Despite numerous residential meanderings about the country in my lifetime to date(I am now settled down, house and all, in Charlotte, NC), my “point of origin”, as it were, was New York, where I’ve spent several years of my adult life as well.

In my opinion, the two best mayors New York has had since I was old enough to notice were Rudi Giuliani and, though he is a Democrat, Edward Koch — one positive attribute of most N.Y. mayors is that they tend to lead from the front, and put the five boroughs ahead of most political considerations. I say most, not all because, after all, they are politicians.

Koch was a great mayor, very decisive, very colorful and entirely a New Yorker who placed his city first.

Since the Global War On Terror was launched by President Bush, Ed Koch has supported it as he supports, unlike so many of my fellow Jews (the liberal ones) Israel’s right to exist — while Jewish liberals both here in the U.S. and over in Israel are supporting capitulation to Palestinian terrorism, Mr. Koch advocates fighting back. He even wrote a column why, his being a Democrat notwithstanding, he was voting for George W. Bush in the 2004 election.

Basically, the former N.Y. mayor is what most Democrats used to be when I was growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, before that political party was taken over by liberals: Patriotic, supportive of our national defense and a believer that the United States, because we are a rich and powerful world leader that can, has a mission to help spread freedom where we are able throughout the world.

Unlike so many of today’s Democrats, he understands the danger our nation and other western nations face from the third major Jihad by a religion whose entire history, dating back 1300 years, encompasses bloody attempts to achieve Islamic world domination. While liberals do everything in their power to cause us to lose the War On Terror, Mr. Koch is quick to defend our efforts.

In a new Op-Ed column, Mr. Koch points out the western liberal habit of blaming the west (or Israel) the minute there are any charges of collateral damage being “inflicted” by our side, yet glossing over incidents in which terrorists kill innocent civilians by design.

In his Op-Ed, Foolish Western self-flagellation, the former mayor refers to a New York Times Op-Ed (this is not the kind of thing we normally get from the NYT, the columnist in question is the man who took the opening left by the venerable William Safire when the longtime columnist decided to retire his own column) by David Brooks.

New York Times columnist David Brooks writes with the clarity of Bill Safire, whom he has succeeded as The Times in-house moderate. In a June 8 column, Brooks vividly described the cruelty of the Iraqi insurgents:

“The insurgents’ first advantage is that not only are they cruel, they are absolutely cruel. The defining feature of their violence is not merely that they murder, but that they torture those they are about to kill. Shiite militias use drills to bore holds into their victims’ heads. Sunni insurgents saw off fingers and toes. Jihadists partially behead their victims then stomp on their torsos to create gushes of blood before finishing the job. Videos of such acts are posted on the Internet or sold in the markets of towns like Haditha.”

In sharp contrast, Western countries constantly flagellate themselves when civilians are injured or killed in the course of defensive military action against al-Qaeda or its agents.

The above is completely true, though I must add here that it has been pretty well demonstrated by liberals, that aside from their animosity toward Israel and their apparent support of terrorism, much of their “shock and chagrin” stems more from their hatred of Bush and by extension his efforts to protect these same stupid “intellectuals” from either being exterminated by terrorism or losing all the rights they now cherish, especially freedom of speech, to the global caliphate our Islamofascist enemies want to impose upon us.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, senior member of Al-Queda, was killed by U.S. forces directing bombs at a safe-house in which he was believed to be living. A number of men in the house at the time, thought to be his accomplices, were also killed. In addition, a woman and a child inside the house died. Normally when women or children are killed in a combat incident, denunciations of the American military are made. Few denunciations were made in this case, because of the prominence of the terrorist Zarqawi who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians and American and coalition civilian and military personnel.

But, what if Zarqawi had survived and escaped and the others in the house had not? The U.S. would have been denounced around the world by those opposed to our presence in Iraq today, even though the legitimately-elected Iraqi government recently advised the United Nations that it wanted us to remain.

As regards Israel and the Palestinians,

Another example of foolish western self-flagellation is seen in the different responses to actions by Hamas and Israel. Palestinian terrorists, with knowledge and approval of Hamas, launch Qassam rockets at Israel from open fields, and the Israelis respond with artillery shells. The Palestinians’ missiles are usually inaccurate, although they occasionally hit their targets — the towns and cities of Israel and their civilian populations. The Israeli artillery directed at the open fields generally hit the fields and occasionally kill those who launched the missiles.

This weekend, The Times reports: “Hamas’s military wing, which declared a tattered 16-month truce with Israel to be over after the deaths of eight civilians on a Gazan beach - apparently killed by an errant Israeli artillery shell - continued Sunday to fire volleys of Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel. One rocket landed near a school in Sederot, Israel, and badly wounded a 60-year-old resident, Yonatan Engel, a friend of Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Another rocket made a direct hit on a house in Sederot, but there were no injuries.”

Israel is denounced by nations around the world when Palestinian civilians are injured or killed, but rarely are the casualties suffered by Israeli civilians noticed, let alone denounced. There is a major difference between the nature of the two sides’ actions. Israel is responding to missiles directed at its civilian population. It is a basic duty of any government to protect its population from foreign attack. No responsible person suggests that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deliberately targeted innocent Palestinians on a Gaza beach who were injured by what The New York Times called “apparently…an errant Israeli artillery shell.” It is the nature of artillery shells sometimes to go astray.

To truncate here,

We learned Monday that the IDF has ascertained and confirmed, “that the explosion that killed eight Palestinians on Friday, was caused by a stockpile of Hamas explosives.” Will that make any difference to the weepers of the western world?

I doubt it.

So do I.

Look at the Haditha affair — the incident is still under investigation, no actual facts of the matter yet released to the media, yet the liberals, including politicians like that treasonous, politically opportunistic slimeball John Murtha, have already loudly convicted the Marines involved because they believe it will have adverse effects on Bush’s popularity. Yeah, I know, they all “support the troops”.

The liberal way is to keep on shouting their unsupported diatribes so that by the time the truth comes out, even if it’s just the opposite, the lie has become “general knowledge” and they’ll stick by it unto death.

The international terrorist organizations count on the infidels of the west to lose their collective nerve and be unwilling to sustain casualties in this ongoing war of survival between civilizations which might continue for decades. They hope the west will submit to defeat in Iraq and consent to the elimination of Israel, even if that would mean a world dominated by the Islamic fanatics.

Their weapon is fear and their willingness to die as martyrs for their cause while we in the west value every human life. Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden’s deputy in Iraq, left us these words as his epitaph: “Killing the infidels is our religion, slaughtering them is our religion, until they convert to Islam or pay us tribute.”

{emphasis mine}

The Op-Ed is entirely on-point, definitely give it a read in its entirety.

What are we supposed to make of this?

Environmental Protection Agency (Funded by your tax dollars) Celebrates Gay And Lesbian Pride Month
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), your tax supported agency of the federal government, is currently promoting June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

The theme for the month is “Pride, not Prejudice.”

The EPA Office of Civil Rights, Diversity Program for Sexual Orientation, is sponsoring an opening event to be held on June 14. On June 28 EPA will hosts Gilles Marchildon, Executive Director for Egale Canada (Equality Canada) as a guest speaker.

Karen Higginbotham, Director, Office of Civil Rights, states there will be other activities in which the homosexual lifestyle will be celebrated in EPA offices across the country.

I thought you might like to know that the EPA, funded by your tax dollars, has joined the push for the homosexual agenda.

To see the official notice which went out to all EPA employees, click here.

As I’ve said before, I’ve lived in big cities for most of the adult years of my own half century on the planet – New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago, to name a few, and I have several gay friends.

But — What they do “between the sheets” is their concern, not mine, not anyone else’s. It’s a “lifestyle” they chose, are turned on by, belong in, whatever, but it’s their lifestyle, their sexual and social preference, their business.
That said, how does it come to pass that a federal agency whose funding comes out of my tax dollars –- and yours – is using our money to stroke, glorify and otherwise honor an “alternative lifestyle” whose practitioners are an even smaller minority than the smallest ethnic minority we acknowledge? Where is the representation in this taxation?

For that matter, why does the Environmental Protection Agency even have an “Office Of Civil Rights, Diversity Program For Sexual Orientation”? What has that to do with environmental protection, and why am I paying for it? I follow the news and the activities of the government pretty closely, but I sure as hell don’t remember ever hearing or reading that the EPA was spending my taxes on logistics, salaries and benefits for a bunch of folks comprising a “sexual orientation” committee.

I mean, WTF!?

This is exactly what I mean when I expound upon the very real phenomenon of tax-and-spend liberals sneaking up on us. They infect our government agencies with their PC programs, programs that don’t accomplish anything as far as the respective agencies’ responsibilities are concerned, but satisfy, at mega-expense to the American taxpayer, the socialist whims of the liberals that have infested the once credible Democratic Party. In the case-in-point, they are using our money to stroke their gay constituency.

If America’s founding fathers saw this crap going down, they’d hang their heads in shame….

–H/T President Donald E. Wildmon,
American Family Association

This alert arrived from Bay Buchanan a little while ago:

Dear Friend,

I want to bring you up to date on a number of developments.

First, the immigration bills. The incompetence of the Senate is not to be
believed. They passed an unconstitutional bill that, as is, can’t go to
conference!! Do you love it!! It is a revenue enhancer and those bills
must originate in the House. So what will they do?

Democrat Leader Reid wanted to substitute the immigration bill that came
over from the House with the Senate’s amnesty bill. Then go to conference
with the two. Can’t be done!! The House immigration bill is not a revenue
raiser (it’s enforcement only) so the Senate can’t put it on that House
bill—they can only substitute their amnesty bill onto a revenue bill that
has already come over from the House.

So Senator Frist said, let’s substitute the immigration bill onto a tax
bill that did originate in the House. The problem then is this: when
they go to conference the two bills on the table will be the Senate
amnesty bill and the House tax bill they used as a vehicle to get the
Senate bill to conference. The House immigration bill doesn’t make it to
conference!

To add to the problem—the Senate has to go back to the floor—vote on
amnesty again–—to get any of the above done.

These guys were so anxious to sell out the nation, so determined to put
this vote behind them and put a stop to all your e-mails, faxes, and
calls– they didn’t do due diligence!

But don’t be too optimistic, they’ll come up with something. With
billions of dollars in cheap labor at stake–corporate America is surely
not going to let a little thing like the Constitution stand in their way.

But in our meeting the other night with the leaders of our side, including
several Senate staffers it is clear this is a godsend of a screw up. The
pro amnesty crowd has lost valuable momentum—and given us more time to
convince the House to kill this problem and try to prevent any conference
with the House.

Another amazing development: Senator Lugar, who voted for the bill, was
asked if he felt 66 million new immigrants into the country in 20 years
might be too many. He said he has no idea how many will come to the U.S.
under this bill—nor does anyone else. But he and his buddies voted for it
anyhow!! Do they even care that it will destroy our nation!

Action in the House: Thanks to all your help our radio ads against Utah’s
open border Congressman begin Monday!!! They hope to keep them up through
his primary on June 27.

Let me tell you I am certain defeating Chris Cannon must be our focus.
Even the pro-amnesty columnist John Fund of the Wall Street Journal wrote
this week:

“Illegal immigration is the key issue in the [Cannon} race, and should
five-term incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon of Provo lose to a restrictionist
challenger, look for House Republicans to dig in their heels and block any
bill that creates a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.

“House Republicans are already spooked about immigration, and should one
of our own lose on the issue, you will see panic break out,” one GOP
congressman told me.”

Panic is just what we want—if we can take out Cannon we have a chance of
stopping amnesty and guest worker for at least 6 months, and maybe more!

On Monday I’ll forward you the radio ad that we hope will defeat Cannon.
I’ll guarantee it will let Utahns know the truth about their Congressman.

One ominous development: the Pence amnesty plan! As I mentioned last
week, Congressman Pence, a solid conservative, offered an outrageous
“compromise” proposal on immigration. Pence’s plan is to turn over our
immigration policy to the private sector-(like putting the big hungry
foxes on guard duty over the chicken coup). Employers could bring in as
many guest workers as they want—Why wait 20 years when you can do all the
harm in three! We will be overrun in months, and our jobs will be sold in
mass o the cheapest bidders.

It a massive amnesty plan—and every other day another conservative writer
or leader endorses it—it looks as if the fix may be in and we may have
another front to fight in this battle! But if conservative Republicans
let the Pence plan become law we should organize to throw out every one of
them in November.

I need you to start calling the conservative leaders of the House (names
and numbers http://www.teamamericapac.org/index.php?p=53 ) and let them
know no Amnesty, no Guest worker, no Pence!! In the meantime I’ll
continue raising money to keep the Cannon ads up right up to election day.

We need to keep anything form going to conference until we can defeat
Cannon—then we will have the full attention of the House members and we
can beat back this sell-out!

Thanks for being part of the Team. We are still in this fight because of
you and all your efforts. Together we will keep this save this nation
form the enemy within.

Have a great weekend!

Bay Buchanan

And this is the content of an email I received today from Bob Robinson, who says it’s from a woman who is obviously thinking about things….

“Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the U.S. might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

Let’s say I break into your house. Let’s say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, “I’ve made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I’ve done all the things you don’t like to do. I’m hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).”

According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family’s insurance plan and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part). If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there. It’s only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I’m just trying to better myself. I’m hard-working and honest … um, except for .. well, you know.

And what a deal it is for me! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being anti-housebreaker.

Did I miss anything? Does this sound reasonable to you? If it does, grab a sign and go picket something. If this sounds insane to you, call your Senators and enlighten them because they are stumbling in the darkness right now and really need your help.”

Where, I wonder, is the left when patriotism or brains are needed?

While I have no doubt that there are at least a few evil virgins out there, I don’t think the devil would share them with his eternal inmates, and I do believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has by now finished his boat ride across the River Styx and been confronted by this fact, much to his chagrin.

I’m apparently not alone in this conclusion, as my friend GM Roper has already reported on Zarqawi’s first interview with Satan.

A similar assessment comes to us from Melanie Morgan, whose column also provides a good look at the liberals’ respose to their thankfully late hero al-Zarqawi’s demise.

Reading a transcript, posted by Mustang of Social Sense, of an address to colleagues by Colorado Democratic Senator Dick Lamm was the equivalent of a serious punch in the gut. It’s a must-read, the senator most definitely put one of the most important sets of current issues in the perspective of sheer reality.

So, yeah, I love singing the praises of Tom Tancredo — he is the man who should represent the GOP in the next Presidential election. He’s a solid patriot who, in view of his stance in our present national debate on illegal immigration and border security, is obviously more concerned about America’s well being than President Bush seems to be, which is a major disappointment to me as I’ve been a strong Bush supporter from the start.

In perusing the web this fine early morning, I ran across an interview with Tom Tancredo at Right Wing News. I have no idea when this was posted, as there are no dates on the page that I can find. The interview was a masterful exchange. Of everything he said in the interview, the two paragraphs that most stand out for me, because they precisely reflect my own thoughts, are —

You know, I’m a Republican, I’m a Conservative, I voted for George Bush. In many ways, he’s a fine President and I’m glad that he’s there. But this achilles heel that he has on immigration is so threatening to the survival of this nation that in my mind it begins to overwhelm all of the good things that he does. He can fight terrorists overseas, but he leaves our borders so they can come in here and do their thing. Does that make any sense? We send troops thousands of miles away to fight terrorists, but we refuse to put them on our own border to keep them out. Then we tell the Justice Department to find them when they’re here, swimming in a sea of illegals.

This issue, if not addressed, leaves any President, including George Bush, open to the criticism that they are essentially ignoring the destruction of the nation and I believe that with all my heart. I believe that is what we are actually facing here.

Read the entire interview here.

I recently did a post on the myth of global warming, in which I opined that the entire issue is a piece of nonsense that liberals have used to engender a goodly quantity of “political hay”, such as Robert Kennedy, Jr’s assertion that Katrina was Dubya’s fault, because he didn’t go along with the Kyoto BS and resultantly, Hurricane Katrina did its number on the Gulf Coast. The wingnut journalist, a Kennedy, hmmmm, actually bade us look to “the science” as proof that the hurricane was all Bush’s fault.

One of the commenters to the post, a liberal thinker, gave me the usual politically inspired argument and I answered with a link to one of the many websites debunking the myth and I haven’t heard from him since, though I would appreciate his input after reading at that site.

However, he hasn’t been back, and since then a blogger for whom I have a ton of respect has done a post on the issue that links to some profoundly definitive websites.

I refer you, at this point, to Pat’s Rick…

Just when we thought it was safe to get back on an airplane….

SAN ANTONIO —

More than 1,400 identification badges and uniform items have been reported lost or stolen from Transportation Security Administration employees since 2003, according to documents obtained by a San Antonio television station.

Now ain’t that grand!

Terrorism experts said the information showed an undeniable threat to security. The Department of Homeland Security has previously warned that stolen badges and uniforms were used by terrorists to stage attacks overseas.

Saul Wilen, a San Antonio-based terrorism prevention consultant, called the issue a very serious problem.
“If you have a badge and a uniform, you are invincible in terms of the system,” he said. “Not only can you get in and get around, you can get known and become a regular that becomes more and more recognized, so the next time you are less liable to have to go through the system’s security, and the next time even less.”

I’ll go with Saul Wilen’s evaluation anytime, despite the sputtered damage control spewings of the inept bean counters at the TSA.

In a statement, the TSA denied that stolen badges could lead to security breaches.
“Transportation security officers, regardless of credentials or uniforms, are screened each time they enter the checkpoint,” the statement read. “Badges and uniforms, used individually or collectively, would not allow access to a person with ill intent.”

Just like they depend upon terrorist watchlists and the good intentions of applicants for ground crew jobs, and discount the possibility that an airport employee could possibly foster any malevolent intentions toward airplanes and their innocent human cargoes.

What a bunch of assholes!

The television station countered that statement with footage of employees bypassing or being waved through checkpoints in San Antonio and Miami.
But Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said the missing badges and possible screening lapses are “a clear and present danger to homeland security.”
“We are dealing with people — criminals — who are smart people and will go to great lengths to take advantage of any loopholes in our security,” said Smith, who sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Exactly. What are these so-called “security” managers thinking? This isn’t like some retail manager screwing up on merchandizing a sale item, it’s an exercise in endangering large quantities of human lives. And we pay for this through our taxes, by gum!

He said he has introduced legislation to safeguard TSA badges and uniforms and wants airports to begin issuing heavy fines to TSA employees.
“When we start imposing fines and start holding people accountable for their identification, I promise you, fewer will go missing, fewer will be left in unlocked cars to be stolen and that will help our homeland security, as well,” Smith said.

Who is he kidding besides himself? There are enough stolen uniforms and badges out there now to equip a major terrorist offensive, and face it: the TSA is an agency that’s already proven itself to be almost purely cosmetic, its security measures nearly as porous as our southern border.

It’s only a matter of time before their ineptitude proves out in a significant loss of lives.

I hope everyone has taken the time today, during barbecue, beach and beverage, to honor those who have fallen in battle while taking the ultimate risk to preserve freedom for America and our friends.

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant “Amen,”

When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.

– H/T Brenda

And this oh so good one can be found at the blog of my friend Kat, of Cathouse Chat.

Also representing North Carolina is Senator Richard Burr. Like Elizabeth Dole, Senator Burr supports the integrity of our borders and, just as important, the enforcement of our immigration laws, for which so many scoundrels of his peers have so little regard — and these are people who, rather than call themselves “lawmakers” as are Dole and Burr, should call themselves “lawbreakers”.

From Senator Burr’s website:

May 25th, 2006 - Washington, D.C. – Senator Richard Burr today voted against the Senate immigration reform bill citing the fiscal impact it will have on the nation and taxpayers wallets, and the blanket amnesty it provides to over ten million illegal immigrants by putting them on a direct path to citizenship.

“I believe strengthened border security and comprehensive immigration reform are very important. As a nation, we have welcomed generations of legal immigrants over the course of our history–immigrants who respect the law and contribute a great deal to our country. The immigration reform package in the Senate addresses increased border security, but also rewards those who have broken the law by granting them a direct path to citizenship. It allows current illegal immigrants to receive the full array of federal benefits, but fails to reform our current immigration policy for those who want to come to America legally,” Burr said.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Senate immigration bill will increase federal spending by $79 billion in the first ten years. CBO predicts an increase in spending on federal benefit programs such as refundable tax credits, Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare, and Food Stamps. Other programs such as Supplemental Security Income, unemployment insurance, and student loans will also experience an increase in spending. Other sources estimate that the cost of the immigration bill could be as high as $160 billion in new federal spending over the next ten years.

“The economic impact this legislation will have on North Carolina and the nation is staggering. Each state will be stretched to its limits to provide benefits such as in-state tuition and Medicaid services to these new legal residents. Taxpayers will carry the increased costs of providing federal benefits such as the earned income tax credit and Medicare,” Burr said.

“As the father of two boys, I have tried to teach them that they will benefit or suffer from the consequences of the decisions they make, whether good or bad. I cannot as a U.S. Senator vote to grant blanket amnesty to those who have broken the law to live in our country,” Burr added.

It truly amazes me that a state that stupidly and irresponsibly elects so many pantywaist tax and spend liberals to state and local offices manages to find the wisdom to send real Americans to represent us in the United States Senate.