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In North Bolivar County District 1, John Coleman leads the race with 92 votes—while Roger Morris has 84.
Anita M. Smith in North Bolivar School District 2 is in the lead with 135 votes and William H. Lucas Jr. trails closely behind her with 128.
In the North Bolivar School District 3, Glen Scott has over 59 percent of the votes having a total of 123 votes out of 207 and C.Redding Gallion has 84 votes.
J. Idelburg Haywood dominated his opponent having a total of 124 votes and Frederick King has 80 votes.
In the West Bolivar School District 4, Pamela Tucker has a total of 67 votes while Kenyun Johnson trails closely behind her with 59 votes.
Jacqueline Lloyd has 128 votes in West Bolivar School District 5 and B. Phillips Turnage has a total of 102 votes.
The Mississippi Legislature voted that Bolivar County had to reduce the number of its school district and mandated that the five county districts would become two and Cleveland School District would remain as is.
The North Bolivar Consolidated School District will encompass North Bolivar and Mound Bayou Districts and the West Bolivar Consolidated School District will include West Bolivar School District, Shaw School District and Benoit School Districts.
As previously mentioned, the results are unofficial.
The Bolivar County Election Commission will convene its certification process today and will determine the disposition of absentee ballots and affidavit Ballots
The Bolivar Commercial will publish the official results of the elections when they have been confirmed.


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subset: commoncrawl


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I have not touched, looked at or even smelled a fried mozzarella stick since I learned about trans fat - it's one of those foods I just about gave up and really don't crave it much. But when I saw that a company was trying for a healthier take on these, my inner food product critic was quite curious, so I picked up a pack of Alexia All Natural Mozzarella Stix from the frozen food aisle of the supermarket.
As the picture on the box shows, you can see spices dispersed throughout the light batter, which adds a flavor to the delightful crunch which you get after 11 minutes in the oven (4 minutes longer than suggested). These taste of these warm gooey breaded snacks will definitely knock your socks off! The stix contain a nice combination of smooth white cheese (which is stringy like a mozzarella stick should be) and a light coating. Another plus is that these stix did not ooze grease like the majority of traditional mozzarella sticks. But the picture on the box is a little deceiving as the stix are much smaller what's pictured on the box! They are about the length of my pinky and only twice the width.
The serving size of Alexia All Natural Mozzarella Stix is only 2 stix and there are 6 servings per box. Each serving provides 11% of the daily value including 1 gram of saturated fat (5% of the DV), less than 1 gram of sugar and fiber plus 5 grams of protein. There are only 16 ingredients and they are all 100% recognizable by the average individual.
I paid $2.50 for Alexia All Natural Mozzarella Stix, which is reasonable. But the serving size is a bit small and the only thing that kept me from eating more than 2 stix was the idea of having to heat up the oven and wait 11 minutes again. They are tasty, but not the right snack if you are truly hungry.


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Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.


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Cars > Sweet72Chevy's Garage
About Sweet72Chevy's Garage
About me and my passion for cars
Well i was raised up in my dads motorcycle shop, dad worked for himself all my life. started out in motorcycles, but he worked on all sorts of boats inboard and out, stock and racing, fishing or sking, jet skies, 4-wheeners, some lawn mowers, most anything that burnt gas but a chainsaw, which he was deathly scared of. But there never seem to be anything that dad hadn't done, he raced motorcycle, built hot cars, bad boats, he painted and done body work, repaired and done fiberglass work, you name it. He like messing with little foreign cars a lot he's had corvettes, seems like one of everything while we were growing up but he never hung on to anything thing he could make a dollar on. But you know i guess being brought up in that just excited my hot rod desires, i loved messing aith anything fast, and sounded good. Built my first motor a small journal 327 in high school it was nasty for a street motor, accually it was to hot to run on anything less than high occtane fuel, and back then that was like 95 -96 occt. it would knock something terrorable on anything less. but love old cars hot rods, i admire how people personalize their rig, building things you just can't buy off the shelf. Love hanging out with old muscle car guys, nothing as soothing as the sound of a strong V-8 with that rough idle easing thru sonic.But a bit more about me, I bought my first Chevy in 1977, it was a 72 Blazer, rough shape at the time, but dad walked me thru repairs and parts replacement, finally got it painted my senior year in High school. It looked sharp, i had customized the inside, had put some captians seat in the front and a fold out rear seat that work great for drive-in movies at the time. Put me a sharp set of chome spoke wheels and some al-terran tires. Built a hot 327 sm. block enigne with all the right stuff, would pass most everything but a gas station. Well got married and took a job in Conway, Ar. and those freakant gas stops forced me to sell it. Had my share of small cars and truck over the years, but i guess around mid 80's i was able to purchase a nice 72 Chevy Short bed 2-wheel drive, v-8 and 3-speed on the colume, which i later changed to a automatic, truck didn't have AC but most everything else was there, nice two tone Forest Green/white. i kept it stock for the most part. Well for waht ever reason i let it get away from me. Once again several trucks and cars along the way till about 8 years or so ago i got the oppertunity to purchase my current truck, drove it home but it was bleeding so much oil i was spending more on oil that gas. talked the wife in to letting me purchase a new crete motor from GM, ordered and installed a 330 hp 350 HO Deluxe, nice motor looks good and drives goot on pump gas, got that good cruzing lope going on, couldn't tell ya how fast it will go, i've sorta grew out of the top end stuff and leaving tires in long black marks, but drive this truck every day to work, its used like GM designed it to do, WORK! but it still turns heads and that works for me.
My first car
Well my first car/truck/SUV maybe was a 1950 Wyllis Jeep/Blazer like vehicle, 6 cyl. flat plymonth motor with three speed floor shifter, it was four will drive and when in four wheel low and low gear you could climb a tree, but top in was about 55MPH. lot of fun, i customized the inside to some degree, but had a blast with it. My grand father gave it to me, and he and i used it for hunting and fishing often.
Car I wish I still had
I guess my 1972 K5 Blazer that i had in High School, that was my love!
My dream car
New Yellow Camaro, Black strip, and the total package, motor, pipes the works. Or in trucks a 72 short wheel base 4x4, nice wheels and tall tires.
Car clubs I'm in
CC Kruzzers
- Type of racing: Drag
- Driver: Me
- Driving song: Kansas, Bostian, Pink Floyd, Stix, ect
- Car movie: Any thing with 60's and 70's cars!
- Car magazine: Hot rod, Trucks, 4x$
- Car game: don't spend much time gaming
— Profile last updated: Feb 21, 2012
Sweet72Chevy's Groups 1 of 1
Club Groups
Organized in February of 2012 in Central Arkansas, this club was formed to enjoy, promote and preserve American made rear wheel drive cars, trucks and motorcycles. Our motto: "Don't Crush Them Restore Them" The purpose of C.C. Kruzzers is to support our local Community with charitable...
Arkansas, United States
Sweet72Chevy's Garage Comments 1 of 1
Cars > Sweet72Chevy's Garage


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ITF Taekwon-Do Competitions: One important element of our system!
Have you ever wondered:
Why does the ITF sanction and promote competitions?
Do I need to participate in competitions?
What are the benefits of participating in competitions:
Why do we have World Cup competitions in the even-numbered years and World Championship competitions in the odd-numbered years?
How will ITF competitions change in the future?
After reading the above, you have probably guessed that the subject of this message is:
ITF Taekwon-Do Competitions
First, a bit of history:
Traditionally, competition has been important in most of the martial arts. Participation in competitions allows us to compare ourselves with other practitioners. We can improve our techniques while at the same time making friends with Taekwon-Do practitioners from other countries.
Our Founder General Choi Hong Hi, encouraged the organization of competitions; he saw them as enjoyable and useful gatherings of ITF Taekwon-Do practitioners and always wanted to include as many competitors as possible.
Some firsts in ITF Taekwon-Do competition history: | |
1969 | First Asian Championship - Hong Kong |
1974 | First Senior World Championship - Montreal (Canada) (This was the first international competition I attended, although I was there as a spectator.) |
1976 | First European Championship Amsterdam (Netherlands) |
1979 | First Pacific Championship - Wellington (New Zealand) |
1993 | First Junior World Championship Moscow (Russia) |
2004 | First World Cup Orlando (U.S.A.) |
2007 | First combined Junior & Senior Championships - Quebec City (Canada) |
Back then
Many years ago when I started attending Taekwon-Do and open martial arts competitions, I noticed that most of them were not very well organized. Often, there would be an obvious lack of basic logistics and planning. All the emphasis seemed to be on winning trophies. The atmosphere was generally very negative due to a climate of violence and the obvious lack of fairness.
As a teacher and coach, I took some of my students to such competitions. However, we soon realized that we came away feeling dissatisfied even when we won. The true spirit of the martial arts and the values taught by the Taekwon-Do philosophy were missing.
And now
I am pleased to say that today the situation is completely different.
Now organizing international competitions is one of the interesting services that our members expect from the ITF, and we continually work to improve all aspects of these events.
My personal experience with ITF competitions:
Over the years, I have had the privilege of participating in all aspects of competition:
Obviously, I believe that competition is an important part of ITF Taekwon-Do. This is one of the reasons I asked Maxime Bujold, who has competed in many international tournaments, to be a member of the Organizing Committee for the 2007 World Championships. When we were working on the detailed logistics of the event, Maximes comments and suggestions from a competitors point of view proved invaluable.
How have ITF competitions evolved?
Some improvements made over the years:
Starting with the 1990 World Championship in Montreal, it was decided that each champion would receive only a medal and a certificate. There was a trophy for the team champions and for the top male and female athletes. The honor comes from being an ITF champion, not from winning a big trophy.
Also, the rules were changed to limit participation to one team per country and one competitor per country in each category. This means that teams from richer countries do not have an advantage over those from countries that could not afford to send more participants.
To make the competitions fairer for everyone, more weight categories were added. The point system for free sparring was modified to allow more balanced performances with kicking and hand techniques. A pre-arranged free sparring event was added to demonstrate the broad range of techniques and the more spectacular aspects of our system.
The ITF has improved the training for umpires and set higher standards for them. They now have more credibility and their decisions are perceived to fairer. Umpires have earned the respect of competitors and coaches.
No discrimination is allowed and no favoritism either. The same rules and regulations apply to everyone.
Competitions are safer than in the past. The use of tatami mats and protective equipment results in fewer injuries.
World Cup or World Championship?
Starting with the First World Cup in 2004, World Cup competitions are held in the even-numbered years, while the combined Senior & Junior World Championships, first held together last year, will be held in the odd-numbered years from now on. The World Championship is a prestigious official ITF competition, open only to athletes who have been selected to represent their country. On the other hand, the World Cup is an open competition. All Taekwon-Do practitioners are invited to participate (including color belts), giving everyone has the possibility of experiencing competition at the international level.
In recent years, international competitions have been held in popular locations. This encourages competitors and their families to plan their vacations around the event.
Thank you:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been working to improve the quality of ITF Taekwon-Do competitions in recent years, especially:
Do I need to compete to get the full benefit of Taekwon-Do?
We are not all naturally attracted to competition, and it does require a considerable investment in time and hard work to be a successful competitor. Nevertheless, you may have asked yourself if you need to participate in competitions in order to get the full benefit of practicing Taekwon-Do.
I would say that, although it is not mandatory, competition is useful to a Taekwon-Do student. Competition at the World Championships is for our elite athletes, but participation in local competitions can be a good learning experience for all our students. However, competition is not for everyone, and it is up to each student to make the decision for himself or herself.
Stress Management
An added benefit from participating in competitions is learning how to deal with stress. We all have stressful situations in our lives, and learning how to deal with the stress of competition will help us to deal with other stressful situations.
A few of the stresses you might feel when competing on the international level are:
And I am sure those who compete could add many more examples.
Obviously, a Taekwon-Do tournament is a stressful situation, so how can we learn to manage our stress in competition?
Lets take the example of facing a bigger, stronger opponent in competition. You can react in two ways: negative or positive. The negative way would be to simply give up. After all, your opponent is bigger and stronger, and you have absolutely no hope of winning. So why even try? This defeatist attitude may seem the easiest solution at the time, but what would you learn from acting this way? You would just learn to give up.
On the other hand, you could react in a positive way: Keep calm. Tell yourself you have prepared well for this competition. Remind yourself that size alone doesnt make a winner. Review your strategy for the match and adjust it to the circumstances. Then concentrate on performing to the best of your ability. Whether you win or lose, analyze your performance and identify points you can improve.
Obviously, reacting in a positive way takes a lot more effort than giving up, but by doing so you are ensuring that you have a positive outcome.
Can you see how learning to deal with stress in competition can be useful in other aspects of life? For example, many people find it extremely stressful to speak in front of a group of people, but you may have to do so for your work or on social occasions such as weddings. If you have learned how to deal with the stresses of competing in Taekwon-Do, you will be able to prepare properly and speak confidently in public, whatever the circumstances.
To get the full benefit from participating in competitions:
If you do choose to participate in competitions, make sure you get the full benefit. To do so, it is essential that you:
But to me, one of the most important elements - and the one that will allow us to benefit fully from the experience - is learning to apply the Do in our training and when participating in competitions. The table in the next section describes how we can do this.
Applying the Do in Competition
In the students oath of ITF Taekwon-Do, we swear to observe the tenets of Taekwon-Do: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.
What does it mean to apply the tenets when participating in competitions?
TENET | I know this means that I should: | Applied to competitions, it means I should: |
* At the World Championships held in Québec City (Canada) in June 2007, a brochure about the rules of protocol for ITF Taekwon-Do competitions was distributed to the coaches present.
Click here to read this brochure (PDF, 340 kB).
Competitors should strive to apply the tenets during competitions, but this is also true of all participants in ITF competitions, including coaches, officials, and those who are there to support their team.
The final statement in the students oath is: I shall build a more peaceful world, notably with freedom and justice. By applying the Do in competition and in our everyday lives, we will be living up to that promise and setting a fine example for our many young students. We will be assisting them to become good citizens, strong both physically and mentally, and able to make a positive contribution to their communities.
Competitions as a tool for promoting ITF Taekwon-Do
Competitions at all levels offer opportunities to attract positive media attention to Taekwon-Do, the ITF, and your local Taekwon-Do organizations, and media coverage will attract new students.
Media coverage is very important, so choose someone with experience in communications to be responsible for media relations.
Make sure your competitors are prepared for media attention. They should be knowledgeable about Taekwon-Do and able to describe what it means to them. They should be able to explain the goals of competing and the rules of ITF competitions. The goal is to inspire others, so they should emphasize the physical, mental, and social benefits of practicing Taekwon-Do.
ITF Taekwon-Do competitions can be spectacular, so remember to use photos and action footage.
Make it easy for the media:
If you make all this available to the media before and during the competition, it is very likely that you will get positive coverage.
How will ITF Taekwon-Do competitions be improved in the future?
Here are some of the changes we are considering for the future, based on past experience and on our recent consultations with ITF coaches and umpires:
Our main goals are to continue to improve the already high standard of quality in ITF Taekwon-Do competitions and to gain more visibility for our ITF tournament system on the international level.
The ITF has long history and an excellent system of tournaments. I firmly believe that with determination, patience, appropriate strategies, and the necessary resources, our ITF tournament system will gain the broader recognition and worldwide support that it merits!
To sum up:
As I mentioned above, competitions are important activities for the ITF and its affiliated organizations. The operation of these competitions must reflect ITF Taekwon-Do values, in particular fairness (justice) and non-violence. The winner must always be the competitor who performed best at the competition, regardless of his country of origin or of his teachers name. Healthy competition must not be tainted by gratuitous violence.
As the leader of our organization, I am very proud of the healthy spirit shown by participants during recent international competitions. Everyone who participates competitors, coaches, umpires, organizers, supporters, and even those who simply come to watch can learn a lot from these experiences.
I sincerely believe that we can attain these high expectations as long as we apply the Do in all aspects of competition. This means that we will be demonstrating that:
Taekwon-Do is more than a sport, it is a martial art and a Way of life.
Improving the quality of ITF competitions is a team effort, and the ITF team has made a firm commitment to keep going in the right direction (way).
After reading this message, you understand that the quality of our competitions is very important to the members of your ITF team, but I must say that the quality of our competitions is just one reason why so many new members are joining the ITF and why so many of those who had left the organization are deciding to return. They are also attracted because the ITF is a well-structured organization with logical, clearly explained rules that are applied without discrimination or favoritism. The emphasis on the Taekwon-Do philosophy learning to live the Taekwon-Do way is another appealing aspect.
The ITF has proclaimed this, the 43rd year of the existence of the ITF, the Reunification Year. This theme was chosen to encourage former members to take a good look at the new ITF. We believe they will like what they see and hope they will consider joining the ITF family.
In conclusion, I would like to encourage those who are considering joining the ITF to make the decision now and they will be able to compete at the 3rd World Cup in Riva del Garda (Italy) in October.
All my best to each of you,
Master Trân, Triêu Quân
ITF President
Québec City - May 1st 2008
More Personal Experiences |
In the text above, I mentioned my own experiences at competitions.
By clicking on a name below, you will be able to read about the personal experiences of:
An Invitation |
Would you like to share your personal experiences of participating in competitions? We would like to hear from everyone involved: competitors, coaches, umpires, organizers, and those who attend as supporters. What does participating in competitions brings to your school or club? What does participating in competitions mean to you? What have you learned from these experiences? I invite you to send me a short text about your personal experiences. A selection of the texts received will be posted on the ITF Website. Click here to send me an e-mail message. |
We would like to thank Master Jerzy Jedut and Mr. Swavek Dydiszko for the pictures.


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On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
G3/S3 - US/IRAN/MIL - US Defense Chief Warns Against Military Strike on Iran
Released on 2012-10-12 10:00 GMT
Email-ID | 5218433 |
Date | 2011-11-11 04:09:29 |
From | email@example.com |
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on Alerts, but these are his first public statements. The rep is about
halfway down the interview. - CR
DOD News Briefing with Secretary Panetta and Gen. Dempsey from the
SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: Good afternoon.
Presenter: Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey November 10, 2011
This is General Dempsey's first press briefing with the
secretary, serving now as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And so I welcome
him to this press briefing and just would inform him that there's a
tradition that he gets all the tough questions. (Laughter.) So get him
used to this job.
Let me begin also by wishing a very happy birthday to the
United States Marine Corps. I'll be attending their ball this Saturday
and look forward to that event.
As you know, General Dempsey and I have been working with the
entire senior leadership of the department, including the service chiefs,
the service secretaries, the combatant commanders and the undersecretaries
of defense, to implement the more than 450 billion (dollars) in savings
that we've been required to do over 10 years. That translates into around
260 billion (dollars) over five years as part of the budget that will be
submitted in February.
This process -- and I've required this from the beginning --
has to be driven by strategy. It has to be strategy-driven. And it also
has to be a team effort. My hope is that, you know, as we work through
this, that we will put the entire leadership of the department, both
military and civilian, in the same place so that we can finalize this
effort within the coming weeks.
So as we move ahead with this process within the department,
all of us are obviously watching closely what happens on Capitol Hill and
with the congressional supercommittee. And we watch it, obviously, with
great concern. As you know, if the supercommittee fails to reach an
agreement with regards to additional budget savings, the penalty for that
is sequester. And this sequester approach would virtually double the size
of the cuts that we face here at the Defense Department. And it would
also force us to cut across the board. All of these cuts would occur -- I
think this takes effect in January of 2013 so that, obviously, we would
have a year where sequester would hang as a shadow over this department.
I've learned that by cutting in excess of 20 percent in every
area, sequester will lead to a hollow force. And let me explain just
exactly what we're talking about when we talk about a hollow force.
Obviously, that which is hollow retains a shell but lacks a core. A
hollow military has the organizational structure but lacks the people, the
training and the equipment it needs to actually get the job done.
It's a ship without sailors. It's a brigade without bullets.
It's an air wing without enough trained pilots. It's a paper tiger, an
Army of barracks, buildings and bombs without enough trained soldiers able
to accomplish the mission. It's a force that suffers low morale, poor
readiness and is unable to keep up with potential adversaries. In effect,
it invites aggression.
A hollow military doesn't happen by accident. It comes from
poor stewardship and poor leadership. I guess my message to the Congress
is that it must show the necessary leadership by doing the job that
they've been asked to do. That means identifying savings in the
two-thirds of the federal budget that still has yet to be considered for
deficit reduction, along, in my view, with additional revenues.
In my conversations with the members of Congress and with
members of the committee, I have told them that if this -- if this nation
has brave young men and women who are willing to die and put their lives
on the line in order to sacrifice for this country, it really shouldn't be
too much to ask our leaders to sacrifice just a little, to provide the
leadership essential to solving the problems facing this country.
This is a fundamental responsibility we have. It's also an
obligation that we owe to our service members and their families and one
that the entire country should reflect on tomorrow as we observe Veterans
On Monday I travel [SIC - traveled] to New York to meet with
leaders in the business arena, to meet with those in government and
nonprofit sector, and talk about how important it is to try to help our
returning veterans find jobs in these very difficult economic times. I
should also mention, as we move into these next few years, as we begin a
drawdown process, we are going to be adding to that burden.
These are men and women with extraordinary skill, proven
leadership. And yet the unemployment rate for veterans who have served
since 9/11 now stands at 12.1 percent. That's unacceptable. We can do
better as a country, and we are making it a priority here at the
department to ensure that our departing service members are given the
support they need to pursue higher education, to find a job and to start a
These profound obligations to service members continue at
every stage, to include ensuring the recovery and dignified return of our
fallen heroes. This is one of the department's most sacred
responsibilities. And that's why all Americans, including myself, are
justifiably disturbed by the reports of mismanagement at Dover Port
Mortuary that came to light this week.
When I came into this office in July, in one of the first
meetings I had as secretary of defense, I was briefed by Secretary Donley
and General Schwartz on their investigation into Dover. They were
forthcoming with me. It was clear that they took these allegations
seriously and that they were committed to strengthening the department's
handling of this most sacred and solemn task.
Still, none of us will be satisfied until we have proven to
the families of our fallen heroes that we have taken every step possible
to protect the honor and dignity that their loved ones richly deserve.
That's why I've directed, at the request of the Air Force, an independent
review of overall current operations at Dover to evaluate the changes and
the procedures that must be implemented. Vice Admiral Dr. Richard
Carmona, who's the former surgeon general, 17th surgeon general of the
United States, along with a distinguished panel, will conduct that review.
As you know, the United States Office of Special Counsel
produced its own report on this matter, which I received and reviewed in
just the last 48 hours. In light of the concerns that were raised in that
report, I've asked the Secretary of the Air Force, Mike Donley, to ensure
that the disciplinary action taken was appropriate and to provide me with
the results of that review.
In addition, as the OSC confirmed in its report, it is
conducting an additional investigation to determine whether there are
management reprisals that have been taken at Dover against the
whistleblowers. This is a serious issue. And as someone who voted for
the whistleblower legislation, I directed Secretary Donley to report back
to me once the OSC investigation is complete to ensure that all
appropriate action has been taken in light of that report.
This department has to be fully accountable in what we intend
to deliver on this matter. We have to be fully accountable on how we
treat its service members. Full accountability is what we intend to
Having been to Dover, I consider this a sacred place with a
sacred responsibility. And it is a place that must meet the highest
standards for caring for the remains of our fallen heroes. We can do no
GENERAL MARTIN DEMPSEY: Thanks, Mr. Secretary.
I'd like to also begin by wishing the Marine Corps a happy
236th birthday, and also all veterans around the world. I've been to
several very moving Veterans Day events over the last 48 hours -- a few
more to go -- but couldn't be prouder of their service.
Just to highlight a couple of things the secretary mentioned,
as some of you know, we are involved in a -- in a -- in a strategy
review. We're looking out to 2020 to determine what does our joint force,
what do the armed forces of the United States need to be to ensure we
provide the nation with the capabilities it needs, provide our leaders --
our senior leaders options in the environment we anticipate. And part of
the environment we anticipate, of course, is some resource constraints
that we haven't had to deal with here before. So that's all working, and
as the secretary said, he's got us -- he's led us through a process,
continues to lead us through a process that ensures we have a
collaborative effort. This isn't two or three folks in a room trying to
dream this thing up by themselves. So we're well on our way to answering
some of those questions.
And I'll just end by echoing what the secretary said about the
events at Dover. They're just very distressing to us. And we intend, as
the Air Force intends, to get to the bottom of it and to ensure that we
continue to improve processes that may not have been executed properly and
to hold folks accountable where appropriate to hold them accountable.
And with that, I'll turn it back to you, sir.
Q: Mr. Secretary, the other day you issued a statement saying
that you thought the Air Force investigation was thorough and that you
supported their disciplinary actions, and today you're asking for them to
take another look at that. What changed?
And do you think -- was the Air Force not as up-front with you
about some of the general counsel criticisms that may have been made that
you're now aware of?
And General Dempsey, there's been a lot of discussion about
possibly increasing troop strength in Kuwait. Can you talk a little bit
about how important you think that may be for security in the region and
what possibly would be the missions and the capabilities that you think
would be necessary there?
SEC. PANETTA: On the first part of the question, no, I think
they -- I think they did do a thorough report. It was a -- it's about 215
pages, along with some additional supplements that were added by the
secretary of the Air Force. And all of that was forwarded to the Office
of the Special Counsel. And as a result of that report, they've taken a
number of significant steps to try to correct the procedures there at
Dover to ensure that what happened never happens again.
But at the same time, obviously the Office of Special Counsel
then issued its report. And I've reviewed that, and they've raised
additional questions which I think ought to be looked at. And for that
reason, I want to make sure that we have taken every step possible to
bring peace of mind to the family members of our fallen heroes. And for
that reason, this review commission will look at the processes and
procedures there, and make sure that we are implementing the highest
standards in dealing with the remains of our -- of our fallen heroes. And
in addition to that, I want to make certain that we have taken all
appropriate disciplinary action here. And for that reason, that's why
I've asked the secretary to review that.
Q: Mr. Secretary --
GEN. DEMPSEY: And I'll just briefly say on Kuwait, you know,
we have cooperative defense agreements with most all of the nations in the
Gulf Cooperative Council and in that -- and in other parts of that region,
and we routinely review them. And so we've been going through a process
to review our posture. We're reviewing it both in terms of emerging and
-- emerging threats, opportunities, resources. And what we'll end up with
in Kuwait will be something that helps us meet our interests and theirs.
Q: Mr. Secretary, given the situation at Dover, the Office of
Special Counsel and veterans organizations are wondering aloud why nobody
has been fired, essentially. And up on the Hill today, the Chief of Staff
of the Air Force, General Schwartz, in a congressional hearing said, while
there were some inappropriate actions, whether it constitutes wrongdoing
is another matter. Is there some legal impediment to firing anybody over
this? And shouldn't there be a higher standard of conduct and
accountability in dealing with America's war dead and wounded?
SEC. PANETTA: Well, that's exactly why I've asked for the
review here, to make sure that the appropriate actions were taken here.
Now, the disciplinary action was taken with regards to the
commander there and two of the civilians that were involved. And you
know, it obviously -- for them and their careers, it has a serious
impact. But nevertheless, based on the seriousness of what took place
here, it's my view that we ought to look at not only that, but we ought to
look at the reprisal issue to determine whether or not all appropriate and
tough steps were taken with regards to disciplinary action. We have to
send a clear signal to the American people that this kind -- these kinds
of actions that took place there cannot happen again.
Q: Yes, but in terms of -- in terms of discipline, is this
just a clear black-and-white legal issue, or is there a higher moral
standard that should be applied here?
SEC. PANETTA: I -- you know, I think it's a -- it's a command
decision. When they review these facts, obviously, it involves what is
the nature of the violation, is there a violation, how serious is it. And
in addition, when it comes to Dover, in my mind, there were involved some
moral standard that means we have to -- we have to pay the greatest
respect and reverence to the remains of our fallen heroes. That's what I
think ought to be considered in this situation.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
SEC. PANETTA: Yes.
Q: I want to follow up on this because what I still don't
understand is why is it credible to you to have the Air Force investigate
itself on this matter given -- a couple -- that -- given how critical the
special counsel report was of the Air Force, why have them investigate
themselves? And with respect, why should the American people -- after
this, after Walter Reed, after Arlington, why should they believe that the
military is handling the wounded and the war dead remains with the
appropriate respect?
SEC. PANETTA: Well, first of all, the -- I mean, the
independent review is an independent review that I'm requesting take place
The independent review is going to be done by Richard
Carmona. It's going to include General Fred Franks, who is a former
member of the board here, the health board; Ruth Stonecifer, who's a
representative of the families that are involved in the mission there;
Congressman Vic Snyder, who is a former Democratic U.S. representative who
was --led a committee that reviewed this; Garold Huey, who's a licensed
funeral director and embalmer, who served in the U.S. Navy; Jacquelyn
Taylor, who's executive director of the New England Institute, an
internationally recognized leader in funeral service education; and Dr.
Bruce Parks, a forensic pathologist. All of them will be involved in the
independent review.
With regards to the secretary reviewing it, he -- you know,
the secretary is at the top of the chain of command when it comes to the
Air Force, and I want him to review it because he has that
responsibility. And I -- look, I trust Mike Donley. I think he tried to
deal with this matter, to go after the issues involved here, to correct
them and to do whatever was necessary to deal with it, and I trust that
he'll try to do the same. And when I tell him to take a look and make
sure that appropriate disciplinary action was taken here, I trust that
he'll do that.
Q: (Were either of you ?) told that remains were being put in
SEC. PANETTA: I did not know that, frankly, and I hope that
the independent review will also look into that situation.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
SEC. PANETTA: I think that it happened back in the past. I
know they've changed that procedure now, but nevertheless, it's something
we should look at.
Q: Mr. Secretary, you said you read the special counsel
report. I've talked to the special counsel, Carolyn Lerner. She said her
office informed -- asked the Air Force back in March whether they informed
the families or not. She pressed for that back in March. The Air Force
informed the families of those whose remains were mishandled just this
past weekend. Was that a wise course of action? Should they have told
the families earlier?
SEC. PANETTA: My impression was that the families were
alerted to that earlier, but I -- you know --
Q: No, just this past weekend.
SEC. PANETTA: Well, let me check that out, because they --
Q: The OSC --
SEC. PANETTA: -- the families should have been alerted
Q: The report, as you know, has said that the Air Force has
not acknowledged culpability for this. Do you think that's right?
SEC. PANETTA: I think, if I'm not mistaken, General Schwartz
in testimony today said he accepts full culpability for what took place.
Q: Mr. Panetta, I wonder if you or General Dempsey think that
an apology is in order, either to the families whose -- the remains were
misplaced or lost accountability in the report, or the ones who, prior to
2008, had remains end up in a landfill? Is this the sort of thing the
department should apologize to the families for?
SEC. PANETTA: Listen, absolutely we should apologize. If we
haven't handled those remains properly, then it is our responsibility, and
we do owe those families an apology.
GEN. DEMPSEY: Do you -- I don't -- do you have an indicator
that they have not been apologized to? I mean, back to the notification
process -- I'm telling you for a fact that there were -- there were
apologies rendered with that notification, and deep expressions of regret,
as there should be. And so -- but back to the landfill issue, Barbara,
the -- as you know, that -- the secretary said it does go back pre-2008.
That procedure was changed.
By the way, though, that procedure is not uncommon elsewhere
in the medical community outside the military. I mean, the disposition of
human remains that are separated from the principal portion -- look into
-- if you look into how it's handled routinely in civilian life, there are
procedures exactly that way. We just took a decision in 2008 to do it at
Q: But sir, in hindsight, do you think that was -- do you
believe that was wrong, to put military remains in a landfill prior to
2008? Was that -- can you say unequivocally that was wrong to do so?
GEN. DEMPSEY: I'm -- I don't know what right looks like in
that regard now that this has manifested itself. And I think the review
that the secretary has requested is going to help us learn a lot more that
we didn't know before.
Q: Another hot-button issue: Iran. There's been a lot of
chatter about bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. Can you walk us through
or comment at least on the complexities and the effectiveness issue of
this kind of a campaign?
Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen both said over the last
couple of years that bombing, at best, would set back their program by
three years at most. Do you still agree with that assessment? Just walk
us through the complexities and the blowback, the unanticipated effects of
something like that.
SEC. PANETTA: Well, I certainly share the views of Secretary
Gates and General (sic; Admiral) Mullen that they've expressed with
regards to this in terms of the impact that it would have. I think you've
got to -- you've got to be careful of unintended consequences here. And
those consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from
what they want to do, but more importantly, it could have a serious impact
in the region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the
region. And I think all of those things, you know, need to be carefully
Having said that, look, Israel and the United States share a
very common concern with regards to Iran, and that concern was reflected
in the IAEA report that was issued this week. And for that reason it is
important for us to make sure we apply the toughest sanctions, economic,
diplomatic pressures on Iran to change their behavior. And we are in
discussions with our allies with regards to additional sanctions that
ought to be placed on Iran.
And when it comes to action against Iran, I think it was the
prime minister, Netanyahu himself, today who said that ought to be a last
resort, and we would agree with that.
Q: The two to three years, though -- I want to make sure --
they've said bombing would at most delay that program or derail it up to
two or three years at most. Is that still the current assessment?
SEC. PANETTA: I see no change in the assessments.
Q: Mr. Secretary?
Q: Can I follow up on this, please? If the sanctions don't
reach a -- positive results, do you think the United States or Israel can
live with a nuclear Iran?
SEC. PANETTA: We've made very clear that it's unacceptable
for Iran to develop a nuclear capability. We've made that point time and
time again, and we've taken steps and implemented sanctions to make that
clear to Iran. Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
They've got to abide by that. They've got to abide by international
standards. They've got to abide by international rules.
And obviously, the report from the IAEA just indicates that
that is not the case. And for that reason, it is important that the world
come together to apply sanctions against Iran and make very clear to them
that they are going to pay a heavy price if they continue along this
track. As to what happens down the road, you know, I think our hope is
that we don't reach that point and that Iran decides that it should join
the international family.
Q: Mr. Secretary and General Dempsey?
Q: Mr. Secretary, if I could just ask one other thing on
Iran, obviously, the National Intelligence Estimates from the U.S. side
had said that the weapons program had halted, at least in 2003. The IAEA
now says that it's proceeding apace and that Iran is closer than ever. Do
you share that assessment that they are now closer than ever to a nuclear
weapon? And since sanctions have not yet worked -- economic sanctions,
diplomatic sanctions have not yet worked -- is it not time to say this
strategy -- that strategy has failed and a new strategy needs to be put in
SEC. PANETTA: Now, you know, look, first of all, with regards
to the IAEA report, that was perfectly in line with the intelligence
assessments, certainly that I've seen, with regards to Iran. We've always
made the point that they continue to try to develop a threshold capability
with regards to their nuclear capacity. But at the same time, there
continue to be divisions within Iran as to whether or not to actually
build a bomb itself. So in many ways, the IAEA report pretty much
indicates that they continue work on that capability, and that's pretty
much reflected in our intelligence assessment.
But nevertheless, the fact that a respected international
organization like IAEA has come to this determination I think raises
serious concerns that Iran continues to flaunt international rules and
standards. And as a result of that, it's very clear that additional
sanctions have to be applied.
Q: Just a -- on the National Guard becoming a full member of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that idea is out there. There was a hearing
just today. General Dempsey expressed his opposition. President Obama
during his campaign expressed his support. Now, where do you stand, and
where does the administration stand?
SEC. PANETTA: I stand with this guy. (Laughs.)
GEN. DEMPSEY: (Laughs.)
Q: Are you in line with the president on this?
SEC. PANETTA: You know, I mean, I -- look, on this one, you
know, I think the chairman and the Joint Chiefs have indicated that -- you
know, that -- look, that individual is at the table, but at the same time,
that person really doesn't have a budget, doesn't really have, you know,
the kind of authorities that the service chiefs have.
But, you know, look, nevertheless, National Guard is
important; our reserves are important. It's important to hear their
views. But in terms of being a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
that's something that I think ought to be reserved for those that have,
you know, direct command and direct budgets that deal with our military.
GEN. DEMPSEY: I don't know. I was asked, as I always will
be, to give my own personal best military advice. And in fact, when I
swear my oath, that's exactly what I -- what I promised to do. And I gave
my advice today in a rather lengthy hearing. You're welcome to go and
look at the transcript.
Q: Has the president changed his mind, that you know of, or
is he -- or is he still opposed to it?
SEC. PANETTA: I think --
Q: Does he support -- does he still support it?
SEC. PANETTA: I haven't really talked to the president about
this particular issue. But I think if I know this president, I think he
would seriously take into consideration the recommendations of the
chairman and the Joint Chiefs.
Q: Mr. Secretary, on the budget cuts, refer to a different
but a related issue on the budget cuts --you may now refer to an October
report in Congress by DOD on contracting fraud. The report's own
conclusions are that the penalties for contractors repeatedly involved in
fraud -- and some of these are big; we're talking about some of the big
guys as well -- that it's not clear the remedies are sufficient, that more
work needs to be done, and that they need to increase the size and
capability -- again, reading from the report -- of the acquisition
workforce to ensure that the interests of the taxpayers and our war
fighters are protected.
Do you believe that the remedies currently in place are
sufficient to ensure those interests? And do you believe that,
particularly at this time, when you're making the cuts you've described,
20 percent across the board, that particularly now more needs to be done
to make sure that taxpayers and soldiers and sailors are getting, in
effect, what they pay for?
SEC. PANETTA: Look, one thing I've made clear as we've gone
through this budget process is, everything has to be on the table and
we've got to look at everything. And this is an area that we have to look
at, when it comes to procurement reforms, when it comes to the kind of
contracting problems that you've reflected in your reporting.
This is an area we've got to look at very closely, to make
sure that doesn't happen. Not only -- not only does it impact on the
taxpayers' funds that are provided for the purpose, but more importantly,
it impacts on the very weapons and technology that these contractors are
involved in. And that -- all of that concerns me. And so for that
reason, that is part and parcel of the areas that we're looking at as we
make the budget decisions for the future.
Q: Mr. Secretary, there is a great deal of concern that maybe
the budget cuts are going to impact the military assistance programs to
Mexico. Do you think that will -- that that will happen?
And also, do you have any interview -- have you scheduled any
encounter with your counterpart from Mexico?
SEC. PANETTA: I would -- I'm looking forward to doing that.
I actually -- I'm going to go up to Canada, I think, next week, but my
hope is to be able to do the same with Mexico in the near future as well.
And you know, with regards to the kinds of assistance that we
provide Mexico at the present time in order to deal with the drug cartels
and try to assist them in the serious problems that Mexico's confronting,
we certainly aren't contemplating any cutbacks in that area, because, I
mean, that does involve the kind of assistance that we think is extremely
important not only to protecting the security of Mexico but protecting our
security as well.
Q: Mr. Secretary --
STAFF: Thanks, everybody.
Q: Thank you.
Panetta sounds warning on military action against Iran over its growing
nuclear ambitions
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, November 10, 5:20 PM
WASHINGTON - Military action against Iran could have unintended
consequences, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday, sounding the
administration's strongest reservations about a strike since the release
of a new report on Tehran's escalating nuclear ambitions.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here. And those
consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from what
they want to do, but more importantly, it could have a serious impact in
the region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the
region," Panetta said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said this week for the first time
that Iran was suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole
purpose was the development of nuclear arms.
In response, the State Department said Thursday that the U.S. was looking
at ways to increase economic pressure on Iran. Israeli leaders have said
that without effective sanctions, they will not take any other options off
the table.
Tehran, meanwhile, warned that any strike by the U.S. or Israel would
trigger a strong response from Iranian forces. Iran insists it is pursuing
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Panetta, a former CIA director, said the IAEA report is in line with
intelligence assessments that suggest Tehran is trying to develop its
nuclear capabilities, but that there continues to be divisions within Iran
over whether to build a bomb.
Asked what will happen if sanctions don't work, Panetta said, "I think our
hope is that we don't reach that point and that Iran decides that it
should join the international family." He said, however, that the U.S.
agrees that military action ought to be the last resort.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. is consulting with
international allies over what the next steps should be.
"Certainly we're going to look at ways that we can ramp up economic
pressure on Iran," to persuade the Islamic republic to return to
negotiations on its nuclear program and come clean about its intent, Toner
He added that all six countries that negotiate with Iran on nuclear issues
- the U.S., Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - "are united in
their recognition that Iran's nuclear program raises ... serious questions
that need to be addressed."
He said the United Nations already has put in place "very stringent"
sanctions against Iran that are hampering the Iranian economy. But the
U.S. still wanted those to be better enforced.
"We're going to look at unilateral actions as well," he added. "We're
looking at the broad gamut of possibilities, how we can increase pressure
on Iran."
Panetta Says Attack on Iran Would Only Delay Nuclear Program
November 10, 2011, 7:24 PM EST
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said an attack
on Iran's nuclear facilities might delay its alleged nuclear weapons
program by only up to three years and he warned of "unintended
While a military option must be kept available, it might not result in
"really deterring Iran from what they want to do," he said.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here," Panetta said
at a Pentagon press conference. "It could have a serious impact in the
region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the region,"
he said of a hypothetical U.S. military strike.
This week's report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency
on Iran's progress toward nuclear bomb capabilities "raises serious
concern that Iran continues to flaunt international rules and standards.
As a result of that, it's very clear additional sanctions have to be
applied," he said.
The IAEA report is "perfectly in line with intelligence assessments," he
said. "We always make the point that they continue to try and develop a
threshold capability with regards to their nuclear capacity, but at the
same time there continues to be divisions within Iran as to whether or not
to actually build a bomb itself."
"It is important the world come together to apply sanctions and make very
clear to them they will play a heavy price if they continue along this
track," Panetta said.
Bombing Impact
Panetta said he "certainly shares" views expressed by predecessor Robert
Gates and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen
that a bombing campaign would set Iran back three years at most.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday in an interview with
Israel Radio that Israel "has not yet decided to embark on any operation"
against Iran.
The current U.S. intelligence view, classified documents released by
WikiLeaks, and intelligence community testimony have raised doubts about
the effectiveness of any raids.
Barak, in a June 2, 2009, meeting with U.S. lawmakers, "estimated a window
between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring
nuclear weapons might still be viable," according to a WikiLeaks-released
State Department cable.
"After that, any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral
damage," Barak was quoted as saying.
Gates, Mullen
Gates on several occasions, starting in April 2009, said "a military
attack will only buy us time and send the program deeper and more covert."
It would at best set back Iran's nuclear program by two or three years, he
U.S. or Israeli bombing also "would bring together a divided nation and
make them absolutely committed to obtaining nuclear weapons," he said.
Mullen in a Feb. 10, 2010, press conference said it was safe to assume
"they're pretty close" to developing a bomb and a strike might "delay it
for one to three years."
Panetta today said he's seen "no change in the assessments."
--Editors: Steven Komarow, Terry Atlas
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at
Panetta Urges Tougher Sanctions on Iran
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2011 - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta today called
for tougher economic and diplomatic pressures on Iran in light of a new
International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran's continued nuclear
The United States is in discussions with its allies about what additional
sanctions to impose on Iran following the report released Nov. 8 that
indicates a continued nuclear weapons program, Panetta said at a Pentagon
news conference.
However, referring to remarks he said Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu made today, Panetta said military action against Iran
"ought to be a last resort."
The United States has made clear that it's "unacceptable" for Iran to
develop a nuclear capability, Panetta said. "We have made that point time
and time again, and we have taken steps and implemented sanctions to make
that clear to Iran," he said.
However, the IAEA report reflects what intelligence assessments already
have revealed about Iran's continued activities, he said.
"We have always made the point that they continue to try to develop a
threshold capability with regard to their nuclear capacity," he said. "But
at the same time, there continue to be divisions within Iran as to whether
or not to build a bomb itself."
"So, in many ways, the IAEA report pretty much indicates that they
continue to work on that capability," he said.
The fact that this respected international organization has come to this
determination "raises serious concerns that Iran continues to flaunt
international rules and standards," Panetta said.
The secretary emphasized Iran's responsibilities as a signatory to the
nonproliferation treaty. "They have to abide by international standards
... and international rules," he said."And obviously, the report from the
IAEA just indicates that that is just not the case."
The findings make it "very clear that additional sanctions need to be
applied," he said. "It is important that the world come together to apply
sanctions against Iran and make very clear to them that they are going to
pay a heavy price if they continue along this track."
Panetta expressed hope that Iran will abandon its efforts. "As to what
happens down the road, I think our hope is that we don't reach that point,
and that Iran decides that it should join the international family," he
Defense chief warns on Iran strike consequences
WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 10, 2011 6:40pm EST
(Reuters) - Military action against Iran could have "unintended
consequences" in the region, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on
Thursday, hours after Tehran warned that an attack against its nuclear
sites would be met by "iron fists."
Panetta, who took over the Pentagon's top job in July, said he agreed with
an assessment of his predecessor, Robert Gates, that a strike on Iran
would only delay its nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at
making an atomic bomb.
Gates also warned it could unite the country and deepen its resolve toward
pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and
that it is enriching uranium to power reactors for electricity generation.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here," Panetta told
reporters at the Pentagon, when asked about his concerns about a military
He acknowledged military action might fail to deter Iran "from what they
want to do."
"But more importantly, it could have a serious impact in the region, and
it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the region," he said.
"And I think all of those things, you know, need to be carefully
Tension over Iran's nuclear program has increased since Tuesday when the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Tehran appeared to
have worked on designing a bomb and may still be conducting secret
research to that end.
Speculation has heightened in the Israeli media that Israel may strike
Iran's nuclear sites and there is speculation in the Western press about a
possible U.S. attack.
Iran has warned that it will respond to any attacks by hitting Israel and
U.S. interests in the Gulf. Analysts say Tehran could retaliate by closing
the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway where about 40 percent of all traded
oil passes.
"Our enemies, particularly the Zionist regime (Israel), America and its
allies, should know that any kind of threat and attack or even thinking
about any (military) action will be firmly responded to," Iran's Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on state television.
Last week, a U.S. military official told a forum in Washington that he saw
Iran as the top threat to the United States and its allies in the Middle
East, surpassing al Qaeda.
He pointed to concerns over Iran's nuclear program and also to accusations
by the United States that Iran plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador
to Washington, an allegation Tehran denied.
Still, Panetta said military action remained a last resort in the U.S. and
Israeli view and stressed U.S. efforts to win tougher sanctions against
"It is important for us to make sure we apply the toughest sanctions --
economic, diplomatic pressures -- on Iran to change their behavior,"
Panetta said.
"And we are in discussions with our allies with regards to additional
sanctions that ought to be placed on Iran."
The European Union may approve fresh sanctions against Iran within weeks,
after a U.N. agency said Tehran had worked to design nuclear bombs, EU
diplomats said on Thursday.
EU sanctions would be a significant part of Western efforts to ratchet up
pressure on Tehran. Western governments would prefer U.N. Security Council
measures against Tehran, but Russia and China, both permanent U.N.
Security Council members with veto power, are opposed.
Asked whether the United States could live with a nuclear Iran, Panetta
said Washington has made it very clear that "it's unacceptable for Iran to
develop a nuclear capability."
"As to what happens down the road, you know, I think our hope is that we
don't reach that point and that Iran decides that it should join the
international family," he said.
(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Panetta: Bombing Iran would have "unintended consequences"
Nov 11, 2011, 2:01 GMT
Washington - US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned Thursday that an
attack on Iran to stop its nuclear programme could have 'unintended
'You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here. And those
consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from what
they want to do, but, more importantly, it could have a serious impact in
the region, and it could have a serious impact on US forces in the
region,' he told reporters.
Panetta agreed with assessments - by his predecessor, Robert Gates, and
former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen - that
bombing Iran's nuclear facilities would set back its programme by at most
three years.
The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report this week that
provided the clearest indications yet that Iran has been developing
nuclear arms, detailing a large number of nuclear-related projects and
experiments, some of which might be ongoing.
The US has called the news 'alarming' and said it was consulting with its
allies on how to further pressure Tehran.
Iran, which maintains its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, has
vowed to press on despite the highly critical report.
Panetta said military action ought to be a last resort and that concerns
by the US and Israel about the Iranian nuclear efforts make it important
that 'we apply the toughest sanctions, economic, diplomatic pressures on
Iran to change their behaviour.'
US defense chief cautions against strike on Iran
(AFP) - 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday warned of the
risks from any military strike on Iran, saying it could have a "serious
impact" on the region without halting Tehran's nuclear program.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here," he told
"Those consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from
what they want to do, but more importantly it could have a serious impact
on the region and it could have a serious impact on US forces in the
The Pentagon chief said he agreed with the view of his predecessor, former
defense secretary Robert Gates, that bombing Iran would only delay the
nuclear project by about three years.
Panetta said the United States was focused on diplomacy and was holding
talks with allies to impose "additional sanctions" on Iran over its
nuclear work. A strike on Iran ought to be "a last resort," he said.
Panetta's comments coincided with rising tensions with Iran after a UN
report cited proof that Tehran's atomic program was being used to develop
nuclear warheads.
Israel has signaled it may stage air strikes against Iran's nuclear sites
while Tehran on Thursday threatened to hit back against any attack or even
the threat of military action.
Asked if the United States could tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran if
sanctions fail, Panetta said he hoped it would not come to that.
He said that "it is important that the world come together to apply
sanctions against Iran and make very clear to them that they are going to
pay a heavy price if they continue along this track.
"As to what happens down the road, you know, I think our hope is that we
don't reach that point and that Iran decides that it should join the
international family."
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile said the country
"will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way
that will demolish the aggressors from within."
He said the message was directed at Iran's enemies, "especially America
and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel)."
The supreme leader's forceful language followed threats last week from
Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran's nuclear
Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Saturday such action was becoming
"more and more likely."
Pentagon chief warns of "consequences" from military action against Iran
English.news.cn 2011-11-11 10:38:36 FeedbackPrintRSS
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on
Thursday warned of "unintended consequences" that could result from
military action against Iran.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here," Panetta told
Pentagon reporters.
"Those consequences could involve not only not really deterring Iran from
what they want to do, but more importantly, it could have a serious impact
in the region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the
region," Panetta said.
A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) citing
"credible" evidence said this week that Iran has been engaged in projects
and experiments relevant to development of nuclear weapons.
While cautious about military action, Panetta called for tougher economic
and diplomatic pressure on Iran.
"It is important for us to make sure we apply the toughest sanctions,
economic, diplomatic pressures on Iran to change their behavior," he said.
"And we are in discussions with our allies with regards to additional
sanctions that ought to be placed on Iran."
Tehran completely rejected the IAEA report and insisted Iran has no
nuclear weapon programs, claiming the report was "imbalanced,
unprofessional and politically-motivated."
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: US Defense Chief Warns Against Military Strike on Iran
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:38:43 +0000
From: Kamran Bokhari <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Reply-To: email@example.com, Analyst List <firstname.lastname@example.com>
To: Analysts List <firstname.lastname@example.com>
November 10, 2011
US Defense Chief Warns Against Military Strike on Iran
Luis Ramirez | Pentagon
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says military action against Iran could have unintended consequences. The warning came at a press conference Thursday.
The U.S. defense chief's warning follows the release this week of a report by the International Atomic Energy agency that says Iran may be carrying out secret experiments for the purpose of developing nuclear weapons.
The report bolstered calls by some in Israel's government who have been calling for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities sooner rather than later.
At a joint conference with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey, Panetta warned against any military action. Panetta said he agrees with the assessment of his predecessor, Robert Gates, that a military strike would only set the Iranian nuclear program back by three years at most.
"You've got to be careful of unintended consequences here and those consequences could involve not only, not really deterring Iran from what they want to do, but more importantly it could have a serious impact in the region and it could have a serious impact on U.S. forces in the region," said Panetta.
Panetta said the U.S. and its allies should instead toughen economic and diplomatic sanctions on Iran to change its behavior.
On a visit to Israel last month, Panetta warned against any unilateral action against Iran. Israel says it will use military force only as a last resort. Iran says it will retaliate if attacked.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Michael Wilson
Director of Watch Officer Group
221 W. 6th Street, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78701
T: +1 512 744 4300 ex 4112


text:
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text:
Drupal's search compared to Google and Yahoo!
by Robert Douglass
When Drupal does a content search, it optionally weighs the results using up to four scoring factors. These scoring factors include keyword relevancy, recency of the content, number of comments, and (if statistics module is enabled), the number of page views. Site administrators can adjust the relative weighting of these scoring factors from the example.com/admin/settings/search administration page. Setting any scoring factor to zero disables it.
In this article, which applies primarily to Drupal 6 but is relevant for Drupal 5 as well, I explore how useful these scoring factors really are, and whether they help Drupal search live up to the high standards that are set by leaders like Google and Yahoo!. This article is part of a series of search related articles in preparation for the Minnesota Search Sprint.
Searching for Views
According to the site statistics on Drupal.org, the most searched for term is "views" (see the top 30 search terms below). If Google is the leader in search, it should be fair to use Google's results as a benchmark for the effectiveness of any other search solution. Since search accuracy is somewhat difficult to measure scientifically, I'm turning to Google to aid in measuring the results heuristically. Take a look at Google's results for "views" on Drupal.org, and then take a look at Drupal.org's results for the same search, and take note of your conclusions.
Using Google's results as a benchmark, I took note of the top 10 results from Yahoo! and MSN, as well as Drupal.org with four different settings of the scoring factors. I wanted to measure how the results compared. To do this I measured the intersection of the results (the number of results in the top 10 that the different services have in common).
Drupal.org doesn't have the statistics module enabled, so there are only three scoring factors; keyword, recency, and comments. The table in Figure 1 lists the values for these three in parenthesis. The setting on Drupal.org at the time of this writing was keyword = 10, recency = 5, comments = 1, which is represented in the table as Drupal (10, 5, 1).
Search | In common with Google |
Yahoo! | 6 |
Drupal (0, 0, 0) | 4 |
Drupal (10, 0, 0) | 4 |
Drupal (10, 5, 0) | 1 |
Drupal (10, 5, 1) | 1 |
Figure 1: Number of Top-10 results in common with Google.
In Figure 1, the results between Yahoo! and Google were very similar. The algorithms that drive these two search giants clearly have a lot in common. The best results for Drupal search were with the scoring factors all set to zero (which disables them altogether). In such a case the scoring and ranking is done completely on keyword relevance alone. Note that this is identical in results to having the keyword = 10 and the other factors at zero (10, 0, 0). I discuss below why having all factors set to zero is preferable. MSN's results were truly terrible, as were the results of Drupal's search if either the comment or the recency factors were turned up artificially high (0,10, 0) or (0, 0, 10).
A couple of the individual results deserve mention. Both Google and Yahoo have this link as one of their top 10:
As you can see, this is a listing page of Drupal contributed module projects. Listing pages of all nature don't have any influence on Drupal's internal search. Drupal's search only looks for individual nodes, so views, blocks, and pages like the path node
or taxonomy pages like Drupal 6.x don't play any role. Of course a search engine that crawls Drupal.org will see these pages and index them.
One of the results that appeared in the Drupal (10, 5, 1) search also deserves mention:
- Drupal 6.0 released
... also been making changes that will make it dependent on Views for some functionality. 1and1.com doesn't support 6.0 I ... I Views II [I can't wait!]. ... CMS available! Now all I need are up to date CCK & Views modules... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh crazy, i ...
Note that the 1 in (10, 5, 1) is for the comment count scoring factor. This post, announcing the release of Drupal 6.0, has nothing to do with Views, but someone mentioned Views in the comments. Because any weight (1) was given to the number of comments (there are 319), it claimed a place in the top 10 search results. According to my sense of heuristic measurement, this is wrong, and I believe that Drupal.org is best advised to give comment count a scoring factor weight of zero.
The cost of scoring factors
I am not recommending that we shouldn't have scoring factors. However, on Drupal.org, the best search results tend to come when they are all turned off. What are the other implications of scoring factors? One big one is performance. Compare the complexity of the queries in Figure 2. The first one is with all scoring factors set to zero, and the second one is with all set to 5 (the default for new installations).
// Query 1: Without scoring factors
$q = <<<QUERY
SELECT i.type, i.sid,
(41.383657379 * SUM(i.score * t.count)) AS score
FROM search_index i
INNER JOIN search_total t ON i.word = t.word
INNER JOIN node n ON n.nid = i.sid
INNER JOIN users u ON n.uid = u.uid
WHERE n.status = 1
AND (i.word = 'nobis')
AND i.type = 'node'
GROUP BY i.type, i.sid
ORDER BY score DESC
// Query 2: With scoring factors
$q = <<<QUERY
SELECT i.type, i.sid,
5 * (41.383657379 * SUM(i.score * t.count)) +
(GREATEST(MAX(n.created), MAX(n.changed), MAX(c.last_comment_timestamp)) - 1209387295)
* 6.43e-8) +
5 * (2.0 - 2.0 / (1.0 + MAX(c.comment_count) * 1)) AS score
FROM search_index i
INNER JOIN search_total t ON i.word = t.word
INNER JOIN node n ON n.nid = i.sid
INNER JOIN users u ON n.uid = u.uid
LEFT JOIN node_comment_statistics c ON c.nid = i.sid
WHERE n.status = 1
AND (i.word = 'nobis')
AND i.type = 'node'
GROUP BY i.type, i.sid
ORDER BY score DESC
Figure 2: The search queries with and without scoring factors.
The first obvious difference is that the calculation for score
is much more complex when scoring factors are enabled. MySql is asked to perform a large number of mathematical operations. There is also an extra LEFT JOIN
needed to get the comment count. What? Getting the comment count gives worse search results and makes the query that much more complex? Yes. For any site that is suffering from search related performance problems, turning all of the scoring factors to zero might make the search results better, and will definitely take less processing power to execute.
Is there any future for scoring factors? I believe so. There is an excellent patch in the issue queue that would let modules define their own scoring factors, and this alone would make it easier to come up with more effective combinations. Note that this patch is languishing and needs review, so if you are feeling motivated to help out, this is one good place to start.
Scoring factors can also be genuinely useful for those who are looking for specific, targeted information. Suppose I want to search amongst the nodes that have the most comments? Or perhaps I really am looking for more recent posts rather than older posts? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to decide these things for individual searches? For this reason I think it is a mistake to keep the scoring factor controls buried and only available to the administrator. Another patch that is languishing in the issue queue would move them into the advanced search form. This may not be exactly the right answer, but your participation in that issue is also welcome.
In any case, scoring factors will be one of the things that gets discussed at the upcoming Minnesota Search Sprint. It's pretty neat that our beloved CMS has these features built into it. Understanding the scoring factors completely, however, is important to getting the best results out of Drupal search. Please join the Search Group to participate in improving Drupal's search opportunities.
Appendix: Top search terms on Drupal.org.
Count | Message |
1289 | views (Content). |
1007 | cck (Content). |
746 | tinymce (Content). |
680 | Image (Content). |
629 | gallery (Content). |
562 | Panels (Content). |
535 | calendar (Content). |
450 | Token (Content). |
443 | pathauto (Content). |
429 | menu (Content). |
419 | fckeditor (Content). |
405 | forum (Content). |
360 | video (Content). |
351 | imce (Content). |
347 | WYSIWYG (Content). |
318 | taxonomy (Content). |
315 | jquery (Content). |
312 | wiki (Content). |
301 | webform (Content). |
297 | event (Content). |
274 | imagecache (Content). |
269 | rss (Content). |
267 | blog (Content). |
240 | profile (Content). |
239 | sitemap (Content). |
239 | imagefield (Content). |
238 | chat (Content). |
237 | captcha (Content). |
235 | content (Content). |
231 | phpbb (Content). |
This is a brilliant post.
I'm investigating on Drupal.org search system as well. By the weight on resource consuming, I'm nearly convinced that the best solution is to outsource search function to dedicated search server e.g. Solr, as your module is working on this.
Anyway, it isn't the reason we won't improve Druapl search function. One easy improvement is merging some code from Fuzzy Search into Search core.
I really wish you had done your experiments not on drupal.org but on our scratch site. Setting all weighting factors to 0 will introduce a division by zero error. With our master/slave setup such massiv writes to the watchdog table aren't really to be played with.
Well, congrats, you found a bug. :p
Actually somebody else found the PHP errors. However, I think it is a good idea to check the log after making such adjustments. Also, apparently the 0,0,0 setting broke the indexing so it cannot be recommended until the bug has been fixed:
Have you tried more specific queries. Like "How to set up cron job". My intuition leads me to believe that more specific queries will lead to different results for those scoring factors. (meaning that the scoring factors will lead to much better results)
I would also caution a bit, web engines and site searches use very different algorithms. Google results will rank them based on what pages link to the page (among other things) where as Drupal search is doing a pure text retrieval search.
Have you tried experiments with the standard search corpus' to test accuracy ?
Really interesting read.
About Drupal search, the fact that external search engines may
provide better search results than our own search engine only means
two things:
- They are using actually more information for ratings, that is
external linking, which is usually done manually so its not AI but
real "Human intelligence".
- We are not effectively using inner information, that we have and
that is not available to external engines. And we are also not using
at all semantical information we have.
I.e. the top search terms prove that people is looking for modules most often. Wouldn't it make sense to have a rate for content types (First, modules, second handbook pages...) instead of such generic ones?
I don't think exposing scoring factors will make it any better as that use cases seem to me just anecdotical and also our 'Advanced search' page is already overcrowded. It took me some time to find where to check 'modules' when looking for modules which as we've seen is the most common use case.
One more idea may be scoring for tags. Wouldn't it make sense to have '6.x' tag score higher than '5.x' (or 4.x) ?
Whatever we should be able to provide far better results than external engines when searching in our own site and for that I think the way is to add more 'semantic' scores (content type, tag...) than these arbitrary ones.
As or the keyword factor, and weighting links, if we think of that, internal linking between content is almost non existent as compared to navigation-to-content links (menu items) that google may count but we don't.


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Kentworth -
Well worth the watch
I enjoyed this movie very much. The story is captivating, the acting excellent, the sets are adequate, and the plot quite gripping. The characters are believable, making it easy for the viewer to come to his/her own conclusions as the story progresses.
Beware the spoilers in some of the comments, but in my opinion this is an excellent film, well worth watching. The copy I watched (MPEG4) was choppy in spots, seemingly always during a critical discussion, which detracted from the viewing to some extent, but not enough for me to keep from finishing it. Not by a long shot.
Info From Wikipedia, IMDB, Rovi Metadata
This is an excellent story set in the northeast Indiana swamps in 1905 concerning a poverty stricken foster child being sold off into forced marriage by her guardian to a mean drunkard more than twice her age in exchange for a mortgage. Edward Pawley plays an extremely convincing old letch and Marjorie Main is at her dramatic best as the most hateful woman in Loblolly Swamp. Ms. Main's banshee voice is chilling. Jean Parker, as Laurie Mears, plays a very good, naïve country girl too young for marriage. Betty Blythe plays a gracious Mrs. Parker. This film and the books from which it is derived address the social evil of forced child marriages of the time.
The 512kb/MPEG4 download was chopped in a few places, otherwise has very clear sound and print.
From the novels of Gene Stratton Porter, August 17, 1863 – December 6, 1924. (Also author of Keeper of the Bees and Laddie. Both are here on IA.)
Born the daughter of a Methodist minister, Gene was the youngest of 12 children. She got her start when she sent bird and animal photographs to "Recreation" magazine. The magazine was so impressed, they asked her to write for them. She also wrote for "Outing" magazine. At this point, she turned to writing fiction.
She was an American author, amateur naturalist, wildlife photographer, and one of the earliest women to form a movie studio and production company. She wrote some best-selling novels and well-received columns in national magazines, such as McCalls. Her works were translated into several languages, including Braille, and Stratton-Porter was estimated to have had 50 million readers around the world. She used her position and income as a well-known author to support conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in the state of Indiana. Her novel A Girl of the Limberlost was adapted four times as a film, most recently in 1990 in a made-for-TV version.
The Limberlost Swamp (aka Loblolly Swamp) was the setting of Gene Stratton Porter's popular novels Freckles (1904) and A Girl of the Limberlost (1909) as well as her numerous books on the swamp's natural life. The author and her husband built a large, rustic home nearby, which they called "Limberlost" and where they lived until 1913. Indiana now operates and maintains it as the Gene Stratton Porter Limberlost State Historic Site.
Screenplay by Marion Orth. American screenwriter Marion Orth's first-known screen credit was 1917's Price of a Good Time. Orth was gainfully employed at Fox in the late '20s, contributing to the screenplays of such prestige productions as Street Angel (1927), Hangman's House (1928), Four Devils (1928), and City Girl (1929). Subsequent assignments in the talkie era included a number of second features for Republic, RKO, and Universal. Active until 1944, Marion Orth kept busy on such quickie Universal musicals as Six Lessons From Madame Lazonga (1944).
Jean Parker as Laurie
Eric Linden as Wayne
Marjorie Main as Nora
Edward Pawley as Corson
Betty Blythe as Mrs. Parker
Sarah Padden as Sarah
George Cleveland as Nathan
Hollis Jewell as Chris
Guy Usher as Judge
Jean O'Neill as Ruth
Budd Buster as Fair Barker
William Gould as Lawyer
Harry Harvey as Jones
Jack Kennedy as Abner
According to the History of Jay County by M.W. Montgomery, published in 1864, the name Limberlost came from the following circumstance: A man named James Miller, while hunting along its banks, became lost. After various fruitless efforts to find his way home, in which he would always come around to the place of starting, he determined to go in a straight course, and so, every few rods he would blaze a tree. While doing this, he was found by friends. Being an agile man, he was known as 'limber Jim,' and, after this, the stream was called 'Limberlost.'
The Indiana State Museum contends, "The swamp received its name from the fate of 'Limber Jim' Corbus, who went hunting in the swamp and never returned. When the locals asked where Jim Corbus was, the familiar cry was "Limber's lost!"
Dr Feel Rotten -
Pretty darn good
Some of the dialog and acting was weak, but most was fine. It was a bit Pollyanna at first, but once it gets going it's a great old drama. Aunt Nora was a rotten to the core old hag, but still had a bit of human compassion left in her when her niece was being shredded on the stand which wasn't really surprising, but oh what an evil wench she seemed.. That was the real crux of the touching part here that aunt Nora found she really did love her niece instead of just being the greedy old hag you just love to hate.
I liked this movie so 4 stars from me.. I don't often shed a tear, but this old man did and had to blow my nose too.
kareneliot -
Stick with it because... AWWW!
I tried twice on two different days to view this movie via the streaming on-screen browser version (i think that's what you call it?) and it kept getting hung up at 6:58 or so, but then today it magically worked.
But... it was all choppy and splicy (from the preservation of the original film strip) with a faint buzzing static hum in the background, but it finally calmed down, although I do recommend headphones if you have them.
And then... it was kind of dull, but about 20 minutes in the story picks up and the drama starts flowing. Also, I was as equally charmed by some characters as I was vilely repulsed by others.
I am was so glad I stuck with because it had the happy, sappy ending I was looking for. I enjoyed it and am torn between giving it 3 and 4 stars. It was enjoyable, but it wasn't anything stellar, but I don't want to discourage anyone by giving it a low rating.... Arrrg....


text:
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QRP Quarterly - Fall 2014
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