Have we forgotten why we went into Iraq?

As anyone can see by my posts, I have a rather big mouth and have no problem sharing my opinions with anyone who will listen as well as those who would rather not. Sometimes I share these in our local paper via letters to the editor. A post towards the end of March remembering that gassing of the Kurds in 1988 was one such letter.

At times, local folks respond with their thoughts on my letters and I usually just read them, listen to what they say and let it go. However, recently a gentleman responded by comparing America to Nazi Germany, deriding our decision to invade Iraq and declared the for the good of the troops and for their honor we should leave Iraq immediately. It is obvious that he had forgotten many events that had happened, starting in August 1990, that have brought us to today. I took some time to remind him.

_______________________________________________________________


A bit of truth about the Iraq War

As anyone can clearly see in my letters to the editor, I am a person of strong opinion. My purpose for sharing my thoughts is simply to spark debate in the community and to get folks to think about the many issues facing our nation, especially in an election year.

And, usually, I simply read the responses or talk to folks who come up to me and chat about something I have written. Seldom do I feel any need to respond directly to a fellow letter writer. In Mr. Nelson’s case however, I feel the need make an exception.

Mr. Nelson seems to have conveniently forgotten the numerous events leading up to our invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Perhaps he should revisit the month of August 1990 when Saddam seized Kuwait. This was a brutal and unprovoked attack with the sole intent of subjugating the Kuwaiti people and stealing their resources. To let this stand would have thrown the entire region into chaos and the US led a global coalition to eject Saddam.

The first Gulf War ended in February 1991 and a number of expectations were placed on Saddam. A major condition was his elimination of existing WMDs and their manufacturing capabilities. As much as Mr. Nelson would like to ignore Saddam’s WMD program, UN documents describe the discovery and destruction of thousands of rounds of chemical weapons including sarin and mustard gas. UN reviews of Iraqi manufacturing records clearly found large discrepancies between the number of rounds found or accounted for and the number manufactured, something Saddam refused to address right up to his ejection of all UN inspectors in 1998. Large stores of raw nuclear product were also found after our 2003 invasion with the US removing over 500 tons of yellowcake and 2400 pounds of lightly enriched uranium. Saddam clearly had existing stores of WMDs. Perhaps a better question to ask would be “Where did they go?” during our 16 month run up to our invasion.

An additional condition of our cease fire with Saddam was that he was to leave the Kurds of the North and the salt-marsh Arabs of the south in peace. This he clearly ignored with a broad purge of the salt-marsh Arabs resulting in an estimated 100,000 dead – a direct result of our broken promise to protect them after Gulf War I. As a result we established no-fly zones in both the Kurd north and the south. For over 10 years US forces enforced these restrictions including the Air Guard units of Iowa.

During the period from February 1991 to March 2003, Saddam broke or ignored 17 UN resolutions. Perhaps Mr. Nelson would care to remember the final “straw”, Saddam’s refusal to accept the conditions of UN resolution 1441. This document came after nearly a year of evaluation, diplomatic efforts and pleas on the part of many countries that Saddam reinstate the inspectors he had ejected in 1998, allow “complete and unfettered access” to all facilities and to provide a full accounting of all WMDs. Perhaps he could review the reports to the Security Council by Hans Blix in December 2002 and early March 2003 detailing Saddam’s utter failure to address any of the UN’s concerns. UN 1441 passed the Security Council unanimously with all 15 members voting in favor of the resolution which set a clear deadline of 45 days to submit.

As for the congress’s participation in this, their Authorization of Use of Force of October 2002 passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly. The United States and the President clearly filled all the squares for our entry into Iraq in March 2003 as much as Mr. Nelson would like to ignore that fact. The one person that could have stopped it was the same person who started it – Saddam - by simply bending to the will of the world.

My next disagreement with Mr. Nelson is the comparison of our country and our military to that of the German Wehrmacht of WWII. I have had the distinct honor to listen to WWII vets during some of our VFW meetings and through participating with them on panels at our local high school on Veterans Day. To listen to one vet’s description of freeing an extermination camp in Europe and another’s description of walking through one of the nuclear craters in Japan is a truly humbling experience. I suspect they may not see the US and the US military of March 2003 in the same light as Mr. Nelson. As an American and a 21 year veteran, I find his comparison distasteful to say the very least. In fact in a rather odd twist in Mr. Nelson’s article while describing Saddam’s Baathist regime as vicious he failed to note that it was founded in 1940 on the principles of the Nazi party. In fact, Saddam’s uncle led a revolt against British forces in Iraq in 1941 and requested military support from Germany. Perhaps Saddam would fit the Nazi mold better than our US forces.

As for Iraq’s threat to the US, I believe that during the run up to the March 2003 invasion, the only politician to call Iraq an “imminent threat” was John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia. President Bush’s primary contention was clearly stated as Saddam’s continued 10 year rejection of the demands and expectations of the UN and the Security Council. But, to ignore Saddam’s support of suicide bombers in the Mideast at the rate of $25,000 per bombing, to ignore his training bases, to ignore his support for terrorists on the run including Abu Nidal who was responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout Europe is simply wrong. These people and organizations clearly were a threat to the civilized world including Americans.

As for Saddam’s participation in 9/11, I don’t believe the Bush administration ever said such a thing. However, a review of the 9/11 report clearly shows Saddam provided some level of logistical support and training and that Muhammad Atta met with Iraqi security people in Prague prior to the attacks.

Finally, as for delivering the Iraqi people into a “sheer hell of madness and mayhem”, perhaps Mr. Nelson should spend a bit of time researching the Iraq of Saddam. According to the Documental Centre for Human Rights Saddam executed over 600,000 people. This does not include those killed in his various purges of the Kurds and salt-water Arabs nor does it include the 800,000 Iraqi and Iranian soldiers killed in the Iraq/Iran war. While the loss of a single life is a tragedy, the website iraqbodycount.org estimates that in our 5 years in Iraq an estimated 82,000 to 90,000 civilians have been killed. The vast majority of these were not killed by US soldiers, but by insurgents intent on shattering Iraq. Regardless, the Iraqi people are clearly under less threat today than during the reign of Saddam.

And, as for the health of the country, a few facts: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates 2008 will see a 7 percent growth in their economy. Iraq has paid their entire $470 million debt to the IMF and they were approved for a $720 million dollar line of credit in December. More than 2 million barrels of oil are being pumped every day, exceeding pre-war levels. Total inflation has fallen by 60 percent to a 5 percent level. Over 30,000 businesses have opened in the last 2 years. Cell phones and satellite dishes cover a landscape where an information vacuum once existed. Blogs by Iraqi people fill the internet with their hopes, dreams and their thanks. Political progress, while slow, is steady. Agreements have been struck regarding oil sharing, regional elections, and reinstatement of former Baathist members to name just a few.

But, to paint Iraq with the broad brush of “sheer hell of madness and mayhem” shows a tremendous lack of respect of the Iraqi people and of our military forces who risk their lives every day to give these folks a chance for the peace and freedom everyone wants for themselves and their children.

So Mr. Nelson, I respectfully disagree. Iraq is not near the quagmire so many Democrats and liberals wish it was. And the best way to honor our soldiers is by standing by them and letting them finish what we as a nation asked them to embark upon rather that looking at them and saying that their sacrifices, their family’s sacrifices, the sacrifices of those who have lost their lives or have been wounded have been for naught.

China rats our Iran's nuclear program.

Imagine that, Iran does seem to have a nuclear weapons development program - color me suprised!!

China has betrayed one its closest allies by providing the United Nationswith intelligence on Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear technology, diplomats have revealed.

Concern over Tehran's secretive research programme has increased in recent weeks after officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, discovered that Iran had obtained information on how to manufacture nuclear-armed weapons.

The world needs MORE CO2, Yep, that's what I said - - MORE!!

Imagine that, to combat rapid global cooling due to reduced solar output, the world needs to increase the level of CO2 in the atmosphere - yep, INCREASE IT! Imagine that.

"In a few short years, we will have a reversal of the warming of the 20th century," Archibald warned, according to CargoNews Asia. "There will be significant cooling very soon. Our generation has known a warm, giving sun, but the new generation will suffer a sun that is less giving, and the earth will be less fruitful. Carbon dioxide is not even a little bit bad – it's wholly beneficial."

And this is why politicians should stay out of the war!

Is this really what we want our soldiers to be concerned about??

The platoon leader in me knew we couldn’t shoot yet, and tugged at my brain like a giant anchor holding in place a battleship on full throttle. Escalation of force. Fuck. Rules of engagement. Double fuck. They haven’t technically dug anything yet, thus, haven’t begin emplacing anything. SGT Axel was ready, certainly, zeroing in on the two human silhouettes with a long-barreled machine gun of raw destruction, but the Iraq War has become so PC, so cluttered, so trigger-shy five years into the war, that any round fired – no matter how justified or understandable at the time of the incident – yields paperwork inquiries and scrutiny more fitting of a Senate Judiciary Committee report. Staff monkeys have found new purpose in this combat zone as Monday morning quarterbacks, conducting investigations with omnipotent spotlights to cut through the fog of war days after the storm passed. I’m not claiming that such retrospective studies are not healthy for a military unit, nor am I arguing that precision and restraint should not be fundamentals ingrained in every soldier fighting an insurgency. Part of what makes an American soldier an American soldier is that he fights with rules that sometimes hinder him, in an attempt to keep sight of the ideals and principles which led him to fight in the first place. That’s all gravy. I am stating, however, that the fact that these thoughts clouded my mind in a decisive moment of combat – and not just my mind, as it would turn out – proves that we are officially no longer on the offensive here. To repeat a new mantra of some of my NCOs, “Uncle Sam has gone soft.”

A Democrat Congressman working to undermine Columbia's government

This story offers a glimpse into the Democrat Party's view of global politics. Columbia is one of our best friends in South America. Venezuela is fast becoming an enemy. Why am I not surprised a Democrat sides with our enemy.

A hard drive recovered from the computer of a killed Colombian guerrilla has offered more insights into the opposition of House Democrats to the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

A military strike three weeks ago killed Raúl Reyes, No. 2 in command of the FARC, Colombia's most notorious terrorist group. The Reyes hard drive reveals an ardent effort to do business directly with the FARC by Congressman James McGovern (D., Mass.), a leading opponent of the free-trade deal. Mr. McGovern has been working with an American go-between, who has been offering the rebels help in undermining Colombia's elected and popular government.

Let me get this straight - - -

Video of beheading - OK. Calls for the murder of Israelis - OK. Video on bombmaking - OK.

But, video of the faults of Islam - wwweeeellllllllll now, THAT'S a different story:

Web host suspends site planned for anti-Koran film
Source: Reuters

AMSTERDAM, March 23 (Reuters) - A U.S.-based web service, which Islam critic and Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders planned to use to show his film critical of the Koran, said on Saturday that it had inactivated the site due to complaints.

"This site has been suspended while Network Solutions is investigating whether the site's content is in violation of the Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy," the company said on the site www.fitnathemovie.com.

Amazing how persusaive violence and the threat of death can be. Inch by inch, the world surrends to the evil of Islamists.

The bravest man on earth this Easter Sunday.

Let all Christians welcome the bravest man on earth into their fold this Easter Sunday.

Pope baptizes prominent Italian Muslim

VATICAN CITY -
Italy's most prominent Muslim, an iconoclastic writer who condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel, converted to Catholicism Saturday in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service.

An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Magdi Allam infuriated some Muslims with his books and columns in the newspaper Corriere della Sera newspaper, where he is a deputy editor. He titled one book "Long Live Israel." As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Allam's head and said a brief prayer in Latin.

Obama: 'Outrageously wrong' to reprint Hamas manifesto

Does Obama ever really go to church???

Says 'I certainly wasn't in church' when defenseof terror appeared on 'Pastor's Page' of bulletin.

Huh, imagine that! The planet has been COOLING for the past 10 years.

Imagine my suprise. Recent data seems to show the planet has been COOLING for the past 10 years. Silly me, I thought it was warming.

Last Monday - on ABC Radio National, of all places - there was a tipping point of a different kind in the debate on climate change. It was a remarkable interview involving the co-host of Counterpoint, Michael Duffy and Jennifer Marohasy, a biologist and senior fellow of Melbourne-based think tank the institute of Public Affairs. Anyone in public life who takes a position on the greenhouse gas hypothesis will ignore it at their peril.

Duffy asked Marohasy: "Is the Earth stillwarming?"

She replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"

Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it.

State of the christian church in Britain?? Under attack.

The Christian Church is under attack by Islam. This latest attack comes from Britain.

Canon Michael Ainsworth, a priest and colleague of mine just a couple of miles from my rectory in the City of London, was recently attacked in his churchyard by three youths. Michael suffered two black eyes, cuts and bruises. He was taken into hospital and his wife Janina, also a priest, said: "It's obvious that the attack on Michael does contain a religious element." It certainly is obvious: his attackers shouted, "You f------ priest!" as they beat him up.

Obama a Marxist mole??

To me, he is undoubtedly a Marxist. A mole?? That might be stretching things a bit, but the argument seems to have merit.

In his biography of Barack Obama, David Mendell writes about Obama’s life
as a “secret smoker” and how he “went to great lengths to conceal the habit.”
But what about Obama’s secret political life? It turns out that Obama’s
childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a communist.

An important Anniversary

An important Iraq Anniversary occurred this past week. Many in our community have loved ones who have served our country and the Iraqi people proudly and with honor over the past five years. Many to the point of giving the ultimate sacrifice for country, a friend or Iraqi.

Yet, this is not the anniversary I am speaking of.

An Anniversary in January went largely unmentioned, yet the veterans of Desert Storm and the family of those lost were sure to have taken note of its passing. And to have remembered with pride that their efforts freed a people ruthlessly attacked and conquered by a vicious enemy intent on taking their country and their natural wealth as his own.

Yet, this is not the anniversary I am speaking of.

As with all memorable occasions, there are names to remember: Omar Osman and his son, Nadriyeh Mohammed Fattah, there is Osman Mustafa’s Soiba and his niece Rahnasas well as Najiba Mustafa’s father, there is Soiba Muhammed whose two daughters, three sons and husband were killed, there is Mu'min Hama-Arif, who had 24 members of his family killed in the attack, there is Haseeba Muhamed, who had 12 members of her family slaughtered. These are but a few of the over 5,000 people who died.

There are dates that are memorable that commemorate these people, that specify their last days, their last moments, their last breaths. In this case, the date is March 16^th. The event was short lived, its initiation taking only as long as it takes for aircraft to fly over a small village. And only the short time it takes for a person to die – starved of air – moments really to seal its memory in history.

These occasions need a place to contain the event, to display to the world the vileness of such things and to harbor for all time the memory of man’s ability to inflict cruel deaths on innocents. In this case, such a place would be named Halabja in a country rich in violence, Iraq.

Tools are needed as well. Tools to inflict death and carnage on a mass scale, to destroy on a mass scale – weapons of mass destruction, one might call them. Such was the case on March 16^th.

These tools, these weapons have names: Mustard Gas, Sarin, VX, Tabun, Hydrogen Cyanide. All crafted to kill humans, each in their own unique way.

Mustard Gas is a blister agent. At a point of direct contact with a victim’s skin deep, itching and burning blisters occur. Contact with a persons eyes results in blindness. If breathed, blisters in the victim’s lungs result in the person drowning in their own blood as their lung’s blisters rupture and bleed out.

Sarin is a nerve agent. Sarin disrupts a victim’s nervous system. With the total collapse of the nervous system, victims die within moments typically amid an onslaught of vomiting, urination and defecation. Tabun is another nerve agent but a bit slower acting taking one to two hours to complete the death of the victim, but completing it none the less.

The nerve agent VX begins with a tightness in the victim’s chest. Vomiting follows and suffocation within moments since the victim’s ability to breathe is eliminated.

Hydrogen Cyanide is a blood agent. It is one of the tools used by Hitler during the holocaust to rid Germany of Jews. It works by stopping a cell from exchanging carbon dioxide with oxygen resulting in a victim’s body being suffocated one cell at a time.

Such an event, such a vile attack on humanity, with such horrendous tools and weapons needs someone to permit it, someone to demand it, some one to sanction it, someone to set the time and date. In this case, his name was Saddam Hussein.

And finally, such a horrendous act, to have a complete Anniversary, must have a complete date, an exact point in history to be remembered. In this case such the date is March 16, 1988.

As we pass five years in combat, fighting to save and protect the innocent, let us remember Omar, Nadriyeh, Haseeba and the over 5,000 innocents that died at the hands of a mad man who had, and easily used, weapons of mass destruction to conduct his slaughter. Our military has been doing good and honorable work in Iraq. They are making good progress. They are protecting the innocents. Let us all honor their service and remember that we are blessed to have citizens who have heard the call and answered with their lives and sacred honor.

And, let us remember to say a prayer for the victims of Halabja who died 20 years ago. Let us not forget them.

Putting faces to the holocaust.

Palestinians appetite for violence.

Is it any wonder Israel finds itself in a fight for its existence???

According to the poll, of 1,270 Palestinians in face-to-face interviews, 84 percent supported the March 6 attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, one of Israel’s most prominent centers of religious Zionism and ideological wellspring of the settler movement in the West Bank. Mr. Shikaki said that result was the single highest support for an act of violence in his 15 years of polling here. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat

What????? No warming is 4-5 years???? I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED IT TELL YOU!!!!!!!

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

Is hatred just a natural part of the black preacher??

I am speechless. No wonder the black community struggles with spiritual leaders like this.

Who profits most from today's high oil prices?

Would you really be surprised if I told you governments?

CNN attributes most of the profits from gasoline to crude oil producers, and while that’s true CNN did leave another aspect out: Regulatory, usage and royalty fees paid to the government. Crude oil may be at $110/barrel right now, but it can cost as much as $70/barrel to actually get it.

And of that $40 per barrel, CNN attributes most of the profits from gasoline to crude oil producers, and while that’s true CNN did leave another aspect out: Regulatory, usage and royalty fees paid to the government. Crude oil may be at $110per barrel right now, but it can cost as much as $70 per barrel to actually get it.

"While Exxon made over $40 billion in 2007, a 60% increase from 2004, it paid over $100 billion in taxes and royalties."made over $40 billion in 2007, a 60% increase from 2004, it paid over $100 billion in taxes and royalties.

Read that sentence very closly, they paid governments MORE THAN DOUBLE what their profits were.

From the mouth of Obama's preacher: "Hillary ain't never been called a nigger," he says at the climax.

And this is the spiritual guide of a man who wants to be President??

Barack Obama’s controversial pastor and the church he’s served for 36 years may be in hot water over statements he has made from the pulpit in support of the Illinois senator’s run for the White House.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. preaches that he follows the righteous path, but when it comes to the federal tax law, his Trinity United Church of Christ may have crossed the line.

Although Wright delivered what was billed as his final sermon last month on his path to retirement, prior to his departure he delivered commentary from the pulpit now being scrutinized in which he praised Obama.

The video of his sermon is mind boggling - a true racist bigot at work.

Update: Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. More words of wisdom from Obama's spiritual mentor.

Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11

I think Obama has some explaining to do.

A closer look at McCain's record is more than a little disturbing.

A closer look at the ease with which McCain can change position should send a cold chill up the spine of the RNC.

The prevalent view of McCain is that he is a generally conservative figure with a few maverick stances and an unwavering authenticity. Nearly every liberal editorial board that has made a Republican endorsement has chosen McCain, and nearly all have offered variations on the same theme. "Voters may disagree with his policies, but few doubt his sincerity," editorialized The Boston Globe. "The Arizona senator's conservatism is, if not always to our liking, at least genuine," concluded the Los Angeles Times. This is the consensus: McCain's basically a right-winger, but at least you know where he stands.

Actually, this assessment gets McCain almost totally backward. He has diverged wildly and repeatedly from conservative orthodoxy, but he has also reinvented himself so completely that it has become nearly impossible to figure out what he really believes.

Just what about Clinton's claims of being experienced enough to lead the nation??

Well, it would seem that her main claims to fame are all in her mind. What a surprise!

TIME decided to cut through the spin with a series that will take a closer look at the claims candidates make. As Senator Clinton is fond of saying, It's time to get real. We kick off the series by evaluating three of the achievements she mentions most often:

Climate alarmists pose real threat to freedom

What the clear eye of the Czech President sees.

A WEEK ago, I gave a speech at an official gathering at Prague Castle commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1948 communist putsch in the former Czechoslovakia. One of the arguments of my speech, quoted in all the leading newspapers in the country the next morning, went as follows: Future dangers will not come from the same source. The ideology will be different. Its essence will nevertheless be identical: the attractive, pathetic, at first sight noble idea that transcends the individual in the name of the common good, and the enormous self-confidence on the side of its proponents about their right to sacrifice the man and his freedom in order to make this idea reality. What I had in mind was, of course, environmentalism and its present strongest version, climate alarmism.

Bush: ‘Fairness Doctrine’ unfair

You just have to wonder why he is making a statement about this. I suspect that a Democrat congress will certainly push forward on this front, but why make a comment like this now??

In Nashville today, during a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, President Bush said there’s nothing fair about the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that once required broadcasters to offer air time for competing ideologies.

The FCC got rid of it about 20 years ago. Now, some Democrats in Congress - long the target of popular conservative radio talk-show hosts - think it’s time to bring it back.

Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal

Interesting thing to consider. Would it decrease dialog within the country? I suspect so.

68% of scients and engineers DISAGREE with the view that Global Warming is settled science.

Imagine that, real honest to goodness scientists and engineers disagree with the view that Global Warming is man-made. Imagine my shock!

Only about one in three Alberta earth scientists and engineers believe the culprit behind climate change has been identified, a new poll reported today. The expert jury is divided, with 26 per cent attributing global warming to human activity like burning fossil fuels and 27 per cent blaming other causes such as volcanoes, sunspots, earth crust movements and natural evolution of the planet.

A 99-per-cent majority believes the climate is changing. But 45 per cent blame both human and natural influences, and 68 per cent disagree with the popular statement that "the debate on the scientific causes of recent climate change is settled."

What oil shortage?

Is there truly an oil shortage - probably not.

The World Has Plenty of Oil

By NANSEN G. SALERI

Many energy analysts view the ongoing waltz of crude prices with the mystical $100 mark -- notwithstanding the dollar's anemia -- as another sign of the beginning of the end for the oil era. "[A]t the furthest out, it will be a crisis in 2008 to 2012," declares Matthew Simmons, the most vocal voice among the "neo-peak-oil" club. Tempering this pessimism only slightly is the viewpoint gaining ground among many industry leaders, who argue that daily production by 2030 of 100 million barrels will be difficult.

In fact, we are nowhere close to reaching a peak in global oil supplies.

More on Harvard's bending a knee to Islam.

More on the administration at Harvard submitting to Islam. In light of this, can Harvard really be considered among our top educational institutions??

What can a 19-year-old guy in jogging shorts do at Harvard that a rich Saudi sheik who sponsors terrorism can’t?

Get banned from the building.

Six times a week, Harvard kicks all the guys out of the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center at the request of the Harvard Islamic Society. This is to accommodate those female Muslim students whose faith won’t let them work out in front of men.

A look at what "change" means for Obama's foreign policy.

A look at what the word "change" means to Obama regarding our foreign policy and the Mideast.

Obama's scary foreign policy.
by Alan W. Dowd

The centerpiece of his foreign policy has always been an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Reasonable people can and do disagree over whether it was right to invade in March 2003, but even some of the loudest critics of the war warn that withdrawing now could derail the fragile progress made during the surge and make a difficult but tenable situation worse.

Iran Marches Ahead Towards Nuclear Weapons

Iran's nuclear threat continues to grow. I honestly
don't think the world will act.

Iran Marches Ahead Towards Nuclear Weapons
by Richard
Fernandez

Here’s a question: If Iran halted “its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure,” as the U.S. NIE concluded in late 2007, then why is the UN Security Council now preparing to “approve new sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment”?

Global Warming - a fraud. Why is this a suprise??

Global warming is one of my "right to the edge" issues. The fact that it is a fraud is now beginning to make the headlines as well.

Weather Channel Founder Blasts Network; Claims It Is 'Telling Us What to
Think' TWC founder and global warming skeptic advocates suing Al Gore to expose
'the fraud of global warming.'

Iranian military captured in Iraq.

How can this be?? Iran has assured us they have no military involvement in Iraq. They wouldn't lie to us, would they??

U.S. captures Iranian special forces commander near Baghdad

BAGHDAD — The U.S.-led coalition has captured a senior Iranian operative who helped finance and equip Shi'ite militias.

U.S. Army paratroopers detained the suspected senior leader of the Iranian-sponsored Special Groups network during an operation in Baghdad's Beida neighborhood on Feb. 27, Middle East Newsline reported.

Officials said the Special Groups was trained and equipped by Iran. They said the organization, believed to comprise a series of cells, introduced the Explosively-Formed Penetrator, designed to destroy U.S. — and other Western origin main battle tanks.

Illegals registering voters.

This falls into my "right to the edge!!!!" category. An illegal, going to a US college, is registering voters. Why the hell isn't ICE packing his butt back to Mexico!!

Legal or not, immigrants are getting political on campus
By Javier Erik Olvera

Jose Ruiz is like many college students. He's outspoken. He's politically active. And, most importantly, he wants to make sure as many people as possible hit the polls come Election Day. Why? Because he can't. Ruiz is an illegal immigrant.

Buoyed by Super Tuesday's record Latino voter turnout, a San Jose State University student group — made up of both legal and illegal residents — is planning a widespread, grass-roots campaign to register voters, especially those who can speak for them at the polls. "I don't need to live in the shadows anymore," said Ruiz, a 24-year-old San Jose State student whose mother brought him from Mexico on a tourist visa when he was a child.

No son, you don't need to live in the shadows anymore, you need to live in Mexico so you can make a difference in YOUR country, so you can change the political culture in YOUR country, so you can create jobs in YOUR country - not the US.

Obama takes his first real shot!

There are two festering stories out there regarding Obama. The first is the about the corruption trial of his 20-year friend, Tony Rezko, who made substantial contributions to the various campaigns of Obama. The second involves whether a chief financial advisor to Obama, Austan Goolsbee , assure the Canadian government that his rant against NAFTA was simply campaign rhetoric and that nothing would change.

Well, these two issues caught up with him at a news conference Monday night:

Ask Tough Questions? Yes, They Can!

By Dana
MilbankTuesday, March 4, 2008

The day before primaries in Ohio and Texas that could effectively seal the Democratic presidential nomination for him, a smiling Obama strode out to a news conference at a veterans facility here. But the grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog.

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote.

An additional link on the NAFTA story:

Obama, Canada, NAFTA and Some 'Straight Talk'

Is Obama Lying About NAFTAGate?
He certainly doesn’t seem to be telling the whole truth.

Obama quotes Che

I realize that Che has become fashion chick over the years as history is lost and goes untaught, but Che Guevara was a murderous thug who was personally (as in he held the pistol) responsible for dozens of executions at the request of Castro. Yet, Obama's Huston precinct captain proudly fly a Che/Cuban flag in her office and at home. To further ad to the insult of those murdered by Che, Michelle quotes Che in her stump speeches as well. Is anyone in the MSM going to call him on this??

Obama for Che Guevara?
By Humberto Fontova
FrontPageMagazine.com Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Those Che Guevara posters recently spotted in Obama's Houston campaign offices were not hung by a young volunteer who dug the cool looking dude's awesome guitar licks for the Smashing Pumpkins, nor by an older one who thought she remembered the groovy guy with the beret "hangin" with Wavy Gravy at Woodstock.

The campaign volunteer who hung the Che poster is named Maria Isabel (second photo above) and according to the Lone Star Times, she hung similar banners from her balcony at home. Apparently she's no "low-level" volunteer either. She serves as a campaign 'precinct captain" and the co-chair of the Houston Obama Leadership Team.

Obama's staffer solution to the Palestinian issue - Invade Israel

The solution to the Palestinian issue - a massive US force used to impose a Palestinian state on the region and left in place to keep the peace. Sure - that'll work. The onlyl problem is that I suspect she reflects her boss's thoughts as well.

Samantha Power is the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on genocide, and she has a professorship at Harvard (in something called "Global Leadership and Public Policy"). She is also a senior foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama. This isn't an honorific: she has worked for Obama in Washington, she has campaigned for him around the country, and she doesn't hesitate to speak for him. This morning, the Washington Post has a piece on Obama's foreign policy team, identifying her (and retired Maj. Gen. Scott Garion) as "closest to Obama, part of a group-within-the-group that he regularly turns to for advice." Power and Garion "retain unlimited access to Obama." This morning's New York Times announces that Power has an "irresistable profile" and "she could very well end up in [Obama's] cabinet."

She also has a problem: a corpus of critical statements about Israel. These have been parsed by Noah Pollak at Commentary's blog Contentions, by Ed Lasky and Richard Baehr at American Thinker, and by Paul Mirengoff at Power Line.

It isn't too difficult to see all the red flags in this answer. Having placed Israel's leader on par with Yasser Arafat, she called for massive military intervention on behalf of the Palestinians, to impose a solution in defiance of Israel and its American supporters. Billions of dollars would be shifted from Israel's security to the upkeep of a "mammoth protection force" and a Palestinian state—all in the name of our "principles."

As Hillary fades, Obama will get a much closer look!

As Hillary fades, Obama will get a much closer look. Articles like this, about his immediate family and their Islamic and terrorist ties will be hard to suppress, even for the MSM.

Obama's Militant Muslim Brother Abongo Is Luo Activist

Barack Obama stands behind Kezia (stepmother) in a Kenyan family shot. Included in the photo is brother Abongo "Roy" Obama who is a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argues that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture." "Abongo's new lifestyle has left him lean and clear-eyed, and at the wedding, he looked so dignified in his black African gown with white trim and matching cap that so me of our guests mistook him for my father," Obama wrote in Dreams From My Father.

Barack Obama's cousin Raila Odinga is accused of ethnic cleansing and is currently battling for power in Kenya.

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes - the devil is always in the details.

The bottom line:

As I showed in a post last month, the top 1% of taxpayers pay 40% of federal income taxes. The top 25% of taxpayers pay 86% of income taxes.

A man who's head is about to explode!!!

I have a friendlly back and forth with my kids when they push all the old man's buttons. And with a daughter over 30 and a son pushing 19, believe me they know all my buttons.

And then, of course, the "real world" can find them just as quickly.

And this one take me "RIGHT TO THE EDGE"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Obama Eye Wear!!
That's right! The next President of the United States is so cool he deserves his own line of sunglasses. A percentage of the profits will go to the Barrack Obama campaign so besides advertising his name, you are also helping out financially. Also, in keeping with the Obama motto of goodwill, we hire the homeless and residents of a women's shelter to help us with our logo process (and we pay above minimum wage too!)

Right to the edge I tell ya, right to the frigging edge!!!

Obama the Rookie

I think that all the swooning, chanting and adoration are rapidly going to Obama's head. The rate at which he is going through positions on such dramatic issues as gay marriage, abortion and his Christian values is mind-numbing! Now it would seem that Christ condoned same-sex marriage during the Sermon on the Mount, that abortion is tragic but a child born during a botched abortion is not a human. Words actually escape me on this one - read the account for yourself:

Obama: Sermon on Mount Justifies Same-Sex Unions
By Terence P. Jeffrey
CNSNews.com
Editor in Chief March 03, 2008(CNSNews.com) -

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Sunday that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions. He also told the crowd that his position in favor of legalized abortion does not make him "less Christian."

"I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama. "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans." (See video here) St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans condemns homosexual acts as unnatural and sinful.

Not quite sure America is ready to slide that far left all in one election.

Update: An updated story from WorldNetDaily

Obama ties same-sex issues to Jesus' Sermon on Mount

Democrat maintains famous speech by Christ 'more central than obscure passage in Romans'

Obama the Cult

A number of sites have linked to this video. Seems to creep them all out - me too! These followers have surrendered their reason and intellect to - - - what exactly?? A young man, with little experience that has hope and wants change. Nothing good has ever come from mindless people following a savior without question.

Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama!!

Barak might want to check his numbers.

Obama's latest rant against our involvement in Iraq focused on his claim that we are spending $12 Billion dollars per month - and that, in his view, is unsustainable. There is another set of financials he might want to review as well: the cost of ignoring our enemies.

9/11 by the Numbers

Death, destruction, charity, salvation, war, money, real estate, spouses, babies, and other September 11 statistics.

The initial numbers are indelible: 8:46 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. Time the burning towers stood: 56 minutes and 102 minutes. Time they took to fall: 12 seconds. From there, they ripple out.

The cost to NYC for ignoring our enemies. This does not include losses to the rest of the country, losses to our industries (think of the losses and additional costs to the airline industry alone!), increased recurring costs of our on-going security efforts. So, before Obama proposes an exit from Iraq to save $12 Billion per month, perhaps he might want to consider the real costs of such an act.

Obama's plan for our military defense.

If this isn't enough to scare the crap outta you, I have no idea what would!

The surrender begins at Harvard

Of course, of course - it's just for the young lady's modesty. Surely we can understand - right??

To accommodate Muslim students, Harvard tries women-only gym hours

Harvard University has moved to make Muslim women more comfortable in the gym by instituting women-only access times six hours a week to accommodate religious customs that make it difficult for some students to work out in the presence of men. Men have not been allowed to enter the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center during certain times since Jan. 28, after members of the Harvard Islamic Society and the Harvard Women's Center petitioned the university for a more comfortable environment for women.

Nothing to see here - move on, move on.

More evidence of Global Cooling

Imagine, 100 YEARS of Global WARMING eliminated in a SINGLE YEAR!! Why isn't this on the frontpage of the NY Times. Won't the glaciers damage NYC??

Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the
list goes on and on.

So, what do you need to be legal in Mexico??

Let's say you wanted to purchase property in Mexico. Let's say you wanted to move there in retirement. Just what would it take? Surely it's as simple as just walking across the border and laying the money down - right? Isn't that what the Mexican government is expecting from the US, can't we all just get along??

Turns out it's just a bit more complicated:

Hi Michelle - I live in Chicago but own a parcel in San Felipe, Mexico (east side of Baja, on the Sea of Cortez) Thought you’d get a kick out of what I need to do if I want to retire there….legally. Here’s the info from the El Dorado Ranch Estates website:

WHAT’S REQUIRED TO OBTAIN AN FM-3 OR FM-2 VISA?

For those of you who either lease lots, rent houses, or have purchased property through a Fideicomiso Irrevocable, you must have an FM-3 Visa to be legal in Mexico. Once you have signed any sort of contract, you are no longer a tourist. I would like to say at the outset, that if you do not have an FM-3 Visa and you find yourself in a property dispute or other entanglement which puts you in the arms of jurisprudence, you literally have no rights as an “illegal alien”. This means your property, bank accounts, vehicles and personal belongings, are in jeopardy. The very minimum you need for owning or leasing property is the FM-3 Visa which is renewable every year for 5 years. The following is a list of items you will need to obtain your FM-3 or FM-2 Visa:

You would think that the Mexican government would certainly grant us the same level of expectation for those wishing to live in the US, wouldn't you??

More on the Global Warming Farce!!

We have had more snow in the Northern Hemisphere this year than at any time since 1966. What's that about global warming again??

Lorne Gunter: Welcome to the new ice age
Posted:
February 25, 2008, 11:01 AM by Marni Soupcoff
Lorne Gunter
Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."

There is no Hope!

I have been watching Obama over the past few weeks, listening and reading his speeches and, admittedly scratching my head over his obsessive use of the words “hope” and “change”. And wondering - has the average American become so dim-witted that these two words are enough to get a man, with only 2 years of elected experience as a US Senator, elected President of the United States? I suspect that perhaps it is. What do these things mean in the context of our upcoming election?

The easiest to address is “change”. I interpret that as meaning many on the left, and probably some on the right, believe it is time for George Bush to leave. Well, because of the 22nd Amendment to our Constitution, that is guaranteed – George Bush will no longer be our President after this next election.

A “change in direction” is also a guarantee – all candidates running are decidedly more socialist than in years past. We can all look forward to more government intrusion into our lives, and expansion of the nanny state and a continued surrender of our ability to run and direct our lives to a government that seems to be determined to take care of us, whether we want them to or not. I believe these things are certain. “Change” will occur. However, “hope” is another matter all together.

There is no “hope”.

Just what is “hope”. One dictionary defines it as: “A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.”

A “wish”, a “desire” that a person is “confident” will come true. Think how the tenor of Obama’s speeches would change if he replaced the word “hope” with the word “wish”.

“I wish we had affordable healthcare!” “I wish the terrorists would abandon their attacks on the US.” “I wish education was cheaper.” “I wish you could pay lower taxes.” Would that make a difference in how he is viewed by those crowding around him at his rallies, passing out in ecstasy?

There is no “hope”.

Lets look at “hope” on two levels: first at the individual and personal level, the second at the national level as it applies to our national desires, goals and direction.

A high school student can “hope” to get into a good college, yet if they are unwilling to study hard, follow a college prep path, participate in additional activities and maintain good grades, “hope” will not help, they will not be accepted.

An individual that wants to get a “good” job faces the exact same challenges. If they are unwilling to learn the field they want to work in, acquire the necessary education, excel at that education and then diligently search for that job, they will not be helped by “hoping” things will go their way.

An employee who “hopes” to move up will not do so unless they work hard, continue to learn, make themselves indispensable and simply excel at what they do. “Hope” will not move them up the ladder, action will.

A couple can “hope” their relationship will endure and grow, but unless they are willing to love each other, listen to each other, accept each other and support each other, their relationship will stagnate and fade. “Hope” in place of action leads them no where.

How does this desire for “hope” transfer itself to the national scene?

We can “hope” that terrorists will not and are not planning future attacks against the US. In fact, this past week, with the House’s refusal to enact an updated FISA bill that the Senate had already past, and the expiration of the Protect America Act, the Democrat House has relied on “hope” entirely – the hope that our Islamist enemies that destroyed the World Trade Center, bombed our embassies and ships and fought our soldiers throughout the world have had enough and have laid down their arms. However, the constant drumbeat of “death to America” heard throughout the lands of our enemies’ leads me to suspect that their passion for our destruction has not dimmed. We can either confront them or surrender to them.

We can “hope” that our borders are secure. Yet, with an estimated 12-20 million illegals in our country, it appears “hope” is not securing our borders at all. We can either secure our borders, send the lawbreakers home and install a real guest worker program, or we can surrender our sovereignty to criminals.

We can “hope” that the countries of the Mideast, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada and Africa will continue to provide us oil. We can “hope” we can refine enough of those imports into gasoline with 35 year old refineries. We can “hope” we can meet our growing electrical needs without building more coal and nuclear power stations. Or, we can harvest our natural resources, drill for oil, extract and use our coal, build the nuclear plants we badly need and wean ourselves off our foreign dependencies.

We can “hope” that companies do not move their manufacturing capabilities out of our country. Our government can continue to raise their taxes, threaten to take their profits, punish their successes and promise to control their prices. However, target companies will not “hope” the government changes its mind, they will simply leave. Or, we could reduce their taxes (taxes that are passed on to the consumers by the way), encourage them to expand, support their growth (and as a result add new jobs), invite increased investment and encourage foreign companies to relocate in the US instead.

My point is this: while Mr. Obama has soared to the top his party’s ticked by “Wishin’ and Hopin” (lyrics by Ani Difranco), it’s hollow. Without commitment, direction, actions, cooperation, determination and clarity – there is nothing. And, that is exactly what it seems that Mr. Obama is holding in his hand to offer the American people – nothing.

Is this what we have come to as a country – Republican, Democrat, Independent – that we have come to demand so little from our leaders that we would vote for nothing?

There is no “hope”.

Iran Could Have Enough Uranium for a Bomb by Year's End

I AM SHOCKED!!! SHOCKED I TELL YOU!!! Surely there is a misunderstanding - the EU and our own intel guys have told us me might be as much as a decade away from a nuclear Iran. So how can this be?? What should be do?? What works will Berry Obama use to stop their program??

Iran Could Have Enough Uranium for a Bomb by Year's End

By Markus Becker

New simulations carried out by European Union experts come to an alarming conclusion: Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build an atomic bomb by the end of this year.

China attacks through Digital Photo Frames!

They are just business partners - nothing to see here, move along, move along.

It's time to fight for free speech!!

It's time to stand up against the government's battle against free speech!!!

Unfettered Speech, Now

By Bradley A. Smith and Steve Simpson
Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page A21

Most Americans probably assume that they can gather with friends and neighbors to say whatever they want about politics to whoever is willing to listen. They presume that the First Amendment protects their right to get together and buy yard signs, publish newsletters or pay for radio or television ads urging people to vote for or against a candidate -- and to do so free of government interference.

Unfortunately, most Americans would be wrong. Today, when Americans band together and spend even small amounts of money to advocate the election or defeat of a candidate, they must submit to government regulation and limits on the funds they can raise. Because of these campaign finance laws, the presumption in favor of free speech rooted in the First Amendment has largely given way to a presumption of regulation.

Vote for McCain?

The mistake the Republican establishment made was moving so far “left” since they captured the Congress. And, after loosing the whole shooting-match in 2006, believing that more of the same would help. November will be brutal – and necessary.

Everyone keeps saying McCain will support the troops – as I am sure he will in words and his heart. But, with a House and Senate that will be near veto-proof, just what do you think he will be able to accomplish? We just saw a House willing to let our ability to monitor terrorist communication – months before a presidential election (anyone remember Spain – 3/11???) – a clear indication of the atmosphere McCain will have to work in. Do you really think he will be able to pass budgets to continue the GWOT?? Really?? Remember the ONLY REASON he is a maverick is that he LEAPS across the aisle, hugs Kennedy, Libermann, Finegold and any other Democrat near by. Intentions mean nothing, the ability to pass legislation does and he will have NONE.

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when I expect the intelligence community to use ALL TOOLS NECESSARY to extract information regarding attacks on Americans – including water-boarding!

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when I expect the government to keep dangerous terrorists in a secure area and to try them in a military court. Tell me, when McCain closes Gitmo, transfers these animals to Ft. Levenworth and the legal lefties are finally successful in having them tried is a civil court, will you volunteer to be on the jury? Will you stare down a terrorist, with your family at home, and give him the death penalty knowing he will be coming for you and your kids? Really?? This is a job for the military, let them handle it.

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when it comes to McCain. Excuse me?? I want: Secure Borders, stop paying to educate illegals’s children, stop making their babies citizens, stop giving them healthcare, stop giving them jobs, DO NOT LEGALIZE 12-20 MILLION of them and then invite their immediate family to join them, do not give them driver’s licenses, do not give them credit cards, do not give them home loans, THEY ARE HERE ILLEGALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when I resist, with all my heart, the stupid idea of man-made global warming, and plans on signing on to koyto to punish us for our successes as an industrialized nation. Anyone read the stories of an equally vocal band of scientists warning we may be on the edge of a mini-ice age because of reduced solar sun spot activity??? We’ve have broken the 1969 snowfall record here in Iowa – hello??? The sun is 333,000 TIMES LARGER than the earth!!!!! It is our thermometer, NOT man.

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when McCain saw fit to take away my First Amendment right to free speech through McCain/Finegold. Anyone notice how nicely the whole “no advertising against a named candidate 30 days before a primary” clause worked after his lies about Rommney in Florida??

I am DAMN TIRED of having everyone call me a right winger when McCain saw fit to take away the vote of my Senator through his little “gang of 14”. Scholar after scholar feels strongly that filibusters of judicial candidates are un-constitutional, we should have settled the matter once and for all.

The Republican Party, at the NATIONAL level, has chosen to move so far left, away from the BASIC principles of a secure nation, free speech, national sovereignty that I am now expected to abandon MY core beliefs – beliefs that have guided my 40 years as a voting Republican. As they ponder their disaster this fall - and make no mistake, it will be a disaster – it will not be because of conservative’s stubbornness, it will be because the Republican Party has abandoned every principle that attracted conservatives and replaced them with those of the liberal left. It has shown me the door, and I have taken the hint.

Obama's Che backer found!

Meet the woman who hung the Che flag in Obama's campaign office!

Does Obama have an understanding of the Constitution?

It would seem that Senator Obama lacks a basic understanding of the President's power under the Constitution. Take a look at his interview with the Boston Globe back in December.

Barack Obama's Q&A
By Charlie Savage
Globe Staff / December 20, 2007

Global Warming - Really???

Forgive me as I try to wrap my head around the whole idea of global warming as Iowa endures the most snow since 1969. Think I'm kidding??




So pardon me if a scoff at the idea of man-made global warming.

In fact, recent observations of our largest contributor to climate change - the SUN - might imply just the opposite, we might be on the cusp of global COOLING.

Sun Stays Sluggish as Weathermen Fight for Anti-Ice Age Funding

Every day, scientists hoping to see an increase in solar activity train their instruments at the sun as it crosses the sky. This is no idle academic pursuit: A lull in solar action could potentially drive the planet’s temperature down, or even prompt a mini Ice Age.

No, say it isn't so!!! Not a mini Ice Age!!!!!

The members of the RoP are out in force lately.

For all those Europeans looking to the immigrant population to solve their problems, they might want to listen to what those immigrants are being told by leaders from the old country.

Erdogan cheered by 16,000 Turks in Cologne 10/02/2008

The Turkish prime minister tells crowd to resist assimilation.

Cologne, Germany -- A crowd of 16,000 expatriate Turks cheered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a vast indoor auditorium in Germany on Sunday as he told them to resist assimilation into the West.

---

"Assimilation is a crime against humanity," he told the crowd. Many Turks had travelled from France, Belgium and the Netherlands to hear his hour-long address in the shiny venue, the Koelnarena.

A crime against humanity - just take that statement in.

A glimer of awakening in Britain?

Britain is awash in violent Islamists. The solution of the Archbishop of Canterbury? Submit to Sharia law. Me thinks the the lowly citizens might have something to say about it.

Europe in the house of war
By Spengler

Violence is oozing through the cracks of European society like pus out of a broken scab. Just when liberal opinion congratulated itself that Europe had forsaken its violent past, the specter of civil violence has the continent terrified. That is the source of the uproar over a February 7 speech by Archbishop Rowan Williams, predicting the inevitable acceptance of Muslim sharia law in Great Britain.

Not since World War II has British opinion been provoked to the present level of outrage. Writing in the Times of London, the editor of the London Spectator, Matthew d'Ancona, quoted former British Conservative parliamentarian Enoch Powell's warning that concessions to alien cultures would cause "rivers of blood" to flow in the streets of England. Times columnist Minette Marin accuses the archbishop of treason.

Perhaps an awakening is beginning.

The RoP Continues the assult and slaughter of their women.

Why is it when the US waterboards the architect of 9/11, the world howls at our inhumanity. Yet, in Britain alone 17,000 women are assaulted and murdered because they have offended the honor of their family, these same people are silent?

Perhaps it is because fear works. Critise the US, and nothing happens to you. Critise Islam and its practices and you might end up dead. Hummmm - who is civilized again??

A question of honour: Police say 17,000 women are victims every year

Ministers are stepping up the fight against so-called 'honour' crime and forced marriages. Detectives say official statistics are 'merely the tip of the iceberg' of this phenomenon. Brian Brady investigates

Sunday, 10 February 2008

Up to 17,000 women in Britain are being subjected to "honour" related violence, including murder, every year, according to police chiefs.

And official figures on forced marriages are the tip of the iceberg, says the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

The tip of the iceberg. The Religion of Peace. Food for thought.

9,125 American deaths per year at the hands of illegals!

Much has been written about the deaths of over 3960 (to date) of our soldiers in the Iraq War. With the 5th Anniversary of the start of the war just around the corner, this will certainly take center stage again next month. And, lest any think that I believe this to be trivial, I do not. The death of any soldier is sad. Yet, they died in a chosen profession, certain of the risks and proud to serve.

During this same time there were the murders of 21,900 American citizens, on American soil. There were involved in daily life. No volunteer state, simply living their lives - only to have them ended by an illegal alien, an unwelcome, unwanted and criminal intruder into our country.

Also during this time there were 23,725 American citizens, on American highways, killed by drunken illegal aliens. Killed by people who care nothing for our rule of law.

From Congressman Peter King (R-Iowa):

What would that May 1st look like without illegal immigration? There would be no one to smuggle across our southern border the heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines that plague the United States, reducing the U.S. supply of meth that day by 80%. The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day. Another 13 Americans would survive who are otherwise killed each day by uninsured drunk driving illegals. Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases to hangnails, giving American citizens the day off from standing in line behind illegals. Eight American children would not suffer the horror as a victim of a sex crime.

A total of 45,625 Americans dead at the hands of illegal aliens over the past 5 years. Tell me, where is the outcry?

Obama Staff remembers Che.

While celebrating Obama's Super Tuesday's wins, it would seem campaign team members in the Huston area put up a bit of political wall decoration: a Cuban flag with the image of Che on it.

I would like to say that I'm sure the Senator would not approve, I find my fingers can't type those words. Obviously his campaign workers saw fit to celebrate the communist country and one of its most famous murderers with a wall hanging displayed prominently behind the desk. It clearly represents these worker's political leanings. And, I suspect, the leanings of the good Senator as well.

Watch and weep.

Some thoughts on the result of a McCain Presidency

Some thoughts on what a McCain Presidency means:

* Open borders: He will sign the Kennedy bill after "securing the boarder". Yet, the Kennedy bill legalizes the 12-20 million in country and allows immediate family members to join them. This could easily result in 36-60 new citizens virtually over night. How do we support this?

* Once this green light is lit, do you really think they will post the 4th ID on the border to secure it? Our current influx of illegals will look like a trickle.

* Tax Cuts: They will get repealed in a heart beat. With a weak (cooperative) stick like McCain in the driver’s seat there will be no one to stand against the clamoring hordes hungry for your tax dollars. What will this do to business in innovation in the US - review the Carter years for your answer.

* McCain's agreement with Kyoto and his buy-in to the whole man made global warming deal ( by the way - FREEZING MY ASS OFF IN IOWA ) - yet another nail in the coffin of American businesses.

* Judges: McCain cared so little for my constitutional rights that he formed his little gang of 14. The filibuster of Supreme Court Justices is unconstitutional - and it should have been settled before Bush left office because McCain and the Democrats certainly will do nothing but salt the court with socialists and believers in "The Living Constitution".

* McCain/Finegold: Florida was a perfect example of why McCain fought so hard for that legislation. He released a pack of lies and inflammatory robo-calls against Romney. Since it was within 30 days of a Primary (or 60 days of a general election), no private group or citizen could buy air time to help Romney rebut these lies. McCain could simply lie over and over knowing full well no one could mount a rigorous response.

* The War: Tell me, do you really think McCain, regardless of his hawkish stance on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Religion of Peace, do you really think he will have the horse power to rustle up funding for fighting these folks with a Democrat Congress? Once he is POTUS, he will no longer be their friend - he will be their enemy.

* His personality: He is, perhaps the most angry and vindictive member of the Senate today. While these traits may be fine for survival in Vietnam and for getting his way in the Senate, they do not lend themselves to leadership. IF, and this is a BIG IF, between now and November he sees fit to show some contrition for his stupid ideas on immigration, campaign finance, tax cuts, the gang of 14, he might find his footing with the conservatives. He won't do that. Simply because he IS angry and vindictive. I believe the conservative base is going to punish him.

With the election of McCain, I do not believe there would be a dimes worth of difference between him and Hillary. If Obama gets elected, he will be drug around by the nose by every special interest group and the likes of Kennedy. I agree, the results will be brutal. But please don't think that McCain guarantees any level of good treatment for the military and death and destruction to our enemies, it doesn't.

Bill Clinton's role in the Whitehouse - I shudder to think!

So what role doe Bill Clinton believe he will play? Well certainly senior advisor - but he wouldn't want to undermine the Vice President or the Secretary of State. How nice of him.

Clinton said his best use on behalf of his wife, Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, were she president, would be "to try to help her talk through all these problems and then to be available for very specific assignments that would not in any way undermine the authority of the vice president or the
secretary of state."

Please Lord, isn't two terms of Bill Clinton enough?? Does ANYONE HONESTLY BELIEVE HE WILL BE WILLING TO DEFER TO HILLARY, even though his name is not on the ballot?? A nightmare approaches!

Are the American people ready for Marxism a la Clinton?

Hillary seems ready for the government to take over the private sector to put things right in the economy - are we ready for Marxism a al Clinton??

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration.

A state complains about tighter immigration rules for employers!

A state is very angry about the new Arizona law that places more demands on employers to know whether their new employee is in the US legally.

The result of this new law is a flood of Mexican worker - all without money or jobs! The travesty of it all!! Of course, the delicious irony of it all is that it is a . . . . wait for it . . . . . wait for it . . . . . MEXICAN state that is complaining about the return of Mexican citizens from their illegal stint in the US.

"you are entering the twilight zone"

The Mexican delegation, members of Sonora's 58th Legislature, belong to the national Action Party (PAN), the party of Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón. They spoke at the offices of Project PPEP, a nonprofit that provides job retraining for farm workers and other programs.

The lawmakers were to travel to Phoenix for a Wednesday breakfast meeting with Hispanic legislators. They want to tell them how the law will affect Mexican families on both sides of the border.

"How can they pass a law like this?" asked Mexican Rep. Leticia Amparano Gamez, who represents Nogales. "There is not one person living in Sonora who does not have a friend or relative working in Arizona," she said in Spanish.

"Mexico is not prepared for this, for the tremendous problems" it will face as more and more Mexicans working in Arizona and sending money to their families return to hometowns in Sonora without jobs, she said.

"We are one family, socially and economically," she said of the people of Sonora and Arizona.

You get that?

"We are one family, socially and economically," she said of the people of Sonora
and Arizona.

No mame, we are not. We are two separate, distinct and sovereign countries.

Please Bill - just keep talking!!!

Bill Clinton, the gift that keeps on giving.

Excuse me - health clinics aren't supposed to make a profit???

It seems as thou the Mayor of Boston believes clinics aren't supposed to make a profit. And god forbid that a retailer provide affordable healthcare.

Menino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.

The decision by the state Public Health Council, "jeopardizes patient safety," Menino said in a written statement. "Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."

Get that, allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong! This is what the left will bring us if we allow them to.

The Dems want "change" - what the hell does that mean???

If I hear the mantra of “change” one more time, I think my head might explode. Let’s explore some of the things that might change with election of a Democrat President and see if we can see where the Democrat party might take us.

It’s time for someone other than President Bush: well, there is a two term limit for President, he’s gone, so no need to worry about change there, it’s going to happen.

A change in our economy: Well, let’s see. The stock market is up 20% since President Bush was elected. Not bad. Since his tax breaks were enacted the US Treasury is taking in record dollars – unfortunately Congress has seen fit to spend at a record level as well. Much has also been said about the housing market and the number of bad home loans in the market place. Yet, this is the direct result of another “change” demanded by Congress – that banks adjust their lending requirements to make it easier for people to get a home loan. Well, after numerous threats, the banking industry did just that, and, oddly, people who had a hard time qualifying for loans in years gone by are now defaulting. Change indeed. As for our labor market, unemployment is at just under 5 per cent. This has been accepted as full employment for years.

So, stock market up 20%, record money coming into the treasury, a housing market that is simply correcting and a labor market at full employment. Just what would the Democrat party change?

US Security: Since 9/11 there has not been an attack on US soil nor has there been an attack on a US Embassy or other US interest globally (excluding Iraq and Afghanistan). Our meticulous efforts in Iraq are beginning to pay real benefits with the surge drastically reducing attacks within the country and allowing the Iraqi people to begin to return to a normal life. As a result of our direct efforts we have begun the process of creating an independent Iraq that is a true friend of the US. We have freed over 50 million Muslims from the tyrannies of Saddam and the Taliban through these efforts.

No attacks on US interests, real movement in Iraq, freeing of 50 million Muslims. Again, what would the Democrat party change?

Leave Iraq immediately: Not all, but most Democrat candidates have vowed a rapid withdrawal from Iraq. So what would follow our quick exit? No one is saying. Oddly, for as much as President Bush was criticized for his lack of evaluation of the result of our invasion of Iraq, the Democrats are now simply repeating the mantra of exit, exit, exit – all without evaluation of what this result would be. Given that we import around 60% of our oil needs, much of it from the Mideast, is it truly in our best interest to allow a power vacuum to occur in Iraq? Is this a change we want – a Mideast in turmoil?

How about immigration: Across the board, all Democrat candidates are in lock-step – we need to find a way to convert the illegal aliens among us into legal citizens. Not only that, their families and their relatives as well. Not only that, how about in-state tuition for their children when they attend college, not to mention a free education in our local school systems. This is positive change? – Allowing criminals to steal the resources of the US? The only change this brings is the stealing of jobs from US citizens and legal immigrants and the theft of our educational and healthcare resources. It would seem that the only changes any Democrat is recommending would increase the harm done by illegal immigrants while punishing those immigrants willing to play by the rules. Is this the type of change we want?

The US Healthcare System: Again, virtually every Democrat candidate is ready to scrap our current healthcare system in favor of a “universal healthcare system”. Just what does that mean? I would like anyone to name a single social program run by the government that has been successful. Social Securing is quickly coming to an end, Medicare costs are spinning out of control, the healthcare provided to our military veterans is approaching a disgrace – and the Democrat candidates want to now bring this expertise to our healthcare system? This is the change we all want? As for the success of socialized medicine in other western countries – name one, just one country with an acceptable socialized medicine program. Canadians, at least those that can afford it, flock to the US for healthcare, Brits pull their own teeth, Swedes wait weeks for evaluation after heart attacks – is this what we are willing to accept in the US?

So please, change? Not a single Democrat has a policy of change that will benefit the citizens of the US, not a single one.

No woman is illegal!!! - Of course not - - unless . . .

unless they have violated US law and come into this country - - well - - er - - ah - - illegally.

Our favorite open boarders, socialist presidential (small "p") candidate Hillary was busy glad handing in Las Vegas when she met such a lady, her response?

"No woman is illegal," Clinton said, to cheers.

Really? A criminal that has broken US law is not illegal? This should play well on the election trail come the fall.

Just how bad was Saddam?

With the latest estimate of 150,000 civilian deaths since March 2003, once again the critics are raising their voices as to how much better the Iraqi people had it under Saddam. Really?? Better?? Perhaps a closer look at the numbers is in order.

From the Confederate Yankee

Do Decocrat activists within the government realize the damage they are doing??

Do Decocrat activists within the government realize the damage they are doing??

In their hearts, I believe they do. But, their hatred of President Bush is so great, I think they fool themselves that they will be able to "fix" things once they are back in power.

The Flaws In the Iran Report

By John R. Bolton
Thursday, December 6,
2007; Page A29

Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of
intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released
this week. Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event.
And rarely have vehement critics of the "intelligence community" on issues such
as Iraq's weapons of mass destruction reversed themselves so quickly.

The NIE - talking out of both sides of your mouth.

The NIE - talking out of both sides of your mouth.

How can this be? In July the Iranians were developing nukes, now they aren't? Couldn't be politics, could it??

NIE: An Abrupt About-Face

As many recognize, the latest NIE on Iran’s
nuclear weapons program directly contradicts what the U.S. Intelligence
Community was saying just two years previously. And it appears that this
about-face was very recent. How recent?

More UN deceptopn on Global Warming

Still more deception from the UN on global warming.

In recent years, the earth has been COOLING, not warming. Weather patterns have been calmer, the list goes on and on. It's those pesky little facts rather than the heart tugging rethoric.

Christopher Booker: Planet-saving madnessBy Christopher
Booker
Last Updated: 11:39am GMT 27/11/2007


We are set on a course of 'planet saving' madness
The scare over
global warming, and our politicians' response to it, is becoming ever more
bizarre. On the one hand we have the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change coming up with yet another of its notoriously politicised
reports, hyping up the scare by claiming that world surface temperatures have
been higher in 11 of the past 12 years (1995-2006) than ever previously
recorded.

Driest-ever
autumn to follow wettest summer
Damian
Lanigan: The eco-nihilists
Britain's
worst polluters

This carefully ignores the latest US satellite figures showing
temperatures having fallen since 1998, declining in 2007 to a 1983 level - not
to mention the newly revised figures for US surface temperatures showing that
the 1930s had four of the 10 warmest years of the past century, with the hottest
year of all being not 1998, as was previously claimed, but 1934.

I suspect the UN's promotion of global warming has more to do with the expected taxes they wants to collect for carbon offsets than it has to do with saving the planet.

Is there really a health care access problem??

So when we hear all the hubb-bub about lack of health care availably, what is the real truth??

Beyond Those Health Care Numbers

By N. GREGORY MANKIW
Published: November 4, 2007

WITH the health care system at the center of the political debate, a lot of scary claims are being thrown around. The dangerous ones are not those that are false; watchdogs in the news media are quick to debunk them. Rather, the dangerous ones are those that are true but don’t mean what people think they mean.

Imagine that. This is a crisis??

Is there really an oil shortage?

Who own the most oil fields? The answer probably won't surprise you - the world's governments. And they do a lousy job of managing them.

Socialist oil death spiral
Richard W. Rahn
November 6, 2007

Socialism always plants the seeds of its own destruction, and state-owned oil is no exception. Most people do not realize that about 90 percent of the world's liquid oil reserves are controlled by governments or state-owned companies. Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves, and the five largest private global oil companies together own only about 4 percent of the world's oil reserves.

There is enough liquid oil in the ground to last generations; and when oil sands and oil shale are included, there is enough oil to last centuries. If there were a truly free market in oil, with both the reserves and production owned and controlled by many competitive companies, the price of oil would be a fraction of today's price.

Imagine that, centuries of oil, a fraction of today's cost. Who would have thought!

Bio fules - more damaging than oil?

Imagine that - bio fuels producing more greenhouse gases than oil. But, but, but . . . .

A renewable energy source designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contributing more to global warming than fossil fuels, a study suggests.

Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from rapeseed and maize have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.