mbt-boots.com

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

The U.S. Department of Labor has released data showing that more than 1,000 private military contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by Reuters.

The number is based on insurance claims filed on behalf of contractors that had been killed, and includes both U.S. and foreign contractors.

As of March 2007, an additional 10,569 contractors have been wounded in Iraq and 2,428 in Afghanistan.

There are disputes about the exact number of contractors in Iraq, but it is estimated to be between 130,000 and 180,000 U.S.-paid private military contractors, compared to 157,000 U.S. military personnel.

Despite beliefs that the contractors all belong to large military-oriented groups such as the British intelligence firm Aegis or Blackwater USA which has been labelled “mercenaries”, the jobs of contractors killed have been as varied as electrical engineer Ronald Schulz, translator Kim Sun-il and truck driver Murat Yuce.

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Satire site Uncyclopedia, a parody of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has been labeled by the Malaysian government as dangerous. The Internal Security Department of Malaysia issued the warning today, saying that the site has “messages and information insulting Malaysia”.

The warning notes the creation date of the website as being 5 January 2005, and hosted by Wikia, Inc., both of which are correct. However, it claims Wikia owns Wikipedia; Wikipedia is a charitable non-profit website owned by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, while Wikia is an independent, for-profit company.

The report evidently mentions that Uncyclopedia covers Malaysian “history, culture, the political leaders, the government, the national song and the name / history of the national flag,” none of which is “correct”. They accuse the website of helping to reinforce a bad international image of their country.

There are no reports of the site being blocked from access within the country, only this statement, which urges Malaysians not to circulate the content.

Uncyclopedia’s article on Malaysia begins:

The site has fired back with a parody article posted at the site under their UnNews section, titled Uncyclopedia Internal Security Department warns on Malaysia. The article suggests that the “Internal Security Department of the Uncyclomedia Foundation,” which is a facetious and fictitious parent organization of Uncyclopedia, identifies Malaysia “as a dangerous country… It warned its people not to use the country today.”

There are forty-seven individual language editions of Uncyclopedia, including Tolololpedia, which is written in Bahasa Melayu, the Malay language. This is in addition to fictional “language” editions which include Oscar Wilde, Newspeak, N00b, White Supremacist, and Re: PharmaccgRy.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005In a report from the Department of Homeland Security released on Friday, March 25, they allege the US Transportation Security Administration “made inaccurate statements” about its management of personal data belonging to passengers. The report claims, “TSA did not ensure that privacy protections were in place” as it handled data transfers to private contractors for use in the development of a computerized passenger screening application, called CAPPS II. While the report criticizes TSA for its inaccurate statements, it notes the “misstatements were apparently not meant to mischaracterize known facts,” but were instead “premised on an incomplete understanding” of the truth.

According to the report, the data at issue described passengers flying on the following airlines: America West Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and JetBlue Airways. In most of the problematic transfers, the privacy violation occurred by allowing third parties to access passenger data that was not anonymized. In one case, passenger information was made public on the internet through a presentation prepared by Torch Concepts. According to the report, “Torch Concepts’ subsequent efforts to remove the presentation from the internet have failed.”

In an AP report, Yahoo! News notes that TSA announced the launch of its “Secure Flight” system, saying, “Congress has said the agency can’t proceed with Secure Flight unless the Government Accountability Office reports that the technology ensures privacy and that the data are protected.” The report from the GAO was to be released Monday, March 27, 2005.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

2012 US presidential election candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney took part Monday in their third and final presidential debate at Lynn University in Florida. The topic of the debate was foreign policy and the candidates discussed the Arab Spring, Iran, and Mali, among other issues.

Mr. Obama criticised Mr. Romney’s foreign policy positions as “all over the map”. “Every time you have offered an opinion you have been wrong.” “You said we should have gone into Iraq, despite the fact there were no weapons of mass destruction. You said we should still have troops in Iraq to this day. You said we shouldn’t be passing nuclear treaties with Russia.” Mr. Romney countered saying Mr. Obama had failed to take proper advantage of the Arab Spring: “I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership of al-Qaeda, but we can’t kill our way out of this mess”.

Mr. Romney said Mr. Obama was proposing military budget cuts. He said “the highest responsibility of the President of the United states … is to maintain the safety of the American people, and I will not cut our military budget by a trillion dollars… That in my view is making our future less certain and less secure”. Mr. Obama accused Mr. Romney of not properly understanding modern defense priorities. “You mention the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets. Because the nature of the military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines”.

Mr. Romney criticized his opponent for visiting the Middle East on an “apology tour”, and said he would be tougher with Iran. “I think from the very beginning, one of the challenges we’ve had with Iran is that they have looked at this administration and felt that the administration was not as strong as it needed to be. We’re four years closer to a nuclear Iran and we should not have wasted these four years.” Mr. Obama said he would stand with Israel against Iranian threats but added that the main national security concern was terrorist networks. He said his administration had focused on “those who actually killed us on 9/11” and said that under his leadership, “al-Qaeda’s core leadership has been decimated”. Mr. Romney said northern Mali had been taken over by “al-Qaeda-type individuals” .

Mr. Romney criticized China for “holding down artificially the value of their currency”. He added “on day one, I will label them a currency manipulator, which allows us to apply tariffs where they’re taking jobs.” Mr. Obama countered saying under Mr. Romney’s policy America would be “buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China”.

A poll, taken by CBS straight after the debate, indicated 53% of voters thought Mr. Obama had done better, while only 23% thought Mr. Romney had done better.

Both candidates now have plans for continued campaigning ahead of the election on November 6. Mr. Obama is to travel through Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada as well as appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in a two-day “America Forward Tour”. Mr. Romney is to hold two joint rallies with his vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan in Nevada and Colorado before going on to campaign in Iowa and Ohio. Mr. Romney’s advisers said he would also consider making a speech on government spending and debt in the next few days.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

When the Philadelphia City Council broke its 80 year old building lease with the Cradle of Liberty Council, it set itself on a course to be the largest city in the nation without its own Boy Scout building. The scouts must abandon their building before the end of July. Local scouts now have to go to suburbs for services.

Monday, June 30, 2014

State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda (BoB), two of the largest public sector banks of India, proposed on Saturday their gold deposits should be allowed to count toward their state-mandated cash reserve ratio (CRR) or statutory liquidity ratio (SLR).

Arundhati Bhattacharya, the chairperson of SBI, made the proposal at a Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council event held in Mumbai on Saturday. She said the need for gold deposits to become more liquid has increased because gold import is putting a strain on the country’s current account deficit. S. S. Mundra, Chairperson and managing director of BoB, agreed and said it would help bringing gold into the more productive sectors of the economy.

Bhattacharya added SBI has no longer any incentive to run its gold deposit scheme as it cannot fully deploy the assets, noting SBI is the party most involved with gold deposits in India. G. S. Sandhu, Union financial services secretary, also at the event, responded that the government is looking for ways to monetize the gold held by the public, as import of gold can strain the current account deficit and foreign exchange reserves.

Currently, the Reserve Bank of India has set the CRR at 4% and the SLR at 22.5%. SLR is the portion of deposits that must be invested in recognized safe securities and assets.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

According to the Saudi Arabian interior ministry, over 100 people in the country have been arrested on suspicion of links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

A statement, which was read read out over television, was released by the government on Wednesday. It said the arrested people were suspected of plotting attacks on security and oil installations. Members from three total cells were seized — 101 from one large cell, and six apiece from two smaller ones. Cameras, computers, and weapons were also confiscated by officials.

The statement reported that, out of the large cell, 51 members were Yemenis and 47 members Saudis; a Bangladeshi, an Eritrean, and a Somali were the rest of the group. The other cells consisted of eleven Saudis and a Yemeni.

“The network and the two cells were targeting the oil facilities in the Eastern Province and they had plans that were about to be implemented,” said ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki, adding that the groups had links to an affiliate for al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

A United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed Monday (before 3:00 pm CST) after takeoff at Duncan Field at Campus of Texas A&M University, during a routine mission flight shuttling cadets from the university to Camp Swift. Two active-duty soldiers were killed in the crash, and four Army National Guard soldiers were injured.

Second Lt. Zachary Cook, 22, a native of Lufkin, Texas and a December 2008 graduate of Texas A&M University, was killed in the incident. Cook was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps cadre at Texas A&M University and also graduated from Lufkin High School. U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards on Wednesday paid tribute to Cook on the floor of the U.S. Congress. “His loss brings a great sadness to his family and friends, the extended Texas A&M family, and the Army, all of us deprived of this patriotic citizen who was dedicated to serving our great nation in uniform,” he said. Edwards is a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives from the 17th District of Texas, based about Waco.

The crash also killed Sgt. Charles C. Mitts, 42, of Spring, Texas. He died about 9 p.m. Wednesday night at Memorial Hermann Hospital, said hospital spokeswoman Ann Brimberry. Mitts was the oldest of five men on board the ill-fated helicopter. He was assigned to Iraq from September 2006 to September 2007 with Company C of the 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment, based in Topeka, Kansas. Mitts was posthumously promoted from his present rank, Chief Master Sgt. Gonda Moncada announced.

The three others on board the UH-60 Black Hawk were injured in the accident. The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew J. Smith, 41, of Leander, and 1st Lt. Ellis W. Taylor, 31, of Buda, were in stable condition Thursday at Brooke Army Medical Center. Sgt. Richard D. Ravenscraft, 24, of Austin, also was initially listed as critical but upgraded to stable in College Station.

The accident is under investigation by the Combat Readiness/Safety Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama, home of the U.S. Army Aviation Center. “They have a reputation for extreme thoroughness and quickness,” said Texas Guard Capt. Adam Collett. The probe team will review the wrecked helicopter and debris scattered on Duncan Field next to Duncan Dining Hall, near the Corps of Cadets field on the school’s College Station campus, about 100 miles northwest of Houston, Texas. “Every piece the way it landed is still in place,” said Texas Army National Guard Chief Master Sgt. Gonda Moncada, adding that investigators began the expert examination of evidence Wednesday morning.

As part of a five-ship training exercise, the Blackhawk helicopter was performing a training demonstration for about 190 Corps of Cadets in the ROTC Rudder’s Rangers Annual Winter Field Training Exercises. It was also used to transfer the students to Duncan Field just off George Bush Drive. When the helicopter was attempting to take off, a rudder reportedly malfunctioned. “At first, it looked like he was hot-dogging and then very quickly it was obvious he was in trouble and not messing around. All of a sudden he dropped straight back down into the ground,” Scott Walker Walker, publications manager for the A&M Association of Former Students said. “There was a bunch of people on Duncan Field and everyone went running and diving for cover,” he added. The aircraft entered a rotational spin upon take off and plummeted down on its tail boom, with its cabin section largely intact.

The chopper will be transferred to the Austin Aviation Support Facility, where it is was based. Some parts of the Blackhawk will also be sent to the Corpus Christi Army Depot for testing, Officials with Texas Military Forces officials said.

“Our thoughts and prayers go to the crew members involved in this tragedy, and especially to the family and friends of the crew member who reportedly died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash,” A&M President Elsa Murano stated.

The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It is a utility tactical transport helicopter that replaces the UH-1 “Huey” and has been in use since 1979.It was based at the Austin Army Aviation Support Facility at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The aircraft’s soldiers came from Austin and San Antonio. They were part of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, at Austin’s Camp Mabry.

The Campus of Texas A&M University, also known as ‘Aggieland’, is located in College Station, Texas, USA. College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in Central Texas. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley. Aggieland is centrally located within of three of the 10 largest cities in the United States and 75% of the Texas and Louisiana populations. Southside of the campus contains halls both for the Corps of Cadets members and “non-regs”. Facilities for the Corps of Cadets are located in the Quadrangle, or “The Quad”, an area consisting of dormitories, Duncan Dining Hall, and the Corps training fields.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Jack Diesing Sr., former chairman of the College World Series has died at the age of 92. His son announced the cause of death as complications from Parkinson’s disease. Diesing was chairman of the series from 1963 until 2002.

Diesing helped the tournament become one of the most successful college events in the United States. He became chairman in 1963 after his boss at Brandies department store died and passed on his duties to Diesing, one of which was the chairman role.

Before taking the role the series had only made a profit in five of its fourteen years. Under Diesing’s leadership the series never made a loss. During his time as chairman he also negotiated a long term contract with the NCAA and lengthened the series from 5 to 10 games.

Diesing’s son, Jack Diesing Jr., released a statement on his fathers death saying “My dad will be missed by a lot of people, but he won’t be forgotten”. He continued to say that his goals were to make “Omaha a better community” and to secure the “CWS to mantain its legacy”.

At the time of his death Diesing was still chairman emeritus of College World Series of Omaha Inc., a non-profit organization that helped with the coordination of the series.