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N. KOREA THREATENS UNITED STATES

Posted By: WITH MILITARY ACTION. on 2009-06-13
In Reply to: UN hits N. Korea with sanctions...(sm) - Just the big bad

N. Korea Threatens Military Action if U.S. Imposes Blockade
Saturday, June 13, 2009


June 10: South Korean soldiers use binoculars to look at the North side from Imjingak, north of Seoul, South Korea.
June 10: South Korean soldiers use binoculars to look at the North side from Imjingak, north of Seoul, South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea vowed on Saturday to embark on a uranium enrichment program and "weaponize" all the plutonium in its possession as it rejected the new U.N. sanctions meant to punish the communist nation for its recent nuclear test.

North Korea also said it would not abandon its nuclear programs, saying it was an inevitable decision to defend itself from what it says is a hostile U.S. policy and its nuclear threat against the North.

The North will take "resolute military action" if the United States or its allies try to impose any "blockade" on it, the ministry said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The ministry did not elaborate if the blockade refers to an attempt to stop its ships or impose sanctions.

North Korea describes its nuclear program as a deterrent against possible U.S. attacks. Washington says it has no intention of attacking and has expressed fear that North Korea is trying to sell its nuclear technology to other nations.

The statement came hours after the U.N. Security Council approved tough new sanctions on North Korea to punish it for its latest nuclear test on May 25.

The U.N. resolution imposes new sanctions on the reclusive communist nation's weapons exports and financial dealings, and allows inspections of suspect cargo in ports and on the high seas.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526090,00.html


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N. Korea Threatens to Hurt US if Attacked

This guy is really nuts! Just because he has 1M foot soldiers, he thinks he can do what he wants.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528057,00.html


In which United States do minorities
Please elighten, oh wise one.
In which United States do minorities
Please elighten, oh wise one.
and we ARE talking about the President of the United States here...
he is not running for the senate. He is running for the top spot. Obviously the postings I made before about Marxist leanings were not so off the wall...if the Marxists are high-fiving him in open letters to newspapers. And not just any Marxist...son of the big Kahuna. Don't understand how someone can consider abstinence and sex education valid issues to attack a candidate's family for pete's sake and totally ignore this little revelation. How sweet it is to wear blinders, I suppose.
Do what? Screw the rest of the United States?

The United States is a country in decline.

United States Senate...who voted for what

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00137


Do you actually look up anything?


Someone whose loyalties lie with the United States of America
nm
this is slandering the President of the United States..sm
saying that the President is stupid WITHOUT having ANY proof of this.
Obama must be United States Citizen to be president!!!!

Until he proves to all the people of the United States that he was born a US citizen, how can anyone support him for president!  Are we all that desperate?


Rise of the United Socialist States of America

If you can honestly approve of all this, I just don't know what else to say...


Click here: The Rise of the United Socialist States of America


 


A civics lesson in the Constitution of the United States
Our country's highest governing document, The Constitution, has been our guiding light throughout most of this country's history and has provided protection and equal treatment of the citizens of this country for over 200 years.  Now, some people are saying that it needs to be changed, amended or done away with because it is "old-fashioned" and out of date.  What I think these people want done away with is just the parts that they don't find fits their particular needs or desires at the moment, in particular, it would seem, the 14th Amendment and its definition of who is a natural citizen of this country and eligible to run for the office of President of the United States. 

Let's look at the constitutional requirements for President of the United States, the 14th Amendment which further defines a natural citizen and the law which fills in the gaps and makes the explanation whole and more easily understood. 


Who is a natural-born citizen? Who, in other words, is a citizen at birth, such that that person can be a President someday?


The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps.


Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"



  • Anyone born inside the United States
  • Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
  • Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
  • Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
  • Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
  • Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
  • Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
  • A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.


Separate sections handle territories that the United States has acquired over time, such as Puerto Rico (8 USC 1402), Alaska (8 USC 1404), Hawaii (8 USC 1405), the U.S. Virgin Islands (8 USC 1406), and Guam (8 USC 1407). Each of these sections confer citizenship on persons living in these territories as of a certain date, and usually confer natural-born status on persons born in those territories after that date. For example, for Puerto Rico, all persons born in Puerto Rico between April 11, 1899, and January 12, 1941, are automatically conferred citizenship as of the date the law was signed by the President (June 27, 1952). Additionally, all persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, are natural-born citizens of the United States. Note that because of when the law was passed, for some, the natural-born status was retroactive.


The law contains one other section of historical note, concerning the Panama Canal Zone and the nation of Panama. In 8 USC 1403, the law states that anyone born in the Canal Zone or in Panama itself, on or after February 26, 1904, to a mother and/or father who is a United States citizen, was "declared" to be a United States citizen. Note that the terms "natural-born" or "citizen at birth" are missing from this section.


Some have theorized that because John McCain was born in the Canal Zone, he was not actually qualified to be president. However, it should be noted that section 1403 was written to apply to a small group of people to whom section 1401 did not apply. McCain is a natural-born citizen under 8 USC 1401(c): "a person born outside of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person." Not eveyone agrees that this section includes McCain - but absent a court ruling either way, we must presume citizenship.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html


If one group of people who want to see Obama in office manage to do away with the 14th Amendment, then what is to keep another faction of people from doing away with any of the other constitutions?  The Constitutions, its Amendments and Articles were put in place not to oppress the American people but to protect them and their rights and freedoms.  What if all the men in the country decided they wanted to do away with the 19th Amendment?  I bet we would see some really mad women in this country.  Or how about doing away with the 22nd Amendment which limits the number of terms that a President  can serve?  Can we say "dictatorship?" 


Look....any president of the United States is going to trust people to do their jobs...
he trusted FEMA to do their jobs. He trusted that Blanco and Nagin were listening to what the weather experts were telling them and what the corps of engineers were telling them...they asked for the evacuation to be mandatory a full 24 hours before Nagin made it mandatory. A very precious 24 hours. So it was impossible to get people out. Can we possibly lay the failure at the feet of all responsible?

And as i said...would have taken the post a lot more seriously had the poster not made the "baker" comment at the end. It lost all credibility at that point..but of course, I am sure that escaped you.

And what any of this has to do with John McCain, whose birthday it was, having a piece of cake...he was a senator at the time. So was Obama. I figure he had a meal that day, and maybe even some cake.

This is a nonissue. There are a bazillion reasons why Katrina was such a disaster. One, the corps of engineers had been telling local and state officials for years that the levees would not hold if there was a big storm. Good lord, the whole town is below sea level!! Which, incidentally, is not Bush's fault either.

But NONE of these things have ANYTHING to do with JOhn McCain. Nice try to link it to him...but no.
How about : Stop telling the President of the United States WHAT functions
to attend and which not?
I think O and his cabinet are doing a better job in this than you.
As long as SP puts herself out there and threatens to
she will draw volleys from the firing squad. Truth is that this relentless criticism is the best thing that can happen for the GOP, who needs to turn their eyes in a MUCH different direction when it comes to the leadership void. If they cannot move themselves more toward the center, they are doomed to fail again.
Cornyn threatens filibuster over Franken

GOP campaign chief John Cornyn (R-Texas) vowed Friday that Republicans would block any attempt by Democrats to seat AL Franken when the Senate gavels into order next week.


Franken is leading Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by a slim 49-vote margin, but more than 1,000 votes have yet to be counted and legal challenges remain.


In a conference call with reporters today, Cornyn, the newly selected head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said: “I think it’s very clear that the people of Minnesota and the courts of Minnesota” should choose between Franken and Coleman, “and not politicians in Washington, D.C.”


“It is the height of arrogance for any leader in Washington, D.C. to tell Minnesota voters whose votes should count and whose votes shouldn’t count,” Cornyn added.


The Texas senator was responding to comments made by Minnesota’s Democratic junior senator, Amy Klobuchar, suggesting Franken should be seated in the upper chamber if he is certified as the winner by the State Canvassing Board. The Board is scheduled to meet Saturday to count at least 1,350 absentee ballots.


"If the Canvassing Board declares a winner, that should be our senator," Klobuchar said last week. Even if a court challenge were to follow, Klobuchar said, "[The Senate] could seat a senator pending the litigation."


But Cornyn said Republicans were prepared to filibuster any attempt to seat Franken.


“There will be no scenario in which Republicans agree” to seat Franken without the complete resolution of legal cases surrounding the election and a certification from the state’s Democratic secretary of state and Republican governor, Cornyn said.


As the recount drags on, legal obstacles await. On Wednesday, Coleman filed a lawsuit alleging that election officials had not adopted uniform vote counting standards across the state. And Cornyn was quick to note that any Minnesota citizens have the right to file legal challenges of their own in the days ahead.


“I really think we need to be patient and allow the process to work its way through,” Cornyn said.


Actually North Korea HAS WMD
Bush had no reason to send troops to Iraq.

North Korea, on the other hand, is already in possession of nuclear arms and is ready to strike a pre-emptive strike towards America.

Would you suggest we do nothing?

This has nothing to do with whatever side of the aisle you are on, it is about saving humanity from a mad man with nuclear arms.
N. Korea wants an apology from the U.N.

He's threatening nuclear missles now if he doesn't get the apology


Instead of all the governments playing patty cake with these radical leaders, we should just take them out once and for all.


While O is trying to reduce our defense abilities, these leaders are building up theirs. When is the world (including our country) going to realize you can't deal with leaders like this in a rational manner? "Speak softly but carry a big stick" is the motto we should be following.


 


Pro North Korea? (sm)

I didn't say I was pro N. Korea.  You obviously need to hone your psychic skills.  What I am saying is that yes, I am anti nukes.  I am also anti "let's jes kill 'em all" mentality that we've had to put up with for the previous 8 years. 


Another thing you might want to consider is that N. Korea is not completely without allies.  Unless we're willing to catch one of those nukes, I would think it best if we didn't start playing hot pototoe with them. 


UN hits N. Korea with sanctions...(sm)

Yeah!!!.  Now I just worry about the 2 girls they are trying over there.



updated 3:42 p.m. ET, Fri., June 12, 2009


SEOUL, South Korea - The U.N. Security Council on Friday punished North Korea for its second nuclear test, imposing tough new sanctions, expanding an arms embargo and authorizing ship searches on the high seas, with the goal of derailing the isolated nation's nuclear and missile programs.


In a sign of growing global anger at Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the council, the North's closest allies Russia and China joined Western powers and nations from every region in unanimously approving the sanctions resolution.


The resolution seeks to deprive North Korea of financing and material for its weapons program and bans the country's lucrative arms exports, especially missiles. It does not ban normal trade, but does call on international financial institutions not to provide the North with grants, aid or loans except for humanitarian, development and denuclearization programs. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said the resolution provides "a strong and united international response" to North Korea's test in defiance of a ban imposed after its first underground atomic blast in October 2006.


"The message of this resolution is clear: North Korea's behavior is unacceptable to the international community and the international community is determined to respond," DiCarlo said. "North Korea should return without conditions to a process of peaceful dialogue."


Push for six-party talks
China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Yesui said the nuclear test had affected regional peace and security. He strongly urged Pyongyang to promote the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and return quickly to Beijing-hosted six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.




He said the resolution demonstrates the international community's "firm opposition" to the atomic blast, "but also sends a positive signal" by showing the council's determination to resolve the issue "peacefully through dialogue and negotiations."



North Korea signaled strong opposition to new sanctions before the vote, but its diplomats were nowhere to be seen on Friday.



That was in stark contrast to the vote in October 2006 when the North Korean ambassador immediately rejected the first sanctions resolution, accused council members of "gangster-like" action, and walked out of the council chamber.


'Merciless offensive'
North Korea reiterated Monday in its main newspaper that the country will consider any sanctions a declaration of war and will respond with "due corresponding self-defense measures." On Tuesday, the North said it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked.


The provision most likely to anger the North Koreans calls on countries to inspect all suspect cargo heading to or from North Korea — and to stop ships carrying suspect material if the country whose flag the vessel is flying gives approval.





The White House said it was prepared to confront ships believed to be carrying contraband materials to North Korea but will not try to forcibly board them.


If the country refuses to give approval, it must direct the vessel "to an appropriate and convenient port for the required inspection by the local authorities."









Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said U.S. officials would seek permission to board and inspect ships believed to be carrying contraband to North Korea. Such ships would be directed to a nearby port for inspection if they could not be boarded at sea, she told reporters at the White House.





Rice said the U.S. would not be surprised if North Korea reacted to the sanctions with "further provocation."




"There's reason to believe they may respond in an irresponsible fashion to this," she said. But she said she expects the sanctions to have significant impact on North Korea's financing of its weapons and missile systems.


Nuclear tests
The United States and many other nations, including China and Russia, have condemned Pyongyang for its underground nuclear test on May 25 and a series of ground-to-air missile test firings.


The resolution condemns "in the strongest terms" the North's May 25 nuclear test "in violation and flagrant disregard" of the 2006 sanctions resolution.


It demands a halt to any further nuclear tests or missile launches and reiterates the council's demand that the North abandon all nuclear weapons, return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, allow U.N. nuclear inspections, and rejoin six-party talks.


The 2006 resolution imposed an arms embargo on heavy weapons, a ban on material that could be used in missiles or weapons of mass destruction and a ban on luxury goods favored by North Korea's ruling elite. It also ordered an asset freeze and travel ban on companies and individuals involved in the country's nuclear and weapons programs.


and N. Korea is laughing at the useless UN
nm
NK wants to take back South Korea

I think that's part of the problem. They have "unification" parties all over the north. The people in the north don't get any outside news except what NK wants them to have. At least that's my take on it.  I hope their missles do fizzle out. I'm sure the nitwit will definitely push it to the brink.


As he states (and did we REALLY start the Korean War?):


"This is another foul product of the U.S.-led international oppression to disarm the DPRK and to suffocate it economically for forcing the Korean people to give up their idea and system.


If the U.S. imperialists start another war, ignorant of the ignominious defeat they had sustained in the past Korean war, the army and people of Korea will determinedly answer "sanctions" with retaliation and "confrontation" with all-out confrontation, the counter-measure based on the Songun idea, wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all and achieve the cause of national reunification without fail."


North Korea: This is not good news

I was surfing a bit this morning and found this news article from N. Korea. I doubt things will cool off for a long time, if ever. The article headlines state: "Lee Myung-Bak's Group Military Provocations Blasted. From there, it calls him a puppet war monger and states how Myung-Bak outbursts "over the non-existant provocation (my emphasis) by the North."


http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm


Former US Diplomat Raps Bush N. Korea Policy

Here is yet another expert criticizing Bush's policies.  How can ALL of these people be wrong?


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-21T064029Z_01_N21187502_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage3


Former US Diplomat Raps Bush N. Korea Policy


June 21, 2006


By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. diplomat who was deeply involved in North Korea policy said the Bush administration's approach toward the isolated communist state has been a failure that left Pyongyang to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.


In a rare public attack on the administration by a foreign service officer, retired head of the State Department's office of Korean affairs David Straub also questioned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's decision-making on the issue. A spokesman for Rice was not immediately available for comment.


One fundamental failure of Bush's approach was the tendency to raise tensions and make South Korea nervous by stating that all options were the table, a phrase underscoring U.S. intentions to use force against North Korea if necessary, he said.


Of course all options are on the table. No government ever takes any option off the table but you don't have to talk about it all the time, Straub said.


Every time we said 'all options are on the table' gratuitously, we made the situation with our South Korean ally worse and made the prospect of coordination with South Korea to resolve the North Korean problem diplomatically that much more remote, he said.


Straub was head of the Korean office from 2002-2004 and was part of a team that negotiated with the North during former Secretary of State Colin Powell's tenure.


Several former administration political appointees have faulted President George W. Bush's policies after leaving office but it is rare for a foreign service officer to do so.


DIPLOMATIC FAILURE


Straub spoke in Washington at a meeting of the Korea Club, which groups former officials, scholars and journalists interested in the Korean peninsula.


His remarks came as six-country negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear program are at a stalemate and as Pyongyang fans tensions again with preparations for a possible long-range missile test.


Straub said Washington was not primarily responsible for the failure to stop the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons and expressed skepticism Pyongyang would abandon its growing capability even if the United States made major concessions.


But he said the only viable U.S. approach is serious negotiations, the appointment of a high-level envoy and a willingness to engage in bilateral as well as multilateral talks, something the Bush administration has eschewed.


Straub said North Korea never seemed a priority for Bush and he could not understand why the National Security Council under Rice, who is often credited with energizing diplomacy at the State Department, repeatedly rejected Powell's diplomatic proposals.


Powell was desperate to try to have some real diplomatic effort going (with Pyongyang). Maybe she did something (to assist that) for four years while he was in office, but if she did no one ever told me, Straub said.


As for Bush, Straub wondered how much attention is he able to pay to it (North Korea). How much does he know?


Straub noted that opinion polls show many South Koreans consider America a bigger problem than North Korea. I can't think of a better definition of diplomatic failure, he said


He expressed confidence Powell would have pursued bilateral talks with Pyongyang in 2002-2003 during a crisis created by U.S. discovery of the North's clandestine program for enriching weapons-grade uranium.


But he said the administration did not want real give and take so the stalemate in six-country talks between the United States, the two Koreas, Japan, China and Russia was predictable, he said.


Straub also questioned why, after six-party talks reached an important but preliminary agreement on the nuclear issue last September, Rice would allow release of a statement clarifying U.S. views on issues papered over in the agreement.


The U.S. statement prompted Pyongyang to renege on the agreement.


Russia against sanctions for Iran and North Korea. Therefore:

U.S. and Russia to Enter Civilian Nuclear Pact
Bush Reverses Long-Standing Policy, Allows Agreement That May Provide Leverage on Iran



By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 8, 2006; A01


President Bush has decided to permit extensive U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia for the first time, administration officials said yesterday, reversing decades of bipartisan policy in a move that would be worth billions of dollars to Moscow but could provoke an uproar in Congress.


Bush resisted such a move for years, insisting that Russia first stop building a nuclear power station for Iran near the Persian Gulf. But U.S. officials have shifted their view of Russia's collaboration with Iran and concluded that President Vladimir Putin has become a more constructive partner in trying to pressure Tehran to give up any aspirations for nuclear weapons.


The president plans to announce his decision at a meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg next Saturday before the annual summit of leaders from the Group of Eight major industrialized nations, officials said. The statement to be released by the two presidents would agree to start negotiations for the formal agreement required under U.S. law before the United States can engage in civilian nuclear cooperation.


In the administration's view, both sides would benefit. A nuclear cooperation agreement would clear the way for Russia to import and store thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors around the world, a lucrative business so far blocked by Washington. It could be used as an incentive to win more Russian cooperation on Iran. And it would be critical to Bush's plan to spread civilian nuclear energy to power-hungry countries because Russia would provide a place to send the used radioactive material.


At the same time, it could draw significant opposition from across the ideological spectrum, according to analysts who follow the issue. Critics wary of Putin's authoritarian course view it as rewarding Russia even though Moscow refuses to support sanctions against Iran. Others fearful of Russia's record of handling nuclear material see it as a reckless move that endangers the environment.


You will have all the anti-Russian right against it, you will have all the anti-nuclear left against it, and you will have the Russian democracy center concerned about it too, said Matthew Bunn, a nuclear specialist at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.


Since Russia is already a nuclear state, such an agreement, once drafted, presumably would conform to the Atomic Energy Act and therefore would not require congressional approval. Congress could reject it only with majority votes by both houses within 90 legislative days.


Administration officials confirmed the president's decision yesterday only after it was first learned from outside nuclear experts privy to the situation. The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the agreement before the summit.


The prospect, however, has been hinted at during public speeches in recent days. We certainly will be talking about nuclear energy, Assistant Energy Secretary Karen A. Harbert told a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace event Thursday. We need alternatives to hydrocarbons.


Some specialists said Bush's decision marks a milestone in U.S.-Russian relations, despite tension over Moscow's retreat from democracy and pressure on neighbors. It signals that there's a sea change in the attitude toward Russia, that they're someone we can try to work with on Iran, said Rose Gottemoeller, a former Energy Department official in the Clinton administration who now directs the Carnegie Moscow Center. It bespeaks a certain level of confidence in the Russians by this administration that hasn't been there before.


But others said the deal seems one-sided. Just what exactly are we getting? That's the real mystery, said Henry D. Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. Until now, he noted, the United States has insisted on specific actions by Russia to prevent Iran from developing bombs. We're not getting any of that. We're getting an opportunity to give them money.


Environmentalists have denounced Russia's plans to transform itself into the world's nuclear dump. The country has a history of nuclear accidents and contamination. Its transportation network is antiquated and inadequate for moving vast quantities of radioactive material, critics say. And the country, they add, has not fully secured the nuclear facilities it already has against theft or accidents.


The United States has civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with the European atomic energy agency, along with China, Japan, Taiwan and 20 other countries. Bush recently sealed an agreement with India, which does require congressional approval because of that nation's unsanctioned weapons program.


Russia has sought such an agreement with the United States since the 1990s, when it began thinking about using its vast land mass to store much of the world's spent nuclear fuel. Estimating that it could make as much as $20 billion, Russia enacted a law in 2001 permitting the import, temporary storage and reprocessing of foreign nuclear fuel, despite 90 percent opposition in public opinion polls.


But the plan went nowhere. The United States controls spent fuel from nuclear material it provides, even in foreign countries, and Bunn estimates that as much as 95 percent of the potential world market for Russia was under U.S. jurisdiction. Without a cooperation agreement, none of the material could be sent to Russia, even though allies such as South Korea and Taiwan are eager to ship spent fuel there.


Like President Bill Clinton before him, Bush refused to consider it as long as Russia was helping Iran with its nuclear program. In the summer of 2002, according to Bunn, Bush sent Putin a letter saying an agreement could be reached only if the central problem of assistance to Iran's missile, nuclear and advanced conventional weapons programs was solved.


The concern over the nuclear reactor under construction at Bushehr, however, has faded. Russia agreed to provide all fuel to the facility and take it back once used, meaning it could not be turned into material for nuclear bombs. U.S. officials who once suspected that Russian scientists were secretly behind Iran's weapons program learned that critical assistance to Tehran came from Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan.


The 2002 disclosure that Iran had secret nuclear sites separate from Bushehr shocked both the U.S. and Russian governments and seemed to harden Putin's stance toward Iran. He eventually agreed to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council and signed on to a package of incentives and penalties recently sent to Tehran. At the same time, he has consistently opposed economic sanctions, military action or even tougher diplomatic language by the council, much to the frustration of U.S. officials.


Opening negotiations for a formal nuclear cooperation agreement could be used as a lever to move Putin further. Talks will inevitably take months, and the review in Congress will extend the process. If during that time Putin resists stronger measures against Iran, analysts said, the deal could unravel or critics on Capitol Hill could try to muster enough opposition to block it. If Putin proves cooperative on Iran, they said, it could ease the way toward final approval.


This was one of the few areas where there was big money involved that you could hold over the Russians, said George Perkovich, an arms-control specialist and vice president of the Carnegie Endowment. It's a handy stick, a handy thing to hold over the Russians.


Bush has an interest in taking the agreement all the way as well. His new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership envisions promoting civilian nuclear power around the world and eventually finding a way to reprocess spent fuel without the danger of leaving behind material that could be used for bombs. Until such technology is developed, Bush needs someplace to store the spent fuel from overseas, and Russia is the only volunteer.


The Russians could make a lot of money importing foreign spent fuel, some of our allies would desperately like to be able to send their fuel to Russia, and maybe we could use the leverage to get other things done, such as getting the Russians to be more forward-leaning on Iran, Bunn said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/07/AR2006070701588.html?sub=new


© 2006 The Washington Post Company

North Korea: Engage, Appease, Oppose

A little bit of history on North Korea and the dilemma. Read the rest of the article from the link below.


"So it's another step backwards again with North Korea.


In defiance of a Security Council resolution (1718) passed after its first nuclear test in 2006, it has now announced a second. It has also implied that it has solved some at least of the problems it encountered in the first.


The actual technical achievement remains to be examined. But the test itself represents a continued belligerency whose destination is unknown. "


 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8066719.stm


EVERYBODY laughs at the Useless Nations, not just North Korea. nm
nm
The United Nations has always been a joke.
They never accomplish anything, never take responsibility for anything and want everything for themselves.

There is nothing wrong with Sarah Palin as a VP candidate. Besides, McCain has a right to pick who he wants.
United Daughters of the Confederacy
I'm off to a meeting.  Just wondering what comments this will bring. LOL
A united country must be socialist? (sm)
I don't even have anything to say to that rediculous assumption. 
So, wait, you're ANTI nukes but PRO North Korea.
Uhhhh...do you see the flaw in your logic?














I didn't think so.
Hindsight is 20/20. The same argument could be made of North Korea if they decide to attack...sm
after Bush's 2nd term has ended.

Clinton and Bush definitely were opposites on foreign policy, but I think he did try - probably didn't do as much as he could. What Bush is doing with the war in Iraq though, I think is irresponsible as well.
Obama has other things to worry about: North Korea! Israel:Palestine etc...
Why are you so interested to know WHO visits the White House in top secret meetings?

This is not what Obama meant when he said...'I will open the White House...!
North Korea threaten to fire missile towards Hawaii on 4th of July
On the 4th of July. How should the US respond?

Sarah Palin, United Nations, she has
.
This is simply NOT TRUE. Read what the United

Mine Workers of America have to say about it.  I've copied and pasted it in its entirety.  It completely REFUTES yet another false claim that's been repeated on this board.


McCain campaign’s last minute distortion of Obama’s coal record an act of desperation






date: 


November 3, 2008




For immediate release?: 
 

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement today:


“Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, have once again demonstrated that they are willing to say anything and do anything to win this election. Their latest twisting of the truth is about coal and some comments Sen. Obama made last January about the future use of coal in America.


“Here is what the McCain campaign left out of Sen. Obama’s actual words: ‘But this notion of no coal, I think, is an illusion. Because the fact of the matter is, is that right now we are getting a lot of our energy from coal. And China is building a coal-powered plant once a week. So what we have to do then is figure out how can we use coal without emitting greenhouse gases and carbon. And how can we sequester that carbon and capture it.’


“Sen. Obama has been consistent with that message not just in the coalfields, but everywhere else he goes as well. Despite what the McCain campaign and some far right-wing blogs would have Americans believe, Sen. Obama has been and remains a tremendous supporter of coal and the future of coal.


“I noted that Sen. McCain even went so far yesterday as to say he has always been a supporter of coal. I wonder, then, how he can justify his statement at a Senate hearing in 2000 that, ‘In a perfect world we would like to transition away from coal entirely,’ and his leading role in sponsoring legislation in 2003 that would have wiped out 78 percent of all coal production in America?


“Fortunately, UMWA members, their families and their friends and neighbors in the coalfields know all too well what is going on here. They’re not going to fall for it, and we urge others throughout America who care about coal to review what the candidates’ records on coal actually are. We are confident that once they do, and once they see the many other benefits to working families of voting for Sen. Obama, they will make the right choice for themselves and their families


People's United Means Action
I had heard it before but didn't know what it meant.
United Methodist Church Calls For Withdrawal ...sm

Sweet Victory: United Methodist Church Calls For Withdrawal


It's one thing when former high-ranking members of your own Administration come out against your war. It's another thing when two-thirds of the country calls the invasion and occupation a mistake. It's really something when your own church issues a statement urging you to pull out the troops now.


Last week, the United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society--the social action committee of the church that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney belong to--resoundingly passed a resolution calling for withdrawal with only two 'no' votes and one abstention.


As people of faith, we raise our voice in protest against the tragedy of the unjust war in Iraq, the statement read. Thousands of lives have been lost and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted in a war the United States initiated and should never have fought.... We grieve for all those whose lives have been lost or destroyed in this needless and avoidable tragedy. Military families have suffered undue hardship from prolonged troop rotations in Iraq and loss of loved ones. It is time to bring them home.


The board also issued a strong statement against torture, urging Congress to create an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate detention and interrogation practices at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan.


It is my hope and prayer that our statement against the war in Iraq will be heard loud and clear by our fellow United Methodists, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, said Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the UMC's Board of Church and Society. Conservative and liberal board members worked together to craft a strong statement calling for the troops to come home and for those responsible for leading us into this disastrous war to be held accountable.


With its bold stands against the Administration, the UMC is fulfilling the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who called for the church to be not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion but a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.


Bush has asserted that he entered Iraq on a direct order from God. Now, he has a direct order from his own church to leave. Is he listening?


I saw a documentary on the abuse of boys in United Arab Emirates...sm
as donkey racers and it was downright heartbreaking. I would adopt them ALL if I could.

I don't think the US should throw a penny their way. Only the rich would benefit anyway.
That's why most of the states are red. sm
The majority are just blind sheep and ignorant of facts. And that's why Fox News, the so-called conservative channel, is #1.  People are just so stoopid, especially those big dummies, the conservatives. That's why they keep getting elected.  It's just that the majority of Americans are too dumb to know any better. 
You are right, when someone states that
about "hating me since 1996" one does question. But there is information in there that can be factualized. For example, leaving a small town of 5000-6000 people 20 mil. in debt is something that can be verified (I have also read that elsewhere) and that does not seem very conservative to me.

Just because information comes from a blog (though this 1 did not), does not mean it has some facts in it. And no, I don't mean the blog of kos or the way right website of audacity of hope.
I bet she knows how many states we have though!!!
xx
Do you know what states?
I can guarantee mine isn't included. He's blasting all over the state how much money we are getting and what it's for, then turns around and states what HE's going to spend it on, which doesn't include anything that is in the stimulus plan.
which states
Can anyone tell me which states those are?
Dear Red States
Dear Red States...
 
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're
 taking the other Blue States with us.  In case you aren't aware, that
 includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan,
 Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to
 the nation, and  especially to the people of the new country of New
 California.
 
 To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get
 stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken
 Lay.  We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and
 Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.   We get 85
  percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
 
 We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay
 their fair share.  Since our  aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower
than  the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a
bunch  of single moms.
 
 Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and
 we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need
 people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently
 willing to send to their death for no purpose, and they don't care if you
 don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you
 success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to
 spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.
 
 With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of
the  country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and
lettuce,
 
 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality
 wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all
 cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur
 coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven
 Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.
 
 With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88
 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92
 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90
 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually
 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University,
 Clemson and the University of Georgia.
 
 We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
 
 Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was
 actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless
 we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that
 evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and
 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals
 then we lefties.
 
 By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed
they  grow in Mexico.
 
 
 Sincerely,

 Author Unknown in New California.


Probably will return to the states
As Lilly posted, the decision of termination will probably eventually  return to the states..Interesting times we are living in..
Aren't you the one who WANTS states

I don't mean for that to sound rude, just an honest question.  I seem to remember you saying you wanted more power to go to individual states, so do you agree with the states having control in this case?  I appreciate the information and will check it out.  I already know my state's income eligibility requirements and will post them below if anyone is curious.  I found them at mt.gov.


For Montana:

































2007 CHIP Income Chart
Effective July 1, 2007
*Annual Adjusted Gross Income (before taxes)


Household Size
(Children and Adults)

Household Income

Family of 2

$23,958

Family of 3

$30,048

Family of 4

$36,138

Family of 5

$42,228

Family of 6

$48,318

Family of 7

$54,408

Family of 8

$60,498

Some employment-related and child care deductions apply.
These guidelines are effective July 1, 2007.
Income guidelines may increase in 2008.
* If a child qualifies for Medicaid, health insurance will be provided by Medicaid.


At least he knows how many states are in the country..
he is running to be President of. Hee hee.
At least he knows how many states are in the country.....
he says he can lead. At least his #2 has not said publically that he is not fit for the job. At least his #2 is not badmouthing his campaign ads. At least he is not buds with domestic self-confessed communist terrorists. At least he did not study the Alinsky method of Marxist socialist organizing. At least he puts his country first, not his party. Sorry...no way,no how, nobama.
Why states' government is just as

Just to narrow their choices down to who they want instead of letting the people decide, as in a free democracy, even the states are changing their rules without the knowledge of its citizens..........


http://www.ronpaulforpresident2008.com/editorials/URGENT_Party_Switching_Deadlines.html


 


not necessarily. I don't know about other states, but...
here in Michigan they want to allow voting online, not needing to actually be "absent" to get an absentee ballot, and no ID needed. And they were also tossing around early voting like Ohio did. If this is all allowed like the Dems want, then all the "dead dems" in Cook County will be moving to Michigan to vote, and then move back to Chicago.

What is scary about all these "proposals" is that you have the opportunity for out and out voter fraud the likes of which will make Cook County politics look like a Sunday school picnic. Especially if they decide to do this in all the states. JMO though.