ROBOT SOLDIERS A THREAT TO HUMANITY

Robot arms race? Let's get it on!

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.

"They pose a threat to humanity," said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain's Royal United Services Institute.

Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world -- from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones -- can already identify and lock onto targets without human help.

There are more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, as well as unmanned aircraft that have clocked hundreds of thousands of flight hours.

The first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns deployed to Iraq last summer, manufactured by US arms maker Foster-Miller, proved so successful that 80 more are on order, said Sharkey.

But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

It we are not careful, he said, that could change.

Military leaders "are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war," he said.

Several countries, led by the United States, have already invested heavily in robot warriors developed for use on the battlefield.

South Korea and Israel both deploy armed robot border guards, while China, India, Russia and Britain have all increased the use of military robots.

CHINESE SPACE AND CYBER THREAT IS GROWING

And on top of all this, they pour pee pee in your Coke.

The U.S. military painted China on Tuesday as posing a growing threat to the United States and others in space and cyberspace.

China is "aggressively" honing its ability to shoot down satellites along with other space and counter-space capabilities, said Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Horne of the U.S. Strategic Command.

Such know-how has big implications for Beijing's potential to curb access in the Taiwan Straits "and well beyond," he told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally created advisory group.

Horne, deputy head of the Strategic Command's joint component for space, said recent Chinese People's Liberation Army writings suggested China might target an enemy's spy satellites along with navigation and early-warning spacecraft "to blind and deafen."

Beijing deems the self-ruled island of 23 million people a breakaway province to be brought back to the fold, by force if necessary.

Horne said United States must "proactively protect our space capabilities."

THE TWO FACES OF OBAMA

Never has a man who has shown so much stupidity, done so much for so many stupid people...

Monday night...Iran doesn't pose a serious threat


Tuesday morning...

"Iran is a grave threat. It has an illicit nuclear program. It supports terrorism across the region and militias in Iraq. It threatens Israel's existence. It denies the Holocaust," he said. "The reason Iran is so much more powerful than it was a few years ago is because of the Bush-McCain policy of fighting in Iraq and refusing to pursue direct diplomacy with Iran. They're the ones who have not dealt with Iran wisely."

Previously, I had been blaming Obama's contradictions and constant gaffes on lack of experience and political pandering. Now, I'm convinced his inconsistencies are the result of a more sinister force...


Wake up America! Dude's drunk!

MUSLIM THREATS FORCE OUT DISABLED TEACHER WITH SERVICE DOG

What a shock. It's in Minnesota.

A Muslim high school student's intolerance for a service dog needed by a student teacher with a disability has reportedly prompted the student teacher to abandon the last 10 hours of his scheduled assignment at Technical High School in St. Cloud, Minn.

The St. Cloud Times online said the situation developed with student teacher Tyler Hurd, 23, of Mahtomedi, who hopes to teach special education. He's a student at St. Cloud State University, and was assigned to Technical High School in the St. Cloud district for his 50 hours of student teaching, and took with him his service dog, Emmitt.

The newspaper said Hurd needs a service dog because of a childhood injury that leaves him with seizures, sometimes happening as often as weekly. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has a seizure.

Hurd, however, reported a student threatened to kill his dog. He said the threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim. Minnesota has a large Somali population, mostly Muslim, and they have been involved in issues over their religion in the past.

So Minnesota has sunk to the point where its desire to kiss Muslims' asses trumps respect for the handicapped? Helen Keller would be all kinds of pissed off.

IRAN DRAWS LINE IN THE SAND WITH UK

It sure sounds like Iran is calling the UK out...punking them if you ask me...Then again, who knows what these nutjobs are talking about half the time?

Iran told Britain not to cross any "red lines" when preparing incentives for the Islamic Republic aimed at ending a row with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister said on Saturday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr said he met his British counterpart, David Miliband, in Kuwait recently. Britain and Iran attended a multilateral meeting there on Iraq last month.

"I told him that 'You have used a word, and I think it is a forbidden word ... Don't pass those red lines. Be careful about that'," Mottaki said without saying what those "red lines" were.

This could be a threat of military action against England. Or it could just be Iran's way of saying "Yes...We do mind if you dance with our dates"
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KKK IMPERIAL WIZARD WARNS OF OBAMA ASSASSINATION

Video of some crabby old jackass in a funny hat warning of possible Obama assassination. Quote: "If that man is elected president, he'll be shot sure as hell"

EUROPEANS SEE CHINA AS GREATEST THREAT TO GLOBAL STABILITY

It looks like the Europeans have finally awoken to the red menace.

"China has overtaken the US as the biggest threat to global stability in the eyes of Europeans, according to a Harris opinion poll for the Financial Times.

The recent wave of protests and riots in Tibet and the ensuing Chinese crackdown, together with competition from cheap Chinese exports, appear to have dramatically hardened opinion, with the proportion of Europeans who saw China as the biggest threat almost doubling since last year.

Italians were the most concerned about China with 47 per cent naming the country as the biggest threat, compared with 26 per cent when the question was last asked in June 2007. The Italian reaction was primarily an expression of resentment at unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers, said Marta Dassù, director of the Aspen Institute Italia, a Rome-based think-tank. “China is a symbol of what Italians dislike about globalisation,” she said.

Only inhabitants of Spain still considered the US to be a bigger threat than China, by 41 per cent to 28 per cent.

“The profile has changed,” said Mark Leonard, executive director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of What Does China Think?

“The story of the last five years has been about economic opportunities. The story of the last six months has been about China as a threat in Darfur and in Tibet.” The little that Europeans knew about China came from news coverage, recently unfavourable, whereas they were constantly consuming US popular culture, Mr Leonard explained."

Report

Yeah...well Spain...Are they even part of Europe anymore?

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