Friday, June 23, 2006

NYT: We're Still Above the Law

The National Review takes a well deserved shot at the NYT's and their arrogance:

The duo of Eric Lichtblau and James Risen have published the details of yet another classified national-security program. This time, they exposed the workings of a database of financial records that the administration has used to track al Qaeda's banking transactions:

The Bush administration has made no secret of its campaign to disrupt terrorist financing, and President Bush, Treasury officials and others have spoken publicly about those efforts. Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value.

Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said: "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration. We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."

Full story here

It may be time for a family who has lost a loved one in this war on terror to file a class-action suit against the NYT's and any other publication that releases classified information that is in place to protect this nation. "public interest" my ass. It's called treason Mr. Keller.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Cut and Run Debate

The Senate Democrats are a bunch of spineless idiots. I've listened to about three hours of the Iraq war"debate" on the floor of the Senate. The only conclusion I can come to is that the safety of this nation best be left in the hands of the Republican Party. Period.

John (I'm a loser) Kerry spent much of an hour trying to convince some one that we need to involve the world of public opinion to prosecute this war. He thinks we also need to set a date or timeline for troop withdrawal. Nothing would give the insurgents/terrorist more pleasure than to take a "training sabbatical" from killing and wait for that "date" when our troops are gone.

Ten million Iraqis go to the polls, form a new government, just finished completing the last two critical cabinet positions, are just getting up to speed and troops levels to join in the fight for their liberty, and you have the likes of Murtha and Kerry wanting to abandon them for purely political purposes.

Tony Snow on staying the course: "The president understands people's impatience -- not impatience but how a war can wear on a nation. He understands that. If somebody had taken a poll in the Battle of the Bulge, I dare say people would have said, 'Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?' But you cannot conduct a war based on polls.

"Here's the funny thing. They were doing polls during WWII, and it turns out the public was pretty darned supportive of FDR and the war--about 70% approval, in fact. Go figure."http://dailykos.com/

Go figure this lostkos kids. If this country had the full support for prosecuting this war from a majority of the left and the right, instead of using their hatred for Bush, and if our elected officials in the democratic party ever decide not to put politics ahead of the safety of this nation, our troops may have been home last Christmas. But what do we expect from spineless idiots?

Monday, June 19, 2006

Legacys and Legends




Dana at CSPT reminded me of some of the best westerns we've seen in our days.

Paladin's Calling Card - The business card of Paladin (Richard Boone), a former Army officer turned professional gun for hire on the western adventure HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL/CBS/1957-63 contained the message: "Have Gun Will Travel. Wire Paladin, San Francisco." The card was adorned with a small white chess piece (knight). Paladin's normal routine was to look for clients by perusing the various newspapers to which he subscribed. When he read a story about someone with a potential need for his services, he sent them his card, along with a clipping of the story. Paladin's standard fee was 1000 dollars. His headquarters was the posh Hotel Carlton in downtown San Francisco.


THEME SONG LYRICS


Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man. A knight without armor in a savage land.


His fast gun for hire head's the calling wind. A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin.


Paladin, Paladin Where do you roam? Paladin, Paladin, Far, far from home.

Those were the days my friend......we thought they'd never end...........those were the days......

Thursday, June 15, 2006

EXIT STRATEGY----STAGE LEFT

The writing is on the wall, and the left are there too. Does it seem every time positive things happen in Iraq, (Z-man eliminated, Iraqi Government completed, Iraqi troop levels increasing) the democrats start screaming "exit strategy", like clockwork.

The domocratic party desperately needs to get some credit for US troop levels that may get reduced before November because of the positive things that are happening in Iraq. It's not going to work.They just can't shake the "soft on national security" or for that matter "soft on world security" label.


Flip-floppin' Kerry now says he was wrong to vote for the regime change in Iraq. We can now assume that had Mr. Kerry won the presidency in 04, he most likely would have bowed to the party and bailed on the Iraqi people, leaving the likes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in power and an intire country nothing but a terrorist haven for future attacks on our homeland.

Even old "country Joe Wilson" can't help but bash the this administation by claiming we should negotiate with the terrorist:

Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife was at the center of a CIA leak case that led to the indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide, argued Wednesday that the U.S. needs to bring Iraqi insurgents and their "foreign patrons" to the conference table for negotiations. (CNSNEWS)

And then here's another flip-flopper Wilson and his cronies declared at their "take back america" conference:

Several organizations passed around informal pledges asking conference attendees to promise not to vote for a candidate in the 2006 election who does not support an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But Wilson implied that for political reasons, he does not support an immediate withdrawal. "Talk of a strategic withdrawal is the wrong discussion to have at this time," he said. "We're in there; people are dying." (CNSNEWS)

So, there you have it. Politics as usual is the driving force behind the democratic party. They could give a rats-ass if a new free democratic nation may get the opportunity to become stable.

Just bring them troops home now so we can cut the defense buget and raise your taxes.

Oh, and they need to be in power to start their impeachment hearings.

This is our strategy? I don't think so. "Take Back America"? We have never lost it. Unless your a democrat.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Gitmo Overblown

The continuing saga of the state of the enemy combatants at Gitmo seems to roll with the ebb of the news cycle. When the MSM can't find (or look for) worthy news, they bring out a "new" accusation of mistreatment.

Ed Morrissey at Captains Quarters, (while mending a ruptured back), posted a story about an Afghan delegation that spent over a week at Gitmo and found little to complain about:

A delegation from Afghanistan spent ten days at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay and pronounced conditions at the facility humane

Ed puts the recent suicide of three detainees in perspective:

"This is no different than at any other American prison; suicide rates in prisons are three times higher than among the general population, and ten times higher in pre-trial detention facilities. We do not shut down our jails and prisons because inmates in either place sometimes commit suicide, and that should not be a determinative factor in Giitmo's status either."

I added (in the comment section) that perhaps the three who took their lives wanted to join the Z-man (Abu Musab al Zarqawi ) in la la land, and suggested that they all get put on suicide watch when OBL assumes room temperature.

The idea of closing Gitmo is insane (at this time), and a reporter just now ask President Bush at a WH news conference the same idiot question. Holding her pen and pad, she is writing nothing during Bush's response. (Like she was going to change her feeble mind) The MSM marches on in their quest to put the left back in power with no regard for the safety and security of this nation. Sad

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

President Bush in Iraq




Breaking News

According to Fox News, President Bush is in Iraq

Bush is expected to stay in Iraq for five hours only, where security precautions are tightly executed in a precarious venue. Even the president's arrival was cautiously orchestrated. Air Force One landed at a semi-deserted airstrip a good distance away from the main terminal in Baghdad. Bush and his crew then boarded a convoy of Nighthawk passenger helicopters to take them about seven minutes to the center of the city.

Everyone on the helicopters was in body armor except for the White House aides, who wore business suits but no armor. Bartlett had earlier said the president would not wear body armor. In the Green Zone, a line of Suburbans and other SUVs waited for the short drive to the Republican Palace, a 1950's-era building which is now part of the U.S. Embassy compound.

It was also reported that there was a bus-load of Reporters heading to Camp David for a press conference at the same time GW was landing in Bagdad. One can only wonder if the bus turned around or how many got off the bus.

With the President in Iraq to welcome the new government completed, Z-Man expired, and Karl Rove not indited, (positive outcomes all), the mood of Republican Party has to be uplifting.

Update: Vile postings at Huffington and DU (links intentionally not provided) One poster shamefully suggusted that the President catch and IED on the trip. I'll save these for November.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Z-Man Lived for an Hour

Al Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al Zarqawi lived for almost an hour after the first U.S. bomb struck his "safehouse".

From AP :
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said U.S. forces arrived about 28 minutes after a fighter jet bombed al-Zarqawi's hideout outside Baqouba on Wednesday. Medics secured al-Zarqawi's airway but his breathing was shallow and labored, and he expelled blood from his mouth.

"It was very evident he had extremely massive internal injuries," Caldwell said.

Al-Zarqawi died 24 minutes after coalition forces arrived, he said.

Jones said the autopsy conducted Saturday showed that al-Zarqawi died from injuries to his lungs.

"Blast waves from the two bombs caused tearing, bruising of the lungs and bleeding," he said. "There was no evidence of firearm injuries."

The al-Qaida in Iraq leader also suffered head and facial wounds, bleeding in his ears and a fracture of his lower right leg.

Caldwell said an F-16 dropped a 500-pound bomb on the house at 6:12 p.m. A second bomb followed immediately after.

U.S. troops arrived at 6:40 p.m. and found Iraqi police at the site. He said a coalition medic treated al-Zarqawi, who lapsed in and out of consciousness.

"At 7:04 p.m. on 7 June, Zarqawi was dead," Caldwell said.

From the New York Times:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 12 — An autopsy conducted on the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has revealed that he died of blast injuries from the bombs, with the damage to his lungs so severe that he could not survive them, according to medical examiners and American military officials. There was no evidence of beating or injuries from firearms, they said.

In a news briefing intended to counter what military officials described as "propaganda and misinformation," the officials also emphasized that medics tried to give Mr. Zarqawi treatment when they first arrived on the scene, but that his lungs were full of blood.

The MSM just can't find a way to "spin" this story, (yet). Stay tuned.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Death and Taxes

Dana over at Common Sense Political Thought has an excellent post on the current status of the tax structure here in the U.S.

"It seems to me that one of the bigger problems conservatives face is that they have lost control of the language."

Please read the complete story

My notepad some how got messed up or (most likley) I didn't do the right format, and my comment got spread out like locust across a wheat field. In the interest of saving face, I am posting my comment here. Please read Dana's full post first. It's a good one!

Careful Dana..........even moderate Democrats like to keep their money in their own pockets. But the mindset is (by Dems standards) that it is the responsibility of the government to care for the needs of those who have chosen to rely on the programs and entitlements that have been created in the past 40 years. A whole portion or our society has been sucked into this dependency. Half the power of the democratic party has relied on this formula for getting elected and for the most part been in control of the money.

Fortunatly, a prosprous nation (lately) has more people (on the left and the right) asking the same question. Why should we give our hard earn dollars to those who refuse to work (at least) as hard as I do, and be given a free ride. The democratic party has preyed on these people for generations to keep them in power in the name of compassion. To that I say "bullshit" and "enough".

Why should a portion of our society get up in the morning and go to work when under our current set of programs that created this dependency allows some to sit home and recieve a check from our government?

Don't get me wrong here. There are always circumstances beyond our control (Katrina, unexpected injury or unforseen circumstances where, as a compassionate society we need to help. I'm all for that.

But punishing those who have worked all of their lives to get ahead and provide comfort for themselves, only to have a system that says "you didn't earn this, or you need to give a major portion of your wealth to those who choose not to help themselves is pure and simple communism.

Re-distrubution of wealth and the power to control it has always been the heart of the democratic party.

And "greedy" conservatives know it. Moderate Democrats too.

Billy Preston..........RIP


'Fifth Beatle' Billy Preston Dies at 59

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 By Roger Friedman

The great singer-songwriter and performer Billy Preston, the real "Fifth Beatle," has died after a long illness as a result of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications.

Complete Story

I had the privilege of seeing Billy Preston last year at the Monterey Bay Blues Festival. He was a class act.

More at Billys site

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Iraq War Ending Soon

Breaking News! The War in Iraq is ending. Insurgents are calling it quits.

Beaten down by coalition forces (primarily US and British forces) and world public opinion, Al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and most of the major insurgents are surrendering their arms and calling for a truce.

Sources say the unexpected turn-around has been attributed to the formally spineless left wing of the democratic party in the United States, who's admitted agenda has been their hatred for President Bush and the total lack of support for the men and women who have fought this war against terrorism in the middle east. That has changed.

Sources say that the change of heart/mind originated from the relationship of both partys of congress last month when Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hassert were caught holding hands on an issue. It can now be said that the "Jefferson Bribe" has led to the full support of our armed forces on the war on terrorism. The sudden change and full support led to the sane leaders of the world to put the shameful and indiscriminate murder of innocent women and children by suicidal/homicidal terrorist in prespective.

Sources also said that movie director Micheal Moore said the outright filming of actual body parts of men,women, and children torn apart by the senseless and indiscriminate bombings contributed to the world opinion that the terrorist had no ground to stand on. Moore said the relationship between Hassert and Pelosi moved him so much, he put aside his outright hatred for George Bush and decided to film the carnage.

Other sources say that the decision of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to give their unanimous support to the war on terrorism, (and to approve putting President Bush's bust on Mt. Rushmore), also contributed to the change of world opinion.

My sources also say that the letter/email sent by Markos (of the DailyKos)to Vice President Richard Cheney that he could not stand by and let one more of our military people be murdered by the Islamofascist killers of the innocent, he was willing to set aside his personal feelings for our leadership and give his full support to the war against Al Qaeda , Osama bin Laden , al-Zarqawi, et al.

The left wing of the blogosphere followed Marko's lead and contributed to the downfall of the insurgents.

All of this because two people decided to hold hands on an issue they felt was more important than their party affiliation. And that issue led to further talks about how to end the war on terrorism.

History may not be so kind to the "incident" called "Jefferson-Gate". But good things do come out of tragedies. To think a tiny nation in Africa (that needed to "nud$e" a congressman) that led to a temporary stability and sane awakening in the world is just beyond comprehension.

Now we can bring our troops home with pride.

God Bless America

In other news, oil prices dropped to a five year low, hitting $32.50/barrel as OPEC decided their days were also numbered. With full congessional support for a ten year plan to end dependency on petroleum products, most of the oil producing nations have decided to produce as much of the product as possible before they begin capping their wells. Venezuela and Iran hardest hit by the down-turn.

Bin Laden has assumed room temperature.

Do I really have to call this a satire?

Rovin

Friday, June 02, 2006

Friday Wrap-up "As the World Turns"

Illegals' tax deal could kill bill By Charles Hurt THE WASHINGTON TIMES June 2, 2006
The long-fought Senate immigration bill that opponents say grants amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens is unconstitutional and appears headed for certain demise, Senate Republicans now say. A key feature of the Senate bill is that it would make illegals pay back taxes before applying for citizenship, a requirement that supporters say will raise billions of dollars in the next decade. There's just one problem: The U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits revenue-raising legislation from originating in the Senate.


Rose Garden event President Bush will promote a constitutional amendment against homosexual "marriage" at a Rose Garden event Monday, the eve of a scheduled Senate vote on the issue. The amendment would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman and bar states from recognizing same-sex "marriages." To become law, the proposal would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and ratification by at least 38 state legislatures. It stands little chance of passing the 100-member Senate, where proponents are struggling to get even 50 votes, the Associated Press reports. Several Republicans oppose the measure, and only one Democrat — Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska — says he will vote for it.

So, only one democrat in the Senate believes that marriage should be between one man and one women?

Black Pastors support marriage bill:"The civil rights movement reached deeply into our nation's soul, where society had to think hard about clarifying the principles of our corporate social conduct. The homosexual rights movement turns the civil rights movement on its head. Dr. King appealed to religious truths to make his point: homosexual activists are attempting to re-write these truths," said Parker, also a nationally syndicated columnist.

Introduced by Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), S.J. Res.1 (Marriage Protection Amendment) is scheduled to be debated the first week in June in the Senate, followed by a complimenting bill in the House being introduced and debated the next month.

"We want America to know that as black leaders we are standing on our faith and not with a political party," exclaimed Owens. According to Owens, despite a historic association with the Democratic Party, the black community has always been conservative about family values.
The visit to Washington by both Republican and Democrat black pastors will underscore the fact that righteousness and justice should be more important to black Americans than party affiliation.

"Throughout America, the institution of marriage is suffering. As a leader in our nation's religious community, I cannot sit idly by," said Jackson, a registered Democrat. "The faith community cannot play it safe anymore. We must act. Black Christian leaders need to understand that they have a voice."

It's the Economy Stupid

WASHINGTON, June 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) released the following statement in response to the report by the U.S. Department of Labor report on Friday showing that the U.S economy continued to strengthen with the unemployment rate falling to 4.6 percent, lower than the averages of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s:

"The American economy continues to create jobs that are putting paychecks in the pockets of American workers. We have seen strong job growth recently, with the U.S. economy creating more than 2 million jobs in the last year. Furthermore, the U.S. economy has created more jobs in the last two and a half years than Japan and the European Union combined. More Americans are working today than ever before, and it's because Republican policies are fueling solid economic growth. Productivity is up. Consumer confidence is high. Democrats want to raise taxes and stifle this economic growth. Fortunately, Republicans recently passed and the President signed into law a bill preventing tax increases that would cool down our economy."
-----
Note: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today that 75,000 jobs were created in May. Payroll employment has increased since August 2003, adding nearly 5 million jobs. More than 2 million jobs have been created in the last year. Unemployment, which now stands at 4.6 percent, is lower than the average of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Rumors about Bill Clinton Grab a hammer Will the fascination surrounding Bill Clinton's personal affairs ever end? Even the nation's 42nd president probably wishes, at times, that his retirement was more along the ho-hum lines of Gerald Ford's and Jimmy Carter's. As it is, while attention focuses on whether Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, will enter the 2008 presidential sweepstakes, her globe-trotting husband is now being romantically linked to Canadian politician Belinda Stronach, to whom some refer as "Bubba's Blonde." It's gotten to the point that BetUS.com is posting odds on the rumored — we repeat, rumored — affair, with wagers "flooding the Web site to put their money down," the site insists.

Personal note to my "distant cousin" You are here-by released from ever leaving a "detailed" message on my voice mail. :)

Have a great weekend...............Rovin