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Candidate Barack Hussein Obama promised "Change", and spouted a campaign's slogan pledging, "Change we can believe in." Tired of Washington politics, a majority of American voters went to the polls and voted for that Change. Sadly for the nation, that Change was undefined. Now the nation is learning the folly of electing a president and congressmen on the basis of an undefined catch slogan. The Democratic Party now assumes they have a blank check to impose their will on the American voter. Too late we are finding out what that promised "Change" really is. Obama has certainly lived up to...

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California instructs Brigadier General Michael Walsh not to call her "ma'am," the sign of respect shown by members of the military towards non-military ... she wants to be called "Senator," because gosh darn it, she worked hard for that position. No further comment necessary, but I'm looking forward to them anyway. Words fail.

The Russian invasion of Georgia has not changed the balance of power in Eurasia. It simply announced that the balance of power had already shifted. The United States has been absorbed in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as potential conflict with Iran and a destabilizing situation in Pakistan. It has no strategic ground forces in reserve and is in no position to intervene on the Russian periphery.

Martyrs or Imperial Guard? May 15, 2008 by Sarah Yeomans New discoveries in the catacombs of San Pietro and Marcellinus Details of faces—7th century fresco devotional fresco (The Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology) When a sinkhole opened up after a pipe broke underneath the convent and school of the Instituto Sacra Famiglia on Rome's Via Casilina, the sisters there received a surprise--about 1,200 surprises, in fact. The partial collapse of the building's foundation revealed five large chambers in which the remains of more than a thousand individuals had been interred almost simultaneously sometime at the beginning of the third century...

Researchers enter Imperial tomb The Yomiuri Shimbun NARA--The Japanese Archaeological Association and 15 other academic bodies inspected Gosashi tomb, the burial place of Empress Jingu, in Nara for the first time on Friday. The inspection came after the Imperial Household Agency granted a request by the academic bodies dating back to 1976 to inspect the tombs of emperors and other Imperial family members. Experts hope the move will lead to a full-scale investigation of Imperial tombs and the opening of the burial chambers to the public. The Empress Jingu's tomb has a 270-meter keyhole-shaped tomb mound, built between the late...

Archaeologists granted access to Japan's sacred tombs The divine origins of Japan's imperial family come under scrutiny as it allows limited access to two burial sites. Justin McCurry in Tokyo Thursday September 20, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attend the opening ceremony of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka last month. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images Japan's imperial household agency is to open the doors to some of the country's mysterious imperial tombs early next year after decades of pressure from archaeologists, in a move expected to anger ultra-conservatives. Experts have long been denied access to the...

Victory for Britain's metric martyrs as Eurocrats give up the fightBy BENEDICT BROGAN and PAUL SIMS - More by this author » Last updated at 00:05am on 11th September 2007  Brussels will today give up the fight to make Britain drop pints, pounds and miles. The right of Britons to use imperial weights and measures will be enshrined in EU law under plans being announced by the European Commission. Traditional measures will remain legal "until Kingdom come", the Commissioner responsible for the move told the Daily Mail last night. Scroll down for more...Vindicated: The 'Metric Martyr' Steve Thoburn, who...

Did Hirohito play an active part in planning and conducting the war? Japanese emperor Hirohito expressed doubts about going to war with China in the 1930s and 40s, extracts from a diary of one of his advisers reveal. They show Hirohito was afraid the Soviet Union would intervene. The diary by Kuraji Ogura, who worked as a chamberlain to Hirohito in World War II, was found recently and parts have been published in Japan's media. The full text may help solve the debate about how much responsibility the emperor had for Japan's wartime action. South Pacific visit The document...

NEW HAVEN -- A dozen Guatemalan workers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday accusing one of the nation's largest nurseries of engaging in human trafficking by forcing them to work nearly 80 hours per week, paying them less than minimum wage and denying them medical care for injuries on the job. The workers, who filed the lawsuit against Imperial Nurseries in Granby and its labor recruiter, say they were promised jobs planting trees in North Carolina for $7.50 per hour. Instead, they say they were taken in a van to Connecticut without their consent, had their passports confiscated so they would...

(02-08) 09:45 PST WASHINGTON D.C. -- A political odd couple, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House spokesman Tony Snow, today slammed critics of Pelosi's bid to use a government plane that can fly her nonstop between Washington and her home district in San Francisco. "This is a silly story, and I think it's been unfair to the speaker,'' Snow told reporters. E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.

Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel. Some sources are claiming that Pelosi...

Interesting Before and After Video on Iran.

IM SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THIS TALK OF ETHICS IN CONGRESS AND CHARGES BEING BROUGHT UP AGAINST REPUBLICANS! THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS WHAT ITS DOING SO LIBERALS SHOULD BE QUIET! WE NEED TO ARREST AND KILL ANYONE WHO SPEAKS OUT AND HAVE THE FCC TAKE CONTROL OF ALL THE MEDIA AND REQUIRE LICENCES FOR JOURNALISM! LETS PRAY FOR TOM DELAY THAT HE GETS OUT ALRIGHT! AND THAT ALL THE DEMOCRATS ARE THROWN IN JAIL UNTIL THEY DIE WITHOUT TRIAL! THIS IS A WAR WERE IN! TRUST THE GOVERNMENT FOR ONCE OTHERWISE YOU ARE AN IDIOT AND A COMMUNIST TRAITOR! GOD...

Imperialism. The word has become so thinly stretched its meaning is now gossamer. A Google News search of the word reveals a sorry list of headlines, most of which refer to the United States and the current Administration. If nothing else, we can conclude from these that the term is hackneyed: "World Festival of Youth & Students challenges US imperialism" reads one headline. "Fight US Imperialism" says AIDWA, the All India Democratic Women's Association (Odd this: hasn't it been fewer than sixty years since India was under an actual empire?). "US-British oil imperialism" declares a headline from AlJazeera.com. But the...

N.C. Hearing Opens on 1979 Klan Killings By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago Signe Waller, right, is comforted by Cory Wechler, a friend, on stage as she reads her prepared statement, Friday, July 15, 2005, during the public hearing of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Greensboro, N.C. Waller was at the November 3, 1979 anti-Ku Klux Klan rally when a violent confrontation between Communist Workers Party members and the Ku Klux at Morningside Homes in Greensboro, left five CWP members dead, including her husband Dr. Jim Waller. (AP Photo/Lynn Hey) GREENSBORO, N.C. - The widow...

Mbeki lambasts Brown for 'imperial nostalgia' By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 30/05/2005) President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa rebuked Gordon Brown yesterday, accusing the "presumed successor to Tony Blair" of promoting nostalgia for British imperialism and joining in a "discourse" that "demonises" blacks. Mr Brown is leading the Government's efforts to help Africa during Britain's presidency of the G8 group of rich countries. But any credit this might have earned seems, in Mr Mbeki's mind, to have been dashed by remarks the Chancellor made during his tour of Africa in January. While in Tanzania, Mr Brown said the "days...

<p>Just only a quick blurb in the top news segement today, but Mainichi News reports that two elderly Japanese men in their 80s have turned themselves into or otherwise presented themselves to Japanese authorities in the southern Philippines in Mindanao, apparantly "surrendering" or at least talking to them, after holding our for nearly 60 years in the Philippines following Japan's WWII defeat.</p>

Over the past several decades, we have gotten used to judges being above the law, so it was perhaps inevitable that we would now be asked to get used to the idea that judges are above criticism. In the wake of the Terri Schiavo case, where a Florida judge ignored Florida law and Congressional subpoenas, and where federal judges ignored Congressional legislation duly signed by the President, some people dared to suggest that judges had overstepped the bounds. Immediately there has been a firestorm of reaction by those who think it is just fine to have judges make social policy,...

My first personal encounter with the CIA came in 1989. I was living in Washington, D.C., editing a new publication about Communist affairs under the auspices of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. There had been a spate of violence directed against the Communist authorities in Russia; I was among the first to discuss and analyze these events, publishing my findings not only in my own research bulletin but also, to wider attention, in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Shortly after my articles appeared I got a phone call from a second secretary of the Soviet...

"...According to Scheuer, the tiny nation of Israel is not a valuable ally in the Middle East, but instead the author of a vast conspiracy to hijack the direction of American foreign policy. Scheuer explained to the CFR crowd that Israel dictates the course of its relationship with the United States. He explained, "we can no longer afford to be seen as the dog that's led by the tail." Scheuer further warned, "I don't think we can afford to be led around, or at least appear to be led around by them." So, not only has Israel "covertly" targeted the...

Remember Michael Scheuer? He's the former CIA analyst who penned an anonymous book called "Imperial Hubris" attacking the Bush administration's approach to terrorism. When we last saw him, in November, he was explaining to Tim Russert that American support for Israel is to blame for anti-American terrorism, and that Osama bin Laden is "in many ways . . . an admirable man."....

The ACLU's "constitutional" lawsuit with this Tuesday's Presidential Inauguration is a three-way taxpayer hit: 1. By act of Congress, the ACLU is allowed to bill (likely at the highest rate possible) the government/taxpayers for the costs of bringing the suit, and automatically is paid, regardless of the suits' outcome. 2. By operation, the cost of defending against the suit is charged to the taxpayers, again, likely at the highest rate. 3. By function, the cost of hearing and adjudicating the suit is at taxpayer expense. Of course, it was members of the legal industry, Congress's largest and only functional built-in...

Last Saturday night brought His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, Regent of the Imperial Dynasty and President of the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League, to Cornell. The Prince, a member of the Vietnamese imperial family gave a lecture, entitled "Revival of Vietnamese Culture: The Nguyen Dynasty," before a crowd of about 50 people. Maria Nguyen '05, vice president of the Cornell Vietnamese Association sang the American national anthem and then played the national anthem of South Vietnam. Aided by PowerPoint slides, Prince Buu Chanh then began his lecture speaking from a podium draped with the American flag...

The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam is politically pressuring the government of Vietnam to protect the liberty, religious rights of the Vietnamese people as well as the culture, traditions, languages of the Montagnards and Khmer Krom in Vietnam. (PRWEB) October 23, 2004 -- Today, Vietnam is experiencing a minor period of outward growth. Even the most dedicated Communists are abandoning old communist economic policies, which have proven to be ineffective and sometimes harmful. Capitalism is being introduced, with the Communist Party maintained only as a vehicle to exercise absolute control of the elite Party leaders over the common people. The...

Aurora,IL (PRWEB) September 8, 2004 -- OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS - From the Office of the Leadership of the The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam & Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League: His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, Regent of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty and President of The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League denounces the Communist Government on the return of United States Servicemen MIA or possible POWs’ and Human Rights Record. It has been stated by American Marines and Army Soldiers who are in Vietnam searching for MIA's, that there is corruption within the government of Vietnam. They stated that...

Exploring the mysteries of Xi'an's imperial tombs By David Fullbrook (That's Beijing) Updated: 2004-09-03 13:49 Dynasties and empires rose and fell along the Wei He River valley, where Xi'an lies. While the emperors are gone, their legacy awaits the spades and brushes of archaeologists exploring this crucible of Chinese history and culture. Terra-Cotta Warriors in the surburb of Xi'an [file photo] The terracotta warriors, one of archaeology's greatest accidental finds, hint at what else could lie under the barely scratched fields where emperors and aristocrats lie interred beneath 500 burial mounds. These tombs rise out of a fertile plain where...

Ishihara The consequences of joining the club Jonathan MirskyINVENTING JAPAN: FROM EMPIRE TO ECONOMIC MIRACLE, 1853-1964 By Ian Buruma Weidenfeld, £12.99, pp.162, ISBN:1842126873 It didn’t last quite 40 years, but for much of the adult lives of Spectator readers Japan was Top Country; indeed, Harvard’s Ezra Vogel wrote Japan as Number One, and he and many others, including international corporate executives, sought to discover the secret of Japan’s success and wondered how it could be applied in the West. In the late 1990s the bubble burst: Sayonara, Number One. What happened? It is the considerable achievement of Ian Buruma’s...

America's imperial delusion The US drive for world domination has no historical precedent Eric Hobsbawm Saturday June 14, 2003 The Guardian The present world situation is unprecedented. The great global empires of the past - such as the Spanish and notably the British - bear little comparison with what we see today in the United States empire. A key novelty of the US imperial project is that all other empires knew that they were not the only ones, and none aimed at global domination. None believed themselves invulnerable, even if they believed themselves to be central to the world -...

LONDON: Fifty-seven years late and after 2.5 million Indian soldiers gallantly served, bled and died for the King and the Empire during the Second World War, the British Queen is finally honouring their sacrifice in stone and reminding the former Raj of its 'forgotten' heroes. But the controversy continues about whether Britain can really be reminded about something it never knew or wanted to know. This includes the heroism of 'greats' the average British schoolchild still knows nothing about, including Subedar Khudadad Khan, the first Indian holder of the Victoria Cross and RAF Squadron Leader Mahinder Singh Pujji, one of...