At least 5 people were killed today and 3 others injured when a US drone fired a pair of missiles at a home in North Waziristan's Tappi village. Shortly thereafter, another drone hit Data Khel, also in North Waziristan. The casualties were described as "suspected militants" by intelligence officials, though they were all locals to the region.
The attacks were the fourth and fifth of the week, all of them in the area around the North Waziristan town of Miramshah. Previous attacks included a Syunday airstrike which killed a school teacher and a nine year old boy, and a pair of Wednesday hits on a mud hut, the second of which killed several members of the rescue team that arrived after the first.
Pakistani officials have expressed increasing consternation with the growing number of civilian casualties in the strikes, with President Zardari warning that it was undermining support for the war effort that the US has demanded Pakistan start in those regions. Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani added that US policies on this and other issues were threatening bilateral ties.
Despite the growing complaints and increasing questions about the policy's effectiveness, a delegation of US senators to the region praised the strikes and vowed that they would continue. If the strikes continue at the frenzied pace so far throughout 2010, the issue will likely become a much bigger one.
Reports from Pakistani security officials say that of the 708 people killed in 2009 drone strikes, only a handful were key militant leaders and the vast, vast majority were innocent civilians.
At what point do we stop paying taxes to fund this murder?
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Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iran.....
An Israeli paper tells us that "the US does not want to see confrontation with Iran but is still preparing its military for that possibility, America's top uniformed officer said Thursday."
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We're #2! USA: Land of Murder and Mayhem
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Greenwald: Helen Thomas Deviates From the Terrorism Script
Following up on Thursday's post concerning our collective refusal to discuss how American actions and policies fuel Terrorism: at a White House press conference yesterday with Janet Napolitano and John Brennan, Helen Thomas shows -- yet again -- that she's one of the very few White House reporters willing to deviate from approved orthodoxy scripts. She asks the prohibited question about the motives of Terrorists, and keeps asking as she receives complete non-responses, until they all just decide to ignore her: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/09-8
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Ray McGovern: Answering Helen Thomas on Why They Want to Harm Us
Thank God for Helen Thomas, the only person to show any courage at the White House press briefing after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner on Christmas Day. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/09-1
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God really does have a sense of humor if Michael Steele is to be believed:
STEELE: I'm not defined by this job. When this job is over I will go back to doing something else. But God, I really believe, has placed me here for a reason because who else and why else would you do this unless there's something inside of you that says right now you need to be here to do this?
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God is my co-agent: TSA employee announces that he is God at LAX
If you are tired of dealing with TSA employees who act like God Almighty, you may want to stay out of LAX where one agent announced that he is in fact God and his orders divine.
An unnamed TSA agent was arrested this week in Terminal One (the other terminals are for lesser divinities in the "City of Angels") after he was acting "erratically." The agent had just gotten off duty when he allegedly announced "I am god, I'm in charge." That would certainly make it difficult to quibble over whether you really have more than three ounces in this container. More here.
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Bob Barker vs the whale killers
Truth is stranger than fiction! None other than Bob Barker of 70s and 80s TV game show fame has come to the rescue of Sea Shepherd, through a $5 million gift to go buy a boat that won't get crushed in the ice in Antarctic waters. And believe it or not, the new ship, the 'Bob Barker' has already proven it's worth – it came to the rescue of several crew members of their little 'attack' vessel the Ady Gil after said boat was deliberately rammed by a whaler.
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Sure. Right after hell freezes over and they spend their bonuses....
Bank CEOs to answer for financial crisis: http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/09/news/economy/Financial_crisis_commission/index.htm?cnn=yes
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The stupidest game show answer of all time: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/09/the-stupidest-game-show-a_n_416329.html
And who could forget this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII
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CRS concludes ACORN broke no laws.
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What if a Democrat had done a nude centerfold and then wanted to be in the Senate?
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At what point does Harry Reid step aside and let someone with a chance run for his seat?
He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama—a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," as he said privately.
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"I wish you Negroes would quit being so sensitive," says idiot.
Glenn Beck: "'African-American' is a bogus, PC, made-up term. I mean, that's not a race. Your ancestry is from Africa and now you live in America. Ok so you were brought over — either your family was brought over through the slave trade or you were born here and your family emigrated here or whatever but that is not a race. And I'm sure if I had any African-American friends they'd agree with me. Now quit your damn whining. I don't identify myself as white, or a white American."Sigh. Unless you're a Pawnee, Comanche or Sioux et al you should just stfu, white boy.
Douche.
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Of course Obama has three more years to go, but I think Cesca's work is more than enough to debunk this idea that "George Bush kept us safe after 9/11. Or before 9/11. Or whatever delusional time warp Rudy Giulian is in today.
"Slim?" There are 40 Republicans in the Senate. There are 58 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats (one of whom would stab his own blood in the back if he saw any advantage from doing so).
What is "slim" is the Democrat's supermajority, which is what is needed these day in order to pass any legislation due to the GOP's tactics of total obstruction. But hey, I guess that little distinction escapes the notice of NPR which, for reasons unknown to me, has been banging a hard turn to the right.
Yeah, yeah. All the jokes really show is that (a) they don't understand the distinction between "climate" and "weather" and (b) they are idiots.
Imagine, if you will, that you have walked into a casino and you are observing a slot machine. Some old grandmother is sitting there, feeding nickels in. Over a short span of time, you see granny hit a few payouts, one or two of them which spill coins onto the floor. She seems to be doing pretty well at the machine. Yet if you were to watch for an extended period of time, you would see that the machine takes in more coins than it pays out.
Atmospheric conditions over a short span of time, like the short-term payouts of the slot machine, are "weather". Very long term conditions are "climate". You can live in a fairly wet climate area and still have periodic spells of dry weather, even a drought or two. It can get hot where it is normally not so hot and freezing cold in Florida; that is weather.
So make your jokes and betray your own stupidity at the same time. Think of it as a two-fer.
"In the days leading up to an interview with ABC News' Charlie Gibson, aides were worried with Ms. Palin's grasp of facts. She couldn't explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and she did not know what the Federal Reserve did. She also said she believed Saddam Hussein attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001." http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/09/book_claim_palin_believed_saddam_was_behind_911
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h/t Dick
Going for the gold in the "Golden State".
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