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[Toby]

Republicans eye health plan should court overturn reform

(Reuters) - Republicans in Congress are getting ready to answer an election-year question that has dogged the party's campaign for months: How would it replace President Barack Obama's healthcare law if the measure is overturned or repealed?

House Republicans are working to create a legislative blueprint they can sell to voters after the Supreme Court rules on Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the nation's most sweeping healthcare legislation since Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.

Republicans eye health plan should court overturn reform | Reuters

[Toby]

Commandos board ship allegedly smuggling weapons to Gaza

Commandos board ship allegedly smuggling weapo... JPost - Defense

[Toby]

Egypt ends gas deal with Israel, stakeholder says

Finance Minister Steinitz says move is a "dangerous precedent that darkens the atmosphere of peace between Israel and Egypt."

Egypt ends gas deal with Israel, ... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics

[JIM BOB]

We're All Branch Davidians Now

[Toby]

Army Force Structure in Transition

Number of Brigade Combat Teams to be cut, possible third manuever battalion to be added to surviving BCTs

Army Force Structure in Transition | Defense Media Network

[Toby]

Second hate cleric is allowed to stay - and he's so dangerous he was banned from AS-level chemistry

An Iraqi Muslim cleric suspected of being involved with Al Qaeda and radicalising young Britons has used the Human Rights Act to continue to live in the UK – despite Government efforts to deport him.
Taha Muhammad is regarded as one of Britain’s most dangerous security threats. He was even banned from studying AS-level chemistry because of fears he would use the knowledge to commit terrorist acts.
The decision to let him stay is another setback for Home Secretary Theresa May, already under pressure after attempts to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan descended into chaos

Read more: Revealed: Second hate cleric is allowed to stay - and he's so dangerous he was banned from AS-level chemistry | Mail Online

[Toby]

Pics of the Day: Look Who’s Headed to Sea Again

It appears that China’s aircraft carrier, the ex-Soviet Varyag is heading out to open seas once again. Still no word on when she’ll have aircraft operating off her flight deck while she’s underway.

http://defensetech.org/2012/04/20/pi...-to-sea-again/

[Toby]

Oh Canada: The Fate of the Marines’ VH-71 Fleet

The VH-71s were delivered to the U.S. Navy years ago as part of the Marine One helicopter replacement program. If you’ll remember, that effort was scrapped shortly after President Obama took office due to massive cost growth associated with converting the helos into a 21st Century presidential ride.

The problem is, nine helos had already been delivered to the Naval Air Systems Command at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland. Four test aircraft and five production birds that were going to be sent to a Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, NY., where they would be converted into luxury helos for the president.

After the program was canceled, the brand new choppers sat on the ramp at Pax River until last year when they were sold to Canada for pennies on the dollar despite interest in the choppers from “other” U.S. government agencies. Now, they’re going to be used for parts to support Canada’s fleet of Cormorant rescue choppers. So sad.

http://defensetech.org/2012/04/19/oh...s-vh-71-fleet/

[Toby]

Helicopter fleet showing its age

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first delivery of the CH-47 Chinook to the Army fleet, Army Col. Bob Marion, project manager for Army cargo helicopters, ordered his team to find out the fate of the very first Chinook. To his surprise, Marion’s soldiers found the helicopter still in the fleet.

Returned from a recent deployment to Afghanistan, the first Chinook delivered to the Army in 1962 now flies in the Washingtion National Guard. Granted, it has since been upgraded from an Alpha to a Delta model, the Chinook’s longevity serves as an example of both craftsmanship and the Army’s dependence on upgrades rather than new starts to maintain its helicopter fleet.

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2012/04/03/he...owing-its-age/

[Toby]

Live From Athens: "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two"

The focus has shifted. The all seeing orb is now focused on Spain but it may well turn back to Greece soon. The loan money is exhausted again and the Greeks have elections lined up on Sunday, May 6 which is coincidentally the same day of the French run-off elections. To answer the question of at what point Greece might leave the Eurozone and return to the Drachma is relatively simple; it will be the day when the European loan spigot is shut off. Greece will pander, promise and proclaim until that point and then they will say, “have a nice day and thanks for all the fish.”

The Greek banks announced total losses of $37.22 billion on Friday. The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund had been loaned $33 billion by Europe and so that money is now all gone and additional debt of $4 billion have been taken on at the ECB as the scheme to protect the German and French banks and now the balance sheet of the ECB continues.

Live From Athens: "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two" | ZeroHedge


Other peoples money already ran out again..