Report: N. Korea Fires 2 Mid-Range Missiles

Friday, July 03, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea —  A news report says North Korea has fired two mid-range missiles off it eastern coast.

Yonhap news agency's report says the launches Saturday appeared to be of Scud missiles. The agency quotes a South Korean government official it did not identify.

The official says the missiles fired were estimated to have a range of about 300 miles.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530004,00.html

Let me preface by saying that I respect and admire Sarah Palin, but her decision today is wrong. When I first heard the news that she will not run for re-election I said to myself that is fine and okay because that is her right if she wants to run or not to run. But, when I heard her announce that she will be resigning, I was immediately disgusted by what she had to say. Even though many conservatives can not offer any criticism of Sarah Palin, I believe I am one conservative who is able to criticize her. Many conservatives feel that criticizing her is wrong because she has done nothing wrong or that she has been criticized enough, but I believe that if one does not criticize anybody we have a person or a politician became a Messiah and she did do something wrong today. Sarah Palin has a duty to serve her constituents in Alaska and the fact that she bailed out on them is absolutely wrong. She was elected to serve her state of Alaska as governor and she has responsibilities that come with that. Among them, is to serve out your term in office that you were elected for. I have said before that Sarah Palin will not win in the future because of how much the media has tarnished her in the public eye and I believe with this announcement it will hurt her even more. I am truly disappointed with her decision to resign. If there was something wrong within her family I could understand that, but she did not allude to that. She had a duty to serve her state and she has failed at that. I wish her the best of luck in her future.

AP

URGENT: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin drops political bombshell, announces she's quitting effective the end of the month.

'Options' If North Korea Targets U.S.

White House national security adviser says 'range of options' considered if missile fired

U.S. 'ready' for N. Korean missile

Pyongyang expected to test ICBM

By Bill Gertz (Contact)

Originally published 04:45 a.m., July 2, 2009, updated 09:26 a.m., July 2, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS | U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/us-ready-for-n-korean-missile/

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html

Sotomayor advised critics of Bork

Legal fund tied to Supreme Court nominee

By Tom LoBianco (Contact) | Thursday, July 2, 2009

A legal advocacy group advised by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in the 1980s actively opposed conservative Robert H. Bork's nomination to the high court calling him a "threat" to the "civil rights of the Latino community."

The Senate went on to reject President Reagan's nominee in 1987.

The revelation is included in 350 pages of documents the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund delivered to the senators late Tuesday evening.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/nominee-advised-critics-of-bork/

July 3, 1775

Washington assumes command

On Cambridge common in Massachusetts, George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered there, draws his sword, and formally takes command of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, was appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before. In serving the American colonies in their war for independence, he declined to accept payment for his services beyond reimbursement of future expenses.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5146

July 3, 1863

Battle of Gettysburg ends

On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=6947

1890 - Idaho became the 43rd state to join the United States of America.

1997 - U.S. President Clinton made his first formal response to the charges of sexual harassment from Paula Jones. He denied all the charges and asked that the judge dismiss the case.

Key Republicans in both the House and the Senate are accusing the White House of giving “incomplete and misleading” information to investigators probing the president’s abrupt firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin.  In return, the White House is hinting that documents concerning its actions in the Walpin affair may be protected by executive privilege.

Both developments are part of an escalating conflict between GOP lawmakers and the Obama administration.  Republicans are deeply skeptical of the White House explanation for the June 10 firing of Walpin, a tough investigator who had been probing misuse of AmeriCorps money by Sacramento, Calif., mayor — and prominent Obama supporter — Kevin Johnson.  And the administration seems determined to conceal its dealings with AmeriCorps and the organization that oversees it, the Corporation for National and Community Service.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Battle-lines-drawn-in-AmeriCorps-IG-scandal--49767217.html

July 2, 1776

Congress votes for independence

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopts Richard Henry Lee's resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=50365

July 2, 1864

Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill

July 2, 1881

President Garfield is shot

On this day in 1881, President James A. Garfield, who had been in office just under four months, is shot by an assassin. Garfield lingered for 80 days before dying of complications from the shooting.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=50757

1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.

July 2, 1964

Johnson signs Civil Rights Act

On this day in 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=5145

1976 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.


1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter reinstated draft registration for males 18 years of age.

Now they want Reagan's name off the airport

By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Examiner Columnist
07/02/09 3:26 PM EDT

At Wednesday’s Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board meeting, chairman H.R. Crawford – a former District Council member and Marion Barry confidante – told fellow Board members that he has heard talk on Capitol Hill about yanking former President Ronald Reagan’s name off the local airport and returning it to its previous generic moniker: National Airport.

“It was just a discussion. We’re not aware of anything specific,” MWAA spokeswoman Tara Hamilton later told The Examiner.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Now-they-want-Reagans-name-off-the-airport-49712322.html

• Get Covered ... or Pay Up

  Americans who refuse to buy medical coverage may be hit with fines up to $1,000 under new bill by Senate Dems

Obama Administration to Involve NSA in Defending Civilian Agency Networks

By Ellen Nakashima

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 2, 2009; 4:15 PM

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070202771.html?hpid=topnews

EDITORIAL: Democrats' FOIA problems

A lack of transparency in the majority party

By | Sunday, June 28, 2009

President Obama's promises of greater government transparency haven't panned out. Multiple transparency problems afflict the Obama administration.

Just last week, the administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for White House logs showing the names of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Mr. Obama's "clean coal" policies. This is the same Mr. Obama who as senator castigated the "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House during the Bush administration.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/28/democrats-foia-problems/

A Garden of Piggish Delights
Waxman-Markey is part power-grab, part enviro-fantasy. Here are 50 reasons to stop it.

By Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson

The stimulus bill was the legislative equivalent of the famous cantina scene from Star Wars, an eye-popping collection of the freakish and exotic, gathered for dubious purposes. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, known as ACES (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), is more like the third panel in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights — a hellscape that disturbs the sleep of anybody who contemplates it carefully.

Two main things to understand about Waxman-Markey: First, it will not reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, at least not at any point in the near future. The inclusion of carbon offsets, which can be manufactured out of thin air and political imagination, will eliminate most of the demands that the legislation puts on industry, though in doing so it will manage to drive up the prices consumers pay for every product that requires energy for its manufacture — which is to say, for everything. Second, it represents a worse abuse of the public trust and purse than the stimulus and the bailouts put together. Waxman-Markey creates a permanent new regime in which environmental romanticism and corporate welfare are mixed together to form political poison. From comic bureaucratic power grabs (check out the section of the bill on candelabras) to the creation of new welfare programs for Democratic constituencies to, above all, massive giveaways for every financial, industrial, and political lobby imaginable, this bill would permanently deform American politics and economic life.

The House of Representatives, famously, did not read this bill before passing it, which is testament to either Nancy Pelosi’s managerial incompetency or her political wile, or possibly both. If you take the time to read the legislation, you’ll discover four major themes: special-interest giveaways, regulatory mandates unrelated to climate change, fanciful technological programs worthy of The Jetsons, and assorted left-wing wish fulfillment. We cannot cover every swirl and brushstroke of this masterpiece of misgovernance, but here’s a breakdown of its 50 most outrageous features.

SPECIAL-INTEREST SOPS
1. The big doozy: Eighty-five percent of the carbon permits will not be sold at auction — they will be given away to utility companies, petroleum interests, refineries, and a coterie of politically connected businesses. If you’re wondering why Big Business supports cap-and-trade, that’s why. Free money for business, but higher energy prices for you.

2. The sale of carbon permits will enrich the Wall Street investment bankers whose money put Obama in the White House. Top of the list: Goldman Sachs, which is invested in carbon-offset development and carbon permissions. CNN reports:upping emissions of nitrous oxide — a much more powerful greenhouse gas. The practice also makes weed control more difficult, meaning that it supports the market for herbicides such as Monsanto’s RoundUp. Guess who’s spending millions lobbying for no-till?

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTc1MmVhMGYxY2UzNzAwMTJlODBjZjg2NDJjNmM2MWE=&w=MA==