New Veterans Affairs Chairman

Military Update: Veterans size up new House panel chairman

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the new chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, speaks with enthusiasm for any and all initiatives that might help veterans improve their quality of life.

But Filner is seen as such a partisan and his rhetoric can be so imprecise that some veterans’ advocates wonder what this firebrand will achieve as chairman.

In an interview on his priorities, Filner said he was “very excited” to take control “because a lot of things weren’t done in the last few years that should have been done for veterans.”

Under Republicans, “veterans had to fight like a special interest” for benefits. He said his predecessor, Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., locked arms with the Bush administration and with Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson on an unspoken goal of downsizing the VA health system. Filner’s evidence: “When you have continued recommendations of new fees for enrollees, when you keep out the lower priority veterans, you are trying to downsize.”

In wartime, he said, troop morale depends on “knowing they are going to be treated well when they get home.” Bigger VA budgets and better benefits, he said, should be seen “as a cost of war.”

He supports the Democrats’ entire “GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century,” which includes a $3 billion increase in VA health spending to cut wait times for patients and to expand access to more categories of veteran; an end to the ban on concurrent receipt of military retirement and VA disability compensation for the remaining 400,000 military retirees with disabilities; an end to the offset in survivor benefits for widows who also receive VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation; and a boost in Montgomery GI Bill benefits to cover full college tuition, room and board.

“Most of these things have already been part of our platform, so it’s hard to backpedal,” Filner said. But he cautioned that Democrats also promised to restore budget discipline, so gains for veterans will have to be phased in over several years. His first priority is education benefit reform, he said. Yet after 14 years on the VA committee, Filner sounded surprisingly misinformed on the prized MGIB.

More.

Troops capture terror suspects in meat-packing plant

Troops capture terror suspects in meat-packing plant

Tuesday, 09 January 2007 Story by Spc. Chris McCann
2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div.

BAGHDAD — It’s the stuff war movies are made of — breaking in doors, Soldiers moving in, rifles at the ready. But this wasn’t a movie.

Soldiers of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI) conducted a nighttime raid on a Baghdad meat-packaging facility suspected of being a terrorist meeting place in the Al Rashid district Jan. 7.

The 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division concurrently assaulted the salt factory next door, also a suspected terrorist planning area. Joining the two U.S. units on the operation were members of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division. The two-pronged joint assault netted 32 detainees and more than 20 weapons, including 11 AK-47s, a Kalishnikov assault rifle, two Russian-made carbines, 15 60mm mortar rounds and a submachine gun.

The men detained, some of whom were guards at the building, were held on suspicion that they were allowing the buildings to be used as a terrorist rendezvous point, a suspicion strengthened by the weapons found in the area.

More.

50 Militants Said Killed in Iraq Battle

50 Militants Said Killed in Iraq Battle

an 9, 9:13 AM (ET)

By LAUREN FRAYER

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, backed by American warplanes, battled suspected insurgents for hours Tuesday in central Baghdad, and 50 militant fighters were killed, the Defense Ministry said.

Elsewhere, a cargo plane carrying Turkish construction workers crashed during landing at an airport near Baghdad, killing 30 people and injuring two, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Initial reports indicated the plane crashed due to bad weather and heavy fog, a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not yet been authorized.

U.S. helicopters circled above the Haifa Street area where the battle took place, and witnesses said they had seen the aircraft firing into the combat zone. Explosions rang out across the area, just north of the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Shaker, a ministry spokesman, said 21 militants were captured, including seven foreign Arabs - including three Syrians - and one Sudanese.

More

Military News

Coalition forces find bomb-making items in western Baghdad

Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, January 8, 2007

Coalition forces have destroyed a cache used for manufacturing and assembling explosive devices in the Ghazaliyah neighborhood in western Baghdad, officials said Saturday.

Soldiers from Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Division, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, found about 200 pounds of explosives on Friday, dispersed between two houses near the Al-Shadra Mosque.

Civil affairs team aims to promote stability in Djibouti

By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, January 8, 2007

DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti — On the sun-blasted streets of this ramshackle port city, where narcotic “khat” leaves are sold by the bale and homeless families camp in back alleys, U.S. Army Capt. Jason Fleming and his civil affairs team stand out like sore thumbs in their pixelated combat uniforms.

But standing out in public, Fleming said, is what his job is all about.

Unit remembers dedicated soldier who was killed just before his son's birth

By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, January 8, 2007

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Baghdad — On Saturday night, Sgt. John Michael Sullivan should have been busy packing his rucksack, getting ready to see his wife and newborn son back in the States.

Instead, Sullivan, 22, was already home. His body arrived in his hometown of Hixon, Tenn., on Friday, according to KKTV 11, a local news channel.

He was killed on Dec. 30 while on a mission with his platoon in Baghdad.

Back in Colorado Springs, the news of his death sent his wife, Michele, into labor the same night.

U.S.-Iraqi joint force operations

Military journalists report in Samarra.

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Myths About the US Military

I'll leave you with this from Victor Davis Hanson.

I have always enjoyed his columns. My guess is because of the historical references that he makes in comparisson to the current affairs.

Military Solutions?

Myths About the US Military

There is often voiced pessimism about our current military, to such a degree that it is termed broken or exhausted. But how true is that?

The traveler to Iraq is struck not by dearth, but opulence—everything imaginable from new SUVs to Eskimo Pies. Internet Service there was far faster than from my home in rural Fresno County.

So far recruitment levels are being met. No one in the military has warned that it is a bad idea to create more brigades of ground troops. Such a caveat about the current proposed expansion we would expect if we could not even meet our present manpower targets.

We have a tripartite military—air, sea, and ground. While the Marines and Army have rough going in Iraq, there have been very few Air Force and Navy material or human losses. Surely our air wings and ships are not “worn out” from patrolling in Iraq. There might be thousands of trashed humvees and worn out Bradleys, but not frigates, F-16s, or carriers. This is not 1943 when the US military was fighting in Sicily, as B-17s fell from the sky, as our merchant marine was under U-boat attack.

After Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, the mantra was that the Army and Marines were not getting their fair share of service in Rumsfeld’ revolution in military affairs that envisioned Special Forces on donkeys zeroing in GPS bombs from 20,000 feet onto clueless Taliban. But suddenly after a little more three years in Iraq, we are supposed to believe that a few thousand insurgents have “ruined” what until 2003 was an underused force? It would be interesting to trace the origins of this pessimism that now appears in the columns of op-ed pages: does it arise from tired and demoralized officers, or anti-war critics eager to see something again like the 1976 American military?

Does Experience Count for Anything?

But more importantly, few have asked more existential questions: are our ground forces better or worse prepared to fight jihadists than they were on September 11? At some point, the millions of hours of experience fighting Islamists from the Hindu Kush to Anbar Province must count for something. William Tecumseh Sherman’s frightening Army of the West that tramped through Washington DC in April 1865 made any Union force of 1861 seem pathetic by comparison—despite he tragic losses of thousands during the war.

There's more at his site: Work and Days.

Switching Blog Settings

I am switching my Blog over to the new version.
This may take me a bit to get it straightened out.
The Blog roll will take a while to get back up to speed.

Where's the Beef?

Global warming and other nutty issues...

January 02, 2007
Where`s the Beef?
By Timothy Birdnow

In the mid 1980`s the
Wendy's Hamburger chain ran a very successful advertising campaign in
which an octogenarian (who sounded amazingly like Helen Thomas)
bellyached about the stingy amount of meat on her sandwich; "where`s the beef?"
became a nationally known slogan, and embodied the prosperity of our
nation. We were red blooded Americans, by God, proud and vigorous,
hearty appetites for red blooded all American beef!

In
many ways, this advertising campaign embodied part of what it means to
be an American; beef lies at the heart of our cuisine, and was the
staple of the cowboy, the cavalrymen, the settlers on the Great Plains.
The Texas Longhorn wandering the dusty backcountry of the Lone Star
State was the symbol of American grit, American independence and
cussedness. The dairy farms with their quaint barns and quiet pastoral
scenes in Wisconsin or Iowa were a part of Americana as were the great
open ranches of Montana, or the boxcars transporting cattle across the
width and breadth of these United States.

Oh so true...

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Gerald Ford, RIP

RIP Gerald Ford.

Statement from Betty Ford: "My family joins me in sharing the difficult
news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, and grandfather,
has passed away..."

President Ford was 93. Here's his official White House bio. Here's the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum page.

A CNN commentator says President Ford will be buried at the Ford
library and museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan after funeral/memorial
services in California, D.C., and lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

Here's President Bush's statement.

Paul Mirengoff:
"My favorite Ford moment came in his 1975 state of the union address
when he declared, "the state of the union is not good." Do you think
we'll ever hear another president make a statement like that when his
party has controlled the White House for an extended period?"

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Interview with Captain Coulson

Very good.

Thanks for your service Captain. God Speed to you and your Soldiers.

An Interview with Captain Coulson

CPT Coulson is the commanding officer of Alpha Company, Task Force 321 Engineers (Task Force Pathfinder)

FALLUJAH, IRAQ: One of the best sources of
news on the situation in Iraq is from the officers and enlisted serving
in the theater who maintain military blogs. While at Camp Fallujah, I
met up with one such Milblogger. Captain Eric Coulson is the commanding
officer of Alpha Company, Task Force 321 Engineers (Task Force
Pathfinder), and the author of Badgers Forward,
one of the finest Milblogs out there. Captain Coulson's battalion
replaced the 54th Engineers, a unit I embedded with last year to go on an IED hunt in Ramadi.

At his blog, Captain Coulson provides insight on the the fight
against the insurgency in Anbar province and the hunt for roadside
bombs [IEDs], as well as a look at the the daily life of a soldier
serving in Iraq. Road Work, Night Moves and So what does an IED look like? are essential reading for understanding the fight in Anbar province. A Cold Wind Blows and Battle Update Brief
provide insight into camp life and the challenges of command. Captain
Coulson also has a blogger in the ranks. The Teflon Don runs Acute Politics, another fine military blog that should be on your reading list.

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Air strike kills top Taliban tactician

By Jason Straziuso

ASSOCIATED PRESS


December 24, 2006

/> The Washington Times

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. air strike near the Pakistan border killed
the Taliban's southern military commander, an associate of Osama bin
Laden and heir to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, U.S. and Afghan
officials said yesterday.

Akhtar Mohammed Osmani's vehicle was hit by a U.S. air strike
Tuesday as he traveled in a deserted area in the southern province of
Helmand, the spokesman said. Two of his associates also were killed.

U.S. and Afghan officials said the strike was a major victory.

Rashid, a leading author on the Taliban, said Osmani's
death could disrupt planning for a Taliban offensive early next year,
designed to extend the recent surge of violence across Afghanistan.

Osmani played an instrumental role in some of the Taliban's
most notorious excesses -- including the demolition of the ancient
Buddha statues in Bamiyan and the trial of Christian aid workers in
2001, Mr. Rashid said.

He also was one of three top associates of Mullah Omar, and
among the first supporters of bin Laden within the militant Islamic
militia's top ranks, Mr. Rashid said.

A Taliban spokesman denied that Osmani was dead, but a
provincial police chief and Afghanistan's Interior Ministry confirmed
the killing. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary called it "a
big achievement."

A U.S. spokesman said the death was confirmed through multiple sources.

Merry Christmas Osama.

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U.S. Airstrike Kills Top Taliban Commander in Afghanistan

From Fox News

Saturday, December 23, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Usama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar
was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan,
the U.S. military said Saturday. A Taliban spokesman denied the claim.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed Tuesday by a U.S. airstrike while traveling by vehicle in a deserted area in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said. Two associates also were killed, it said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Afghan officials or visual proof
offered to support the claim. A U.S. spokesman said "various sources"
were used to confirm Osmani's identity.

Keep up the good work fellas!

Don't forget the troops are still doing their duty on Christmas.

Thank you to all Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.

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Link Test

Link Test 2

Notes From a War Diary

Notes From a War Diary (Fourth in a Series)

by Oliver North

Posted Dec 22, 2006



TQ AIRBASE, Iraq -- Our Fox News team is aboard a U.S. Marine C-130
aircraft, departing Iraq, headed for Kuwait -- the eighth time we have
left war-torn Mesopotamia this way. It's exactly 45 months since I
first entered Iraq on the night that Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Then, I was aboard a Marine CH-46, and the bird to our left,
transporting a squad of Royal Marine Commandos, went down, killing all
aboard.



Today's flight, call sign "Midas 10," is designated as an "Angel
Flight." It carries the flag-draped metal coffin containing the body of
a young Marine captain killed yesterday by enemy fire. Usually aircraft
headed out of country are crammed with dirty, tired, armor-clad
warriors celebrating their departure. Today, it's just the flight crew
and us, and all aboard are somber. Everyone is painfully aware that
back home, an American family is going to grieve for Christmas.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and may God Bless you and yours.



I'll pick up posting on the other side of Christmas.

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American Al Qaeda Captured in Belize...

American Al Qaeda Captured in Belize...

The Belize Police Department has bagged another U.S. fugitive. This
time, however, instead of a tax dodger, bigamist or sex offender they
hit the jackpot, nabbing a suspect with ties to the world of terrorism.
Forty-one year old Ernest James Thompson, also known as James Ujaama
and Bilal Ahmed, violated parole in the United States by leaving the
country and a wanted poster was circulated through Interpol by U.S. law
enforcement authorities. According to Assistant Police Commissioner
Eduardo Wade, that's when our cops started looking.



A.P.C. Eduardo Wade, Belize Police Department

“As a result of this request the police conducted an investigation
and some time around midnight last night or earlier this morning this
fugitive was apprehended here in Belize City. He has since been taken
out of the country. He entered Belize about ten days or so ago using a
Mexican passport. During the operation Inspector Grinage, who headed
the operation, received some injuries he was treated and released as
this fellow attempted to escape during his apprehension.”



Leonard Hill, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy

“He was initially arrested in 2003 in connection with plots in the
United States to poison water supplies and to do a number of other
things. He subsequently pleaded guilty to charges dealing with Al Qaeda
in Afghanistan and providing various types of material support to the
Taliban as well in Afghanistan.”



Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, Leonard Hill, indicated
that although Thompson's immediate crime was a parole violation, he may
in fact face additional charges and is also a material witness in other
terror related cases. One indication of his status may be that federal
officials sent down a private plane to bring him back to the States.
Two Belizean police officers went along for the ride and presumably the
traditional night on the town as a guest of the U.S. Department of
Justice.

Interpol played a hand on this one.

Way to go Belize!

Take note, he was already sent back to the US.

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Support the Gitmo troops this Christmas

Send the troops at Gitmo a card. Thank them for their service to this nation and for the abuses that they must take from both the prisoners and the media.

If I were running Gitmo, those Islamic pieces of shit would be put in their proper place. The Koran would be a flushing on a daily basis.



From Democracy Project

Lt.
Col. Gordon Cucullu, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a sometime blogger here at
Democracy Project and a personal friend. Gordon writes frequently and
passionately about American forces serving around the world, and the
email below, sent from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, tells of a neglected band
of brothers who receive fewer Christmas cards from the American people
than those stationed at other locales: the guards at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. Worse, they receive more abuse from the press, in spite of the
documented fact that they are subject to constant abuse from the
terrorists they guard.

As if that isn't enough, last Christmas the terrorists held there
received no fewer than 14,000 pieces of mail at Christmas, and they're
expected to receive 16,000 this year. All while our troops there are,
for the most part, overlooked even by those of us here at home who
support their mission.

Gordon gives the address to which you may send cards at the end of his essay, but here it is again:

"Any Trooper, JTF GTMO, APO AE 09360"

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DoD Honors Rumsfeld, Bids Farewell

By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON,

Dec. 15, 2006 – The Defense Department bid farewell to the 21st secretary of
defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, in a full honors parade at the Pentagon today.

PresidentBush; Vice President Richard B. Cheney; Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff; and many other DoD leaders joined employees and servicemembers to honor Rumsfeld, who has led the department for six years.

“Because of Don Rumsfeld’s determination and leadership, America has the best equipped, the best trained, and the most experienced armed forces in the history of the world,” Bush said during the ceremony. “This man knows how to lead, and he did, and the country is better off for it.”Bush praised Rumsfeld for preparing the military for the threats of the 21st centuryand for his determined leadership after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001. When the Pentagon was hit, Rumsfeld’s first instinct was to run toward dangerand help the wounded, and afterwards he launched one of the most innovativecampaigns in history going after al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Bush said. Rumsfeld then led Operation Iraqi Freedom, driving Saddam Hussein from power in 21 days and helping the Iraqi government form a free democracy in the heart of the Middle East.

So long Don. It's been interesting.

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Panned in Baghdad

James Baker and company are idiots.

Iraqis reject the Baker-Hamilton report.

Friday, December 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

Iraq
Study Group Chairmen Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton have spent the past
week defending their report against withering criticism here in the
U.S. But the more revealing reaction has been from Iraq itself:
"Unrealistic," "inappropriate" and "very dangerous" are among the
kinder words used by Iraq's leaders to describe the ISG's work.

Consider
Jalal Talabani. A secular-minded Kurd who has probably done more than
any other leader to reach out across the country's sectarian divides,
Iraq's President is no doubt sympathetic to the report's calls for
"national reconciliation." But he reacted strongly to the ISG's
suggestion that American support for his democratically elected
government be conditioned on its meeting U.S.-determined "milestones"
toward that goal. That, he said, was an "insult to the people of Iraq."

Mr.
Talabani was also critical of the ISG's specific ideas for achieving
reconciliation. Having helped bring such Sunni leaders as Adnan Dulaimi
into the political process, he clearly understands the importance of
giving the Sunnis a fair deal. But he bristled at the report's idea
that reconciliation should be achieved through concessions to members
of Saddam's Baath Party and other Sunni rejectionists. Fellow Kurdish
leader Massoud Barzani echoed that criticism, saying the ISG wanted to
reward "those who are against the political process and have conducted
acts of violence."

Finish the job.

Let the troops kill the fucking insurgents and let them restore order to that fucking hell hole and be done with it.

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All active branches met or surpassed November recruiting goals

Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, December 13, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. — All active branches of the service met or surpassed their November recruiting goals, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

The Army topped the list with 6,485 new recruits, or 105 percent of its recruiting goal, a Defense Department news release says. Of the other services: The Marine Corps achieved 104 percent of its goal with 2,095 recruits; the Navy met 100 percent of its goal with 2,887 recruits; and the Air Force hit 100 percent of its goal with 1,877 recruits.

The Army National Guard led reserve components with 5,094 recruits, or 113 percent of its November goal, the news release says. The Air National Guard made 115 percent of its goal with 752 recruits; the Marine Corps Reserve achieved 102 percent of its goal with 547 recruits; and the Air Force Reserve met 100 percent of its goal with 436 recruits.

The Navy Reserve fell short of its November recruiting goal with 687 recruits, or 91 percent of its goal; and the Army Reserve made only 79 percent of its goal with 1,888 recruits, the news release says.

The Army Reserve expects to make up this shortfall in January, said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Hilferty in a Monday e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

On the retention side, the Army National guard met 137 percent of its goal with 5,930 retentions, and the Air National Guard got 101 percent of its goal with 1,607 retentions, a Defense Department official said on Tuesday.

No retention information was available on the other reserve components, the official said.

Soldier who died smothering enemy grenade to be recommended for Medal of Honor

Here is a fine example of Soldiering and needs to be recognized.


By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, December 14, 2006

A Schweinfurt, Germany-based infantryman who jumped on a grenade to save other troops is being recommended for the Medal of Honor.

The 1st Infantry Division soldier, Spc. Ross Andrew McGinnis, 19, was killed Dec. 4 while on a combat patrol in Baghdad.

Soldiers in his unit said he used his body to cover a grenade that had been thrown into his Humvee by an enemy fighter on a nearby rooftop.

McGinnis’ actions probably saved the lives of the four other soldiers in the vehicle, his company commander and other officials said during a Tuesday memorial ceremony.

As the U.S.’s highest award for wartime valor, the Medal of Honor is approved sparingly, and only one has been given out since Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

That award, to Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was presented to Smith’s widow and two children by President Bush on April 4, 2005 — two years to the day after Smith’s death.

Smith was honored posthumously for his actions during the battle for the Baghdad airport in 2003, when he killed as many as 50 enemy fighters while helping wounded comrades to safety.

On Nov. 10, while speaking at the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, Bush announced that a second Medal of Honor would be awarded to Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, who also used his body to smother a grenade and protect two of his fellow Marines.

Bush’s announcement came on what would have been Dunham’s 25th birthday, more than 2½ years after his death on April 14, 2004.

A date for the presentation ceremony has not yet been given.

According to the Army’s official Web site, “because of the need for accuracy the (Medal of Honor) recommendation process can take in excess of 18 months with intense scrutiny every step of the way.”

In McGinnis’ case, the recommendation has started with his company commander in 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, Capt. Michael Baka.

If approved, it would end with Congress.

Because of this, the award is often erroneously referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A Silver Star already has been awarded to McGinnis for his bravery, and even if he is eventually awarded the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star will stay on his record.

“In essence, he could receive two awards,” said Maj. Sean Ryan, public affairs officer for 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which McGinnis’ unit currently falls under while deployed.

Ryan also said that if the Medal of Honor is not approved, it could be downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross.

Academe Shortchanges Conservatives

Most people already realize this, but it seems that no one really cares in the halls of Academe.

Professor Bauerlein brings it home.



Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, has an interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education: "How Academe Shortchanges Conservative Thinking:"

The absence of conservative minds from the liberal-arts curriculum and
the off-campus ignorance of them — or worse, treatment of them as hired
hands — are standard features of intellectual life, and they are not
unrelated. When it comes to ideas and values, campuses remain the
foremost site of study, and the curriculum has a certifying effect. It
bears the duty of imparting ideas and writings essential to the
formation of thoughtful, informed individuals. The campus provides a
space in which that can happen, an occasion for learning — not for
advocating or using knowledge, but for acquiring and reflecting upon
it. The ideas included are deemed suitable for academic study, which is
to say they possess enough autonomy to be handled as part of an
intellectual tradition.

The division of campus discourse from public discourse has a
discrediting result. If a set of ideas and writings are missing in the
classroom but present in the marketplace or government, we tend to
explain them by their instrumental value. They owe their clout to their
usefulness to business or politics, the reasoning goes, not to
intellectual substance. If the university doesn't put those works and
ideas on the syllabus, they aren't subject to the free analysis and
contemplation that respectable works and ideas merit. When they crop up
off campus, then, they seem to have no independent validity, no import
separate from the interests they satisfy.

This is a disabling situation for conservative intellectuals. When a
distinctive intellectual identity emerged 100 years ago in France, it
did so as an adversarial one. People qualified as intellectuals by
acquiring knowledge through education and extending their expertise
into protest, rising above the blandishments of money and position to
represent higher things. What kept them honest and credible was,
precisely, their independence. What kept them authoritative was the
fact that they had developed their opinions in a disinterested setting.

Herein lies the plight of conservative intellectuals. They seek to
reflect upon the events of the day, but the ideas they draw upon are
ignored by professors and cheapened by liberal intellectuals. Count the
names Hayek, Russell Kirk, Irving Kristol, etc., on syllabi in courses
on "Culture Society." Tally how often, in left-of-center
periodicals, those names are linked to moneyed interests. The framing
is complete. Heralds of conservatism start and finish in the messy
realm of politics and finance, never rising into the temple of
reflection...

...The denial of legitimacy creates a distorted intellectual
environment, and everyone suffers. American society, not to mention
students, is poorly served when ideas in the public sphere don't
undergo conceptual, historical, and political analysis in the
classroom. Unfortunately, the curricular attention that conservative
minds and ideas actually gather is reflexive and shallow. It's not even
an adversarial relationship. It's barely any relationship at all.

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Another Cop Killer, Another Idiot University

Students 'Love' Cop Killer Honored at New York College

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

By Sara Bonisteel

NEW YORK — New York City college students who share a community room named for an escaped cop killer called the fugitive their hero Tuesday as the school's officials demanded the removal of the honor.



A handful of campus groups at the City College of New York commended the school for allowing them to work in the name of domestic "terrorist" Assata Shakur, now believed to be hiding in Cuba.



"We know that many Black people that fought for better conditions in the 70's were framed," the groups said in a statement released to FOXNews.com. "We consider Assata Shakur to be one of the people who were wrongfully and purposefully framed for her activities.



"And we consider her a hero and role model for standing up for our people and putting her life on the line."

The chancellor of City University of New York, meanwhile, demanded the "unauthorized and inappropriate signage" be removed.

Why did it take so long for the Chancellor to decide that this needed to be removed?

What is the university system teaching the young people of this nation?

University's should be for academics and not political BS.

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Katherine Kersten: Suspicion about imams grows as terror links pile up

The "flying imams" are linked to terrorism.

Who'd have thunk it?



Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune

Last update: December 11, 2006 – 10:00 AM

The grounded imams incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport has been a public relations coup for the imams, their
supporters and their claims that the group's only suspicious activity
was saying evening prayers.

US
Airways continues to defend its crew's decision to pull the imams off a
plane last month, saying they took the seating configuration used by
9/11 hijackers, requested seat-belt extensions that could be used as
weapons and otherwise raised concerns.

Who are the parties involved here, who seem so interested in linking airport security with racial bigotry?

The
Council on American-Islamic Relations, the imams' legal representative,
is an organization that "we know has ties to terrorism," Sen. Charles
Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 2003. And the Muslim American Society, which
is also supporting the imams? It's the American arm of the Muslim
Brotherhood, according to the Chicago Tribune, which called it "the
world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."

How
about Omar Shahin, the imams' spokesman and also president of the North
American Imams Federation? He is a native of Jordan, who says he became
a U.S. citizen in 2003. From 2000 to 2003, Shahin served as president
of Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT), that city's largest mosque.

Yep, racial profiling.

I like US Airways. The anti-terrorist airline!

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Iraq Appease Squeeze

The New York Post slams the Iraq panel.

WASHINGTON - The Iraq Study Group report delivered to President Bush

yesterday contains 79 separate recommendations - but not one that

explains how American forces can defeat the terrorist insurgents, only

ways to bring the troops home.

Declaring the situation "grave and deteriorating," the

high-powered commission proposed the United States talk directly to

terror abettors Iran and Syria to get their cooperation, and commit to

removing U.S. combat troops in early 2008.

I think the Iraq panel is a joke as well.



What the fuck are they thinking? James Baker? That fuckin' nazi needs to go back under the rock he crawled out from under.

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New Blog

Here's my new blog.

I'll be bouncing between the two.

Technorati Profile

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Please remember the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard during the holidays.

If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be celebrating anything.

God Bless you all.

I am back.

Can't seem to find a blog that I like.
So until I do find one that I like as a host, then I will keep it up here.

John Kerry is a moron, So is his pal Phil Angelides

John Kerry is a moron.

He just needs to shut the hell up and go away.

...909am update San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Pasadena Star News reports on the Angelides campaign event at Pasadena City College where Kerry trashed the troops..."Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps."***

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in

Iraq

.” - John Kerry

This idiot just doesn't know when to shut the hell up!
Angelides will now be associated with an anti-military boob, his election chances are even slimmer than they were before the moronic endorsement by Kerry.

Take it from me Kerry, a retired Army NCO that has two Associates degrees and am five classes shy of my Bachelors degree; you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Asshole.

This is for you sir...

Google Still Sucks, but what a great place to put a Google Bomb

Senate

Connecticut: Ned Lamont

Maryland: Ben Cardin

Maryland: Ben Cardin


Missouri: Claire McCaskill

Missouri: Claire McCaskill

Michigan: Debbie Stabenow

Montana: Jon Tester

Ohio: Sherrod Brown


Pennsylvania: Bob Casey

Tennessee: Harold Ford

Tennessee: Harold Ford

New Jersey: Bob Menendez

Virginia: James Webb

House

(AZ-5): Harry Mitchell

(AZ-08): Gabrielle Giffords

(CO-07): Ed Perlmutter

(CT-04): Diane Farrell


(CT-05): Chris Murphy

(FL-16): Tim Mahoney

(GA-03): Jim Marshall

(GA-12): John Barrow

(IA-01): Bruce Braley


(IL-06): Tammy Duckworth

(IL-17): Phil Hare

(IN-08): Brad Ellsworth

(IN-09): Baron Hill

(NC-13): Brad Miller


(NH-02): Paul Hodes

(NM-01): Patricia Madrid

(NY-20): Kirsten Gillibrand

(NY-24): Michael Arcuri

(NY-29): Eric Massa


(OH-15): Mary Jo Kilroy

(OH-18): Zack Space

(PA-07): Joe Sestak

(PA-10): Chris Carney

(PA-08): Patrick Murphy


(PA-12): John Murtha

(VA-02): Phil Kellam

(WA-8): Darcy Burner

(WI-08): Steve Kagen

Comparing Iraq with Vietnam, Again

Another leftist defeatist tactic that once again cannot stand up to the facts of the matter. And once again, I will refute the BS claims the left and their MSM pals insist on making.

The US, ARVN, and allied Australian and South Korean forces suffered 4,324 killed, 16,063 wounded, and 598 missing due to the Tet Offensive.

The US has had 2,809 Service Members killed in Iraq since the start of the war, with another 20,887 wounded.

As for the US casualties in the Tet Offensive, 1,536 were KIA and another 7,764 were WIA.

For the year (1968) that Tet took place, 14,594 Service Members were KIA. 87,388 were WIA.

Comparing Vietnam to Iraq is like comparing apples and oranges. There cannot be a viable comparison between the two when it comes to the amount of casualties that are suffered.

Every lost soul in this war is tragic. I have lost a close friend to this war and it hurts every day. But, I will not stand idly by and let him, or the other 2,808 be slandered by the left and the lies that they portray on a daily basis.

This war is being won by our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, and our Coasties.

This war can be lost by the political left and their defeatist cronies.

Silence on the Economy

As is usually the case these past six years, the economy has not been the focus of the MSM at all.
As a matter of fact, the silence is deafening.

Prosperity Amid the Gloom

By George Will

WASHINGTON -- Recently Bill Clinton, at the British Labour Party's annual conference, delivered what the Times of London described as a "relaxed, almost rambling'' and "easy anecdotal'' speech to an enthralled audience of leftists eager for evidence of American disappointments. Never a connoisseur of understatement, Clinton said America is "now outsourcing college-education jobs to India.''

But Clinton-as-Cassandra should not persuade college students to abandon their quest for diplomas: The unemployment rate among college graduates is 2 percent.

Clinton is always a leading indicator of "progressive'' fashions in rhetoric. And every election year -- meaning every other year -- brings an epidemic of dubious economic analysis, as members of the party out of power discern lead linings on silver clouds.

"Worst economy since Herbert Hoover,'' said John Kerry in 2004, while that year's growth (3.9 percent) was adding to America's GDP the equivalent of the GDP of Taiwan (the 19th-largest economy). Nancy Pelosi vows that if Democrats capture Congress they will "jump-start our economy.'' A "jump-start '' is administered to a stalled vehicle. But since the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003, the economy's growth rate (3.5 percent) has been better than the average for the 1980s (3.1) and 1990s (3.3). Today's unemployment rate (4.6 percent) is lower than the average for the 1990s (5.8) -- lower, in fact, than the average for the last 40 years (6.0). Some stall.

Economic hypochondria, a derangement associated with affluence, is a byproduct of the welfare state: An entitlement mentality gives Americans a low pain threshold -- witness their recurring hysterias about nominal rather than real gasoline prices -- and a sense of being entitled to economic dynamism without the frictions and "creative destruction'' that must accompany dynamism. Economic hypochondria is also bred by news media that consider the phrase "good news'' an oxymoron, even as the U.S. economy, which has performed better than any other major industrial economy since 2001, drives the Dow to record highs.

Amazing isn't it?
I blame Bush!!

Today's Stuff

Nets, Particularly CBS and Couric, Treat 655,000 Iraqi Death Guestimate as Credible

Despite how the estimate of 665,000 Iraqi deaths caused by violence since the war began -- a number forwarded in a new report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health -- represents quadruple the highest monthly rate as tracked by the UN and is 13 times larger than the total compiled by the Iraq Body Count group, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric set up a Wednesday story on the guesstimate by declaring as fact: “Now we're learning that the war has been a lot more deadly than we knew.” David Martin proceeded to treat the number as perfectly reasonable as he put the blame on the U.S.: "A new and stunning measure of the havoc the American invasion unleashed in Iraq. A study published in the British journal Lancet estimates 655,000 Iraqis -- 2.5 percent of the entire population -- have died as a consequence of the war. To understand how large, consider this: The same percentage of the much larger American population would be 7.5 million dead.”

Unreal.
Has anyone bothered to do the math?
655,000 people in 3 years.
218, 333.33 people per year.
613.29 people per day.
25.55 people per hour.

How fookin' rediculous is that number?
The islamo-fascists are lucky if they get 25 people in one attack.
Give me a break!

S.Korea Finds No Abnormal Radioactivity
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea said Thursday it had detected no abnormal radioactivity levels within its borders after a declared North Korea nuclear test blast this week.

Lee Moon-ki, the director general for nuclear energy at South Korea's Science and Technology Ministry, said in an interview before an announcement by his ministry that his country had also detected no increases of radioactivity at the suspected test site in North Korea. He later retracted that statement, saying he misspoke.

N.Korea warns Japan against sanctions

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened Japan on Thursday with "strong countermeasures" if it goes ahead with tougher sanctions over Pyongyang's reported nuclear test.

Japan and the United States are pushing for tough measures against the North, although diplomats say China opposes the more punitive parts of a draft resolution Washington wants the U.N. Security Council to adopt in a vote, possibly on Friday.

Did it happen, or was it just a large TNT detonation in the north? At any rate, the North Koreans need to be slam dunked on this one. That little despot is out of control. Apeasement didn't work under the Clinton administration, I am certain that it will not work now.

Sanctions by the United States, Japan, South Korea and China would be a good starting point.

China Reluctant to Back Korea Sanctions

BEIJING (AP) - China appeared to shy away Thursday from backing U.S. efforts to impose a travel ban and financial sanctions on North Korea for its claimed nuclear test, saying any U.N. action should focus on bringing its communist neighbor back to talks.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said North Korea should understand it had made a mistake but "punishment should not be the purpose" of any U.N. response.

Did anyone really think that China would play along with the rest of the world?
Not me.

Today I am highlighting Victor Davis Hansen.

I have yet to read any of his books, but it is on my to do list.

He is an exceptional writer on Pajamas Media and at National Review Online.

I have enjoyed reading his comments and columns.

I have added links and the starting paragraphs to several of his PJM comments here.

After which, I'll link to some other juicy tidbits...

Enjoy.

The Will of the President

Victor Davis Hanson

When Winston Churchill was ushered in as Prime Minister after the invasion of France in May 1940, the consensus was that he alone had correctly seen the real Hitler, and that he alone would stand fast in the face of calls for negotiations for a peace offering the status quo, and that he would rally the nation for the horrors ahead—and they were plenty from Dunkirk and Tobruk to the fall of the Singapore and catastrophe in the Asia.

Five Years and Running
Victor Davis Hanson

More Whining From Osama

I watched bin Laden’s commemorative tape released shortly before the fifth anniversary of the attack today. All the usual stuff was there: mention of lost honor, the same pathological lying about taking credit for mass murder that he once denied, more gripes about Kosovo, Chechnya, etc.

Do any Americans finally see through these killers? On Monday they are mad about East Timor, on Tuesday Kosovo. Wednesday they wake up and shout about Israel, while on Thursday it’s American troops once in Saudi Arabia. Does anyone see a pattern here, especially when they talk of lost “honor” and “humiliation”? War-torn Rwandans are humiliated. There is no honor in Serbia. But what in God’s name is the complaint of radical Islam, when billions of windfall profits accrue to the Middle East, to countries like Iran or Syria or the Gulf States, who pump oil someone else found at $5 and sell it at $60, and can’t make or mend on their own any of the apparatus needed to profit?

Wars, Books, and Democrats
Victor Davis Hanson

Good and bad wars?

The death toll of allied and American soldiers in Afghanistan these last few months is nearing those of coalition losses in Iraq, and may well rise at a greater rate. For now, this has not affected too much the argument of the Left that Afghanistan is the “good” war, and Iraq the “bad”.

In the former we went after the base where the 9/11 attacks were planned, involved a coalition of NATO allies, and saw the emergence of some sort of consensual government follow the wreckage of the Taliban fairly quickly—and at only about 60 American combat death per year in the first three-years of postbellum occupation.

Depressing Times
Victor Davis Hanson

Oriana Fallaci, RIP, the Pope, and a Sad Age

Rarely has the death of a public intellectual affected me as much as the passing of Oriana Fallaci. I never met her, and only received a brief note once from her accompanying a copy of The Rage and the Pride. The story of her career is well known, but her death, at this pivotal time, was full of paradoxes and yet instruction as well.

Radical Islam is, among other things, a patriarchal movement, embedded particularly in the cult of the Middle-Eastern male, who occupies a privileged position in a society that can be fairly described as one of abject gender apartheid. Islamism is also at war with the religious infidel, not just the atheist—and, in its envy and victimhood, fueled by a renewal of the age-old hatred of the Christian.

But so far, with very few exceptions other than the lion, Christopher Hitchens, the courageous William Shawcross, and a few others, the Left has either been neutral or anti-American in this struggle. And few Christians in positions of influence and respect have publicly defended their faith and the civilization that birthed it.

Drawing the Line?
Victor Davis Hanson

It has been a parlor game of sorts to guess when—but even more so if—the Europeans (Britain included) will sigh, “Enough is enough,” and so get tough with both their own unassimilated angry Muslim minorities and the radical Islamic world at large. There will never be liberal values in the Middle East, no change, no future—as there would not have been in Hitler’s Germany, as there is not today in Cuba or North Korea—without the defeat of Islamic fascism, in its latest Islamic incarnation, as an ideological force.

Wars, then and now
Victor Davis Hanson

The Hate-America Industry

When bin Laden praised William Blum’s Rogue State, it soared to the top of Amazon’s sales charts. So too now has Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival—as soon as the semi-literate Hugo Chavez held it up at the United Nations. The Left sees it as McCarthy-like to even suggest that our own are the ideological godheads of the enemy. But it is true.

I am going through the rough draft of a new Al-Qaeda reader this morning, translated and edited by Raymond Ibrahim, soon to be released by Doubleday. What do Dr. Zawahri and bin Laden complain about from their caves in Pakistan? Why, of course, the American failure to sign Kyoto, our desecration of the environment, George Bush reading a goat story on the morning of 9/11, Halliburton, and—that critically-important concern of radical Islam— the lack of campaign finance reform in the United States. Much of their rants are simply jottings and notes taken from watching Fahrenheit 9/11 and killing time in hideouts by listening to talking heads on CNN.

We are all very lucky to live in the Civilization of the West
Victor Davis Hanson

Clintonian and Cartesian Angst

I just arrived back to California after a wonderful five-week teaching stint at Hillsdale College in Michigan—to blue skies, raisins safely in the roll, the farm in good shape thanks to the renter and my son, and constant televised clips from Bill Clinton’s embarrassing, but staged rant.

Why when leaving office did we hear little, if any, second guessing—much less criticism of their successors—from Gerry Ford, Ronald Reagan, or George Bush, Sr.—but lots of self-serving revisionism from Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton? Ford and the elder Bush, after all, were both defeated at the polls and might have voiced hurt at their fates?

America and its Discontents
Victor Davis Hanson

Clintonian Neuroses

In the last post I suggested that Clinton needed a thorough psychiatric analysis—and then was apprised that a Pajamas Media contributor, Gagdad Bob, had offered a fine portrait of his narcissist tendencies. Clinton’s furious outburst illustrated a fundamental Democratic fear: even when events favor popular unease—an unpopular war, rising gas prices—contemporary Democrats are not sure that they can still capture 51% of the electorate.

Democratic Paranoia

And why, if not a deep unease with who they are, do Democrats wheel out an Ike Skelton, John Murtha, or Robert Byrd? Is it for no other reason than these supposedly middle-of-the-road crusty types offer a veneer for the ‘real’ Democratic party that drove out Joe Lieberman, and is best represented by Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, and Barbara Boxer?

The War and Its Critics
Victor Davis Hanson

Pseudo-footnotes

Most genres don’t require footnotes—the memoir, the essay, the journalistic dispatch. I’ve written histories that had too many footnotes—The Other Greeks had citations to ancient sources in the text, explanations with asterisks at the bottom of the page, and formal endnotes at the back of the book—and memoirs like Fields Without Dreams and Mexifornia with no citations.

But when you write history, and especially history of a contentious nature about Iraq, in which so much is at stake, it is incumbent to identify primary sources. The last three books about the supposed mess in Iraq—Cobra II, Fiasco, and now State of Denial—violate every canon of intellectual courtesy. Check who said what in Cobra II and you find the following: “Interview, former senior military officer”, “Interview, former senior officer”, “Interview, former Centcom planner,” Interview, Pentagon Officials,” “Interview, U.S. State Department Official,” or “notes of a participant.”

And now for more juicy tidbits...

This is from FOX News:

CBS News Allows Conservative Point of View and All Hell Breaks Loose
Thursday , October 05, 2006
By Bill O'Reilly

CBS News allows a conservative point of view and all hell breaks loose. That's the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo".

As part of its new evening news format with Katie Couric, CBS now has a "free speech" segment where folks deliver commentary. But when the comments come from the right, the reaction's fascinating.

Brian Rohrbough's 15-year-old son Daniel was killed in the Columbine massacre. Ever since, Mr. Rohrbough has been thinking about just why his son and 11 other children were murdered without reason. After seeing the same thing happened at the Amish school a few days ago, Brian Rohrbough said this on CBS News:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN ROHRBOUGH, FATHER: I am saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today and last week's school murders. When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting.

Since that day, I tried to answer the question why did this happen? This country is in a moral free fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing Him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak without moral consequences. And life has no inherent value.

We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you, the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion.

Abortion has diminished the value of children. Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder/suicide attacks on our children.

Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools, our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

A few things that need said

I am posting links to a few things that I feel need to be addressed, or are good issues to be involved with.

Support Dunkin Donuts and Applebees

By Michelle Malkin

Open-borders extremists are starting a boycott of the donut franchises and the restaurant chain. Why? Because they won't hire aliens whose bogus Social Security numbers don't check out:

A local group fighting for immigrant rights is calling for a boycott of two nationally known companies. Dunkin Donuts and Applebee's are accused of discriminating against immigrant workers whose names don't match their social security numbers.

On the 10th anniversary of what immigration reform advocates call stringent changes to immigration laws, supports of the legalization of the undocumented are once again speaking out -- only this time, they are hoping not only to mobilize their vote, but also use their buying power to force the kind of change they want.

"The social security administration says it plans to send out 8 million no match letters," said Martino Unzuerta, Chicago Workers Collaborative.

The initial purpose of the social security administration's 'no match' letter was to credit workers unclaimed social security earnings. The agency routinely sends out 'no match' letters to a company when employees' names and social security numbers don't match possibly because of a spelling error, omission of information or a unreported name change. But immigration activists say some employers are now aggressively using the letters to fire immigrant workers.

"The Bush administration wants to give the appearance that they are cracking down on undocumented immigration and workers are an easy escape goat," said James Thindwa, Chicago Jobs with Justice.

Groups accuse several companies of the practice using 'no match' letters to immigrant workers who don't have valid social security numbers. They want the public to boycott businesses, including Applebee's and Dunkin Donuts. Neither company could be reached for comment.

What's there to say? You can't reason with people who cry "racism" as a response to businesses who abide by the law.

This is a good case for border enforcement and I will be happy to continue patronage of both of these fine franchises. The illegal alien issue is a sore point for me, especially since my wife came to America from Korea, legally, had to apply for removal of her conditional status on her green card after residing in the USA for two years, then had to wait another 3 years just to apply for citizenship. After many trips to L.A. and a lot of paperwork, time and money, she became a citizen. In my opinion, hers as well, if you want to be a part of America, we're all for it; just do it legally. If you are here illegally. then you do not have the right to dictate to me, or any other American legal resident/citizen amy demands for clemency, or anything else. Get the hell out of my country!
Also from Michelle:

Women with spine

By Michelle Malkin · October 02, 2006 03:49 PM

Wafa Sultan returns.

Brigitte Gabriel speaks at Heritage.

Listen and learn.

Wafa Sultan has a sack, er chutspa!

Wow, I am truly impressed. You go girl!

This one is about George Soros, what a maroon!

An "Extremely Evil Person"
By Cliff Kincaid | October 3, 2006

Speaking at a Washington symposium on the continuing threat posed by illegal drugs to American society, Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation declared billionaire George Soros to be an "extremely evil person" who wants to legalize dangerous mind-altering drugs. Sounding a battle cry as critical November elections approach, Fay told the assembled conservative activists that Soros, an atheist who is a major funder of the Democratic Party and liberal-left causes, is "our common enemy" and that he is determined to subvert traditional values and undermine America's families.

This guy is out to lunch. His grip on reality must be drug impaired.

A CON JOB FROM AL-JAZEERA'S RIZ KHAN

Riz Khan of Al-Jazeera International made a dramatic appearance in Washington, D.C. on September 6, assuring an influential group presided over by conservative activist Grover Norquist that America has nothing to fear from the new channel being launched by the Arab regime of Qatar.

Accuracy in Media disagrees.

If the United States wants to win the war against Islamic terrorism, Khan and his Arab backers should be told in no uncertain terms that an English-language affiliate of Osama bin Laden's favorite TV channel is not welcome on U.S. cable and satellite systems.

The stakes are high: If Al-Jazeera International gets access to American households, it is probable, if not inevitable, that we will lose the war, not only in Iraq but worldwide. Such a channel could not only further tilt global media coverage against the U.S. position in the world, but could incite Arabs and Muslims inside the U.S. to engage in jihad and commit terrorist acts. That is exactly what the Arabic version has done in Iraq, and that is why it is banned by the new democratic government there.

Don't be fooled by these Islamist propaganda artists. They are invading our air waves to passify the left even more than they already are. The funny thing about the left and Islam, should Islam become a force in America, their way of life would no longer be an option.
Ironic isn't it?

The Terrorists' Legal Team

by Matthew Vadum
Posted Oct 03, 2006

America’s barbaric terrorist enemies have a friend in the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), an ultra-leftist public-interest law firm that for four decades has protected the supposed constitutional rights of those who would destroy the United States. From its founding in the tumultuous 1960s, CCR has used what it calls “innovative impact litigation” to aggressively attack U.S. anti-Communist policy, the war on Islamist terror, and American businesses. CCR lawyers agree with Islamic Fascists’ critique of American society and ritualistically denounce the U.S. for its supposed hegemony and imperialism, denying that America has a right to defend itself and regulate its borders.

CCR inhabits a paranoid, nightmarish parallel universe. In it, America is a land of breadlines, racism and totalitarian tyranny. In today’s America, “political dissent and protest are under grave attack ... This political repression is accompanied by economic hardship for millions, while racism and environmental devastation flourish along with the fattened bank accounts of the war profiteers who run our government,” wrote CCR’s legal director, William Goodman, in its 2005 annual report.

These morons need to be thrown in jail at the least, but definately belong on the N2BK list.

Is U.S. Surrendering Technique That Extracted Intel From 9/11 Mastermind?

by Amanda B. Carpenter
Posted Oct 02, 2006

Is the U.S. government giving up the interrogation technique that extracted vital intelligence from 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

On Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor” on September 20, Brian Ross, chief investigative correspondent for ABC News, reported that a tough interrogation technique called “waterboarding” had been used by the Central Intelligence Agency to break Mohammed, inducing him to surrender “very valuable” information.

Once again, America's hands are tied in the war on terrorism Islamic fundamentalism.
Here's more...

White House Won't Touch Waterboarding

Whether or not the new legislation governing interrogation of prisoners outlaws waterboarding -- the practice of simulating drowning that has worked in the interrogation of captured al Qaeda terrorists -- the White House refuses to say.

But days before the measure was enacted by the Senate and signed into law, one of its premier sponsors was strongly suggesting waterboarding would now be banned in future interrogations. Appearing on CBS-TV’s Face the Nation September 24, Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) was asked by John Harris of the Washington Post about past claims about the legislation that “severe punishment, pain -- should not be inflicted but serious pain can. What can that possibly mean in concrete terms?”

“In concrete terms,” replied McCain, “It could mean that waterboarding and other extreme measures such as extreme deprivation, sleep deprivation, hypothermia and others would not be allowed.”

“Waterboarding” was singled out in a report by ABC News’ top investigative reporter Brian Ross as an effective means of securing information from captured al Qaeda terrorists -- among them Khalid Sheik Mohammed, one of the architects of 9/11.

The Left’s Seminaries
How times change.

By David French

It is tough not to admire the campus Left’s mental agility. Over the past few decades, we have seen the architects of the free-speech movement become the authors of speech codes, and those who formerly glorified dissent clamp down on campus with a mind-numbing level of intellectual conformity. Scientific inquiry is welcome, unless it results in tough questions about possible innate gender differences. Open debate is the hallmark of the academy, unless of course that debate intrudes into areas where policy should be settled and morality decided (like when dealing with race, class, gender, war, peace, and sexuality).

Given the remarkable ability to reinvent its position on the free-speech clause of the First Amendment (from protesters to censors), it was only a matter of time before the Left began to rethink the religion clauses as well, especially the establishment clause. “Separation of church and state” has been a battle cry of the hard Left for many decades, but what if the Left ran the state — or at least dominated an important state agency? Would the Left remain dedicated to this allegedly bedrock principle?

Hypocites...
Liberalism is a mental disorder!

Deanonomics Is Pure Deanogoguery
Responding to the DNC chair’s dangerous economic manifesto.

By Thomas E. Nugent

In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, Howard Dean provided voters with a thumbnail sketch of the new economic direction Congress will take if the Democrats gain control on November 7. In what follows, I provide you with Dean’s outline — call it “Deanonomics” — while responding in kind to the anointed spokesman for the out-of-power party.

Excellent slap-down of the left's poster child.

Have a good day all.