American Thinker, by Alex Jakubowski Posted By: Photoonist- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:51:45 GMT As international efforts to dispose of Moammar Gaddafi escalate, less and less attention is given to the real international threat in the region: Iran. (Snip) At this point the nuclear ambitions of Iran's dictatorial regime have become clear: they want a bomb. The regime continues to enrich large amounts of uranium to 20%, far beyond the amount needed for nuclear power and about 90% of the way to nuclear'grade fuel. Just recently Iran began to move nuclear enrichment facilities to deep underground bunkers to avoid the possibility of outside intervention. Finally, it has been often reported that Iran is conducting

The Hill [Washington, DC], by Alexander Bolton Posted By: Photoonist- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:45:09 GMT Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D'Nev.) has signed off on a bipartisan deal between President Obama and GOP leaders to raise the debt limit. After meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) for over an hour and a half on Sunday, Reid and other Senate Democratic leaders must now sell the deal to their caucus. (Snip) Sources familiar with the outlines of the deal say it would raise the debt limit by about $2.7 trillion and reduce the deficit by the same amount in two steps. It would cut about $1 trillion in spending up front and set up

Telegraph [UK], by James Delingpole Posted By: Attercliffe- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:25:28 GMT As we all know just because you’re away on holiday doesn’t mean you have to stop thinking about the nasty things in life. That’s why I’m dedicating this post to the menagerie''or, if you will, infestation''of trolls which lurk below this blog and who seem to have grown even more active in my absence.[Snip]What I’ve since learned to appreciate is that the problem with trolls is not my problem: it’s theirs. These are psychologically damaged creatures, eaten up with an awful lot of rage and sense of their own inadequacies. Below are some

Sunday Express [UK], by Marco Giannangeli Posted By: Attercliffe- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:11:51 GMT Hobo may be just a dog but he is as much of a soldier as the Royal Marines and Gurkhas he serves with in Afghanistan, sniffing out lethal roadside bombs. So when he was hit by grenade shrapnel in a Taliban attack, no effort was spared to save the black labrador. Captain George Shipman, of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, said: “There were four explosions, the dust was kicked up and it was difficult to see. We realised quickly that Hobo had been hit and was bleeding heavily. “He remained really calm while we treated him. He has become one of us

Bloomberg News, by Staff Posted By: Dreadnought- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:08:18 GMT Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has approved a tentative agreement with House leaders and the Obama administration to raise the U.S. debt ceiling pending approval by fellow Democrats in the Senate, according to a spokesman. "Senator Reid has signed off on the debt'ceiling agreement pending caucus approval," Reid communications director Adam Jentleson said in an issued statement.

Washington Times, by Jim McElhatten Posted By: Hobbiest- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:55:47 GMT The U.S. Secret Service does more than protect Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the agency also pays him rent. Since April, Mr. Biden has collected more than $13,000 from the agency charged with protecting him and his family, for use of a rental cottage adjacent to the waterfront home he owns in a Wilmington, Del., neighborhood. Mr. Biden, listed not as vice president in federal purchasing documents but as “vendor,” is eligible for up to $66,000 by the time the government contract expires in the fall of 2013, the records show. Officials say the arrangement came

CNN, by David Ariosto Posted By: stjohnswood- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:24:06 GMT Kabul, Afghanistan ' Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan that he doesn't know whether soldiers will continue to receive paychecks if an agreement over the U.S. debt ceiling cannot be reached. ''I certainly hope it gets solved,'' Mullen told reporters. America's highest'ranking military officer said soldiers had recently asked him about the crisis, saying ''here we are, halfway around the world, fighting our country's wars, and I've got to worry about a paycheck.'' Mullen said August 15 would be the first payday jeopardized

Weekly Standard, by Fred Barnes Posted By: stjohnswood- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:07:45 GMT For House speaker John Boehner, Tea Party Republicans weren’t the problem as he sought support for a package of spending cuts attached to an increase in the debt limit. The biggest impediment to a House majority was Republicans fearful a primary opponent would use a vote to boost the debt limit against them.(snip) Boehner’s reputation is the opposite of DeMint’s. Yet conservative reformers like Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee, regard the veteran Ohio Republican as an ally. Boehner unflinchingly backed Ryan’s budget that slashes spending and modernizes Medicare and Medicaid.

Canada Free Press, by Kelly O'Connell Posted By: snowcloud- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:15:55 GMT Things are so bad now in America that we have to ask—Could Barack even pull'off being Mayor of McDonald'Land? Barack’s critics have been proven essentially correct in their initial analysis, that he had no leadership experience nor any apparent bent towards such. But consider to the degree in which his lack of leadership has been factually established in every scenario so far. Therefore we can say that not only did Barack bring no leadership skills into his presidency, but he has developed none after 2 years of experience. How pathetic!

New York Times, by Thomas Friedman Posted By: Four_Leaf Resident- Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:07:42 GMT WATCHING today’s Republicans being led around by an extremist Tea Party faction, with no adult supervision, I find my mind drifting back to the late 1980s when I was assigned to cover the administration of George H.W. Bush, who I believe is one of our most underrated presidents. I have long admired the elder Bush for the deftness with which he dealt with the collapse of the Soviet empire. But, in later years, I came to admire him even more for the fact that he believed that math and science were