Commission on National Guard cites troop, equipment, training shortages
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military isn't ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don't have the equipment or training they need for the job, a commission charged by Congress reported Thursday.
Even fewer Army National Guard units are combat-ready today than were nearly a year ago when the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves determined that 88 percent of the units were not prepared for the fight, the panel said in its report.
The independent commission is charged by Congress to recommend changes in law and policy concerning the Guard and Reserves.
The commission's 400-page report concludes that the nation "does not have sufficient trained, ready forces available" to respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear weapons incident," an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk."
"Right now we don't have the forces we need, we don't have them trained, we don't have the equipment," commission Chairman Arnold Punaro said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Even though there is a lot going on in this area, we need to do a lot more. ... There's a lot of ...   more »

February 1, 2008, 6:43 am Link to This E-mail this Topics Mergers & Acquisitions, Microsoft's Yahoo BidIndustries TechnologyMicrosoft said Friday that it would offer $44.6 billion for Yahoo, the ailing search giant. The surprise offer of $31 a share represents a 62 percent premium to Thursday’s closing share price. Yahoo shareholders could elect to receive either cash or stock.
The proposed acquisition, the largest ever by Microsoft, would give some relief to Yahoo’s long-suffering shareholders, who have seen the company’s stock slide nearly 32 percent this year. It would also create the most formidable competitor yet for Google, the search engine giant.
“This proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders,” Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said in a letter to Yahoo’s board sent Thursday.
Rumors had long persisted that Microsoft might make a bid for the company. In its letter, Microsoft said that the two had held talks early last year, exploring a range of collaborative efforts up to and including a merger. But Yahoo had rebuffed a takeover proposal.
Microsoft’s announcement was unsolicited and its premium unusually high, marking it as an aggressive bid that could turn hostile. Shares in Yahoo jumped nearly 59 percent ...   more »

Farmers want the government to renegotiate the 1994 free trade agreement
Farmers: Mexican products are undermined by subsidized U.S., Canadian grains
Pleas have fallen on deaf ears in the Mexican government, farmers say
Mexican officials: Grain prices have been stable in January
From Harris Whitbeck
CNN
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Hundreds of thousands of farmers clogged central Mexico City Thursday with their slow-moving tractors, protesting the entry of cheap imported corn from the United States and Canada.
On January 1 Mexico repealed all tariffs on corn imported from north of the border as part of a 14-year phaseout under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.
The farmers want the government to renegotiate the 1994 free trade agreement, which removed most trade barriers among Mexico, Canada, and the United States, saying livelihoods are at stake.
"NAFTA is very bad, very bad for Mexican consumers and for Mexican producers," said Victor Quintana, head of Democratic Farmers Front, which organized the protest.
The farmers complain that U.S. and Canadian grains are heavily subsidized and therefore undermine Mexican products.
"The NAFTA agreement is in place and that's that," said farmer Armando del Valle. "But all producers should be under equal conditions, ...   more »

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Monday it was "troubling" that China's weapons systems capability exceeded the level Beijing defined as necessary for self-defence.
The head of the US armed forces in the Asia-Pacific, Admiral Timothy Keating, said he was told by Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing that its so-called "area denial weapons" were "to protect those things that are ours".
But he said, "we find it troubling that the capabilities of some of these weapons systems would tend to exceed our own expectations for protecting those things that are 'ours'".
Keating said the United States had "intelligence that reinforces my opinion that China is developing, fielding and has in place weapons that could be characterized as having, amongst perhaps other purposes, an ability to restrict movement in and around certain areas on the sea, in the air or under the sea.
"I'll go back to the point we made a couple of times already -- that we understood PRC (China's) intentions, not just their transparency, not just the fact that these weapons exist. We know they exist," he said.
"It's why are they being fielded," Keating asked, speaking at a Washington forum of the US-based Asia ...   more »

Now lawmaker suggests 'om' opens door for prayers 'in Jesus name'
By Bob Unruh
Hindu cleric Rajan Zed turns toward protester as he prepares to open U.S. Senate with prayer (CNN)
A Nevada Hindu who has opened the U.S. Senate with a faith-specific chant now has provided the invocation to open the state senate in Colorado, and a senator is suggesting since "om" has been cited, perhaps prayers "in Jesus name" again should be allowed.
The comments came after Rajan Zed, a Hindu from Reno who is making a series of appearances at state legislatures to promote Hinduism, was allowed to open the Colorado Senate, under the leadership of Senate President Peter Groff, with a Hindu chant of the "om" syllable that, according to his belief system, contains the universe.
Zed also recited the Gayatri Mantra from Rig-Veda, a prayer asking for help to "lead me from the unreal to the real."
Zed was the Hindu who last year was invited by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to offer the first Hindu prayer in the U.S. Senate.  
At that time, David Barton, president of WallBuilders, a foundation that researches and promotes the Christian origination of American law ...   more »

By Bob Unruh
A major credit card company has issued a letter to a gun dealer canceling his payment processing services because of corporate concerns firearms were being sold to consumers in other states, in "a non face-to-face environment." Now the move has raised the ire of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
"Your anti-gun corporate policy is based on ignorance of the law applicable to the sale of firearms," the NSSF wrote in response to the action taken by First Data Corp., which operates Citi Merchant Services.
"It is perfectly legal, in fact commonplace, for a federal firearms licensee in one state to sell a firearm to a non-licensee (consumer) from another state," the foundation continued. "What you fail to appreciate is that the firearm is not shipped in interstate commerce directly to the consumer. Rather, as required by federal law, the firearm is shipped by the selling licensee to another federal firearms licensee in the state of residence of the consumer … The consumer acquires the firearm from that licensed dealer in a face-to-face transaction…."
(Story continues below)
The issue arose when Citi Merchant Services, in a letter signed by June Rivera-Mantilla in the "Periodic Review" department, informed CDNN ...   more »