The trouble with giving most everyone government assistance . . . .

is that most everyone will therefore never support any necessary economies.

Youths hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police in central Athens on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 as a general strike against new austerity measures brought the country to a standstill.

Lawmakers were embarking on their second day of debate on austerity measures that must be passed in votes on Wednesday and Thursday if Greece’s international creditors are to release another batch of bailout funds to see it beyond the middle of next month.

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2011/06/photos-protesters-clash-with-riot-police-in-athens-strike-on-june-28-2011/

When the majority of citizens are "clients" of government programs, the majority has no incentive to support economic responsibly until after economic disaster strikes.

Is this Afghan security?

Two helicopters from the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan fired on and killed three insurgents on the rooftop of a hotel in Kabul after Taliban fighters, including suicide bombers, launched an attack, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"Two International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) helicopters have just engaged three individuals on the roof," coalition spokesman Major Tim James told Reuters. "The indications are that the three individuals on the roof have been killed."

Afghan officials said at least five suicide bombers attacked Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, one of two major hotels frequented by Westerners in Kabul, late on Tuesday night.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/afghanistan-violence-nato-idUSL3E7HS3CU20110628

A gun battle, suicide bombers and a helicopter attack on the roof of "Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, one of two major hotels frequented by Westerners".

Is this the promised "security returning to Afghanistan"?

The DREAM Act, again

Top White House officials made their case for the long-simmering immigration law, the DREAM Act, on Tuesday at a a Senate hearing packed with attendees, including Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who took the Internet by storm last week with a first-person account of working for major news outlets while an illegal immigrant.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57909.html

Obama broke his promise of comprehensive immigration reform.

Instead, for the umpteenth time since 2000, he is attempting a doomed late inning reintroduction of the DREAM Act as a reelection campaign stunt.

Unfortunately, it is a stunt that will work.

Wasting our time, efforts and money

Nearly 60 suspected al-Qaeda militants tunneled their way out of a Yemeni prison in the lawless south on Wednesday, deepening the chaos of a nation where protesters are trying to topple the autocratic regime.

The escape from the Mukalla prison in Hadramout province is the latest sign that Islamic militants are seizing on the mayhem to operate more freely, something the U.S. fears will become an increasing international threat if the impoverished nation grows even more unstable. Hundreds of Islamic militants have also taken control of two southern towns in recent weeks.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-06-22-yemen-al-qaeda-escape_n.htm

We catch them.

We turn them over to our allies.

Then, our "allies" let them escape.

We're wasting our time, efforts and money.

Now it's Gore's turn to be disappointed

Former Vice President Al Gore sharply criticized President Obama as lacking leadership on climate change in a magazine essay published online Wednesday, saying his policies had been little more effective than those of President George W. Bush.

In the 7,000-word article in Rolling Stone, Mr. Gore said that Mr. Obama clearly understood the threat to the planet posed by global warming and that he had appointed a number of committed environmental advocates to key positions.

But Mr. Gore said that in the face of well-financed attacks from fossil fuel industries and denial and delay from Republicans in Congress, Mr. Obama had failed to act decisively to alter the nation’s policies on climate change and energy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/science/earth/23gore.html

Gore, along with many others, backed the candidate with no experience, no record and no real world achievements.

Now, they are disappointed that he's not getting things done.

What did they expect?

We're not seeking regime change in Libya?

International officials and Libya's opposition have drawn up detailed plans to rebuild the North African nation's economy and society following the removal of Moammar Gadhafi, British diplomats said Friday.

Preparations for maintaining law and order, resuming oil production and the potential deployment of U.N. peacekeepers as cease-fire monitors have all been drafted during talks over the last month, which have also discussed how officials currently tied to Gadhafi's regime could be integrated into an interim administration.

A senior British diplomat, who demanded anonymity to discuss the work, said Friday that a team of officials from the U.K., United States, Italy, Turkey, Denmark and other nations has spent several weeks in eastern Libya discussing scenarios with opposition leaders.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/24/2282586/sarkozy-lashes-at-us-defends-libya.html

U.S. officials are working with an international team of diplomats and Libyan opposition leaders to draft plans for a post Gadhafi regime in Libya.

I remember being told we weren't seeking regime change in Libya.

Suicide bombs hidden in wheelchairs and on 8 year olds

Iraqi officials say a suicide bomber in a wheelchair has attacked a police station near the capital, Baghdad, killing at least two people and wounding 18 others.

Authorities say the bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the police compound in the central town of Tarmiyah on Sunday. At least nine of those wounded were policemen.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Several-Dead-in-Suicide-Bombing-in-Iraq-124560289.html

Taliban insurgents used an eight-year-old girl carrying a bag of explosives to attack a police checkpost in central Afghanistan, the Afghan government said on Sunday, making her one of the youngest child bombers of the decade-old conflict.

The incident took place in Char Chino district of central Uruzgan province, the interior ministry said. "The insurgents handed over a bag with a homemade bomb to an eight-year-old girl and asked her to take it to police forces," it added.

"As the girl was getting close to the police, it exploded and killed the girl."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/26/afghanistan-taliban-girl-bomb-police

I don't understand how can anyone can honestly believe that "they're just like us and only want to be free".