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China's First Heavy Transporter Y-20 Takes Off The prototype of China's first indigenously-developed heavy transport aircraft, Y-20, takes off from an unidentified airport for its first test flight Saturday afternoon, January 26, 2013. [Photo: Xinhua] China began test flights Saturday for the prototype of its first indigenously-developed heavy transport aircraft, Y-20, a craft similar in size to the Russian IL-76 and somewhat smaller than the U.S. C-17. The plane took off at around 2:00pm from an airport in Yanliang, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, according to CCTV News. The Y-20 program is part of an effort to develop an indigenous long-range...

So now the president is a committed man of the left. No longer is he faking moderation or even trying to bring the nation "together." Nope. As he made clear in his inauguration speech, Barack Obama is dedicating himself to achieving "social justice" no matter what the cost. And the cost is high. The annual federal deficit is more than $1 trillion, with the national debt approaching $17 trillion. Just last week, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office warned once again that federal spending is "unsustainable." That means if government spending is not curtailed and quickly, the U.S. dollar could collapse....

By enacting a safety ban -as the EU has- on Air Koryo's  Soviet jalopies, China has effectively left the Norks  with only two planes capable of international routes... Save for a couple newer Russian Tu-204 aircraft, the DPRK's Air Koryo -infamous for the world's worst booking site and the only one-star airline in existence- boasts a fleet comprised of creaking USSR-era aircraft (IL-62, Tu-134, Tu-154), planes that have all been banned in the European Union due to failed Air Koryo ground inspections, ancient design, noise- and the North Korean's contempt for international safety standards in general. Until now, the...

 GOING FOR BROKE According to Hillary Clinton’s long-delayed Benghazigate testimony, the State Department just did not have enough money to provide security for a mission in one of the most dangerous places in the world. It did however have 16 million dollars to spend on 2,500 kindle book readers at the drastically inflated price of $6,600 per device. It had $79,000 to spend on Obama’s books and $20,000 on a portrait of Obama. The US Embassy had $150,000 to spend on a book about the ambassador’s residence. THE WAR IS OVER, WE LOST Mullah Baradar’s capture by the CIA...

Moscow Both Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister have lashed out at the West in recent days for pursuing what they regard as naive and incoherent Middle East policies. The critique targets Western backing of anti-dictator rebellions in Libya and Syria, which, as Mr. Putin tells it, only fuels the spreading flames of extreme Islamist insurrection, including the current war in Mali and last week's terrorist strike on a gas complex in Algeria. "The Syrian conflict has been raging for almost two years now. Upheaval in Libya, accompanied by the uncontrolled spread of weapons, contributed to the deterioration of the...

Twelve years after her disappearance, and the case of Chandra Levy still hasn't reach it's conclusion. The 24-year-old Capitol Hill intern was last seen in May 2001. Following the disappearance, her family disclosed to police that she had been having an affair with U.S. Representative Gary Condit. When Condit was unwilling to cooperate with investigators, speculation arose that he was behind the disappearance. While he was never charged, it completely derailed his political career. The man who was eventually charged in her death, Ingmar Guandique, was convicted in 2010 with no physical evidence linking him to the crime. However, two...

Karl Marx summed up Communism as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death. For the saying implies but does not name the effective agency of its supposed utopia. The agency is called “The State,” and the motto, fleshed out, for the benefit of the easily confused must read “The State will take from each according to his ability: the State will give to each according to his needs.” “Needs and...

Anonymous has hacked the US Sentencing Commission’s website in retaliation for the suicide of internet activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, and as of now, the site is still displaying in its compromised state.More on this breaking story as it develops. Statement below from Anonymous on the decision to hack USSC.gov. [Correction: An earlier version of this post stated that Anonymous' attack affected the Supreme Court's website, when in actuality, it is the US Sentencing Commission's website as stated above.]In addition to the defacing of the site with a video, a statement on Swartz’s death and the government’s alleged harassment of the activist...

The German government has said that it favors the purchase of armed drones to support Bundeswehr troops in missions abroad. Although the idea is controversial, a decision is expected in the next few months. Strictly speaking the idea is not entirely new, but it turned up on Berlin's political agenda on Friday after Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right government responded to a question posed by the opposition Left party. A spokesman for the defense ministry said that Germany's mission in Afghanistan had shown that it would "certainly make sense" to have armed drones at the military's disposal. And Merkel's spokesman, Steffen...

A comic novel that imagines Adolf Hitler survived the Second World War is the surprise hit of Germany’s winter book season. Er Ist Wieder Da (He’s Here Again) conceives that Hitler spent 66 years asleep in an open field in Berlin, then becomes something of a quizzical, harmless folk hero in the new millennium’s celebrity-driven media and cynical political machinery. The debut novel by German journalist Timur Vermes has sold 250,000 copies of its initial 360,000 print run in Hitler’s homeland since it was published Jan. 18, dislodging Ken Follet’s Winter Of The World from the top of Germany’s bestsellers...

The following letter was sent to the Delaware General Assembly with a copy submitted to the Cape Gazette for publication. We are writing you today to share the voices of 1,500-plus who attended (along with 300 to 400 who were turned away) the 2nd Amendment Freedom Rally this past Sunday in Dover, organized and sponsored by the 9-12 Delaware Patriots and Delaware State Sportsmen's Association on the current gun control issue. We believe in the Delaware Constitution as well as the U.S. Constitution. They define the purposes and limits of government. They are a carefully poured foundation by the founders...

A tipsy Italian tourist tried to stiff a tony East Side steakhouse on his tab before his NYPD-assisted arrivederci, police sources said Friday. Graziano Graziussi, who spend the night in jail after a dispute at Smith & Wollensky, was carrying $118 in his wallet on the night when he challenged the $208 check, said NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/italian-tourist-simply-pay-kelly-article-1.1248327#ixzz2J4OOH9wj

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) stormed out of the Senate Hearing into the deaths of the US Ambassador to Libya and others. The spark that ignited her fury was Senator Rand Paul's (R-Ken) questioning of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Rather than let her retire from her post with dignity, Paul insists on poking around into performance issues that have no relevance at this late date,” Boxer complained. “Maybe Secretary Clinton should have taken a greater interest in security for the Ambassador and his staff, but as she so artfully asked, what difference does that make now? Isn't it just 'Monday...

Dear XXXXXXXXXX, The Founding Fathers made it very clear: the ability to bear arms is a fundamental right of citizenship in these United States. The America they created is a place where “We the People” are guaranteed the right to defend ourselves, our families and our property. We must not allow emotions to alter or abridge our fundamental constitutional rights. As your Attorney General, I have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitutions of South Carolina and the United States – including the Second Amendment. I am fully committed to doing just that. Like many South Carolinians, I am a...

Environmental groups are pushing back against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s plan to support a growing yogurt industry by easing regulations on large-scale dairy operations. The Greek yogurt industry is growing so fast in New York that the state doesn’t have enough cows to meet the demand for milk. At a “yogurt summit” in August, Governor Cuomo called Greek yogurt one of the best entrepreneurial opportunities in a generation. Farms with up to 200 cows are exempt from rules requiring extra steps to prevent pollution from cow waste. Cuomo proposes raising the limit to 300 cows to help farms expand without...

HAMILTON – Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman wants to be perfectly clear on the issue of gun control. “If the federal government ordered the confiscation of certain guns, I have been asked would I participate,” Hoffman said Thursday. “The answer is unequivocally no. I would not participate in the confiscation of guns from legal citizens.” Hoffman said he has received dozens of phone calls and emails from county residents asking that question since President Barack Obama announced his plan for executive and legislation action to address gun violence earlier this month after the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in...

Because of the bias of the liberal press, Steve Chalke’s recent endorsement of permanent gay partnerships and the extreme unorthodox views of the ‘Accepting Evangelicals’ group, to which he belongs, have had an unhelpfully disproportionate amount of media coverage. Many Christians are understandably confused. I received this letter this week which I think is not an atypical experience. I am publishing it anonymously with permission and have removed the name of the church. ‘My husband and I worship at a leading conservative evangelical Anglican church and we value the teaching we receive there. Our adult children come from different angles,...

Only in physics can a few quintillionths of a meter be cause for uneasy excitement. A new measurement finds that the proton is about 4 percent smaller than previous experiments suggest. The study, published in the Jan. 25 issue of Science, has physicists cautiously optimistic that the discrepancy between experiments will lead to the discovery of new particles or forces. “Poking at small effects you can’t explain can be a way of unraveling a much bigger piece of physics,” says Carl Carlson, a theoretical physicist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who was not involved in...

Federal District Court Judge Reed O'Conner has ruled that 10 ICE agents and officers have standing to challenge in Federal court the so-called Morton Memo on prosecutorial discretion and the DREAM directive on deferred action. The agents filed their complaint in October, charging that unconstitutional and illegal directives from DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton order the agents to violate federal laws or face adverse employment actions. This is a major first step for the ICE agents in their case against the administration. In his 35-page decision, Judge O'Conner found that the ICE agents and officers have...

January 26, 2013 Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops   Reading 1 2 Tm 1:1-8 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godfor the promise of life in Christ Jesus,to Timothy, my dear child:grace, mercy, and peace from God the Fatherand Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God,whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,so that I may be filled with joy, as I recall your sincere faiththat first lived in your...