The missiles can reach Israel parts of Europe!

Is there no end to the wonders of Smart Diplomacy(tm)?

Days before a key meeting with Western leaders, Iran test-fired two types of long-range missiles Monday in part of what the Islamic republic called routine military exercises, its state-run media reported.

...After a series of short-range missile tests, Iran concluded Monday with the testing of the long range Shahab-3 and the two-stage Sajil missiles, according to reports from state-run media.

Both hit their targets, and Iran's air force commander hailed the exercise as a show that Iran is "fully prepared and determined to stand against all threats."

"We will give a fully decisive, crushing and destructive response to anyone who poses a threat to the existence, independence and freedom of the ruling system and our values," Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said, according to Fars News Agency. Video Watch an analyst's view of missile tests, nuclear tensions »

The Shahab-3 missile can strike targets between 800 and 1,250 miles (1,300 and 2,000 kilometers), according to the reports.

The Sajil-2 missile is a solid-fuel rocket with a similar range and has been launched twice before, in November 2008 and May 2009.

If Iran's claims are true, the missile brings Moscow, Russia; Athens, Greece; and southern Italy within striking distance.

Let us not forget that Obama recently canceled a land based missile defense shield that would have taken care of these classes of missiles (along with ICBMs being developed tht could reach the US at some point in the future).

Under Obama's new plan missile defense will fall mainly to the US Navy. The problem is no one is sure how that will work or what it will mean in terms of ships and manpower.

Which ships will take the patrol mission? What will the deployments look like — will ships participate in exercises, make port visits or be confined to a narrow patrol box? How long will ships be assigned picket duty? Will BMD patrol ships sail with the crews they would have taken on normal deployments, or will they have fewer sailors to account for the narrower mission?

Navy officials had few answers in the week after Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the new BMD mission. Spokesmen at the Pentagon and for 3rd Fleet, which is responsible for Navy Air and Missile Defense Command, said officials were working out the details.

Read the whole linked post to see how half-assed this 'plan' is at this point and how many holes are going to have to be filled to make it work.

So much for Obama's vaunted careful, analytical mind.

Extra awesome points for the fact that the French seem to be taking the lead on Iran. Cause you know, America is just one of the guys, nothing special, no real need for us to step up.

Even worse? Given the choice, I'd rather have Sarkozy on point than Obama.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:59 AM | Comments (1)
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This is going to leave a mark.

Layman summary: It took him years of wheedling and wrangling to get the complete data set used by some respected researchers incompetent/malevolent bozos and now we know why they were so reluctant to give it up. Key elements showing the blade end of the hockey stick were cherry picked for maximum effect. When the whole, with all points present was examined, the blade vanishes.

Significant modeling and other researcher's work was based on this fraudulently presented data and analysis that hinged on about 10 cherry picked tree ring measurements.

More here at Watt's Up.

When asked for comment, Johnnie Cochran responded "If the data don't fit, just make up some shit" more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:41 AM | Comments (19)
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There really are no words to describe how disgusting this is:

WASHINGTON -- In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining presidential priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration said Friday it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.

The White House move drew swift rebuke from the state's two senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Mark Begich, who had together sponsored the pension fix.

The legislation honors 26 elderly Alaskans who are the few remaining survivors of a military unit that served the country with valor, Murkowski said, calling the administration's direction "deeply disappointing, bordering on insensitive."

Just when I thought the Obama administration has lost the ability to surprise me.

Priorities - In other news, the president plans to visit Copenhagen to lobby in support of Chicago getting the 2016 Olympics. A report from Henry Waxman from 2006 estimates the cost of flying Air Force One at $56,518 an hour.

Posted by: Slublog at 07:12 AM | Comments (13)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:41 AM | Comments (1)
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Even better, she also wins a center-right majority to pursue conservative fiscal policies in Europe's largest economy.

Voters sent the nation's main left-wing party, the Social Democrats of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, into opposition after 11 years as part of the government. It was the party's worst parliamentary election result since World War

Merkel campaigned on pledges of middle-class tax relief, finding that a winning message along with the pro-business Free Democrats who went further by including promises of tax breaks for the top and bottom brackets as well in the effort to stimulate growth in a revolutionary new strategy: Letting people spend their own money in the way they determine wisest.

Insanity, I know. You would think GWB and JFK and Ronald Reagan's disastrous economic policies would have served as a lesson against the concept that revenues could rise with lower taxes. Allowing the rabble to waste their money on non-government directed enterprise could never create wider growth.

Both argued that tax cuts would boost the economy, ultimately leading to higher tax revenue.

Yet Merkel has called for modest middle-income tax relief, while Westerwelle — who successfully portrayed his party as a champion of the middle class and small business — has called for far deeper tax cuts, with significant reductions in both the top and bottom rates.

The losers put them some knowledge, using the classic and irrefutable "You're wrong because I said so!" gambit so sublimely played by numerous savvy AoS trolls:

"That will be the Achilles' heel of the Free Democrats and the (new) coalition as a whole, because it will not be possible to cut taxes," predicted Heinrich Oberreuter, a political science professor at the University of Passau.

That's right. You can't cut taxes, because it is impossible to cut taxes. Why, that's be like trying to melt steel with fire!

No cheesecake on this news. It's Germany. It's almost Oktober. You know what that means...

Ve haf vays to raise your revenues.

Look at the size of those steins. What, you didn't notice they were holding beer?

Most excellent pic courtesy of eric b. at Beer Control Offense.

Guys, do yourselves a favor and go check out some more. It's safe for work, but just barely.

Oh, alright. One for the ladies below the fold.
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:26 AM | Comments (5)
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Good evening all moroners. Time to get to get in that last bit of debauchery before the week starts.

Item #1: How to Kiss A Woman by James T. Kirk
This has been making the rounds of the internet, but it's always worth watching one more time to hone your technique.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:45 PM | Comments (2)
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Anne, this word "outrageous." I do not think it means what you think it means.

Of all nations, why was it Switzerland -- the country that traditionally guarded the secret bank accounts of international criminals and corrupt dictators -- that finally decided to arrest Roman Polanski? There must be some deeper story here, because by any reckoning the decision was bizarre -- though not nearly as bizarre as the fact that a U.S. judge wants to keep pursuing this case after so many decades.

Here are some of the facts: Polanski's crime -- statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl -- was committed in 1977. The girl, now 45, has said more than once that she forgives him, that she can live with the memory, that she does not want him to be put back in court or in jail, and that a new trial will hurt her husband and children. There is evidence of judicial misconduct in the original trial. There is evidence that Polanski did not know her real age. Polanski, who panicked and fled the U.S. during that trial, has been pursued by this case for 30 years, during which time he has never returned to America, has never returned to the United Kingdom., has avoided many other countries, and has never been convicted of anything else. He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

Applebaum concludes her post by asking how arresting Polanski serves "society in general" and opines that if he weren't famous, "no one would bother with him at all." Unintentionally, Applebaum answers the first question with her last sentence. Polanski's arrest serves society by showing that no matter how famous the perpetrator, those who rape children will be held to account for their actions.

Update - Oh, my...

In an earlier post I noted substantial inaccuracies and omissions in a post by Washington Post pundit Anne Applebaum in support of Roman Polanski. (For example, she said Polanski fled during his trial; in fact, he pled guilty and fled before his sentencing.) But I think this is worth its own post: Applebaum failed to mention that her husband is a Polish foreign minister who is lobbying for PolanskiÂ’s case to be dismissed:

Many of you wondered what would motivate someone to defend Polanski. There's your answer.

Posted by: Slublog at 05:41 PM | Comments (2)
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Pregame show is over, so you are safe from Olbermann until halftime.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank the Steelers and Seahawks for choking in the last few minutes of their respective games. Once again, my picks were outstanding, it was the teams that sucked.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:21 PM | Comments (2)
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Dead at 79.

This gentleman will be honored far better than I can. I just wanted to say back in the day, when I was finding my conservative roots, his writing resonated with me. To me he was an early voice in my life that things can be better, that large government is an expansion of power and not kindness, that we are accountable to ourselves and one another.

Requiescat in pacem Mr. Safire. You will be missed.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 02:29 PM | Comments (2)
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The blogs at the Huffington Post are full of silly people writing whatever idiocy pops into their heads but one Peter Dreier takes the cake.

He adopts the format of the famous "First They Came..." poem to illustrate how dangerous Republicans and various conservative, or at least people he thinks are conservatives, are (safe link).

First Big Business, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, the Religious Right, the Wall Street Journal, Mitch McConnell, and Karl Rove came for ACORN, and the Democrats did not speak out -- because they were not ACORN.

Then they came for SEIU, and the Democrats did not speak out -- because they were not SEIU.

Then they came for the Apollo Alliance, and the Democrats did not speak out -- because they were not the Apollo Alliance.

Then they came for the Center for American Progress, and the Democrats did not speak out -- because they were not the Center for American Program.

Then they came for the Sierra Club, and the Democrats did not speak out -- because they were not the Sierra Club.

And so on until there's no one left to speak for the Democrats.

Put aside the Sun rising in the East aspect of a liberal comparing conservatives to National Socialists (we all know it's only conservatives who call liberals Nazis) for a moment.

The truly funny part is, apparently in Dreier's world the Democrats don't actually have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate (they do) or an overwhelming majority in the House (they do) or the presidency (again...).

Allow me to be presumptuous enough to point out to Mr. Dreier that the various defunding bills in Congress can only pass with Democratic votes (and they did with overwhelming Democratic support).

If liberals are this scared now, they are really going to hate the 2010 elections.

Oh and Mr. Dreier?

BOO!

Scared you, didn't I?

Posted by: DrewM at 10:10 AM | Comments (3)
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