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Senior Intelligence Officials: Attempted Terror Attack "Certain"

The five senior leaders of the U.S. intelligence community told a Senate panel they are "certain" that terrorists will attempt another attack on the United States in the next three to six months.

If true, why do you think the jihadists feel emboldened?

The Obama administration is seen as weak against terrorism.
Its continued backlash against the policies of the former Bush administration.
Not sure.

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May 19, 2008

Exclusive: What You Can Do to Save Money, Stop Terrorism and Protect the Planet

KT McFarland

If you asked people to name the tough problems facing the country, they'd probably put the economy, the environment and terrorism on the list.And come Memorial Day, they'll put rising gas prices at the top. But those are BIG problems.Government-sized problems. Not problems you or I can do much about on our own.

But leave them to Washington? We all know how effective those guys are at solving BIG problems. Think of how well they've handled airport security checkpoints. So is there anything we as individuals can do to help the spend less, stop terrorists, and save the planet?

Americans have demonstrated time and again that when we get motivated, we're formidable. Remember the campaign to recycle? It worked. Nowadays, if you don't separate out the glass and plastic from your regular trash you not only feel guilty, but your neighbors glare at you when you haul the garbage cans out to the street on collection day.

Remember the "don't be a litterbug" campaign from years ago? That worked too. Nowadays if you so much as toss an apple core out the window your kids scowl at you like you'd just murdered the dog.

We've started recycling and stopped littering, not just because we fear the wrath of our neighbors or our kids.We do it because we think it makes a difference, that we're doing our bit, that in our own little way we're part of the solution, not part of the problem. And we're a nation of problem-solvers. We're self-reliant. Our formative national experience is the can-do spirit.

There's something each one of us can do, right now, today, that will be relatively painless and, if we all do it, will save money, stop terrorists and protect the planet.

PUT MORE AIR IN YOUR TIRES. I'm not kidding - it is that simple.

Apparently, lots of us drive around on under-inflated tires and, as a result, our cars get less mileage per gallon than they could. According to a Government Accounting Office study, a quarter of American cars use as 10% more gasoline because the tires are low on air. They might look and feel fine, but one out four Americans cars is under-inflated. And as a result, the U.S. Department of Energy calculates Americans waste 32 million gallons of gas a day.Who knew?

We all know the climate is changing, and one of the causes is the cars we drive.If we use less gas, we'll burn less fossil fuel, and spew a little less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and slow the pace of global warming.

So, next time you stop at the gas pump, pull over to the air pump and top up your tires. If you do that every month, you'll get another mile or two per gallon and save yourself some money. It depends on how much you drive of course, but one study calculates the average family would save $840 a year!

And finally, the less gasoline and foreign oil we buy, the fewer dollars we send overseas to the very states that train the militias and buy the weapons used against our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And at four bucks a gallon, that's real money. We can deny those Middle Eastern states hundreds of millions of dollars a year that otherwise would go to sponsor Islamic radicals. Right now we're funding both sides of the war on terror - their side when we hand them our dollars for their oil, and our side when we have to pay for the weapons to fight them.And we're not just paying in dollars; we're paying with the lives and well being of our brave servicemen and women. Think of that on Memorial Day.

So, before you head out this holiday weekend, check your tires. Don't just glance at them in the driveway and figure they're fine. Drive to the service station and ask the attendant to check. You have a one-in-four chance of needing a little extra air. Look at it this way - if someone offered you a lottery ticket that had a one-in-four chance of winning $800, wouldn't you jump at it?

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