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POPSU.S. Navy Faces an Old Foe - Pirates Armed attacks on cargo ships, oil tankers and cruise ships are estimated to cost more than $1 billion a year, said Peter Chalk, a senior security analyst at Rand Corp. Piracy in Nigeria is leading to a drop in oil shipments because shipping companies are reluctant to risk ships, cargos and crew, he said, adding, “That has implications for U.S. strategic energy supplies.”
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POPSEx-insurgents Want More Money, or Else To get a real idea of how this surge is not working. Read the rest of the story. Then read the comments. The comments are from real soldiers. You know. The troops we pretend to support.
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POPS4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images The truth hurts, right? See the rest of the story at link. People often forget why we anti-war refuseniks are so adamant--this photo is why. Dead Americans. For What? Oil and bullshit. Lies told by criminal President. It's absolutely disgusting, ain't it?
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POPSDARPA's Amazing Robot Pack Mule Keeps its Balance On Ice Impressive! ...yet, while "human may not be quite ready to accept such lifelike behavior coming from a machine" - I wonder on the "human like behavior" that needs DARPA and military justification to support such technology. maybe this is the tantalizing reflection of this project...
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POPSObama's View On Landstuhl: Pentagon's Policy The view from the Pentagon "As a sitting United States senator, Obama obviously has an official interest in the well being of our service members and how the wounded are being treated," Whitman said, adding:"He is welcome to visit a military medical center any time that he wants to. As you all know, we do have certain policy guidelines for political campaigns and elections and what is appropriate and what's not appropriate in those situations," Whitman said. "The Pentagon did not tell the senator that he could not visit Landstuhl." "If you are both a sitting senator and a political candidate when you are doing things like a visit to Landstuhl, you need to do it in your capacity as a sitting senator or you have to do it with the restrictions that apply," Whitman added. Those restrictions include the law that campaign events may not be conducted on a military installation.
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POPSPhotographs of War... or Not? What a complicated issue.... I can see the military wanting to preserve security and honor the memory of their dead; I can see families not wanting to be traumatized by photos of their loved ones; but I think about all we are still learning from photographs of WWI and WWII... and if there are no photos of the Iraq war, where will that leave historians of the future? Most of the WWI and WWII photographs were taken by military photographers assigned to document the actions. I wonder if there are still military photographers documenting todays "wars"?
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POPS Fidel Castro hints at Russian air base in Cuba Gen Schwartz’s comments appeared to have enraged Mr Castro, who accused the United States of imperial Machiavellianism and claimed that Washington was bent on Cuba’s destruction. So far, the reports of a Russian presence on Cuba remain speculative, with the Kremlin issuing a denial and the White House refusing to comment. Even so, the speculation is mounting since Izvestia, often used to float controversial Kremlin plans, quoted military sources as saying that the proposal was in retaliation for US plans to build a missile defence shield in central Europe, ostensibly against a nuclear strike by Iran.
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POPSMcCain's Double Standard on Campaign Visits to Military Bases With Department of Defense rules prohibiting political campaigning on military bases, it was determined that in some cases McCain could visit the installations as a senator but could not engage in any political activity or have news media present. McCain campaign officials said Thursday they intentionally did not campaign on military property. "We follow the rules," said senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt. Because all three presidential candidates are sitting senators, DoD officials have privately noted for some weeks that the whole matter of drawing the line between Senate business and campaigning is sensitive. A U.S. Army official told CNN there are no pending requests from any of the campaigns to visit Army bases at this time. He noted that Sen. Barack Obama recently visited Fayetteville, North Carolina, but did not go to Fort Bragg; and Sen. Hillary Clinton visited Killeen, Texas, but did not go to Fort Hood.
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POPSIraq Vet Congressman Patrick Murphy Slams DADT Don't ask, don't tell is a ridiculous, outdated policy that will likely be gone within a year. Most troops don't support it, and those who do are just going to have to deal with it. When the military was de-segregated, obviously there were racists that opposed that, too.
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POPSSen. Obama Scrapped Plans To Visit Landstuhl Medical Center Obama had been planning to go to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before a flight to Paris. Gibbs said the stop was canceled because Obama decided "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign." Watch video: 4:05
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POPSGreen ‘Peace Party’ positions against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars compared to pro-occupation Clint
“The occupation of Iraq will continue whether a Democrat or a Republican moves into the White House in January 2009,” said Jason Wallace, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 11th District <http://www.electwallace.us> and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War <http://ivaw.org/index.php>. IVAW has announced ‘Winter Soldier’ (March 13-16), a four-day event bringing together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan <http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier>. “The ILWU action planned for May 1 is evidence that working people are impatient with vague promises to end these wars. Will Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama endorse the ILWU protest and pledge to call home all US military personnel immediately?” “By calling the Iraq War a matter of military preparedness and botched strategy, Democrats are sidestepping the premise of the war,” said Bob Kinsey, Green candidate for the US Senate in Colorado <http://www.kinseyforsenate.org>. “While it’s true that