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May 30, 2006

More Transportation {In}security Administration News

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.


Posted by Seth at 09:55 PM | Comments (6) |

May 29, 2006

A Couple For Memorial Day

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.

Posted by Seth at 07:49 PM |

...And Senator Dole's Not The Only One...

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.


Posted by Seth at 07:28 AM |

My Senator

It's definitely nice to have a Senator like Elizabeth Dole representing my district, even though a considerable amount of her common sense, pro-America efforts are wasted by a majority of complacent, spineless, vote greedy, PC, America-Last traitors who have the nerve to call themselves Senators, let alone Americans. Those others are the bastards who are giving my country away in order to garner votes from "citizens" who support flooding the nation with felons who shouldn't even be here by granting them amnesty.

This from her website:

DOLE OPPOSES IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL WITH AMNESTY May 25th, 2006 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole today voted against the Senate immigration reform legislation, citing serious concerns with a number of provisions, particularly the amnesty provided by the bill. The Senate bill was passed and now must be reconciled in a conference committee with the House of Representatives-passed immigration reform legislation.

“I have maintained that securing our borders and enforcing current laws must come first – and unfortunately this bill puts amnesty first,” said Dole. “I have consistently stated that I would support a program that provides temporary worker permits to help bring people out of the shadows. But I cannot and will not support granting amnesty to those who have broken our laws and entered this nation illegally.

“In addition, this bill contains a number of provisions that just defy common sense, such as allowing illegal immigrants who fraudulently use a U.S. citizen’s Social Security number to accumulate and collect benefits from an already tight Social Security trust fund!

“As in 1986, passing an amnesty bill is not going to solve the problem of large scale illegal immigration – to solve this problem, we need strict border enforcement, effective work place verification, and a program for genuinely temporary workers.”

Background: Dole’s Votes on Selected Amendments:

Dole voted for an amendment that would have required that all border security features of the bill be fully implemented before any program addressing the status of those here illegally could go into effect. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 40-55.

Dole voted for an amendment that would have stripped from the bill the provisions granting amnesty for those who are in the U.S. illegally. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 33-66.

Dole voted for an amendment to make illegal immigrant felons ineligible for legal status in the United States. The amendment was passed by a vote of 99-0.

Dole voted for an amendment offered that would require the construction of at least 370 miles of triple-layered fence, and 500 miles of vehicle barrier at strategic locations along the southwest border. The amendment was passed by a vote of 83-16.

Dole voted for an amendment to make English the national language of the United States, which passed by a vote of 63-34.

Dole voted for an amendment to use up to 6,000 members of the National Guard in a supporting role for the purpose of securing our southern border. The amendment was passed by a vote of 83-10.

Dole supported an amendment that would have forbidden illegal immigrants from accumulating credit towards Social Security benefits for work performed with an invalid Social Security number. The fraudulent use of an American citizen’s Social Security number by an illegal immigrant can lead to serious consequences for the citizen, including tax liability based on illegal work, an IRS audit, and credit problems. Although Dole voted against a motion to table the amendment, the motion passed (and the amendment was defeated) by a single vote (50-49).

Dole voted against an amendment that would have expanded the provisions of the bill to provide amnesty to approximately 12 million immigrations in the United States illegally as of January 1, 2006. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 37-61.

Dole voted for an amendment that would have created a temporary worker program that was truly “temporary.” The bill’s existing “temporary worker” program provides illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship. This will result in massive and unprecedented levels of additional immigration. The amendment would have provided employers with the legal, temporary labor they need, while permitting the government to keep immigration to a reasonable level. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 31-67.

Dole voted against a motion to invoke cloture on the immigration bill. Although Dole strongly supports efforts to secure our borders, she opposes a number of provisions in the bill, including provisions granting amnesty to millions of persons here illegally and a provision that permits illegal immigrants who fraudulently use a U.S. citizen’s Social Security number to accumulate and collect Social Security benefits. The motion to invoke cloture was agreed to by a vote of 73-25.

Dole voted against a motion to waive budget objections to the immigration bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the current legislation, which provides amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, will dramatically increase federal expenditures for social service programs over the next 50 years. Dole agreed with a minority of senators that concerns about these additional costs should not be tossed aside in a rush to pass an amnesty-laden immigration bill. The motion to waive the budget objections was agreed to by a vote of 67-31.

Based on these efforts alone, Senator Dole will get my vote anytime she runs for reelection.

Posted by Seth at 07:04 AM |

May 28, 2006

Another Winner By Crosby(not the singer)

I took a little time out today to catch up on some reading, and ran across one of Greg Crosby's always welcome columns, this one really hitting home as both my maternal grandparents were immigrants, he from the Ukraine, she from Poland.

When they arrived here in the late 1920s and early 1930s, respectively, the first thing they did was become Americans in every sense of the word. My grandmother already spoke English along with several other languages, my grandfather made going to school and learning English a top priority, and, this accomplished, they both made the language of America their language. They assimilated themselves into American culture and traditions with great enthusiasm.

Today, largely thanks to the multiculturalism and PC promoted by the liberal sector of our society, this assimilation has become more the exception than the rule among immigrants, and as Mr. Crosby points out in this great column, it is dividing the country into pronounced ethnic subdivisions rather than providing any kind of continuum for unity among Americans. In fact, this phenomenon may well be the death knell for American traditions, culture and even national identity.

Our culture is in jeopardy because immigrants to America are not assimilating into society like they once did. My grandparents came here to be Americans, to bring up their children with American ideals and American values. It wasn't easy, but they went to night school to learn English. They dressed American. They listened to American radio stations in English, watched American television, and attended American movies. They embraced American music, ate American food, and learned American history.

Lack of assimilation is not purely the fault of the immigrant; much of the blame is with our politically correct multiculturalism, which has been taught throughout our public schools and universities for about three decades. The teaching of traditional American history is, at worst totally revisionist, at best given short shrift. In its place, the focus is now on minorities and looking at history through the prism of our contemporary views on race, women's rights and other hot button topics. The celebration of multiculturalism is laced through almost all subjects in our public schools … well, maybe not algebra, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Our society today makes accommodations which, if anything, discourage assimilation. Voting ballots printed in a dozen different languages, ATMs and payphones with instructions in Spanish, bilingual packaging on consumer goods, and billboards all over town in one language — Spanish — all say to the immigrant, "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to speak English here."

Truer words were never written.

Read the entire column here.


Posted by Seth at 10:56 AM | Comments (2) |

May 27, 2006

A Couple Of Good Perusals For Memorial Day

Melanie Morgan, conservative San Francisco (don't hold that against the great lady, I myself moved to Charlotte from San Francisco some five months ago and didn't hold having lived there against myself, in fact I rather compared myself in some small way with Job, except my torments came in the form of suffering being surrounded by and having to deal with lots and lots of unbelievably "out there" liberal wingnuts on a day-to-day basis) talk show host and Chairman of the non-profit organization Move America Forward, a truly patriotic organization that supports our military people fighting the War On Terror overseas, has written an inspiring column for this Memorial Day which I would like to share.

You can read it here.

Then, move along to my friend GM Roper's blog for a celebration of Memorial Day in photos.

Notice a really excellent pic, while you're there, of the U.S.S. Constitution.

And while you're enjoying the long weekend in whichever way you do, be it barbeque, beach, beer, booze, a combination of all the above or a visit with those relatives who dwell 'way out there in the sticks, please take some time out to honor those who have fallen in battle on behalf of our great nation, and to pray for those who are presently putting it all on the line fighting tyranny, oppression and terrorism in our name in other parts of the world.

Posted by Seth at 05:28 AM |

May 25, 2006

Alert from The Save The Internet Coalition

As many of us already know, the big telecoms have been lobbying Congress to pass bills that would give them control of the Web by doing away with the established and well-working concept of Network Neutrality.

From the Save The Internet Coalition:

Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment -- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you -- based on what site pays them the most. If the public doesn't speak up now, our elected officials will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign.

How will that effect the rest of us?

Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.


This is an issue that is in the interests of all of us who access the Web, in order to protect our Internet users' rights, to call or email our representatives on Capital Hill today, and ASAP.

All information on the issue and who to contact is here.

Please, let's get moving, as the jawing starts today!

Posted by Seth at 08:03 AM | Comments (2) |

May 24, 2006

Global Warming, The Myth

Former Delaware Governor Pete Du Pont has an informative Op-Ed up in yesterday's WSJ Opinion Journal titled, "Don't Be Very Worried" that rather succinctly debunks most of the left's global warming fantasies.

Since 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, America's population has increased by 42%, the country's inflation-adjusted gross domestic product has grown 195%, the number of cars and trucks in the United States has more than doubled, and the total number of miles driven has increased by 178%.

But during these 35 years of growing population, employment, and industrial production, the Environmental Protection Agency reports, the environment has substantially improved. Emissions of the six principal air pollutants have decreased by 53%. Carbon monoxide emissions have dropped from 197 million tons per year to 89 million; nitrogen oxides from 27 million tons to 19 million, and sulfur dioxide from 31 million to 15 million. Particulates are down 80%, and lead emissions have declined by more than 98%.

When it comes to visible environmental improvements, America is also making substantial progress:

• The number of days the city of Los Angeles exceeded the one-hour ozone standard has declined from just under 200 a year in the late 1970s to 27 in 2004.

• The Pacific Research Institute's Index of Leading Environmental Indicators shows that "U.S. forests expanded by 9.5 million acres between 1990 and 2000."

• While wetlands were declining at the rate of 500,000 acres a year at midcentury, they "have shown a net gain of about 26,000 acres per year in the past five years," according to the institute.

• Also according to the institute, "bald eagles, down to fewer than 500 nesting pairs in 1965, are now estimated to number more than 7,500 nesting pairs."

Environmentally speaking, America has had a very good third of a century; the economy has grown and pollutants and their impacts upon society are substantially down.

This doesn't sound like we're in the throws of environmental homicide to me, it sounds like things are getting better.

But now comes the carbon dioxide alarm. CO2 is not a pollutant--indeed it is vital for plant growth--but the annual amount released into the atmosphere has increased 40% since 1970. This increase is blamed by global warming alarmists for a great many evil things. The Web site for Al Gore's new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," claims that because of CO2's impact on our atmosphere, sea levels may rise by 20 feet, the Arctic and Antarctic ice will likely melt, heat waves will be "more frequent and more intense," and "deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years--to 300,000 people a year." If it all sounds familiar, think back to the 1970s. After the first Earth Day the New York Times predicted "intolerable deterioration and possible extinction" for the human race as the result of pollution. Harvard biologist George Wald predicted that unless we took immediate action "civilization will end within 15 to 30 years," and environmental doomsayer Paul Ehrlich predicted that four billion people--including 65 million American--would perish from famine in the 1980s.

I'm curious to know how these doomsayers respond, years later, when their theories of impending disaster have failed to come to fruition. Do they simply go on pontificating, expecting the usual suspects to continue to regard their theories and projections as gospel? Of course they do, because those "usual suspects" are liberals, and liberals will never let anything as picayune as being proven wrong alter their opinions in any way. Its a political thing. A liberal would as soon see America die as admit that he or she has believed a lie.

There are substantial differences in climate models--some 30 of them looked at by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--but the Climate Science study concludes that "computer models consistently project a rise in temperatures over the past century that is more than twice as high as the measured increase." The National Center for Atmospheric Research's prediction of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warming is more accurate. In short, the world is not warming as much as environmentalists think it is.

What warming there is turns out to be caused by solar radiation rather than human pollution. The Climate Change study concluded "half the observed 20th century warming occurred before 1940 and cannot be attributed to human causes," and changes in solar radiation can "account for 71 percent of the variation in global surface air temperature from 1880 to 1993."

There are more myth-debunking facts and figures in the Op-Ed, so give the entire article a read here.

Posted by Seth at 06:39 AM | Comments (24) |

May 20, 2006

Yes!

Greg Crosby's got a true masterpiece of a column posted at JWR, read it here.

Posted by Seth at 05:32 AM |

The Da Vinci Code

That's it, I have to speak my piece!

What prompted me to do so was this WSJ Opinion Journal Op-Ed by deputy editor/ columnist Daniel Henninger, not because I take umbrage with the man's point of view, in fact I think I know where he's coming from --

"The Da Vinci Code" would not be the subject of this column had it not sold 60.5 million copies, according to its publisher Doubleday. Of course this does not make it the best-selling book of all time. That title, as irony would have it, goes to the Bible, half of which one of Dan Brown's characters dismisses as "false."

-- but because all this hoopla, much of it mind-bogglingly senseless, over the novel... I say again, novel, is becoming something of an irritant and Mr. Henninger's column on the subject was merely the proverbial straw that broke the equally proverbial camel's back(I've never completely understood that saying, given the weight of straw -- I didn't think they manufactured camels big enough to reasonably balance enough weight in straw to break them, certainly not so much that one more of those ultralight, skinny suckers could do so).

I regularly receive emails from a number of conservative individuals and organizations, in large part Christian political action groups and their members or supporters, and from the latter quarter I've gotten a lot of action condemning Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code because the story is predicated on Mary Magdelene not only having become the wife of and borne Jesus a child, but also, as the story unfolds, his chief disciple. It doesn't help Brown's cause at all that the person on Jesus' right in Da Vinci's Last Supper isn't a man, but Mary Magdalene herself, nor that the Catholic Church, also according to the novel, knew this but chose to cover it up to the point that even today, assassins from Opus Dei seek Mary's concealed remains and scrolls accompanying them that could repudiate the Vatican's "male only" priest policy(exposing, instead, the concept of "the sacred feminine")... Anyway, I've said too much as it is, there may be someone out there who hasn't yet read it, despite all the controversy.

Needless to say, the Vatican's up in arms, all sorts of clergy spokespersons have spoken in outrage, cults have been established that fanatically support Dan Brown's "theories" and people have been running around in all directions making mammoth hay about the novel.

Mr. Henninger says,

Here's my theory of "The Da Vinci Code." Dan Brown was sitting one night at the monthly meeting of his local secret society, listening to a lecture on the 65th gospel, and he got to thinking: "I wonder if there's any limit to what people are willing to believe these days about a conspiracy theory. Let's say I wrote a book that said Jesus was married. To Mary Magdalene. Who was pregnant at the Crucifixion. And she is the Holy Grail. Jesus wanted her to run the church as a global sex society called Heiros Gamos, but Peter elbowed her out of the job. Her daughter was the beginning of the Merovingian dynasty of France. Jesus' family is still alive. There were 80 gospels, not four. Leonardo DiCaprio, I mean da Vinci, knew all this. The 'Mona Lisa' is Leonardo's painting of himself in drag. Da Vinci's secret was kept alive by future members of 'the brotherhood,' including Isaac Newton, Claude Debussy and Victor Hugo. The Catholic Church is covering all this up." Then Dan Brown said softly, "Would anyone buy into a plot so preposterous and fantastic?" Then he started writing.

By George, he might be right, and I commend the man for sharing this.

They say the film did not perform well at the box office when it opened, but being a reader first and a movie-goer third(I really don't like being packed into a row of movie theatre seats to watch a brand new flick and being denied the luxuries I can enjoy while watching a six month old movie on the 62" TV in my den), I could care less -- that's Opie's, I mean Richie's Ron Howard's lookout, not mine.

But I read the novel back in late 2004 or early 2005, and enjoyed it immensely. The book was well written and held my interest from cover-to-cover, the "theories" advanced intriguing, if not accurate by the standards of conventional faith, the story delivered in conjunction with what Mr. Henninger rightly refers to as a "conspiracy theory" at a pace that kept me interested enough to read the entire novel in one sitting, in the end wishing there were a few more chapters. It was fascinating, Dan Brown is one very creative novelist.

I did not take the novel as anything more than that: A novel. Period. A fiction story, which the author no doubt intended it to be, else he would have left out the story and written the theory behind the book as non-fiction rather than a novel. This is entertainment, nothing more.

A novelist's "job" is to write stories that people will want to read. His/ her income, based on book sales, depends upon it. Offhand, I'd say that selling over 60,000,000 copies in several languages is quite a measure of success in anyone's book, please pardon the double entendre (why is French so hard on the palate? Using their words is like gargling on doo doo, but I suppose that when you're French...).

What aggravates me about the aggressive defensive attacks on the novel by the so-called "religious right", who are as much on the starboard side of the aisle as I am, is the intolerance they demonstrate where a work of pure fiction is concerned.

We are constantly (and rightly) accusing the self proclaimed "tolerant" liberals (you know, those folks who will sue you for saying Merry Christmas or kick your kid out of school for praying) of intolerance, yet here folks on our side of the political frontier wage war and spend big bucks deploying their condemnation of a novel.

For G-d's sake, people, let's get things in perspective here! Let's not exercise the same pro-censorship policies that they do on the left side of the aisle, the American political kollective from whence have come all members of the American Communist Party. Repeat after me: BE TOLERANT... BE TOLERANT... BE TOLERANT...

We are, after all, talking about a damn novel...

Posted by Seth at 03:06 AM | Comments (4) |

Taking The Brave For Granted

When we talk about supporting our military personnel who are fighting in Iraq not only on our behalf and that of the Iraqi people, but on behalf of the free world -- do some reading on the history of Islam, get real about the threat posed by the now neutered Saddam Hussein, not just the "Bush lied, people died" malarkey spouted by a bunch of airheaded, anti-American, ignorant, marxist or a combination of all four people who are evidently information challenged -- we are talking about actively notifying the politicians (such as they are these days) that represent us in the House and Senate as to our support of the troops and their mission (You cannot support one without the other. Either you want them to accomplish their mission and come home safe, or you don't. Those who claim to support the troops and then protest the war they're fighting are what we call shameless, lying liberals, like the men and women with spines of cooked asparagus who stand before Walter Reed on Friday evenings and let the permanently disfigured heroes within "know" that they sacrificed "for nothing" :men and women alike, I call these people toilet cakes) -- we are talking about about explaining reality to those who haven't yet grasped it -- we are talking about honoring those brave service personnel, about praying for their success and survival, about thinking of them as we enjoy the trappings of living in this great country while they are living in constant physical danger and discomfort, engaging in mortal combat to ensure that we continue to enjoy those trappings, not least among which are a whole slew of rights Iraqis never dreamed of under Saddam. Hell, a convicted felon here in the U.S. has more rights than most Iraqis did under the Husseins.

Before I go off on the major rant I feel coming, I'd better hand you off to blog buddy G.M. Roper, who has a post up that you've really got to read.

Posted by Seth at 01:15 AM | Comments (2) |

May 17, 2006

More Islam In Action

It really illustrates just how primitive Islam is as a collective system of belief when those who purport to speak for Muslims demonstrate time and again that they are incapable of offering any compromise or even sitting down and resolving differences of opinions peacefully, as human beings are known to do.

Every solution these people produce to every problem involves violence, almost exclusively against unarmed, innocent men, women and children and the property of others, whether it is burning the vehicles of people they don't even know, bombing embassies, blowing themselves up in crowded places... There were the transit bombings in London, the recent running amok of Muslims in France, the Van Gogh murder, the butchery of school children in Russia, there is the unending violence in Israel...

Ah, Israel, a country whose liberal lemmings have been ceding important strategic land to the Palestinians in an effort to curtail terrorism, even as the terrorists are sneering in their victory, seeing this as a sign that their terrorism works and vowing still more monstrocities until they've run the Jews completely out of the country.

And there's Hamas, the terrorist organization elected by the Palestinian people to assume the mantle of the ruling class long held by Fatah, a party that was once the militant wing of the P.L.O.

In response to Hamas' political victory, western nations have cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority(PA) because it's as plain as day that while much of the money would continue to support Palestinian infrastructure, the bulk of it would be used to purchase armaments and explosives for the continued prosecution of terrorism against the Israelis.

These withheld funds, as I have said before, are yours and my tax dollars, among others, and since it's our money, it is our decision to whom we give it away. We are under no obligation to give it to the PA or anyone else just because they need money. If these people weren't murderous animals and instead were willing to honor agreements made with the Israelis and accept that Israel is there to stay, they would have a great trading partner with whom they could flourish and not have to live with a hand out for alms from other countries. Instead, mothers and fathers are willing to sacrifice their children to murder the children of others.

Golda Meir once said that there would only be peace in the Middle East when Palestinians came to love their children as much as they hate the Jews.

That will never happen as long as the Palestinians continue to make the wrong choices and support terrorism. In short, it probably won't happen in my lifetime, sad to say.

Back on topic, as I said above, the withheld funds belong to the citizens of the nations that are withholding them. They do not belong to the Palestinians and we are under no obligation to help further terrorism by disbursing them to the PA as long as it is under Hamas control. The Palestinians got what they voted for, it's not our responsibility, despite the guilt trips laid on us by wingnuts like former President Jimmy Carter, who says, among other things, that

One clear reason for the surprising Hamas victory for legislative seats was that the voters were in despair about prospects for peace. With American acquiescence, the Israelis had avoided any substantive peace talks for more than five years, regardless of who had been chosen to represent the Palestinian side as interlocutor.

A) Our liberal ex-POTUS apparently believes that the best way to achieve peace is to elect terrorists with a life-and-death agenda of mass homicide to run a government, and

B) the Israelis had avoided any substantive peace talks for more than five years? What does he call the Great Gaza Giveaway and the expulsions of settlers from West Bank towns to make way for Palestinians? I suppose chopped liver, as they say.


So the terrorist regime Carter worships has taken the Islamic approach to the situation.

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, on Monday threatened to strike at US and European interests in response to international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

The threat, the first of its kind, came as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to hold talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin on the severe financial crisis in the PA territories. Moreover, the threat by Abbas's Fatah party came as Palestinians marked the 58th anniversary of the nakba, or catastrophe (the secular anniversary of Israel's independence).

"We won't remain idle in the face of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, the US and other countries," said a leaflet issued by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. "We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad."

The leaflet added: "Let the entire world know that we won't succumb in the face of the policy of blackmail, siege and starvation. In the past we did not capitulate in the face of the policy of assassinations, detentions and air raids."

Blackmail, indeed!

"It's the rest of the world's responsibility to give us money, even though much of it will be spent to continue our butchery of innocent people."

Of course it is... NOT!

Another armed group affiliated with Fatah, the Abu Rish Brigades, threatened to launch a new intifada unless the international community agreed to fund the PA. "This will be a merciless intifada that will destroy everything," said Abu Haroon, a spokesman for the group in the Gaza Strip.

I suppose this kind of response can be categorized, like "going postal", as "going Islamic". How, one wonders, do these primates ever expect to earn any true respect from the global community(outside of France, certain other questionable members of the UN and liberals everywhere) if their only dialogue comes in the form of suicide vests, property destruction and bullets?

On the other hand, it's entirely possible, if not probable, that they could care less about the respect of infidels, since the goal of Islam is to rule those infidels by fear, to make the world one big Caliphate, and the "Religion of Peace" preaches that it's perfectly acceptable to achieve this objective via terrorism.

The bloody real estate dispute in Israel, which the Arabs are now winning do to spinal deterioration among Israelis, is just a small part of a much bigger picture.

Hat Tip: James Taranto

Posted by Seth at 11:24 AM | Comments (6) |

Direct Hit!

And here is another direct hit from the ever right-thinking Ann Coulter.

Posted by Seth at 09:50 AM |

May 16, 2006

No Pain, No Gain?

Don't we wish, LOL!

HEALTH QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!!... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

H/T Brenda.

Posted by Seth at 05:57 AM |

May 13, 2006

Complacent Stupidity In Its Finest Hour

Now, isn't this just dandy...

An airline employee spoke with 6News about what he claims are serious breaches in security at Indianapolis International Airport.

The employee, who spoke with the station on condition of anonymity, said workers have been able to put weapons through secure areas and that packages can be put onto planes without proper security checks. The employee also said that workers don't undergo physical screenings.

The worker told 6News' Jeremy Brilliant about two airports -- the public side, where every bag is screened, every person is checked and some undergo more detailed random searches, and the back side, where ground crews work with no regular inspections and no physical checks of individuals or their belongings.

Now, far be it from me to tell the experts at the Transportation Security Administration{TSA} how to do their job, provided they are actually doing it. I don't mean doing most of it, I mean doing all of it.

Using a hidden camera, he recorded himself boarding two planes to illustrate how easy it is for a worker to walk onto aircraft unchecked.

"There is a hole and there is a breach. Employees breach security every single solitary day," the employee said.

Employees must swipe their badges to get access to the secure area of the airport.

The employee said workers encounter no metal detectors or guards. Airline employees are able to bring with them just about anything they want, the employee said.

"(We can bring) handguns, hunting knives, just a variety of things like that that they were able to bring out onto the secure area, or what they call a secure area, with no detection," he said.

This doesn't sound like they are doing the whole job to me, it sounds more like the people who strategize and implement security measures at airports are being complacent, lazy, budget-cheap and verrrrry stupid.

For example:

Indianapolis TSA Federal Security director David Kane said physical inspections aren't necessary, because employee names are continually checked against terrorist watch lists, and the workers undergo extensive background screening before they are given entry badges.

"It's a layered system. So, it's not just what you see at the front door and that's where it ends. It's not that at all," Kane said. "As long as we're making sure that people don't have the motivation, the predisposition, to commit crimes against the transportation system, the rest of it to me is a relationship between that person, their employer and their personal integrity."

...making sure that people don't have the motivation...

What an ass! What a pompous ass that guy is! What qualifies him to determine what's going on in the minds and personal lives of thousands of airport workers?

...employee names are continually checked against terrorist watch lists.

Terrorist watch lists?

What if some ground crew member with no previous terrorist association agrees to help his second cousin's friend by stashing some goodies aboard an aircraft, conveniently in the pockets of a list of seats provided him?

... the rest of it to me is a relationship between that person, their employer and their personal integrity."

Is this David Kane joking, or what? I'm sure Osama bin Laden would see the humor in all this, but I certainly don't. No Physical Security professional I've ever known, and I know several, including myself, would even dream that statement.

A Security organization is not supposed to assume anything where an "employer-employee relationship" or anyone's personal integrity is concerned. It is not supposed to be trusting in the areas of human goodness, honesty and benevolence. It is there to protect.

You can't, in any conscience, say you're protecting a principal by barricading the front of his house while leaving the rear and side doors open. In the case of the TSA, the principals are passengers and air crew, ultimately millions of people who look to the Transportation "Security" Administration to protect them. Protecting other people is one of the noblest of callings and it is one that engenders serious, inescapable responsibilities, tenacity and thoroughness among them.

An aviation report card issued by a national pilot's trade association gave the industry a failing grade for ground crews, because they aren't screened.

"If they had evil intent in mind and they're not being monitored, they could do just about whatever they want to do inside a wheel well of an aircraft or inside the cabin itself," said Jay Norelius, of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association.

This doesn't sound like security, it sounds like Swiss cheese, and not screening these employees all but negates all of the front end efforts. Just go around the back, the door's unlocked. Great.

The worker told 6News he made his superiors aware of what he perceives as a threat months ago, but he said they shrugged it off.

"They pretty much just said ... it was unrealistic -- that yes, they're aware that something maybe could happen, but the chances of that happening were very slim," the worker said.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!?

... they're aware that something maybe could happen, but the chances of that happening were very slim.

Maybe something could happen. Chances very slim.

How slim were the chances that terrorists would hijack four commercial airplanes and crash three of them into heavily populated buildings? Do those incompetent, lazy bean counters need to wait until an airplane or two explode in midair or crash into nuclear reactors or petrochemical plants before they get up on their hind legs and do their job?

Posted by Seth at 10:00 AM | Comments (2) |

May 12, 2006

Hmmmmm, Again...

Just to be completely straightforward, those who have read this blog for more than six months know that while I am now a resident of North Carolina, I moved here from San Francisco. In the City On The Bay, unless you are completely devoid of any social life and have all your meals delivered to you in a house or apartment you never leave, you know and/or do business, personally, with gay people. You get to know them, become friends with some of them, male and female.... But being a "straight", you don't become involved in their "lifestyle". Fine, there are some really great people in the gay community, they simply possess different, er, "lifestyle" preferences.

I parenthisize "lifestyle" because it is a purely PC term, which, like the word "gay", has been transmuted in the English vocabulary from its original meaning to something else. If you tell someone today that you're "happy and gay", for example....

Being immersed as I am in conservative forums, I subscribe, both free and otherwise, to scores of email-distributed publications, alerts and bulletins. Most of them are right on point while others, sadly to say, tend to venture even more to the right than this neocon has the extremist bus fare to travel.

That is, they attack firms like airlines and automobile manufacturers that advertise in gay newspapers and magazines. WTF!!!??? That's simply marketing, gay Americans are still Americans, and they're a market. In fact, they are a significant market.

In that respect, the moralists ought to leave gays and those who market to them alone. Basically, it's none of their business. People have been doing things behind closed doors for centuries. To interfere in such matters would be "un-American".

However, that's their "thing", right? As long as they keep it in their community, no problem.

Unfortunately, the liberals who control our educational system don't all see it that way, as far as they're concerned all children should grow up with an intimate knowledge of the world of homosexuality.

"Fine," I'd say, "let 'm do what thay think they've gotta do,,,,"

Except that what they feel they've "gotta" do both may be and is contrary to the wills of parents who believe that the taxes they pay for their childrens' education should ensure that their offspring learn "The Three Rs", as it were, not be force fed the details of an "alternative lifestyle" alien to the morality of the parents and, in fact, society as a whole, and that the non-mainstream, "feel good" political intent behind such academic impartations be left in the realm of adulthood or within the purview of parental discretion as far as the "when" of learning about the abnormal life preference is concerned.

I mean, face it: People don't send their kids to school to absorb the details of liberal or any other political doctrines, they send their young 'uns through the educational system to learn the skills they'll need to either make it into and through college or make it through basic life in or around the work force, and be able to both function and live within that framework. Not to develop a rapport with or a knowledge of folks who sleep with other folks of the same gender.

That's another social issue driven into the classroom by liberals, who want us all to feel that same-sex bedroom, marriage and parental affairs are no different than "straight" ones.

Sorry, they are different, we all know they are and they should not be forced into the zone of mainstream values where teaching our society's children is concerned. Such teaching is a parental responsibility, period.

Greg Crosby's got a column out this week that kicks proverbial butt on the subject as regards the broader California(left coast, what do you expect?) sentiments on this issue here.

You wanna force feed homosexuality on the masses, let's not skimp, right? Read the column!


Posted by Seth at 01:23 AM |

Wow

My Conservative Democrat{were all Democrats to be real ones, like those I grew up among, instead of the blame America first liberals that are served up as a lame excuse for today's Democrats -- sigh --} Aunt Brenda is batting a solid grand today, with this one:

We rarely get a chance to see another country's editorial about the USA . Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "C"ntarea Americii, meaning "Ode To America") in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei "The Daily Event" or "News of the Day".

~An Ode to America~


Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart.

Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, and the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing.

On every occasion, they started singing their traditional song:
"God Bless America!" I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being?
Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.


What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace.

I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion... Only freedom can work such miracles.

Cornel Nistorescu

Good observation, Cornel, imagine if those planes had been crashed into buildings in Paris. There would still be millions of crapeau running around frantically, looking for someone to surrender to.

Posted by Seth at 01:00 AM |

I'm Sorry, But I Just Can't Resist...

Sorry, I really can't, so...

Bill and Hillary are at a Yankees home game, sitting in the first row, with the Secret Service people directly behind them.

One of the Secret Service guys leans forward and whispers something to
Bill.
At first, Clinton stares at the guy, looks at Hillary, looks back at the
agent, and shakes his head "no." The agent then says, "Mr. President, it
was a unanimous request of the entire team, from the owner of the team to
the bat boy."

Bill hesitates...but begins to change his mind when the agent tells him
the fans would love it! Bill shrugs his shoulders and says, "Ho-Kay! If
that is what the people want. C'mere Hilly, baby."

With that, Bill gets up, grabs Hillary by her collar and the seat of her
pants, lifts her up, and tosses her right over the wall onto the field.

She gets up kicking, swearing, screaming, "Bill you "!^$#@&!". The crowd
goes absolutely wild. Fans are jumping up & down, cheering, hooting and
hollering, and high-fiving. Bill is bowing, smiling and waving to the
crowd.

He leans over to the agent and says, "How about that! I would have never
believed how much everyone would enjoy that!"

Noticing the agent has gone totally pale, he asks what is wrong.

The agent replies, "Sir, I said they want you to throw out the first
Pitch."

H/T Brenda

Posted by Seth at 12:50 AM |

May 10, 2006

Egyptian Bloggers Under Attack

Here in the United States, the rights we take for granted are but a distant dream to our counterparts in a large part of the world. The idiots who abuse their freedom of speech rights, for example, using them to attack and otherwise demean the selfsame system of government that allows us these freedoms, have absolutely no clue as to what it would be like for them if our form of government were not one whose Constitution guarantees us these rights.

In Egypt, for example, whose government attempted to demonstrate not long ago how democratic they are, human rights oriented bloggers and activists are being snatched up Gestapo style and tossed into the hoosegow without so much as due process, held for a 15 day investigation period that can be extended without a whole lot of pomp and circumstance and, if the powers-that-be decide to do so, be indefinitely extended so as to become what may be a permanent disappearance.

We're not talking about criminals being arrested for murder, larceny or battery, simply non-violent dissenters, yet they do not have a fraction of the same rights as the murderers, larcens or batterers whose wrists liberal doctrine has forced us to slap here in America.

Right now, as we speak, an Egyptian blogger and others who fight for the same human rights we conservatives do here in the United States are in serious danger from their own government.

We all need to address this together, in many ways it's like running across the street to stop a rape or a mugging.

To get down to brass tacks, let's go visit my blog brother and friend Kender and get this sorted out.

Posted by Seth at 02:02 AM |

May 08, 2006

American Vs "Name-Only" American

There are no African, Mexican, Asian or other categorized Americans. This hyphenated X-AMERICAN thing has got to go. Either you're an American, period, or you're not. Becoming an American means exactly what it says: American.

The liberal "multicultural" bit that incorporates X + American is nothing more than a piece of PC crap designed to garner votes for Democrats. Prior to this boneheadedness, we American taxpayers weren't forced to translate such publications as drivers' handbooks, etc, into a trillion languages. You moved here, your priority was learning to read, write and speak the Gringo language. The left has altered that for the reason of getting votes.

When you become a naturalized American, you leave your previous nationality behind. Case closed. If you want to be a Mexican-American, stay in Mexico and just be a Mexican. If you want to be an African-American, stay in or move to Africa and be an African. How many American born citizens of foreign countries call themselves American-Africans, American-Mexicans or American-Asians?

NONE.

Going further, the English language is "coin of the realm" here, total allegiance to this country should be a requirement of new citizenship, as it was when my grandparents came here from eastern Europe. Move here, enjoy the benefits of citizenship, learn the language. So let's have a look below:

The wisdom of our fathers

Teddy had it so right! Not Kennedy, but Roosevelt!

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes
here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he
shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an
outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or
birthplace, or origin.

But this is predicated upon the person's becoming
in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be
no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but
something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one
flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and
that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole
loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Well said, Teddy!

Posted by Seth at 09:36 PM | Comments (4) |

More Bravo Sierra{B.S.} From Jimmuh Cahtuh

It's truly amazing how far a failed liberal ex-President will go to try and claim a favorable place in the history books, isn't it?

Jimmy Carter: Punishing Innocent Palestinians is a Crime By Jimmy Carter 7 May 2006 This article was published in the May 7, 2006, issue of the International Herald Tribune

Innocent Palestinian people are being treated like animals, with the presumption that they are guilty of some crime. Because they voted for candidates who are members of Hamas, the United States government has become the driving force behind an apparently effective scheme of depriving the general public of income, access to the outside world and the necessities of life.

Overwhelmingly, these are school teachers, nurses, social workers, police officers, farm families, shopkeepers, and their employees and families who are just hoping for a better life...

Right, but unfortunately, the vast sums of aid money these folks are suddenly not receiving are not sent directly to the recipients indicated in the former single-term President's Op-Ed, they are entrusted to the political leadership above the people Mr. Carter refers to, and disbursement is left up to those same leaders. The leaders are terrorists. They would get a good deal here, pay the health care, education, law enforcement professionals, the social and farm workers and all, and also buy explosives, RPG-7s, Stinger units and missiles, ammo, AKs, etc.
Use some of the money to compensate families for members who blow themselves up to kill people they don't even know. What a deal!


It is almost a miracle that the Palestinians have been able to orchestrate three elections during the past 10 years, all of which have been honest, fair, strongly contested, without violence and with the results accepted by winners and losers. Among the 62 elections that have been monitored by us at the Carter Center, these are among the best in portraying the will of the people.

Yeah, Jimbo, that's why Hamas and Fatah members are blowing each other away, even as we speak.

One clear reason for the surprising Hamas victory for legislative seats was that the voters were in despair about prospects for peace.

Yes, indeed, what better way to achieve peace than to vote terrorists into positions of political leadership? Do you know, Mr. Carter, that I was a Democrat, and a pretty liberal one at that, until your Presidency turned me into a Republican?

The day after his party lost the election, Abbas told me that his own struggling government could not sustain itself financially with their daily lives and economy so severely disrupted, and access from Palestine to Israel and the outside world almost totally restricted. They were already $900 million in debt and had no way to meet the payroll for the following month. The additional restraints imposed on the new government are a planned and deliberate catastrophe for the citizens of the occupied territories, in hopes that Hamas will yield to the economic pressure.

Yo, Mahmoud, I have suggested this in a previous post or two: The late Yassir Arafat's wife has inherited a large fortune paid out of Swiss banks, pilfered funds her corrupt career terrorist husband diverted from the same moneys you want us to keep giving you -- why don't you sue the embezzled bucks out of her?

With all their faults, Hamas leaders have continued to honor a temporary cease-fire, or hudna, during the past 18 months

Aha! So that's why all those Jews died or suffered permanent injury in the course of a Pesach(Passover) bombing! It's because you were honoring a "cease-fire"! I knew there had to be a reason!

Regardless of these intricate and long-term political interrelationships, it is unconscionable for Israel, the United States and others under their influence to continue punishing the innocent and already persecuted people of Palestine.

You mean.... We should feel guilty about not financing terrorism? Why, Mr. Carter! You're such a liberal!

There is no way to predict what will happen in Palestine, but it would be a tragedy for the international community to abandon the hope that a peaceful coexistence of two states in the Holy Land is possible....

So we keep on financing terrorism, and perhaps eventually things will work themselves out.

Nothing like the practicalities of liberal reasoning.

The entire Jimmuh Cahtuh Op-Ed is here.

One major hat-tip to the illustrious Melanie Morgan. The alert from which the above fisked article emerged is an element of a well conceived program to censure Jimmuh Cahtuh for his profoundly anti-American diatribes in foreign countries. Here's a so-called "statesman" who travels the globe badmouthing the very country that once trusted him(wrongly, as it turned out) with its leadership.

Below is the text of Melanie Morgan's message:

Just when you thought Jimmy Carter couldn't sink any lower, he has hit a new low.

In a newspaper OpEd piece published this weekend, former President Jimmy Carter has pathetically attacked the United States and defended the terrorist group, Hamas. Carter says we have engaged in a "crime" in our tough stance against these terrorists and he calls America to task.

Please realize that Hamas is the most deadly and bloodthirsty Palestinian terrorist group in the world.

You should read Jimmy Carter's OpEd that was published over the weekend. It will help you to understand just why it is that we have launched the "Censure Jimmy Carter" campaign [website: http://www.CensureCarter.com] . When a former President writes that America is wrong, and the terrorists are right, then he sends a message to the rest of the world that undermines the mission our men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces are serving in.

Read Carter's Op Ed:
http://www.cartercenter.org/doc2337.htm

OK, so did you read his "OpEd" - do you now understand how dangerous and destructive an influence Jimmy Carter has become?

Should you have any doubts about the deadly nature of the terrorist group, Hamas, then maybe pictures will help set things straight for you. Here's a sampling of pictures of recent Hamas-led terrorist strikes.

NOTE: Some of these photographs are rather graphic, so please do not open them if you aren't sure whether you can cope with the honest, brutal images of what terrorist attacks can do to innocent people.

http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_96/photo5.gif

http://www.peacewithrealism.org/images/busbomb2.jpg

https://www.aipac.org/hamas/gallery/images/HamasSlideshow_03.jpg


Enough is enough. We cannot allow Jimmy Carter to continue to hurt America and set back our war against terrorism. We cannot sit idly while he rallies the world to oppose U.S. policies in the fight against terrorism.

It is time once and for all for the Congress to issue a resolution of Censure against Jimmy Carter, condemning him for his shameful conduct and letting the rest of the world know that his views do not represent the thoughts and feelings of the American people.

Please, support our Censure Jimmy Carter campaign.

SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.CensureCarter.com

SUPPORT OUR TV AD CAMPAIGN (to get the message out):
http://www.CensureCarter.com/contribute


Posted by Seth at 07:49 PM | Comments (3) |

Animals Fighting Among Themselves

Pick a side in this bit of infighting, then wonder how the U.N., our own President and Israeli liberals can be so gung-ho about ceding territory to the Palestinians, and allowing either Hamas or Fatah to govern it and maintain any sort of peaceful relations with Israel. Well, I suppose the U.N.'s support for either the old or the new Palestinian administrations running things doesn't provoke a whole lot of wonder, since as a collective body they are much more comfortable supporting terrorists and totalitarian regimes than they are free countries, and they have, by their past involvements, made it quite clear that they wish Israel would simply go away.

Hamas and Fatah leaders called for calm Monday, after clashes between armed supporters of the two groups in the Gaza Strip left three people dead.

The Hamas militant and two Fatah gunmen were
killed overnight when members of the two groups opened fire with assault rifles and an anti-tank missile in the most serious outbreak of fighting between the rival organizations since Hamas took power. At least 11 others were wounded, medical personnel said.

I'm neither shocked nor particularly disturbed by this development, the former because both major Palestinian parties are terrorist organizations, and as such are supported and staffed by animals who will always find a reason to kill other human beings, the latter because it can only be good for Israel if a bunch of these ignorant, murderous-clowns-from-hell kill each other off.

Of course, I can see why Fatah might harbor ill feelings toward Hamas -- with losing the elections to them, Fatah also loses the monopoly they had on pocketable foreign aid, you know, the green stuff earmarked for the well-being of the Palestinian masses that somehow found its way into the Swiss bank accounts of the late unlamented Yassir Arafat and close political associates, or was invested in necessary Palestinian diplomatic equipment like smallarms and explosives.

Fatah, which ruled Palestinian politics for four decades, has been fighting with Hamas since the Islamic group won the January parliamentary elections. The rivals are vying for control of the security forces, with Hamas becoming increasingly frustrated that international sanctions are preventing it from paying salaries.

Sure, they need the "aid" funding. How else could they afford buy those essential tools they require in order to continue diplomatic relations with Israel, and now apparently with each other? It's got to be said... These people call their belief system The Religion Of Peace, so what does that make Judaism and Christianity? Even during times of intense friction between Democrats and Republicans, we don't see two-party shootouts on the Hill and we certainly don't have Dems abducting Republicans and vice-versa.

So, as I said, sure, they need the aid funding...

Each group has been training its gunmen for possible confrontation, and Hamas recently outbid Fatah in buying a black market shipment of 100,000 bullets.

And the "International Community" wants these killer troglodytes to have political autonomy in territories better left under the more responsible, 21st Century control of the Israelis.

I could ask, "What's this world coming to?", but I'm afraid I'd be a little late -- I think it's already" there".

Posted by Seth at 07:34 AM |