“WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Thursday that the air offensive in Libya had cost the Pentagon $750 million so far, more than originally expected for a conflict that Mr. Gates said he had never imagined the United States would enter.

In comparison, the war in Afghanistan costs the United States $100 billion a year. But unlike those costs, which are paid from a supplemental contingency fund, the expenses for Libya come out of the Pentagon budget.

“We’re fundamentally having to eat that one,” Mr. Gates told the Marines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/world/africa/13gates.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

KABUL — Two NATO service members were killed in southwestern Helmand province by an Afghan policeman, the coalition said Friday.

The two were mentoring an Afghan National Civil Order brigade and were shot and killed inside the police compound on Thursday as they sat down to eat lunch, NATO said in a statement. Other soldiers returned fire and the policeman was wounded and hospitalized. The names and nationalities of the service members, along with other details, were not released.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/13/6636648-nato-afghan-policeman-kills-2-service-members

US joint strike fighter jets. Photograph: Reuter

“The Ministry of Defence has still not decided how many planes should be assigned to the navy’s long-delayed and increasingly expensive aircraft carrier programme but whatever the number they will not be available for more than a decade, it has emerged.

Confusion over the carrier project was compounded on Friday when the MoD said in its “business plan” that the navy will not get its fleet of US joint strike fighters (JSFs) until 2023, three years after HMS Prince of Wales, the carrier to be equipped with the aircraft, is due to enter service.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/13/delayed-aircraft-carrier-lack-jets?intcmp=239

“A double bomb attack on a military training centre in north-west Pakistan has killed at least 80 people in the first militant riposte since US troops killed Osama bin Laden on 2 May.

The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which ripped through a crowd of recruits at the gates of a Frontier Corps base in Shabqadar, Charsadda district, 22 miles (35km) north of Peshawar.

“This is the retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden. Pakistani and US forces should be ready for more attacks,” a Taliban spokesman told CNN.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/osama-bin-laden-revenge-pakistan-bombs

A message from Pyramyd Air:

No more black airguns!

“If you enjoy shooting your Walther PPK/S or a Crosman C11, you better
get used to them being ALL red or ALL blue or ALL green — or
completely clear!

California State Senator Kevin de Leon thinks your black airguns are
dangerous and has proposed CA Senate Bill 798 to stop you from having
them. SB 798 states that all airguns MUST be painted brightly. No more black guns!

Some background:

In December 2010, three boys were shooting their airsoft guns in a public park. It was dark, but
their pistols had orange muzzles. The police confronted them and ordered them to put down their
guns. Two boys complied but the third did not. He was shot and suffered severe injuries.

To prevent another such occurrence, Sen. de Leon had a knee-jerk reaction and wrote SB 798 to
stop EVERYONE from buying, owning or shooting black airguns.

It gets worse!

This new law also affects airsoft guns, which millions of people safely use for re-enactments,
skirmishing and maintaining firearm proficiency.

If you hate orange muzzles on your airsoft guns, what are you going to do when the ONLY airsoft
guns you can buy, carry or shoot are red, blue, green or completely clear?

California’s Penal Code prohibits the sale and distribution of imitation firearms. BB devices, which
are listed as airsoft guns and BB guns, are specifically excluded from that law. HOWEVER, SB 798
adds airsoft guns and BB guns to the list of imitation firearms that are prohibited UNLESS those guns
are brightly colored.

YOU are guilty

Because you shoot a “BB device,” Sen. de Leon thinks you’re not a responsible person and must be
forced to have brightly colored guns for your own protection. Basically, he’s saying you’re guilty by
association because you shoot one of these guns!

While we sympathize with the boy who was injured in last December’s incident, that does not give
Sen. de Leon the right to include every airsoft or BB gun owner as someone who needs the
government to tell them what to do.

What you can do:

If California passes this bill, other states will get similar bills going. Whether you live in California or
elsewhere, show your support for airsoft and airgun owners everywhere.

Go to the Pyramyd Air Facebook page to download a letter that you can send to Senator de Leon
and your own California representatives about SB 798.

https://www.facebook.com/PyramydAirCom?sk=app_6009294086&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=CA+is+taking+away+your+black+airguns+FOREVER

“The electronic files the SEALs carted away from bin Laden’s compound contain — among many things — the names of terrorist operatives which until now were unknown to U.S. intelligence.

The files also contain a small, 12-page journal of bin Laden’s handwritten notes about launching a major attack against the United States. He instructed against using Arabs because they arouse too much suspicion, to go after trains and to time the attack to coincide with the 10th anniversary of September 11.

There are also messages to his senior lieutenants and to al Qaeda affiliates, urging them not to waste time on small, local operations and focus their efforts on the United States.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/12/eveningnews/main20062410.shtml?tag=cbsContent%3BcbsCarousel

“CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the 40 minutes it took to kill bin Laden and scoop his archives into garbage bags were all recorded by tiny helmet cameras worn by each of the 25 SEALs.

Officials reviewing those videos are still reconstructing a more accurate version of what happened. We now know that the only firefight took place in the guest house, where one of bin Laden’s couriers opened fire and was quickly gunned down. No one in the main building got off a shot or was even armed, although there were weapons nearby.

The SEALs first saw bin Laden when he came out on the third floor landing. They fired, but missed. He retreated to his bedroom, and the first SEAL through the door grabbed bin Laden’s daughters and pulled them aside.

When the second SEAL entered, bin Laden’s wife rushed forward at him — or perhaps was pushed by bin Laden. The SEAL shoved her aside and shot bin Laden in the chest. A third seal shot him in the head.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/12/eveningnews/main20062410.shtml?tag=cbsContent%3BcbsCarousel

Comments:

“If anything else is miss-used to cause harm, then folks demand the individual be held responsible. If a firearm is miss-used to cause harm, the some people blame the firearm.” – GunznGear

“I think that a lot of this effect is to do with the aggressive style of the ‘tactical’ type of firearms, rather than the fact that they are guns.
I would imagine that some people would have quite different views on the purchase of an over-and-under shotgun for clay target shooting than they would with a camouflaged AR with lights, lasers and optics. The shotgun is associated with a recognized sport, whereas an assault rifle platform is associated mainly with serious military operations.” – waveman1500

“Firearms like the AR-15 are designed to protect – protect good people from bad people – and if you met one of those bad people, you would wish you had one of those Ar-15s.” – kz2448

“The world is a dangerous place. Not because of those who are evil, but because of those that look on and do nothing.” -Albert Einstein

On Sept. 13, 1862, members of the 27th Indiana Infantry were awaiting orders on a hillside near Frederick, Md., as Robert E. Lee’s Confederate troops approached from the south. One of the men noticed a package on the ground and discovered three cigars wrapped in a piece of paper. The men were rejoicing in their good fortune when a sergeant noticed writing on the paper — it was headed “Headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia.”

They had discovered Lee’s battle plan. The orders had been issued to Gen. D.H. Hill, but one of his staff officers had apparently dropped them; Hill received a second copy from Stonewall Jackson and had not realized that the first set had been lost.

The plans passed quickly up the line, and that afternoon Union general George C. McClellan was wiring the president, “I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap.” The battle of Sept. 17, Antietam, was the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. It repelled the rebel army and permitted Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation from a position of strength.

Lee later told a friend: “I went into Maryland to give battle, and could I have kept Gen. McClellan in ignorance of my position and plans a day or two longer, I would have fought and crushed him.”

http://www.futilitycloset.com/page/11/

Forget the political nonsense, ignore the media attacks on Trump. Watch this speech, listen to what Trump says regarding the military, the war and our soldiers, then decide for yourself – you might not take the guy seriously, but make that decision based on hearing for yourself, not based on what you see on TV.

This is not a pitch for Trump, this is not a political endorsement. This is simply pointing you towards information and a viewpoint to consider.

Newsmax’s exclusive broadcast of Donald Trump’s speech in Nashua, New Hampshire on Wed., May 11, 2011 revealing his plans for 2012

http://www.newsmaxstore.com/nm_mag/trump_video.cfm?s=al&promo_code=C401-1