Obama Products

Obama's face is absolutely everywhere and on every thing. If it can be printed on, painted over, carved into, sculpted, sketched, drawn, or has a place to stick a sticker; Obama's face is on it and it is for sale. Such is to be expected in our customizable product world with a new President to be. While the complete list will never be compiled since the limits are only that of the imagination (not to mention new ones being added daily), Andrew Stuttaford has a long list of specifics over at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTMxMzIyN2VkZDVhZjdjMzMxMjcyYmM3MDgyNjgxNmI=.

Natural Gas Found Off Haifa Coast (Israel)

Upwards of three-trillion cubic feet of natural gas have been found off of Israel's Mediterranean cost. The site known as Tamar is within Israeli territorial waters. This should go a long way in Israeli energy independence. This could even turn Israel into a natural gas exporter.


http://www.ynet.co.il/english
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3658046,00.html

"Noble Energy said on Sunday that it has discovered natural gas of more than 3 trillion cubic feet at a well off of Israel's Mediterranean coast."

GDrive Still in The Works?

A new interview with a Gmail project manager (Todd Jackson) has given some renewed hope that GDrive may still be in the works. GDrive is the name given to a potential new Google service. GDrive would be a virtual hard drive hosted by Google. While nothing is official, and it may even be a stretch to connect the comments to GDrive, it is the first potental indication in quite some time.


http://blogs.zdnet.com
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=1233

"

While sitting down with a Gmail project manager, Todd Jackson, cnet’s Josh Lowensohn discussed a couple future features. At the end of his article, he quotes Todd as saying:

“We know people’s file sizes are getting bigger. They want to share their files, keep them in the cloud, and not worry about which computer they’re on. Google wants to be solving these problems,”

If and when it finally launches, GDrive will likely let you store files in the cloud instead of on your local machine. Ideally, interacting with your GDrive would be as simple as using a physical drive on your computer. Josh thinks that when it’s launched, it will also be tightly integrated with Gmail.

"

Operation Cast Lead (Day Twenty-Three)

The first reported violation of the cease-fire reported by Muqata.blogspot.com is being called into question by a few as it has not been reported elsewhere. That said, the cease-fire has been violated and many times over. The first reported violation of the cease fire (as reported by a main stream source) happened about six hours after it was announced. Hamas gunman opened fire at the IDF who returned fire. The skirmish expanded a bit as mortars were fired into Israel and the IAF and a few tanks attacked the mortar squad. The IDF stressed that Hamas attacked first. (More at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3657857,00.html.)

Hamas fired roughly two-dozen rockets at Israel after Israel declared the unilateral cease-fire; then Hamas declared their own unilateral cease-fire. Hamas said that it, and it's allies, will stop launching munitions for the next week. Israel must withdraw within the week. After which, a longer term cease-fire could be negotiated that would require that Israel open up it's boarders. Israel did not immediately respond. (More at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056490.html.)

After announcing their own cease-fire, rockets continued being launched from Gaza into Israel. (More at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/19/content_10679710.htm.)

The IDF have began withdrawing some of their forces from Gaza. It is not clear the number or percentages, but troops have been seen leaving the area. (More at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3658260,00.html and http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056246.html.)

Pro-Hamas supporters tried to cut through the barbed wire near the United States Embassy in Lebanon demanding that the US diplomat be expelled. GatewayPundit.blogspot.com has some pictures of the protest including the burning of Obama in effigy at http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/horror-pro-hamas-protesters-torch-obama.html. (More at http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=11820090007.)

Operation Cast Lead (Day Twenty-Two)

Israel declares a unilateral cease-fire. The National Security Cabinet vote was seven for, two against, and one abstain. Olmert announced that Israel had completed their objective and the cease-fire would begin at 2:00am Sunday (Israeli time) [deadline passed]. Hamas said that they will continue to fight as long as the IDF has a presence in Gaza Strip. Olmert added that if Hamas continued launching rockets into Israel that the IDF would strike back. Israeli forces will stay in Gaza until the rockets stop the Hamas will launch rockets until they leave, I wonder how this cease-fire is going to go. (More at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3657707,00.html, http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5053R720090117?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews, and http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232100163477&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull.)

Israel seemed to be getting in some "last licks" striking at a number of targets as the 2:00am deadline approached. Hamas is not just sitting their, and has continued to launch rockets.

Less then 20 minutes into the cease-fire it has been broken. Muqata.blogspot.com reports that the Israeli Air Force struck a rocket launcher as it was about to launch a missile at Israel. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see if this is a slight hiccup or an indication that the cease-fire failed.

Please note that unlike the news stories above, not all the videos are from today. That does not mean that they are not worth watching, which indeed they are. They are also not present anywhere else in this serious of posts, meaning no repeats.

This video shows Hamas using human shields. Skip to one-minute where you can see the helicopters flying over head. Then you see Hamas gunman shooting at the helicopter before scattering into the crowd. (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/32480_Video-_Hamas_Uses_Children_As_Spotters)

Video embedded below.



In Germany, a crowd of around 30 harassed an Israeli owned kiosk selling Spa products that used minerals from the Dead Sea. (http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/good-god-gaza-and-gonzo)

Video embedded below.



This is a nice overview of some of the pro-Hamas rallies. Some of the footage you will have seen in other clips posted here, but seeing them all back to back is worth it. (http://www.investigativeproject.org/article/972)

Video embedded below.