As many of you know AKM has been chosen to receive a Netroots Nation scholarship to attend a conference in Pittsburgh.
But what you may NOT know is that there is still a chance to help our very own Shannyn Moore get the very same scholarship!
So please take a moment to click here and vote to send Shannyn to help AKM represent all of Alaska's wonderful bloggers at this important event.
Thank you ahead of time for your support. We could not do what we do without you guys.
Pentagon: Increased Violence Expected as US Troops Leave Iraqi Cities
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2009
Predicting an uptick in violence in Iraq as U.S. combat troops leave the cities by June 30, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today that deployed troops have geared up for the heightened threat as they comply with the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement.
“I think we have reason to believe -- and I think our forces have been alerted to the possibility -- that we will likely see an uptick in violence leading up to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat forces to leave Iraqi cities and towns,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters.
He cited past patterns in which terrorists and insurgents increased their attacks in the days leading up to elections and other significant milestones.
Recent incidents in Iraq, including the “horrific” bombing south of Kirkuk last weekend, also indicate a possible repeat before U.S. combat troops leave urban areas in accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, Morrell said.
Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, has expressed confidence in the capabilities of both his forces and the Iraqi security forces to deal with the increased threat level, Morrell said. As combat troops leave the cities, they’ll form “layers of defense” outside the urban areas and continue to conduct combat operations with Iraqi security forces. However, smaller contingents of U.S. troops will remain behind to support the Iraqi security forces until they’re no longer needed. “This is going to be a coordinate/train/advise/assist role,” he said. “So we’ll really be there as a complement to them.”
Morrell cited progress in improving security in Iraq and helping the Iraqi security forces develop capacity.
“Security incidents, despite that awful attack, remain at all-time lows since March of 2003,” he said. “So despite the fact that you’ve seen sporadic high-profile attacks still taking place in Iraq, the overall security climate is a good one.”
Morrell stopped short of declaring victory over the insurgency.
“We think we have beaten back al-Qaida to the point where they are now conducting attacks that are basically propaganda campaigns in an attempt to make it look as though they are driving us out of the Iraqi cities,” he said. “In fact, the truth of the matter is that … the work of our brave men and women in uniform over the past couple years has created a climate such that we can leave Iraqi cities, and the Iraqi security forces are developed to the point where they are capable of taking over that responsibility.”
Meanwhile, progress has continued on the economic and political fronts as well.
“All those things are improvements,” Morrell said. “And we signed a security agreement with the Iraqis nearly a year ago in which they asked us to stay in Iraq for the next three years to help them continue to build upon that momentum. “We view that obligation seriously, and we intend to honor it,” he added.
Wild Thing's comment..........
This is no surprise it is the very thing we all talked about when it was being discussed how the would pull our troops out of Iraq. It is the military that is right there that will know the when of this not some Kenya freak sitting in an air conditioned office he does not belong in making this kind of decision. OBama is the least qualilfied ito be CIC and since he obviously hates our military he should never be the CIC.
Although criticized frequently in recent years for his obvious and very public love for young women, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is truly in trouble this time around. It seems that he paid several beautiful young ladies - and I use this word rather loosely - thousands of euros for sexual favors:
He has made no secret of his love of women but the sex scandal surrounding Silvio Berlusconi is now threatening to topple him, as more claims emerge of the systematic recruitment of young women paid to attend private parties at his homes in Rome and Sardinia.
With weeks to go before he hosts the G8 summit the Italian Prime Minister, 72, is facing new allegations, including claims by a Bari escort girl who says that she has recorded footage of herself in the billionaire’s bedroom. Now another woman has come forward, this time claiming that she was paid to attend the Prime Minister’s private parties after going through a hostess service, allegedly operated by a local businessman.
In an interview with The Times Barbara Montereale said that Mr Berlusconi gave her €10,000 (£8,500) “as a present” after attending one of his parties at Villa Certosa. She also claims to have received an attendance fee of €1,000, paid by his alleged fixer, Giampaolo Tarantini.
Those in the know say that Tarantini was as much as Berlusconi’s pimp. He arranged the good looking girls for the prime minister’s special ‘parties,’ where he reportedly had sex with at least some of them. He paid them in jewelry and cash.
The latest revelations about Berlusconi’s love life are extremely problematic for him because prostitution is illegal in Italy. Furthermore, he has always insisted that he has never done any such thing: he did not have sex with them, and he certainly did not pay them for their ’services.’ To this day he insists that the allegations are lies, fabricated by political opponents who cannot beat him in the ballot box and who have therefore chosen to simply discredit him while in office, thereby forcing him to resign.
Although he is currently fighting back, and although he could certainly survive these revelations, he will be in serious trouble if / when more people start talking.
And that would be sad thing: Berlusconi is one of the most entertaining leaders in Europe.
2009 PoliGazette. All Rights Reserved.
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Source: PoliGazette RSS Feed
Our regularly scheduled bible quiz has been interrupted by history in the making in Iran as a revolution begins after thousands defied Iran’s top religious leaders’ call for ending all demonstrations against the recent fraudulent election results in which the current President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was said by the Iranian government to have had an overwhelming win against opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Here is an article describing main activities that happened on Saturday.
Here is an excellent source of information about the momentum behind the revolution.
Here U.S. President Barack Obama finally giving the demonstrators moral support after first saying we shouldn’t mettle in Iranian internal affairs.
The following are some videos that show the chronological events unfolding starting right after the elections were announced by the illegitimate government in Iran.
WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC CONTENT. VIEWER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED! Violence, beatings, possible death.
Saturday, June 13th
Saturday, June 13th
Saturday, June 13th
Sunday, June 14th
Sunday, June 14th
Wednesday, June 17th
Friday, June 19th
Saturday, June 20th
Saturday, June 2oth
You can show your support for freedom by praying and doing whatever the LORD leads you to do so that the world doesn’t suffer from Iran’s current Presidents’ evil ambitions. Thank you,
777denny
View This Poll
surveys Posted in Barack Obama, crime, iran, Islamofascism, Israel, murder, news, Politics, religion, united states Tagged: iran, Iranian election results 2009, Iranian revolution 2009, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi, nuclear weapons
Does anyone care about the opinions of former Senate majority leaders? What if one was once his party’s presidential nominee and another one nearly became President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services?
Today, former Senate majority leaders Bob Dole, Tom Daschle and Howard Baker released a health care plan they claim includes the kind of compromises necessary to win significant support from both parties.
The plan seeks to reconfigure health care reimbursement to focus on health outcomes – a tricky maneuver to say the least. But that’s just one of the ways they hope to reduce costs. It’s not where the “compromise” comes in. The former senators want to tax health care benefits over a certain level (something most Dems are against), mandate coverage (something Republicans don’t like), cap premiums and out-of-pocket percentages (market controls that aren’t usually popular with the right) and create state-level insurance systems rather than a federal one (and you know the left has their heart set on a Big Daddy system coming out of Washington).
Whether this plan is any good or not is up for debate. But at least Dole, Daschle and Baker are making a concerted effort to draft bipartisan legislation. Rather than trying to ram through one side’s idea or saying no to every idea, this plan takes a shot at bringing everyone to the table.
Dole says a true bipartisan bill should be able to win the votes of 20 Senate Republicans. That’s a tall order. But if enough congress people buy into the idea of compromise (and there is some common ground out there), it might be possible. Whether a compromise bill ends up being any more effective than one forced through by Democrats is unknown. But I think it’s definitely the way we should be heading.
Source: Donklephant RSS Feed
America is up to its neck in debt to the Communist Chinese. But apparently that’s no reason for the government not to give them our money for free in the name of the preposterous global warming hoax:
U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said that there was “no question” that China would receive both financial and technological assistance from the United States as part of upcoming climate change talks to be conducted in Copenhagen, Denmark.
According to the moonbats who run the UN — and, tragically, our country — China is a “developing” nation, despite a powerhouse economy threatening to overtake ours. Therefore it gets free money as part of the “spread the wealth around” scheme that is the climate change farce.
No doubt when the ChiComs are done sniggering at the stupidity of our liberal rulers, they will spend some of the cash continuing to build their navy, so they can fill the power vacuum after America loots itself into economic collapse.
Your tax dollar at work.
Hat tip: Gateway Pundit; on a tip from Burning Hot. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.
Source: Stop the ACLU RSS Feed
Loud noises!
Let there be no doubt that Matt Drudge is the world's biggest douchebag. The gigantic screamer headline above leads us to this ridiculousness, written by Drudge himself:
On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!
Ethical firestorm? How is broadcasting from the White House an ethical firestorm? Even someone as thick as Drudge should know that every major press agency has a reporter INSIDE the White House every day reporting the, you know, news. Many of them -- GASP! Siren Light Animated GIF!!!! -- report live from inside the West Wing press room or on the front lawn.
By the way, remember when Fox News Channel's resident Monchichi Brett Baier did a whole thing from "inside the White House"?
O'Reilly, too. And then there were all of those Bush White House press releases that FOX News Channel aired verbatim.
But since Drudge is making a big pee-pee dance about this, expect all of the press to soon follow -- despite reality.
(Cross posted at Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!)
Source: Crooks and Liars RSS Feed
This is a really good video of our awesome US Coast Guard.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO
The Coast Guard motto is "Semper Paratus", Latin for "Always Ready" or "Always Prepared".
Wild Thing's comment......
The Coast Guard is really amazing, they do so many things and I always wished the representatives from the Coast Guard and Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy all of them would get the chance to go to schools across our country and share with the students the various things that each branch does. That would be like a dream come true if that could happen.
Especially since we know teachers sure as heck don't do this kind of thing.
.
.....Thank you Chief.
Chief Petty Officer
BM-0164-Assault Boat Coxswain
Vietnam 1964- 1970
1970-1988 US Coast Guard
It hasn't been much of a secret in political circles, but Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is running for Governor:
I am running for Governor because Texas must prepare for the future. I am running because I believe it is conservative to demand results and hold government accountable - with integrity and responsibility.
It's presumed that Hutchison will resign the Senate at some point during her gubernatorial run. The logic behind such a move seems crystal clear: her votes today have the potential to hurt her tomorrow. To take one example, if she votes to filibuster Sonia Sotomayor, she has the potential to ingratiate herself with the Republican base in Texas, whom she needs to win over in order to wrest her party's nomination from the incumbent GOP Governor Rick Perry, but she also has the very real potential of turning off Hispanic voters, who very well could determine whether she can win a general election. Flip that vote around and you get the opposite situation -- a less happy base but a slightly better shot in November (if, and that's a big if, she can get through a primary).
The same can be said about any number of other issues before the Senate these days. Running in a contested primary for Governor from the Senate places a candidate like Hutchison between a rock and a hard place. How she could succeed without leaving the chamber -- thus opening up a potential Democratic pick-up in an ensuing special election -- is beyond me.
Tags: TX-Gov, TX-Sen, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senate 2010 (all tags)
Source: MyDD RSS Feed
