Eeyore's Important News and Views

Venezuela gets cozy with terrorists
Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 9/8/2008 11:25:00 AM
Senior Army strategist and Pentagon advisor Bob Maginnis is concerned about the increasing problems with Hugo Chavez's rogue regime in Venezuela and its cozy ties with both Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Recently the Los Angeles Times reported that anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah is using Venezuela as a base of operations. The report indicates that Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela's ties with Iran, the terrorist group's longtime sponsor, to move "people" and "things" into the Americas. Lt. Colonel Maginnis (USA-Ret.) has studied the geo-political situation in the Latin American country. "Hugo Chavez is an enemy of the United States. It doesn't matter what party in this country; he just doesn't like us," he contends. "He is a very close friend of radicals such as [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran." Maginnis asserts Chavez is allowing terrorists to spread Islam. "I've seen evidence of Hezbollah being involved in, I suppose, conversion of Indian tribes to Islam, away from Christianity or maybe native religions," he adds. "That is significant because Hugo Chavez is giving them the green light to do that." According to Maginnis, there are concerns that spies – operating in Venezuela – could be Hezbollah operatives using the Iranian embassy as a cover.

Kill it, grill it: Nugent on the Palin diet
Moose burger, anyone?
Moose burgers? Well, yes, wild game - though not widely hunted, served or sold in urban areas - is the name of the game for many Americans, including people like Republican vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and hunter-rock-star Ted Nugent.
"Venison is perfect food," says Mr. Nugent (who, by the way, is a huge Palin fan and called her "a political savior" in a recent column for HumanEvents.com) via e-mail from Jackson, Mich., where he's recording an audio version of his book "Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto," which comes out later this fall.
Jackson is also where Mr. Nugent hunts.
"We hunt, fish and trap all legal renewable game," Mr. Nugent says.
This includes rabbit, fox, elk, grouse and his favorite, venison.
"Young venison over hot coals, smothered in garlic and butter, rare, with family and friends in the great outdoors around a fire, with a slug of good African red wine," Mr. Nugent says of his favorite food and setting.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/10/nugent-on-the-palin-diet/

Tripping over CIA's bureaucratic hurdles
Sunday, September 7, 2008
REVIEWED BY JOHN WEISMAN
If even half of what Ishmael Jones, the pseudonymous author of "The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture" tells us is true, we have reason to be afraid, very afraid. Mr. Jones, who spent almost two decades as a NOC, or non-official cover case officer at CIA, paints a picture of a bloated, top-heavy, molasses-slow bureaucracy in which careerism trumps initiative, risk aversion wins over audacity, and spying — the CIA's core mission, the spotting, assessing, developing and recruiting of foreign nationals to steal or divulge secrets — can become a career-killer.
Mr. Jones is not the first CIA operative to describe an agency incapable of performing its core mission. But he is the first to do so without going through CIA's vetting process.
It is understandable that CIA wouldn't want any of "The Human Factor" published. Mr. Jones relates not dozens, not scores, but hundreds of incidents in which CIA managers created a system of bureaucratic hurdles that effectively prevented Mr. Jones and his fellow deep-cover case officers from doing their jobs, lied to Congress and covered up ineptitude with obfuscation and smoke and mirrors. Some examples:
On assignment to an unnamed Middle East country, Mr. Jones queries headquarters about his mission — recruiting a scientist with knowledge of chemical weapons and WMD programs. "After a month," he writes, "responses began to dribble in . . . Then came long lists of questions about my operational proposals, as well as reasons why things might go wrong. When I answered the questions more followed. The time it was taking them to come to a decision was making it impossible to move the operation forward. In one case — I'd met the target multiple times — the chief asked, 'What will you tell him when he asks you where you got his name?'"
"Congress," Mr. Jones writes, "asked the Agency how many new personnel it had hired as non-State Department officers. The Agency created a number by tallying all of the support staff, the officers in training, and the people who were assigned to posts in the United States. The number looked good."
"After President Bush gave his 'Axis of Evil' speech," Mr. Jones writes, "the Agency began sending my colleagues on missions to these and other rogue states. They didn't conduct any intelligence operations there — just visited, stayed in hotels and returned to write detailed after-action reports about their itineraries. HQs briefed Congress about all of them. This became known around HQs as Axis of Evil Tourism." And then there's the Three Stooges mentality at headquarters. "Like most organizations, the CIA had its own stationery. Its official envelopes had 'Central Intelligence Agency' written on the return address. The Agency mistakenly used this stationery for a mailing on its new diversity policy, a mailing sent to officers ... who were working deep under cover in foreign countries."
In the early 1990s, Mr. Jones sought permission to recruit Abdul Qadir Khan, Pakistan's leading nuclear scientist when Khan made a trip to the Middle East. "Our station in Islamabad would hear none of it. The Agency had no interest in contact with Khan or his subordinates." This is the same A.Q. Khan, of course, who the CIA had to admit a decade later sold and exported nuclear technology to rogue states.
Because the CIA had been so badly burned by double agents working for East Germany, Cuba and the Soviet Union, headquarters developed a system for testing that "turned out to be an enormous pile of rear-end covering extra paperwork. ... Lots of the tests were silly or inconclusive."
Charlton, one of Mr. Jones' deep-cover colleagues spent his time creating "front companies, offices, residence apartments, corporate shell companies often in out of the way countries where the Agency had limited access." Why did Charlton do that? Because, Mr. Jones explains, "during Agency briefings to Congress, the Agency could point to a map studded with pins, each representing an Agency presence. Many of these pins were the Potemkin facilities Charlton had created."
Some NOCs became so frustrated over the CIA's inability to deal with operational approval requests in a timely fashion that they took desperate measures. Loman, another of Mr. Jones' deep-cover colleagues, "had been assigned to a country in North Africa. He reported directly to headquarters, cutting a local agency station out of the loop. Still, he received no replies to his requests for approval." Loman's solution? "Finally he flew to HQs, found a computer terminal and answered his own requests. He returned to North Africa and carried out his operations,. When he needed new approvals he traveled back to HQs and sent them to himself. He continued to answer his own messages for about six months until he was caught."
In 2003 and 2004, at the height of the Global War on Terror, Mr. Jones says CIA's leaders were "inventing new ways to draw down our overseas presence. For instance, they were requiring officers to change assignments every two years." For NOCs, who had to weave themselves into the societal fabric of the country in which they worked, a two-year tour virtually guaranteed that they'd be able to produce no useful intel.
"During the spring of 2006, American intelligence activities in Europe shut down. The Agency had been terrified of conducting intel operations in France for some time. Then the Italian station sent a cable to Agency offices worldwide stating that did not intend to approve travel to . . . Italy because hotel rooms were difficult to reserve from early spring to late fall." Similar cables were sent worldwide by CIA stations in Switzerland and Germany. "No one," writes Mr. Jones, "seemed to find it unusual that a major part of the Agency's operational territory had just been shut down."
The Central Intelligence Agency is not happy with Mr. Jones. A CIA spokesperson has referred to "The Human Factor" as "fiction." To be candid, Mr. Jones does divulge information that might be considered sources and methods. He provides readers with several operational details that CIA is loath to talk about. He points out for example that CIA stations are actually sometimes located in U.S. embassies, and that many CIA officers work under State Department cover. He confirms that CIA has multiple stations and bases inside the continental United States, from which the agency targets foreign nationals. And in a couple of cases, he slips up and actually identifies a specific country in which he worked.
None of this is particularly shocking. But Mr. Jones did - as all CIA employees do - sign an agreement not to publish anything without it being vetted. This agreement Mr. Jones has obviously broken.
His goal, however, is noble. Mr. Jones obviously believes that the United States deserves the best intelligence organization in the world. He believes passionately that every American taxpayer is being cheated because we are paying scores of billions of dollars for a bloated, ineffective, risk-averse organization that cannot perform the mission for which it was created. Since the intelligence disaster that was 9/11, precious few heads in the intelligence community have rolled. In fact, George Tenet, the director of central intelligence responsible for the greatest intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor actually received the Medal of Freedom for presiding over the 9/11 debacle.
One wonders what sort of award Mr. Jones will get. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/07/baring-bureaucratic-hurdles-at-cia/

A while back i posted about how badly our government is messed up. It will spend millions on a war then not even keep the men fighting it for you safe, it is absurd.
Petraeus: More than 80,000 buildings under review September 8, 2008 - 6:24pm
By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of U.S. troops and contractors electrocuted in Iraq is higher than previously reported, and now stands at 18, a senator said Monday.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., issued a statement with the revised number after a briefing by the Pentagon's inspector general's office. The IG's office has been investigating the death of a Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Sgt. Ryan Maseth, who was electrocuted in January while showering in his barracks in Iraq.
Gary Comerford, a spokesman for the Pentagon's IG, confirmed the department is reviewing investigations conducted by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and Criminal Investigation Command of 18 possible deaths.
Several of those cases have been deemed accidents because they involved situations such as coming into contact with power lines. Others resulted from situations where individuals were repairing air-conditioning units, providing generator maintenance or using a shower, according to the IG.
The IG's office is also examining the military's response in fixing the problem after the incidents.
Of those electrocuted, 16 were U.S. military personnel and two others were U.S. contractors, Casey's office said. The military has previously put the tally at slightly lower than 18.
Casey also said as part of the investigation he was told the IG's office is subpoenaing Houston-based military contractor KBR Inc., which holds a multibillion-dollar contract to provide basic services at facilities in Iraq for U.S. soldiers.
In an e-mailed statement on Monday, KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne said the Houston-based company is fully cooperating. The company has denied a link between its work and the deaths.
In July, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, ordered a comprehensive electrical safety review of facilities in Iraq.
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Reports: US remains 'dangerously vulnerable' September 9, 2008 - 6:58am
By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. And a House Democrats' report says the Bush administration has missed one opportunity after another to improve the nation's security.
The recent political rupture between Russia and the U.S. only makes matters worse, said Lee Hamilton, the former Indiana Democratic congressman who helped lead the 9/11 Commission and now chairs the independent group's latest study.
Efforts to reduce access to nuclear technology and bomb-making materials have slowed, thousands of U.S. chemical plants remain unprotected, and the U.S. government continues to oppose strengthening an international treaty to prevent bioterrorism, according to the report produced by the bipartisan Partnership for a Secure America.
The group includes leaders of the disbanded 9/11 Commission, the bipartisan panel that investigated government missteps before the 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
"The threat of a new, major terrorist attack on the United States is still very real," concludes the report to be released Wednesday, the same day a congressional commission will hold a hearing in New York on nuclear and biological terrorism threats.
"A nuclear, chemical or biological weapon in the hands of terrorists remains the single greatest threat to our nation. While progress has been made in securing these weapons and materials, we are still dangerously vulnerable," the report said.
Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, had harsher criticism of the Bush administration's efforts. Their report, written by the staffs of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, found little or no progress across the board on national security initiatives.
"The Bush administration has not delivered on a myriad of critical homeland and national security mandates," the Democrats' report states. That report was being released Tuesday.
"The administration has just failed to act in so many ways," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "Let's say that we've been fortunate that we have not been attacked" since 2001, said Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.
The independent report focuses narrowly on weapons of mass destruction.
The report and supporting studies describe the failure of international cooperation to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, which they call a major problem. Many countries continue to ignore a United Nations mandate to prevent the spread of weapons; the ability of many countries to monitor potential bioterrorism is "essentially nonexistent," and dangerous chemical weapons stockpiles remain in some countries, including Russia and Libya, the report said.
Russia has been a significant player in U.S. efforts to secure nuclear weapons and to eliminate inventories of chemical weapons in the former Soviet region. That cooperation could be jeopardized as the two countries face off over the Russian invasion of Georgia and concerns about a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, Hamilton said.
Bush on Monday Bush on canceled a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia.
"The things we do to penalize Russia will make it more difficult for us to deal with Russia on other matters," Hamilton said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said he hasn't seen the report. But he said there have been a number of successes in recent years, including negotiations to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program and Libya's agreement to end its nuclear and chemical weapons program.
"We have been engaged multilaterally with a number of countries to deal with this issue of weapons of mass destruction," Wood said.
Wood said he also has not seen the Democrats' report. "I fundamentally reject the charge that the administration has made the world less safe from terrorism," he said.
House Democrats also blasted Bush policy in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as damaging to national security. U.S. efforts to combat terrorists in Pakistan have suffered because of "unyielding support for a military dictator"; Iraq has drained resources from the fight in Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia continues to serve "as a major source of terrorist activity," the Democrats' report states.
The independent study, however, did credit the Bush administration with progress in a number of areas. It cited improved U.S. port security, reduction of military chemical stockpiles, increased U.S. funding for securing nuclear weapons sites in Russia and new international programs aimed at preventing crimes involving biological weapons.
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On the Net:
Partnership for a Secure America: http://www.psaonline.org/
House Committee on Homeland Security: http://homeland.house.gov/
House Committee on Foreign Affairs: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/
http://wtop.com/?nid=251&sid=1474711

How can America in general be this stupid?
The ECOnetic will go on sale in Europe in November
by David Kiley September 15, 2008
If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor (F), known widely for lumbering gas hogs.
Ford's 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here's the catch: Despite the car's potential to transform Ford's image and help it compete with Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe. "We know it's an awesome vehicle," says Ford America President Mark Fields. "But there are business reasons why we can't sell it in the U.S." The main one: The Fiesta ECOnetic runs on diesel.
Automakers such as Volkswagen (VLKAY) and Mercedes-Benz (DAI) have predicted for years that a technology called "clean diesel" would overcome many Americans' antipathy to a fuel still often thought of as the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers. Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient.
Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. "Americans see hybrids as the darling," says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, "and diesel as old-tech."
None of this is stopping European and Japanese automakers, which are betting they can jump-start the U.S. market with new diesel models. Mercedes-Benz by next year will have three cars it markets as "BlueTec." Even Nissan (NSANY) and Honda, which long opposed building diesel cars in Europe, plan to introduce them in the U.S. in 2010. But Ford, whose Fiesta ECOnetic compares favorably with European diesels, can't make a business case for bringing the car to the U.S.
TOO PRICEY TO IMPORT
First of all, the engines are built in Britain, so labor costs are high. Plus the pound remains stronger than the greenback. At prevailing exchange rates, the Fiesta ECOnetic would sell for about $25,700 in the U.S. By contrast, the Prius typically goes for about $24,000. A $1,300 tax deduction available to buyers of new diesel cars could bring the price of the Fiesta to around $24,400. But Ford doesn't believe it could charge enough to make money on an imported ECOnetic.
Ford plans to make a gas-powered version of the Fiesta in Mexico for the U.S. So why not manufacture diesel engines there, too? Building a plant would cost at least $350 million at a time when Ford has been burning through more than $1 billion a month in cash reserves. Besides, the automaker would have to produce at least 350,000 engines a year to make such a venture profitable. "We just don't think North and South America would buy that many diesel cars," says Fields.
The question, of course, is whether the U.S. ever will embrace diesel fuel and allow automakers to achieve sufficient scale to make money on such vehicles. California certified VW and Mercedes diesel cars earlier this year, after a four-year ban. James N. Hall, of auto researcher 293 Analysts, says that bellwether state and the Northeast remain "hostile to diesel." But the risk to Ford is that the fuel takes off, and the carmaker finds itself playing catch-up—despite having a serious diesel contender in its arsenal.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?chan=autos_autos+--+lifestyle+subindex+page_top+stories

Don't fall for this fake email, opening it will mess up your system.
***Job-Vacancy Apply With-In*** Payments Managers Needed For New Quarter 2008 Union Food Company Limited 154 Acre Lane Brixton, London Greater London SW2 5UT United Kingdom Phone: +44(0)703 194 9037 Fax: +44(0)870 974 3450 Att: Prospective Candidate, It is my pleasure to write you in respect of Union Food Company.We import and export all kinds of food and farm materials and equipment into various countries. We are searching for reliable representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our customers in USA and CANADA and as well as legally receiving cash and all forms of payment on our behalf from our customers as our Representative In your area.. Your Job Description is as follows: 1) You would receive payments on our behalf from any of our Various Customers through courier service or postal service, which would come in the form of, Money orders,Travelers Checks, and Official checks. 2) You then get the Payments Deposited and Cashed at your Bank. 3) You deduct a commission of 10% of each Payment you would be receiving on our behalf. 4) You then send the Remaining Funds back via Western Union to the details you would be given later. Therefore the following details would be needed from you via Email, so as for you to start working for the Company. Withdraw 10% of the total amount on these payment instruments as your commission and then send the rest back to the company through Western Union. Please, bear it in mind that we would be dealing with quite a handful of cash and you could be making up to $5000 just working with the company in a short period of time within 2-3 weeks. If interested get back with these information below... Full Name: Address: City: State: Zip Code/postal code: Contact Number: Previous/Present occupation: Position at work: We are well registered by the appropriate authorities and we are licensed to operate under legal and licensed organization of the better business bureau of the United Kingdom, Working with our company guarantee's you a safe relationship and licensed Establishment.. To apply, forward your applications to our: UNITED KINGDOM OFFICE: Payments Processing Unit Contact Person: John Hughes E-mail:johnhunionfood@aol.com Time: 24 Hours daily by e-mail +44(0)703 194 9037 Best Regards, Job Processing Unit.

Thomas says Constitution forbids racial preference
AP - 9/9/2008 4:35:00 PM

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Tuesday that African-Americans are better served by colorblind programs than affirmative action.

Thomas, addressing leaders of historically black colleges, said affirmative action "has become this mantra and there almost has become this secular religiosity about it. I think it almost trumps thinking."

A longtime opponent of race-based preferences in hiring and school admissions, Thomas said, "Just from a constitutional standpoint, I think we're going to run into problems if we say the Constitution says we can consider race sometimes."

Thomas, 60, has voted on the court to outlaw the use of race in college admissions and in determining which public schools students will attend. He wrote with evident resentment in his autobiography "My Grandfather's Son" that he felt he was allowed to attend Yale Law School in the 1970s because of his race and took a tough course load to prove he was as able as his white classmates.

"My suggestion would be to stop the buzz words and to focus more on the practical effect of what we're doing," he said Tuesday.

"I can tell you when you have fudge words, it leaves a lot of room for mischief," he said. "People have a tendency to read their personal opinions into fudge words. You want, when it comes to the issue of race, absolute words."

Thomas also reminisced about his childhood in Savannah, Ga., when his sports heroes played at the historically black institutions because the flagship state universities in the South _ with their big-time athletic programs _ remained segregated.

He recalled as a seminal moment the night in 1966 when five black starters led Texas Western to the NCAA basketball championship over an all-white Kentucky team. "I remember sitting alone at the end of that game and saying something has changed dramatically in society," he said.

The coach of the winning team, Don Haskins, died Sunday.