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POPSOur Tax Dollars At Work-Blackwater
More from the article as follows: "The Nisour Square shooting was the bloodiest and most controversial episode involving Blackwater in the Iraq war. At midday on Sept. 16, 2007, a Blackwater convoy opened fire on Iraqi civilians in the crowded intersection, spraying automatic weapons fire in ways that investigators later claimed was indiscriminate, and even launching grenades into a nearby school. Seventeen Iraqis were killed and dozens more were wounded." "Those responses deeply worried Blackwater officials. Before the Nisour Square shootings, the company had operated in Iraq without a license largely because the Iraqi government had never enforced the rules. Being blocked from the country would have been costly — the State Department deal was Blackwater’s single biggest contract. From 2004 through today, the company has collected more than $1.5 billion for its work protecting American diplomats and providing air transportation for them inside Iraq." "
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POPS2009 Leonid Meteor Shower More from the article below: ""We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Our forecast is in good accord with independent theoretical work by other astronomers." "A remarkable feature of this year's shower is that Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of the planet Mars," notes Cooke. It's just a coincidence. This year, Mars happens to be passing by the Leonid radiant at the time of the shower. The Red Planet is almost twice as bright as a first magnitude star, so it makes an eye-catching companion for the Leonids"
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POPSJapan Plans Solar Station in Space The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype. JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public, which may harbour images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air.
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POPSPolitical Correctness Deadly Consequences
“We don’t know all the answers yet, and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts,” Obama said. “What we do know is that there are families, friends and an entire nation grieving right now for the valiant men and women who came under attack ... in one of the worst mass shootings ever to take place on an American military base.” Obama followed up in his weekly address Saturday, noting that U.S. troops are “Americans of every race, faith and station. “They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers,” he said. “They are descendants of immigrants and immigrants themselves. They reflect the diversity that makes this America. But what they share is a patriotism like no other.” Even as Obama treads cautiously, Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, called the shooting “a terrorist act” and said he plans to begin an investigation into whether . . .
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POPSTragedy at Ft. Hood An American with a brain AND common sense along with a resume and experience. He dares to speak the truth. Excellent article. FTA: "There should not be some 30 Islamic terrorist training camps in America that has nothing to do with First Amendment, Freedom of Religion. The Saudis are not our friends and any American political figure who believes such is delusional."
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POPSNidal Hasan Bought A Para-Military Automatic Pistol With Armor-Piercing Capabilities
The FBI dispatched agents from Austin, San Antonio and Waco to the scene, and pressed into service a 15-member forensic unit to help military police collect evidence. Agents from the bureau's Washington field office interviewed relatives, neighbors and friends who knew Hasan during his years in the Washington area. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also are on hand to help with weapons analysis. Investigators also focused on Guns Galore, a firearms store just down the highway from the mosque. Store owner David Cheadle said federal agents interviewed him about the sale of a FN Herstal Five-Seven pistol that was used in the shootings. "It is a popular choice for personal defense," Cheadle said, pulling one from his case, "but it's expensive" -- more than $1,100 at his store. The officials said a continuing search of Major Hasan’s computer indicates that he had logged on to Web sites that celebrated radical Islamic ideologies and that he had....
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POPSPolitical Terrorists
Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them into office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years. Adkisson's manifesto also cited the inability to find a job, and that his food stamps were being cut. His manifesto stated that he intended to keep shooting until police arrived and expected to be killed by police. Adkisson had a waist satchel with more ammunition, totaling 76 shells of #4 shot. The following books were found in Adkisson's home during a police search: # Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by radio talk show host Michael Savage # Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism by talk show host Sean Hannity # The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly In his manifesto, Adkisson also included the Democratic members of the House and Senate.
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POPSThe Victims of Fort Hood
According to an officer who served with him at Walter Reed Hospital, Hasan spoke approvingly of the shooting of Army recruiters this past summer by a Muslim convert in Little Rock, Arkansas. Authorities also investigated Hasan as long as six months ago for internet postings discussing suicide bombings and other attacks, though they have not yet determined definitively if he was the author of those posts. One of those posts was a blog entry that deified suicide bombers as being similar to soldiers who throw themselves on hand grenades in order to save the lives of their fellow soldiers. A cousin, Nader Hasan, builds a picture of the shooter as a bullied Muslim who was a good person who did not even like weapons, was conflicted about his military service, and was against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But postings that are thought to be Major Hasan’s don’t match the portrait of a soldier who was conflicted. They present us with a picture of someone who housed beliefs that
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POPSFlags Were Key Link to Cop Slaying, Bombings
slaying last Saturday night A search of Monfort's apartment this morning turned up evidence that police say connects the man to the Oct. 22 bombing and arson of the maintenance yard, where three police cars and an RV used as a mobile precinct were damaged, according to Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel. A note threatening to kill police officers was left at the bombing site, sources had said earlier. Pugel said an item found at the maintenance yard was similar to one found near the shooting scene. Law-enforcement sources said the item was an American flag. News reports at the time said fliers also were left at the maintenance yard referring to an anti-police-brutality rally and citing the case of a King County sheriff's deputy accused of assaulting a teenage girl in a SeaTac holding cell. An American flag left at the scene of Officer Timothy Brenton's slaying on Halloween and at a city maintenance yard where four police vehicles were torched on Oct. 22 gave
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POPSHoly Lumix! Pocket cameras not always easy on the pocket book. Been following Panasonic Lumix cameras for awhile. Don't own one but maybe some day..... I still wouldn't trade it in for a DSLR.... yet.
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POPSFt. Hood Shooting, 'This is a Domestic Terrorist Attack' Gen. Barry McCafferty (CNN) -- An owner of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Fort Hood, Texas, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came in for coffee and hashbrowns most mornings, including the morning he allegedly shot dozens of soldiers. Surveillance video from the store obtained by CNN shows a man who, according to the store owner, is Hasan at the cashier's counter at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday (7:20 a.m. ET) -- about seven hours before the mass shooting -- carrying a beverage and dressed in traditional Arab garb. View video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWuTSuw9Nw more here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/fort.hood.suspect/index.html