'Acting Stupidly'

How To Fix Congress

2010-10-20T14:35:00.000-04:00

1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below..

A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

Stephen Colbert

2010-09-24T17:28:00.001-04:00

Gotta laugh...

Thank You Texas

2010-09-24T16:46:00.002-04:00

I mentioned here before about the issue of Islam and our nation's academic textbooks, but can we get a standing ovation for the State of Texas?

Texas, who is the country's model for textbook curriculum, has taken a bold step forward when it comes to the recent islamization of textbooks. Check out this article:

Texas to Publishers: Less Islam, Please!

Mike Pence: 2010 Values Voter Summit

2010-09-19T21:39:00.002-04:00

Mike Pence is gaining steam when it comes to the 2012 presidential election. Personally, I love the guy. The Hill just endorsed him as the best conservative pick for president in '12. Here's a great video with a lot of talking points...

Public School Visits Mosque

2010-09-16T20:15:00.001-04:00

Does anyone see the snowball? It's gaining speed...

This is SICKENING. This is an outrage.

The Stealthness of Sharia Law

2010-09-16T19:10:00.004-04:00

The Destruction of Freedom of Speech

I hate to say it, but I told you so (and it's growing)...

Best. Day. Ever...

2010-09-16T18:59:00.000-04:00

Free School Lunch = More Government Control

2010-09-14T20:35:00.002-04:00

Check out this post via Michelle Malkin

"When you inhabit any of these three roles, you’re reacting to fear of victimhood, loss of control, or loss of purpose. You’re always looking outside yourself, to the people and circumstances of life, for a sense of safety, security, and sanity." ~ David Emerald

America Rising

2010-09-14T20:23:00.002-04:00

November is just the beginning...

America At Risk: A War With No Name

2010-09-07T19:19:00.004-04:00

Do you feel it building? Do you understand the signs? Do you see the shadows lurking in the darkness? Do you feel the media's growing sensitivity? Do you see the end?

It's there...

Just over the horizon. Much closer than people want to believe...

This Saturday marks the ninth anniversary of September 11, 2001. A day when a satanic and perverted ideology heinously murdered over 3,000 innocent civilians in New York City for the honor of their god. Our politicians are cowards. Our citizens are ignorant (that word doesn't even do us justice). Our days are numbered.

Unless...we stand up against a radical religion/lifestyle that is poisoning the entire free world.

Islam isn't a religion of peace. It is a religion of submission and oppression. There are no in-betweens. It is dominance by any means possible.

America is slowly being infiltrated. A mosque at Ground Zero? Are you kidding me? It may not happen this year or next. It may not happen in five years or 15, but it will happen if we stay the course our country is on. As a country, we need to stand up against Sharia Law and the pressures of Islamic sensitivities that only serve as propaganda for a distorted ideology.

Don't forget what happened on 9/11, why it was done, and who was responsible.

If we do, America will be conquered from the outside because it has destroyed itself from within.

Never forget...

2012 Preview (and our 100th post!)

2010-09-05T21:57:00.002-04:00

Happy 100th post!

With the 2010 elections right around the corner (it can't come soon enough, right?), it's never too early to start thinking about 2012. As the GOP begins tossing around names, I thought I would throw out some potential candidates for the presidential and vice-presidential nominations. If I'm missing someone, please add him/her to the list!

Mike Huckabee; Ex-Governor of Arkansas
Haley Barbour; Governor of Mississippi
Jeb Bush; Ex-Governor of Florida
Eric Cantor; US Representative Virginia
Newt Gingrich; Ex-Speaker of the House
Bobby Jindal; Governor of Louisiana
Ron Paul; US Representative Texas
Tim Pawlenty; Governor of Minnesota
Mike Pence; US Representative Indiana
Mitt Romney; Governor of Massachusetts
Sarah Palin; Ex-Governor of Alaska
Rick Santorum; Ex-US Senator of Pennsylvania
Rick Perry; Governor of Texas
Allen West; U.S. Congressman Florida
David Patraeus; U.S. Army General
John Thune; U.S. Senator South Dakota
Paul Ryan; U.S. Congressman Wisconsin

Bold = 'Acting Stupidly's' Wish List

Your 2012 Predictions?

Tony Blair: Radical Islam is World's Greatest Threat

2010-09-04T21:47:00.003-04:00

I really have no other commentary to add. The title says it all (and I couldn't agree more)...

A Battle for Global Values

One day we'll wake up as a nation, but will it be too late?

I'm Taking Action - Michael Berry

2010-09-04T15:43:00.001-04:00

Summarizing Obama's Iraq Address

2010-08-31T21:42:00.005-04:00

BREAKING:

Miraculously, I was able to get my hands on Mr. Soetoro's typed notes for his "Iraq" speech tonight. This is strictly exclusive and no other news outlets have obtained this. Enjoy!

Theme:
Act like you care

Attitude:
Boring and tired (possibly stay up all night to come across as overworked)

Talking points:
I love our soldiers. Yawn. Iraq. Thank George for throwing money at the war. Are people still watching? Jobs. Jobs. Economy. Blame George W. Bush for the economy. Jobs. Jobs. Economy. Latest golf score. Yawn. Should I say something about Muslims (too soon?).

Reflection:
Did I mention Iraq at least once?
Did I throw Bush under the bus?
Did I mention I singlehandedly won the war?
Do they know I have the Nobel Peace Prize under this suit?
Should I tell them I plan to run this country into the ground? (next speech?)
Has Minute to Win It come back on yet?

Washington Funds Palestinian Campaign

2010-08-30T22:00:00.003-04:00

My tax dollars pay for a lot of worthless things, but Washington has hit a new low. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Obama Administration has invested nearly $250,000 (paid for with United States taxes...of course) for the creation of billboards featuring Palestinian officials (including the faces of senior Palestinian Authority officials Saeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub, Yasser Abed Rabo, and Riad Malki) that read, "We are partners...what about you?"

Seriously?

The American government is funding a Palestinian Authority campaign movement IN Israel?

Is this how you win a Nobel Peace Prize? Crap...I was waaay off.

Thank God For Barack Obama?

2010-08-30T18:05:00.000-04:00

Editorial from the Aspen Times by Gary Hubbell:

Barack Obama is the best thing that has happened to America in the last 100 years. Truly, he is the savior of America's future.

Despite the fact that he has some of the lowest approval ratings among recent presidents, history will see Barack Obama as the source of America 's resurrection. Barack Obama has plunged the country into levels of debt that we could not have previously imagined; his efforts to nationalize health care have been met with fierce resistance nationwide; TARP bailouts and stimulus spending have shown little positive effect on the national economy; unemployment is unacceptably high and looks to remain that way for most of a decade; legacy entitlement programs have ballooned to unsustainable levels, and there is a seething anger in the populace.

That's why Barack Obama is such a good thing for America. Here's why.

Obama is the symbol of a creeping liberalism that has infected our society like a cancer for the last 100 years. Just as Hitler is the face of fascism, Obama will go down in history as the face of unchecked liberalism. The cancer metastasized to the point where it could no longer be ignored.

Average Americans who have quietly gone about their lives, earning a paycheck, contributing to their favorite charities, going to high school football games on Friday night, spending their weekends at the beach or on hunting trips - they've gotten off the fence. They've woken up. There is a level of political activism in this country that we haven't seen since the American Revolution, and Barack Obama has been the catalyst that has sparked a restructuring of the American political and social consciousness.

Think of the crap we've slowly learned to tolerate over the past 50 years as liberalism sought to re-structure the America that was the symbol of freedom and liberty to all the people of the world. Immigration laws were ignored on the basis of compassion. Welfare policies encouraged irresponsibility, the fracturing of families, and a cycle of generations of dependency. Debt was regarded as a tonic to lubricate the economy. Our children left school having been taught that they are exceptional and special, while great numbers of them cannot perform basic functions of mathematics and literacy. Legislators decided that people could not be trusted to defend their own homes, and stripped citizens of their rights to own firearms. Productive members of society have been penalized with a heavy burden of taxes in order to support legions of do-nothings who loll around, reveling in their addictions, obesity, indolence, ignorance and "disabilities." Criminals have been arrested and re-arrested, coddled and set free to pillage the citizenry yet again. Lawyers routinely extort fortunes from doctors, contractors and business people with dubious torts.

We slowly learned to tolerate these outrages, shaking our heads in disbelief, and we went on with our lives.

But Barack Obama has ripped the lid off a seething cauldron of dissatisfaction and unrest.

A former Communist is given a paid government position in the White House as an advisor to the president. Auto companies are taken over by the government, and the auto workers' union - whose contracts are completely insupportable in any economic sense - is rewarded with a stake in the company. Government bails out Wall Street investment bankers and insurance companies, who pay their executives outrageous bonuses as thanks for the public support. Terrorists are read their Miranda rights and given free lawyers. And, despite overwhelming public disapproval, Barack Obama has pushed forward with a health care plan that would re-structure one-sixth of the American economy.

Literally millions of Americans have had enough. They're organizing, they're studying the Constitution and the Federalist Papers, they're reading history and case law, they're showing up at rallies and meetings, and a slew of conservative candidates are throwing their hats into the ring. Is there a revolution brewing? Yes, in the sense that there is a keen awareness that our priorities and sensibilities must be radically re-structured. Will it be a violent revolution? No. It will be done through the interpretation of the original document that has guided us for 220 "FANTASTIC" years--- the Constitution. Just as the pendulum swung to embrace political correctness and liberalism, there will be a backlash, a complete repudiation of a hundred years of nonsense. A hundred years from now, history will perceive the year 2010 as the time when America got back on the right track. And for that, we can thank Barack Hussein Obama.

There's No "I" in Iraq...

2010-08-29T17:06:00.002-04:00

...Oh, wait.

Iraq does have an "I" in it doesn't it? I thought our Narcissist-in-Chief used all of them up in his weekly address earlier this week.

Here's a peak:

On Tuesday, after more than seven years, the United States of America will end its combat mission in Iraq and take an important step forward in responsibly ending the Iraq war.

As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As president, that is what I am doing. We have brought home more than 90,000 troops since I took office. We have closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of bases. In many parts of the country, Iraqis have already taken the lead for security.

In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counterterrorism missions, and protect our civilian and military efforts. But the bottom line is this: the war is ending. Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course. And by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.

Total mentions of the Bush Administration: Zero.

It's interesting. For a presidential candidate that ran on the notion of a 16-month withdraw in 2007 (BAHAHA...sorry...BAHAHA) and vehemently spoke out against the surge he sure takes a lot of credit for ending the war (like he "promised") this past August 19th.

What he fails to mention is that since being president (is it over yet...please say yes...please?) he has followed the written plan of President Bush to the line in regards to troop withdraw, funding, and timelines for Iraq.

After his weekly video address was finished being taped, it is rumored that President Soetoro had to ice his right shoulder. Yeah...apparently he threw it out from all the backpatting he did during the taping.

Do conservatives really need to continue to defend the Narcissism claims???

President Shankapotomus

2010-08-29T16:53:00.003-04:00

Some people on the Right (isn't that word ironic?) have gotten on Barack Obama for his numerous golf outings at lavish country clubs while the economy continues to fall faster than the legendary Hindenburg (yes, fiery mess and all).

However, I'm all for Barry Soetoro (Barack Obama's former self) playing golf. In fact, I think he should be on the links everyday of the week. Maybe Barry should even try to get on the PGA Tour.

Why (I heard you think it)?

Because...at least he's out of the Oval Office.

We all benefit from his handicap (no pun intended)...

Al Sharpton: "The Dream Has Not Been Achieved."

2010-08-28T16:41:00.003-04:00

Today, on the National Mall, thousands of patriotic, Americans (who are sick and tired of a careless and humiliating Administration) lined the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial and stretched all the way to the Washington Monument. Estimates have been refuted (by the media...who would have guessed?), but the pictures and videos don't lie.

The crowd was enormous.

Meanwhile, Al Sharpton managed to get around 3,000 people to protest the Restoring America rally. He says the rally is anti-government, a disgrace to Martin Luther King (since his "I have a Dream Speech" was on this day 47 years ago...too soon?), and anti-American.

That was my first thought when I saw the lineup of events. Standing up to a radical government who is spending my children's futures away, honoring soldiers and other everyday American heroes who make their communities and country a better place, and guest speakers who want to see our liberties restored to their rightful owners...US!

How awful and outrageous! Those racist Tea-Baggers...

On Al Sharpton's other hand, he has the first black-white-Christian-Muslim-socialist-community organizer of a President who just might be the most racially and ethnically polarizing imbecile to ever sit in the Oval Office; yet we have to hear Al "I got my Reverend degree online" Sharpton whine about everyday Americans?

Go figure...

Iraq War VICTORY

2010-08-28T15:42:00.005-04:00

I've said before in this forum (and was opposed by a few backwards liberals who continue to...day by day...be proved wrong in their entire ideology) that the Iraq War was justified and even reasonably executed (its war...it will have its ups and downs).

Before I rant, I want to thank all of the men and women who served our country in Iraq. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you to your families. Thank you for keeping the battle abroad and for fighting the ultimate fight. There are no bigger heroes than you. I can proudly say that for the past seven years I have supported you AND your cause...our cause. May God continue to Bless you and yours.

The Congessional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan organization, estimated that the Iraq War cost 709 billion dollars over EIGHT calendar years. Barack Obama has blown through MUCH more money at an alarming and irresponsible pace in LESS THAN TWO years in office. As I said in a previous post, everything Mr. Obama touches turns for the worse. Everything. Consider the following:

- Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.

- Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

- Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

-Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

-Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

-The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

-During Bush's Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.) ~ Hoven 8/22/2010

We might only have two more years to suffer this atrocious excuse of a presidency, but will we still be "us" in two years? At this pace, Barack Obama will ruin the Republic far beyond anything recognizable of our former selves.

It's time to pray...

Iraq War Cost < Obama Stimulus Act

Rewriting History???

2010-08-24T18:56:00.000-04:00

Oxymoron

2010-08-23T17:46:00.006-04:00

'Devout' Muslims in U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? Is that an oxymoron?

Maybe...

In April of 2009 (this is the first I've heard of this), Arif Alikhan (top) was appointed to the position of Assistant Secretary for Policy Development in the U.S. DHS. Kareem Shora, in June 2009, was appointed to Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Now, are Alikhan and Shora terrorists lurking in the shadows waiting to unleash a stash of anthrax or was this the Obama Administrations continuation of their "Hug a Muslim" policy? Upon review of these two individuals, I'll lean toward the latter (however, Shora gets under my skin a little bit with his views on immigration and foreign policy). Alikhan is very accomplished in judicial law and has been instrumental in stopping cyber crime and supporting California police, fire, and other emergency departments (his efforts helped to hire 1,000 LAPD and secured over $400 million for Homeland Security and public safety grants).

Although I feel that these newly appointed officials are nothing to sweat over, I want to caution the vetting process for such positions. In any elected office, I think it is imperative that we (U.S.) conduct full and thorough investigations of foreign born candidates (including assessments of ideologies). With terrorism taking on a new face, the United States must keep close the influences that promote a global decrease of radicalism and jihad.

At any rate, I think this is just another attempt from the Obama Administration to appeal to the Muslim world...whatever that means.

Everything Obama endorses turns to...

2010-08-19T15:49:00.002-04:00

...well, use your imagination. Not even two years into his presidency, Barack Obama is failing. Miserably. With midterm elections approaching in November, Democratic candidates across the country are doing anything they can to hide from Obama's endorsement.

Here's a running list of things that Obama has ruined or further ruined:

1. All foreign policy (maybe Comedy Central is news after all)
2. Iranian nuclear situation (BOOM!)
3. Relationship with Israel (Those silly Jews and their needless democracy)
4. The credibility of the Nobel Peace Prize (I'm winning next year)
5. The economy (flush)
6. The national debt (up, up, and away!)
7. Healthcare ($$$)
8. Race and ethnicity relations (Hug a Muslim today)
9. Immigration/Border control (Hide and Se...OK, maybe just Hide)
10. Democratic candidates seeking political office (run, Run, RUN!)
11. The word "change" (Just typing the word gives me chills...BOO!)
12. The Constitution (minor detail)
13. The Supreme Court (Interview Question: Can you help destroy the Constitution?)
14. Taxes (he's just a fibber)
15. The Middle Class (who needs us anyway?)
16. Job creation (smooth move)
17. The stimulus and bailouts (even the ones we didn't know about)
18. Pro-Life (you can devalue anything now a days)
19. Charitable giving (screw charity...where's mine?)

Anything to add?

Maybe he should endorse AIDS? It might ruin that, too...

Three Things About Islam

2010-08-13T18:01:00.001-04:00

Just scratching the surface...

Mosque at 'Ground Zero'

2010-08-13T16:12:00.006-04:00

If you haven't heard about this issue, you can check it out here from Al Jazeera itself.

I haven't wrote on this topic for a reason. In writing this blog, I try to keep my content as civil as possible. Some issues that infuriate my soul are better left for others to comment/debate on.

However, I do want to say one thing:

On September 11, 2001, there were burning bodies falling from the sky. These fiery bodies smashed into the rotunda of the WTC, the street, vehicles, and other buildings. People who had to mentally decide; was it better to be burned alive by jet fuel or plunge to their death. Can you fathom this decision? Radical Islam, which is becoming more and more of an influence in the Muslim world, is behind the plummeting of those bodies. Fathers. Mothers. Brothers. Sons and Daughters. Friends. Hell was visible on that morning and now Muslim leaders want to build a mosque on the very grounds where 3,000+ people perished in an all out Holy War. No matter how "moderate" and "peaceful" these Muslims declare themselves to be, there is plenty of evidence around the world (and even within our own borders) of radical theology and militant preaching. Islam (radical and not) is not a religion. It's a degrading lifestyle full of horrid human rights violations and the disgusting rule of Sharia Law.

Could you imagine if Israel erected a statue of Hitler in the heart of Jerusalem; Israel's "Big Apple" and most recognized city?

There is no difference.

None.

Let's stop this madness...

By far the best article written in response to (and to question) this mosque and the State Depatment funded "good faith" trip by the impending(?) WTC Imam:

Will the Real Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Please Stand Up? (MUST READ!)

President Obama to the World: "I have no spine."

2010-08-13T14:47:00.006-04:00

Awwww, look at how smug these two despots are. Oh, what am I talking about? Get a room (or move to California).

I think we can officially say that President Obama is one of, if not the worst (he's battling Jimmy Carter and it's a close race...already), presidents when it comes to foreign policy. As most of the world has already recognized (and this could be the reason why socialists and terrorists endorsed him during his presidential run), Obama is making a mockery out of the United States foreign policy (and we'll throw in the Constitution as well...thanks immigration!).

Defying Obama's "tough" (cough, cough, choking, choking...ok...I'm good) stance on Iran, Russia has decided that it's time to help Iran at it's Bushehr Plant by providing it with nuclear fuel next weekend. This comes despite the United States' "demands" to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear fuel. It's almost like a teacher threatening a student with a behavior disorder with a detention. Do you think that kid cares? Iran sure as "H-E-double hockey sticks" (Oh, Hell I can say it...Ben Quayle does) doesn't care; nor any other political entity for that matter.

However, here's the kicker. In a bold move of heroic defiance and sheer political toughness, the Obama Administration has made plans to purchase 21 Russian-made choppers. Take that Russia! Wait...am I missing something? So Russia doesn't agree with our "proposed" sanctions, provides an apocalyptic regime nuclear fuel, and continues to fund a one billion dollar nuclear plant in Iran and we buy 21 helicopters from them? Did we run out of material to build those or something?

I think Barry Obama is getting his foreign policy advice from inside a Cracker Jacks box. Either that...or Joe Biden.

Ben Quayle

2010-08-12T23:09:00.001-04:00

Good way to start your political career, Mr. Quayle. Two thumbs up from this corner.

Vote of No Confidence

2010-08-12T15:47:00.002-04:00

What if the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) union voted unanimously to support a statement that President Obama was not enforcing environmental laws?

That would probably be big news, right? Maybe even make the mainstream news?

Well, this past Monday the Washington Times reported that the union that represents ICE (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcements) unanimously passed a "vote of no confidence" for the agency's leadership. "The National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 7,000 ICE agents and employees, stated that ICE has "abandoned" its core mission of protecting the public to support a political agenda favoring amnesty. The vote, by the Union's Council, was 259-0" (Power Line).

Now, let's not forget that the Executive Branch, starting at the top with the President, is in charge of making sure that the laws of the United States are carried out. Basically, the heads at ICE (John Morton and Phyllis Coven) are following the preferences of the Obama Administration (which wants uncontrolled immigration and some sort of amnesty) and blatantly not performing its Constitutional duty.

Here's the ridiculous part: the ridiculous claim (and judicial challenge paid for by our tax dollars) that the Arizona immigration law is unconstitutional for attempting to ENFORCE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS. The United States government has failed us and it all comes down on the "Commander and Chief." Is this grounds for impeachment?

Birthright Citizenship?

2010-08-11T23:28:00.002-04:00

Should the guarantee of birthright citizenship come to an end in the United States?

In a recent review of Census data, the Census Bureau found that (at least) 8 percent of children born in the United States were born to illegal aliens. That means that out of the 4.3 million babies that were born in the U.S., roughly 340,000 children were born to undocumented aliens and were naturally granted citizenship. "In addition, high birthrates among undocumented aliens give that population a similar share of children in the U.S. The study finds that children born to illegal immigrants account for 7 percent of the total population of people under the age of 18, or 5.1 million children. Four million, or 79 percent, of those children were born in the United States, making them U.S. citizens."

I see this as a very legitimate issue and a national concern. Personally, I would favor an amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed birthright citizenship to children that are born to U.S. citizens. That could include legal immigrants that have gained citizenship or parents that are natural-born citizens themselves.

"Such a change would require a Constitutional amendment, which two-thirds of Congress would have to approve before state legislatures consider the measure, and three-quarters of those must agree to the provision for it to become part of the Constitution."

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/11/illegal-immigrants-bear-8-children-born-us#ixzz0wMMvx6Dn

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs”

2010-08-11T15:30:00.006-04:00

Rick Moran discusses Jeffrey Goldberg's commentary on the United States, Israeli, and Iranian relationship. A breaking point will eventually occur. The question are: When and How will the consequences be viewed around the world? Personally, I believe it will be a resounding victory for the West and influence moderate Muslim countries that have been on the fence when it comes to denouncing radical, theocratic Muslim states.

Goldberg brilliantly lays out most of the dire consequences of such a strike:

When the Israelis begin to bomb the uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, the formerly secret enrichment site at Qom, the nuclear-research center at Esfahan, and possibly even the Bushehr reactor, along with the other main sites of the Iranian nuclear program, a short while after they depart en masse from their bases across Israel-regardless of whether they succeed in destroying Iran's centrifuges and warhead and missile plants, or whether they fail miserably to even make a dent in Iran's nuclear program-they stand a good chance of changing the Middle East forever; of sparking lethal reprisals, and even a full-blown regional war that could lead to the deaths of thousands of Israelis and Iranians, and possibly Arabs and Americans as well; of creating a crisis for Barack Obama that will dwarf Afghanistan in significance and complexity; of rupturing relations between Jerusalem and Washington, which is Israel's only meaningful ally; of inadvertently solidifying the somewhat tenuous rule of the mullahs in Tehran; of causing the price of oil to spike to cataclysmic highs, launching the world economy into a period of turbulence not experienced since the autumn of 2008, or possibly since the oil shock of 1973; of placing communities across the Jewish diaspora in mortal danger, by making them targets of Iranian-sponsored terror attacks, as they have been in the past, in a limited though already lethal way; and of accelerating Israel's conversion from a once-admired refuge for a persecuted people into a leper among nations.

Goldberg notes that with success, the Israelis will buy time (probably putting the Iranian program back 3-5 years), earn the secret thanks of most of the moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East, and will have stopped potential proliferation to terrorist groups in its tracks.

Is that worth initiating a strike that could lead to World War III?

What will the Russians do if the Israeli's hit Bushehr? It is likely they will kill Russian technicians in such a strike since they are building the facility under contract with Tehran. Will Vladmir Putin take the death of Russian scientists and technicians lying down? What if he retaliates against Israel? What would be the American response to that?

August, 1914?

Unleashing Hezb'allah against the western world, stirring up trouble in Iraq by ordering the Shia militias into the streets, not to mention a missile campaign against Israel that could kill thousands (at which point Israel may decide that to save its people, it must expand its own bombing campaign, escalating the conflict to the next level) - this alone could ratchet up tensions causing the world to start choosing up sides.

And no America with the will or the self-confidence to step in and assist the world in standing down.

Obama's foreign policy is not anti-American, unpatriotic, or designed to favor Muslims. It's just weak. The president has made the conscious decision that the US is too powerful and needs to defer to supra-national organizations like the UN, or regional line ups like NATO or the Arab League when conflict is threatened. "First among equals" is not rhetoric to Obama. He means it. He has been thoroughly indoctrinated with the idea that most of the world's troubles have been caused by a too-powerful United States and hence, only the deliberate eschewing the promotion of American interests can redress this sin.

This will be the first world crisis since the end of World War II where American power and prestige will not be used to intervene in order to prevent catastrophe. Obama is betting the farm that his worldview will be more conducive to defusing a crisis than the more realpolitik and pragmatic point of view that has dominated American foreign policy for 65 years.

We are shortly going to find out whether good intentions really matter in international affairs.

To further read Goldberg's analysis, please read his article at The Atlantic.

The Point of No Return

"A half truth is a whole lie." Yiddish Proverb

2010-08-10T15:45:00.004-04:00

"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." ~ Barack Obama

Let's play a little game. Let's call it "Did Obama Lie To You?" Read through the new tax hikes (or the expiration of current tax cuts) that will take place on January 1, 2011 under the Obama Administration (at least 20 new taxes from ObamaCare alone). To win, you must be able to read the following article and not be affected by one item on this list. My guess? A bunch of losers read this blog (not literally, I love you all). The following is written and researched by Americans for Tax Reform's Ryan Ellis.

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family. The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave: Obamacare

There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

The Tanning Tax. This went into effect on July 1st of this year. It imposes a new, 10% excise tax on getting a tan at a tanning salon. There is no exemption for tanners making less than $250,000 per year.

The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Brand Name Drug Tax. Starting next year, there will be a multi-billion dollar tax assessment imposed on name-brand drug manufacturers. This tax, like all excise taxes, will raise the price of medicine, hurting everyone.

Economic Substance Doctrine. The IRS is now empowered to disallow perfectly-legal tax deductions and maneuvers merely because it judges that the deduction or action lacks “economic substance.” This is obviously an arbitrary empowerment of IRS agents.

Employer Reporting of Health Insurance Costs on a W-2. This will start for W-2s in the 2011 tax year. While not a tax increase in itself, it makes it very easy for Congress to tax employer-provided healthcare benefits later.

Third Wave: The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes

When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired. These major items include:

The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year. According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level. The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear. Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000. This will be cut all the way down to $25,000. Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment. In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”

Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses. There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place. The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there are many, many others. Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced. The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available. Tax credits for education will be limited. Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses. Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut. Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed. The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed. Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA. This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.” This ability will no longer be there.

Read more: http://atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171##ixzz0wEbS3ql8

ObamaCare: The sum of all fears

2010-08-10T00:05:00.002-04:00

Ed Morrissey digs deep to uncover the truth about our new health care regulations that will be implemented by the Obama Administration. Even though the post takes awhile to get through (with links and video included), the information is very eyeopening...to say the least.

When will the common citizen understand that the federal government doesn't care about the issue of health care. The government doesn't care about your plan or your neighbor's plan. It doesn't care about what's covered and what's not covered. It cares about victimhood. The more victims the government creates, the less personal responsibility.

The Constitution pronounces it a self-evident truth that human beings “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights’’ - rights that include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration’s very next sentence affirms that the purpose of government is to “secure’’ those rights against infringement. It's not, and never will be a guaranteed right. It's a commodity. You have to purchase it. A right to religious freedom? It's mine. Anywhere. Anytime. A right to freedom of speech? A right to own property? Anywhere. Anytime. It's my choice. My quality and quantity. No commodities.

Healthcare is a responsibility. It's human nature to be responsible for the well-being of our fellow man. It's not my right. It's not my privilege. It's a responsibility and that is how we should be attacking this issue. You are very passionate about others needs and the stories that go along with those needs. But, rights do not come from needs and passion. Wanting something does not entitle you or anyone else to it. The rights in the Constitution are considered negative rights...allows us to live peacefully while trying to achieve happiness without coercing others or being coerced by them.

If I have a "right" to health care, then someone else is paying for it. Someone else is paying for that care. How is that freedom? That's no more free than a man in debt is to his credit card company. A "right" to healthcare, especially government mandated, leaves a society less free...plain and simple.

It sounds great to have a passion for this issue. But, the fact of the matter is that healthcare is a commodity that is tied, forever, to the market. If you want to throw education and healthcare into the same category...why not food and clothing? Both are essential to human welfare, right? Why not nationalize food production and the clothing industry? Why? Because both are seen as commodities and their availability is left to the market....thus abundance and diversity.

But, our "help-everybody-everywhere-all-the-time" philosophy just doesn't work. It never has and it never will. People will always need help. No society has ever been classless. And we should do everything that we can to help. But, we live in the greatest system ever devised. A market that allows for people to be reached in the furthest degree (we have over 300 million people for God's sake). Healthcare is a good. It's a service. And just like any other, it needs the least government involvement, normal supply, demand, and competition to truly survive and THRIVE.

ObamaCare: The sum of all fears

Allen West

2010-08-09T17:21:00.003-04:00

Allen West is currently running for United States Congress in Florida's 22nd District. A retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel, West is an amazing conservative politician, decorated soldier, orator, historian, and defender of the Constitution. The following speech is from February 19, 2010 at the FREEDOM DEFENSE INITIATIVE INAUGURAL EVENT at CPAC, hosted by Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.

Personally, I hope Allen West makes a quick rise in the political realm before the 2012 presidential election. This is the type of man, with the convictions that he has, that needs to be in the Oval Office and protecting our rights and liberties. God Bless Allen West and his principled leadership.

Bumper Sticker

2010-07-05T17:43:00.001-04:00

Political Cartoons

2010-06-27T22:25:00.001-04:00

Against Abortion

2010-04-23T13:08:00.001-04:00

I found this on another blog and I thought it made some very good points:

The reality of what is in the womb is no longer at issue. In essence, it is no longer an issue about what the baby is, but rather where the baby is. The argument is the personhood of the baby. The pro-aborts have painted themselves into the same corner that the pro-slavery movement found itself in so many years ago. As the argument went then, a slave really isn't a person. The argument was that there were two different "persons" in the U.S. Constitution. One for slaves, and one for everyone else. As ridiculous as that sounds today, it held water for many years, primarily by judicial fiat perpetrated by activist judges legislating from the bench rather than upholding the Constitution. An ironic parallel in history indeed. The pro-aborts are in the same place today. If ever you want to condone murder, simply redefine someone as a non-person. Viola! Problem solved! Reality, of course, is quite different and not subject to man-made legal definitions.

Countdown

2010-04-18T14:37:00.000-04:00

Sleeping Giant

2010-04-01T21:41:00.002-04:00

If you're checking in...I'm still alive (I know you've been on pins and needles)

I'm on a mini "vacation" from this blog. Actually, vacation is horrible verbiage. If I were writing honestly...I hate politics.

There are nights where I literally lay in bed...tossing and turning...because of what this country has become. A presidency that was supposed to usher in massive amounts of 'hope' and 'change' has drained every ounce of hope that I ever had.

Although I worry about my own life, I cringe at the thought of what this world will be like for my daughter and child-to-be. At times, I feel sorry for bringing them into such an evil, immoral world. There has to be real hope out there, right?

Hopefully, I'll continue to write and discuss politics on this blog. Until there is some regularity...keep fighting.

Miss Me Yet?

2010-02-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

Actual billboard in Minnesota

Mr. Brown Goes To Washington

2010-01-19T22:08:00.004-05:00

Now that is CHANGE!

A REPUBLICAN wins a Senate seat in Massachusetts. The American people have spoken.

Conservatism is back and it's pulling America back from the grips of a government who has repeatedly shown that it does not care about its electorate.

Scott Brown...here comes the revolution!

If Only People Would Wake Up...

2010-01-06T18:55:00.003-05:00

This story, tucked away in most news headlines, is scary on so many levels:

DEARBORN, Michigan — At least nine Detroit area high school juniors are in trouble for wearing sweat shirts bearing a design that evokes the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

Dearborn Public Schools spokesman David Mustonen has told The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press that the shirts the boys wore to Edsel Ford High School on Monday are "offensive" and in "poor taste."

The boys are Arab-American, as are about half the school's 1,700 students.

They belong to the 2011 class. On the shirts, the number 11 resembles two buildings, with the school's "Thunderbird" mascot flying toward them. Printed beneath the image are the words, "You can't bring us down."

The boys are to meet with school officials but suspensions are not planned.

Fall of the Republic

2010-01-01T14:30:00.001-05:00

It's Time for US Support in Iran

2009-12-28T15:05:00.004-05:00

Obama's Approval Rating

2009-12-09T20:20:00.000-05:00

From FoxNews:

President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 47 percent in the latest Gallup poll, the lowest ever recorded for any president at this point in his term.

Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and even Richard Nixon all had higher approval ratings 10-and-a-half months into their presidencies. Obama's immediate predecessor, President George W. Bush, had an approval rating of 86 percent, or 39 points higher than Obama at this stage. Bush's support came shortly after he launched the war in Afghanistan in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he doesn't "put a lot of stock" in the survey by Gallup, which has conducted presidential approval polls since 1938, longer than any other organization.

"If I was a heart patient and Gallup was my EKG, I'd visit my doctor," Gibbs said in response to questions from Fox. "I'm sure a six-year-old with a Crayon could do something not unlike that. I don't put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is daily Gallup trend. I don't pay a lot of attention to the meaninglessness of it."

Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport responded: "Gibbs said that if Gallup were his EKG, he would visit his doctor. Well, I think the doctor might ask him what's going on in his life that would cause his EKG to be fluctuating so much. There is, in fact, a lot going on at the moment -- the health care bill, the jobs summit, the Copenhagen climate conference and Afghanistan."

The new low comes as Obama struggles to overhaul the nation's health care system and escalates America's involvement in the Afghanistan war. He is also presiding over a deep and prolonged recession, with unemployment at 10 percent.

"There's no doubt Obama's 47 percent is mainly a result of the continuing bad economy," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "But there is also a growing concern about government spending and debt, and a sense that Obama is trying to do too much, too soon."

He added: "President Obama has reason to be concerned about his ratings. Even in tough times, presidents have usually been able to stay above the critical 50 percent mark in the first year, when the public is most inclined to give the new incumbent the benefit of the doubt."

Obama officials have not always shown disdain for Gallup. During last year's presidential campaign, Obama adviser David Plouffe, trumpeted "the latest Gallup poll" to reporters because it showed that 53 percent of Americans did not find Obama Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, "trustworthy."

When Gallup began taking presidential approval polls 71 years ago, Franklin Roosevelt had been president for more than five years. During his remaining time in office, his job approval rating never fell below 48 percent.

The next 11 presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, all had higher job approval ratings than Obama at this stage of their tenure. Their ratings were:

-- George W. Bush, 86 percent
-- Bill Clinton, 52 percent
-- George H.W. Bush, 71 percent
-- Ronald Reagan, 49 percent
-- Jimmy Carter, 57 percent
-- Gerald Ford, 52 percent
-- Richard Nixon, 59 percent
-- Lyndon Johnson, 74 percent
-- John Kennedy, 77 percent
-- Dwight Eisenhower, 69 percent
-- Harry Truman, 49 percent

Global Hoax

2009-11-25T21:06:00.000-05:00

Veteran's Day 2009

2009-11-18T20:58:00.001-05:00

Find the one not saluting...

2009-11-14T11:09:00.001-05:00

Obama To Enter Diplomatic Talks With Raging Wildfire

Sunday (Not So) Funny

2009-11-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan

2009-11-05T21:27:00.003-05:00

Are we really starting to walk down this path? We now have Muslim jihadists in the United States Armed Forces? America is completely oblivious to how far radical Islam has penetrated our society. Before we act, it will be too late.

Today is a prime example.

Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan murdered 12 of America's finest and wounded over 30 more. Personally, I think things are going to get very interesting as information surfaces about Hasan. Maybe this will open the American public's mind when it comes to radical Islam.

Here is an Internet post that was reportedly posted by Hasan about six months ago:

"To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," said the Internet posting. "Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers."

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Gubernatorial Elections of 2009

2009-11-03T21:21:00.003-05:00

Today, some very important gubernatorial races took place in key states (Virginia and New Jersey). In a sign of things to come for the GOP in 2010 and 2012, Republicans Robert McDonnell and Chris Christie have claimed victory.

In the first of many, thank you Mr. Obama for your inability to lead and your horrendous policies.

And the tide shifts...

Stupidity in 1,990 Pages

2009-10-29T17:04:00.002-04:00

Being a "normal citizen," I haven't had the time to examine many facets of the newly released Democratic health care bill.

However, from my brief overview of the proposal one thing is certain:

Democrats hate America. Heck, the Dems may even hate you.

Why so harsh, Ryan? Hate? Isn't that a strong word? Well, yes...it is, but when it comes to issues like this you have to let the evidence speak for itself.

Stupidity in 1,990 Pages

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." ~William Durant~

Foreshadowing

2009-10-23T17:39:00.002-04:00

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted this photo essay showing the HUGE lines of people being forced to wait outside in the rain for flu shots.

Mike O'Keefe thinks a health care overhaul would lead to more long lines like the flu shot lines at Cedarburg High School.

I agree.

Clean Up Your Own Mess First, Mr. President

2009-10-17T11:22:00.002-04:00

Great post from William A. Jacobson.

Picture of the Day

2009-10-16T22:29:00.002-04:00

New Gig

2009-10-16T18:55:00.003-04:00

As you can tell by the posts on this blog, I am a big supporter of the Nation of Israel. Therefore, I have taken on a new challenge.

On Wednesday night, I became the AFFI Social Networking Director for an organization called the Alliance for the Future of Israel. Basically, I am in charge of maintaining the organization's communication goals through several social networking websites (Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace). Our goal is to "spread the word" through as many avenues as possible. The endeavor will hopefully launch the AFFI organization to new heights.

Here is an overview of AFFI:

The Alliance for the Future of Israel is a joint venture of Jews and Christians who are striving to advance the fulfillment of God’s prophetic Word regarding the return of His nation, Israel, to Zion; and the rebirth of the modern Nation of Israel.
The Alliance was founded out of the need to:

* Ensure the existence of Israel
* Promise the security of the Jewish people dwelling in the Holy Land
* Guarantee their ability to prevail over the many threats they face.

The founders of the Alliance understand that the future of the Jewish people in Zion is based on two pillars:

* Developing new leadership in Israel, which possesses faith, values and integrity.
* Intensifying Jewish immigration to Israel (opening Israel’s Gates to ALL JEWS, regardless of their religious affiliation.)

The Alliance calls for the involvement and support of the Judeo-Christian world for this vision.
AFFI’s support of Israel will be focused on two main areas:

* Development of future leadership
* An Educational Campaign that will deepen the recognition, understanding and cooperation between all Jewish Streams

AFFI is a non-profit 501 © (3) registered in the USA. All contributions are tax-exempt. All monies raised are channeled to support the annual budget which supports:

* Training and developing leadership
* Supporting Freedom of Religious Choice and Equality for all Jewish streams

Along with AFFI, our organization is a strong supporter of the Israel Leadership Institute.

2012

2009-10-11T21:36:00.005-04:00

With the 2010 elections right around the corner (it can't come soon enough, right?), it's never too early to start thinking about 2012. As the GOP begins tossing around names, I thought I would throw out some potential candidates for the presidential and vice-presidential nominations. If I'm missing someone, please add him/her to the list!

Mike Huckabee; Ex-Governor of Arkansas
Haley Barbour; Governor of Mississippi
Jeb Bush; Ex-Governor of Florida
Eric Cantor; US Representative Virginia
Charlie Crist; Governor of Florida
Newt Gingrich; Ex-Speaker of the House
Bobby Jindal; Governor of Louisiana
Ron Paul; US Representative Texas
Tim Pawlenty; Governor of Minnesota
Mike Pence; US Representative Indiana
Mitt Romney; Governor of Massachusetts
Sarah Palin; Ex-Governor of Alaska
Rick Santorum; Ex-US Senator of Pennsylvania
Rick Perry; Governor of Texas

My top ticket (subject to change)?

President - Mike Huckabee
Vice President - Pence/Perry/Gingrich/Crist/Santorum

Apparently, Anybody Can Win Anything

2009-10-09T16:00:00.003-04:00

On my way to work, I about crashed my car into a ditch when this news came over the airwaves this morning.

I am literally in utter shock.

Barack Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize?

I immediately feel pity on other past winners (except Yassir Arafat and Jimmy Carter). In one brief moment the Nobel Peace Prize has been dumbed-down to Employee of the Month status. I hear Elie Wiesel has taken his NPP off of the shelf and is now using it as a coffee coaster.

"I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," Obama said.

Duh?

The Nobel Peace Prize had a deadline of February 1, 2009 for all nominations. That is less than two weeks after Barry took office. Does anyone else see a problem here?

According to FoxNews, "The Nobel committee said its decision to honor the president was motivated by Obama's initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism."

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," said Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee.

What world are you living in Mr. Jagland?

Let me get this straight...as the sitting president residing over two wars, unemployment through the roof, fiscal irresponsibility, federal promotion of abortion services, pushing to nationalize our bodies, throwing money and legislation at the myth of global warming, promoting an immoral and hazardous lifestyle, is all you have to do to get the Nobel Peace Prize?

So, if I show up to the UN and give a speech promoting "initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism;" I can get one of those puppies too?

There are only so many times that you can flush the toilet before the Earth actually goes down the drain.

I'm starting to feel the swirl.

Palestinian Fascism: Myth #2

2009-10-08T21:14:00.003-04:00

Political Abuse of the Refugee Issue.

This is hot topic in today's Arab/Israeli conflict. However, it is one of the biggest fabrications as well. Before the War of 1948, over 100,000 Arabs (mostly well-to-do Arabs, but followed by Arab peasantry) migrated to Beirut and Damascus on their own terms and could return to a "better off" situation (it had been reported in Arab newspapers that the War of 1948 would last 4-6 weeks). This mass exodus happened before either side raised a weapon.

Upon war, it became quite clear to Israel that this was a war of survival. The Haganah paramilitary group used scare tactics to force Arabs to leave Jewish areas, but many Jewish leaders publicly called for the Arabs to stay. Arab countries were not similar in this respect. Many Arab countries encouraged, often times using their own scare tactics, Arabs to leave. In the Arab's view, the War would be over quickly and the fleeing Arabs could return to their lives. In 1943, the Jordanian newspaper Al Urdun wrote,

For the flight and fall of the other villages it is our leaders who are responsible because of their dissemination of rumors exaggerating Jewish crimes and describing them as atrocities in order to inflame Arabs...By spreading rumors of Jewish atrocities, killing of women and children, etc., they instilled fear and terror in the hearts of Arabs in Palestine, until they fled leaving their homes and properties to the enemy."

Khaled al-Azm, the Syrian prime minister, said,

"We brought disaster upon a million Arab refugees by inviting them and bringing pressure on them to leave. We have accustomed them to begging...we have participated in lowering their morale and social level...Then we exploited them in executing crimes of murder, arson and throwing stones upon men, women and children...all this for service of political purposes."

Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the PLO, wrote,

"The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, imposed upon them a political and ideological blockade and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live in Eastern Europe."

Another argument that often arises is the "massacre" at Deir Yassin. Unfortunately, 107 Arabs did die (most of them Iraqi soldiers), but the fabrication of this story by the Arabs is questionable. Iraqi soldiers arrived to this area in hopes of blocking the main road to Tel-Aviv. When the Irgun arrived (another paramilitary group) they found themselves ambushed by Iraqi soldiers who had dressed as women and were firing in and around innocent civilians. Another piece of evidence that shows the mentality of this so-called political nationalism.

By May 15, 1948 armies from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt (along with volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Morocco, attacked Israel and outnumbered them 5 to 1. Israel was obviously on defense and pushed the Arabs back and claimed land that had been "promised" to the Arabs (which they had turned down on numerous occasions). There was nothing close to ethnic cleansing.

At the Rhodes armistice talks in 1949, Israel willingly offered all of the land back in exchange for a peace treaty. The Arabs, not surprisingly, said no and launched, over the next six years, over 9,000 terrorist attacks that would eventually lead to the war of 1956. At the Lausanne conference, Israel (again) offered the Arabs' land back. The Arabs rejected this again because it would be recognizing the State of Israel. Instead, the Arabs maintained the refugee problem and claimed that it would stay that way until the flag of Palestine flew over the State of Israel.

~Reference from David Meir-Levi, History Upside Down (pgs. 66-75)

Palestinian Fascism: Myth #1

2009-10-05T21:10:00.004-04:00

Stolen Land?

A little history first. The Jew were a powerful people in Israel about 3,200 years ago. The Jewish state lasted through the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman conquests. After 70 AD, the landscape began to change as more conquests dominated the area and, eventually (7th century), the Arab Muslims took control and the Jews became a barely tolerated minority. During the Arab rule, the land known as Israel became stagnant. Surrounding Arab countries rounded up populations that would relocate to Israel (a large majority being fellahin, or Arab laborers. Under the Ottoman Empire, these Arabs, or early Palestinians, were bought out by their own Arab people. Land reform laws, enacted by the Ottoman Empire, reduced the Arab laborers (who had owned the land for decades) to nothing more than Arab serfs.

As Zionists slowly made their way back into the land of Israel, they bought up unworked land and privately owned land; which had a positive effect overall on both cultures. The Zionist endeavor reversed the harsh land laws, helped cultivate the land, and allowed many Arab serfs to become land owners once again.

In the early 19th century, the British became interested in Israel. England's turmoil with the French caused the British to send political and cultural representatives to the region in order to limit French influence. After World War I, the British and the French carved up the region and created puppet states; the land of Israel being part of that region. During the war, the British had promised both the Arabs and the Jews land for the creation of a state. Arab riots in 1919, 1921, 1922, and 1929 killed hundreds of Jews and British military leaders teamed up with Palestinian leaders to show how unpopular the UK's pro-Zionist policy was. Britain would eventually require Jews to relocate, dismantle settlements, and limit Jewish immigration to Palestine. As Hitler came to power, thousands of Jews fled to Palestine, which enraged the Arabs and eventually led to the Great Arab Revolt in 1936. To fix the situation, Lord Peel's partition plan was presented to the two sides: the Palestinians would get 85% of the land and the Jews would get 15%. The Jews accepted. The Palestinians did not. In their views, the Jews deserved no sovereignty in Arab lands. In 1937, the Arabs could have had 85% of Israel.

The Holocaust caused even more ripples in the region. Because of the British limit of Jews allowed to immigrate to Palestine, thousands of Jews were trapped in Europe. The British gave up and handed the land over to the United Nations. After a fact-finding mission, the UN decided that Israel needed its own state. The Arabs did not meet with the UN teams and claimed that it would not support any land, even though land was already legally owned by the Jews, "given" to the Jews. Eventually, the UN made two states. The Jews rejoiced. The Arabs prepared for war.

The War of 1948 was a defensive war for Israel. Leading up to the war, Arab paramilitary forces carried out deadly attacks on Israel settlements. The British mandate expired on May 14, 1948 and seven Arab armies invaded at once. During a brief ceasefire, Israel planned its next moves while the Arab armies couldn't trust each other enough to leave their own borders. Israel never stole any land. It simply took back land that had been compromised by the Arabs during the aggression. It did not break any international laws or norms. Upon Israel's victory, 725,000 Arabs fled for their own reasons. On the other hand, almost 1 million Jews were expelled from surrounding Arab countries. They left behind an estimated $2,500,000,000 worth of estates. 80% of these expelled Jews were absorbed by Israel.

Arabs refer to this Israeli victory as al-Nakba, or "The Catastrophe." How was this a disaster? The Jews simply defended land assigned to them by the United Nations. Had there been no war, there would have been no refugees. The Arabs, if willing to negotiate, could have had there land back. Instead, Jordan and Egypt illegally declared sovereignty over Gaza and the West Bank defying Resolutions 181 and 194. Even worse, the Arab states kept the refugees in concentration camps that could be used as leverage against Israel and the West. The Arabs who stayed in Israel (170,000...1,400,000 today) have prospered and enjoy opportunities unlike any in the Arab world.

~reference David Meir-Levi, History Upside Down (pgs.53-65)

Something To Laugh About

2009-10-04T22:03:00.003-04:00

Palestinian Fascism: Islamofascism

2009-10-04T11:05:00.006-04:00

After the Soviet's defeat in Afghanistan, Yassir Arafat decided to go rogue. Looking for a new "power" to help his anti-Zionist cause, Yassir turned to Hamas. Even though the ideologies slightly differed, at the time, Arafat new that Hamas could help spread the idea of jihad within the state of Israel. During the Olso War, Arafat and Yassin (head of Hamas) made a deal: Hamas could continue terror attacks as long as it didn't interfere with Arafat's political posturing. Technically, what Hamas eventually did, was bring back the ideology through the evolution of the Muslim faith, with the Palestinians, that the state of Israel needed to be destructed through terrorist acts. It brought back the belief that unbelievers needed to be wiped out; starting with Israel.

Let's take a closer look at Hamas. In the Middle East, not yet in the West, Hamas is known as apocalyptic terror group that has written into its Charter the idea of genocide and destruction against the Jewish people and world domination through Islam. Founded in 1987, Hamas became the first democratically elected group in Palestine, in 2006, with an agenda that incorporates genocide and terrorism. Talk about an unstable region.

Upon its founding, Hamas was used against Palestinians that would not conform to strict Islamic rules, execute those who cooperated with Israel, and to prepare the Gazans for jihad against Israel. It even partnered with the PLO to carry out terrorist attacks, which Arafat used (once again) for his political posturing. When it comes to support, Hamas has plenty. Much of the Arab region has put its weight behind Hamas. Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia has been funding and training Hamas since the 1990's. Although it operated mostly under Syrian support, Hamas now operates independently with funding from Iran. Iran and Hamas share the same vision; the destruction of Israel. Hamas has a branch office in Tehran, it was invited to an international conference in Iran about the "blessed Intifada," and has been training and equipping Hamas and Hezbollah for several decades. Unfortunately, the biggest asset of Hamas has been the UN, another reason that it is a pointless collaboration of countries.

After Israel re-entered the West Bank in April of 2002, it uncovered thousands of documents and computer hard drives showing the connection between the PLO and Hamas. After decades of creating a political illusion, the United States finally saw Arafat for what he was; a terrorist aide and a leader unable and unwilling to achieve peace. There have also been documented cases in which Hamas has helped al-Qaeda and a growing number of al-Qaeda cells have been uncovered in Gaza. Hamas also gave Arafat something he never successfully could develop: suicide bombers. It founded a suicide bomber academy in Gaza City. From 2000 to 2004, Hamas carried out 425 attacks against Israel with 52 of those attacks being suicide bombings.

The 2006 election was a bigger victory than expected for Hamas; which claimed more than half of the seats within the government. Although the Palestinian people have claimed they voted for Hamas to "clean up" Fatah's governmental mess, even Hamas' leaders recognized the fact that the people understand what the group stands for and used this to show the sway in public opinion. During the transition of power, Fatah and Hamas fought a civil war in which more Palestinians were killed in less than one year than by Israel in the previous six years. Mahmoud Zahar put it best when asked what the purpose of Hamas will be when it comes to running a government entity, "It is in our national interest to stop cooperation with Israel in any field. It should be Hamastan."

The next installment will discuss Palestine's myth about how Zionists stole its land.

~reference History Upside Down by David Meir-Levi (pgs. 36-50)

Palestinian Fascism: Communist Beginnings

2009-10-03T19:06:00.006-04:00

After World War II, the Palestinian national movement (still supporting the Nazi cause) was all alone in the Arab region. All sovereign nations wanted nothing to do with this ideology and even considered it a regional threat. Interestingly, the Arab countries wanted nothing to do with a Palestinian state OR a Jewish state; even rejecting the return of territories for Israel that had been gained in the war of 1948 at the Rhodes armistice conference (which Palestine did not even attend). Instead of searching for peace, the Arab nations declared jihad, rejected peace, and gave the Arab refugees permanent refugee status.

Egypt was particularly interested in Muslim Brotherhood that was spewing from Palestine. It made sure that the 350,000 Palestinian refugees developed no national sentiment or activism. In fact, Egypt directed, through propaganda, an anti-Israel sentiment in hopes of extinguishing the anti-Egyptian tone that was surfacing. The Egyptian secret police (through Arab refugees) carried out the fedayeen which, over seven years, carried out over 9,000 terrorist attacks against Israel. Egyptian King, Gamal Abdel Nasser, deliberately used the illusion of Palestinian nationalism for his own purposes. Nasser would go on to use the Palestinians, until the economy collapsed, to do much of Egypt's dirty work in Gaza. Nasser used the poor economy to form a relationship with the USSR and thus the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The PLO was "born" out of the USSR's attempt to create "liberation fronts" in the Third World. Amazingly, the first PLO council (consisting of 422 handpicked Palestinians by the KGB) drafted the Palestinian National Charter which was created in Moscow. The USSR and East Germany were funding the entire PLO operation. Over the next several decades, the PLO was trained for and trained terror groups across the region. The Soviets also created Moscow's Patrice Lumumba People's Friendship University that specialized training in terrorism. Who was a graduate? Non other than Mahmoud Abbas; head of the PLO who wrote his doctoral thesis on the denial of the Holocaust.

As Yassir Arafat rose to power, he summoned the aide of other Arab states through the realism that terror was on the only way to keep political hopes alive. Arafat, unappeased with the Palestinians aide of Israel to stop Fatah operatives, set of on a campaign to win over the Arab states. Eventually, this was successful when the Khartoum conference rejected Israel's land offers (once again). After Arafat claimed "victory" over Israel (Israel actually retreated because it didn't want to get involved in the conflict between Jordan and Palestine), he, backed by the Soviets, became the leader of the PLO and Fatah. In 1970. Arafat denounced William Roger's (US Secretary of State) plan (Jordan and Egypt agreed to Roger's plan) for Israel to withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza; in Arafat;s mind, Palestine existed with no Israel. After a brief defeat as leader, Arafat reestablished himself as the head of the PLO by convincing the Palestinians that he had fought for Palestinian nationalism (his invention), turned the PLO into a terror group, waged war on Israel, took the PLO into sovereign countries, and gathered support throughout the Arab world. Arafat would continue to be a Soviet puppet as his terror regime continued forward.

Let's break down some of the PLO's influences. Abu Jihad, PLO military operations leader, went to North Vietnam to study Ho Chi Minh's guerrilla warfare tactics. Ho's chief strategist, General Giap, told Arafat, "Stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights. Then you will have the American people eating out of your hand." Arafat was also tutored by Muhammad Yazid who said,

"Wipe out the argument that Israel is a small state whose existence is threatened by the Arab states, or the reduction of the Palestinian problem to question of refugees; instead, present the Palestinian struggle as a struggle for liberation like the others. Wipe out the impression...that in the struggle between the Palestinians and the Zionists, the Zionist is the underdog. Now is the Arab who is oppressed and victimized in his existence because he is not only facing the Zionists but also world imperialism."

Arafat used his expertise in propaganda to paint a picture of a homeless people being oppressed through terrorism that he, in fact, was orchestrating. Thus, he was winning the hearts of the West as a statesman who needed our sympathies. In order to keep Arafat in Soviet control, the Soviet's used an "insurance policy" on Arafat. The USSR secretly taped Arafat's nightly homosexual encounters with his bodyguards and teen orphans. This ensured the relationship between the USSR and the terrorist PLO.

In general terms, Arafat created Palestine. Throughout history, there was never a nation of Palestine and never a people known as the Pales tines. In fact, it has always been under the sovereignty of other nations and empires. It wasn't until the 1940's when a "two state" solution was first conceived. However, the Arab nations rejected this notion because it would be an injustice to Syria, whose southern part was considered part of "Palestine," and the Arabs argued that there has never been a Palestinian people. During the 19 years between 1949 and the Six-Day War, no Arab nation ever questioned Palestinian nationalism as it was controlled by Jordan and Egypt.

In the PLO's original Charter, it states, "this organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in the Gaza Strip or the Himmah area." However, once Arafat took control, he considered the only :homeland" of Palestine to be the state of Israel. In 1968, Arafat changed the Charter by claiming sovereignty over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He created a myth that the Palestinian people had always been a part of this land and that Israel was unjustly taking it over. Terror; therefore, was the only means to reclaim its national identity. Zahir Muhse'in, a member of PLO Executive Committee said,

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there are no difference between Jordanians, Syrians, and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

Even Arafat himself said, "The Palestinian people have no national identity. I, Yassir Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel."

Palestinian nationalism, that was created, came to be the only national movement to have the destruction of a sovereign state and the genocide of a people as its only reason for being.

The next installment will focus on Islamofascism.

~reference History Upside Down by David Meir-Levi (pgs. 8-35)

Palestinian Fascism: Nazi Roots and Islamic Jihad

2009-10-02T17:03:00.008-04:00

Over the past few years, I have had a growing interest in the nation of Israel. That interest has led me to the Israel/Palestine debate. Through blogs, books, articles, and discussions; I have come to support the State of Israel and denounce the Palestinian national movement. In my personal opinion, Palestine has created a political illusion that has been used to suffocate the nation of Israel. Through a series of posts, I will attempt to make that clear. In that process, I will be using many of the concepts/ideas/quotes from David Meir-Levi; author of History Upside Down. Through all of my readings, Levi's research has been tested and enlightening. Hopefully you find the same.

In our world today, Radical Islam is the biggest threat to world peace, democracy, and societal progress. Over the last century, radical groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda have dominated the political landscape of the Middle East.

Where did this ideology originated? Enter Sheikh Hassan al-Banna; the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. This group was founded for his desire to restore the Caliphate, ultimately unifying the Muslim world in a global Islamic empire. The West, in the Brotherhood's view, was suffocating Islam and promoting evilness throughout the world. Although the Brotherhood's ideology loathed the West, this "evilness" could be traced back to the Jews; the main culprits of destruction.

Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood had grown to over 500,000 members by the late 1930's with 38 chapters in the British Mandatory Palestine alone. To achieve its goal, the Brotherhood drastically changed the way Islam was taught. It focused on training that included terrorist activity (assassinations, suicide missions, and the acquisition of weapons). As the Nazi's rose to power in Germany, so did the Brotherhood's admiration for its cause. The similarities were already there, but nothing was as prominent as both entities main desire: the extermination of the Jewish people.

It sounds like al-Banna was the strongest Nazi supporter, right? Wrong. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and one-time president of the Supreme Muslim Council of Palestine, takes the cake. His claim to "fame?" Transplanting genocide from wartime Europe to the Palestinian national movement. He even made the Nazi payroll. He was directly responsible for the anti-Jewish riots of 1919, 1920, and 1929 that destroyed the community of Hebron. He organized the "Great Arab Revolt" of 1936-1939 which was funded by the Nazi movement. Al-Husseini led the pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in 1941 and urged other pro-Nazi governments to transport Jews to death camps. He was also one of the biggest propagandists of the Nazi movement. On November 21, 1941, al-Husseini praised the Nazis because "they know how to get rid of Jews, and that brings us close to the Germans and sets us in their camp." In 1944, the mufti in Palestine said in a broadcast, "Arabs! Rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. Kill them with your teeth if need be. This please God, history, and religion."

After the war ended, and a brief exile, al-Husseini joined Hassan al-Banna in urging the Arab world to unite in opposition to the partition of Palestine and the creation of Israel. The Muslim world embraced the message of hate and genocide which eventually led to the Israeli invasion of 1948. For decades, al-Husseini was recognized as "the voice of the Palestinian people" and Yassir Arafat declared him a hero of his time.

Even as Nazism was decapitated in Europe, a large portion of the Muslim world continued to carry its torch. This movement only hardened the jihadist mentality and the hatred for the West and Jews. With this movement came a new architect; Sayyid Qutb.

Qutb took the hatred towards the Jews one step further. He devoted his life, until he was executed in 1966, to promoting and feeding the jihadist mentality; mostly through literature that still fuels the radical's fire.

This Arab and Palestianian Nazism continues in today's Middle East. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, said of the Jews after the Lebanon war of 2006, "If they gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." Mahmoud Zahar, the Hamas foreign minister, says, "I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it." Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran looks ahead to the future, "The use of a nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam.

In the next installment, we will look at the chilling communist face of the Palestinian movement.

~References from David Meir-Levi, History Upside Down (pgs. 3-17)

Flowery Thoughts From Iran

2009-09-30T16:11:00.002-04:00

It gets really interesting about six minutes in...

Israel: Our Only Hope

2009-09-29T15:46:00.002-04:00

To piggyback off of my post from yesterday, I found a great article by the Washington Post from September 28, 2009. I'll let the article speak for itself:

Israel is looking like the new leader of the Free World. The previous leader, the United States, resigned this role last week at the United Nations to take the position of global community organizer. This was made plain by President Obama in his speech, titled "Responsibility for Our Common Future," in which he heralded "a new chapter of international cooperation." By contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a blunt and forceful call to action in the central challenge facing free people today. This is the struggle of "civilization against barbarism" being fought by "those who sanctify life against those who glorify death."

Mr. Obama's address was the predictable mix of criticism of the past policies of the United States, self-praise for correcting said policies and vague calls to united action on matters of collective interest. It sought to ingratiate rather than offend. But Mr. Netanyahu chastised the United Nations for its "systematic assault on the truth." He spoke truths that Mr. Obama would never whisper regarding the regime in Iran, which is "fueled by an extreme fundamentalism" and an "unforgiving creed." Mr. Netanyahu rebuked those members who countenanced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's diatribe before the same world body, rightly calling it a "disgrace."

Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly paid tribute to the blessings of liberty and "the allure of freedom." He marveled at the technological advances freedom made possible. He asked if the international community would support the Iranian people "as they bravely stand up for freedom." He envisioned a future of Israel and Palestine, "two free peoples living in peace, living in prosperity, living in dignity." Mr. Obama, meanwhile, touted the imperative of responding to global climate change and mentioned as an afterthought that democracy should not be an afterthought.

Israel stands out because it understands the central challenge faced by the civilized world and by its willingness to take action. Israel is readying to stem the tide of barbarism and stand up to the threat of a nuclear Iran. In return, it asks only for moral support. "If Israel is again asked to take more risk for peace," Mr. Netanyahu said, "we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow." He challenged the countries of the world with a clear-cut test: "Will you stand with Israel? Or will you stand with the terrorists?"

Mr. Obama said in closing that "we call on all nations to join us in building the future that our people deserve." But people only deserve what they have earned. Mr. Netanyahu called on the civilized world to "confront this peril, secure our future, and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come." Sometimes the future doesn't come without a fight.

Hopefully, Mr. Obama was taking notes.

Are You Ready For the End of the World?

2009-09-28T21:07:00.006-04:00

When Barack Obama was elected president, I congratulated him by posting a picture of a nuclear bomb explosion on my personal blog before I started this separate political avenue. Several people were unhappy with that analogy. I was metaphorically speaking. Who would have guessed I was predicting things to come?

As the days drag on, it may prove to be the most accurate depiction of that historical moment. A sign of the times...on numerous fronts.

Barack Obama is proving to be a disastrous presidency. His foreign policy initiatives are beyond flawed and have made us more vulnerable than at any time in our nations history (can you believe the number of foiled terrorists plot within the past several months? Chicago, Dallas, North Carolina, Denver, NYC, etc.). The despots that have ruled in far away lands are using the Obama Administration as a doormat when it comes to the national scene. We are now an international joke. We have caved to the very essence of an evil ideology. It is no surprised that these were the same despots that were pulling for "The One" to capture the election. Did you vote for Barack? You were in great company :\ These world leaders knew Obama had no spine and lacked the political capital to engage in any meaningful negotiations or dialog. He is inept beyond explanation on many of today's pressing issues.

Under Barack Obama's watch, we are literally months (maybe even weeks or days) from witnessing a global catastrophe in the Middle East. Obama has allowed Iran to, almost over night, grow into a potential Armageddon accelerator. He has distance the United States from our only true ally in the East (probably even the world) and has proven why the United States is not mentioned in Revelations. When the U.S. stops blessing Israel, God stops blessing the United States. Not to get too Biblical in this post, but the prophecy of Christ's return is unfolding before our very eyes. The table has been set and there is almost nothing that we, as a human race, can do (I'll elaborate on eschatology another time). It is truly amazing to be witnessing these worldly events.

The following is from Joel Rosenberg and his take on the Apocalyptic storm brewing in the Middle East:

Events are moving so quickly in the epicenter it can be difficult to keep track of, much less understand the big picture. So here it is in a sentence: An apocalpytic storm is forming over the Middle East.

Consider the data points:

Iran has just been caught secretly building a 2nd uranium enrichment facilityon a military base in the religious capital of Iran, a city known as Qom;

A growing number of Western military analysts say the design of this new facility — and its secrecy, and location — clearly indicates it was being built by Iran for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons;

Iran has thus been caught in its third lie since 2002 with regards to building secret nuclear development facilities in Natanz, Arak, and now Qom;

Ahmadinejad refused four times during his NBC News interview last week to rule out the building of nuclear weapons;

A.Q. Khan — the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development program – has just admitted selling advanced nuclear weapons blueprints years ago to Iran for millions of dollars;

The latest IAEA report indicates Iran has enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) to produce enough high-enriched uranium (HEU) by 2010 to produce two nuclear weapons;
Iran has just spent the weekend testing “its most advanced missiles” capable of reaching Israel;

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his speech to the U.N. by praying for Allah to hasten the coming of the Islamic Messiah, which according to his theology requires the destruction of Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it.

Ahmadinejad spoke more openly about his End of the World theology during his U.N. speech than ever before;

Ahmadinejad was asked for the first time by an American reporter to describe his relationship with the “Twelfth Imam” and admitted on camera that he is communicating with this mystical Shia messiah;

Humanly speaking, war is coming. The West does not seem determined enough to stop Iran from getting the Bomb. So unless the Lord intervenes, Israel might soon feel compelled to launch a preemptive strike against Iran. It won’t be easy, and the entire region could go up in flames.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. So on this day of Yom Kippur, let us commit ourselves to prayer and fasting for the peace of Jerusalem and the physical and spiritual salvation of all of Israel and all of Iran.

A question of reality: How many Americans are going to die because of the foreign policy and national security incompetence of the Obama administration?

Joel is right. We must pray for the salvation of this world. Lord knows, Obama can't lead us to the Promised Land, in fact, he's driving us in the opposite direction.

A Real Pain in the A#@

2009-09-27T17:41:00.005-04:00

Luckily, terrorism isn't a problem or a priority of this administration. They haven't got a clue :\

Sunday Funny

2009-09-27T08:26:00.000-04:00

Epicenter of Truth

2009-09-24T20:08:00.003-04:00

Pictured above is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Also known as the only competent leader in the free world.

I simply cannot put into words the admiration I have for this man and his people.

Here are some of his statements from today's U.N. speech:

Speaking to Ahmadinejad's speech:
"To those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people. ... Have you no shame? Have you no decency? What a disgrace, what a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

He challenged the U.N. for its anti-Semitic and anti-Israel “Goldstone Commission” report. The report charges the Jewish state with war crimes for defending her people from eight years of 10,000-plus rockets and missiles raining down from Gaza. What’s more, he challenged the U.N. to reject the commission’s report and thus side with Israel, or accept the report and side with and reward the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. He asked how Israel could possibly take more “risks for peace” if the world condemned Israel for defending herself from terror attacks launched from the last swath of land offered to the Palestinians in the name of peace. ~Rosenberg

The defining moment, maybe for the world:
"Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?"

"The Planet Has a Fever"

2009-09-22T20:12:00.003-04:00

The date was December 31, 1999 and I was making a few extra bucks during Christmas break. I worked at Clearwater Systems during the summer and a few holiday breaks. It was decent work. I basically loaded cars with bags of water softener salt and 10 gallon jugs of water. Fun times.

Anyhow, does anyone remember New Year's Eve 1999?

The Year 2000 Problem? Y2K? Millennium Bug? Y2K Bug?

Ring a bell?

I remember sitting at home and waiting for my computer clock hit 12:00am. Was it going to blow up? Was it going to crash? Was it going to evaporate? Was it going to turn into an alien saucer and fly off into space? Would I be sucked into the screen?

You'd be surprised what people thought.

I remember working that day at Clearwater Systems. People were lined up around the building and down the street waiting to stock up on water. We were, as an international body, scared into believing that the world was going to end because of a computer problem. Looking back at that event...man were we stupid.

Today, Barack Obama gave a speech on climate change to the U.N. He talked with an urgency. He talked about change (surprise). He talked about the future of our planet and of our people. Basically, he did something very similar to Y2K. He scared people into believing something that doesn't exist. Think about it. Scientists are warning us about something that science proves isn't happening.

Yes, read that last sentence again.

Climate change is the biggest magic trick ever performed. It is causing people to change his/her lifestyle. It is causing governments to implement legislation that takes away the freedoms of its citizens. It is throwing money (trillions of dollars) at a problem that doesn't even exist. It's a scam and we've been punk'd.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute provides the following:

Obama: “…[T]he threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing.”
Reality: global mean temperatures increased slightly from 1977 to 2000. Temperatures have been flat since then.

Obama: “Rising sea levels threaten every coastline.”
Reality: sea levels have been rising on and off since the end of the last ice age 13,000 years ago. The rate of sea level rise has not increased in recent decades over the nineteenth and twentieth century average.

Obama: “More powerful storms and floods threaten every continent.”
Reality: there is no upward global trend in storms or floods.

Obama: “More frequent drought and crop failures breed hunger and conflict in places where hunger and conflict already thrive.”
Reality: there is no upward global trend in major droughts. Reversals in large-scale cycles have meant that the southward march of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel has been reversed in recent years and the Sahara is now shrinking.

Obama: “On shrinking islands, families are already being forced to flee their homes as climate refugees.”
Reality: some Pacific islanders may want to emigrate to New Zealand or Australia and are claiming that their islands are disappearing as the reason, but shrinkage has been minimal in recent decades because sea level rise has been minimal.

Cliff May said it best:

This is a dangerous game. We blame ourselves for a crisis that may or may not exist: Are we really certain that the world is warming up dangerously, that industrial development is causing it, and that we can “fix the problem” without returning to a 19th-century economy?
Then, we grin as we are criticized by all and sundry.

Meanwhile, those gathered at the U.N. and the media covering them avoid talking about Islamist terrorism, genocide in Darfur, brutal suppression in Iran by a regime that is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, and similar unfashionable topics.
It’s unreal. Or maybe it’s surreal.

Inside the Revolution

2009-09-19T11:01:00.003-04:00

I recently finished Joel Rosenberg's Inside the Revolution. This is a MUST READ for those who question the motives behind Radical Islam and its global threat. Rosenberg does an amazing job of educating the reader on the history and present situation of the Middle East through research, interviews, and evidence. His book begins with the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and continues through the present rumblings in the epicenter (Israel). Rosenberg also provides an insight into Biblical Prophecy and how the events in the Middle East are setting the table for Christ's return.

As America, and the world, lethargically act on the threat of Radical Islam's theology/ideology, we conservatives need to awaken the masses for the sake of all people, religions, and cultures before it is too late. It is time to educate the uneducated when it comes to Radical Islam.

Our world depends on it.

Racism: The Left's Love Affair

2009-09-15T21:52:00.005-04:00

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy...

What is it with the left? Yes, we have a minority president. Stop rubbing it in our face. It's, by far, not the issue at hand. It's the policies and the philosophy of those governing.

When there was opposition to the Iraq War, did the Right fault racism as a motive? When Barbara Boxer and Henry Reid called George W. Bush a liar, did the Right call for legislative reprimands? When Bush was booed at the Inaugural Address, did Congress waste taxpayer money by investigating those culprits?

Of course not.

This interview with Jimmy Carter shows how delusional the Left actually is. The kicker comes at the :46 mark when he says angry town hall citizens are motivated by racism. Barack Obama should put a gag order on Carter. He was a horrible president, and a main cause for the problems we are currently dealing with in the Middle East, and even more of a disaster as our Middle East envoy. How can you trust the words of Jimmy Carter when Osama Bin Laden recommends his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," a travesty in itself because it completely misses the theology/policies that drive the unavoidable coils within the Middle East.

Let's drop the race card Washington. We're sick of your tactics.

Headline News: I Agree With Obama

2009-09-15T16:44:00.001-04:00

The one and only time...

Cartoon

2009-09-13T08:10:00.001-04:00

9/12 March on Washington

2009-09-12T15:36:00.005-04:00

At 12:34p.m. the Washington D.C. Police Department estimated that the 9/12 March on Washington had grown to over 1.2 million people throughout the course of the day. ABC News is estimating the number at almost 1.5 million.

The American people are fed up with our government's spending and control. Conservatives, moderates, and Democrats alike are standing up against a public option health care bill, cap-and-trade legislation, higher taxes, and destructive spending.

What a great display of "Power to the People."

America needs Barack Obama

2009-09-12T01:25:00.003-04:00

Update: Check this out at Flopping Aces!

Hold it. Put down the pitchfork.

Did I get your attention?

This isn’t an error or an optical illusion.

I am not delusional.

Let me repeat: America needs Barack Obama.

First, some background. I am a hardcore conservative. Hannity is DVR’d. Mark Levin’s bestseller is on my coffee table. Ainsley Earhardt rocks. The Constitution is sacred. My Bible is my armor. I fight for the unborn and I support the traditional family.

Yep, I’m part of the mob. According to the Democrats, I’m un-American and my tactics resemble Hezbollah and Hamas.

Barack Obama’s empty rhetoric did not impress me. I’ve blogged with a purpose. Civility, entwined with an undying passion, has been broken on several occasions with individuals who fell in love with Barack the Candidate; not Barack the Politician. My family structure suffered as I spent countless hours researching the inner workings of Mr. Obama. I threw out red flag, after red flag, after red flag. America’s future, in my eyes, was already sold. Helplessly, I watched as Obama pulled the wool over the American electorate’s eyes.

I knew him better than Michelle.

However, I’ve had a change of heart. I think we, as Americans, need Barack Obama. I mean he is the second coming of Jimmy Carter, right? I hope this Administration keeps spending trillions of dollars. I like money. Doesn’t everyone? The deficit is just a number. In fact, we could use another stimulus package. I bet we could use another Frisbee golf course around here somewhere. Oh, and taxes are pretty cool, too. I’ll have some more of what he is having, please.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il are two, completely sane guys that got caught in a bad situation. I could trust them. It would be great to sit down with those two, Hugo Chavez, and Joe “I’m as cool as the other side of the pillow” Biden and share a few brews on the White House lawn. Imagine the photo possibilities. Maybe it would be a good thing to have a few nukes in the most unstable region of the world. Maybe it would be some sort of reverse psychology. Barack will bring them around. He’s just playing hard to get. This whole “America is an international laughing stock” is just a thing of the past. Maybe this End of Times theology is just a phase that we can talk through. Just ask Israel.

Diversity could be a great alternative. Racist, communist czars could be the missing piece to improving democracy. Lying isn’t a sin if it’s made up information. We call that fiction. Unemployment could be worse. We could be at a 26 year high. Oh…wait. Oh, and health care? Do not even get me started. Who do these town hall people think they are? Standing up and speaking his/her mind. What are they trying to use? The First Amendment? Pssshh. Waste of space. For the last time, government ownership IS the best option available. Look at education, welfare, social security, cash for clunkers, medicare, medicaid, and our tax system. Stellar.

Are you starting to get it? Look at what could be. Barack Obama needs America and America needs Barack Obama. He will lead us down a path of suffering, humiliation, and self-destruction. Liberal ideas, and those who promote them, will crash and burn like never before. It will be the death of the Statist agenda. America will need to be revived from the brink.

That’s where you and I come in. America will see those red flags. We’ll hug and embrace those who “overlooked” Barack the Politician for Barack the Candidate. It will be glorious.

America will be back. We are just taking a four year break. It’s like an experimental drug treatment.

We’ll know all the side effects.

Joe Wilson Said What I Was Thinking...Thanks!

2009-09-09T21:53:00.005-04:00

There's No "I" In Speech

2009-09-08T15:28:00.004-04:00

Today, Barack Obama will deliver a speech to our nation's youth.

Over the past several days, the speech has been changed and the lesson plans have been changed from its original language due to an outcry from conservatives and concerned parents alike.

I'm not going to single this event out. Frankly, I'm not phased (or surprised) by the message. Barack Obama is the President of the United States. An address to our students isn't the end of the world. In fact, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush made similar speeches (and heard it from the Left as well) under similar circumstances.

However, the language of the text is interesting. The tone and subtext of the speech is questionable to say the least. In a speech that is supposed to focus on achievement and perseverance, Barack Obama spends a majority of the speech building up his massive ego. In a secretive and subtle kind of way, we see a glimpse of Barack Obama's underlying lesson: follow me...make me proud...let me inspire you...aspire to be more like me.

Look at the iterations from President Obama's speech:

56 iterations of “I”
19 iterations of “school”
10 iterations of “education”
8 iterations of “responsibility”
7 iterations of “country”
5 iterations each of “parents”, “teachers”
3 iterations of “nation” ~Ed Morrissey

56 iterations of "I" during a motivational speech on education? Is this a promotion of education or of self?

Oh Yeah, Reform This!

2009-09-07T21:55:00.003-04:00

Currently (emphasis on the word currently) the United States has the best health care system on Earth. We outperform every developed nation in almost every category imaginable. As the health care debate drags on into the fall, there is one thing that conservatives and liberals can agree on:

Reform needs to happen. Soon.

However, thinking conservatively, reform should not come by means of a public option. Instead, health care should be reformed through Tort Reform, eliminate high-cost malpractice suits that cause physicians to over diagnose and over test patients (known as defensive medicine), allow the free market to create competition...especially with employer-based health care coverage (our current system hasn't been a "free market" since the mid-1960's), and restructure community ratings that forbid insurance companies from rating consumers based on current health statuses.

There are currently thousands of private/commercial health care providers. Our problem? We have allowed these companies to run as profit-driven companies instead of quality-driven companies. Through my employment, I am given two choices for my health insurance provider.

Two.

Where is the competition in that? Imagine what could happen to the costs if my employer allowed two more companies to compete. 10 more. 50 more. You get the picture.

America doesn't need a government option to take care of the small percentage of Americans who are uninsured. What we need is a government who looks after our interests as citizens...not their own.

Here is a list of 15 lies being dished out by the media/White House/Democrats in regards to the health care debate:

1. Cutting $500 billion from Medicare will not hurt care or cut benefits for seniors.
2. Spending $1 Trillion will save money.
3. Spending $1 Trillion will not increase the deficit.
4. If you like your plan you can keep it, except in five years every insurance plan design for everyone will be dictated by the federal government design requirements.
5. You can buy any insurance plan from any insurer you want. But you can only buy the government designed, government approved plans — its like saying you can buy the same house from any builder, but the builders all have the same set of plans and can only sell that house.
6. This is not a government take-over of the health care sector.
7. There will not be any rationing.
8. Campaign promises made explicitly by the President that he would not cut any deals with “the drug companies” only to do exactly that in return for Pharma spending million in ads to prop up the sagging ObamaCare this summer.
9. Abortion is not a covered benefit (despite the fact that the Democratic House pro-life leaders say it covers abortion, and more than 20 Democrats have told their leadership in writing that they will not vote for any bill that covers abortion.)
10. Seniors will not be steered in the direction of dying to save money — but most of the public knows that the most expense in health care is in the last six months of life — making seniors think Obama’s promises sound hollow. Seniors, it turns out, do not want the government to make the decision about when that last six months starts.
11. The President is against a single payer system and ending employer provided health care. All those videos of the President saying that he is for a single payer system and for ending employer provided health care, well, they are “misleading.”
12. Except that your employer may decide to put you in a government designed plan, so your employers will be taxed less than it costs to give you your insurance. Your employer will save money by putting you in the government-run Health Information Exchange — and you can never leave!
13. This bill’s purpose is insure the uninsured and do “insurance reform.”
14. President Obama promised no mandate in his health plan, but it has an individual mandate and an employer mandate.
15. If you don’t buy health insurance and you earn more than $19,000, you will be taxed 2.5 percent of your total income. The no tax increase pledge for families earning $250,000 or less does not apply, of course, to ObamaCare.

Dan Perrin

"You Can't Handle The Truth!"

2009-09-07T10:53:00.007-04:00

I have an honest question that deserves an honest answer:

If you voted for Barack Obama, do you regret your vote? On any level?

I remember watching the results coming in on election night. Millions of people around the country were gathering to celebrate the election of our first minority president. People were dressed from head-to-toe in Obama gear. The youth of America was soaking up the latest victory. Women were crying. Men were dancing in the street. Everyone had a twinkle in his/her eyes.

It was "magical."

However, when it comes down to it and you really breakdown the American electorate, how many people actually knew the professional and personal background information of Barack Obama? How many voters were educated on his policies and his support of past legislative issues that were as far left as you could reach? How many voters took the time to dig beyond the media bias to understand Obama's politics?

Obviously, as we have learned now, not many.

Knowing the Statist's mindset, he/she could never admit to failure. He/She could never lose an ounce of pride by admitting the current debacle in Washington. The Statist would find the last, dying glimmer of hope if they had to. He/She would reach down to the "Gates of Hell" in order to cling onto any source of intellectual survival. How else do you think Obama was elected?

I just can't comprehend the madness. I see the events of the world unfolding and wonder how anyone, supporter or not, can see value in the philosophy of the Obama Administration. Obama has turned the Iran, North Korea, and Israel/Palestine issues (something he thought could be fixed with touchy feely talks...as they laugh at us on the world stage) into lethal molotov cocktails. As our economy has tried to recover, his spending has been a constant billy club to knees of our nation. He has corroded our society by pushing the rights of abortion and gay marriage. Obama's advisers (never czars) are filling the Obama White House with corrosive language and helping to push an agenda that will eventually lead to the nationalization of the United States. His political ties are radical and communist in nature. Socializing health care will destroy the system that we currently have and will lead to less choice, poorer quality, and higher taxes. The spending is out-of-control and the deficit isn't even a forethought in any process. The Afghan War is underfunded, undermanned, and led by a Commander-in-Chief that couldn't lead an army across the street...let alone out of a war.

So, as America spirals down the international and national toilet...do you regret your vote? Do you wish you would have listened to conservative voices that predicted all of this mess? Do you wish you could have it back?

Well, you can.

Real change begins in 2010 as we put Republicans into the House and Senate on local, state, and national levels. This is the only way to help begin the healing process and stop the liberal bloodletting.

Then, of course, Obama will be out by 2012. Honestly, in regards to putting up a fight, I believe we won't have to do much to help this cause. Obama has already done enough damage in eight...yes, only eight OMG what is he thinking...months.

Imagine what 3+ years will bring.

I cringe.

P.S. I recently scheduled a surgery for late next year. I'm not sure if I'll need it or what it will be for, but I didn't want to take any chances. I suggest you do the same. Especially if these imbeciles pass a public option. Best wishes!

Dragnet Wisdom

2009-09-06T22:39:00.002-04:00

Van Jones: Another One Bites The Dust

2009-09-06T09:05:00.007-04:00

Well, one down. Many more to go.

President Obama's advisor, Van Jones (the green czar/communist/Marxist/9-11 Truther/bigot/racist/community organizer/self-proclaimed radical), resigned over the weekend after his professional and personal aspirations were uncovered by the media (well, a small portion of the media anyways).

Finally, maybe people will start questioning how this clown got into Washington. Van that is.

These are the type of people that are "advising" the President of the United States of America. These are the type of people that are pushing his agenda and helping to write the language for legislative issues in Washington.

I like how NBC is reporting the resignation:

President Obama's environmental adviser Van Jones resigned from his post late Saturday evening after he came under fire for a series of inflammatory statements he made about Republicans, the White House said early Sunday morning.

Indoctrination

2009-09-03T20:22:00.004-04:00

Did anyone else find that video disturbing?

Look at these lesson plans the White House wants teachers to use for the classroom. It gives me the creeps. Is Obama the next 'Great Leader'? I would have to be mentally insane to use this in the classroom if I was keeping the interest of the students at heart.

The only thing 'I Pledge' is to make sure that the Republicans take back Washington in 2010 and that Barack Obama is ruining another country in 2012.

Check out some things I would support though:

I pledge to respect, listen to and obey my parents and elders because they have life experiences, wisdom and knowledge that I need to learn and which will guide me almost invariably to make better decisions.

I pledge to learn how to read, and read voraciously, because understanding the written word is critical to succeeding in life.
I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will read the laws and regulations they propose before voting on them, and I will not abide their laziness, double-speak, vagueness and condescension.

I pledge to learn mathematics because I will need to use it every day as I grow up and into adulthood.
I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who know how to add and, much more importantly, subtract so that they will reduce taxes and government spending, size and growth, and stop running up humongous deficits that will make life harder on me and future generations.

I pledge to listen to my teachers because they are eager to prepare me for my future by working with me in the classroom.
I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will carry forward the principles they hold but also listen and respond to their constituents’ desires rather than dictating to us what we need.

I pledge to learn about the history of our great nation and its Judeo-Christian heritage, the wisdom of its founders, and the blessings that have flowed from our shores to the rest of the world.
I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will know our founding documents, interpret them as written, understand they were meticulously designed to limit government power while recognizing our religious traditions, and strive to exceed the high standards our founders set.

I pledge to support strong national security against our enemies because it is one of the few things the federal government is truly in the best position to handle.
I pledge to support our soldiers, sailors and airmen, and our law enforcement and emergency responders, as they carry out their duties to secure, protect and defend the liberty and freedom God has graciously granted us.
I also pledge to work against those who denigrate our troops, micromanage their every move, equate their actions to the thuggary and merciless violence carried on by other regimes, and fail to provide them with the best available equipment, weapons, health care and living conditions.

I pledge to be a good friend, reliable, truthful and caring, placing the needs of others ahead of my own.
I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for leaders who act not out of political expediency or lust for power or personal gain but instead for the best interests of our nation and with a strong desire to find solutions to our problems that don’t involve increased government intervention, regulation and control.

I pledge to care for our environment because of its beauty, wonder, resources and its evidence of God’s creative hand.
I also pledge that I will not genuflect to hypocritical celebrities lecturing me about the evils of global warming (or cooling), gas guzzling cars, plastic, incandescent light bulbs, and meat as they fly around in Gulfstream jets, take Hummer limos to and from appointments and dine on wagyu steaks with political allies.
I pledge to conserve energy and our natural resources because it is important not to be wasteful.

I also pledge not to place the needs of animals over people, or limit the use of our resources or technologies simply because environmental activists use the parts of science they find most appealing to push their alarmist agenda items in Chicken Little-esque fashion.

I pledge to honor the sanctity of life by working to ensure policies and resources are in place to protect it, especially for the most vulnerable among us—the unborn and young, and the infirm and elderly.

I pledge to welcome immigrants from other nations who come to America through legal process seeking better lives and wanting to work hard to legitimately achieve the American Dream.

I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for governmental officials who are committed to securing our borders and deporting illegal immigrants who flout our laws, even if their intentions are otherwise honorable.

I pledge to treat with respect and dignity people of different races, creeds and cultures who intend no harm to my nation and her traditions, communities and families.

I also pledge that when someone of another race, creed or culture wrongs me, I will not in jump to the conclusion that they are a racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, or any other epithet, and will not use such incidents for cheap publicity or to push an agenda.

I pledge to behave both publicly and privately in ways that meet or exceed high standards of ethical conduct.

I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for and support those government representatives who do likewise and tirelessly oppose those who don’t.

Finally, I will never to be a “servant” to anyone, especially not the president or any other government official. On the contrary, I recognize that our leaders are in office to serve us and represent the best interests of us and our nation. Therefore, I pledge to serve my country joyfully and selflessly, as an equal member of our society and without a political agenda, by seeking out and serving the needs of my family, friends, neighbors, fellow churchgoers and community.

And I don’t need President Obama, the federal government or self-righteous celebrities to tell me how to do it. ~Leo Shishmanian

The Government Can

2009-09-02T20:42:00.001-04:00

Congressman Mike Rogers

2009-08-29T19:42:00.001-04:00

Don't Exhale

2009-08-28T21:30:00.003-04:00

Want more proof that the EPA is directly tied to global warming hysteria? This declaration, if implemented, would "pressure" (because we all know how much the government hates global warming) the government to regulate carbon omissions...even without legislation.

Here is an interesting article discussing the carbon issue:

"That advice may need heeding if the Environmental Protection Agency declares carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases dangerous pollutants, a move -- expected in the next couple weeks -- that would require the federal government to impose new rules limiting emissions.

But some skeptics say regulating carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, may be a difficult task, especially since people emit carbon dioxide with every breath.

"The EPA doesn't have the manpower to implement the regulations the way they would have to be," said David Kreutzer, senior policy analyst in energy economics and climate change at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Kreutzer said new regulations would trigger a flood of lawsuits, would create massive paperwork and the EPA should have no reasonable expectation that people would comply.

In April, the EPA released its proposed finding that man-made pollution is a cause of global warming, triggering a 60-day comment period before the agency issues a final decision.

The finding was prompted by a Supreme Court ruling two years ago that said greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act and must be regulated if found to be a human health danger.

An EPA spokesman told FOXNews.com that no date has been set for a final ruling.

"The EPA received over 300,000 comments on the proposal and is currently reviewing these comments in preparing the final rule," the agency said in a statement.

Congressional aides, however, say the EPA likely will issue its final ruling next month when Congress reconvenes and its first proposal will be to blame auto vehicles for the emissions.

That's just the start, however. Aides say later rules will extend to other sources and require a permit from the EPA to build anything that emits more than 25,000 tons of these pollutants. That could include schools, nursing homes or a Walmart.

In addition to carbon dioxide, the EPA said five other emissions are believed to cause warming when they concentrate in the atmosphere: methane, which is emitted by gassy cows as well as steam boilers; nitrous oxide, found in cooking sprays and used as anesthesia by dentists, better known as laughing gas; hydrofluorocarbons, which are used in refrigerators and aerosols; perfluorocarbons, a gas permeated by fire extinguishers, refrigerators and high end ski waxes; and sulfur hexafluoride, more commonly known for its use in circuit breakers, switchgear and other electrical equipment.

While the EPA follows its path, a climate change bill now working its way through Congress would also impose the first legislative limits on greenhouse gases, eventually leading to an 80 percent reduction by mid-century by putting a price on each ton of climate-altering pollution.

President Obama has said he prefers that Congress act to pass the legislation rather than address climate change through administrative action. He said he wants a bill that utilizes market-based solutions to reduce carbon pollution and transition to a clean energy economy that creates millions of green jobs. The EPA is unable to use market solutions and lacks the authority to tax.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll says 55 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is dealing with energy issues, including his plan to limit greenhouse gases with the climate change legislation, while 30 percent disapprove. By a somewhat narrower majority -- 52 percent to 43 percent -- Americans back a system that would set a ceiling for greenhouse gas emissions and would allow companies to buy and sell permits to emit the gases.

"Most Americans would strongly support the president's and the bipartisan commitment to comprehensive legislation that addresses our dangerous addiction to foreign oil and create new jobs and addresses the climate crisis," said Vickie Patton, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Patton added that there's a "misinformation campaign designed to divide Americans instead of bringing Americans together to afford solutions."

Senate Democrats want legislation passed before talks in Denmark in December on a new global treaty to reduce heat-trapping gases.

But the legislation, known by opponents as "cap and trade," may be in trouble. In June, the House narrowly passed its version of the bill 219-212 after months of negotiations that led to last-minute deals and significant concessions to win the votes of moderate Democrats from industrial and agricultural states concerned about the costs that would be imposed on businesses in their districts.

Further compromises will be needed for the bill to pass the Senate, which has tried and failed before to pass legislation to curb greenhouse gases.

A GOP Senate aide told FOXNews.com that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will introduce a climate change bill on the same day senators return from summer break.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set a deadline to have all committees working on climate change finish by the end of September, the aide said. But it's unclear whether Democrats are still pushing for a vote before December after the public backlash to Democratic-sponsored health care reforms.

"We're starting to see hints that is no longer a viable option," the aide said, "especially given the number of Democrats who have expressed concern about cap and trade."

Kreutzer said he believes the EPA decision is a tool being used by the Obama administration to pressure the Senate to pass the legislation.

"None of this is surprising," he said. "There's a lot of people who want to use the bogeyman of EPA regulation to force people into the cap-and-trade bill. ... They don't want to give up that lever."

Kreutzer called EPA regulation a "ransom" for climate change legislation.

"It's a stone axe to go after something where you need a scalpel," he said.

He suggested a simple solution would be for Congress to pass a one-line bill that declares carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. But it's an unlikely solution."

Wartime President

2009-08-25T17:03:00.004-04:00

Today was an interesting day for the Obama Administration. New numbers were released over the weekend, and today, that show record debt, record deficit, and record unemployment. While these numbers plummet (like Obama's approval rating), the government is trying to take over the health care industry and has plans to dip its greedy hands in the global warming hysteria, financial regulations, and education.

We are in the midst of two wars. The War in Afghanistan, as of this past Sunday (Aug. 23), is "serious" and "deteriorating" according to the top military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen.

Like the famous childrens book Where's Waldo?, we must ask ourselves the question: Where's Obama?

Found him...

Point/Counterpoint

2009-08-22T15:09:00.003-04:00

The following is provided by Frank Rosenbloom, M.D.

Mr. Obama has gone back on the campaign trail to try to sell his health care reform to the nation. Mostly hand-picked, sympathetic attendees have been showing up to his town hall meetings. He continues to make the same points regarding health care reform, which need to be addressed specifically. I hope to address more in future articles.

1. We need health care reform.

We do not need health care reform. We have the best health care system in the world. We need health insurance reform.

2. Free market health insurance has caused our current problem.

It is the government that has caused the current problem. We have not had free market health insurance in this country since 1965. It is not possible to consider our system of medical payment free market when the government controls $.60 of every dollar spent on health care.

3. The evil and greedy health insurance companies have caused prices to skyrocket.

Again, it's the government that has caused prices to skyrocket. Medicare and Medicaid are the 800 pound gorilla and insurance companies are the fleas on the gorilla. Nothing can be done by the private insurance companies that has not been done by Medicare and Medicaid. The federal government opens the door and the private insurance companies follow. It is the government manipulation of the free market that has caused our current health insurance problem. The out of control medical costs in Britain and Canada, as well as in Massachusetts and other states that have tried government health care prove this point.

4. Nearly 50 million Americans are without health care.

Nearly 13 million Americans are without health insurance. No one in the United States is without health care. Government regulations prohibit patients from being turned away from hospitals, which must provide medical care to anyone. The huge number that the Obama administration has used is highly inflated.

5. A government option will lower costs and improve quality of care.

A government option will increase costs and reduce quality of care. In every instance so far government involvement in medical services has caused prices to increase. Medicare spending has increased at a rate greater than 10 times that which was projected. Medicare and Medicaid will be broke in less than nine years. Adding another entitlement program will cause economic disaster. The Congressional Office of Management and Budget has stated that the president's plan is unaffordable. Further, the necessary rationing in order to even begin the program will reduce quality of care.

6. If you like your insurance and your doctor you can keep them.

The same things were said at the inception of Medicare. Medicare was supposed to be a supplemental insurance plan for retired people. It now covers the disabled as well and those over the age of 65, who are now ineligible for any other type of primary medical insurance. The government option will become the only option. Therefore, it's not an option and in the end hospitals, doctors, and all health care companies will be working directly and only for the government.

7. Government medical insurance is more cost efficient.

Government medical insurance is less efficient. The government, by force of law, transfers administrative costs to the private sector. Hospitals and doctors' offices must assume the burden of administration under threat of criminal penalty. This unfunded administrative burden transferred to private individuals and private insurance is then added to the cost of the supposedly free-market healthcare system.
8. The government option is necessary in order to prevent loss of insurance by individuals with medical problems.

Government regulations make it mandatory for hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. The government can certainly pass a simple regulation making it illegal for medical insurance plans to be canceled due to illness on the part of the insured. This would be a simple solution but of course would not increase government control over our lives.

9. The government option would ensure treatment for sick individuals who would otherwise have lost health care insurance. It would prevent lifetime limits on medical care.

This is blatantly untrue. There are definitive limits to Medicare that are not being publicized. For example, a review of Medicare regulations shows it will pay up to a maximum of 90 days in the hospital for each medical incident. After that, a patient must be in a rehabilitation facility for 60 days in a row in order for Medicare to begin another cycle of payment. Similarly, there are limits on most other Medicare services. While private medical insurance may have a total lifetime limit on the amount that can be spent, there is almost never a limit on the number of days in the hospital.

10. A government option will not result in rationing.

The major government options already in existence employ rationing every day. Prohibitively difficult preauthorization, statements of medical necessity, convoluted and complicated paperwork, and often impossible to meet requirements result in rationing on a huge scale. Furthermore, delay in payment, denial of payment for services already rendered and other tactics reduce access to medical care on a widespread basis. The government may not call this rationing but it is an insidious form of rationing that will be an integral part of any government plan. Medicare misuses and abuses its funding and is guilty of literally stealing from hospitals and physicians.
As an example of this thievery, due to a change in the corporate status of my practice I was required to apply for a new national provider identification number (NPI) in March of this year. Within several weeks, without exception, all of the private insurance companies had registered the number and were paying on claims. After five months and exhaustive work of over 140 hours by my office staff Medicare and Medicaid had still not paid on a single claim. Finally, on August 14, Medicare made their first payment on claims that were five months old. Yet, if we do not bill Medicare within three months of the date of service, Medicare will not pay us at all. Government regulation and control permeates the entire medical system.

11. A government option will simplify the payment for medical services.

The government has always made things more complicated and expensive. This is part of their rationing system. The government has a habit of requiring new provider numbers every couple of years that must be used for all claims, including private insurance claims. When these are instituted, payment can be delayed for as long as six months. To see how "simple" the federal government makes medical claims, what follows are my required identification numbers.
UPIN #G16766
OMAP#079496
Medicare#R0000BLCGY (PTAN) OLD
Medicare # R147304
(PTAN) **NEW** R147303
Railroad Medicare#110162014
NEW Tax ID # 264520277
OLD Tax ID# 911768627
DEA # BRxxxxxxx (Hidden to prevent use)
Clia# 38D0933946
NPI# 1306924691 (individual)
NPI Group # 1235371485

Every point the president has made regarding his health plan is either a gross misrepresentation or an outright lie. The purpose of this plan is to ensure dependence on government and a financial windfall for his cronies, including trial lawyers, and has nothing to do with concern about the cost of medical care or about the health or lives of American citizens.

Oh, About That...

2009-08-21T23:06:00.006-04:00

When I was in college, I worked for a local pet store. While employed there, I wore many different hats (stocker, book keeper, pet department, cashier, etc.). On several occassions I ran into a tiny problem working as a cashier...

My cash drawer was off.

Somehow, over the course of the day, the money in my register and the computerized sales receipt didn't match up.

Usually it was only a couple of bucks and could be easily fixed by throwing in a few extra coupons, but the mistake was still there. Repeat it enough and I could get fired. If I had a huge difference between the drawer and the receipt, the local law enforcement could have been brought in.

Which brings me to my point, is anyone going to fire the Obama Administration or bring in local law enforcement?

His cash drawer is off by a few trillion.

Extra coupons anyone?

Next week, the White House will "change" its projected ten-year deficit from 7.18 trillion dollars to a little over 9 trillion dollars. A difference of a mere 2 trillion dollars. This directly aligns with what the Congressional Budget Office projected months ago.

Silly Democrats, math is for kids!

Health Care on the Back of a Napkin

2009-08-20T19:38:00.004-04:00

This does a pretty fair job of explaining the three options currently being discussed for health care reform. Obviously, I would be more inclined to pick options #1 or #2 if you held a gun to my head. Health care reform is coming; one way or another, but let's do our best to fight the intrusion of government.

Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

Medicare

2009-08-18T23:42:00.003-04:00

Great post by Jeff Emanuel titled Wicked, Lazy Servants: Government Should Clean Up its Own Medicare Mess Before Asking to be Trusted with the Entire Health Care System.

Should we entrust the government to take on, yet again, another entitlement program that has proven to be a fiscal disaster?

Your Stimulus (Tax) Dollars At Work

2009-08-16T21:34:00.001-04:00

America People Victorious Over Government?

2009-08-16T17:06:00.005-04:00

That's a pretty significant headline, huh?

The American people, because of his/her ability to stand up and voice an opinion, have shaken the Obama Administration and changed the health care playing field.

We did it. Not Congress. Not the president. Not lobbyists. You.

Maybe Conservatism isn't dead after all.

There are probably four good reasons for this supposed victory over the Obama White House.

1) The American outcry over a government-run health care system

2) Barack Obama's approval plunge

3) The Democrats want to claim victory for health care reform.

4) Politicians realized that the political life is very, very fragile

All four reasons probably played an integral part in this recent development. However, don't be fooled into backing down just yet. If you give them an inch, they'll use your tax money for a 787 billion dollar stimulus package. Oh, wait...

Does this mean that the health care reform process will be smooth sailing from here on out? Hardly. There will be provisions that the Democrats pass that are statist in nature. We'll probably be taxed to death, but what did you expect? Look who's in charge. However, the American people's passion regarding this issue has created room for compromise and meaningful reform that DOES NOT involve government control.

In recent American history, when did the American people swing enough weight around to change a policy decision of this magnitude?

Today is a good day, America. It's not set in stone, but soak it up. If your keeping score...tally one for the American people.

Hamid Karzai

2009-08-15T14:32:00.003-04:00

"Innocent life is the enemy of terrorism. In other words, terrorism sees us all as enemies. Therefore, we have only one approach, one cause, one direction, one objective: to fight it, period. Playing with it is like trying to train a snake against somebody else. You don't train a snake. You cannot train a snake. It will come and bite you. Therefore, there is only one way: to fight terrorism, to fight extremism, in whatever form, wherever it may be, and to not use extremism as an instrument of policy. These are evils that the world has to get rid of. We have no choice there. If we adopt a complacent approach of having a choice there, you will see more destruction all around the world, without knowing when the next target would be." ~Hamid Karzai~

At least somebody has it right.

Democrats: You Break It, You Fix It?

2009-08-14T13:47:00.003-04:00

Posted By Mark Impomeni:
Facing growing public skepticism and falling approval ratings as a result of his push for nationalized health care, President Obama told a group in Virginia last week that he didn’t want, “the folks who had created the [health care] mess to do a lot of talking, I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.” It was a remark meant to rally the base to Obama’s side, and shore up his flagging poll numbers on the issue. Obama may have thought he was chiding Republicans in making the comment. But even a cursory look at the “mess” in the American health care system shows that on the issue of who is responsible, the president’s remark is as wrong as it was arrogant.
Health care experts across the spectrum can agree that there are three main problems with the health insurance industry in America today: community rating, which forbids insurance companies from charging premiums based on an individual consumer’s health status; the practice of defensive medicine, under which doctors order numerous costly and often unnecessary tests to cover themselves against the possibility of malpractice lawsuits; and employer-based coverage. Each of these problems, which together contribute most to the “mess” in health care delivery, were all either brought into existence, or are perpetuated by Democrats.
Employer-based coverage came about during World War II as a consequence of the National War Labor Board’s decision to institute wage and price freezes in an attempt to prevent production shortages due to labor unrest or inflation. The NWLB exempted fringe benefits like pension plans and health insurance from the freeze, meaning employers could compete for the dwindling pool of skilled workers by offering ever-increasing health insurance coverage. Workers grew accustomed to receiving health benefits as a condition of their employment, and the system of employer-provided health benefits became an American institution.
Although the NWLB decision may have sprung from the best of intentions at a time of war, it grew from the progressive tendency toward control. The consequence for today’s health care debate is that generations of Americans were separated from the cost of the medical care they received. As costs grew, and businesses were forced to cut back on benefits while increasing the employee’s cost share, workers began to feel the increase in costs for the first time. Two of the main drivers of those cost increases have been the practice of defensive medicine, and community rating.
Doctors know that every test they fail to order could be the one that leads to an expensive malpractice lawsuit. So they order test after test after test, providing themselves cover from the trial lawyers, and ratcheting up the cost of routine care. According to a study by the American Medical Association (.pdf), which has now signed on to President Obama’s efforts to take over the system, the federal Department of Health and Human Services put the cost of defensive medicine at between $70 and $126 billion in 2003. That number is almost certainly higher today.
Now consider that former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, one of the strongest proponents of nationalized health care, appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday trumpeting Congressional Budget Office numbers putting the cost of the current House bill at $60 billion per year. Simply getting a handle on defensive medicine by controlling the trial lawyers could save better than two times the cost of the Democrats’ “reform.” If Democrats were serious about getting costs under control, they would jump on curbing malpractice lawsuits.
But Republican attempts to reign in the trial lawyers have been resisted for years by Democrats in Congress and the White House. Trial lawyers are a huge source of campaign cash for Democratic politicians, and they are not about to bite the hand that feeds them. Patients, the uninsured, and true health care reform will just have to wait while Democrats continue milking their cash cow. When it comes to finding the mess-makers in health care, President Obama need look no further than Democrats and their trial lawyer friends.
Where Democrats have tried their hand at regulation, they have only managed to make the health care mess bigger. Community rating is a system dreamed up by state regulators that was designed to fix perceived inequities in the health insurance industry. Democrats at the state level didn’t like the fact that health insurance plans were priced according to risk. Sicker people who were more likely to use insurance were charged more for comparable coverage than healthier ones.
In a misguided attempt to level the playing field, community rating regulations forbade insurance companies from charging rates based on risk. Now, smokers pay the same rate as non-smokers. Exercisers pay the same as non-exercisers. This is despite the demonstrable fact that smokers and the overweight tend to have worse health outcomes, and so require more health care services. Insurance companies must make up the relative loss they take on these policies, with the result that everyone’s rates go up.
With the exception of New Hampshire and perhaps Pennsylvania, the list of states that mandate some form of community rating on health insurers reads like a list of the bluest of the blue states: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. These states, long controlled by liberal Democrats, were present at the creation of skyrocketing health insurance rates.
And since Democrats at the federal level forbid a true nationwide market in health care coverage by limiting the pool of available plans by the state the consumer lives in, consumers must buy plans that meet their state’s minimum standards, no matter whether they need or intend to ever use the covered services. This increases costs and limits choice. That seems to be just the way Democrats want it, as they have beaten back every Republican effort to open up the health care market to allow consumers to purchase plans from other states based on need rather than minimums. Maybe the president should have addressed these Democrats when he spoke of silencing those who have created the health care “mess.”
Congress now plans to bring community rating to the federal level, at President Obama’s urging. At his recent town hall meeting in New Hampshire, President Obama alluded to this component of his plan when he told the audience, “Under the reform we’re proposing, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history. Period.” That means that insurance rates could not be based on a consumer’s health status. The Wall Street Journal says this proposal, “blows up the individual insurance market, by making it far more expensive for young, healthy or low-risk consumers to join pools—if they join at all.”
President Obama wants to silence the critics of his health care nationalization because he is losing the debate, fair and square. Americans have empowered themselves with information and questions for the president and their representatives. So far, the proponents of change have been unable to provide satisfactory answers. Rather than try to cast blame, and ignore the clear history of the health care problems he claims to want to solve, the president should pull back his health care plans and listen to Americans’ concerns.
If he did so, his poll numbers would instantly improve and he would be able to design a health care reform that addresses actual, not perceived problems. But if the President is more interested in assigning responsibility for the current situation, he should convene a meeting of his fellow Democrats and tell them to stop using health care insurance and delivery as a laboratory to test out their misguided social experiments. Or else, he should tell them to clean up their own mess.

Before/After

2009-08-14T08:21:00.004-04:00

BEFORE:
AFTER:

America's Health Care System

2009-08-11T09:11:00.002-04:00

I found this article describing some of the statistics associated with the American health care system and other countries that have socialized medicine.

The statistics are surprising to say the least. This article proves that our health care system is in need of reform (generally to cut high costs and provide more affordable options), but it also proves that our government does not need to rush into any unwarranted decisions on the issue. Especially when dealing with the issue of a public option.

The best way to fight this abuse of power is to get informed.

Read. Research. Respond.

Find a town hall and ask questions.

Cartoon of the Day

2009-08-09T22:12:00.003-04:00

Alliance for the Future of Israel (AFFI)

2009-08-06T23:08:00.004-04:00

The Alliance for the Future of Israel is a joint venture of Jewish and Christian believers who are striving to advance the fulfillment of God's prophetic Word regarding the return of His nation, Israel, to Zion; and the rebirth of the modern state Israel.

The Alliance was founded out of the need to ensure the existence of Israel, to promise the security of the Jewish people dwelling in the Holy Land, and guarantee their ability to prevail over the many threats they are facing.

The founders of the Alliance understand that the future of the Jewish people in Zion is based on two conditions: development of new leadership in Israel, which possesses faith, values and integrity; and intensifying the support of the Judeo-Christian world for the vision of the establishment of a Jewish homeland, with a just and moral society in the Holy Land once again.

The realization of these two conditions is the goal of AFFI's two supported organizations: the Israel Leadership Institute, and the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, in cooperation and mutual support of each other. The courses of action of these two organizations are complementary and are designed to create a new future for Israel. The Israeli Leadership Institute (ILI) educates and develops the future generation of leadership in Israel, which will be dedicated to the re-establishment of an Israel devoted to her prophetic role among the nations of the world. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) leads the struggle for the existence of a just, moral and equal society in Israel, which will empower the society and boost support from, and cooperation with, the Christian world which is dedicated to Israel in the spirit of the prophets of the Bible.

The formation of a just society in Israel, led by elected, brave and visionary leaders is not to be taken for granted. In these two areas a grave crisis currently prevails in Israel, one that threatens the actual existence of Israel as a free, independent, safe, and flourishing country.

The leadership crisis and the moral crisis in the Israeli society are directly connected to each other. The leadership in Israel has been characterized in recent years by lack of stability, corruption scandals, failure to stand strong against security threats, and hesitancy in making bold decisions. At the very same time, under this leadership extremist factions demonstrate intolerance and at times even persecution towards minority religious streams.

The Alliance of the Future of Israel will change this reality!

The Alliance is directed at every Jew and Christian of faith, and calls them to take part in the struggle for the future of Israel. The Alliance seeks to enhance the collaboration between all believers in the vision of the return of Israel to Zion, in order to take action against those who wish to annihilate Israel. The support of Israel will be directed by the Alliance for the Future of Israel towards two main causes: education and the development of leadership; and social public activity for the protection of just values. The benefit gained by working in these two areas will be remarkable. A new generation of leaders will rise up in Israel, who draw their inspiration from the magnificent Biblical past of the people of Israel; and who will then lead a righteous society open for all believers, which will allow the fulfillment of the vision of the redemption of Zion.

The Alliance will deepen the existing connections between the communities of believers in the world and between the Israeli society. The Alliance will act in order to establish a direct and positive influence on Judeo-Christian communities, and their members and leaders; as well as on the leadership and society in Israel. This will further the striving for the fulfillment of their shared vision.

Alliance for the Future of Israel

Not Evil Just Wrong

2009-08-06T14:04:00.000-04:00