The Washington Post has a good op-ed on the new Secretary of Defense nominee. There is much discussion about how Gates represents a shift in thinking from Bush-43 back to Bush-41 style. This article seems to do the best job of addressing that..

Gates is being characterized as a "realist," but his record is more complex than that, too. He was an ardent Cold War hawk who did not shrink from moral judgments. "The Soviet Union was an evil empire," Gates wrote in the concluding chapter of his 1996 memoir, "From the Shadows." Gates believed he was simply being skeptical when he insisted that Gorbachev was just another Soviet leader. But others in Washington saw this stand as ideological in nature. Former secretary of state George P. Shultz complained that Gates and the CIA had repeatedly tailored intelligence to fit the policy interests they favored. "You deal out intelligence as you deem appropriate," Shultz complained to Gates in one icy confrontation he recounted in his own memoir. "I feel an effort is made to manipulate me by the selection of materials you send my way."

On America's role in the world and the use of military force, it is hard to detect in Gates's record many far-reaching, principled differences with the present administration. He was deputy national security adviser when the Bush 41 administration dispatched American troops to Panama to overthrow Manuel Noriega. That intervention was, at the time, the largest U.S. military action since Vietnam, and in its essentials -- that is, the use of force to replace a dictator -- it was the closest single precedent one can find for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On the defense budget, it was the Bush 41 administration that decided there should be no significant "peace dividend" after the Cold War.

James Mann - Understanding Gates

UFO sightings and alien visitors tend to be solely the reserve of sci-fi movies.

So when a former MoD chief warns that the country could be attacked by extraterrestrials at any time, you may be forgiven for feeling a little alarmed.

During his time as head of the Ministry of Defence UFO project, Nick Pope was persuaded into believing that other lifeforms may visit Earth and, more specifically, Britain.

"The consequences of getting this one wrong could be huge," he said.

"If you reported a UFO sighting now, I am absolutely sure that you would just get back a standard letter telling you not to worry. "Frankly we are wide open - if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored.

"The X-Files have been closed down." If these words had come from a sci-fi fanatic, they could be easily dismissed by cynics.

This morning is clearly taking on "news of the weird" theme...

Forget the terrorists... We got aliens to worry about!

'Aliens could attack at any time' warns former MoD chief | the Daily Mail

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives late last year that would ban weapons in space. But while there have been many similar legislative initiatives in the past, Rep. Kucinich's bill is distinguished by its unusually expansive definition of "weapons."

Among the weapons that it would proscribe the new measure includes "psychotronic" devices that are "directed at individual persons or targeted populations for the purpose of ... mood management, or mind control."

Well.. Ok then..

This is old, but when something like this comes across your radar, you must pass it on..

Dennis Kucinich introduced bill to ban orbital mind control lasers

WASHINGTON, DC—After months of aggressive campaigning and with nearly 99 percent of ballots counted, politicians were the big winners in Tuesday's midterm election, taking all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, retaining a majority with 100 out of 100 seats in the Senate, and pushing political candidates to victory in each of the 36 gubernatorial races up for grabs.

Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

Wow. Things have certainly changed in the past 24 hours..

Rumsfeld stepping down

HBO's Hacking Democracy provides a good summary of how the US elections are now about fooling machines rather than fooling voters. I made T-shirts, magnets, hats, etc. HERE! Spread the word that not only does your vote not count, Diebold has made it so it might not even be counted!!

Terratogen made a new t-shirt /hat/button/magnet/etc. design to celebrate the election.

frottage. | Diebold | It's not broken... It's Fixed!

Here are Neoteric's reasons to vote:

1) Iraq
2) Fear is not motive, it's a flavor enhancer (and now trans-fat free).
3) Your [I Voted] sticker is your ticket into my kegger.
4) Yelling at FNC doesn't actually accomplish anything.
5) Everytime a vote is supressed Lee Atwater eats another baby.
6) Democracy is only for the people that show up.
7) The time spent in the voting booth will be time not spend huffing glue.
8) All your base.
9) You goto vote w/ the electorate you have, not the electorate you want.
10) Everyone that doesn't vote gets a dick cheney facial.

I just got back from checking my mail, and it appears my absentee ballot has not arrived yet. Sigh..

Vote!

Let the games begin!

Update: w00t!

CNN.com - America Votes 2006 - Midterm Elections

Iran is ready to share its missile systems with friends and neighbors, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards said, after he showed off missiles including some he said had cluster warheads.

Guards commander-in-chief Yahya Rahim Safavi also told Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV late on Sunday the Guards had thousands of troops trained for suicide missions in case Iran was threatened although he said any U.S. attack was unlikely.

"We are able to give our missile systems to friendly and neighboring countries," Safavi told Al-Alam. A text of his comments in Farsi were obtained by Reuters on Monday.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Sheibani, was quoted by Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency on Sunday as saying the Islamic Republic was ready to supply air defense systems -- without giving specifics -- to the Lebanese military.

"Tehran also considers this as its duty to help friendly countries which are exposed to invasion of the Zionist regime (Israel)," Sheibani was quoted saying, in response to what he said was a request by Lebanon's army commander, General Michel Suleiman, for help from friendly states.

Military experts said the exercises were to show off Iranian technology, although they say many systems are based on modified versions of equipment from other countries, such as North Korea.

Reuters | Iran ready to share missile systems with others

An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist.

"Nobody is going over to Iraq anymore?" one student asks a recruiter.

"No, we're bringing people back," he replies.

"We're not at war. War ended a long time ago," another recruiter says.

One Colorado student taped a recruiting session posing as a drug-addicted dropout.

"You mean I'm not going to get in trouble?" the student asked.

The recruiters told him no, and helped him cheat to sign up.

Maybe this is what Kerry was joking about...

ABC News: Army Recruiters Accused of Misleading Students to Get Them to Enlist