The Taiwanese government ordered helicopter batteries from the US Pentagon. However they got something slightly different. Are helicopter batteries anything like nuclear nose-cone fuse assemblies for Minuteman ICBM nuclear warheads? I wouldn't think so. Whoops!


Hmm... Wonder how that conferring went on? Gee! can we have our secret nuclear nose-cone fuses back for our ICBMs? We will double your helicopter battery order at no extra charge.

 
Back on Sept 1st Mexican trucks were to begin rolling on U.S. highways under a Bush administration plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency petition to halt the one-year pilot program.

Congress responded by passing a ban of Mexico trucks on U.S. roads.


As if it wasn't bad enough to give Mexican trucks free reign on our roads, the Bush administration wanted to use tax dollars to improve the roads.

Now the Bush administration is going ahead with the plan anyway, suggesting a loophole in that the ban by Congress, which prohibits the government from spending money to "establish" the program. The government says the new rules don't apply since the current program started prior to the ban.


WTF is wrong with this picture? Bush isn't stupid, and knows that it will be a boon to illegal border crossing, not to mention terrorists. Who does he owe that he is willing to wave a dismissive hand at our national security, and the problem with illegal immigration?

The United Kingdom's threat level was raised to the highest level of "critical" (indicates the likelihood of an imminent terrorist attack) when police disrupted a major plot to blow up planes in mid-flight.



Confusion and disorder will likely prevail at airports due to strict security measures. All passengers will be allowed only a wallet, travel documents and bare essentials in a plastic bag, and must be hand searched. Footwear and items carried in their plastic bag must be X-rayed.

More to follow as details become available.

When this was posted on Madison.com, my favorite forum hangout, my first impression was to do an eyeroll and shrug it off as another conspiracy theory because we get a few of them there. Then after watching the Lou Dobbs CNN clip below, I searched the Council on Foreign Relations website assuming if this was really true, there might be a hint lurking around there somewhere.

Well they ain't hiding it, nor is it just a hint. They lay out their plan right there in an article called "Trinational Call for a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010."

Read it if you want, but watch this CNN clip (after you put down any beverages that could spew on your monitor or keyboard).



Think this is just a few nutcases? Perhaps, but here are 10 Representatives and 9 Senators that are members of this rogue CFR organization. Not that they necessarily support it just because they are members, but if you read much of CFR's website you begin to think anyone who is a menber probably has plenty of ideas that are not in the mainstream.

Do I have to remind you that our representatives don't listen to us now unless we rise up in outrage? And with the Senates immigration bill, they sure seem to want to push open boarders and amnesty. Of course they are calling it a "Temporary Guest Worker Program."

Only it's a bold face lie. There isn't anything temporary about it. What is really says in the text basically is, if you come here under this work visa you get to convert it to a green card making you a legal permanent resident that can then become a citizen. What the hell is "temporary" or "guest" about that?

This is going to cause a big stir with many people especially in the blogesphere over the issue of privacy. At this point I find myself less than concerned.


A lot of you are going to disagree with me and say that I don't care about privacy, but you are wrong. Anything put on the internet whether in a webblog, newspaper or government records are already there for public consumption. The only questionable area might be email, but OTOH I think anyone who assumes that email ever has been secure is naive. It would be stupid to plan a crime via email just as it would be stupid to do so on the telephone.

It's pretty simple really when we buy/sell online or do a bank transaction we are using secure connections under agreements with those institutions. In all other areas if you want something private don't write or talk about it online. When you write something online assume you are always in a crowd of people and some are looking over your shoulder. Because that is quite likely what is happening.

Via Kurzweil AI

"Plame could not have done what Wilson did and gotten away with it. Wilson could not have done what he did without Plame giving him a way to do it."

So says Zell Miller on dirty tricks at CIA.

Via Lucianne.

Update: The Daily Standard yesterday had a good read about the 60 Minutes Joe Wilson piece. It shows that Wilson wasn't just criticizing (which he has a right to do), but had woven a tale of pure fantasy.

Also see The Weekly Standard recent article on the extensive and detailed timeline of the chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.

Both are long articles but worth taking the time to read. The latter timeline of events will give you a good picture of what really went down.

Porter Goss, the new director of central intelligence, speaking to the Senate Intelligence Committee warns that Al Qaeda operatives have considered using the Mexican border.

In the past, law enforcement officials have said Al Qaeda might try to use the Mexican border, but the testimony on Wednesday seemed to suggest increasing concern. In response to questions from the senators, Admiral Loy described it as a "very serious situation," while Robert S. Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, listed first among his current concerns what he said might already be "the threat from covert Al Qaeda operatives inside the United States."

"Finding them is the top priority for the F.B.I., but it is also one of the most difficult challenges," Mr. Mueller said. He said covert operatives could include "a true sleeper operative who has been in place for years," or someone who entered the country recently.

In his written testimony, Admiral Loy cited recent information from investigations and detentions as the basis for his concern about the Mexican border. He added, "Several Al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons."

The appearance by Mr. Goss was his first in public since he took over as intelligence chief more than four months ago. In response to a deadline set by the White House, he also sent a classified memorandum to President Bush on Wednesday with recommendations about how to improve the C.I.A.'s abilities, particularly in terms of clandestine intelligence gathering.

Among related recommendations, aides to Mr. Goss said, is the view that the C.I.A. should retain its ability to conduct paramilitary operations, despite a recommendation last summer from the Sept. 11 commission that such roles be transferred to the Department of Defense. A joint review by the C.I.A. and the Pentagon concluded that both agencies should have paramilitary abilities, officials said.

The seemingly lack of concern by the Bush administration to push for tighter border control with Mexico has worried me for some time. In fact it looks to me that the administration bristles at any meaningful border control at all. One could think that because the President can't run again, and that the worry of loosing hispanic support off the table, we would get more than a yawn on the subject.

Yesterday Michelle Malkin had an interesting column in the New York Post about DHS awarding Eugueni Kniazev a green card. The problem is that Eugueni Kniazev was killed in the 9/11 attack.

On Jan. 15, immigration officials sent a notice to Eugueni Kniazev of Brooklyn. The letter informs Kniazev, a Siberian immigrant, that he is now "deemed to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States." The notice directs Kniazev to obtain a new alien registration receipt card (a "green card"), and instructs him to appear at the immigration office at 26 Federal Plaza with his passport and three recent photos.

The letter warns Kniazev not to travel outside the United States without approval.

But Eugueni Kniazev won't be appearing at Federal Plaza. He won't be traveling anywhere. Kniazev, 47, was an employee of Windows on the World on the 107th floor of the North Tower. He was murdered in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Let me repeat that for the clueless paper-pushers at the Department of Homeland Security: Eugueni Kniazev won't be picking up his green card because he has been dead for nearly 31/2 years.

A Homeland Security spokesman told me it's up to family members to notify the government when a green-card applicant dies. "It's unfortunate," he said, but there is no mechanism in place to prevent this from happening again.

Did Homeland Security learn nothing from the dead-hijacker visa fiasco?

Michelle also talks about it here on her blog.

Hindrocket at Power Line has summed up my feelings when he says: "It's hard to say which is a worse mess: enforcement of immigration laws, or enforcement of voting laws."

Authorities are scouring Boston for four Chinese nationals and two Iraqi men who may pose a nuclear threat to the city based on a report from an unidentified man calling from Mexico who claims to have smuggled them over the U.S. border.