Olympic Inspiration

Only in America! Only in America.

Interview in China (Makes mention of the Christian / Muslim conflict)

http://www.truveo.com/US-Flag-Bearers-Long-Journey/id/2088295661

Fostering Lomong

Lopez Lomong wins 2007 NCAA 1500

Olympic Trials Mens 1500 Final 2008 USA Track & Field

Bad Video of NBC’s Bio

Wars and Rumors of Wars

Putin Says `War Has Started,' Georgia Claims Invasion (Update4)

By Torrey Clark and Greg Walters

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said ``war has started'' over the breakaway region of South Ossetia as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused its neighbor of a ``well-planned invasion.''

(Bloomberg)

The bear is awakening!

Israel backs Georgia in Caspian Oil Pipeline Battle with Russia

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Georgian tanks and infantry, aided by Israeli military advisers, captured the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, early Friday, Aug. 8, bringing the Georgian-Russian conflict over the province to a military climax.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin threatened a “military response.”

Former Soviet Georgia called up its military reserves after Russian warplanes bombed its new positions in the renegade province.

In Moscow’s first response to the fall of Tskhinvali, president Dimitry Medvedev ordered the Russian army to prepare for a national emergency after calling the UN Security Council into emergency session early Friday.

Reinforcements were rushed to the Russian “peacekeeping force” present in the region to support the separatists.

Georgian tanks entered the capital after heavy overnight heavy aerial strikes, in which dozens of people were killed.

Lado Gurgenidze, Georgia's prime minister, said on Friday that Georgia will continue its military operation in South Ossetia until a "durable peace" is reached. "As soon as a durable peace takes hold we need to move forward with dialogue and peaceful negotiations."

DEBKAfile’s geopolitical experts note that on the surface level, the Russians are backing the separatists of S. Ossetia and neighboring Abkhazia as payback for the strengthening of American influence in tiny Georgia and its 4.5 million inhabitants. However, more immediately, the conflict has been sparked by the race for control over the pipelines carrying oil and gas out of the Caspian region.

The Russians may just bear with the pro-US Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s ambition to bring his country into NATO. But they draw a heavy line against his plans and those of Western oil companies, including Israeli firms, to route the oil routes from Azerbaijan and the gas lines from Turkmenistan, which transit Georgia, through Turkey instead of hooking them up to Russian pipelines.

Saakashvili need only back away from this plan for Moscow to ditch the two provinces’ revolt against Tbilisi. As long as he sticks to his guns, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will wage separatist wars.

DEBKAfile discloses Israel’s interest in the conflict from its exclusive military sources:

Jerusalem owns a strong interest in Caspian oil and gas pipelines reach the Turkish terminal port of Ceyhan, rather than the Russian network. Intense negotiations are afoot between Israel Turkey, Georgia, Turkmenistan and Azarbaijan for pipelines to reach Turkey and thence to Israel’s oil terminal at Ashkelon and on to its Red Sea port of Eilat. From there, supertankers can carry the gas and oil to the Far East through the Indian Ocean.

Aware of Moscow’s sensitivity on the oil question, Israel offered Russia a stake in the project but was rejected.

Last year, the Georgian president commissioned from private Israeli security firms several hundred military advisers, estimated at up to 1,000, to train the Georgian armed forces in commando, air, sea, armored and artillery combat tactics. They also offer instruction on military intelligence and security for the central regime. Tbilisi also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.

These advisers were undoubtedly deeply involved in the Georgian army’s preparations to conquer the South Ossetian capital Friday.

In recent weeks, Moscow has repeatedly demanded that Jerusalem halt its military assistance to Georgia, finally threatening a crisis in bilateral relations. Israel responded by saying that the only assistance rendered Tbilisi was “defensive.”

This has not gone down well in the Kremlin. Therefore, as the military crisis intensifies in South Ossetia, Moscow may be expected to punish Israel for its intervention.

Georgia says Russian aircraft bombed its air bases

DZHAVA, Georgia (AP) - Russia sent columns of tanks and reportedly bombed Georgian air bases Friday after Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, threatening to ignite a broader conflict.

Hundreds of civilians were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won defacto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992. Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali was devastated.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

The fighting broke out as much of the world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Bush, were in Beijing.

The timing suggests Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili may have been counting on surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South Ossetia—a key to his hold on power.

Saakashvili agreed the timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor.

"Most decision makers have gone for the holidays," he said in an interview with CNN. "Brilliant moment to attack a small country."

The United States was sending an envoy to the region on Friday to meet with the parties involved to try to end hostilities.

"We support Georgia's territorial integrity," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters. "We are working on mediation efforts to secure a cease-fire."

Iran's Ticket Days Coming to a Close

The ticket writing may be over. Iran has lots of resources on Israels border, so if Israel attacks expect lots o' fireworks in the Middle-East. A 2,000-pounder should find its way down the well!

Israel acquires F-16 fighters capable of attacking in Iran

Nuclear program would be target of pre-emptive strike

By Steven Gutkin

The Associated Press

JERUSALEM – Israel is building up its strike capabilities amid growing anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions and appears confident that a military attack would cripple Tehran's atomic program, even if it can't destroy it.

Such talk could be more threat than reality. However, Iran's refusal to accept Western conditions is worrying Israel, as is the perception that Washington now prefers diplomacy over confrontation with Tehran.

The Jewish state has purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes, which can carry enough fuel to reach Iran, and will receive 11 more by the end of next year. It has bought two new Dolphin submarines from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads – in addition to the three it already has.

And this summer it carried out air maneuvers in the Mediterranean that touched off an international debate over whether they were a "dress rehearsal" for an imminent attack, a stern warning to Iran or a just a way to get allies to step up the pressure on Tehran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons.

According to foreign media reports, Israeli intelligence is active inside Iranian territory. Israel's military censor, who can impose a range of legal sanctions against journalists operating in the country, does not permit publication of details of such information in news reports written from Israel.....

U.S. Says Israeli Exercise Seemed Directed at Iran

By Michael R. Gordon And Eric Schmitt

Published: June 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said....

Folsom Street Fair 2007

This is really nasty stuff, all the while police were standing around. The police watched or saw illegal behavior without budging.

Now, this is Pelosi’s area, so you know how bad it can be – what, she even marched with a known pedophile? At any rate, I am sure the police up there are under pressure not to do much. But when you see the photos (AND THESE PHOTOS ARE NOT FOR ANYONE BUT ADULTS) and the sexual acts performed in public, the police need to stop it!

As always Michelle Malkin and ZombieTime get the snaps here:

• Michelle Malkin’s Story, which targets Miller;
• ZombieTime warning before entering photos;
• And the original story about no arrests from World Net Daily.

My Situation -- Up To Date

Well,

The neurologist said I have brain damage (my wife could have told him that!). They do not know why yet, 13-viles of blood were taken as well as scheduling a spinal tap. It could be Multiple Sclerosis, a vascular disease that caused a mild stroke. One of the blood tests was for Lupis? At any rate, I am not driving any longer, nor am I able to fill out much in the way of paperwork (lost ability to legibly write). I will have updates later, I will know more in about two, two-and-a-half weeks.

Papa G

PS. I got my MRI the next day after seeing my doctor. I saw the specialist with a week-and-a-half. In Canada I would have been around the 6 or 7-month mark in the process. About 2-1/2 months to get an MRI, and about 3 to 4 months to see a specialist. I will take my HMO over socialized medicine any-day. I must point out that six months isn't bad for Canada, there were 22-month waits just for an MRI at one point.)

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn ~ 1918-2008

(Washington Post Picture)

I was late in finding this out, I want to give Atheism is Dead the plug here for keeping up to date. On that site is this favorite quote by Solzhenitsyn:

More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God….

It was Dostoevsky, once again, who drew from the French Revolution and its seeming hatred of the Church the lesson that ‘revolution must necessarily begin with atheism.’ That is absolutely true. But the world had never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized, and tenaciously malevolent as that practiced by Marxism. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot...

His Wikipedia article is not up to date with his passing, but it is a good read. Another article worth reading is by National Review editor, Rich Lowry. Others:

• Jonah Goldberg;
• Albert Mohler;
• Paul Weyrich.

A Time To Laugh

A Funny Ad

Tit for Tat - Obama Aside

An add by the "white haired guy"

A Response by "Hollywood"

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Purple... very funny...

... all he needs now is grape soda!

William Jefferson vs. YAF

He was so nice at first?

Obama and Pelosi on the Energy "Crisis"

I put crisis in " " because years of not building nuclear plants, drilling for oil, mainly due to Democrats beholden to environmentalists, is why we are in a crisis! It was created by inactivity, government reigning in private enterprise or selling out to Greenpeacers! Another point is the ten year myth. At most it will take 6-years to get oil from Alaska and North Dakota, and a year or less from the coast. Let me point out that we are at the 10-year veto anniversary of Bill Clinton and drilling in Alaska. Which is why many Democrats are not drilling today, because it will take ten-years!

Videos are HotAir props:

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