Iraqi’s Celebrate Sovereignty?

“The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security,” said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “We are now celebrating the restoration of sovereignty.”

This is a bit of a stretch isn’t it?  Oh sure the troops (but not all) have left the cities of Iraq; but they are just outside the borders of those cities and able to come right back in.  So what is this claim to “Sovereignty”?

Fireworks, not bombings, colored the Baghdad skyline late Monday, and thousands attended a party in a park where singers performed patriotic songs. Loudspeakers at police stations and military checkpoints played recordings of similar tunes throughout the day, as Iraqi military vehicles decorated with flowers and national flags patrolled the capital.

“All of us are happy _ Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day,” Waleed al-Bahadili said as he celebrated at the park. “The Americans harmed and insulted us too much.”

Al-Maliki declared a public holiday and proclaimed June 30 as “National Sovereignty Day.”

Americans HARMED and INSULTED us too much?  Say what!? We’ve lost 4321 precious men and women lives (not counting the 31,000 wounded, some with life long injuries) to FREE them and this is the THANKS we get? With that sort of attitude we should just GET OUT NOW!

The withdrawal, required under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, marks the first major step toward withdrawing all American forces from the country by Dec. 31, 2011. Obama has said all combat troops will be gone by the end of August 2010.

Despite Tuesday’s formal pullback, some U.S. troops will remain in the cities to train and advise Iraqi forces. U.S. troops will return to the cities only if asked. The U.S. military will continue combat operations in rural areas and near the border, but only with the Iraqi government’s permission.

The U.S. has not said how many troops will be in the cities in advisory roles, but the vast majority of the more than 130,000 U.S. forces remaining in the country will be in large bases scattered outside cities.

As usual the whole story is not in the headlines, just the sensationalism part.

What this celebration is all about is, an attempt by both the U.S. and Iraqi leadership to convince the enemy that the U.S. is GONE, so you can quit the fighting and killing now.

Jackson Kids Not His!

MICHAEL Jackson’s two eldest kids face a tug-of-love battle after their mum Debbie Rowe confessed he was not their father.

In an astonishing interview Debbie – mother of Prince, 12, and Paris, 11 – said she was artificially inseminated by an anonymous donor…

Debbie (who lives on a farm surrounded by animals) said, ““I was just the vessel. It wasn’t Michael’s sperm. Just like I stick the sperm up my horse, this is what they did to me. I was his thoroughbred.”….

I had a feeling they weren’t his when the announcements came out about the pregnancies.  It’s sad because these kids will forever be in limbo now especially since Jackson’s estate is in such deep dept.

Unfortunately, their only chance is the money ‘his name’ will most likely draw — now that he is dead.

Soldier and Dog Save One Another

FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — Army Specialist Cameron Briggs washes down a cocktail of prescription drugs every day for post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury he suffered when four roadside bombs rocked his Humvee in Iraq.

Tramadol for pain. Midrin for debilitating headaches. Minipress to suppress nightmares. Klonopin to control anger and anxiety.

His next dose of treatment will come from an unlikely source: a purebred Golden Retriever.

A new Veterans Administration program adopts dogs from animal shelters, trains them and matches them with wounded warriors home from Iraq and Afghanistan to help with their recovery.

For Briggs, his dog will be trained to help him find his wallet, cell phone and keys, which he habitually loses because of cognitive memory loss. The dog also will brace Briggs, who has an ankle injury, so he doesn’t have to use a cane or walker in public.

“I call him my little battle buddy,” the 24-year-old Briggs said as he strapped his old camouflage assault vest onto Harper. It’s modified to store biscuits and toys instead of ammunition. “I most definitely think he’ll help me transfer back to civilian life.”

This is such a benefit for all involved.  Not only does the soldier gain some support and love when they need it most from having a dog that can ‘help’ them live a normal life; the dog gets saved from what most likely would have been a certain death at the local animal shelter.

Kudos to the Veterans Administration and the Freedom Service Dogs in Denver!

I’m curious however, is this one of those social service programs that a Republican would demand be cut from the budget?

Bush Signed the Agreement – Not Obama

Our troops are pulling out of Iraqi cities as of tomorrow and leaving their security up to the Iraqi troops.  This is what former Vice President Cheney had to say about it:

Mr. Cheney told The Washington Times’ America’s Morning News radio show that he is a strong believer in Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and that the general is doing what needs to be done.

“But what he says concerns me: That there is still a continuing problem. One might speculate that insurgents are waiting as soon as they get an opportunity to launch more attacks.

“I hope Iraqis can deal with it. At some point they have to stand on their own. But I would not want to see the U.S. waste all the tremendous sacrifice that has gotten us to this point.”

Need I remind you Mr Cheney, that is was ‘your‘ administration that signed the agreement to do this?

The troops aren’t leaving ‘IRAQ’ they are pulling out of the cities, which means if need be, they ‘could’ return for specific missions to assist the Iraqi troops.

Hopefully however, Gen. Ray Odierno is correct — the Iraqi’s are finally ready to STAND UP for themselves– after 6 and a half years of training.

He’s A Bit Slow But Intelligent..

This robot is interesting to watch if you don’t fall asleep first…LOL

But just imagine having one of these help you put together those toys after opening birthday or Christmas presents.

The EU Joint-Action Science and Technology project (JAST) is developing robots that can engage in joint activities with humans or other robots, to complete tasks through teamwork. Their latest demonstration (see video above) shows their progress with a robot that observes and predicts a human working on a project. The robot identifies the components the human is using and the likely result of assembling the components. The robot then assists the human with the work, locating parts as they are needed, and providing them to the human. The idea is to give robot the capacity for “observation and mirroring (resonance)”.

If you’ve ever written a computer program, then you know just how much code goes into moving just the arm of this robot, let alone the fingers, voice, head, etc…  It’s brain boggling.

Take a peak at this little guy (ASIMO) – Amazing

Michael Jackson’s Death

Michael Jackson’s death is a bit of a shock.  I have to admit that when I first heard he was taken to the hospital, I thought it was just another stunt to get back into the limelight again with his fans.  I’d heard previously that he planned another comeback musical tour, so I figured, here we go again.

However, when they reported it was from a cardiac arrest, I knew then that he wasn’t ‘playing around’.  Then my thoughts surrounded his whole life, when he started singing, how far he’d gone and the many songs and dances that I’ve heard or watched him sing.

The very first song that I ever really ‘loved’ (don’t ask why, haven’t a clue) was “My Girl“.  I fell in love with the words and Michael when that song came out.

There were many songs like “Ben” and others that I fell in love with.  Michael’s moonwalk was amazing.  I don’t thing anybody has been able to do quite like Jackson.

While I honestly believe the man was guilty of child molestation, I feel the need to still, thank Michael and his family, for all their music and dance and the joy that they brought me over the years.

Iraq Cities: Just 4 More Days…

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has concluded the risk of a security collapse in Iraq is too slight to slow plans for withdrawing U.S. troops. In the run-up to June 30, the deadline for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities...

intelligence analysts, policy advisers and military officers in Washington and Iraq said in a series of interviews that they believe the threat of renewed sectarian warfare is receding…

The next milestone on the path to U.S. military disengagement is next Tuesday’s deadline for American combat forces to leave Iraqi cities, including Mosul, which has been a hotbed of insurgent activity. The deadline is in an agreement reached during the administration of President George W. Bush as a step toward the full withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011.

I thought I’d just remind Americans exactly who it was that signed the agreement to remove combat troops from the cities of Iraq by June 30, 2009…just in case things go badly over there afterwards. (more…)

Say It To the Right Ear…

Most people prefer to be addressed in their right ears in everyday settings and are more likely to do a favor when the request is received in their right ears rather than their left ones, new research suggests.

A well-known asymmetry in humans is the right ear dominance for listening to verbal stimuli, which is thought to reflect the brain’s left hemisphere superiority for processing verbal information. This preference for hearing with the right ear is also found in rats, Japanese macaques, harpy eagles, sea lions and dogs…

In the first study, 286 clubbers were observed while they were talking, with loud music in the background. In total, 72 percent of interactions occurred on the right side of the listener…

In the second study, the researchers approached 160 clubbers and mumbled an inaudible, meaningless utterance (such as “babababa”) and waited for the subjects to turn their head and offer either their left of their right ear…

In the third study, the researchers intentionally addressed 176 clubbers in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette. They obtained significantly more cigarettes when they spoke to the clubbers’ right ear compared with their left…

Not only do humans prefer to hear in the right ear, we actually hear information better in our right ears, Tommasi said.

Pitch, timbre and loudness are discriminated better with left ear (right hemisphere), but duration is better discriminated with the right ear (left hemisphere).

Guess this means that if you want to get your wife, husband, child or coworker to actually ‘soak in‘ what you say – tell them to turn their right ear towards you, then speak directly into that ear.  And next time you approach your boss about a raise — stand to his/her right when doing so.

Most people are right handed.  Perhaps it’s related?  I wonder what happens if you are left handed?  It’s been said that left-handed people are high achievers.  Does this mean that you should speak into their ‘left’ ear?

CITIZENS OF IRAN

If you are from Iran or know of some one that is and they would like to tell their story here, please have them contact me ASAP!

$1 A Day — to Not Get Pregnant?

GREENSBORO — A buck-a-day — that’s the incentive being offered to young girls to keep them from getting pregnant…

Brown said she hopes the program, which pays $1 each day to 12-to-18-year-old girls, will keep them from getting pregnant. In addition to remaining pregnancy-free, the girls must also attend weekly meetings.

The program is funded by a four-year grant from the state…

Under the program, $7 is deposited into an interest-bearing college fund that the girls can collect once they graduate high school.

Some recent graduates earned more than $2,000 and are an inspiration to those still in the program…

If a girl drops out or gets pregnant, her money is divided among the other girls still in the program.

$1 dollar a day to not have sex or get pregnant; not much of an incentive in my view, when these same girls could probably get lots more by ‘having’ sex, or for that matter, getting pregnant.

I can see it now.  The young guys in high school hear about the $1 a day program and through the grapevine get word of who signed up for the program. Once the guy knows that, he knows the girl must need money.  He than offers that girl ‘more’ money for ‘having’ sex with him.  All he has to do is offer her a condom and say, “Hey, you want to make an extra buck or two on top of that $1 you are getting from the program?”

The idea of putting $7 a week away for college in exchange for graduating from high school; now that I can agree with.  That is a good idea.

What happens if the girl graduates but ends up pregnant just before graduating?  Does she lose all that college money?  I don’t think that would be fair.  Maybe they give her a percentage of the money (subtracting that extra $1 a day sum)?  I would hope so.  At least she graduated high school.

A lot of ‘ifs’ involved but I like the goals.