July 31, 2012

Air Force officer creates database of every U.S. bomb dropped since World War I

Lieutenant Colonel Jenns Robertson’s project is aiding efforts to spot unexploded bombs that still endanger civilians.



By Bryan Bender
The Boston Globe
July 30, 2012

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. — Six years ago it seemed a zany idea when Lieutenant Colonel Jenns Robertson, 45, a bespectacled Minnesota native with an outsized gee-whiz quality even by military standards, began a rather unusual hobby: documenting a century of US air power —bomb by bomb.

Robertson asked: “What if you had the detailed data on when and where every bomb was dropped from an airplane in combat? What would you know?”

He worked nights and weekends finding out. Robertson unearthed 1,000 original World War I raid reports, and entered each by hand. For World War II, he scanned roughly 10,000 hand-written or typed pages. More modern conflicts meant combing a hodgepodge of conflict-specific databases.

The result: a compilation that, at the click of a mouse and a few keystrokes, reveals for the first time the sheer magnitude of destruction inflicted by the US and its allies from the air in the last century.

More: http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/07/29/century-data-and-destruction-chronicled-air-force-officer/5m2HK2CP9UcwwJzMhtdQOO/story.html

July 30, 2012

New Wyoming Wolf Plan Will Allow Killing of Hundreds of Wolves

By Michael Robinson
Center for Biological Diversity
July 30, 2012

CHEYENNE, Wyo.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that Wyoming has passed legislation and an amendment to its wolf-management plan that will meet federal approval and trigger removal of Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the state.

The new law and plan — to take effect later this year when wolves are removed from the federal endangered species list — increase the area of Wyoming where wolves would be designated “predators” and could be killed without limit; they also keep in place a “trophy game management area,” where hunting will be allowed to dramatically reduce wolf populations.

“Wyoming’s wolf-management plan is a recipe for wolf slaughter that will only serve to incite more of the prejudice against wolves that led to their destruction in the first place,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has been working for two decades to save and recover wolves throughout the West. “Removal of federal protections for wolves has been a disaster in Idaho and Montana and will be even worse in Wyoming.”

While wolves would remain fully protected within Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, elsewhere in Wyoming they would be subject to shooting, trapping and snaring, including 83 percent of the state where they will be considered “predators” and there will be no limits on their killing. The remaining portion of the state would be considered a “trophy game management area,” where killing wolves would be permitted, with the goal of reducing the population from approximately 29 packs to around 10.

More: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/wolves-04-30-2012.html

July 30, 2012

Democratic platform draft includes marriage equality plank

By Chris Johnson
Washington Blade
July 30, 2012

The Democratic Party platform drafting committee approved on Sunday language endorsing same-sex marriage in addition to other pro-LGBT positions as part of the Democratic Party platform, according to two sources familiar with the drafting process.

Retiring gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who sits on the committee, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the 15-member panel unanimously backed the inclusion of a marriage equality plank after a national hearing over the weekend in Minneapolis, in which several witnesses testified in favor of such language.

“I was part of a unanimous decision to include it,” Frank said. “There was a unanimous decision in the drafting committee to include it in the platform, which I supported, but everybody was for it.”

Frank emphasized that support for marriage equality is a position that has been established for the Democratic Party, from the president, who endorsed marriage equality in May, to House Democratic lawmakers who voted to reject an amendment reaffirming the Defense of Marriage Act earlier this month.

More: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/07/30/democratic-platform-draft-includes-marriage-equality-plank-sources/

July 30, 2012

A tip to avoid duplicate Latest Breaking News posts

Run a quick forum search. If I post about Syria I type "Syria" in the "Search term(s)" field and nothing in any of the other fields. It only takes a few seconds to do and I can easily see if my article/subject has already been posted.

July 30, 2012

Mobile link question.

That is, I don't to post mobile links. If I just remove the remove the "m." the link doesn't work.

Here's the link I used:

m.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/29/syria-bashar-al-assad?cat=world&type=article

Someone suggested using this link:

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/30/syria-aleppo-fight-continues-live

They look very different.

July 30, 2012

Syria's top diplomat in London defects

Source: AFP



July 30, 2012

Syria's top diplomat in London resigned on Monday in protest against the "violent and oppressive" acts of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the Foreign Office said.

The move comes after a series of defections by senior Syrian officials in recent weeks, including diplomats in several countries and top army officers.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that charge d'affaires Khaled al-Ayoubi had informed it on Monday that he had "left his post", describing it as a blow to the Syrian government.

"Mr al-Ayoubi has told us that he is no longer willing to represent a regime that has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people, and is therefore unable to continue in his position," it said.

Read more: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/syrias-top-diplomat-london-defects-151549134.html?.b=index&.ts=1343666690&.intl=US&.lang=en

July 30, 2012

After the battle, despair grips Damascus

Reuters
July 29, 2012

-snip-

The men, from the southern suburb of Sayida Zeinab and Hajar al-Aswad - hit by rockets and heavy machine gun fire from helicopter gunships - said they initially had little sympathy with the uprising against 42 years of Assad family rule, inspired by revolts across the Arab world last year.

"To begin with I was with the regime, for sure," said Ahmed. "But now, no, the regime must go. Take what they want with them, but they must go."

Mohammad blamed the 46-year-old president, who has vowed to defeat what he says is foreign-backed terrorist violence, for the increasing despair in Damascus.

"Can anyone stand by him now? I don't believe it. We're all refugees. We have no houses, no money. Our bosses don't pay us. This must end."

More: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/battle-despair-grips-damascus-100122295.html?.b=index&.ts=1343631768&.intl=US&.lang=en

July 29, 2012

Syria: Battle for Aleppo - live updates

Source: The Guardian

By Haroon Siddique
Jul 29 2012

• Regime helicopters have shelled the key city of Aleppo and clashes have continued on the ground between regime forces and rebel fighters, according to opposition activists. The Guardian's Luke Harding said the two sides are about 1.5km apart. Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed told AP the shelling was most intense in the south-western neighborhoods of Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawla. The government said security agents were hunting down armed groups in Salaheddin. Video purported to show that a government shell had set a plastics factory ablaze in Aleppo.

• Shelling has also been reported by opposition activists in Damascus, Deraa, Hama, Homs and Idlib. There have been clashes rebels and government troops have been reported in Deir Ezzor and Hasaekeh. The Local Coordination Committees opposition activist group claims 21 people have been killed in Sheikh Miskeen, Deraa, alone by security forces. This report cannot be independently verified by the Guardian.

• The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, vowed that the rebels in Aleppo would be defeated as would the "conspiracy" against the country. On a visit to Tehran to meet his counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, Moualem accused Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey of supporting a plot hatched by Israel to destroy Syria. Salehi said the idea that there would be an orderly transition of power if the Assad regime fell from power was "a dream ...an illusion".

• The Syrian opposition has appealed for its foreign allies to provide with heavy weapons to fight President Bashar al-Assad's "killing machine". The Syrian National Council (SNC) also said it would soon start talks on forming a transitional government to replace him. "The rebels are fighting with primitive weapons. We want weapons that we can stop tanks and planes with. This is what we want," Abdelbasset Sida, head of the SNC said. The SNC is an umbrella opposition group but has been riven by internal dissent and external criticism, questioning its legitimacy.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/30/syria-aleppo-fight-continues-live

July 29, 2012

For the first time in Olympic history all participating teams will have female atheletes

July 27, 2012

Colorado shooting suspect was seeing psychiatrist at university

Carol D. Leonnig, Brady Dennis and Jenna Johnson
The Washington Post
Jul 27, 2012

The shooting suspect in the Colorado theater rampage was seeing a university psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia in the weeks before the July 20 attack, according to court records released Friday.

James Holmes was seeing Lynne Fenton, the director of student mental health services at the University of Colorado and a medical school professor. Holmes was a first-year graduate student in a neuroscience Ph.D. program.

Holmes sent a notebook to Fenton, his lawyers said in motions to the court Friday. The notebook included crude drawings depicting a mass killing, according to news reports, but it remains unclear when the notebook reached the university.

Holmes’s lawyers at the public defender’s office have asked the judge overseeing the case to find out who leaked information to the media about the notebook and its contents, arguing that Holmes’ privacy and constitutional rights have been violated.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/colorado-shooting-suspect-james-holmes-was-seeing-psychiatrist-at-university-before-massacre/2012/07/27/gJQAsTwHEX_story.html