The Bad News Thread

The Bad News Thread

This is for those who want to highlight events that spell Bad News for them.

... and for those who feel just plain Grumpy.

, , and

Even worse. There are sick bastards that look at the 70s and 80s in the same way!!!

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090520/NEWS03/90520023/Beer+tax+may+fund+U.S.+health+care

"Joe Six-Pack may have to hand over nearly $2 more for a case of beer to help provide health insurance for all.




Details of the proposed beer tax are described in a Senate Finance Committee document distributed to lawmakers before a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Senators are focusing on how to pay for expanding health insurance for an estimated 50 million uninsured Americans, a cost that could range to some $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

You can’t raise that from beer money alone.

Lawmakers are looking at an extensive list of spending cuts and tax increases, including a new levy on the value of job-based health insurance. The latter proposal seems to be gaining ground. It could lead to higher income taxes for some people with particularly generous job-based health care.

No decisions were expected at the meeting, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., will use the feedback to shape legislation he intends to introduce in the next few weeks.

While many of the revenue raisers involve obscure provisions of federal law, most consumers can relate to a beer tax.

Taxes on wine and hard liquor would also go up.

And there might be a new tax on soda and other sugary drinks blamed for contributing to obesity. A tax of 3 cents per 12-ounce drink would raise about $50 billion over 10 years, according to congressional estimates. Diet drinks, however, wouldn’t be taxed.

The idea behind the proposed increases is to tax lifestyle choices that contribute to rising medical costs. Obesity puts people at risk for diabetes and heart problems.

Alcohol abuse is a risk factor in several types of cancer, liver disease and psychological problems.

The soft drink industry and beer and wine producers are already lobbying to stop the proposals before they gain traction. The tax increases would lead to job losses for workers and higher costs for recession weary consumers, say the industries. Wine makers are also pointing to studies that suggest a glass a day can be good for health.

“Singling out wine for higher taxes to reform health care is misguided because wine is part of a healthy diet and lifestyle for millions of Americans,” said Robert P. Koch, president of the Wine Institute, which represents California’s industry.

Under the proposal lawmakers are considering, beer taxes would be increased by 48 cents a six-pack, from the current 33 cents. Beer is still the favorite choice of Americans who drink alcohol.

Wine taxes would rise by 49 cents per bottle, from the current 21 cents.

And the tax on hard liquor would increase by 40 cents per fifth, from the current $2.14.

Percentage-wise, wine drinkers would take the biggest hit, a 233 percent tax increase per bottle.

Hard liquor would see the smallest proportional increase, 19 percent per fifth.
The beer tax would rise by 145 percent per six-pack.

Proponents of the idea say it would equalize the tax treatment of alcoholic drinks, by charging the same tax rate based on alcohol content to all. But that would put an end to the current tax advantage enjoyed by beer and wine.

The higher alcohol taxes would bring in nearly $60 billion over 10 years.





This is NOT Change that I can believe in. First it was cigs, now BEER???? How dare you Obama?
If this passes, I will have to give Obama a salute, the one-fingered salute.

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090520/NEWS03/90520023/Beer+tax+may+fund+U.S.+health+care

"Joe Six-Pack may have to hand over nearly $2 more for a case of beer to help provide health insurance for all.




Details of the proposed beer tax are described in a Senate Finance Committee document distributed to lawmakers before a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Senators are focusing on how to pay for expanding health insurance for an estimated 50 million uninsured Americans, a cost that could range to some $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

You can’t raise that from beer money alone.

Lawmakers are looking at an extensive list of spending cuts and tax increases, including a new levy on the value of job-based health insurance. The latter proposal seems to be gaining ground. It could lead to higher income taxes for some people with particularly generous job-based health care.

No decisions were expected at the meeting, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., will use the feedback to shape legislation he intends to introduce in the next few weeks.

While many of the revenue raisers involve obscure provisions of federal law, most consumers can relate to a beer tax.

Taxes on wine and hard liquor would also go up.

And there might be a new tax on soda and other sugary drinks blamed for contributing to obesity. A tax of 3 cents per 12-ounce drink would raise about $50 billion over 10 years, according to congressional estimates. Diet drinks, however, wouldn’t be taxed.

The idea behind the proposed increases is to tax lifestyle choices that contribute to rising medical costs. Obesity puts people at risk for diabetes and heart problems.

Alcohol abuse is a risk factor in several types of cancer, liver disease and psychological problems.

The soft drink industry and beer and wine producers are already lobbying to stop the proposals before they gain traction. The tax increases would lead to job losses for workers and higher costs for recession weary consumers, say the industries. Wine makers are also pointing to studies that suggest a glass a day can be good for health.

“Singling out wine for higher taxes to reform health care is misguided because wine is part of a healthy diet and lifestyle for millions of Americans,” said Robert P. Koch, president of the Wine Institute, which represents California’s industry.

Under the proposal lawmakers are considering, beer taxes would be increased by 48 cents a six-pack, from the current 33 cents. Beer is still the favorite choice of Americans who drink alcohol.

Wine taxes would rise by 49 cents per bottle, from the current 21 cents.

And the tax on hard liquor would increase by 40 cents per fifth, from the current $2.14.

Percentage-wise, wine drinkers would take the biggest hit, a 233 percent tax increase per bottle.

Hard liquor would see the smallest proportional increase, 19 percent per fifth.
The beer tax would rise by 145 percent per six-pack.

Proponents of the idea say it would equalize the tax treatment of alcoholic drinks, by charging the same tax rate based on alcohol content to all. But that would put an end to the current tax advantage enjoyed by beer and wine.

The higher alcohol taxes would bring in nearly $60 billion over 10 years.





This is NOT Change that I can believe in. First it was cigs, now BEER???? How dare you Obama?
If this passes, I will have to give Obama a salute, the one-fingered salute.

I do not drink of smoke so if i was living there would not make a difference to me but be careful with that middle finger he might think of something else to pass to make legal

Originally posted by Cocoa_butter:

but be careful with that middle finger he might think of something else to pass to make legal " width="43" height="17">

In Winter, when we need it most, the sun shines weakly and without much warmth.
In Summer, when it is warm enough anyway, the sun is unnecessarily bright and hot.
That doesn't seem to me to be Intelligently Designed.

The Coming War with Iran: 6 Days in Hell!
"Six Days to War" could happen sooner than you think — as many American assets are already "in position" for an attack.

Timmerman also details the deadliness and unintended consequences of a U.S. attack against an increasingly militant Iran.

That attack could come sooner than you think.
http://w3.newsmax.com/a/apr07/?s=al&promo_code=805C-1:bomb:

Hrmphh.
Barcelona 2 Man. United 0

WTF happened to them today?

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

Hrmphh.
Barcelona 2 Man. United 0

WTF happened to them today?

http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=73627
i put it in the good news thread ,lol
hombre unida cuelga la cabeza de vergüenza

BREAKING NEWS:::

Due to the recession Western governments will start deporting all mentally ill people to save money.

I started crying when I thought of all of you.

Run my little crazy friends, run!

Aw, Jaybro, relax! America's big: lots of room for them all… (Now you know the true meaning of 'exceptionalism'; America –the U.S.– is not a western society, any more than "ancient Greece" was an ancient society.)

Originally posted by Jaybro:

Due to the recession Western governments will start deporting all mentally ill people to save money.

I started crying when I thought of all of you.

Run my little crazy friends, run!

I'll be praying for you my Yankee friend!

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

Originally posted by Jaybro:

Due to the recession Western governments will start deporting all mentally ill people to save money.

I started crying when I thought of all of you.

Run my little crazy friends, run!

I'll be praying for you my Yankee friend!

i noticed My Opera updated a few things but nothing on smilies ,are we copy and pasting them ,cus they are coooly cool .

Originally posted by Cocoa_butter:

i noticed My Opera updated a few things but nothing on smilies

Nope. I don't know why the devil they don't update them.

Originally posted by Cocoa_butter:

are we copy and pasting them ,cus they are coooly cool .

I have to use the insert image feature.

Many unaware of alcohol calories

I don't wish to know that.

» Six inch serrated knife cleared by airport security but not bottled water!
London | June 11, 2009 4:26:25 PM IST
A plane passenger was able to take a six-inch serrated knife past airport security but was stopped before boarding for carrying a bottle of water.

Moderator note: This post has been removed for violating our Terms of Service.

There needs to be some good news soon.

http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=73627&t=1245582423&page=26#comment3024292

Originally posted by string:

Many unaware of alcohol calories

I don't wish to know that.

Thanks for posting this one. I wondered why the beer diet wasn't working.

“May God give you...For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer.”

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

WASHINGTON – Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week.

Darn it! I missed this back and forth on postal services altogether until this morning.

I'm a huge supporter of the US Postal Service for two reasons. Basically, I like the idea of any corporate endeavor that provides a decent wage to employees. For the same basic reason, I support bloated labor unions that manage to deliver a living wage to their members. It's not all about the genius of overpaid managers and intellectual gurus who come up with new widgets to fry bacon or bomb the enemy. Given that 70% of the US economy derives from consumer spending, the more folks out there with the funds to spend on computers and lingerie, the better. Particularly lingerie!

Strictly from a US perspective, I'd much rather see money go to letter carriers than aircraft carriers. Norway and Sweden are another matter. Mail once a decade is just fine.

Talking of spending - I would assume that if bills are delayed by one day, payments will be delayed on average by the same amount. That means the Government and business will loose out on the GNP x 1/365 the average yearly interest rate. That will mean that the public saves by the same amount. (*)

Can't be bothered to work it out (**)


I bet that's more than the Post Office deficit.

So the question is - who wins and who looses in all of this?


(*) (an engineers approach to economics)

(**) (most people's approach to economics)

Originally posted by string:

(*) (an engineers approach to economics)

(**) (most people's approach to economics)

NAZRAN, Russia - Gunmen firing automatic weapons shot dead a top judge Wednesday in Russia's republic of Ingushetia just 18 months after her predecessor was killed.
NAZRAN: Russia thought it had tamed the Muslim regions on its southern flank when it quelled a rebellion in Chechnya, but trouble is brewing again.
...............................................................................
Barely noticed by the outside world, increasing violence and clashes between federal forces and rebels in Ingushetia, just west of Chechnya, threaten to destabilise the north Caucasus.

Ninety-three people were killed in clashes in the year to the end of August, the local branch of human rights group Memorial says – a big death toll for a region with a population of only 470,000.
..............................................................................
Russia's attempts to control its restive northern Caucasus suffered a major blow when the president of the Muslim republic of Ingushetia was critically injured in an assassination attempt today.

Violence is rarely good, but one of the worst aspects of this situation (actually three different events in Ingushetia) is that the Republicans will be pushing Obama to take a tough position on....on, er...well, I'm not sure, but they'll be urging something.

When we finally had found <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/07/15/china-stops-clinic-treating-internet-addiction-with-electroshock/">a way to fight D&D craving, the Chinese government stops it</a>.

Chinese authorities have put to a stop one clinic’s extreme effort to wean youngsters away from the Internet — a practice that highlights the skepticism surrounding China’s approach to Internet addiction, as well as the existence of the condition itself.

The Ministry of Health ordered that the clinic in Shandong province stop using electroshock as a form of punishment, according to Chinese media. Electroshock therapy was administered as a punishment for violating any number of the center’s rules. But the government said the treatment hasn’t been proven safe, while outsiders questioned whether the practice was effective in getting young people away from their compulsion to spend significant time online.

Shocking!

Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94
Sad news, indeed.

Originally posted by OakdaleFTL:

Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94
Sad news, indeed.

You ain't kidding.
(Thedawgfan observes a moment of silence and drinks a to honour him.)

thelocal.se: Topless bathers conspicuously absent at Malmö pools

Despite winning the right to bathe topless at all of the municipal swimming pools in Malmö, bare-breasted female bathers have remained conspicuous by their absence.

Few women it seems have rushed to exploit a recent ruling by the city's sports and recreation committee, in which it rejected a call for women to be obliged to cover their breasts while taking a dip in local pools.

"We haven't noticed any significant difference. My colleagues and I have not seen any women who have made use of the possibility to swim topless - not while we have been on duty anyway," said Zakrea El-Falou at Aqua-va-kul in central Malmö to The Local on Monday.

Neither has the warm summer weather encouraged Malmö's female bathers to take a stand as the news from the city's outdoor facilities is much the same.

"I haven't seen a single woman bathing topless during any of my shifts," Robert Nilsson at open-air Lindängsbadet said to The Local.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6073804/UKs-payments-to-EU-jump-by-60-per-cent.html

UK's payments to EU jump by 60 per cent


"The Treasury statistics show that the UK's net contribution to the EU will increase from £4.1 billion this year to £6.4 billion in 2010/11.

The figures were published in the Treasury's annual Community Finances statement, which was slipped out last month just before parliament broke up for its summer recess.

The revelation will fuel the political debate over whether Britain benefits from being in the EU, after more than a quarter of UK voters in this year's European elections backed parties which want to take Britain out of the EU.

It comes six weeks before Irish voters go to the polls in a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, in which a "yes" vote would put the controversial treaty – which transfers national powers to Brussels and creates a powerful new EU president – on course to become law in all 27 member states.

Last night the Conservatives branded government "incompetence" for the rise in contributions. The Opposition said the increased payments were the result of the "selling out" of Britain's annual EU rebate by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown at an EU budget-setting summit 2005.

The latest Treasury figures also show that Britain is currently the second biggest net contributor, behind Germany. The new net UK contribution of £6.4 billion is the equivalent of £257 for every household in Britain – or 3p on the standard rate of income tax.

Britain's budget rebate – won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 – is to shrink from £5.1 billion this year to £3.3 billion in 2010/11.

The percentage increase in the net contribution between this year and next year is by far the biggest between any two years since 2003, according to the Treasury figures.

In 2003/4 Britain's net contribution was £3.2 billion, and in following years was at £3.9 billion, £4.4 billion, £3.5 billion, £4.2 billion and £3.0 billion before hitting £4.1 billion this year under current spending plans.

Britain's EU rebate was designed to compensate the UK for the high costs of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which benefits Britain much less than other countries because of its relatively small farming sector.

Before the last big round of EU negotiations, Mr Blair promised parliament that the "UK rebate will remain and we will not negotiate it away."

However, at the European Council in December 2005 Mr Blair negotiated away around 20 per cent – or £7.2 billion – of the rebate Britain would have received over the period 2007 to 2013.

As part of the "deal", Britain received promises of cuts to the CAP subsidies paid to farmers. However, these have not so far been forthcoming, with the French government digging in its heels over plans to reform the CAP.

The December 2005 negotiations saw allies of Mr Brown, then the Chancellor, claiming that the former prime minister had gone against the wishes of the Treasury – sparking a fresh battle in the long running political war between the two men.

However, in 2007 it was reported that Mr Brown had caved in and agreed to rubber stamp the original deal.

Last night Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: "The consequences of Labour's rebate sell-out are becoming clear, if only in these buried figures. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair signed billions of pounds of our money away in return for absolutely nothing.

"At a time when our economy is in recession and public service budgets are under pressure, Labour's incompetence is allowing billions of pounds to be siphoned off to Brussels."

At the European elections in June, the UK Independence Party, which wants to take Britain out of the EU, secured 16.5 per cent of the vote, pushing Labour into third place. Votes for other parties which advocate withdrawal, including the British National Party, English Democrats and Socialist Labour Party, took the total Eurosceptic vote to more than 26 per cent.

After Germany and the UK, the biggest net contributors to the EU budget are the Netherlands, France and Italy. The biggest net beneficiaries are Greece, Poland and Spain."

Originally posted by ersi:

Topless bathers conspicuously absent at Malmö pools

Haven't been in Malmö for a while, and I don't frequent beaches and very rarely pools, but I have no indication that there are less topless sunbathers in Oslo (or for that matter Prague) public parks.

In the 'not exactly news' category, I watched a Clint Eastwood film yesterday, "Gran Torino".

In the evening, unable to sleep, I got up and turned on the TV. Glory be to God, I ran into a decades old spaghetti western staring Eastwood, which I watched for about ten minutes. To save you the trouble of seeing GT, I can report that Eastwood's acting skills have not diminished over these many years. Nor have they improved. He still possesses the amazing ability to range from teeth-gritting anger to teeth-gritting joy, then to teeth-gritting sadness. It's all about his use of his temples.

Clint is 79 but doesn't look more than a few years over that.
...........................................................................................................................
I also watched ten minutes of a reality show, my first such experience. More on that one when I've recovered more. Can anybody say Kardasian sisters?

Greece is still on fire..

Just realized that the DUI class I was supposed to attend was this weekend.

Originally posted by Jaybro:

In the 'not exactly news' category, I watched a Clint Eastwood film yesterday, "Gran Torino".

In the evening, unable to sleep, I got up and turned on the TV. Glory be to God, I ran into a decades old spaghetti western staring Eastwood, which I watched for about ten minutes. To save you the trouble of seeing GT, I can report that Eastwood's acting skills have not diminished over these many years. Nor have they improved. He still possesses the amazing ability to range from teeth-gritting anger to teeth-gritting joy, then to teeth-gritting sadness. It's all about his use of his temples.

Clint is 79 but doesn't look more than a few years over that.
...........................................................................................................................
I also watched ten minutes of a reality show, my first such experience. More on that one when I've recovered more. Can anybody say Kardasian sisters?

Have you watched any day-time T.V.? It provides gainful employment for a regiment of identical, tall, thin, smooth, blonde ladies of a certain age who can follow the chalk marks and look at the camera or away from it as directed. They have no acting ability but can express the required range of emotions by raising or lowering their eyebrows. Some of the less aware of them fell in with the botox craze and now have a wrinkle-free forehead and in consequence no means of implying any emotion whatsoever. Poor, lost, ageless souls, they line up for unemployment payouts, wondering where it all went wrong.
But you would never guess it to look at them.

I understand that some markets are botoxing their chickens to plump them up.

Speaking of which, what's up with the augmentation craze? I swear to the gods that I've seen some that look like they've been done using ugli fruit.

Do any Americans here worry about the value of the dollar?
If so, read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/25/ben-bernanke-second-term-obama
(There goes the dollar's value to hell in a handbasket)

Originally posted by thedawgfan:

(There goes the dollar's value to hell in a handbasket)

This is not bad news in U.S. Your exports will soar. It would be bad news for EU.

However, this is really bad news:

The European Parliament will on Thursday debate EU plans to share people's private bank data with US counter-terrorist agents. Some MEPs are furious that EU member states ignored legal advice to involve the parliament in negotiations with the US.

source: http://euobserver.com/9/28593

It is quite sad that such an important issue as the banking privacy and the terrorism agenda are being pushed by some to the member state level instead of taking it in its entirety to EU level. EU Parliament would decide the thing equally for all the member states and would have a proper leverage against the United States when discussing these matters. Banking privacy and counter-terrorism cannot be decided on the member state level, because it is only the U.S. this agenda. The United States is deliberately causing divisions between EU member states in these matters.

This has already happened:

• Citizens of about half EU countries have biometric passports which were introduced by pressure from the United States citing terrorist threat. The agreements were signed individually by the member states with the United States.
• These passports are considered by EU Commission to be introduced in all member countries. Naturally, people oppose this, but most countries, namely the newer member states, already introduced it due to individual agreements with the U.S.
• The passports enable United States to create a database of photos and fingerprints of all people entering the country. Photographs and fingerprints of everyone visiting the United States are being taken as we speak.

Originally posted by ersi:

This is not bad news in U.S. Your exports will soar. It would be bad news for EU.

Four of the top 10 U.S. exporters sold paper. Only two of the country's top 10 exporters via container could be classified as manufacturers of products: Procter & Gamble in the eighth spot (54,200 TEUs) and DaimlerChrysler in tenth place (with 50,100 TEUs).

Twenty-nine of the 100 largest U.S. exporters via containers sold paper or waste paper. Another 26 sold food, cattle feed or cotton. Combined, more than half of the United States's largest exporters sold something that was grown.
http://www.allbusiness.com/manufacturing/computer-electronic-product-manufacturing/603000-1.html

But how much scrap paper and soap products can the world buy?

Originally posted by Jaybro:

But how much scrap paper and soap products can the world buy?

I don't know. It's a mystery. How many weapons has U.S. sold to the world and the world still keeps buying. An even bigger mystery.

Originally posted by ersi:

I don't know. It's a mystery. How many weapons has U.S. sold to the world and the world still keeps buying. An even bigger mystery.

Not to me, given the inclination we (collectively) have to dismember others.

The amount of money we take in from peddling military hardware is surpassed by our sales of scrap materials.

Exports of U. S. scrap of all kinds grew to $8. 4 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department.
....
Scrap paper is now the top American export by volume, according to the paper industry. It's growing faster than traditional U. S. exports such as advanced technology products, farm products, manufacturing, and goods and services.
....
http://greenyes.grrn.org/2005/02/msg00051.html

The $8.4 figure is from 2005, the figure for military transfers that year being $7.7. We spend too much money on weaponry, but we're wondrous recyclers. And some of that scrap metal yields plowshares from swords.

Swine-flu outbreak hits 2,000 at WSU; other schools wary

Washington State University has reported the first large-scale return of swine flu in the state since spring's pandemic, with the latest outbreak striking almost as soon as students returned to campus Aug. 24.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2009809942_swineflu05m.html



The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.

http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

Hmmm...
Face masks ? Check.
Rubber Gloves ? Check.
Avoid public places ? Check.
Wash hands frequently? Check.
Beer? Check.


Any you folks think this may be another REAL Pandemic or Blown out or proportion by the media.?

You might want to check out the <a href="http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=274334">novel</a> epidemic.

Originally posted by MAXXTHRUST:

Any you folks think this may be another REAL Pandemic or Blown out or proportion by the media.?

It's a pandemic, regardless of how deadly it may or may not be.

It's a disappointing pandemic that doesn't kill millions! Semi-pandemic?

Originally posted by Jaybro:

It's a disappointing pandemic that doesn't kill millions! Semi-pandemic?

Also-randemic?

One-man-bandemic?

Originally posted by johnnysaucepn:

Also-randemic?

Makes me think of the Japanese film, Ran. Too obscure. Sorry.

Originally posted by tt92:

One-man-bandemic?

Congers up image of man playing the harmonica, strumming a banjo and drumming with his foot. I like it. Bound to make us all sick.

You want bad news. I got bad news.

Not since Viet Nam have I seen one of these.

Afghan rights body: dozens of civilians died in NATO strike
..........
KABUL (Reuters) – Scores of civilians died in last week's NATO air strike on Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan, a prominent domestic rights group said on Monday in a first independent estimate of the death toll.

Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM), a non-governmental group funded by domestic rights campaigners, said in a report based on more than a dozen interviews with local residents that between 60 and 70 civilians died in the September 4 strike in the Char Dara district of Kunduz province.
..........
German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung defended his troops on Sunday for calling in the air strike and warned against hasty judgments over the most deadly operation involving German forces since World War Two.

"The air strike was absolutely necessary," Jung told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "I can't comprehend how some can so quickly criticize the military action without knowing what the situation was or the background information."

"Based on the information I got, only Taliban terrorists were killed in the strike," he said.
..........
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090907/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_attack_1

Apparently, the dead had their Taliban ID handily pinned to their smocks.

American empire, my arse.

Give a look at the Afghanistan presence by nation in 2009.
Cited here.
I know, I know...if we don't kill'em there, we'll have to kill'em in Toulouse or Avon-on-Quagmire.

So it's bad news you seek? You should come to the tropical paradise of South Florida. Forget the economy. Forget global warming. The most immediate problem facing ...uh, me.... is the Burmese Python. An article in today's Tampa Tribune warns of the out-of-control population explosion of 200 lb slithering behemoths.

"Wildlife experts and proponents of the exotic pet industry scoff at some estimates that there are more than 100,000 pythons in the Everglades, even though that was the number used by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in support of his bill to ban importation of pythons. Some government biologists have said there could be as many as 140,000 pythons in the Everglades and surrounding areas."

"Photos of an alligator eating a thick squirming snake and a giant snake eating a 6-foot alligator (both died as a result) are dramatic. So is the photo of the staff of an Okeechobee animal hospital hoisting the body of a 17-foot, 200-pound python they found and killed next to their clinic in July."

"We know they are reproducing," she said. "We found nests and hatchlings."

Snakes on a plain