$7.00 a Gallon a Reality

June 26, 2008, 11:12 am

Oil Shock: Analyst Predicts $7 Gas, “Mass Exodus” of U.S. Cars

Posted by Keith Johnson

Oil at $135? That was just the opening skirmish in the “peak oil” wars. The latest smart money? $200 oil in 2010, with gasoline at $7 a gallon. And that is going to turn Americans into car-shunning Europeans once and for all—poor Americans, at least.

That’s the latest gloomy forecast from Jeff Rubin at Canadian brokerage CIBC World Markets, who just a few months ago figured $200 oil would be a thing of the distant future—like 2012.
GasChart_art_200_20080626110012.jpg
Attention-grabber (CIBC)

Mr. Rubin laughs off recent attempts to take the steam out of global oil markets. Saudi production promises of 200,000 barrels a day doesn’t dent the 4 million barrel-per-day decline from aging fields every year, for starters. And it will just be “gobbled up” by increasing domestic consumption in Saudi Arabia, like other oil-producing countries that subsidize fuel.

So what about China’s flirtation with market reality by unwinding some fuel subsidies? No luck in curbing demand or prices, either. Not only does China’s recent move translate into $3.25 a gallon gas—still a steal, relatively speaking—it’s given fresh legs to beleaguered Chinese refiners who’ve been operating in the red, thanks to Chinese price controls. So now they are producing even more gasoline and fueling even more cars than they were before. The upshot?

Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history. By 2012, there should be some 10 million fewer vehicles on American roadways than there are today—a decline that dwarfs all previous adjustments including those during the two OPEC oil shocks.

And who will be parking their cars? The 57 million American households that have both cars and access to something resembling public transit. Gasoline at $7 begins to approach prices Europeans have paid for years, meaning that chunk of America “will start to act more and more like Europeans,” Mr. Rubin says. Not soccer moms in a minivan—soccer fans, searching for tokens:

Our analysis suggests that about half of the number of cars coming off the road in the next four years will be from low income households who have access to public transit. At their current driving habits, filling up the tank will have risen from about 7% of their income to 20%, an increase that will see many start taking the bus.

Gas prices already appear to be reshaping suburbia. But what Mr. Rubin is predicting is a far bigger shock to the American system. Europe has had decades to develop a society based on expensive energy. What will happen if Americans suddenly are forced to shoulder European-style energy prices — but without the European-style society to cope with them?

WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA ??

WND Exclusive WEAPONS OF CHOICE

Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence
‘The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice’

Posted: July 02, 2008
11:30 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A Wisconsin man today surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning about the owner’s liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever misfire.

“A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun,” Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. “What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions.”

Officials with Gun Owners of America told WND they met with Olofson today before he surrendered to federal authorities for his prison term. U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert had imposed the sentence after the gun in question let loose three shots at a firing range.

“It didn’t matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back,” said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against Olofson, of Berlin, Wis.

“It didn’t matter the government had repeatedly failed to replicate automatic fire until they replaced the ammunition with a softer primer type. It didn’t even matter that the prosecution admitted it was not important to prove the gun would do it again if the test were conducted today,” the magazine said. “What mattered was the government’s position that none of the above was relevant because ‘[T]here’s no indication it makes any difference under the statute. If you pull the trigger once and it fires more than one round, no matter what the cause it’s a machine gun.’

“No matter what the cause.”

“David Olofson is a victim of BATFE abuse,” Pratt said. “He has been railroaded by an agency that is out-of-control.”

An appeal is being assembled by a legal team at the William J. Olson, P.C., law firm, supplemented by attorney Bob Sanders, whose career stretches from being assistant director of criminal investigations at BATFE to many years in private trial law, officials said.

Constitutional expert Herb Titus also is counsel to the Olson law firm.

WND reported earlier when Olofson, a drill instructor in the National Guard, was convicted in a federal court for illegally transferring a machine gun.

The verdict came in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

An expert witness said then the decision was filled with problems.

“If your semiautomatic rifle breaks or malfunctions you are now subject to prosecution. That is now a sad FACT,” wrote Len Savage, a weaponry expert who runs Historic Arms LLC.

“To those in the sporting culture who have derided ‘black guns’ and so-called ‘assault weapons’; Your double barreled shotgun is now next up to be seized and you could possibly be prosecuted if the ATF can get it to ‘fire more than once,’” he wrote in a blog run by Red’s Trading Post.

“Hey, but don’t worry,” Savage said. “The people testing it have no procedures in writing and the testing will be in secret.”

He said during an interview with Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership that Olofson had been instructing a man in the use of guns, and the student asked to borrow a rifle for some shooting practice.

“Mr. Olofson was nice enough to accommodate him,” Savage said. So the student, Robert Kiernicki, went to a range and fired about 120 rounds. “He went to put in another magazine and the rifle shot three times, then jammed.”

He said the rifle, which was subject to a manufacturer’s recall because of mechanical problems at one point, malfunctioned because of the way it was made.

Savage said once the government confiscated the gun, things got worse.

“They examined and test fired the rifle; then declared it to be ‘just a rifle,’” Savage said. “You would think it would all be resolved at this point, this was merely the beginning.”

He said the Special Agent in Charge, Jody Keeku, asked for a re-test and specified that the tests use “soft primered commercial ammunition.”

“FTB has no standardized testing procedures, in fact it has no written procedures at all for testing firearms,” Savage said. “They had no standard to stick to, and gleefully tried again. The results this time…’a machinegun.’ ATF with a self-admitted 50 percent error rate pursued an indictment and Mr. Olofson was charged with ‘Unlawful transfer of a machinegun.’. Not possession, not even Robert Kiernicki was charged with possession (who actually possessed the rifle), though the ATF paid Mr. Kiernicki ‘an undisclosed amount of money’ to testify against Mr. Olofson at trial,” Savage said.

UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD

theTrumpet.com - Understand Your World

Joel HillikerColumnist

Healing Our Sick Land

July 2, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Flooding in the Midwest, fires on the West Coast. We are witnessing record disaster levels. What can we do about it?

Our land is sick. It needs healing.

An unprecedented 1,420 wildfires are torching a drought-stricken California. Meanwhile, 4 million acres of prime Midwestern farmland are drowning in the worst flooding in 15 years. These are among the 37 major disasters and five emergencies declared in the United States so far this year.

These catastrophes would be bad enough. But they are piling up on top of a mountain of other crises that cumulatively threaten to change life as we know it.

Take a look around.

People around the globe are dealing with record-high food prices and low food reserves. Even if you don’t live in one of the more than two dozen Third World nations experiencing riots as a result, you are still probably feeling the effects. And what has caused the food crisis? A dizzying mass of once-in-a-lifetime freakish factors: historically high oil prices; the drive for biofuels; the subprime mortgage crisis; runaway monetary inflation; Asia’s increasing appetite for high-quality food to feed its growing middle class. All this in addition to historically high levels of crop and livestock disease, natural disasters, and adverse weather conditions around the world.

Considering this assortment of pressures on food costs and reserves, what the world desperately needs this year is bumper crops.

That is what makes the series of droughts, floods, freezes, heat waves and insect infestations we see today so disastrous. It is simply walloping global food production.

Central Asia has been invaded by a devastating swarm of crop-devouring locusts. Australia’s wheat is withering in the country’s worst drought in recorded history.

And in the U.S., instead of favorable harvest conditions prevailing, the heavens have opened and flooded the nation’s breadbasket to the point where farmers are inspecting their corn fields by boat.

As a result, corn is more expensive than ever—double what it sold for two years ago. Soybean prices aren’t far behind. And when grain costs rise, so does the price of the cattle that feed on it. That affects sticker prices on meat and dairy products, as well as eggs.

For many people, high prices are more than a mere inconvenience. Given today’s food shortages, a growing number are facing malnourishment and starvation. U.S. farmers produce 60 percent of the world’s corn, a third of its soybeans, a quarter of its wheat and a tenth of its rice. The weather woes are hurting America’s ability to even meet normal production levels, let alone make up for food shortages in the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, people in California are surely watching the Midwest flooding with a heavy sense of irony. Heat waves and parched conditions there—plus millions of Ponderosa pines killed in a recent bark beetle infestation—have created an enormous amount of kindling. On June 22, unusually intense lightning storms sparked fires that have since consumed some 570 square miles and put half a million people to flight. And officials say the fire season is only beginning. They could use some of that overflowing Mississippi River water right about now.

If it seems like these kinds of disasters are accelerating in frequency, your instincts are right. According to fema, in the 37 years between 1953 and 1989, there was an average of 23 major disaster declarations in the U.S. per year. In the 18 years that followed, that average more than doubled—to 49.

This year, now at the halfway point, is on pace to see 74 major disasters.

What is going on here? Is it all just an accident of nature?

The God of the Bible claims He controls the weather. He says He causes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. He sends the snow and ice as well as drought and heat.

Before you dismiss any notion that God has any connection to the disasters we’re seeing, consider.

If you believe in God, what sort of God is He?

The God who spoke in Leviticus 26:4-5 promises to give rain in due season and weather favorable for abundant crops. “[Y]our threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely,” He says.

Looking at our simultaneously parched and flooded land, shouldn’t we be asking, where is this God?

But notice the context. Those promises come with a condition: “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them” (verse 3).

Job 38:28 reveals God as the father of rain. He is able to command storm clouds to serve His purposes: “Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy” (Job 37:11-13).

Yes, sometimes God bathes the Earth with gentle rain to show His loving concern and mercy—and other times God uses the weather to correct people!

Do you believe in that God?

America calls itself a Christian nation. But when catastrophe strikes, people tend to have the attitude, These things happen. We just need to rebuild and move on.

There is perhaps no better description of people’s view of God’s role in these weather disasters than the Apostle Paul’s prophecy about people in our day having “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5).

The God of the Bible is not impotent. He has the punitive sword of flood and mildew—and also that of drought (Deuteronomy 28:22; 11:17). Sometimes He uses both at the same time—as we see at this present moment in the United States—in order to heighten their corrective power: “… I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7).

Apparently, most people don’t believe these scriptures. Many believe in a “God of love” who would never do anything so horrible as those prophecies suggest.

Those who believe this, however, fail to recognize God’s judgment and God’s correction as expressions of God’s love! This demonstrates an utter lack of understanding of the God of the Bible.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). Jesus Christ Himself says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19). While in the flesh, He flipped over tables in order to drive mercenaries out of His Father’s house. He gave stern tongue-lashings to unrepentant people. He rebuked and chastened, He demanded repentance—not because He hated people, but because He loved them.

To the Pharisees—whom He unceremoniously called hypocrites, serpents and vipers—He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38). Their severe punishment was necessitated by their rebellion against God’s messengers, their rejection of God’s love.

If we understand the beautiful purpose of God’s law, then the application of rebuke and chastening for disobedience makes perfect sense. God always aims it at redirecting our errant steps in order to guide us back onto the path of lawkeeping that results in blessings. Yes, God gets angry—but He remains controlled and never punishes beyond what is deserved. God’s anger is not contrary to His love, but a product of it.

Notice how Christ concluded His correction in that passage with hope: “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (verse 39). Yes, once those murderers, brought back to life in a resurrection, humble themselves and accept God’s messengers, then they will see Christ again.

Notice this wonderful promise from God: “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

Do you believe that God?

This is the solution to the catastrophes we see today! We must humble ourselves, and pray, and truly, sincerely seek God’s face—and repent of our wickedness!

Truly, God is always eager to extend mercy and forgiveness to someone who repents, who is willing to turn from sin. He holds out hope for the repentance of every sinner (2 Peter 3:9). This is the truth of the Bible, in both Old Testament and New.

Our land is sick. It needs the healing that only God can supply.

To see the prophecies of the time in the near future when men will repent—and God will hear from heaven and heal the land, read Herbert W. Armstrong’s booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow—What It Will Be Like. •

AT THE BRINK ??

At the Brink of Nuclear War-U.S. vs. Russia

June 24, 2008
Hawk

THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA WERE NEARLY AT THE BRINK OF NUCLEAR WAR ON FRIDAY JUNE 20 2008 AND THE WORLD’S POPULATIONS WERE UNAWARE OF IT, SAVE FOR THE LISTENERS OF THE Q-FILES RADIO PROGRAM AND THOSE IN THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE RESPECTIVE MILITARIES, INTEL AGENCIES, AND GOVERNMENTS INVOLVED.

AT APPROXIMATELY 4:15 P.M. EASTERN TIME AN URGENT REPORT WAS RECEIVED FROM AN EXPERT HAM RADIO OPERATOR LISTENING IN THE CLEAR TO U.S. MILITARY SHORTWAVE CHANNELS. A 180 CHARACTER EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE WAS BEING BROADCAST AND BEING REPEATED OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR U.S. MILITARY STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL UNITS RECEPTION. MULTIPLE AIRBORNE COMMANDS WERE UP ECHOING THIS MESSAGE AND RADIO TRAFFIC BECAME HOT AND HEAVY AND ALL POINTING TO SOMETHING VERY TENSE GOING ON IN THE ATLANTIC REGION.

THIS ALERT WAS NOT UNEXPECTED,AS THAT MORNING A RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT LAVAROV HAD WARNED THE U.S. AND ISRAEL NOT TO ATTACK IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES AND THAT WARNING WAS VERY SPECIFIC AND THE LANGUAGE WAS VERY STRONG BUT IT APPEARS PROBABLY MISREAD IN ITS GRAVITY. WE ALSO KNEW THAT RUSSIAN BOMBERS WERE TO BE ACTIVELY PATROLLING THE NORTH ATLANTIC REGION AND ALSO OFF ALASKA INTO THE ARCTIC CIRCLE AREA.

HOWEVER, THIS SITUATION CONTINUED TO ESCALATE IN TENSION AND SHEER AMOUNT OF RADIO TRAFFIC SO THIS INFORMATION WAS SENT TO STEVE QUAYLE AS HE BEGAN HIS RADIO BROADCAST THE Q -FILES ON INTERNATIONAL SHORTWAVE AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB TO MILLIONS OF LISTENERS. BY THEN WE HAD CONFIRMED THAT EXTENSIVE ACTIVITY INVOLVING RUSSIAN BOMBERS AND STRATEGIC SUBMARINE ASSETS WAS ONGOING ALL OVER THE ATLANTIC. CONTINUAL UPDATES WERE THEN FORWARDED TO STEVE QUAYLE ON AIR AND HE WAS ABLE TO WARN HIS LISTENERS OF THIS THREAT TO THE U.S. IN NEAR REAL TIME. DETAILS OF THE ALASKAN/ARCTIC/PACIFIC RUSSIAN ACTIVITIES WERE NOT KNOWN TO US.

AS THIS PROGRESSED ALL COMMUNICATIONS STATIONS….ANDREWS, OFFUT, McCLELLAN, AND PUERTO RICO WERE ON FULL ALERT WITH AT BEST COUNT , 4 AIRBORNE /SPACEBORNE COMMANDS UP AS WELL TO HANDLE THE TRAFFIC. ALL CODE NAMES OF COURSE AND NOT TO BE REPEATED HERE. SUFFICE TO SAY HOWEVER THE 180 CHARACTER MESSAGE WAS A COMMAND MESSAGE.

MANY ADDITIONAL MILITARY RADIO FREQUENCIES WERE ACTIVATED THEN TO HANDLE ALL OF THE TRAFFIC AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN ……..THE BIG RUSSIAN COLD WAR RADIO FREQUENCY JAMMERS CAME ON ALL OVER THE SPECTRUM !

THIS WAS A POSSIBLE SIGNAL THAT AN IMMINENT RUSSIAN NUCLEAR MISSILE ATTACK FROM THEIR SUBMARINES OFF THE ATLANTIC COAST, PACIFIC COAST, AND GULF COAST AND FROM THEIR PATROLLING BOMBERS WAS INCOMING.

ALTHOUGH NOT CONFIRMED UNTIL LATER THAT EVENING BY MULTIPLE SOURCES, THERE WAS A VERY HASTY EXODUS OF HIGH LEVEL MILITARY, INTEL, AND GOVT. PERSONNEL OUT OF THE D.C. AREA AS THEY WERE EXPECTING POSSIBLE INCOMING MISSILES. EXACT DESTINATIONS WERE NOT KNOWN BUT OF COURSE EVACS TO MT WEATHER, MT PONY, SITE R, AND OTHERS WERE PROBABLY EFFECTED AS PER PLAN. IT IS UNKOWN WHETHER CONGRESS WAS AWARE OF THESE EVENTS. THE Q-FILES CONTINUED TO WARN ITS LISTENERS.

CERTAINLY NO AIR RAID SIRENS SOUNDED FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOR DID THE TV’S AND RADIOS BLARE WITH THOSE EMERGENCY SOUNDS…….THOUGH THERE IS A GOOD ARGUMENT THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE SOUNDED. ALAS THE POPULATION HAS NO CIVIL DEFENSE PLAN ANYMORE AS IT WAS SCRAPPED ALONG WITH PUBLIC CIVIL DEFENSE SHELTERS WHICH HAD BEEN FILLED WITH EMERGENCY SUPPLIES TO ASSIST AMERICANS IN SURVIVING THERMO NUCLEAR WAR. RUSSSIA AND CHINA HOWEVER DO HAVE EXTENSIVE CIVIL DEFENSE PLANS FOR THEIR MAJOR CITIES AND THEY PERIODICALLY DO DRILLS IN THEIR SUBWAYS AND UNDERGROUND SHELTERS FOR THEIR POPULACE.

THEN WITHIN MINUTES, THE RUSSIANS TURNED UP THE POWER EVEN MORE ON THEIR JAMMERS AND THEN FLASH TRAFFIC WAS DETECTED ON THE RUSSIANS LOW FREQUENCY SUBMARINE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM AT A FREQUENCY BELOW 13 KILOCYCLES. AT THE SAME TIME U.S. TIME BROADCASTS AND MAINTENANCE BROADCASTS ON LOW FREQS WERE STOPPED IN PREPARATION FOR WAR FOOTING. THE RUSSIAN JAMMERS BEGAN TO CAUSE ALOT OF TROUBLE WITH U.S. COMMUNICATIONS AND ONLY HUGELY POWERFUL SKYKING MESSAGES FROM OFFUT WERE ALLOWED ON THE RF WHICH EXISTS AS A PRIMARY COMM SYSTEM IN CASE SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS IS TAKEN DOWN BY SAT KILLERS OR EXOTIC SPACE CRAFT.

ALL THIS POINTED TO NUCLEAR GUTS POKER BEING PLAYED BY THE RUSSIANS AND THE U.S. MILITARY AND WITH THE CURRENT CLIMATE OF FACTIONAL FIGHTING WITHIN THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF THE U.S. MILITARY/INTEL COMMUNITIES/ AND GOVERNMENT A GREAT DEAL OF CONCERN WAS FELT OVER WHAT MIGHT TRANSPIRE ……WHETHER BY TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE OR BY ACCIDENT.

THOUGH AT APPROXIMATELY 11:12 P.M. EASTERN A SKYKING BROADCAST WAS MADE AND ALL RADIO TRAFFIC STOPPED BY THE U.S. MILITARY WITH EXCEPTION OF ENCRYPTED BURSTING NOT DISCERNIBLE BY THE HAM RADIO OPERATORS( BY THEN WE HAD MANY Q-FILERS WITH HAM RADIOS REPORTING IN CONFIRMATION OF THE RF TRAFFIC) AND THE RUSSIAN JAMMERS AND LOW FREQUENCY SUBMARINE COMMUNCIATIONS BELOW 13 KILOCYCLES ALL STOPPED.

ANALYSIS OF THESE EVENTS THEN LED US TO BELIEVE THAT THE D.C. TO MOSCOW “HOT LINE” BETWEEN THE TWO PRESIDENTS OF THE U.S. AND RUSSIA WAS INDEED OPERATIONAL AND THAT HOPEFULLY COOLER HEADS WOULD PREVAIL. THIS AT THE BRINK SCENARIO THOUGH IS OF COURSE FROUGHT WITH ALL KINDS OF DANGER IF BY NOTHING ELSE BUT MURPHYS LAW.

WE DID NOT HAVE LONG TO WAIT…….AT APPROXIMATELY 11:26 EASTERN TIME WE RECEIVED A HIGHLY DETAILED FORWARD OBSERVATION REPORT FROM STEVE QUAYLE HIMSELF WHO ALONG WITH MULTIPLE OTHER WITNESSES SAW IN THE NEAR SUNSET SKY, A MISSILE TAKE OFF FROM THE EASTERN HORIZON OF THE SKY AS VIEWED FROM BOZEMAN MONTANA. THIS WAS A WHITE MISSILE TRAIL CLEARLY SEEN WHICH APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN LAUNCHED PERHAPS FROM THE NORTH DAKOTA AREA WHERE THE U.S. STILL HAS NUMEROUS MISSILE SITES. THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL WAS IN AN ARC HEADING WEST AND THE SPEED WAS VERY RAPID.

WHILE MULTIPLE EYEWITNESSES WERE WATCHING THE PROGRESS OF THE MISSILE……..

STEVE QUAYLE THEN SAID THAT INSTANTLY, OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE, AN INTERCEPTOR CRAFT OF SOME EXOTIC TYPE APPEARED AS IF AND WE QUOTE, ” AS IF SOME CRAFT CAME OUT OF CLOAK AND THEN STARTED TO RAPIDLY CHASE THE MISSILE ON A PARALLEL TRACK AT CLOSING SPEED. ” MR. QUAYLE THEN SAID, ” THAT IT WAS IF THE MISSILE WAS INSTANTLY VAPORIZED AS THE INTERCEPTOR CRAFT CLOSED WITH IT AND PERHAPS USED EXOTIC PARTICLE BEAM OR PULSE WEAPONRY ON IT WHICH THEN CAUSED A REDDISH PINK FLASHING GLOW IN THE SKY WHERE THE MISSILE HAD BEEN TRACKING” .

SUBSEQUENTLY, JUST AFTER THIS WAS REPORTED TO US…….RADIO TRAFFIC CONFIRMATION OF THIS EXOTIC CRAFT WAS HEARD AND ALSO REPORTED BY A RELIABLE HAM RADIO OPERATOR. FROM OUR ANALYSIS OF THE RADIO DESIGNATOR (ONLY THING PROVIDED BY THE HAM) A HIGH % CONFIDENCE WAS OBTAINED THAT IN FACT THE INTERCEPTOR CRAFT WAS A TANGO ROMEO 3 -BRAVO EXOTIC SPACE CRAFT WHICH PREVIOUSLY IN THE EARLY EVENING HAD BEEN ON SPACE COMBAT PATROL OVER THE ATLANTIC REGION DURING THE ALERT.

THIS TR3-B FLOWN BY AN ULTRA BLACK CREW WAS MOST LIKELY THE INTERCEPTOR WHICH USED ITS HYPERSPACE CAPABLE DRIVE AND NEARLY INSTANTLY POPPED UP CLOSE TO THE MISSILE OVER THE MONTANA SKIES AS SEEN BY THE MULTIPLE WITNESSES MENTIONED ABOVE.

THESE CRAFT AND OTHER GRAVTIC ULTRA CRAFT ARE KNOWN TO POSSESS INCREDIBLE SPEED FROM EXOTIC DRIVE SYSTEMS AND TO CARRY A COMPLIMENT OF EXOTIC BEAM TYPE WEAPONS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS. THEIR EXACT CAPABILITIES ARE NOT KNOWN BUT ARE THOUGHT TO INCLUDE THE ABILITY REACH VELOCITIES CAPABLE OF EXITING EARTH’S GRAVITY AND ALSO THE ABILITY FOR SOME TO MAKE HYPER SPATIAL JUMPS AND TO CLOAK THEMSELVES FROM SIGHT OR TO PROJECT MORPHING SIGNATURES OF OTHER OBJECTS TO HIDE THEIR TRUE POSTION AND SHAPE. HOWEVER, THE Q-FILES RECENTLY REPORTED THAT A SOURCE HAD SAID THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT THE RUSSIANS HAD BEEN HAVING SOME SUCCESS OF USING GREEN LASERS TO DETECT EVEN THESE CRAFT. THAT HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED AT THIS TIME BUT ONLY SUSPECTED WITH PERHAPS SOME CREDIBILITY DEMONSTRATED BY AN EVENT OFF NORWAY THAT WILL BE DISCUSSED LATER.

THE REAL QUESTIONS HERE ARE …….WAS THE MISSILE FIRED BY MISTAKE OR WAS IT FIRED AFTER SOMEONE ORDERED IT? ……WHO ORDERED THE FIRING?….WHO ORDERED THAT PERSON TO COMMENCE FIRING? ……….WHO ORDERED THE INTERCEPTION OF A U.S. MISSILE BY ANOTHER U.S. MILTARY EXOTIC SPACE CRAFT? ………WAS THERE A FACTIONAL DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN BRANCHES OF THE MILITARY AND/OR BETWEEN DIFFERENT POWER BLOCKS WITHIN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT?

THESE EVENTS WE CAN ASSURE YOU DID HAVE A “DR STRANGELOVIAN” ASPECT TO THEM AND THAT IS …….GRAVELY SERIOUS FOR THE POPULATION OF THE U.S. AND THE WORLD IF ESCALATION TO ALL OUT GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR HAD TAKEN PLACE. WAS THEIR UNITY OF COMMAND ?????? IT APPEARS NOT. THAT SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BY SOMEONE STILL INTERESTED IN THE CONSTITUTION OF THIS GREAT REPUBLIC WHICH NOW SEEMS TO BE TAKING ON CHARACTERISTICS OF MORE FACTIONAL DICTATORSHIP OR EMPIRE AGAINST A NEWLY INVIGORATED OLD ENEMY SUCH AS THE RUSSIANS. THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS!

ANYWAY THE STAND-OFF THOUGH BACKED DOWN A HAIR OR TWO VIA PROBABLE USEAGE OF THE “HOT LINE” CONTINUED ON INTO THE NIGHT AND PAST INTO THE “O’ DARK THIRTY” HOURS WHEN AT APPROXIMATELY AT 6:24 AM EASTERN ALL SEEMED TO BE BACKED OFF AND ROUTINE U.S. RADIO COMMUNICATIONS RETURNED AND THE RUSSIAN JAMMERS AND LOW FREQUENCY SUB COMMS WERE GONE.

NOW AT THAT PRECISE TIME WE BEGAN TO LOOK FOR POSSIBLE MATCH-UPS AS TO THE INTIAL CAUSE OF THIS EXTREMELY CLOSE CALL ………..THE BEST MATCH-UP POSSIBLE IS THAT AN AIRCRAFT CRASHED OFF THE NORWEGIAN COAST OSTENSIBLY ON OCEAN TEMP SURVEYING OPERATION JUST ABOUT THE TIME WHEN RUSSIAN BOMBERS AND SUBAMRINES WERE MANUEVERING AGRESSIVELY IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC. THOUGH WHAT WE FEEL WAS A GOOD “COVER STORY” WAS RELEASED ……OUR ANALYSIS POINTS THOUGH NOT CONFIRMED……THAT A TR3-B BELONGING TO MAJIC WAS SHOT DOWN PROBABLY OFF THE COAST OF NORWAY BY RUSSIAN ASSETS OF SOME VARIETY. THE TIMING OF THE CRASH AT APPROXIMATELY 4:32 PM EASTERN JUST HAPPENS TO CORRELATE NICELY WITH THE TIMING OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE 180 CHARACTER EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE FROM SKYKING . SO,DID THE MERLIN IIIB AIRCRAFT MYSTERIOUSLY BECOME THE PUBLIC FACE OF A TR3-B EXOTIC U.S. MIL MADE,MAJIC CONTROLLED SPACE CRAFT?????

MERLIN WAS A MAJICIAN NOW WASN’T HE?

AFTER THE STANDOWN OF RUSSIAN AND U.S. FORCES ….SATURDAY BECAME VERY QUIET ON THE MILITARY FREQUENCIES………WE WAITED HOWEVER TO SEE JUST HOW LONG IT WOULD BE BEFORE THINGS HEATED UP AGAIN.

TO NOTE, THERE WAS A LIMITED BUT STILL CAPABLE SPACE COMBAT PATROL PUT BACK UP WITH AIR CAP AND SURFACE AND SUB PATROLS AS WELL AND AMERICA WAS NOT DEFENSELESS. FULL ATLANTIC SPACE CAP WAS UP BY SUNDAY AND AT APPROXIMATELY MID DAY SUNDAY…….ANOTHER SKYKING MESSAGE CAME THROUGH…….235 CHARACTERS LONG!

SO, WHEN DOES THIS SCENARIO CALLED ……..BRINK OF NUCLEAR WAR ….BEGIN AGAIN? THE RUSSIANS HAVE DULY WARNED THAT IF IRAN IS ATTACKED BY THE U.S. AND/OR ISRAEL THAT RUSSIA WILL NOT TAKE THAT ACTION TOO QUIETLY. ON FRIDAY THEY BACKED UP THAT WARNING SO NO ONE COULD MISTAKE THEIR DIPLOMATIC INTENTIONS EVER AGAIN.

MY FELLOW AMERICANS WELCOME BACK TO THE COLD WAR ALMOST HOT!

THE READERS CAN FORMULATE THEIR OWN QUESTIONS AND DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS…….BUT THIS IS A GRAVE MATTER AND SHOULD BE KNOWN TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THOSE OF THE WORLD…..LET ALONE THE CAPTIVE AND ASLEEP MAIN STREAM PRESS.

THIS IS MEANT AS A WATCHMAN’S WARNING WHICH IS THE MISSION OF THE Q-FILES AND PARTICULARLY THAT OF STEVE QUAYLE. IT HAS BEEN DONE AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE AND CONFIRMED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES WHEN POSSIBLE BUT REPRESENTS AS WELL SPECULATION AND OPINION BASED ON LONG EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH ANALYSIS OF GEO-POLITICAL EVENTS AND HISTORICAL MILITARY PERSPECTIVES TO FORMULATE THE BEST POSSIBLE ANALYSIS.

TAKE ALL OF THIS TO PRAYER WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER ……..BELIEVE IT OR NOT???? AT LEAST YOU WERE WARNED ABOUT IT!

WITH MUCH ASSISTANCE FROM “RIVER PIRATE” , “WEATHER WATCHER”, SOME HAMS WHO ARE LISTENERS TO THE Q-FILES, AND THEM OLE FANDANGO RANGERS …..WHEREVER THEY MAY BE.

RESPECTFULLY WITH THE REPUBLIC IN MIND AND HER GLORIOUS BILL OF RIGHTS I THANK ALSO LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR GIVING THE EARS TO HEAR AND THE ABILITY TO SEE.

Hawk………GUEST HOST ON THE THURSDAY Q-FILES RADIO BROADCAST. 6/23/2008

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WAR DRUMS BEATING LOUDER

Tuesday 1 July 2008

War drums becoming deafening

Linda Heard, sierra12th@yahoo.co.uk

THE Americans and the Israelis are acting in concert vis-à-vis Iran. The unmistakable message they are putting out loud and clear is that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is on the cards in the event Tehran doesn’t cave into their demands. Are they bluffing as part of an arm-twisting strategy or are they seriously planning to transform this region into an inferno?

Pundits have been analyzing the probability of a US or Israeli attack on Iran for several years now. Some have even come up with likely dates but most of those have come and gone eroding the analysts’ credibility and dulling fears. There’s been so much chatter on the subject that we may reach the point when a “will they or won’t they?” discussion will turn into nothing more than an academic exercise on the basis it hasn’t happened so, therefore, it probably never will. The danger is Iran and the region could easily be lured into letting down its guard. Certainly, members of the Iranian leadership have indicated they don’t take the threat very seriously even though they are planning for every contingency and threatening to set the Middle East aflame if attacked.

In recent weeks, since the Israelis launched a supposed dry run in the eastern Mediterranean using 100 fighter planes and aerial tankers, the chatter has reached a crescendo. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed, “Iran will not be nuclear”. Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has termed a strike on Iran “unavoidable”.

Retired Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit warned that if Israel doesn’t destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities within a year, Israel would be vulnerable to nuclear incineration. He says that even if Israel doesn’t receive a green light from the US, it should be prepared to go it alone. Shavit believes there is a window of opportunity before the upcoming US election when the deed should be done in case of a win by Barack Obama, who has advocated jaw-jaw before war-war.

ARCH neoconservative and former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton says he believes Israel is poised to strike in November once the ballot has taken place.

Knesset member and retired Maj. Gen. Dani Yotom, who isn’t known for his hawkish views, says sanctions against Iran aren’t working and so “a military operation is needed”. Even the normally moderate Israeli historian Benny Morris recently said, “If the issue is whether Israel or Iran should perish, then Iran should perish”.

Suspicions that an attack might be in the pipeline were heightened after leaks supposedly forced the Israeli prime minister to admit he had secretly met with Aviam Sela, a brilliant military tactician said to be the architect of Israel’s 1981 strike on Iraq’s Osirak reactor. It is believed that Sela was asked to give his opinion on the feasibility of similarly putting Iran’s nuclear facilities out of action.

There is no doubt that Israelis genuinely fear a nuclear-armed Iran, which they believe would constitute an existential threat, but why are Israelis being so upfront about their intentions when history tells us they normally strike first and answer questions later?

Given that Iran is not Iraq circa the 1980s as far as airpower, weaponry, technology and sophisticated communications go and in light of the fact Iran’s main nuclear facilities are buried under layers of steel and concrete as much as 100 feet underground, eradicating Tehran’s nuclear capability would be challenging for any military unless it was prepared to unleash nuclear bunker-busters. Moreover, unlike the Osirak surprise strike, an attack on Iran would trigger serious military repercussions that could involve Syria, Hezbollah and pro-Iranian Shiite Iraqi groups. Such a pre-emptive move would probably result in a massive loss of life on all sides and would have a devastating effect on the global economy with oil prices reaching hitherto unimaginable heights.

Further, since neither Israel nor the US are in any position to launch a ground invasion without the complicity of anti-government Iranian surrogates, strikes on Iranian nuclear plants would probably result in Tehran not only reconstructing but setting their sights on developing nuclear weapons even if they’ve no plans to do so now. It’s worth mentioning that the Osirak reactor was for peaceful purposes and it was only after it was hit that Saddam Hussein actively sought a bomb.

According to the New Yorker’s veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in an article titled “Preparing the Battlefield”, President George W. Bush has sanctioned covert operations and requested $400 million designed to destabilize Iran outside the sphere of the US military. These will largely be carried out by Iranian dissidents rather than Americans in the field, he says. But, once again, Iran is not Iraq. It’s a far more cohesive country and although not all of its citizens support the government, most identify themselves as proud Iranians who harbor a historical aversion to neoimperialist plots. There is no doubt that Israel and the US would like the Iranian government to be wiped off the face of the earth along with its nuclear ambitions but both countries are divided on what to do. So far their joint and separate belligerency isn’t working. If their bellicose words and provocative actions are, indeed, a giant bluff they are ineffective. They are simply causing the Iranian leadership to dig its heels in further and assert its right under the NPT to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Even if this is a coordinated bluff, it could so easily reach the point of no return when to maintain strategic credibility, the players will have to make good on their threats. Certainly, one Iranian commander Brig. Gen. Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh is taking these to heart already. According to Press TV, he has already got his troops digging more than 320,000 graves within Iran’s bordering provinces to provide any invading force with “the respect they deserve”.

Obama campaign site: Free Islamic terrorist!

E-mail addresses, phone numbers provided to ‘take urgent action’

Posted: June 29, 2008
8:02 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

“We are all Palestinians” post

JAFFA, Israel – A blog posting on Sen. Barack Obama’s official campaign site urges Americans to take action to secure the release of imprisoned terrorist fundraiser Sami Al-Arian, comparing the controversial former professor to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

The posting is just a sampling of a large volume of racist, anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian rhetoric published on the user-friendly MyObama community blog pages. The Obama campaign does not monitor all blog material, which is posted by registered users, but says it removes offending posts that are brought to the attention of the administrators.

In a blog post on Obama’s site titled, “We are all Palestinians,” user Ulf Erlingsson laments what he calls the “harsh” conditions of Al-Arian’s imprisonment – explaining he “lives in segregation … is not allowed any visitors and is given only two phone calls a month.”

The posting quotes Agha Saeed, chair of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections, comparing Al-Arian to King and Malcom X, who “symbolized the struggle for human rights in the fifties and sixties. Dr. Sami Al-Arian has come to symbolize the current struggle for human rights.”

Al-Arian is also labeled an “internationally recognized political prisoner.”

Obama’s site readers are called upon to “take urgent action. Just 3 phone calls and 1 E-mail to make a difference.”

The blog – first noticed this weekend by Little Green Footballs – goes on to list phone numbers or e-mails for Al-Arian’s jail, a civil liberties office at the Homeland Security Department and the attorney general handling the Al-Arian case. The posting gives specific instructions for what protestors should say when they call the various agencies.

The blog also links to a Free Al-Arian website for readers interested in learning more.

Al-Arian

Al-Arian, a former university professor, was arrested in 2003 on multiple charges of funding terrorists, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, which took credit for every suicide bombing in Israel since 2005. In 2006, Al-Arian accepted a plea bargain resulting in a conviction with conspiracy to aid Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison including time served. He was to serve the remainder of 19 months and then be deported, but he was held in contempt of court for refusing to testify in other related terrorism cases involving former associates. The contempt charges were overturned last year, but in March Al-Arian was subpoenaed to testify in front of another grand jury in a terrorist case, and he has so far refused.

The Al-Arian posting is joined by volumes of controversial rhetoric posted by registered users on Obama’s official campaign site. Some of the offending postings have been removed, while others still remain.

One recently removed posting claims Jews control the media:

“Jewish owners and managers of CNN, FOX NEWS, mainstream media and the press determine which person, which facts, which version of the facts, and which ideas shall reach the public,” read the blog.

Another post refered to Jews as “puppet masters” and “war criminals.”

Yet another posting, titled “The Israeli connection to 9/11,” claimed Israeli intelligence was involved in the mega-attack and planted “false flags” to blame Arab countries.

Other MyObama posts have warned of “Judeofacists and their Neocon comrades” who “already destroyed America … The entire Congress should be overthrown by revolution for having sold America to the Israelis.”

A popular topic on Obama’s site seems to be the so-called Israel Lobby.

An Obama site search under the key words “Israel lobby” brings up a large number of pages with titles such as “Bush uses Nazi history against Obama to pander to the Jewish lobby” and “The Israel Lobby: bad for the world.”

In one recently removed posting, titled, “How the Jewish Lobby works,” the page read, “No lobby is feared more” and claimed Jews “run the Federal Reserve Bank, US Homeland Security, and the US State Department.”

“If a politician does not play ball with the Jewish Lobby, he will not get elected, or re-elected, and he will either be smeared or ignored by the Jewish-owned major media,” read the posting.

Obama’s campaign did not return a WND e-mail request for comment before press time, but Obama spokesmen have previously stated the campaign cannot monitor all content but it promptly removes content brought to its attention that is deemed inappropriate or hateful.

A disclaimer on the MyObama blog section reads, “Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.”

Author Bill Levinson commented on the Israpundit blog, which documented some of the anti-Semitic postings: “The presence of these pages at BarackObama.com is entirely consistent with Obama’s toleration of hate mongers (Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright) and even his endorsement and solicitation of racists, anti-Semites, and/or Catholic-hating bigots (MoveOn.org, Al Sharpton, National Action Network).”

But the Patterico’s Pontifications blog took a different tone in a recent posting, writing, “Assuming the content was posted by an Obama supporter…so what?

“Barack Obama attracts some anti-Semitic supporters. That’s hardly a surprise, nor is it obviously his fault. In my opinion, he’s been too cozy with supporters of the anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. So criticize him for that. But the fact that he has anti-Semitic supporters, standing alone, says no more about him than the fact that there are white racists supporting John McCain.”

MORE TROOPS GOING TO “IRAQ”

Officials: 30,000 troops heading to Iraq in 2009

Associated Press

Published: Friday June 27, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009, The Associated Press has learned.

The deployments would replace troops currently there. But the decisions could change depending on whether Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, decides in the fall to further reduce troop levels in Iraq.

Several officials familiar with the deployments spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders have not yet been made public.

According to the officials, three active-duty Army brigade combat teams, one Army National Guard brigade and two Marine regimental combat teams are being notified that they are being sent to Iraq in early 2009. Officials would not release the specific units involved because the soldiers and Marines and their families have not all been told.

The Guard unit, however, is the 56th Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, from the Pennsylvania National Guard. Members of that unit — a large brigade with heavily armored Stryker vehicles — were told last October that they should be prepared to deploy to Iraq early in 2009. The order this week is the formal notice that includes a more specific time frame.

Currently, the final brigade involved in the military buildup in Baghdad last year is pulling out of Iraq. That departure will leave 15 combat brigades there — compared to a high of 20 for much of the past year. Other smaller units are also there, including troops doing security, logistics, air assaults, intelligence and medical aid.

Overall, there are about 146,000 forces in Iraq, and that number is expected to dip to about 142,000 by mid-July when that last unit is all out. That total is at least 7,000 more than the number of troops in Iraq before the buildup began early last year.

Petraeus told Congress in May that he is likely to recommend further troop reductions in Iraq, but he did not provide any details. If he decides in the fall that fewer brigades will be needed in Iraq during the next year, there is the chance that brigades could simply be directed to the war in Afghanistan instead.

There is a broad consensus that more troops are needed in Afghanistan, to both train the security forces and fight the insurgents. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush, earlier this year, told NATO allies that they would increase troop levels in Afghanistan in 2009 in response to the growing violence.

WE ARE NOT PREPARED

Internal documents:Capitol ill-prepared for bomb attack

By Jordy Yager
Posted: 06/23/08 07:46 PM [ET]

A future terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol is highly probable, and Congress’s specialized bomb squad is unlikely to be able to deal with it, according to internal U.S. Capitol Police documents obtained by The Hill.

The unclassified internal letters and memos, written by Capitol Police captains, lieutenants, and sergeants between 2005 and 2007, detail more than three years of complaints to their superiors about the Hazardous Devices Unit’s lack of vehicles, its desire for more frequent training and the inadequate level of experience of bomb technicians within the specialty unit.

A suicide bombing or a car bomb are “the two major threats to the United States Capitol complex and the Congressional community,” according to a memo from mid-2006. While Washington, D.C., has not experienced the effects of such attacks, “the possibility that one of these two techniques may be used remains quite high and could become a reality.”

The 2006 document cited “intelligencce reports.”

Capitol Hill’s bomb squad, tasked with protecting lawmakers, their staffs and visiting dignitaries, is considered one of the premier hazardous device units in the country, and it responds to several hundred possible threats each year.

But morale in the unit has fallen because of several key issues raised in the internal letters, according to Capitol Police sources. They said the issues remain unresolved and could hamper the bomb squad’s ability to respond to an attack.

Nearly half of the unit’s 14 members are seeking jobs elsewhere, according to Capitol Police sources.

Members could find opportunities at the Pentagon, which is forming a bomb squad, sources said.

Capitol Police is “fully prepared to carry out our daily mission to protect the legislative process, in addition to responding to critical incidents on a daily basis,” said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, Capitol Police spokeswoman. “We remain at a constant state of readiness.”

At the top of the elite unit’s concerns is its need for additional vehicles, particularly for off-duty members of the bomb squad who might be needed in the aftermath of an attack. For example, in the event of a coordinated simultaneous attack, a strategy that terrorist groups have used in recent years, bomb squad members returning to Capitol Hill could get stuck in traffic.

Off-duty bomb squad members must report to Capitol Hill in their own personal vehicles, which have no sirens and are impossible for other drivers to distinguish, according to the letters. Once on Capitol Hill, the returning squad members would have to park their own cars and then drive a departmental vehicle to the scene of the threat.

“To carry out its mission to protect the Congress, staff and public on the Capitol Campus and to remain in the forefront of bomb disposal technology, the Hazardous Devices Section [HDS] must have the vehicles that are appropriate and necessary to deploy its equipment,” said one document written in late 2006.

The memos say the unit’s fleet of vehicles cannot meet the needs of its new equipment, a problem Capitol Police sources said remains unresolved. The documents call for Capitol Police to buy more large vehicles to keep up with updated bomb squad equipment.

Schneider disagreed with that conclusion. She said the unit is adequately supplied, but would not cite specifics for security reasons. “They have vehicles that meet their needs,” Schneider said of the bomb squad.

The documents show bomb squad officials have also repeatedly requested more frequent training to stay abreast of the ever-evolving tactics used by terrorists.

“Specialized training and proficiency are of the utmost concern as HDS strives to perform its assigned mission under the department’s Strategic Plan,” said one document from last year, which cited eight training programs that had been postponed or canceled because there was no money to pay for them.

Capitol Police bomb technicians are required to complete a refresher course at the Hazardous Devices School in Redstone, Ala., every three years. But Capitol Police sources say this is not enough to keep up with techniques and devices employed by attackers.

The average Capitol Police bomb technician has three or four years of experience, with the most senior technician serving for more than 12 years, according to Capitol Police sources.

Schneider said bomb squad members receive adequate training, and that the squad includes members with extensive experience. The squad also includes younger members, who are mentored by senior members they are expected to succeed.

“The combination and the mix of experience levels is critical to a good unit, and we do have that,” she said.

The documents, however, make repeated requests to increase the unit’s numbers and experience.

Another problem in the squad highlighted by Capitol Police sources is that the department does not promote bomb squad administrators from within the unit. Bomb squad administrators organize the unit’s response to threats, but rarely have bomb-related experience.

The reason for this policy is that the department wants to have individuals who are good at organizing and administrative duties in those positions, while those most familiar with bomb threats are on hand to deal with actual bombs.

Current and former police officials, however, defended this policy.

“When I was chief, the captain of the bomb unit was an outstanding technician and a very good captain, but that was relatively unique,” said Terrance Gainer, former Capitol Police chief and current Senate sergeant at arms. “In my experience, I think finding both combinations is rare. So what you try to do is have great technicians, sergeants who have stronger technical skills than they are managers, and then lieutenants and captains who have great leadership skills who aren’t making technical decisions.”

Schneider further explained the department’s policy. “It’s an administrative choice,” she said. “The assignment of personnel overall and assignment of supervisory personnel is standardized across the department and it’s based on the needs of the department. If it’s going to support the mission, then the department’s going to move in that direction, move people and assign them appropriately.”

MILITARY DRAFT

McCain: World War III Would Justify Draft

John McCain said last night during a campaign tele-conference that he would bring back a military draft in the United States only in the case of a ‘World War III’ scenario.

Reuters reported:

Many Americans are fearful the U.S. government will be forced to reinstitute the draft given the prolonged Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Asked about that possibility by a potential voter in Florida during a telephone “town hall meeting,” McCain said: “I don’t know what would make a draft happen unless we were in an all-out World War III.” …

McCain, a Vietnam veteran, said the draft during that conflict weighed most heavily on lower-income Americans, and that this should not be repeated.

But McCain may be more open to the draft than it seems. During a July 2006 interview on CNN, McCain was asked about the following statement by Newt Gingrich: “We’re in the early stages of what I would describes as the Third World War and, frankly, our bureaucracies aren’t responding fast enough.” Asked whether he agreed, McCain said:

“I do to some extent. I think it’s important to recognize that we have terrorist organizations which — who are dangerous by themselves, are now being supported by radical Islamic governments, i.e., the Iranians, which makes them incredibly more dangerous because they are trained, equipped, motivated and assisted in every way by the Iranians.”

Also, as ThinkProgress noted, “Last October, President Bush himself warned of a coming ‘World War III’ with Iran. ‘I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III,’ said the President. ‘It seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.’”

“HAMAS”

Hamas Refuses to Comply With Terms of Truce

June 24, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Hamas say it will continue to smuggle arms into Gaza even as it stocks up on humanitarian aid.

Israel and Hamas entered into an Egyptian-brokered truce last Wednesday that is designated to last for six months. Under the terms of this truce, Israel will stop its attacks on terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza and increase the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip if Hamas will stop launching rockets into southern Israel and smuggling arms into Gaza. Israel has also stipulated that Israeli Corp. Galid Shalit be released.

For Israel’s part, it has ceased all attacks against Hamas and has so far allowed dozens of additional trucks filled with food, diapers, clothes and other humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israeli military spokesman Gil Karie reports that 90 truckloads of supplies were transferred from Israeli to Palestinian vehicles at a Gaza crossing on Sunday alone. This is up from the 60 to 70 truckloads a day before the truce.

On Hamas’s part, only the rocket attacks have stopped. Ismail Haniya, de facto head of Gaza’s government, said on Friday that arms smuggling into Gaza will not stop despite the fact that there is a truce. Hamas officials have also affirmed that they will not agree to release Corporal Shalit until Israel releases 450 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan reiterated on Saturday that negotiations with Israel are out of the question and that Hamas will never recognize the Zionist enemy.

Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip one year ago, it is estimated that Israel has sent 580,000 tons of humanitarian aid into Gaza. If this total were divided evenly among Gaza’s 1.4 million residents, a typical family of five would have already received more than 2 tons of food and supplies. During this same period, Hamas has smuggled over 100 tons of explosives into Gaza.

Israel is acting like a beggar for peace. No amount of aid the Olmert administration sends, however, will be able to buy peace. This is because the conflict at hand is not about food or aid; it is about a dangerous Islamic ideology that would deny Israelis the right to even breathe Middle Eastern air. For Hamas, this truce is a temporary respite it can utilize to stock up on arms and Israeli aid. As soon as the truce ends, Hamas will resume its struggle to drive the Israelis into the sea with new arms and new vigor.

For more information on Hamas’s relationship with Israel, read “Hamas Still Biting the Hand That Feeds Them” by Stephen Flurry.