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Expect More!
From the DoD site, I stumbled on this United States government site: ExpectMore.gov The content on ExpectMore.gov is developed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Federal agencies. Together, we assess the performance of every Federal program and hold ourselves accountable for improvement. HOW WE ASSESS PROGRAMS – The Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) The Federal Government wants programs to work. It is assessing all programs to make sure they are working well for the American people. We use a standard questionnaire called the Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, for short. The PART asks approximately 25 important, yet common sense, questions about a program’s performance and management. For each question, there is a short answer and a detailed explanation with supporting evidence. The answers determine a program’s overall rating. Once each assessment … Read entire article »
Filed under: American Politics, Government, Politics, Pork Busters
Burma’s Muslims
BBC The Rohingya people of western Burma’s Arakan State are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission and have no legal right to own land or property. Not only that but even though groups of them have been living in Burma for hundreds of years, they are also denied citizenship by the country’s military government. For decades this Muslim group of ethnic-Indo origins have been considered the lowest of the low in this mainly Buddhist country. In addition to their almost total lack of legal rights many have been regularly beaten by police, forced to do slave labour and jailed for little or no reason. In 1992, 250,000 Rohingyas, which is a third of their population, fled over Burma’s border into Bangladesh to escape the persecution. Fourteen years later more than 20,000 of them … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islam, Other Countries, Religion
Paki Perfidity
Vanity Fair This vision of a Pakistan teetering on the brink of anarchy simply doesn’t square with reality, however. In recent parliamentary elections, no candidate, including Islamic radicals, got more than 11 percent of the vote—hardly a threat to a military dictator. And the Pakistani military is configured to repulse a land invasion from India that would involve airpower, armored divisions, and hundreds of thousands of men; the idea that they cannot control Pashtun tribal areas that start a few hours’ drive from Islamabad is laughable. And even if that were true, Taliban commanders are hardly hiding in caves up in the mountains; they live in villas in the suburbs of Quetta. They use cell phones, they drive cars, they go to mosques—they are easy to find, in other words. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Afghanistan, Military, War on Terror
Info from Iraq
Iraq Weekly Status March 22 2006 [PDF]: National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) civic forum programs have reached nearly 37,000 Iraqis on the role of the national parliament. Despite curfews and increased violence, Iraqis remained committed to improving the political process by continuing to conduct training and grassroots organizing in civic forums. About 14,000 citizens received training on the role and responsibilities of elected members of parliament (MPs) as well as how to advocate for citizens’ rights. Over 40,000 booklets on Structure, Role, and Public Life of the Council of Representatives were also distributed. Lower seasonal demands with moderate temperatures are resulting in greater electricity availability throughout Iraq. Electricity availability in Baghdad improved in the last week (14 – 21 March 2006) with an average of 8.6 hours per day. Nationwide average electricity availability … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq, Military, Rebuilding, War on Terror
Strategy for Victory
Go and read the whole document. White House The Advance Of Freedom Is The Story Of Our Time. Just 25 years ago, there were only 45 democracies. Today, Freedom House reports there are 122 democracies, and more people live in liberty than ever before. Since the beginning of 2005, remarkable democratic change has occurred across the globe in places like Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, and Iraq. Freedom House has declared 2005 “one of the most successful years for freedom since Freedom House began measuring world freedom” more than 30 years ago. The enemy tried to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They tried to stop millions from voting in the January 2005 elections. They tried to stop Sunnis from participating in the October constitutional referendum. And they tried to stop millions from voting in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq, Rebuilding, War on Terror
Previously ‘Unknown’ Pearl Harbor Victim Reburied With Full Honors
American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – A once-unidentified sailor killed in the Pearl Harbor attack almost 65 years ago was laid to rest today with full honors and a grave marker bearing his name, thanks to sleuth work by a Pearl Harbor survivor and U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s expertise. Seaman 2nd Class Warren Paul Hickok was reinterred this morning at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, more commonly called the Punchbowl. The 18-year-old Kalamazoo, Mich., native had been among more than 1,500 sailors, soldiers, Marines and civilians killed during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack but never identified. Hickok was assigned to the light mine layer USS Sicard when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. According to defense officials, many Sicard crewmembers had been dispatched at the time … Read entire article »
Filed under: Military, Obits, World War II
Predator Kills Three Terrs
American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 29, 2006 – An MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle engaged three insurgents in the process of planting a homemade bomb along a road near Balad Air Base, Iraq, yesterday evening and launched an AGM-114 Hellfire missile against the group. The Predator monitored the three terrorists for about a half hour while they used a pick ax to dig a hole in the road, placed an explosive round in the hole, and strung wires from the hole to a ditch on the side of the road. When it was clear the individuals were placing a bomb, the Predator launched the 100-pound Hellfire missile, killing all three insurgents. “This is a prime example of how airpower is supporting the fight on the ground,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Frank … Read entire article »
Filed under: Iraq, Military, War on Terror
Crash!
So, I was down the hall, er…, thinking. Yeah, that’s it. I was thinking. When I heard a huge crash. I thought someone had dropped a desk while moving it. I quickly finished thinking, and went out into the hall. No disaster. I asked the West Pointer if he heard the crash. Nope. Then a secretary from our landlord beckoned me, to where the ladies, er…, think. Luckily no one was doing makeup, hair or nails. Talk about getting sliced and diced! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Me and Mine, Odd News, Photos
Coming Soon: Future Posts
- Declaration of War 1812 (in 132 days)
- USS President vs HMS Belvidera (in 137 days)
- General Hull Invades Canada (in 156 days)
- First Battle of Sacketts Harbor (in 163 days)
On Y!CN
- Radioactive Gravel from Japanese Nuke Disaster Used in Buildings
- Fuel Supplies Reach Nome
- Fuel Convoy Reaches Nome
- Russians Sail to Rescue of Ice Bound Alaska Community
- Pope Embraces Anglicans in U.S. with New Ordinariate
- Nebraska Nuke Plant Placed on Special Inspection Status
- Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Nuke Site
- Japan Damaged Nuke Plants Still Not Under Control
Social Links
Rural China
March 31st, 2006 | Comments Off
Ignore the rural Chinese at your peril ought to be the watchword in Peking. More than one Emperor has found a revolt ending his tenure on the Peacock Throne. BBC In the last decade, two things have happened to make the tension between the city and the countryside worse. One is that the countryside has begun moving to the city. Between 100 and 150 million Chinese peasants have quit their villages and headed to the cities to look for work. The second is that the city is moving to the countryside. As China’s urban centres boom they are gobbling up farmland at a voracious rate. A total of 16 million acres (6,475,000 hectares) have gone in the last 20 years. The tens of millions who have moved to the cities find themselves treated like second … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, China's Economy, Commentary, Original writing