There's an Army press conference going on right now with General Cone.
Now they're saying that it was a single gunman, Hasan, and he's in the hospital.
The officer who shot him was thought dead but she's alive and out of surgery.
More as this develops.
hat tip Ace
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Jihad At Fort Hood
Twelve people were murdered and thirty one wounded at our Fort Hood, Texas military base by a gunman or gunmen.
The chief gunman has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan, a Muslim and reportedly a psychiatrist for the army. This are various reports differing over whether he was alone or whether there were two other gunmen, at least one of whom is supposed to be in custody right now. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that anyone in custody is not exactly a Buddhist or a Presbyterian.
Needless to say, no one is revealing what the accomplice's names and religion are...yet.
The main shooter was reportedly shouting in Arabic as the victims were shot down.
Al-Qaeda and the Ikhwan (the Muslim Brotherhood) are quite clear in encouraging jihadis to infiltrate the military and law enforcement, and we already know that they have targeted military bases in the past. Remember Fort Dix? And this one?
Not to mention the other attempts that were unsuccessful and hushed up.
Major Hasan was quoted as saying "Muslims have the right to rise up against the US military" and "The Muslims have a right to stand up against the aggressors" and after the Little Rock shooting said that "Muslims need to do more of these" according to a FOX interview with a Colonel Terry Lee who worked with Hasan:
Here we have an Army psychiatrist, a Muslim, who publicly expressed these poisonous views about Americans being in Iraq and Afghanistan, about being happy about a Muslim killing soldiers at an Army recruiting center earlier this year...and this guy was who the Army had counseling troops going to and coming back from the war?
And no one ever outed him?
The dinosaur media is pushing the angle that he was 'unhappy' because he was being deployed to Iraq, where as a psychiatrist he would have seen no combat. Don't you believe it for a second. He was pefectly fine with going to war..that's what he did today. This was a jihad attack, and I can almost guarantee that when the dots are connected, there will be a Saudi funded mosque and a radical imam in the picture.
Thankfully, a number of American Muslim groups have condemned these murders unequivocally. Some of them haven't always done so in the past.
Now, assuming I'm right and this is a jihad attack, how many of you think that the dinosaur media will demand closer scrutiny of Islamists, the way they did on “radical right wing extremists" ? Hmmm?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Obama Has A Statement On Iran - No Joke
Here it is, as just released by the White House:
Thirty years ago today, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized. The 444 days that began on November 4, 1979 deeply affected the lives of courageous Americans who were unjustly held hostage, and we owe these Americans and their families our gratitude for their extraordinary service and sacrifice.
This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion, mistrust, and confrontation. I have made it clear that the United States of America wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect. We do not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. We have condemned terrorist attacks against Iran. We have recognized Iran’s international right to peaceful nuclear power. We have demonstrated our willingness to take confidence-building steps along with others in the international community. We have accepted a proposal by the International Atomic Energy Agency to meet Iran’s request for assistance in meeting the medical needs of its people. We have made clear that if Iran lives up to the obligations that every nation has, it will have a path to a more prosperous and productive relationship with the international community.
Iran must choose. We have heard for thirty years what the Iranian government is against; the question, now, is what kind of future it is for. The American people have great respect for the people of Iran and their rich history. The world continues to bear witness to their powerful calls for justice, and their courageous pursuit of universal rights. It is time for the Iranian government to decide whether it wants to focus on the past, or whether it will make the choices that will open the door to greater opportunity, prosperity, and justice for its people.
Not much that's concrete or definite, is there? For clarity on Iran
you need to listen to Ahmadinejad or Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who - again - just advised against diplomacy with the US,calling it " naive and perverted. "
If I might presume to correct the president on one point...Iran has already made its choice,and they were pretty definite about it. As a matter of fact, to their credit, they've been pretty honest about it for about the last six years now.
It's you, Mr. President that has to choose now, not Iran.
And there are only three doors in this particular game show: give them whatever they want in hope of appeasing them in the hope you can trust them, accede to their demands and learn to live with Iran as a nuclear power, or go to war.
And this is one you can't blame on Bush, dither or vote present on, Mr. President.
This one's on you.
ObamaLand - Where A Salary Raise Counts As A 'Saved Job'
This is just too good to pass by.
Lots of people have commented on the idiocy of the Obama Administration mantra of a few hundred thousand jobs 'saved or created' as unemployment heads upwards and the amount of real, honest to goodness jobs lost is in the millions with no end in site.
Now, we find out that not only is the idea of jobs 'saved or created' fictional, it's downright farcical.
Virtually all the jobs the government is claiming were 'saved or created' by th ebogus stimulus are in government...like 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council.
The problem is, only 508 people work there.
This wonderful bit of Obama new math is explained by counting employees in government offices who got salary increases as additional personnel with 'saved jobs':
About two-thirds of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved under one federal office, the Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services, actually weren't saved at all, according to a review of the latest data by The Associated Press. Instead, that figure includes more than 9,300 existing employees in hundreds of local agencies who received pay raises and benefits and whose jobs weren't saved.
Basically what happened is that when the Obama Administration shoveled out the stimulus money, they specifically instructed the officials to consider a fraction of each employee who got a raise as a job saved. And some offices even went further double counting each employee who got a raise as a separate 'saved job':
At Southwest Georgia Community Action Council in Moultrie, Ga., director Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said she followed the guidelines the Obama administration provided. She said she multiplied the 508 employees by 1.84 — the percentage pay raise they received — and came up with 935 jobs saved.
"I would say it's confusing at best," she said. "But we followed the instructions we were given."
Not to rain on the parade of the Wizard of O, but I also feel obligated to point out that these are all government jobs, paid for by taxpayer dollars - not jobs actually involved in productivity or in creating wealth, the stuff that leads to actual jobs being created.You know, the stuff that gets taxed in order to pay for all those government jobs .
He is O, the Great and Powerful...and uh, pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain.
The Dear Leader Chronicles: Mind Raping The Young
John Nolte in Big Hollywood has written before about 'Praise Obama' videos featuring young children manipulated by adults.
But this is downright creepy, and as far as I'm concerned, borderline child abuse:
Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern.
Maybe “epidemic” is a better word.
Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because the further down you go, the younger the children — brace yourself for kindergartners – except for the last and most disturbing video, which you have to see to believe.
Each one of these videos is complete with a transcript. I 'll just show one of them, from Powell Elementary in New Jersey, where the school’s age range is pre-kindergarten through the third grade:
Transcript:
Barack Obama there is none higher
Other politicians should call me sire
To burn my kingdom you must use fire
I create change till I retire!
Democratic Party come correct
Our cuts are on time our rhymes connect
Got the right to vote and will elect
Others can’t feel us but give us respect
Now I walked through crowds, shook many hands
Spent my time saying YES WE CAN!
I stood on many stages, held many mics
Took airplane flights at great heights
PA and Jersey, I won that fight
Chicago Illinois was so hype
Moving so strong
Biden joined the fight
Now we are a team and we ignite!
Now I crash through walls,
Cut through floors,
Burst through ceilings
Knock down doors.
He is George
And I’m Turan
We’re never far behind
In class we shine
For every living person
With dreams and plans
Keep hope alive –
Think “Yes We Can”
We’re the baddest of the bad
The cool of the cool
I’m Barack
I rock and rule.
I’m Joe. I rock and rule.
It’s not a trick or treat or April fools,
It’s all brand new
With a little old school.
We’ve got the music and the message
For all my friends.
Check us out on the internet,
Load and send.
Music ain’t nothing
but a people's jam.
It’s President Obama
Rockin’ with the band!
There are ten more of these, including one from a school that petitioned successfully to change its name to Barack Obama Elementary. Read the whole thing
Soulless vampires, to feed on defenseless little kids this way...This is exactly how Mao, Fidel and Hitler did it.
UPDATE: 11/08/09...down the memory hole.The White House was a tad slow removing this, but they eventually got to it.
Israelis Seize Huge Iran Arms Shipment Bound for Hezbollah
The Israeli Navy seized a huge arms shipment today bound for Syria and Hezbollah.
Hundreds of tons of weaponry, ten times the size of the Karine A shipment of 2002, were seized in an overnight raid Tuesday by the Israeli navy, some 100 nautical miles west of Israel, officials said. The ship seized was sailing under an Antiguan flag.
The transfer of such large amounts of weapons, "is done in order to create a balance of terror with Israel," said Brigadier General Rani Ben-Yehuda, deputy commander of the Israeli navy, at a press conference.
Defense officials said the 140-meter long Francop,, captured near Cyprus, was carrying arms sent by Iran and destined for Syria and Hezbollah.
The ship had been monitored by the Israelis for several days, and they raided it, examined the cargo, and after receiving permission from what the Jerusalem Post deftly calls 'relevant authorities' brought the ship and its huge illegal arms cargo home to Israel.The papers clearly show that the point of origin was Iran.
'Illegal'? Well yes, actually.Aside froim violating several UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting Iran from transferring weaponry, it was a direct violation of UNSC Resolution 1701 forbidding arms trafficking to Hezbollah.
Call me cynical,but somehow I have a distinct feeling that Iran is not going to suffer any penalties at the hands of the UN for violating international law and the UN Charter it signed as a member.
Kol Tov, IDF. Bechatzlechah gadol.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Conservatives Win In NY 23
The final results for the congressional election in New York's 23rd district are pretty much in.
FOX has called this for Democrat Bill Owens with 49% of the vote, with Doug Hoffman ending up with 46% and the other 'Democrat', Dede Scozzafava bringing up the rear with 6%.Hoffman has conceded.
But this is a huge victory for populist, small government conservatives.
I know,what has Rob been drinking? Listen up.
In a three man race with no RNC backing until the last part of the campaign and with his name only appearing in one slot on the ballot as opposed to two each for his opponents, Doug Hoffman came in second by an ACORN, if you get my drift.
And the message this has sent is a powerful one.
The GOP now knows that it will live or die with its populist small government conservative base, and that it will have to take them into account and cease backroom deals to nominate Leftists like Scozzafava.
The days of the Republican establishment getting away with pushing this poison are over, and the point is that their candidate, Scozzafava, was beaten like a gong.
And remember...what did we lose? If it had been a Scozzafava versus Owens race, the net result would have been another vote for Nancy Pelosi no matter who won.This way just clarifies matters, sorts them out.
The suits at the RNC just spent almost a million smackers on a Leftard 'Republican' they tried to impose on a district that went GOP by 60% in 2008. Sozzafava took the money and ran, dropped out, and then let herself be bribed by the Obama White House to endorse the Democrat. That's whom they chose. That's who the party establishment was backing.
That money could have been far better spent in NY 23 and elsewhere, and looking at how many votes Scozzafava siphoned off and how close the thing was, had the GOP actually niminated Hoffman from Day One and given him backing, I have a feeling the results would have been far different. Let's hope the RNC learned a lesson.Otherwise, the GOP elephant is going to be as extinct as the mastodon.
But wait,there's more. The more moderate Democrats watched this scenario unfold too, just as they watched the results of elections in New Jersey and Virginia. After all this, do you really think they're going to be that anxious to start re-arranging the deck chairs on the sinking SS Obama and go along for the ride while the ship hits icebergs like Obamacare and Cap N' Tax? No, people like Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln will be bolting for the lifeboats, thank you. They have elections to deal with next year.
Sure, it would have been an extra cherry on top if Doug Hoffman had managed to pull in another few thousand votes and win the seat. But the fact that this went down the way it did at all was a win in itself, and in the big scheme of things, one seat more or less doesn't matter all that much, compared with the overall effect.
It's now a whole new ballgame, with conservatives in other elections gearing up to insist to the RNC that they not be taken for granted..and that if the GOP wants their votes, their money and their passion, they had better not ignore them anymore.
This is beyond buzz words like 'liberal', 'moderate' or 'conservative'. It's huge.
The message of NY 23 is that GOP is going to have to stand for something, or go the way of the Whigs. That's what NY 23 was really about, and it achieved its purpose beautifully.
- Selah -
Clean sweep For GOP in VA - Christie Wins In NJ
Two down, one to go..
In a race that President Obama invested heavily in, Chris Christie has been elected to the governorship of New Jersey,with 50 percent of the vote compared to 44 percent for Corzine. Independent candidate Chris Daggett was at about 5 percent.
In Virginia, the GOP scored a clean sweep in the statewide races, with McDonnell grabbing a huge 18 point victory over Deeds in a state Obama won in 2008 by 7 points.
The big news? The independents broke solidly for the Republicans...not good news for Barack Obama and the Democrats.
New York 24 is still too close to call. with 33% of the precincts counted, Owens(D) has 23,799, Hoffman (C) 22,188 and Scuzzyfuzzy has 2,489 or 5%.
In a race that President Obama invested heavily in, Chris Christie has been elected to the governorship of New Jersey,with 50 percent of the vote compared to 44 percent for Corzine. Independent candidate Chris Daggett was at about 5 percent.
In Virginia, the GOP scored a clean sweep in the statewide races, with McDonnell grabbing a huge 18 point victory over Deeds in a state Obama won in 2008 by 7 points.
The big news? The independents broke solidly for the Republicans...not good news for Barack Obama and the Democrats.
New York 24 is still too close to call. with 33% of the precincts counted, Owens(D) has 23,799, Hoffman (C) 22,188 and Scuzzyfuzzy has 2,489 or 5%.
Obama: "Elections? What Elections? Who cares?"
Per FOX's Major Garret of the White House press corps, via twitter: "Obama not watching election returns and WH will NOT issue any statement tonight on returns."
Heh! Ri-ight!
Per Tapper at ABC, a clean sweep for the GOP in Virginia. And in NJ with 61% of the precincts reporting. Christie = 728,125 (50%) Corzine = 643,549 (44%).
Today's Must Reads, 11/03/09
Feel free to send anything you find that you feel is worthy of a look to me at rmill2k@msn.com and I'll review it. This includes stuff you write yourself.Or if you prefer, you can send it to Natasha, our must reads Avatar..she loves to get mail.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Election Eve Predictions, with Weekend Monkey
With the off year elections scheduled for tomorrow, it seems like a good time to check in with JoshuaPundit's political guru and handicapper,former 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Weekend Monkey:
WM: Howdy do-ooo primates! How's it swingin' FF..or should I call you Rob now?
RM: Either or. I'm fine,Monkey. Look, there are three major off year races being held tomorrow.
WM: yeah, yeah... the Virginia and Jersey governor races and that wacked out House race in upstate New York
RM: Yeah NY 23.
WM: I gotta admit, I almost laughed myself sick at the antics of the primates in that one. I mean, the ReThugs hand pick somebody even Daily Kos likes, give her a million bucks, and then she drops out, sees the light and defects to my Democrats! Hee hee hee!! I mean, is anybody in charge over at the ReThug National Committee? You can't make that kind of comedy up.
RM: You figure like I did she was bribed?
WM: Whadda you think? Maybe a job in the Obama Administration, maybe a guarantee of no opposition for her assembly seat once she jumps parties..and plus, all that moolah for her campaign war chest that the RNC ain't never gonna get back!
RM: Numbers, Monkey?
WM: I figure Hoffman by four points, give to take an ACORN if you know what I mean. If you can get Hoffman at even money or with a point, I'd lay all over it. Or likewise, Owens with five or six is a safe bet, if you can find anybody stoo-pid enough to offer it.
RM: What did you think about how Sarah Palin jumped on this.
WM: I gotta admire her smarts. Even if he loses, it will only be by an ACORN and she's established her dominance and marked her territory, y'know?
RM:I think we'll leave that one there. Let's look at Virginia, Monkey.
WM: Okey-dokes. Northern Virginia has changed a lot, because of the run off of primates fleeing the zoo that DC and Blue Maryland have become. But I still don't see Deeds as having a prayer. One of my contacts told me that there was a major poop throwing between Deeds and a major face in the Obama Administration - probably Rahm Emmanuel - over how money was being spent and certain other things were being done, so they cut him loose out of spite.
I see McDonnell winning big, by at least 10-12 points. I wouldn't even lay any shekels on this one, because it's so lopsided - unless you find an idiot who will give you Deeds and at least 15.
RM: And finally, Jersey.
WM: Are you kidding? Really, it's too close to call but Obama has put major face time and a lot of money in this one.And this is Jersey, remember? Corzine and my Dems will have homeless and dead people voting all over Newark and Jersey City and mega bucks in walking around money for every black preacher in Newark to make sure this comes out right, y'know? Ok, if you insist, I give it to Corzine, but by no more than two.
RM: So what do you think it all means?
WM: Look, Obama is floundering, no question and these results reflect it. But in the big scheme of things, the most important of the three is the house race, because that's a message to the ReThug leadership that they have some serious problems. For my donkeys, even if the GOP wins all three it's troubling but not that big a bunch of bananas, y'know? And that's how the press will spin it.
RM: Thanks Monkey..talk to you soon..
WM: You know it...Hidey Ho,primates!
Weekend Monkey was a Democratic candidate for president in 2008 and is JoshuaPundit's political Guru. He can be reached at wendmonkey@yahoo.com
Have A Blessed Sig'd
Today is the day Ethiopian Jews in Israel are celebrating the festival of Sig'd, a religious ceremony unique to their culture. Spiritual leaders known as Kesim lead the people in a series of prayers in Gez, the Ethiopian Jewish language,calling for a Jewish return to Jerusalem. Like Yom Kippur, believers are urged to repent for any wrongs done in the past year.
The official day is November 16, but the community decided to hold it early so that Israeli president Shimon Peres could be present.
There are over 115,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, and the state recognition of Sig'd as an official holiday in a sign of how they are coming of age as a community.
The immigration to Israel started thirty years ago, and culminated in Operation Soloman in 1990, with the Israeli government and Israeli Defense Forces mounting a covert operation and airlifting 14,325 of the Beta Israel population in Ethiopia to safety and a new life.
That new life and the subsequent integration of people who had been living in a pastoral 14th century life into a modern state was not easy or without tension and not all the Beta Israel have managed to find a place, but by and large it happened, because of the determination of the Beta Israel and the nature of Israeli society.
MK Shlomo Mula is an example. Born in Ethiopia in 1965, Molla immigrated to Israel in 1984 on foot. he didn't speak the language and was barely literate. After serving in the IDF Defense Forces, he earned a BA in social work at Bar-Ilan University and an LLB from Ono Academic College...and now he serves in Israel's Knesset.( Ok, he's Kadima but still....)
The theme this year of the community's coming of age was echoed by those prominently featured at the celebration. There were Beta Israel graduates in medicine, law, and business management, entertainment figures, athletes, and IDF officers, and teenagers in the uniforms of the scouts, Hashomer Hatza'ir and Bnei Akiva.
My best wishes to the Beta Israel on their special day. May their tribe and their prosperity increase as they come unto their rightful inheritance in the Holy Land.
Planned Parenthood Leader Resigns After Watching Abortion Ultrasound
Abby Johnson the director of the of Planned Parenthood facility in College Station, Texas resigned after watching the ultrasound of an abortion procedure.
“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it,” said Johnson.
She told reporters that part of her decision was that she was told by her superiors at Planned Parenthood to focus on 'bringing abortions in the door' rather than prevention or family planning because of the economy and the money the abortions bring in.
“It seemed like maybe that’s not what a lot of people were believing any more because that’s not where the money was. The money wasn’t in family planning, the money wasn’t in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that,” said Johnson.
She recently joined the Pro-Life organization Coalition For Life, who have an office down the street from Planned Parenthood. Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood recently hit Johnson and Coalition For Life with a restraining order and threats to sue in an effort to keep her quiet.
That's hardly surprising. More than a third of Planned Parenthood's revenues nationwide come from abortions.
(hat tip, Jim at GateWay)
The Lockerbie Bomber Is Alive And Doing Fine, Thanks
It seems that the medical prognosis for the Lockerbie Bomber Britain released was just a wee bit off.
When convicted murderer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was released to Libya on 'compassionate grounds' by the Brits, his prognosis was that he had only three months to live at best.
Not only is he still alive, but his condition has not deteriorated in the least.
Hardly surprising.
Those oil deals the Brits made with Qaddaffi as part of the deal for al-Megrahi's release are apparently in great shape too.
When convicted murderer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was released to Libya on 'compassionate grounds' by the Brits, his prognosis was that he had only three months to live at best.
Not only is he still alive, but his condition has not deteriorated in the least.
Hardly surprising.
Those oil deals the Brits made with Qaddaffi as part of the deal for al-Megrahi's release are apparently in great shape too.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Is Barack Obama Anti-American?
My friend Bookworm has a lollapaloozer of an article on American Thinker that is probably one of the best things I think she's ever done..and if you're familiar with her writing, that's saying something:
Everything has a fundamental essence, a quality that makes it uniquely itself. Take an orange, for example. It's not only a citrus fruit -- it's an orange-colored citrus fruit. Horticulturists can alter its size, its texture, its sweetness, and even (to a limited extent) its color, but as long as its color is orange, the fruit remains "an orange" because that color is its definition. Change the color, however, and suddenly you have the un-orange, the anti-orange. You have something completely different that no longer contains the essence of the original fruit. Lose the essence and you lose the orange.
America has an essence too, and that essence is liberty. Since its inception, America has been defined by liberty -- both the liberty of the individual and the liberty of the nation. As the Declaration of Independence more elegantly states, "Goverments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." If we, the people make a social compact by which we consent to be governed, it means that government is our servant, not our master. Lincoln understood that ours is a nation boasting a "government of the people, by the people[, and] for the people."
This uniquely American precept, one that sees the power of government flowing from the people rather than controlling the people, ideally results in a situation in which citizens are subject to minimal government constraints. As the Founders envisioned American government, the state exists to optimize individual freedoms, not to control the individual.
To this end, once the Founders delineated our government's structure in the Constitution -- a structure that grants the government only specifically enumerated powers and ensures that no single branch of the government can become dominant -- the Founders immediately turned their attention to the individual freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Each of these rights is intended to optimize the citizen's power against his (or her) own government.
The First Amendment espouses the purest statement of individual rights ever set to paper and imposed against a government: American citizens can practice their religion without government interference, speak freely without government censorship, read papers untouched by government control, and gather openly and loudly to make their political views known.
Unlike citizens at all other times and in all other places, Americans can protect these broad rights with firepower, because the Second Amendment grants them the right to bear arms on their own soil, a right entirely separate from the military's obligation to protect American citizens from foreign enemies. Given that the Second Amendment was ratified on the heels of a successful revolution, the Founders manifestly intended that Americans, protected by the military abroad, were free to protect themselves from their own government at home. (To appreciate this right fully, remember that one of the first things the Nazis did was to make private arms illegal, especially for Jews.)
In the Fourth Amendment, the Founders protected American citizens from government overreach that extends into the home. This was the first time in history that a government promised its people that they did not need to fear that their own government would seize their persons, despoil their homes, or steal their property.
If the government does engage in a reasonable search and seizure, the Fifth Amendment promises that the citizens swept in the government net will be given a fair trial. Further, when the Founders stated that the government cannot force people to testify against themselves, they put a definitive end to the practice of torture, once a staple of judicial systems the world over (and one still routinely practiced in totalitarian theocracies such as Iran).
Read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution and you will see that the American system is structured so that government is subordinate to the people, not vice-versa. The government's sole purpose is to provide a functioning framework within which American citizens can act freely to exercise their "unalienable Rights ... among these ... Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Liberty also extends to the nation as a whole. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are replete with examples of the Founders' absolute obsession with a free-standing national sovereignty. Indeed, the entire point of the Declaration of Independence is to establish America as a nation second to none.
The Founders, wise in the ways of man, were also aware that foreign powers can gain control, not only through aggressive acts, but also through apparent acts of friendship. Presidents who might develop overly friendly relationships with foreign leaders may not unilaterally enter into treaties unless a two-thirds (or super-) majority of the Senate ratifies the treaty. Likewise, without Congress's explicit permission, no government official may be flattered into acts contrary to American interests by accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
Despite blunders of enormous magnitude (e.g., slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and the imprisonment of American Japanese), Americans have for the most part taken their freedoms with the utmost seriousness. We have not allowed ourselves to be ruled by tyrannies, dictators or bureaucracies. We like our taxes low and our freedoms high. We tore ourselves asunder to wipe away slavery's stain. In the past ninety or so years, when we've fought wars, we haven't attempted to conquer other people. Instead, since 1917, we've shed our American blood to free others from their domestic tyrannies.
As to this last point -- namely, America's willingness to strive for freedom on behalf of other nations -- those on the Left who sneer at our "imperialist ventures" are implicitly siding with Hitler, with the North Koreans, with the Communist North Vietnamese, and with Saddam Hussein (mass murderer of his own people). While ordinary Americans have died so that others on foreign shores can live free, the Left lauds those who would deny their own citizens (or the citizens of conquered nations) the same freedoms we unthinkingly enjoy.
Our American essence, therefore, can be defined as follows: American individuals are free from control by, and fear of, their own government, and the American nation is free from control by other nations.
Barack Obama stands out as the first American president whose every instinct is contrary to America's essence. At home, every single one of his initiatives is directed at increasing government control in every area, with a corresponding decrease in individual liberty. Here's an incomplete bullet-point list of his anti-liberty goals on the home front:
He wants to deny individuals access to the marketplace --where they can make their own decisions about their own health care -- and instead put the government entirely in charge.
He's willing to give government control over American businesses (e.g., the bank takeovers and Government Motors).
His administration, while on record as opposing the Fairness Doctrine, is aggressively exploring a backdoor regulatory scheme that would have precisely the same practical effect as the Fairness Doctrine: it would impose government restrictions on content, rather than allowing the market (that means us, the consumers) to control content.
His FCC wants to control the internet, a humming beehive of free speech (much of it critical of Obama).
As his loud battles with Rush Limbaugh and Fox News illustrate, he desires a single-party press, not a free one.
He believes that now that he is in power, the opposition should shut up and "get out of the way," a notion that runs directly counter to the First Amendment.
Click on the link for the rest - a must read for members of Joshua's Army.
NY 23 - The Peasant's Revolt
The big news this weekend is that Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 23rd Congressional District announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign and releasing all her supporters.
To recap, New York State's 23rd District is upstate hunting and fishing country, pro-military, and went Republican even in 2008 by over 60%.
The local GOP politicos decided not to hold a primary but to nominate Scozzafava, a well connected insider whose views are so hard Left that Daily Kos and ACORN endorsed her...after which Conservatives revolted and nominated Doug Hoffman as a third party challenge.The RNC, of course, did absolutely nothing about this and continued to fund Scozzafava.
Hard hitting reporting from the blogosphere helped highlight the race, but it really hit national attention when Sarah Palin endorsed Hoffman:
I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York's 23rd Congressional district. It's my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.
Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a "time for choosing."
{...} Doug Hoffman is committed to ending the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. and the massive increase in the size and scope of the federal government. He is also fully committed to supporting our men and women in uniform as they seek to honorably complete their missions overseas.
And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.
Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty.
Political parties must stand for something. When Republicans were in the wilderness in the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan knew that the doctrine of "blurring the lines" between parties was not an appropriate way to win elections.
This spurred a number of other conservatives to call for Scozzafava to step down,and when the polls showed her third in a three way race she announced her withdrawal.
Today,the plot thickened when Scozzafava jumped the shark and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens in the race. There's a back story to this of course.
With Hoffman surging, the Democrat powers that be decided that their best chance to grab the seat was to get an endorsement out of Dede Scozzfava:
According to several senior Democratic officials, Rep. Steve Israel, a Long Island Democrat and DCCC official, was dispatched to meet face-to-face with Scozzafava in her upstate New York district within hours of her departure from the race to make the case on behalf of the national party. He carried the proxy of the White House and congressional Democrats.
When some senior Democrats worried Scozzafava might be wavering about the endorsement, according to another account, the White House got Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful figures in the state, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to place calls to the assemblywoman on Saturday evening to coax her into delivering it. Sen. Charles Schumer, who had been in touch with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Israel, also weighed in.
In other words, they bribed her - with what, we still don't know - and let her know that she'd be welcome as a Democrat if she switches parties, which is undoubtedly in the cards.
And which proves that Doug Hoffman, Sarah Palin and other conservative voices were dead on right about Scuzzyfuzzy. Good riddance.
What happens with the election remains to be seen. Apparently ACORN, through their front group the Working Families Party is heavily involved, and there may very well be some dead people voting in Scuzzyfuzzy's home turf of Watertown.The best idea is simply to outwork them on the ground, keep a sharp watch out and keep smiling.
What's more important is what this symbolizes.
As usual Sarah Palin was the first to jump onthis, and her political acumen continues to amaze me. And she put it exactly right. People are angry about what's going on in Washington and unless the GOP elephant plans to become an extinct mastodon, they had better start paying attention.
The RNC is a good case in point. They gave over $900,000 to Scuzzyfuzzy and supported her to the very end..and look what it bought them!
If Hoffman wins, this will either signal the start of the remaking of the Republican Party into a credible alternative to Obama, or the beginning of a new third party that will embrace Reagan-style conservative principles. That will be a winning ideology in 2010 and in 2012, especially if ObamaCare and cap n' Tax passes.
I have no great loyalty to the Republican Party,but of the two scenarios, I'd rather that the GOP its groove back - easier and simpler.
Even if Hoffman loses, a definite message has been sent.It may simply take longer to deliver.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Watcher's Council Results, 10/30/09
The Council has spoken! A complete rundown of the voting tallies on our weekly competition and the Watcher's always persnicketty and entertaining Commentary is here.
Council Note: We currently have a seat open for a qualified blogger on the Council up for grabs. If you're interested, you may apply here...or e-mail me for details.
As always, congratulations not only to the winners but to the participants:
Winning Council Submissions
- First place with 1 2/3 points! – Joshuapundit - J Street – A Particularly Nasty Dead End To Be Avoided
- Second place with 1 1/3 point – Bookworm Room - The march of the thought police
- Third place with 1 point – (T*) – The Glittering Eye - Are We Promoting Our Grand Strategy?
- Third place with 1 point – (T*) – Mere Rhetoric - Lefty Meme Congeals: The Real War Is In Pakistan Not Afghanistan
- Fourth place with 1/3 point – Rhymes With Right - And To Think The Average Income Of American Families Dropped By 3.6%
Winning Council Submissions
- First place with 2 points! – JammieWearingFool - Why Is GE Exempt From Government-Ordered Pay Cuts?
- Second place with 1 1/3 point – The Augean Stables - Investigate the investigators: A time to rebuke Goldstone
- Third place with 1 point – Riehl World View - Exclusive: How The NRCC Bungled NY – 23
- Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Thomas Sowell at Real Clear Politics - Dismantling America
- Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Daniel W. Drezner - Theory of International Politics and Zombies
- Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – Mercury News - Racial Skirmishes in our Own House
- Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – GM’s Place - Splitting: Fox News and the White House
- Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – The Tygrrrr Express - Why not just kill all conservatives?
Friday, October 30, 2009
Hallow'een
Hallow'een ( 'hallowed even' ) has an interesting background. It's original Celtic name was Samhain, and the Church co-opted it to make accepting the new religion more palatable for the natives, turning it into All Saint's Day. I was never that much into dress up, but I always liked it when I was a single gentleman because it was one day I could reliably expect to have 'adventures.'
To me,the costumes and the partying in the US are the equivalent of the Carnival celebrated in the Catholic world..just a time to get out of yourself and your role in life for a brief time before you remove the whiskey bottles and used condoms from your abode and assume holiness/real life again.
I almost think it's a universal human need. The Jews do it too, on Purim, which is a Spring festival commemorating an old victory over Haman in Persia, one of Amalek's many adherents and an interesting parallel to what's going on there today. Costumes and liquor abound, although nothing like N'awlins, Rio or Louisville on Derby Day.
Another universal human need connected with Hallow'een, I think, is the desire to be scared, but only in completely safe circumstances. Hence the popularity of special effects laden haunted houses and horror movies.
At the end,no matter what Freddie Kruger or theguy in th hockey mask does, you can always rest assured that it's only a movie.
Happy Hallow'een..enjoy yourselves when the sun goes down..
Iran - No deal on nukes
I almost have to admire the Mullahs for the way they're playing the West:
Iran insists on simultaneously exchanging its low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel produced overseas, the state news agency said Friday, calling the demand a "red line" that will not be abandoned.
The condition undermines the basis of a UN-backed plan demanding Iran ship most of its uranium outside its borders to be further enriched in Russia and turned into fuel rods in France for use in a research reactor. That process could take up to a year. {...}
The news agency IRNA also said, however, that Iran has not yet given its answer to the UN-backed proposal to ship most of its enriched uranium overseas and wants to hold further negotiations on the plan.
The agency quoted an unidentified official as saying an Iranian response to the Western offer Thursday "did not contain a reply" to the UN-backed plan but simply expressed Iran's "positive attitude" and willingness to hold talks on the proposal.
Here's the game, and it's one that ought to be known to anyone with any knowledge of the Middle East: once the buyer makes an offer you like and thinks he has a deal,you up the price to see how much more you can squeeze out of him.
The original offer to the Iranians was an incredibly bad one for the West and an incredibly good one for the Mullahs.
First, Iran has no legal right to enrich uranium, and the UN Security Council said so in five successive Chapter VII resolutions - Resolution 1696, adopted July 31, 2006 for example - that happened because the IAEA found Iran in noncompliance of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Iran signed. Cutting a deal with Iran on its illegally enriched uranium, especially since any suspension of future enrichment wasn't included just legitimized Iran's illegal program and ensured that its violations of the treaty on enrichment can continue.
Rest assured that other countries plotting to illegally join the nuclear club have noted this. Why should Iran or anybody else pay attention to any treaties or international obligations in the future?
Second, Iran gets an enrichment and technological bonus.
The deal calls for Iran's uranium to be enriched to 19.75%, just a hair under the 20% classification of weapons grade uranium.While uranium can be enriched to much higher levels, 20% is considered adequate and the deal means Iran gets to leapfrog over their current level of technology.
Even worse, the enriched uranium can be easily reconverted into uranium hexafluoride gas and quickly enriched to weapons grade..or the Mullahs could also use the nuclear fuel to chemically extract plutonium to produce their nuclear weapons.
Yes, this is the agreement President Obama, who's made a fetish of nuclear disarmament signed off on! Except, of course there is no deal. There never has been.
What the Iranians will do now is delay some more and see what additional concessions and gimmees they can extract from the West and how much more time they can buy. If Obama and the West sweeten the pot, well and good, If not, after more time passes, they will either 'reluctantly' accept this bonanza or suddenly unveil a little nuclear surprise and claim that any further negotiations on the matter are unnecessary now - and laugh themselves silly at the gullible ferenghi, who was going to walk away from the rug merchant's stall telling everyone what a great deal he made.
The way this has been set up, it's a win for Iran any way it goes.
Of course, the one risk for the mullahs is that we could decide to change the rules of the game and upset the board any time we wanted to. Unfortunately, given the mullah's sense of whom they're dealing with, they apparently see it as a gamble well worth the risk.
I believe there's a verse by the Persian poet Hafez that fits this situation rather well:
"If he, being young and unskillful, seeks to gamble for silver and gold,
Take his money my son, praising Allah...the fool was meant to be sold."
-selah-
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