'key' to a strong economy.
The 'principle' involved in any 'democratic government' is not to allow exploitation but to control it. To provide quality of life to citizens while 'allowing' commercial ventures to build wealth and prosperity.
The most stark example of Republican principles that have proven to be 'fatal' to the American will and ability is the privatization of space. While Richard Branson has attributed the 'best qualities' to the development of 'the dream' of 'personal space flight' the danger of 'going there' can't be understated. Not only that, he hasn't 'secured' the right to proceed so much as granted it to himself in the name of 'enterprise.' The only 'regulation' to 'space power' is wealth.
Currently, the manned American Space Program is floundering at best, riddled with chronic set backs, delays and unsuccessful flights and even death. To realize the destruction of two Space Shuttles resulted in deaths their pilots and crew were willing to take is to realize people embarking on space travel are willing to face the same. There is something 'odd' about that willingness.
Does 'space' really belong in the hands of private enterprise?
I think not. The potential for exploitation of the national security of countries by perhaps one powerful corporation is too real to ignore and it is my opinion, 'Space' needs to be a directive of the United Nations to contain and channel into productivity.
We haven't even 'got it right' in relation to sustaining Earth as a place for humans to call home and now we are launching into space to escape that sad reality?
Running Wild by The Privateer
The Privateer is watching, the moon provides the only light
Roaring winds are blowing, a flag appears out of the night
Guns are spitting fire, the cannonball tears up the rail
The vessel's changing course, the thunderstorm blows up the sail
A furious fight is raging, red-hot cannon's shooting hard
Ironballs are flying, tearing all the planks apart
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
The sea-dog's reaimed in legends, it said he had the second sight
His assignment must be holy, he fought the fight with power and pride
The key to ancient wisdom, the power to have seen the truth
He'll return to holy ground, where his tortured soul had died in youth
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
Roaring winds are blowing, a flag appears out of the night
Guns are spitting fire, the cannonball tears up the rail
The vessel's changing course, the thunderstorm blows up the sail
A furious fight is raging, red-hot cannon's shooting hard
Ironballs are flying, tearing all the planks apart
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
The sea-dog's reaimed in legends, it said he had the second sight
His assignment must be holy, he fought the fight with power and pride
The key to ancient wisdom, the power to have seen the truth
He'll return to holy ground, where his tortured soul had died in youth
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
His allseeing spy-glass is aiming at the sea
No mariner has the slightest chance to flee
His Crystal-ball's revealing where he has to steer
He fights the covered evil without fear
Oh, the privateer
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