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Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg Launches Minuteman III
USAF: Vandenberg launches Minuteman III
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from here today at 3:14 a.m.
The launch was part of an operational test to determine the weapon system’s reliability and accuracy. This launch also exercised U.S. Strategic Command’s Airborne Launch Control System, which flies on a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft.
The missile’s three unarmed re-entry vehicles traveled approximately 4,200 miles before hitting their pre-determined targets at the Reagan Test Site, located in the Marshall Islands.
Flap is positive that this launch continues the Air Force’s Miunuteman III testing program but it also sends a message to America’s enemies – especially North Korea and Iran. This is not a rocket but an intercontinental ballistic missile with three independently targeted nuclear warheads. Read the stats here.
If North Korea/Iran were to provoke the United States, the Minuteman III could be instantly targeted to North Korea/Iranian civilian centers. This missile is an effective counter-force weapon.
“This mission continues a long string of successful ICBM flight tests from Vandenberg,” said Lt. Col. S.L. Davis, the 576th Flight Test Squadron commander who was the mission director for today’s launch. “It clearly demonstrates the capability of both the Minuteman III weapon system and those who maintain and operate it, to include the hundreds of professionals across the Department of Defense who are critical to each mission’s success.”
The reliability and accuracy data will also be used by U.S. Strategic Command planners.
“This launch marks the first mission commanded from Vandenberg’s new Western Range Operations Control Center,” said spacelift commander Col. John Raymond, 30th Operations Group commander. “This is a significant milestone for the Western Range, representing a tremendous amount of work by the 30th Space Wing, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, our range contractors and our mission partners in the 576th.”
A warning to Kin Jong-Il and Mullahs of Iran – the Minuteman III is accurate and deadly. It deterred the old Soviet Union and continues today. Don’t provoke the USA.
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: MinutemanIII, VandenbergAirForceBase
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Israel at War Watch: Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah Speaks and Vows Surprises
The Jerusalem Post: Nasrallah speaks, vows surprisesHizbullah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, spoke for the first Thursday since the beginning of the week, saying Hizbullah’s entire infrastructure and leadership hierarchy were still intact and functional.
“I can confirm without exaggerating or using psychological warfare, that we have not been harmed,” he said, referring to the strike.
Al-Jazeera, which aired only excerpts of the interview, said it was taped earlier Thursday. The interviewer said the interview took place amid tight security precautions but did not say where.
Nasrallah has been in hiding since Israel’s onslaught began July 12, though he gave a speech on Hizbullah television on Sunday.
“Hizbullah has so far stood fast, absorbed the strike and has retaken the initiative and made the surprises that it had promised, and there are more surprises,” he said, warning that a Hizbullah defeat would be “a defeat for the entire Islamic nation.”
Nasrallah added that, “All of Israel’s talk about 50 percent of our infrastructure being damaged is nonsense.”
Nasrallah has a rabid mouth like Ahmadinejad. Sounds to Flap likes he wants more war.
Israel will oblige him.
As for the surprises – PLEASE give Israel and the United States an excuse to bomb Tehran and/or Damascus.
Stay tuned…..
A man walks by a Haifa apartment building hit by a Hezbollah rocket yesterday.
Previous:
Israel at War: Hezbollah Rockets Slam Into Nazareth
Israel at War Watch: USA to Israel – One More Week to Blast Hezbollah
Israel At War Watch: Iranian Hezbollah Ready to Attack United States and Israeli Interests Worldwide
Israel At War Watch: The Conservative Cat Fight – Will v. Kristol
Israel At War Watch: Richard Cohen – “Israel Itself is a MISTAKEâ€
Israel At War Watch: Iranian Mullahs Show Their Teeth
Israel At War Watch: Israel Destroys At Least One Long Range Iranian Missile
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Refuses To Halt Uranium Enrichment and Warns The United Nations
Iran’s top national security official Ali Larijani holds a news conference in Madrid, July 7. Iran has again rejected international demands it freeze its controversial nuclear programme and warned the UN Security Council against choosing a “path of confrontation”.
AFP: Iran rejects demands to freeze nuclear work, warns UN
Iran has again rejected international demands it freeze its controversial nuclear programme and warned the UN Security Council against choosing a “path of confrontation”.
In a statement read on state television Thursday, nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani also said Iran would take until August 22 to reply to an international offer of incentives in exchange for a halt of uranium enrichment.
But he also accused the United States, which has lumped Iran into an “axis of evil”, of trying to derail diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
“According to the adopted plan to generate 20,000 megawatts of atomic energy over the next 20 years, the Islamic republic has decided to make some of its own nuclear fuel inside Iran,” said the statement from Larijani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
He said Tehran was “ready to find a diplomatic solution with a suitable calendar for both parties” but issued a warning to the Security Council — currently discussing ways to pressure Iran into freezing enrichment.
“If the path of confrontation is chosen instead of the path of dialogue, and if there is any action to limit the absolute rights of the Iranian people, the Islamic republic will have no choice but to revise its policy,” the statement warned.
Iran spins the Western media cycle again. This is getting old, repetitive and pathetic quickly.
The United Nations Security Council should vote on a resolution by Saturday. Even Russia is growing tired of the Iranian STALL.
And remember the letter President Ahmadinejad wrote German Chancellor Merkel? Now, the Germans just say it is “rather weird”……and not about the Iranian nuclear program but the Palestinian problem, Zionism and the Jews.
Iran enjoys playing the martyr but after UNSC sanctions imposed because of their recalcitrance on accepting the P-5-Plus-1 proposal, they can be viewed as just STUPID – it is the best deal Iran will get.
Stay tuned……..
Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Says NO RUSH on Iran United Nations Security Council Resolution
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iranian President Ahmadinejad Sends Letter to German Chancellor Merkel
Iran Nuclear Watch: Bush and Putin Concerned Over Iran’s Failure To Respond To P-5-Plus-1 Proposal
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Calls P-5-Plus-1 Incentives “Acceptable Basis†for Talks
Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel – Iran Aided Hezbollah Ship Attack
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran President Ahmadinejad – Iran WON’T Negotiate its Nuclear “RIGHTSâ€
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Faces Calls for United Nations Action on Nuclear Standoff
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran is CORNERED
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Will NOT Respond Tuesday to P-5-Plus- 1 Proposal
The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad
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John Bolton Watch: President Bush Considering New Effort to Confirm John Bolton as United States Ambassador to the United Nations
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton listens as U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan (not pictured) speaks during a Security Council meeting to discuss the conflict between Israel and Lebanon at U.N. headquarters in New York, July 20, 2006.
Reuters: Bush considering new effort for Bolton at UN post
President George W. Bush is considering a new effort to get John Bolton confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a year after appointing him to the job over Senate objections, aides said on Thursday.
White House spokesman Dana Perino said officials there were discussing strategy with Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where at least one key opponent has dropped his opposition.
Bush gave Bolton a recess appointment last August — meaning he appointed Bolton to the job when the Senate was in recess — after his confirmation was blocked by senators who said the former State Department official had an abrasive style.
That appointment will run out at the end of the current congressional session in January. Bush could make another recess appointment but Bolton would not get a salary.
Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich (news, bio, voting record), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who blocked Bolton’s nomination a year ago, said on Thursday he would now support him for the job.
“My observations are that while Bolton is not perfect, he has demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with others and follow the president’s lead by working multilaterally,” Voinovich told a news conference.
Screw sobber Voinovich and reappoint Bolton immediately. John is doing a fine job and to think that fruit cake Voinovich crying like a baby about his grandchildren last year.
Get that MORON some Prozac and have one of his aides cast the vote for Bolton.
And……if the Democrats filibuster and the GOP cannot vote cloture, then reappoint him again and the GOP can take up a collection to pay him privately.
Damn to think the GOP could not muster 60 votes last year – pathetic! Hey, Senator John Thune, you gonna show up and vote this time?
Stay tuned…..
Previous:
Democrats Block Bolton Nomination
Technorati Tags: JohnBolton, UnitedNations, GeorgeVoinovich, JohnThune
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Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Latest Poll Shows Ned Lamont Beating Lieberman
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) waits for the start of his debate with challenger Ned Lamont in Hartford, Connecticut July 6, 2006. Lieberman, facing a backlash in his own party for supporting the Iraq war, has been overtaken by a political novice in Connecticut’s Democratic Senate primary, a poll showed on Thursday.
AP: Lieberman losing ground in Senate race
Sen. Joe Lieberman, under fire from activists in his own party, has lost ground to his challenger and is narrowly trailing him for the first time in their race for the Democratic nomination, a new poll released Thursday shows.
Businessman Ned Lamont had support from 51 percent and Lieberman from 47 percent of likely Democratic voters in the latest Quinnipiac University poll — a slight Lamont lead given the survey’s sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Lieberman had led in a Quinnipiac poll last month, 55 percent to 40 percent.
“This is a surge for Lamont,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz. “It’s rare to see such a big change in a race.”
But, Lieberman still leads in a three way independent candidacy:
In possible general election matchups:
- Lieberman defeats Republican challenger Alan Schlesinger 68 – 15 percent;
- Lamont beats Schlesinger 45 – 22 percent, with 24 percent undecided;
- Running as an independent, Lieberman gets 51 percent, to 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Schlesinger.
This is the best case scenaro for the GOP and the worst case for the Dems:
Lamont wins the Democrat primary and Lieberman wins the general election as an independent with GOP help.
And “SLICK” is coming to the rescue.
Stay tuned…..
Captain Ed has his analysis: Lieberman Slides Into Second
A Lieberman primary victory would be the best outcome for the Democrats; it would keep the state’s party from fracturing in the general election. It doesn’t look good for that result at the moment. Lamont may well top Lieberman in the first round, but an eventual Lieberman victory looks all but assured. That means that the national party leaders will have to be very careful in how they support Lamont, if they decide to do so at all. If they antagonize Lieberman enough, he may give Democrats a few more headaches in the next session of Congress. (via The Moderate Voice and Taegan Goddard)
Previous:
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Will Israel – Hezbollah War Sink Ned Lamont?
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Bill Clinton Defends Lieberman’s Position on Iraq War
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Will “Judas Kiss†Sink Lieberman
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Files To Create NEW Political Party
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Senator Hillary Clinton Won’t Back Lieberman If He Loses Democrat Primary – PAYBACK
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Senator Hillary Clinton Won’t Back Lieberman If He Loses Democrat PrimarySenator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Will Run as an Independent if He Loses Democrat Primary
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Independent Candidacy this Fall?
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: MoveOn.org Endorses Challenger Ned Lamont
Technorati Tags: JoeLieberman, NedLamont
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Stop The ACLU Blogburst Watch: ACLU Encouraged by U.N. Questioning of U.S. Government
ACLU Website:GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — A United Nations human rights body expressed grave concerns today about the record of human rights in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union with a delegation of 10 and working with a broad coalition of other groups is in Geneva to monitor the examination of the United States the U.N. Human Rights Committee (HRC).
In a two-day session that concluded today, the committee members pressured the United States for answers on the following issues:
The sentencing of children to life without parole and the disproportionate incarceration of minorities;
The militarization of the border;
The failure to prevent human rights violations and respond in a non discriminatory manner to Hurricane Katrina;
The failure to end racial profiling practices, specifically the profiling of South Asian convenience store employees in Georgia;
Warrantless spying on ordinary Americans;
The abuse of women in prison; and
The indefinite detention, rendition and torture of non-citizens.“The U.S. should be ashamed of itself,†said Ann Beeson, Director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program. “The review by the Human Rights Committee was a stark and all too accurate condemnation of the state of rights in America.â€
No, the ACLU should be ashamed of itself. The review by the Human Rights Committee which includes member states Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China ,and ensures that violaters are included, is a joke and nowhere near accurate.
Religious persecutors, Womens Rights violators, Communist Regimes, and illegal organ harvesters will make up the new UN Human Rights Council.
And this is the organization that the ACLU want to hold the U.S. accountable to? The ACLU, and the U.N. are the two most dangerous organizations in the world. They are both seeking to destroy America’s credibility and soverignty. The U.N. are a corrupt joke when it comes to human rights, and they have absolutely zero credibility to make any judgement on America in that area.
The ACLU, who provided the list called “Dimming the Beacon of Freedomâ€, to this corrupt organization that can’t even clean up its own human rights violations are an embarrassement to this great nation. It is shameful that their list included our efforts to spy on the enemy, protect our borders, and several other accusations without evidence. I also wonder if their accusation to “abuse†of women in prison would be not providing them with abortions at the expense of taxpayers.
Besides the issues within our own judicial system and its decay, the ACLU is also turning to international sources to undermine our nation’s sovereignty and national security.
For instance, the ACLU filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention against the United States, stating that the United States violated international law when it detained 765 Arab Americans and Muslims for security reasons after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on our nation. Eventually, 478 were deported. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said, “With today’s action, we are sending a strong message of solidarity to advocates in other countries who have decried the impact of U.S. policies on the human rights of their citizens. We are filing this complaint before the United Nations to ensure that U.S. policies and practices reflect not just domestic constitutional standards, but accepted international human rights principles regarding liberty and its deprivations.†Source
Romero, of course, makes the United States sound like some rogue nation with no regard for human rights, not the beacon of liberty that so many have come to escaping from tyranny and the bonds of oppression.
All of this should concern you. You may think that it doesn’t directly affect you in your everyday life, but it will eventually. The ACLU’s embrace of international law seeks to hypocritically do the opposite of what the ACLU claim to protect, and the Constitution forbids; prohibit the free exercise of religion.
In spring 2003, a group from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, of which former ACLU officials Paul Hoffman and John Shattuck are a part, met and discussed a resolution to add “sexual orientation†to the UNHRC’s discrimination list. Homosexual activists at the meeting called for a “showdown with religion,†clearly intending to use international law to silence religious speech that does not affirm homosexual behavior. Source
The ACLU’s actions are a direct threat to our very freedom of speech, religious exercise, security, and soverignity. In some countries, laws are being pushed, and in some cases, enacted that essentially criminalize forms of religious speech and activity that does not affirm homosexual behavior.
If we are going to turn the interpretation of our laws to international jurisprudence, and decisions of foreign courts, judges, and legislatures, the question begs…why did we fight a war of independence? If the ACLU are successful in their agenda for international law, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution will eventually become irrelevant documents. More and more of America’s freedoms, and our very soverignty will be sacrificed for international law. Our freedoms will vanish. The ACLU’s vision of freedom that includes the public sale of child pornography, the silencing of churchs and ministries, and unlimited abortion and euthanasia will replace them. To many Americans, these sound more like human rights violations than anything on the ACLU’s list.
On October 27, 1787, Alexander Hamilton predicted that a “dangerous ambition†would one day tyrannize the gangling young American Republic, all the while lurking “behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people.†It could almost be said that Hamilton had a prophecy of the ACLU.
This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.
Technorati Tags: ACLU, StopTheACLU
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Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Will Israel – Hezbollah War Sink Ned Lamont?
Sen. Joe Lieberman , D-Conn., speaks with reporters during an interview with The Associated Press in Hartford, Conn., Friday, July 14, 2006. Lieberman, facing a strong Democratic primary challenge, said Friday he has nearly $4.3 million cash on hand for his re-election campaign.
AP: Lieberman gets pro-Israel groups’ support
Pro-Israel groups, afraid of losing one of their staunchest supporters in Congress, are pouring money into beleaguered Sen. Joe Lieberman’s campaign as he tries to fend off a tougher-than-expected primary challenge.
The three-term lawmaker is struggling to dispatch millionaire businessman Ned Lamont in the Aug. 8 primary. Lamont’s fierce criticism of Lieberman’s backing of the Iraq war and perceived closeness to President Bush has won him followers among hard-core Democrats.
The primary is Aug. 8 and Lieberman has said he will run as an independent if he loses.
Pro-Israel political action committees have donated to the Connecticut senator’s campaign and have urged their national membership to give generously now and later, if Lieberman is forced to run as an unaffiliated candidate.
And, of course, the Pro-Israeli groups would heap the support on a native son, Joe Lieberman. And why not? Often Israel’s interests directly coincide with American interests.
Markos Moulitsas “Screw Them†Zuniga and Ned Lamont in Hartford.
However, does this sit well with the Kossaks of the LEFT
netrootsnetkooks who have been accused by Hugh Hewitt and others as anti-semitic or dwelling on the Jooooos issue?Probably not…..
Will this sink Lamon’t campaign?
Maybe but his one issue litmus test candidacy of the Iraq War may sink him as well.
The Pro-Israel lobby will be with Senator Lieberman if he loses the Democrat Primary.
So, will the GOP, who will be laughing all the way ……..
“Joe Lieberman, without exception, no conditions … is the No. 1 pro-Israel advocate and leader in Congress,” said Mark Vogel, chairman of the National Action Committee, a pro-Israel political action committee. “There is nobody who does more on behalf of Israel than Joe Lieberman. That is why he is incredibly important to the pro-Israel community.”
An Orthodox Jew who never campaigned on Saturday, the Sabbath, because of his religious beliefs, Lieberman has been consistent in his support for Israel during his 17 years in the Senate.
Vogel said opinion within the pro-Israel community is mixed about whether the United States should have launched the Iraq war. Some prefer Lamont because they argue Iraq is more important than Israel, but Vogel said there is more agreement about staying in Iraq and getting the job done.
“We need to complete the war on terror, which does not include leaving because it sends the terrorists a very bad message: that terrorism pays,” he said. “Joe is part of that line of reasoning, which I think the pro-Israel community is pretty unified on.”
The Israeli-Hezbollah War helps Joe Lieberman defeat Ned Lamont. It crystallizes Lieberman’s anti-terrorist, anti-cut and run positions on the Iraq War and American national security. Lamont’s position looks weak and provincial.
Flap handicaps an upswing for Lieberman and a victory in the Democrat primary election.
Captain Ed has Will Israel Rescue Joe Lieberman?
I think Lieberman will win the primary, although it may be closer than he would like. I thought that before Hezbollah attacked Israel, but with that event now erupting, I think it plays to Lieberman’s benefit, both in the American affection for Israel and the desire to rely on the proven in times of crisis. I also think we won’t have seen the last of Ned Lamont.
Previous:
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Bill Clinton Defends Lieberman’s Position on Iraq War
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Will “Judas Kiss†Sink Lieberman
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Files To Create NEW Political Party
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Senator Hillary Clinton Won’t Back Lieberman If He Loses Democrat Primary – PAYBACK
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Senator Hillary Clinton Won’t Back Lieberman If He Loses Democrat PrimarySenator Joe Lieberman Watch: Lieberman Will Run as an Independent if He Loses Democrat Primary
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: Independent Candidacy this Fall?
Senator Joe Lieberman Watch: MoveOn.org Endorses Challenger Ned Lamont
Technorati Tags: JoeLieberman, NedLamont
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Day By Day by Chris Muir July 20, 2006
Discuss this blog post and MORE…. at the FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blogs, My Dental Forum.