An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Morning Coffee 07/09/08
Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile
The roughly 1,200 mile range of Iran’s Shahab-3 rocket has been known for several years, but the test firing — and pointed statements from Tehran about the country’s “capability in hitting its enemies” — added to a tense climate.
Iran “only furthers the isolation of the Iranian people from the international community when it engages in this sort of activity,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said at the meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations. He said Iran’s missiles violate existing United Nations resolutions, and “They should . . . refrain from further missile tests if they truly seek to gain the trust of the world.”
Y’all might want to start stocking up on necessary items, just in case. If they want to live by 12th century rules, we might want to grant their wish, before the rattling saber hits the ground.
Clarksville woman charged in hot car death of baby
City police said Courtni Lee Nichols of Palmyra left her baby in her car, parked at a restaurant while she went next door to the Yes Deer Lounge.
Police were called late Tuesday afternoon about an unresponsive child.
Sergeant Cheryl Anderson said the baby was taken to Gateway Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police have charged Nichols, who is 24, with first-degree murder.
Her punishment? The bitch should be left in a hot car until SHE bakes like a freakin’ Christmas turkey!
US backs statin use for children
Many more obese children, including some as young as eight, should receive cholesterol-lowering drugs, say leading US doctors.
Children in the UK with a rare gene fault can get statins, but the American Academy of Pediatrics is going further.
It wants to see the drugs used in thousands more children with high cholesterol levels, despite little information about long-term safety.
A UK specialist said he did not support widespread statin use for children.
Thank you “fun police”. Not only can our children not play like kids anymore, y’all have turned them into fat lazy slobs on drugs. In your concern that someone “MIGHT get hurt”, you pretty much slapped a death sentence on them. Way to go asswipes!
Hearing shows informants profited in Action Rags raid
Defense attorneys grilled the agent who headed an immigration raid of a Houston rag exporting business, challenging the bias and quality of information provided by undocumented plant workers, including three who earned more than $13,200 as informants.
”Wow,” remarked attorney Matt Alford , who represents ex-employee Cirila Barron. ”I might get out of the law business and get into the informant business.”
Alford made the remarks after Special Agent Calvin Bradford, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified how one undocumented informant who worked at Action Rags USA for three days was paid $1,200 for information. Another, who worked for three months, earned $10,000, and a third was paid $2,000.
First thought: Someone actually exports rags? 
Second thought: Why the hell are ILLEGAL ALIENS being paid such princely sums? $1200 for “working” 3 days?
Iraq Timeline Spills Into U.S. Presidential Campaign
“We are dealing with a sovereign government,” Mr. Scheunemann said. “If that sovereign government asks us to leave, we will leave. And if that sovereign government wants to continue to work cooperatively with us until they are able to provide their own security, we will stay. What we will not do is set an arbitrary timeline to withdraw irregardless of conditions on the ground or agreement with the sovereign Iraqi government.”
The Obama campaign earlier in the day criticized Senator McCain for declining to accept a timetable for withdrawal. A senior foreign policy adviser to the campaign, Susan Rice, said in a statement: “It’s time for John McCain to explain why he refuses to ask Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their own future, and why he has completely changed his own stated position that he would leave Iraq when the Iraqis ask us to. The American people need a strategy for succeeding in Iraq, not just a strategy for staying, and John McCain’s stubborn refusal to adjust to events on the ground just shows that he has no plan to end this war.”
It’s one thing to accept a “time line” set by the government of Iraq. It’s a completely different thing to push a “time line” of leftist anti American PINKos.
U.S. Army General: Iraqi Security Forces Still Need Help
“Our assistance may change in organization and size over the coming months or years, but some form of partnership and assistance, consistent with strategic objectives, is still necessary,” he wrote. “The Iraqis know this; we should remember it too.”
When he testified before Congress in January, Dubik said Iraq was on track to reach some 580,000 security force members by the end of the year but that the forces still were a long-way from becoming self-sufficient. Iraqi officials estimated to him that the country probably wouldn’t be able to assume responsibility for internal security until sometime between 2009 and 2012 or defend its borders before 2018, he said.
Perhaps if the Iraqis started arresting and prosecuting their corrupt officials, things might move along a little faster. Oh, wait a minute….then they’d probably have NO governing bodies at all. Never mind.
Perplexing break-in leaves behind a goat in Collierville home
Wayne Hyatt thought it must have been an armadillo or perhaps a raccoon he vaguely heard overnight in his Collierville yard.
On Tuesday morning, through the glass panes of a patio door, he was startled to see a white-and-brown goat with horns. Her name was Minerva.
“You know how people break in your house and steal things?” Hyatt said. “This was somebody breaking in and leaving something.”
The stealthy goat-giver planned well.
Somebody has too much time on their hands.
2 Israeli Beduin arrested on suspicion of ties to Al Qaida
Both suspects confessed during their interrogations to having established contacts with Global Jihad elements throughout the Islamic world and assisting them in locating targets for potential terror attacks within Israel.
Security officials said that Taher Abu Sakhut – the primary suspect – allegedly began entering websites affiliated with al Qaida and Global Jihad and which called for Israel’s destruction in 2006 soon after becoming a religiously-observant Muslim. At the same time, he also became associated with the Islamic Movement in Rahat, the largest Bedouin town in the South.
Through these contacts, Tahar agreed to join al Qaida and transferred the group information on IDF bases, strategic installations throughout Israel and other crowded places, such as the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion International Airport, that could be targets in attacks.
I could say something here about making Islam illegal, but I’ll refrain.
Mayor’s text defense: It wasn’t me
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is so high style and profile that he’s prime pickings for a high-tech hoaxster, defense lawyers argue in legal papers trying to bar potentially explosive text messages from court.
The allegedly incriminating messages could be the work of a hacker typing away on a computer — perhaps even creating a titillating back-and-forth between Kilpatrick and his former aide Christine Beatty, the lawyers said.
The legal team has asserted that prosecutors cannot authenticate the text messages they’ve used to build perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty. Without the messages, they said, the criminal case will fall apart.
That’s their defense strategy? Well, I suppose in these days of high tech, anything is possible. Personal opinion, I think he’s just that arrogant.
Dems to target McCain for Medicare non-vote
“There’s nothing to stop [the cut] unless the Republican senators give us one more vote, and we’d like to know where John McCain is on the issue,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, a national co-chairman of fellow Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
The stalemate has prompted doctors’ groups to launch blistering attacks against Republicans who supported the filibuster. The bill would prevent a 10.6 percent cut in payment rates for doctors who operate under Medicare, and would be paid for by cuts to private plans known as Medicare Advantage, a central point of contention.
The gubmint created a big mess, and they are going to slap the blame on one person? Gimme a flippin’ break!
Pelosi Urges Bush to Release Oil From Strategic Reserve
“On the supply side, oil and production refining capacity need to be increased,” Bush said. “On the demand side, we agreed to take new steps to increase energy efficiency, and we agreed that fuel subsidies that artificially inflate demand should be eliminated or reduced.”
Bush made the comments one day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a letter to the president, urging him to “use your authority as President to draw down a small portion of the oil held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to expand available supplies and help reduce the record prices that are helping push the economy toward recession.”
Pelosi noted that oil prices have increased from less than $30 a barrel to a record high of nearly $150 a barrel “since your administration took office.”
Republicans note that oil prices have more than doubled since Pelosi herself took over the speaker’s office, promising that “Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices…”
On the contrary, oil and gasoline prices have soared 75 percent since Democrats took control of Congress, Republican leaders say. They call it the “Pelosi premium.”
I don’t know why I’m continuously amazed by the Queen Moonbat’s ignorance and arrogance. Perhaps somewhere, in the back of my mind, I EXPECT a so called “leader” to be a little brighter?
