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START 'cheating' Republicans in the Senate are gearing up to battle the Obama administration over the high-priority plan to finish a new arms-control treaty with Russia before the end of the year.

The signing ceremony in Moscow was a grand affair. For Barack Obama, foreign policy neophyte and “reset” man, the arms reduction agreement had a Kissingerian air. A fine feather in his cap. And our president likes his plumage. Unfortunately for the United States, the country Obama represents, the prospective treaty is useless at best, detrimental at worst. Useless because the level of offensive nuclear weaponry, the subject of the U.S.-Russia “Joint Understanding,” is an irrelevance. We could today terminate all such negotiations, invite the Russians to build as many warheads as they want, and profitably watch them spend themselves into...

Senate Republicans see a new agreement forged between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as an opportunity to force Democrats’ hand on a major security issue: missile defense. Sixty-seven senators, or two-thirds of those present, must agree to ratify any deal seeking to reduce nuclear weapons between the two nations, giving Senate Republicans, who only control 40 seats, rare leverage. The high bar for ratifying treaties will put pressure on Obama to finish construction of a missile shield in Eastern Europe. At the very least, it will make it very difficult for the president to limit that shield in...

MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday it is necessary to link any resolution of the U.S. plans for missile defense in Europe with other countries' interests. "No one says missile defense is in itself harmful or creates a threat to someone. On the contrary, it is aimed at resolving a number of specific problems. The issue is to link this or that missile defense configuration with other countries' interests," Medvedev said at a joint news conference after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Moscow. Medvedev also said the Obama administration, unlike its predecessor,...

Obama, Medvedev Call for Cut to 1,500-1,675 Nuclear Warheads Title only - story to follow

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a preliminary agreement Monday to reduce the world's two largest nuclear stockpiles by as much as a third, to the lowest levels of any U.S.-Russia accord, and counter what Obama called "a sense of drift" in the countries' relations. "We must lead by example, and that's what we are doing here today," Obama declared in Kremlin hall glittering in gold. "We resolve to reset U.S.-Russian relations so that we can cooperate more effectively in areas of common interest." The document signed by the two leaders at a Moscow summit, Obama's first...

U.S. President Barack Obama has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian leaders, expected to focus largely on arms control. This is a visit that falls neatly into two parts. First, President Obama will consult individually with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Then he will focus on improving ties with the Russian people. In an interview with the Associated Press prior to his departure, Mr. Obama said he has a lot to discuss with President Medvedev. Among them: efforts to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - or START - that runs out at the end...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our president offended Brits by giving ridiculous gifts to the Prime Minister and Queen of England. He apologized for American policy in Europe and the Middle East. He described us as a Muslim nation and gave a conciliatory speech to Arab Muslims in Cairo. He shyed away from “meddling” in Iranian affairs as protesters were shot and beaten by the government, but quickly jumped into action in an attempt to save a fellow Marxist would-be dictator in Honduras. In Obama’s next stop on the Magical Mollification Tour is Moscow, where...

Barack Obama is on a mission to reset relations between the US and Russia with nuclear reduction at the cornerstone of his plan. US arms control experts predict the two sides could aim to reduce their arsenals to 1,500 nuclear warheads apiece. Mr Obama's plans continue what the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty began in 1991. It was signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. In a rare interview with Sky News, the former Soviet Leader insisted further nuclear reduction is vital. He said: "If we don't get rid of nuclear weapons the 40 countries that are not members of the...

MOSCOW -- With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty. "The most ideal situation would be to finish it in time that it could be submitted to the Senate so that it can be ratified," said White...

MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow will discuss a new arms reduction deal with Washington only in connection with U.S. plans for a missile shield in central Europe, the Russian prime minister's spokesman said on Thursday. Russia and the United States have been involved in comprehensive talks over a new nuclear arms reduction deal to replace the START 1 treaty, which expires in December. Russian and U.S. experts agreed to report the results at the Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow in July. "This link is well-grounded and we have explained our position on this issue to our American partners during...

Barack Obama's performance in the first 100 days of his presidency draws strong public approval in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but there is decidedly less support for his recent decision to release previously secret government memos on the interrogation of terrorism suspects, an initiative that reveals deep partisan fissures. Overall, the public is about evenly divided on the questions of whether torture is justifiable in terrorism cases and whether there should be official inquiries into any past illegality involving the treatment of terrorism suspects. About half of all Americans, and 52 percent of independents, said there are circumstances...

Russia and the United States will begin their talks about the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on April 24. Russia has many questions to ask the United States about the execution of the previous treaty, which expires on December 5, 2009. The USA’s violations touched upon the missiles used by submarines, warplanes and ground-based missiles. America can use weak points of the treaty to double the power of its nuclear arms. The US-Russian talks about the new treaty are to begin in Rome on April 24. The talks will follow the adequate agreement achieved by US and Russian presidents...

MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on May 7 to discuss the START agreement, which expires at the end of this year. The director of the North American Department at the Foreign Ministry, Igor Neverov, told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the first round of Russian-American expert-level consultations on preparing the new Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty (START) agreement would take place in Rome this week. "There will be a meeting of experts in April, and the experts will continue to work until the minister...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53735 Obama, Medvedev Commit to Reduce Nuclear Arms, Reset Relationship By Fred W. Baker III American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 – The leaders of the world’s two largest nuclear superpowers today agreed to start new talks aimed at reducing nuclear arms stockpiles, and to use the platform to “reset” relationships between the United States and Russia. “What I believe we've begun today is a very constructive dialogue that will allow us to work on issues of mutual interest,” President Barack Obama said following his first meeting with Russian President Dmitriy...

Fred! Fred! He’s here. He’s tanned. He’s ready. He looks like he needs a nap. When it comes to overhyped underperformers, Fred Thompson’s entry into the presidential race was right up there with Britney Spears at the MTV awards. The Republican Party’s great tall hope announced his intentions on Jay Leno’s show, and timed it to coincide with his avoidance of the candidate debate in New Hampshire. That was supposed to send the message of — what? A fear of crowds? A preference for answering questions only while seated? His performance certainly could not have been more low-key. You do...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 31, 2007 – The military commissions case of Australian detainee David Hicks, which concluded last night with a sentence of nine months imprisonment, was a fair proceeding that established a good basis for future commissions cases, the chief prosecutor for the Defense Department said here yesterday. Hicks, 31, was sentenced according to a plea agreement after pleading guilty to one charge of providing material support for terrorism. The commission recommended a seven-year sentence, which was the maximum allowed under the agreement, but another part of the agreement guaranteed a suspension for any portion...

click the name for the latest catch,maybe some one can post the catch, at least 60 pounds.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Saturday the United States was not in a position to take military action against it and urged Washington and its allies to engage in dialogue. "We do not see America in a position to impose another crisis on its tax payers inside America by starting another war in the region," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters. Mottaki was responding to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment. At a joint...

CHICAGO - Attorney Judson Miner called Harvard to offer a job to a graduating student named Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and didn't expect to be showered with gratitude. Still, he wasn't expecting the reception he got. "You can leave your name and take a number," the woman who answered the phone at the Harvard Law Review said breezily. "You're No. 647." That was 1991 and even then Obama — the Illinois senator now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination — was a hot commodity. As the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama had his pick of...

Good story on Sheriff Arapio and Maricopa County taking on the illegals. Rules don't allow putting the story on FR but here's the link http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0113Immigrationdeputies.html. Notice that MALDEF is up in arms over it.

CAMP LIBERTY — “With unity and security, there will be prosperity,” said Col. Robert Scurlock Jr., 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division commander in a press conference Wednesday. Another way to improve prosperity is to turn once dormant factories into bustling centers of activity again. Recently the Multi-National Division – Baghdad assessment team conducted a three-day visit of seven state-owned factories in Baghdad in a continuing effort, coordinated with Coalition forces and the Iraqi government, to help improve local industry. The goal of the operation is to increase the factories’ productivity, which will hopefully lead to an increase in...

Start of banana farming in Africa pushed back 2000 years According to recent evidence from Uganda, the banana may have arrived on the African continent more than 4000 years ago, some 2000 years before the accepted introduction of the fruit on the continent. The finding was published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science (Vol. 33(1):102-113). The authors base their claim on banana phytoliths - distinctive microscopic silica bodies that accumulate in plant cells - which they found in sedimentary layers estimated to be 4000-4500 years old. Earlier findings in Cameroon of 2500 year-old banana phytoliths...

LAREDO, Texas, July 17, 2006 – National Guard troops flowing to the Southwest border are highly visible to drivers at an Interstate 35 inspection station north of this Texas border town as soldiers assist U.S. Border Patrol agents scrutinizing every northbound vehicle. A Texas National Guard soldier and Border Patrol Senior Agent Chad Wamsley accompany Ricky I, a Belgian Malinois, as the detection dog checks a tractor-trailer truck for drugs or concealed people at the Border Patrol's Interstate 35 checkpoint, north of Laredo, Texas. The soldier, who is not being named for security reasons, volunteered to serve for a...

I am going camping next weekend and think it would be cool to start a campfire using a fire bow drill. I have all the parts, but can only seem to get just a bit of smoke at best. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I put pine tar on the string to keep it from slipping.The wood for the fire board is cedar, and the spindle is made of poplar.I watch Survivorman on the Science Channel, and he makes it look so easy, but it is not easy!

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2006 – About 800 National Guard troops have arrived for duty in four U.S. border states as "Operation Jump Start" gets under way. The Guard members reported to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, to support the U.S. Border Patrol and are expected to begin their missions by next week, Michael Friel, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, told American Forces Press Service. "They're in various stages of in-processing," Friel said. Some command-and-control elements are already standing up a joint task force, and many of the operators are expected to be working within days, he said....

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2006 – As another sign of progress toward establishing a lasting tribute to the 184 people killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, the start of on-site construction for the Pentagon Memorial will be marked with a June 15 ceremony here. This design photo shows how the Pentagon Memorial will be built on a two-acre site at the Pentagon, just outside the spot where terrorists crashed the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 into the building. The design includes 184 illuminated benches representing each of the victims killed, with lighted reflecting pools beneath each bench. Photo...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2006 – As part of Operation Jump Start, the National Guard will place about 2,500 troops along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of the month to support efforts to curb illegal immigrants from entering the country, the chief of the National Guard Bureau said yesterday. "The National Guard will support federal law enforcement agencies that have responsibilities for the security of our borders," Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said. "What we will be doing is bringing military skills, military equipment, military expertise and experience to assist at the request of the Department of Homeland Security."...

PALOMINAS — Unimpressed by President George W. Bush’s pledge to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border and a Senate bill that would construct 370 miles of new border fencing, the Minuteman Project began building its own barrier Saturday at a local ranch. By early afternoon, volunteers had planted posts and strung five tiers of barbed wire along an approximately 750-foot-long stretch of Jack and John Ladd’s property in Palominas. It was the first step in an ongoing project the civilian border watch group hopes will eventually be taken over by the federal government. Minuteman Project founder Chris Simcox...

President Bush says he’ll send the National Guard to the southern border, 24 hours after the announcement the Border Patrol has yet to comment, but News 4 tracked down a former Tucson Sector chief for his opinion of the President’s plan. In a move to reform America ’s current immigration system, President Bush announced the deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard Troops to the U.S. Mexico Border. Bush stated, “The United States is not going to militarize the southern border.” Bush said that the Border Patrol will remain in the lead using support from the troops in roles like...

Gov. Marijadeen Patan of Khost Province (center left) helps hold a ribbon as U.S. Army Lt. Col. David A. Bushey cuts it during March 25, 2006, ceremonies marking the start of a project to rebuild the Matachena Madrassa, the largest religious school in Khost, Afghanistan. Bushey is commander of Task Force Wolfpack, composed primarily of soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Amber Robinson-Sonoda Governor, Khost Residents Celebrate Madrassa Project Start A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the start...

Web Site Files Complaint Against Google Mar 17 6:36 PM US/Eastern By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer SAN FRANCISCO Google Inc.'s mysterious methods for ranking Web sites came under attack Friday in a lawsuit accusing the online search engine leader of ruining scores of Internet businesses that have been wrongfully banished from its index. The civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose by KinderStart.com, seeks to be certified as a class action representing the owners of all Web sites blacklisted by Google's Internet-leading search engine since January 2001. KinderStart, a Norwalk-based Web site devoted to information about...

Worship of phoenix may start 7,400 years ago in central China New archaeological discoveries show that the worship of the phoenix by ancient Chinese can be dated back as early as 7,400 years ago in central China. A large amount of pottery, decorated with the patterns of beasts, the sun and birds have been excavated at the Gaomiao relics site in Hongjiang, Huaihua City of central China's Hunan Province, according to a report by the Guangming Daily. "The patterns of birds should be the phoenix worshipped by ancient Chinese," said He Gang, a researcher with the Hunan Institute of Archaeology....

TOKYO - A Japanese spacecraft on an unprecedented mission to bring asteroid material back to Earth is set to start home despite showing signs of trouble earlier, an executive of Japan's space agency, JAXA, said Sunday. On Saturday, the Hayabusa probe apparently landed on the Itokawa asteroid and collected surface samples. After the landing, the probe hovered about three miles from the asteroid and appeared to be shaking due to a possible gas leak from a thruster, JAXA said. The probe shut down all its engines Saturday and switched to solar power while JAXA investigated the problem. But the probe...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California was on the brink of entering the new fiscal year without a state budget for the fifth time in a row after lawmakers deadlocked Thursday over a tiny fraction of spending in a plan likely to exceed $115 billion next year. The Assembly adjourned for the holiday with plans for party leaders to work on a compromise over the weekend with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but senators were called back into session late Thursday for a possible vote on a Democratic budget plan. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said he would keep members in session...

Archaeologists start digging for Hun settlements in Russia LIPETSK, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Major archaeological excavation work has started in the Lipetsk region's Zadonsk and Khlevnoye districts (Central Russia), where Hun settlements used to be in ancient times. "Four archaeological expeditions, involving a hundred people each, have started excavation work on the banks of the Don and the Voronezh rivers on the sites of former settlements of the Huns," Mikhail Ryazantsev, an archaeologist at the State Department for Cultural Heritage Protection, told RIA Novosti. The Huns were nomadic tribes between the second and fourth centuries A.D. Experts of Lipetsk's...

Social Security problems start sooner than you think Alan Greenspan puts the date to really start worrying at 2008. That's because he's looking at real cash flow, not fancy government accounting that puts the problems with Social Security decades away. By Scott Burns In two days of grilling about Social Security, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan put an important new date on our calendars: 2008. That's when he believes problems may begin with Social Security. **SNIP** The high-cost estimate has a smaller cash surplus. It also disappears much faster. The high-cost estimate has Social Security and Medicare down to a...

Questions about corruption swirling around Mayor James Hahn have their origins in the decisions he made at the start of his administration to put key fund-raisers in critical roles that would aid his future efforts to raise campaign cash. What analysts are calling the "perfect political storm" was virtually assured years ago by a cascade of decisions that put the demands of his campaigns and the interests of insiders at the top of the Hahn agenda. Among the decisions that observers point to is naming his relatively inexperienced 2001 campaign fund-raiser, Troy Edwards, to oversee the three proprietary departments --...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to privatize California's public pension systems is a major attack on the nation's corporate reform movement, Treasurer Phil Angelides and officials of five states said as they announced a national campaign to fight the move. Instead of putting the state's pension plans on sound financial footing, Schwarzenegger's plan "is part of a concerted effort to break apart the powerful voices of public pension funds that have stood up for ordinary investors in corporate boardrooms," Angelides said Wednesday. Angelides a board member of two California retirement funds that manage a combined $300 billion. The...

Scientists to start DNA analysis of ancient horse skeletons www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-10 15:19:28 XI'AN, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese and British scientists are planning for the DNA analysis of 12 horse skeletons unearthed from the burial ground of a prominent duke who lived more than 2,500 years ago in northwestern Shaanxi Province. Archeologists with Beijing University and Cambridge University have used a professional database to process data collected from the skeletons, including the size and weight of the skulls, spinalcolumns and limbs. A Cambridge laboratory will be entrusted to carry out the DNA analysis, after the State Administration of Cultural Heritage...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - As promised, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called lawmakers into a special session Thursday that could lead to a bitter special election fight over redistricting, state spending, teacher pay and public employee pensions. "I'm hoping we go into a negotiating room, not a boxing ring," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said as both houses convened the session and then adjourned until Monday. Schwarzenegger demanded in his State of the State speech Wednesday night that lawmakers approve constitutional amendments to automatically cut state spending when expenditures exceed revenue, base teacher pay on merit instead of longevity, substitute 401(k) plans...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Murkowski asks her staff to quit NEW START: Senator says they can reapply, but some won't be rehired By RICHARD MAUER Anchorage Daily News (Published: November 25, 2004) Murkowski Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday that she will be returning to Washington in January for her first term as an elected senator with a revived confidence and such a strong desire to start anew that she has asked her entire 30-member staff to resign and reapply for their jobs. Some won't be rehired, she said. *SNIP* Murkowski said her decision to start fresh with her staff doesn't mean some of the same...

New Cabinet Position Would Be Created to Head the Socially Progressive Church WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a bold response to criticism from the Vatican and other high-ranking Catholic officials for his pro-abortion views, presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry has vowed to create a new Catholic church that would be pro-choice and run by the U.S. government if he is elected president in November. "It's about time that forward thinking Catholics in this country had a church that is aligned with their progressive political views," Kerry said in a recent press conference. "And that is exactly what I will create...

Airports to Start Tracking Foreigners Tuesday December 23, 2003 1:31 AM By PENNY COCKERELL Associated Press Writer DALLAS (AP) - Major U.S. airports and seaports are preparing to begin using fingerprints and photographs to keep track of when foreigners enter the country and when they leave. The program, to be up and running on Jan. 5 at all 115 airports that handle international flights, will let Customs officials instantly check an immigrant or visitor's criminal background. ``I think people have come to understand that an increase to security is necessary,'' said U.S. Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger. At Dallas-Fort Worth...

SILLY SEASON GETS OFF TO A STRONG START 1 hour, 29 minutes ago By David M. Shribman It couldn't last, the unlikely season of substance that seemed to dominate the landscape of national politics. It couldn't -- and it didn't. In the past week, the seasons changed and, suddenly, we're deep into the Silly Season. The Silly Season, in case you hadn't noticed, is a time of bluster and buffoonery, speculation and spectacle (which is a pretty fair way to describe the reaction to retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark's entry into the presidential race). Otherwise serious people do silly things,...

We will start testing nuclear bombs, says defiant N Korea (Filed: 27/07/2003) US fears that declaration could be prelude to an atomic attack, writes Julian Coman North Korea has raised the stakes dramatically in its confrontation with the United States by privately threatening to conduct its first underground nuclear test, it emerged yesterday. A senior official of the hardline Communist regime warned in New York that his country would take counter-measures, "for example, a nuclear test", if the US did not ease pressure on his isolated country. The warning, by Han Sung Ryol, North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United...

<p>LOS ANGELES - Since 1960, humans have lobbed roughly 34 unmanned spacecraft at Mars, in part lured by the prospect that the Red Planet may harbor extraterrestrial life.</p> <p>Life has yet to be found by the spacecraft, most of which died a robot's death trying to reach the planet. Of all the U.S., Soviet, and later, Russian missions, two-thirds ended in failure.</p>

JERICHO, West Bank - Palestinian leaders have put aside reservations to parts of the U.S.-developed plan for peace with Israel and are ready to get started on it, Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday, heeding an appeal by Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites). "We have accepted it as it is," Abbas said. "True, maybe we have some reservations. But in order to give a way for the peace process, we have dropped down all our reservations, and we said that we accept it as it is." While other Palestinian leaders accused Israel of hedging in its...