Theodore's World

UK sailors captured at gunpoint BBC news
Fifteen British navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says.
The men were seized at 1030 local time when they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars.
The Royal Navy said the group was on a routine patrol in Iraqi waters and were understood to be unharmed.
But Iranian state television quoted the Iran foreign ministry as saying they had illegally entered Iranian waters.
The Associated Press news agency is quoting US Navy official, Commander Kevin Aandahl, as saying that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were responsible.
Mr Aandahl is also reported as saying the naval force had told them in a radio message that the British were not harmed.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has demanded the immediate and safe return of the HMS Cornwall servicemen.
She added that she had called for a “full explanation” from Iran and had left them in no doubt that she wanted the group and their equipment back immediately.
The task force’s commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said he was hoping there had been a “simple mistake” over territorial waters.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they [British personnel] were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may claim they were in Iranian territorial waters.

The incident comes at a time of renewed tensions with Iran over its nuclear programme and follows claims that most of the violence against UK forces in Basra is being engineered by Iranian elements.
British army Colonel Justin Maciejewski, who is based in Iraq, said Iran was providing “sophisticated weaponry” to insurgents and “Iranian agents” were paying local men to attack British troops.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
it were up to me I’d simply say, “At the end of two hours one of two things will have happened. Either the hostages will be returned, or you will have no Navy.”

U.S. says Iran president’s visa approved
WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters)
Visas for Iran’s president and other diplomats to visit the United States had been approved, the White House said on Friday, disputing Iran’s claim that the entry documents had not been approved.
Iran said Washington had so far failed to give a visa to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad so he could address the U.N. Security Council in New York when it meets to vote on new sanctions against Tehran, which could happen this weekend.
“The Iranian comment is false. As the State Department said earlier this week, the visas have been approved,” said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said visas for 39 Iranian officials — including Ahmadinejad, diplomats and security guards — were in the hands of the Iranians as of 10 a.m. local time in Bern, Switzerland.
He said because some visa forms for the air crew were incomplete, those were still being processed.
“At the end of the day, everybody gets the visas that they need in order to travel to the United Nations,” McCormack told reporters.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
What liars Iran is!
White House calling Iran’s bluff. Ahmanutjob too chicken to step foot in the US after seizing our allies this morning. This will make Ahmanutjob look very bad in his country. Islam has issues with the whole pride thing….LOL. ….This is actually a good move by the White House (imho)!
I’d love to see Ahmanutjob in chains but ramsey clark and murtha would turn him into a cult hero.

The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets.
As a secondary mission, it provides airborne forward air control, guiding other aircraft against ground targets.
It is the first US Air Force aircraft designed exclusively for close air support (CAS) of ground forces. The official nickname comes from the P-47 Thunderbolt of World War II, a plane that was particularly effective at the CAS mission. However, the A-10 is more commonly known as Warthog or simply Hog.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Lovin that A-10 Firepower!

This clip is of 7 year old Chase Lucas visiting with and entertaining the soldiers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground Army base in Aberdeen,MD. Chase is proud to be an American and loves to show his patriotic support for our Troops and Veterans. He dreams of being a Naval Aviator and defending his country.

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And the one below is a must see! His knowlegde at only age 4, and so cute. As he gives his talk he also ( later in the video) walks around his home and shows you planes and tells you all about them.

This clip is Chase Lucas at age 4 talking about the history of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds as well as other Military planes.
He is not reading a script and his MIC is a foam paintbrush! He loves everything about airplanes and the Military. He dreams of being a Naval Avaiator.

…..Thank you so much for this John 5 ( VN 69/70 )

Dems Accused of Using Troops as ‘Bargaining Chip’ for Pork
(CNSNews.com)
As the House prepares to debate legislation Thursday that would authorize more funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan – and set a September 2008 end-date for funding – conservative analysts condemned what they said was excessive “pork spending” in the bill.
The U.S. Troop Readiness, Veteran’s Health, and Iraq Accountability Act would allocate $103 billion in additional funding for military operations, and to care for wounded troops. But it also contains $21 billion in so-called “pork spending.”
Several appropriations are under fire, including:
— $50 million for “asbestos abatement and other improvements” in the U.S. Capitol.
— $74 million for “storage, handling, and other associated costs for the 2007 crop of peanuts.”
— $120 million to fund the shrimp industry’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina
— $284 million for payments to dairy farmers
— $4.3 billion in increased Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief for areas affected by hurricanes
The bill allocates smaller amounts, such as $5.27 million for bird flu research and $165,200 for the widow of a late congressman.

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said in a statement Wednesday that Democrats are “trying to pressure reluctant members into voting for this by taking on billions of dollars in pork barrel projects. The money they want to spend on spinach subsidies and peanut storage would be better spent on body armor and Humvees.”

Congress is “effectively using the troops as a bargaining chip for their own pork” and called the domestic projects “extremely wasteful.”

“Congress is telling the president, you cannot fund body armor for our troops until you agree to give us $16 million for extra office space in the House of Representatives,” Riedl said. The $16 million allocation for “House office buildings” appeared in an earlier version of the bill but has since been removed.

Republicans on the committee believe the bill named for troops and the war on Iraq should stick to that focus and not deviate to domestic spending projects.

“This legislation ought to focus on our troops. It ought to focus on providing those in harm’s way with the resources they need to complete their mission successfully,” California Rep. Jerry Lewis, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.

For its part, the White House has said President Bush will veto the appropriations bill unless it is changed. “Because of the excessive and extraneous non-emergency spending it contains,” the administration said in a statement, “if this legislation were presented to the President, he would veto the bill.”

“Congress should reject this legislation,” the White House statement continued, “and promptly send the President a responsible bill that provides the funding and flexibility our troops need, without holding funding for the troops hostage to unrelated spending.”

Wild Thing’s comment…….
There should be a name attached to every add on spending piece. Where’s the congressman or senator responsible? The Democrats would like to cut national defense – not to reduce spending, but so they can weaken our military and also so they can piss it away on more of their domestic giveaway programs instead

CODEPINK Women for Peace co-founder Medea Benjamin of San Francisco, Calif., center, and others, take part in a demonstrates in front of the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 15, 2007, to protest the House Appropriations Committee’s vote on funding for the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Anti-war protesters arrested at Pelosi’s office
The Hilll.com
Four members of the anti-war group Code Pink were arrested outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday afternoon, following an announcement that they would seek to take over the office.
The group’s members had planned to hold a symbolic “Pin the war on the Donkey” demonstration at Pelosi’s office to show their frustration with the Democratic leadership’s inaction on ending the war in Iraq.
However, Capitol Police prevented the taping of a drawn donkey to the wall.

Code Pink members were crying outside Pelosi’s office. When asked why, Rae Abileah, 24, said she was crying out of “outrage that this is all we can get from the Democrats,” referring to the Iraq supplemental funding bill, scheduled for a vote Friday.

“We’re just heartbroken that Nancy Pelosi has decided to keep funding George Bush’s war, and now the war belongs to the Democrats as well as the Republicans,” said Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. “We thought we were going to get a change when they came into power.”

Wild Thing’s comment……….
LMAO Code Pink and all the other crazies will become the albatross on their heads! Dems run from liberals who run from leftists who run from anarchists….and on and on. Hilarious

Bill to Ban Regular Light Bulbs Introduced in House
CNSNews.com…for full article
A Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of traditional incandescent light bulbs – which are less energy-efficient, prompting claims that they contribute to “global warming” – one day after a colleague told a press conference that legislating a ban would be a “last choice.”
As Cybercast News Service reported last week, Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) held a news conference Wednesday calling for more efficient lighting options, and Manzullo said “the last thing we want to do is force legislation down people’s throats.”
One day later, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) introduced legislation that would set target dates for certain types of light bulbs to be prohibited for sale in the United States.
Democrat Harman calls the bill :

“an important first step toward making every household, business and public building in America more energy-efficient.”

“This legislation, while a small step, could have an enormous impact,” she said in a posting on the liberal Huffington Post blog. “And hopefully, it can help transform America into an energy-efficient and energy-independent nation.”

An average traditional incandescent bulb based on a filament emits 12-15 lumens per watt (a measurement of the bulb’s lighting output.) Harman’s bill would require all bulbs to produce 60 lumens-per-watt by January 2012; 90 lumens-per-watt by January 2016; and 120 lumens-per-watt by January 2020.

On the same topic this is unbelievable! Look at this story……………
Broken light bulb sparks debate
BANGOR – Compact fluorescent lights, those swirly bulbs displacing the old incandescent type in many homes, have become the darlings of the energy-conscious crowd, thanks to their capacity to both fight global warming and lower utility bills.
But with more than a million bulbs sold in Maine, questions are being raised about whether consumers know enough about the special disposal and handling requirements that come with these well-documented energy-savers.
In one unusual case, a Prospect woman was told recently that it could cost $2,000 to clean up the mess left by a single shattered bulb.
Officials with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have since said that such a costly cleanup is probably unnecessary. Most homeowners can safely dispose of broken bulbs without professional help, and most Maine towns offer bulb recycling options, the DEP said.
Maine law requires homeowners to recycle the bulbs as “universal waste” similar to certain batteries and used thermostats. Most towns accept universal waste at special locations or during specific household hazardous waste collection days.
Bridges’ trust in the new technology literally shattered this week when a minor incident with a loose bulb turned into a major headache. A bulb she was trying to rethread tumbled from her hands and broke on the carpeted floor of her daughter’s bedroom.
Remembering lessons from shop class about fluorescent bulbs, Bridges began calling around for advice on the proper cleanup procedure.

“I was nervous. Something about this gave me a bad feeling,” Bridges said in an interview.

She called The Home Depot, where she bought the bulb, and was referred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which eventually referred her to the DEP’s environmental response team. A specialist who responded found mercury readings more than six times the state’s acceptable level at the spot of the broken bulb.
Readings a few feet from the spot where the bulb broke were within safe levels.
The specialist referred Bridges to an environmental cleanup company. The estimated cost, according to Bridges, was about $2,000.

“Save 40 cents a month on your electric bill, but it will cost you two grand to clean up?” Bridges said.

State officials, while careful not to downplay the overall threat posed by mercury, said the high levels found in the spot of the broken bulb would only be dangerous from long-term exposure.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
You have GOT to be kidding me! So Harmon the Democrat Pinko-Commie lawmaker has introduced a bill about lightbulbs. Can’t Harmon think of another way to kiss up to Gore, this is unreal.
Like lightbulbs are the biggest danger to the American people. These dems and their wimpy RINO friends are an absolute waste of humanity. Light bulbs are OK, we should have a bill to ban dim bulbs in Congress.
Politicians should be banned from sticking their fingers into the technology pie like this. They’re not qualified to make such decisions, nevermind the fact that they’re grossly overstepping the proper bounds on their power.
My understanding is that Florescent lights wont come on in really cold weather. I might be wrong about this, I am not positive.They would be worthless for outdoor use in the northern states.
Then of course the democrats will complain of the toxic waste from the florescent lightbulbs. And they will pass another bill to add like the cost of throwing them away will be very expensive if they have their way about it. They contain more Mercury than the regular bulbs, thus making them toxic waste and this kind of surcharge will lead to illegal dumping of the used bulbs.
A friend told me that if you put them in poorly ventilated fixtures that are typical for incandescent bulbs, they overheat and fail at a far shorter life than the incandescents they replace and can catch on fire.
Sooooo– we get to pay for them over and over again. Very expensive in the first place, surcharge to dispose of them, and they don’t work in large outdoor applications, especially in cold climates.
If this bill passes then I guess we can look for Light bulb disposal legislation coming.
How many Kennedys does it take to change a light bulb?
Three.
One to hold the bulb and two to drink until the room spins around.

‘We want this baby polar bear dead’ say animal rights lobby

Tiny, fluffy and adorable, Knut the baby polar bear became an animal superstar after he was abandoned by his mother.
He rapidly became the symbol of Berlin Zoo, whose staff bottle-fed him and handed out cuddles in between.
At three months old, however, the playful 19lb bundle of fur is at the centre of an impassioned debate over whether he should live or die.
Animal rights activists argue that he should be given a lethal injection rather than brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet.

The zoo must kill the bear,” said spokesman Frank Albrecht. “Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws.”
When Knut was born in December, his mother ignored him and his brother, who died. Zoo officials intervened, choosing to raise the cub themselves.
But Albrecht and other activists fret that it is inappropriate for a predator, known for its fierceness and ability to fend for itself in the wild, to be snuggled, bottle-fed and made into a commodity by zookeepers.

Knut hat Ausgang (Knut gets out and about)

See YouTube footage of Knut here! (Note: commentary on the video is in German)

UPDATE on Knut
Baby polar bear ‘will be spared,’ proclaims zoo
Knut the cute Polar bear will NOT be destroyed despite fears over his ‘humanisation’, Berlin Zoo’s chief vet said today.
Distraught schoolchildren waving placards saying ’Knut must live! and ’Knut does good!’ protested at the zoo’s Polar bear enclosure following the news that death might seriously be an option for the star draw of the animal kingdom.

But Knut has been spared. “There will be no executioner coming for him, I guarantee you,” said Berlin Zoo chief vet Andre Schuele.
“Those who say he should die have entirely the wrong mindset.”
His keeper Thomas Doerflein, Knut’s surrogate mother, gave the little bear a washing up brush as a toy to play with when the news was announced on Tuesday that he is to be spared.

Wild Thing’s comment…….
You all know how I adore bears, teddybears too of course. I realize that one has to be careful with animals of the wild not to take their natural instintcs away from them. But these Zoo people have saved this Cub’s life. The Cub was abandoned by his mother, and would have died if the Zoo had not done what they did for him.
He is precious and has been given a chance at life and how anything can be wrong with that I will never understand.

Al Gore Refuses to Listen to Republican Opening Statements
CNSNews.com)
Former Vice President Al Gore apparently will brook no skepticism. Given the opportunity to testify about global warming before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Gore decided to arrive late, so he wouldn’t have to suffer through the Republican opening statement.
He was seen waiting in a hall outside the committee room, Fox News reported. Republicans agreed to waive their opening remarks in exchange for extra time to question Gore.
Republicans also objected to the fact that they received Gore’s written testimony at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning — hours after Democrats received it.

“How are we supposed to prepare questions for our esteemed witness when we’re basically given the testimony two hours before he shows up?” asked one committee Republican.

Republicans complained that Gore was getting special treatment. The hearing entitled “Perspectives on Climate Change” will also feature Gore critic, Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Consensus Center in Denmark and author of the controversial book “The Skeptical Environmentalist.”
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
Gore demanded a waiver of the EPW committee’s 48 hour rule that requires all witnesses before EPW to submit their testimony in advance. The GOP minority on the EPW committee then agreed to waive the 48 hour rule in favor of allowing Gore to submit his testimony 24 hours before the hearing.
Gore has violated the new 24 hour deadline extension by failing to submit his testimony – even with the new time extension granted to Gore.

Wild Thing’s comment……
Gore plays by his own rules. He’s a dhimmicrat, not an American. Gore is running scared I think. He should be as anyone with half a brain knows that Global Warming is only for political activists, a hoax in humongous form!
Hahahahahaha what a jerk he is, a corrupt, sicko…oh wait…he is a Dem, that explains it all.

To Our Americans Serving in Iraq

And added message he wrote at YouTube as well….

One citizen’s response to the State of the Union and Democrat response. My apologies for leaving out the US Coast Guard. It was an unintentional error of omission. – Bob

Wild Thing’s comment…..
This is excellent! Bob Parks is the guy you see in the video. He was born in Boston, says he is a never wavering, New England Patriots football fan.
This is his webstie
http://blackandright.mensnewsdaily.com/