Richard Disney

The money quote from this article about overturning a smoking ban in Germany is this one near the end, “Under the Nazis smoking was frowned upon. After 1945 smoking became a symbol of a post-war freedoms and broadmindedness.”

Looks like the Progressive Smoking Nazis are making a resurgence.

Article follows:

The ruling came after a case brought by the owner of two small bars, who claim that their business has been unfairly hit by the smoking ban.

Introduced in patchwork fashion across the country’s 16 federal states earlier this year, Germany’s smoking ban has been poorly received by often tobacco-friendly Germans, about a third of whom smoke.

The laws have often been ignored or barely enforced, with the owners of small bars and restaurants claiming that their businesses were threatened by the legislation.

Among them were the owners of two separate one-room pubs in Berlin and the south-western state Baden-Wuerttemberg.

They claimed that their bars small size prevented them cordoning off a smokers’ area, as other bars have been allowed to, putting them at a competitive disadvantage. The constitutional court agreed.

“I am satisfied all around,” said Sylvia Thimm, owner of ‘Doors’ in Berlin, one of the two bars involved in the case.

German tobacco lobbyists DVZ said the smoking ban was heavy handed.

“We are warning against a growing culture of bans and regulations in Germany,” said DVZ chief Wouda Kuipers.

In fact, Germany has long been notoriously heavily regulated, but smoking has established itself as a lone act of rebellion against the prevailing culture.

Under the Nazis smoking was frowned upon. After 1945 smoking became a symbol of a post-war freedoms and broadmindedness.

Now, all German states will have to review their smoking bans and come up with new legislation by 2009, either banning smoking outright or allowing it in one-room bars too.

German court overturns smoking ban - Telegraph

Tags: smokingban, germany, nazis, progressive nazis, fascist, cigarettes, tobacco, berlin, baden-wuerttemberg, liberal fascism

This is interesting to me because I was directly involved in looking for Karadzic in Bosnia and his military commander Ratko Maladic near Hans Piezak in the Bosnian Serb sector. Our military sector which was halfway between Tuzla and Sarajevo and very wide west to east was some wild country. While serving with Task Force Silver Lion 2-68 Armor out of Camp Linda in Olovo, Bosnia we didn’t find Karadzic. Now I understand why.

I was in Srebrenica in 1996 and saw mass graves there. It was unbelievable and horrible to behold. I am very glad Radovan Karadzic was caught and I hope Ratko Maladic isn’t far behind.

Article follows:

By GRAHAM BOWLEY
Published: July 23, 2008

He grew long white hair and a flowing white beard, and, as Dragan Dabic, the former psychiatrist worked for years in a clinic in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, as a practitioner of alternative medicine. He even lectured at local community centers.

“How convincing his false identity was, we can tell you that he has been freely walking in the city, ” said Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, on Tuesday. “Even the people he rented a flat from were unaware of who he was.”

The secret life was very different from his years as the outspoken, clean-shaven leader — with a prominent square jaw and a distinctive shock of grey hair — of Bosnian Serb forces during the 1990s.

But on Monday his false identity was broken, his mask pulled away, and secret police officers arrested Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted war criminals for his part in the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.

He had been sought by international prosecutors since he vanished from view in 1996.All along, he was said to have eluded arrest by disguising himself as a Serbian Orthodox priest and by hiding out in caves in the mountains of eastern Bosnia and in monasteries.

But details provided by Serbian officials for the first time on Tuesday showed that, at least for some of those years, one of the accused architects of Europe’s worst massacre since World War II had been hiding in Serbia in plain sight.

Serbian officials said he had transformed his identity and appearance so successfully that he was able to walk out freely in public. He used false documents and false identities, and most recently lived in New Belgrade, a working class neighborhood of the capital that is known as a stronghold of Serbia’s radical far-right party.

Click here to read entire article: For Bosnian Serb, a Life of Hiding in Plain Sight - NYTimes.com

Tags: bosnia, serb, radovan karadzic, ratko maladic, hans piezak, srebrenica, 1996, olovo, bosnia, camp linda, 2-68 armor, silver lions

Things must be improving in Iraq when the Main Stream Media starts publishing stories like this.

Article follows:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Spc. Grover Gebhart has spent nine months at a small post on a Sunni-Shiite fault line in western Baghdad. But the 21-year-old soldier on his first tour in Iraq feels he’s missing the real war — in Afghanistan, where his brother is fighting the Taliban.

Military officials say violence in Iraq is at its lowest point in the past four years.Military officials say violence in Iraq is at its lowest point in the past four years.

With violence in Iraq at its lowest level in four years and the war in Afghanistan at a peak, the soldiers serving at patrol station Maverick say Gebhart’s view is increasingly common, especially among younger soldiers looking to prove themselves in battle.

“I’ve heard it a lot since I got here,” said 2nd Lt. Karl Kuechenmeister, a 2007 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who arrived in Iraq about a week ago.

Soldiers who have experienced combat stress note that it is usually young soldiers on their first tour who most want to get on the battlefield. They say it is hard to communicate the horrors of war to those who have not actually experienced it.

“These kids are just being young,” said Sgt. Christopher Janis, who is only 23 but is on his third tour in Iraq. “They say they want to get into battle until they do, and then they won’t want it anymore.”That soldiers are looking elsewhere for a battle is a testament to how much Iraq has changed from a year ago, when violence was at its height. Now it’s the lowest in four years, thanks to the U.S. troop surge, the turn by former Sunni insurgents against al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Iraqi government crackdowns on Shiite militias.

At least 29 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq last month, and there were 19 deaths in May — the lowest monthly toll for American troops since the war began in March 2003. By comparison, in Afghanistan, 28 Americans died in June and 17 in May, but there are four times as many U.S. troops in Iraq.

American military deaths in Iraq are also down sharply this month, in a trend that could take center stage during Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s planned visit to Baghdad and the debate over whether America’s main battle is shifting back to Afghanistan.

Click here to read entire article: Quiet Iraq streets leave soldiers yearning for Afghanistan - CNN.com

Tags: iraq, war on terror, u.s. army, afghanistan, baghdad, soldier, military, alqiada, barack obama

Priceless!

Hat Tip: OpFor

A wholehearted thank you goes out to all the service members that make so many sacrifices to protect all Americans. I will raise glasses in salute to our Armed Forces for their health and wellness.

Article follows:

BAGHDAD – How are you spending your 4th of July holiday?

While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military.

Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.

Petraeus, reiterating earlier remarks made by Command Sergeant Major Hill, said that the unprecedented ceremony sends a “message to friend and foe alike.” He told those assembled that it is “impossible to calculate the value of what you are giving to our country . . . For no bonus, no matter the size, can adequately compensate you for the contribution each of you makes as a custodian of our nation’s defenses.”

Last year Gen. Petraeus, along with Senator John McCain, presided over a similar Independence Day ceremony. Then only 588 servicemen reenlisted. This year’s event, more than twice as large, saw the equivalent of two battalions extend their service in America’s military. Nearly the entire rotunda was filled with reenlisting servicemen, their voices drowning out all other noise. For two days the military members, flown in for the occasion from all across Iraq, have toured the elaborate palace where Saddam’s sons were said to have entertained friends lavishly and tortured enemies mercilessly in the basement dungeon.

Following the ceremony, they were treated to Chicago deep dish pizza donated by Lou Malnati’s Restaurant and flown fresh by DHL for the occasion.

Among those in attendance were service members from the more than two dozen Allies serving with MNF-I. Along with their American counterparts, each appeared in awe of the sacrifice of these incredible men and women. Each of the reenlistees knows full well the costs of war, and yet, they chose to stand with their units, their mission, and each other. It was as humbling an experience as I have ever witnessed.

On this 4th of July, while you celebrate around grills and coolers all across America, keep in mind the 1,215 who allow us that privilege.

BobKrumm.com » How did you spend Independence Day?

Tags: armedforces, reenlistment, 1215, iraq, gen. david petraeus, palace, saddam hussein, sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines, 4th of July

This daring rescue is great news! The Communist FARC rebels have been plaguing Columbia for long enough. This news is just breaking but it will be studied as a hostage rescue without having to fire one shot.

Article follows:

BOGOTA, Colombia - Former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt embraced her children for the first time in six years Thursday, saying the thought of them helped her stay alive until a daring rescue plucked her and 14 other hostages from the jungle.

“Nirvana, paradise — that must be very similar to what I feel at this moment,” Betancourt said, fighting back tears as her son reached over to kiss her. “It was because of them that I kept up my will to get out of that jungle.

“Betancourt raced to the stairway of the French government plane that flew her children to Bogota, throwing her arms around Lorenzo, 19, and Melanie, 22.

“The last time I saw my son, Lorenzo was a little kid and I could carry him around,” she said. “I told them, they’re going to have to put up with me now, because I’m going to be stuck to them like chewing gum.

“Betancourt, 46, was airlifted to freedom Wednesday in an audacious operation involving military spies who tricked the rebels into handing over their most prized hostages — including three U.S. military contractors — without firing a shot.

The stunning caper involved months of intelligence gathering, dozens of helicopters on standby and a strong dose of deceit: The rebels shoved the captives, their hands bound, onto a white unmarked MI-17 helicopter, believing they were being transferred to another guerrilla camp.

Looking at helicopter’s crew, some wearing Che Guevara shirts, Betancourt reasoned they weren’t aid workers, as she’d expected — but rebels. This was just another indignity — the helicopter “had no flag, no insignia.” Angry and upset, she refused a coat they offered as they told her she was going to a colder climate.But not long after the group was airborne, Betancourt turned around and saw the local commander, alias Cesar, a man who had tormented her for four years, blindfolded and stripped naked on the floor.

Then came the unbelievable words: “We’re the national army,” said one of the crewmen. “You’re free.”The helicopter crew were soldiers in disguise. Cesar and the other guerrilla aboard had been persuaded to hand over their pistols, then overpowered.

“The helicopter almost fell from the sky because we were jumping up and down, yelling, crying, hugging one another,” Betancourt said.The mission — in which many military intelligence agents infiltrated the top ranks of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — snatched from the the four foreigners who were its greatest bargaining chips, as well as 11 Colombian soldiers and police.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said it “will go into history for its audacity and effectiveness.” He also acknowledged the risks: “If this had failed, I would have had to resign,” he told Caracol Radio on Thursday.

It was the most serious blow ever dealt to the 44-year-old FARC, which is already reeling from the recent deaths of key commanders and thousands of defections after withering pressure from Colombia’s U.S.-trained and advised armed forces.

Colombia could be “at the end of the end” of its long civil conflict, armed forces chief Freddy Padilla told Caracol Radio Thursday. “We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Click here to read entire article: Freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt embraces children - Yahoo! News

Tags: hostage, freedom, farc, columbia, rescue, jungle, columbian army, ejercito, u.s. special forces, training, communist, rebels

When reading this British news article, I detected some angst from the author that a weapon designed to obliterate terrorists actually works. Also down further in the article, there is a sense that the author would like to see a weapon that is more humane.

War is an ugly thing, it is even uglier when wars are lengthened by “humanitarians”  who make war “humane” enough to endure for longer periods. What is so controversial about a missile that kills the enemy? Wars are virtually impossible to fight let alone win when large segments of a population cringe at killing the enemy.

Article follows:

From Times Online by Michael Smith

British forces in Afghanistan have used one of the world’s most deadly and controversial missiles to fight the Taliban.

Apache attack helicopters have fired the thermobaric weapons against fighters in buildings and caves, to create a pressure wave which sucks the air out of victims, shreds their internal organs and crushes their bodies.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted to the use of the weapons, condemned by human rights groups as “brutal”, on several occasions, including against a cave complex.

The use of the Hellfire AGM-114N weapons has been deemed so successful they will now be fired from RAF Reaper unmanned drones controlled by “pilots” at Creech air force base in Nevada, an MoD spokesman added.

Thermobaric weapons, or vacuum bombs, were first combat-tested by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s and their use by Russia against civilians in Chechnya in the 1990s was condemned worldwide.

The secret decision to buy the Hellfire AGM-114N missiles was made earlier this year following problems attacking Taliban fortified positions.

British Apache pilots complained that standard Hellfire antitank missiles were going straight through buildings and out of the other side. Even when they did explode, there were limited casualties among the Taliban inside, particularly when a building contained a number of rooms.

American Apache pilots overcame the problem in Iraq with the thermobaric Hellfire.The weapons are so controversial that MoD weapons and legal experts spent 18 months debating whether British troops could use them without breaking international law.

Eventually, they decided to get round the ethical problems by redefining the weapons.“We no longer accept the term thermobaric [for the AGM-114N] as there is no internationally agreed definition,” said an MoD spokesman. “We call it an enhanced blast weapon.”

The redefinition has allowed British forces to use the weapons legally, but is undermined by the publicity of their manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, which markets them as thermobaric.

When the American military bought them in 2005, President George W Bush said: “There are going to be some awfully surprised terrorists when the thermobaric Hellfire comes knocking.”Despite the Bush rhetoric, it is unlikely anyone targeted by the missile would know much about it. The laser-guided missile has a warhead packed with fluorinated aluminium powder surrounding a small charge.

When it hits the target, the charge disperses the aluminium powder throughout the target building. The cloud then ignites, causing a massive secondary blast that tears throughout any enclosed space.

The blast creates a vacuum which draws air and debris back in, creating pressure of up to 430lb per sq in. The more heavily the building is protected, the more concentrated the blast.

Click here to read entire article Army ‘vacuum’ missile hits Taliban - Times Online

Tags: vacuummissile, thermobaric missile, enhanced blast weapon, george bush, british army, ministry of defence, taliban

This is a concerning post as the enforcement of tolerance is trumping the protection of freedom of speech worldwide. The spirit and fact of speech as a right is to have the right to say or write things that offend others, including governments. When governments arrest or intimidate people who say or write what they think, it has a chilling effect on the entire society which weakens the people and strengthens government.

Post from Publius Forum follows:

-By Warner Todd Huston

Bloggers are being arrested more and more as the importance of the Internet is realized by governments across the world, at least so warns the BBC.

It seems an alarming report where community activists and democracy advocates are finding themselves being oppressed by government, arrested, and maybe even tortured because of their blogging.

But, one little fact of the story is never really focussed on in this alarming BBC report on the release of the WIA report from the University of Washington.

The fact that bloggers aren’t threatened much in democratic nations has been glossed over by this report.

Unfortunately, a cursory reading of this piece would leave the reader with the vague feeling that people all over the world are being arrested merely because they are blogging, but that isn’t quite the case.

The way this report is written serves as a perfect example of a PCism more concerned with upsetting the tender sensibilities of tyrannical, undemocratic governments, than in reporting the oppression of its citizens. It’s a PCism gone so far that it makes the report uninformative at least to the most important aspect of the reason these bloggers are being arrested.

Here is how the BEEB starts their almost whitewashed report:

“More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.”

The BBC also gravely informs us that, “Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics,” and that “Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticized public policies and took political figures to task.”The report goes on to explain why this new threat to bloggers has arisen. The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the “growing” political importance of blogging.

Click here to read entire post Jailed for Blogging « Publius’ Forum

Tags: PCism, bbc, bloggers arrested, blogging, political importance, warner todd huston, publius’ forum

Very interesting! France actually returning to NATO after more than 40 years. Sarkozy is bringing a change in attitude if nothing else.

Article follows:

by Carole Landry 7:27 AM ETPARIS, June 17, 2008 (AFP)

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday launched a major overhaul of the French military, cutting back the armed forces, beefing up intelligence and setting a course for France’s return to NATO command.

A leaner, more mobile and high-tech military will allow France to confront new threats, in particular terrorism which poses the greatest danger, Sarkozy said in an address to some 3,000 officers in Paris.

Bringing France closer to the United States on defence, Sarkozy confirmed that France will soon return to NATO’s integrated command, which it left in 1966 when Charles de Gaulle rejected US dominance of the alliance.

“Today, the most immediate threat is that of a terrorist attack”, said the president in a defining speech as commander-in-chief.

“The threat is there, it is real and we know that it can tomorrow take on a new form, even more serious, with nuclear, chemical and biological means,” he said.

To face up to the threat, Sarkozy announced a “massive investment effort in intelligence” to make use of satellites, drones and other airborne surveillance equipment.

Click here to read entire article Sarkozy overhauls the military as France plans return to NATO - Yahoo! News

Tags: france, military, nato, sarkozy, return to nato, 1966

Here is a blog post by Major John Tammes directly from Iraq. His post follows:

Back in late March, I was preparing for something quite different than what I have done the past 2 ½ months. I was called into the colonel’s office and told “things in Basrah have really heated up and everything has changed.” I was then informed that I was to be sent to Basrah to assist a US team in the area, and I would also be working with the Iraqi Army’s 14th Division.

By nature I am a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. I try to get comfortable and find a routine wherever I am. Needless to say, this quite disrupted what I had settled into. I didn’t go kicking and screaming, but I was a bit perturbed. However, I was also interested and couldn’t really complain too much, as there were plenty of others in a lot worse situations than I. When I got to Basrah, the first “Charge of the Knights” had taken place, and the IA was readying for further operations into the city. I was then informed that I would not be staying at the large base at the Basrah International Airport, but moving out to the 14th Division’s HQ, at the then named camp of Mahmud Al Kasim.
I was the only American there. When I arrived there was a single British officer, 2 Lance Corporals and 4 Privates from the 1st Scots Battle Group/Royal Scots Borderers. A much larger Coalition presence was at the Basrah Operations Command. Somehow we managed to feed information to the Multinational Division South-East Headquarters and the US team I was there to support - plus help the 14th Division staff in anyway we could. The British officer was the Operations/Intel brains of the outfit, I was the Logistics and Civil Affairs guy. We both covered any other fields we could – Communications, Personnel, and the like. For one really stressful two day period, I was the only Coalition officer there.

Click here to read entire post Miserable Donuts: After the Charge

Tags: majorjohn tammes, iraq, u.s. army, basrah