Tenth of Tevet

"Master of the world, the people of Israel are your tephillin; when a simple Jew drops his tephillin on the ground, he picks them up and kisses them. When the people of Israel suffer and are thrown in the dust, isn't it proper that you should pick them up and kiss them?" --Rebbe Levi Yitschak of Berditshev, Ukraine, late 1700's

Tomorrow is the fast of the Tenth of Tevet which marks the day that the wicked Babylonians and Romans began the siege of Jerusalem, the beginning of the end for the First and Second Temples. The Sages declare that every generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt is like the generation in which it was destroyed. Due to our many sins, the Temple has not yet been rebuilt, namely because we have failed 'to set Jerusalem above my highest joy' (Tehillim 137:6). Unfortunately, the Israeli government has not learnt this holy lesson and is prepared to sacrifice Jerusalem.

As long as we don't have a Temple, we are in exile. The Jewish people are in exile physically since we are still endangered and besieged by our enemies, and the world as a whole is in the spiritual exile of agnosticism, heresy, doubt and meaninglessness. When the Temple will be rebuilt, G-d's presence will be manifest on Earth and we will all bask in His glory.


"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps. For there they that led us captive asked of us words of song, and our tormentors asked of us mirth: 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord'S song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. Remember, O the Lord, against the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem; who said: 'Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.' O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock."

May we merit the rebuilding of Jerusalem, of the Holy Temple, and may Hashem comfort Zion speedily in our days. Hashem, pick up Your holy tefillin and bring us home. Amen, ken yehi ratzon!



PS Sign the Jewish Declaration to the World and "raise Jerusalem above your highest joy"

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Those Extra Black Secret Service SUVs

Ever wonder why there are so many of those big black suburbans in a Presidential convoy? Reader Phil mailed it to me and I found it again at Ace of Spades. Secret Service war porn, This is super badass!

Inside The Birth Of Modern Islamic Jihad

Lawrence Wright's book "The Looming Tower" takes you to the beginning in Egypt and the US and one Sayyid Qutb in the late forties. Wright explores the effect of the establishment of Israel and their easy defeat of the massed Arab armies and the birth of the Muslim Brotherhood that believed they lost because they had left Allah and only by returning to strict Sha`ria law could the be victorious over the Jews and to a lesser extent the West. Their focus was on Egypt only but Qutb's writings spread to the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia.

Wright chronicles OBL's father's rise to prominence with the Saudi family as a contracter for their first oil boom building projects and Osama's travels for jihad. Turns out he was seen as an incompetant fool with deep pockets. He had very little to do with kicking the Soviets out of Afganistan, except money, his Arabs were seen as very poor fighters by the Afgan Muj and were kept out of most of the fighting.

This incredible book covers all the innerworkings of how AQ came to be as well as Hezbullah, etal. It is extensively researched with documented with all the many players in a relatively small movement. I highly recommend this under the Tree if your spouse loves a thriller, then you can read it too, LOL .

I'm Baaack

Good flights, good visit but it is good to be home with a fire going and internet access, LOL. I did log in at the Library when my Mother and Sister went Saturday so I could catch up. Anyway, I read when I fly and will have reviews posted on Lawrence Wright"s "The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11" and Robert Kaplan's "Imperial Grunts" , embedded with our military around the world at the NonCom level, both are must reads for those interested in recent history of the conflicts and efforts we are involved in. Both are excellent writers so they read like great fiction but they aren't. I will put it this way, I like to smoke a cigar when I read so I had to go outside at their house, I was bundled up at midnight in 30 degree weather sitting on the deck reading "The Looming Tower".
I also got to see the "Lord of the Rings " trilogy when TNT ran it this weekend. I admit it I was a Tolkien geek but only got to see the first one on the big screen and was extremely impressed. I played couch potato Sunday and watched it all, again after seeing Fri. and Sat.'s runup, awesome job, just awesome.

From the Jewish People to the World

(by Rafael V. Rabinovitch)

To the Nations of the World

We, the Jewish people, both in Eretz Yisrael and in the various places of our exile, hereby declare:

1. That the Jewish People are the sole heirs to the Land of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea;

2. That all the Jewish people, each and every Jew, and only the Jews, have the right to return to the Land of Israel;

3. That the Jewish People have the right and duty to settle the Land of Israel in its entirety, to work the land, to build industry on it, and to do so respecting its holiness as the Torah commands;

4. That any individual Jew, even with the claim of representing the Jewish people, the people and/or government of Israel, or any representative or ruling authority; has no right to give away the collective right of the Jewish people over the Land of Israel;

5. That we will not accept any declaration, agreement, legislation, court ruling or decree that contradicts our right to the Land of Israel. This includes any instance where our right is only partially recognized, or where another people or entity alien to our people is said to share rights over the Land of Israel;

6. That the name of our land is the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael, and that we do not recognize the sovereign validity of any name imposed by foreign conquerors, or any people called after such imposed name;

7. That the capital of the Land of Israel is the entire city of Jerusalem, and that this is an unconditional truth not subject to debate or negotiation. No other people or entity of any sort has sovereign rights over that city, and even the collection of all the nations of the world has no such right;

8. That the Temple Mount is our most Holy place, and that no one has the right to violate its holiness and physical integrity. The remains of the First and Second Temple shall not be touched unless it is for the specific purpose of building the Third Temple;

9. That the State of Israel has the duty to keep the Land of Israel on Jewish hands, and any violation of this duty is to us of no validity. We do not recognize any territorial concession, and no peace may come from such thing.

Jews and non-Jews please sign this petition and G-d willing, the world will hear our voice. Post this declaration on your blogs and help propagate the Jewish message!

Proudly Calling for Genocide

Does anybody still doubt the real intentions of the Pseudostinians? This program was produced by the "moderate" Palestinian Authority, Abbas' own Fatah. Know that "Palestine" is simply a codeword for the wholesale murder of the Jewish People.

From Arutz-7:

The Palestinian Authority's Al-Aksa TV broadcasts, produced by Hamas, include children's programming that calls for the genocide of the "people of Zion."

On December 3, 2007, a Hamas children's show broadcast on PA TV featured an impassioned speech by a young boy of approximately nine years old. Speaking in the style of many Islamist preachers, and with an image of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem as a background, the boy declared that the only way to "rescue" the Al-Aksa Mosque from Israel, America and their allies is "by means of force."

According to a transcript provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the boy told his presumably child viewers that "the Al-Aksa Mosque has fallen into oppressing and malicious hands, the hands of those who know nothing but injustice." Describing the Jerusalem mosque as in "the shackles of the occupation," despite the fact that it is under Muslim Wakf control, the boy went on to say:

"But let me tell you how the Al-Aksa Mosque will be returned, how we shall rescue it from the shackles of the occupation, from the shackles of the Zionist entity. Will it be through conferences? No, not through conferences, but by means of force, because the Zionist entity, your enemy, the enemy of Allah, the enemy of Islam, knows nothing but injustice and the killing of Palestinians, the persevering people on the frontline. Indeed, the [mosque] will be returned only by means of force."

"But look what the Zionist enemy has done, look what Israel and America have done. Look what the allies of Israel and America have done. They have dug tunnels underneath the Al-Aksa Mosque, but the sheikhs and mujahideen of the Al-Aksa Mosque have exposed these tunnels and called upon the Palestinian people: 'Look what has happened, look what has happened.'

"These calls have gone unheeded, my beloved brothers. But is it too late? No, it is not too late. If we all unite, the Al-Aksa Mosque will not remain in the hands of the Zionist enemy, it will not remain in the hands of your enemy, despite all their conspiracies against the Palestinian people."

Later in the programming, a similarly young girl recited a poem that included the lines: "To Al-Aksa, to Al-Aksa - we shall unite our ranks. We will wipe out the people of Zion, and will not leave a single one of them."

This is by no means unique to Fatah. Hamas' Charter, quoted from the Muslims ahadith, speaks of the massacre of the Jews as a prerequisite of the final Hour. "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him..." Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah has said that "if they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” Similarly, a 1992 Hizballah statement vowed “open war until the elimination of Israel and until the death of the last Jew on earth.”

These are the same people with whom Olmert is negotiating "peace" (of the grave) talks, the same people who have fired thousands of kassam rockets into Sderot. They have no desire to make peace but to kill every last Jew. Therefore, it is the government of Israel's reponsibility to prevent that and has the moral responsibility and obligation to expel this population of murderers.

The average age in Gaza is 16 years old. Does anybody believe that a pseudo-nation of illiterate, poor teenagers raised on a steady diet of hate and taught that if he murders a Jew, that he will be rewarded eternally with 70 virgins to abuse and brutalize, that such a people are able to make peace and co-exist with the Jews?

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Going For A Christmas Visit

I am going to be away visiting with my family over the next few days so blogging will be limited to Bar and Lisa's contributions unless I can get my Sister's dinosaur up and running. I am going to put comments into moderation and they will be posted asap, thanks for your patience and understanding.
It will be fun to see my Niece(6) after a couple years, I see a soccer match coming, and spend some quality time with my family and old friends. It will be a fun but whirlwind visit as I pack as many friends and relatives as I can into a long weekend.
See y'all Tuesday, untill then be well !

GOP Debate Today

This was less a debate and more a gotcha question sound bite session, format and staging were horrid and the moderator, worse. What in the heck was Allan Keyes doing up there or Hunter or Tancredo? There are four, maybe five viable candidates with only weeks till voting starts and we need a real debate between them with time for some real answers from a real moderator or panel like, say Newt Gingrich. The format fit Mitt and Fred well and they did the best with Mitt winning easily. Fred may be regretting waiting so long to get into the race as he does have a very solid platform and message, his slow pace would have done better if he had. Rudy was way off his game as was Huckster.
I am sure Shucksterbee was horrified he was going to get hit with his crazy clemencies and attempts to incite anti-Mormon bigotry and caught a break.
All in all its been several good news cycles for Mitt and several awful ones for Mike who is starting to show a penchant for putting a foot in his folksy mouth.

A Virulent Hatred

"Why was the Torah given on a mountain called Sinai? Because of the great sinah- the tremendous hatred- that emanated onto the nations of the world from there" (Tractate Shabbos 89)

Tom Lehrer's folksong "National Brotherhood Week" says:

Oh the Protestants hate the Catholics,
and the Catholics hate the Protestants,
and the Hindus hate the Moslems
and everybody hates the Jews.

Anti-semitism is the most virulent and deeply-rooted forms of hatred and is commonplace in every single culture and religion. It has an amazing way of transforming itself to suit each new age or epoque and to make itself a part of each new ideology or paradigm. In the ancient world, the Jews were thought to be xenophobic, intolerant of pagan religions. Judaism, and the moral code that it espoused, were hated by the promiscuous and immoral societies which surrounded it.

Christians made anti-semitism an integral part of their theology as well. Their god was a Jew, based himself on Jewish scriptures and aimed his message at the Jews- and yet they rejected him! In retaliation, Jesus tells his worshippers “Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not but do lie; behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet...” (Revelation 3.9) The strongest homilies against the Jews are found in the writings of "Saint" John Chrysostom who writes: "The Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are lecherous, rapacious, greety. They are perfidious murderers of C. They worship the Devil. Their religion is a sickness. The Jews are the odious assassins of C and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon. Christians may never cease vengeance, and the Jew must live in servitude forever. G-d always hated the Jews. It is essential that all Christians hate them." The Church was furious at how the Jews who were very knowledgeable and learned in Scriptures rejected "their" messiah who was so evidently alluded to by the prophets. They charged that G-d replaced the Jewish people and the Church was the "New Israel". The Church spilled rivers of Jewish blood across the centuries during the Crusades, Inquistions, pogroms, expulsions and Holocausts. Even the Protestant reformers continued Christinity's legacy of hatred and judeophobia. Martin Luther, who protested much of Catholic doctrine, was on common ground with the Pope concerning the Jews. Martin Luther, father of Protestantism and whom these "Hebrew" Christian orgnaizations will never condemn, recommended harsh measures to deal with "this rejected and condemned people". "First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them." He advocated forbidding the rabbis to teach, burning the Talmud and synagogues and many cruel methods to destroy the Jews.

In the Islamic world, although Jews do not play as heavily in their theology as in Christianity, the Jews were still seen as an accursed people who had incurred the wrath of Allah. Muhammad originally ordered Muslims to pray towards Jerusalem and to fast on Yom Kippur, in the hopes that the Jews accept him as a prophet. When they refused, Muhammad changed the direction of prayer towards Mecca and imposed many restrictions on the Jews. Muhammad claimed that the Jews rebelled against their prophets, were arrogant, miserly, rejected and lying hypocrites. The fatiha, Islam's most basic prayer, beseeches Allah to guide Muslims to "the straight path", "not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down", the Jews. The Jews were not necessarily to be killed (though that featured in eschatological beliefs) but to be humilated, subjugated and demeaned.

When religion lost its influence, anti-semitism did not disappear but took on a new form- racial hatred. Where the Jew could once be saved by simply converting to another faith, the new anti-semitism held that the Jew was of an inferiour race and sought to pollute the pure Aryan race. He was a parasite and had to be dealt with accordingly. This perverted belief led to the death of 6 million Jews in the fires of the Holocaust, as the world stood silent.

Today, except for in the Islamic world, the belief that Jews are 'C-killers' is not acceptable. In public discourse, no legitimacy is given to the idea of the inferiour semitic race. However, anti-semitism is far from gone. The traditional anti-semitism of the past has been replaced with the rabid anti-Zionism that is evident in the world's hatred of the Jewish State. While in public one will not hear 'Death to the Jews' (except of course by the Muslims), the call of 'Death to the Zionists' is acceptable and is even made in mainstream universities. Instead of killing Christian babies to use their blood in matzot, Israeli soliders murder Arab children indiscriminately. No longer plotting world domination by the Elders of Zion, the US is a pawn of Israel and went to war to protect its interests.

Anti-Zionism is a deadly new form of anti-semtism and one that has intense legitimacy in the eyes of the elitist left. Anti-Zionism is the denial of a homeland to an entire nation simply because they are Jews. It is also the legitimization of the murder of Jews in Israel by painting Israel as a colonialist apartheid state. If the Jews are invaders, the natives have every right to use any means to repel them. In this vein, the anti-Zionist shrugs when he hears that Jews have been blown to shreds in a bus bombing or a toddler shot in the head by an Arab murderer, just as the world responded apathetically to the news that entire communities were being shot or gassed in Europe. Israel is expected to remain calm in the face of overwhelming hatred and constant attacks and to never retaliate, for fear of using "disproportionate force", as if a country can only kill 5 enemies if 5 of its citizens have been killed.

Every time the anti-Zionist clamours about Israeli "apartheid" practices or "war crimes", he is wishing to see the smoke rising from the chimneys of Auschwitz (G-d forbid). When he speaks about "Palestinian" "resistance", he is getting ready for the Final Solution to the Zionist Problem. Do not be fooled! Despite his slick and articulate words and flowery talks of peace and freedom, he remains a wolf in lamb's clothing. "Thine enemies are in an uproar; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They hold crafty converse against Thy people, and take counsel against Thy treasured ones. They have said: 'Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.' For they have consulted together with one consent; against Thee do they make a covenant; The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also is joined with them; they have been an arm to the children of Lot." (Psalm 83) They plot the destruction of the Jewish people!

Anti-Zionism must not be given forum to speak and anti-Zionists must not be given liscence to spread their hateful poison. It is in essence a rationalization for genocide (G-d forbid). One cannot claim to be pro-"Palestine" and pro-Israel at the same time because "Palestine" is merely a euphemism for the wholesale slaughter of the Jewish people. And to that I say: 'Never Again!'

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Is Jackie Endorsing Mitt ?

Jackie on Mitt's speech.

Its A Horse Race

With less than a month till the primary voters go to the polls to select who will be our standard bearers it has become a real race in both parties. Hillary's broom seems to be running out of magic as Barack is a making a big move on her in all the early states just as Huckabee has put the heat to Mitt and Rudy out of nowhere.
Mitt Romney picked up a huge endorsement today, National Review has come out for Mitt. I doubt there are very many conservatives that don't read National Review or parts of it at NRO.
Mike Huckabee is finding out what it means to be a player as the opposition research is starting to come out, it seems Gubner Huck had a penchant for releasing and giving pardons to violent felons that had come to Jesus. He is getting hammered in the blogosphere, good grief Ron Paul is far more conservative and Republican than this guy. Ace is on him here , here and here.

Can't Report Good News From Iraq So Lets Make Up Some Bad

Well, well, well, it seems a story about an AQ massacre attack on a small Shia village as reported by the MSM never happened, Ace of Spades has the story.
Meanwhile Mike Totten and Mike Yon are reporting from the ground in Iraq. Totten is in Fallujah with another outstanding dispatch.

“I don't think people really know what to expect from any of this,” he continued. “It's like people say: you only get the bad news on TV. They don't get to hear about how Fallujah is doing good now. I'm sure they'd hear about it if something bad happened. But these people are doing better, the schools are open, businesses are open, people are cleaning up their own city. They're starting their own neighborhood watch. They have their own police force now, their own government. People don't get to hear about that. I think that's important for people to know. You shouldn't focus so much on people who mess up. I mean, people have messed up. Bad stuff has happened. But you should focus on the percentage of people who are doing good as opposed to the percentage who are doing bad. There's a lot of good going on over here. And there's a lot of good people in this city.”

Yon is in Baghdad writing about a previous embed with the Brits in Basra when the fighting was still hot but sends along this report from Doura by LTC Jim Crider.

For the past few days we have hosted media embeds from the New York Times and the USA Today. We also brought down Iraqi television recently to show them the progress we have made in Doura. When I met the Iraqi reporter in the Green Zone he was visibly nervous and asked if we had any active snipers in the neighborhoods where we planned to travel. Not surprisingly, he was by himself as his partner failed to show likely out of fear. We reassured him as he admitted that he had not been to Doura since before the war. Once we arrived he saw the streets full of families, vegetable markets, new sidewalks, remodeled schools, parks, and some very nice murals on the walls. As it turned out, we could hardly keep up with him as he interviewed over twenty people on the street and in their cars about the situation. This is important in our current strategy as we spread the news even within the city of Baghdad about real progress. In the past, the Iraqi Government has used security as an excuse for inactivity so the media can help remove that misconception.

Church Killing Horror

The big story of course is the deranged nuts that decided to shoot up a church and a mall lately. Thank God the Church had a plan in place and armed citizen volunteers in place in case something like this happened, the mall did not. Only four innocent people had to needlessly die before one of those armed citizens took him out, a sharp shootin' gal with a law enforcement background. Good thing The New Life Mega-Church in Colorado Springs is not a "gun free zone" or it could have been really ugly as the nut was heavily armed. Kudos to the Church leadership for the forward thinking in having such a plan in place and a hero's praise for that courageous lady for doing what needed to be done by taking that bastard out and one of the wounded was a Viet-Vet who purposely distracted the vile slug so others could gain cover.
Michelle is running it as her top story so she has all the links and updates as it unfolds.
My Prayers for the families in these horrible tragedies.

Faith In America: The Romney Speech

Want To Laugh

Dragon Lady, mother hen of the Barnyard and great friend, has one of her best Fractured Fridays posted, swallow first.

A Day To Always Remember

Sixty six years ago we were attacked at Pearl Harbor, so I send you over to friend of the Barnyard's Benning has a great write up.

Newsbusted

I must say Newsbusters has become one of my favorite sites and they have this fun weekly video clip.

Mitt's Speech Reax

The reactions among the blogosphere and punditry are overwhelmingly highly positive to outstanding. Whether you support Mitt or not you have admit he gave a great speech, looking and sounding very presidential. Many are saying this was an historic speech on par with some of the best in our past. There has been some parsing here and there but most of it by lefty MSMers that want religion not to exist in their secular socialist paradise that they rule. Mitt has become a gifted orator and communicator and showed some genuine passion in his delivery. It didn't hurt for it to be at the Bush Library with the former President and First Lady in attendance with the Library Presidential Seals on the podium and behind him. To top it off, Mitt penned the speech himself.

No Wonder Hillary Is Panicked

I tell you what if he gets past the Clinton Machine Barack Obama is going to be a lot more difficut to beat in the general election than she will. Make no mistake about it he is a hard left partisan Alinskyite activist but listen to him speak and he has the Big O, Oprah, out on the trail with him guaranteeing huge enthused crowds. I saw this little clip at the Campaign Standard and have heard a couple of his speeches all fluff but very well delivered.

He has charisma, a ton of money and he's not Hillary or the preening pony. He is running down Hillary with a well run clean campaign and she is crashing and burning. This could get very interesting.....

Jackie And Dunlap Discuss Rudy

They take on Romney's gardeners as well, I am a Mitt fan and this is funny!


They take on the big Os here, Obama and Oprah, classic.

Jackie Slaps Huckabee Around A Bit

If you don't believe me maybe Jackie will help, sounds like Jackie likes my man Mitt.

Mitt is an American running for President not as a Mormon running for President.
Huckabee is a Baptist preacher running for President as a Baptist preacher.
I have as many theological problems with Southern Baptists as I do Mormons, for example Huck believes the earth is only 6,000 years old and rejects evolution and intelligent design theories. To me that is pretty bassackwards, I am man and I cannot limit the enormity of God, evolution is God's gift of survival and science and its discoveries are His domain as well. How can man limit the power of God? Ask a Southern Baptist like Pastor Huckabee, Baptist preacher man. Mike Huckabee is a very good and decent man with some very disturbing ideas and not fit to be POTUS .
Update: I am not disqualifying mike for his religion but because besides being prolife he is quite liberal compassionate conservative on tax and spend. That is what made Mitt's speech so important is it took that issue off the table and put in the freezer. My above comment makes me sound like a huge hypocrite and I own up to it, but I think my comment puts things in perspective about how it is easy to find quirks in any particular form of Christianity ,Judaism, or Islam, so as Mitt suggests, its off the table for discussion.

Faith In America: The Romney Speech

Powerline has the complete speech video
I am biased as a Mitt supporter but I thought it was an excellent speech. The response from the crowd was very enthusiastic. The text is here if you did not get to listen to it. I will post the video when I can find the code. Here are some of my favorite lines. Hot Air has the video of course.

"As a young man, Lincoln described what he called America's 'political religion' – the commitment to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God. If I am fortunate to become your President, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest. A President must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.

"It is important to recognize that while differences in theology exist between the churches in America, we share a common creed of moral convictions. And where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it's usually a sound rule to focus on the latter – on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course. Whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people.

"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders – in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our Constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.

"Recall the early days of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. With Boston occupied by British troops, there were rumors of imminent hostilities and fears of an impending war. In this time of peril, someone suggested that they pray. But there were objections. 'They were too divided in religious sentiments', what with Episcopalians and Quakers, Anabaptists and Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Catholics.

"Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot.

"And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God ... they founded this great nation.

Moderate Murderers

Here are our "moderate" peace partners:

Palestinian Authority radio contest featured a laudatory biography of Adolf Hitler replete with his military victories, heroism and no mention of the Holocaust.

"His golden year was 1940, when his armies invaded Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium and defeated France…By mid 1942, his country controlled the largest land area in Europe…He refused to surrender and continued to fight for two more years, but, his bitter end came in the spring of 1945 when he took his own life…Who is he?" was the question broadcast as a Voice of Palestine radio contest on November 27.

The question was part of the official Palestinian Authority-run radio’s Ramadan quiz - rebroadcast this past week, and documented by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

The broadcast presents Hitler heroically, detailing his two Medals of Honor in World War I, his rise to power, his launching of World War II and specifies country after country that he conquered. (From Arutz-7)

Before you listen to a Pseudostinian claim that there was no Holocaust or that Germany should be made to pay, not them, consider the ties between the Nazis and the Arabs of "Palestine". The chief Islamic authority during the War, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem, was a great admirer of Hitler, spent the war years with him in Germany, thwarted plans to allow Jews to immigrate to Israel and escape the Nazis, helped recruit Bosnian Muslims to join the SS and planned to build a death camp modeled on Auschwitz near Shechem (Nablus), among other things. "Arise, o sons of Arabia," he exhorted his avid pro-Nazi followers. "Fight for your sacred rights. Slaughter Jews wherever you find them. Their spilled blood pleases Allah, our history and religion. That will save our honor."

Not to be outdone by the Arabs, the IDF is now disarming Israeli settlers in Judea and Samaria- not like there's any use for weapons there.

The IDF is conducting a large scale operation to confiscate weapons from the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, according to Channel 10 TV. The purpose of the operation is described as "putting the settlers' gun permits in order."

The security coordinators of the communities in Samaria have been summoned to a meeting with IDF officers Thursday, and community leaders are convinced that the IDF intends to collect many of the weapons in the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. (From Arutz-7)

No danger at all... like this:

Two Israeli-Arabs from Jaljulia, aged 17 and 21, were indicted in a district court in Tel Aviv on Thursday for planning to carry out terrorist attacks as part of al-Qaeda's calls for worldwide jihad.

The two are accused of planning to stab an IDF soldier at the Kfar Qassem junction in order to steal his weapon and use it to shoot at other soldiers at the intersection.

The pair was arrested during a joint operation by the Shin Bet, Border Police and Police special forces unit.

Both men also admitted to planning to knife a security guard at the entrance to the Sde Hemed community. They planned to enter the town with the stolen weapon in order to shoot at community residents. (From Ynet News)

These two men were Israeli citizens, not poor oppressed Pseudostinians. They have more political rights than any Arabs in any Arab country, a higher living standard and all the advantages and privileges that Israeli democracy entails. When will the Israeli elite realize that democracy and a higher quality of life will not make the Arabs love us? The Arabs believe that Israeli belongs to them and they will never be satisfied until that happens. Such a thing (G-d forbid) will never happen so it is foolish to try to placate and accomodate them. Their human rights must be protected but should they wish to exercise their political determination, they are free to do so in any of the 22 Arab countries. The door is thataway...

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Yet Another Example of What Makes Romney Special

I have told the story of Mitt Romney having shut down Bain Capital to look for a co-worker's missing teenage daughter back in the 90s but this, might possibly, trump even that.

CLick the link for the full story but here is the jist.

"specifically San Diego where fires raged just a short while ago. Apparently, a certain Reed Fisher, whose home and property were damaged by the fire, got a call from someone in the local LDS Church offering to help clean up. After telling them about a burnt tree with 20 year old roots that he had been unable to remove, the brother showed up at 7 AM on a Wednesday morning, along with his father, who turned out to be none other than Mitt Romney...minus the press corp....

They were really going at it with power saws provided by the LDS Church. Then I got a Big Surprise. First I saw Matt, then beside him with chain saw buzzing away was a candidate for President of the United States!!! You guessed it!! Matt Romney was there with his DAD, "MITT ROMNEY", former governor of Massachusettsand republican presidential candidate. He was actually in Levi's and a blue T shirt and tennis shoes, with leather gloves and goggles. He was really sawing away at my stump! Others who were there working were LDS Bishop Jim Davies, Greg Davis and 6 LDS Missionaries. Oh and I almost forgot the Secret Service bodyguards were nearby standing guard. The Mormon Missionaries were there because they have been reassigned to disaster relief projects all over San Diego where the fires burned. They got assigned by their leaders to come to our home at 11372 Luz Place that morning. There were no local news media. Mitt and Matt Romney were just being good neighbors helping neighbors. Mitt was in Southern Calif for some meetings later in the day up..."

(PS from Goat, Lisa put the link in the headline if you are looking for it)

Totally Cool

Robot war porn for those interested in really cool stuff. From Hot Air.

John Bolton Blasts The NIE And The Left

From Hot Air, John Bolton with Bill O'Reily, this is good. One thing I should note is several of the authors of the NIE are viruntly anti-Bush and Bolton hints at this towards the end.


If Iran, in fact, did shelve their program in '03 it vindicates Bush and if they have restarted it, it still vindicates him so take that moonbats.

Want To Forget OPEC

With gas and oil prices up partially due to a weaker dollar we have the opportunity to remove ourselves from OPEC dependency and shatter global oil prices by exploring our own massive reserves with Canada and Mexico that dwarf Middle-Eastern oil reserves. Ace of Spades points to this report (in pdf) from the DOE on just the shale oil in the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming not to mention the off shore fields in the Gulf of Mexico and both coasts and ANWR. We could drive the price of oil way down if the environuts would just let us. I am talking about trillions of barrels of oil just sitting there waiting to be pumped out.

The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per day. If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, 800 billion barrels of recoverable resources would last for more than 400 years.
...Shell anticipates that, in contrast to the cost estimates for mining and surface retorting, the petroleum products produced by their thermally conductive in-situ method will be competitive at crude oil prices in the mid-$20s per barrel. The company is still developing the process, however, and cost estimates could easily increase as more information is obtained and more detailed designs become available. [PA note: even if costs turned out to be 3X, its still economically viable at today's prices]

Development Timeline. Currently, no organization with the management,
technical, and financial wherewithal to develop oil shale resources has announced its intent to build commercial-scale production facilities... [PA note: by 2007 Shell had already started ramping this in Canada]

Meanwhile the Democrats are smoking their crack-pipe again wanting mandates on renewable sources of energy other that hydro, or nuclear and what would those be, wind, solar? We have another very abundant source of cheap energy, coal, and as technology has improved it has become a much cleaner source than in the past. Townhall has an informative piece today on alternative energy and coal fired electric plants.

Every week brings new claims that clean, free, inexhaustible renewable energy will soon replace the “dirty” fuels that sustain our economy today. A healthy dose of reality is needed.

Over half of our electricity comes from coal. Gas and nuclear generate 36% of our electricity. Barely 1% comes from wind and solar. Coal-generated power typically costs less per kilowatt hour than alternatives – leaving families with more money for food, housing, transportation and healthcare.
By 2020, the United States will need 100,000 megawatts of new electricity, say EIA, industry and utility company analysts. Unreliable wind power simply cannot meet these demands.

I have looked into solar since I live in sunny Ca. and have a Southern facing roof line and it would cost about $17,000 for me to install. My power bill averages about $50 bucks a month doing the math means about 25 years before it pays for itself possibly less if energy costs soar, not a fiscally prudent move. I use a very renewable source for heat, wood, in a very efficient stove. Trees after all convert CO2 to oxygen that they release for me to breath and sequester the carbon as their body for me to burn for warmth and I get needed exercise cutting and splitting it, dual purpose. I cut my winter power bill by 75% as a result since installing my stove and that is with my thermostat set a 55 and being chilly all the time now I am warm and cozy with the joy of a fire on the hearth.

To My Jewish Friends

Heres to your victory over the pagans of Greece!

A blessed and happy Chanakkuh! May the Menorah give its light to the world for eternity!

Sidenote: This is my third Christmas season in my neighborhood and for the first time since I have been here my street is lighting up with Christmas lights, a handful of homes have decorated quite extensively and it is great. I have not decorated my house before but now I want to, it looks so nice.

Ouch If You Are Mike Huckabee: Updated With Video

Via Hot Air
The mother of the girl raped and murdered by Wayne Dumond, a convicted rapist that Huckster lobbied the parole board for his release has come out to ABC news saying she will do whatever it takes to prevent him from getting the nomination. I agree, the more I learn about the man the less I like and I once liked him alot, even got a thank you comment for a favorable post I made last spring from his campaign chair. He is to soft and compliant and hides it behind his Christianity, he is a decent man but not fit to lead America on illegal immigration, crime or against rogue regimes. He got caught with his hand in the till one too many times for me. A preacher man gone politician is not always the wise one but often the corrupted one. Hot Air has more on the story. Besides he is way to nanny-statist, big government can fix everything for me.

A Missouri mother says she will do "whatever it takes" to stop former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from becoming president, because he freed the man who went on to rape and murder her daughter, Carol Sue Shields (pictured).

"I can't imagine anybody wanting somebody like that running the country," Lois Davidson of Adrian, Mo., told the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Wayne Dumond was initially sentenced to life plus 25 years for raping a 17-year-old Arkansas high school cheerleader. In 1999, a parole board voted to free Dumond, after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee announced his desire to see him released.

NIE Report On Iranian Nukes: Updated

Well the new National Intelligence Estimate is out and it says Iran shelved their atomic bomb ambitions back in '03, hmm, I wonder what happened in '03 to get them to do that along with Libiya. I take what they have to say with a healthy dose of salt considering how little we actually know about it and how flawed these reports have been in the past. Gateway Pundit has a great roundup on the topic.
Meanwhile Israel is saying don't be so stupid as to take it seriously that Iran is not trying to build an indigenous nuclear capability with weapons in mind. Whatever the situation our next President and Congress must be prepared and capable of dealing with the worst case scenario not the rose colored glasses scenario of flowers, cups of tea and rounds of Kumbaya. The Democrats have demonstrated their complete inability to deal with serious foriegn policy issues besides run away or attempt to bribe for peace. Iran and what to do about this rogue regime should be a major topic next year in Congressional and Presidential races because if they did shelve their plans in '03 after Saddam fell then the Bush Doctrine is vindicated and if they didn't the Bush is still right in continueing the pressure in the international community especially in the ME as the Arab countries are just as leery of the Persians as Israel is. Several of the Emirites have given Israel overflight permission should they choose to strike preemptively as they did in Syria recently at a reported nuclear facility which some believe to be a nuclear bomb factory not a reactor from NoKo. Even if Iraq and Afganistan are largely stabalized by then the ME is still a very messed up region and our next leaders need to be ready and able to deal with it and the Democrats have demonstrated they prefer the head in the sand approach, ignore and deny.

Update: Don at American Power has a great comprehensive post up, a must visit and read

The View On Jesus Teddy Bears

From Hot Air is this cut from the View where these enlightened ladies discuss naming a teddy Jesus and then is a clip with Tammy Bruce for contrast wondering where the feminst groups like NOW are. Whoopi actually makes some sense for once.

Teacher Pardoned in Sudan

The teacher that let her students name the class teddy bear Mohammed has been pardoned by the Sudanese Gov't under international outrage and has been turned over to the British Embassy. The calls for her death by followers of the Religion of Peace really make islam look decent, tolerant and peaceful, at least some moderate muslim groups condemned the idiocy while feminist lefties in the US sat silent in this and the horror that Saudi women went through, gang raped then beaten and jailed for it.
Speaking of the RoP I got a couple comments from a tolerant and peaceful jihadi follower of Mohammed, may he be forever cursed. First he said that if a young girl sleeps with a male teddy bear she should be stoned and the bear beheaded which I took as toungue in cheek till his next comment showing how real and so very insane his first comment was. My co-blogger Bar posted the comment at his site with some cartoons and suggested I repost it as well to illustrate how these people seeth with hatred that borders on satanic so here it is.

Mullah Abdullah has left a new comment on your post "Whats New: Muslims Riot":

Seasonal maledictions and woe unto you Kaffir Jews and Christians.

To all you Jewish sons of pigs and monkeys celebrating Hanukkah, I pray that Allah may send hurricane force winds to blow out your menorah candles and that your one day's supply of consecrated oil be consumed in 12 hours.

Your victory over Antiochus (pbuh) is a mere temporary setback and could not have occurred without assistance from the whisky-sodden Scottish mercenaries of the clan McCabeeus. We shall have our revenge on these Celts with their voluptuous hairy legs and all too revealing kilts that tempt the true believer into sin! One day we shall have Shaheeds who are trained to a drive a Jeep into Glasgow airport and then press the detonation button, rather than the other way round.

May Allah’s vengeance also fall upon you Christians, worshippers of the winged idol sodomized by the topmost branch of a conifer sapling. The tree-idol is the ultimate in debauchery, for our beloved Prophet even at his horniest never had carnal relationships with vegetation.

Moreover you Kaffirs mock the Prophet's mufa’khathat of Ayesha with your blasphemous custom of sitting children on Santa's lap. This practice is an intentionally Islamophobic parody of the hadith in which Mohammad said to Ayesha “Ho! Ho! Ho! Come here little girl and sit on my knee and let’s talk about the first thing that comes up”.

And of course ‘Santa’ is an anagram of the most secret holy name of Allah.

But worst of all, you defile the sacred symbol of Islam - the mistletoe - by performing your writhing, steaming promiscuous orgies beneath its sacred berries. The mistletoe, by its mode of sustenance, is a holy symbol of the role of the Ummah in Dar al-Harb.

So, may Allah curse your abominable festivities. May your tinsel tarnish and your balloons deflate. May your turkeys catch bird flu and your Poinsettia be consumed by aphids. May your elderly relatives give you presents of ill-fitting knitwear and your objectionable in-laws buy drumkits for your children. May your holly scratch you and the wounds turn septic, and may your ivy be of the poisonous variety.


Inshallah soon all of Dar al-Harb will be Muslim, and your corrupted infidel ******mas Carols will be replaced by the genuine halal versions:

Little Bomber Boy
Jingle Belts
Violent Night
While Shepherds Screw Their Flocks
I stoned Mommy for kissing Santa Claus
Wreck the Halls
Go Shell Them From the Mountain
Frosty the Boobytrap
Oh Come all ye Fanatical
No-go Town of Bethlehem
Hijacked Three Ships
Oh TannenBOOM
Slay Ride

Posted by Mullah Abdullah to The Barnyard at 12/02/2007 3:47 PM

Let him know what you think.

Chavez Loses

The Venezuelan people achieved a victory for liberty yesterday by rejecting Hugo's constitutional reforms that would have basically made him dictator for life. Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit and Venezuela News and Views have much more.

The Republican Boy

Keep Jackie's clothes on, PLEASE !!!, vote GOP! He is training anyway.

Holiness over Hedonism

Tuesday night is the first night of Chanukkah, the festival of lights. Many, in the US especially, celebrate this holiday like a Jewish Christmas, with white and blue tinsel instead of red and green and holiday bushes. Chanukkah is treated as a Jewish rival to Christmas and they are often fused together into 'Chrismukkah'. Irony of ironies as Chanukkah is a holiday celebrating the victory of Judaism over assimilation and secularism.

In the 2nd century before the Common Era, the Graeco-Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes ('divine manifestation'- the Jews called him Epimanes, meaning 'madman') sought to unify his kingdom under the Hellenistic culture and forbade the practice of Judaism in Judea. He banned under pain of death the study of the Torah, observance of kashrut, shabbat and circumcision. Antiochus defiled the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, established an altar to Zeus and sacrificed pigs on it. A small and radical minority, impressed with Hellenistic culture, decided 'let's forget about this old stuff- it's too primitive and barbaric so let's get modern', so they took on Greek names and culture. These Hellenizers, as they were known, went to the gymnasiums and even went through extremely painful surgeries to reverse their circumcisions. A rich Hellenizer by the name of Jason even bought the position of High Priest from the king!

Opposed to them were a committed band of Jews known as the Hassidim who zealously observed G-d's Torah. These were the first religious martyrs in history. One such example was the martyrdom of Chana and her 7 sons. Chana and her 7 sons were summoned to the court of Antiochus. One by one, Antiochus demanded that they bow down to a Greek idol and oone by one they refused. The first son, the eldest, refused to worship a god other than HaShem and for his refusal he was slowly tortured before his mother's eyes and dismembered. Slowly, 6 of Chana's sons were brutally butchered until it came time for the youngest, a little boy. Antiochus, in his "mercy", threw his ring before the idol and asked for the youngest to pick it up. The youngest refused as it would appear as if he were bowing before an idol. Before Antiochus took the youngest away, Chana said to him "My son, listen carefully to my words: I carried you for nine months, nursed you for two years and have fed and cared for you up to this very day. To the best of my ability I have taught you about God and the Torah. Do not exchange your commitment and loyalty to Judaism for the fleeting offerings of a king who will soon perish himself..." She told her son that when he arrives in heaven, to tell Avraham Avinu not to boast as he only bound his son while she sacrificed all 7 of hers. Full of despair, she flung herself off a rooftop. Many thousands of Jews died this way, al kiddush HaShem, sanctifying G-d's name.

Greek soldiers enforced Antiochus' wicked decrees in every city and hamlet in Judea. In the town of Modi'in, outside of Jerusalem, an altar to Zeus was erected and a Hellenized Jew offered to sacrifice a pig to it, infront of the entire town. An elderly priest by the name of Mattityahu, incensed at this brazen profanation of G-d's name, rushed towards the apostate and killed him. He cried out 'Mi Le'HaShem Elay!', 'Whoever is for G-d, to me!', in the manner of Moshe Rabeinu, Moses our Teacher. Mattityahu led the entire town to destroy the Greek garisson in the city. Mattityahu died shorty after the beginning of the revolt but his five sons, Shimon, Yochanan, Yehudah (Judah), Elazar and Yonatan continued the rebellion. The rebels took the title Maccabbee which is an acronym for the Torah verse "Who is compared to You among the mighty, oh Lord" (Exodus 15:11).

The few Jewish rebels, none of them soldiers by profession, were met by thousands of crack Greek troops, armed with phalanxes and elephants yet the Jews, who were familiar with the hills and plains of Judea, were victorious. We recite the special Al HaNissim, 'On the Miracles, prayer which mentions this amazing victory. "...You gave the mighty into the hands of the weak, and the many into the hands of the few, and the defiled into the hands of the pure, and the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the malicious into the hands of those who engage in Your Torah..." Led by Yehuda HaMaccabi, the Maccabbees drove the Greeks out of Judea and reconquered Jerusalem. When they ascended the Temple Mount, they found the Holy Temple in disrepair, defiled, with a statue of Zeus at its center. The Al HaNissim continues "And You made a great and holy name for Yourself in Your universe; and to Your nation, Israel, did You grant a great salvation and liberation, as on this day. And subsequently Your children came to Your holy abode, and they cleared out Your Palace, and they purified Your Temple, and they kindled lights in the courtyards of Your holy place. And they established these eight days of Chanukah in order to give thanks and praise to Your great name." After cleaning and cleansing the Temple, they wanted to relight the holy lights of the Menorah, the 7 branched candelabra but all of the olive oil was defiled. After a lengthy search, the Jews found a small jar of olive oil with the seal of the High Priest in a corner of Temple. Even though there was only enough oil to last for 1 day, the Jews filled the Menorah and miraculously, the oil lasted for 8 days until new oil could be prepared. In memory of this amazing miracle, we light the 8 branched Channukiyah.

So what is Chanukah? It is the victory of light over darkness; of holiness and absolute truth over profanity and hedonism. It is a clash of civilization where Judaism triumphed over secularism. It is the the defeat of assimilation and self-hatred and the victory of Jewish pride and dedication. In these days of moral relativity, materialism and atheism, let us remember the brave Maccabbees who rose up in defense of the truth of the Torah, of the faith of their ancestors and proudly demonstrated to the tyrants and oppressors that the Jewish people are prepared to fight to preserve our way of life.


'Baruch ata Hashem, Elokeinu, melech haolam, sheassa nissim l'avoteinu, bayamim hahem, ba'zman haze'

Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, Ruler of the Universe, Who performed miracles for our forefathers, in those days, in this season.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Jihadi Scumbag

Well, I guess that is a sign The Barnyard is getting around the world that a islamist douche bag from Glasgow, England made some typical jihadi comments on my post below about the idiots in Sudan. He doesn't like me very much which is fine by me, I don't like jihadi dogs much either. Hey Mullah Abdullah, go suck on a pig and enjoy that dog you sleep with. Hey if you see persecuting children over the naming of a stuffed animal as just then you deserve the scorn and islam looks as ass backwards as it is, a stupid pseudo-religion that worships an illiterate desert pirate, a man named Mohammed, may he be forever cursed and rotting in the bowels of Hell.

Chaos In The BCS

I know I have a lot of College football fans that visit the Barnyard, a question, has there ever been a better season to make the call for a playoff system. We can keep the Bowls and have a playoff, The top eight playoff in six regional Bowls to meet in the Championship Bowl, the rest can still play the lesser Bowl games. The Big game would rotate among the three biggest bowl games while keeping a regional flavor, say, Rose, Orange, and Sugar, and it would add only one game to most team's schedule. The smart network could use it to launch the NFL playoffs, FOX, I think that scenario works, what do my others College ball fans think?

Mitt's New TV Spots

Take Charge



Historic Choice

Whats New: Muslims Riot

Michelle has been covering this bizarre story from another backwards Muslim country, Sudan. where a teacher's young students innocently named the class teddy bear Mohammed and now the Islamists are screaming for her death. I must say this really makes Islam look good in the eyes of the world, I mean good grief, the poor woman is being jailed and deported and there is talk of punishing the kids, I am talking seven year olds, first graders. The kids named the class mascot out of respect for Mohammed, can you see Evangelicals rampaging in the streets if a tyke named his teddy bear Jesus? Heck, it would be called cute if I know my Evangelical friends right, they would coo and say "How Sweet". This demonstrates how thoroughly of their rocker many Muslims are.

They Really Stepped In It And Boy Does It Stink

CNN is getting hammered all over the blog and pundit world for their weedy debate shindig. They should know by now that they are not going to be able to slide things past the observant bloggers and media watchdogs in these days of google and instant fact checking. What little credibility CNN had is now being run through the blog grinder and its not pretty. It seems the Clinton News Network got caught in a New Republic moment, posers for a storyline.

I enjoyed the show because the GOP looked good under the onslaught of often idiotic questions mixed with some good ones, think Helen Thomas or David Gregory at press conference. The problem is not with the questions so much as the way CNN sold the debate as questions from undecided GOP voters, not Dem activists and it turned into a farce. It does make the Dems look even worse for ducking FOX though.

The POTUS must be able to handle a hostile often inane presscorps and their smart-ass questions so we got a glimpse of that, Rudy and Mitt have faced it more than the others, Fred and Huck are naturals. We know how Hillary would handle hostile press, have them investigated for sedition and you can bet the Fairness Doctrine will be reinstated to shush Rush and the rest.

Gateway Pundit has a round up on the plants.

Jackie Browles and Dunlap Wade In

Via Hot Air, I loved JB's closer! This is a good one, swallow first.

Is It An Act?

From Hot Air, ouch or not, dingbat blonde or player for the camera? She is a cutie for sure either way. I think it was an act with some very slick dry humor.

Jackie Smashes Some Paulnuts

Like Jackie, I respect Dr. Paul and he has a right to his opinions as much as I may disagree with some of them, it is his supporters that give me the creeps. I have read their rants around the various comment sections of political sites and seen who some of endorsers are, yikes. Jackie is justified in this rant, I can only imagine some of the hate mail he recieves.

Hell Freezes And Pigs Fly

From Hot Air, things have improved so much in Iraq that even Rep. John Murtha D. had to admit the Surge has worked and bitched that the Iraqi Gov't wasn't getting anything done. How ironic coming from a Dem icon in the do-nothing Congress, Mr. Porker himself. Now he is ready to compromise on that, er, timetable thing after the Iraqis formally asked us to stay. We are negotiating security and trading partnerships and formalizing our relations with a sovereign Iraqi government, in other words this battle for Iraq is quietly being won and is coming to an end.
Iraq is fully poised to become the Arab tiger economically speaking very quickly, and its neighbors are starting to realize this as well as relations are being formalized with many and Embassies are opening. Clean up and rebuilding brings jobs and money, though there is no formal agreement on oil sharing in Parliament the money is starting to flow as security improves and corruption is lessened. We had to find out who to get the money to for neighborhood projects, who were the trustworthy local leaders, and it took time to figure out in a war zone.
The hot war is over as the Iraqi Security Forces clean up the last cells of AQ and Mahdi Army gangs. Our valiant Forces will be able to start rolling back its forces to support and training slowly and surely as the Iraqis are able to take over. Yes folks it looks to be a Merry Christmas season.

Whoops, UTube Questioner Affiliated With Clinton Camp: Updated

Update: Well it seems CNN has a thing for Democrat plants, there were at least three others that bloggers uncovered within minutes of them asking their questions, Michelle has the scoop covered.

Hot Air has the scoop and video clip, why does CNN give him an extra say for a minute to lecture the candidates?

CNN/UTube GOP Debate:Updated

I am watching this one purely for entertainment value not to learn anything new about the candidates. I am watching to see how poorly CNN does and how stupid or relevant the UTube questions are. I might update, depending on something good coming up. This format could be good or very bad, we'll see, I missed the Dem UTube debate but the clips I saw were awful, syrupy goo.
Meanwhile MKH, Matt Lewis and Patrick Ruffini are on scene and interviewing operatives.
Update: Opening song was very good and funny. Opening question to Rudy was good on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities.
Update: First break, the questions are surprisingly good, Rudy and Mitt mix it up over illegals but it is old stuff, nothing new. John smacked Dr. Paul around a bit on the war and Paul won't denounce fringe conspiracy theorist supporters on the fake NAU.
Update: Second break, this is actually a better debate than I anticipated. The last question about the Bible was a little off kilter, Rudy answered how I would as did Romney, Huckabee hid the fact that he is a literalist believing the earth is only 6,000 years old and evolution doesn't exist.
Update: Third break, yes Ron Paul gets loud boos and jeers for his nutty foreign policy views as McCain slaps him hard again. Again I am impressed with the quality of the questions and choices by CNN, I was expecting gotcha questions from the moonbats and sappy questions from soft soaps.
Final thoughts: I am impressed again by the quality of our candidates, they are able to handle tough questions with a sense of humor even when the gloves come off. There was none of the if looks could kill moments as Hillary does when she glares at Obama or Edwards when they go after her. There were some jabs thrown of course and they were met with humility and humor. Rudy, Mitt and Fred all came across very well as did Mike and John with their usual great one liners. I do believe the next GOP debate should be limited to those with double digit support, Rudy, Mitt, Fred, John and Mike. The audience response was interesting on many occasions especially when the boos occurred, RP on foreign policy, Rudy on guns.
It did not change my position on Mitt, my no. 1, but it did help my opinion of Fred, he has risen from just ahead of Dr. Paul to second on my list just ahead of Rudy, Huckabee has fallen way back as I have learned his record as Gov., McCain for SecDef and, Hunter at DHS, Tancredo at BICE, Huckabee at HHS. I like alot of what Dr. Paul has to say about the Constitution, small government, abortion, taxes and spending so he should stay in the House as our Dr. No, he is a Republican and declared it soundly tonight, no third party run, even if he is completely nuts on foreign policy and is in league with whacko conspiracy theorists.
We have a great field of candidates my friends in the GOP, take heart, look at the DNC field, I mean this is the New England Patriots vs. No Where High, pun unintentionally intended. Our team, even in the farm leagues is very deep and talented, I just don't see that in the DNC, I mean , Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Hillary are the best they have.
I saw an engaged America in this debate and I am happily surprised, the candidates wanted intelligent questions and they got them, kudos to CNN for that and the humor was nice. I even liked the closer question on the Yankees and BoSox, Rudy hit it hard and Mitt caught it, great ending, support your conference, league, party. Hey the BoSox did win this year and the Patriots are on pace....
Update: The folks at Townhall seem to agree with my take.

Iraq News

Things keep looking better and better!
From Fox: 6,000 Sunnis in the North sign up to cut off AQ escape routes.

Gateway Pundit points out that top Shia cleric Sistani has called on the Shia to protect their fellow Iraqis whether they are Sunni, Christian, Kurd or Turkmen
and Iraqi refugees are returning home in droves.

Plus Iraq wants the US to stay indefinately and set up permanent bases for security purposes.

Mike Totten is in Fallujah and calls it as safe as New York.

Mitt Is Coming To NoCal

Mitt has a couple fundraisers planned for my neck of the woods in a couple weeks and I am debating whether to buck up and attend the Napa event as a way to network and get my business card in the hands of some wealthy folks. I know it takes money to make money and Mitt's circle is extremely adept at that. What do y'all think, would it be a wise $1,000 investment? I am totally in Mitt's camp in the run for POTUS and have sent a few bucks so far, along with the free advertising here in the Barnyard. Plus since I am considering a run for a local office in the future it would not hurt to meet some GOP operatives here in NoCal. I am thinking this would be a smart move.

Olmertistan

Jews of the world, you've been misled. The land of Israel belongs to Ehud Olmert and he is free to dispose of it or divide it up according to his whims and schemes, or so he believes. What chutzpah

From Arutz-7:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert informed American Jewish leaders Monday that Jews outside of Israel have no right to intervene in any decision regarding the status of Jerusalem.

Olmert declared at a news conference Monday following his meeting with leaders of U.S. Jewish communities that "the government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel," making it clear that Jews outside of Israel had no right to participate in decisions about the future of Jerusalem. The prime minister told reporters that the issue had "been determined long ago."

Did you catch that last part, how the government of Israel ie. Ehud Olmert and his corrupt cronies have a right to negotiate anything for Israel and the Israeli people or world Jewry have no say in the matter! Yeah, what business of world Jewry is it that their most holy city and eternal capital is being negotiated away to murderers? Who cares if I pray three times a day that G-d rebuild Jerusalem or I end my Passover seder with the words 'Next Year in Jerusalem'? The land belongs to Olmert!

Everything that goes on in Israel directly affects the safety of Jews in the Diaspora. Don't pretend for a second that everybody simply loves the Jews but they don't dare start up due to a strong Israel. A strong Israel means secure Jews, not to mention the fact that I don't take well to the idea of thousands of Jews being uprooted, synagogues destroyed and Jewish rights restricted in Jerusalem all to appease a bunch of bloodthirsty Jew-hating thugs.

Fine, if you want Diaspora Jews to butt out, why don't you test this idea with a referendum over Jerusalem in Israel? That's because Olie is little more than an enlightened dictator. Majority opinion is strongly opposed to nay concessions over Jerusalem. Over 25 000 people showed up at a prayer protest at the Western Wall led by the Chief Rabbis of Israel. MK Uri Ariel (National Union party), among those who initiated the prayer service, said, "It is critical for us to offer prayer to our Father in Heaven when the Prime Minister wants to sell our national homeland. We are here [at the Wall] to say that we trust in G-d, and that Olmert has no mandate to give up Jerusalem." On Monday night, thousands of people protested opposite Olmert's residence in Paris square, Jerusalem and was even attended by members of the governing coalition from Kadima, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu.

Let's get this straight Olmert: Jerusalem and Israel does not belong to you but was given by G-d to the Jewish people on loan, as an inheritance. It is the property of each and every individual Jew around the world and you cannot give up what does not belong to you. Even should this generation (G-d forbid) abandon Jerusalem, we have no right to forfeit the future generations rights to this holy city.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Nope, Can't Report Good News

The US economy continues to cruise along despite the spikes in energy costs and stabilized housing market but all the MSM pundits are wringing their hands about how gloomy the economy is. The New York Times sees its own demise as the demise of the whole economy and cries recession when the actual numbers don't indicate that at all. The Times is collapsing under the weight of its own ignorant writers and pundits and their extreme BDS and leftist ideology. I bet the economy would make a miraculous comeback on Jan. 30th '09 should a Democrat win the Oval office.
Here is an accurate look at how the economy is doing, we are growing between 3 and 5% steadily since Bush took office despite war, hurricanes and idiot Democrats. The Dems are just upset the bounty has been used to defeat an enemy and not to fund their lavish socialist welfare programs.

Is NoKo Collapsing

Lots of interesting stuff going on, did Kim Jung look in a mirror and at a globe and realize how tiny and insignificant he and his communist paradise really are? A complete collapse would be a disaster as a refugee tsunami would swamp the South and China something neither wants.

Jackie's Top Ten Turkeys

I can't disagree, advisory, swallow before viewing and set beverage down.

Annapolis Summit: Exercise In Futility Or Not ?: Updated

I think it would be safe to say many of us supporters of Israel would see it as such because the Palestinians will just make demands that Israel can never concede to. James Lewis has a slightly different take in light of the above, the very fact so many Arab states will be attending is a de facto recognition, if unadmitted, of the Israeli State. It is a very interesting take on the matter and a must read. The opinions of my Jewish friends are much desired as Lewis sees this as a thaw in relations because of the common enemy in Tehran. Iran was not invited but Syria will attend, hmm?

Expectations are generally low on the Annapolis Middle East Peace summit starting this week. Yet a strong case can be made that the mere fact of this meeting between the Arab countries, the Palestinians and Israel is the biggest breakthrough in Israel-Arab relations since the 1979 Peace Treaty with Egypt.

Nothing else needs to happen for this conference to be an historic landmark. Why? Because in diplomacy, sitting down with an enemy in public is equivalent to official recognition. The rest is just words -- especially when any country's leader can pick up the phone and talk privately to any other.

The first peace conference with wide Arab participation therefore partially resolves the long denial of Israel's existence, one of the great stumbling blocks of the past sixty years.

More background history in another must read, I saw somewhere that borders can be negotiated but the State of Israel cannot be, IMHO, Golan and most of the West bank cannot be ceded nor can Jerusalem or Bethlehem.

Hillary Fun

Fron Newsbusters

Now This Is Bitchin !

From Hot Air, oh is this mega, super cool!!!

I can see it in support at first then the "Terminator" Marine unit, since the Seabees would get the most use out of this awesome technology at first.

Something New On The Grill

BBQ bear ribs, as I was heading out Thurday morning my neighbor called me over and he had a big ole bear hanging from his skinning tree, he's one of those avid hunters. He had given me some chops in the past and they were good and he brought over some ribs and a steak from this one. I grilled the ribs today like I would beef ribs and they were awesome, different but actually closer to beef than venison or elk is. The meat is a lttle chewy with a good not very gamy flavour, b grade beef with better taste. I didn't marinade them but they would do well in your favorite beef marinade.

Its that stew time of year so that is what I am going to make with my other chunk of meat. It should be good as bear stew nourishes through history, and I make a mean stew. I guess now that my body ain't quite what it used to be hunting will again become my focus since climbing won't be so much, fishing always has been a major aspect of where we camp. I need a dog that can do upland gamebird hunting and water fowl retrieving, any suggestions.