Nowhere is the gap between sinister stereotype and ridiculous reality more apparent than in Afghanistan, where it’s fair to say that the Taliban employ the world’s worst suicide bombers: one in two manages to kill only himself. And this success rate hasn’t improved at all in the five years they’ve been using suicide bombers, despite the experience of hundreds of attacks—or attempted attacks. In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. According to several sources at the United Nations, as many as six would-be suicide bombers died last July after one such embrace in Paktika.

Yet another broken promise by the Obama administration. I suspect the only reason they made this promise was to provide coverage for the Democrats who voted for this bill despite supposedly representing pro-life constituents. This broken promise certainly was not a surprise to anyone paying attention. The only surprise to me is that Obama felt comfortable breaking his word before this November's elections. He must really believe the majority of voters are dumb and ignorant. I think he will learn otherwise this November.

Jose and Carlos are both beggars. They beg in different areas of town. Carlos begs for the same amount of time as Jose, but only collects about eight or nine dollars a day Every day, Jose brings home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills. He drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house, and has lots of cash to spend. "Hey, amigo," Carlos says to Jose, "I work just as long and hard as you do, so how come you bring home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills every day?" Jose says, "Look at your sign, what does it say?" Carlos' sign reads: "I have no work, a wife and six kids to support." "What's wrong with that?" Carlos asks him. "No wonder you only get eight or nine dollars a day!"Carlos says, "Alright, so what does your sign say?" Jose's sign reads: "I only need ten dollars to get back to Mexico..."

After almost I year, this book still bothers me. Not because I expect the threat is especially likely, but because it would be the smart way for an enemy to attack us. One single warhead detonated outside the atmosphere over the US could destroy virtually the entire computer and electric infrastructure in North America. One single bomb. Even if the bomb was not followed by any enemy attacks whatsoever, it would have doomed the majority of us to very unpleasant deaths as food, water, and medicine could no longer be harvested or delivered until we rebuilt our infrastructure. Any vehicles that depended upon computer chips (pretty much anything with a fuel injector or everything built in the last 20 to 30 years) would no longer work. Power plants would not work. Jets would fall out of the sky like rain as they ceased to function, but those who died immediately would probably be the fortunate ones as everyone else would be instantly plunged into a preindustrial lifestyle.

Forstchen wrote his book as a warning so technology could be designed to protect our infrastructure from such an attack (for example, new surge protectors would be need to operate a million times faster than they currently do - the EMP pulse travels much faster than standard threats such a lightning strikes). Apparently, I'm not the only one who was influenced by the book. While they did not credit the book, the liberal Huffington Post has an interesting summary of EMP pulses, including a video from National Geographic.

Warner Brothers has apparently bought the rights to make a movie from the book. I hope they do. This should be required reading (or viewing) for all politicians and other decision makers.

I especially enjoyed Sammon's discussion of the unethical behavior of other media, such as when CBS deliberately presented falsified information on the air in an attempt to get Kerry elected (remember Rather's "fake, but accurate" claim?). This is where Sammon's book really shines, the author's insider knowledge as a member of the media really comes into play - anyone who wants specific examples of how the media abuses the public trust should read this book.

I also found the discussion on one of Bush's larger mistakes, the nomination of Harriet Miers, particularly timely as Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan is very comparable - except that Kagan makes Miers look like Supreme Court material... Of course, we should probably expect a president with no former executive experience to nominate a candidate with no judicial experience. Click here for more information on Kagan.

So far, I've just played the game itself which I downloaded for $19.99. If you want to try it, a link is below:

Sins of a Solar Empire (Digital Download)
$19.99

The programmers have come out with two expansions for the game that I'm going to purchase shortly. You can buy the pair for $19.95.

Sins of a Solar Empire Expansion Bundle
$19.95

You can also buy all three at once, but I wouldn't suggest that. First try the original game. Then if you like it, buy the expansion packs later. My twelve-year-old son really enjoys the game too and has reached the point he can give me a good game.

I like the game so much, I made the programming company (Stardock) my first affiliate for this website. You can use their services to buy a host of games and download them directly to your PC. The best part is that they remember what you bought, so if your hard drive crashes (or if you just replace your PC), you can then download all the games you already bought at no additional cost.

The legal issues are interesting, but morally I blame the radical environmentalists (who have much more political power than the oil industry, even under the Bush administrations). The safest place to drill oil is on land. The second safest is in shallow water. The most dangerous place to drill oil is in deep water. Where do we drill? In deep water.

Why? Because stupid foolish environmentalists placed so much pressure on politicians that we have outlawed vast areas with massive oil (such as huge chunks of Alaska) that could be very safely obtained (animal populations have actually increased after the Alaska pipeline was built, animals apparently liked the warmth of the pipeline). We no longer drill for new oil in shallow water (the second safest place to drill) because of environmental laws.

So out of necessity, oil companies are forced to drill in the most dangerous way possible - in deep water. Then we blame them when an accident occurs and they struggle to fix the problem. Every single environmentalist who opposes drilling on land and in shallow water is to blame for the current problem.

The current problem will be eventually resolved, but will cause many short-term hardships in the area to both people and wildlife. Next time some you are debating some wacko environmentalists (one who argues with feelings and ignores facts), blame him or her for this disaster and tell them it was their policies that caused the problem.

Never mind the merits of the idea (conservatives like me would never support him), but the left-leaning talking head quickly dismissed the idea because no senator with only two years experience would make a good president. Then he realized what he had said and they quickly cut to a commercial...

I wish I had that recorded. For my non-political readers, the reason why this was so funny is that in two years, Brown will have had more senatorial experience than Obama had when he ran for president.

The kitchen fan worked pretty well, but became noisy over time. Note, the fan was marketed as a bathroom fan, so the designers probably did not visualize the fan sucking up kitchen grease over time. It still is not very noisy, but I'm not sure if I would recommend this line for the kitchen. It has my highest recommendation for its intended use in bathroom.

The brand is Panasonic, they have a host of sizes such as VF-05VQ3, FV-08VQ3, FV-11VQ3, FV-15VQ4. I highly recommend these products.

Eleven score and fifteen years later, the American people were again being oppressed by the strongest power in the world. This time the enemy was within. The most powerful government in existence forgot the principles which gave it birth and spent most of its efforts stealing freedoms away from the American people, one regulation at a time. It taxed its countrymen at such an exorbitant rate that those who fought for freedom in 1775 would have preferred to stay under British tyranny than to live under current American rule. The American people again expressed their displeasure with government tyranny with tea parties. Confirming that those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it, the American tyrants ignored the signs and continued to create new regulations and taxation. Again, it was the people of Massachusetts who struck back against the strongest government in the world. Despite the best efforts of King Obama, Queen Pelosi, Dirty Harry, and a host of other dictators, the freedom-loving Americans in Massachusetts peacefully fought back against tyranny by voting for a man who ran against the socialist agenda of American rulers who had forgotten the republic for which they were supposed to stand.

God bless these freedom loving Americans in Massachusetts. God Bless America. And let tyrants beware - this may be the birth of a peaceful American revolution that will eliminate many of these "leaders" who abused their power. Let these dictators live in fear of the coming judgment in the Novembers to follow.