It’s the Soldier, not the reporter Who has given us the Freedom of the Press.
It’s the Soldier, not the poet, Who has given us the Freedom of Speech.
It’s the Soldier, not the politicians That ensures our right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
It’s the Soldier who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag.
Yes They Kahn!
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the other elevated souls of the governing class are above your bourgeois standards.
Back when he was still the officially designated Next President of France and not an accused rapist, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was glimpsed at the annual IMF soccer tournament wearing a T-shirt emblazoned “YES, WE KAHN!” (Monsieur le directeur was not participating in the game: The field he likes to play requires more horizontal exertions, as even the deferential and protective French media have begun belatedly to acknowledge.) In consciously mimicking the slogan of another and very successful presidential candidate, the IMF boss and Socialist party candidate improved upon it — or, at any rate, made it more accurate. “Yes, We Can”? Er, no, actually, you can’t. But yes, he Kahn!
A man is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and it will be for a New York court to determine what happened in M. Strauss-Kahn’s suite at the Sofitel. It may well be that’s he the hapless victim of a black Muslim widowed penniless refugee maid — although if that’s the defense my lawyer were proposing to put before a Manhattan jury, I’d be inclined to suggest he’s the one who needs to plead insanity. Whatever the head of the IMF did or didn’t do, the reaction of the French elites is most instructive. “We and the Americans do not belong to the same civilization,” sniffed Jean Daniel, editor of Le Nouvel Observateur, insisting that the police should have known that Strauss-Kahn was “not like other men” and wondering why “this chambermaid was regarded as worthy and beyond any suspicion.” Bernard-Henri Lévy, the open-shirted, hairy-chested Gallic intellectual who talked Sarkozy into talking Obama into launching the Libyan war, is furious at the lèse-majesté of this impertinent serving girl and the jackanapes of America’s “absurd” justice system, not to mention this ghastly “American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.” (more…)
From MoeLane.com
Rep. Schakowsky, who is married to a convicted felon, attempting to explain why photos of the military operation that killed Osama bin Laden would not be released, had this to say:
“These are pictures of a violent crime scene. This is a dead person. A dead Osama bin Laden,” she said.
Now, I will readily grant that normally a statement like this should be subject to Occam’s Razor. The simplest way to explain the problems with the first sentence* would be to simply postulate that the person who uttered it is a semi-literate buffoon who is so unthinkingly programmed to parrot outworn and exploded progressive agitprop that she is truly unaware that even suggesting that Navy SEALs are criminals for killing Osama bin Laden is offensive. Or that she has not contemplated that her aforementioned parroting handily confirms every not-nice said about the average progressive antiwar politician’s judgement, character, and native mother-wit. Or that (by extension) Schakowsky is accusing fellow-Democrat President Barack Obama of war crimes, given that he gave the order. Yes, really, if this had just been uttered by some nobody then you could simply chalk the comment up to pig-ignorance, coupled with thee utterer being a natural-born damned fool.
However… Jan Schakowsky is a powerful Democrat:
Moron
Schakowsky serves in the House Democratic Leadership as Chief Deputy Whip and is a member of the Steering and Policy Committee. She is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she serves on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, the Subcommittee on Health and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Democratic Leader Pelosi appointed her to serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she is ranking Democrat on the Oversight Subcommittee.
Which means that, if she’s an idiot, she’s not the only one; the bigger ones are the Democrats who let her onto all those committees where everybody else uses all those big words all the time. And so, if she’s not an idiot… well, when are you going to introduce articles of impeachment against President Obama, Representative Schakowsky? I’m sure that we’re all agog to hear that particular bit of news.
*To put it very simply and brutally – as Jim Geraghty did: “A crime scene? What crime would that be, and whom should be charged?”
Posted with permission from Michael Yon
16 May 2011
Iraq 2005
Combat was relentless in the surrounding city. Explosions rumbled in from the neighbourhoods and washed over base, which was itself under frequent attack by rockets and mortars. Four days before Christmas, soldiers were having lunch on the heavily guarded Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez when a jihadist walked into the dining facility.
His vest detonated, killing 14 soldiers, 4 US contractors, and 4 Iraqis, and wounding about 80. Casualties were rushed from the tangle to the hospital at FOB Diamondback, where the follow-on attack began. The enemy rained indirect fire trying to hit the triage at the Combat Support Hospital.
Four months later, in April 2005, I came to the Deuce Four battalion as a writer. On the first mission, another suicide bomber killed three. Mostly you didn’t see the bombers, but felt an atmospheric pop from the shock wave, followed by a great heaving krrruummppphhh. It was hard to tell the difference between smaller explosions close by and a massive detonation across town, until some seconds passed and the mushroom gathered into the sky. Sometimes it was an IED, other times a car bomb, or who knows? (more…)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576321640560914206.html (Excellent WSJ article)
In 2007 Israeli Defense Forces flew jet fighters into Syrian air space and knocked out an illegal, covert nuclear reactor. Syria is a signatory state to the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), which means that any nuclear facility they build has to be for peaceful purposes. They cannot run a weapons factory. All signatories to the NPT must allow IAEA inspections. Syria has never allowed the IAEA full access to all areas of nuclear facilities.
Syria has consistently denied even having a nuclear program, although their Ministry of Agriculture has a robust nuclear science division and their Minister of Agriculture does not have an agriculture degree, but does hold a nuclear engineering degree from Germany.
Peas in a Pod, Birds of a Feather, Nuclear Partners
Now, they’re at it again. Syria has recovered from the Israeli raid and now has several facilities that the IAEA cannot visit. The fact of the matter is that Syria, Iran, and the DPRK (North Korea), with technical assistance from Pakistan and international political cover from China are running a sophisticated third world proliferation program.
How it occurs to anyone, much less an aspiring world power like China that arming rouge states like North Korea and Iran with nuclear weapons is useful in any way is a wonder. Now we have Syria embroiled in the nuclear mix.
Why is this so worrisome? In a word: Stability. (more…)
Huckabee Endorses Haridopolos in FL Senate Race
May 12, 2011 Florida Review 12 Comments
by Javier Manjarres
Former Governor and potential Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has weighed in on the 2012 Florida Senate race and endorsed Florida State Senate President Mike Haridopolos over Senator George LeMieux and former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner. Huckabee’s endorsement is the first national level endorsement in the race that could help Haridopolos sway the conservative Christian base in Florida, and bring in national support from the coveted ‘Christian Right’.
“We need a new generation of proven fiscal and social conservative leaders in the US Senate and that is why I am proud to endorse and support my good friend, Mike Haridopolos for the US Senate in Florida,” said Huckabee. “Mike will fight for our conservative values in Washington, just as he has done in leading the tremendous work of the Florida Senate.”-Governor Mike Huckabee
Senate President Haridopolos accepted the endorsement and stated the following:
“I am honored to have such a tremendous conservative leader like Gov. Huckabee stand with me and other Floridians to tell Washington that enough is enough-We’ve had enough of the broken promises, record borrowing, and deficits coming from the failed policies of Bill Nelson and Barack Obama.”-Senate President Mike Haridopolos
I know, I know, sometimes blogs get too personal and the minutia of some guy’s life isn’t that interesting, but I think I can make a point with this personal story.
I’ve been renovating my house for the last three years. Its 95% complete, no huge construction projects hanging over the house, other than a deck, but that’s outside. However, I’m still tweaking the interior. The house is so small that whatever I bring in either has to replace something already there or be of such use or quality that it makes its own space.
I’m a thrift shop aficionado. Keep in mind, this is very different from antiquing. I HATE antique shops. I used to live in Palm Beach County and they have quality antique shops with competitive pricing– mostly because the stuff they sell is the detritus from fine northeastern mansions and cottages and inappropriate for South Florida living– so, there is little market for their stock. Still, there is a lot of cool stuff to be found.
Up here in north central Florida, it is a completely different story. Antique shops in Alachua County are some sort of cross between thrift shops and and antique shops, with an unusually heavy dose of 1960′s and 70′s bric-a-brac, which still frightens me– seriously, lava lamps, plastic chairs, and chrome, chrome, and more chrome? Ghastly.
Mostly, they’re just glorified thrift shops.
Here in Gainesville, the stuff found in thrift shops is usually just one step away from the trash heap. Most of the stuff is garbage and and filthy and smells musty. Still… the occasional treasure is found with enough frequency to warrant a ten minute walk through a few times a month. For example, I have a full set of living room end tables, coffee tables, and some sort of square thing that takes up too much room, but came with the set. That set is from a famous maker and would have cost $2000 new. I also have a lot of valuable art I found lying about in a bin like trash, but a close look and some research will net a finely framed, signed piece for the space above the sofa. I found a rare signed, numbered lithograph worth $2000 for a mere $5.00. 
Other decent purchases include at least half a dozen pieces of fine Waterford Crystal stored on a shelf next to common glass; over 20 individual pieces of sterling silver or Sheffield plate; china tureens that match my mother’s table settings; Lennox figurines, and some antique German glass Christmas ornaments. If you’re the type that will buy clothing, which I will not buy anything with any type of textile on it, all sorts of linens and outerwear is available. In Alachua City I saw full length mink coats for $75.00– I can’t imagine anyone wearing one of those in Florida… but, it wasn’t there the next time I visited. Weird… And, did I mention the books? I have a least three dozen First Editions in my collection– you have dig around a few dusty bins, but there are almost always a few
I keep my eye out for high end kitchen pots and pans. I have a decent collection of Logan cast iron skillets and pots. A new Logan costs $75 for a small skillet, I picked one up the other day for $5.00. Believe me, owning a set of Logans makes me look like a genius around a Bar-b-Que grill. They cook the food for you.
My last haul was a solid brass Baldwin table lamp for $3.00, it retails for $225.00. With a new shade, it takes a spot on the low boy in the dining room. Very nice looking and I like the light it throws in the room.
What’s my point? Well, times are hard, the economy is weak, and inflation is kicking everyone in the wallet. So, if you need a lamp, check out the various thrift shops in area. Also, most thrift shops are run by charitable interests, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, Veterans groups, and so on. If you have some stuff to get rid of and don’t want to have a yard sale, donate it and get the tax receipt.
Anyway, with some time and patience, you can outfit your house or garden with high quality items for cheap. There is no reason you should pay full price for a mass produced product when there is a high end one out there just waiting for you.
Is anyone as sick and tired of Senator John McCain as I am?
What a tiresome, dreary, predictable, little suck up he has become. The people of Arizona had a shot at taking him down, but just like the folks in Nevada who missed their opportunity at getting rid of Harry Reid, McCain was reupped for another six years of blah, blah, blah… GOOD GOD!!!
This time he has decided to side with the left on “torture”. Using his well-worn “get out of jail free” card as a POW war-hero, he let everyone know that he was tortured and that the US should be above it all and, blah, blah, blah. GOOD GOD!!!
Well, here’s a news flash for Mr. McCain: Yes, according to reports and as evidenced by his physical limitations, he was tourtured. But, is there any room in his narrow, little mind to differentiate between the actual tourture he received and the physical, non-deforming, discomfort those three terrorist received?
Birds of a Feather
Personally, I don’t give a rat’s rear end if we subject terrorists to thumb screws, meat hooks, or electric shocks to their privates– I already live in an America where homes are searched on the merest pretext, US Attorney Generals refuse to prosecute election day thuggery, and where trillions of dollars yet to be earned are borrowed and transferred to favored political groups. Yes, I support a US policy that does what it needs to do to defend and save what little is left of this free and wonderful nation.
I guess I’m honest enough to not be high minded and deeply thoughtful like our ruling elites, but when push comes to shove, and we may indeed already be there, people like me, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, and Dick Cheney will bear the burden, lift the bale, and tote the barge so that future generations of high minded elites can condem us for our excesses and the immoral stain we placed on our nation’s psyche. GOOD GOD!!!
MICHAEL KNOX BERAN
May 10, 2011 4:00 A.M.
The Dark Night of Islam 
The revolutionary events shaking the Islamic world will not change an intolerant and obscurantist culture
The last six months have proved a climacteric in the history of Islam. An astonished world has witnessed the deposition of rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, revolts in Syria and Libya, the intensification in Iran of a struggle between President Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei, and the United States’ imposition on Osama bin Laden of a wild but under the circumstances salutary justice.
Yet however tumultuous the events may be, Islam seems unlikely to undergo the reformation its most generous hearts and intelligent minds desire. The revolutions in the Arab states more nearly resemble the abortive ones of 1848 than the successful ones of 1989: Only the identity of the ruling cabals is likely to change. Osama is dead, but his cult and myth live on. He has already been enrolled by many Muslims in the register of their martyrs, while others piously approach his house in Abbottabad as they would a reliquary shrine. (more…)
From the AARP on-line Newsletter
by Michael Zielenziger
“People who used to eat at Taco Bell now are robbing Taco Bell,” says Nancy, a 69-year-old resident who didn’t want her last name published.
Situated at the mouth of the Napa River about 25 miles north of San Francisco, Vallejo holds a prominent place in California history. It was the first state capital in 1852, and for nearly 150 years was the site of one of the nation’s most important naval shipyards.
In 2008, it achieved a new kind of distinction — the state’s largest city to file for bankruptcy. (more…)
Anchor Babies and the Fourteenth Amendment
by Alan Berkelhammer from Common Sense
Of all the injustices to Americans brought on by illegal immigration one of the worst is the granting of “automatic” citizenship to babies of illegal aliens who are born in the United States. One or more of the parents are here illegally, they have a child on American soil, and then our country in its wisdom grants citizenship to the child. 
My hair is standing on end as I type. This has become so bad that there are now travel agencies that offer expensive tour packages for pregnant women from China and other countries who are about to give birth. The expectant mother (or both parents-to-be) come to the United States on “vacation,” give birth to a brand new baby American citizen, and well, you know the rest. There’s even a name for this new cottage industry; it’s called Immigration Birth Tourism. (more…)
I hadn’t thought of that innocent bird until today; the videos of Osama just released by the Pentagon reminded me of our canary.
Our little canary would spend hours contemplating his reflection in a little mirror that hung in the cage. It seems Osama did the same thing. We see video of a scrofulous Osama watching himself–better said, a younger version of himself—on video. He was just like that canary. (more…)
What does the Democratic Party stand for?
From Fabius Maximus
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com
| Islamic Terror Attacks on Christians (Since 9/11) |
| This is a list of targeted acts of terrorism on Christian civilians and church workers by religious Muslims since September 11th, 2001.
These attacks have nothing to do with war, combat or insurgency. The victims are innocent Christians who were specifically targeted and abused solely on account of their faith by those who claim their own religion as a motive. This is not a complete list, as much of the violence goes unreported. (more…) |
Egypt says ‘iron hand’ to halt religious unrest
By Jailan Zayan (AFP) – 19 hours ago
CAIRO — Egypt’s military rulers warned Sunday they will use an “iron hand” to protect national security after clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo killed 12 people and injured scores.
Authorities would “strike with an iron hand all those who seek to tamper with the nation’s security,” Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi told reporters after cabinet crisis talks.
Gindi said the government would “immediately and firmly implement the laws that criminalise attacks against places of worship and freedom of belief” using anti-terror laws to combat those “threatening national security.”
The statement came at the end of nearly four hours of cabinet talks and after Egypt’s military rulers had said 190 people detained in connection with the clashes would face military trial.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in power since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February, said the move was a “deterrent” to all those who sought to sow strife in the country. (more…)
On the front page of today’s New York Times, above the fold, in the prominent upper left hand quarter, is a story titled, Face That Screamed War’s Pain Looks Back, 6 Hard Years Later. There are pictures too…
The gist of the story http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/middleeast/07photo.html?_r=1&hp seems to be an update of the life of a five year old girl, who lost her parents six years ago when American soldiers shot the car they were in and killed her parents.
According to the story, the five year old girl, Samar, and her three year old brother, now 12 and 8, are both emotionally damaged because of the incident. They both claim to take pills for their trauma and can be found most days, huddled together in a closed off room, crying.
Perhaps this is all true, maybe not; but, the point of the story is ”the shooting of innocent civilians as they approached American checkpoints or foot patrols, killings made possible by liberal rules of engagement aiming to protect soldiers from suicide car bombers.” (more…)
Last Will
of
Osama bin Laden
In the name of Allah the merciful the forgiver,
[This is the] Will of a poor man to his god in the highest, Osama bin Mohammad bin Ladin,
Thanks be to Allah, and peace and prayers over the messenger of Allah, his family and all his companions. We implore his justice and guidance and call on him for assistance
The Butcher of 9/11 is Dead
from our evil and ill deeds. He whom Allah guides, none can lead astray and he whom Allah leads astray, has no guide. And I testify that there is no god be he alone, ascribe no partners to him and I testify that Mohammad is his slave and messenger. We beg him in the highest to accept us in martyrdom along with the righteous of his worshipers and to perish us as Muslims.
Allah had commanded us that in case death approached to leave a will for both parents, relatives and all Muslims […] and whatever saddens them, saddens me and Allah attests to what I am saying.
Allah attests that the love for Jihad and death in the cause of Allah has taken over my life and the Sword Verses have penetrated every cell of my heart, “and kill all the polytheists [infidels] as they fight all of you”. And how many times I wake from my sleep and find myself reciting this holy verse. If every Muslim would ask himself why did our Ummah reach to where she is [in a state of] humiliation and defeat, his instinctual response would be, because she has clung to the pleasures of life and tossed the book of Allah [Koran] behind its back and it is the only source that has the cure and success in the here and now and the hereafter. The Jews and Christians have tempted us with the pleasures of life and its cheap delights and they invaded us with their monitory values before invading us with their armies. And we were, like women, did not react, because the love for death in the cause of Allah has departed the hearts. (more…)
Lines are drawn on first reapportionment hearings Meeting in the House chamber Friday morning, legislators announced the first round of statewide public meetings on reapportionment, the once-a-decade job of redrawing all legislative and Congressional districts to conform to population changes.
“This process will only be successful if we let the public start the conversation,” House Speaker Dean Cannon told lawmakers. “This process will only be successful if we let the public start the conversation. Your task this summer will be much more about listening than talking.”
Here is the schedule for the first four public meetings:
* June 20: Tallahassee, Capitol, 412 Knott Building, 1-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.
* June 21: Milton, Milton Community Center, 10-1 p.m.
* June 21: Fort Walton Beach, Fort Walton Beach High, 6-9 p.m.
* June 22: Panama City, Gulf Coast Community Center, 10-1 p.m.
The second round of public forums in July will be held in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, The Villages and Gainesville.
Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/#ixzz1LaiSxDIi
Used with permission from http://thediplomad.blogspot.com/
The USA had a big win with the elimination of Osama in his “man-cave” in Pakistan. For once in his two-plus miserable years as President, Obama looked almost presidential; he, for once, had made a tough decision well. The political risk to Obama in ordering a helicopter assault on Osama’s gilded cage in Abbottabad should not be minimized. Visions of “Blackhawk Down,”and “Desert One” must have been vivid in his mind. The decision to make it a “man-on-man” hit was the right one, and Obama, apparently, rightly rejected the B-2 with PGMs option. He, rightly it seems, argued against that, noting that such a strike would always leave room for doubt as to whether we had nailed Osama. We needed U.S. eyes, hands, and bullets on the creep. That’s what we got in a brilliantly executed SEAL operation. (more…)
Used with permission from http://thediplomad.blogspot.com/
The media has been full of heart warming and funny stories of people in crisis maintaining their sense of humor in the midst of a historic natural disaster. The above link is just one of the many out there.
There is a ton of chatter on the talk shows and blogs concerning the treatment of Osama’s body.
Let’s get this out of the way now: UBL was an evil monster that deserved a worse death than he got.
Now that that’s out of the way: The United States of America is an historic anomaly. Never before, not even during the British Empire, has a nation stood so tall, so influential, and so powerful. But, American power is not the historical uniqueness, it is American civility.
The US alone, among all nations, uses its wealth and
power to raise up all nations. The US alone, among all nations, believes that all humans are free and sovereign beings with inalienable rights. It is this dual nature of America, respect of nations and champion of the natural law and the human condition that caused the US to spend ten years hunting down a criminal, killing him, and then respectfully disposing of his remains.
UBL infracted both the respect of nations and the natural rights of man and had to die. But, once he was killed, it did nothing to advance American respect of nations and human rights to defile and profane his body. It is a tribute to American Civilization that we promised to bring UBL to justice, spent billions of dollars and thousands of lives to do so… and, then, displayed incredible restraint and treated the conquered with the respect and reverence we believe all free and sovereign humans deserve.
A brilliant example of American Civilization was at a WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the US Secretary of State, during the Second Iraq War, the former Arch Bishop of Canterbury chastised Mr. Powell for invading Iraq and Afghanistan and accused the US of using “hard power” to achieve its political goals as opposed to “soft power” (the irony could not have been more complete).
Secretary Powell, delivering one of the most devastating political retorts in history, replied: (more…)
03 May 2011
This is a difficult to read posting because it is a raw transcript of several people on phones trying to interview each other. I’ve bolded the interesting exchanges.
There is one extrodinary exchange between a DoD official and a reporter named Barbara. Apparently, her concern was whether Osama died peacefully– in the middle of a forty minute firefight with US SEALS. I’ve highlighted this ridicilous exchange in red.
From the Pentagon (more…)
There seems to be some angst and trepidation amongst the conservative tribe… Many are thinking that Osama’s death under Obama cinches his reelection: FEAR NOT FELLOW AMERICANS, IT DOES NO SUCH THING.
First, stop worrying and savor the moment. Who cares if Obama is the president Osama died under. I doubt anyone would have passed up the opportunity to kill Osama, regardless of who was president. Osama’s demise has been national policy since September 11th, 2001.
An evil has been lifted from this earth and the American promise, “You can run, but you can’t hide…” is evident for all cave dewelling terrorist to see and fear. You can even have some fun with the leftist loons driving around town with some very suddenly inappropriate and out-dated bumper stickers. But, take the time to celebrate America, the US Navy SEALS, and yes… even Mr. Obama.
Tomorrow, or maybe the next day, we can start to deconstruct the emptiness that is Obama and his administration. We will discuss, in due time, Obama’s attempt to prosecute the CIA agents that used enhance interrogation techniques to obtained the very information (during the Bush years) that set the US Military Intelligents Services on the path to Osama’s hidey hole.
We can discuss later on the entire left’s non-stop assurances that America’s War on Terror was itself terrorism.
Let’s not forget the old saw, “This war is lost…” No, no, we shall not.
But, for today, celebrate an American Victory.
For tomorrow, American will still have a Marxist President, a $14,000,000,000,000 deficit, bankrupt Social Security, and $4.00 a gallon gas. Obama is a long, long way from clinching his reelection– Osama notwithstanding.
http://www.sealswcc.com/seal-default.aspx (Link to the Official US Navy SEALS website– its very cool)
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska (June 15, 2009) Members of a West Coast-based Navy SEAL team participate in infiltration and exfiltration training during a Northern Edge 2009 training exercise. An Army aviation unit transported the SEALS in CH-47D Chinook helicopters, performing two-wheel landings atop mountainous terrain in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. (U.S. Marine Corps photo/Lance Cpl. Ryan Rholes/Released)
Stalin asked, "How many divisions has the pope?" Answer: MILLIONS
Mission Accomplished