The Cool Blue Blog

Profiteering

Politicians, Democrat and Republican, are in a frenzy about gas prices. More in a frenzy, I think, than actual people are. They smell political blood; Republican blood. They all want to blame someone other than themselves for the problem.

Democrats want to blame Republicans and "Big Oil"

"The president doesn't touch his friends at the big oil companies and it is nice that the president is finally talking about gas prices. But talk is cheap and gas isn't," says Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

But is it true that gas isn't cheap? Thomas Bray writing for the Detroit News (via Instapundit) points out a 2005 Federal Trade Commission report

"From 1986 to 2003, using 2004 dollars, the real national annual average price for gasoline, including taxes, generally has been below $2 per gallon," noted the Federal Trade Commission in a 2005 report absolving the industry of collusion. "By contrast, between 1919 and 1985, real national annual average retail gasoline prices were above $2 per gallon more often than not."

In other words, gasoline prices were lower than at anytime since 1919 for much of recent history. Some conspiracy! Maybe somebody should have been investigating consumers for "gouging" the oil companies.

Huh.

But Mr Bray's point is that it is government that is really making the profits

While the average profit on the sale of a gallon of gasoline is nine cents, the average state and federal tax on that same gallon of gasoline is about 45 cents (and 52 cents in Michigan).

Forty five cents. Imagine if the price of gas suddenly dropped 45 cents tomorrow, which it could, if the Feds forewent their share.

Here in Vermont, the State tacks on another 20 cents per gallon. So we're up to roughly 65 cents per gallon in taxes in the State of Vermont just for taxes. I paid $2.95 for regular at the pump yesterday and if the taxes went away tomorrow, that would make gas $2.30.

Republicans, running for cover, have proposed giving a tax break of $100 a year.

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Majority Leader: "To help ease the pain that they're feeling at the pump."

How about you just lower the taxes on Gas? You're Republicans, right? Lower taxes and all that. Seems to fit.

The President announced his own plan to deal with the "issue".

The Bush gas plan calls for an investigation of market prices, a plan to promote fuel efficiency and boost domestic production and find alternative fuels.

The "investigation" will yield nothing and he knows it. But hey, it's politics.

Fuel efficiency? The market will take of that just as it did in the late 70's. Remember when all those high mileage Japanese cars ate Detroit's lunch for a while until it retooled? Like that.

Boost domestic production? Good luck getting around the environmental lobby who have many Democrats and some Republicans in their hip pocket. How many times has an Energy policy been up in front of Congress that proposed more domestic drilling and how many times have Democrats blocked the same?

What is the Democrat solution? More Taxes.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said a windfall profits tax, along with measures to stem concentration of market power among a few select oil companies, could offer eventual relief to consumers hurting at the gas pump.

Oooops. Did I call Sen Specter a Democrat? My bad. He just acts like one more often than not. That's not to say that real Democrats don't support the idea.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he believes gas prices "would come down within a matter of days" if President Bush told oil companies that he was going to support a windfall profits tax.

Right. Sen Levin must be too young to remember what happened the last time this was attempted.

The tax generated far less revenue than expected and actually trimmed domestic oil production when it tried a quarter-century ago.

From 1980 to 1988, the windfall tax brought in $80 billion in gross revenues - far less than the $393 billion projected - before it was abolished, according to an analysis released last month by the Congressional Research Service. It also lowered US domestic production, the analysis found, by somewhere between 1.2 percent and 4.8 percent during that period.

Counter intuitive you say? Perhaps. But the Democrats are the party of counter intuitive. They still can not grasp how it is that lowering taxes as Bush proposed could increase revenue, as it has.

"It had the effect that any economist would have told you. To believe the laws of economic gravity have changed over time is wrong," said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research center in Washington.

Yeah well most politicians today are acting as if the laws of economic gravity changed overnight. More demand means higher prices. Don't forget that India and China are now aggressively competing for Oil. Higher prices means people will use less gas, one way or another. Then the prices will get to the level where supply and demand are balanced. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

One proposal I agree with is to stop giving oil companies subsidies. But I think all subsidies should be abolished so I'm not oil company bashing.

Strategically we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And there are many ways we can do that. New technology, new drilling, more refineries, nuclear power, etc. But those environmentalists who are philosophically leaning Communist will fight that tooth and nail.

And there's a lot of them in the Party of Democrats.

Charlie went down to Iraq and you could hear them fiddles roar

JAG officer jams with Charlie Daniels

April 21, 2006
By Spc. Curt Squires
MNC-I PAO

To some, it is just a different style of play. To others, it is a separate musical instrument. But when Capt. Ruth Vetter, legal advisor, plans and policies, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, and classical violinist, had the opportunity to play the fiddle with the Charlie Daniel’s Band April 18, the two styles became one.

“It must have taken a lot of guts to play the fiddle in front of one of the best fiddle players in the world,” said Staff Sgt. Justin Seimet, platoon sergeant, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. “She did a good job – I know I couldn’t have done it.”

But if Vetter's warm-up was a hoot, her encore was downright bodacious.

During the concert, Charlie Daniels called for Vetter to come to the stage and perform “Orange Blossom Special.” 

“The performance started as the original 1939 hit, but then turned into improvisation, becoming a fiddle duel,” said Vetter. “I think he wanted me to show off more, but with him on stage, I was not really going to attempt that. I could have shown off with Mozart, but it was not the time or the place.”

While Daniels is famed for having out-fiddled Satan himself in his band's own best known 1979 hit, "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," Vetter stole this show, claimed V Corps' Capt. Stephen Hernandez, an operational law attorney assigned to the Darmstadt (Germany) Legal Center currently serving on the staff of the MNCI Staff Judge Advocate Office here.

“Vetter stole the show,” said Capt. Stephen Hernandez, operational law attorney, MNC-I Staff Judge Advocates Office. “She did an outstanding job, but those of us who had seen her before were not surprised,” he added. “We are all waiting for her next performance.”

As a violinist of 24 years, Vetter has played in many orchestras including The Longy School of Music, in Cambridge, Mass., and The Taylor University Chamber Orchestra in Upland, Ind., but this was her first time playing with a well-known musician.

“The concert was a great opportunity and I think the audience enjoyed it too,” said Vetter, currently serving in her second deployment. “The violin is something different to do here – it is a great release. Although the mission doesn’t always allow for it, it is a great way to relax.”

Vetter was given just four hours notice about her chance to play on stage with a country music legend, but the Marshfield, Mass., native, normally a classic violinist, had to do what every Soldier does—adapt and overcome.

"Although I felt terribly unprepared, it was remarkably fun," Vetter said.
When originally asked to perform with the Band, Vetter thought it was a joke and hung up the phone. It wasn’t until a couple hours later when the phone rang again that Vetter realized it wasn’t a joke.
The show was the first time Vetter, who has been playing since the age of seven, had preformed with an electric violin.
"I’ve played with my violin attached to an amp, but it is completely different," Vetter added.
The electronic violin was very heavy and getting used to the sound and feel of it was an adjustment, said Vetter.
"The concert was a great opportunity and I think the audience enjoyed it too," said Vetter.
"I know my friends were laughing," Vetter continued. "I am fairly prim and proper, so I know they were amused to watch me."
On her last deployment, Vetter did not have her violin with her.
"The violin I normally play is over 100 years old, so I didn’t want to bring it here," Vetter said.
The violin Vetter packed for this deployment she won in an online auction before she left for Iraq, said Vetter. 
The violin is something different to do here, said Vetter. It is a great release. Although the mission doesn’t always allow for it, it is a great way to relax.

The Marshfield, Mass., native, normally a classic violinist, had to do what every Soldier does—adapt and overcome. Vetter was able to expand from her roots in classical music and learn a new style, the fiddle, in roughly four hours.

Assassin's Karma

Everything we do in life has consequences: cause and effect. And we live in the web that is the sum of our actions and our choices. That is the true meaning of Karma. The Good or Bad modifier is completely subjective.

Today, David Zucchino along with Tracy Wilkinson reporting from Spain updates us on the Karma invoked by a single shot from a tank three years ago this month in April of 2003. A shot that killed Jose Couso a cameraman for Spain's Telecinco network, and Taras Protsyuk, a Reuters TV cameraman.

There are a number of different perspectives on the story, but only one truth. One perspective is that of the network Mr Couso worked for.

The Telecinco network produced a documentary, "Hotel Palestine: Killing the Witness," in which one of its journalists — who was with Couso when he died — suggested that the soldiers fired on the hotel to eliminate witnesses to their advance across the bridge.

"The Americans needed there not to be images, in case it went badly," Telecinco correspondent Jon Sistiaga, 38, said in an interview in Madrid.

Which is, of course ridiculous because there were a number of embedded reporters there to observe the event. One of them was a co-writer of this article: Los Angeles Times reporter David Zucchino wrote about this incident in his excellent book Thunder Run. The difference between the two perspectives is important; Zucchino was there and no one from Telecino, outside of the deceased, was.

Then there is the fact that the tank that fired on the Palestine Hotel that day was over a mile away. Zucchino summarizes what actually happened

On the morning of April 8, 2003, nearly 100 reporters and cameramen were in their second day of covering the firefight from balconies at the Palestine, on the east bank of the Tigris. They felt reasonably safe, assuming American soldiers on the west bank knew the hotel was the main base of operations for the foreign news media in Baghdad.

The soldiers, locked in battle and cut off from news reports for the previous three weeks, had never heard of the Palestine Hotel. Under withering fire from Iraqi soldiers and militiamen, they were desperately searching for an enemy "spotter" in a high-rise directing mortar attacks against their Abrams tanks.

When Gibson's tank gunner noticed a man with binoculars on a balcony across the river, he and other soldiers believed they had their spotter. With permission from his superiors, Gibson ordered the gunner to fire.

A single high-explosive round slammed into the side of the hotel on the 14th floor, nearly severing Couso's left leg. Couso, a cameraman for Spain's Telecinco network, and Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian-born Reuters TV cameraman, died of their wounds.

Though I would say that if you want a detailed blow by blow of the battle for Jumhuriya Bridge, read Thunder Run.

So the whole concept that the US Military intentionally killed these men to supress reporting of the event is thus disproven, because Zucchino reported on the whole of the armored strike that took Baghdad, warts and all.

Yet, such slanderous yellow reporting as was perpetrated by Telecinco, apparently has convinced the mother of the slain reporter that her son was murdered.

The Karma for Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Gibson, the Assassin Company Tank Commander is that while he knows he did what he had to do given the circumstances, he still prays for forgivness for the accidental death he caused.

At one point, the Spanish Government had indicted him and his crew and called for their extradition. This has since been dropped. But everyone involved with the incident involving the Palestine Hotel carries the weight.

For Gibson, the passage of time has not begun to erase his sorrow. "What happened that day was a tragedy," he said. Even so, he said, he is proud of his war service, up to and including the events of April 8. He was awarded a Bronze Star and now trains armor crews at Ft. Knox.

Capt. Phillip Wolford, the Assassin commander who gave Gibson permission to fire, was awarded a Silver Star and promoted to major. He is in Kuwait training U.S. soldiers bound for Iraq. The Palestine incident "stays in the back of my mind … still there, lingering," he said.

"I do understand the family's position, the grief over the loss of a loved one, the feelings of not knowing," he said. But he and his men acted appropriately under difficult conditions, he said.

Perkins, who also earned a Silver Star and now trains multinational forces in Germany, said he often cited the Palestine incident to emphasize the consequences of decisions commanders make in the heat of combat.

"You give orders to people and your actions result in a lot of people dying. We are responsible for people getting killed," Perkins said.

He said he grieves for them all: the two journalists at the Palestine, the Iraqi soldiers and militiamen, and for the unknown numbers of civilians accidentally killed by his brigade.

"I don't think you'd be human if you said it didn't affect you," he said. "It's something you have to live with for the rest of your life."

As for others

The family has mounted a campaign that includes a website, posters, buttons, T-shirts and bumper stickers showing Couso's face and the word asesinado — murdered. Since May 2003, supporters demonstrate weekly, usually outside the U.S. Embassy in Madrid.

And so the wheel of Karma turns

The man behind the Hilla SWAT

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Thomas Douglas
Marine Receives Second Bronze Star Medal

By Lance Cpl. Jeffrey A. Cosola
24th Marine Expeditionary Unit

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., April 26, 2006 — In Iraq, leaders have sought the recipe for building a viable police force capable of maintaining the peace and security of a nation torn at the seams.

Last year, Capt. Thomas “Tad” Douglas and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Force Reconnaissance Marines cooked up something special by throwing 12 members of the Iraqi Police into combat and ultimately creating one of the finest fighting organizations in Iraq – the 500 member Hilla Special Weapons and Tactics team.

In addition to his work in shaping Hilla SWAT, Douglas was responsible for leading more than 70 unilateral, joint and coalition combat missions against anti-Iraqi forces throughout the northern Babil and southern Baghdad area of operations, earning his second Bronze Star in the process – an award presented to him April 24 by the 24th MEU commanding officer, Col. Ronald Johnson.
 
“I don’t put a lot of stock in awards, it’s just part of doing the job,” explained Douglas. “There are at least 10 guys in the unit that deserve this more than I do. I would rather have brought everyone back home than win an award.”
 
All modesty aside, Douglas was cited for operating “under direct enemy fire and resolutely and without concern for his own safety directing his forces against the enemy,” an effort that resulted in the elimination and/or capture of hundreds of insurgent forces.

“I don’t put too much thought into it,” added Douglas. “It’s just an honor being involved with Force Recon.”

Douglas earned his first bronze star by displaying uncommon valor during operations in Iraq that included participation in the mission to rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch. During the high-profile mission that garnered national and international media attention, Douglas and his Marines provided support and over-watch with the quiet professionalism symbolic of force recon Marines.

Although Douglas doesn’t believe that he’s accomplished anything special or done anymore than the Marines he serves with, his wife, Rina and five-month-old daughter, Caroline, feel otherwise.

“Daddy’s our hero,” said Rina. “This award is truly special. He always says he’s ‘just doing his job,’ but he does it very well. He tackles every mission with the same energy.”

Douglas is currently an instructor with the Special Operations Training Group, II Marine Expeditionary Forces Special Missions Branch, which has recently been involved in the certification of the current Force Recon Marines that will deploy with the 24th MEU this spring to the European and Central Command area of operations.

“It’s tough not being able to be with them, but they have great leadership from the top on down,” said Douglas. “They’re going to do a great job when they go back. I have no doubt that they’re ready.”

In the end, despite her pride in watching her husband awarded for valor for the second time – an experience she likened to “deja-vu” – Rina said she is just happy that he isn’t going back to try for his third Bronze Star.

“It puts my stomach in knots and I’m just glad it’s behind us,” added Rina. “We would like him to be stateside for awhile so he can be just like every other Dad, spoiling his kids.”

What Rummy hath wrought

The criticism of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, as I noted here, is partly about Resistance to change and partly about plain old Bush hatred. The last is just banal at this point. But what hath Rummy wrought? The Christian Science Monitor has a good piece about that

The new concept Army Brigade Combat Team is intended to replicate, to some extent, the Marine organizational structure.

The idea is to emphasize smaller units like the 1-28, pushing materiel and manpower - like these cooks and mechanics - further down the Army's organizational chain.

By giving these smaller units more resources, the Army is making them more self-sufficient - and that gives Pentagon leaders more options. In the past, the smallest unit the Army could send to any global hot spot was a division of nearly 20,000 troops. By pushing its resources downward, now the Army can mobilize individual brigade combat teams as small as 3,500 troops.

It is a fundamental change brought about by a new security environment. During the cold war, the threat was a massive war against the Soviets, so it made sense to organize the Army into a few massive pieces. Today, however, America is faced more and more with smaller conflicts, and the Pentagon is convinced that this requires smaller pieces that can be moved around the globe more easily.

This change started before Sept 11th 2001 and was (and is) on-going during the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For Col. Rob Weaver, commanding officer of the 610th Support Battalion, this convergence at the brigade level is nothing less than a revolution. He deployed to Iraq in a unit that had not yet gone through modularization. That meant he had to go to the division to get the troops and equipment he needed.

"I didn't have the mechanics, but I was still responsible for getting the stuff fixed," he says. "Now, I have all the equipment and soldiers, and I don't have to reach back [to division] to ask for it."

"In Iraq, we had three mechanics in an infantry battalion," he notes. "Now, each battalion has ... 50 soldiers to do maintenance."

Modularization is the new buzz-word that resulted in the Brigade Combat Teams (BCT). And they are intended to be plug and play units that make for a scalable order of battle depending on the situation.

The buzzword for the change is "modularity," and it is based on the idea that each new brigade combat team is an independent "module" that can be plugged into any situation. "Our brigade combat team can go fight for any headquarters in the Department of Defense," says Colonel Kauzlarich.

Another effect of modularity is that soldiers stay put longer which stabilizes family as well as force cohesion.

Yet for many of the officers, three years together offer something else perhaps just as significant: the opportunity to build a true team....

In the old Army, these soldiers would probably have moved to another unit by the time they deployed in a year. Now, Escobar will almost certainly take most of them to war in the 2-16.

"Before, you were not able to figure out, 'Hey my boss likes to do things this way,' " says Escobar. "Now, you will know exactly how each guy will react in any given situation" because you know them and train with them.

Moreover, it creates greater accountability in training. "You are going to fight the team you build," says Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, commanding officer of the 2-16.

And the reorganization is intended to result in more BCTs than there were Brigades under the old structure.

The Pentagon notes that a primary reason behind modularity is to free up more troops to fight. By reshuffling personnel and reorganizing the force, the Army hopes to increase the number of its brigades from 33 to 42 by 2010.

That gives the Army more deployable units to help spread the load of repeated deployments. "We needed a force that was able to do a whole lot more than what they were in the past," says Lt. Col. Gregg Skibicki, a modularity expert at the Pentagon.

But such a massive change in the midst of fighting a war is not without problems. Obviously. And it is costing more than originally forecast.

But it seems to me to be the right thing to do. Additionally the plan is getting battle-tested which will result in a better implementation sooner rather than later.

Smaller, more self-contained and scalable forces that are well integrated with the Air Force and Navy as combat-multipliers has to be the way of the future.

The old overwhelming force doctrine with non-scalable forces is a thing of the past.

Critics be damned.

Allies of Osama

In his recently released video tape, Osama bin Laden wants his followers to impose more murder and mayhem in Sudan, as if there wasn't enough there already with the government sanctioned genocide in the Darfur.

Osama bin Laden issued ominous new threats in an audiotape broadcast Sunday, saying the West was at war with Islam and calling on his followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed U.N. force....

"I call on mujahedeen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people," bin Laden purportedly said.

"I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur."

This is a situation that the US has dubbed "genocide" while the UN will only go so far as to call it a "grave humanitarian crisis.

The US has supported efforts for more severe action against the Sudanese government in the UN but has been blocked by Russia and China.

The two powers, joined by Qatar, used their position on a UN sanctions committee to block the imposition of a UN travel ban and asset freeze on four unnamed Sudanese, including one government official, proposed by Britain.

The United States, which backed the British initiative, reacted angrily by threatening to call a public vote of the 15-nation Security Council that would force Russia and China into making a formal veto.

And, of course, the Arab League, of which Sudan is a member, won't take action against Sudan: the victims are all black and Christian after all

Interestingly, these two countries, China and Russia, are also opposing sanctions against Iran as well and as a result, sanctions against both Sudan and Iran will never come about through the UN.

But when has the UN ever been effective at anything?

You would think that China and Russia are on the same side as the terrorists, but of course, it's more complicated than that. China has oil needs and has huge oil interests in Sudan and in Iran.

Russia is just our enemy. Still.

But what difference does it make if they are Osama's allies or not

If they act as if they are?

Brotherhood of the Badge

Though being aggressive in the War on Terrorism is a good thing, you can not say that everything has gone perfectly nor can you say that there haven't been, um, gaps in the plan.

But that is where the American citizen comes in, to fill the gaps and plug the holes in order to help bring about a successful mission.

One of the gaps in the plan in Iraq has to do with equipping Iraqi Police.

Two years ago, Fresno Police Officer Mike Harris heard that Iraqi police officers were ill equipped to do their job which often is to hold the line between the ordinary citizen and the criminals and terrorists. Now he could have yelled and screamed that Bush was not doing his job, and that the Republicans were criminals mismanaging the war like many others do.

Instead, he decided to do something to fix the problem.

He founded Brotherhood of the Badge to recognize that Policemen the world over, comprise a brotherhood and will look out for each other. Harris' organization then joined forces with Operation Soldier and

Since 2004...has equipped 10,000 Iraqi security forces with used ballistic vests donated from law enforcement agencies across the country.

Now they are headed back to Iraq

this time with 24,000 pounds of gear, like helmets, radios, and batteries.

They say it's important for the Iraqi police to understand that the US considers them a part of the law enforcement community, and they're success is critical to the military's mission there.

"The sooner they're up to speed, properly equipped, and properly trained, the sooner they'll be self sufficient and the sooner we'll be able to start withdrawing our troops," said Sawl.

This will be Burry's second trip. He says he knows Operation Soldier's efforts are working.

"The first couple of weeks we left there...the greatest thing...the accomplishment that makes you feel well...six officers were shot in action and actually went home to their families because of our equipment," said Burry.

And this is why when we succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ultimately in the War on Terrorism, it will truly be America's Victory because many Americans still do not just sit around and bite ankles, they become constructive and pitch in to make America successful.

From Spirit of America to Soldiers Angels to the Minuteman Project, to entrepreneurs and bloggers, it's still a Government of the people and by the people.

So the next time you see people who tell you the President is mismanaging the War ask them: So what are doing doing to help make it turn out right?

Other than griping.

Abduction stories

The European Union's Counter terrorism Chief announced that "he had not been able to prove that secret C.I.A. prisons existed in Europe".

"We've heard all kinds of allegations," the official, Gijs de Vries, said before a committee of the European Parliament. "It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt."

According to Axis

Investigations into reports that US agents shipped prisoners through European airports to secret detention centers have produced no evidence of illegal CIA activities, the European Union's anti-terror coordinator said. The investigations also have not turned up any proof of secret renditions of terror suspects on EU territory, Gijs de Vries told a European Parliament committee investigating the allegations. The European Parliament's probe and a similar one by the continent's leading human rights watchdog are looking into whether US intelligence agents interrogated Al-Qaeda suspects at secret prisons in eastern Europe and transported some on secret flights through Europe. But so far investigators have not identified any human rights violations, despite more than 50 hours of testimony by human rights activists and individuals who claimed to have been abducted by U.S. intelligence agents, de Vries said.

There was a time when UFO abduction stories were in vogue, now it's CIA abduction stories.

But there are few things to note about the investigation committee's conclusions: one is that there were no illegal abductions and second that there were no "secret" prisons.

But secret to whom?

What the EU commission has really told us is that there were no prisons in Europe that they didn't know about, even if you didn't know about it. But clearly something was going on

The Central Intelligence Agency has dismissed a senior career officer for disclosing classified information to reporters, including material for the Pulitzer Prize-winning articles in The Washington Post about the agency's secret overseas prisons for terror suspects, intelligence officials said Friday.

The CIA would not identify the officer, but several government officials said it was Mary McCarthy, a veteran intelligence analyst who until 2001 was senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council, where she served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. At the time of her dismissal, McCarthy was working in the agency's inspector general's office, after a four-year stint at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based organization that examines global security issues.

The dismissal of McCarthy provided fresh evidence of the Bush administration's determined efforts to stanch leaks of classified information.

Well duh! Classified information is classified. And it is illegal to reveal classified information. I know because I've had a high level security clearance and had access to classified material. And the security around such material is serious as a heart attack.

You know, when they catch a bad guy who has information, we do not want the enemy to know we caught him. Intelligence is very perishable to begin with, but when the bad guys know that someone with information is caught, they assume that he will talk sooner or later and they shut down all situations in which that person was involved so as to render his information useless.

The moment the bad guys know such a person was captured, the clock starts ticking.

Revealing the existence or worse, the locations of such detention centers only helps the enemy.

So the spy gets fired and the journalist gets a Pulitzer.

Both should be tried for treason.

Natural disaster

Al Gore is out hawking his new book and movie, both titled "An Inconvenient Truth". If you couldn't guess, they're about Global Warming a situation which he calls "a planetary emergency."

"He's taking an increasingly high-profile role in working on the climate change issue," Gore spokesman Michael Feldman said.

Is his plan to run for President by ignoring the Global War on Terrorism and focusing on Global Warming?

Gore repeatedly has brushed aside talk of another presidential bid, telling a Tennessee audience last month, "I'm not planning to be a candidate again. I haven't reached a stage in my life where I'm willing to say I will never consider something like this."

A payment of $40,000 to a Democratic polling firm stirred political talk, but pollster Mark Penn said it was settlement of a 2000 account.

Unfortunately, the actual truth is inconvenient for Al Gore

Global warming may not be as dramatic as some scientists have predicted.

   Using temperature readings from the past 100 years, 1,000 computer simulations and the evidence left in ancient tree rings, Duke University scientists announced yesterday that "the magnitude of future global warming will likely fall well short of current highest predictions."

    Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, the Duke researchers noted that some observational studies predicted that the Earth's temperature could rise as much as 16 degrees in this century because of an increase in carbon dioxide or other so-called greenhouse gases.

    The Duke estimates show the chances that the planet's temperature will rise even by 11 degrees is only 5 percent, which falls in line with previous, less-alarming predictions that meteorologists made almost three decades ago.

    In recent years, much academic research has indicated otherwise, often in colorful terms and citing the United States as the biggest contributor to global warming. This month, a University of Toronto scientist predicted that a quarter of the planet's plants and animals would be extinct by 2050 because of rising temperatures. On Wednesday, two geophysics professors at the University of Chicago warned those who eat red meat that their increased flatulence contributes to greenhouse gases.

    Last year, Oregon State University research linked future "societal disruptions" with global warming, while the Carnegie Institution reported that the insulating influence of northern forests alone would raise the Earth's temperature by 6 degrees. In 2004, Harvard University scientists informed Congress that warming had doomed the planet to climatic "shocks and surprises."

    The Duke research, however, found substantial ups and downs in the Earth's temperature before modern times, countering other studies that confine noticeable temperature increases to the industrialized era. Marked climate change in other centuries resulted from "external forcing," said the Duke findings, citing volcanic eruptions and other influences.

    "Our reconstruction supports a lot of variability in the past," said research director Gabriele Hegerl of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

    Although her study found that the Earth is, indeed, warming, Ms. Hegerl discounts dire predictions of skyrocketing temperatures. The probability that the climate's "sensitivity" to greenhouse-gas levels would result in drastically higher temperatures is "substantially" reduced, she said.

You'd think that information such as is contained here would deflate the silly rhetoric of Al Gore and his ilk. But the fact is that there are those who deny evolution despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and their mirror are those who deny the facts of Global Warming no matter what is said.

The real Natural Disaster is humans who choose to remain ignorant and those who will exploit them.

And there's a bunch of them.

Responding to Constituents

If someone takes the time to write their Congressperson about some matter, it's usually important to them. You expect to get a response even if that response is a dodge.

But you don't expect to get a response in which you are called an asshole.

Nobody expects to get a letter from a member of Congress that ends with an expletive. But that's what happened when Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., recently corresponded with a resident of her southeast Missouri district.

The letter ended with a profane, seven-letter insult beginning with the letter a - ``i think you're an. ...''

Representative Emerson says she has no idea how that line got there. But

[Spokesman Jeff] Connor said that Emerson personally signed the letter, dated Feb. 15. She included a handwritten personal message at the bottom: ``PS - please forgive the delay in responding.''

Blame it on Microsoft spellcheck