Blood for Votes (and other musings)

  Obama claims that he doesn’t want to nationalize U.S. businesses, but as I see it, Obama has been in office a little over 4 months and he has turned our legal system upside down and stole the property that belongs to the “secured” and senior lenders to GM and Chrysler in order to essentially “give” those companies to the unions, his largest political financial supporters which are junior and unsecured.  Nice payback payoff ……what is it they say; “elections have consequences.”  This is more adept than the Russian Revolution of 1917.  Remember the misery this brought Russia and others for nearly a century following that little experiment?

To the surprise of the executives in the car industry and dealers, he has dictated the closing of many car dealers nationally without a mechanism to insure that the survivors are not Political Favorites of Obama while many “successful and profitable” dealers are being closed outside of the parameters set up by the auto industry for continued existence.  The only significant justification that you can deduce from this is that they are (as most in fact were) Republican supporters.  He fired the head of GM and replaced him with an “Obama friendly” retired communications executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., who claimed on the day of the announcement that he “doesn’t know anything about cars.” Go figure.

Now he is running the banks and deciding how much their executives can earn.  He has even hired a salary “czar” to establish their pay grade.  He likes this idea so much that he is looking into expanding this to other industries.  Steve Ballmer, CEO and co-founder with Bill Gates of Microsoft has been a supporter of Obama but stated that they will move Microsoft “offshore” if Obama continues down this punitive path of taxes and making companies non-competitive in foreign markets.  While attacking US corporations that do business overseas and receive tax benefits for it and wealthy taxpayers not paying enough tax, he himself (according to his published personal taxes for 2008) almost exclusively invested those millions of book royalties U.S. Tax Exempt offshore companies and tax exempt bonds….check it out yourself.

We passed a $800 Billion pork laden program under the guise of “emergency stimulus” to save us from the “Bush economy” [see my link HERE on Obama and the “Community Reinvestment Act” that I posted this past October revealing the real cause of the financial meltdown] and used this urgency as the cover to violate his own campaign promise of posting legislation for 48 hours on the White House website so all could see its contents.   He called it his “new transparency.”  Instead he delivered the 1,000 page bill to the Republicans for first review at 11 PM with a final vote scheduled on it the following morning at 9 AM.  Is this the transparency he promised?  The only thing transparent is that we were played for fools.

The way we know that this bill has nothing to do with “emergency stimulus” (even as it was designed and written) is the fact that 2/3rds of it wouldn’t be spent until 2010 and 2011 with most of that being in 2011.  But it couldn’t wait another 48 hours on the website for proper disclosure.  After it was shot gunned through Congress, Obama took a vacation and didn’t even sign it till mid (the following) week.  Heck, not even the rank and file Democrats had a chance to read it.  But this has all turned out even worse than that because they have only spent 5% of it to date, but you probably recall that part of its sales pitch was that we had plenty of “shovel ready” projects ready to go to effect an immediate stimulus……….not so.  The economy is now beginning to recover without much Federal Stimulus money and even though it will likely be a protracted recovery, maybe we should revisit this spending and cancel it and save our children and grandchildren much grief.

He further emphasized the urgent need of the “stimulus” package in order to avoid the unemployment rate from going over 9% this year.  Well, that strategy worked and that ill designed “stimulus” package did pass and almost exclusively by Democrats but the unemployment rate already hit 9.4% last month.  Now just yesterday he has fired the Inspector General who investigated some suspicious illegal activities of a crony of his own.

Every despot in the world is testing Obama and they are learning that they can get away with anything and they include not only Iran and Venezuela but N. Korea as well.  N. Korea tested nuclear bombs and missiles in contravention of US and UN warnings and yesterday the UN passed a resolution permitting UN member countries to “interdict” N. Korean vessels suspected of caring weapons.  Obama stated yesterday that he intends to challenge such vehicles on the open seas, but wouldn’t use force to board them…………  Do you see what I see here?  He has essentially neutralized even the weak action of the UN and stated IN ADVANCE that we wouldn’t actually stop them.  What kind of leadership is this?  Do you think N. Korea will be inclined to cooperate with the “spirit” of the UN action since we have notified them that we won’t enforce it?

He has been on a world wide tour apologizing for the “misdeeds” of America without mention the countries we saved, the poor people we have fed, etc. and he has even unilaterally stated to the nations of the world that the United States is NOT a Christian nation.  Ok, I can live with that maybe if he let it go at that, but then he goes onto Moslem soil and states that the United States is one of the largest Moslem nations.  Truth is, even by those metrics we are not.  We would be far down that list.  You may have noticed that he managed to exempt his own culpability from all these woes that America has brought on the world.

Obama and his party are doing everything to release real terrorist that we have captured while simultaneously strategizing to prosecute real Americans that protected us from them.  Now Pelozi wants to release photos that even she agrees with U.S. Generals will cost American’s lives.  People don’t understand why she would do that, but it is an easy assessment.  She is playing to the political left in San Francisco that is demanding this.  She has placed her reelection and position ahead of Soldiers lives.  The Deomcrats once (often) said “Blood for Oil” as they criticized Republicans.  I think this is much more clearly Blood for Votes.  (You can’t come up with any other analysis of it.)

What is the cost of all this…………..?  Essentially every economist (eliminating those with a White House connection) feel that the Obama program will bankrupt the country and leave our children with an insurmountable debt at a time they will already be going broke over the existing Social Security and Medicare problems.  Obama said last week “you ain’t seen nothin yet.”  With Cap & Trade and Cap & Tax he will permanently make the US non-competitive with the rest of the world so we can be seen as “politically correct” in solving a problem (global warming) that either doesn’t exist or is not caused by people.  The primary Charlatan and Elmer Gantry of our era is Al Gore.  He has already made $100 million propagating his junk science that he won’t debate with opposing scientists and he is on the threshold of making Billions by becoming the primary “broker” of carbon offset credits.  Understand this is a Ponzi scheme that moves around the production of carbon but doesn’t reduce a single pound of emissions.  Did I tell you that C02 is NOT a toxic substance and is necessary in the photosynthesis process?  You breathe C02 in and out with every breath.  If you didn’t you’d be dead.

Let me conclude and say I smell that Obama is on the threshold of betraying the Israelis in a fundamentally existential fashion and he is headed in the direction of being the biggest elected disaster in the history of the country………..stay tuned.

June 13, 2009 | Filed Under Democratic Hypocrisy, Economics, Global Warming, Muslim/Islam, Political Correctness, Politics, Taxes, U.S. Constitution, War on Terror | 6 Comments 

The Shaping of a Coherent Middle Eastern Policy

 I know this report may be a source of disappointment for some such as Harry, but just when all may seem lost in the middle east, emerging according to Stratfor, is an understanding between Syria and Israel and Iran and USA that could confound the naysayer.  All are aware that the leader of the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, declared the “Surge” a failure during the mobilization phase and then went on to say that we had lost the war in Iraq.  While anyone with any degree of intelligence and fair mindedness realizes that he was wrong on both fronts, this didn’t deter him one bit as he went on to redefine success of the surge as Iraq being able to meet its key benchmarks, which earlier he declared also a failure. 

Wrong again………..Iraq is meeting most of the benchmarks and making progress on the others.  Revenue sharing arrangements though not complete have reached a new and feasible level of interim operating harmony. 

In short the outcome of the “war in Iraq” is now showing success on most all fronts. Those that have complained about the Bush administrations ham handedness in handling the Middle East situation and the overall problem fail to recognize the effective neutralization of Hamas, the real possibility of slicing Syria from the sphere of Iranian influence, the isolation of Hezbollah and the co-opting of Iran for some rapprochement with Iraq de-fanging either’s potential to dominate the other. 

I believe the current chest pounding by Iran and Israel may be a back drop of a sideshow while the true negotiations ensue, with the full backing of the moderate middle eastern states such as Jordan and Egypt.   As the political season shapes up I hope the Democratic contestants get a sudden dose of reality and clear vision (some have) about what is going on and backs off that mantra of immediate withdrawal and proceed with caution in this area. 

If the Democrats had their way with one of the pieces of legislation that Obama voted for, we would have left Iraq this past March.  If this success occurs it will greatly trouble the likes of Move On and Code Pink.  They are stuck with their sloganeering such as “General Betrayus” and “No sanctions on Iran.”  Can you believe that Code Pink is not only against war with Iran (I can accept that), but that we should impose no sanctions?  I think it is tantamount to demonstrating their disdain for Israel. I will insert in full the publication by Stratfor for your interest sake.  [Please pardon the lack of paragraph distinction below, WordPress problem.]

The New Era

 July 9, 2008
By Peter ZeihanAs students of geopolitics, we at Stratfor tend not to get overexcited when this or that plan for regional peace is tabled. Many of the world’s conflicts are geographic in nature, and changes in government or policy only rarely supersede the hard topography that we see as the dominant sculptor of the international system. Island states tend to exist in tension with their continental neighbors. Two countries linked by flat arable land will struggle until one emerges dominant. Land-based empires will clash with maritime cultures, and so on.

Petit vs. Grand Geopolitic

But the grand geopolitic — the framework which rules the interactions of regions with one another — is not the only rule in play. There is also the petit geopolitic that occurs among minor players within a region. Think of the grand geopolitic as the rise and fall of massive powers — the onslaught of the Golden Horde, the imperial clash between England and France, the U.S.-Soviet Cold War. By contrast, think of the petit geopolitic as the smaller powers that swim alongside or within the larger trends — Serbia versus Croatia, Vietnam versus Cambodia, Nicaragua versus Honduras. The same geographic rules apply, just on a smaller scale, with the added complexity of the grand geopolitic as backdrop.The Middle East is a region rife with petit geopolitics. Since the failure of the Ottoman Empire, the region has not hosted an indigenous grand player. Instead, the region serves as a battleground for extra-regional grand powers, all attempting to grind down the local (petit) players to better achieve their own aims. Normally, Stratfor looks at the region in that light: an endless parade of small players and local noise in an environment where most trends worth watching are those implanted and shaped by outside forces. No peace deals are easy, but in the Middle East they require agreement not just from local powers, but also from those grand players beyond the region. The result is, well, the Middle East we all know.All the more notable, then, that a peace deal — and a locally crafted one at that — has moved from the realm of the improbable to not merely the possible, but perhaps even the imminent. Israel and Syria are looking to bury the hatchet, somewhere in the Golan Heights most likely, and they are doing so for their own reasons. Israel has secured deals with Egypt and Jordan already, and the Palestinians — by splitting internally — have defeated themselves as a strategic threat. A deal with Syria would make Israel the most secure it has been in millennia. Syria, poor and ruled by its insecure Alawite minority, needs a basis of legitimacy that resonates with the dominant Sunni population better than its current game plan: issuing a shrill shriek whenever the name “Israel” is mentioned. The Alawites believe there is no guarantee of support better than cash, and their largest and most reliable source of cash is in Lebanon. Getting Lebanon requires an end to Damascus’ regional isolation, and the agreement of Israel. The outline of the deal, then, is surprisingly simple: Israel gains military security from a peace deal in exchange for supporting Syrian primacy in Lebanon. The only local loser would be the entity that poses an economic challenge (in Lebanon) to Syria, and a military challenge (in Lebanon) to Israel — to wit, Hezbollah. Hezbollah, understandably, is more than a little perturbed by the prospect of this tightening noose. Syria is redirecting the flow of Sunni militants from Iraq to Lebanon, likely for use against Hezbollah. Damascus also is working with the exiled leadership of the Palestinian group Hamas as a gesture of goodwill to Israel. The French — looking for a post-de Gaulle diplomatic victory — are re-engaging the Syrians and, to get Damascus on board, are dangling everything from aid and trade deals with Europe to that long-sought stamp of international approval. Oil-rich Sunni Arab states, sensing an opportunity to weaken Shiite Hezbollah, are flooding petrodollars in bribes — that is, investments — into Syria to underwrite a deal with Israel.While the deal is not yet a fait accompli, the pieces are falling into place quite rapidly. Normally we would not be so optimistic, but the hard decisions — on Israel surrendering the Golan Heights and Syria laying preparations for cutting Hezbollah down to size — have already been made. On July 11 the leaders of Israel and Syria will be attending the same event in Paris, and if the French know anything about flair, a handshake may well be on the agenda. It isn’t exactly pretty — and certainly isn’t tidy — but peace really does appear to be breaking out in the Middle East.

A Spoiler-Free Environment

Remember, the deal must please not just the petit players, but the grand ones as well. At this point, those with any interest in disrupting the flow of events normally would step in and do what they could to rock the boat. That, however, is not happening this time around. All of the normal cast members in the Middle Eastern drama are either unwilling to play that game at present, or are otherwise occupied.The country with the most to lose is Iran. A Syria at formal peace with Israel is a Syria that has minimal need for an alliance with Iran, as well as a Syria that has every interest in destroying Hezbollah’s military capabilities. (Never forget that while Hezbollah is Syrian-operated, it is Iranian-founded and -funded.) But using Hezbollah to scupper the Israeli-Syrian talks would come with a cost, and we are not simply highlighting a possible military confrontation between Israel and Iran. Iran is involved in negotiations far more complex and profound than anything that currently occupies Israel and Syria. Tehran and Washington are attempting to forge an understanding about the future of Iraq. The United States wants an Iraq sufficiently strong to restore the balance of power in the Persian Gulf and thus prevent any Iranian military incursion into the oil fields of the Arabian Peninsula. Iran wants an Iraq that is sufficiently weak that it will never again be able to launch an attack on Persia. Such unflinching national interests are proving difficult to reconcile, but do not confuse “difficult” with “impossible” — the positions are not mutually exclusive. After all, while both want influence, neither demands domination. Remarkable progress has been made during the past six months. The two sides have cooperated in bringing down violence in Iraq, now at its lowest level since the aftermath of the 2003 invasion itself. Washington and Tehran also have attacked the problems of rogue Shiite militias from both ends, most notably with the neutering of Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia, the Medhi Army. Meanwhile, that ever-enlarging pot of Sunni Arab oil money has been just as active in Baghdad in drawing various groups to the table as it has been in Damascus. Thus, while the U.S.-Iranian understanding is not final, formal or imminent, it is taking shape with remarkable speed. There are many ways it still could be derailed, but none would be so effective as Iran using Hezbollah to launch another war with Israel. China and Russia both would like to see the Middle East off balance — if not on fire in the case of Russia — although it is hardly because they enjoy the bloodshed. Currently, the United States has the bulk of its ground forces loaded down with Afghan and Iraqi operations. So long as that remains the case — so long as Iran and the United States do not have a meeting of the minds — the United States lacks the military capability to deploy any large-scale ground forces anywhere else in the world. In the past, Moscow and Beijing have used weapons sales or energy deals to bolster Iran’s position, thus delaying any embryonic deal with Washington. But such impediments are not being seeded now. Rising inflation in China has turned the traditional question of the country’s shaky financial system on its head. Mass employment in China is made possible not by a sound economic structure, but by de facto subsidization via ultra-cheap loans. But such massive availability of credit has artificially spiked demand, for 1.3 billion people no less, creating an inflation nightmare that is difficult to solve. Cut the loans to rein in demand and inflation, and you cut business and with it employment. Chinese governments have been toppled by less. Beijing is desperate to keep one step ahead of either an inflationary spiral or a credit meltdown — and wants nothing more than for the Olympics to go off as hitch-free as possible. Tinkering with the Middle East is the furthest thing from Beijing’s preoccupied mind.Meanwhile, Russia is still growing through its leadership “transition,” with the Kremlin power clans still going for each other’s throats. Their war for control of the defense and energy industries still rages, their war for control of the justice and legal systems is only now beginning to rage, and their efforts to curtail the powers of some of Russia’s more independent-minded republics such as Tatarstan has not yet begun to rage. Between a much-needed resettling, and some smacking of out-of-control egos, Russia still needs weeks (or months?) to get its own house in order. The Kremlin can still make small gestures — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chatted briefly by phone July 7 with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the topic of the nuclear power plant that Russia is building for Iran at Bushehr — but for the most part, the Middle East will have to wait for another day. But by the time Beijing or Moscow have the freedom of movement to do anything, the Middle East may well be as “solved” as it can be.

July 10, 2008 | Filed Under Iran, Israel, War on Terror | 1 Comment 

Stupid is as Stupid Does

 This (below) is an article published in Spain in May of 2007.  I thought I would reprint it here as we look at the conundrum that history has dealt the world.  I know many look for easy answers and simple solutions and may want to blame current politicians for our problems, but I ask is this a problem of current political ineptitude or is the political ineptitude our failure to recognize that we are confronting an existential problem of tremendous magnitude.  I for one am coming to believe we may indeed need to visit for a time a leftist government in this country to clarify to the people that this is a challenge we must come together and resist or we will suffer tremendous losses.  It might be only under leftist management that the left will ever recognize the problem we confront.  It is not enough for the left to parse every isolated nuance in the management of world affairs to falsely paint a portrait of blame on the right while using this as a reason to avoid the inevitable.  I suggest there is massive denial on the left of the reality of world affairs.  You might find the article below interesting, I doubt you will find it inaccurate and most of all it isn’t “Bush’s fault,” it is yours and my fault………………. 

ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN  AUSCHWITZ

By Sebastian Vilar  Rodrigez

     I walked  down the street in Barcelona , and suddenly discovered a terrible truth  - Europe died in Auschwitz.  We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, and talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

     The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.  And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.

     They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.  Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.

     And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.   We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.

February 15, 2008 | Filed Under War on Terror | 6 Comments 

Mughniyeh is Gone!!!!!!

 I’m apoplectic about this mornings news.  Imad Fayez Mughniyeh has gone to his reward in doggie heaven.  In this war on terror if someone has to die as they always do in war there is none more deserving than this dude.  I remember when the world was first introduced (in a major and real way) to Osama bin Laden I read an article in Jane’s Defense Weekly the Mughniyeh was in fact the most dangerous terrorist in the world, not bin Laden.  He has been causing havoc in the Middle East causing numerous deaths of even Americans since the 1980’s while acting as a surrogate of Iran.  Yes, Iran is another one of those countries that has been prosecuting a war against the United States while we sat around and have argued amongst ourselves whether we are the cause of our own injury here or whether it is the terrorists with a world wide objective.  Imad was the terrorist ordained by Iran that led the 2006 Hezbollah war in Lebanon against Israel after kidnapping their soldiers. This dude is so bad that he is one of the few Terrorists that have the full $25 million dollar reward on his head such as bin Laden. For a more detailed background of just which acts of terror this guy has committed over the past 3 decades check out THIS (February 13, 2008) link at DEBKAfile and more information HERE. For those of you doubters out there this only goes to show that there is a bit of justice in the world.

February 13, 2008 | Filed Under War on Terror | 3 Comments 

Chuck Schumer Supports Torture (at least in 2004)

 Chuck Schumer supported the use of Torture in interrogating terrorist prisoners in 2004.  He went on to say that we should understand that the foxhole is  a different thing and in some way Bush is in the foxhole everyday and that he SURELY can’t be blamed if he asks the White House Counsel to clarify the legality and applicability of using torture to protect America and Americans.  He also gave a nod to the other side of the issue (what I would call the other side of the aisle) by saying it shouldn’t be used willy nilly.  Check out this live audio (Part 1 & 2) from the Mark Levin Show HERE and hear Chuck with your own ears.

Look for the picture above of Schumer on this site to find the mp3 file. I find it interesting that now in this Presidential season that the Congress wants to do everything possible to cast not only Bush’s actions but his intentions in the worst possible light that they will do and say anything and hopefully enact laws to tie his hands all in order to embarrass him without regards to the damage it will cause to the United States and its’ security.  This is just another example of why they can’t be trusted with our national security.  To them it is just another political issue to be spun from the left to the right as it meets their parochial political needs at any given moment.…………and water boarding isn’t torture Teddy, just ask the journalists that have voluntarily submitted themselves to it or the many American troops that have been subjected to it in training…….but then again the beef on the left is in using it with our enemies and the terrorists that want to nuke us not in the using it to train our on troops.  I find this unfathomable.

November 2, 2007 | Filed Under War on Terror | 1 Comment 

Nuclear Holocaust

 I don’t know if this will draw much response, but I want to ask the “active” readers and commenter’s at NSL and even the lurkers to offer a brief (or long if you desire) comment on the following topic.  Remember I get to ask the question and define the parameters and you get to answer.

I want to encourage everyone to offer their opinion on this point without regard for their personal view of President Bush.  I will make the assumption that your personal view of the United States and the security of its people is of the highest order and you have its’ best interest at heart.

The Question is this:  If AFTER all reasonable attempts to have Iran disengage their pursuit of Nuclear weaponry by the United States and our European Allies (including economic sanctions that are going on now and periodically tightened) and just BEFORE it becomes clear that IRAN is on course for the manufacture of a thermo nuclear device, WOULD YOU BE IN FAVOR OF PREEMPTIVE MILITARY ACTION to reduce this threat whether Bush, Hillary, Rudy or whoever is President?  And if not, are you willing to accept the trade off of the possibility of a terrorist or terrorist nation obtaining one of these bombs and using it in the United States, or do  you with an absolute degree of Metaphysical Certitude believe that the United States would not be endangered by this either then or later? For additional information as to the U.S. viewpoint and preparation for Iran on NSL go HERE. (post below)

October 30, 2007 | Filed Under Iran, Nuclear Holocaust, War on Terror | 20 Comments 

Does Bush Budget Suggest Attack on Iran?

 Lets see, Bush has made an emergency request for an emergency war funding bill in the amount of $190 Billion.  Some are speculating that line items contained in this bill may suggest of a forthcoming strike on Iran.  Included in this bill is a request for $88 million to retrofit B-2 Stealth bombers to enable them to carry a new 30,000 pound “bunker buster” bomb called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) which has the capacity to destroy deep underground targets.  Northrop Grumman the prime contractor for the B-2 Stealth Bomber says the B-2 would be able to attack and destroy an expanded set of hardened and deeply buried military targets.  Gerard Baker, U.S. editor of the Times of London, says that the U.S. now believes that it “thinks it has the intelligence and the military capacity to undermine the Iranian threat seriously.” 

The tone of an increasingly recalcitrant and self-confident Iranian regime has taken a significant turn in the past few weeks Baker feels that the debate in Washington is focusing on what to do.

Some say that this retrofit of the B-2 could in fact be for the purpose of attacking bin Laden in his Mountain Caves, but Baker correctly claims that the U.S. own the skies in Afghanistan and Iraq for that matter and would not need to deploy the B-2 for this task.   I agree with Baker on this in that Conventional aircraft could more easily be deployed for this task if there was no threat of enemy air defenses.

According to Baker “The only real question about the next phase in this war is whether an escalation by the U.S., in a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, would further American – and Western – objectives, or impede them. The evidence is increasingly suggesting that the costs of not acting are equal to or larger than the costs of acting.”

October 29, 2007 | Filed Under War on Terror | 2 Comments 

Democrats to Sabotage the War Effort

c4_tomlantos.jpg   NOTE 10/14/07 UPDATE BELOW  It is now clear that the Democrats in Congress are trying to sabotage the war effort or are criminally negligent in causing the same.  In the House of Representatives the Committee on Foreign Affairs has voted to include the word Genocide in a House Resolution concerning the death of Armenians in World War I.   This nonbinding House resolution said the deportation of nearly 2 million Armenians from the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million of them, amounted to genocide.  I don’t know what the merits of the claim are but it seems a little late to press this matter against the current citizens of Turkey and seems to serve merely as a provocation.  I wonder why during the 50 years Democrats controlled the Congress they didn’t proffer a similar resolution unless………………..

It didn’t also serve their purpose of trying to hamstring the war effort in Iraq.  Lets put this against the backdrop of the Democrats complaining about the Bush Foreign Policy and how he has trashed relations with our friends and allies around the world AND how they would reverse that.  The immediate result of merely the action of the committee was for the Turkish government to recall their Ambassador from the United States.  Turkey has warned that if the Full House passes this presumably on Friday that there will be serious consequences……………….

Now to the Democrats game plan…………Ever  since France passed a similar resolution they have not been able to get “fly over” privileges and 30 per of the fuel consumed by the US troops and 70 percent of the cargo to the troops in Iraq pass through Turkey.  Tom Lantos, the Democratic Chairman of the committee, was unmoved by the Turkish protest of this action.  He did say that “The Turkish government will not act against the United States because that would be against their own interests.”  This seems to be a rather arrogant, presumptuous and reckless defense of this action especially in face of  the fact that a similar action did seriously damage Turkey’s relations with France. (Is this the new partnering tone that has been promised from the Democrats?)

I am now going to question the appropriateness of the American Flag occupying the same space as the picture of Tom Lantos above.  If he is not guilty of this 5th column action he is incredibly naive and is not ready to be the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives in the United States at this time of extreme peril.

UPDATE:  10/14/2007 Notwithstanding Tom Lantos’ cavalier statement to the contrary when predicting the response by Turkey to this fatuitous piece of Congressional pandering, Turkey’s top General Yasar Buyukanit has stated that ties with the United States would never be the same if the full Congress ratified the resolution of Lantos and the Foreign Relations Committee.  In a quote from the AP this morning: Turkey’s top general warned that ties with the U.S., already strained by attacks from rebels hiding in Iraq, will be irreversibly damaged if Congress passes a resolution that labels the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.  ……… Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told daily Milliyet newspaper that a congressional committee’s approval of the measure had already harmed ties between the two countries.

October 12, 2007 | Filed Under War on Terror | 6 Comments 

Brilliant ?

lebanon_syria.jpg  DEBKAfile  is reporting with a breaking exclusive that the US is planning to put an airbase in Lebanon 22 miles from the Syrian border.  This would represent the first return of U.S. military to Lebanon since they were withdrawn by Reagan in 1983.  Some of you that are familiar with Debka may scoff at their reporting, but after following their reports for a number of years now I would say that their accuracy is much, much higher than is popularly reported. 

This could be the “check and mate” regarding Syria’s strong arm pressure on Lebanon, occasionally removing a head of state as they may desire.  This also would take Hezbollah off balance and jeopardize their military supply lines.  This could be just what the doctor ordered.  I wonder if this has anything to do with Sec. Rice’s meeting with Syria’s Prime Minister Saniora in June or the pledge of $770 million of U.S. Aid in January.  We’ll just have to stay tuned for further developments in this area.

October 10, 2007 | Filed Under Israel, War on Terror | 3 Comments 

Should You Care about CAIR?

ibrahim-hooper-2.jpgibrahim-hooper-1.jpg  I almost added a tag to the title above, however it was too long, but it went like this: “Should You Care about CAIR? …………. Who cares, Bush Lied (didn’t he)?  I’ll just start by saying up front that CAIR (acronym for the Council on American-Islamic Relations pronounced care) is an American Islamic terrorism sympathizer and supporter at the least.  I believe that any balanced perspective this group concludes that they are Anti-American liars and terrorism apologists.  Even internally their membership rolls have dwindled to extremely financially unstable levels.  [Okay, now those of you that tend to automatically debate any sober and realistic view of the radical quarters of Islam can begin sharpening your pencils because it is by far more important to try and justify your hate for the Bush administration on any point than to grid yourselves for the battle we confront against the terrorist organizations of the world.] 

Why do I say this?   You may just think of my musings as some type of racial or more accurately religious prejudice.  I wondered about that myself and after some soul searching I have concluded that Read more

August 6, 2007 | Filed Under Jihad, Political Correctness, War on Terror | 9 Comments 

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