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

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

"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

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

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

Political Cartoons

Against Abortion

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

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Sleeping Giant

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?

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