A third war won’t kill us, right?:

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon’s top military officer says he’s comfortable that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons remain secure, but is gravely concerned about Taliban advances there and in Afghanistan.

He says the United States has worked with the Pakistanis to improve the security of their nuclear arsenal and he believes that country’s military is focused on keeping them secure.

He also said Monday the worst-case scenario is that Pakistan’s weapons would fall into the hands of terrorists. But he said he doesn’t think that’s going to happen.

Mullen spoke at a Pentagon news conference on his recent trip to the region.

Right. We’re relying on the Pakistani military to protect the nuclear weapons? This military?:

Pakistan’s army: as inept as it is corrupt

The answer to why Pakistan’s mighty army seems impotent against Taliban insurgents is that it is more mafia than military

I have a bad feeling about this….

Update: We should have been dealing with this problem years ago, but instead the Bush administration just threw money at it.

Pakistan’s peace pact with the Taliban is close to collapse, a Taliban spokesman has warned, accusing the government and the army of being stooges for the US.

The warning came as Pakistani troops continued their offensive against Taliban fighters in Buner in the country’s northwest on Monday, killing seven fighters.

The fighting has strained the government’s deal with the Taliban that allows for the enforcement of sharia, or Islamic law, across Malakand division in exchange for peace.

“They [the army and government] have no respect for any pact,” Muslim Khan, the Pakistani Taliban’s spokesman in neighbouring Swat, said.

“They keep violating every agreement and if this goes on, definitely there will be no deal, no ceasefire.

“This is not our army, this is not our government. They’re worse enemies of Muslims than the Americans. They’re US stooges and now it’s clear that either we’ll be martyred or we’ll march forward.”

Just goes to show you when you had a stooge who became preznit, the entire government reflected his leadership….

crossposted at Rants from the Rookery

When tiny terrorists come knocking, can you afford to stay home when you get the flu? Do you have insurance? Is you job secure? Is your boss sympathetic to the larger picture of workplace health and it’s effect on PUBLIC HEALTH? The United States is talking about declaring a Public Health Emergency … will that make you stay home, if you have one? Will you loose your job? This is where the Federal Government must set solid guidelines for all Public Health issues, like it or not. OR, we can all move to Nebraska!

Where is Homeland Security? If potential Pandemic is at the doorstep, the condition of the “Homeland” seems obvious. The sad state of US health care availability, thanks to prior administration policies of health care for the privileged, has come back to bite us in the ass.

“This is an H1N1 strain of influenza A. (Credit: Dr. E. Palmer; R.E. Bates)”

For the USA, the decision to make sick employees stay home is ultimately left to the employer. Federal employees have guidance from federal agencies who make the rules for workplace safety. But, small business has no official guidance and can rely solely on its own common sense and ethics. This is not always a good arrangement, especially with workers paranoid about loosing their jobs. Some other countries have made preemptive arrangements for addressing outbreaks, but it is unclear exactly what the US plans to enforce. Emphasis lies on the “recommendations” from agencies like CDC and HHS. It is left to states and counties for actions. Is this really practical when the issue has no borders or political divides? The paranoia in North America has spread like its own pandemic … economic paranoia, employment paranoia, inadequate health resources paranoia and now a tiny terrorist called ‘VIRUS’ has caused paranoia to become a PLURAL!

CDC: Swine flu viruses in U.S. and Mexico match

• Swine flu found in U.S. is same that killed at least 68 in Mexico
• The latest U.S. case of swine flu occurred in California, the CDC says
• Eight cases of the strain of swine flu have been confirmed in humans in the U.S.

Mexico warns no kissing as 81 dead in swine flu outbreak

• WHO warns countries to look out for “unusual” outbreaks of flu
• New Zealand quarantines 22 students, 3 teachers with swine flu symptoms
• Officials urge Mexicans to avoid large crowds, kissing in greeting

Mexico flu sparks worldwide fear

Mexican authorities have taken drastic measures to contain a new strain of the swine flu virus that has killed 81 and prompted fears of a global pandemic. People are being urged to stay at home and maintain strict personal hygiene. Many schools, public buildings, bars and restaurants have been closed.

The Mexican government, which has faced criticism for what some see as a slow reaction to this outbreak, is now taking an increasingly hard line to try to contain the virus, says the BBC’s Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City. Public buildings have been closed and hundreds of public events suspended.

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has announced emergency measures to deal with the situation. They include powers to isolate individuals suspected of having the virus without fear of legal repercussions.

SNAP ANALYSIS-New swine flu likely widespread, experts say … the new strain of H1N1 has the potential to become a pandemic strain because it does spread easily and does cause serious disease.

Texas family quarantined after son contracts swine flu

• Texas teen is one of eight in U.S. diagnosed with swine flu
• Teen’s family ordered to stay away from public
• Dozens in Mexico have died from same strain of swine flu found in U.S.
• Officials say new strain has resisted some antiviral drugs

CDC Advisory: Swine Influenza (Flu)

HHS Swine Flu Investigation

Federal Response Stages

State and Local Government Planning & Response Activities

Workplace Planning

Not all of the employment laws referenced apply to all employers or all employees, particularly state and local government agencies. For information on whether a particular employer or employee is covered by a law, please use the links provided for more detailed information. This information is not intended for federal agencies or federal employees — they should contact the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for guidance. As an overall matter, employers should be guided in their relationship with their employees not only by federal employment law, but by their own employee handbooks, manuals, and contracts (including bargaining agreements), and by any applicable state or local laws.

• Could an organization be held liable if their employees or customers contract pandemic influenza while working at or visiting its place of business?

• Could employers be held liable if employees are injured while teleworking?

• Can employers close their place of business to employees or customers known to have contracted or to have been exposed to pandemic influenza?

  

• What kinds of information should be conveyed to employees to prepare them for the issues that are likely to be of concern to them should a pandemic occur? What is the best way to communicate this information?
  

• What changes should be made, if any, to employee travel and what should be done to ensure employees living abroad are prepared?

• Should employers encourage employees to obtain seasonal flu vaccines and offer them in the workplace?
• Socialized Medicine, No Medicine or Someone Else’s Medicine
• Corrupt Medicine Is Not A Panacea - No Medicare Oversight
• Your Profile Determines Your Insurability But Inmates Get Free Health Care
• Purses Tighten, Small Business Suffers, Families Budget
• Humans, Economics and “the law of unintended consequences”
• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Privacy Issues
• Workplace Benefits
• Workplace Safety and Health Issues
• Unemployment Issues and Financial Assistance
• Private Sector Workplace Issues

BossKitty has brought attention to the consequences US Health Care disparity before. The issue is, the uninsured become liabilities when a contagion erupts. Without medical attention, the US has guaranteed a health crisis that effects the whole population, except the privileged who can pay for treatments anywhere in the world. Check out previous opinions:

• Socialized Medicine, No Medicine or Someone Else’s Medicine
• Corrupt Medicine Is Not A Panacea - No Medicare Oversight
• Your Profile Determines Your Insurability But Inmates Get Free Health Care
• Purses Tighten, Small Business Suffers, Families Budget
• Humans, Economics and “the law of unintended consequences”

Israel takes Obama’s outreach to opponents personally. Without knowing all the back room details, it appears the exclusive influence on American diplomacy enjoyed by Israel since 1946, is threatened. With global economic and environmental crisis at hand, can America risk ignoring efforts to get all nations back on the same page? Recent articles on DEBKAfile are questioning Obama’s dialog efforts with political opponents. Balance must begin with shifting weight from one side of the scale to the other. No longer can one side be propped up to give the illusion of balance. There is no shortage of skeletons in the world’s closets when it comes to public and secret diplomacy. No longer are empty gestures and rhetoric effective. No one is fooled. The era of using past atrocities to justify present atrocities must end. Obama is making a brave move that could threaten old alliances. Israel has been the bear in the room for too long. Illusions do not satisfy the reality that regional conflicts can destroy the whole world. Magic is only in the eye of the beholder.

How many Hollywood ‘B’ movies illustrate that a common enemy can unite the world. Of course, that idea is fiction, maybe its naive to imagine it could really work. If Utopia can be defined, every religion, economy and political agenda would share the common goal of survival. Ah, but human nature accepts contradiction between words and deeds. Philosophers try so hard to paint logical explanations for human behavior, but, religions prefer a more authoritarian posture. Religions don’t care about human nature or natural behavior, religions just want to control humans by stating that a higher power says so, dieties spoke to our ancestors. Skepicism and resentment abound among the sibling religions. Israel, Iran and the entire Middle East have been itching to pull the trigger on each other officilly. Their clandestine war has been raging for decades … with too many failed attempts to reconcile differences. Death, destruction and grief have fanned the flames of feud since 1946. The prevailing mindset for the Middle East continues to focus on eliminating each other. Efforts by European and American diplomats have produced very short pauses in conflict, followed by escalation of violence. Any target will do, as long as it reinforces the feud. Retaliation that only begets more retaliation is the most senseless behavior for modern society. With capabilities for mass extermination in the hands of everybody, juvenile behavior must no longer be tolerated. Ruling the world by threatening to destroy the world is the self-fulfilling prophecy of the children of Abraham. Abraham, Father of Religions, appears to have failed to discipline his naughty, arrogant children.

It is a crying shame that the entire world must suffer the consequences of a military industrial complex feeds all sides of conflict with no ethical restrictions. Even gamblers know ‘when to fold’, cut the losses and start a new game. .

This has gotten beyond surreal. 

The CIA used the waterboard “at least 83 times during August 2002″ in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

Shoved in a box full of bugs, kept awake for eleven days, two-hour drowning “sessions” twice daily with six “applications” each time — and we couldn’t figure out where Osama bin Laden is?

The terrorists won.  They made us destroy who we were by sacrificing that which we held most dear — our honor.

If Congress doesn’t have the stones to impeach Judge Bybee, if our Justice Department refuses to prosecute the animals who authorized and perpetrated these depravities, if the author of these affronts to any form of legal ethics himself doesn’t possess the integrity to step down, please tell me that at least the Committee on Character and Fitness of the Washington DC Bar Association will have the moral rectitude to initiate disbarment proceedings.  It might not get him off the bench from a procedureal standing, but it’s a start.

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Lagniappe:

Eruption
Vietnam Napalm Photo
Born Under Punches
Cross-Eyed and Painless

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