Monday, May 11, 2009

Fear and Terror in the Frozen Hills of North Korea.

(Compiler's note: Click clips below and see some great interviews. Must read - see. Semper Fidelis)

from The Chosin Few website

The Chosin Few is a documentary film about the amazing true story of the 1st Marine Division’s fight for survival against hordes of communist Chinese forces in the frozen mountains of North Korea in the winter of 1950. Outnumbered, cut off behind enemy lines, and nearly overwhelmed by unceasing human wave attacks, the Marines fought their way to the sea in what is regarded as the most remarkable military feat of the 20th Century. Seventeen Medals of Honor and 70 Navy Crosses were awarded to the heroes of this campaign—the most ever awarded for a single battle in American History
.


In October of 1950, General MacArthur ordered the 1st Marine Division to march to the Yalu River on the North Korean/Chinese border. This force of approximately 12,000 brave fighting men was strung out along 80 miles of frozen, mountainous terrain. China covertly infiltrated North Korea and soon the Marines found themselves surrounded by over 60,000 Communist Chinese soldiers. For 14 days, the Marines miraculously fought their way to safety through the frozen mountains and subzero temperatures, taking their dead and wounded with them through the onslaught of unceasing Chinese attacks. They suffered over 4,000 killed or wounded but still managed to extract over 25,000 causalities from the enemy. This is an epic tale of terror and triumph that has been quietly tucked away in American history - until now.

We are shooting with Panasonic HD cameras and the clips above is a compressed version of the actual footage. The final project will be in HD.

Some of the links posted at the end of these videos are YouTube generated links and may not be affiliated with this film.

JOHN LOTT: Thugs In the White House

(Compiler's note: A must read article.)

By John R. Lott, Jr.
Senior Research Scientist, University of Maryland/Author, Freedomnomics.

So much for any hope that the government would uphold rules and abiding by contracts. Instead, we keep getting examples of something else – that when President Obama fails to persuade firms to follow his wishes, he does not hesitate to use threats of financial destruction.

Cliff Asness, the co-founder of the $20 billion hedge fund AQR Capital Management, laid bare the latest attacks with an open letter on Wednesday:

“The President screaming that the hedge funds are looking for an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout is the big lie writ large. Find me a hedge fund that has been bailed out. Find me a hedge fund, even a failed one, that has asked for one. In fact, it was only because hedge funds have not taken government funds that they could stand up to this bullying. The TARP recipients had no choice but to go along.”

This is just the latest in a string of intimidating tactics starting with threatening costly public audits to get compliance. Then there were the threats of firing CEOs who had the audacity to oppose government plans. The very latest is threats to use “ the full force of the White House press corps [to] destroy [the firm Perella Weinberg's] reputation” if it resisted the government stealing their money, according to Thomas Lauria who represented the firm up until last week. ABC News’s Jake Tapper reports that Mr. Steven Rattner, the head of the auto task force, made the threat.

The White House has been pushing hard to nationalize the automobile companies. While bondholders and the government have loaned similar amounts each to GM and Chrysler, the White House feels that the government should get 50 percent ownership of GM and the creditors about 10 percent.

The Wall Street Journal reports that unions are also being given stock that should be going to the creditors 39 percent of GM and 55 percent of Chrysler.

Most of the financial institutions holding these bonds have gone along with Obama’s nationalization of the car companies for a simple reason – the government has already nationalized them and they do the government’s bidding. As ABC News and the Wall Street Journal note: JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have been given up to $100 billion by the government. The irony is that the feds gave these financial institutions money because they were hemorrhaging financially and now the government orders these same institutions to throw away money and take loses that no private company would voluntarily do. Not surprisingly, with this waste, there is talk that Citigroup may need another $10 billion from the government.

As I and others have previously pointed out, the government only obtained ownership of many financial institutions through threats of imposing unnecessary costly public audits and either threatening to replace or actually replacing disobedient CEOs and boards of directors with political cronies willing do Obama’s bidding.

Yet, there are financial institutions that the government still has not gotten control over, and they are fighting this wave of nationalization. So how does the Obama administration control these financial institutions that have avoided being forced to take government bailouts? Why, of course, their standard method: threats. According to lawyer Thomas Lauria in an interview with Frank Beckman on WJR radio, one of his former clients “was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That’s how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence.”

Not surprisingly, as the financial institutions did not cave in, President Obama then followed through his promise and attacked these creditors. During his announcement of Chrysler filing for bankruptcy, he warned, “While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not.” Despite the financial institutions offering to give up 50 percent of their bonds value, Obama claimed: “They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none.” The New York Times and other media have joined in on this attack.

One consequence of the president singling out these creditors is that The Detroit News reported on Monday that some have received death threats and that the threats has been turned over to the FBI.

Finally, we can’t help note that Rattner seems the perfect person to play the enforcer role. In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Rattner’s former private-equity firm, Quadrangle Group, is the target of a long-running pay-to-play investigation. Mr. Rattner wasn’t named in the SEC complaint, but The Journal reported that Rattner was “the senior Quadrangle executive the complaint identifies as meeting with a politically connected consultant about a finder’s fee, which Quadrangle later paid after receiving an investment from the New York fund.”

Of course, the administration denies that it has threatened Chrysler’s creditor. This from an administration that denies Obama bowed to the Saudi King despite it being on video tape.

Some creditors, such as Perella Weinberg Partners, have already given in to the president’s threats over Chrysler. But breaking contracts through thuggish threats makes investment riskier and increase the costs as much as any big tax increase. Driving investment overseas is not the way to make America wealthier.


Muslim dentist 'refused to treat female patients unless they wore Islamic dress'

A Muslim dentist refused to treat patients unless they wore traditional Islamic dress, it was alleged today.

Omer Butt, 32, ordered women to put on head scarves or he would not register them or their families at his NHS-funded clinic, it was claimed.

At least two patients were left in pain after they declined to follow his self-imposed rules, the General Dental Council heard. sharia

It is the second time that the dentist - who is the brother of a former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun - has appeared before the council's disciplinary panel on similar allegations. ....

Captain's Training Faulted In Air Crash That Killed 50

The captain of a commuter plane that crashed Feb. 12 near Buffalo, N.Y., had flunked numerous flight tests during his career and was never adequately taught how to respond to the emergency that led to the airplane's fatal descent, according to people close to the investigation.

All 49 people aboard were killed, as well as one person in a house below, when the plane crashed just a few miles short of the Buffalo airport en route from Newark, N.J. The Bombardier Q400 turboprop in the crash, which will be the subject of a National Transportation Safety Board hearing Tuesday, was operated by commuter carrier Colgan Air Inc., a division of Pinnacle Airlines Corp.

Capt. Marvin Renslow had never been properly trained by the company to respond to a warning system designed to prevent the plane from going into a stall, according to people familiar with the investigation. As the speed slowed to a dangerous level, setting off the stall-prevention system, he did the opposite of the proper procedure, which led to the crash, these people said.

Additionally, his 24-year-old co-pilot, Rebecca Shaw, had complained before takeoff about being congested and said she probably should have called in sick, according to people who have listened to the cockpit voice recording.

The circumstances surrounding Continental Connection Flight 3407 have prompted investigators and regulators to examine Colgan's hiring and training practices. At the NTSB hearing, witnesses are expected to provide new allegations about training shortcomings, as well as the prevalence of chronic pilot fatigue and lapses in cockpit discipline. The NTSB also is expected to be critical of the Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of the airline. The FAA, which has said it is investigating the airline over pilot scheduling, declined to comment on issues likely to be raised in the hearing.

Pinnacle has said its pilot training programs "meet or exceed regulatory requirements for all major airlines" and crews "are prepared to handle emergency situations they might face." On Sunday, spokesman Joe Williams confirmed in an email that Capt. Renslow had five "unsatisfactory" training check rides in his career -- including two at Colgan -- but passed a subsequent series of training tests and was "fully qualified in the Q400" aircraft.

Testimony Tuesday

In recent weeks, Colgan's top two training officials resigned; Mr. Williams has said their decisions were voluntary and not connected to the accident. Darrell Mitchell, Colgan's departing director of training, is slated to testify at Tuesday's hearing.

Colgan, based in Manassas, Va., operates nearly 50 planes, carries 2.5 million passengers annually and employs about 480 pilots. It serves as a commuter airline that feeds larger carriers, such as Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.

Colgan serves 28 routes for Continental Airlines Inc., which said it retains "full confidence in Colgan and its ability to conduct its operations safely."

US Airways Group Inc. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines said there haven't been any changes to their Colgan contracts.

Capt. Renslow, 47, joined Colgan in September 2005 after graduating from a pilot-training academy, employment records show. He had a history of flunking check rides -- periodic tests of competency that are also required anytime a pilot begins flying a new type of aircraft. Before joining Colgan, he failed three proficiency checks on general aviation aircraft administered by the FAA, according to investigators and the airline. Colgan's spokesman said the company now believes Capt. Renslow failed to fully disclose that poor performance when applying for a job.

Once at Colgan, he failed in his initial attempt to qualify as a co-pilot on the Beech 1900 aircraft, and also had to redo his check ride to upgrade to captain on the Saab 340 turboprop, according to investigators. Repeated check-ride failures raise red flags, and large carriers rarely keep pilots who require such extensive remedial training, according to numerous industry officials. Colgan's Mr. Williams said Capt. Renslow's last unsatisfactory check ride occurred 16 months before the accident, and he subsequently passed six consecutive competency tests and completed three regular training sessions.

Capt. Renslow had about 109 hours of experience flying the Q400 as a captain, an unusually limited amount of time by industry standards. He had started flying the craft only two months earlier. According to investigators, the co-pilot, Ms. Shaw, had a clean training record.

The pilots' families couldn't be reached for comment.

People familiar with the investigation of the accident -- the deadliest U.S. commercial crash in more than seven years -- gave the following account of the plane's last flight:

Both pilots were returning to work after a day off. Capt. Renslow was coming off weeks of late-evening and early-morning flying schedules, often sandwiched around only a few hours of rest. Ms. Shaw had spent the day before the accident skiing. She then took a red-eye flight from Seattle to report for work in Newark.

It was a frigid night. Other planes in the region had reported light to moderate icing, and the pilots observed ice buildup around their own windshield. Bombardier's twin-engine Q400 has a reputation as a workhorse used extensively in winter and isn't known to be susceptible to ice accumulation.

Approaching Buffalo

As the plane made its approach toward Buffalo with the autopilot engaged, the crew exchanged idle banter, according to people who have read transcripts of the conversation recovered from the cockpit voice recorder. Federal rules and airline policy prohibit pilots from having extraneous conversations while flying below 10,000 feet.

The crew initially didn't notice the plane's speed had dropped dangerously low, sliding under 115 miles an hour, and risked going into a stall. The slowing speed set off an emergency system called a "stick-pusher," which pushes the control column down in order to send the aircraft into a temporary dive so it can regain speed and recover from a stall.

However, Capt. Renslow tried to force the plane to do the opposite. He yanked back on the controls while adding thrust. His effort was strong enough to manually override the stick-pusher. Within seconds, the plane lost lift, bucked violently and started to roll. It slammed into a house five miles from the runway.

Colgan's standard training program stops short of demonstrating the operation of the stick-pusher in flight simulators. Without such hands-on experience, safety investigators argue, pilots could be surprised and not react properly when the stick-pusher activates during an emergency. The FAA is required to sign off on all airline training manuals.

On Sunday, Colgan said its FAA-approved program includes "comprehensive" classroom training on the stick-pusher but emphasized a demonstration in a simulator "is not required by the FAA and was not part of the training syllabus" Colgan received when it obtained its Q400s.

Mistaken Assumption

Investigators surmise the pilots didn't fully understand the operation of one ice-protection system, and therefore incorrectly programmed approach speeds into a flight computer. Startled by an initial stall warning at low altitude, Capt. Renslow reacted with the mistaken assumption that ice accumulation on the tail caused speed to suddenly drop well below normal, investigators believe. The NTSB has said the plane wasn't significantly affected by icing.

Since the accident, industry and government safety experts have uncovered what they claim are other shortcomings at Colgan. The airline began flying Q400s in February 2008, but Colgan pilots say it wasn't until nine months later that they received a detailed bulletin on how to use some of its ice safety features. However, the bulletin was delivered three months before the accident. Colgan said that since it started flying the aircraft, pilots "were trained on the use of all components of the ice protection system on the Q400."

More recently, Colgan removed several of its senior management pilots, known as check airmen, who are responsible for evaluating the performance of crews in the air as well as in simulators. The airline said that "from time-to-time," it relieves check airmen of their duties if they fail "to perform to the company's high standards."

—Susan Carey contributed to this article.

Fears of mass poisoning of Afghan schoolgirls Police say 61 girls hospitalized due to sudden illness

from Associated Press

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan - Doctors are investigating whether dozens of girls were poisoned at a high school in northern Afghanistan on Monday after 61 girls went to the hospital because of sudden illness, officials said.

Dr. Khalil Farhagga said the 61 students and one teacher from a school in Parwan — one province north of Kabul — complained of irritability, tearing and confusion. Several girls also passed out.

The mass hospitalization comes about two weeks after a similar incident in Parwan, where dozens of girls were hospitalized in late April after being sickened by what Afghan officials said were strong fumes or a possible poison gas cloud.

Conservative Afghans oppose education for girls, who were not allowed to attend school under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime.

Officials on Monday sent blood samples to Kabul and to the main U.S. base in Bagram to test whether some form of poison was to blame, said Farhagga, the director of Charikar's hospital.

Strong sweet smell
At least two students interviewed at the hospital by The Associated Press complained of a strong sweet smell, which gave the students headaches and made some girls wobbly before they passed out.

"There was a very strong smell, like flowers in the hallway. I fell down and woke up in the hospital," said the 18-year-old Zahera, who like many Afghan goes by one name.

Sarima Zakeri was on the school's second floor when she heard screams. As she run downstairs, a strong scent hit her.

"It was less about the smell and more like a feeling, like having onion fumes in my eyes," the 18-year-old Zakeri said.

Lightheaded, she made her way back home where she passed out. The family took her to the hospital.

A panic attack?
Nizamuddin Rahimi, a provincial education official, tried to downplay the incident, suggesting it was a panic attack after the students saw one of their colleagues collapse.

As a precaution, and in response to parents' concerns, all students were sent home, Rahimi said.

Several hours after the incident, about three dozen response remained at the hospital, Farhagga said. They were receiving glucose intravenously and oxygen, said Dr. Qassim Asidi, the provincial health director.

The high school where the incident happened is attended by both girls and boys. The girls attend class in the morning, at the time when the students became ill.


Video: Gen. David Petraeus on 'FNS'



Video: Dick Cheney on Gitmo Terrorists Coming to USA



Why Americans Need to See Video of the Unforgettable

The leaders of the House Republican Conference have released this video reminding every American of the dangers of the unlawful enemy combatants currently being securely detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba.
"This video raises the central questions," Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney asked. "'What is President Obama's plan for detaining or releasing prisoners once Guantanamo is closed? And how does it make us safer?"
"The President has made a terrible mistake in closing the finest, most secure and best-run detention and interrogation facility in the world-- with no clue as to what will be done with its prisoners in the next six or seven months."
"Worse still, a number of them are expected to be turned loose on the American people by releasing them into Alexandria, Virginia or some other unsuspecting-- and highly vulnerable-- community in this country."
"A proposal was announced this week to send 100 Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia to undergo a Saudi government 'rehabilitation program' for Jihadists. This is a preposterous idea; violent Jihad against "infidels" is a central obligation for those, like the Gitmo detainees, who adhere to the program authoritative Islam calls Shariah."
"Even if detainees are shipped to one or more federal penitentiaries, they will pose a grave danger. They can teach terrorist technique and ideology to others in prison communities already rife with Islamist proselytization. And their neighbors beyond the prison walls will become new soft targets for the detainees' friends."
The Center for Security Policy urges a public repudiation and congressional prohibition on any Obama administration plan to transfer Guantanamo detainees-- let alone, their release into the United States.
For more information, contact Lee Cohen at lcohen@securefreedom.org or (202) 835-9077
Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatter.org.

'Electronic Police State' report cites U.S. Ultimate Big Brother 'basics are in place'

By Bob Unruh

In what may be the first assessment of its kind, a private company that offers a range of privacy products for computers and other technology is ranking the United States No. 6 in the world for having the most aggressive procedures for monitoring residents electronically.

The report, called The Electronic Police State, assesses the status of governmental surveillance in 52 nations around the globe for 2008.

The document was released Cryptohippie, Inc., which was set up in 2007 through the acquisition of several little-known but highly regarded providers of privacy technologies.

Not surprisingly, China and North Korea ranked No. 1 and No. 2, with Belarus and Russia following up. But the United Kingdom ranked fifth followed by the United States. ....

US Government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. White House: Budget deficit to top $1.8 trillion, 4 times 2008's record