Blah-Blah-Blogger!

This is scary stuff folks. Notice this Chinese submarine is Russian built. The commander of the aircraft carrier should be fired over this. Strange how this did not make big news in the USA.

Monday, November 13, 2006
zaman.com

A Chinese submarine that approached a U.S. navy aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected has caused a crisis between the two countries.

The conservative Washington Times newspaper said that despite U.S. efforts to try and improve relations with the Chinese military, last month’s surprise encounter highlighted China's continuing efforts to prepare for a possible future conflict with the United States.

The submarine encounter with the USS Kitty Hawk and its battle group caused significant pressure on the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral William Fallon, who is engaged in an ambitious military exchange program with China, the report said.

The commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, Admiral Gary Roughead has been in China for an official visit since the weekend and will meet with high level commanders from the Chinese military.

The Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine was detected within seven kilometers of the carrier Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships on Oct. 26, Pentagon officials told the paper, adding that the submarine was equipped with Russian-made wake-homing torpedoes and anti-ship cruise missiles.

The surfaced submarine was spotted by a routine surveillance flight by one of the carrier group's planes, the paper reported.

The incident will most likely affect the series of exchange programs launched between the United States and the Chinese military.

On November 10 and 11, the 9th Annual International Chocolate Show, in New York City, was an adventure in sweet and bitter, white and dark, roasted cocoa beans and every chocolate confections in-between! The metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building located at 125 West 18th Street housed the 40,000 square foot chocolate extravaganza.


The process of creating chocolate was laid out at the Chocolate Weiss booth, showing cacao pods, roasted cocoa beans and large chunks of extracted cocoa and cocoa butter in their raw state. Their roasted cocoa beans dusted with unsweetened cocoa and chilly powder was a bitter, spicy treat that was surprisingly tasty and satisfying.

Talk about aroma, the 1001 Saveurs/Spices & Teas display was irresistible. The display was large and colorful, with every imaginable spice that could take the spice lover for a trip around the world in tastes and aromas.

Chocolate cuisine cooking lessons and demonstrations kept audiences captivated with expert chefs creating tempting cookies and candies.


Of course, the show came complete with a t-shirt and hat table featuring chocolate scented shirts!

The $25.00 entrance fee was well worth the endless adventure in chocolate samples, education and crafts with a relaxed, family atmosphere.

Here are some notable chocolate artisans and their websites:

Koppers Chocolate - “each bite is a work of art” - www.kopperschocolate.com.

Cocoa Locoa - “Fine Chocolate” - www.cocoalocoa.com.

E. Guittard - “Vintage Chocolate Making in the French Tradition” - www.eguittard.com

Chocolate Bar - “Featuring signature truffles made without preservatives or additives” - www.chocolatebarnyc.com.

Romanicos - “Fresh Chocolate” - www.romanticochocolate.com

Cosmic Bombs - “Ecstasy Art Flavor” - www.cosmicchocolate.com

Sen. John Kerry came in with this year’s midterm elections October surprise a day late and a dollar short. The funny thing is, the surprise was in reverse, and he sprung it on himself and the rest of the Democratic Party.

Kerry attempted to explain away the remarks he made on November 1, characterizing members of the United States armed forces as uneducated and underprivileged, as a botched joke, and it may have well been intended as such. Yet, Sen. John Kerry has viewed the American military with contempt for at least three decades. According to the Boston Globe Newspaper, in 1972 during a bid for Congress, Kerry said that he opposes an all volunteer military because he believed it will be filled with underprivileged and uneducated people. Kerry’s Freudian slip clearly reveals that he believes his own prophesy to have come true.

Typical of Kerry’s flip-flop intellect, during his 1972 campaign for Congress, Kerry went on to express his opposition to both a volunteer army and the draft. Yes, you better stop and read that last sentence again. Whom does Kerry believe will take up the defense of our nation, the Boy Scouts, or perhaps the American Civil Liberties Union? Of course, if he believes that beating our swords into plow shears will cause the rest of the world to follow suit then he would be satisfied with Mother Goose watching out for us.

The rest of the democrats are scrambling to get some distance between themselves and the man they chose as a presidential contender and John Kerry’s intellect must be called into question. Does he actually have the facts to back up his characterization of the American military, or does he have such an inflated ego that facts only serve to get in the way of his own proclamations? The facts, in fact, strongly disagree with John Kerry.

According to research conducted by the Heritage Foundation:

The average reading level of new soldiers is roughly a full grade level higher than their civilian peers’.

Enlistees’ high school graduation rate was 97 percent in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The civilian graduation rate is seventeen percentage points lower.

The wealthiest 40 percent of neighborhoods in America are the home of 45.6 percent of 2005 enlistees. For every two U.S. recruits from the poorest neighborhoods, three come from the richest.

There is no statistical evidence to support the claim that minorities are being targeted or exploited for military service. The 100 zip codes with the highest proportions of African-Americans were actually under-represented among military enlistees in 2005.

Every U.S. military recruit of the last 33 years has been a volunteer.

The majority of democrats will not be influenced by Sen. Kerry’s remarks and they will continue to vote for democrats. The vote will not be swayed in that way. The vote will be swayed by the large republican base who had previously decided to sit out this election because of their frustration with the current republican leadership whom they perceive as governing like fence sitters rather than conservatives. These republicans now feel forced to go to the polls and prevent the worst of the two evils from gaining power.

John Kerry has done for the republicans what the republicans could not do for themselves, namely, mobilize the republican base to vote this Tuesday.

America in 2009; John Kerry, President, and Hillary Clinton, Vice President. Livin' is easy and the burkas are abundant.

The French Can't Even Succesfully Liberate Garden Gnomes:

From correspondents in Limoges

November 02, 2006 06:48am
Article from: Agence France-Presl

SOME 79 garden gnomes snatched by a so-called gnome liberation group, were discovered today along the banks of a stream in the central Limousin region, police said.

The gnomes were hidden in some underbrush with a banner that read, "gnome mistreated, gnome liberated", police said.

A national garden gnome liberation operation was announced on the group's website in honour of the November 1 French holiday, All Saint's Day.

Last month 86 gnomes were found in the yard of a Limoges high school. Others, stolen last summer, were discovered along the edge of a swimming pool on the outskirts of the city.

"Because of the heat wave, they wanted to get some air," read a letter that appeared in gnome owners' mailboxes.

According to the group's website, the Front for the Liberation of Garden Gnomes (FLNJ) has about 100 active members throughout France, as well as in Canada, Germany, Spain, and the United States.

Need I comment on these subhuman vermin?

(AINA) -- According to the Assyrian website ankawa.com, a 14 year old Christian Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, from Baqouba, Iraq was decapitated at his work place on October 21.
Ayad Tariq was working his 12 hour shift, maintaining an electric generator, when a group of disguised Muslim insurgents walked in at the beginning of his shift shortly after 6 a.m. and asked him for his ID.

According to another employee who witnessed the events, and who hid when he saw the insurgents approach, the insurgents questioned Ayad after seeing that his ID stated "Christian", asking if he was truly a "Christian sinner." Ayad replied "yes, I am Christian but I am not a sinner." The insurgents quickly said this is a "dirty Christian sinner!" Then they proceeded to each hold one limb, shouting "Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" while beheading the boy.

Translated from Arabic by AINA
© 2006, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.