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AMARAH – A U.S. Military Police Company here has worked with Iraqi Police in Maysan province for months to improve their ability to govern and provide security. The 57th Military Police Company conducts Key Leadership Engagements (KLE) with Iraqi Police leaders at Iraqi Security Force stations. The MPs visit the District Headquarters weekly to collect information on the area, establish training dates and assess the station's daily operations. "Training the Iraqis isn't always easy, but I'm still proud to have the opportunity to pass on my experiences to the people over here," said Dan Escudero, an international police advisor from...

A U.S. Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopter (left) flies alongside an Iraqi UH-1 Huey during a joint air mission over Baghdad between 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 2nd Squadron of the Iraqi Air Force, Oct. 21. Photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. CAMP TAJI — In a display of strength and partnership, U.S. military aviators with the 1st Cavalry Division and the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) joined forces for an Iraqi-led helicopter mission over Baghdad, Oct. 21. The leadership of 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry...

SNIPPET: "After the 4 July DDoS attacks, wrongly attributed to North Korea, it’s wise to treat reports of DPRK security hacks with some caution. Nevertheless, The Korea Times reports the following: Classified Info on Dangerous Chemicals Hacked Hackers stole classified information on dangerous chemicals in their raid on the South Korean army computer network in what was believed to be an attack by North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday, quoting government officials." SNIPPET: "The Sydney Morning Herald adds more information: A North Korea cyber warfare unit hacked into a South Korean military command earlier this year and stole some...

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a sham of a hearing today on the deleterious effects of the misguided Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The hearing is a sham because Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, has refused multiple requests for testimony from small-business owners, consumers or anybody other than government officials. Instead, the sole witness will be new Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Moore Tenenbaum, who started her job less than three months ago. When the legislation at issue is creating havoc among those being regulated, it's hardly constructive to hear only...

If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products. The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer. "Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of...

More than 200 children living beside an industrial park in southwest China have been found to have excessive lead in their blood, state media said on Monday, in the third such case reported in the last month. Health authorities tested around 1,000 children in a neighborhood of the city of Kunming, the official China Daily said. "Their levels are all higher than 100 micrograms of lead in each liter of blood but lower than 200 micrograms per liter," the newspaper quoted a medical doctor, Wu Ling, as saying. Lead poisoning can build up slowly and occurs from repeated exposure to...

BEIJING (AFP) – A pair of lead poisoning scandals affecting at least 2,000 children in China are just the latest in a seemingly endless string of pollution scares exposing the dark side of the nation's economic boom.

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG FRIDAY, AUGUST 28TH, 2009 AT 1:45 PM EPA Lead Poisoning Prevention Video Contest Posted by Steve Owens Grab your video camera and get the lead out! The dangers of lead poisoning are very serious, and health problems caused by lead can impact a child for a lifetime. We want you to help us get the word out about lead poisoning prevention, by creating videos to educate people on what they can do to prevent lead poisoning. We’re looking for 30-60 second video on anything from the dangers...

A federal law banning lead and other toxic substances in products for children 12 and under has raised new concerns. Some libraries have pulled children's books that were printed before 1986 because lead was used in printer's ink before then. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the chances of those books containing lead harmful to children is low. At least two libraries didn't want to take any chances and removed the books from their shelves. The Consumer Product Safety Commission interprets the new federal law to include books but hasn't weighed in on whether older books could cause...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tighter limits on the amount of lead the government allows in children's products and a requirement for new tracking labels are stirring fear among small business owners, already hurting in a tough economy. Starting Friday, the new limits and labels are required as part of a consumer product safety law passed by Congress last summer in the wake of dozens of recalls of lead-tainted toys. Consumer advocates hailed the measures. But some small businesses, like American Educational Products in Fort Collins, Colo.—it sells classroom teaching aids like flash cards, animal models, globes and relief maps—say the testing...

NEWTOWN, Conn.--In response to an announcement regarding a National Parks Service program encouraging hunters to voluntarily switch to alternative ammunition, the National Shooting Sports Foundation rejected NPS's categorization of traditional ammunition as a health threat. NSSF is offering to work with the National Park Service to develop measures to educate hunters about steps they can take to prevent scavengers from ingesting lead fragments of spent traditional ammunition. The park service is proposing to ban, at a minimum, the use of lead bullets, shot and sinkers in the park system by NPS personnel. While no scientific evidence supports restricting the use...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2009 – Iraqi soldiers and police serving in the southern part of their country are performing the lion’s share of security duties, a senior U.S. military officer posted in southern Iraq told reporters today. “Iraqi security forces are fully in the lead to secure their country and their population,” Army Maj. Gen. Richard C. Nash, commander of Multinational Division South and the 34th Infantry Division, a National Guard unit from Rosemount, Minn., told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference. Nash said his troops support Iraqi soldiers and police in operations that span across nine provinces in...

PICHER, Okla. – Two years ago, Orval "Hoppy" Ray vowed it would take someone meaner than him to make him leave the town where he was born. But now the crusty, 84-year-old former miner is moving out, leaving behind a blighted, ghostly landscape, its soil, water and air poisoned by generations of lead-ore extraction that produced bullets for both world wars...

The Iraqi National Police take the lead and escort U.S convoy on ground movement July 6. Photo by Capt. Tommy Avilucea. BAGHDAD — The Iraqi National Police and the Rough Riders from the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq implemented a working partnership July 5-6 to comply with U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement articles. The police led a convoy through the streets of Baghdad supporting a U.S. Army Rough Rider ground-operations mission to transport Americans to their desired locations. The well-coordinated movement took the convoy through city streets and highways. The convoy aggressively moved through the traffic as Iraqi citizens moved to roadsides to...

WASHINGTON, June 16, 2009 – Iraq security forces are increasingly taking the lead on missions targeting roadside bombers and extremist networks, officials said. On their first mission since becoming a nationalized force, the 6th Battalion, Emergency Readiness Brigade, alongside coalition forces advisors, arrested three suspects wanted for planting roadside bombs. The battalion nabbed the suspects in Baqubah on June 14. In Baghdad, the Hillah special weapons and tactics team, with coalition forces, arrested three suspects June 14 in an early morning raid. The suspects are believed to be linked to a violent extremist network operating in Baghdad. (Compiled from Multinational...

CALIFORNIA ALERT SYSTEMMultiple Organization Alert NRA Members' Councils of California   CAL-ERT  06/12/09 --- Noon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CALIFORNIA REGULATORY ALERTThis information is accurate at the time this CAL-ERT was written and originally distributed. The NRA Members' Councils of California and the California Rifle and Pistol Association have issued this alert in a cooperative effort and will keep you informed as issues affect your gun-rights in California. EXPANSION OF THE BAN ON LEAD AMMUNITION MAY BE ATTEMPTED BY FISH & GAME HISTORY: On February 5, 2009, we informed you that the California Fish and Game Commission was considering a state-wide ban...

The details on this story out of Reuters are very vague so this is mostly speculation, but such a development would not be shocking to anyone familiar with the state of the U.S. banking sector. FDIC losses are quickly mounting and they are certainly ill-prepared to handle a major failure. Shoring up the FDIC is a wise insurance policy if nothing else. Or they could be preparing some U.S. banks for the same fate as Chrysler and GM. A welcome development in my opinion.

Thinking of having a yard sale this weekend? Before you do, be sure to consult CSPC Publication #254 [PDF]. This handy 28-pager from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds the American people that, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the government is totally in charge of your yard sale: This handbook will help sellers of used products identify types of potentially hazardous products that could harm children or others. CPSC’s laws and regulations apply to anyone who sells or distributes consumer products. This includes thrift stores, consignment stores, charities, and individuals holding yard sales and flea markets....

Contact: Mary Beckmanmary.beckman@pnl.gov 509-375-3688DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Clouds: Lighter than air but laden with lead Atmospheric lead causes clouds to form more easily, could change pattern of rain and snow RICHLAND, Wash. -- By sampling clouds -- and making their own -- researchers have shown for the first time a direct relation between lead in the sky and the formation of ice crystals that foster clouds. The results suggest that lead generated by human activities causes clouds to form at warmer temperatures and with less water. This could alter the pattern of both rain and snow in a warmer world.The...

PRAGUE (AFP) – President Barack Obama said Sunday the United States was ready to take the lead in tackling climate change, as EU leaders pushed him to follow their ambitious targets to combat global warming. "To protect our planet, now is the time to change the way that we use energy," Obama told a crowd gathered at Prague Castle for his only public speech during his maiden tour of Europe. "Together we must confront climate change by ending the world's dependency on fossil fuels by tapping the power from the sources of energy like the wind and the sun and...

The days when the dietary supplements industry is allowed to regulate itself may be numbered following release of a federal report addressing growing concerns about dietary supplement industry. The report, issued this month by the Government Accountability Office, calls on the Food and Drug Administration to expand adverse event reporting and increase its efforts to educate the public about the safety, efficacy, and labeling of these products. The GAO investigation into supplement safety was made at the request of Congress. According to the 77-page report, the FDA should be tracking all levels of adverse events related to the use of...

WASHINGTON — Motorcycle shops apparently won't get a pass on a new anti-lead law that has kept dirt bikes and ATVs for children off showroom floors, according to the Associated Press. Consumer Product Safety Commission staff members are denying a request to exempt all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes from the law. They can have higher-than-allowed levels of lead in the brake and clutch levers, the valve stems on tires, the battery and other parts. The decision was being announced Wednesday. The commission usually adopts staff recommendations.

National Park Service News Release For Immediate Release: March 10, 2009 Contact(s): David Barna, 202-208-6843 Bert Frost, 202-208-3884 National Park Service Gets the Lead Out! WASHINGTON – National Park Service visitors and wildlife have something to cheer about today with the agency’s stepped-up efforts to reduce lead in national park environments. “Our goal is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle in parks by the end of 2010,” said Acting National Park Service Director Dan Wenk. “We want to take a leadership role in removing lead from the environment.” The new lead reduction efforts also include...

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2009 – Aided by U.S. forces, Iraqis are making vast strides toward sovereignty as they assume responsibility for everything from public works operations to joint security stations, all while working to boost the quality of life in Iraq. Army Spc. Patrick Armstrong, power generation repairer, trains Iraqi army mechanics during a generator maintenance class taught in the motor pool on Forward Operating Base Delta, Iraq, March 14, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Allison Churchill  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In Baghdad, four public works substations funded by coalition forces were turned over to the...

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius yesterday accepted President Obama's request to become his secretary of health and human services, stepping into a central role in the new administration's ambitious effort to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

President Obama will pledge Tuesday night that the nation "will rebuild, we will recover," as he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress and with a nervous nation watching at home. "While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," Mr. Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks. In lofty language, Mr. Obama is expected to promise a new path forward...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK Motorsports industry blasted by new fed rule Tens of thousands of jobs at stake, activists worry Posted: February 20, 2009 Members of the motorsports industry are wondering why the government has adopted a rule virtually eliminating a key constituency – and possibly thousands of jobs – while at the same time developing a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that supporters say is intended to create and protect employment. At issue is a new federal regulation of lead that took effect just this month. The policy has virtually shut down the part of the motorsports industry that serves children...

New lead limits force motorcycle dealers to pull kids' dirt bikes off showroom floors HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A new national limit on lead in children's products — which has toy makers scrambling for new testing methods and retailers for storage space for inventory they're not sure they can sell — also is forcing motorcycle dealers to pull dirt bikes off showroom floors. It became illegal Tuesday to sell off-road machines geared for children younger than 12 because parts in them contain lead at levels greater than 600 parts per million. Most motor vehicles have such parts. "I think they...

More than a year after a U.S. coalition reported some brands of lipstick contain lead, there has been no government action, members of the group said Monday.

With Congress saying “get the lead out,” local retailers and librarians are wondering if common sense gets chucked along with it. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which goes into effect Feb. 10, is meant to protect children from lead-laden products. But when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission gave libraries two options, get rid of all your children’s books or ban anyone under 12 from entering the library, librarians across the country waited for the punch line. But it never came. “I was speechless,” said Mary Beth Revels, director of the St. Joseph Public Library. “To know it wasn’t...

The runaway train that is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is heading toward a collision next Tuesday. That's when new federal rules will make it illegal to sell some children's products, if Congress doesn't amend its awful handiwork. This week hundreds of people from the children's garment and publishing industries rallied in New York to protest the law and call for a "new Miracle on 34th Street" to save them from what some are calling National Bankruptcy Day. The uproar is over a law requiring that all products primarily intended for children under 12 must certify they have not...

Toys with dangerous levels of lead, toxic chemicals in clothing, hazardous baby cribs — the soon-to-be-enforced Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act aims to protect children from all of them. But library books? Unless the Consumer Product Safety Commission exempts them from the sweeping legislation, libraries nationwide could be forced to pull children’s books from their shelves or, alternately, ban children. That would put roughly 2 million public library books — plus children’s books in school libraries — in the Kansas City area out of commission unless each volume was tested for lead, an unrealistic possibility. *****SNIP***** The federal law, which...

Lead concentrations spiked in many children living in the nation's capital after the local water authority altered the treatment used to disinfect drinking water. About seven-and-a-half years ago, the District of Columbia’s water authority switched from chlorination to an alternative water-disinfection technology: chloramination. The goal had been to reduce the potentially carcinogenic by-products of chlorination that developed in drinking water. And the substitution worked. However, an unintended consequence of this improved disinfection technique was the sudden release of copious amounts of lead into the drinking water that serves the nation’s capital. Until then, notes Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech, no...

Back in September, I noted an effort in the state of Washington to ban lead ammo. I was contacted the next day by the Washington Dept. of Ecology’s spokesperson for the proposed plan with this info: Ecology’s plan does NOT recommend any new ban on lead ammunition. The agency wants to reduce lead in the environment to protect the health of people, and wildlife. The plan proposes working with hunters and shooters on a voluntary, educational program to promote the use of non-toxic alternatives to lead. Read the lead plan and our fact sheet about how the plan address ammunition...

Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton, has been named by Barack Obama to be his Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. This new and undefined office could give her broad influence over economic policy. That is a frightening prospect, not merely because of her participation in a group with overtly socialist ties, but because of the way hostile foreign powers such as China are manipulating the modern Green movement to serve their own national purposes. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1051A58C-1F0D-4574-AFF6-C283D4D6FE83

(IsraelNN.com) IAF jets attacked more than 100 targets Tuesday in Gaza, on Day 18 of Operation Cast Lead, and an anti-aircraft gun was discovered in a mosque. [See video below.] The targets included about 55 tunnels used for smuggling weapons and 20 spots used for launching rockets. IAF aircraft aided by ground forces hit 22 crews of armed gunmen. In one case, a ground force spotted terrorists laying an explosive device and called in the IAF which hit the terrorists. Troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip encountered several gunmen armed with anti-tank missiles and light weapons. The troops directed...

As if the horrible economy wasn’t enough, if you sell products targeted for children ages 12 and under, be prepared to THROW AWAY these items, as you will no longer be able to sell them unless you comply to this new law. It's perhaps one of the biggest stories of 2008 that you haven't heard of although it could become one of the biggest stories of 2009 in just a few short weeks from now. In 5 weeks, a new government regulation is scheduled to take effect that has thousands of retailers, thrift stores, and small businesses worried they will...

Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - Families who depend on thrift stores and consignment shops for kid's clothing could lose that option in a few weeks. That’s because a new federal safety law is written so broadly, it could force these stores to stop selling kids clothes entirely. The new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act takes effect February 10. It requires any store to certify that clothing sold for children 12 and under is free of dye laced with lead or other chemicals. Beth green smith owns the golden hangers consignment store in western lights: “When you're talking about consignment, it's...

Think the answer to saving money on your kid's clothes lies in the thrift shops? You might want to stock up fast. Because the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that will go into affect on February 10 will affect not only sellers of new products but those selling used goods too. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week, Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Assn. of Resale and Thrift Shops, said the places most people go to save a few extra bucks on outfitting their families won't be able to cough up the thousands of...

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children's clothing. The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger -- including clothing -- be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven't been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead. "They'll all have to go to the landfill," said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Assn. of...

Trent Hamm at thesimpledollar.com writes in his January 3 entry (excerpted) : "For those of you who haven’t heard the news yet, on February 10, 2009, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act comes into effect. One of the major changes that this program will bring into play is a mandate that everything sold for children 12 and younger will have to be tested for lead and phthalates, and anything that isn’t tested (or that fails) will be considered hazardous and cannot be sold. Read more about the CPSIA at the L.A. Times and some interesting blog commentary from the fashion...

Most homeowners and remodeling contractors are probably unaware that the US Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has new requirements for any remodeling contractor working in a pre-1978 structure. The link provided will send you to a copy of the new EPA brochure currently mandated by law, to be handed out by remodeling contractors to prospective clients including schools, daycare, rental property owners, and homeowners. A copy of the EPA Brochure is required BY LAW effective Dec22, 2008 (Yesterday) to be provided by the prospective contractor all prospective remodeling clients. (excerpt)You have the ultimate responsibility for the safety of your family, tenants,...

Don't know if this has been posted recently, but since its almost Christmas, here's the most recent list of toy recalls: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html

By The Associated Press Wednesday, November 12, 2008 7:58 PM MST JACKSON -- Preliminary results of a study by a University of Montana graduate student suggest that lead bullets may be poisoning grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Tom Rogers sampled blood from 13 grizzlies during hunting season. He found that nearly half had elevated levels of lead, possibly because the bears had eaten lead bullet fragments in big-game carcasses left behind by hunters. Lead typically stays in an animal's blood stream for about two weeks before it is deposited in organs and other tissues. Lead poisoning in human children...

Is North Carolina reverting back to form? After a month of leading most N.C. polls, Barack Obama finds himself in a dead heat today with John McCain. Raleigh's Public Policy Polling has Obama leading McCain, 49-48, in a survey released Monday. Obama led by seven in PPP's poll one week ago. Rasmussen, in a poll released Monday evening, has McCain on top by the same 49-48 margin. McCain led by two in a Rasmussen poll Friday. N.C. hasn't awarded its 15 electoral votes to a Democrat since 1976. PPP's Tom Jensen says McCain gained significantly among Democrats and whites in...

> There are plans to boost the current 133 control stations around the country to more than 300, said EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn, adding that by October 2011 the agency will designate areas that must take additional steps to reduce lead air emissions. States will then have five years to meet these new standards after designations take effect, the EPA said.

For the first time in 30 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has tightened limits on lead emissions, a move that will require states to crack down on polluters that spew more than 1,300 tons of the metal annually. The new standards, announced by the agency yesterday, limit emissions to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air (ug/m3). The previous standard, set in 1978, was 1.5 ug/m3. "America's air is cleaner than a generation ago," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in a statement. "With these stronger standards, a new generation of Americans are being protected from harmful lead...