Listening to local news I just heard a state worker lament that she hadn't had a Starbucks coffee in weeks, poor baby. Who in their right mind would spend $4+ on a freaking cup of burnt coffee? I hate Starbucks coffee even when I brew it myself, it simply sucks, no wonder they are shutting hundreds of stores. I'll stick with my Folgers regular roast at less than $.10 a cup, thank you, if I want mocha I'll add a pack of Carnation hot chocolate mix to my cup.
Remember all the foaming at the mouth rhetoric that flew at President Bush after Katrina well in the same vein I blame Obama for all the deaths in the recent ice storm that has crippled the midwest. There are 1.5 million people without power still, roads are blocked by trees and many can't get to shelters in the freezing temperatures and last I saw 33 had died and millions are suffering for lack of food and water.
WHERE'S FEMA? Where is all the breathless MSM reporting on the thousands suffering from Obama's neglect? How come Obama hasn't come and lifted them from their misery on the back of his magic unicorn? Oh yeah, he is to busy wining and dining on $100 a pound wagyu steaks to care about all those helpless poor folks freezing to death. Obama doesn't care about poor white folks he's to busy trying to shove his trillion dollar theft act through Congress and kicking back to watch the Super Bowl in his nice tropically warm Whitehouse. It must be nice to be an elitist asshat with a press corps adhered to his nether regions.
Oh and hey Obama, the miracle worker that you are, California actually voted for you and we could use some rain so if you could just order some up for us that would be nice.
Update: Instapundit has more as does Rick Moran.
I all my years of following politics this has to be one of the dumbest proposals I have ever seen and it figures that it would come from a Democrat Sen. and a Rep. from California. Somehow I doubt they will get many takers since the vast majority of us that drive trucks and SUVs do so for a good reason. I saw this over at Gateway Pundit from SEMA.
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
S. 247 and H.R. 520
SEMA ( Specialty Equipment Market Association) is opposing an effort by some Washington lawmakers to include a national car crushing program in the upcoming economic stimulus package. Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.
The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets.
Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.
I don't mean retreat as in running away but to their annual conference. Mitt addressed the assembled members about the porkulus generational theft act and other topics dear to conservatives. Needless to say but I sure wish Mitt were sitting where Obama is today. Hugh Hewitt has his speech posted and I encourage my fellow conservatives to read it. Here are a couple highlights.
I have often been asked what I think the Republican Party must do to recover. What I’ve said is this: My first concern isn’t about our party—it’s about our country.
In fact, the two are closely related. The best way for us to advance the prospects of our party is to do what we know is right for the country. This is what the American people expect of us. And that’s what we should expect of ourselves.
This is a time of hardship and uncertainty for millions of Americans. The question is: whose leadership and ideas will turn things around. And in such a moment, it’s our job to offer the clear answers, the proven solutions, and resolute leadership that will make this country strong again.
The new President and the Congressional majority are having a difficult time doing that. After all, they have a lot of campaign rhetoric to make good on. And they’ve got plenty of special interests to pay back. As the opposition party, we’re entirely free to do what is right for the country. There are certain advantages to that kind of freedom, and I suggest we make the most of them.
The Republican National Committee voted in Michael Steele to be their Chairman today and I couldn't be happier. Mr. Steele is highly charismatic on camera and off while delivering a sound conservative message. I have been rooting for him since he announced his bid for the post and believe he has the ability to grow our party and expand its reach into minority communities that have bought into the liberal lies about the GOP something Katon Dawson would never be able to do while exacerbating the stereotype.
With all the debate about the non-stimulus pork palooza generational theft act being pushed by Obama and his Democrat majorities under the guise of "creating jobs" it would help to look at what creates actual jobs. In a word, profit, not the government because every job the government creates is paid for by taking money away from the profitable private citizen or business.
A business or corporation, large or small, must make a profit to stay in business and the more money the government takes from them in taxes the less they have to invest in new equipment, new hires or better pay and benefits for their employees. Taking money away from investors who made a profit on their risk in the form of capital gains taxes prevents them from investing more of that money back into the system thus creating more jobs thus spreading and growing the wealth even more. This really is not rocket science folks but plain old barnyard horse sense.
Every dollar the government spends has to come from somewhere since it does not have a product or service to make a profit from so it must come from private industry in the form of taxes and/or fees of some sort. If the government wants to actually create real jobs they should cut corporate and capital gains taxes in half at least and leave the money in the pockets of those that created the jobs in the first place. That is what the GOP has proposed and were outright rejected by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Triumvirate in search of their socialist nirvana.
Now I agree that our national infrastructure could use some work but billions for bike paths, mob museums, std prevention, the National Endowment for the Arts and dozens upon dozens of the "projects" in this bill are not infrastructure or even close except maybe in a deranged moonbat's mind. We could open up our vast reserves of oil and natural gas while creating many thousands of high paying jobs and keeping hundreds of billions of dollars here in our economy instead of sending them over seas. We could build nuclear power plants, clean green cheap energy to power America into a cleaner more prosperous future with even more high paying jobs.
In short there is much we could do that would revitalize our slumping economy but the Democrats will have none of it. They are more concerned with paying off their special interest groups that donate money to them than in actually doing what is right for America.
I hope and pray the American people wake up and realize what the Democrats are doing, our future is at stake, our livelyhoods, our way of life could go the way of Cuba if we don't.
The House liberal goodie bag generational theft act passed 244-188 with 11 Dems joining all the GOP in voting no on Pelosi's crap sandwich of a non-stimulus lard bill. If it now passes the Senate Obama and his Democrat majorities will own the biggest deficit in our history in Obama's first couple months in office. The deficit will be larger than the entire Federal budget was in Bush's first year, good work Dems. I wonder where all the moonbat trolls are that were crying about the deficit under Bush? I wonder what the people who voted for Obama will think when this doesn't create or save any jobs?
Now it's time to melt down the Senate switchboard like we did on the amnesty bill and stop it there if we can. The economy will turn around without this huge debt load on future generations. If you have a GOP Senator or a Dem. Senator in a red state call and urge them to oppose it and make Obama and the Dems own it, don't let them have any bipartisan cover for when it fails to stimulate the economy. As the Wall Street Journal said today its just a wish list of liberal spending that's built up over 40 years. This is not responsible governance but more like spoiled rich kids in a toy store with credit cards they don't have to pay for.
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.
Obama has at least met with GOP leadership unlike Nancy Pelosi about his generational theft act he calls a stimulus package but has failed to win converts. Minority Leader John Boehner and his Whip Eric Canter are urging the GOP caucus to vote no on this massive pork barrel of spending that only stimulates Democrats and their interest groups. Obama rejected their ideas for business and capital gains tax cuts that would immediately stimulate the economy and refused to say that he wouldn't raise taxes to pay for it. Politico has a couple stories covering their meeting and while the GOP is being complimentary of Obama for coming to them they aren't going to roll over for him, I hope.
Obama and the Democrats keep saying the spending is for infrastructure like roads, bridges and electrical grid work and there is some of that in there but the vast majority of the spending is from their wish list. I don't know how money for the arts, contraceptives and groups like ACORN will stimulate the economy but there is billions in it for just that. Jim Manzi has one of the better takes on just what is in the bill and what it will do that I have seen.
A consortium of conservative groups and bloggers have put together a website where you can read the bill and various writings about it, Read the Stimulus, someone needs to.
Update: More here via Ace.
Barack Obama, only several days into his presidency, has already announced that it will be one of his commitments to "actively and aggressively" advance negotiations and talks between Israel and the Arabs. Obama's new Middle East envoy will arrive in Israel next week to begin to push the process. In his first call to a foreign head of state, Obama called Mahmoud Abbas, arch-terrorist leader of Fatah, to symbolize his dedication to "a two-state solution". In his words, he doesn't want a future "in which these is no hope for the Palestinians".
It is mind-boggling that, in light of the monumental challenges facing the United States and its new president, he should be meddling so much in the affairs of a sovereign country. Given the full-blown recession, approaching the levels of a depression, in the US, along with a host of other serious problems facing the decaying American super-power, Obama has chosen to concentrate his energy on the conflict in the Middle-East. Despite the almost-deified status that the media has given him, it is quite hubristic for him to believe that he will solve a close-to 100 year-old conflict within a few months of his reign.
Israel's relationship with the United States has often been a double-edged sword. George Mitchell, the new envoy to the Mid-East, will not even wait until after the Israeli elections to begin his work. This represents a great amount of arrogance and disrespect on the part of Obama. He clearly disregards the choice of the Israeli people in the coming elections. The political winds are changing in Israel and a new administration may not be as likely as Olmert to continue along the same path of concessions and surrender. Evidently, what Israelis choose for their future is irrelevant to Barack Obama.
Israel is a sovereign nation- not an American colony or a 51st state. The close relationship between the two countries is based on shared values and strategic interests. Yet, in the end, Israel must do what is best for itself. Obama has no right to force concession or make demands on Israel. It is not the place of the United States to meddle in the business or politics of another country. The new administration has many extreme challenges facing it, and it would do well to concentrate on solving those before committing itself to carving up Israel.
Regardless of whichever side in the conflict is right, this is just one case of a disagreement between two religious/ethnic groups among thousands. All around the world, various tribes, peoples, ethnic groups and nations are fighting over different land claims. The US has its own problems and should not interfere on these tribal squabbles. Unless there is a case of genocide or severe human rights abuses, the US should mind its own business. In Darfur, close to a million blacks have been murdered by Arab janjaweed militia. The humanitarian situation is dire and could use international intervention. Why doesn't Obama send his ambassador there? Why doesn't he exert the same pressure on the leader of Sudan responsible for this genocide as he plans to exert on Israel to commit suicide? Besides cases such as this, it is the height of arrogance for the American president to interfere with the politics of another country. Israel's leaders much decide what to do for the security and welfare of Israel.
Only a few days in power, Obama has shown himself to be incredible naive in terms of foreign policy. He is committed to advancing the same deadly and ultimately fruitless road as Bush and Clinton. Despite all of the various agreements and summits between Israel and the Arabs at American behest, Israel and the Arabs are no closer to peace today that they were in 1948. No amount of documents signed negates the generations of Arabs raised on anti-semitic and anti-Israel hatred. The Arab world today remains virulently opposed to Israel existence and any concession on Israel's part only encourages and increases terror. Israel cannot afford another disastrous Oslo, or a Road Map to oblivion, G-d forbid. Obama would do wise to butt out of Israel's politics and concentrate on the problems on the home front. Hopefully, in the coming elections, Israelis will elect leaders with the courage to tell Obama respectfully but firmly: "Hands off of Israel".
Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake
A group that calls themselves the History Company is marketing a pocket sized book of quotes from Obama's speeches and books in case you need to be inspired in our new age Obama. Via Newsbusters:
Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama's speeches and writings. POCKET OBAMA serves as a reminder of the amazing power of oratory and the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this historic collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.
Includes themes of democracy, politics, war, terrorism, race, community, jurisprudence, faith, personal responsibility, national identity, and above all, his hoped-for vision of a new America. POCKET OBAMA is a portable, everyday primer for readers who want to examine the substance of his thought and reflect on the next great chapter in the American story.
Among the most widely printed books in history, Quotations had an estimated 5 to 6.5 billion copies printed during Mao's attempt to transform Chinese society. The book's phenomenal popularity may be due to the fact that it was essentially an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during the later half of Mao's rule, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
During the Cultural Revolution, studying the book was not only required in schools but was also a standard practice in the workplace as well. All units, in the industrial, commercial, agricultural, civil service, and military sectors, organized group sessions for the entire workforce to study the book during working hours. Quotes from Mao were either bold-faced or highlighted in red, and almost all writing, including scientific essays, had to quote Mao.
I don't know if taking on the undisputed king of talk radio is what Obama really wants to do, Rush only reaches around 20 million ears in hundreds of markets around the country. Rush has said he wants Obama to fail with his trillion dollar nonstimulus generational theft act and I agree with him. I want Obama to be successful at protecting the country not bankrupting it or socializing it. Here is what the New York Post reported Obama told the Republican leaders in a recent meeting about his massive spending bill.
President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.
To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing "eternal" power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle.
“This is not so much a stimulus, as a massive transfer of wealth from the politically unconnected to the politically connected.”
I trust and believe these two more than any MSM talking head when it comes to issues about our War on Terror and this interview is a must watch. They discuss Iraq and Afghanistan and the differences. Yon makes a great point about the difference in that Iraq has a fairly modern infrastructure though very decayed from neglect while Afghanistan has almost none. I wish it could be embedded but it can't be and you will have to take a few seconds to register if you haven't already.
The Bush girls, Jenna and Barbara wrote a letter to the Obama's girls, Sasha and Malia, about their time growing up in the Whitehouse with their grandparents and parents that is very classy and moving. The text is here and even MSNBC acknowledged how sweet it was of the Bush twins.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
David Frum's new website New Majority is exploring that issue and has an interesting interview with Rudy Giuliani on the subject. It is three parts but the segments are pretty short.
Ace has a lengthy post on this that I agree with, Rudy thinks the GOP needs to deemphasize social issues like abortion and gay marriage and instead focus on fiscal and national security issues. He is not saying we should abandon our socially conservative values only that they should not be the primary plank we run on with out having good strong ideas on the issues that drive a majority of voters.
Ace breaks it down into soft versus hard issues that can be argued with facts and figures and proven by history and where people's minds can be swayed one way or the other. The people that care about the social issues one way or the other are not going to be swayed by argument since those issues are generally set in stone and aren't winnable arguments for either side. Most swing voters don't really care about the social issues as political platforms but they do care about fiscal policy, law enforcement and national security and a lot of times hardlines on social issues can scare off voters.
The GOP can't exclude social moderates and still expect to win elections except in a handful of states and that is no way to regain a majority. I have a strong libertarian streak that believes government should stay out of our private lives as much as possible and adhere to what is set down in the Constitution as to what its duties are and legislating morality is not one of them. As Rudy says we cannot win back majorities by narrowing our voter base to only those that are socially conservative. I know social issues are at least the third or fourth position I look at when evaluating a candidate. I want to know their positions on taxes and spending first and foremost and where those spending priorities lie since those issues most directly affect me the taxpayer.
Anyway go read Ace's post since he does a better job summarizing it than I, he is the chief moron after all.
The You Tube title is fitting "The Post-Barackalyptic Wasteland" and I thought this was going to be the greenest celebration ever but with all those celebrity private jets that would be kinda hard and can't they at least put their garbage in a can or carry it out. I wonder how much DC had to spend to clean it all up, no wonder Bush called for disaster area spending.
Sidenote: Despite the media spin the crowd was only about half the size they say, not 2 million but more like 800,000 and despite wall to wall coverage on TV American Idol still bested it for viewership, LOL.
Even though I did not watch the joyous coronation of the One I couldn't escape it entirely as its been all over talk radio and the blogosphere. From all appearances the transition went smoothly aside from some bloopers by Obama and Justice Roberts during the swearing in ceremony. Isn't it nice to live in a free country where transitions of power take place peacefully? Well at least when the transfer is from a Republican to a Democrat, in 2001 there were loud obnoxious protests by the moonbats, the President's car was egged and the walk down Pennsylvania av. had to be cancelled out of fear of riots. The Obamas were able to make the walk to the Whitehouse in peace and no one took a potshot at them.
Where all the rioting right wingnuts all the moonbat blogs were predicting? I guess they were at work carrying on like any other day and trying to ignore Chris Mathews and his tingly legs. Where was the coup that Bush and his goonsquad were supposed to pull off according to the moonbat blogs? Just like everything else moonbats believe they were wrong about that too it seems.
Today was an historic day as the first black man took the oath of office and our nation should be proud of that, we have come a long ways in the last fifty years. Barack Obama is now my President and I will afford him the respect the office deserves unlike the treatment offered by the moonbats to President Bush. I will applaud him when he does what's right for the country and respectfully oppose him when I believe his policies are wrong which is most of them if not all.
I am sure the moonbats will continue to be moonbats and when Obama doesn't come through for them on all his campaign rhetoric they will be crushed and outraged. It will be fun to watch Code Pink and the rest of the antiwar groups when he doesn't immediately pull out of Iraq, denounce Israel and surrender to Iran. Obama has a family that he loves and wants to protect that is now the number one target of jihadists around the world and he is smart enough to understand that. I am also sure the many security briefings he has recently received have given him a fresh perspective he did not have before.
Anyway I wish him all the luck in the world because he's going to need it, actually governing is not as easy as campaigning on empty lofty rhetoric and soaring speeches. The challenges he faces ahead are as difficult as any this nation has ever faced, our enemies will still hate us, the economy is struggling and Europe is still bassackwards.
Good Bye President Bush, I for one will miss you! You served with honor and grace and did what you believed to be what was right for our country. You kept us safe for seven years and liberated fifty million people from the worst of tyranny and showed them freedom's light. Enjoy your rest, you earned it!
I haven't checked Jackie in a while but Newsbusters pointed me to his latest on Obama, Clinton and Geithner and its good.
The more I hear from her the more I like her and I have been a big fan from the start, its her attitude, always sunny and optimistic. As I have said before John McCain and his team made a huge mistake when he tried to put a leash on the "pitbull with lipstick" at the start of their run, he should have turned the Barracuda loose and let Sarah be Sarah.
The video is not great quality but she still looks great and as Glenn said she is one hot Grandma. She is still a hot commodity for the media and I hope she remains so and runs for reelection as Gov. and not the Senate while boning up on foreign and domestic policy. We will need her in top form in a few years since I don't see anybody else in the GOP with her ability to connect with people.
I am so sick of Obamania already that I am not going to watch or listen to one minute of the lovefest. I am going to do something really exciting like prepare my sales tax statement for the last year, well it will stimulate me enough to go split some more wood for the fireplace when I am done. I doubt I can send an IOU to the Ca. government as they are planning to do for taxpayer refunds.
I have to wonder if any of the of those in the media currently swooning over Obama will wake up anytime soon to look back at how idiotically biased they sound when Obama's economic policies bankrupt America. I remember when the MSM pitched a fit over the cost of Bush's '04 inaugeral but Obama is spending four times as much and not a peep only gushing adoration, aaack. The funny/sad part is a good portion of that expense is being funded by those bailed out Wall Street fatcats so taxpayers are paying one way or another to coronate the One.
Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean got their sentences commuted today by President Bush and will be released on March 20th. This has been a sore spot with conservatives and border control activists for a couple years after they shot a drug smuggler and got exorbitant sentences after they tried to cover it up. Andy McCarthey, a former federal prosecuter, explains what they did and why they were guilty of a crime.
Compean and Ramos are bad guys. Once Aldrete-Davila was down from Ramos’s shot to the backside, they decided, for a second time, not to grab him so he could face justice for his crimes. As they well knew, an arrest at that point — after 15 shots at a fleeing, unarmed man who had tried to surrender — would have shone a spotlight on their performance. So instead, they exacerbated the already shameful display.
Instead of arresting the wounded smuggler, they put their guns away and left him behind. But not before trying to conceal the improper discharge of their firearms. Compean picked up and hid his shell-casings rather than leaving the scene intact for investigators. Both agents filed false reports, failing to record the firing of their weapons though they were well aware of regulations requiring that they do so. Because the “heroes” put covering their tracks ahead of doing their duty, Aldrete-Davila was eventually able to limp off to a waiting car and escape into Mexico.
In one of his last official acts in office President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Amb. Crocker. He is probably the most deserving of that honor in recent memory having worked closely with the Iraqi government and Generals Petraeus and Odierno to bring about the enormous changes we have seen in Iraq since the early days of the Surge. He has also served our country in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria. Here are President Bush's remarks via Gateway Pundit.
Members of the Foreign Service bring valor and professionalism to their work every single day. And there is one man who embodies these qualities above all: Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Over the years, Ryan has earned many honors, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award and the rank of Career Ambassador. Today I have the privilege of honoring Ambassador Crocker with the highest civil award I can bestow -- the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Applause.) It has not been bestowed yet. (Laughter.)
The son of an Air Force officer, Ryan Crocker has never been your typical diplomat. For social engagements, he likes to tell guests, "no socks required." (Laughter.) For language training, he once spent time herding sheep with a desert tribe in Jordan. For sport, he has jogged through war zones, and run marathons on four continents. And for assignments, his preference has always been anywhere but Washington. (Laughter.)
During his nearly four decades in the Foreign Service, Ryan Crocker has become known as America's Lawrence of Arabia. His career has taken him to every corner of the Middle East. His understanding of the region is unmatched. His exploits are legendary. He has served as ambassador to five countries. He has repeatedly taken on the most challenging assignments.
The man has never run from danger. As a young officer during the late 1970s, Ryan catalogued Saddam Hussein's murderous rise to power. In 1983, he survived the terrorist attack on the American embassy in Lebanon. In 1998, as the Ambassador to Syria, he witnessed an angry mob plunder his residence.
After any one of these brushes with danger, most people would have lost their appetite for adventure -- not Ryan Crocker. In the years since September the 11th, 2001, I have asked Ryan to hold numerous posts on the front lines of the war on terror, and he has stepped forward enthusiastically every time.
When the American embassy in Kabul reopened in the beginning of 2002, Ryan Crocker was our first envoy. When we liberated Iraq and removed the thug Saddam Hussein from power in 2003, I sent Ryan to help lead the reconstruction efforts. When the American embassy in Pakistan needed new leadership, Ryan Crocker was put in charge. In 2007, I asked Ryan to return for a final mission to Iraq as America's ambassador.
Two years later, Iraq is becoming a rising democracy, an ally in the war on terror, an inspiring model of freedom for people across the Middle East. When the story of this transformation is written, historians will note the extraordinary partnership between two exceptional men: General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. As the General carried out a surge of military forces to improve security, the Ambassador led a civilian surge to improve everyday life. In December, after months of intense negotiations, the world saw the culmination of Ambassador Crocker's masterful diplomacy -- two historic agreements for long-term cooperation between the United States and Iraq.
This is not the first time that Ambassador Crocker has executed a brilliant diplomatic maneuver in Baghdad. During a rotation at the American embassy nearly 30 years ago, he persuaded a young Foreign Service Officer named Christine Barnes to be his wife. (Laughter.) They have traveled the world together, and as Ryan prepares to retire from the Foreign Service, we wish the two of them many years of happiness. (Applause.)
General Petraeus recently said this about his retiring colleague: "It was a great honor for me to be his military wingman." And today it is my great honor to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to one of the finest Foreign Service Officers in American history -- Ryan Clark Crocker. And now the military aide will read the citation. (Applause.)
Michelle Malkin rightly calls it The Generational Theft Act for good reason since there is nothing in it to stimulate the economy well maybe one or two worthy projects but the rest is pure greasy liberal pork. Amanda Carpenter posted a short list of some of the spending the Democrats are proposing, the pdfs are here, here, and press summary here if you are a glutton for punishment. I looked through the short press summary and its a disgusting pork barrel of welfare and liberal pet projects.
-$6 billion to weatherize "modest income homes."
-$6 billion to provide internet in "underserved" areas
-$6 billion for "higher education modernization."
-$20 billion in health information technology to "prevent medial mistakes."
-$20 billion to increase food stamp funding
-$87 billion to provide a "temporary" increase in Medicaid funding
-$300 million to provide rebates for people who purchase Energy Star products
-$600 million for the federal government to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$400 million for state and local governments to buy brand new energy efficient cars
-$2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration programs
-$350 million to research using energy efficient technology on military bases
-$300 million for grants and loans to state and local governments for projects that reduce diesel emissions, "benefiting public health and reducing global warming"
-$500 million for energy efficient manufacturing demonstration projects.
-$400 million to build major research facilities "that perform cutting edge science"
-$1.5 billion for expanding "good jobs in biomedical research"
-$400 million "to put more scientists to work doing climate change research"
-$600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.
-$250 million "to address long-term economic distress in urban industrial cores and rural areas distributed based on need and ability to create jobs and attract private investment."
-$650 million to continue the coupon program to enable American households to convert from analog television transmission to digital transmission.
-$300 million for the National Wildlife Refuges and National Fish Hatcheries
-$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
-$400 million for "ready-to-go habitat restoration projects"
-$2 billion to provide child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families while their parents go to work.
-$120 million to provide subsidized community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans
-$1.5 billion to help local communities build and rehabilitate low-income housing using green technologies.
-$500 million to rehabilitate and improve energy efficiency at some of the over 42,000 housing units maintained by Native American housing programs
-$10 million for "rural, high-need areas to undertake projects using sustainable and energy-efficient building and rehabilitation practices"
I don't normally link to liberals but Camille Paglia is a deserved exception to that self imposed rule, she slaps Katie Couric cross eyed and spanks global warmists with a clue by four. She also was a vocal defender of our conservative gal Sarah Palin. Its to good to quote so just go read all four pages!
The Dept. of Defense seems to think so and I can see why as there is basically a civil war going on between the government and the drug cartles. I don't know if I would quite put on the level with Pakistan as a failing state just yet but there is ample reason for concern about our security should it fail. You think illegal immigration is bad now just wait till they become refugees. This is from the El Paso Times via Hot Air.
Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.
The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.
"The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."
If Obama gets all the spending he wants then the deficit will be as big or bigger than the entire budget, 1.7 trillion, when President Bush took office and the Democrats in Congress want even more spending than Obama has proposed. Obama has proposed just shy of one trillion dollars in stimulus spending and the Democrats are calling for twice that on top of the trillions they just wasted bailing out the banks and wall street. That is effing obscene to say the least.
I had moonbat trolls telling me how derelict Bush was in running up the deficit after the balanced budget of the Clinton years, thanks to a Republican lead Congress not Clinton, BTW. Now Democrats want to put our great great great grandchildren into debt with nary a peep out of all those lefty fiscal hawks.
The even scarier part of all this is that each year's budget uses the previous year's as a baseline and that base line is set to grow astronomically this year if the Democrats get their way and that does not take into account the unfunded liability of Social Security.
The deficit has skyrocketed because spending has grown from $1.8 trillion in 2000 to a projected $3.5 trillion in 2009, fully 95 percent higher. Of course, all that happened mostly on a Republican watch.
One reason the increase is so dramatic is the mystery of compounding. Each year, Congress passed pork-laden expenditure bills, which became part of the long-run baseline the minute they became law. Each time that the federal government wasted a billion dollars, it created budget space to waste $1 billion again and again, ad infinitum.
That’s perhaps the scariest fact about next year’s budget. The skyrocketing spending of 2009 will be the CBO baseline for every year after that. It will be easy to provide health care to everyone; the budget space will be blocked out. Indeed, Congress can spend with impunity in years to come, covered by the protective shroud of the CBO baseline that this year delivers.
We can ride big government spending and trillion-dollar deficits all the way to 2017, when the Social Security trust fund itself starts running deficits.
This year may establish a government-spending black hole with gravity strong enough to suck the U.S. economy over the event horizon. Such a spending path has two possible endgames. Neither is pretty.
Joe is in Sderot which has been the focus of most of Hamas' rocket attacks on Southern Israel and gives as good a report as any you would see on TV. He has gotten some criticism from those high paid professional journalists because he dared to venture into their world to deliver stories they won't, good for him as he pokes them in the eye. He actually got to experience what the residents of Sderot have had to deal with everyday for several years now, an incoming missile attack while reporting from a house that had been hit earlier. Its good to see some reporting without the breathless spin but just good down to earth insight.
You do have to register, email addy and password, but it is free and worth the few seconds it takes. The video is here.
PS: Note when they have to run for the bomb shelter, Joe is about the last one in ushering in ladies first and then he and his camera man follow.
You can sign up now from my side bar, the first issue is tomorrow so sign up now. It looks great with several conservative bloggers contributing their top posts. We will give you the news the liberally biased MSM won't while debunking their lies and spin with the conservative twist.
I will never understand why the radical left moonbats rally in support of radical islamists since their ideologies are completely opposite each other. The left loves to proclaim its support for women's rights, homosexual rights and all sorts of humanitarian causes while the islamists execute homosexuals, oppress their women and launch indescriminate attacks on innocent civilians. The moonbats seem to think Hamas is innocent and Israel is guilty for some odd reason I will never understand. Well their violent protests around the world will hardly win wide support for their claim that islam is a religion of peace when they burn cars, attack police, vandalize businesses and synagogues and generally behave like anarchist fascists.
The wonderful Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs has been covering all these violent anti-Israel protests and the peaceful pro-Israel counter protests with lots of pictures and videos so just keep scrolling. Jews all over Europe and alas even here in the US are fearing for their safety as those thugs get ever more violent in their protestations. What islamophobia, how about rampant anti-semitism? Will those perps be charged with hate crimes the same as if those attacks had been made on muslims or blacks? I doubt it though hate crime is the only way to describe them and here I thought the leftards were all against hate. I guess I was wrong.
Jim at Gateway Pundit has more on the rampant Jew hatred and anarchist violence of those protests.
Also don't miss this Mark Steyn column on "The Oldest Hatred"
I think all the nuts they eat have gone to their head and studies have shown that a vegan diet reduces brain power. They now want to call fish sea kittens because who could eat a cute cuddly kitten right, well, besides a billion people in Asia. This all another PR campaign aimed at children to make them not want to eat meat at a time in their lives when the consumption of high quality protien like fish is critical to their physical and mental development. You cannot get the critical nutrition needed from a strictly vegan diet, they can come close through a carefully monitered and complex diet that relies on combinations of certain foods but it isn't the same since it lacks critical amino acids.
I tried going vegetarian many years ago because it seemed like a cool thing to do and I was running in lefty circles at the time but I noticed a drop in energy levels very quickly so I gave that up quick. Besides I like BBQ ribs to much for that, well BBQ anything for that matter including sea kittens. Heck I am starting to wonder how land kitten would taste on the grill since there are enough strays around here to stock my freezer for the coming Obama depression.
Speaking of energy levels, I went on a mountaineering expedition once that that had a vegan as part of it and we constantly had to wait on him to catch up. It sucked since we essentially had to prepare two separate meals, one for us and one for him using twice as much fuel as a result. I like trail mix with all the nuts, dried fruit and granola but I add meat jerky on the side for trail side noshing. The funny part is he was the only one in the group that had a gut, er slightly overweight and he was the one that ate all the "healthy" stuff LOL.
Florida and Oklahoma have sqauared off for the BCS Championship and who would have thought it would be a defensive duel for two of the highest powered offenses in college ball. Its only 7-7 at halftime with two great goal line stands by Florida to deny OU any points. This is a great football game by any standard.
Go Gators!!!
YES, Florida wins 24-14, they may have beaten my Crimson Tide but the SEC retains the Title as the best conference in the game. We know how to play defense as OU found out the hard way. I also have to say the more I see Tim Tebow play the more impressed I am, he willed his team to victory and don't get in his way. The guy is a class act of the highest degree.
Congrats Gators, thanks for making the SEC proud once again!
The folks at MEMRI put this little video together of Hamas' vile rants against the West and Israel.
How would you like to have those monsters to share a border with? Well I guess some of the drug cartels to our south are almost as bad.
She sat down with John Ziegler for an extended interview for an upcoming documentary on media malfeasance during the presidential campaign. John McCain and his staff made a huge mistake in not just letting Sarah be Sarah and just turning her lose along with letting her choose what media she wanted to be interviewed by. Here is a bit of the interview that John has released, via Hot Air.
I have said before that I would be torn between Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin in a primary and I still am but I think Sarah is able to connect on a much more personal level than Mitt is able to. I do not think she should run for the Senate, why be 1 of 100 when you are 1 of 50 and run a significant State. She should run for re-election as Gov., a sure win given her approval numbers in Alaska and be ready for 2012 and 2016.
I am teaming The Barnyard up with American Sentinel and a few others to put out a news letter to be put out twice weekly of our best posts and articles. I will have a widget up on my sidebar soon where you can sign up for these news letters, it is a secure list and your email will not be sold or distributed. My readers that I have email addresses for know I very rarely send out group emails and when I do it has an important reason behind it.
The folks over at American Sentinel are all good conservatives and good writers and I am honored to team up with them to help spread our message and extend our reach.
The founder of Hustler, Larry Flynt, and Girls Gone Wild founder, Joe Francis, line up at the taxpayer trough for some of those bailout fun funds. I guess all that free porn all over the internets has cut into their businesses as well so they want to screw the taxpayer so they can keep screwing.
Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.
“The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”
Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry’s survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people.”
“We should be delivering [the request] by the end of today to our congressmen and [Secretary of the Treasury Henry] Paulson asking for this $5 billion dollar bailout,” he told CNN Wednesday.
Israel has the world's 4th strongest army, superior weapons, arms and technology. Hamas, while armed with deadly weapons smuggled in from Egypt and supplied by Iran, is nothing compared to Israeli firepower. If Israel wanted, the Hamastan stronghold in Gaza could be wiped out in an aerial assault in a number of hours. Yet Hamas possesses something which the current Israeli leadership does not possess: confidence in the justness of its cause.
Watching the news, Israel's claim in defense of its actions has been that Israel the right to defend itself. Faced with a genocidal group of terrorists committed to murdering and maiming as many Jews as possible, all Israel has to say is that it has the right to defend itself. Lost amidst all of the rhetoric and slogans is the fact that Hamas has repeatedly and consistently violated Israel's sovereignty and contests its right to exist as a nation. Sadly, the war being fought in Gaza is not a war to conquer Gaza, but rather a war to get rid of Gaza. In summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, expelling close to 10 000 Jewish residents and dismantling their towns and villages, in an attempt to allow Gazans to build their own state. The discussion over the Disengagement consisted of mainly security, whether or not it would lead to peace or to rockets. Those who argued the latter were vindicated. Absent from the debate was Israel's entitlement to Gaza.
Israel's military failed miserably during the Second Lebanon War because its leadership lacked defined goals and objectives. While, thank G-d, Israel has been succeeding militarily in Gaza, it still lacks the same basic purpose. Israel's leaders have repeatedly emphasized that they do not intend to re-occupy Gaza and that should Hamas be destroyed, Gaza will be given over to Fatah. The powers that be see the current war as simply another means to further the two state (final) solution, the so-called "Road Map to Peace". In the minds of many Israelis, Gaza is simply not our land. The war is being fought to make the Disengagement final, to stop the rockets and finally be done with Gaza. Instead of realizing the errors of the Gaza Disengagement, Israel's leaders are determined to repeat the same mistakes in Judea and Samaria. Anyone with a limited amount of intelligence can see that the Hamas rockets in Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod are the fruits of the Disengagement.
Israel is in a stalemate with Hamas. It has surrounded Gaza City but hesitates to go in. The political leadership want to leave Gaza as soon as possible, and preferably hand it over to the more "moderate" Fatah murderers. The same mentality remains that Gaza is foreign turf. Because of this basic assumption, Israel cannot succeed in vanquishing Hamas. It must be repeated and repeated again, incessantly, to counter the Big Lie of Arab propaganda: The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. Never in the annals of history has there been a sovereign Palestinian country, or a distinct Palestinian people, culture or language. The only three independent nations in the Land of Israel have been Jewish: the Davidic kingdom, the Hasmonean dynasty and the modern state of Israel. The term 'Palestine' was invented by the Roman emperor Hadrian after he crushed the Jewish revolt in 70 CE. Destroying the Temple in Jerusalem and scattering the Jews to across the world, he renamed Judea 'Palestinae', in the name of an ancient extinct people, the Philistines, in an attempt to erase the Jewish connection to Israel. Many successive empire conquered the Land of Israel yet none ever bothered to build their own nation. When Islam spread through the Middle-East in the 7th century, the Arabs moved into and occupied the geographical entity known as Palestine, yet never once did they consider themselves Palestinian. British document from the Mandatory period consistently refer to "the Jews and Arabs of Palestine", not the Jews and Palestinians. Only in 1967, once the Arabs had lost 6 wars against Israel did they decide on a new tactic and spun the tale of the "Palestine", stolen and occupied by the Jews.
This is not a conflict about territory, or about rockets and settlements. It is about moral rights, whether or not the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people or to the Arabs. In a betrayal of history, Israel's leaders do not have the strength and moral convictions to assert Jewish rights from river to sea. Precisely for this reason does Israel find itself incapable of dispatching a ragtag band of murderers and terrorists. The Arabs speak about "dying for Palestine", martyrdom, and will not compromise on an inch of what they consider holy soil. Israel speaks about self-defense, tactical victories, cease-fires, truces and the "peace process". It is no surprise that Hamas shows not signs of surrender despite an intense 11-day barrage while Israel's leadership (but not people) are demonstrating war weariness. The corrupt Kadima government is determine to surrender as much Jewish land as possible. A post-Zionist government does not have the capacity to implement the necessary solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Gaza is firmly Jewish. It was a part of the tribal inheritance of Judah, was the site of Samson's campaigns against the Philistines and where David slew Goliath. During Greek times, it fell to Alexander the Great and was eventually recaptured by the Hasmoneans. It was home to a thriving and flourishing Jewish community. In 1967, A. Ovadiah excavated the area and discovered a synagogue from the sixth century C.E. Archaeology evidence supports the biblical premise of a continuous Jewish presence from the Late bronze period until the Byzantine period (ca. 1500 B.C.E. through 632 C.E.) It must be recalled that most of the Arabs living in Israel only came in the middle to late 1920’s to escape economic hardship and political persecution by their own people for better opportunity. Gaza, as well as Judea and Samaria, remain under illegal Arab occupation and must be returned to their rightful owners. International law, enshrined in the League of Nations mandate for Palestine and recognized by the UN, gives the Jewish people sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel, and both sides of the Jordan. Various British policies further limited and reduced the area to be given towards a Jewish homeland. However, the world body has never repealed the Jewish right to the Land of Israel under the International law.
A true and lasting peace will only come to the region once Gush Katif, Neve Dekalim and all of the destroyed Jewish towns are re-built on the ruins of Hamas. The Jews of Gaza were unjustly expelled from their rightful homes. The entire leadership responsible for the Expulsion must be tried for crimes against the Jewish people. Only once Israel has the strength to firmly declare that the entire Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, and only the Jewish people, will the conflict be resolved. Until then, rockets and suicide bombings will continually maim and kill Jews. Israel's leaders crave world attention and acceptance and therefore are hesitant to assert Jewish rights over the Land. The offensive in Gaza has been limited due to international pressure. What Israel's weak leaders don't realize is that the world body hates the Jewish people. Never will the UN and EU be satisfied until Israel is wiped off the map, G-d forbid. As a wise man once said: "It is better to have an Israel that the entire world hates than an Auschwitz that world loves". Jewish morality demands that Israel defend its citizens and re-conquer its land. Our enemies must be either completely destroyed or transfered from the Land.
History will judge harshly those who seek to separate the Jewish people from their inheritance. The nation that begged, three times a day that "our eyes should behold Your return to Zion in mercy", cannot be defeated. "And I will turn the captivity of My people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." (Amos 9:14-15). May we see the day when the prophecy of Amos is fulfilled. Amen!
Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake
The media and the moonbats, I know that's redundant, are all in a tizzy over an UNRWA school where 30-40 "civilians" were killed by Israeli artillary. What they don't tell you is that there were several Hamas terrorist bodies among those dead and that Hamas was firing mortars from the school. The pig humpers that are Hamas are well known for using schools, mosques, hospitals and other places where civilians congregate to store weapons or use as firing positions for those weapons in the hopes that the IDF won't fire on them, cowardly bastards. They do this in the hopes civilians will get killed so they can then use the incident for propaganda purposes knowing their useful idiots in the western media will pick it up and run with it and the international community will then blame Israel.
There are reports that Hamas even had the building wired with explosives and may have lured the civilians into it promising safety and then purposely fired morters from it knowing the IDF would fire back. I sure would not put it past them that Hamas could have even set of those explosives themselves so they could blame the IDF, they are that cruel and deluded. Heck even the AP had to report that Gaza residents witnessed Hamas firing mortars from the school grounds and the IDF has video of them doing it, via Israellycool who has much, much more.
This was from Oct. '07 but it is still proof they use schools as launching points, note how the Hamas scum fire three quick rounds, hide the launcher in the school and then run away, effing pig humping cowards. Here is an IDF soldier spokesman explaining what happened and references the above video.
Plus here is an interesting piece from an Arab telling the palestinians to get over it, they lost and Israel won, time to move on. I should point out that Israel's Arab neighbors don't like the palestinians much either.
Update:The Muqata has much more info.
Obama and his Democrat majorities have not even begun their new reign yet and the scandals already brewing are making the transition less than smooth. Govs. Blagojevich and Richardson and Sen. Clinton are all under investigation for pay to play schemes. It would all be funny if it were not so sad that these are people that are going to be in charge of running the country for the next few years. David Kahane has a must read only slightly tongue in cheek article on just how deep and long lived the culture of corruption is within the 'Democratic' Party. I used the scare quotes because they are hardly democratic in the sense of the word with all the cronyism and nepotism going around in their circles lately. Here is a taste from "Life in the Clown Car Fast Lane".
Can you believe it? Barack Hussein Obama II hasn’t even been inaugurated yet and he’s already been interviewed by federal prosecutors in the ongoing Blago mess; he’s seen Bill Richardson immolate himself rather than stand the federal grand-jury scrutiny that would have come with his appointment as Commerce Secretary; his boy Rahm Emanuel is both en pointe, having resigned the House seat that was previously warmed by Hot Rod and Dan Rostenkowski, and, apparently, on Patrick Fitzgerald’s tapes too; and he’s facing the prospect of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, standing like a homunculus George Wallace in the schoolhouse door, ready to deny entrance to a black man when Roland “We Are the Senator” Burris tries to take Bambi’s hardly-even-used seat tomorrow.
And here we Democrats thought the Clinton administration could never be topped!
We are the party of Barack Obama and the Daley Machine; the party of the Clintons and their amazing alchemistic Library, which turns Saudi dross into altruistic gold; the party of Tony Rezko and Norman Hsu; the party of vaporizing fundraisers, absconding bagmen and sitting New Mexico governors (and a recent presidential “candidate”) currently under federal investigation for allegedly steering a state contract in the direction of one of his big backers, David Rubin of CDR Financial Products in Beverly Hills. Now comes word that Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state-designate, Congress and the Emoluments Clause willing, got millions of dollars for a mall in Syracuse shortly after the developer coughed up a hundred grand for the Bill Clinton “Foundation.” That’s what I call commerce!
We are also the party of Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who’s currently under “investigation” by the House “Ethics” Committee for a myriad of dubious practices, including using campaign contributions to pay his parking tickets.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.
Pelosi’s rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”
In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today to Pelosi to object to changes to House Rules this week that would bar Republicans from offering alternative bills, amendments to Democrat bills or even the guarantee of open debate accessible by motions to recommit for any piece of legislation during the entire 111th Congress. These procedural abuses, as outlined in the below letter obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, would also include the repeal of six-year limit for committee chairmen and other House Rules reform measures enacted in 1995 as part of the Contract with America.
After decades of Democrat control of the House of Representatives, gross abuses to the legislative process and several high-profile scandals contributed to an overwhelming Republican House Congressional landslide victory in 1994. Reforms to the House Rules as part of the Contract with America were designed to open up to public scrutiny what had become under this decades-long Democrat majority a dangerously secretive House legislative process. The Republican reform of the way the House did business included opening committee meetings to the public and media, making Congress actually subject to federal law, term limits for committee chairmen ending decades-long committee fiefdoms, truth in budgeting, elimination of the committee proxy vote, authorization of a House audit, specific requirements for blanket rules waivers, and guarantees to the then-Democrat minority party to offer amendments to pieces of legislation.
Pelosi’s proposed repeal of decades-long House accountability reforms exposes a tyrannical Democrat leadership poised to assemble legislation in secret, then goose-step it through Congress by the elimination of debate and amendment procedures as part of America’s governing legislative process.
They know this will be a tough and dangerous operation since Hamas has been building tunnels and setting booby traps for at least two years. Reports are still pretty sketchy but there has apparently been some heavy fighting going on. Besides our own military the IDF is probably the best equipped and highly trained outfit there is and they know the tactics that will be used against them, IEDs and ambush attacks as the Hamas rats pop up out of their holes.
My readers of course know not to rely on our MSM to give us any straight reporting that isn't biased to some degree against Israel. The Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Ha'aretz are fair Israeli sources but as with the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts independent bloggers seem to have a lot more to offer. In this case Israellycoool, Mere Rhetoric, The Muqata , Israel Matzav and Meryl Yourish are the places to go for constant up to the minute updates on what is happening. Israel is a tech dense country so I am sure many other bloggers are posting on this as well. If you have a tip please post it in the comments.
All the same idiot asshats that had been organizing protests against the Iraq war now have a new conflict to scream and cry about as more terrorists get sent to meet their 72 virgin pigs. Atlas Shrugs has lots of pictures of the anti-semite, jihadi ass kissing protestors from around the US and the world. I guess they don't realize wailing and rampaging in the streets not only exposes them as fools but also hardens their opposition against them and even flips many who may have empathized with them the other way.
This is from San Franistan
They keep chanting "Free, Free, Palestine" but palestine has never existed so how can you free it if it never existed to begin with? Why don't they protest the fact that the other Arab countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt just absorb those palestinians and let Israel have its tiny slice of land? Its simple as Mile Totten wrote some time ago, the palestinians are the most hated group of bums in the Middle East and he lived in Lebanon for many years. Heck even Hezbollah doesn't like Hamas enough to help out and they are both proxies of Iran. In deed the only reasom there may be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is because of Hamas and not Israel but the lefty moonbat protesters are historical illiterates as we here in the Barnyard have long known.
Update: This is an interesting developement, Hamas is killing Fatah activists in the strip, red on red bloodshed.
Hamas is booby trapping the entire strip in anticipation of an Israeli ground invasion including using women and children as shields and their version of "smart" bombs. There are no innocents in Gaza even the youngest are taught hatred for Israel so they should just be carpet bombed, there are no hearts or minds to be won there. The smart ones left already and made lives for themselves elsewhere. The women are vowing to blow themselves up among the "apes and pigs" and they wonder why Israel keeps the border crossings closed, from MEMRI via Gateway Pundit, Jihad Watch and Israel Matzav.
Following are excerpts from footage of Hamas female martyrdom-seekers in Gaza, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 30, 2008.
Masked woman clad in explosives belt: "I, the martyrdom-seeker Umm Suheib, have dedicated myself for the sake of Allah, and for the sake of redeeming my family, from which I have lost eight martyrs so far. I swear by Allah that I will turn my body parts into a fire that will burn the occupation soldiers, if they move towards my house.
"My beloved people, if Allah supports you, no one will be able to overcome you. We are confident of the support of Allah. There are thousands of martyrdom-seeking women like me, waiting for the occupier, in order to avenge these massacres. I pledge to my people that I will continue on the path of my family, and avenge the widows and the orphans. My people on the front-line, do not wait for any Arab president or king, but direct your appeal to Allah, the King of Kings. We are loyal to our oath, and will meet, Allah willing, in the paradise of eternity."
Masked woman holding rifle: "Allah said: 'Prepare against them what force and steeds of war you can, to strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your own enemies.' We convey this message to the Israeli army high command, which bombards our sons day and night: We, the martyrdom-seeking women of Palestine, mothers as well as girls, are waiting impatiently for them to come. Allah willing, we will make them taste bitterness, if they move even an inch into our beloved Gaza Strip.
"I am the mother of two martyrs, and I will sacrifice myself as a martyr, Allah willing. I will turn my blood into bombs that will burn them. In every Palestinian home, a time bomb will await them. There will be days of battle between us, and this will be our opportunity to avenge our sons whom they have bombed, and the blood of the 400 martyrs who were killed in the headquarters. I am waiting for them.
My honorable people, have more forbearance and steadfastness. Your daughters march by your side on the path of Jihad and martyrdom."
Second masked woman holding a rifle: "If one of our men dies, a thousand men will set out in his place. We, the women, will set out. We are the granddaughters of Yassin, Al-Bana, and Al-Qassam. We are all the daughters of Palestine, the daughters of steadfast Gaza. We will set out, booby-trapped. From every home, a bomb will set out, and it will explode among the sons of Zion. We are no less than Fatima Al-Najjar and Rim Al-Riyashi [two Palestinian women who blew themselves up among Israelis]. We will blow ourselves up among those traitors, those apes and pigs."
