 Non-Chinese Citizens Are Banned From New Spy Museum
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Associated Press
BEIJING — A new Chinese spy museum exhibits guns disguised as lipstick, hollowed-out coins used to conceal documents and maps hidden as a deck of cards.
What you won't find there, however, are foreigners.
A sign outside the Jiangsu National Security Education Museum in a park in the eastern city of Nanjing states that only Chinese citizens are allowed inside, a policy designed to keep the communist regime's cloak and dagger methods secret — no matter how timeworn they may be.
"We don't want such sensitive spy information to be exposed to foreigners, so they are not allowed to enter," a spokeswoman for the museum, who would only give her surname as Qian, told The Associated Press by telephone.
"Most of the people we turn away are pretty understanding since this is not your average museum," she added.
In an era of spy satellites and cyber-espionage, the exhibits described by Qian sound almost quaint.
Four halls display a history of Chinese security practices and equipment dating from 1927, the year the communists began their guerrilla war against their Nationalist foes. The collection includes tiny pistols disguised as fountain pens and tobacco pipes, a phony pocket calculator that hides a radio microphone, classified documents, explanations of wire-tapping techniques, other weapons, and uniforms of the intelligence services, Qian said.
Qian said that since its April 13 opening, more than 500 visitors, usually in tour groups, have visited each day— all of them citizens of the People's Republic.
Although people who look like Westerners are turned away immediately at the door, those who look "clean" and have Chinese features are usually allowed to enter without further checks, Qian said.
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Venezuela, Iran Agree to Strengthen Military Ties
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez's government has agreed to strengthen military ties with Iran.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met with Chavez for an hour late Wednesday and said they discussed defense cooperation to "protect peace and tranquility in the region," Venezuela's Information Ministry said in a statement.
"There's a strategic alliance between Venezuela and Iran," Najjar was quoted as saying. "There's a great deal of economic and industrial cooperation, and we started cooperating in the area of defense five years ago."
The government said Najjar and Vice President Ramon Carrizalez signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen military cooperation, though it did not say what that would entail.
Chavez has built a close relationship with Iran, which has stepped up its presence in Venezuela and is helping to build public housing and manufacture cars, tractors and bicycles in the country.
Najjar said the military cooperation "doesn't represent any threat for any of the nations" in the region.
The defense minister arrived Monday for three-day visit, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
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In North Korea, Ailing Kim Begins Shifting Power to Military
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The 67-year-old Kim, who appeared frail but engaged at a gathering of the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang on April 9, has wielded ultimate power in his country since 1994, but is now said to be making his first serious moves to establish a clear line of succession. The April gathering was his first public appearance before a large audience since the stroke he is believed to have suffered last August.
Kim's newfound emphasis on the military emerged in a series of recent personnel and organizational shuffles that give rare insight into his thinking about the people and institutions surrounding him, and into his possible plans for succession.
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Russia to Test Fire at Least 5 New Ballistic Missiles
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Associated Press
MOSCOW — Russia will conduct at least five test launches of a new-generation intercontinental ballistic missile this year, the deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Tuesday.
Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin said the Bulava missile needs thorough testing because "the reliability of all aspects of the rocket needs to be achieved" in comments carried by state news agency RIA Novosti.
The submarine-launched Bulava missile has a reported maximum range of about 6,200 miles and capacity for up to six individually targeted nuclear warheads. It has been hailed as a key future component of Russia's nuclear forces, although mixed results in testing have tempered enthusiasm.
Popovkin, speaking in Istanbul, said if the test launches were successful another five would be scheduled, the agency said.
The Bulava is to be test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine this year, Navy Admiral Oleg Burtsev told RIA Novosti separately.
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North Korea Threatens Nuclear, Missile Tests
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned Wednesday it will fire an intercontinental ballistic missile — or even carry out another nuclear test — unless the U.N. apologizes for condemning the regime's April 5 rocket launch.
By flaunting its rogue nuclear and missile programs, Pyongyang has raised the stakes in the escalating diplomatic tit for tat with the outside world. North Korea also said it would start generating nuclear fuel — an indication the regime will begin enriching uranium, another material used to make an atomic bomb....
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Robot Nearly Kills Man; Owner Pays $3,000 Fine
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
FoxNews
A Swedish robot nearly killed a man — but won't be prosecuted.
English-language Swedish news Web site The Local reports that the near-fatal incident took place at a factory north of Stockholm in June 2007.
A worker was about to fix a broken rock-lifting robot. He'd shut the power off, but the machine suddenly woke up and grabbed the man by the head.
"The man was very lucky. He broke four ribs and came close to losing his life," prosecutor Leif Johansson told the TT news agency.
This week, Johansson decided not to prosecute either the company that owned the factory or its robot.
Instead, the company will have to pay a $3,000 fine.
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U.S. Army Tests Flying Robot Sniper
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Thursday, April 23, 2009
FoxNews
It could be the best Xbox 360 game ever, and a real kick in the ARSS.
The U.S. Army is testing the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) — a remote-controlled unmanned Vigilante robot helicopter equipped with a high-velocity sniper rifle.
Its RND Edge semi-automatic gun is mounted on a self-stabilizing turret with built-in zoom camera, and fires 7 to 10 precisely aimed .338-caliber rounds per second.
Back on the ground, a human directs it using a modified Xbox 360 controller, which plugs into a laptop so that the operator can see what the drone sees.
"Having the ability to accurately engage single point man sized targets with an airborne UAV will give the ground based soldier the ability to have a high-point survivable sniper at their disposal when needed," stated the Army solicitation notice when the project was announced in 2005.
The Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University developed the Precision Weapons Platform guided turret and rifle system.
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Belgians Build Cuddly Robot to Help Sick Kids
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Reuters
BRUSSELS — Belgian scientists are developing a cuddly green robot to help ease the anxieties of children in hospital.
Probo the robot has a touchscreen on its stomach which is intended to explain operations to children. The robot also makes facial expressions intended to show how medical procedures will make the child feel.
"The main goal of this project is to have emotional communication with children," said Jelle Saldien, one of the researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) design team at Probo's unveiling on Tuesday.
Probo is the brainchild of Ivan Hermans, president of the Anty Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to design the robot. He had the idea after seeing the film "I, Robot."
Probo's fuzzy green head and short trunk are fully automated and the touchscreen displays emotions from pleasure to disgust. The robot will also detect faces and make eye contact.
When hugged or petted it purrs, and when punched or squeezed it says ouch, but the robot cannot yet hug back.
After further improvements it will be made available for hospitals and research institutes. The costs of the project have not been announced.
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First 100 Days: Social Policy Takes a Left Turn Under Obama
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From the conscience clause to stem cell research, President Obama has shifted social policy to the left in his first 100 days in the White House. But the reversal of several of his predecessor's regulations has garnered hardly a whimper -- leaving many to wonder how much social issues matter to Americans amid two wars and an economic crisis.
-- Obama overturned George W. Bush's restriction on embryonic stem cell research last month when he signed an executive order authorizing expanded federal funding -- a decision he described as moral because it pursues research that will "ease human suffering."...
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91 Protesters Arrested Outside White House
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Accossiated press
Monday, April 27, 2009
U.S. Park Police say they have arrested 91 protesters in front of the White House, including some in wheelchairs who chained themselves to a fence.
The protesters are calling on the president to support legislation that would give people with disabilities in need of long-term care alternatives to nursing homes.
Sgt. David Schlosser says a large group gathered on a sidewalk outside the White House on Monday without a protest permit required for groups of more than 25 demonstrators.
He says some protesters are in wheelchairs and have chained themselves to a fence. Police may use a bolt-cutter to cut the chains.
The protesters are receiving written citations from officers, but are not being handcuffed or taken to a detention facility.
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Disney Accused of Racial Insensitivity Over First Animated Black Princess
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The arrival of a black First Lady in the White House might have been greeted with celebration around the world, but the similarly historic debut of Walt Disney’s first black princess has not been received so warmly.
The studio, known for its wholesome and predominantly white family values, has made several changes to its first African-American princess, Tiana, who will star in a new animated film this Christmas entitled "The Princess and the Frog," amid accusations of racial insensitivity....
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Iraq Progress 'Fragile and Reversible' After Bombings, Petraeus Warns
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Progress in Iraq is still "fragile and reversible," Gen. David Petraeus warned Friday after back-to-back homicide bombings killed nearly 80 people one day earlier in Iraq's deadliest day in more than a year.
But the U.S. military is nevertheless set to withdraw from the war-torn country on schedule, he told a House appropriations subcommittee.
Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, addressed the lingering extremist threat in Iraq as he outlined his approach to the escalating campaign against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan....
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New IAEA Report Shows Iran Nearing Nuclear Breakout Capability
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For Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the UN nuclear watchdog's latest report shows that Tehran's nuclear program is developing peacefully in line with IAEA regulations.
For nuclear proliferation experts, however, the report sends a different message.
In its February 19 report, the IAEA says that Iran is continuing to enrich uranium, but has slowed down the expansion of its activities. However, the report also says Iran has amassed a total of 1,010 kilograms of low-enriched uranium....
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China's GDP to overtake U.S. by early 2020s, says analyst
Mainland to become world's largest in about a decade, says Deutsche Bank
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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China will overtake the U.S. in terms of economic output within a decade, according to estimates released Thursday by Deutsche Bank, which said it had to accelerate its forecast of the mainland's leadership in the global economy in view of favorable growth dynamics in emerging markets.
China's growth will be underpinned by a rapid expansion in emerging market economies, which will account for about 70% of global GDP growth in the coming decade, Deutsche Bank's Chief Economist for Greater China, Jun Ma, told an investment conference in Hong Kong,...
China will "massively invest" in these emerging economies
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So, you think the Ku Klux Klan
and the Spanish Inquisition are bad?
So do we, but...
Put the Numbers in Perspective
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More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition combined. (source)
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Islamic terrorists murder more people everyday than the Ku Klux Klan has in the last 50 years. (source)
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More civilians were killed by Muslim extremists in two hours on September 11th than in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. (source)
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19 Muslim hijackers killed more innocents in two hours on September 11th than the number of American criminals executed in the last 65 years. (source)
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Earthquake Trio Shakes Orange County, Calif.
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YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Three earthquakes, the largest measuring magnitude 4.0, struck the Orange County area of Southern California late Thursday but no damage was reported.
The quakes were centered within a few miles of the city of Yorba Linda within less than four hours.
A magnitude-3.8 quake occurred at 4:56 p.m., followed by the 4.0 at 8:27 p.m. and a 3.0 less than a minute later at 8:28 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Orange County sheriff's Lt. Tom Slayton said no damage was reported.
Yorba Linda immediately evacuated City Hall as a precaution after the first quake....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Napolitano Draws Resignation Calls After Gaffes on Veterans, Canada
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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is under fire for what critics see as a string of gaffes, with a small but vocal group of conservatives calling for her to step down.
The outrage continues to build over a report from her department that warned of the danger of right-wing "extremists," and singled out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment.
Napolitano expressed regret for the reference to veterans -- but she raised eyebrows again this week when she suggested that the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States through Canada, even though the 9/11 Commission determined they came to the United States from overseas....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Obama’s “Green” Inaugural Turns National Mall Into Trash Dump
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Thanks to Flopping Aces for this one...
Ignoring Obama’s call for service, his supporters “hope” someone else will clean up their Inauguration mess. Some Change!
Looking like some third world country, trash litters the National Mall in Washington, DC following the Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama January 20, 2009
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Secretary Napolitano is the real extremist
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Note to liberals: Watch out for tea partying grandmas with framed Reagan pictures, blue-collared manufacturing workers in the unemployment line, and U.S. veterans who just returned from military combat.
They might sneak up behind you with a club if you start eyeing Al Franken's latest book at Barnes and Noble! That is, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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First lady jokes new puppy is 'kind of crazy'
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WASHINGTON – First dog Bo is a "kind of crazy" puppy who likes to chew on people's feet, Michelle Obama told children visiting the White House on Thursday.
The first lady is spending a lot of time walking and training the 6-month-old Portuguese water dog who became a member of the president's family last week....
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Is 8-Foot Chinese Man World's Tallest?
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A soaring contender for world’s tallest man — standing at more than 8-feet tall — caused quite a stir after walking into a Chinese hospital.
Zhao Liang, 27, entered the hospital for an operation to relieve pain from an old muscle tendon injury on his left foot. Due to his unbelievable height, hospital staff immediately rushed to get him properly measured....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Common Sense, RIP
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"Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Obama Under Fire for Plan to Close Guantanamo
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President Obama faced fierce criticism Tuesday for including $80 million to close Guantanamo in a massive funding request to fight America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The $83.4 billion request to Congress was submitted on April 9, when lawmakers were on break over the Easter holidays. Tucked into the 99-page bill were a few paragraphs about Guantanamo -- including a request for funds for foreign countries that accept prisoners. U.S. efforts to have other countries take in detainees have largely been a flop -- stoking fears the men will end up in America.
"The administration needs to tell the American people what it plans to do with these men if they close Guantanamo," U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. He pointed out that two years ago the Senate voted 94-3 against sending detainees to the U.S....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Reverse Discrimination Case Could Transform Hiring Procedures Nationwide
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Inside a burning building, fire doesn't discriminate between Matthew Marcarelli and Gary Tinney. Inside the New Haven Fire Department, however, skin color has put them on opposite sides of a lawsuit that could transform hiring procedures nationwide...
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Antarctic ice is growing, not melting away
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ICE is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.
The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast.
Antarctica has 90 per cent of the Earth's ice and 80 per cent of its fresh water...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Education in America Is Broken
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The education system in America is broken, because we don't have our priorities in order.
We've put unions, power and indoctrination first and made hard-working students, teachers and parents an afterthought...
If politicians really cared about children, they'd encourage home schooling, private schools and other alternatives that bring innovation and results.
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites
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The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.
Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Cable Anchors, Guests Use Tea Parties as Platform for Frat House Humor
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For thousands of Americans, Tax Day was a moment to protest what they see as bloated budgets and a pile of debt being passed on to their children.
For CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the word "teabagging" in a sentence...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Obama May Block Sun's Rays to End Global Warming
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WASHINGTON — The president's new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth's air.
John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed.
One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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U.N. Nuclear Inspectors Leave North Korea
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SEOUL, South Korea -- U.N. nuclear experts left North Korea on Thursday after the communist regime ordered their expulsion amid an escalating standoff over the regime's recent rocket launch.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency left the main site in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang after removing all seals and switching off surveillance cameras, IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said in a statement.
They arrived in Beijing on a flight Thursday, but declinded to speak to reporters...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Obama Administration Maintains Bush Legal Argument for Terrorist Surveillance Secrecy
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President Obama's most liberal supporters say they are dismayed and disgusted because this administration is invoking the "state secrets" privilege -- just as former President George W. Bush did -- to shield eavesdropping programs from public exposure.
"I wasn't happy when George Bush asserted that he could do these things and I'm not happy that President Obama is now agreeing with George Bush," said Jane Hamsher of Accountability Now.
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Report: 9 People Visited ER 2,678 Times in 6 Years
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AUSTIN, Texas —
Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report.
The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients.
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Let's All Surrender Our Weapons -- You First!
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The rash of recent shooting incidents has led people who wouldn't know an AK-47 from a paintball gun to issue demands for more restrictions on guns. To be sure, it's hard to find any factor in these shootings that could be responsible -- other than the gun.
So far, this year's public multiple shootings were committed by:...
(Click Here to read the rest)
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Obama = Jimmy Carter — Bring On the Reagan Republicans!
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President Barack Obama is relentlessly pursuing a socialist agenda and substantial numbers of the American people seem fine with it. The forced resignation of Rick Wagoner as CEO of General Motors again shows the danger of a private corporation taking a government handout. Once government gets in the door they not only do not leave, they take over the company and begin to dictate terms.It should serve as a lesson to “faith-based” ministries that believe they can take government money without government dictates as to how their organizations should be run....
(Click Here to read the rest)
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The UN Makes it Official: Global Warming Hysteria Is All About Redistributing Wealth
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For years, climate realists around the world have been warning the international community that the entire man-made global warming myth and resulting hysteria is all a scheme to redistribute wealth under the pretense of saving the planet.
In a document obtained by FOX News, the United Nations has made it official.
As FOX News executive editor George Russell reported Friday:
A United Nations document on “climate change” that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes, industrial relocations, new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes — all under the supervision of the world body....
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