Castro criticises our use of biofuels

Fausta's blog:

"Cuban President Fidel Castro has strongly criticised the use of biofuels by the US, in his first article since undergoing surgery last year.

He said George W Bush's support for the use of food crops in fuel production would cause 3bn deaths from hunger."

Just like all those Brazilians who died when they converted to alcohol for their cars?

There are legitimate reasons to wonder if using food for fuel makes sense, but upsetting Castro would not be one of them - that is a benefit.

Campus Radicals working against their own best interests

Phi Beta Cons on National Review Online:

"Susan O’Malley, a former head of the University Faculty Senate of the City University of New York and current English professor at Kingsborough Community College, is just such a stand-up lady. Last fall she went to this governing body to plead for a job for Mohammed Yousry, the convicted co-conspirator of Maoist lawyer Lynn Stewart, for whom he worked and who supports armed revolution.

In 2005 Yousry was convicted of supporting terrorism, specifically, for translating a letter for, and reading letters to, blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. These letters concerned communication between Rahman and his jihadist supporters, relating to his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
...
That O’Malley would publicly, without reticence or shame, beat the bushes for a felon convicted of abetting the most hateful enemies of this nation — enemies who would not hesitate to eliminate useful idiots like her in the name of establishing worldwide Islamist tyranny — illustrates once again the perverse and destructive bent of campus radicals."

Liberals defend & support those who would eliminate them first if our nation were transformed as the Islamics wish..

Now British Police want the knives

Police call for simplified knife law - Yahoo! News UK:

"LONDON (Reuters) - The Police Federation called on Tuesday for a new knives law to replace the confusion over existing legislation that was leading to many offenders avoiding conviction on technicalities.

It said the complexity of dealing with at least six different laws covering knife offences meant officers were making mistakes during arrests which were being exploited by defence lawyers."

They took the guns away so now the British are back to knives. Take them away, and they'll be back to using blunt objects. Nobody seems to acknowledge that a small percentage of every generation will use violence against the rest of us, and if we give up our ability to defend ourselves, then the barbarians win.

No amount of talking, no amount of understanding, & no laws will change these people. If you don't have a policeman handy when they attack, then you have a fundamental right to defend yourself - which technology you choose shouldn't matter to the courts. Body armor, helmets, & running shoes are defensive weapons - offensive weapons start with martial arts, mace, & stun guns, and escalate from sticks (batons) through knives to firearms.

Britain’s Hostage Crisis

Britain’s Hostage Crisis-Comment-Leading Article-TimesOnline:

"the Western response has been so feeble. Diplomats hint at a “face-saving” solution. Analysts point to splits and divisions in Tehran. Some misguided “understanding” of the kidnapping seems to inhibit any response that may exacerbate tensions. This is precisely the wrong message. It encourages Tehran’s hardliners and probably prolongs the bargaining over the men’s detention. Even the Shia-dominated Iraqi Government has called on Iran to release the men — a far bolder call than anything coming from London or Washington. The coalition cannot allow Tehran to intimidate its neighbour. It must set a deadline for the men’s release and tell Iran bluntly that its piracy justifies immediate and more drastic sanctions."

Robotic space science

Aviation Week : Story:

"spaceborne robots have brought about an age of scientific discovery comparable in its impact to the geographic age of discovery 500 years ago.

Robotic space science hasn't been limited to the floating eyes of scientific satellites such as the Hubble and planetary probes along the lines of Cassini and the Voyagers. Almost from the beginning, space scientists have devised landers and rovers able to get down in the dirt and dust of other celestial bodies, analyzing what they find in situ and even bringing back samples. Eventually, as rovers and penetrators sample the Solar System's waters for the taste of life, that direct approach may answer what is perhaps the ultimate question of the space age--are we alone?"

Research of this nature is vital, as is the civilian use of near space (telecomm, etc.), but we must never lose sight of the militarily strategic value of the ultimate high ground - because if we take our attention off of this, hen someone else will make use of it, and all the UN treaties in the world won't stop them.

Keeping up with the Chos in space

Aviation Week : Story:

"When Sputnik launched, it was inconceivable that China and Iran could match the feat. Now China has flown three humans in orbit, and has enough satellites operating that it could afford to shatter one of the older ones while it was still functioning so its loss of signal could provide quick confirmation that its ASAT weapon worked. Few doubt that, left to its own devices, Iran can orbit its own satellite as well."

A nation of only 300 million needs to work hard to stay ahead of nations with more than a billion citizens. If we don't maintain our lead in space technology, then we will become a small client state at the mercy of those nations which posses the will to act in their own best interests.

Mddel East Naval Wars

BBC NEWS | UK | 'To fight would not be clever': "How important are the British patrols?

. . . they are very important. The Iraqi wealth depends on oil, the oil pipelines going through those big platforms. The terrorists did try to blow one up. They have managed to blow up lots of the other routes of oil going out of Iraq. So there's that importance. And, indeed, we are training up the Iraqi navy. It has been a huge success, and there is normally one Iraqi patrol vessel in the area. But it is also important to stop smuggling because smuggling is linked to terrorism."

So more than just a conduit for Iran's insurgents in Iraq, control of these waters is critical to Iraq's success as a nation.