Tag: Support Our Troops

A very awesome story

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Posted at Blackfive and Q & O.

Ladies, if there are any that actually read this blog, have your hankies ready.

Men, and I know damned well, that there are ton of them that read here; have your eye leak management prepared.

Quote:

I arrived at Ft. Stewart’s Cottrell Field a few hours early – it was a long drive from Atlanta and I wanted to make sure I got there with plenty of time to spare. I was the only one in the parking lot as I pulled in, grateful for the opportunity to rest a bit before the ceremony. My son’s unit was coming home from Afghanistan and in a few short hours I’d actually get to see him, put my hands on him and rest assured that he was home and well.

As I sat there thinking about the upcoming event, my eyes wandered to two rows of small trees lining Cottrell Field at either end and what appeared to be markers at their base. Curious, and needing to stretch after the long ride, I walked toward them. It was a beautiful hot August Georgia day with a slight breeze, enough to keep the heat from being oppressive and the gnats at bay.

Walking toward the trees I noticed a walkway with two brick pillars. On the pillars were brass plaques, one announcing this was “Warrior’s Walk” and the other explaining it was a memorial to the soldiers lost in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. My heart caught in my throat as I looked down the long double row of trees and I thought, “there but by the grace of God …” —– Read the rest Here

May the Lord Jesus Christ Bless and Keep our Military Men and Woman, who are serving abroad and their families.

UPDATED: On the Bob Woodward Book

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I am poking my head back in again — to comment on the big Bob Woodward story, that is the top story on Memeorandum.

I am referring to this:

President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.

Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page “terms sheet” that sought to limit U.S. involvement, Woodward reports in “Obama’s Wars,” to be released on Monday.

According to Woodward’s meeting-by-meeting, memo-by-memo account of the 2009 Afghan strategy review, the president avoided talk of victory as he described his objectives.

“This needs to be a plan about how we’re going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan,” Obama is quoted as telling White House aides as he laid out his reasons for adding 30,000 troops in a short-term escalation. “Everything we’re doing has to be focused on how we’re going to get to the point where we can reduce our footprint. It’s in our national security interest. There cannot be any wiggle room.”

Obama rejected the military’s request for 40,000 troops as part of an expansive mission that had no foreseeable end. “I’m not doing 10 years,” he told Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a meeting on Oct. 26, 2009. “I’m not doing long-term nation-building. I am not spending a trillion dollars.”

Woodward’s book portrays Obama and the White House as barraged by warnings about the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and confronted with the difficulty in preventing them. During an interview with Woodward in July, the president said, “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger.”

But most of the book centers on the strategy review, and the dissension, distrust and infighting that consumed Obama’s national security team as it was locked in a fierce and emotional struggle over the direction, goals, timetable, troop levels and the chances of success for a war that is almost certain to be one of the defining events of this presidency.

Obama is shown at odds with his uniformed military commanders, particularly Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command during the 2009 strategy review and now the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Woodward reveals their conflicts through detailed accounts of two dozen closed-door secret strategy sessions and nearly 40 private conversations between Obama and Cabinet officers, key aides and intelligence officials.

Tensions often turned personal. National security adviser James L. Jones privately referred to Obama’s political aides as “the water bugs,” the “Politburo,” the “Mafia,” or the “campaign set.” Petraeus, who felt shut out by the new administration, told an aide that he considered the president’s senior adviser David Axelrod to be “a complete spin doctor.”

During a flight in May, after a glass of wine, Petraeus told his own staffers that the administration was “[expletive] with the wrong guy.” Gates was tempted to walk out of an Oval Office meeting after being offended by comments made by deputy national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon about a general not named in the book.

Suspicion lingered among some from the 2008 presidential campaign as well. When Obama floated the idea of naming Clinton to a high-profile post, Axelrod asked him, “How could you trust Hillary?”

Okay, first off, has everyone forgotten that 90% of what Bob Woodward writes is just straight up, sensationalized Bullshit? The Neo-Cons sure did say that, when Bob Woodward wrote his book about Bush.  However, now the Neo-Cons are treating this book like the Gospel truth; because it is about a Democratic Party President. Of course, the warmongering Neo-Cons are eating the whole bit about the terrorist attack up and basically saying that President Obama wants another attack on America. Which is, of course, straight up bullshit.

Some of the other highlights are:

— Obama told Woodward in the July interview that he didn’t think about the Afghan war in the “classic” terms of the United States winning or losing. “I think about it more in terms of: Do you successfully prosecute a strategy that results in the country being stronger rather than weaker at the end?” he said.

— The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.

— Obama has kept in place or expanded 14 intelligence orders, known as findings, issued by his predecessor, George W. Bush. The orders provide the legal basis for the CIA’s worldwide covert operations.

— A new capability developed by the National Security Agency has dramatically increased the speed at which intercepted communications can be turned around into useful information for intelligence analysts and covert operators. “They talk, we listen. They move, we observe. Given the opportunity, we react operationally,” then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell explained to Obama at a briefing two days after he was elected president.

— A classified exercise in May showed that the government was woefully unprepared to deal with a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. The scenario involved the detonation of a small, crude nuclear weapon in Indianapolis and the simultaneous threat of a second blast in Los Angeles. Obama, in the interview with Woodward, called a nuclear attack here “a potential game changer.” He said: “When I go down the list of things I have to worry about all the time, that is at the top, because that’s one where you can’t afford any mistakes.”

— Afghan President Hamid Karzai was diagnosed as manic depressive, according to U.S. intelligence reports. “He’s on his meds, he’s off his meds,” Woodward quotes U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry as saying.

Again, I have to ask; how much of this is actual truth and how much of it is sensationalized bullshit?

Liberal Blogger No more Mister Nice Blog puts it correctly:

“It’s in our national security interest” “I am not spending a trillion dollars.” At least he understand that endless war is bad for America.

And the reason that’s important is that, if we’re still deeply mired in Afghanistan as of January 20, 2013, we’ll still be just as deeply mired four years later, because President Palin/Pence/Daniels/Thune/Huckabee/Barbour/Christie sure as hell ain’t gonna withdraw. But this semi-rationality on Obama’s part is going to be lost, and the bullet-point version of this entire book is going to be “Obama plans to surrender in Afghanistan to appease the evil traitorous voters in his party.”

I hate to say it; but he is absolutely correct. Because you all know that the Neo-Conservatives are all about perpetual war. But they call me a Neo-Nazi for pointing that out; and because I refuse to do the “Identity politics” for that particular warmongering class of people. I despise identity politics on the left and the right. That, according to the protected class, is being a Neo-Nazi. Which, like most of Bob Woodward’s writings, is just straight up bullshit.

Memeorandum Thread Here.

Update: But of course. That is the same idiot that said that Iraq was an imminent danger to America and the rest of the free world back in 2003. Which of course, like Bob Woodward’s books; was straight up bullshit. 🙄

One of the sad side effects of 9/11 and War, Military Crimes

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This is one of the saddest things that you would ever want to read.

Via the Washington Post:

AT JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASH. The U.S. soldiers hatched a plan as simple as it was savage: to randomly target and kill an Afghan civilian, and to get away with it.

For weeks, according to Army charging documents, rogue members of a platoon from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, floated the idea. Then, one day last winter, a solitary Afghan man approached them in the village of La Mohammed Kalay. The “kill team” activated the plan.

One soldier created a ruse that they were under attack, tossing a fragmentary grenade on the ground. Then others opened fire.

According to charging documents, the unprovoked, fatal attack on Jan. 15 was the start of a months-long shooting spree against Afghan civilians that resulted in some of the grisliest allegations against American soldiers since the U.S. invasion in 2001. Members of the platoon have been charged with dismembering and photographing corpses, as well as hoarding a skull and other human bones.

The subsequent investigation has raised accusations about whether the military ignored warnings that the out-of-control soldiers were committing atrocities. The father of one soldier said he repeatedly tried to alert the Army after his son told him about the first killing, only to be rebuffed.

Two more slayings would follow. Military documents allege that five members of the unit staged a total of three murders in Kandahar province between January and May. Seven other soldiers have been charged with crimes related to the case, including hashish use, attempts to impede the investigation and a retaliatory gang assault on a private who blew the whistle.

Army officials have not disclosed a motive for the killings and macabre behavior. Nor have they explained how the attacks could have persisted without attracting scrutiny. They declined to comment on the case beyond the charges that have been filed, citing the ongoing investigation.

But a review of military court documents and interviews with people familiar with the investigation suggest the killings were committed essentially for sport by soldiers who had a fondness for hashish and alcohol.

The accused soldiers, through attorneys and family members, deny wrongdoing. But the case has already been marked by a cycle of accusations and counter-accusations among the defendants as they seek to pin the blame on each other, according to documents and interviews.

The Army has scheduled pre-trial hearings in the case this fall at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, home of the Stryker brigade. (The unit was renamed the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, when it returned from Afghanistan in July.) Military officials say privately that they worry the hearings will draw further attention to the case, with photos and other evidence prompting anger among the Afghan civilians whose support is critical to the fight against the Taliban.

This article is a seriously interesting read; so I will ask you, please head on over at read the rest of it.

Now, if I were a committed Neo-Conservative; like many of the Bloggers on the right, I would say something to the effect of, “Oh, this is just liberal, anti-war propaganda!”  If I were a committed Paleo-Conservative, I would say something to the effect of, “See?  This is what happens when you go to war!  See?  See?  See?”

Fortunately, I am not committed to either of those positions really.

One of the worst assumptions, that a person can make about the Military, is that every person that volunteers for service; is going to be an honest, upstanding person.  There are people out there, which are just hell bent on breaking rules.  Only difference is, these people were wearing our Military uniforms when doing so.  Could this crime cause problems for us down the road?  Maybe.  There could be blowback later on.  I hope that not — but it does happen.

I do not claim to know the motives for this crime; all I can really do is speculate.  One could blame the euphoria after 9/11; one could blame the kids for their desire to kill people.  All of that really does not matter; all that matters now is, that there are dead afghans, who really had nothing to do with 9/11, and officers from our Military killed them, for sport.  That is a real problem, when it comes to trying to get Afghans to trust us, so that we can make gains with Taliban and ultimately kill or capture the members of Al-Qaeda.

War is a game, a game of strategy; like chess.  The problem is the pieces of that game are real human lives on the line.  The bad part is this, these idiots, in their moronic desire to kill —- just kicked the damn chess game over.  Now, the Military leaders have to upright the game, and hopefully no pieces — or lives — get lost in the process.  It is a job and a responsibility that can make even the most steel-nerved person into a bumbling, pill-popping wreck.  Another thing is this is not 24 hours news cycle, news sound bite, work.  It is long, tedious work, and it can wear the strongest of them down quick.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those who are involved in this situation, at all levels. My Prayers go out to the Soldiers who are in the Afghan Theater fighting what the liberals used to call, “The good war.” God be with them.

Video: The man who received the medal of honor – Salvatore Giunta

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I have said in the past that I have nothing but the highest respect for the United States Military. Here is why:

You can read more about this young man and why he received the Nation’s highest honor by going here, here and here.

Kudos and mad respect for this man; I wish him all the best to him and his family. Salvatore Giunta is a perfect representation of our finest and best in our Military. They deserve only the best.

Video: REALITY REPORT #60 – Obama’s Iraq Bushism

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In this edition of the Reality Report:

Gary Franchi points out Obama’s latest Iraq War Bushism and welcomes We Are Change Founder Luke Rudkowski to the show.

Nina breaks down the headlines including Homeowners Associations restricting Gadsden Flags, the Blogger Shakedown of Righthaven LLC, the recent Emergency Declaration in North Carolina that suspended the 2nd Amendment and how Blackwater Security used shell corporations to acquire tax payer money.

The viewers answer whether or not the World Trade Center was a Controlled demolition in the mailbag and keep watching to see the viewer pick for this week’s Enemy of the State.

Two Sites to check out: http://RealityReport.TV | http://RestoreTheRepublic.com |

…and now the video:

UPDATED: I hate to say it: Nicholas Kristof makes a very good point

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Rarely do I ever concede a point to a liberal. However, in this case; it is fair to do so.

This morning Nicholas Kristof writes in the New York Times, about the Mosque Controversy:

For a glimpse of how venomous and debased the discourse about Islam has become, consider a blog post in The New Republic this month. Written by Martin Peretz, the magazine’s editor in chief, it asserted: “Frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims.”

Mr. Peretz added: “I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment, which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.”

Thus a prominent American commentator, in a magazine long associated with tolerance, ponders whether Muslims should be afforded constitutional freedoms. Is it possible to imagine the same kind of casual slur tossed off about blacks or Jews? How do America’s nearly seven million American Muslims feel when their faith is denounced as barbaric?

This is one of those times that test our values, a bit like the shameful interning of Japanese-Americans during World War II, or the disgraceful refusal to accept Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe.

It would have been natural for this test to have come right after 9/11, but it was forestalled because President George W. Bush pushed back at his conservative ranks and repeatedly warned Americans not to confuse Al Qaeda with Islam.

As much as I hate to say it; Mr. Kristof is absolutely right. It should noted that Martin Peretz is, in fact Jewish and is, in fact, a rabid Zionist. In fact, Martin Peretz is known for the following comments:

Frankly, I couldn’t quite imagine any venture like [the Iraq War] in the Arab World turning out especially well. This is, you will say, my prejudice. But some prejudices are built on real facts, and history generally proves me right. Go ahead, prove me wrong. — Source

and:

But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges [sic] of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse. — Source

Like Kristof said; could you imagine if the above were uttered about the Jews or about the black race? There would a media frenzy about it. Believe me, I know; I have been attacked by those who are of the protected class and all for speaking my mind about them and how they attack those of whom they disagree.

The fact is, that this whole Mosque situation boils down to this; Islam versus Christian Nativists and Jews, Arabs versus Americans, whites versus non-whites. Am I calling those who oppose this mosque racists? Well, my question for you is this; do you feel that burning pages of the Koran normal acceptable practice? Would you feel the same way, if some Muslim took a page out of the  Christian Bible and began burning it? How about the Tanakh, the Torah, or The ?umash, the Siddur, the Piyutim or even the Zohar?

The point I am trying to make here is this; I realize that radicalized Muslims attacked the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and Flight 93. However, when you punish an entire religion for the actions of a few, you are practicing a forum of collectivism. That is not anything remotely Conservative, nor is it anything remotely American. Being vigilant against terrorism is one thing; but being idiotic is another, this situation with this Mosque is well beyond that — on both sides.

Update: On the Other hand… these are videos from 9/11:

There are two sides to every argument; one would suppose. There is also this here.

Late-Night Thoughts

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It is 4:00am and I cannot sleep.  I went to bed earlier, I was just wiped out; ate a big meal and got the old heavy eye thing going on; happens to me all the time.  On a bit of no-so-pleasant note: I woke up at 2:30 feeling like I had half of my supper coming up into my throat.  It was nasty!   A good bottle of water and I am much better now.

On a good note, this might help me out a bit, and I say might, because my sleeping habits as of late, have been totally jacked up.  Anyhow, I am up early and in a bit of a mood to write.  Yesterday was just not good.  I had a bit of headache, and I just was not in the mood for politics, much less anything else.  I get like that, this whole thing gets to be a bit mundane at times; and I just have to push it away for a few days.

Blogger Happenings

As you can most likely tell; No, I did not go to BlogCon that is being held up in Washington D.C.  For one, I am not a big fan of Dick Army; furthermore, I am not a big fan of the “Beltway” or the “Beltway Crowd.”  I will be the first to admit to you, that there were some bloggers there, that I am just not a big fan of, at all.  One in particular is a GOP operative, although, he likes to deny this, at all time.  This same moronic jackass; outright accused me of being a racist bigot on his blog; and then not long after that, made a rather unfunny “Osama Obama” reference on his own blog.  He promptly removed it, when I and several other bloggers complained about it. Robert Stacy McCain has a video of the jackass, if you really can stomach looking at the hypocritical asshole. Personally, I would not want to be in the same room with that asshole.

There is another blogger up there, who I am not a big fan of; she is referenced in that link.  I never liked her.  She publishes like 10 million photos of herself on that blog of hers.  I mean, I have heard of being narcissistic and all — but good grief.  One would assume that if she actually had something to be narcissistic about; I would understand that.  However, she seems to be lacking in that area.  I mean, if you like looking at pictures of fatty beached whales, more power to you, I suppose. (Yes, I can do Ann Coulter snark too. I tend a bit harsher about it than Ann does though.)

I also see that despite not having a car; Robert Stacy McCain found a way up to the BlogCon event, despite the fact that the harpies who put on that event refused to invite him.  I think I know why.  You see, a while back, I laid the smack down on two far-right wing zealots, who felt the need to attack Megan McCain.  Well, in the process of doing this, I went a bit overboard.  I did apologize, which was not good enough for the Semite-Baiting, Identity Politics trafficking crowd.  Having said that, these traffickers engage in what could be called McCarthy or Nazi-style tactics of intimidating other bloggers into not linking to me.  So far, Robert Stacy McCain has not given in to their demands that I am banished from the Conservative movement and be put on terminal ignore.  However, the lack of invite from the BlogCon group was somewhat obvious to me, as to why that happened. These people have some serious power and influence in the Blogosphere.  If you do not cave to their demands, they will destroy you.  They have gotten to a few bloggers that I actually do speak with; the not answering of e-mails was obvious that I was on blackout in the Blogosphere.

None of this really matters to me one lousy iota.  I did not get into this game to have to kiss up to anyone.  The original reason I began blogging was that I was angry with George W. Bush and the blatant incompetent handling of the Iraq War back in 2006.  Yes, I started in this game; as angry “Left of Center,” although I will admit that the far left totally turned me off.  As time when on, and as I continued to blog; I found myself disagreeing with more and more of the far left and even the not so far left as well;  especially when it came to the Military.  It was during this time also, that my blog was hacked.  I did start this blog, shortly afterward.  Finally, during the primary, I just decided that enough was enough; and during the general election, I voted Libertarian.

I will be very honest with you all.  I am not am not a Republican; I will most likely never be.  I find the majority of the people that hang in those circles to be arrogant people, especially the beltway crowd.  I have little or nothing in common with them.  Robert Stacy McCain is a very rare exception to that rule.  I find their attitudes towards blacks to be disgusting.  I saw a perfect example of that on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News last night.  The completely condescending attitude towards the representative for the NAACP was vomit provoking at best.  Bill O’Reilly and that shrieking harpy Laura Ingraham both said that the NAACP has double standard, when it comes to race.  Newsflash Mr. O’Reilly and Miss Ingraham —- Just in case you forgot white people in America and yes, in England as well, used blacks as slaves!  I think that might just give them the right to be a bit biased against white people.  I dislike identity politics just as much as the next person does.  However, that display on Fox News last night burned my ass. I say this, not as some white person of grew up in the rich, white, Suburbs; but as someone who grew up in southwest Detroit.  I also say this as someone who grew up in a middle class family as well —- someone who grew up around whites, blacks, Latinos, and every other sort of race.

This is why I feel a bit uncomfortable being associated with the whole “Angry Rich White Crowd.”  I do not fit that damned mold at all.  I might be a white person; but I am nowhere near being “rich” or even having a lot of money.  Neither am I angry with Obama for being a black President.  I do not agree with all of his polices; but the disagreement with me, has never been about racism.  Sadly, it is with the majority of those on the far right.  Oh, they nuance it to death, and dodge and spin it.  However, it is there; I see the postings on Facebook and it sickens me to my core.

On the Koran burning

I think that the idiot who was planning on this; is not a Christian; at least not in sense that I believe Christians to be.  I also believe that Fred Phelps and his cult ought be rounded up and jailed.  I am all for freedom of speech; but when your speech or actions incites people to commit acts of violence towards our Military, I believe that is where your freedom ends.

On “Don’t ask, Don’t tell”

I believe that this overruling is a good thing.  I believe someone sexual preference is no one’s business.  I fear Muslims in the Military more than I would homosexuals.  I do not believe that Homosexuals would want to kill fellow Military personnel; which is more than I can say for the Muslims at this point.

On Palin’s Endorsement on O’Donnell

I do not much care for Palin; however, this might have been a good move.  The Republican Party needs to get the crooks, phonies, and warmongers out of that party.  If Sarah Palin can help do that, I am all for it.  Of course, some who believe that Sarah Palin is a part of that warmongering class.

The Obligatory Obama will not extend Bush Tax Cuts Posting

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Well, duh, he is a liberal and a Democrat. He does believe in class warfare. Remember you Republicans and Libertarians that voted for him. (You know who you are…)

Via the NYT:

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday will make clear that he opposes any compromise that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy beyond this year, officials said, adding a populist twist to an election-season economic package that is otherwise designed to entice support from big businesses and their Republican allies.

Mr. Obama’s opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension. Democrats say only the president can rally wavering lawmakers who, amid the party’s weakened poll numbers, feel increasingly vulnerable to Republican attacks if they let the top rates lapse at the end of this year as scheduled.

It is not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his own diminished popularity, the tepid economic recovery and the divisions within his party. But by proposing to extend the rates for the 98 percent of households with income below $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals — and insisting that federal income tax rates in 2011 go back to their pre-2001 levels for income above those cutoffs — he intends to cast the issue as a choice between supporting the middle class or giving breaks to the wealthy.

In a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will also make a case for the package of roughly $180 billion in expanded business tax cuts and infrastructure spending disclosed by the White House in bits and pieces over the past few days. He would offset the cost by closing other tax breaks for multinational corporations, oil and gas companies and others.

While the speech will be centrist in its policy prescriptions other than the Bush tax cuts, Mr. Obama’s language will be partisan as he seeks to sharpen the contrasts between Republicans’ record and efforts by Democrats to create more jobs, aides said.

As much as I would like to jump up, holler and raise a fuss about this; I cannot. We all knew that this was coming. This should be a lesson to the Republican Party. That is, do not run weak or moderate Conservatives during elections. Because when you do; Conservatives, and I mean hardcore Conservatives will not vote — and this is what you get. I know that I, personally, will not be affected by this; neither will my family.

However, I am sure that there will be some families affected by this —  not to mention a myriad of business owners out there. This will, I am sure, cause a downtown in hiring by businesses; which will add to the huge downturn in the economy. It is all a domino effect, starts at the top and goes to the bottom.

Another thing to think about; we do have to eventually pay for these two wars. I believe that those who profited off of both of these wars ought to be targeted for taxing. I believe that a special “War Tax”, ought to be appended to anyone making over $500.000 or more a year. I would target multinational companies, like oil companies and so forth. Especially those in Iraq. Perhaps next time, the warmongering class will not be so eager to start a war next time. This taxing would reinforce the idea that those wanting said war, should they actually have to pay for it. Foreign Policy has a price tag; and those who want follow Woodrow Wilson’s steps, should be required to pay that price tag.

Memorandum Thread.

Want Living Proof that Nation-Building does not work?

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Here you go, a video of New York Times reporter John Burns, who, by the way, was the best person covering the Iraq War.

The Video: (H/T HotAir.com)

Ed Morrissey makes a very important point:

On Iraq, it’s hard to see how Obama could have improved the situation. He followed the SOFA pact that George W. Bush negotiated with Nouri al-Maliki, and the Iraqi government made it clear they wanted us to stick to that schedule. If the Iraqis want us out entirely by the end of next year, we have little choice but to comply; to do otherwise would be a de facto reoccupation that will not fly well here at home or abroad.  However, I’d say it’s entirely likely that Baghdad will rethink that final phase and ask us to remain for logistics, training, and air and sea protection for the next several years, and then the question will be whether Obama will agree to it or insist on a full withdrawal, even if it means the collapse of the nascent democracy in Iraq.

Afghanistan is a different problem, but one with potentially the same result.  Obama owns Afghanistan more than he does Iraq, having made the decision himself to add more troops and get more aggressive, which means a failure there can’t be left on the doorstep of his predecessor.  If Obama starts withdrawing from both fronts as they deteriorate, he will at least be the man who lost Afghanistan, if not Iraq as well, just as he has to prepare to convince Americans to give him another four years as Commander-in-Chief.  For that reason, I doubt we’ll see a significant drawdown in either theater, and Obama will just have to remind the Left that they have nowhere else to go in 2012.

Ever notice how Neo-Conservatives will never say Bush screwed up with Iraq, at all? They will never admit, that there was an intelligence error — never. That is what Party loyalty does to a person.

Anyhow, some good reading about Nation-Building over at The American Conservative:

“Nation-building is the most prominent — and most important — part of the neocon doctrine,” wrote Jed Babbin in the American Spectator. “And the decision to pursue it is the principal reason that we are losing in Afghanistan, Iraq is falling apart, and the real enemy — the terror-sponsoring nations — have grown stronger.”

None of these writers can accurately be described as a budding noninterventionist. But most conservatives who opposed the Iraq War from the beginning and favored no more than a limited mission in Afghanistan can agree with them on the following: neither Islam nor foreign lands can easily be reformed by either bureaucrats or the force or the force of arms; our interventions have produced something closer to sharia states than Switzerland’s; Iran is now more powerful in the region rather than less.

There have l0ng been three main foreign-policy tendencies on the American Right: old-style conservatives who agree with Randolph Bourne that war is the health of the state and therefore favor less military intervention abroad; neoconservatives who want to preserve the United States’ global hegemony and engage in armed proselytizing for democracy; and defense-minded conservatives who believe the U.S. should strike forcefully at its enemies whenever it perceives itself, its interests, or its allies to be threatened.

Roughly speaking, these groups can be described as the Jeffersonians, the Wilsonians, and the Jacksonians. Among rank-and-file conservatives, the Jacksonians are by far the largest group. In the postwar era, the Jacksonians have tended to align with the Wilsonians. But there is no reason why that conjunction is inevitable.

With the exception of Ron Paul and some Ron Paul Republicans, the Jeffersonians have no major political figure to speak for them. Yet the popularity of the Wilsonians was always greatly exaggerated. The invasion of Iraq and the mass conservative acceptance of the Bush Doctrine were made possible by al-Qaeda’s act of mass murder on 9/11.

Throughout the 1990s, Wilsonian neoconservatives called for regime change in Iraq, but they did not succeed in rallying the grassroots Right to the cause. The conservative base tuned out the PNAC crowd. Millions of conservatives voted for Pat Buchanan, who opposed even the first war with Iraq, in the 1992 and 1996 Republican presidential primaries—even as neoconservative commentators were writing essays attempting to purge Buchanan from conservative movement.

Grassroots conservatives were repulsed by American bloodshed during our humanitarian intervention in Somalia. They opposed using our armed forces to deliver groceries to Third World countries and restoring a dubious left-wing character to power in Haiti. They objected to the bombing of Serbia and canceled their subscriptions to the Weekly Standard when that magazine sided with the Clinton administration on military action in the Balkans.

The years after 9/11 were a Jacksonian moment hijacked by neoconservatives. While most American conservatives liked the idea that the we could increase others’ freedom by defending our own against despots overseas, very few of them wanted to go to war to build schools in Iraq or promote democracy. They wanted to pay back the people who murdered their countrymen and make sure that such an attack never happened again.

They trusted that George W. Bush was the man for the job and were patient when he talked about lighting a fire in the minds of men. But ordinary conservatives nevertheless agreed with the following sentiment expressed by John Derbyshire: “What matters most is not the fire in the minds of men, which will burn at some level for as long as there are men, but the fire that results when fissionable material undergoes a fast chain reaction.”

You see the problem is that the very same people that stood behind George W. Bush and cheered him, as he charged off to war in Iraq and Afghanistan; are the same one who stand and in unison blame President Obama for any failures for the war in both Countries.  The truth is that President Obama DID inherit BOTH of these wars for President Bush and it is because of utter incompetence of the Pentagon and State Department under President Bush, not to mention the entire intelligence community, is why we are in this mess in the first place!

So, instead of being noble and honest men, and admitting that they actually made mistakes, one being electing a President that was about as Conservative, as I am damned atheist; they would rather navel graze the whole thing and try and deflect the blame onto the Democrats, as much as they possibly can.  The problem is with that little idiotic plan is this; thinking Americans, like this writer are just smarter than that, we know what happened and we know who was responsible for the actions of the President.  I am fully aware of who goaded the President into declaring war with Iraq.  I have no forgotten and neither have the American people.  This is, one of a myriad of reasons, why John McCain lost the election.  Because the American people did not want someone, who would take marching orders from the Neo-Conservatives.

So far, Obama has been showing his independence of the warmongering class in the Republican Party. Thankfully, under Michael Steele the warmongering class have been pushed aside; which is why people like William Kristol want him to resign so badly, that being because Michael Steele will not march to their orders and is expressing his own views, and not those who wish the United States to fight a perpetual war.  I commend Michael Steele for that.

Another thing I think I need to be clear on; as you know, I did post a video, that was a warning to America.  Some would look at that and say, “Are you not talking about of both sides of your mouth?” to that I would say no. That is because that video essentially validates what I have believed all along; that the notion of, “We must fight the terrorists there, so we do not have to fight them here” is idiotic at best.  That is because there are radical Islamic terrorists that are already here now! That video proves as much.  My personal issue with George W. Bush was not with fighting terrorism, which he began in Afghanistan.  He however, was goaded by the warmongering class in the Republican Party to go to war with Iraq, which, for what it is worth, is what this class of people wanted to do during the Clinton years, but was rebuffed repeatedly.  This caused, I feel, a distraction, as those who planned had this strange idea, that the invasion would be a cakewalk.  I believe it would be understood that we all know now that this was a very flawed idea.

Much of what I said above, would be considered, what I like to call, “rearview mirror quarterbacking.”  We all know this now, the problem is, where do he go from here?  The best thing that can happen is Obama follow through with his promises to follow Bush’s pull out timetable in Iraq.  We cannot continue to be the World’s police officer.  If Iraq has an upheaval over there, let them.  We did our part over there; we rooted the major player in the insurgency.  We toppled Saddam.  What happens after we have left is not our concern.  As for Afghanistan, if we can catch or kill Osama Bin Laden, fine do so.  However, if the Afghan Government and the Pakistani Government is that corrupt and does not want to be partner against the war on terror.  I say cut our losses and pull out the troops and leave.  Then send in specialized CIA assassins in there to hunt Osama Bin Laden down and kill him that way.  I just do not see the justification for our Military personnel dying for a Government that is corrupt to its core.  It just does not make any sort of sense to me at all.

Bottom Line:  President Obama should not be blame for any of the failures of any of these wars.  The President who started them should be blamed.  President Obama should continue the turnkey plan given him by Bush, and should implement a better strategy in the Afghan theater.  If the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan will not work with the United States on the capture or killing of Osama Bin Laden, then President should use the CIA to kill him.

Well, You know, if Muslims do not like it, they can always leave

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This blog posting is most likely going to get me into trouble with some on the left… and maybe the right.  However, at this point, I could honestly give two flips less.  Yes, I am a moderate, when it comes to things like religion and social issues.  I also tend to shy away from those who fight against the Muslims and where they want to build their houses of worship, because I happen to believe in freedom of Religion and in personal freedom, to build whatever one wants within the accordance of the law.

However, I feel that the following stories that are being ginned up by the liberal mainstream media are borderline libel towards those of us; who feel that radical Islam is a threat to the security of our Nation and a threat to the America way of life.

First, an idiotic report by ABC NEWS on how the Anti-Islamic rhetoric is heating up:

Today, a Christian pastor will hold the second service in a series bashing the planned Muslim community center  in downtown New York City in a sign of increasing vocal anti-Islam rhetoric ahead of the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“When they decided to build a mosque and decided to preach what I consider a 1,400-year-old lie from Hell, I decided that somebody should be down there preaching the truth of God’s word,” Florida pastor Bill Keller said over the weekend.

Although his first service was sparsely attended, Keller is not alone.

Another preacher, Terry Jones from the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, is planning what he called “International Burn a Koran Day” which encourages people to set fire to the Islamic holy book “in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam,” according to a Facebook page dedicated to the event.

[….]

Critics said the rhetoric is fueling anti-Islam violence. Late last month a Manhattan cab driver was allegedly stabbed by a passenger  who reportedly asked him immediately before the attack if he was Muslim. Days later, a fire tore through the construction site of a planned Mosque in Tennessee. Investigators announced last week the cause of the fire was arson.

In response, leaders of Mosques from around the world are reaching out to other faiths for help.

“We are asking people to take into account security concerns… given the almost hysterical atmosphere we’re in right now,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

First, whatever happened to freedom of speech?   Since when did it become illegal to express ones feelings about another Religion?  The man is a Christian; this Pastor is denouncing Islam as a false religion, and is protesting against those who practice radical Islam; by burning a copy of the Holy Koran; he is protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution.  Secondly, why is CAIR even being quoted in this article?  This group, CAIR, which stands for the Council of American Islamic Relations, is a terrorist front organization, which has been tied to various terrorist organizations abroad.  This proves to this writer, beyond a shadow of an ounce of doubt, that the liberal mainstream media is in alliance with or at least sympathetic to the cause of those who engage in the practice of radical Islam and who wish to wage jihad against this Country.

Oh, it gets better trust me.

If that is not enough to cause your blood pressure to skyrocket; how about this lovely report from the Wall Street Journal of how Gen. David Petraeus is now coming out against the Koran burning service planned by this Pastor:

KABUL—The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said the planned burning of Qurans on Sept. 11 by a Florida church could put the lives of American troops in danger and damage the war effort.

Gen. David Petraeus said the Taliban would exploit the demonstration for propaganda purposes, drumming up anger toward the U.S. and making it harder for allied troops to carry out their mission of protecting Afghan civilians.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” Gen. Petraeus said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

Hundreds of Afghans attended a demonstration in Kabul on Monday to protest the plans of Florida pastor Terry Jones, who has said he will burn the Quran on Sept. 11.

Gen. David Petraeus said the planned burning of Qurans on Sept. 11 by a Florida church could put the lives of American troops in danger.

Afghan protesters chanted “death to America” and speakers called on the U.S. to withdraw its military convoy. Some of the protesters threw rocks at a passing military convoy, although officials told the rock-throwers to stop.

Military officials fear the protests are likely to spread beyond Kabul to other Afghan cities. In interviews with various media outlets, Mr. Jones has denied his protest will put troops in danger. Mr. Jones has been denied a permit for the demonstration but has said he plans to go forward with the his protest anyway.

Mr. Jones leads a tiny church of just 50 people, but his threat to burn the Muslim holy book has been condemned around the world and has garnered him international attention.

Well, it is certainly nice to know that our Military has our back.  I guess the anti-war MoveOn.Org was right on that one.  As Petraeus did end up betraying us all right; the American people, who believe that radical Islam is on the rise and that freedom of Religion is a constitutional right. I always thought that Petraeus was nothing more than a “Yes Man” for the Government and he has proven that here.

Finally, another little news article on CNN about idiots overseas protesting that Koran burning:

Jakarta, Indonesia — Thousands of Indonesians gathered Sunday outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta to protest a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainsville, Florida, plans to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning copies of the Muslim holy text. The center describes itself as a “New Testament church based on the Bible.” It made headlines last year when it distributed a T-shirt that said, “Islam is the devil.”

Protesters in Jakarta carried signs saying, “Jihad to protect Koran” and “You burn qu’ran you burn in hell.” The protesters included members of the hard-line Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia and the pluralism care movement, a multi-faith group.

“We hope that the U.S. government to stop this plan. We represent Muslim, Christians and other religions who all wants to avoid any clashes as a result,” Damien Dematra, the coordinator for the pluralism care movement, said in a news statement.

I have two words for these people — Boo Hoo, cry me a river.  Let me remind those who read this blog, whom it was which attacked this Country on 9/11.  First, it was not Radical Christians, Radical Hindus, or Radical Buddhists.  In case anyone has forgotten, radical Islamists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.   Furthermore, I do not recall any of the Muslim community trying to stop Osama bin Laden from carrying out these attacks either from within the Middle Eastern Islamic World.  Also, please, do not try to tell me, that no one else in the Middle Eastern Islam world knew that these attacks were going to happen.  Believe me, they knew and they did not care or they wanted them to happen, just as much as radical Islamic jihadists did.

I said all that to say this here.  To the American Muslim community, if there is anyone to blame for the rise of the American resentment towards Muslims; it is yourselves that you need to blame.  You are blame for not rising up against these radical elements within your own Religion!  Therefore, to the American Muslim Community, I have one simple thing to say about the rise in Anti-Islam rhetoric and feeling in this Country —- Deal with it or leave.  For years, we Christians have been the victims of Anti-Christian rhetoric by liberals and various other sundry groups with missions to discredit us.  Furthermore, every time some mentally unstable buffoon out there did something idiotic in the name of Christianity, we have had to contend with morons disrespecting our Religion.  Now, it is your turn.  Either you deal with it or you can always pack your bags and return to the country of your origin, because frankly, no one is keeping you here.  You came here to live in freedom, and not under the oppressive Governments of your Countries of origin.  Part of that freedom, is the freedom to disrespect other Religions; that is the part of the American experience.  Either you learn to ignore that sort of a thing, or you leave.  Please make your choice quickly, and please, stop the whining; you look like children when you do such things.

May the our Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and Religion never be revoked.

Update: Now a Memeornadum Thread

Video: RedState Update on “Murfreesboro vs. Muslims”

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Redstate Update HQ

Chris Muir over at Day by Day knocks one out of ballpark!

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Via Day by Day Cartoon:

Excellent one, Chris. Keep it up!

UPDATED: Memo to Fareed Zakaria: Overreact this you jackwad twit

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Speaking of stupidity….

Via this Nimrod:

I do not minimize Al Qaeda’s intentions, which are barbaric. I question its capabilities. In every recent conflict, the United States has been right about the evil intentions of its adversaries but massively exaggerated their strength. In the 1980s, we thought the Soviet Union was expanding its power and influence when it was on the verge of economic and political bankruptcy. In the 1990s, we were certain that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear arsenal. In fact, his factories could barely make soap…

Some 30,000 people are now employed exclusively to listen in on phone conversations and other communications in the United States. And yet no one in Army intelligence noticed that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had been making a series of strange threats at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he trained. The father of the Nigerian “Christmas bomber” reported his son’s radicalism to the U.S. Embassy. But that message never made its way to the right people in this vast security apparatus. The plot was foiled only by the bomber’s own incompetence and some alert passengers.

Such mistakes might be excusable. But the rise of this national-security state has entailed a vast expansion in the government’s powers that now touches every aspect of American life, even when seemingly unrelated to terrorism.

No, you nimrod, terrorist-supporting, idiot. We did not overreact. We had information that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We acted on it. Yes, the intelligence was bad. So what? It happens. The truth is, once we weeded out the jack-wads, who did not know shit from shinola about running a fucking war; (Hello Rummy!) we were able to stabilize that Country and put leadership in there, that did not terrorize it’s own people.

So, yes, Iraq WAS worth it; and no we did NOT overreact.

Further more, once we break the back of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, it too will be worth it as well! People will die; that is the price you pay, when you fight a god-damned war. But in the end, when Afghanistan is free and clear of Al-Qaeda and their radical Muslim idiotic nonsense, it will be worth it.

I apologize in advance for the harsh tone of this posting. But I am about god-damned tired of these terrorist-appeasing, asshole, liberal retards telling me, that going to war against terrorists is not worth the god-damned hassle. Anytime, that the United States of America goes on the defensive, and also on the offensive, in the name of liberty and freedom, it is ALWAYS worth it! It was worth it in Germany, It was worth it in Japan, It was worth it in Korea, it was worth it in Grenada AND it was worth it in Iraq too, both god-damned times — and once the job is done in Afghanistan, it will be worth it there too.

So, on the behalf of all the Soldiers —- American and Coalition; both who died and especially those who came back in one piece and even those who did not — to Mr. Fareed Zakaria I say:

SHUT THE HELL UP!

That is all…..

Update: I suppose that I should explain something here. The reason why this article provoked such a strong reaction out of me is this; I watched 9/11 unfold on TV. At the time I was a CNN watcher. All of it played out in front of me. I remember being paralyzed with fear, when the report came out, that there was a plane headed to the White House. Watching those buildings fall and seeing those images over and over and over; drove me into one of the worst depressions, that I have ever experienced. It, honestly, took me about 2 good years to get over that stuff. It took much prayer and some good old fashioned Bible reading to pull me out of that mess. Al-Qaeda caused that; and for that, I want them to pay, and pay dearly. Now you understand why it is, that I feel the way that I do.

Update #2: ….and of course, some terrorist supporting asshole links here; talking out his ass, as always. 🙄

REALITY REPORT #59 – DOJ Defines Constitutionalists as Terrorists

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The Reality Report
Restore the Republic

Hey, that speech was not so bad says William Kristol?!?!

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Calling all cars, Calling all cars, be on the lookout for a Neo-Conservative William Kristol; he has wandered off of the reservation again:

President Obama opposed the war in Iraq. He still thinks it was a mistake. It’s therefore unrealistic for supporters of the war to expect the president to give the speech John McCain would have given, or to expect President Obama to put the war in the context we would put it in. He simply doesn’t believe the war in Iraq was a necessary part of a broader effort to fight terror, to change the Middle East, etc. Given that (erroneous) view of his, I thought his speech was on the whole commendable, and even at times impressive.

[…..]

The close, was, I thought, well done. The president located those who fought in Iraq in the unbroken line of those who, from Lexington to Kandahar, “gave their lives for the values that have lived in the hearts of our people for over two centuries” and who “have fought to see that the lives of our children are better than our own.” There was a welcome implicit repudiation of Neville Chamberlain and appeasement, as President Obama praised our troops for having “fought in a faraway place for people they never knew.”

And at the end: “Our troops are the steel in our ship of state. And though our nation may be traveling through rough waters, they give us confidence that our course is true, and that beyond the pre-dawn darkness, better days lie ahead.” Not a bad tribute to the troops, and not a bad statement of the importance and indispensability of hard power.

And, on the whole, not a bad speech by the president.

First of all, I highly recommend that you go read the rest of that entry.  It is a very fairly well written piece by someone of whom, I disagree with highly on foreign policy. The reason why I say this is because, quite frankly, last night, I watched Fox News channel, I listened to Steven Hayes and Monica Crowley tear President Obama’s speech to pieces. Plus, I sat and read the far-right wing blogs; and I actually sat and wondered, “Do these people actually get an order from somewhere to criticize everything that President Obama says and does?” Frankly, I find that to be absolutely ridiculous. But, I guess that is partisan politics anymore; criticize your opponent no matter what he does. That is why I am a bit different than the rest of these Bloggers who identify with the right. I only criticize Obama when he actually does something that I feel is wrong.  Not because he is a Democrat and I am not and not because it happens to be the sporting thing to do among Bloggers and pundits on the right.

In closing: Kudos to Kristol for at least giving the President a little credit and not going along with the swine pack and doing what comes naturally to Conservatives of his stripe.

Judging Iraq, in the rearview mirror

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I am not much one for armchair quarter backing. However, I am speaking the non-partisan truth about a subject.

This one happens to be one, that was central to my foray in to the world of blogging.

The Iraq War.

It seems that there are some, that are really trying to put a “Tire Shine” on the Iraq War. In that process, they are basically trying to rewrite facts and basically distort realities. Which is quite common for the Neo-Right. They have been doing that since Buckley arrived on the scene many years ago.

Here is David Brooks basically either trying to recover any Conservative credentials that he might actually still have, either that or trying to suck up to President Obama….. again:

The U.S. venture into Iraq was a war, but it was also a nation-building exercise. America has spent $53 billion trying to reconstruct Iraq, the largest development effort since the Marshall Plan.

So how’s it working out?

On the economic front, there are signs of progress. It’s hard to know what role the scattershot American development projects have played, but this year Iraq will have the 12th-fastest-growing economy in the world, and it is expected to grow at a 7 percent annual clip for the next several years.

“Iraq has made substantial progress since 2003,” the International Monetary Fund reports. Inflation is reasonably stable. A budget surplus is expected by 2012. Unemployment, though still 15 percent, is down from stratospheric levels.

Oil production is back around prewar levels, and there are some who say Iraq may be able to rival Saudi production. That’s probably unrealistic, but Iraq will have a healthy oil economy, for better and for worse.

Living standards are also improving. According to the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index, the authoritative compendium of data on this subject, 833,000 Iraqis had phones before the invasion. Now more than 1.3 million have landlines and some 20 million have cellphones. Before the invasion, 4,500 Iraqis had Internet service. Now, more than 1.7 million do.

In the most recent Gallup poll, 69 percent of Iraqis rated their personal finances positively, up from 36 percent in March 2007. Baghdad residents say the markets are vibrant again, with new electronics, clothing and even liquor stores.

[…..]

Of course, to be honest, he’ll also have to say how fragile and incomplete this success is. Iraqi material conditions are better, but the Iraqi mind has not caught up with the Iraqi opportunity.

There is still very little social trust. Iraq is the fourth-most-corrupt nation on earth, according to Transparency International’s rating system. The role of women remains surprisingly circumscribed. Iraqi politicians clearly find it very hard to compromise (though they may be no worse than American politicians in this regard).

Human capital is lagging. Most doctors left Iraq after the invasion, and it is hard to staff health clinics. The engineers left too, so American-built plants lie dormant because there is no one with the skills to run them. Schools are suffering because of a lack of teachers.

Ryan Crocker, the former ambassador, recently wrote an article in The National Interest noting that fear still pervades Iraq. Ethnic animosities are in abeyance, but they are not gone. Guns have been put in closets, but not destroyed.

If he is honest, Obama will have to balance pride with caution. He’ll have to acknowledge that the gains the U.S. is enabling may vanish if the U.S. military withdraws entirely next year. He’ll have to acknowledge that bottom-up social change requires time and patience. He’ll have to heed the advice of serious Iraq hands like Crocker, Michael O’Hanlon of Brookings and Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, and shelve plans to withdraw completely.

Such a move may rob him of a campaign talking point. But it will safeguard an American accomplishment that has been too hard won.

Okay, that is fine. But what about the Billions of dollars that were lost in Iraq, that cannot be accounted for? Plus, since when is nation building something that is a cool thing to do? I know, as a Tax Payer, that I am not too happy about my tax dollars going to build a Country that will most likely turn against us again in the future. What brooks also fails to mention is the person that was responsible for the entire Iraq debacle, and that is President Bush.

On the subject of Nation building; Some are trying to make the comparison to to Japan and Germany. That is ludicrous on its very face.  The difference is, that the war on Japan and Germany were constitutionally declared wars, after the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On the other hand, Iraq never attacked us directly, and there was not a constitutionally declared war on Iraq. Just a decision by congress to authorize Bush to use Military action on Iraq, based upon a few pieces of what is now known as faulty information.  Oh, the Neo-Right will trot out some letter written to the second in command of Al-Qaeda about wanting to move against Kuwait. But there is no proof that Al-Qaeda even received the letter. Further more, Osama Bin Laden could not stand Saddam. Besides, that letter was written back in the 1990’s, after the first gulf war. So, that so-called evidence linking Saddam to 9/11 is weak, very weak.

Ed Morrissey also flirts with the subject as well, and also gets it wrong:

When the story of this war gets written, most will lay the responsibility on the President who fought it the longest, George W. Bush, and we will see a slew of analysis over the next week that insist he paid too high a price for his neoconservative adventure.  However, perhaps later, cooler minds will prevail and put this in proper perspective.  We had two choices in 2003: either remove Saddam Hussein or abandon Iraq to him.  The coalition that imposed military limits on Saddam was falling away, and the sanctions regime had become so corrupt that it made Saddam a multibillionaire in his personal fortunes.  His sons were poised to succeed him in this reign of terror.  Our twelve-year truce had been repeatedly violated by Saddam, who also attempted to assassinate a former President, and we had done nothing to  address any of it.

The follow-up nation building in which we engaged can also be debated, but again, we had little choice in the matter.  We either needed to stay in Iraq to raise up a new government and army, or watch as Iran seized control through the Mahdi Army or Iraq became a Somalia in Southwest Asia.  Either of those outcomes would have been orders of magnitude worse than our occupation over the last several years.  The management of the occupation was certainly debatable, but once we invaded, we had no other choice but to see it all the way through.

In fact, the die was cast in this case twenty years ago when the George H. W. Bush administration stood up to Saddam Hussein and demanded his withdrawal from Kuwait.  The decision to leave Saddam in place created the twelve-year Phoney War that followed, and left the choice of either surrender or victory to one of Bush’s eventual successors.  In the end, the war removed a brutal dictator who was murdering his own people at a far faster rate than the war did and over a much longer period of time and who, left to his own devices, would have beaten the Iranians to a nuclear weapon with equally disastrous implications.  The freely-elected but still dysfunctional government in Baghdad is at least a bright spot of hope in a dismal region, if we can remain committed enough to nurture it through friendship.  That is what our men and women fought and bled to create, and it’s to their honor that it exists today.

Where he gets it wrong is here:

The coalition that imposed military limits on Saddam was falling away, and the sanctions regime had become so corrupt that it made Saddam a multibillionaire in his personal fortunes.  His sons were poised to succeed him in this reign of terror.

…..

We either needed to stay in Iraq to raise up a new government and army, or watch as Iran seized control through the Mahdi Army or Iraq became a Somalia in Southwest Asia.

See the problem with all that is this here. We overthrew a dictator, and broke up that Ba’ath Party leadership. However, we created a quasi-unity Government over there, which is very fragile. We also installed, or as the Neo-Right likes to call it; voted in, another basic dictator, who is friendly to the United States. The Iraqi Government, I personally predict, will collapse once all of the American military units, of all sorts, are out of Iraq come 2011. What will happen then, is this, there will be an all out civil war in that Country. The faction there that is loyal to Iran will win, and Iraq will align itself with Iran and will then begin the process to harboring terrorists to mount attacks on Israel and ultimately the United States.

So, in closing, we did not stop Iran from invading Iraq and creating havoc in the region. We just made it a little more difficult to carry out. But know this, it will happen and someday, someone is going to say, “Why didn’t we just leave that Country alone?” and when the next huge terrorist attack happens here in America, and we discover that the terrorists trained in Iraq. We will have no one to blame — but ourselves.

My Follow Conservatives: We must help this man

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My Fellow Conservatives, if we are the people that we claim to be; a group of people that does distinguish between moderate Muslims and radical Muslims who wish to destroy America. It is time to put our money, where our mouths are.

This man was a victim; A victim of someone who, although intoxicated, was caught up in the euphoria surrounding the Mosque that the backers of park51 want to build. While I feel that the backers of park51 project ought to be covering this man’s bills. I also feel that we, as Conservatives, ought to take the higher plane and ought to at least contribute to this man’s cause and help him cover his bills until he can get back to work. Because, whether we want to admit it or not; there are some on our ranks, that actually created this mess. We ought to be the honorable ones, and help this man. He is an innocent bystander in a war, between those who want to destroy America and those who wish to preserve it.

From CNN:

(CNN) — New York cab driver Ahmed Sharif cannot bring himself to talk about the young man who allegedly cut his throat and nearly killed him last week, a taxi union representative said Sunday.

“Ahmed is a strong man, but mentally he has limits,” said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. “The trauma he’s experienced will last for a long time.”

Desai spent time this weekend with Sharif. She said his most pressing worry is how he’ll provide for his wife and four children — including a 10-month-old –without a job. Sharif is receiving 2/3 of his salary, about $30,000 a year, in workers’ compensation. Union members do not get health insurance or disability payments, Desai said.

“My guess is that he’ll be unable to work for at least four months,” Desai said. “He can’t even pick up his baby because of the wounds to his arms. He can’t turn his neck.”

There’s been so little money raised over the past few days for Sharif that it would “barely cover baby formula,” said Desai who, along with Sharif, held a widely publicized press conference Friday announcing the union was creating a fund for the family. The union’s website indicates how to mail a donation or give online.

There is also an address that you can send your checks and money orders to, it is:

Ahmed Sharif
c/o New York Taxi Workers Alliance
250 Fifth Avenue, Suite 310
NY, NY 10001

Further more, I do not want to hear any idiotic griping about how this place is some sort of a union or progressive organization. Who cares? They are helping this man, and that my friends is all that matters. In fact, when this posting goes live. I will be sending a small donation, along with the link to this posting. Because I do want to show, that unlike some people out there, calling themselves Conservatives, I am not ate up with hatred of those of another race. I want to show, that my battle is not against those of the Islamic Faith or those of Arab decent; but that my battle is against radical Islam and Jihad — against those who have hijacked a religion to further an agenda of hate. Sort of like these guys here.

I encourage my fellow Conservatives to for once, to put aside our feelings of mistrust; and help someone, who was quite honestly, caught in the crossfire. If we do this, we can rebuild an image that was tarnished the day this man was stabbed. Do it now; go, give and give abundantly.

Other Great Americans, who feel this is just the right thing to do: Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, New York Magazine, Suburban Guerrilla and Gawker

The Feckless Far Christian Right: Exhibit GH for Gay Hatred

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I hate to even place these buffoons in with the Christian Right for two reasons. For one, in the past; they have supported Democrats and For two; these idiots are beyond just your typical nutty far right wingers. They are just straight up hatemongers.

Pictures:

Via CNN:

(CNN) — A motorist fired pepper spray Saturday at a group of demonstrators and counter-protesters outside a funeral for a U.S. Marine in Omaha, Nebraska, police said.

The incident occurred shortly before 10 a.m. (11 a.m. ET) as members of a small Kansas church that protests at military funerals and counter-protesters stood nearly a block away from First United Methodist Church during services for Staff Sgt. Michael Bock, 26, who died August 13 in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

A man in a Ford-150 pickup truck drove by, extended his arm and sprayed with a large can, police said. His vehicle was stopped a few minutes later.

“Initial indications are he was probably targeting the Westboro Baptist Church” protesters, said officer Michael Pecha, a spokesman for Omaha police.

George Vogel, 62, who lives just north of Omaha, was booked for 16 counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of felony assault on a police officer for the pepper-spray exposure, police said. Vogel also faces one count of child neglect because his child was in the truck, Pecha told CNN.

[….]

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of Westboro Baptist Church, said Omaha police did not adequately control roughly 30 counter-protesters, who she said jostled with church members. She also challenged Knudsen’s and Pecha’s account, saying a few Patriot Guard members were among the counter-protesters.

The group was about 1,000 feet from the church when the driver came by. “Of course it was directed at us,” Phelps-Roper, who is Fred Phelps’ daughter, said of the pepper spray.

None of the 16 Westboro members on the corner were affected because they raised signs to shield themselves or turned away, Phelps-Roper said. The group returned home shortly afterward.

Extra officers were on hand for any possible altercations, but there were only verbal exchanges before the truck drove up, police said.

They should be glad it was just mace. Because folks, they are jacking with our United States Military. They are militant haters who have, like the terrorists on 9/11, have hi-jacked a Religion to further their religion of hate. I am all for having a Religious opinion; I too believe that Homosexuality is a sin. But to protest the funerals of dead United States Soldiers? That my friends is an act of terrorism.

In the past, I have tried to at least explain these people and their thinking. No more. I am done trying to explain them. Baptist? Calvinist? Absolute Predestination? Meh. Screw them — They just haters, hiding behind theology. They are no different than Al-Qaeda; they are Terrorists, Christian Terrorists, who are using our first amendment for protection. Just like Revolution Muslim does; and the only thing that a true-blue, dyed in the wool terrorists understands —- is the end of gun. They are also Anti-American Zealots, who rail against everything that America stands for. They should be arrested on terrorism charges, that Church seized and sold and the funds given to families of dead United States Soldiers.

My Name is Patrick and I am the owner of this blog and I endorse this message. Because nothing is worse than stupid Christians and than is, Hate-mongering Stupid Christians. Terrorists they are; and they should be stopped.

President Obama, is there is one thing you COULD do right and that would be to end this group and end them now. America would be so much better off. However, If I know Shrimpy McWaffle like I do; he would rather have them around to use as a prop to campaign against the Right. Which is about par for the course for this President. However, to be fair, President Bush did excatly nothing about these idiots and I really do not expect President Obama to either. Cowardice in Government is such a tragic thing.

Quote of the Day

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The future of Iraq will hinge on its security forces after the Americans officially hand them control on September 1st. The forces are much better than they were a few years ago; buckling under pressure is no longer a certainty. Yet even their own generals say they are not really ready. The Iraqi army chief of staff wants American help until 2020. Privately, American officers agree their job is not done. Iraqi intelligence work is poor, extremist infiltrators are common, the air force is in its infancy, some commanders follow nakedly political agendas and initiative in the lower ranks is lacking, as is equipment. Prisoners are widely abused.

It is clear that Iraqis will for many years be plagued by corruption, insurgents, meddling neighbours, and their own stubborn politicians. Ending America’s “combat mission” is a gamble—and gambles can be lost.

Just Words: Obama thanks the troops

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Well, well, what a difference a few years makes.

Here’s Shrimpy McWaffle thanking our troops: (H/T HotAir)

Hmmm, Was it not a few years ago that Obama said this?:

The excellence of our military is unmatched. But as a result of this war, our forces are under pressure as never before. Our National Guard and reserves have half of the equipment they need to respond to emergencies at home and abroad. Retention among West Point graduates is down. Our powers of deterrence and influence around the world are down. That is a cost of this war.

America’s standing has suffered. Our diplomacy has been compromised by a refusal to talk to people we don’t like. Our alliances have been compromised by bluster. Our credibility has been compromised by a faulty case for war. Our moral leadership has been compromised by Abu Ghraib. That is a cost of this war.

Perhaps the saddest irony of the Administration’s cynical use of 9/11 is that the Iraq War has left us less safe than we were before 9/11. Osama bin Ladin and his top lieutenants have rebuilt a new base in Pakistan where they freely train recruits, plot new attacks, and disseminate propaganda. The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan. Iran has emerged as the greatest strategic challenge to America in the Middle East in a generation. Violent extremism has increased. Terrorism has increased. All of that is a cost of this war.

John Boehner knows the score on Obama: (H/T again, to HotAir)

Ed Morrissey is hopeful:

Obama does deserve credit, as I wrote earlier, for not snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by implementing his oft-proposed accelerated pullout once in office. In fact, Bush handed Obama a turnkey plan for this drawdown, including the substantial force that still remains in Iraq of almost 50,000 “advisers.” Instead of having all American troops out in 16 months, Obama instead settled for the Bush plan of having American troops out of the cities and out of offensive operations, with a large troop presence to help Baghdad maintain order.

Perhaps Obama will have the grace to admit this when the occasion presents itself next week. If he does, it will reflect well on the current Commander in Chief. If not, Boehner’s video makes the truth obvious anyway.

I got news for you Ed; this guy is such a egomaniac, that he will never give Bush credit for jack crap. Instead, he and Democrats will blame Bush for everything under the sun, including the Economic meltdown; which was the fault of the Democrats. Further more, the Democrats and the far left will continue to bang the drums for Bush and his Administration to be prosecuted for “War Crimes.” Which has been the rallying cry of the far left for eons.

So, while it might be nice to dream that Obama might actually show some class in regards to Iraq. I believe that is about all it will ever be; a pipe dream.

Unbelievable: US Department of Justice halts prosecution of U.S.S. Cole Bomber

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I do believe I might have been wrong about this President…..and terrorism. You know, I tried to give this President a break and not take the hardcore stance against him, when it came to this issue —- mainly because of the stupidity around the Birther issue. However, I am really starting to wonder, if that might have just been a tragic mistake. I mean, seriously? Shelve a trial of a sub-human farking animal that killed 17 of our brightest and best serviceman?

The Washington Post reports:

The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing.

The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden.

In a filing this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said that “no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future.”

The statement, tucked into a motion to dismiss a petition by Nashiri’s attorneys, suggests that the prospect of further military trials for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has all but ground to a halt, much as the administration’s plan to try the accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in federal court has stalled.

Only two cases are moving forward at Guantanamo Bay, and both were sworn and referred for trial by the time Obama took office. In January 2009, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates directed the Convening Authority for Military Commissions to stop referring cases for trial, an order that 20 months later has not been rescinded.

Military officials said a team of prosecutors in the Nashiri case has been ready go to trial for some time. And several months ago, military officials seemed confident that Nashiri would be arraigned this summer.

It’s politics at this point,” said one military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy. He said he thinks the administration does not want to proceed against a high-value detainee without some prospect of civilian trials for other major figures at Guantanamo Bay.

A White House official disputed that.

“We are confident that the reformed military commissions are a lawful, fair and effective prosecutorial forum and that the Department of Defense will handle the referrals in an appropriate manner consistent with the interests of justice,” said the official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Defense Department issued a statement Thursday saying the case is not stalled. “Prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions are actively investigating the case against Mr. al-Nashiri and are developing charges against him,” the statement said.

With the 10th anniversary of the Cole bombing approaching on Oct. 12, relatives of those killed in the attack expressed deep frustration with the delay.

“After 10 years, it seems like nobody really cares,” said Gloria Clodfelter, whose 21-year-old son, Kenneth, was killed on the Cole.

In case you have forgotten, these are the names of those killed on the U.S.S. Cole on Oct. 12, 2000: (H/T and thanks to Michelle Malkin)

Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow
Mess Management Specialist Lakina Francis
Information Systems Technician Tim Guana
Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn
Seaman James McDaniels
Engineman 2nd Class Mark Nieto
Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Owens
Seaman Recruit Lakiba Parker
Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett
Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy
Electronics Warfare Technician Kevin Rux
Petty Officer 3rd Class Ron Santiago
Operations Special 2nd Class Timothy Sanders
Fireman Gary Swenchonis Jr
Ensign Andrew Triplett
Seaman Apprentice Craig Wibberly
Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Clodfelter.

All because of politics, because he was supposedly “Tortured”. How is it, that sub-human animals like this have more rights than say your average person on the street?

AllahPundit is not impressed one bit:

If, however, the unnamed official quoted is right about the administration’s motives, it confirms what we’ve assumed all along about The One’s tribunal/civilian court protocol: Ain’t nothing but politics. For all his grandiose talk of due process, prosecuting the detainees has always been a game in which he balances the likelihood of conviction with the likelihood of civil-liberties political pageantry. If he can get a guilty verdict in a federal district court so that he can crow about the Constitution, he’ll do that; if he can’t, as is likely in the case of Nashiri, he’ll simply dump the guy in a tribunal so that at least he can crow about the conviction. See? He really is a pragmatist. And speaking of grandiose talk, go read Slublog’s recap of statements Obama made during the campaign — and directly to families of the Cole victims — about not dragging our feet in prosecutions. Just words?

Heck, even a liberal is not impressed; Blogger EmptyWheel over at FireDogLake Blog is not impressed:

Which of course means that our government (though the article suggests this is a distinction between the Bush and Obama Administrations, since Gates–though he spans both Administrations–has not ordered the Convening Authority to start referring cases) has decided it’s okay to try Omar Khadr, who was 15 and arguably acting in self-defense for his alleged crime, in a military commission. But not to try al-Nashiri, at least allegedly a genuine terrorist.

To be fair, the WaPo suggests the Administration is holding off until it can have civilian trials for other High Value Detainees (presumably, still the 9/11 conspirators). So it may well be a supportable goal. But it all seems to add to the Kangaroo stench around the military commissions.

You know, I am just going to say it; and if anyone wants to call me some sort of a right wing extremist, feel free. I just do not give a flying fark at this point. This Administration has got it’s damned head on backwards about terrorism. I mean, U.S.S. Cole? Seriously Guys? This was an obvious case of terrorism and they are going shelve a case; because some idiot got a little water up his nose?  17 people innocent people, who were doing their jobs for the United States Military were killed on a boat and we’re worried about some towel-head getting a fair trial? How damned tone-deaf and stupid can you be?

In Closing: Conservatives and yes even some Republicans have said that the Democratic Party is soft on terrorism; even sympathetic to the terrorist cause. Democrats have denounced this assertion repeatedly in the past. However, now that the Democrats are now in power; it seems that they are ready and even in come cases eager to prove the Republicans and Conservatives to be absolutely correct.

I believe I speak for the good majority of Americans when I say that November 2, 2010 cannot come fast enough. It is time for change. Real Change. American cannot wait much longer.

Others: Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, Michelle Malkin, National Review, Hot Air, For The Record, Wake up America, Firedoglake, Weasel Zippers, Gateway Pundit and Commentary

An Open Message to Japan Democrat Party Leader Ichiro Ozawa

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Update: (H/T HotAir’s resident Alpha Male, who is too busy looking at his I-Phone, and dreaming it’s Kristen Powers and checking his, um, grip, to fish my trackback out of the spam folder.)

This is an open message to the Japan Democrat Party leader Ichiro Ozawa. To View this page translated into the Japanese Language via Google Translate, please, click here.

Dear Sir,

I happen to have read your comments here in this news story:

TOKYO – A key figure in Japan’s ruling party dubbed Americans “simple-minded” in a speech to fellow lawmakers Wednesday.

It was not clear what prompted the remarks by Democratic Party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa at a political seminar, in which he otherwise paid tribute to Americans’ commitment to democracy, saying it was something Japan should learn from.

“I like Americans, but they are somewhat monocellular,” the former Democratic Party leader said. “When I talk with Americans, I often wonder why they are so simple-minded.”

Ozawa didn’t elaborate on what aspect of Americans made him compare them monocellular organisms, a term also used to mean shortsighted or dumb.

There is growing speculation that the 68-year-old former party leader — renowned as a backroom dealer and election strategist but unpopular among the wider public — may run against rival Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a Sept. 14 election for the party leadership.

Ozawa steered clear of that topic in his speech at the seminar to about 50 lawmakers from the party and dozens of other invitees. But later Wednesday he hinted he would, telling supporters his decision on whether to run would hopefully “respond to your expectations.” He said he needed more time to make that decision.

Ozawa was forced to resign as party secretary-general in early June over a funding scandal, though he has denied any wrongdoing.

Despite the Democratic Party-led government’s month slong tussle with Washington over the planned relocation of a major U.S. military base in Okinawa — which has weakened public support for the government — Tokyo and Washington remain close allies, and Ozawa’s comments on Americans did not appear geared at currying support within the party.

Ozawa, who advocates a U.S.-style two-party political system for Japan — which currently has a coalition government — praised Americans for electing President Barack Obama.

“I don’t think Americans are very smart, but I give extremely high credit for democracy and choices by its people,” he said. “They chose a black president for the first time in U.S. history,” adding that he thought once that would never be possible

Sir, please, allow me to share some photos with you:

These pictures sir were taken when your ever so brilliant Government decided to attack our interests in the Republican of Hawaii in 1941. This was previous to Hawaii becoming the 50’th state in our Union. We were injured, battered and, for a time, beaten. But the United States of American and it’s righteous might sprung back from this horrific attack and defeated YOUR COUNTRY and the Axis powers, which included one of your partners in crime at the time — Germany. Germany had the common sense to know when it was beaten and surrendered to the United States of America on April 30, 1945. In fact, here is a radio report of the surrender. But, yet, your idiotic Country could not or would not dare surrender to the United States, you chose to fight — to the death. So, to save our Military the loss of additional men — we brought on the best weapon known to man kind. The Atomic Bomb. Here are some WONDEFUL pictures of that dropping of that bomb. Of which you were supposed to get 12 — you ended up getting two. Consider yourself lucky sir.

The first:

and the Second:

We caught hell for doing that; in fact, there are liberals to this day that believe that we were wrong from dropping those bombs. The truth is, that your Country’s military leaders were SO insane, that they really did not want to stop fighting, even after these two bombs were dropped. But your imperial commander at the time, decided that losing the Japanese race was not worth the fight. Perhaps it is because he realized that attacking America was big mistake. Some here in America say that we got attacked, because we cut your fuel shipments off. That is because you were inflicting death on other Countries.

So, to the Government of Japan, to the Democratic Party of Japan, and to Ichiro Ozawa. I give a hearty FUCK YOU!

Signed,

-Pat

A United States Citizen

…..and you know what? We did.

UPDATED: The Obligatory Cab Driver Stabbed because he is a Muslim Posting New York Post shows its stupidity

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I really did not want to touch this, until ALL of the facts are out. There are many on the right, who are distorting this story badly. Further more, there are some on the left who are as well.

Here is the truth. A Cab Driver picks up a man; the cab driver is a Muslim. The man asks driver if he is a Muslim, the driver says yes, and the man proceeds to stab him rather badly. The Cab Driver locks his car and calls 911.

The man who did it, worked for a production company as a volunteer and went to Pakistan. He also did work for the Park51 group as well, as did the company he worked for.

The problem with these stories is this; both sides, left and right, rush to make it one of their own —- instead of waiting for the facts to come out.

The facts are, my friends, that a Muslim man was stabbed and is in the hospital; and there is a lone nut in a jail cell somewhere. I think that both sides of this debate need to take a step back and relax a little. Because this is going to keep on, until someone ends up dead; and that my friends, is the last thing we need right now.

I believe that both sides, left and right, both need to cool it. Before the unthinkable happens.

Memorandum Thread here.

Update: The New York Post shows it’s damned inane stupidity, their headline:

Driver claims his throat was slashed after telling passenger he was Muslim

Claims? CLAIMS??!?!? Wow. 😯

Pardon my sarcasm here, but, “Yeah we put claims, because you cannot ever trust those stupid sand nigger towel heads, they never tell truth….”

Oh.My.God I cannot believe Murdock would stoop that low. 🙁

I am ashamed of being even a moderate-minded Conservative at this moment. 😡

Update: Fixer Grammar error in title of posting. Thanks to commenter Blog Responder. 😀

Unreal: Mosque Supporter says Holocaust Survivor “Didn’t learn his lesson”

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You know, I have expressed my dismay at those on the far right, that are using that Mosque in New York as a political issue; and are fanning the flames of extremism  — not to mention are just grandstanding this issue to death.

Well, I regret to report, that it is happening on the left or at least among the Mosque supporters too:

The Video via JammieWearingFool: (CONTENT WARNING – LANGUAGE)

Obviously a Michael Bloomberg and Barack Obama supporter. Classy guy. He calls the old man an unpatriotic, treasonous piece of garbage. A shame how the lamestream media ignored this.

The left loves to call anyone who disagree with them bigots and haters. Just get a look at the vein-popping rage of this man and tell me he’s not consumed with hatred.

While Mr. JWF’s opinion may be slightly over the top; telling or saying that Holocaust survivor “Didn’t learn his lesson,” is just beyond the pale. I may support this Mosque’s LEGAL right to build this building, (Moral right is another story…) I do not support that sort of hatred.

My message to the Mosque supporters; if you think that spewing this sort of garbage and allowing yourself to be taped is going to help your cause, you are very highly mistaken. Bashing anyone, especially Jews; that are opposed to this Mosque only hurts your cause. I will not rush to judgment and call this man a leftist, because I do not know this, neither does JWF; but I digress. Therefore, I will just file this under general stupidity.

The Republican Party, The Tea Party, Bloggers, and YOU

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Well, we lost another one!

Looks like Dan Amato, better known as Digger has called it quits with the Republican Party:

To all of you ignorant Tea Party people out there who are continuing to think that you can somehow co-opt the GOP and turn it in the right direction, John McCain is your answer from the Republican National Committee and the top echelons of this corrupt and unfixable party. Their continued support of candidates like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins is an abomination.

As for the Tea Party movement, it has been wholly co-opted by the likes of Dick Armey, a fiercely pro-amnesty for illegal aliens proponent who will never change his ways. And the Tea Partiers stand at the sidelines as he speaks for them. They are the equivalent of the “moderate Muslims” who stand by and do nothing while the extremists take over their “religion”. Let Armey lead you down into the doldrums of the continued bottomless cesspool that is our political system – for it will never right itself. You sheep out there who are supporting the parties and the Armey backed Tea Party – being steered by FreedomWorks – should be disgusted with yourselves. You should have denounced Armey from day one, yet you did nothing as those of us who see what he truly is have been shouting it for more than a year. I see no action from any of you as he gallivants around the country talking for you. Silence is acceptance.

At one point I thought I would go independent for years and maybe the Republicans would turn themselves around and see the light, but that is not happening and it is not going to happen. There is no going back and I will never support the Republicans or the GOP again. The shortest straw has been pulled and placed on the camel’s back that is our country. I urge you to permanently declare your separation from the GOP – for life.

[….]

I will now actively work against the GOP in any manner that I can. I will actively work against the Democrats in any way that I can. As a matter of fact at this point I am seriously thinking of supporting Democrats. I will scream from the mountaintops the pure disgust that both parties have become and convince anyone I can to turn against them. I am of the mind that we need more Democrats in power, more progressives, more John McCains to leave our borders wide open and to allow our citizens to continue to be abused. For what else will wake them up but mass raping, pillaging and murderous attacks?

He is referring, of course, to the reelection of John McCain. Even AllahPundit was not happy about it:

I can’t believe, in this year of all years, we couldn’t find a better challenger for McCain than this guy. It’s 60/29 as I write this. What a travesty.

I can really understand the feelings of both of these guys; I really can. I have to confess something here —- I was, from day one, extremely skeptical of the Tea Party Movement. At first, it sounded like an awesome idea and at first, it was. The problem is this, it was co-oped by movers and shakers within the Republican establishment; people like Dick Army and yes, Sarah Palin.  Sarah Palin might be a good motivator; but like it or not, but she is one of the Party faithful within the Republican Party. Like it or not; but the Tea Party was never a “Republican” or even a “Conservative” movement. It was simply a movement of people who were disgusted by what was happening in the Government. The tragic thing that happened was that it was co-oped by special interest groups with the Republican establishment and more tragically, within the beltway. The Tea Party movement was also feasted upon, by people wanting to make a quick buck on the emotions of the American people.

Some would say, “Did you not do this?” To this, I say, No. I did not. I simply wrote about the movement and gave my feelings on it. I also reported the true account of one of the biggest Tea Party protests in Washington D.C. —- for that I did receive a donation from many readers. Of which I was very shocked that I received them. However, I was very grateful for it. Hopefully, those people are still reading here.

The main question in many minds of many people is:

Where do we go from here?

The answer to that question is this; we keep electing candidates that represent Tea Party values: Low Taxes, Responsible Government and so forth.

I think one of tragedies of the Tea Party was that there was some assumption within the ranks of the Tea Party Movement itself, that this group of unaffiliated activists were going to coalesce into this organized Third Party that was going to unseat the Republican Party as the Party of Conservatism or at least, be this alternative to the Democratic Party in the United States of America. I am afraid that this just was not a feasible goal. The Republican Party is controlled by very well financed and well heeled contributors. Not to mention the fact that there are legions of special interest groups and political action committees, that are loyal to the Republican cause. Basically, without over simplifying it; the Tea Party Movement was outgunned by the one thing, that these activists were protesting against the misuse of in Washington D.C. ——– Money.

Let me be clear, (Thank you Mr. President, for making the best statement of clarity, into a punchline! You Bastard! 😉 ) this should not be considered my “Tea Party – Rest in Peace” posting, as it is not. I believe that the Tea Party did and still is accomplishing what it set out to do. The Tea Party, along with social media, has changed the game for politics; especially Conservative politics. I believe that the Tea Party, along with the election of Barack Obama and also the huge economic crash of 2008; has for the most part, united the Conservative movement — at least on fiscal issues —- now, foreign policy, and social issues, that is another story! —-  The Party was sorely divided under President George W. Bush. This became very apparent in 2006, when the Iraq War got very ugly.  Oh, there are some who continue to hold out, and point at everyone who disagrees with them, as “Neo-Cons.”  (Yes, I know I used the term in a previous entry!) But this group is a very small minority within the Conservative movement. I would dwell on that subject more, but I just do not see wasting any space on them. They call themselves “Alternative Right”, I have a name for them; it is called Neo-Nazi. Hate, not matter how intellectualized or nuanced —- is still hate. This is why I broke away from the Paleo-Conservative camp. The hardcore Paleo-Conservative camp is simply reactionary politics distilled down to it’s simplest forms. Contrary to what they might like to publish, Paleo-Conservatives disdain for Identity Politics on the Left and Right is NOT about the disliking of the Identity Politics itself; but rather for the sole purpose of hating anyone, who is of a different color, race or creed than the majority of Paleo-Conservatives, who are, in fact, mostly older White, well-educated, Americans. There is a word for it, it is called Nativism.

However, this is not to say that the Wilsonian sect of the Republican Party is not a real thing; oh it is, and it is very real and very powerful and quite well financed.  They even have their own magazine. However, the influence of the Wilsonian sect, within the Republican Party is waning. The Republican Party has had a “Come to Jesus” moment on Foreign Policy and even War. The notable exception is this idiotic Park 51 situation. Like it or not; but there are some Wilsonian Conservatives who are milking that little issue for every political bit that it is worth. Further more, they are using tactics right out of Adolf Hitler’s handbook. Propaganda is evil, I do not give a damn who is doing it or why. It is wrong and it needs to stop.

In closing, let me say this to whomever Conservative or Republican happens to read this Blog entry. We as Conservatives and yes, as Republicans —- can do two things. We can take the path of extremism and we can die is a political party. Which would be the absolute delight of the Neo-Liberal left — or we can take the sensible path. We can ignore the Wilsonians and we can take a path of moderation, understanding, and measurement. We can also take a path of integrity —- and we can live and exist as a Party, as a people and as a movement.

We must make this choice.

We must choose Righteousness and not foolishness.

We must make that choice very quickly.

Because darkness is upon us and a time will come — when no man can work.