Sen.Blutarsky

So you believe that radical Islamicists weren’t responsible for 9/11, instead the Administration staged the attacks. Was the Mossad complicit? Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I'm one of those folks who didn't know that. I'd assumed that you had moved on up to better vistas. Shoot, your posts were typically well thought out even if I didn't agree with the position you expressed. Rats. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Excellent news but I wonder whether there will be defections ... U.S. to allow Cuba to participate in WBC Treasury Dept. grants license after MLB reapplication accepted By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com Game on! Major League Baseball received word on Friday that the U.S. Treasury Dept. has granted a license so Cuba can participate in the upcoming inaugural World Baseball Classic. MLB filed the reapplication on Dec. 22, a week after the Treasury Dept. denied the initial application on financial grounds, thus initially barring Cuba from the 16-team tournament that is now set to be played from March 3-20 in the United States, Japan and Puerto Rico. MLB has been waiting for the past two weeks for the Treasury Dept. to act. And only two days ago, Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, said he was "guardedly optimistic" that Cuba would be allowed to participate. Cuba is the preeminent baseball power on the international scene and the winner of three of the four Olympic gold medals since baseball became a medal sport in 1992. They were the winners of the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and the 2004 International Baseball Federation World Cup in the Netherlands. The Cubans have won the latter tournament 25 times since its inception in 1938. The IBAF World Cup is now played on a bi-annual basis and Cuba has won 12 of the last 13 gold medals dating back to 1976 (South Korea won in 1982). Cuba has never competed against MLB players at the international tournament level and this is the first one that will include Major League players. The closest it came was splitting a pair of exhibition games against the Baltimore Orioles in 1999, losing in Havana and winning at Camden Yards. Now Cuba will have its chance. The Cubans play the first round along with Puerto Rico, Panama and the Netherlands in Puerto Rico from March 7-10. If they are one of the top two teams in that round, they'll move on to the second round, again in San Juan from March 12-17 against the winners of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Italy and Australia. The Treasury Dept. initially rejected the license for Cuba to participate because the long-standing economic embargo of that island nation "prohibits entering into contracts in which Cuba or Cuban nationals have an interest," a spokesman for that department said last month. The new application stipulated that any financial gain for the Cubans now would be made as a charitable contribution and President Fidel Castro subsequently said that those funds would be earmarked for U.S. victims of Hurricane Katrina. The IBAF had threatened to revoke its sanction of the tournament if Cuba wasn't allowed to play. That, of course, is now moot. The other 15 teams submitted their provisional rosters of up to 60 players each this past Tuesday night with nearly 400 Major League-affiliated players in the mix. Cuba is now expected to formally accept the invitation to play in the tournament and submit a roster to the IBAF from among their players who participate internationally. Cuban exiles playing in the Major Leagues, such as Orlando Hernandez and Livan Hernandez, won't be included. Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Source: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060120&content_id=1298440&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Joe-Bob might not be at risk for being injured directly by such an attack. However his way of life – bank, food, job, medical care, etc. – can possibly be reduced to a 19th Century subsistence level if WMDs are ever deployed successfully against the US. Living off venison would get pretty tiresome after a while, even for Joe-Bob, who just might have to get used to drinking warm beer. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

We can weather short term disruptions to our petroleum supply. But if, say, a rogue state like Iran wished to do a number on the US economy, it would launch a “satellite,” possibly from a ship, which actually carried a large, maneuvering nuclear warhead. Eventually the warhead would be positioned in a LEO and detonated during a pass over the US. The EMP emitted from the explosion would fry most of the key electronic infrastructure here and the economy would disintegrate pretty quickly. If executed skillfully, this type of attack could not be traced back to the country of origin with enough certainty to justify a US counterattack in the eyes of the international community. Not that counterattacking would likely be the paramount concern for most Americans, who would be unemployed, hungry, lacking all but the most basic medical care and unable to watch their favorite sports teams play. Then again, why worry about something we can't control Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Perhaps Bill Cole is right, the very universe is unraveling as I post this. Well at least dear alex is able to read _my_ posts ... Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I love the US and the inherent genius behind its system of government. At the same time I also despise the manner in which the mechanisms of that government have been manipulated by some. I perceive no inconsistency here. Chirac can speak to his own audience. France itself is a lovely place to visit and there is much I can learn from many French people … Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

The absence of significant follow-on attacks against the US has seriously discredited these characters. Strength receives support and weakness is soon vanquished to the recesses of the mind. Hopefully this is an indication that practical people on all sides of the issues will improve their cross-channel dialogue and we can move on to better things. Of course there is this small unresolved issue of Iran and its pursuit of nuclear fuel reprocessing technologies that have military application ... Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Who said anything about pulling out of Muslim territory? OBL has. It would be swell if he is willing to abandon that position. I tend to doubt he would agree to relinquish his claims to Muslim exclusivity in the territories though. OBL has been reduced to a figurehead role now apparently. If his operational commanders and AQ affiliates would agree to cease their attacks, and they actually followed through, then your deal might be a very good one for the West indeed. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

The debate has been mooted for now it would seem … New Horizons rockets to Pluto Journey to planet will take almost 10 years (CNN) -- NASA's New Horizons spacecraft roared into space Thursday afternoon bound for the planet Pluto. The spacecraft is the fastest ever launched, according to NASA. New Horizons lifted off atop a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket at 2:00 p.m. ET from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to begin a 10-year, 3-billion-mile mission. "New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to the very edge of our solar system," said Atlas control. Thursday's launch comes after two scrubbed attempts earlier this week -- one due to weather, the other because of a power outage. NASA had until February 14 to launch the probe. About 42 minutes into launch and after it separates from its third stage, New Horizons will speed from Earth at about 16 kilometers per second, or 36,000 miles per hour. New Horizons will reach a speed of about 47,000 miles per hour (75,600 kph), more than 10 times faster than a speeding bullet. According to The Physics Factbook, a bullet from a large-caliber rifle travels at about 1,500 meters or 5,000 (1,500 meters) feet per second -- about 3,400 miles per hour (5,400 kph). It took Apollo 11 three days to reach the moon in 1969. New Horizons will fly by it about nine hours after launch and reach Jupiter in a little more than a year, the space agency said. If all goes as planned, it will then execute a "gravity assist" maneuver, slingshotting around Jupiter to pick up speed. The maneuver will increase New Horizons' speed to 21 kilometers per second -- 47,000 mph, NASA said. From there it will travel nine more years in more or less a straight line to Pluto. The probe, about the size of a baby grand piano, will capture the first up-close imagery of Pluto, its moons and a region of the outer solar system called the Kuiper Belt. The 10 years it will take New Horizons to reach Pluto will be a long wait for the scientists and engineers who have designed the mission, but they say the payoff will be worth it. (Watch: Mission to Pluto -- 1:28) "The New Horizons mission is going somewhere no mission has gone before," project scientist Hal Weaver said. "This is the frontier of planetary science." The Kuiper Belt is a region of icy, rocky bodies that populate a part of the solar system beyond the planet Neptune. "It is fantastically interesting to me to have a chance maybe within my lifetime for scientists to see up close what those objects look like and to begin our reconnaissance of that region of space," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said Tuesday morning. Scientists think the bodies are debris left over from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago. Researchers theorized for decades that such an area probably existed in the solar system, but the first Kuiper Belt object was not identified until 1992. Since then, hundreds have been found, some of them quite large. Planetary astronomers now believe Pluto is a Kuiper Belt object. "It's the capstone of the initial reconnaissance of the planets," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said. "It's something that will go down in history, not just for the way it changes textbooks, but for the sort of society we are, that we do these things of lasting historic importance, that we explore beyond our own world." Weaver said, "This is one of the most important regions of the solar system. It hasn't been explored yet, and New Horizons is going to be the first mission to go out there and look at it up close and personal." Plutonium to indirectly power craft With the spacecraft containing 24 pounds of radioactive plutonium-238, the New Horizons launch is somewhat controversial. The craft is not directly nuclear-powered, but the decay of the plutonium generates heat to fuel a battery, which in turn will power the probe as it moves far away from the sun to the outer reaches of the solar system. Critics have expressed concern that an accident on launch could spread deadly plutonium over a wide swath of central Florida. In an environmental impact statement NASA was required to file before making final flight plans, the space agency indicated that a 1-in-620 chance exists of an accident on liftoff that would release plutonium into the environment. As a worst-case scenario, NASA estimated the chances at "1 in 1.4 million to 1 in 18 million" that an "extremely unlikely launch area accident" could release up to 2 percent, or about half a pound, of the plutonium on board the spacecraft. NASA critic Karl Grossman, author of "The Wrong Stuff: The Space Program's Nuclear Threat to Our Planet," said he doesn't agree with NASA's interpretation of the risks. "Is NASA again crossing its fingers and hoping?" he asked. "If it's 2 percent or it's 6 percent or if it's 20 percent or if it's 100 percent, when you're talking about plutonium, you're talking about the most toxic radioactive substance known." New Horizons scientists say the benefits of the project outweigh the risks associated with launch. "In order for us to continue our exploration of the universe, we have to do these kinds of things," Weaver said. "The exploration of space, the detailed study of the planets, including Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, are going to be some of the things that people look back on as the achievements of our civilization." Stern added, "I wouldn't be bringing my friends and family, my children if I thought they were at serious risk." CNN's Kate Tobin contributed to this report. Source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/01/19/pluto.mission/index.html Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

We imprison a figurehead and the remaining hydra still bites at us. We pull out of Muslim territory and AQ floods the vacuum we leave. Iran deploys nuclear weapons and becomes caliphate central. Is the world rendered a safer place or do the battles simply shift to the territories in the West and this time our enemies actually do possess deliverable WMD? Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

It doesn’t make me nervous. However, since I happened to have been evacuated from my former office building on 9/11 due to fears the Sears Tower might fall into our building I have realized that I’ve become noticeably more _aware_ when the monthly tests of Chicago’s emergency sirens are sounded. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Well that certainly makes Joe Smith's daily life a tad bit more exciting now doesn't it ... Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Your position enjoys support from posters to the BBC website: Added: Thursday, 19 January, 2006, 16:14 GMT 16:14 UK With common sense, it could mean a new beginning, and hopefully a bridging of the western and middle eastern cultures. I fear, given track records, the US and UK governmetns will stand on the "We don't make deals with terrorists" mantra, leaving the rest of us at risk from further terrorist attacks on civillians. [yodellingbren], Dublin, Ireland Added: Thursday, 19 January, 2006, 16:13 GMT 16:13 UK The world need to listen to Osama Bin Laden words first before any comments are made by our leaders. I think that if a truce is being offered it should be looked at seriously. Men & Women are being killed every day not through their choice but through their leaders. He may be a terrorist (Depending on your views) but we need to look at the bigger picture it is OK for Bush & Blair to say that we should fight to the end but they are not the one's who are dying. I am a firm believer in combating terrorism but Force can not always be beaten by more force. Lyndon, Manchester Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I personally have been shouted down by liberal activists "acting out" at public meetings for daring to speak in favor of practical, centrist proposals to address real problems. The effect was that my political expression was not allowed to be contributed in the tradition of honorable compromise. It makes no difference to me whether conservatives or liberals are the ones who are exercising censorship, I believe we need open debate to achieve consensus in this country and I’m pleased to see now that you agree with this view. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

One could argue that being escorted outside is somewhat more polite and less disruptive than the shouting and hissing down of discordant voices which the liberals routinely practice at their “open” meetings. Each tends to have the same effect on political discourse IMO. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Apparently they're still haggling over price, the counter guy wants hard cash and AQ is sticking with 49.5 paradise virgins "and not a single virgin more. What, do you think we were raised by camels?" Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

The conditions must be rough over there in Cave #37 ... Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Some content of OBL's message, he's making a "peace offer" January 19, 2006 Arab TV Airs Audiotape Said to Be From bin Laden By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:38 a.m. ET CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday, saying al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. The voice on the tape said heightened security measures in the United States are not the reason there have been no attacks there since the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings. Instead, the reason is ''because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them,'' he said. ''Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land,'' he said. ''We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term. ... So we can build Iraq and Afghanistan ... there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars ... to merchants of war.'' The speaker did not give conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by the Arab broadcast. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Al-Qaida-Bin-Laden.html?ei=5094&en=4cdfc95064ecd3db&hp=&ex=1137733200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=printer. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I had relied on this account from CNN's website: "CNN could not immediately confirm that the voice in the poor-quality audiotape was that of bin Laden." If there is video then that would be something completely different Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

The US probably took out some of his key lieutenants in Pakistan last week via missile strike. Perhaps he’s on the ropes now and is hearing our footsteps. It’s interesting that CNN is reporting the recorded message was audio only, if true I wonder why OBL didn’t issue a video. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

As a taxpayer I really dislike our ranking, however, our public indebtedness could be worse ... Rank By Sovereign State - Entity Public debt (% of GDP) 1 1 Malawi 228.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 2 2 Lebanon 177.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 3 3 Japan 164.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 4 4 Jamaica 146.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 5 5 Zambia 127.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 6 6 Seychelles 122.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 7 7 Argentina 118.00 June 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 8 8 Greece 112.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 9 9 Italy 105.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 10 10 Israel 104.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 11 11 Sri Lanka 104.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 12 12 Egypt 102.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 13 13 Singapore 102.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 14 14 Belgium 96.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 15 15 Jordan 85.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 16 16 Serbia and Montenegro 80.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 17 17 Sudan 79.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 18 18 Saudi Arabia 75.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 19 19 Cyprus 74.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 20 20 Cote d'Ivoire 74.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 21 21 Kenya 74.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 22 22 Turkey 74.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 23 23 Philippines 74.20 September 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 24 24 Honduras 74.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 25 25 Uganda 73.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 26 26 Pakistan 71.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 27 27 Morocco 70.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 28 28 Nicaragua 69.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 29 29 Panama 69.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 30 30 Cameroon 69.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 31 31 France 67.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 32 32 Vietnam 65.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 33 33 Germany 65.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 34 34 United States 65.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 35 35 Austria 64.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 36 36 Bahrain 63.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 37 37 Moldova 63.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 38 38 Portugal 61.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 39 39 Dominican Republic 61.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 40 40 India 59.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 41 41 Papua New Guinea 59.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 42 42 Tunisia 59.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 43 43 Hungary 58.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 44 44 Costa Rica 58.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 45 45 Switzerland 57.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 46 46 Indonesia 56.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 47 47 Netherlands 55.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 48 48 Senegal 55.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 49 49 Trinidad and Tobago 54.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 50 50 Spain 53.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 51 51 Zimbabwe 52.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 52 52 Brazil 52.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 53 53 Colombia 51.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 54 54 Sweden 51.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 55 55 Poland 49.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 56 56 Ecuador 49.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 57 57 Thailand 47.60 November 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 58 58 Finland 46.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 59 59 Slovakia 46.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 60 60 Yemen 46.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 61 61 South Africa 45.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 62 62 Malaysia 45.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 63 63 Peru 44.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 64 64 Venezuela 43.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 65 65 Bangladesh 43.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 66 66 Denmark 42.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 67 67 Bulgaria 41.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 68 68 El Salvador 41.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 69 69 Croatia 41.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 70 70 Uzbekistan 41.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 71 71 United Kingdom 39.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 72 72 Paraguay 39.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 73 73 Namibia 38.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 74 74 Algeria 37.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 75 75 Iceland 35.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 76 76 Czech Republic 33.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 77 77 Norway 33.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 78 78 Republic of China (Taiwan) 32.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 79 79 Guatemala 32.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 80 80 Syria 32.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 81 81 Slovenia 31.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 82 82 People's Republic of China 31.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 83 83 Ireland 31.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 84 84 Kuwait 29.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 85 85 Gabon 29.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 86 86 Mauritius 29.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 87 87 Russia 28.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 88 88 Iran 27.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 89 89 Lithuania 25.20 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 90 90 Ukraine 24.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 91 91 Romania 23.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 92 92 Mexico 23.50 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 93 93 New Zealand 22.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 94 94 South Korea 21.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 95 95 Macedonia 20.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 96 96 Nigeria 20.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 97 97 Azerbaijan 18.90 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 98 98 United Arab Emirates 17.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 99 99 Australia 17.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 100 100 Kazakhstan 13.70 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 101 101 Chile 12.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 102 102 Latvia 11.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 103 103 Oman 10.30 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 104 104 Libya 8.80 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 105 105 Botswana 8.60 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 106 106 Estonia 5.40 2004 est. The World Factbook+ 107 107 Tanzania 5.00 2004 est. The World Factbook+ — 108 Hong Kong SAR (PRC) 2.10 2004 est. The World Factbook+ Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Open your eyes Nathaniel - “To facilitate DMA transfers from I/O processors, the following features are provided: Addressing: It must be possible to distinguish modules on the bus to determine the source and destination data. Arbitration: Any I/O module can temporarily function as ‘master.’ A mechanism is provided to arbitrate competing requests for bus control, using some sort of priority scheme. Time sharing: When one module is controlling the bus, other modules are locked out and must, if necessary, suspend operation until bus access is achieved.” These uniprocessor features are directly usable in an SMP organization.” William Stallings, Computer Organization & Architecture Designing For Performance (6th ed. 2003) at 650. How an intelligent person could fail to see the blatant social engineering such as the above that has crept into our mainstream technical engineering textbooks truly astounds me. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

It's too bad Mel Gibson wasn't available back then Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Kinda like a misjudged swoop, I pulled out before I would have struck the ground but it wasn't pretty and no style points will be awarded Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!