… Of course, Ed Koch is the kind of Democrat that once comprised that party before the liberals bought it.

This OpEd is titled The Pope, Islamics and Me.

As I have repeatedly written, take Islamic radicals at their word — they want to convert us or kill us. They are killing one another, Shia against Sunni and Sunni against Shia. Often before decapitating their enemies in the ongoing civil and religious strife in Baghdad, they torture their victims, according to The Times, by drilling holes in their bodies and heads so death is slow and cruel until the merciful bullet is fired into the victim’s head.

Can any independent state threatened with acts of terror, unless it changes its policies, domestic or foreign, ever submit to their demands and expect to protect its citizens from new demands? Has appeasement ever worked?

There are those in every Western democracy who are losing their resolve, their willingness to standup to the Islamic terrorists. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) deplores the use of the term “Islamic fascists,” sometimes used by the White House. The terrorism we face is worldwide and has an Islamist goal — the restoration of the caliphate, one Islamic state including Spain, North Africa, the Middle East to the Far East, including Indonesia. Take them at their word. The words of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, now dead and heretofore leader of Iraq’s insurrection and terror, are, “Killing the infidel is our religion, slaughtering them is our religion, until they convert to Islam or pay us tribute.”

Feingold, who definitely is not the same sort of sane, realistic, old style Democrat as is Hizzonor, needs to wake up and then start giving wake-up calls to the rest of those neuveau Democrats, sooner rather than later.

Yeah, I know, “Fat Chance”.

Most of us, I assume, are at least conversant with the affair involving (former) Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two brave and dedicated U.S. Government sentinels of both Law Enforcement and Homeland Security who were screwed over, big time, by our government for doing their job.

A spot-on article about the incident appeared in The New American on 18 September.

The piece opens thus:

While the Bush administration seeks amnesty for illegal aliens and grants immunity to a Mexican drug smuggler, it has thrown the book at two courageous Border Patrol agents.

These two men pursued a drug dealer who was also illegally on our side of the border and attempted to apprehend him. Shots were fired. According to the agents, they did not believe the criminal had been hit, as he was able to run back into Mexico and hop into a waiting van.

A vehicle the foreign criminal had abandoned in the course of the pursuit yielded 800 pounds of freshly smuggled-in marijuana. This evidence is ironclad proof that they were not pursuing an innocent man — of course, even had he not been smuggling drugs, he was still in this country illegally.

The result of the incident was that the Bush Administration turned on its own officers like a rabid Doberman, arresting them as criminals and prosecuting them as such, so that now each may face as many as 20 years in prison.

The drug trafficker, on the other hand, was brought back to the United States, an honored guest of Homeland Security and DOJ, for free medical treatment for a gunshot wound he allegedly sustained in the hind quarters while fleeing the federal agents. He was granted immunity for testifying against them and is in the process of suing you, me and every other U.S. taxpayer over the incident. This same scumbag has since been busted for the same offense, in the same area, and was still not prosecuted because the Bush Administration is so grateful to him for condemning its own courageous and loyal agents.

I voted for George Bush both times, and have said in the past that I would vote for him again if he could run a third time, but this filthy, disgraceful incident changes my mind completely — it has significantly lowered my respect for both the President and his administration.

What does this say to Ramos and Compeans’ fellow Border Patrol agents, or for that matter to Law Enforcement and National Security operatives throughout the United States? That they don’t have the support of their President nor of his appointees?

These men should never have been prosecuted, nor should the trafficante have been pardoned.

For their 15-minute pursuit of Aldrete-Davila on February 17, 2005, and for a couple of split-second decisions they made during that suspenseful chase, agents Ramos and Compean have lost a combined 15-year record of sterling service in the Border Patrol (10 years for Ramos, five for Compean). Even more, that 15-minute pursuit in the line of duty may cost each of them 20 years in prison, possibly alongside dangerous criminals they have apprehended.

Adding terror on top of calamity, both agents and their families have been subjected to death threats. In fact, according to the smuggler Aldrete-Davila, some of his drug-cartel associates from Mexico planned a “hunting party” to track down and execute Ramos and Compean. Both of these law enforcement officers have young school-age and preschool-age children. Agent Compean’s wife, Claudia, is pregnant with their third child.
Incredibly, while agents Ramos and Compean and their families face economic ruin, emotional devastation, and real physical danger, as a result of that 15-minute chase, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila — an admitted felon and drug smuggler — has not only gotten off scot-free, he stands to become a rich man, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayers. In a seemingly unbelievable turn of events, agents for the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security contacted the smuggler in Mexico and offered him complete immunity if he would testify that Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean had violated his civil rights.

The two Border Patrol officers were arrested in SWAT-style raids on their homes and taken away in handcuffs in front of their families. By way of contrast, Aldrete-Davila, in exchange for agreeing to testify against the agents, was given free medical treatment in the United States, then escorted back to Mexico and released. He was also coached in his testimony by U.S. government officials, then brought back to the United States and trotted out as the star witness against Ramos and Compean.

In the meantime, during his release, Aldrete-Davila was arrested again with another drug load in the same El Paso sector where Ramos and Compean had previously intercepted him. Nevertheless, he was allowed to testify against the two agents and then was released again! He may have made many more successful drug runs into the United States since then. But he may be able to retire soon in the style of his drug-lord bosses. With encouragement and help from U.S. officials, he is suing the Border Patrol for $5 million

All emphasis mine.

I won’t even comment on the crud-sucking bitch of a judge who is doing everything in her power to railroad these two good men into prison — the fact that she was put on the bench by GWB while he was governor of Texas only reinforces my ire at the Administration.

My misgivings about George Bush’s loyalty to his people might be alleviated if he gets up on his hind legs like a true leader and pardons these two men, restoring them to their former jobs with all retroactives. From the aspect of politics — which are never far from the surface these days — a pardon and reinstatement of Compean and Ramos would almost certainly have a powerful positive effect for Republicans in the fast approaching elections.

I am not alone in this way of thinking, there’s an Ogre out there who feels about the same, along with a Raven and a very Big Dog.

So I’ve been sitting here at my Inspiron in the wee hours, doing a little work and doing a little blogging, and listening to a playlist I put together at MusicMatch beforehand to listen to as we speak.

1970s stuff.

Somewhere in the 1980s, I lost my “zeal” for contemporary music. I enjoyed a lot of the material of the early 1980s, when groups like Bow Wow Wow, Berlin, Depeche Mode, OMD, and folks like Martha Davis got going, but then things got boring, and progressed into the 1990s with what I think of as Birdbrain Pop and Loud, Obscene, Aimless Rock. Though, I did find diverse, semi-sane and enjoyable musicians like Malcolm McLaren a pleasure to listen to.

What I hear on the radio today keeps me from turning on the radio. I have a great collection of Classical music, which is my favorite, my top composers being Mozart, Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, Borodin, Smetana and Ives, my favorite operas Carmen (sung by the awesome Maria Ewing), Don Rodrigo and La Traviata. Needless to say, I listen to a lot of Classical music.

I also love good Zydeco, good Jazz(both acoustic and electronic), Dixieland, Folk {J. Collins, J. Baez, Leonard Cohen( majorly!), ancient Dylan, P, P & M, Woody and Arlo, Marmalade in their folk efforts, such as Fight Say The Mighty, Paul & Art, Al Stewart}; late 1960s/early 70s Soul/ R&B, 1960s Rock, Rat Pack era and instrumental music of those times, and my all-time favorite music, second to Classical, late 60s-all 70s progressive (techna) Rock, such as Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, Renaissance, Focus, Triumvirat, early Genesis, Starcastle, Druid, etc.

Back on track, over the last few hours, I’ve been listening to my two all time favorite female vocalists, the late, great Maggie Reilly, doing solo tracks like Every Time We Touch and Moonlight Shadow and some of her collaborations with Mike Oldfield, and the fabulously breathtaking vocals of Annie Haslam, who’s alive and well and, despite her British origins, living in Pennsylvania. She was the singer in Renaissance, which ties with Focus and Yes as my favorite Rock music of all time. Among the Renaissance songs I’ve got in this playlist are Mother Russia, Ocean Gypsy, Northern Lights, Vultures Fly High, Can You Understand (Do You Understand), Trip To The Fair and the full album side track, Song Of Scheherazade. Annie sings easily in 5 octaves and, had she wished to go that route, could easily have been an opera superstar. Renaissance was more into a sort of Orchestral Folk than what most people perceive as Rock.

Yes tracks include Side 1 of Tales From Topographic Oceans (a double album prior to CDs), a 20ish minute track called The Revealing Science Of G-d: Dance Of The Dawn, To Be Over, Soon, Oh Soon The Light from The Gates Of Delirium, Survival, Parallels, Wonderous Stories and Awaken, the latter, about 16 minutes long, featuring some powerful church organ contributions by the mega-great keyboard genius Rick Wakeman.

I have on the playlist Triumvirat’s entire Illusions On A Double Dimple LP, at the moment Lucky Girl is playing from that, and from Focus, Eruption, Bennie Helder, Focus II, Focus III and Sylvia, a wonderful and mellow guitar work by Jan Ackerman(Focus was a Dutch group. They broke up when Ackerman left to pursue a career of lute recitals and recordings, which he is still doing well in to this day).

And the end of my playlist, when it arrives, will consist of the entire Moody Blues, Live At Red Rocks collection.

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people sit back and lament
Another day’s useless energy spent…

Cold hearted orb that rules the night
removes the colors from our sight
Red is grey, and yellow white
but we decide which is right
and which is an illusion… — the poetry you hear recited during Moody Blues songs is written and recited by their drummer, Graeme Edge.

The ProgRock thing appeared during the 1970s, basically, in between the Rock of the 1960s and the lesser Rock of the 1980s, and incorporated Classical structure with both Folk and Rock. The music was awesome. Young people of today who venture out of the BS being played now and go to, say, a Yes concert (Yes, they’re still around and they still sell out stadiums, etc, after 38 years in business, outlasting even Led Zeppelin) usually end up being enthralled by the music and becoming fans. I was at their Classic Yes concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre about 3 years ago and the place was packed. The concert was spectacular!

Oh, yes, also on the playlist is the original recording of Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman’s solo Journey To the Centre Of The Earth. And I have included some Asia, which consists of members of Yes, UK/ Buggles, ELP and King Crimson, another of my favorite groups.

This is all some seriously good listening. Anyone who hasn’t been exposed to this genre of Rock is missing some music worth hearing.

Even the most anti-Rock person on earth would love, for example Eruption by Focus — it’s more Classical/ chant/ ultra-mellow than anything one would expect from a Rock group, and is one of my favorite all-time musical compositions. It is 23 minutes and 30 seconds long, and beautiful.

Well, there’s my taste in music. I’m pretty much what they call eclectic, though I do have a couple of preferences, as mentioned above. I can also get right into John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, the Jefferson Airplane, Paul Butterfield, Hot Tuna, the Jethro Tull, the Allman Brothers, Cream, out-of-Cream Eric Clapton, CSNY, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, a whole passel of C & W, which I came to appreciate during my weeks on the beach when I was working offshore(oil rigs/ tug boats) out of Nawlins in the late 1970s — drinkin’, effin’ an’ fightin’, as it were, LOL.

Well, the only conclusion to a post like this would probably be,

“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake and Palmer!”

You know, the more our society “evolves” in the course of my lifetime, the more I want to ask Luke and Leia to take me to a galaxy far, far away and strand me there.

When I was growing up, things in general worked just fine. Kids were allowed to be kids — we climbed big trees, we played touch football and other contact sports in school yards with concrete ground, we played dodgeball, stickball, climbed high ropes in the school gym, played tag, etc… Sometimes we fell down and skinned a knee, got a bloody nose because we weren’t quick enough to get out of the way of a ball or even got a sprain during a tangle or pile-up over a ball with opponents.

Fine, we learned that a lot of stuff you do contains some element of risk. We also learned how to use our competitive instincts. And we learned the value of team integrity.

Some of us “sucked” at certain things. Some kids were clumsy, some kids were not athletically inclined, some kids were out of shape, some kids were…. Well, you get the picture, not everybody was a superstar, not everybody could compete handily or keep up with everybody else, let alone with the leaders of the pack.

So many of us worked harder at those things we wanted to be able to do, but in which we fell short. We learned the values of determination, of tenacity, of focused effort, of striving to attain goals.

We brought the fruits of these valuable lessons we learned with us into adult life, into the marketplace, and they helped us to succeed, to be independent.

Today, the liberals who control the public education system reject all of the above. They say that children can get hurt playing competitive sports. They say that losing games or simply not having the natural talents some of the other kids have for athletics will harm the “self esteem” of these children.

Interestingly enough, peer pressure seemed to work very well back in my youth — if “Tubby” couldn’t move fast enough out there in left field and let too many balls go by, he got “the works”. He got help from some of the other kids, he received short shrift re his “self esteem”, he was ridiculed and cajoled, and eventually he got tired of it and cut down on the pudding and candy bars, put more effort into going after those pop-ups and grounders and became an asset to whichever team he was playing on. His self esteem soared. He went on to become an engineer with a six figure income, a great novelist or an assistant administrative director of the FBI.

Today, the kid whose self esteem is protected like the crown jewels by keeping him from being embarrassed in front of his peers rather than tossed into the arena and compelled to compete faces an adulthood as a noodle.

Having put my two cents into that particular issue, I refer you to the excellent post that set me to embarking on this particular tangent, over at GM’s Corner.

… of being mightier than the sword — or at least, given our more modern scribe-gear, and visual media, the keyboard and videocam have.

Daniel Pipes makes an excellent point.

Soldiers, sailors, and airmen once determined the outcome of warfare, but no longer. Today, television producers, columnists, preachers, and politicians have the pivotal role in deciding how well the West fights. This shift has deep implications.

This is true. Look at Iraq, for example: We’re winning the war there, but we’re losing it at home, thousands of miles away from the battlefield, thanks entirely to our liberal media and scads of lying left wing politicians, both of which cadres place priority on an anti-Bush agenda over the safety of Americans or eventual total victory for our military.

This looks to be a rerun of Vietnam — not the “quagmire” the left referred to, but the ultimate loss of a war, on “paper”, that we are winning in real life.

The nature of the enemy is of course different than those we faced in pre-Vietnam wars, both that which we face in Iraq and that which we face in the rest of the many elements of the Global War On Terror. Actually, “GWOT” is PC, we are actually at war, despite the sheeplike murmurings of spineless politicians and the blatherings of partisan media, with Islam.

Today we fight against terrorists who employ guerilla warfare, albeit in its most vile possibilities — to us, collateral damage is the accidental killing of noncombatants. To the enemy, the murder of innocents is the primary strategy and the percentage of military casualties inflicted is as far below the number of civilian deaths as the latter number is less than the former in the course of our operations.

Thus, typically, the American political left blames the Bush administration for the civilian casualty numbers caused by the enemy and spins it so “Bush’s criminal war in Iraq has killed X number of innocent Iraqis”. They make the President out to be responsible for the acts of terrorists, many of whom are not even from Iraq and are there to prevent democracy from succeeding in that country.

And since the liberal media rules the roost in America, all too many Americans who trust them to deliver the truth are instead fed this disinformation and believe it.

What Carl von Clausewitz called war’s “center of gravity” has shifted from force of arms to the hearts and minds of citizens. Do Iranians accept the consequences of nuclear weapons? Do Iraqis welcome coalition troops as liberators? Do Palestinians willingly sacrifice their lives in suicide bombings? Do Europeans and Canadians want a credible military force? Do Americans see Islamism presenting a lethal danger?

Non-Western strategists recognize the primacy of politics and focus on it. A string of triumphs — Algeria in 1962, Vietnam in 1975, and Afghanistan in 1989 — all relied on eroding political will. Al-Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, codified this idea in a letter in July 2005, observing that more than half of the Islamists’ battle “is taking place in the battlefield of the media.”

Read the rest of the OpEd here.

…. this one in the Rock genre, CBGBs, the dingy, internationally reknowned club on Bowery that’s been around since the early 1970s and… well, read about it here.

Bummer.

… this one by Dennis Prager!

Israel is our only true friend and ally in the Middle East.

Their Arab neighbors, even those that profess friendship with the United States, are at best false friends — they regard us as a high roller in the purchase of their oil and as a country they would not want to go to war with, at least not overtly; they export terrorism while denouncing it for diplomatic purposes, oppose our doctrine at the United Nations when the opportunities present themselves and quietly await the expected Islamic victory over us that will place us at the mercy of Sharia Law — if that ever occurs, we will see how quickly the mask of friendship and even human respect drops from their faces as we are conquered, 7th Century style.

When Israel became a sovereign state 58 years ago, these Arab nations created “the Palestinians” and sicced those miserable, directionless people on the Jews who had “intruded” in their midst, feeding what was to become a terrorist machine disguised as an oppressively colonized underdog, pandering to the sympathies of misguided leftist intellectuals throughout the world. The goal of this propaganda was to gain support in their ambition to wipe Israel off the face of the map or, as the late Egyptian president Gamel Nasser vowed and failed to do, “push them into the sea”.

The Arab countries tried invading Israel on more than one occasion, only to find that this tiny new country of exponentially inferior numbers was able to defeat them in short order — it only took the Jews 6 days to hand them their collective touchases in 1967, and less than a month to repeat the performance in 1973 when Egypt and Syria, calling themselves the United Arab Republic, stormed the small state in a surprise invasion on the holiest of holidays, when the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) was at its least vigilant and most vulnerable.

Before and since, Israel has been under constant attack at home by terrorist organizations, and abroad by numerous countries at the United Nations (spit!), who have sided with Israel’s enemies because of their oil, and as such considered the very existence of Israel to be an inconvenience at best.

Israel’s only true friend in the world has been the United States. We have helped them financially and militarily, and we have been their primary trading partner for intelligence. To the latter end, they have been an indispensable asset in the Middle East. Back in the Cold War days, for example, whom do you think gave us a then state-of-the-art Soviet MiG-23 to dissect?

I know, I know, alright, already! Enough backgroundy stuff! Press on! Oy vey, enough is enough! C’mon!

Okay.

The Israelis have, from the beginning, bent over backwards to make the bastardly Palestinians a part of their country, to give them equal rights and privileges as Israeli citizens — and all they have received in return has been terrorism. Innocent citizens murdered by bomb, bullet and knife.

Whenever the Israelis have retaliated for a terrorist act, the propaganda forces of the left have condemned them for their actions — it is a one way street, the Palestinians can butcher Jews to their hearts’ content, but as soon as the Jews fight back, even a little bit, it is Naziesque brutality.

Over the last few decades, pressure from the U.N. combined with a genuine wish to see peace in the Middle East have prompted American Presidents and Secretaries of State to take it upon themselves to attempt to broker said peace.

Problem 1: Muslims are not on the same page as the rest of civilization, they are still living in the more barbaric times of the 7th Century and their religious doctrine mandates that they remain there. Their religion encourages lying to infidels to the point of signing on to treaties they have no intention of honoring, and therefore such agreements, for them, are matters of temporary convenience to be laughed off.

Problem 2: No matter how many times this fact is manifest, western politicians and diplomats simply cannot grasp it, their sensibilities are so programmed by their own environments that they truly believe that their logic will work when applied to Muslims.

As a result, every peace accord engendered by the United States has depended upon the “good faith” of both sides and the Israelis, an honorable people whose Jewish beliefs command that they honor their agreements, have always done so while the Palestinians have not. They will watch, smiling, as the Israelis release terrorists from prison and cede territory, honoring no part of an agreement, and the terrorism will continue, the Arabs laughing mirthfully at the stupidity of American politicians, who continually make the same mistake no matter how many times they get burned.

Actually, they don’t get burned — Israel does. At each American mediated agreement, Israel surrenders more of its security and more Jews resultantly die.

… And no matter how often this happens, our stupid, naive, idiot Presidents and secretaries of state keep on repeating their murderous error as though passing on a tradition. Clinton and Albright, now Bush and Rice.

Now, to be clear, I know they mean well, but as long as they refuse to get the obvious message that the Arabs involved are making fools of them, this idiocy will continue.

I recently had an email exchange with a very well informed Israeli who seemed, and I can’t say I blame him, to have developed a certain amount of hostility towards the Bush Administration over its newest plan, which is to pour massive monetary backing into Hamas’ opposition — Fatah, the party of Arafat, to try and oust the terrorist group through peaceful means — he has a very good point: We should have learned from the late, unlamented Arafat what happens when you give money to the Palestinians — whatever their leaders don’t deposit in their personal numbered accounts finances terrorism.

Okay –

Now, as I pointed out to my new Israeli acquaintance, I cannot fault the United States entirely here — the Israelis have been pretty damn stupid in their voting choices over the years, especially in recent ones; electing entirely too liberal leadership and allowing a spineless piece of schmutz like Olmert to remain at the top of their government at this point in time does not speak well for the intelligence of the Knesset, nor of the rank and file Israeli citizen.

Problem 3: America’s benign relationship with the Jewish State has been slowly deteriorating, thanks both to the influence of leftist organizations and the failure of the Olmert government to respond adequately to this situation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s speech at the American Task Force for Palestine’s inaugural dinner in Washington on Wednesday evening was but the latest sign that America’s alliance with Israel is weakening.
Rice’s statement that “there could be no greater legacy for America than to help to bring into being a Palestinian state,” just about says it all. The secretary of state of a president who was once friendlier to Israel than any of his predecessors now claims that the establishment of a state for a people who have distinguished themselves as the most overtly pro-jihad, terrorist society in the world, would be the greatest thing American could ever do.

Truncating,

The Democratic Party’s sharp turn leftward in recent years has been a major factor in weakening the US-Israel alliance. The ideological transformation of the party is the fruit of a collaborative effort by leading financiers, radical-leftist ideologues and political activists. Together these forces built organizations that dictate the party’s agenda; finance the campaigns of politicians who embrace this agenda; and work to defeat conservative Republicans and Democrats who disagree with their agenda.

MoveOn.org is the most influential organization of this type established in recent years. Its principal financiers are American Jewish billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis.

To continue excerpting from the GAMLA article,

After Hamas’s electoral victory in January, American Friends of Peace Now, Israel Policy Forum and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom came together in an ad-hoc coalition to shield the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority from Congressional sanctions. Together they worked to sink the Palestinian Anti-Terror Act, which enjoyed overwhelming support in the Congress and the Senate and was backed by AIPAC. The legislation was designed to update US policy toward the PA in the wake of Hamas’s ascendance to power.

The bill called for the immediate cessation not only of direct US aid to the PA but also for the cut-off of US assistance to nongovernmental and UN organizations operating in the PA that had connections to terrorist organizations. The bill defined the PA as a terrorist sanctuary and consequently would have barred the entry of PA officials to and the operation of PA offices in the US, and placed travel restrictions on PA and PLO representatives to the UN. The bill also would have prohibited US officials from having any contacts with officials from Hamas, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The bill was approved by an enormous majority in the House of Representatives. Yet, due to the lobbying efforts of this group of Jewish leftists, the Senate version was greatly watered down, and included a presidential waiver that rendered the bill more or less declaratory. Since there was little common ground between the two versions of the bill, the Palestinian Anti-Terror Act was scuttled.

So, where y’at, Ehud?

To its discredit, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government took no steps to stymie the coalition’s machinations against the Palestinian Anti-Terror Act. Indeed, since 2003, Israel’s governments have gone out of their way to applaud these groups. Olmert’s now infamous speech in June 2005 where he said, “We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies,” was made at the Israel Policy Forum’s annual dinner.

Above emphasis mine.

What’s really needed here is strong Israeli leadership of a kind that can sit down with Bush and Rice and tell it like it is, and firmly decline the one-way “peace” proposals the terrorist bastards Palestinians love so much.

Israel’s enemies are certainly our enemies in the Global War On Terror. Had Ehud Olmert been worth even a tiny particle of feces, he would never have gone along with the ceasefire proposed jointly by the Bush Administration and the French (quadruple spit!). He would have said, “Thanks, but no thanks” and continued to make war until the IDF had decimated Hezbollah root and branch.

Israel’s alliance with the US is based on the fact that most Americans support Israel. American support for Israel finds its roots in foundations as diverse as religion, politics, morality, security, culture and economics. While the alliance is visibly weakened, its foundations remain solid. To rebuild American political support for Israel and to enhance the US-Israel alliance, it is imperative that Israel be capable of understanding the nature of this support. This understanding begins by making distinctions between our many friends and our foes and acting on these distinctions. Not all of our friends are Jews and not all Jews are our friends.

Well put, GAMLA….

Read the entire linked article, it’s definitely right on point.

The following comes from an email I received today that puts the War on Terror in perfect perspective.

While I don’t agree with the author on his references to any difference between the ultimate beliefs of so-called peaceful Muslims, for that see “6.” in his narrative below, (if there were indeed such a thing, they would take the risk of speaking out for the sake of their families, their children and their fellow “peaceful” Muslims, declaring their solidarity with civilized society and their belief in liberty — if those who have emigrated to the west don’t cherish liberty and peaceful coexistence, and don’t respect the rights of others to worship according to their own beliefs, they don’t belong in our midst, period) and of those committing acts of violence, the rest of his commentary is right on the money.

Please note, however, that my sole reason for posting this emailed commentary is purely because I agree with the focus of the author’s opinion re the theme of his message — not as a source of statistical reference.

This is written by Major General Vernon Chong, MD, USAF Retired. He’s a highly decorated Air Force Pilot, Flight Surgeon, past Commander of Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio and Command Surgeon at the Headquarters of the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. So he is real, is well-connected to Veterans’ affairs, and these are his thoughts. They are worth reading and thinking about! Do a Google search on him and you’ll see some of his other though-provoking writings.

This WAR is for REAL!
by MG Vernon Chong, USAFR

To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine
(which includes WWII).

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let’s examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?
Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.
(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?
Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats* as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?
In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.

5. Isn’t the Muslim Religion peaceful?
Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no difference. You either went along with the administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (see http://www.naz is.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm)

Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.

Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way — their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and wh at they are fanatically bent on doing — by their own pronouncements — killing all of us “infidels.” I don’t blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with?
There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don’t clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.

So with that background, now to the two major questions:

1. Can we lose this war?
2. What does losing really mean?

If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions.

We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean?

It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one can get. What losing really means is:

We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorists to attack us until we were neutered and submissive to them. We would, of course, have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see we are impotent and cannot help them.

They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn’t matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.

The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don’t win, they are finished, too, in that they can’t resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast!

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims?

If we can’t stop the Muslims, how could anyone else?

The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.

Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war?

Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by “imploding.” That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don’t comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation.

President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation. Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.

And don’t worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?

No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.

Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us lose. I hasten to add that this isn’t because they are disloyal. It is because they just don’t recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.

Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.

And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more recently, the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of Americ an prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the “humiliating” of some Muslim prisoners — not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but “humiliating” them.

Can this be for real?

The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the Secretary of Defense. If this doesn’t show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.

To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned — totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife. Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.

Remember, the Muslim terrorists’ stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims — not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

We are the last bastion of defense.

We have been criticized for many years as being ‘arrogant.’ That charge is valid in at least one respect; we are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good, powerful an d smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can defeat anything bad in the world!

We can’t!

If we don’t recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone — let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.

This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-infli cted fall of the Roman Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be written or read.

If we don’t win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn’t that sound eerily familiar?

Democracies don’t have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically correct piece by politically correct piece.

And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power.

They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the “peaceful Muslims”?

I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.

Well said, General!

* I don’t entirely agree with the author’s assertion that no fault could be laid at the feet of any Democrats for “certain attacks”.

Hat Tip, Brenda.

ADDENDUM

Mustang, of Social Sense, added this insightful, spot-on comment that, due to its length, he was reluctant to add in the comment thread, though it would have been more than welcome therein:

As I commented, a few days ago at Social Sense, there are all kinds of ways to unite the American people – which I agree is necessary IF we intend to win the war on terror. But unlike previous world conflicts, our current challenges include the following: (1) An administration that pursues political expediency, which ultimately gives aid and comfort to the enemy of America, and (2) A myriad of mixed messages that cancel each other out, adding to the confusion of our general population

The White House, in an attempt to avoid any accusation that the war on terror is a “holy war,” seeks to placate the Muslim world. According to Mr. Bush, we are fighting “terrorists,” as if they are somehow separate and distinct from Islam. Nothing could be more confusing, or further from the truth. Mr. Bush has not united Americans – and in the minds of many citizens, there is no clear distinction about “who” our enemy is.

Democrats, using the conflict to further their own political agenda and career path, demand the implementation of a “cut and run” policy that curries favor with the anti-war crowd, those who support isolationist policies, and the enemy themselves. Concurrently, the liberal media, by commission and omission, have set about to whitewash the enemy, the threat they pose to the security of the United States, and the conflict as it reveals itself on foreign shore. Continual harping upon the “failed policies” of the Bush Administration only encourages the Jihadists, not unlike the war in Vietnam.

Conservatives demand a forceful and final resolution to the problem, which is Islam. Since many Americans are not convinced that the enemy of freedom is Islam, conservative chatter confuses them. Note: I believe that a firm solution is within our grasp, but no one is seriously considering it. I believe that there is ample justification for a war on terror, but that there can be no successful half-measures; we are either engaged to win, or we are destined to lose. I believe most Americans are waiting for a leader to stand up, point at someone, and tell us, “THAT is the enemy, and WE are going to kill him.”

Personally, I believe that the “worst thing” happens every single day; Catholic priests beheaded, Christian children crucified, and bombs exploding at the rate of several times a day. But if America is subject to nuclear, chemical, or biological attacks – all of which is entirely possible, will WE allow politicians to continue to play the blame game, or will someone get pissed off enough to begin acting like this is a real war and we’re damn well going to win it?

Finally, we are in a national crisis and it’s time we started acting like it. We have not adequately addressed the threat of a North Korea who is now, or will soon be in a position to sell atomic weapons to Jihadist Iranians. Political posturing is not the pathway to success in any conflict – and unless this changes, and soon, then I think we are likely to continue winning the battles, but lose the war. As for me personally, I think Mr. Bush is part of the problem, and even more worrisome, I do not see anyone waiting in the wings to inspire confidence as his successor.

This comment is also posted at Social Sense.

You want to read the most complete and spot-on commentary you’re likely to run across regarding the hypocrisy beliefs of “our friends” the liberals? Go over and pay a call on Atheling2 at The Pugil Stick.