North Korea Agrees To Moratorium on Nuclear Weapons, Missile Development

This is being hailed as a significant breakthrough, and it should be. However, we need to be vigilant that North Korea isn't double dealing - saying one thing to the US all while engaging in clandestine operations or proliferation activities.The United States said Wednesday North Korea has agreed to suspend nuclear activities and accept a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, in a

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Injured Journalists Smuggled Out of Syria As Violence Continues

The Red Cross continues their efforts to try and bring humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the crossfire and under siege by Syrian loyalists to Bashar al-Assad in places like Homs. They, along with Syrian rebel forces, were finally successful in smuggling out one of the journalists injured in the same attack that killed American journalist Marie Colvin and a French photographer.
Syrian

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The Flawed NYC Teacher Ratings Released

Local media outlets had been pressing for the release of teacher evaluations collected and evaluated according to criteria that the Department of Education had admitted were incomplete, inaccurate, and would lead to incorrect conclusions. They succeeded in getting the evaluations released over the weekend, and the most striking thing that hits at the utility of the grading system is the margin of

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No Surprise Assad Claims Support For New Constitution As Crackdown Continues

Bashar al-Assad's busy claiming that people who turned out to vote for a new constitution did so overwhelmingly to support the new one. Mind you that Assad's security forces were busy murdering opposition protesters and shelling cities and communities that strongly oppose the regime. Western countries consider the referendum to be nothing more than window dressing to allow the regime time and

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A Meaningless Referendum

Bashar al-Assad went and had himself a referendum on a constitution that his own regime put together that he claims sufficient to end the protests against his regime.Activists on Sunday boycotted the vote on the draft constitution, one in a series of steps Mr. Assad has pledged to open up a political system dominated by the ruling Baath Party since 1963 and his own family since 1970. Amid a

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Has NYPD Gone Too Far In Surveillance Efforts Looking For Islamic Extremists?

Following the intel failures that led to the US government being unprepared for the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD vastly expanded its intel efforts, including establishing outposts in foreign countries to bring in intel directly from those foreign countries instead of relying solely on the FBI or CIA.

Those surveillance efforts include looking for Muslim extremists in the New York City metro area -

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Syrian Rebel Groups Clamor For Weapons To Finish Assad While Assad's Security Forces Continue Homs Assault

The diplomatic efforts to force Bashar al-Assad continue. Friends of Syria met to discuss efforts, including the United States, European and Arab nations, and have indicated that they're willing to expand sanctions and other efforts to stop the murderous rampage that Assad's security forces have been conducting to end protests against the regime. The brutal crackdown has resulted in thousands

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Clashes at Temple Mount Sparked By Rumor

All it takes is a rumor and you ignite rioting when it comes to the Temple Mount. Today, Palestinians leaving the Temple Mount's al Aqsa Mosque attempted to stage a march protesting the rumor that right wing Jewish groups would be marching on to the Temple Mount and enter the mosque. Police responded and a melee ensued. Palestinians threw rocks at Jewish worshippers and police at the Western

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Anne Frank Latest Holocaust Victim To Be Baptized By Mormon Church in Violation of Agreements

A group of Mormons have once again attempted to baptize-by-proxy Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who hid in an Amsterdam attic before being caught by Nazis and ended up dying in a concentration camp. The rite was conducted Saturday in a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic, according to Helen Radkey, an excommunicated church member turned whistleblower.

The Church of Jesus Christ of

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Homs Remains Under Artillery Assault For 20th Day; Assad's Crackdown Continues

The City of Homs has now been under constant artillery barrages and attacks by Bashar al-Assad's security forces for 20 days and there's no sign of any letup. Assad's forces are intensifying their attacks, and the body count continues rising on a daily basis.

The UN no longer keeps track of the casualty figures because their officials can't guarantee their own safety, so casualty figures are

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Health Panel Indicates Intention To Cover First Responders' Cancer Under Zadroga Act

This is a big deal to many emergency personnel and construction crews who worked in and around Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks and have since been diagnosed with cancer. The health care panel created by Congress to determine whether ailments should or shouldn't be covered under the James Zadroga Act voted to cover cancer under the Act's compensation provisions:Hundreds of 9/11 first

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Virginia Governor Has Second Thoughts About Passing Invasive Ultrasound Procedure Bill

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is having second thoughts about signing an abortion ultrasound bill that would impose new and more invasive procedures violating a woman's rights in order to obtain an abortion. Gov. Bob McDonnell is having second thoughts about signing it into law.
According to the Post, McDonnell has stepped back from his promise to sign the bill if it crosses his desk.

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Assad Accelerating Assault on Homs; Two Journalists Among Those Killed

The situation in Homs continues deteriorating as Bashar al-Assad's forces continuing their assault against the city. Two journalists were among those killed, including American war correspondent Marie Colvin, who works for the British Sunday Times. A Syrian blogger was also among those killed.

Assad is showing himself more than capable of engaging in mass murder and war crimes with his ongoing

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Gov. Christie Issues Budget Recommendations

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has issued his budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year, and he's increased spending by nearly $2 billion dollars to $32.1 billion. The full text of his speech is here, but I think we're heading for a repeat of problems.

There's a little bit of something for every group, including increased spending for education and the first portion of his proposed

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Cronyism Has Always Been Part Of the Port Authority's Problem

Cronyism and patronage jobs have long been a problem at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It's due to the fact that this is a bistate agency where governors of two states appoint key positions and jobs often go to politically connected individuals who may or may not have the skills needed to run an agency tasked with running bridges, tunnels, airports, and ports along with the

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Assad Sending Reinforcements To Crush Homs; Resistance Grows Across Syria

Bashar al-Assad is incapable of tolerating any dissent despite claims that he's authorizing a referendum to amend the constitution to grant other parties beyond the Ba'athists to engage in the political process. He's sending reinforcements to Homs to crush the ongoing rebellion there, and that's only going to increase the death toll as civilians attempt to fend off the Syrian military alongside a

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New Remains Discovered Near Where 10 Bodies Found On Long Island

Law enforcement on Long Island have discovered another set of remains near where 10 sets of remains were found at Gilgo Beach and near Jones Beach. The question now is whether the skeletal remains, found on Friday evening by a man walking his dog on a trail in Manorville, represent an isolated death or is the latest clue in a continuing serial-killer case that is confronting investigators in

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Westboro Baptists Claim Protest of Whitney Houston Funeral; Lie About Protesting

Newark, New Jersey hosted the funeral of singer and actress Whitney Houston today a week after she was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles. The funeral was a closed affair, but was streamed online for the public. Police had cordoned off the area in anticipation of the crowds that were sure to come out to pay their respects.

Also claiming to come out to show their hate: the Westboro

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FBI Sting Leads To Arrest of Attempted Suicide Bomber In DC

The FBI had been carrying out a sting operation to ferret out Islamic extremists and it appears that their efforts have paid off. They arrested a suspect today, who was believed to be from Morocco in his late 20s or early 30s, when he received what he thought was a vest containing explosives so as to attack the US Capitol: An FBI official says the man had expressed a desire to carry out a

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The Unintended Consequences Of Personhood Legislation

The GOP is pursuing personhood legislation in states around the country as a way to make abortions illegal. Since the pro-life movement hasn't been able to overturn Roe v. Wade, they're using this as an alternative attack on the legal right to abortion in the country. Colorado has twice tried to bring a personhood amendment, and Missouri has also failed to approve a personhood bill.

It's a move

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Small Thinking and Big Time Intrusion

Rick Santorum, the latest anointed Anyone But Romney candidate for the GOP nomination for president, has been parroting the small government line for years. His campaign rhetoric is all about reducing the size of government. The New York Times picked up on Santorum's stump speech, indicating that it's small thinking and for the government to out of the way. It's a good op-ed on Santorum's

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One Year Since Libyans Revolted Against Mumar Khadafi

It was a year ago today that Libyans finally decided that 40+ years of rule by Mumar Khadafi were more than enough. They began protesting throughout the country and that ultimately led to an insurrection, civil war, and finally revolution that toppled the regime. Libyans took to the streets on Friday to celebrate the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, but some rued

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Assad's Deadly Crackdown Continues With Artillery Assaults Against Homs

Homs has been under fire almost continuously since the beginning of the year, and the artillery barrages continue today. Britain and France are pushing for more assistance to the Syrian resistance. "We cannot bring about a Syrian revolution ... if the Syrian revolution does not make an effort to rally together and organize so that we can better help them," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in

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Underwear Bomber Sentencing Underway With Expected Life Imprisonment

The admitted terrorist who sought to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on its way to Detoit is in court today for sentencing. It's widely expected that Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab will receive a life sentence.Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, returns to federal court in Detroit on Thursday to receive a mandatory life sentence for trying to blow up

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Construction Accident At 4WTC Resulting in Subway Service Diversion On 1 Line

A crane lifting a load on 4WTC apparently suffered some kind of problem and the load dropped 40 stories to an area that is off-limits.The load plunged some 40 stories. Debris fell into a closed-off area of the construction site after the crane’s cable snapped.

The Fire Department says some of the beams fell on an unoccupied trailer. A construction worker nearby was looked at by emergency

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Northern Syria in Open Revolt Against Assad's Regime

Since the beginning of the year, the situation in Syria has gone from bad to worse. The death count has accelerated as defections from Assad's security forces have meant that opposition groups are now brimming with former soldiers and are fighting back against Assad's loyalists with sufficient firepower to inflict significant casualties.

Northern Syria is in open revolt against Assad's regime.

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Harry Potter: Or How It Should Have Ended

Filling in inconvenient plot holes, using MacGuffins, and adding rationality to the movies (and books)

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Assad Claims Referendum Will Ease Crisis; Brutal Crackdown Continues

Bashar al-Assad has done this before. He's gone before the microphone to claim that he's a reformer and that he's in the process of reforming the Syrian political system. Today, he's claiming that a new constitution is ready for a referendum that would allow expanded access to the political system and that ends the Ba'athist control over the country.President Bashar al-Assad set a February 26

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And Again: Another NJ Transit Train Collision Snarls Traffic

Once again, a NJ Transit train struck a vehicle at one of the most dangerous rail crossings in Northern New Jersey. A vehicle was struck and damaged in the vicinity of the Midland Avenue crossing in Elmwood Park/Plauderville. Thankfully, there are no reports of serious injuries (the driver was taken to the hospital though), but there are reported delays at this point.Feb 15, 2012 09:22:13 AM

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Port Authority Announces Major Renovations For George Washington Bridge Approaches

The Port Authority had previously announced its intention to replace all of the George Washington Bridge's stringers (the vertical suspenders that attach the roadway decks to the suspension cables) as part of its 5-year capital plan. Today, it has announced several projects that also affect the bridge and the hundreds of thousands of people who use the bridge on a daily basis.

For starters, the

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Syrians Bracing For All-Out Conflict

The UN is warning that the situation in Syria is reaching the point that we can call it a civil war. Syrians are bracing for an all-out war. I'd say we'd reached that point earlier this year and that Bashar al-Assad is doing all he can to crush an insurrection caused by his ongoing crackdown against protesters.

The crackdown has resulted in a splintering of his military forces and an increasing

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New NJ Transit Customer Satisfaction Survey Leaves Customers Wanting

NJ Transit has been pledging to improve customer service, but this new-found attention to customer service is mostly lip service as the survey results indicate. Overall satisfaction dropped from 5.3 to 5.1 for 2Q 2012 (which is the final quarter of 2011 (we're talking fiscal years here).

That's not good by any stretch. There weren't any major weather events that could mar the commutes to speak

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New Jersey Senate Passes Gay Marriage Legislation; Hurdles Remain

New Jersey's State Senate has passed its version of a gay marriage legislation package that largely mirrors the language used in passing the New York version that was enacted into law last year.

The main difference between New York and New Jersey's situation is that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was a prime mover in getting the gay marriage legislation passed in New York and was willing to provide political

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Terrorists Target Israeli Diplomats In India and Georgia; Israel Blames Iran For Attacks

Two Israelis were injured when a bomb went off in their diplomatic vehicle in New Delhi. A diplomat's wife and their driver were injured when the bomb ripped through their vehicle.



A grenade was discovered by Israeli security underneath a diplomatic vehicle in Tblisi, Georgia and was safely defused before it could cause injury. It comes as Israel issued warnings to its diplomatic corps ahead

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The Repercussions of Rick Santorum's Comments About CPAC Straw Polls

Conservative Republicans held their annual CPAC conference over the weekend, and it was a motley crew of assorted extremist statements, racists, and wackjobs rubbing shoulders with the presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.



The CPAC also held a straw poll, in which Mitt Romney won by a 38-31 margin over Santorum. Santorum's response to that is particularly

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Arab League Stepping Up Calls To Stop Syrian Crackdown

Not only are the members of the Arab League finding a voice in trying to get fellow member Bashar al-Assad to stop his murderous crackdown against those protesting his regime, but they're actually pushing for member states to sever relations with Syria. They're also again calling on the UN Security Council to act: The ministers adopted a resolution asking the Security Council to authorize a joint

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Upgrades

After having my trusty Canon XTi for the past five years, I've gone and received an upgrade, courtesy of Mrs. Lawhawk. The new camera of choice is the Canon 60D, which I picked up at Unique Photo in Fairfield, New Jersey.

My reason for upgrades was simple. The XTi was a good camera and had quite a lot going for it when I got it five years ago, but I'd outgrown the camera and had bumped up

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News Corp. Faces Expanding Scandal As More Reporters Arrested

News Corporation's The Sun faces a similar mess that sunk News of the World. In fact, the situation is even worse. Five more reporters were arrested for improper payments to police in a widening corruption and hacking scandal:Four senior journalists from The Sun newspaper have been balied after they were arrested in dawn raids today over allegations of inappropriate payments to police.

In

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Assad's Brutal Crackdown Continues; US Ambassador Posts Photos Showing Assad's Forces In Action

For months, Bashar al-Assad has been claiming that the violence racking his country has been due to terrorists and outside forces conspiring against his regime, and that he's been dedicated to reforming but for the ongoing violence.

Just today, Assad's regime has claimed that terrorist forces were responsible for the shelling in the city of Homs, which has resulted in significant numbers of

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Explosions Rock Security Facilities in Aleppo While Assad Continues Crackdown

A pair of massive explosions rocked the city of Aleppo and Bashar al-Assad's media outlets claimed that at least 25 people were killed and more than 175 injured. It would appear to be the result of car bombs targeting Assad's security headquarters buildings there and that the death toll seems in line withe the amount of damage. The blasts were the first significant violence in the northern city,

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NJ Transit Issues Report On Reducing Train Fatalities

It shouldn't take a long-awaited report to know what NJ Transit and law enforcement has to do to reduce the number of deaths along NJ Transit right of ways.

Far too many people ignore the crossing signs and/or trespass on NJ Transit property and get struck and killed.

One of the proposed ideas is to install skirts on crossing gates to thwart people from ducking under the gates to rush to the

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Saudis Threaten To Obtain Nuclear Weapons If Iran Tests Own Nuclear Weapons

As I've been indicating for a while, the Saudis have a vested interest in seeing that Iran doesn't obtain nuclear weapons. They are the chief rivals for the Iranian regime and there are religious connotations to the geopolitical maneuverings.

While unnamed US offiicals and others think that Israel is behind a rash of attacks that have killed scientists involved in Iran's nuclear program to

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Super Bowl Medical Scare? Person Infected With Measles Mingled In Indianapolis Crowds

Once again, we get a reminder of why it is so important to get vaccinations. Today, we learn that health authorities in Indiana have discovered that someone infected with measles was in the crowds in Indanapolis for the Super Bowl festivities and that people who traveled to the city for the Super Bowl may have come into contact with the person. The Indiana Health Department says two cases of

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Ron Paul SuperPAC Operated By Conspiracy Kook

Last week, Revolution PAC filed a notice with the FEC that it couldn't file required reports to identify donors due to a bank error.

This week, reporters have finally noticed that the PAC is operated by a Gary Franchi, a kook who sees conspiracies everywhere from 9/11 coverups to FEMA concentration camps and the New World Order. Oh, and it wouldn't be a conspiracy theorist without claiming that

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A Misguided Plan For Penn Station and Madison Square Garden

The NY Times' Michael Kimmelmann has proposed that instead of building the Moynihan Station that would only accommodate Amtrak and leave nearly 500,000 people to deal with the horrible commute through the subterranean Penn Station beneath Madison Square Garden, that the City, MTA, and the Dolans (who own the Garden) should relocate Penn Station and the Garden to the far West Side's Hudson Yards.

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Has Eli Manning Established Hall of Fame Credentials With Second Super Bowl Win; MVP?

Kurt Warner, who knows a thing or two about winning Super Bowls, seems to think that NY Giant Eli Manning hasn't quite made the case to be in the Hall of Fame.

For the moment, I think he's right.

Two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs plus the rest of Manning's numbers definitely put him in the discussion for the NFL Hall of Fame, but don't mean he's a sure thing.

Just ask Jim Plunkett.

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The State of the Race

Just when you begin to think that things will settle down and Mitt Romney will move on towards the nomination handily, along comes the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and the nonbinding primary in Missouri to reveal just how fractured the GOP is right now.

Rick Santorum won all three races yesterday, and while the results were nonbinding, Santorum will use them as a repudiation of Romney's

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The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 154

While the Freedom Tower (1WTC) is closing in on being topped out later this year, the financial picture for the World Trade Center redevelopment is grim. In fact, grim isn't quite the word. It's downright scary and awful. An audit demanded by both New York and New Jersey governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie shows just how bleak the situation is.

The Port Authority has so severely mismanaged

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Assad's Security Forces Continue Assault on Homs as Body Count Rises

The world looks on all while Bashar al-Assad continues killing those opposed to his regime and instilling fear in those who might rise against him. The brutal assault ongoing in Homs is indicative that Assad is carrying out his own version of the Hama rules, and that he has no intention of giving up power under any circumstances. He says just enough to the international media and diplomats to

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New York Selects Companies To Bid on Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement

The Tappan Zee replacement bridge project is underway, and one of the first steps involves picking the companies that can bid on the project.The state has released the list of four qualified competitive bidders for the new Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River.

Statements of qualifications were received from five design-build consortiums and four groups were deemed qualified after a thorough

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Sunset Splendor

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The NY Giants Celebrate Winning Super Bowl With Parade Down Canyon of Heroes

Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Eli Manning; Mayor Mike Bloomberg; Coach Tom Coughlin; Justin Tuck; Ann Mara, and co-owners  Tim Mara and Steve Tisch




Close up of Mayor Bloomberg; Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning with the Super Bowl trophy; Cough Coughlin  




Lawrence Tynes





Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham, and Victor Cruz

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As Syrian Massacres Continues, Assad Reassures Russians He's Interested In Peace

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has indicated to the Russian Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he's committed to an end to the violence.Syrian President Bashar Assad assured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he is "completely committed" to seeking an end to violence by both side, Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.

Lavrov also said that Assad, 11 months

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Testing New Blogger App

I just tested out a new Blogger app on my Droid by attempting to batch post a number of photos taken last Friday from Ground Zero, but the photo quality was absolutely atrocious, and there's no way for me to save items to draft. So, apologies to anyone who thought they saw me tweet a new Ground Zero item.

Trust me when I say that there'll be more photos posted shortly. It's just that these

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Following in the Footsteps of a Mass Murderer

Syria's Bashar al Assad is continuing in his father's tradition of murdering anyone standing in opposition to his regime. His security forces are once again carrying out assaults against civilian populations, and within the past 24 hours, another 50 people were killed and many more injured.

This includes from rocket and missile attacks:



The US has shut down its embassy in Damascus, in the

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Spiteful Newt Gingrich Complains New Yorkers are Elites

Newt Gingrich is a spiteful and hateful politician whose antics were sufficient that his fellow Republicans all but kicked him to the curb as House Speaker and helped impose a $300,000 fine against Gingrich for his ethics violations.

His latest utterances have got New Yorkers shaking their heads in befuddlement:Many New Yorkers aren’t happy with Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

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UN Resolution on Syria Fails as Death Toll Rises Precipitously

Russia and China vetoed the latest United Nations resolution that would have strengthened sanctions against Syria's Bashar al-Assad and called for him to step down comes on the same day that human rights groups decried a drastic rise in violence. More than 200 people were killed in the past 24 hours alone, though as usual, Assad claims that the death tolls were inflated and nothing more than

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On the Destruction of the Susan G. Komen Brand Over Pulling Planned Parenthood Funding

There was no reason that the Susan G. Komen charitable foundation should ever have waded into the mess that it is now in. I'm heartened by the fact that some of the Komen affiliates are rebelling against the central organization's directives:Komen has said the decision stemmed from newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations under investigation — affecting Planned Parenthood because

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Yankee Stadium Parking Deal A Disaster For New York City

In their efforts to build a new stadium, the New York Yankees convinced the Bloomberg Administration that more parking was needed for the stadium. So, the Bloomberg Administration lined up financing for building parking garages and lots around the new stadium.

Well, it turns out that fans have avoided the parking like the plague and it's such a disaster that the parking lot bonding may default

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Sen. Tom Coburn Rejects Funding For WTC Museum

Funding for the WTC Museum and Memorial has been a longstanding problem. This is a national memorial and shrine to those who were killed in the attacks, and a museum to educate future generations as to what happened. So it is extremely disappointing to see that Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican is blocking a $20 million funding proposal of the WTC memorial and museum.

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, a

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30 Years Later, The Hama Massacre Revisited

Thirty years ago, Hafez al-Assad cracked down against the Muslim Brotherhood that had risen up to oppose Assad's dictatorship. Instead of compromise, Assad launched a full-scale military operation that all but razed the city of Hama. At least 10,000 people were killed, and some estimates put the figure as high as 25,000 or more.

That episode was recounted by Thomas Friedman in his book From

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Congressional Negotiators Reach Deal on Long Term Funding For FAA

For the past several years, the FAA has been funded on a stopgap basis, and there was even a period when the authorized funding ended and the FAA had to cease all but critical safety operations as Congress bickered over funding.

Now for the first time since 2007, Congressional negotiators in the House and Senate have reached a compromise deal to fund the FAA for the next four years. The bill

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Mitt Romney Wins Decisively In Florida; Newt Gingrich Promises To Continue Campaign

Despite getting walloped by Mitt Romney in Florida by a decisive 46-32 margin (Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were barely evident and had already conceded the winner-take-all state and had moved on to Colorado and Nevada campaigning), Newt Gingrich is still hopeful that he can win the nomination.

Last night, he stood before a podium with "46 states" emblazoned on it all the while talking about how

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