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November 26, 2007

Chavez: Only Traitors Against New Constitution

This came out a couple of days ago.

Comrade Hugo Chavez has now stated that anyone who supports him but votes against his new constitution for Venezuela is a traitor. If this is decided on a secret ballot, I don't know how he plans on determining which "No" votes are by supporters and which are cast by opposition (who he also considers traitors).

From BreitBart:

The proposed revisions would do away with presidential term limits, extend terms from six to seven years, let Chavez appoint regional vice presidents and eliminate Central Bank authority, among other changes.

Critics warn he would also have the power to shut down Venezuelan newspapers, television and radio stations by declaring a state of emergency, and the government could detain citizens without charges during such a period.

The power to appoint "regional vice presidents" is troubling enough and harkens back to the colonial days when the colonies were over seen by appointed Royal Governors. Eliminating the Central Bank authority is also troubling, especially for the Venezuelan banking industry. The power to declare a "state of emergency" where Chavez will be empowered to shutdown newspapers and broadcasters is also a significant concern, but pales next to the power to detain citizens (i.e. political opponents) without charge.

I'm not a betting man, but I wonder how long it will take once this new constitution is in place (I'll be surprised if it fails) for Chavez to declare his first state of emergency and use those new powers?

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August 28, 2007

Iran Shows Hand On Iraq

Ahmadinejad of Iran is making its intentions towards its neighbor, Iraq, perfectly clear. They want to take control of the country. From FoxNews:

"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq. "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

This is another reason why we must succeed in eradicating the terrorists operating (with Iran's help) in Iraq, and build a functional democracy there.

Iran has been funneling arms, money and people into Iraq to help the terrorists and sectarian death squads destabilize the region so that they can then step in and institute a totalitarian theocracy in Iraq as well.

Add to that Iran's quest for nuclear weapons, and the entire region could go up in flames if we fail on delivering our promise of Liberty to the people of Iraq.

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August 13, 2007

Chavez Threatens To Cut U.S. Oil Supplies

Comrade Hugo Chavez, the Dictator of Venezuela, is now threatening to cut off oil supplies to the United States should the U.S. attack him again. I was unaware that we had ever attacked Venezuela.

From Reuters:

"No one should think that we're going to stop sending oil to the United States, no -- unless they attack us again," Chavez said during a speech to leaders of Caribbean nations meeting in Caracas for an energy summit.

"If they attack us again like they did in April of 2002 ... there will be no oil."

Although there was a bungled coup attempt in 2002 that temporarily ousted Chavez from power for a whopping two days, there was no U.S. involvement.

Comrade Chavez has been living in a fantasy world where he believes that the U.S. is the "Evil Empire" and that he is the "benevolent" dictator. One thing he is right about, he is a dictator, just not benevolent.

His threat to cut off oil supplies to the U.S., which accounts for about 10-15% of the oil that is consumed here, in response to any perceived attack on Venezuela is nothing more than his way of throwing his weight around and trying to pump himself up to look big. The threats should not be considered idle, but should be used as a signal for Congress to get off its behind and open up new oil fields in ANWR and on the outer continental shelf.

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August 2, 2007

Sean Penn and Comrade Chavez

It comes as no surprise to me that Sean Penn has yet to meet a dictator he hasn't liked.

From BreitBart:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised Sean Penn for his critical stance against the war in Iraq, saying the two chatted by phone and soon plan to meet in person.

I don't understand why so many Hollywood elites are so fascinated with dictators, and think that they are better than President Bush. I can't see myself meeting Comrade Chavez, but then I don't think he would be willing to meet with me either.

"Welcome to Venezuela, Mr. Penn. What drives him is consciousness, the search for new paths," Chavez said Wednesday in a televised speech. "He's one of the greatest opponents of the Iraq invasion."

Chavez read aloud from a recent open letter by Penn to President Bush in which the actor condemned the Iraq war and called for Bush to be impeached, saying the president along with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are "villainously and criminally obscene people."

The socialist president, who shares those views, said he and Penn talked by phone-"with my bad English but we understood each other more or less."

Chavez and Penn have several things in common, first of which is their love of dictators like Castro, Ahmadinejad, and Saddam Hussein. They both agree that the U.S. should not have liberated the people of Iraq and deposed a mass-murdering tyrant. And of course, they both hate America and George W. Bush.

And let's not forget their hatred of a free press. As I recall, Penn spent time in the pen for beating up a news photographer (paparazzi?); Chavez has shutdown television stations for broadcasting opposition views.

Penn has a definite problem with telling the difference between good and evil. Chavez, on the other hand, is in denial that he is himself evil.

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July 24, 2007

Comrade Chavez Is Libertiphobic

The one thing that Comrade Chavez has proven himself to be good at is calling people "names." He also tends to be pretty hostile about it as well, directing his venom at political opponents and those he perceives as being a threat to his dictatorial powers. The latest recipient of the Comrade Chavez abusiveness is Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras.

From Yahoo News

"Another parrot of imperialism appeared, this time dressed as a cardinal. That's to say, another imperialist clown," Chavez was quoted as saying in a bulletin posted Tuesday on the state-run news agency's Web site.

Chavez - a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro - was responding to criticism from Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who said in a recent interview cited by Venezuela's Bolivarian News Agency that Chavez "thinks he's God and can trample upon other people."

It's typical for the representatives of tyranny to always refer to those that oppose them as "imperialists," despite the fact that it is the forces of darkness that are pushing for "imperialism."

Now my question is: will Chavez make references to me as an "imperialist dog" if I call him an overbearing dictator with delusions of godhood? One can only hope. In the meantime, I'll continue to call him as I see him. Dictator, tyrant, megalomaniac.

Chavez made the comments during a government event late Monday. He has repeatedly clashed with Catholic Church leaders in Venezuela, calling them "liars" and "perverts," but he rarely targets high-ranking priests abroad.

Catholic leaders in this South American country have warned of alleged threats to individual freedoms under Chavez's administration and criticized his plans for a sweeping constitutional reform to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

Let's see, Catholic leaders are saying that Chavez is taking away freedoms, silencing the opposition by restrict the freedom of the press (like his recent shutting down of a major television broadcaster), seizing the assets of various oil companies, threatening to seize the food supply system, and probably a lot more, and he calls them "perverts"?

At least there are some people in Venezuela and South America as a whole that see Chavez for what he is. Hopefully they will help the people of Venezuela realize that their freedoms are being eroded bit by bit by a man that has absolute power in his country.

As with all tyrants, Comrade Chavez is suffering libertiphobia (fear of liberty). That would explain his desire to turn Venezuela into another Cuba.

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July 23, 2007

Comrade Chavez To Expell Foreign Critics

Comrade Hugo Chavez rides again…into the news, that is. The "champion of free speech and democracy" has announced a decision that any outspoken critics from other countries will be deported.

From FoxNews:

"How long are we going to allow a person - from any country in the world - to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?" Chavez asked during his weekly television and radio program.

The Venezuelan leader's statements came after Manuel Espino, the president of Mexico's conservative ruling party, criticized Chavez during a recent pro-democracy forum in Caracas.

Comrade Chavez, Dictator of Venezuela went on to claim that "freedoms" have been extended in Venezuela, such as the silencing of opposition broadcast stations, and that "Private property will respected," just as it did with the oil production infrastructure of the various oil companies operating (past-tense: operated) in Venezuela.

In his typically wide-ranging television program, Chavez also said Castro recently warned him to take precautions against possible U.S.-backed assassination attempts.

The U.S. passed laws forbidding assassination back in the '70s, and there have been no attempts on the life by U.S. operatives against Castro since that time. Castro is a bit paranoid in his old age if he thinks there are still designs on terminating him rather than letting nature take its course.

"The CIA is everywhere," said Chavez, who has repeatedly warned that U.S. President George W. Bush could order him killed.

I would say that the paranoia is gaining ground with Comrade Chavez if he seriously believes that such an attempt would be made. But then tyranical dictators like Chavez are really models of psychological stability. Remember the guy in the '30s/'40s with the silly little mustache?

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July 10, 2007

Iran Brings New Meaning To "Getting Stoned"

When I was a kid, "getting stoned" meant going out and smoking a doobie, frying brain cells in the process. Not something I partook of, but I knew a number of people who did.

In the U.S., being a Christian is considered bad, being a Muslim is considered cool. I am regularly bombasted with how the Christian right has taken control of America and instituted a theocracy. I must have missed that one. Yet, Iran, which has an Islamic theocracy, is considered by the left as being a force for good. Again, I must have missed something.

"Getting Stoned' in an Islamic Theocracy such as Iran takes on a whole different meaning than what Americans typically think.

From FoxNews:

Jafar Kiani was stoned to death in Aghchekand village, 124 miles west of the capital, Tehran, on Thursday, Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters. It was the first time in years that Iran has confirmed such an execution.

"This verdict was carried out Thursday," Jamshidi told reporters.

Death sentences are carried out in Iran after they are upheld by the Supreme Court. Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is punishable by stoning.

Being stoned to death is part of Sharia Law, and not something that would be implemented in a modern Westernized society. Unless the hard-left who hate anything good gets their way. Then there is a chance that Sharia will make its way into Western countries. I seem to recall reading that there has been a push to implement it on some basis in Canada and parts of Europe.

About the worst thing that can happen to an adulterer in the U.S., at least through the legal system, is a divorce. Outside of the legal system, there is always the potential of being the recipient of some STD, including AIDS. But that doesn't seem to stop some people from doing the deed. Of course if the adulterer is the one spreading diseases, they may have something other than a divorce to look forward to.

Under Sharia Law, both men and women are subject to the death penalty, and the method is a bit gruesome. In the case of a man, it calls for being buried waist deep; for a woman, buried to the neck. Then rocks are thrown at the victim (yes, VICTIM!) until they are dead. Since a woman only has her head exposed, it may well be that death comes more quickly. At least one can hope that is the case. It's a very ugly way to go.

Iran carried out this execution despite having signed off on International law that bans the practice of stoning and a moratorium that the Theocratic dictatorship implemented several years ago. It is the first such execution in several years that Iran acknowledges. One has to wonder if there has been more that the world has not heard about.

The execution, which took place on Thursday, has since been condemned by various human rights groups and Norway's Foreign Ministry filed an official protest with Iran's ambassador. A lot of good that did Jafar Kiani. He's still dead.

It is unknown what the execution date of the woman he was convicted with is. What is known is that they have been imprisoned for 11 years.

Iran is a totalitarian regime run by an Islamist Theocracy. This is the way things work in such governments. You do not have free speech. You do not have freedom of religion. And you can be executed in the most obscene and inhumane ways.

Yet there are some moonbats on the left who liken the U.S. to having become a theocracy.

The article also noted some of the crimes for which people can be executed for.

Capital offenses in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, serious drug trafficking, adultery or prostitution, treason and espionage.

Murder, treason and espionage I can understand. But not any of the rest of the crimes on that list. And certainly not by means of stoning.

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July 2, 2007

Chavez Joins Axis of Evil

Comrade Hugo Chavez, Dictator of Venezuela, has joined the "Axis of Evil" by forging an alliance with Ahmadinejad. Okay, they call it "axis of unity," however when you look at Iran's continued fueling sectarian violence in Iraq, as well as its support for Hezbollah terrorists combined with Chavez's seizure of oilfields from Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, as well as its squashing the free press by revoking broadcast licenses of televisions and radio stations that oppose his policies, I think you really do get an "Axis of Evil." Add to that Iran's nuclear ambitions and its willingness to arm terrorist organizations, and Venezuela is now considering launching a nuclear program.

From FoxNews:

"The two countries will united defeat the imperialism of North America," a beaming Chavez told a news conference during an official visit to the Islamic Republic, which the United States has labeled part of an "axis of evil".

Comrade Chavez complains that Washington gets upset when he visits the terrorist thug Ahmadinejad (also known as Iwannajihad).

There are some differences between the two dictators.

Set aside the fact that Iran is run by an Islamo-Fascist dictator that has been caught, repeatedly, funneling arms and personnel into Iraq in support of the anti-government terrorist groups, you still have the fact that Iran has been supporting Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, repeatedly threatened the annihilation of Israel, suppresses free speech, and, Ahmadinejad, in particular, participated in the Embassy hostage crisis back in 1979.

Comrade Chavez has not, to my knowledge, been supplying terrorist groups with arms and personnel.

In comments certain to please his hosts, who have often called on the United States to leave Iraq, Chavez branded those invading Iran's neighbor as "barbarians", drawing parallels with the European colonization of Latin America centuries ago.

"Those who try to convince the world that in Iran there are a bunch of barbarians are barbarians themselves."

Iran's hardline Kayhan daily said the two countries were riding on a "global anti-imperialism wave."

To be riding a "global anti-imperialism wave" would imply that there is a wave of global imperialism. Aside from Iran's ambitions to control the region, I have no clue what "wave of imperialism" they are referring to.

As for the comparison of Western Europe's colonialism to the current operations in Iraq, there really isn't any real basis for it. The U.S. and our allies are in Iraq and Afghanistan at the invitation of their governments. We are helping these countries get their militaries up to snuff to deal with the current and ongoing crisis, and doing a pretty good job of it.

To call us "barbarians" for coming to the aid of an oppressed people is silly, to say the least; the real "barbarians" are the terrorist thugs inciting murder and mayhem in Iraq. People like Ahmadinejad and Muqtada al-Sadr, and many like them.

Comrade Chavez is a fool for dealing with Ahmadinejad. Just how big a fool only history will tell.

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June 30, 2007

Japan A Victim?

Usually I would stay away from controversy when it comes to history, (exeption: continued refernces to Vietnam by politicians), however there is a quote in the following that needs to be addressed: From FoxNews:

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan by the United States during World War II was an inevitable way to end the war, a news report said Saturday.

"I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," Kyodo News agency quoted Kyuma as saying in a speech at a university in Chiba, just east of Tokyo.

Kyuma's remarks drew immediate criticism from Japanese atomic bomb survivors.

"The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many American lives," said Nobuo Miyake, 78, director-general of a group of victims living in Tokyo. "It's outrageous for a Japanese politician to voice such thinking. Japan is a victim."

It is the last paragraph in the above excerpt that I feel a need to address. Miyake is half-right. Yes, the use of two atomic bombs against Japan ended the war and saved American lives. I have read that the estimates of American lives saved to be about 500,000 (this may be total casualties, not just those killed). It was estimated that the invasion of Japan would have a casualty rate, for both sides, many times that of the Battle of Okinawa. It also shortened the war by at least a year, perhaps more. This would put a Japanese casualty rate somewhere around 2,000,000. That was actually figured into the reasoning for using the atomic bomb on Japan.

As for the final part of Miyake's statement, "Japan is a victim," let us remember that it was Japan that started the war with the United States, not the other way around, by bombing Pearl Harbor. It was also Japan that routinely executed prisoners of wars as well as civilian prisoners, such as took place on Wake Island prior to it's being retaken and in the Philippines where prisoners of war were executed by burning as well as during the Bataan and Sandakan Death Marches.

June 27, 2007

Chavez Wants To Be Dictator For Life

It looks like I am not alone in my viewpoint of Comrade Chavez, the dictator of Venezuela. This s form the Washington Post:

Insecurity, "malignant narcissism" and the need for adulation are driving Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's confrontation with the United States, according to a new psychological profile.

Eventually, these personality traits are likely to compel Chavez to declare himself Venezuela's president for life, said Dr. Jerrold Post, who has just completed the profile for the U.S. Air Force.

Chavez won elections for a third term last December. Since then he has stepped up his anti-American rhetoric, vowed to accelerate a march towards "21st Century socialism" and suggested that he intends to stay in power until 2021 -- a decade beyond his present term.

But Post -- who profiled foreign leaders in a 21-year career at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and now is the director of the Political Psychology Program at George Washington University -- doubts that Chavez plans to step down even then. "He views himself as a savior, as the very embodiment of Venezuela," Post said in an interview.

"He has been acting increasingly messianic and so he is likely to either get the constitution rewritten to allow for additional terms or eventually declare himself president-for-life."

Post sounds like he is on the same page as I am, or maybe it's the other way around. Comrade Chavez, in his crusade to turn Venezuela into a Cuba look-alike, is revealing his true colors. It was just a few days ago that Chavez stated he was ready for war with the United States, and made some very colorful, and wrong, accusations of what the U.S. is doing.

Meanwhile, Chavez is taking steps to seize the oil producing assets of ExxonMobile and ConocoPhillips. From FT.com:

Venezuela's state-owned oil company is taking over multibillion-dollar projects owned by ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, Rafael Ramirez, the country's energy minister, said.

The action was being taken following a failure to agree the terms of a handover of operations in the oil-rich Orinoco belt, said Mr Ramirez.

The oil groups refused to sign an agreement on how the Venezuela's state-owned oil company PdVSA would take majority control of heavy crude oil projects in the Orinoco belt, which are valued at a total of at least $25bn.

The loss of its Venezuelan operations would be a particular blow to ConocoPhillips. Its operations in the Orinoco belt were valued at about $6bn and accounted for about 10 per cent of the company's reserve base and 4 per cent of its worldwide production.

Mr Ramirez said PdVSA was increasing its share in the four projects, which lie above some of he largest heavy crude oil reserves in the world, from an average of 40 per cent to 78 per cent.

Chavez has been pusing to "nationalize" (fancy word for confiscate) the oil industry projects in Venezuela. Some companies have managed to reach an agreement turning over majority control to Chavez. ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobile have both refused as offers are sub-market value. In other words, Chavez is taking control by offering pennies on the dollar for what these companies have invested in Venezuela.

Both companies are reported to still be in negotiations, however I suspect that they will be forced to the table and sign some losing agreement, or they will lose their entire investment.

Quite frankly, if I were the head of these companies, I would push for a total buyout and let Venezuela screw things up.

As for Chavez, it has been clear to me for sometime that he is a megalomaniac. It is good to know that there are people with some pull who are recognizing that as well.

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June 26, 2007

Terrosit Propaganda in the Red Star Tribune

I am stunned that the a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.startribune.com/commentary/story/1267828.html">Star Tribune would publish a propaganda piece for a terrorist organization. No, I am not speaking of al-Qaeda, but Hamas. This is sickening. If I were a subscriber to the Red Star Tribune I would cancel my subscription. As it is, I check out the online edition only, therefore no subscription to cancel.

The commentary piece is by a Palestinian named Ahmed Yousef, and he has a lot to say about how it is America's fault that things are lousy for the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian National Authority apparently joins the list of elected governments targeted or toppled over the past century by interventionism: nations that had the courage to take American rhetoric at face value and elect whomever they would. No doubt some in Washington persist in the fiction that the United States is following a "road map" to democracy for Palestinians, just as others believe the Iraq war has been a sincere exercise in nation-building. Neoconservative strategists have miscalculated, however, and Hamas is stronger than ever.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. Although they are not international in nature, they have used terrorist attacks against Israel for decades, suicide bombings have become the weapon of choice for Hamas, murdering children and the elderly. When Israel retaliates by eliminating their terrorist thug leaders, they cry "foul."

Some critics raise the red flag of "Al-Qaida" and say that Hamas and parliament are a stalking horse for Salafi jihadists. I defy them to demonstrate one instance in which Hamas' military structure has struck against any force outside the theater of the occupation. The struggle has always been against the Israeli agenda of ethnic cleansing and conquest. Hamas is a movement of Palestinian liberation and nationalism -- Islamist, yes, but in the sea of contending faiths that is the homeland, where is the sin in loving one's creed?

Al-Qaeda like? Iffy, but certainly a "stalking horse for Salafi jihadists' is a fair assessment, although they are more public than "stalking."

As for the "military structure" of Hamas, if they really were a legitimate military, they would stop targeting school buses and shopping malls and focus on strictly military targets. However, they are nothing but a bunch of cowardly terrorists bent on murdering innocents.

This guy falsely claims that Israel is carrying out an "agenda of ethnic cleansing and conquest." If this were true, there wouldn't be any Palestinians for Israel would have succeeded at that already. Instead, the Palestinian population continues to grow faster than the population of Israel.

Further, it is the Palestinians, through organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and others that have been pushing an agenda of ethnic cleansing against the people of Israel. Israel has had to deal with mortar, rocket, and suicide bombings nearly everyday for the last six or seven years.

Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve. Those who warn of "failed states" and "Hamastan" as a breeding ground for terrorism forget where blame for failure belongs -- at the feet of the American administration, which has chosen to isolate the elected government.

The Palestinian people could have achieved their goals of self-determination, etc. decades ago. They could even achieve such today, immediately, if they had the leadership and the will to live in peace with their neighbors. However, the majority has been unwilling to accept a two-state solution, and many who claim they support such, are merely talking out of the sides of their mouth. This includes Hamas.

And they blame us for their problems, when it is clearly something they are in total control to achieve, or, as they have chosen, flush down the toilet.

The Bush administration never intended to honor the outcome of fair and transparent elections in the occupied territories. The embargo, designed to punish the electorate for its choice, was the first step toward crushing new democratic institutions. The second has been to find collaborators for the American agenda and to supply them with advisers, funds and weapons for their campaign of destabilization. The final step will be to truncate Gaza from any proposed Palestinian state and make it a de facto prison for all "undesirable" aspects of Palestinian nationalism. This will culminate in provocations designed to trigger a military response from Israel, which will "justify" a war on Gazans. This would be tragic for all concerned, and the international community, especially the Arab League, must not allow such an outcome.

The U.S. rightfully cut of support of the Palestinian Authority as it is run by a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of a close ally, Israel. The American people should not be expected to have their tax dollars, money that I work hard to earn, handed over to a pack of murdering thugs. If the Palestinian people had chosen to elect leaders instead of terrorists, things would be different. And that is the bottom line: Palestinians need leaders, real leaders, who are willing to step up to the plate and actually lead their people to peace and prosperity, rather than down the road of terrorism and destruction.

I guess I should not be surprised that the Red Star Tribune would publish this piece of tripe. The editorial staff of the Red Star Tribune, and other newspapers across the country seem to think that terrorists are the good guys, while America is the bad guy. They must be deranges.

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June 25, 2007

Comrade Chavez Ready For War

It seems that over the weekend off Comrade Chavez noticed and decided to give me something to write about this morning. Yesterday, the Dictator of Venezuela announced that he was ready for war with the United States. He claimed that the U.S. is already executing a media, propaganda and economic war against his totalitarian regime. Somehow I missed the announcement that we were carrying out such a campaign against him.

From FoxNews:

Dressed in olive green fatigues and a red beret, Chavez spoke inside Tiuna Fort - Venezuela's military nerve-center-before hundreds of uniformed soldiers standing alongside armored vehicles and tanks decorated with banners reading: "Fatherland, Socialism, or Death! We will triumph!"

"We must continue developing the resistance war, that's the anti- imperialist weapon. We must think and prepare for the resistance war everyday," said Chavez, who has repeatedly warned that American soldiers could invade Venezuela to seize control of the South American nation's immense oil reserves.

U.S. officials reject claims that Washington is considering a military attack. But the U.S. government has expressed concern over what it perceives as a significant arms build-up here.

Ah, yes, he is just pumping up his people in the fashion of such tyrants as Castro, Hussein, Stalin, Mao, and that nutter with the little mustache that wrought so much terror in the world.

Ho many times over the past couple of years has he claimed that the U.S. wants to bring him down and topple his government? How often has he refereed to our as "evil" and "the devil?"

If we wanted to carry out an economic attack on his country, all we would have to do is stop importing oil from there. Not likely to happen, unless we open up ANWR and more off-shore drilling. Then, in a couple of years we can tell Chavez to stick his oil up his, well, you get the idea.

Comrade Chavez, who idolizes Fidel Castro, has in recent months confiscated oil companies and has shut down Venezuela's oldest broadcasting station (so much for free press in that country) and has threatened to "nationalize" other business sectors. Such actions will divide the people of his country, at least the ones who are paying attention to what he is doing. We don't have to carry out a campaign of psychological warfare against Chavez.

What is of concerned is his purchase of over $3 Billion in arms from our "ally" Russia, including 24 SU-30 Sukhoi jet fighters. Chavez also announced that he is considering buying anti-aircraft missile batteries and submarines. These are a serious concern if he is able to make these purchases.

Quite frankly, I believe that Chavez overrates his importance. He hasn't murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people (like Saddam Hussein), or is executing acts of terrorism on a global scale. Okay, he has been cavorting with terrorists, like Ahmadinejad (did I spell that right?), so maybe there is some "guilt by association." Maybe.

Eventually, I hope, that his move to eliminating free speech in Venezuela will bring about his downfall and the people of Venezuela will regain their natural rights of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

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June 20, 2007

Jimmy Carter: Father of the Iranian Revolution

That is the name of the opinion piece in which Michael Evans writes about Jimmy Carter and the disastrous policies he implemented that wrought the problems in the Middle East of today. It seems we have a lot to thank former president Jimmy Carter for, and Evans scores his points accurately and concisely. This is a must read piece.

We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess.

The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the ayatollah Khomeini.

Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter's ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said "Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint." Carter's Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, "Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure." Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of "impeccable integrity and honesty."

The shah was terrified of Carter. He told his personal confidant, "Who knows what sort of calamity he [Carter] may unleash on the world?"

It was Carter who pressured the Shah of Iran to release political dissidents and ease censorship, which in less troubled times would make since, but not at that time for Iran. And not those particular dissidents. As Evans points out, "Khomeini could never have succeeded without Carter." He is right about that.

Evans outlines a lot of issues we still have to deal with thanks to Carter.

The Iranian revolution that replaced the pro-Western Shah of Iran with the totalitarian Islamo-Facist Ayatollah Khomeini was only the beginning. It was also during Carter's administration that the Iran-Iraq War broke out, resulting in millions of dead and wounded. It was also at this time that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and marked the rise of Osama bin Ladin and the foundation for al-Qaeda was laid.

Carter's response to crisis? He made an ineffectual attempt at obtaining the release of our embassy people held hostage by Iranian terrorists in the name of Khomeini. He boycotted the Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. He believed that every crisis can be resolved by diplomacy alone. Such a mindset is what resulted in World War II and the murder of some six million Jews in the holocaust. It is this mindset, instilled throughout the Democratic Party, that resulted in two aircraft being driven into the World Trade Center, killing thousands of people, while a third was crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth slammed into a farm field. That day could have been far worse if it had not been for the courage of the passengers on that fourth airliner.

Thanks a lot Jimmy.

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May 30, 2007

Chavez Threatens Broadcasters

Comrade Chavez, one of my "favorite" people to write about is in the news again. He is now threatening to shutdown yet another broadcaster in Venezuela. From FoxNews:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defended his decision not to renew the license of a popular opposition-aligned television network and warned Tuesday he might crack down on another TV station, accusing it of trying to incite attempts on his life.

Chavez said his refusal to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television, which went off the air at midnight Sunday, is "a sovereign, legitimate decision."

He said another station Globovision - one of the few channels that is still harshly anti-government - had encouraged attempts on his life and could also face sanctions.

"I recommend (Globovision) take a tranquilizer, that they slow down, because if not, I'm going to slow them down," Chavez said in a speech.

The claim came about as a result of Globovision broadcasting a retrospective of its 53 year broadcast history in which they ran some footage of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II.

Chavez has been ranting that opposition broadcasters have been attempting to incite violence by broadcasting "capitalistic poison." CAPITALISTIC POISON? Well, I suppose when you are communist dictator, anything that espouses liberty would be considered poisonous.

It is probable that Comrade Chavez is, by claiming that broadcasters are inciting violence, attempting to shutdown all opposition media within Venezuela. He can use these same claims to throw broadcasters and anchors into prison.

At one point on Tuesday, opposition supporters gathered at the offices of the Organization of American States where they chanted "this is a dictatorship."

I think they've got it right.

According to Comrade Chavez, the enemies of Venezuela has a name. From Reuters:

"Enemies of the homeland, particularly those behind the scenes, I will give you a name: Globovision. Greetings gentlemen of Globovision, you should watch where you are going," Chavez said in a broadcast all channels had to show.

Other broadcasters in Venezuela are very concerned over this trend and rightfully so. RCTV was the oldest and biggest broadcaster in Venezuela. If comrade shut them down with the wave of a pen, what is to prevent him from doing the same to the smaller broadcasters?

Let's face it, if you live in a country where you cannot freely express an opposing opinion without fear of retribution or incarceration, then you are not free.

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May 7, 2007

France Getting It Right?

The People of France have elected Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president. The conservative Sarkozy won a significant victory over his hard-left opponent, Royal, with over 53% of the vote versus 46% of the vote for the Leftist of France.

Sarkovy intends to push hard on his pro-market and anti-crime agenda, which will be good for France.

Meanwhile, the punks on the left rioted in Paris, throwing objects at police; firebombs were used against schools and community centers around the Essone region.


FoxNews has more, including pictures of cars that wre overturned in the riots.

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May 4, 2007

Chavez Threatens To Confiscate Banks, Steel Producers

Comrade Chavez of Venezuela, not content with nationalizing oil companies, is now making noises that he intends to confiscate private banks and the steel industry. The message he is sending is clear to me: don't invest in Venezuela, as you'll be a target for confiscation.

From myway.com:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday threatened to nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer, accusing them of unscrupulous practices.

"Private banks have to give priority to financing the industrial sectors of Venezuela at low cost," Chavez said. "If banks don't agree with this, it's better that they go, that they turn over the banks to me, that we nationalize them and get all the banks to work for the development of the country and not to speculate and produce huge profits."

As I understand the way banks operate, they use the money from their depositors (that would be folks like you and me) to loan to other people to finance their projects, whether it is for mortgages, business or consumer loans, etc. Part of the profits realized from the loans is used to pay the depositors for the use of their money. Interest is based on the amount of risk involved. If someone wants to borrow $200 Million dollars to build a new facility, and the company's revenues are miniscule, then there would be substantial risk involved. Okay, we know all of this. Apparently, though, Chavez doesn't.

Banking according to Chavez is: if you make a decent return on your investment, you are bad and not helping out your country.

As for the steel producers (Sidor is the main target), it looks like he is targeting them due to their selling Venezuelan steel overseas, where they can get a better price for their product than they can domestically, and then steel users have to rely on imported steel so that they can get a better price for their needs than using locally produced. It may be inefficient, but, hey, that's called capitalism. Buy low, sell high. Probably the local market price steel is kept low du to the imports from China making the price of locally produced steel uncompetitive, thus the need to export it to countries that will pay a price high enough to make operating steel mills profitable.

"Sidor has to produce and give priority to our national industries ... and at low cost," he said.

Of course Chavez, being a hard-core progressive, doesn't like capitalism, and wants to force the steel producers to sell at a price below the cost to produce, or force the construction industry to pay substantially more for the steel and thus raising the cost of construction.

Chavez is pushing hard to turn Venezuela into a communist country, doing it one piece at a time. As he has stated on many occasions, this is all part of his plan: to make Venezuela more like Cuba.

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April 16, 2007

al-Sadr Pulls Followers From Iraqi Cabinet

When I saw the headline on Foxnews as "al-Sadr orders 6 cabinet ministers to quit," I immediately jumped to the conclusion that this guy is out of control. Although al-Sadr is out of control, these resignations may actually be good for Iraq. Here's a clip:

Radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers to withdraw from Iraq's coalition government on Monday, the head of his parliamentary bloc said.

With this first paragraph it becomes evident that the six ministers in question were al-Sadr puppets.

The piece goes on to explain that the reason given was to make way for more "independents" who will "represent" the people. One can only hope that that will be the end result of these resignations and who replaces them.

Al-Sadr, who wields tremendous power among Iraq's majority Shiites, has been upset about recent arrests of his Mahdi Army fighters in the U.S.-led Baghdad security crackdown. He and his followers have also criticized al-Maliki for failing to back calls for a timetable for U.S. troops to leave the country.

If al-Sadr is truly serious about ending U.S. involvement in Iraq, and dislikes having his terrorist followers arrested, then he should A) get rid of the terrorists in his midst; B) throw his full support to achieving a free and democratic government in Iraq; C) disband his militia.

Instead, al-Sadr continues to take a confrontational role, and maintains an armed "militia" of terrorists and murdering death squads.

It is clear to me that the reason al-Sadr wants the U.S. out of Iraq is so that he can become the next tyrant in Iraq.

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April 11, 2007

North Korea Bulks At Reactor Shutdown

In the realm of the predictable, North Korea is refusing to shutdown its nuclear reactor as agreed when a its assets were released. From FoxNews:

North Korea wanted to delay a weekend deadline for shutting down its nuclear reactor by a month, but the United States said that was too long, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday.

"We let them know that this was not acceptable and the issue was dropped," he said. Instead, Richardson said the shutdown should only take a "few days."

"Now the ball is in North Korea's court to take the next important steps," he said, adding that officials there had reaffirmed a commitment to making initial moves to disarm.

This is why you should NEVER treat with communist dictators. They LIE! If anything, the assets in question should have remained frozen until AFTER North Korea could prove that it had shut down its reactor. By appeasing the dictator of North Korea, and releasing the money first, you put him in the power position. The leverage to get him to shut down the reactor has been removed.

Maybe Kim Jong Il will surprise me and keep the agreement. But I will not be holding my breath on that.

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April 4, 2007

Cavorting With Dictators

When a Globetrotting Leftist reaches out to a totalitarian dictator such as Assad of Syria, you have to wonder what their motivations are. When that Globetrotting Leftist is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and second in line of succession to the Presidency, those motivations become clear. It's all about subverting U.S. Policy in the Middle East, and bashing the current administration. From MyWay News:

Pelosi's visit to Syria was the latest challenge to the White House by congressional Democrats, who are taking a more assertive role in influencing policy in the Middle East and the Iraq war.

Bush has said Pelosi's trip signals that the Assad government is part of the international mainstream when it is not. The United States says Syria allows Iraqi Sunni insurgents to operate from its territory, backs the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups and is trying to destabilize the Lebanese government. Syria denies the allegations.

By reaching out to Syria, it is being argued, and correctly so, that the U.S. has two different foreign policies, just as it is becoming clear that Pelosi and other Leftists in Congress, believe there should be more than one Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Syria is responsible for the ongoing violence in Lebanon between the various factions in that country, including the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Syria has supplied arms, training, money, and other support to Hezbollah and various terrorist groups in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Syria has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, and is in close alliance with Iran. Most of the suicide bombers operating in Iraq arrived in Baghdad from Syria. The list goes on.

By recognizing, and mainstreaming Syria, Pelosi not only undermines U.S. policy in that region, she endangers the lives of American troops operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Americans traveling abroad. Attempts to marginalize a sitting president are typical of the hard left that controls Congress, and therefore, it is not surprising. However, this blatant attempt at undermining U.S. policy jeopardizes the chances of stabilizing that region of the world.

Once again, the hard-left Democrats are showing their true colors and the Neville Chamberlain like tactics to appease dictators and terrorists will only beget more violence against the U.S. and our allies.

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March 26, 2007

Chavez Leads Venezuela Closer To Communism

Comrade Chavez is busily pushing Venezuela towards communism again, this time targeting confiscating farms and ranches. From IHT.com:

President Hugo Chavez announced Sunday that his government's sweeping reforms toward socialism will include the creation of "collective property."

Vowing to undermine capitalism's continued influence in Venezuela during his television and radio program "Hello President," Chavez said state-financed cooperatives would operate under a new concept in which workers would share profits.

"It's property that belongs to everyone and it's going to benefit everyone," said Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro whom opponents accuse of leading Venezuela toward Cuba-style communism.

Sounds as though Chavez's opponents have got him right. "Collective property" is a euphemism for state-owned, and it is clear that Chavez intends to bring everything under the control of the government, meaning himself, since their legislative body has granted him the power to execute law by decree. There are no longer any "checks and balances" in Venezuela to prevent Chavez from implementing his plans of totalitarianism.

In countries that operate under Marxist doctrine, such as Cuba, China, the former Soviet Republic, and now Venezuela, it is the top dog (and their loyal supporters) who get it all, while the people, whom they claim to serve, struggle on in poverty and slavery to the State.

"It cannot be production to generate profits for one person or a small group of people that become rich exploiting peons who end up becoming slaves, living in poverty and misery their entire lives," he said.

In other words, taking your money and investing it in business with the anticipation of making a profit is bad, despite the fact it employees people to get a job done. And these people were not forced to accept these jobs, they chose to do so, which is something the people in China don't get to do.

The piece goes on to iterate that current policies of confiscating land from large farms and ranches, redistributing it to poor people to work, has failed to revive the agricultural industry in Venezuela. No surprise there as what is needed is more, and modern, large-scale farm equipment that can do the job far more efficiently than small-scale farming.

It also points out that Venezuela continues to import food staples such as meat, milk and sugar, because of ongoing shortages.

So, what good is "sharing the profits with workers" in a country that cannot produce enough food to feed itself? If the peons have it so good under such regimes, then why have so many thousands of people fled Cuba over the last 40+ years?

What's really going on in Venezuela is a grab for power, and it is the people that will end up paying the price.

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March 16, 2007

Castro and Cuban "Elections"

I am trying to figure out why this is news. From FoxNews:

Fidel Castro will be in "perfect shape" to run for re-election to parliament next spring, the first step toward securing yet another term as Cuba's president, National Assembly head Ricardo Alarcon said Thursday.

Castro is a dictator, not an elected statesman. Cuba is a totalitarian country that has not held a free election since it fell to Castro and his communist thugs nearly half a century ago. Run for re-election? You've got to be kidding.

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March 9, 2007

Comrade Chavez At It Again

Comrade Chavez is spewing more venom in Venezuela again. This time in response to President Bush's tour in Latin America. From FoxNews:

Venezuela's firebrand leader said Friday that President Bush's Latin American tour was nothing more than an attempt to improve America's image, dismissing pledges of U.S. aid as a cynical attempt to "confuse" the region.

I find the word choice in this opening statement, refering to the communist dictator as a "firebrand leader' rathr repugnant, but typical of the MSM viewpoint that anything that is opposite America and our values must be good, and America and its leaders are invariably bad. At least Republican leaders.

President Hugo Chavez, who complained last week that Bush's tour was meant to divide Latin America and isolate his leftist government, launched a counter-tour of his own, arriving late Thursday in Buenos Aires. He said the U.S. leader only recently "has discovered poverty" in the region.

"I believe the chief objective of the Bush trip is to try to scrub clean the face of the (U.S.) empire in Latin America. But it's too late," Chavez said of recent Bush pledges of aid. "It seems he's just now discovered that poverty exists in the region."

In an interview with Argentine state television Channel 7, Chavez promised his scheduled soccer-stadium rally Friday night in Buenos Aires "will be confrontational. I believe you have to point out the contrasts. If he says 'Yes,' we say, 'No!'"

America has been very cognizant of poverty in the region south of the U.S., and its causes: government corruption, communism, drug cartels, and dictators like Hugo Chavez.

This year, Chavez has been very successful in concentrating total power in his country with himself, including the power to pass laws and confiscate property by decree (no checks and balances).

Okay, so if Chavez wants to be confrontational, and say "no!' to everything we say "yes" to, let that also include ALL economic aid to that region as it is obvious that they do not appreciate our efforts to help them rise out of poverty and grasp the hand of freedom. They seem to prefer totalitarianism and enslavement rather than liberty and self-government.

Gotta wonder: how long will it take the people of Venezuela to wake up and smell the roses; to realize that they've been had and have given total power to megalomaniac.

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March 8, 2007

China On U.S. Human Rights

What's that old line, "kettle black?" China, the glowing example of human rights, is blasting the U.S. over alleged human rights violations. From FoxNews:

China on Thursday accused the United States of trampling on Iraq's sovereignty, saying Washington was using its campaign against terrorism as an excuse to torture people around the world and violate the rights of its own citizens.

The charges came in a report titled the "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006," China's response to U.S. criticism of Beijing's human rights record in a report Tuesday by the State Department.

"As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights conditions in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but avoided touching on the human rights situation in the United States," the Chinese report said.

China is a country that is responsible for the murder of some 65 MILLION people, not counting the millions of forced abortions used to enforce its one child per family rule. It routinely imprisons political dissidents, and runs gulags where the prisoners are used as slave labor.

America has the highest regard for human rights. This is not to that there aren't a few rogues who disobey orders and do things that are repugnant, such as Abu Ghraib.

Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are treated exceedingly well; they are not tortured (unless you consider listening to Barbara Streisand sing as torture); they are given Korans (think that would happen in Iran?) and ethnically appropriate meals (no pork); the best health care (as opposed to be shoved in a hole to rot).

As for China, and its accusations that the U.S. is violating the sovereignty of other countries, what about their incursion into Tibet? How about the thousands of students killed at Tianaman Square in 1989? And it's continued threats to seize and annex Taiwan?

What I don't get is why so many Americans give a rat's you-know-what about what China, a totalitarian dictatorship, thinks about America. More importantly, why do they fault America for the rare violations instigated by rogues (who have been tried, convicted and incarcerated) as being so bad on human rights, yet they consider China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and many other totalitarian and oppressive regimes as being glowing examples of how America should be?

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March 1, 2007

Ahmadinejad Blames U.S. and Israel, Again

Ahmadinejad is foaming at the mouth again, this time in Sudan. From FoxNews:

"There is no place in the world that suffers from divisions and wars unless America or the Zionists' fingerprints are seen there," Ahmadinejad told his audience in Farsi translated into Arabic.

He urged Muslims to rally behind Iran and accused detractors of Iran's nuclear program of trying to prevent a developing country from making scientific advances.

"Our strength and the cornerstone of the victory is in our (Muslims') unity ... we have to pay attention to the devils who want to cause divisions among us," the Iranian president said.

Let's see now, Iran has threatened to annihilate Israel for how many decades? As they move closer to nuclear weapons, further destabilizing the region, and it's Israel and the U.S. who are to blame? Iran is arming terrorist groups and death squads operating in Iraq, and that is somehow OUR fault?

Sudan has been running a pogrom in Darfur, and that's our fault, too, I suppose. There is violence throughout much of South East Asia, where the U.S. has little, if any, involvement, but Islamic terrorists are heavily involved.

Basically, it is "Iwannajihad" Ahmadinejad blaming the West for the ills of the world, regardless of the fact that many of the problems we now face has its roots in radical Islam. What else is new?

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February 28, 2007

U.N. WantsTo Tax America

Some scientific Dunsels on the U.N. payroll are at it again, calling for a global temperature ceiling. From Voice of America:

A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change.

In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease.

Question to these "scientists:" How do you stop the unstoppable?

The modern warming trend, which has been going on since 1850, is a natural phenomenon, not something mankind has triggered. All one has to do is look at the geological evidence to understand that there isn't anything, short of extinguishing the sun, that can be done about it.

Still, they clamor about carbon dioxide emissions (with CO2 accounting for about 350 parts per million, a little less than 0.04%, in the atmosphere), and that something has to be done about those nasty fossil fuels.

Some of their concerns, such as rise in sea levels, regardless of the fact that sea levels change as the Earth's climate warms and cools, rising and falling with each cycle; droughts can be countered with the construction of desalination plants in the coastal region; the spread of virulent diseases, such as the bubonic plague, were spread by rodents during times of global cooling.

Now we get to the main focus of their agenda:

Holdren, however, says even these measure will achieve very little unless they are accompanied by a global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. "We don't think ultimately society will get it right in terms of the full range and scope of activities needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, until there is an additional incentive in the form of a price on greenhouse gas emissions, either through a carbon tax or a cap and trade approach," he said.

As the United States is considered the "worst offender" when it comes to CO2 emissions, it is clear that their agenda is to tax America into oblivion. Such a tax goes against the very foundation of our society: no taxation without representation. The cornerstone is that there shall be no taxation except through by the consent of the people to be taxed, via there ELECTED representatives. This is why all tax bills begin in the House of Representatives. We "the people" do not have elected representation in the United Nations. The U.N. is made up of a bunch of appointed bureaucrats, mainly from socialist countries and totalitarian regimes. Any such global tax, which is clearly designed to break America economically, is a clear violation of sovereignty (as are all international laws) and adoption of which would be a direct violation of our Constitution.

Quite frankly, I've pretty much had it with the U.N. and the puppet governments that make up a large part of that body politic. Their petty jealousy of America has further corrupted that already heavily corrupted organization. With incidents as the "food for oil" scandal in Iraq, and the "food for sex" scandal in the Congo, how can we accept anything the U.N. claims as being legitimate?

If any such treaty as Kyoto, or its planned successors, is signed by the United States, every politician involved with passing and signing such, should be immediately removed from office for violating the U.S. Constitution, which they have sworn to uphold.

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February 23, 2007

Obama Ridicules Cheney

Obama is showing that he is way out of his league. From MyWayNews:

Obama, speaking at a massive outdoor rally in Austin, Texas, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision this week to withdraw 1,600 troops is a recognition that Iraq's problems can't be solved militarily.

"Now if Tony Blair can understand that, then why can't George Bush and Dick Cheney understand that?" Obama asked thousands of supporters who gathered in the rain to hear him. "In fact, Dick Cheney said this is all part of the plan (and) it was a good thing that Tony Blair was withdrawing, even as the administration is preparing to put 20,000 more of our young men and women in.

"Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we're in the last throes. I'm sure he forecast sun today," Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over their heads to keep dry. "When Dick Cheney says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems."

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't recall Blair stating anything along the line that the war in Iraq was a lost cause or cannot be solved militarily, as Obama implies.

Obama is rather funny, as he recently stated that he was sick of the tit-for-tat goings-on in politics, yet here he is, bloviating about the British pulling out a part of their force, even as they announce that they will be boosting their force in Afghanistan and how if Cheney says that is good, then there must be problems.

On the upside, if Obama keeps pushing rhetoric like this, he'll be giving Hillary a good run for her money.

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Iran Continues On March To Nukes

Iran is continuing its pursuit of nuclear technology, and rapidly heading towards weapons development. Meanwhile, the U.N. continues to do nothing. From FoxNews:

Iran is "thumbing its nose" at the international community by expanding its uranium program, a top U.S. official said, setting the stage for difficult negotiations on new U.N. sanctions, with the U.S. likely to push for tougher measures.

In the wake of the U.N. nuclear agency's confirmation that Iran expanded its uranium enrichment program, senior diplomats from the five permanent Security Council nations and Germany will meet on Monday in London to start work on a new resolution to try to pressure Iran to suspend that program, which can lead to the production of nuclear weapons.

Among the permanent council members, Britain and France are likely to join the U.S. in a call for harsher sanctions than Russia and China will accept.

In the long run, it doesn't matter what sanctions are laid against Iran, as there is little doubt that some countries, Russia included, will choose to ignore them. Also, both Russia and China have veto power over any resolution that may be put forth.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations is calling for a political outcome, not resolutions or sanctions. Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad has made it clear that there is zero chance for a political outcome has he has refused to come to the "bargaining table" unless Western countries cease all nuclear activities first. How can you have a diplomatic/politcal outcome when the problem child refuses to come to the table?

Further, all resolutions and sanctions being put forth have no teeth to back them up. so, what's the point in putting them forth?

The United Nations is clearly an organization of Dunsels, inspired by their own self-righteous rhetoric, and Iran is clearly a threat to world peace and stability in the Middle East.

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February 20, 2007

Ahmadinejad Implements "You First" Policy

Ahmadinejad is sounding like the Soviet Union under Krushchev. From FoxNews:

"That ... we shut down our nuclear fuel cycle program to let talks begin. It's no problem. But justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle program too. Then, we can hold dialogue under a fair atmosphere," Ahmadinejad said.

Back in the late '50s, towards the end of the Eisenhower administration, Eisenhower struck a bargain with Krushchev where both countries would cease developing and testing nuclear weapons. Only one side in that agreement held up their end. Can you guess which one?

It is clear that by demanding that the West cease uranium enrichment before it would do the same and resume talks, Ahmadinejad is hoping to buy sufficient time to continue its nuclear programs. Further, why should we trust the untrustworthy? Doing so would be folly of the worst sort. It will also never happen.

If Iran fails to comply with U.N. demands to cease and desist from developing nuclear technology, it may impose economic sanctions. Basically, a "threat" that has no teeth in it as there are countries (like Russia, Syria and China) that will continue to trade with Iran despite any sanctions. Without a military blockade of their ports of entry, any sanctions against Iran will be meaningless, and a military blockade will not be put into place.

The end result will be business as usual as Iran continues on the path to nuclear weapons, and the supplier of weapons grade materials to al-Qaeda.

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February 15, 2007

Comrade Chavez Threatens Confiscation Of Grocery Stores

This is what happens when you give complete power to a tyrant. From BreitBart News:

President Hugo Chavez threatened Wednesday to nationalize any privately owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods.

Accusing private companies of hoarding beef and other foods, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalize their facilities as soon as they gave him "an excuse."

"If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them," Chavez said during a televised broadcast. "So prepare yourselves!"


Chavez has been intent on nationalizing "strategic" sectors of the economy since winning re-election in December. He has moved quickly to buy out private interests in leading electricity and phone companies since the National Assembly gave him authority to enact sweeping measures by decree and accelerate the country's socialist transformation.

Comrade Chavez, having gained the power to execute is will by decree, bypassing the legislative process and all checks and balances, has already moved to nationalize energy and telecom sectors. As some of those sectors had foreign interests, he could not outright confiscate the businesses in total, but was forced to buy the foreign interests. There is no such roadblock when it comes to grocery stores.

No proof of violations is necessary, only accusations. If storeowners are violating price controls, it is most likely because they have a need to make a living. Price controls tend to make it very difficult for a business to make a profit, especially if they are set below the cost of production.

Should Comrade Chavez confiscate these businesses, it will be the people of Venezuela who will lose, not just the storeowners and their employees.

Hey, jazz and annarboriter, still think Venezuela is a model of Democracy?

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February 9, 2007

Iran Threatens U.S. Interests, Again

More Rhetoric from the totalitarian regime in Iran. From News 24:

A top Iranian cleric said on Friday the United States was within Iran's "firing range", a day after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to hit back at US interests worldwide if attacked.

"Americans have surrounded us but it works to our advantage. They are within our firing range in the east, west and elsewhere," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in his Friday prayer sermon carried live on state radio.

He was referring to the US military presence in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in the Gulf waters off southern Iran.

It is amazing how much the leaders in Iran sound like Baghdad Bob before and during Operation: Liberate Iraq in 2003. I guess he must have opened a propaganda school or is consulting with Iran n how to bloviate with the best of them.

Currently, there are no plans from the U.S. to invade Iran. Okay, more likely there are some plans on how to do it if the need arose, however, there are no intentions of executing such plans.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to posture as the "wounded victim" of "American aggression," and push hard on developing nuclear technology, and getting closer to either developing a nuclear weapon, or being able to produce sufficient quantities to pass of to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah who are more than willing to use it to attack Israel, the United States and other Western nations.

"In the worst situations we are able to turn the region into burning hell and take the possibility of using the Persian Gulf away from them forever," Rear Admiral Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani said, quoted by semi-official Mehr news agency.

Is this guy hinting that they plan on using newly developed nuclear weapons, or threatening the use of chemical and biological weapons, or merely posturing. It's hard to say, as well as dangerous to guess, especially to guess wrong.

We need to take the question of Iran's nuclear enrichment programs far more seriously than we are. Doing otherwise could be disastrous.

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February 8, 2007

Can We Win In Iraq

Steve Chapman has a very weird analogy on the continued U.S. operations in Iraq. From the Red Star Tribune:

When police found Shawn Hornbeck living with his alleged abductor four years after he was kidnapped, the question arose: Why didn't the 15-year-old simply run away? But trapped and isolated, a hostage can be scared into thinking that the consequences of leaving -- for himself or his loved ones -- would be far worse than the consequences of staying. So he passes up opportunities to escape.

I really don't get what the kidnapping of Hornbeck and his failure to use "opportunities to escape" has to do with the establishment of a functioning Democracy in Iraq.

Chapman then gets into the thrust of his editorial:

That's roughly our plight in Iraq. Even one of President Bush's key allies, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says "the situation in Iraq can now best be described as dire and deteriorating" and "our window of opportunity to reverse momentum may be closing." Hard-core supporters of the war, no longer able to pretend that we are making progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq, have fallen back to their last line of defense -- insisting that no matter how bad things are with us in Iraq, things would be far worse with us out.

Well, no, we are not being held hostage in Iraq. On the flip side, he is right about the support for continued operations in Iraq is a bit lagging of late, mostly on the part of those who have announced plans to run for the presidency in '08. Like McCain.

Whether or not the "window of opportunity" is closing is true, there is no doubt that the right strategy in Iraq can succeed. The right strategy goes beyond the obvious "surge" in troop deployments in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. Even reaching out to the people of Iraq and the reconstruction of the nation's infrastructure may not be sufficient, as we have been doing since 2003. We need to make it such that Iraqi's feel secure enough that they can identify terrorists and sectarian death squad members without fear of reprisal against them and their families. As long as they live with that fear, that turning in a terrorist will result in the death of their entire family, it is difficult to make any real headway.

Pulling out, the argument goes, would destroy our credibility and embolden the terrorists. Neoconservative Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is among those confidently predicting a parade of horribles: ethnic slaughter, a regional war and a secure base for Al-Qaida to launch attacks on us and our allies.

If we withdraw, he wrote recently in the Washington Post, "the war in Iraq and in the region will not end but will only grow more dangerous." And there is the old argument that if we don't fight the terrorists in Iraq, we will have to fight them at home.

These points, contrary to what Chapman would have us believe, are true. The sectarian violence will continue, fueled by Iran. Iran may even cease its covert operations and openly move to convert Iraq into a totalitarian theocracy like itself, making Iraq a satellite state. Possible? Probable!

Once that is done, al-Qaeda will have a new base of operations, having won the waiting game with the U.S. as Congress continues to show a lack of backbone to do the heavy lifting necessary to create a stable and democratic Iraq.

We know that al-Qaeda, and recently, Hezbollah, has cells operating in the U.S. Once the U.S. ends operations in Iraq, these terror groups will be able to focus on their operations in America and other Western nations. They will also have a fall back position in Iraq should things turn sour. They will also have a supplier of nuclear materials with which to build small nukes that can kill hundreds of thousands of people in a single attack.

There will also be the stockpiles of weaponry still in Iraq that have not been fully inventoried, from which over 500 chemical weapons have been identified, recovered, and destroyed since 2003. How many more chemical weapons remain in Iraq is unknown.

Winning in Iraq is not an option, nor is it a luxury we can't afford. It is a necessity. The enemy fears a democratic state in their midst, and that is why the road to success has grown more difficult.

It also has not helped that we brokered a deal with Muqtada al-Sadr and his gang of thugs in 2004.

It won't be cheap. Victory never is. Not in blood, nor in money. I care about the loss of life. As for the money, spend whatever it takes to get it done. The key, though, is making Iraq safe for the people of Iraq so that they will not live in fear for their lives. Once that is achieved, a free and stable Iraq can be achieved.

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February 6, 2007

More Rhetoric From Iran

Iran is back in focus, spewing a lot of rhetoric about how the U.S. will be made to "repent" an attack on Iran. This is straight from the horse’s mouth, the Islamic Republic News Agency:

Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said that Iran is fully prepared to teach a lesson to possible aggressors to make them repent of such a measure forever.

It sounds as though Baghdad Bob has changed his name and moved to Iran. Invading Afghanistan to go after al-Qaeda was predicted that it would be a disaster, just as Soviet invasion of Aghanistan was in the ‘80s. Hussein, during the build up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that led to the fall of his regime (and eventual execution) also predicted that the U.S. would pay dearly should it invade.

Okay, we’re still struggling to counter the sectarian violence in Iraq. Hopefully "the surge" will have a significant and positive impact on the continuing violence there.

The article gets better:

Underlining Iran's interest in regional security and peace, he said that Iran's policy is clear and that Iran has repeatedly said hat security should be established by the countries of the region.

This is laughable. Iran has gone to great lengths to undermine the developing sovereignty of a democratic Iraq by fueling the sectarian violence there. They have not only provided arms and munitions, but also manpower to the terrorist death squads operating in Iraq.

It is clear to me that "security should be established by the countries of the region" they mean Iran, and a totalitarian theocracy.

About the United Nations Security Council's anti-Iran resolution and the extent of its impact on Iran's military industries, he said that today most of Iranian Army's weapons are produced domestically and that Iran no more needs to supply its weapons from foreign markets.

If that were truly the case, then why Iran been buying military hardware from Russia and trying to acquire F-14 parts through clandestine channels?

Their continued insistence on developing nuclear technology is a serious concerned that only fools would ignore. Although they claim they are developing nuclear tech for peaceful energy usage, can they be trusted?

It was not all that long ago that North Korea was spouting similar rhetoric in regards to nuclear technology that the U.S. gave them, accepting Kim Jong Il at his word (which we know what that’s worth) that the North Koreans would not use it to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran poses an even greater threat in this space, as they have been funneling weapons and funding to numerous terrorist organizations, most notably Hezbollah. They do not have to develop a nuke that has to be delivered via missile when terrorist groups will gladly do the job for them.

Despite its claims to the contrary, Iran is currently the biggest threat to peace and security in the region. It continues to fuel sectarian violence in Iraq as well as equipping, funding and training Hezbollah in its continued war on Israel. Who in their right mind would trust such a regime?

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February 1, 2007

Chirac Wrong On Iran Nukes

Jaques Chirac proved this week that he does not understand the powers running Iran. From NYTimes (probably need to register):

"I would say that what is dangerous about this situation is not the fact of having a nuclear bomb," he said. "Having one or perhaps a second bomb a little later, well, that's not very dangerous.

"But what is very dangerous is proliferation. This means that if Iran continues in the direction it has taken and totally masters nuclear-generated electricity, the danger does not lie in the bomb it will have, and which will be of no use to it."

Mr. Chirac said it would be an act of self-destruction for Iran to use a nuclear weapon against another country.

"Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel?" Mr. Chirac asked. "It would not have gone 200 meters into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed."

To think that Iran having a few nuclear weapons as being "not very dangerous" is foolish, when one takes into account the rhetoric that regularly comes from that country. It is clear that should Iran reach the point that they can refine uranium sufficiently to build a bomb, the greater threat is that they will sell some of this material to terrorist organizations that will then use it in a suicide nuke. That potential threat is the point with preventing Iran's continued development of nuclear technology.

It is also idiotic to think that, should Iran launch against Israel, Theran would be razed within a few minutes of such a launch. Most likely Theran would be destroyed by a retaliatory strike shortly after Iran's missiles hit their targets. Regardless of the timing, it ignores the fact that the rulers of Iran would not be phased by a potential retaliatory strike. They would take shelter, let the population get fried, then revel in the destruction.

That assumes they don't use Hezbollah to do the dirty work, which, as pointed out above, is the more likely scenario. Smuggle the uranium in, build the bomb in country, and detonate it. Then Tehran could say "Gee, how'd that happen?"

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January 31, 2007

Harper: Kyoto a Socialist Scheme

Kyoto and Global Warning are in the news again. As usual, the MSM is taking the side of the Loony-Left that Global Warming is Man's fault, and not part of the natural cycle of the Earth and the Cosmos.

Canada's Harper gets it right, referring to Kyoto as nothing more than a socialist scheme to tax wealthy nations. From CBC News:

"We're gearing up now for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership," Harper's letter says.

"I'm talking about the 'battle of Kyoto' - our campaign to block the job-killing, economy-destroying Kyoto accord."

Harper, like Bush, gets it right. Kyoto would be very damaging in the U.S., and any other highly Westernized country, like Canada, Japan, Australia, the U.K., to name a few.

It would suck wealth out of our economies, and shift it to smaller/poorer countries, most of which have corrupt governments that would not use the funds to build up their country's economies, but shift it to their own personal bank accounts.

Never mind the fact that there are a growing number of scientists that are refuting Kyoto as being based on nothing more than junk science.

There are also two new books out that look to be worth a read. Unstoppable Global Warming and The Chilling Stars. Time to put those on the reading list.

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January 28, 2007

Kerry Calls U.S. INternationa Pariah

This is definitely a Moonbat moment. From CBS News:

"When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don't advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy," Kerry said.

"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East - in the world, really. I've never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today."

Thus spake Flipper Kerry while at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while sharing the stage with Mohammad Khatami, former president of terror state Iran.

The United States has done more for AIDS in Africa than any other country, on any continent. We have sent BILLIONS of our TAX DOLLARS there, as well as huge amounts of charitable giving through various non-government agencies, including through religious organizations.

Walking away from Kyoto was the right thing to do, as it is meant to break the financial backs of the American people, never mind the fact that "Global Warming" is all part of the natural rhythm of the Earth's climate. It wasn't all that long ago that scientists were predicting the Earth was entering another ice age. The Kyoto plan was set forth based on flawed computer models. Any software engineer knows that computer models can be tailored to return the results you want. And the designers of those models have all stated that their models were flawed, not taking into account many variables that impact the climate.

As for the "crisis of confidence in the Middle East," we have Leftist Democrats, like Kerry, who are not supporting the mission there, not supporting the troops, and not providing the backbone to show the terrorists in Iraq that the U.S. has the moral fortitude to get the job done.

If the U.S. is an "international pariah," it is thanks to Kerry and others of his ilk.

Congratulations, Flipper, you are a Moonbat. But then, we knew that already.

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Terror Leaders Flee To Iran

For those still poo-pooing "the surge," it is now apparent that the terrorists in Iraq are taking it seriously. From FoxNews:

Death squad leaders have fled Baghdad to evade capture or killing by U.S. and Iraqi forces before the start of the troop "surge" and security crackdown in the capital.

A former senior Iraqi minister said most of the leaders loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, had gone into hiding in Iran.

Among those said to have fled is Abu Deraa, theShiite militia leader whose appetite for sectarian savagery has been compared to that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed last year.

I also seem to recall a blurb that al-Sadr is trying to make "peace" with the Iraqi government, as he now knows he isn't going to get the same second chance he received in 2004 if he continues with his death squad operations.

That many are now "hiding in Iran" further proves the point that Iran has been fueling much of the sectarian violence that has been going on in Iraq during the last few years.

Hopefully "the surge" (sounds like the name of a hockey team) will prove successful. We need victory in Iraq in order to bring stability to that country. We should not settle for anything less than that, nor should the people of Iraq.

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January 26, 2007

Iran Set To Bring More Nuclear Centrifuges Online

Looks like Iran is pushing towards nuclear weapons again. This is off of FoxNews:

Iran expects to start installing thousands of centrifuges in an underground facility next month, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Friday. The installation would pave the way to large-scale uranium enrichment, a potential way of making nuclear weapons.

Iran has yet to cease its pursuit of refining uranium to high levels of purity, despite calls from the International community to cease such operations. Diplomacy has not worked with Iran, which is not surprising, as they are intent on having things their way only. Diplomacy can only work when all parties involved are interested in reaching the same goals.

Emplacing the centrifuges underground, most probably deep underground, is a way to safeguard their operations from observation and from attack.

Iran has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel, as well as threatened the U.S. Add to that its ongoing operations inside of Iraq, disrupting that fledgling democracy, should it complete its plans and develop nuclear weapons, the dynamics in the Middle East will shift dramatically, and not in a good direction.

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New Plan For Iran Agents In Iraq

It looks as though we are about to play a little more "hard ball" with Iranian agents operating in Iraq. From FoxNews:

The U.S. military have received the OK to kill or capture Iranian operatives found inside Iraq, the Washington Post reported Friday, as part of an effort to destabilize Tehran's influence in Iraq and the Middle East.

Citing government and counterterrorism officials, the Post reported the move by President Bush is also part of a strategy to compel Iran to give up its nuclear program.

It is common knowledge that Iran has been funneling money, arms and personnel into Iraq in support of Islamic Fundamentalist groups. The Media has reported on this on numerous occasions. Up until now, Iranian agents have been handled with kid gloves, released once they have been identified, and DNA/retina scans/fingerprints have been taken.

This change in policy will send a signal to the Ayatollahs in Iran that their continued interference in Iraq will not be tolerated.

Unless, of course, the Democrats have their way and pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, thus ending the Coalition, and jeopardizing everything that has been accomplished throughout that region. Such will send a signal to Iran that they will have a free hand in Iraq, and it will become a satellite state of the Ayatollahs, just as Lebanon is not much more than a surrogate of Syria.

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January 25, 2007

Russian Caught In Nuke materials Deal

FoxNews is reporting that man in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia has been convicted for attempting to sell a small amount of weapons grade Uranium.

The Russian who tried to sell the uranium to an undercover agent was identified as Oleg Khinsagov, who appeared to have connections to organized crime, but leads to terrorist connections were still being investigated.

Khinsagov, who was arrested in a rundown apartment in the Georgian Capital of Tblisis, believed the undercover agent who was making the buy was an Islamic radical from Turkey.

Georgian officials said attempts to trace the nuclear material and investigate the man's claim that he had access to larger quantities have foundered from a lack of assistance from Russia.

The man arrested also asserted that he was able to obtain larger quantities of U-235. Although the amount Khinsagov was in possession of was stated as four ounces, this is serious, as it only takes about 12 pounds for a small nuke.

That he also believed he was selling it to a "Islamic radical from Turkey" also indicates that he would be willing to sell it al-Qaeda. Luckily, this cretin is now out of circulation, at least for the next 8-10 years.

Set aside all of the political carping going on around the attempted sale of weapons grade uranium, this may only be the tip of the iceberg. Has Khinsagov sold, or attempted to sell U-235 in the past? If so, who to and where is it now? Who are his suppliers? And, finally, how much of this stuff is there out there on the black market now?

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January 21, 2007

Comrade Chavez to U.S. :"Go to Hell, Gringos"

Comrade Hugo Chavez is at it again. From FoxNews:

The National Assembly, which is controlled by the president's political allies, is expected to give final approval this week to what it calls the "enabling law," which would give Chavez the authority to pass a series of laws by decree during an 18-month period.

On Friday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Chavez's plans under the law "have caused us some concern."

Chavez rejected Casey's statement in his broadcast, saying: "Go to hell, gringos! Go home!"

This comes after Chavez's recent call to nationalize (confiscate) electrical and telecom industries as well as the additional powers sought by Comrade Chavez that Casey has critical of, and rightfully so.

If Chavez is granted the power to execute law by "presidential" decree, this will set him up in a position to rule Venezuela as he pleases. So much for Liberty and Democracy in Venezuela.

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January 20, 2007

Red Star Tribune Sides With Communist China

Looks like the Red Star Tribune is living up to its name once again, this time taking the side of Communist China after that country successfully destroyed one of its weather satellites as a show of force, the old "we can knock out satellites, too." In its editorial today The Red Star Tribune states:

China's apparent success in felling a weather satellite with a missile presents a serious diplomatic and defense challenge to the United States. As worrying as the technical ability it required (not great; the U.S. ability to knock down satellites dates to 1985) are the intentions China signaled: It aims to be a force in missile defense and military uses of space. Washington, it seems, has been hanged with its own space weaponry rope. Perhaps now it will take seriously China's long-standing desires for international talks on military issues involving space.

Bush administration cries of foul and protests decrying China's militarization of space reek of hypocrisy. From the early days of the first Reagan administration, hawks in the Republican establishment have pursued dreams of space-based weapons systems with nary a concern over what anyone or any nation might think. Many others have always believed that anything even hinting at military use of space was a thoroughly bad idea. Blowing up satellites is a particularly bad idea, as the United States and Russia discovered decades ago, because it creates a great deal of space debris that puts other space vehicles at risk.

True, blowing up satellites does create debris fields that may be hazardous to other low-Earth orbit satellites. There is, however, a big difference between the intentions of the U.S. and those of Communist China. China has on many occasions, including as recently as 2006, threatened the use of nuclear weapons against the United States, particularly where our continued support of an independent Taiwan is concerned. The only reason for the Communist Chinese to pursue the development of satellite killers is to neutralize U.S. space-based missile defense systems (SDI).

China is only interested in terminating the U.S. ability to stop their nuclear missiles from striking their targets. This will give them a strategic advantage, militarily, over the United States. No SDI, no stopping incoming nukes, bye-bye USA.

Further, trusting Communist Dictators, or any dictator for that matter, to keep their word is foolish. Eisenhower trusted the Soviets to cease nuclear weapons development in the '50s, and that was proved to be trust misplaced, as the Soviets continued development, using the time bought through deceit to close the nuclear weapons gap that then favored the USA.

In the 1990s, former President Carter brokered the deal with North Korea that the Clintons signed off on, that handed nuclear technology to Kim Jong Il on the condition that Communist North Korea would cease all nuclear weapons programs. Again, we have learned that that was trust misplaced as they now have several nuclear weapons. Thanks to Democrats like Carter and the Clintons.

Iran claims to only be developing the refinement of nuclear materials for peaceful uses, yet they continue to call for the destruction of Israel, and could easily become the supplier of uranium 235 to al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups who would trade their lives to kill millions with a few well placed nukes. And that is a very easy thing to do, once they have a supplier of uranium 235, or plutonium.

Why is it, given this history, the Liberal Media and the Liberal-Left that today controls what was once a great political party, think the United States is the bullying bad guy, and that these dictatorships, who have murdered thousands, and in the case of China, millions, of their own people?

The editorial has more:

The Bush administration was then considering abrogating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia because it was impinging on administration plans for its "Star Wars" programs. Bolton was asked: While neither China nor India is party to the ABM treaty, both nations' nuclear postures are predicated on the treaty's existence. Given that, shouldn't their concerns be considered before the United States unilaterally abrogates the treaty?

His answer dripped scorn, for the question and for its implication that perhaps the United States should consider what others think of U.S. actions. Well, he said, I guess we should just let foreign nations determine U.S. foreign policy.

Actually, the U.S. did not abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia. That treaty was with the Soviet Union, and when it finally ended up on the trash heap of history where it belonged, all treaties with the Soviet Union also ended.

As for China, or India for that matter (why didn't they mention Pakistan as well?), if they have "concerns" about a treaty between the U.S. and a country that no longer exists, why should it be considered as more important than U.S. concerns? Bolton's response is classic, and why I believe it is a disgrace that the Democrats in the Senate blocked his appointment to the United Nations. There is little doubt that the Liberal-Left and the Main Stream Media would prefer the United States defer all foreign policy (and in many cases, doemstic policy as well) to the foreign nations such as China, North Korea and Iran, or, better still, to the United Nations.

To the Red Star Tribune and the rest of the Liberal-Left controlled media, it is always the U.S. that is at fault when there are confrontations with other nations. They trust murdering dictators more than they trust our own leaders.

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January 19, 2007

Yet Another UN Scandal

More corruption and scandals with that darling of the Liberal-Left, the United Nations. IN this new episode, we learn that the UN Development Program was bilked of ten of millions of dollars by that other darling of the Liberal-Left, Kim Jong Il, dictator of North Korea. FoxNews has this on the issue:

Has North Korean leader Kim Jong Il subverted the United Nations Development Program, the $4 billion agency that is the U.N.'s main development arm, and possibly stolen tens of millions of dollars of hard currency in the process?

According to a top official of the U.S. State Department - using findings made by the U.N.'s own auditors - the answer appears to be a disturbing yes, so far as UNDP programs in North Korea itself are concerned.

And just as disturbingly, the U.N. aid agency bureaucracy has kept the scamming a secret since at least 1999 - while the North Korean dictator and his regime were ramping up their illegal nuclear weapons program and making highly publicized tests of intermediate range ballistic missiles.

The head of the UNDP during the time that this scamming took place was none other than Mark Malloch Brown, who has been extremely critical of President Bush's (and John Bolton's) demands that there be greater transparency in UN operations. One has to wonder why, with all the reports of abuse and corruption, from the "Oil for Food" prior to the invasion of Iraq, and the "Food for Sex" scandal, where UN Peace Keepers demanded sex in exchange for providing food aid in the Congo, that Malloch Brown would oppose greater transparency in UN operations.

The push for greater (or, better still, total) transparency and reform of the UN should continue. I suspect it will grind to a halt as the U.S. Congress is controlled by Liberal-Left Democrats who believe that the UN can do no wrong.

Audits of the UNDP (and other agencies) are considered to be "management tools" of the UN and are denied to those governments that actually pay the bills of the UN. Making these audits available to the United States and other governments as a matter of routine, instead of hiding them from those that supply the funding, is the first step to reforming the UN and ending the current "culture of sorruption" that has been the normal "modes operandi."

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January 10, 2007

Dubya's Speech on Iraq

President Bush addressed the nation this evening, presenting a new plan for victory in Iraq. The new plan is a welcome change in our policy in Iraq.

In his speech, President Bush acknowledged one of the greatest successes of the Islamic Terrorists operating there, and that was the bombing of the Golden Mosque of Samara, which resulted in the Shia population forming death squads to retaliate against the Sunni population. It further escalated into a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.

Part of the new plan for Iraq includes increasing troop deployments there by 20,000 soldiers, something the Democrats who now control Congress will, no doubt, do their utmost to prevent, as they would rather implement a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces. All I can say is, it's about time. This should have occurred within the first months following the bombing of the Golden Mosque.

Five additional brigades to be deployed to Baghdad, where they have been desperately as most of the violence is occurring within some 30 miles of Baghdad.

Here's a part of the transcript of the speech (FoxNews):

The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people - and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.

It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq. So my national security team, military commanders, and diplomats conducted a comprehensive review. We consulted Members of Congress from both parties, allies abroad, and distinguished outside experts. We benefited from the thoughtful recommendations of the Iraq Study Group - a bipartisan panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. In our discussions, we all agreed that there is no magic formula for success in Iraq. And one message came through loud and clear: Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States.

The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people. On September the 11th, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America must succeed in Iraq.

Yep, he's right. The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would give the Fundamentalist Islamic terrorists the green light to take over Iraq, and install a fascist theocracy similar to that which currently rules Iran. It would also send a signal to Iran that the U.S. would not come to Iraq's aid should they invade once U.S. forces are withdrawn. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Iraqis would die. Any redeployment of U.S. forces would come too late for many Iraqis if (and when) such events should (and would) occur.

Another 4,000 troops are to be deployed to the Anbar province, an area that al-Qaeda has made the most dangerous area outside of Baghdad. That's about a brigade in strength. It's a large region, so it will most likely have to be heavily integrated with Iraqi forces to be fully effective.

I don't know it these plans are sufficient to bring peace to Iraq. It is, however, a good start. A step in what I believe is the right direction. It is also the message I've been waiting to hear for some time now. It is time to take off the gloves and let the military do what they have been trained to do: win the war in Iraq.

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Chavez Again...

Comrade Hugo Chavez has been sworn in for his third six-year term as "president" of Venezuela. The Fidel Castro wanna be has stated "Fatherland. Socialism or death...I swear it."

For those who still believe that Comrade Chavez is a pillar of democracy, think again. It was just a few days ago that Comrade Chavez announced plans to nationalize (that’s a PC term for confiscate) electrical and telecom sectors. He has also made it clear that other business sectors will be subject to confiscation as well.

From FoxNews:

Chavez, an admirer of Fidel Castro, has said he is crafting a new sort of "21st Century Socialism." Critics say it is starting to look like old-fashioned totalitarianism by a leader obsessed with power.

On Monday, Chavez pledged to nationalize "strategic" power and telecommunications companies and said that he will ask the National Assembly for special powers allowing him to enact a series of laws by decree. Among those moves, he said, "all of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized."

Yep, totalitarianism is on the rise in Venezuela, like it or not. If they give Chavez the power ihe is asking for, the ability to enact laws by decree, that will circumvent all checks and balances on his power, putting him solidly in a position to run Venezuela as Castro has run Cuba for nearly half a century. It's that bit about enacting laws by decree that gives me the willies. Reminds me of Germany in the 1930s and the rise to power of another totalitarian schmuck.

And some folks here in the U.S. call Comrade Chavez a great leader, and that Bush is the totalitarian. Must be the same ones who slept through their high school class on American Government.

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January 9, 2007

Venezuela Steps Toward Communism

According to a FoxNews piece, Comrade Hugo Chavez, the "I wanna be president for life" leader of Venezuela has announced plans to nationalize all of Venezuela's telecom and electrical companies as well as amend that country's constitution to a socialist "republic."

During a televised speech he proclaimed, "All of that which was privatized, let it be nationalized."

I have no doubt that the media (print and broadcast) will be next on his hit list of industries that should be controlled by the government, or, more accurately, by El Presidente Comrade Chavez.

Where socialism rules, there you will NOT find Liberty. There will, however, be totalitarianism.

I'd ask what Jazz and Annarboriter would say, but they haven't posted since this earlier piece on Comrade Chavez


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December 30, 2006

Freedom of the Press, Comrade Chavez Style

A few weeks back I posted this article on Comrade Chavez. One of the comments (in deed, the first comment) on this post said:

dude, I am sooo sorry to let you know that prior to Chavez, there had been media censorship. After Chavez, ther was free speech... This doesn't look like a step towards totalitarianism, it just looks like a step away from America and its bad policies in the world.

Well Jazz, I hate to tell you "I told you so," but I told you so. Comrade Chavez has announced plans to terminate the broadcast license of an opposition supported TV station. Comrade Chavez claims that they are plotting a coup against him. From FoxNews:

The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Friday condemned a decision by President Hugo Chavez not to renew the broadcast license of an opposition-aligned TV station, saying it will be a major setback for the Venezuelan media.

The Paris-based group called it a "serious attack on editorial pluralism" in a statement e-mailed to journalists, and urged the Venezuelan government to "reconsider its stance and guarantee an independent system of concessions and renewal of licenses."

Chavez said Thursday that Venezuela will not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, when it expires next year. The channel is one of the country's main private stations and has been strongly critical of Chavez.

That's right, Comrade Chavez, Jazz's champion of the freedom of the press, intends to shutdown one of the major privately owned broadcast stations solely because it is critical of his rule.

Marcel Granier, president of the corporation that owns RCTV has stated he is mystified by the decision as, according to their records, their license is not due to expire anytime in the near future.

I quess will just have to wait and see what Comrade Chavez, champion of "democracy", does in January. will RCTV be shutdown, or will it continue to operate in Venezuala.

December 27, 2006

Should Prince Harry Go To War?

The Sun Online has this report on the possibility of Prince Harry being deployed to Iraq:

PRINCE Harry's lover Chelsy Davy is to travel the world after telling pals: "Haz is off to war."

Her remark is the strongest hint yet that the 22-year-old Royal WILL see action in Iraq.

Chelsy, 21, hopes her trip will keep her mind off her fears while cavalryman Harry joins comrades for a dangerous tour of duty.

There are two interesting angles to this article. First: Prince Harry going to war in a combat zone filled with terrorists who have no qualms about using suicide bombers to attack Iraqi and Coalition Forces. What will happen, if Prince harry is deployed, is that he will act as a magnate, attracting regular attacks, especially the aforementioned suicide bombers. This will increase the likelihood that large numbers of his comrades in arms will be killed or wounded at what would be an abnormally high rate. Especially since it is being broadcasted far and wide that the Royal may end up in their sights. Not good.

A sub-angle to this is the frequent calls here in the U.S. by such "brilliant" people as Matt Damon, who recently called for, among other things, sending President Bush's daughters to Iraq as part of a military deployment. Of course Matt Damon has still not enlisted into the Army and volunteered for service in Iraq. many other Moonbats on the left have used the same argument: send the Bush daughters to war in Iraq.

The possibility of Prince Harry going to war adds a sharp counter-point to the demand that the children of our leaders should serve in Iraq. Their doing so, whether it is the British Royals or our own Presidential offspring, will garner unwanted attention on their units by the bad guys still operating over in Iraq. The number of attacks would escalate, with a focus on units that contain such high profile targets, and the casualty rate for those units would be far higher.

The second angle of interest on this article is that Prince Harry's girlfriend feels the need to go travelling while he is off in Iraq (assuming he is deployed) as being the only means by which she can cope with his being in harm's way on a daily basis during his (proposed) tour of duty. Must be nice to be able to travel to Reno as part of a proposed long term vacation while the person you love is getting shot at by terrorists.

Some girlfriend Prince Harry has. He can do better. And if he is deployed to Iraq, I hope he finds himself someone who is of better character who will put thinking of his safety ahead of her having to get away from it all in order to deal with her fears. I have no doubt that many spouses would like to be able to get away for a long vacation during such a trying time, however, there is a big difference between thinking about it, then biting the bullet and dealing with the reality and going off to have fun for how ever long the deployment lasts.

If Prince Harry is deployed, I wish him and his comrades well. Bottom line though, is if he (or other high profile warriors) is deployed, it should be kept secret for the safety of all who serve.

December 7, 2006

European Socialists Are Joking, Right?

Here's a good one. European Socialists wants an America that "is back on track." Whose track? Who do these peckerwoods think they are saying that America has been off-track? Our economy has been booming and unemployment is at its lowest in years? That sure looks to be on track to me.

At a conference attended by Howard Dean, Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said, "We are not anti-American, we want the real America, your America." America is not Howard Dean's or the Democrats, or the European Socialists, for that matter. America belongs to Americans. All of it to all of them. Period. End of statement.

It really riles me that there are so many schmoes on the left that, and international elitists, that go around spouting BS such as that, or "take back America" or "I want my country back."

Why is it that the European Socialists are so excited by the fact that the next Congress will have a Democrat majority? Maybe they are hoping that America's unemployment rates will rise to European levels? Could it be they want our GDP to shrink to European levels? Could it be they want America to be more like Europe, something the Founding Fathers wanted anything BUT!

Many of these left-leaning/socialist countries have stagnant economies with high unemployment rates, not to mention fewer personal liberties. If that's their idea of being on the right track, count me out.

Actually, there is more to it than that. Since 2001, they have been bemoaning Bush's "go it alone" way of dealing with al-Qaeda, international terrorism, and Iraq, saying that the administration has not been willing to work with the international community to find diplomatic solutions to mass murder, terrorism, government corruption, oppression, and so on. Just like they tried to do in the 1930s. And we all know how well that worked out.

America and the Bush administration routinely reached out to these same "world leaders" and they refused to work with us to deal with all of the problems originating from the Middle East. With Great Britain, Poland, and many former Soviet Block countries being the exception.

Personally, I believe these so-called "leaders" are intimidated by our military strength, our liberties, and our economy.

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Howard Dean
Democrats

December 4, 2006

Comrade Chavez Re-Elected in Venezuela

This is SO not a surprise.

Comrade Hugo Chavez was re-elected in Venezuela. He has pledged to push for a more "radical" form of socialism as Comrade Chavez moves himself and his country further ot the left into totalitarianism. He also intends to form a "broader" against United States influence in Latin America.

Off of FoxNews

Chavez, who says he sees Fidel Castro as a father, dedicated his victory to the ailing 80-year-old Cuban leader, and called it a blow against President Bush.

"It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," Chavez told the crowd of red-shirted supporters, who listened to him under pouring rain. "Down with imperialism. We need a new world."

All this from a man who has allied himself with roque states that support terrorism: Iran and Syria.

His victory would be better described as a victory for totalitarianism and a defeat for Liberty and Human Rights in this south American nation.

Rosales, a key opponent, has stated he will continue to oppose Chavez and his government. How long before he gets tossed in prison for his opposition?

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November 1, 2006

Red Star Tribune Wrong on Iraq...Again

Once again, The Red Star Tribune shows its political bias, this time in their editorial, "October's Toll: 103."

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., spoke at the National Press Club last week on Republican Senate prospects in the coming election; she heads the GOP's Senate campaign committee. On Iraq, she warned, ominously, that if the United States withdraws now, Iran and Syria will move into Iraq.

So what, we would have asked, is your point? The U.S. misadventure in Iraq has been so thoroughly botched by the Bush administration that, sooner or later, Iran and Syria most likely will get to involve themselves in Iraq no matter what. How does "staying the course" accomplish anything beyond getting more Americans, and Iraqis, killed?

Although the Red Star Tribune has a point when it says that our staying in Iraq will result in more American soldiers being killed by terrorists, one has to challenge their claim that pulling out will result in fewer Iraqi's being killed. At least, that's how that last sentence read...if staying the course will get more Iraqi's killed, then, by extension, withdrawing immediately, should reduce the number of Iraqi's killed. Right?

Wrong!

There is no doubt that the only thing preventing an all out civil war, with one side being the al-Qaeda terrorists, another being the sectarian death squads, leaving the fledgling democracy of Iraq in stuck in the middle.

The terrorists want a Muslim state governed by Sharia Law. Iraq is a place where they believe they can achieve this goal if the Coalition disolves and the U.S. pulls out of Iraq.

Moreover, follow the thought a bit further: Who says other countries in the region would let Syria and Iran, or anyone else, turn Iraq into a threatening puppet state? Surely Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and a few others would have something to say about that.

The terrorists are made up of Muslims from many nations, not limited to indigenous thugs, but Jordanians, like the late al-Zarqawi, as well as Egyptians, Syrians, Palestininas. and let's not forget about those Iranians that keep sneaking across the border to muck up the works, and supplying the terrorists with weapons. Terrorists have also been streaming across the border from Syria, which has been serving as a jumping off point, into Iraq.

There is no doubt that Syria would love to have Iraq as a puppet state, especially with those rich oil fields. Iran sees it as a brother in Islam, that should adopt Sharia.

Regardless of whether you believe the War in Iraq is/was just is no longer the issue. The issue is whether or not we want to help the majority of Iraqi's achieve a Democratic form of self-government, or abandon them to the terrorists and the death squads, who will set Bagdad in flames, and let the streets run red with the blood of millions who the terrorists consider to be kafirs.

It is obvious to me that the editorial board at the Red Star Tribune has not red The Looming Tower. They should, as then they would have a clearer understanding of what is going on in the Middle East.

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October 17, 2006

North Korea Threatens War Over U.N. Sanctions

The totalitarian dictatorship of North Korea has declared that any sanctions set against its country for having conducted a successful nuclear bomb test, is equivalent to a "declaration of war."

From FoxNews


"The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war" against the North, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the statement said.

The North warned it "wants peace but is not afraid of war" and that it would "deal merciless blows" against anyone who violated its sovereignty.


Now that they have access to nuclear weapons, thanks to Jimmy Carter who borkered the deal to provide North Korea with nuclear technology, and the Clinton administration for signing off on the deal, we now face a North Korea that is fully prepared to use nuclear armed balistic missles. And there is no doubt in my mind that they will use them.

Once again, it is time to give thanks to Jimmy Carter and the Clintons for setting this situation up. Let's face it, with frineds like Carterand the clintons, who need enemies?

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September 21, 2006

Chavez: A Tin-Plated Dictator With Delusions of Grandeur

FoxNws has a report, as does Washington Times, on the speech given to the United Nations by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Chavez opened his speech by referring to President Bush and made some very derogatory remarks concerning the smell of sulfur still lingering at the podium. This kind of hateful rhetoric, although in keeping with the loony-left, is out of place in such a body as the United Nations (regardless of how corrupt the organization has become). Here’s more of what Chavez said:

"The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah," Chavez told reporters, ending the statement with the Arabic phrase for "God willing."
Last I checked, the United States has no imperial aspirations, only liberating ideas which totalitarian and socialist regimes find threatening to their ability to control and oppress their populations. Chavez said that the United Nations is a "deceased" organization because it was formed to bridge the differences between the United States and Russia, and a brand new international organization would have to be formed to replace it. Although Chavez may be right, to a small degree, in that the United Nations was formed to provide a means "bridge the differences between the United States and Russia," one of the many things it failed to do, he is certainly right to call for a new international organization to replace it. One that does not allow regimes such as Syria, Iran, China, Cuba, and a host of other tyrannical regimes to become members. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention Venezuela. But that’s a given.
"I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system," Mr. Chavez said. "Let's be honest. The U.N. system born after the Second World War collapsed. It's worthless."
Yep, let’s dump the U.N. If Chavez says to do it, then it must be a good idea. Other than that, this guy is a horse’s you-know-what:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, appearing Thursday at a Harlem Church for an oil-for-poor event, repeated his 'devil' reference hurled a day earlier at President Bush during a speech at the United Nations.

"They told me that I should be careful after I called him the devil - and I think he is the devil - because he might kill me" Chavez told a crowd packed into the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem.


This guy shows exactly what kind of nut he is with these last remarks made at a gathering in Harlem.

It should be noted that Citgo, which is a state-owned Venezuelan company, does significant business in the United States, and the U.S. is Venezuela’s number one market for it’s oil exports. Not sure what they have in Minnesota, but maybe it is time to stop sending money to this jerk and his government.

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Would You Trust Ahmadinejad?

Would you trust a man to keep his word that continues to deny that the Holocaust took place, claiming it to be nothing but a myth perpetrated by Jews? A man who routinely calls for the destruction of another country? A man who participated in the invasion of a U.S. Embassy, holding 66 diplomats and citizens of the U.S. hostage for 444 days? Would you trust this man to keep his word about not using nuclear technology to achieve his goal of destroying Israel?

The man I am writing about is , Presidnet of Iran, a country that has been under totalitarian rule since President Jimmy Carter abandoned our ally, allowing for religious extremists to oust the Shah of Iran from leading (and Westernizing) that country.

It is no secret that Iran has been enriching uranium for some time now. The United States, the ineffectual United Nations, and much of Europe have been calling for cessation of the enrichment programs. Iran has claimed they will cease only under what it would consider "fair and just" conditions.

Like North Korea, who also claimed they were not using the technology to develop nuclear weapons, should we take their word at face value? As long as we recognize that "face value" isn’t worth a plugged nickel, sure. Otherwise, Ahmedinejad and the ruling class of Iran should not be trusted to keep their word.

In the ‘90s, thanks to Jimmy Carter and the Clinton administration, North Korea was given nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes; to generate electricity only. It did not take long for North Korea to break their agreement and use the technology that the United States (using the money of the American taxpayer) to develop nuclear weapons. All the time that they were working on weapons technology, they continued to claim to be abiding the agreements made and be open to inspections.

There is no doubt in my mind that Iran is using the same methods as North Korea to achieve their goal of developing nuclear weapons. Worse yet, they are highly likely to hand over sufficient quanities of uranium-235, or, if they pursue it as North Korea has, plutonium. Then it will only be a matter of time before al Qaeda achieves its goal of acquiring the main ingredient for nuclear bombs and go down the path of nuclear terrorism. Or, maybe, Iran will simply use the tech to extort the West out of even more concessions, continuing to use the Norht Korean model of, "if we promise to be good this time, will you give us more stuff?"

Why our State Department granted Ahmadinejad diplomatic immunity is beyond me. This terrorist should never have been allowed entry into the United States. And he certainly should not be trusted with nuclear technology of any kind, no matter what he says or claims it is for.

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September 13, 2006

Where Are the Palestinian Statesmen?

Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters, responded to an article in the Washington Post on the current state of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel has little to gain from recognizing an entity that refuses to recognize it. The tax revenues flow directly from the Oslo agreement, and the new Hamas government rejected Oslo as soon as it took office. In fact, Hamas rejected every agreement between the PA and Israel -- and then stood by in wonder as its international financing dried up. While it's getting more difficult to predict whether Israel will pursue appeasement these days -- it seems to be Ehud Olmert's new hobby -- it would be political suicide to release tax revenues to the PA while it still refused to abide by all treaties and agreements, including the Olso requirement to recognize Israel's legitimacy.
Without a doubt, he is right on the money. There is a lot more to the piece than this clip, and the article in the Washington Post. Since Hamas has taken control of the Palestinian Authority, it has teminated all previous agreemtns with israel. Having done so, why should Israel continue to funnel money to a government that will most likely use it to fund more rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and other acts of aggression and terrorism?

Captain Ed end's his piece with the following:

The Palestinians prove that they are the worst-led people on the planet. Rather than abandon the PA, they would be much better served by voting for statesmen and not terrorists of any stripe. Instead, they're looking to abdicate responsibility ... again.
Again, right on the money. The question is: Where are the potential statesmen that can bring good government to the Palestinians?

Most of the Palestinians that have this potential have immigrated to other countries, including one Edward Said. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago. I have no doubt that there are others of his caliber whom I am not familiar with.

When I lived in the Bay Area, I had the pleasure of being acquainted with a number of Palestinians (and, yes, I know some in Minnesota as well), one of whom, Fuad Nijim, if he were to take on the challenge, has the potential of being one such statesman.

Meanwhile, so long as the bulk of Palestinians continues to elect and support terrorists as their leaders, then they shall reap what they sow. Bad government, war with its most powerful neighbor (who only wants peace), poverty, and a continued drain on their brain trust, as those with the smarts to do so, will continue to move to other countries. And as long as Hamas and other terrorist factions are running the PA, then there should be no funding of the PA from the United States, Israel, or any other international source.

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Dunsel Kofi Annan and Middle East Leaders

FoxNews has a short article quoting Dunsel Kofi Annan that most Middle East leaders believe that the liberation of Iraq is a disaster.

Annan said many leaders believed the United States should stay until Iraq improves, while others, such as Iran, said the United States should leave immediately. That means that the United States has found itself in the difficult position where "it cannot stay and it cannot leave."
Which leaders of which countries believe we should stay until the job is done? No specifications.

Interesting to note that Iran is identified as a country that believes the United States should abandon Iraq immediately. Just a guess, but I bet Syria is on that list as well.

I can understand why Iran wants the U.S. out of the region: with the U.S. out of the region, it will be easier to continue refining Uranium as well as continued border harassment of the Iraqi military, such as what was reported a couple of days ago in the World Tribune, where seven Iraqi soldiers were kidnapped Iranian soldiers and taken into Iran.

On Sept. 7, officials said, an Iraqi border patrol spotted an Iranian outpost in Iraqi territory. A clash ensued and the seven Iraqi soldiers were captured and taken into Iran, they said.

With the U.S. and coalition forces out of the way, how long before these "border incidents" turn into an all out war between Iraq and Iran?

Back to Dunsel Annan:

"Most of the leaders I spoke to felt the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath has been a real disaster for them," Annan said. "They believe it has destabilized the region."

Like, the region was stable BEFORE the liberation of Iraq? Hussein and his regime murdered some 500,000 Iraqis…and that's stability?

Meanwhile, at the Multi-Nation Force Iraq website, there is more good news from Iraq, including a piece on the carpture of a terrorist weapons cache.

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September 7, 2006

Iraq Takes Over Military Command and Control

The Main Stream Media is ablaze with the news that command of Iraq’s military has been turned over to its government. This is, roughly, three and a half years after coalition forces entered Iraq to remove a murderous and tyrannical regime, and helping build a government built on respecting the rights of the people.

As Iraq continues to take on the mantle of governing itself, taking control of its military also serves as a milestone toward a withdrawal of U.S. forces current aiding Iraq in maintaining its borders and fighting against the terrorist thugs that have been operating inside that country for the past several years.

Perhaps the rabid Left will begin calling for a time-line for withdrawal. Any definitive date of withdrawal will not be soon enough to satisfy the Left; however, it is possible that any premature withdrawal, while there are still so many terrorists operating in that country, with Iraq’s neighbors continue to pour more men and materials into Iraq in the hopes of destabilizing the government, and attempting to fragment it, may prove disastrous, not only to the people of Iraq, but to the entire region.

I have no doubt that the Left, who blames the terrorist activities on the U.S. invasion, fervently believe that the terrorists will go home and return to peaceful activities. Unfortunately, that is the least likely scenario to come about when the U.S. led coalition returns to their own homes.

We have been dealing with terrorist attacks against the United States for decades prior to the Liberation of Iraq. If we fail to deliver a decisive blow to the terrorists, one that terminates not only their leadership, but their infrastructure and will to continue their global war of terror (a.k.a., Jihad), then they will filter out of Iraq and continue their war of hate and murder as they have for decades past, making it harder to defeat them. They will be emboldened to use whatever means to spread their evil, including nuclear weapons once they can obtain sufficient quantities from either Iran or from North Korea. Or from any other party that hates the U.S. and is able to supply it without showing their hand. I hope it never comes to that, but it may.

If we stay the course long enough to defeat the terrorists on their home court, get Iraq fully established as a Westernized country (which the Islamo-Fascists will rail against, just as they did against the Shah of Iran before the Carter Administration abandoned him to his enemies, giving rise to the tyrannical Islamo-Fascists that now control Iran), deal with Iran – decisively, then, maybe, we can claim significant victories in the Global War on Terror.

"The Iraqi Army today is rebuilt again away from sectarian violence," al-Maliki said at the ceremony.

Power to the People of Iraq!

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September 6, 2006

Shays Panders to the Left

There seem to be a few Republicans that are joining the Party of Cut and Run…this off of FoxNews:

Perhaps no other Republican exemplifies this subtle position shift more than Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., who surprised everyone recently by calling for a "timeframe" for U.S withdrawal from Iraq.

"I believe that our troops cannot be there indefinitely. I believe we need to have a sense of when our troops can withdraw," Shays told reporters.

This was considered quite a shift, as Shays - recognized widely as an independent moderate unafraid of bucking the party line - had gone to Iraq 14 times and, until the last time, had always returned with a sense of progress and an insistence that timetables were inappropriate.

I call this pandering to the Left in order to win votes. When Shays claims we cannot keep troops there indefinitely, what about the troops we have kept in Germany, Japan and other countries since 1945? Are we going to withdraw from those countries as well?

The difference between the maintaining troops in Iraq and Germany is that Iraq is unpopular with a part of the electorate who don't get that we in Iraq to eliminate terrorists operating in Iraq (a regrettable attitude is that it is better to fight them over there than over here), and preventing the country from sliding into a civil war and reverting back to a totalitarian regime, possibly even a Muslim Fundamentalist regime such as that which rules Iran. With Iran pouring "insurgents" and arms across the border, and more coming from Syria, ask yourself, is abandoning Iraq a good idea?

What would a premature withdrawal from Iraq tell the enemies of liberty? That the United States does not have the will carry out its promises. That the United States cannot be relied upon to help those in need. Pull out too early, and Iraq may fall back into tyranny. And the terrorists will focus their efforts on attacking America directly again, having regained one of their training grounds and supporters.

The kind of rhetoric that Shays is spouting is the same as one expects to come from Murtha, Pelosi and other members of the Party of Neville Chamberlain, not the GOP.

Okay, Shays, Murtha and others, calling for a withdrawal from Iraq…how about setting a timetable for when we withdrawal from Germany first?

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July 3, 2006

North Korea - Still Evil!

North Korea is threatening Nuclear War should the United States take a pre-emptive action against the totalitarian regime’s plans to test a long-range missile.

FoxNews:

"The army and people of the DPRK are now in full preparedness to answer a pre-emptive attack with a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war with a mighty nuclear deterrent," the report said.

Whether or not North Korea has a right to test such weapons is irrelevant when you look at the fact that the last time they tested a missile, they did NOT notify the international community that it was doing so. Indications are that the communist country would again not notify the world what it was testing prior to the event.

By taking such a stand and not notifying the world community of such test, these tests could, in fact, be construed as an act of war on any country in the path of such a weapon, especially if the "test" goes "wrong" and nukes Tokyo.

The United States has been considering whether or not to shoot such a "test" missile down. Which course of action our country will take will not be known until N.K. launches.

What makes North Korea a tremendous danger to the world is that now, thanks to the Clinton Administration and former President Jimmy Carter, North Korea does have nuclear weapons in it's arsenal.

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June 7, 2006

UN Deputy Secretary Slams American People!

U.N. Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown has slammed the American people in a speech given at an even sponsored by the leftist organizations Progress for America and the Century Foundation.

Fortunately, the Century Foundation has made a transcript of the speech available for download.

In his opening remarks, Brown said:

I am going to give what might be regarded as a rather un-UN speech. Some of the themes--that the United Nations is misunderstood and does much more than its critics allow--are probably not surprising. But my underlying message, which is a warning about the serious consequences of a decades-long tendency by US Administrations of both parties to engage only fitfully with the UN, is not one a sitting United Nations official would normally make to an audience like this.

But I feel it is a message that urgently needs to be aired. And as someone who has spent most of his adult life in this country, only a part of it at the UN, I hope you will take it in the spirit in which it is meant: as a sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy towards the UN by a friend and admirer. Because the fact is that the prevailing practice of seeking to use the UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You will lose the UN one way or another.

I don’t think the United Nations is misunderstood. I believe most American’s understand that the United Nations is a failure, rife with corruption, and hungry to implement a global government under its direct control.

The UN was set up as a great deliberative body, designed to allow countries to get together and sort out their differences in the hopes of averting war. Since its formation, there have been some 150 NEW wars in the world. That is not a very good track record for an organization set up to foster global peace.

He claims the U.S. is failing to standup against domestic critics (he names Rush Limbaugh and Fox News in his speech), which I would guess that my current writing makes me one of; yet fails to mention that in our great country we enjoy the right of freedom of speech. Many member nations in the UN do not have the freedom of speech.

Here’s another choice clip:

The U.S.--like every nation, strong and weak alike--is today beset by problems that defy national, inside-the-border solutions: climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, migration, the management of the global economy, the internationalization of drugs and crime, the spread of diseases such as HIV and avian flu. Today’s new national security challenges basically thumb their noses at old notions of national sovereignty. Security has gone global, and no country can afford to neglect the global institutions needed to manage it.

Climate change is being used as a geo-political football to push a socialist-environmental agenda that is based on bad science. Global climate change has been going on since the Earth formed, with cycles of ice ages and hot houses. As recently as a thousand years ago, citrus was farmed in Mongolia, but now it is too frigid for such fruit trees. The Earth’s average temperature is still several degrees below the measured mean average computed from a variety of core samples (see Edmund Contoski’s paper on climate change). Climate change I a scientific fact, and there isn’t anything that can be done to change that fact, not even if we went back to the age of living like cavemen.

International terrorism is also a problem; so long as the U.S. continues to fail in securing its borders, there will be a continued threat against America. And then there is the homegrown variety to deal with. Just as bad. However, if our government takes it seriously (and I believe it does) it can be dramatically reduced.

The spread of HIV can be eliminated by people abstaining from you-know-what until they are married, and then maintain a monogamous marriage. But that is unpopular with the cult of hedonism.

Jimmy Carter hamstrung the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. in the name of non-proliferation, by ending the practice of reprocessing nuclear fuel rods for further use. It failed in its goal of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Not only that, it is because of Carter (who brokered the deal) and the Clinton administration that the world now faces a nuclear armed North Korea. And where was the UN to prevent that from happening?

International crime (and drugs)…I have yet to see the UN do anything in this respect. Could it be a secret, or is it because so many countries involved on the production side of the illicit drug trade are corrupt in nature, and are members of the UN.

Many of these issues can be addressed by securing our borders and enforcing our laws; some, like the proliferation of nuclear arms cannot be averted by any means. If a country wants to build a bomb, they will find the means to do so.

And let’s not forget that the Human Rights Council has many countries like Libya on it, where human rights violations are considered the norm. Yet consider the U.S. a great violator of human rights. Go figure.

The list of failures goes on and on, like a bad novel. Only it’s real, and scary. I don’t believe reform is sufficient to cure the sickness and corruption that has taken hold of the UN. It should go the way of the League of Nations, one more good intentioned deliberative body, that failed to live up to expectations

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August 10, 2005

Gallaoway Calls Terrorists "Martyrs"

Even the U.K. has its own version of Senator Durbin, in the form of George Galloway, who had been booted from the labor Party over his remarks concerning the war and subsequent occupation of Iraq. BBC online has this piece on Galloway:

MP George Galloway has defended comments referring to insurgents in Iraq as "martyrs", insisting he has not put British troops at risk.

During a tour of the Middle East, Mr Galloway spoke of "poor Iraqis" using the most basic weapons to write the names of their towns "in the stars".

The Respect MP accused the UK and America of "raping" Baghdad and said the US was losing the war.

There are a few things I contest with his statements: first, they are, by definition, not insurgents, but are, in fact murdering terrorists. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is not an Iraqi, but a Jordanian. As are many of his followers. Insurgents, by definiion, are a citizens (not foreign nationals) who is rebelling against his government. They also do not resort to kidnapping and brutally executing hostages, or bombing subway stations in other countries (or any of the other assorted terrorist acts that have been committed as of late). Second, they are not martyrs who are sacrificing their lives for a greater good, but murdering thugs bent on a return to totalitarian rule, killing innocents, and those Iraqi's who are trying to help improve Iraq.

These people hate Liberty, and Galloway is taking their side, accusing the U.K. and the U.S.A. for the terrorist acts that have been perpetrated throughout the world, whether by al-Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or any other terrorist organization that routinely targets non-combatants, especially children.

To refer to terrorist thugs who are killing American, British, and Australian troops (as well as other soldiers in the Coalition Forces) as martyrs, as though they have died in a great cause is not only repugnant, it further endangers those soldiers now serving in the field, and the lives of all people at home.

August 7, 2005

Australia Gets It!

Just ran across this article out of the Weekend Australian:

"Osama bin Laden, he is a great man," he (Benbrika) told ABC radio. "Osama bin Laden was a great man before 11 September, which they said he did it, until now nobody knows who did it." During ASIO interviews, Mr Benbrika said he supported the right of Australians to engage in militant action overseas. He also said Australian authorities had no right to interfere with individuals who wanted to die in another country.
The ASIO, an Australian Intelligence Agency, has confiscated Benbrika's passport and is closly monitoring his movements. If Australia can get it right, why can't the U.S.?

July 25, 2005

British Have Three Suspects In Custody

This excerpt is from FoxNews:

London police have three suspects in custody after last week's failed terrorist strikes but say they are looking for many more because investigators now believe a wide network of Al Qaeda-linked operatives staged the attacks.

Although I don't believe comes as a surprise to anyone, that Al-Qaeda has a large network in the U.K., it is a relief to see that British LawEnforcement has made so much progress in their investigations. Now that they have several terrorist suspects in custody, they should be able to move through the network in the U.K. and clean out the rats.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has developed a list of the types of suspects to look for, that includes chemists, bomb-makers, financiers and recruitors, you know, the guys who convince others to blow themselves up in the name of Allah.

Although they have yet to link the two attacks in London, it is fairly certain that both attacks part of the same pattern currently in use by Al Qaeda.

One thing is for certina, I am glad that the U.K. is on our side. Another is that they will do a good job of cleaning out these terrorist cells.

June 14, 2005

German Professor Incites Military Grads to Heckle During Commencemnet Ceremony

The Stars and Stripes European edition is running an article on the recent address made by Detlef Junker at the Univerisity of Maryland University College Europe commencement ceremony. This address took place at the Patrick Henry Pavilion in Germany. The UMUCE serves the U.S. Armed Forces community serving throughout Europe.

Thus far, I am unable to find a transcript of the address, however, based on the article, it sounds as though Junker does not know his audience very well.

A local expert on German-American relations recently gave new University of Maryland graduates something to talk about - and, in some cases, chant about - with a commencement address some thought bashed America.

"He starting talking about [President Bush's] 2002 State of the Union address, the axis of evil, you're either with us or against us - and that's when it started going downhill," said Cheryl Atwood, a commissary technology specialist who received her Bachelor of Science degree at the May 29 ceremony.

"At first, I thought, "I'm being overly sensitive.' Then I heard somebody in the back shouting 'USA! USA!' and I thought, 'Maybe I'm not taking it wrong.' Several people got up and left and people stood up waving, telling him to sit down."

And then later in the article:

While he was speaking - about the "almost free fall of the reputation of the U.S.," which he credited to several Bush administration policies, foremost, the "unilateral self-empowerment of the United States through the doctrine of the pre-emptive strike" - Junker wasn't sure what was happening with the crowd of more than 1,000 people.

Did he forget he was delivering this address to a largely military graduating class and audience, and not the kind of people that attend U.C. Berkeley, where this speech, based on what I know, would have been well received.

Most military members (past and present), and their families, are strong supporters of the current administration, and the leadership that led us into the Middle-East to remove a mass-murdering dictator that had overseen the brutal execution of over a half-million Iraqis; the fight against terrorists; and the understanding that the "Blame America First" crowd have got everything wrong.

This is one more instance that shows that the Germans still don't get it, and it isn't America's fault that relations between the two countries is at an all time low, but the fault of the Germans, who just don't get it, and, I am beginning to think, are destined to repeat the mistakes of their own past as they look at Hussein as another "victim" of "American aggression."

February 11, 2005

Eason Jordan Quits CNN!

The Elder at Fraters Libertas appears to be first in the blogosphere out with the news that Eason Jordan has resigned from CNN. Here's the article:

CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq

There are a lot of bloggers that have stayed on top of this story that otherwise would have gone ignored by the Mainstream Media.

Kudos also to Hugh Hewitt for reading the announcement over the air on his live broadcast from Buckhill in Minnesota. (And thanks, hugh, for signing your book for me!)

February 3, 2005

The EU Gets One Right?

Sisyphean Musings has posted the results of a conversation with Mr. Adams of the world Economic Forum concerning obtaining a copy of the tape from the session at Davos where it has been reported that Eason Jordan made statements that the U.S. Military had been targeting journalists in Iraq. Although the outocme of the dialogue with Adams of the WEF is disappointing, that the tape will not be released to the public (nor a transcript), this is due to policies set forth by the WEF.

Yet, on the WEF website, there is this order form which one can use to order DVDs of various sessions, including one called "Biological Threats to Societies," which took place the same day as the subject session "Will Democracy Survive the Media." Now, my question is: Since there are 20 different sessions are available for purchase in DVD format, and the subject session was known to have been recorded, why is the WEF refusing to release this one? Why not release it? Will Eason Jordan request its release?

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