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Courtesy of Debkafile:

Kurdish sources report five helicopters carried US forces to pre-dawn raid of Iranian consulate in N. Iraqi town of Irbil …Tehran has strongly protested this breach of its sovereign territory and summoned the Swiss ambassador who represents US interests in Iran and the Iraqi ambassador to demand the immediate release of the Iranian diplomats.

This is, most likely, one result of the late December apprehension of Iranian “Diplomats” in Iraq, and the treasure trove of intel gained from that operation.  One can make the assumption that we now have details on what exactly the Iranians have been up to, and we are shutting their operations down…

The same piece notes:

Later Thursday, Jan. 11, Tehran reported three large explosions shaking the southern town of Khorramshahr north of the oil port of Abadan on the Shatt al-Arb waterway… Khorramshahr, which faces the Iraqi town of Basra, is one of the key towns from which Iran delivers smuggled fighters, weapons and explosives to its Shiite supporters in Iraq.  Our sources also report that some hours before President George W. Bush’s policy speech, a series of explosions were heard in Iranian Balochistan. Tehran imposed a blackout on the incident.

Balochistan is a region at the conjunction of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Presumably, the Iranians could be using that are to support the Taliban and other Jihadis fighting to overturn the governments it neighbors.

From the News Tribune:

Al Gore’s movie on global warming is too hot for students to see without an opposing viewpoint, the Federal Way School Board has decided.It’s so hot that the board required Superintendent Tom Murphy to approve when the former vice president’s film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” can be presented. And teachers can show it only when it’s balanced with the other side of the issue.

I readily admit to being quite shocked a this level of common sense coming from a School Board anywhere in Puget Sound…

But here is the quote that really warmed my cold, dead, shrunken Gin-grinch like conservative heart:

“We have to ensure that our schools are not being used to politically indoctrinate anyone,” added board member Dave Larson.

Of course, the articles author then attempts to paint the FW SB as a bunch of reactionary clowns with this irrelevant point:

The debate over the film is just the latest example of the conservative School Board making potentially unpopular decisions. In June, it considered banning students from wearing flip-flops but backed off after an outcry.

Reporter Steve Maynard then goes on to hype Gore’s side of the argument:

In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore is shown presenting a slide show around the country on the catastrophic dangers of climate change and his crusade to combat it.

A number of the nation’s top climate scientists have given the film high marks for accuracy.

And in September, four months after Gore’s film was released, federal researchers connected to the National Academy of Sciences reported that the planet’s temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, and has begun to affect plants and animals.

The rebuttal is left to the FW SB member, who has now been cast by the reporter as a right wing loon:

But Larson, the Federal Way board member who brought Tuesday’s motion, pointed out two articles presenting counter views. One is by journalist and author John Stossel, who writes that many scientists laugh at doomsday predictions. Some scientists, Stossel writes, say the result of global warming might be benign.

Larson also cited NASA and NOAA Web sites referring to debate and disagreement over climate change.

But here is the money quote:

“You’ve got to give the full information and let the kids decide,” he said.

What a concept. I wonder if they still teach critical thinking, like they did when I went to school?