Israel Prepares for Chemical Attack (Xinhua/Reuters)

TEL AVIV: Just hours ago Israel initiated a country-wide defense drill to prepare for nuclear, chemical and biological attacks from Iran and other hostile countries. Iran has declared its intention to “wipe Israel off the map.” The Iranian-funded Hezbollah has stocked more than 40,000 rockets capable of hitting Israel, some capable of carrying nuclear, chemical and biological payloads.

Today Israeli businesses, schools, hospitals, government offices and citizens took part in the nationwide drill:

Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis came to standstill at 11 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Wednesday and took shelter in fortified safe rooms when air sirens wail across the country as the culmination of a nationwide civil defense exercise…

Starting on Sunday, the five-day massive drill aimed at preparing army, local authorities and civilians for possible missile and rocket attacks on Israel, as well as natural disasters, according to the statement.

This year’s exercise simulates emergency scenarios, including missile and rocket attacks as well as strikes by unconventional weapons, to test the preparedness of the local authorities and the cooperation between different crews during such scenarios, the statement added. Xinhua News

While Israel prepares to defend itself, Obama feels that his contribution to the safety of the region is to prohibit Israeli development in Israel’s own capitol and to send an annual wish to the Iranian people wishing them a Happy Nowruz. Obama apparently accepts the inevitability of a nuclear Iran.

The left views Obama’s peacemaking as enlightened and progressing to a new world order where common sense prevails. Supposedly this will prepare the human race to evolve into a more advanced civilization. Such a viewpoint is not only at odds the history of our species but probably contrary to natural law. Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking warned that faith in the benevolence of aliens is naive. The NIP thinks that Obama’s faith in the rationality of the Iranians is either naive or simply an indication of his support of a nuclear Iran.

WASHINGTON: Just a reminder, Eric Holder is Attorney General of the United States. He is in charge of keeping us safe. In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee he refuses to even say the words “Radical Islam.” Hearing Holder dissemble and evade the question gives substantive insight into the mindset of this administration. It is clear that in this administration’s view not only are we not at war with terror, but there is no such thing as “Radical Islam.”

Here are 2 questions for you:

1. Are you one of the folks who voted for Obama?
2. Are you feeling safer now than you did 2 years ago?

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ERIC CHESLEY:New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg can keep his 25 cents because his opinion isn’t worth even that much. In an interview on Sunday night’s CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Bloomberg made a thinly veiled accusation that a homegrown, healthcare hating American was behind the attempted Times Square bombing. What does this description conjure up in many American’s minds? Tea Party members.

Bloomberg said that the attempt:

Looks like an amateurish job done by at least one person, and that if I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that, somebody home-grown, maybe a mentally-deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the healthcare bill or something.

Seriously? After two successful terrorist attacks by Islamo-fascist and who knows how many failed attempts, Mayor Bloomberg places his bet on a fellow citizen. Why is it that Bloomberg did not suggest that a May Day protestor, or a G8 protestor where behind the attempted bombing? Could it be because Mayor Bloomberg and his ilk are eager for the opportunity to use violence to their political advantage? Read more…

Obama Lectures Netanyahu

WASHINGTON: Obama’s willingness to offend our allies while coddling our enemies is doing tremendous damage to long-standing alliances that have been in place during both Democratic and Republican administrations. Obama highlighted his shift in Middle East policy in a news conference on April 13th:

It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday [April 13th], but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.

When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests. Mark Landler and Helene Cooper, NY Times

Obama has placed restrictions on Israeli settlements as a precondition for Middle East peace talks. You may remember when candidate Obama cited his willingness to meet with any totalitarian regime without preconditions, he was rebuffed by Iran who insisted on conditions of their own, embarrassing the United States and winning prestige from the Arab world in the process.

In dealing with our allies Obama is not so generous, our allies must wish they were treated as well as our enemies. Obama wants to call the shots and dictate conditions over Israel’s own capitol city, and he gets mad when he doesn’t get his way. Apparently he’s vindictive and is not afraid to humiliate Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to prove a point. We here at the NIP wish he would be as bold with our enemies as he is with our friends. Read more…

Nick Popaditch "Cigar Marine"

JAMES SIMPSON: A common complaint we hear about members of Congress is that they have never served in the military. A total of 95 veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and the National Guard are current House members (the 96^th, John Murtha just died). This represents a mere 20 percent of sitting Members of Congress and is a record low. We can chalk this up as one good reason for Congress’s stunning ignorance regarding military matters.

“I will go to Washington to do battle against Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Steny Hoyer and the rest of them. They have never seen anything like the Southern fried butt whipping that’s coming at them!” Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret.)

Among the many encouraging signs for the nation as we head into the 2010 midterm elections is the number of first-time Republican candidates for Congress who are recent military veterans. There is even an organization supporting them: Iraq Veterans for Congress (IVC).
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BABE HUGGETT: It may be hard to hear the drum of War beating over the hip-humping bleating of Lady Gaga but Britain just got a shot across its territorial bow once again by Argentina asserting control of all shipping between the contested Falklands and the Argentina coast. Argentina President Cristina Kirchner’s declaration of shipping lane control on Tuesday, February 16 constitutes the first steps towards a naval blockade of the Falklands referred to as “Las Malvinas” by Argentina.

Coming just 28 years after the first Falkland War, when an expansionist Argentina invaded the sleepy, sheep farming islands only to have its head royally handed back to it by British forces, Tuesday’s move by President Kirchner is this time not seen as a demand for the islands so much as a grab for the oil beds that are within Falklands territorial waters and said to be potentially greater than the output of the 40 billion barrel North Seas oil fields. The arbitrary declaration demands that all ships wishing to operate within the waters between the Falklands and Argentina may do so only after getting a new Argentinean permit, effectively stopped the next-day delivery and start of the year-long construction of the Ocean Guardian oil rig to the Falklands offshore oil beds.

The Director of the Falkland Islands Company, Roger Spink, tried to make light of the confrontation by saying, “There has been an economic blockade of the Falklands from Argentina for many years. It’s something we’ve come to expect.”

Anticipating the controversy, Cabinet chief, Aníbal Fernández, commented, “Any boat that wants to travel between ports on the Argentine mainland to the Islas Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. . . must first ask for permission from the Argentine Government.” Read more…

WHITE HOUSE: Gibbs reiterated today that sufficient information was obtained from the fizzled panty bomber Abdumutallab in the 50 minutes he was interrogated before he was read his Miranda rights. This gratuitous assertion withers under the most cursory of examinations.

One of the key components of any successful interrogation is allowing enough time. 50 minutes is not even enough to get started:

Investigators must remember that successful interrogations require a certain amount of time to complete. Some confessions or admissions come quickly, but most do not. Those involving a polygraph examination usually occur between the second and third hours of the interrogations session. Generally, the chances of obtaining a confession increase 25 percent for every hour (up to 4 hours) of interrogation.¹² Investigators spend up to the first hour of the session learning about the subjects, building rapport, obtaining background information, and discussing the crimes. Verbal and nonverbal responses form the basis of the investigators’ evaluations concerning the subjects’ degree of truthfulness and degree of criminal involvement. It takes time for investigators to observe these responses and relate them to the critical issues of the cases. Stopping after 30 minutes or an hour of interrogation dooms investigators to a 75 percent interrogation failure rate.¹³ The Art and Science of Criminal Investigation

Read more…