As multiple sources reported this October, General McChrystal presented President Obama with three troop level scenarios each graded by risk: 1) an additional 20,000 troops that would run a “high risk of failure“; 2) an additional 80,000 troops that would be a “low risk option” that has “best chance to contain the Taliban-led insurgency and stabilize Afghanistan“; or 3) an additional 40,000 to 45,000 troop “medium risk option.”

Chief United States District Judge Susan Oki Mollway today (Monday, Nov 30)  sentenced ETHAN MOTTA, also known as "Malu," age 40, to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole, for his role in the shooting of three persons at the Pali Golf Course on January 7, 2004.

While Obama has been at great pains to make a show of avoiding taxes on the middle class to pay for his health care changes, his proposed increase in Medicaid eligibility will have a huge impact on the 39 states whose income cutoffs for the program are below those required in the new federal legislation.  States....will have to raise their eligibility for Medicaid under the Senate health care bill. And they will have to pay for part of the cost.

... a “cunning plan”, “inventing” temperature readings, and releasing fake “estimates” of temperature data for the year even before the year is over ....

Councilmember Djou introduced legislation to extend the ban on sleeping to City sidewalks, but a majority of council members blocked advancement of Djou’s measure. Djou is now seeking to apply an existing ordinance that bans structures on municipal sidewalks to the tents surrounding Kapiolani Park.

Djou fully supports giving free taxpayer financed mental health, drug counseling and shelter to those in need, but does not support converting City parks into private property.

A movement without an effective strategy for defeating its opponents cannot succeed. Therefore it is important to reacquaint ourselves with the art of political war.

In 2008, three female students at the St. HOPE Academy, a charter school in Sacramento, claimed inappropriate advances had been made by Mr. Johnson, who ran the school and was running for mayor. Mr. Johnson, a former NBA star, had been plagued by charges of sexual misconduct ever since his days as a player in the 1990s.

Mr. Walpin's investigators concluded that Kevin Hiestand, the attorney for Mr. Johnson, had approached at least one of the complaining students and asked her to remain quiet. About a week later, Mr. Johnson himself offered her a payment of $1,000 a month until she left school, which she refused to accept. Erik Jones, the St. HOPE teacher who eventually reported one of the victims' allegations to the police, resigned in protest, claiming the school also had sought to intimidate the student into changing her story.

As Pan Am Flight 830 descended toward Honolulu and passengers finished their breakfast, a blinding burst of light washed over them. And then, "BOOM!"

The 747 shuddered violently. Confusion erupted as the airliner nose-dived. Screams and thick smoke filled the cabin. Oxygen masks dropped.

In the rear of the plane, 16-year-old Toru Ozawa lay on his back in the aisle. His lower abdomen had been ripped open, his intestines seeping out. The explosion had also sheered off one of his legs. He called out for his mother and father; they watched in horror as he died.

Last week, the United States Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines recommending that women in their 40s no longer have annual mammograms and that women ages 50 to 74 have them only every other year, instead of annually. The recommendations were highly controversial, and by week’s end most health insurers and the federal Medicare program said they would ignore the panel’s recommendation and continue covering annual mammograms. This is as it should be: the federal government collects information and makes recommendations, and Americans are then free to consult their health care providers, ignoring the government if they so choose. The problem is that Obamacare would forever change this relationship.

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration moved to transfer alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from the military justice system at Guantanamo Bay to the jurisdiction of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Behind this move away from the military tribunal system, which delivered justice so effectively at Nuremburg, is an $8.5 million lobbying effort by the so-called “John Adams Project” launched in April, 2008 by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The legislative auditor’s report of DBEDT offers erroneous findings and demonstrates a lack of understanding and appreciation of the critical role Hawai‘i’s overseas offices in Beijing and Taipei play in the economic future of our state.

“Hawai‘i is one of only two states in the United States that has been granted the opportunity to have an ongoing presence in China—the world’s fastest growing economy.  The Beijing office, under the leadership of Bo Wu and the Taiwan Office under Alex Lei have both been instrumental in developing solid working relationships with Chinese business, government, academic, and cultural leaders.

Our study found that the Hawai‘i Teacher Standards Board is in a state of confusion, unable to develop, administer, and deliver an effective teacher licensing program.  The board’s failure jeopardizes federal funding for the Department of Education (DOE), which is struggling to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The board has not applied new standards to teachers seeking an initial license. Moreover, the executive director assumed the board’s authority to approve new or initial licenses, which clouds the validity of approximately 3,800 licenses issued since 2003. Further, the board has no rules and procedures for appeals.

With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher.   In concrete terms, an additional $500 billion a year in interest expense would total more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

TAXILA, Pakistan -- Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest.

"Militants are the enemies of culture," said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum, one of the premier archaeological collections in Pakistan.

"It is very clear that if the situation carries on like this, it will destroy our culture and will destroy our cultural heritage," he told AFP.

Hawaii Department of Education Hawaiian Studies instruction statewide has suffered a "decade of decline" as funding for the salaries of "kupuna program" instructors and teaching assistants are diverted to other uses.  The diversion of resources out of the classroom stems from "vague guidelines" and "weak oversight" according to a January, 2008 Audit report prepared by Hawaii State Auditor Marion M. Higa.

The Audit cites the Hawaii Board of Education and the top leadership of the Department of Education for "leaving the program without direction and in decline for more than a decade."

Confronted this spring with a $468M DoE two-year budget cut, the HSTA, DoE, and BoE went straight to the "Washington Monument Gambit"--cutting the most sensitive and prominent services.  Hawaiian style, this means the HSTA, DoE, and BoE conspired together to make furloughs as inconvenient as possible in order to pressure the Legislature for tax increases.  Also targeted, high school athletics.  Will they now settle for a one-time shot of $50 million?

The Honolulu City Council has won release of a previously unpublished Qmark Research poll cited as showing support for rail by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is poised for another Saturday night cram down, forcing a Senate cloture vote mere days before his 2,074 page bill was given to Senators. Yet again, Congress will be forced to vote on a bill that none of them have actually read. More importantly, as we pour through the details, it becomes obvious that none of them even believe the plan will do what the bill says.

...a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan.  It’s right there beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.”  The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.