Saturday, December 3, 2005

Series: One Excellent News Photo #5

A reflection nebula called NGC 1333 located 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus is shown in this image from the Spitzer Space Telescope released by NASA on November 15, 2005. The knotty yellow-green features located in the lower portion of the image are glowing shock fronts where jets of material, spewed from extremely young embryonic stars, are plowing into the cold, dense gas nearby. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can detect the infrared light from these objects, allowing us to peer inside their dusty cradles. NO SALES NO ARCHIVES EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/NASA/JPL Caltech/R. Gutermuth/Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Handout PHOTOBYTE
A reflection nebula called NGC 1333 located 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus is shown in this image from the Spitzer Space Telescope released by NASA on November 15, 2005. The knotty yellow-green features located in the lower portion of the image are glowing shock fronts where jets of material, spewed from extremely young embryonic stars, are plowing into the cold, dense gas nearby. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can detect the infrared light from these objects, allowing us to peer inside their dusty cradles. REUTERS/NASA/JPL Caltech/R. Gutermuth/Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics/Handout

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Blogs vs. News: Cut and Paste Content

COMMENTARY
The stories below detail the current clash between old and new media. For argument's sake, I always attribute the sources of everything I have l linked on this blog. Additionally, this blog has been linked from major news sources and I have received full credit for my ideas. However, I am not blind and I can see the plagiarism from both camps. More troublesome is the license given to anonymous, user-authors who post unverified content to sites like Wikipedia.

Perhaps the symbiosis of old and new media is changing the concept of free speech into free-for-all speech?

NEWSLINE
"But there isn't any rule against copying stuff off a website, is there?"

NEWSBYTES
Cut and paste
(BBC) The debate about old-versus-new media can get a bit heavy. Meet the bloggers who are getting their own back, and having a laugh.

Bloggers weigh in on plagiarist of the year
(CNET) News.com is constantly encountering examples in the blogosphere of blatant rip-offs of our stories and blogs. Text is lifted verbatim, and used with no attribution, no links--nothing.

TENSION: There's no class like no-class.
GRAVITY: Blame Web 2.0

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Report: US Uses Paid Content in Iraq

IRAQ/MIDDLE EAST

COMMENTARY
UPDATED I am not sure what the big news is here. Paid content in the US is part of the free market of ideas. In some cases, American Web sites and news outlets routinely place stories for pay without informing their readers. The fact that the US government may be using paid content against terrorists is nothing more than an exercise in psychological warfare. My problem with this issue is in an omission to note the difference between a dictator who runs the media and controls the press -- and a free enterprise media who can decline to accept the paid stories. Furthermore, if the placed stories from Iraq bleed into domestic news, it is not the government's fault that American media publishes the news without insuring the authenticity of the sources.

UPDATED NEWSBYTE
Military Says It Paid Iraq Papers for News
(Washington Post) The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation.

NEWSBYTES
U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press
WASHINGTON (LA Times) -- As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

U.S. Is Said to Pay to Plant Articles in Iraq Papers
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (NYT) -- Titled "The Sands Are Blowing Toward a Democratic Iraq," an article written this week for publication in the Iraqi press was scornful of outsiders' pessimism about the country's future.

U.S. Military Unclear on 'Planted' Stories
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The U.S. military offered a mixed message Wednesday about whether it embraced one of its own programs that reportedly paid a consulting firm and Iraqi newspapers to plant favorable stories about the war and the rebuilding effort.

Military Planting Articles in Iraq Papers
(Washington Post) Positive articles about the war in Iraq written by U.S. troops have been appearing in Iraqi newspapers under the guise of independent journalism, part of a coordinated effort by the U.S. military to win over Iraqi civilians, according to military officials.

TENSION: Let's tell all the secrets
GRAVITY: Check your sources

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

FEMA Pulls Out of Lower Ninth

FEMACOMMENTARY
Based on how things went after the storm hit New Orleans, I guess more bad behavior should have been expected.

NEWSLINE
"It's unfortunate that threats of violence would be made against anyone, as we all work together to recover from this disaster,"

NEWSBYTE
FEMA Pulls Out of Lower Ninth
Agency Calls for Troops, Reporting Threats of Violence
(Washington Post) The Federal Emergency Management Agency pulled all its workers out of New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward yesterday after threats of violence and planned to request additional police or National Guard support, a FEMA spokeswoman said. Read full story.

RELATED
A tragic reunion with Lower 9th
Residents are last to return to homes in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP/LA Times) -- The last neighborhood in New Orleans that had remained closed after Hurricane Katrina reopened Thursday, with some residents of the Lower 9th Ward saying they planned to abandon the area and others vowing to rebuild. Read full story.

New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward opened
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The last part of New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward that was still off-limits has been opened to residents who want to see what, if anything, they have left. Read full story.

TENSION: Biting the hand that helps
GRAVITY: Later...

Tags: , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Friday, December 2, 2005

Report: 'Missile' Fired at Jetliner Near LAX

NATIONAL NEWS

COMMENTARY
We'll try to keep tabs on this story as/if it unfolds.

NEWSBYTE
Pilot Reports 'Missile' Fired at Jetliner Near LAX
(KYW) FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport.

Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed. Read full story.

TENSION: Taking off is optional
GRAVITY: Landing is mandatory

Tags: , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Democratic Lawmakers Splinter on Iraq

Nanci PelosiNATION/POLITICS
COMMENTARY
Perhaps the split is becoming so readily apparent that it cannot be ignored by the mainstream media. Democrats are not at all in agreement on issues surrounding Iraq.

NEWSLINE
"Many Surprised as Pelosi Calls for a Fast Pullout"

NEWSBYTE
Democratic Lawmakers Splinter on Iraq
(Washington Post) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's embrace Wednesday of a rapid withdrawal from Iraq highlighted the Democratic Party's fissures on war policy, putting the House's top Democrat at odds with her second in command while upsetting a consensus developing in the Senate. Read full story.

Also see: Dems Split On War Plans

TENSION: Divisive
GRAVITY: Status quo

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Series: One Excellent News Photo #4

This image captured by NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope shows Mars when it was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth. The European spacecraft Mars Express has added powerful evidence to the belief that water once covered Mars and large reserves of precious ice lurk close to the surface today, studies presented said.(AFP/NASA/File) PHOTOBYTE
This image captured by NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope shows Mars when it was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth. The European spacecraft Mars Express has added powerful evidence to the belief that water once covered Mars and large reserves of precious ice lurk close to the surface today, studies presented said.(AFP/NASA/File)

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Selected Epsilon Pictures

Epilson, the 26th tropical storm listed on the wall size map at the National Hurricane Center in Miami Friday, Dec. 2, 2005, has strengthened into a record 14th hurricane in the Atlantic, two days after the hurricane officially ended. This is the sixth hurricane recorded in Dec. since the 1800's. The storm is almost 1,000 miles east of Bermuda. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
A satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) shows Hurricane Epsilon in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Epsilon turned into the 14th Atlantic hurricane of the year, even though the record storm season officially ended on Wednesday(NOAA)
A National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration satellite image shows the southern Atlantic coast on December 2 2005. REUTERS/NOAA/Handout A false color satellite image from the NOAA of Hurricane Epsilon taken December 3, 2005. Tropical Storm Epsilon strengthened into the 14th hurricane of a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season on Friday, but was not expected to retain its intensity for long or threaten land, U.S. forecasters said. (Handout/Reuters) NOTE: Mouseover pictures for captions.
NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Mall Resurrects Katrina Christmas Display

HURRICANES/TROPICAL STORMS
Mouseover pictures for captions.

Marcia Smith looks at a Christmas display of homes with blue tarps and debris at Lakeside Mall in Metairie, La., Monday Nov. 28, 2005. Frank Evans thought the tiny blue-tarped roofs, little toppled fences and miniature piles of hurricane debris he included in the Christmas display he builds every year for a suburban New Orleans shopping mall struck just the right humorous tone. Mall management decided otherwise and told Evans, a landscape architect from nearby Gretna, to dismantle it. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Toy workers remove hurricane debris in front of a model home with blue tarps in a Christmas display at Lakeside Mall in Metairie, La., Monday Nov. 28, 2005. Frank Evans thought the tiny blue-tarped roofs, little toppled fences and miniature piles of hurricane debris he included in the Christmas display he builds every year for a suburban New Orleans shopping mall struck just the right humorous tone. Mall management decided otherwise and told Evans, a landscape architect from nearby Gretna, to dismantle it. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Chuck Burton / Associated Press Lakeside Mall management told Frank Evans to dismantle a Katrina-themed Christmas display.NEWSLINE
"It's like putting Christmas lights up on your FEMA trailer. It just makes you feel better."

NEWSBYTE
Mall Resurrects Display of Hurricane Town
METAIRIE, La. (AP) - The outcry was so intense after a suburban New Orleans mall removed a Christmas display of a miniature hurricane-ravaged town that the exhibit is going back up this weekend.

Frank Evans, who designed the tiny blue-tarped roofs and little toppled fences, said he was reinstalling them at the mall's request starting Friday night. Read full story.

TENSION: Applied to the blue tarps
GRAVITY: Damp and dank

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Speaking of Wikipedia Sliming

Wikipedia LogoCOMMENTARY
In Wikipedia, one needs to look no further than the Fox News entry to see first-hand how the wiki has gone wacko. The authors' liberal point of view is so pervasive in the text that you cannot discern the simple facts from the subjective trash. But what are you supposed to expect from user authored content? It's not like you can expect all of the user-authors to be educated and professional.

Check out the full Wikipedia entry linked below for a blast of pejorative pandering. Then, compare the Fox News entry to the CBS News entry.

NEWSLINE
"The [Fox News] channel is often regarded by international audiences as primarily being a propaganda vehicle for the Bush administration, as it not only promotes advocacy of such things as the US invasion of Iraq, but also attempts to explain and advocate the broader neoconservative worldview behind those actions."

NEWSBYTES
Wikipedia: Fox News
The Fox News Channel is a U.S. cable and satellite news channel. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, and is a subsidiary of News Corporation, under major shareholder and chief executive officer Rupert Murdoch. As of January 2005, it is available to 85 million subscribers in the U.S. and to further viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its New York City studios. Read full story.

RELATED
A false Wikipedia 'biography'
This is a highly personal story about Internet character assassination. It could be your story. Read full story.

TENSION: Here's your sign.
GRAVITY: Blame Web 2.0

Tags: , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

New Orleans Unhealthy, Groups Say

The content of this post has been archived.

Search popular posts on THE TENSION.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Selected Iraq War News Photos #6

The content of this post has been archived.

Search popular posts on THE TENSION.


Pictures lost by ImageShack.
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Epsilon Becomes 14th Hurricane of Season

A satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) shows Hurricane Epsilon in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Epsilon turned into the 14th Atlantic hurricane of the year, even though the record storm season officially ended on Wednesday(AFP/NOAA)
...EPSILON BECOMES YET ANOTHER HURRICANE IN THE RECORD BREAKING 2005 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON...

NEWSBYTE
Epsilon Becomes 14th Hurricane of Season
(FOX) MIAMI — Tropical storm Epsilon strengthened into a record 14th hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday -- two days after the 2005 season officially ended. Forecasters said it posed no threat to land

CLICK FOR FULL IMAGE
Forecast Track Map


CLICK FOR FULL IMAGE

Computer Models
TENSION: More tropical depression
GRAVITY: Out to sea

Tags: , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath News Pictures #18

The content of this post has been archived.
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Dems Split On War Plans

NATION/POLITICS

US President George W. Bush shakes hands with Senator John Kerry, D-MA, before a bill signing event yesterday.  (AFP/Getty Images)COMMENTARY
It may not be readily apparent from the reporting in the mainstream media, Democrats are not at all in agreement on issues surrounding Iraq.

NEWSLINE
"While Nancy Pelosi and the left wing adopt a defeatist position of retreat in Iraq, many other Democrats are scrambling to distance themselves from their pessimism."

NEWSBYTE
Democratic split on war pleases GOP
The White House moved aggressively yesterday to exploit a growing rift among Democrats over the question of a pullout from Iraq, while other Republicans cheered the split as "chaos." Read full story.

TENSION: Divisive
GRAVITY: Status quo


Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Series: One Excellent News Photo #3

Series: One Excellent News Photo #3 PHOTOBYTE
This image of the Crab Nebula, released by NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency) on Thursday, Dec. 1,2005, is one of the largest ever produced with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Earth-orbiting observatory. It gives the most detailed view so far of the entire nebula. The space agencies say the Crab Nebula is one of the most intricately structured and dynamic objects ever observed. (AP Photo/ NASA, ESA and Jeff Hester )

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags:
, , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Gulf Coast Homeowners' Mortgages Come Due

HURRICANE SEASON

A house sits on railroad tracks in Pass Christian, Miss., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005. Three months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the house remains where it came to rest during the storm. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) NEWSLINE
"This month will be a major turning point for most Katrina victims."

NEWSBYTE
Gulf Coast Homeowners' Mortgages Come Due
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) - Like many homeowners around here, Janet Kisling owes a pile of debt on little more than a pile of debris. She has a $1,000-a-month mortgage on a home that is uninhabitable. For her and others along the Gulf Coast, December brings a cruel cut-off: It marks the end of an informal 90-day grace period that many lenders offered to Hurricane Katrina victims that let them put their mortgage payments on hold.

TENSION: Taking a pound of flesh
GRAVITY: Rubble

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

A False Wikipedia Biography

COMPUTERS & INTERNET/WEB 2.0

COMMENTARY
Er, is someone mad about finding false information about themselves posted on a free-for-all Internet Web site? What I have to say about it can be summed up in three little words from Bill Engvall:

"Here's your sign."



NEWSLINE
"Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit."

NEWSBYTE
A false Wikipedia 'biography'
This is a highly personal story about Internet character assassination. It could be your story. Read full story.

TENSION: Do I need to say it again?
GRAVITY: Blame Web 2.0


Tags: , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Residents Return to New Orleans' Ninth Ward

A Mardi Gras mask caked in mud is seen in the heavily damaged Ninth ward, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, September 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Much of the legendary jazz city on the US Gulf coast still lacks power and other basic services, few schools have reopened and the police headquarters is being run out of a hotel.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mario Tama) NEWSLINE
City officials have vowed to rebuild the ninth and bring its closely knit community back. But many residents, some of them viewing the wreckage for the first time, say they won't return.

NEWSBYTES
Residents Allowed to Return to Lower Ninth Ward in N.O.
(AP) NEW ORLEANS — A husband and wife who waited three months to see what Hurricane Katrina did to their neighborhood finally returned Thursday to find their blue, wood-frame house sitting in the front yard, three feet off its foundation.

New Orleans ward reopens, but will residents return?
NEW ORLEANS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Marenthin Lagarde couldn't even find her home on Thursday when she returned to New Orleans' devastated lower ninth ward, as the city allowed local residents in for the first time to "look and leave."

Going Home Again, Months Later
(CBS) More than three months after Katrina, residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward were allowed in for the day to collect their belongings. Until now, people in one of the city's poorest areas had been able to view the destruction only on bus tours.

TENSION: No place to call home
GRAVITY: Below sea level


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Series: One Excellent News Photo #2

Series: One Excellent News Photo #2 PHOTOBYTE
Trees are decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Red Square with St. Basil Cathedral in the background, in Moscow, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath News Pictures #17

HURRICANE KATRINA AFTERMATH NEWS PHOTO PICTURES -- A tattered US flag waves on a pole in the devastated Ninth ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, September 2005. Most of the neighborhood was flooded and destroyed by the water following Hurricane Katrina. Much of the legendary jazz city on the US Gulf coast still lacks power and other basic services, few schools have reopened and the police headquarters is being run out of a hotel.(AFP/File/Menahem Kahana)
A sign displayed on highway 23, near New Orleans, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 in Homeplace, La. expresses feelings about Hurricane Katrina. Clean up continues from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Wednesday is the last day of Hurricane Season.(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Work continues, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005, at the 17th Street Canal floodwall that was breached after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Government engineers performing sonar tests at the 17th Street Canal found exactly what independent investigators said they would _ that steel reinforcements barely went more than half as deep as they were supposed to, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber)
The London Avenue Canal floodwall that was breached after Hurricane Katrina, in New Orleans, is shown Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. Donald Powell, the White House's top hurricane-relief adviser said Tuesday he has not decided whether the federal government should pay to make New Orleans' levees stronger than they were before Katrina. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber)

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Water Scorpion Fossil Found in Scotland

A regular scorpion. A scientist poring over 330-million-year-old tracks in a layer of sandstone in Scotland believes they were made by an extraordinary water scorpion that was as big as a man(AFP/File/Jimin Lai) COMMENTARY
I wonder if this is kin to the bog scorpion the bog snorkellers are so afraid of?

NEWSBYTE
Water Scorpion Fossil Found in Scotland
LONDON Nov 30, 2005 (AP) -- A scientist in Scotland has discovered tracks made by a huge water scorpion 330 million years ago, the first of the species ever discovered and the only evidence showing it could survive outside of the water, according to the journal Nature's edition to be published Thursday.

TENSION: Who let the bog out?
GRAVITY: Mucked up


Tags: , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Katrina Themed Christmas Display Causes Stir

HURRICANES/TROPICAL STORMS

Also see: Mall Resurrects Katrina Themed Christmas Display

NEWSLINE
"It's like putting Christmas lights up on your FEMA trailer. It just makes you feel better."

NEWSBYTE
Lakeside Mall demands 'blue roof' Christmas display be taken down
METAIRIE -- Frank Evans thought the tiny blue-tarped roofs, little toppled fences and miniature piles of hurricane debris he included in the Christmas display he builds every year for a suburban New Orleans shopping mall struck just the right humorous tone.

Mall management decided otherwise and told Evans, a landscape architect from nearby Gretna, to dismantle it. Read full story.

TENSION: Applied to the blue tarps
GRAVITY: Damp and dank

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISRS

Banner The DarknessLost
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Selected Hurricane Wilma News Photos #17

HURRICANE WILMA NEWS PHOTO PICTURES -- A for sale sign stands in front of a Davie, Fla. trailer house that Hurricane Wilma destroyed one month ago, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 the last day of hurricane season. Many homes are still waiting to be repaired or removed and replaced with a new home. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
A resident of a Davie, Fla. mobile home park left a message for FEMA officials on the front of his house destroyed by Hurricane Wilma one month ago, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. This is the last day of a record setting hurricane season. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
John Zanakis, who formerly lived near Pittsburg, gets his mail, picks up litter and checks the sign in the front yard of his Davie, Fla. home Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. Hurricane Wilma inflicted little damage to his home but thieves stole his ten-day-old generator after the storm caused power outages in his neighborhood. This is the last day of a record setting hurricane season. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
Mark Gordon sits on a mattress in his homemade shelter in a Plantation, Fla. Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005, one month after Hurricane Wilma destroyed the home he was living in. The shelter is in the middle of hurricane-littered parking lot on the day hurricane season ends. He is doing odd jobs for FEMA crews cleaning up after the storm. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

Also see: Hurricane Wilma News Photos / Pictures Digest

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Tropical Storm Epsilon Update: Nov. 30 PM

Series: One Excellent News Photo #1

Series: One Excellent News Photo #1 PHOTOBYTE
The sun rises over a Joshua tree in Joshua Tree National Park, California, November 28, 2005. The park includes the high Mojave Desert of southern California and preserves both low and high desert ecosystems within its nearly 800,000 acres. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Selected Iraq War News Photos #5

IRAQ WAR NEWS PHOTO PICTURES -- U.S. Marines race to secure a landing zone as a helicopter carrying General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, arrives for a ceremony to restore Iraqi border security in the restive city of Kusaiba, near the Syrian Iraq border, November 30, 2005. U.S. President George W. Bush asked for patience from Americans weary of the rising U.S. death toll in Iraq on Wednesday and said a reduction in U.S. troops may be possible but rejected a pullout timetable. In a new White House push to counter critics of the war effort ahead of Iraq's Dec. 15 election, Bush said progress in training Iraqi forces would allow a diminished American role. REUTERS/David Furst/Pool
Top U.S. commander in Iraq General George Casey (L) gets into a helicopter after a ceremony to restore Iraqi border security in the restive city of Kusaiba, at the Syrian Iraqi border, November 30, 2005. U.S. President George W. Bush asked for patience from Americans weary of the rising U.S. death toll in Iraq on Wednesday and said a reduction in U.S. troops may be possible but rejected a pullout timetable. In a new White House push to counter critics of the war effort ahead of Iraq's Dec. 15 election, Bush said progress in training Iraqi forces would allow a diminished American role. REUTERS/David Furst/Pool
Iraqi Army soldiers wave their guns in celebration just moments after a ceremony to restore Iraqi border security in the restive city of Qusaybah, Iraq, along the Syrian-Iraq border, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. (AP Photo/David Furst, pool)
Iraqi soldiers display weapons and ammunition that they recovered during raids, at their base in the town of Baquba, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad November 30, 2005. The White House said on Wednesday that Iraq was likely to struggle with violence for many years, but as its forces increasingly take over security, U.S. troops can eventually withdraw. (Helmiy Al-Azawi/Reuters) NOTE: All rights are reserved by image owners; site content is linked only.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

National Strategy for Victory in Iraq

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks about the war in Iraq at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis November 30, 2005. Bush asked for patience from Americans weary of the rising U.S. death toll in Iraq on Wednesday and said a reduction in U.S. troops may be possible but rejected a pullout timetable. REUTERS/Jason Reed COMMENTARY
This important news item deserves some attention, including links to opinions and sources. My thoughts? The President already made his case. Nothing is really new here. The growing opposition to the war seems to be as much fueled as it is reported by the mainstream media.

NEWSBYTES
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
(White House) The following document articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003 and provides an update on our progress as well as the challenges remaining. Visit site.

Bush Releases Detailed Strategy Plan
(WASHINGTON Post) President Bush, facing increasing opposition to the war in Iraq, went on the offensive today, releasing a detailed plan for fighting the war and then delivering a major speech in an attempt to show the country that the administration has a clear vision for victory in Iraq.

Bush Maps Out Iraq War Strategy
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - President Bush, facing growing doubts about his war strategy, said Wednesday that Iraqi troops are increasingly taking the lead in battle but that "this will take time and patience." He refused to set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces.

Bush sees Iraq progress
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked for patience from Americans weary of the rising U.S. death toll in Iraq on Wednesday and said a reduction in U.S. troops may be possible but rejected a pullout timetable.

Bush Again Rejects Calls for a Withdrawal Timetable in Iraq
(NYT) President Bush's address at the Naval Academy today broadly repeated the aims of the Iraq war as set out in 2003.

Bush Urges Patience On Iraq
(CBS) President Bush defended his embattled war policy in a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, saying it "will take time and patience" to prepare Iraqi forces to take over from U.S. troops. He refused to set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

Bush eyes Iraq endgame
(CSM) WASHINGTON -- The White House has launched a major push to convince the US public that the war in Iraq will end in victory, not just an exit - while defining "victory" as something that may include continued political fragility and insurgent attacks.

Bush has 'plan to end war'
(AFP) Washington - The White House, in its most detailed public plan yet for success in Iraq, said on Wednesday it expected to reduce US forces there in 2006 but warned the country would face violence "for many years to come."

Bush Calls for `Complete Victory,' Cites Progress by Iraqis
Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush appealed to an increasingly skeptical public and Congress for patience in Iraq, saying Iraqi security forces were achieving growing success in taking over the fight against violent insurgents.

Tension: Again for the first time
Gravity: Down to earth

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS

Sweatshirt Holiday Peacoat Holiday 125 x 125
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Sen. Clinton Defends Iraq War Vote

HillaryNEWSLINE
"I take responsibility for my vote...."

NEWSBYTE
Sen. Clinton Defends Iraq War Vote
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her vote to authorize war in Iraq amid growing unease among liberal Democrats who could determine the potential 2008 presidential candidate's future. Read full story.

POLITICAL TENSION: Hillary on the Hill
GRAVITY: Pre-positioning


Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

MAINTAIN THE TENSION: VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS


AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Selected Iraq War News Photos #4

The content of this article has been archived.

Images once again lost by ImageShack.

Search popular posts on THE TENSION.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Science Faces Dangerous Times?

COMMENTARY
It's sad to read about scientists so narrow-minded that the only truth they see is their own. Science faces a danger of trying to expose a vast anti-science conspiracy where there is none. The article attempts to link the creationism debate (and other science/morality discussions) into the fray, but then again, no one is seeking to replace science classes in public schools ... they just want to add an alternative unscientific theory to the curriculum.

The real argument here seems to stem from an emotional appeal for folks to accept one side of the "global warming" lobby when clearly the science for climate change has yet to be proven. Below the topic article, I'll link the site that poses a real debate on climate change. Perhaps it's simply a matter of some scientist's theories that face dangerous times?

NEWSBYTES
Science faces 'dangerous times'
Fundamentalism is hampering global efforts to tackle climate change, according to Britain's top scientist.

In his final speech as president of the Royal Society, Lord May of Oxford will say scientists must speak out against the climate change "denial lobby." Read full story.

GlobalWarming.org
This web site is a project of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a sub-group of the National Consumer Coalition.

The Cooler Heads Coalition formed May 6, 1997 to dispel the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific, and risk analysis. Coalition members will also follow the progress of the international Global Climate Change Treaty negotiations. Visit site.

TENSION: Feel the debate
GRAVITY: Warming


Tags: , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Nowhere To Run

COMMENTARY
I have only a couple of comments about the article linked below. First, the writer offers nothing new; he simply restates the biased messages of those with the same tired unoriginal criticisms. Second, if offering millions the chance to taste freedom is foolish, lets hope we have more fools running things in the future.

NEWSBYTE
Nowhere to run
(Guardian) There is a remarkable article in the latest issue of the American Jewish weekly, Forward. It calls for President Bush to be impeached and put on trial "for misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 BC sent his legions into Germany and lost them."

TENSION: Unbalanced
GRAVITY: Global

Tags: , , , , ,
AddThis Social Bookmark Button