The Decider Solves the Middle East Crisis

 
BUSH to Blair: "I think Condi is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon."

BLAIR: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together . . . See, if she goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk."

BUSH: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."

BLAIR: "Who, Syria?"

BUSH: "Right . . . What about Kofi? That seems odd. I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens."

BLAIR: "I think the thing that is really difficult is you can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed." . . .

BUSH: "I felt like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming Israel. We're not blaming the Lebanese government."

LMAO... OK, Alanis, just tell Hizbollah to stop it. Why didn't we think of that before? 

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Newt Declares WWIII

 
"I believe if you take all the countries I just listed, that you’ve been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you’d have to say to yourself this is, in fact, World War III." 

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U.S. judge temporarily bans Navy's use of sonar to protect whales

To protect marine species, a U.S.federal judge temporarily blocked the Navy from using active sonar during an exercise off Hawaii, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

In a seven-page ruling, the judge said there is "considerable convincing scientific evidence" that the Navy's use of sonar can kill, injure and disturb many species, including marine mammals.. U.S. Navy had planned to use sonar during the Rim of the Pacific exercise, which began last week off Hawaii with 40 surface ships and six submarines scheduled to participate. The sonar portion of the monthlong exercise was to begin Wednesday.

The sonar use in this exercise is meant to test whether quiet, diesel-powered submarines can be detected. Before this exercise, U.S. Department of Defense invoked a six-month national security exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act to thwart a lawsuit by an environmentalist group.

The environmentalists filed the lawsuit last week after the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a permit for the Navy to use sonar during the current exercises. Los Angeles-based Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled that the exemption did not cover the National Environmental Policy Act cited in the lawsuit.

The judge's order blocks the Navy's use of sonar until a July 18 hearing, when Cooper is to consider making the ban permanent. Cooper gave the two sides until July 12 to meet and discuss a possible settlement.

The Navy said that sonar was the only effective means to quickly detect and target hostile submarines, and that sonar operators needed training at sea "to protect our nation's ships, shores and allies."

Navy scientists denied that sonar hurts whales. But the Fisheries Service concluded that sonar used during a similar exercise in 2004 had likely caused 150 melon-headed whales to gather in a shallow bay.

story: http://english.people.com.cn/200607/05/eng20060705_280265.html

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