Borders, Ladies, GOP and Success

I first want to express my deep regret and sorrow for the calamity that has befallen our fellow Americans in the south. I will pray daily for their relief and restoration. I fully expect this rescue to be preceded by a mass evacuation of New Orleans and other devastated areas. The people need to be removed before the resources for clean up and rebuilding can get in there. This will become an American refugee issue. Maybe they can be resettled in nearby military bases. They have the space and resources to provide for the mass of citizens as well as being able to control law and order. I fully expect a period of lawlessness in the next few days as resources dwindle and tempers get short. They will need our prayers, as well as our contributions to The Salvation Army, Red Cross and other charities. I urge you to send what ever you can.

Now on to other things:





Keep Threat From Crossing Our Borders
JOSEPH H. BROWN
Published: Aug 28, 2005


Last week I took Tribune TV critic Walt Belcher's advice and watched ``Inside 9/11,'' a documentary on the National Geographic Channel. It used declassified documents and scores of interviews to piece together how terrorists caught U.S. intelligence and security agencies off guard in the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.
I rode the same emotional roller coaster I did almost four years ago - with stunned disbelief, anger and grief - even though I knew the ending. And, as in 2001, I couldn't go to sleep that night.

An interview conducted for National Geographic News with Michael Scheuer, a former senior analyst of the Central Intelligence Agency, did little to lift my spirits. He said terrorists would not have much more difficulty attacking the United States today than they did before 9/11.

``The reason it's going to occur is because we've done nothing about our borders,'' said Scheuer, who was the head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit.


Profiling Already

Most of the talk I hear about ``protecting our borders'' centers on the effects illegal immigrants are having on the job market, wages, public education and social services. Those are legitimate concerns, but national security should be the biggest one.

Unfortunately, concerns about racial and ethnic profiling may prove to be as big a culprit in the next attack as intelligence failures were in the last one.

``We've given the police an impossible task, because the politicians of both parties are too cowardly to enforce the laws already on the books as far as immigration and finding out who's in the country illegally,'' says Scheuer.

According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, however, that may be changing. In April he wrote why he believes no more attacks have occurred on U.S. soil. One of the biggest reasons: ``New U.S. visa policies have made it much harder for bad guys to get into America.

``If your name is Muhammad and you are a 21-year-old single Arab man and you have not visited Disney World yet, well, you may want to consider Euro Disney, because your chances of getting a tourist visa are very low,'' Friedman wrote. ``This is one of the sad byproducts of 9/11 - but it has undoubtedly made it more difficult for the few bad apples to get in as well.''


A Privilege, Not A Right

Actually, I don't consider it a ``sad byproduct,'' but a pragmatic policy. During World War II, people from Germany, Japan and Italy weren't allowed to emigrate to the United States. Entire nations were profiled, but it was a tactical wartime measure to protect Americans.

Because we are a nation of immigrants, some Americans have come to believe that immigration is right, not a privilege. The opposite is true. And while there may be many young Muslims only ``yearning to breathe free'' in this country, it took only 19 with no such intent to kill thousands in the name of Allah.

I feel more comfortable that if some immigrants with hostile intent should manage to slip in, they won't be able move around as freely as the 9/11 hijackers or acquire driver's licenses and credit cards with great ease.

Our troops are fighting terrorists ``over there'' so we won't have to fight them over here, says President Bush. I believe the safest policy is to make sure they never get here in the first place. Joseph H. Brown is a Tribune editorial writer.










Tough love will pay off
Rebecca Hagelin (archive)


July 29, 2005 Print Recommend to a friend


Tears and more tears.

Kristin, my 13-year-old daughter is, in a word, lovely.

Mind you, I'm not bragging -- I had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she is a gorgeous young thing. We all know that the children God gives us are at his discretion. And they are all -- every one of them, in their own unique ways -- precious, lovely and of great worth.

Kristin is also lovely on the inside -- and thoughtful, even pensive at times. She has a moral compass and knows how to use it, often courageously standing up to the crowd when she instinctively knows something feels wrong. Which is why it is particularly painful to see her in distress.

Despite her keen sense of morality, Kristin is still a teenager, subject to the pressures of our modern toxic culture. On this particular day, we are shopping for swimwear and shorts for our summer vacation. But the last two hours have almost made me want to bag the whole trip.

If you don't have young girls, then you probably can't understand the dilemma. It's quite simple, really. The problem is that there are virtually no swimsuits, tops or shorts designed for tweens and teens that don't resemble something a streetwalker would wear. As a capitalist, I find it very strange that an entire segment of the American population is so underserved -- very strange indeed. Most of the moms and dads I know are thoroughly frustrated with the poor selection of clothing, but in the end, shrug their shoulders, cast aside their best judgment, and purchase the teeny weenie bikini for their innocent young daughters anyway.

But not me. We try on item after item, hoping against hope that maybe the next pair of shorts actually comes up somewhere close to the waist, or the next bathing suit isn't really as tiny and baring as it looks on the hanger. But time after time, I have to shake my head and say, "no."Which is why tears are starting to well up in Kristin's beautiful green eyes.

For a moment, I think of ignoring the reddening eyes as we continue our mission to find something decent. But I think better of it, sigh, and simply, softly say, "Sweetheart" as I step forward and hug her close. This act of understanding is enough to send the pooled waters spilling down her cheeks. We remain in our silent embrace for several minutes and then I step back and wipe away her tears. She sweetly smiles as I say, " We'll keep on looking -- no matter how long it takes -- until we find something you like, and that also reflects the honor and respect for your body that you deserve."

Later, with only two items that pass muster -- as I'm putting the hangers on the dozens of items that didn't work -- Kristin comes to me. She puts her arms around my neck and says, "I'm sorry I was being so difficult." Again, she sheds a few tears, and I marvel at the incredible gift, privilege and responsibility of being a mother.

"Kristin," I say, "You weren't difficult at all. I'm sorry you live in a world where so many adults have failed in their responsibility to treat children like the treasures you are. Thanks for allowing me to be the mom, Kristin. The mom who loves you more than anyone in the world could possibly love you. The mom who wants what is best for you." She steps back, looks directly in my eyes, and says, "I love you, mommy."

We leave the store a bit more determined to fight for our values, a bit more disgusted that there has to be a battle at all, and a lot closer to each other. All in all, it's been a day I will long remember and even come to cherish as a reminder that fighting the culture is sometimes frustrating and exhausting, but always, always worth the effort.


Rebecca Hagelin is a vice president of The Heritage Foundation, a Townhall.com member group.


©2005 Rebecca Hagelin



Fashioning a response to immodest clothing
Rebecca Hagelin (archive)


August 23, 2005


It's not uncommon for parents who fight the culture on a daily basis to assume they're alone -- that no one else shares their concerns.

But the responses I received when I wrote a column last month about my near-futile efforts to find modest clothing for my 13-year-old daughter, Kristin, proves otherwise. Many parents are fighting the same fight --and quite a few were kind enough to write me encouraging notes. The details of our frustrating shopping trip, which yielded only two acceptable items out of the dozens that Kristin tried on, evidently touched a cord.

So with back-to-school season underway, let me share a few responses:

"Your column really hit the mark. I am the proud father of a beautiful, blue-eyed 12-year-old tween. We also have body-honoring standards of dress in our family. One of our most stressful times is clothes shopping. " Clothes made specifically to "adultize" our little ones do not pass muster in our house."

"I thought we were the only ones having a problem with current fashion. Please tell Kristin to keep on being strong for morality among her peers. You both are needed as a witness in this world of near nudity."

"I have just had a very similar experience (in the UK!) with my lovely 13-year-old daughter, who is also desperately battling the conflicting messages she's getting from magazines, TV and her own peers. She knows what's right, but she's desperate to be seen as "cool." We read the article together, and it really helped her to know there are other girls like her out there -- and also other mums like me!"

"My wife and I have two beautiful teenage daughters. Every time she takes them bathing-suit shopping, she comes home exasperated. The girls try their new suits on for me, I complain that they're too immodest, they complain that these were the most modest ones they found."

I could go on, but you get the idea. I have a folder filed with similar responses. They come from everywhere -- from fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers. So let me assure the parents reading this: You aren't alone! Thousands of families are going through the same thing. So don't give up.

And don't despair -- there are modest alternatives. Some readers recommended Lands' End and L.L. Bean, both of which feature one-piece suits and "tankinis." In my book, Home Invasion, I list two others: Modest Apparel USA ("an alternative to the promiscuous fashions that are prevalent in clothing stores today") and Modest By Design ("clothing your father would approve of"). There are many others. As one reader said, "If you Google "modest swimsuits," you'll find literally thousands of options."

Still, even with an array of options, it can be tough to take a stand in favor of modest clothing. But it can be done. Just ask some of the friends Kristin has brought to our house.

Occasionally, a girl visits wearing something inappropriate -- a midriff-baring shirt, a short skirt, a low neckline.

I smile and say, "God made you a person of value. You're somebody special who deserves to be respected. So when you're in my home, I want you to dress in a way that reflects the treasure you are. So let's go upstairs. You can pick out anything you like to cover up while you're here." There may be a gasp -- often, nobody's ever told them that their body is a treasure to be respected. But then they get it. And you know what? A bond is created, and they appreciate what I'm doing.

Women and girls who decide to dress modestly often have another surprise in store -- men and boys treat them differently. In the book "Dressing with Dignity," former model Colleen Hammond explains why:

"I believe it is because, subconsciously, men can read women's body language. If they see a woman who dresses with dignity and carries herself with grace and femininity, they pick up on that. They take it as a sign to approach her with the respect, reverence and honor a woman ought to have."

Exactly. And if a girl dresses like a streetwalker, they pick up the opposite message. Is that the signal we want our daughters to send?

I'll close with something Muhammad Ali's daughter says her father told her:

"Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. " Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered, too."

So hang in there. You'll be glad you did.


Rebecca Hagelin is a vice president of The Heritage Foundation, a Townhall.com member group.






Is it time for conservatives to dump the GOP?
Mark Tapscott
August 28, 2005

Thanks to the incredible expansion of federal entitlements, regulations and pork spending sanctioned by the GOP leadership in Congress since 2001, there is virtually no chance that Big Government is going to be shrunk even a little any time soon.

And since there is no sign the folks running Congress are willing to change course, why shouldn't conservatives dump the GOP?

Now, all you party loyalists who started gasping while reading that last sentence can take a deep breath. I'm not saying we should just up and bolt right now. What I am saying is this: The rebirth of limited government will remain a conservative pipedream as long as the people in charge of the GOP refuse to sober up.

Put another way, it's time for an intervention. That's when the family and closest friends and professional associates of an addict confront the abuser with an ultimatum " get sober and get help now " or else. The presence of the spouse with suitcases packed and the boss with pink slip in-hand helps the abuser realize the consequences of not getting help will be immediate and unpleasant. More than a few lives and careers have been saved over the years by such interventions.

But sometimes interventions work and sometimes they don't. There is no guarantee that the GOP leaders will get the message, either. Quite frankly, I am not optimistic because I've seen the Stan Evans Law in operation for too long. Evans is the retired conservative activist/journalist who years ago said: "When one of our people gets elected, sooner or later he [or she] stops being one of our people."

Being elected to Congress or appointed to a high position in the Executive Branch to serve in a presidential administration can be a heady experience. Especially for Members of Congress, the perks of office can be overwhelmingly beguiling, so after a term or two the first and last thoughts of too many of our representatives begin to be focused on getting re-elected. Playing along with the powers-that-be in D.C. is often seen as the easiest path to re-election.

How beguiled have too many of "our people" become? Think back to January 1995 when the Republicans assumed control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years. "First the Berlin Wall, now Congress," we shouted in unbelieving glee. There seemed nothing to stop the conservative agenda of cutting taxes, reducing spending, eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and pointless red tape, limiting the power of incumbency, making Congress more accountable and breaking up the Iron Triangles of special interests, bureaucrats and entrenched Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Yet here we are a decade later and what do we have to show for it? Taxes have been cut, welfare was reformed, a limited missile defense was approved and , and , and. Let's face, friends, it's a short list. Sure, there have been legislative victories but little of enduring substance from our domestic agenda has been enacted.

Among other things that have been enacted instead is Medicare "reform," the biggest expansion of the Welfare State since LBJ declared war on poverty. The sacred right of free speech is now subject to the whims of Congress through campaign finance "reform." Federal control of education has never been greater, thanks to a No Child Left Behind "reform" that was mostly written by Teddy Kennedy. Pork barrel spending is at an all-time high. And as the government grows and the politicians crow, the entitlements crisis approaches ever closer, guaranteed to cause economic, political and social upheaval that will make the Great Depression look like a cakewalk.

Incredibly, after a decade of GOP control, the federal government is bigger, more powerful, costs more and is less accountable than it was when the Democrats were thrown out by voters in 1994 after four decades of mostly uncontested rule.

How would an intervention work on the political scene? I don't have that answer. Some people suggest withholding campaign contributions. Others predict conservatives will stay at home in droves in the 2006 elections, possibly handing the Democrats a bunch of new seats in Congress and revived hopes of taking back the White House in 2008.

Perhaps such a turn of events would be the needed jolt, but it seems just as likely, given recent history, that only the names and party affiliations of those doing damage in Congress would change.

Got any suggestions?


Mark Tapscott, a veteran newspaper journalist, is Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a Townhall.com member group.






August 15, 2005


Ignoring the Positive
Robin Mullins Boyd

Since the war in Iraq began, there has been a breakdown of critical thinking in this country. Forget what the official reports say. The interpretation of the report by the media or Internet sources is what is important. There are people in this country that believe Al-Jazeerah and the terrorists before they will believe any statement issued by the government. Cindy Sheehan and her comrades get front page billing while spouting half-truths and flat out lies about the situation in Iraq.

Day after day we are subjected to nothing but "bad" news from Iraq. A suicide bombing here, a convoy attacked there, an IED exploding over there. If one only listened and watched the evening news, you would believe that the terrorist attacks were the only thing going on in Iraq. According to the media, there is no good news out of Iraq.

Rep. Maxine Waters believes that if the good news from Iraq was broadcast it would diminish the deaths of soldiers from suicide bombings, etc. What a pile of manure! By constantly beating the drum of bad things happening, the Liberals can continue to base all of their arguments on the "quagmire" in Iraq. Good things in Iraq mean that President Bush and our country are on the right track. That is the last thing the Liberals want the American public to hear.

I check out the Department of Defense website frequently for official reports on the situation in Iraq. Most of this information is never picked up by the media. So as a dedicated member of the Pajamahadeen, I feel it is my duty to bring this information out in the open. For those that like sources to back up information, all of the facts listed below can be found in the Iraq Weekly Status Report and Iraq Reconstruction reports on the War on Terror pages of the Department of Defense website.

-As of June 22, 2005, construction was underway on 145 new primary healthcare facilities. Over 110 primary health facilities have been rehabilitated. Equipment has been procured for over 600 health centers.

-More than 3 million children under the age of five have received their vaccinations since reconstruction began. The Ministry of Health completed the second round of the national polio campaign. All children under five years of age received the oral polio vaccine.

-A total of 3218 schools have been rehabilitated as of August 10, 2005. An additional 775 are undergoing rehabilitation. Renovations include structural repairs, plumbing and electrical upgrades. The renovations also include new playgrounds, blackboards, heaters, lockers, desks and other school furnishings.

-The University of Oklahoma refurbished university libraries in Iraq including the Internet Computer Center at the University of Babil which officially opened in May.

-The total trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces is approximately 178,200 as of August 10 – approximately 98,500 are police and interior forces while approximately 79,700 are military forces

-There are 28 countries and NATO supporting Iraqi stability operations as of August 4. Jordan is assisting in Iraqi police training at the International Police Training Center in Amman, Jordan.

-In February 2005, a contract was signed to build six new Iraqi Navy ships. The ships will be built in Iraq by Iraqis. The Iraqi Air Force received two UH-1H Huey helicopters in Feb 2005. The refurbished helicopters were a gift from Jordan. Fourteen more, for a total of 16, are due to arrive in Iraq by February 2006.

-The Coalition has rebuilt 11 power plants and erected 1400 power towers. The demand for electricity has skyrocketed due to the use of televisions, air conditioners and other appliances by Iraqi citizens.

-As of August 3, there were over 2.9 million active cellular subscribers in Iraq. Landline subscriptions increased to 997,675. During Saddam's reign there were approximately 833,000 landline subscribers and no cellular service.

-In May 2005, two Kirkuk rail station reconstruction projects were completed. The Iraq Republic Railroad supervised all of the renovations.

-On June 4, 2005, the Basrah Airport began civilian flights. Regular flights between Hawler International Airport in Irbil and Baghdad began running three times a week.

-Women occupy 31% of the seats in the 275 member Transitional National Assembly of Iraq.

-Women lead the ministries of Displacement and Migration, Telecommunications, Municipalities and Public Works, Environment, Science and Technology and Women’s Affairs.

-On April 10, 2005 a construction company owned by an Iraqi woman won the contract bid for renovation of an existing police station. This was the first contract awarded to an Iraqi businesswoman.


-A total of 90 water treatment projects were under construction as of June 22, 2005. Sixty-two projects were completed. The first of 27 new compact water treatment units opened in Sadr City on July 19.

-At the end of June 2005, Iraqi Marines took over security at the oil platforms. The weekly average crude oil production for August 1-7 was 2.22 million barrels a day.

-On August 9, the United States transferred the International Press Center to the Iraqi Government Communications Directorate.

-Almost a quarter of a million Iraqis of various ethnic and religious groups took part in meetings, including radio and television debates, to help draft Iraq’s new constitution

-The Iraqi National Soccer League resumed play on June 12, 2005. More than 10,000 fans watched Basra defeat Dahouk. Not only did the teams sport new uniforms but the Dahouk team did not get tortured after their loss.

While Saddam Hussein was in power, children in lower economic regions attended school in mud and reed huts. Iraq was not known for its sanitation systems. Most communities relied on slit trenches which left sewage pooling in the street. Many Iraqis lived without fresh water. When it rained, sewage ran through the streets. For those of us that have lived our lives in comfortable homes with running water and toilets, it is difficult to imagine living in a situation like that. Thanks to our soldiers and the sacrifices they have made, the Iraqis are enjoying some of the benefits that we take for granted. Is there anything nobler than that?

Christian Warrior/Gun Control and Terrorism

I came across this at an internet forum that I frequent,,thought you might find it interesting. The author reveals a side of our Lord that I always felt existed but could never put to words myself. He articulates an approach to life that I've always tried to adhere to, initially without Christ, and then when I became born-again, with him.


Go to www.warriortalk.com



THE LAMB AND THE LION

At our Tuesday night Bible study we discussed an interesting issue. The duality of Jesus. Our Lord is often depicted (by man) as a weak frail, feminine looking man. These well-meaning but incorrect artists have portrayed a partial Christ. Jesus may have wept over Jerusalem, but He also physically kicked multiple men out of the Temple with His hands and with a whip He made with His own hands. Christ is God and He is man. He is also the compassionate Savior and the Lord God of Hosts. A healer and a warrior. The Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah. I remember a prior study about Christ not having been taken, but rather that He willingly gave Himself to die for us. It occurred to me that unless the Lamb has the Lion within Him, the Lamb has no choice in the matter. Christ had the power to wipe out those who were torturing and killing Him (The Lion Of Judah), yet He obeyed His Father's orders (The Lamb of God).He is always our example and role model. And we are to emulate Him. Yet I think much emulation of the
compassionate Christ has already been done. Emulating this compassion means nothing if there is not also the emulation of the Lion.
We, and I am talking to the men here, are created for combat. We are wired to fight against evil. It is our nature. It is what we have longed for since childhood. Regardless of what silly theologians may say or what mis-educated writers may argue, this is the case. If you search within your heart you know this to be true. Physically it means that you must be ready for the test should it choose you. You may be the next passenger on
the flight chosen by terrorists. Don't shrink from this, but rather pray it is your turn in the fight against evil. Boy! Won't they be surprised when you ram a #2 pencil right into their eye!
Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou
dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Spiritually, we must be strong leaders and examples in our homes and communities. Political correctness be damned! What is right is right and we must take a stand and cast off this emasculating moral relativism disguised as tolerance that is forced down our throats daily by a sick society.Christ was an in-your-face orator and a controversial teacher. Let Him be your example. When they ask what would Jesus do? Remember that Our Lord was a man's man and the fierce Lion of Judah, just as much as the compassionate Lamb of God.
__________________
Gabe Suarez
Suarez International USA, Inc.




The Following is a link to a tribute to our troops,,have a tissue handy,, (If it works??)

http://home.insightbb.com/~armedforcestribute/



The following I got from a post at www.1911forum.com

A Police Perspective On Gun Control & Political Correctness
By Jim Mortellaro
Source: New York State Fraternal Order Of Police 6-29-00

It's amazing what one has to believe, to believe in gun control:


1. That the more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

2. That Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. That "NYPD Blue" and "Miami Vice" are documentaries.

4. That an intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .44 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

5. That firearms in the hands of private citizens are the gravest threat to world peace, and China, Pakistan and Korea can be trusted with nuclear weapons.

6. That Charlton Heston as president of the NRA is a shill who should be
ignored, but Michael Douglas as a representative of Handgun Control,
Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

7. That ordinary people, in the presence of guns, turn into slaughtering butchers, and revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

8. That the New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns, just like Guns and Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

9. That one should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for spinal paralysis, a computer programmer for Y2K problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

10. That the "right of the people peaceably to assemble," the "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumeration's herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people," refer to individuals, but "the right
of the people to keep and bear arms" refers to the states.

11. That the 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, allows the states to have a
National Guard, created by act of Congress in 1917.

12. That the National Guard, paid by the federal government, occupying
property leased to the federal government, using weapons owned by the federal government,punishing trespassers under federal law, is a state agency.

13. That private citizens can't have handguns, because they serve no militia purpose, even though the military has hundreds of thousands of them, and private citizens can't have assault rifles, because they are military weapons.

14. That it is reasonable for California to have a minimum 2 year sentence
for possessing but not using an assault rifle, and reasonable for
California to have a 6 month minimum sentence for raping a female police officer.

15. That it is reasonable to jail people for carrying but not using guns,
but outrageous to jail people for possessing marijuana.

16. That minimum sentences violate civil rights, unless it's for possessing a gun.

17. That door-to-door searches for drugs are a gross violation of civil
rights and a sign of fascism, but door-to-door searches for guns are a reasonable solution to the "gun problem."

18. That the first amendment absolutely allows child pornography and threats
to kill cops, but doesn't apply to manuals on gun repair.

19. That Illinois' law that allows any government official from Governor to dogcatcher to carry a gun is reasonable, and the law that prohibits any private citizen, even one with 50 death threats on file and a million-dollar jewelry business, is reasonable. And it isn't a sign of police statism.

20. That free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters,
computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.

21. That gun safety courses in school only encourage kids to commit
violence, but sex education in school doesn't encourage kids to have sex.

22. That the ready availability of guns today, with only a few government
forms, waiting periods, checks, infringements, ID, and fingerprinting,is responsible for all the school shootings, compared to the lack of school shootings in the 1950's and 1960's, which was caused by the awkward availability of guns at any hardware store, gas station, and by mail order.

23. That we must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who owns a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

24. That there is too much explicit violence featuring guns on TV, and that cities can sue gun manufacturers because people aren't aware of the dangers involved with guns.

25. That the gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, and the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.

26. That the crime rate in America is decreasing because of gun control and the increase in crime requires more gun control.

27. That 100 years after its founding, the NRA got into the politics of guns from purely selfish motives, and 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the black civil rights movement was founded from purely noble motives.

28. That statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control, and statistics that show increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."

29. That we don't need guns against an oppressive government, because the Constitution has internal safeguards, and we should ban and seize all guns, therefore violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments of that Constitution, thereby becoming an oppressive government.

30. That guns are an ineffective means of self defense for rational adults,
but in the hands of an ignorant criminal become a threat to the fabric of society.

31. That guns are so complex to use that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

32. That guns cause crime, which is why there are so many mass slayings at gun shows.

33. That guns aren't necessary to national defense, which is why the army only has 3 million of them.

34. That banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, and Chicago cops need guns.

35. That the Constitution protects us, so we don't need guns, and can
confiscate them, thereby violating the 5th amendment of that constitution.

36. That women are just as intelligent and capable as men and a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen".

37. That women are just as intelligent and capable as men, and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."

38. That a handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

39. That a majority of the population supports gun control, just like a
majority of the population used to support owning slaves.

40. That one should ignore as idiots politicians who confuse Wicca with
Satanism and exaggerate the gay community as a threat to society, but listen sagely to politicians who can refer to a self-loading small arm as a "weapon of mass destruction" and an "assault weapon."

41. That Massachusetts is safer with bans on guns, which is why Teddy
Kennedy has machinegun toting guards.

42. That most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by, because they can be trusted.

43. That a woman raped and strangled with her panties is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

44. That guns should be banned because of the danger involved, and live reporting from the battlefield, which can keep the enemy informed of troop deployments, getting thousands of troops killed and perhaps losing a war, is a protected act that CANNOT be compromised on.

45. That the right of online child pornographers to exist cannot be
questioned because it is a constitutionally protected extension of the Bill of Rights, and the claim that handguns are for self defense is merely an excuse, and not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

46. That the ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

47. That police operate in groups with backup, which is why they need larger capacity magazines than civilians, who must face criminals alone, and therefore need less ammunition.

48. That we should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.



I also came across this at : www.1911forum.com

A Speech by Haim Harari on the War on Terror
HAIM HARARI, a theoretical physicist, is Chair of the Davidson
Institute of Science Education. He is also Former President from 1988 to 2001 of the Weizmann Institute of
Science. During his years as President the Institute entered numerous new scientific fields and projects, built 47new buildings, raised one Billion Dollars in philanthropic money, hired more than half of its current tenured
Professors and became one of the highest royalty-earning academic organizations in the world.Throughout all his adult life, Harari has made major contributions to three different fields: Particle Physics Research on the international scene, Science Education in the Israeli school system, and Science
Administration and Policy Making.


“A View from the Eye of the Storm”


Talk delivered by Haim Harari in April 2004 at a meeting of the International Advisory Board of a large multi-national corporation.


As you know, I usually provide the scientific and technological "entertainment" in our meetings, but, on this occasion, our Chairman suggested that I present my own personal view on events in the part of the world from which I come. I have never been and I will never be a government official and I have no privileged information. My perspective is entirely based on what I see, on what I read and on the fact that my family has lived in this region for almost 200 years. You may regard my views as those of the proverbial taxi driver, which you are supposed to question, when you visit a country.

I could have shared with you some fascinating facts and some personal thoughts about the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, I will touch upon
it only in passing. I prefer to devote most of my remarks to the broader picture of the region and its place in world events. I refer to the entire area between Pakistan and Morocco, which is predominantly Arab, predominantly Moslem, but includes many non-Arab and also significant non-Moslem minorities.

Why do I put aside Israel and its own immediate neighborhood? Because Israel and any problems related to it, in spite of what you might read or hear in the world media, is not the central issue, and has never been the central issue in the upheaval in the region. Yes, there is a 100 year-old Israeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where the main show is. The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel. The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem regime is massacring its black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with Israel. The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of civilian in one village or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with Israel. Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait,
endangered Saudi Arabia and butchered his own people because of Israel. Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the 60's because of Israel. Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in one week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel. The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing to do with Israel. The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with Israel, and I could go on and on and on.
The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even if Israel would have joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine would have existed for 100 years. The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from Mauritania to the Gulf States, have a total population of 300 millions, larger than the US and almost as large as the EU before its expansion. They have a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe. These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to half of the GDP of California alone. Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor are beyond belief and too many of the rich made their money not by succeeding in business, but by being corrupt rulers. The social status
of women is far below what it was in the Western World 150 years ago. Human rights are below any reasonable standard, in spite of the grotesque fact that Libya was
elected Chair of the UN Human Rights commission. According to a report prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and published under the auspices of the U.N., the number of books translated by the entire Arab world is much smaller than what little Greece alone translates. The total number of scientific publications of 300 million Arabs is less than that of 6 million Israelis. Birth rates in the region are very high, increasing the poverty, the social gaps and the cultural decline.
And all of this is happening in a region, which only 30 years ago, was believed to be the next wealthy part of the world, and in a Moslem area, which developed, at some point in history, one of the most advanced cultures in the world.
It is fair to say that this creates an unprecedented breeding ground for cruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders and general decline. It is also a fact that almost everybody in the region blames this situation on the United States, on Israel, on Western civilization,on Judaism and Christianity, on anyone and anything, except themselves.
Do I say all of this with the satisfaction of someone discussing the failings of his enemies? On the contrary, I firmly believe that the world would have been a much better place and my own neighborhood wouldhave been much more pleasant and peaceful, if things were different. I should also say a word about the millions of decent, honest, good people who are either devout Moslems or are not very religious but grew up in Moslem families. They are double victims of an outside world, which now develops Islamophobia and of their own environment, which breaks their heart by being totally dysfunctional. The problem is that the vast silent majority of these Moslems are not part of the terror and of the incitement but they also do not stand up against it. They
become accomplices, by omission, and this applies to political leaders, intellectuals, business people and many others. Many of them can certainly tell right from wrong, but are afraid to express their views. The events of the last few years have amplified four issues, which have always existed, but have never been as rampant as in the present upheaval in the region. These are the four main pillars of the current World Conflict, or
perhaps we should already refer to it as "the undeclared World War III". I have no better name for the present situation. A few more years may pass before everybody acknowledges that it is a World War, but we are already well into it.
The first element is the suicide murder. Suicide murders are not a new invention but they have been made popular, if I may use this expression, only lately. Even after September 11, it seems that most of the Western World does not yet understand this weapon. It is a very potent psychological weapon. Its real direct impact is relatively minor. The total number of casualties from hundreds of suicide murders within Israel in the last three years is much smaller than those due to car accidents. September 11 was quantitatively much less lethal than many earthquakes. More people die from AIDS in one day in Africa than all the Russians who died in the hands of Chechnya-based Moslem suicide murderers since that conflict started.
Saddam killed every month more people than all those who died from suicide murders since the Coalition occupation of Iraq. So what is all the fuss about suicide killings? It creates headlines. It is spectacular. It is frightening. It is a very cruel death with bodies dismembered and horrible severe lifelong injuries to many of the wounded. It is always
shown on television in great detail. One such murder, with the help of hysterical media coverage, can destroy the tourism industry of a country for quite a while, as it did in Bali and in Turkey.
But the real fear comes from the undisputed fact that no defense and no preventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer. This has not yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S.and Europe are constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not the next one. We may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But if you want to murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order to explode yourself and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in the midst of the crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal detector?
How about the lines to the check-in counters in a busy travel period? Put a metal detector in front of every train station in Spain and the terrorists will get the buses.
Protect the buses and they will explode in movie theaters, concert halls, supermarkets, shopping malls, schools and hospitals. Put guards in front of every concert hall and there will always be a line of people to be checked by the guards and this line will be the target, not to speak of killing the guards themselves. You can somewhat reduce your vulnerability by preventive and defensive measures and by strict border controls
but not eliminate it and definitely not win the war in a defensive way. And it is a war!
What is behind the suicide murders? Money, power and cold-blooded murderous incitement, nothing else. It has nothing to do with true fanatic religious beliefs. No Moslem preacher has ever blown himself up. No son of an Arab politician or religious leader has ever blown himself. No relative of anyone influential has done it. Wouldn't
you expect some of the religious leaders to do it themselves, or to talk their sons into doing it, if this is truly a supreme act of religious fervor? Aren't they interested in the benefits of going to Heaven? Instead, they send outcast women, naïve children, retarded people and young incited hotheads. They promise them the delights, mostly sexual,
of the next world, and pay their families handsomely after the supreme act is performed and enough innocent people are dead.
Suicide murders also have nothing to do with poverty and despair. The poorest region in the world, by far, is Africa. It never happens there. There are numerous desperate people in the world, in different cultures, countries and continents. Desperation does not provide anyone with explosives, reconnaissance and transportation. There was certainly more despair in Saddam's Iraq then in Paul Bremmer's Iraq, and no one exploded himself. A suicide murder is simply a horrible, vicious weapon of cruel, inhuman, cynical, well-funded terrorists, with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow countrymen, but with very high regard to their own affluent well-being and their hunger for power.
The only way to fight this new "popular" weapon is identical to the only way in which you fight organized crime or pirates on the high seas: the offensive way. Like in the case of organized crime, it is crucial that
the forces on the offensive be united and it is crucial to reach the top of the crime pyramid. You cannot eliminate organized crime by arresting the little drug dealer in the street corner. You must go after the head of the "Family".If part of the public supports it, others tolerate it, many are afraid of it and some try to explain it away by poverty
or by a miserable childhood, organized crime will thrive and so will terrorism. The United States understands this now, after September 11. Russia is beginning
to understand it. Turkey understands it well. I am very much afraid that most of Europe still does not understand it. Unfortunately, it seems that Europe will understand it only after suicide murders will arrive in Europe in a big way. In my humble opinion, this will definitely happen. The Spanish trains and the Istanbul bombings are only the beginning. The unity of the Civilized World in fighting this horror is absolutely indispensable. Until Europe wakes up, this unity will not be achieved.
The second ingredient is words, more precisely lies. Words can be lethal. They kill people. It is often said that politicians, diplomats and perhaps also lawyers and business people must sometimes lie, as part of their professional life. But the norms of politics and diplomacy are childish, in comparison with the level of incitement and total absolute deliberate fabrications, which have reached new heights in the region we are talking about. An incredible number of people in the Arab world believe that September 11 never
happened, or was an American provocation or, even better, a Jewish plot.
You all remember the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mr. Mouhamad Said al-Sahaf and his press conferences when the US forces were already inside Baghdad. Disinformation at time of war is an accepted tactic. But to stand, day after day, and to make such preposterous statements,known to everybody to be lies, without even being ridiculed in your own milieu, can only happen in this region. Mr. Sahaf eventually became a popular icon as a court jester, but this did not stop some allegedly respectable newspapers from giving him equal time. It also does not prevent the Western press from giving
credence, every day, even now, to similar liars. After all, if you want to be an antiSemite,there are subtle ways of doing it. You do not have to claim that the holocaust
never happened and that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem never existed. But millions of Moslems are told by their leaders that this is the case. When these same leaders make other statements, the Western media report them as if they could be true.
It is a daily occurrence that the same people, who finance, arm and dispatch suicide murderers, condemn the act in English in front of western TV cameras, talking to a world audience, which even partly believes them. It is a daily routine to hear the same leader making opposite statements in Arabic to his people and in English to the
rest of the world. Incitement by Arab TV, accompanied by horror pictures of mutilated bodies, has become a powerful weapon of those who lie, distort and want to destroy everything. Little children are raised on deep
hatred and on admiration of so-called martyrs, and the Western World does not notice it because its own TV sets are mostly tuned to soap operas and game shows. I recommend to you, even though most of you do not understand Arabic, to watch Al Jazeera, from time to time. You will not believe your own eyes.
But words also work in other ways, more subtle. A demonstration in Berlin, carrying banners supporting Saddam's regime and featuring three-year old babies dressed as suicide murderers, is defined by the press and by political leaders as a "peace demonstration". You may support or oppose the Iraq war, but to refer
to fans of Saddam, Arafat or Bin Laden as peace activists is a bit too much. A woman walks into an Israeli restaurant in mid-day, eats, observes families with old people and children eating their lunch in the adjacent tables and pays the bill. She then blows herself up, killing 20 people, including many children, with heads and arms rolling around in the restaurant. She is called "martyr" by several Arab leaders and "activist" by the European press. Dignitaries condemn the act but visit her bereaved family and the money flows.
There is a new game in town: The actual murderer is called "the military wing", the one who pays him, equips him and sends him is now called "the political wing" and the head of the operation is called the "spiritual leader". There are numerous other examples of such Orwellian nomenclature, used every day not only by terror chiefs but also by Western media. These words are much more dangerous than many people realize. They
provide an emotional infrastructure for atrocities. It was Joseph Goebels who said that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. He is now being outperformed by his
successors.The third aspect is money. Huge amounts of money, which could have solved many social problems in this dysfunctional part of the world, are channeled into three concentric spheres supporting death and murder.
In the inner circle are the terrorists themselves. The money funds their travel, explosives, hideouts and permanent search for soft vulnerable targets. They are surrounded by a second wider circle of direct supporters, planners, commanders, preachers, all of whom make a living, usually a very comfortable living, by serving as terror infrastructure. Finally, we find the third circle of so-called religious, educational and welfare
organizations, which actually do some good, feed the hungry and provide some schooling, but brainwash a new generation with hatred, lies and ignorance. This circle
operates mostly through mosques, madrasas and other religious establishments but also through inciting electronic and printed media. It is this circle that makes sure that women remain inferior, that democracy is unthinkable and that exposure to the outside world is minimal. It is also that circle that leads the way in blaming everybody outside the Moslem world, for the miseries of the region.

Figuratively speaking, this outer circle is the guardian, which makes sure that the people look and listen inwards to the inner circle of terror and incitement, rather than to the world outside. Some parts of this same outer circle actually operate as a result of fear from, or blackmail by, the inner circles. The horrifying added factor is the
high birth rate. Half of the population of the Arab world is under the age of 20, the most receptive age to incitement, guaranteeing two more generations of blind hatred.
Of the three circles described above, the inner circles are primarily financed by terrorist states like Iran and Syria, until recently also by Iraq and Libya and earlier also by some of the Communist regimes. These states, as well as the Palestinian Authority, are the safe havens of the wholesale murder vendors.
The outer circle is largely financed by Saudi Arabia, but also by donations from certain Moslem communities in the United States and Europe and, to a smaller extent, by donations of European Governments to various NGO's and by certain United Nations
organizations, whose goals may be noble, but they are infested and exploited by agents of the outer circle. The Saudi regime, of course, will be the next victim of major terror, when the inner circle will explode into the outer circle. The Saudis are beginning to understand it, but they fight the inner circles, while still financing the infrastructure at the outer circle?
Some of the leaders of these various circles live very comfortably on their loot. You meet their children in the best private schools in Europe, not in the training camps of suicide murderers. The Jihad "soldiers" join packaged death tours to Iraq and other hotspots, while some of their leaders ski in Switzerland. Mrs. Arafat, who lives in Paris with her daughter, receives tens of thousands Dollars per month from the allegedly bankrupt Palestinian Authority while a typical local ringleader of the Al-Aksa brigade, reporting to Arafat, received only a cash payment of a couple of hundred dollars, for performing murders at the retail level?
The fourth element of the current world conflict is the total breaking of all laws. The civilized world believes in democracy, the rule of law, including international law, human rights, free speech and free press, among other liberties. There are naïve old-fashioned habits such as respecting religious sites and symbols, not using
ambulances and hospitals for acts of war, avoiding the mutilation of dead bodies and not using children as human shields or human bombs. Never in history, not even in the Nazi period, was there such total disregard of all of the above as we observe now. Every student of political science debates how you prevent an anti-democratic force from winning a democratic election and abolishing democracy. Other aspects of a civilized society must also have limitations. Can a policeman open fire on someone
trying to kill him? Can a government listen to phone conversations of terrorists and drug dealers? Does free speech protect you when you shout "fire" in a crowded theater? Should there be a death penalty, for deliberate multiple murders? These are the old-fashioned dilemmas. But now we have an entire new set.Do you raid a mosque, which serves as a terrorist ammunition storage? Do you return fire, if you are attacked
from a hospital? Do you storm a church taken over by terrorists who took the priests hostages? Do you search every ambulance after a few suicide murderers use ambulances to reach their targets? Do you strip every woman because one pretended to be pregnant and carried a suicide bomb on her belly? Do you shoot
back at someone trying to kill you, standing deliberately behind a group of children? Do you raid terrorist headquarters, hidden in a mental hospital? Do you shoot an arch-murderer who deliberately moves from one location to another, always surrounded by children? All of these happen daily in Iraq and in the Palestinian areas. What do you do? Well, you do not want to face the dilemma. But it cannot be avoided.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that someone would openly stay in
a well-known address in Teheran, hosted by the Iranian Government and financed by it, executing one atrocity after another in Spain or in France, killing hundreds of innocent people, accepting responsibility for the crimes, promising in public TV interviews to do more of the same, while the Government of Iran issues public condemnations of his
acts but continues to host him, invite him to official functions and treat him as a great dignitary. I leave it to you as homework to figure out what Spain or France would have done, in such a situation.
The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about the rule of law in a totally lawless environment. It is trying to play ice hockey by sending a ballerina ice-skater into the rink or to knock out a heavyweight boxer by a chess player. In the same way that no country has a law against cannibals eating its prime minister, because such an act is unthinkable, international law does not address killers shooting from hospitals, mosques and ambulances, while being protected
by their Government or society. International law does not know how to handle someone who sends children to throw stones, stands behind them and shoots with immunity and cannot be arrested because he is sheltered by a Government. International law does not know how to deal with a leader of murderers who is royally and comfortably hosted by a country, which pretends to condemn his acts or just claims to be too weak to arrest him.
The amazing thing is that all of these crooks demand protection under international law and define all those who attack them as war criminals, with some Western media repeating the allegations. The good news is that all of this is temporary, because the evolution of international law has always adapted itself to reality. The punishment for
suicide murder should be death or arrest before the murder, not during and not after. After every world war, the rules of international law have changed and the same will happen after the present one. But during the twilight zone, a lot of harm can be done.
The picture I described here is not pretty. What can we do about it? In the short run, only fight and win. In the long run ? Only educate the next generation and open it to the world. The inner circles can and must be destroyed by force. The outer circle cannot be eliminated by force. Here we need financial starvation of the organizing elite, more power to women, more education, counter propaganda, boycott whenever feasible and access to Western media, internet and the international scene. Above all, we need a total absolute unity and determination of the civilized world against all three circles of evil.
Allow me, for a moment, to depart from my alleged role as a taxi driver and return to science. When you have a malignant tumor, you may remove the tumor itself surgically. You may also starve it by preventing new blood from reaching it from other parts of the body, thereby preventing new "supplies" from expanding the tumor. If you want to be sure, it is best to do both.But before you fight and win, by force or otherwise, you have to realize that you are in a war, and this may take Europe a few more years. In order to win, it is necessary to first eliminate the terrorist regimes, so that no Government in the world will serve as a safe haven for these people. I do not want to comment here on whether
the American-led attack on Iraq was justified from the point of view of weapons of mass destruction or any other pre-war argument, but I can look at the post-war map of Western Asia. Now that Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are out, two and a half terrorist states remain: Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the latter being a Syrian colony. Perhaps Sudan should be added to the list. As a result of the conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq, both Iran and Syria are now totally surrounded by territories unfriendly to them. Iran is encircled by Afghanistan, by the Gulf States, Iraq and the Moslem republics of the former Soviet Union. Syria is surrounded by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. This is a significant strategic change and it applies strong pressure on the terrorist countries. It is not surprising that Iran is so active in trying to incite a Shiite uprising in Iraq. I do not know if the American plan was actually to encircle both Iran and Syria, but that is the resulting situation.
In my humble opinion, the number one danger to the world today is Iran and its regime. It definitely has ambitions to rule vast areas and to expand in all directions. It has an ideology, which claims supremacy over Western culture. It is ruthless. It has proven that it can execute elaborate terrorist acts without leaving too many traces, using Iranian Embassies. It is clearly trying to develop Nuclear Weapons. Its so-called moderates
and conservatives play their own virtuoso version of the "good-cop versus bad-cop" game. Iran sponsors Syrian terrorism, it is certainly behind much of the action in Iraq, it is fully funding the Hizbullah and, through it, the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it performed acts of terror at least in Europe and in South America and probably also in Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia and it truly leads a multi-national terror consortium, which includes, as minor players, Syria, Lebanon and certain Shiite elements in Iraq. Nevertheless, most European countries still trade with Iran, try to appease it and refuse to read the clear signals.In order to win the war it is also necessary to dry the financial resources of the terror conglomerate. It is pointless to try to understand the subtle differences between the Sunni terror of Al Qaida and Hamas and the Shiite terror
of Hizbullah, Sadr and other Iranian inspired enterprises. When it serves their business needs, all of them collaborate beautifully.
It is crucial to stop Saudi and other financial support of the outer circle, which is the fertile breeding ground of terror. It is important to monitor all donations from the Western World to Islamic organizations, to monitor the finances of international relief organizations and to react with forceful economic measures to any small sign of
financial aid to any of the three circles of terrorism. It is also important to act decisively against the campaign of lies and fabrications and to monitor those Western media who collaborate with it out of naivety, financial interests or ignorance.
Above all, never surrender to terror. No one will ever know whether the recent elections in Spain would have yielded a different result, if not for the train bombings a few days earlier. But it really does not matter. What matters is that the terrorists believe that they caused the result and that they won by driving Spain out of Iraq. The Spanish
story will surely end up being extremely costly to other European countries, including France, who is now expelling inciting preachers and
forbidding veils and including others who sent troops to Iraq. In the long run, Spain itself will pay even more.
Is the solution a democratic Arab world? If by democracy we mean free elections but also free press, free speech, a functioning judicial system, civil liberties, equality to women, free international travel, exposure to
international media and ideas, laws against racial incitement and against defamation, and avoidance of lawless behavior If democracy is just free elections, it is likely that the most fanatic regime will be elected, the one whose incitement and fabrications are the most inflammatory. We have seen it already in Algeria and, to a certain extent, in Turkey. It will happen again, if the ground is not prepared very carefully. On the other hand, a certain transition democracy, as in Jordan, may be a better temporary solution, paving the way for the real thing, perhaps in the same way that an immediate sudden democracy did not work in Russia and would not have worked in China.
I have no doubt that the civilized world will prevail. But the longer it takes us to understand the new landscape of this war, the more costly and painful the victory will be. Europe, more than any other region, is the key. Its understandable recoil from wars, following the horrors of World War II, may cost thousands of additional innocent lives, before the tide will turn.

That's it for today,,hope these posts make you think,,


2 Chronicles 7:14
"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."


Now go smoke a quality cigar and chill,,,,,
Punch Gran Puro, Libertad

Some new, Some old quotes and essays,,

What he said about 68 years ago is relevant today,,Then Nazism,,today Islamo-fascism.



"What would happen if all these neutral nations...were with one spontaneous impulse to do their duty...and were to stand together...against aggression and wrong? At present their plight is lamentable; and it will become much worse. They bow humbly and in fear to...threats of violence. ... Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear...the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar, ever more loudly, ever more widely. It will spread to the South; it will spread to the North. There is no chance of a speedy end except through united action." --Sir Winston Churchill

Some of you may recognize some of the following from my "Essay Group". I just felt it necessary to repost here on the "Blog".



The consciousness of having discharged that duty which we owe
to our country is superior to all other considerations."

-- George Washington (letter to James Madison, 2 March 1788)


Do you think our present day elected representatives feel the same, as they supposedly do our nation's business??

I sure don't!!


I come across these essays by way of an e-mail subscription that I use called The Federalist Patriot, which can be reached at: http://federalistpatriot.us/ All credit must go to them,,I just know how to "cut-n-paste". JF



Mike S. Adams

A couple of days ago, bird watcher and forest conservation advocate, Rita Dean of Greenville, SC, wrote a letter complaining about me to the chancellor (and nearly every other administrator) of my university. She was shocked at some comments she heard when she saw me speaking on Capitol Hill (broadcast live on C-Span) in affiliation with the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. Here's part of what Rita had to say:
"Carrying the banner of higher education, Mr. [sic] Adams today promoted the proliferation of firearms and tied this policy directly to the credentials and advancement of college Republicans. He encouraged conservative college students to promote the establishment of campus chapters of the National Rifle Association, and to align themselves on the other hand with pro-life advocates. I fail to understand the natural relation between guns and a "pro-life" position. It seems to be a progression in logic that is understandable only to Mr. [sic] Adams and his young acolytes. Mr. [sic] Adams reflects poorly on the entire University of North Carolina academic community..."

Ms. Dean's complaint suggests that the focus of my speech was the 2nd Amendment. The focus of my speech was actually the 1st Amendment.

Specifically, I suggested strategies to combat the efforts of liberal administrators to censor conservative speech on campus. After hearing my speech accusing liberal administrators of trying to censor conservative speech, Ms. Dean suggested that the liberal administrators should try to censor my conservative speech. Bird watchers like Rita make my job easy.

It is worth noting that my "offensive" speech criticized two UNC campuses-one for showing a porn movie to students (on campus) and another for hiring a porn star to lecture on safe anal sex. That was right before I told an LSU student (during "Q and A") that taking people "plinking" in the woods with a .22 was a good way to get them interested in firearms.

And that was the start of the problem, I suppose. You rarely hear so-called liberals (I call them neo-libs) like Rita discuss the dangers of porn and sodomy. But they are terrified of .22 rifles. And many neo-libs expect everyone to tolerate government funding of pornography and sodomy education while they refuse to tolerate gun ownership by private citizens.

And, of course, there is no inconsistency between my opposition to abortion and my opposition to gun control. Put simply, I am committed to the protection of innocent life. I want the fetus to be protected from the abortionist who seeks to take an innocent life. I also want adults to be protected from the murderer who seeks to take an innocent life.

Of course, critics of my response to Rita will argue that a fetus is not a person in order to rebut my assertion that "the abortionist...seeks to take an innocent life." But the real issue, the one that my critics will not touch, regards the status of the college student.

Whenever neo-libs seek to distribute condoms on campus, to show porn movies, to encourage sodomy, or to encourage "reproductive choice," they assert that college students are adults. But when it comes to gun ownership, they portray college students as children. And these children must be kept away from firearms, just as they must be shielded from any speech that might make them feel uncomfortable or wound their inner child.

The neo-libs claim a right to abortion they cannot identify in the constitution. But NRA members claim a right to bear arms, which is spelled out clearly below the 1st Amendment. It is no accident that the neo-libs seek to suppress knowledge of one amendment through the destruction of another.

And that is where I come in. You won't find me fighting for the right of government offices to spend my tax dollars on porn and sodomy lectures, just as you will never see me bother adults who want to watch porn or engage in sodomy. Instead, I will spend my time encouraging adults to learn to use firearms safely. I will do that by encouraging student NRA chapters on campuses across the country.

In the future, every time I make a speech on a college campus in South Carolina, I intend to donate one Remington shotgun to each host campus with an NRA chapter. The guns, which I will call Rita's Remingtons, will be given along with a contribution to the National Rifle Association. I will also provide the students with 250 rounds of 12 gauge ammunition.

Neo-libs like Rita Dean don't understand that I am proud to be a member of the NRA. I am also proud to have worked for www.NRANews.com during the last election year. I am only ashamed that I work for a university system that has sponsored $3000 lectures (at UNC-G) on safe sodomy and rejected my offer for a free lecture (at N.C. State) on firearm safety.

I hope you have fun watching birds, Rita. I'm coming down to South Carolina with my 45-70 to kill a hog in your honor. I look forward to reading your next letter to the chancellor. Pork chops, anyone?

Mike S. Adams can be booked as a campus speaker through the Young America's Foundation (www.yaf.org).

"Just remember that Jesus didn't die on the cross for you to run from what is right. And war heroes didn't die on the battlefield for you to cower away while this country is destroyed. ... If you do not do that which you know is right, you will never know what kind of happiness and peace of mind you might have attained in this life." --Mike Adams



©2005 Mike S. Adams


"Standards of acceptable behavior have been spiraling lower in America as ever baser, more destructive behavior has grown and has been given resigned acceptance as the norm. The moral relativism embraced by elitists in the media, government, universities, Hollywood, and elsewhere has twisted average American's views of acceptable conduct to the converse of what traditionally has been considered acceptable, civilized behavior. Americans are becoming tolerant of everything that is rotten and intolerant of many things that are good, destroying lives and eroding our freedoms as Americans." --Chris Field

Note: As a VN combat vet and a Born-Again Christian, I found forgiving Jane Fonda one of the hardest things that I've had to do, in a spiritual sense, in my life. She seems to want to place, once again, that spiritual challenge in my path. I will only be stronger in my Christian walk for it.JF

"It may have been inevitable, but now it's true: Hanoi Jane is launching the most awful comeback since Burt Reynolds decided to play Boss Hogg. And where once stood the svelte Hanoi Jane, we shall now gaze upon the nipped-and-tucked Baghdad Barbarella. ... [She] is going on a cross-country bus tour next March to call for withdrawal -- i.e., retreat -- from Iraq. She of course claims to be responding to the calls for action she's heard from Iraq vets on her current book tour (no, she couldn't be doing this just to hawk a book, could she?) and promises that vets will accompany her on the tour. Too bad her bus tour won't reprise the North Vietnam trip. If she visited the terrorist camps in Syria, she'd surely be welcomed. It would be an event worth targeting, er, covering. ... And for Mizz Fonda, how much fun will she have when she's met by a picket line of Vietnam Vets -- joined by Afghanistan and Iraq vets -- everywhere she goes? You'll see them everywhere: walking on canes, in wheel chairs, on their feet by the hundreds and thousands. Fonda is a symbol of everything that was wrong with America in the 1960s. Self-absorbed, fearful, convinced America is an evil influence on the world and consequently eager to help defeat America, she and those who marched with her lost a war that should have been won, and could have. We lost Vietnam, but losing it didn't cost us our way of life. We suffered, or at least those who served and the families of those who didn't come back did. But America recovered and became itself again. There's a difference today: if we lose this war -- in Iraq or anywhere else -- we lose America. Fonda will have little effect on this war. In fact, the only thing she will accomplish is to bring another round of scorn upon herself. It will be both awful and an awful lot of fun to watch her latest anti-American campaign unfold. We should hang on her every word, because each will be one more round in our ammo box to be fired back at the Kerrys and Kennedys, Deans and Durbins and Clintons who want to pretend they can be trusted with our nation's security. Fonda will be the albatross hanging around every Democrat neck in 2006 and, I pray, in 2008. The only thing that could possibly be better than this is to find that she's run off with Dick Durbin." --Jed Babbin



NAMBLA and other social atrocities,,

Pedophiles possess no tidy criminal profile. They come from all walks of life. Some are married, some single; some professional, some blue-collar; some young, some retired. Some prefer boys, and some prefer girls. Some are attracted to young children, others to older children. In short, pedophilia, or sexual attraction to children by an adult, is a sickness that does not discriminate by race, class, or age. It knows no bounds, and afflicts people in every segment of society.

Most pedophiles do, however, share several characteristics. The overwhelming majority of pedophiles are male. Only a very small percentage of women abuse children sexually, and they are usually cooperating with a male aggressor.

Few pedophiles are able to resist their powerful urges to initiate sexual contact with children. As a result, child molesters often make efforts to gain access to or authority over children. They take jobs where children are easily approached, or they actively pursue youngsters by befriending parents (particularly single parents), attending events for children, coaching children¹s sports, chaperoning camping trips, frequenting video arcades, or offering baby-sitting services to friends, family, and neighbors with children.

The majority of pedophiles prefer children on the brink of puberty and prey on a child's sexual ignorance and curiosity. To quote one molester, "Give me a kid who knows nothing about sex, and you've given me my next victim."

Small groups of militant and highly organized child molesters operate worldwide through pedophile organizations, whose members claim genuine concern for the welfare of children. Their belief is that sex with children is harmless; some even claim that sexual relations are healthy for children. These groups' goals include decriminalizing child molestation and lowering the age of consent.

The actual number of members in these organizations is unknown, though one, the Rene Guyon Society, is listed in the Gale Encyclopedia of Associations as having five thousand members. Other major pedophile organizations include NAMBLA (The North American Man-Boy Love Association) and PAN (Pedophile Alert Network) in the Netherlands. Members receive monthly magazines and newsletters that include seduction techniques and advice on avoiding detection and prosecution. One group¹s "Lure of the Month" column gives advice on approaching and seducing children. In one month¹s column, soap crayons were praised for their effectiveness: "Children undress themselves!"

NAMBLA's "Entrapment of the Month" column has alerted members to covert government child-pornography sting operations. In one newsletter alone, NAMBLA correctly identified ten sting operations in five different states. In just three years, NAMBLA exposed and compromised four federal sting operations as well, including Project Looking Glass, Candy¹s Love Club, Project Sea Hawk, and Project Borderline. Clearly, these organizations have connections.

In addition to attending pedophile conferences and conventions, some child molesters meet via the Internet where they may swap methods, success stories, even names, descriptions, and images of children. Customs officials indicate that the anonymous nature of Internet communication is quickly replacing the printed pedophile newsletter.


While the average child molester does not belong to a pedophile organization, we would be foolish not to take seriously any group whose members are committed to sexual activity with children. Indeed, pedophiles are often difficult to detect and can be found in the most unlikely of places. Knowing this, we must provide our children with the tools to recognize and avoid potentially abusive individuals and situations.
by Kenneth Wooden



"I work in a prison. I see Evil every day. My last prison was a lockdown supermax, where Evil was naked and violent, right out in front. Now I work in a sex offender yard, where Evil wears a polite face, and warm smile.....
And people wonder why I carry a gun. Evil gets out on parole next Tuesday..."

A State Corrections Officer answering the question , "Does evil exist?"

It's not about Cindy,,

These graphics didn't quite apear where I wanted them too but I'm still new at this. Those who know what they mean will understand. They will also know that they show that I claim a right to be critical of Mrs. Sheehan and the way she has permitted the death of her son to be prostituted by the michael moore's of this country. It looks to me that we are again permitting the enemy, who know they can't beat us on the battlefield, to use the media and the political left to hand us another political defeat from our enemies. Just as the communist north vietnamese learned that they could not militarily defeat us, so has the islamofascists. So they borrow the playbook and instead of meeting us on the battlefield, they look to send just a few bodies home whenever possible(daily)knowing that the media and the democrats(socialists) will sensationalize the body counts(ours) for their own political advantage. Never mind that it aids our enemies, just as long as it affords them (the left) the opportunity to seize power to advance their agenda. Blind to the notion that when the enemy wins, the U.S. looses, no matter which party is in the white house. Though Casey Sheehan died in a different war, I've known many Casey's, and many like him never made it home in my war either. I remember and still feel the hurt of knowing that my "Casey's" died in vain because of the leftist element in this country and it's happening all over again. Now there is talk of sending over a "Peace Delegation" to talk with the islamofascists. Remember the Paris Peace talks and the peace delegation we sent there. the promises made and then broken when we pulled out? Not just in Vietnam but also Cambodia. And millions died. The play book has been opened again. As usual I need to find some other than myself to put to words what I feel in my heart. Here Mr. Gelernter does an admirable job. JF

Who speaks for Casey Sheehan?
DAVID GELERNTER
THIS NATION respects and admires Cindy Sheehan on account of her son's heroic death in Iraq. But the Cindy Sheehan spectacle has been another thing altogether. It's on hold now; perhaps it's over. But the protest echoes.

It's tragic that we don't seem to remember President Lincoln's words at Gettysburg, and Sheehan and her supporters don't either: "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." In the shadow of heroic deeds, words don't count for much. The Gettysburg Address is one of the rare exceptions.

Casey Sheehan's deeds were heroic. By laying down his life for this nation, he delivered the kind of message that is written in blood, that lives forever. Why on Earth would a loving mother choose to refocus the nation's attention onto her words and away from his deeds?

And what was Casey Sheehan's message? It had nothing to do with President Bush. It didn't even have to do with the war, necessarily. It said something much simpler: "I love my country."

His mother seemed intent on drowning out that message. At times she contradicted it. Some news stories about the mother's protest didn't even mention the son's name. In most, he passed through like a butterfly that is gone before you really see it. "Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed in an ambush in Baghdad last year…. " That's all you got; then it was right back to Cindy Sheehan's latest pronouncements.

The real story is brief enough. Casey Sheehan enlisted in the Army in 2000 at age 20. The country was at peace. When he was asked to reenlist four years later, he knew that he would probably be sent to Iraq. He reenlisted anyway. In March 2004, he was sent to Iraq as a mechanic attached to the artillery division of the 1st Cavalry Division. When a convoy was attacked in Sadr City a month later, he volunteered to join the rescue mission — although he had no obligation to take part in combat. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

Did he intend to say, "I love my country?" Or was he tricked into saying it? He volunteered to reenlist with the war underway — as an experienced young man, not a teenager. Then he volunteered again, for a dangerous mission above and beyond the call of duty. And one thing more, from his sister, Carly: "That's all he wanted to do was serve God and his country his whole life." (He was a devout Roman Catholic.) What message emerges? What it sounds like to me is: "I devote my life lovingly to my country and my God."

And his mother's message? The FrontPage website noted her comments to a reporter. "The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush." And: "We are waging nuclear war in Iraq, we have contaminated the entire country." And most important: "America has been killing people on this continent since it started. This country is not worth dying for."

I'd love to know what Casey Sheehan thought about this nation on the day he died. The evidence suggests that he would not have agreed with his mother's violently anti-American ideas. But we'll never know for sure.

Yet it's not too late to hear from other Casey Sheehans — from our soldiers in Iraq, any one of whom might volunteer for a dangerous mission tomorrow. Why don't some of the reporters who spent weeks hanging on Cindy Sheehan's every word tell us what our soldiers are thinking?

Cindy versus Casey Sheehan has posed a stark choice — a choice this nation will remember long after the Texas vigil: "This country is not worth dying for" versus "all he wanted to do was serve God and his country." Where do our soldiers stand? They have as much right to be heard as Cindy Sheehan.

As for her, she wasn't content with addressing the country; she insisted on addressing the president. But his duty is to act on behalf of the nation, to thank her and console her, not to attend lectures on America's sin. He did meet her, and no doubt he spoke to her in the vein of Lincoln in his famous letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, who lost two sons in the Civil War. "I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom."

The news media have done Cindy Sheehan no favor. They only let a grief-stricken mother embarrass herself; it has been painful to watch. It's past time to shift the spotlight back to her brave son and his surviving comrades, where it has always belonged.

David Gelernter, Yale professor of computer science, is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard

I guess it's time I create my own essay for my own blog, now that I seem to be able to navigate this process somewhat. So what topic do I choose out of a myriad of world issues? How about the NCAA? OK,,

I graduated from a school district, in a town, on Long Island, New York called Wantagh, (pronounced 'wan-taw). The name, like most village names on L.I. are taken from Indian names from Tribes that used to inhabit L.I. Ex: Copiague, Massapequa, Quogue. Wantagh took its name from the Indian sachem(Chief) who led two Algonquian groups, the Delawares and the Mohegans. My high school teams were called "The Wantagh Warriors" and the name was always held with deep respect. This was long before the now famous "tomahawk Chop". The many Indian names on L.I. were always considered normal and a tribute to those who inhabited the island(and still do) way before us.
Well, back to the NCAA. I can understand their reservations(no pun) about team names such as "savages, redskins, etc. But most team names are names of respect, such as warrior. More than 50+ years ago I considered myself a "warrior" for my country and would not take offense if anyone referred to me in that way then. Doubt if anyone looking at me now would even think of the term warrior but that's an age issue.
If the NCAA is successful, where does it end after that? How about going after Chrysler for their Jeep "Cherokee"? Let's be required to change the names of major cities,"Indianapolis, Cincinnati,Saginaw. The idea as presented by the NCAA is totally ridiculous. Intelligent adults can figure out what is offensive and what honors.


How about now I address our most lovely Cindy Sheehan?

As most writers/speakers start their piece, I respect her sacrifice, however, more than that I respect the sacrifice of her son. He's the one who gave his life, put it in danger, willingly, for a cause greater than his own life. His mother goes on, grieving, but living, able to enjoy freedom bought by the blood of warriors like her son, many years ago. I also believe it is most revealing who she is aligned with and how they are manipulating her and her grief. totally revolting!! I came across a "letter" to Mrs. Sheehan in another blog that had only the name "Omar" signed to it. I don't know of it's true origin, but I do feel it is an accurate portrayal of a majority of Iraqi's that the main stream media doesn't tell us about.

To Mrs. Sheehan:

But today I was looking at your picture and I saw in your eyes a persistence, a great pain and a torturing question; why?
I know how you feel Cindy, I lived among the same pains for 35 years but worse than that was the fear from losing our loved ones at any moment. Even while I’m writing these words to you there are feelings of fear, stress, and sadness that interrupt our lives all the time but in spite of all that I’m sticking hard to hope which if I didn’t have I would have died years ago.
Ma’am, we asked for your nation’s help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation’s act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.
Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.
Your face doesn’t look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.
Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve one son buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.
We did nothing to deserve all that suffering, well except for a dream we had; a dream of living like normal people do.
I recall seeing a woman on TV two years ago, she was digging through the dirt with her hands. There was no definite grave in there as the whole place was one large grave but she seemed willing to dig the whole place looking for her two brothers who disappeared from earth 24 years ago when they were dragged from their colleges to a chamber of hell.
Her tears mixed with the dirt of the grave and there were journalists asking her about what her brothers did wrong and she was screaming "I don’t know, I don’t know. They were only college students. They didn’t murder anyone, they didn’t steal, and they didn’t hurt anyone in their lives. All I want to know is the place of their grave".
Why was this woman chosen to lose her dear ones? Why you? Why did a million women have to go through the same pain?
We did not choose war for the sake of war itself and we didn’t sacrifice a million lives for fun! We could’ve accepted our jailor and kept living in our chains for the rest of our lives but it’s freedom ma’am.
Freedom is not an American thing and it’s not an Iraqi thing, it’s what unites us as human beings. We refuse all kinds of restrictions and that’s why we fought and still fighting everyday in spite of the swords in the hands of the cavemen who want us dead or slaves for their evil masters.
You are free to go and leave us alone but what am I going to tell your million sisters in Iraq? Should I ask them to leave Iraq too? Should I leave too? And what about the eight millions who walked through bombs to practice their freedom and vote? Should they leave this land too?
Is it a cursed land that no one should live in? Why is it that we were chosen to live in all this pain, why me, why my people, why you?
But I am not leaving this land because the bad guys are not going to leave us or you to live in peace. They are the same ones who flew the planes to kill your people in New York.
I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son’s blood.
We here have decided to avenge humanity, you and all the women who lost their loved ones.
Take a look at our enemy Cindy, look closely at the hooded man holding the sword and if you think he’s right then I will back off and support your call.
We live in pain and grief everyday, every hour, every minute; all the horrors of the powers of darkness have been directed at us and I don’t know exactly when am I going to feel safe again, maybe in a year, maybe two or even ten; I frankly don’t know but I don’t want to lose hope and faith.
We are in need for every hand that can offer some help. Please pray for us, I know that God listens to mothers’ prayers and I call all the women on earth to pray with you for peace in this world.
Your son sacrificed his life for a very noble cause…No, he sacrificed himself for the most precious value in this existence; that is freedom.
His blood didn’t go in vain; your son and our brethren are drawing a great example of selflessness.
God bless his free soul and God bless the souls of his comrades who are fighting evil.
God bless the souls of Iraqis who suffered and died for the sake of freedom.
God bless all the freedom lovers on earth.
End.

Is it our (America's) responsibility to bring freedom to people all over the globe? I don't know. But I do know that Saddam Hussein did have intentions to conquer and rule over most of the mid-east and thereby control the flow of oil from the region. It cannot be argued that this would not have a negative effect on our economy and security. Becoming the premier leader of the mid-east would also have enabled Hussein to create huge havens for terrorist networks/training and that would have put the US in more danger of more 9/11 style attacks with even larger devastation. I think the Bush administrations mistake is in naming the confrontations "The war in Afghanistan", "the war in Iraq". In reality they are the "Battle of Afghanistan", the "Battle of Iraq" in the War on Terror. Example: in WWII, there was not "War" on Iwo Jima, no "War" in Sicily, No "War" on Omaha Beach. these were "Battles" in the War againt the Axis powers. These "Battles" we MUST win. Another mistake Bush made was not going before congress with a formal declaration of war. Not against a nation-state, but against a movement we know as terrorism or Islamofascism. thereby putting the country on a war footing and fully engaging the full citizenry behind the effort.
I suggest reading the following books: Fighting Terrorism by Benjamin Netanyahu, The Sword of the Prophet by Trifkovic and Onward Muslim Soldiers by Robert Spencer. You will learn of the enemy we really face, and they are coming for us.
I guess I got a little ahead of the Sheehan issue but that's where my typing fingers went. Still trying to figure out how to place my graphics,,,