FOR THE LEFT, IT'S ONLY DEMOCRACY WHEN THEY WIN

"[But] this is what the American left has become: For the left, democratic processes are valid only when they win. If the left loses in the political process, they sue. The people are no longer integral to the process; politics is a heads-I-win-tails-I-sue scenario. When respect for the American people means so little that republicanism itself becomes secondary to certain political end-goals, our system of government is in serious trouble." CONTINUE.

COMMENTARIES

French Student Riots by Thomas Sowell Student riots in Paris remind us that education at elite academic institutions is not enough to teach either higher morals or basic economics. Not on their side of the Atlantic or on ours. Why are students at the Sorbonne and other distinguished institutions out trashing the streets and attacking the police?

Youth Indocrination Update by Walter Williams Preaching instead of teaching might go a long way toward explaining why in civics, math, reading, writing and geography, nearly a quarter of all students leave high school with academic skills that are "Below Basic."

Academic Freedom and Classroom Brainwashing by Thomas Sowell Academic freedom is the freedom to do academic things.

"Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer revealed Tuesday there's been a lot more discussion during court deliberations since the new guys got there. He said he believes it's because they are younger. You know how people talk when they're awake." —Argus Hamilton

NOT VERY CONVINCING

"I do think that we do have a plan. We are much more united than we appear in the newspapers."

—Howard Dean

SELECTIVE INTOLERANCE

South Park, television's morally questioned comedy apparently went "over the line" in a recent episode. The particular episode in question makes fun of John Travolta, Tom Cruise and derides Scientology in general. This prompted Isaac Hayes, who does the voice of one of its' main characters "Chef", to quit the show. Hayes was reported to have said, "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins."

The problem with this argument is that South Park has not left anything, or anyone, or any religion from being the target of its' satirical wit, prompting James Taranto of Opinion Journal to quip, "[A]fter all, it's one thing to mock Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Evangelicals, blacks, gays, whites, Mexicans, Asians, Canadians, Frenchmen, people with birth defects, women, transsexuals, Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, cops, cows, people with red hair and freckles, goths, the handicapped and fat kids. But satirizing Scientology - —that's just intolerant!"

Matt Stone, one of South Park's creators, isn't buying into that excuse either. Said Stone, "This is 100 percent having to do with his [Hayes'] faith in Scientology... He has no problem -- and he has cashed plenty of checks -- with our show making fun of Christians."

And now, it is being reported that the creators of South Park are "digging in their heels" against the celebrity-endorsed religion of Scientology. Why, you ask? Because the "controversial" episode, at the last moment, and without warning, was dropped from its regularly scheduled Wednesday time slot.

Rumors abound that "covert warfare by Tom Cruise" led to the episode's sudden demise. This brought a battle cry from creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "So Scientology, you may have won this battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun!"

Okay conspiratorialists, how could Tom Cruise pull this off?

Ponder this. South Park runs on Comedy Central. Viacom owns Comedy Central. Viacom also owns Paramount Studios. Tom Cruise threatened (allegedly) not to promote the upcoming release of "Mission:Impossible 3" if the offending episode ran. So guess who is putting out the movie? Paramount.

I think you can connect the dots.

Of course, as one would expect, Arnold Robinson, Mr. Cruise's agent, is denying that Sir Thomas made any such demands.

Ahhhh.... Hollywood. Don't you just love 'em?

THE GLOBAL WARMING SCAM

Sure, there is research that indicates that the ice sheets are being reduced, but there are also studies that show the complete opposite. An example of this is a study in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letter where the Swedish researcher Peter Winsor compares data collected by submarines below the Arctic ice. His conclusions are that the thickness of the ice has been almost constant between 1986 and 1997.

If you look at the South Pole there are studies that show an increase in the mass of the ice. In a study published in the journal Nature a number of polar researchers showed that they had observed a net cooling of 0.7 degrees in the region between 1986 and 2000. Another study published in Science showed that the East-Antarctic ice sheet had grown with 45 million metric tons between 1992 and 2003.

Are the ices growing or melting? The simple answer is that there exist studies that point to both directions, perhaps indicating that scientists know relatively little about global climate.

But what counts to most ordinary people is what media is reporting, and media is often highlighting the most alarming studies and seldom report of studies that go against the notion that human activity leads to global warming. To put it simply, the news is filtered through an environmentalist view of the world. READ ON.

China executes 'billionaire' over killing

I wonder who the beneficiary is of his estate - the Chicom government, perhaps?

Beijing - China has executed a reputed billionaire after convicting him of arranging the contract killing of an alleged blackmailer, state media said on Saturday.

Two other men were executed for organising and carrying out the murder, and a fourth was given a suspended death sentence, which is normally commuted to life in prison, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Billionaire Yuan Baojing already had assets worth an estimated $375-million (about R 2.3-billion) in 1996 and owned at least 60 companies, the agency said.

Read on.

UN near pressing Iran on uranium
Detroit Free Press - United States
Support in the United Nations Security Council for a US-backed bid to press Iran to suspend uranium enrichment is growing, diplomats said Friday after China ...

Kropf: Ban all state services for illegal immigrants
Albany Democrat Herald - Albany,OR,USA
By Hasso Hering. State Rep. Jeff Kropf, seeking re-election to the House for the last time, says that fighting illegal immigration is one of his goals. ...

Political offensive targets Bush

Senate Democrats have mapped a political battle plan for the March congressional recess that calls on lawmakers to stage press events with active duty military personnel, veterans and emergency responders to bash President Bush on virtually every one of his national security policies.

The game plan, devised by the office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is contained in a six-page memo distributed to Democratic senators on Thursday at a closed-door meeting at the Capitol and provided to The Washington Times by a congressional staffer.

Titled "Real Security," the political document calls for staged town hall events at military bases, weapons factories, National Guard units, fire stations and veterans posts.

"Ensure that you have the proper U.S. and state flags at the event, and consider finding someone to sing the national anthem and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the event," the battle plan states. Read on.

Job protests grip French cities

Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through French towns and cities in protest at a new law making it easier to hire and fire young workers.

The marches were mostly peaceful but scattered violence was reported at the end of the march in the capital, Paris, and in some other cities.

Unions said some 1.5 million took part while police put turnout at 500,000. Read more.

Thousands of Taiwanese hold anti-China rally

Tens of thousands of slogan-chanting Taiwanese took to the streets to protest rival China's military threats against the island.

The demonstrators pledged to safeguard the island and called on China to dismantle the hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan.

"The great Taiwanese people oppose annexation and invasion. We protect democracy and care for Taiwan... and say no to China," President Chen Shui-bian told the rally organized by his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"Taiwan is an independent sovereign state. It belongs to the 23 million people on the island and its future should be decided by the people here rather than by the 1.3 billion people in China," Chen added.

The DPP said the rally was intended to highlight the increasing threat from China, which has some 780 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan.

The protestors, estimated at 150,000 by the organizers, shouted slogans such as "Loving Taiwan, opposing annexation!" and "Loving peace, opposing missiles!". More.

Frist orders border security first
Majority Leader Bill Frist, frustrated by the sluggish debate over immigration reform at the committee level, plans to introduce a bill that deals solely with border security......

China envisions 'socialist countryside'
Boston Globe - United States
BEIJING -- China won't extend its market-oriented reforms into the agricultural sector and will instead focus on creating ''a new socialist countryside ...

Taliban Still a Threat to Afghanistan, United Nations Says
Washington File - Washington,DC,USA
United Nations -- A major challenge facing Afghanistan is how to prevent the return of the Taliban to the country, a senior UN official said March 14. ...

US official accuses China over build-up
Taipei Times - Taiwan
A senior US defense official has accused China of changing the "status quo" in the Taiwan Strait by its missile buildup aimed at Taiwan, a situation that is ...

More Hot Air on Global Warming
Accuracy In Media - Washington,DC,USA
As the first anniversary of the global warming treaty, also known as the Kyoto Protocol, has come and gone, a steady stream of stories from the mainstream ...

Under Senate Plan, Illegal Immigrants Can Stay
New York Sun - New York,NY,USA
WASHINGTON - Senators writing a major immigration law overhaul bill moved yesterday toward accepting an approach under which illegal immigrants could stay in ...

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge"
--- Thomas Brackett Reed

Learning Saddam's Secrets

By Janet Parshall
Beyond the News

People like Cindy Sheehan and Howard Dean don't support the president on Iraq because, they say, the president lied about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction. But newly-captured tapes and Iraqi documents show that Saddam was, in fact, planning on rebuilding his WMD program once the inspectors had left. The tapes and papers also indicate that Saddam really was seeking uranium from Africa and that prohibited missiles were buried.

The documents, ordered by Saddam to keep a record of his own discussions, have been given to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Saddam also says on the tapes, "terrorism is coming with the Americans--terrorism with weapons of mass destruction."

Only time will tell where the WMDs went but General Georges Sada, a chief advisory to Saddam and author of "Saddam's Secrets" has stated Saddam knew the Americans were coming and ordered the WMDs moved into Syria.

These tapes should change not only the political debate but prove that our decision to go into Iraq was the right one all along.

"[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few."

-- John Adams

Danish Cartoon Case to be Judged by United Nations (Law & Justice)
In Flanders Fields - Belgium
... The Islamic Faith Community is also preparing a complaint against the state of Denmark with the United Nations High Commisioner for Human Rights in Geneva ...

The Demos' agenda reads like a socialist manifesto.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-PRSF, offered a peek at the Democrat Party's election-year agenda at a gathering this past week. While their actual goal appears to be the censure or impeachment of President Bush, the Democrats still maintain they have a concrete plan for leading the nation. It reads like a socialist manifesto. Among other things, all employees in America would be given the option to unionize, the minimum wage would be increased while simultaneously raising taxes on upper-income Americans, and there would be a coordinated attack on the salaries of executive-suite personnel. Pelosi also guaranteed universal broadband deployment in five years, "energy independence" in ten years, health care for all Americans in five years, and "100 percent screening of our containers that come into our ports." Mind you, there is no explanation for how all this might be accomplished, but if this agenda were ever to come to pass, it would surely cripple our economy and drive our deficits into the stratosphere.

From The Patriot Post.

HeavyHanded notes that we all might as well quit working since there would be NO incentive to continue.

"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."

--- Nikita Khrushchev

THE THREAT OF COUNTER-ENCIRCLEMENT

China is making inroads both militarily and economically in Latin America. China has offered military training and weapons to Venezuela and Argentina, and military officials from China have made visits to almost every country in Latin America, including Mexico.

So is China’s burgeoning role in Latin America a threat to the U.S.?

General Bantz Craddock of the U.S. Southern Command suggested that if current U.S. laws which limit military support to nations in the region are not changed, we might soon find ourselves competing with an imperial power in the Western Hemisphere for the first time in two hundred years.

Craddock reasoned that this audacious and increasing presence of the Chinese is part of a systematic plan of "counter-encirclement", attempting to neutralize U.S. military and economic reach in Asia.


Mao Tse-tung's Selected Works
ON PROTRACTED WAR
COMPROMISE OR RESISTANCE? CORRUPTION OR PROGRESS?

54. Encirclement and counter-encirclement. Taking the war as a whole, there is no doubt that we are strategically encircled by the enemy because he is on the strategic offensive and operating on exterior lines while we are on the strategic defensive and operating on interior lines. This is the first form of enemy encirclement. We on our part can encircle one or more of the enemy columns advancing on us along separate routes, because we apply the policy of fighting campaigns and battles from tactically exterior lines by using numerically preponderant forces against these enemy columns advancing on us from strategically exterior lines. This is the first form of our counter-encirclement of the enemy. Next, if we consider the guerrilla base areas in the enemy's rear, each area taken singly is surrounded by the enemy on all sides, like the Wutai Mountains, or on three sides, like the northwestern Shansi area. This is the second form of enemy encirclement. However, if one considers all the guerrilla base areas together and in their relation to the positions of the regular forces, one can see that we in turn surround a great many enemy forces. In Shansi Province, for instance, we have surrounded the Tatung-puchow Railway on three sides (the east and west flanks and the southern end) and the city of Taiyuan on all sides; and there are many similar instances in Hopei and Shantung Provinces. This is the second form of our counter-encirclement of the enemy. Thus there are two forms of encirclement by the enemy forces and two forms of encirclement by our own--rather like a game of weichi. [16] Campaigns and battles fought by the two sides resemble the capturing of each other's pieces, and the establishment of enemy strongholds (such as Talyuan) and our guerrilla base areas (such as the Wutai Mountains) resembles moves to dominate spaces on the board. If the game of weichi is extended to include the world, there is yet a third form of encirclement as between us and the enemy, namely, the interrelation between the front of aggression and the front of peace. The enemy encircles China, the Soviet Union, France and Czechoslovakia with his front of aggression, while we counter-encircle Germany, Japan and Italy with our front of peace. But our encirclement, like the hand of Buddha, will turn into the Mountain of Five Elements lying athwart the Universe, and the modern Sun Wu-kungs [17]--the fascist aggressors--will finally be buried underneath it, never to rise again. Therefore, if on the international plane we can create an anti-Japanese front in the Pacific region, with China as one strategic unit, with the Soviet Union and other countries which may join it as other strategic units, and with the Japanese people's movement as still another strategic unit, and thus form a gigantic net from which the fascist Sun Wu-kungs can find no escape, then that will be our enemy's day of doom. Indeed, the day when this gigantic net is formed will undoubtedly be the day of the complete overthrow of Japanese imperialism. We are not jesting; this is the inevitable trend of the war.

THE AMERICAN MEDIA: AMERICA'S FIFTH COLUMN

Ever get the feeling that the media is just stuck on stupid? Apparently President Bush does, and this week he took them to task in the wake of another press leak endangering U.S. security and our troops in the field. In this case, it was the Los Angeles Times, which reported on 12 February the military's new technology to neutralize improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, responsible for thousands of U.S. and allied troop casualties in Iraq. "Within five days of the publication, using details from that article, the enemy had posted instructions for defeating this new technology on the Internet," Bush said. "We cannot let the enemy know how we're working to defeat them."

-- The Patriot Post

New and notable legislation:

Texas Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and Ron Paul wrote and brought forth the Online Freedom of Speech Act (HR 1606) to exempt the Internet from regulation under the current and stupid McCain-Feingold "electioneering" laws. McCain-Feingold is an ill-conceived farce and an infringement on free speech. I advocate strongly that the House vote "yes" to HR 1606.

If it fails to become law, websites will be at risk of being shut down for 30 days before primary elections and 60 before general elections if viewed as conveying "electioneering communications" under McCain-Feingold, and that would be disgraceful.

UPDATED NEWS FLASH: BIN LADEN IS STILL DEAD

On Sunday, January 15, 2006 I posted this:
Sweet Dreams OBL ?

"According to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden gave the world the most marvelous Christmas present he could possibly give by departing from it in mid-December. The Al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Moslem Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time."

--- Michael Ledeen

On Friday, January 27, 2006 I posted this:
NEWS FLASH: BIN LADEN STILL DEAD

On January 15, 2006 I posted Sweet Dreams OBL?. In it, Michael Ledeen stated that his good Iranian sources said Bin Laden departed this world around the middle of December.

When OBL's latest tape came out, what struck me most, right away, was a statement made by our intelligence saying that it was indeed Bin Laden's voice; but that his voice sounded weak, or something to that effect.

Sources say now that the tape was spliced, and poorly at that. The most recent historical event Bin Laden referenced on the tape was President Bush telling PM Tony Blair that he would like to bomb Al Jazeera; and that was in November.

Al Jazeera initially said they received the tape on December 5th. The time line fits. OBL, deathly ill, gives his one last short speech in an ill sounding voice referencing the Bush-Blair meeting, which is taped and spliced with previous recordings and delivered to Al Jazeera on December 5th and he goes to the Great Beyond on December 17th as earlier reported.

Now Rep. Curt Weldon, who broke the Able Danger story last year revealing that military intelligence had identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as a terrorist threat before the 9/11 attacks, is saying that Osama bin Laden has died. READ MORE.

ABOUT TAX CUTS

"The economics of tax cuts are really quite simple: Capital is freed for reinvestment in business. Thus, if a business owner is taxed at a lower rate, he has more money for expanding, hiring and buying more equipment and supplies. On the other hand, forced redistribution of business wealth achieves the exact opposite. To see this truism at work, one need look no further than Michigan, whose economy thrived under the tax-cutting policies of three-term Republican governor John Engler, but now ranks dead last in nearly every economic category under tax-happy Democrat Jennifer Granholm."

And, "As far as government is concerned (which shouldn't be very far), the way to reduce the poverty rate is simple: More tax cuts, more deregulation, much less government spending, and then—get out of the way. It was Benjamin Franklin who observed, "[T]he best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." Leftist politicians continue to make the poor easy in their poverty."

Source: Patriot Post

A good example of this and highlighted by the Katrina hurricane is the failed social welfare program that continued for decades in New Orleans under Democratic leadership and got them absolutely nowhere.

"You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer."
--- Sir Winston Churchill

ABOUT HANDOUTS

"[T]he more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
—Benjamin Franklin

"Despite claims that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, poverty is nowhere near the problem it was yesteryear—at least for those who want to work. Talk about the poor getting poorer tugs at the hearts of decent people and squares nicely with the agenda of big government advocates, but it doesn't square with the facts." —Walter Williams

"The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth... [Y]ou might think that the left would be as obsessed with the creation of wealth as they are with the redistribution of wealth. But you would be wrong... While the creation of wealth may be more effective for enabling millions of people to rise out of poverty, it provides no special role for the political left, no puffed up importance, no moral superiority, no power for them to wield over others... Things that work for millions of people offer little to the left, and ultimately the left is about the left, not about the people they claim to want to lift out of poverty." —Thomas Sowell

China News

China 'ready' for energy co-operation with US

China jails teacher for net essay

Bush Urges China to End 'Old Thinking,'

China to take decade to be No 2 Internet market in revenue terms ...

China to expand investment in Pakistan

US encourages improved ties between China, Japan

Iran Headlines

21 people killed in south-east Iran, police call it terrorist act

UN deadline on Iran action 'not very feasible': Russia

Rice, Howard meet over Iran's nuclear program

Iran demands timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq

America's options for Iran

Families of Cole victims sue Sudan for $100 million

The families of the 17 sailors killed in the suicide strike on the USS Cole have charged Sudan with helping in the attack, which took place in the Yemeni port of Sanaa. The families have filed a suit of more than $100 million against Khartoum. Details.

Functioning government seen at least two months away in Iraq

BAGHDAD — For Iraq, wracked by sectarian violence, the prospect of its leaders forming a new government is still elusive.

Politicians acknowledge that the major Iraqi parties remain far apart in their efforts to form a ruling coalition. They said disagreements focus on power-sharing, ministerial portfolios and a platform.

On Thursday, Iraq's new parliament convened for the first time since its election on Dec. 15, 2005. The parliamentary session lasted 30 minutes in absence of an agreement on a speaker or agenda, Middle East Newsline reported.

"We're still a long way from agreeing on a government," Kurdish representative Mahmud Othman said. "I expect that there still will be difficulties over choosing the prime minister." Read on.

ON THE UN

"..... Concern for human rights is viewed as really meddling in the internal affairs of a particular country." -- John Metzler

U.S. report: Chavez subverting regional governments

AP photo/Leslie Mazoch

U.S. government analysts say Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chavez is working to subvert other governments in Latin and South America by supporting political candidates in regional elections.

Chavez has endorsed Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala and also is supporting Sandinista communist Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua’s upcoming election. Chavez donated a helicopter that is being used by Ortega as part of his campaigning around Nicaragua for the November presidential elections.

The effort is “an apparent effort to bolster the perception of a Caracas-based political movement on the rise,” said a U.S. government report on the Chavez political program, known as Bolivarism. Continue.

U.S. in exercise battle with Iran for control of Gulf

ABU DHABI — The United States is planning a major naval exercise in May to test its response to any Iranian naval blockade of the Straits of Hormuz. Iran has been conducting exercises aimed at blocking Gulf shipping.

Officials said the exercise would replicate an Iranian effort to mine the straits and send boats packed with explosives into U.S. warships.

The Straits of Hormuz channels 20 percent of global oil production. About 15 million barrels of oil per day are shipped through a waterway about three kilometers wide.

"We believe this would be the leading method of an Iranian attack against Western shipping," an official said. Read on.

Crayons, Snacks ........and HIV

Kindergartners will learn about virus come Monday

This story was mentioned on the Rush Limabaugh show. This is sheer idiocy.

Along with the ABC's, kindergartners will now learn about HIV. Beginning Monday, kindergartners in public schools will be told that HIV is a "germ" and "not easy to get."

The kids also will learn that HIV could lead to AIDS, which is hard to "get well" from, according to the city's new HIV/AIDS curriculum.

The changes are required by state law - but some parents and teachers fear kindergartners are too young to talk about the deadly disease.

Read more.

What do the kids this age really get out of a message as this? They won't understand what it is, or how they acquire the disease. What is the real motive behind this?

St. Pat's Parade Chief Rips Hillary Clinton

The chairman of Manhattan's famed St. Patrick's Day parade is blasting Sen. Hillary Clinton, saying she only shows up to march when she's campaigning for votes.

"I haven't heard anything from [Sen. Clinton] since the last time she marched, which was years ago," John Dunleavy complained to the Irish Times yesterday.

"There has been no communication with her office to say thank you, kiss my rear end or goodbye," he said.

Read more.

Did Pakistan Pay Off the 9/11 Commission?

Captain's Quarters posts this:

Jeff at Protein Wisdom found a report in the India Telegraph claiming that a Pakistani newspaper bragged about the nation's payoff of the 9/11 Commission. The Friday Times reports that their foreign office paid lobbyists "tens of thousands of dollars" to ensure that the final report painted Pakistan in the best possible light

Strange Bedfellows

Marc Schulman at American Future asks What Is the ACLU Thinking? He thinks the ACLU has taken leave of its senses. HeavyHanded thinks Marc is giving them too much credit.

At any rate, he refers us to this post from Steven Emerson at The Counterterrorism Blog, about CAIR and the ACLU.

"How tragic it would be if democratic societies so lost confidence in their own moral legitimacy that they lost sight of the obvious: that violence directed against democracy or the hopes for democracy lacks fundamental justification."

--- George P. Shultz, Former Secretary of Labor, Treasury and State

"Terrorism is a contagious disease that will inevitably spread if it goes untreated ....... And we have to recognize that the burden falls on us, the democracies--no one else will cure the disease for us.."

--- George P. Shultz, Former Secretary of Labor, Treasury and State

The origins of the Bush Doctrine

Tigerhawk has a very good post that is worth reading. He found and posted a speech made by Former Secretary of Labor, Treasury and State George P. Shultz.

"Shultz, who graduated from Princeton in 1942, was a Marine, served every administration except Carter's from Eisenhower to Reagan in one capacity or another, was dean of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, was another time president of the construction giant Bechtel, ................. and wrote innumerable books."

"On October 25, 1984, more than 21 years ago, he gave a speech¹ in New York City that today appears startlingly prescient, and can fairly be said to be the foundational document of current American policy. Shultz spoke then of the nature of terrorism, the moral confusion of the West in the confronting of it, and the requirement that it be preempted by military force, if necessary. Considering what has transpired in the years since then, Shultz's argument is arresting." Go read the excerpts he posted from the speech.

The Real Gas Price Gouger

By Eric Peters

When gas prices jump by 50 cents (or more) per gallon, many people get angry at "Big Oil" -- and decry what they consider "price gouging" at their expense. But how come no one gets upset about the 50-70 cents (or more) per gallon in taxes imposed by government?

Federal (18.4 cents per gallon), state (35-50 cents per gallon), and local motor fuels taxes (anywhere from 5-10 cents or more per gallon) account for at least one-third of the per-gallon cost of gasoline -- an outrageous levy in both absolute terms and as a percentage of the purchase price of the item being taxed. Imagine, for instance, if you had to fork over 50 cents in taxes for every $1 or so of groceries you purchased. Continue.

Global Warming NOT Featured in New Hurricane Study

The latest Science magazine features a paper linking increasing sea-surface temperatures to global increases in the most severe hurricanes, but it does NOT mention global warming as the cause. Think the newspapers won't?

Over the last few decades, hurricane climate experts have largely eschewed linkages between global warming and increases in the number or strength of hurricanes. That is, until late last summer, when a series of highly publicized papers claimed otherwise. The papers pointed out that sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), the essential fuel of hurricanes, have been increasing in the primary hurricane-development regions pretty much globally since 1970 (the start of global satellite hurricane track and intensity records). Over that time, hurricane intensities have also been on the rise. And since global warming causes SSTs to rise, that must be the cause of the recent spate of strong hurricanes.

The problem with this logic is that hurricanes require a very specific environment to flourish. High SSTs are a necessary but not sufficient condition to spin up strong storms. It is also important that there be very little change in the winds with height; that near surface winds blow in such a manner to cause moist air to gather near the storm's center; and that temperatures decline rapidly with height to promote a very unstable atmosphere, among other factors. One criticism of the studies from last summer is that the focus was almost entirely on SSTs only. In order properly to link hurricane trends to SSTs (and global warming), you need to discount trends in these other, critical variables.

A major hurricane is a very unique event — a lot of disparate factors must become organized in just the right way to allow a major storm to develop. While high SSTs are one critical ingredient, they alone are insufficient to generate a whopper storm. SSTs have been increasing since 1970, as have major hurricanes, but the connection is not nearly as simple as some authors are suggesting. And careful scrutiny of ALL of the available data shows the connection to global warming is less than tenuous. Details.

Dubai threatened over cooperation with West

CAIRO, Egypt — An Islamic extremist group warned Dubai and other sheikdoms of the United Arab Emirates that it would attack the crucial tourism industry if authorities persisted in arresting militants wanted by the West.

The threat, contained in a letter dated 2002 and newly declassified by the U.S. military, shows the intimidation Arab countries face if they cooperate with the West. The letter came the same year the Emirates turned over to the United States a suspected mastermind of the deadly bombing of the USS Cole. Continue.

SOLAR ACTIVITY

Global warming linked to cosmic rays
National Post - Canada
OTTAWA - A prominent University of Ottawa science professor says what we know about global warming is wrong -- that stars, not greenhouse gases, are heating up ...


You mean like solar ativity? That exists? Why, I haven't seen or heard about solar activity since I was in high school. I thought maybe solar activity died.

"Most liberalism is angst-and guilt-ridden, seeing moral equivalence everywhere."
—Charles Krauthammer

"Simply put, Democrats believe they can ask voters to give them control of the legislative branch [in November] without revealing any sort of policy or plan to deal with the most pressing issue before the country today: the war in Iraq... Not only do Democrats not have a plan, they're proud of not having a plan." —Byron York

"Once born, a government program is nearly impossible to kill. That's mostly because politicians are spending our money and not their own." —Cal Thomas

"Our government today is larger than it ever has been in history. Spending has grown more in the past five years than any time since Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House. And our leaders in Washington have created new entitlements for the first time in decades. Lyndon Johnson would be proud." —Steve Forbes

WHEN WILL THE PARTY END?

"You and I must live within our means, but Washington politicians act as if they have absolutely no responsibility to do something as basic as paying their own way—to make sure they don't spend more than they have, confident that somebody else will foot the bill when the party ends." —Rebecca Hagelin

"Altogether, national hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

COMMENTARY

The Illegal Immigration Time Bomb
By Alan Caruba

If Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes the Democrat candidate for president in 2008, one issue alone could defeat her. And no matter who the Republicans run for president, one issue alone will prove an obstacle to victory. That issue is illegal immigration...

China Rejects Japan’s Proposal to Even Out UN Dues
(CNSNews.com) – China has rejected a proposal by Japan that would change the way countries fund the United Nations. Japan, the second-largest donor to the U.N., contributes significantly more towards the world body’s operating expenses than any member of the Security Council except the United States...

Pelosi Hints at Democrats’ ‘Unified’ Agenda
The Republican Party has wondered what’s taking Democrats so long to unveil their election-year agenda. Amid reports that it will happen any day now, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday offered what amounts to a draft version, but Republicans say censure and impeachment are the Democrats' real agenda...

Circumstances are ripe for the “collapse of the Zionist regime”

Iran’s radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

“The regime occupying Qods (Jerusalem) was set up to create insecurity and confrontation in our region. If one day tranquillity came about, it would mean the death of this regime.”

“Our enemies on the one hand oppose our nation’s acquisition of nuclear energy and on the other hand want to divert the attention of other nations from the key issue of Palestine to give an opportunity to the Zionist regime to prolong its existence.”

“One of the main reasons why the big powers oppose Iran on the nuclear issue is for the sake of the Zionist regime, so as to let this regime live on. But they are unaware that not only will the Iranian nation continue in the path of obtaining nuclear energy till the end, it will not even for one instant divert its attention from the issue of Palestine”.

“The regime occupying Qods [Israel] is the key to [Western] countries’ domination in Muslim lands, and with every blow at this occupying regime, it’s the pillars of the Global Arrogance (the West) that are targeted”.

Where Do We Go from Dubai?

The political circus surrounding the ports deal has left town, so now the media are starting to key in on protectionist economics and its consequences for the U.S. economy.

By Amy Menefee

Now that the Dubai ports deal has been sidelined, some in the media are beginning to wake up and smell the protectionism.

“The Bush administration is making another argument that a lot of economists are also echoing,” ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas said on the March 10 “World News Tonight.” “The U.S. is hurting itself economically by scuttling this deal.” Read on.

Iran nuclear issue divides United Nations
NewKerala.com - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
UNITED NATIONS: The Iran nuclear dispute is before the 15-member UN Security Council after Russia and China refused to support a proposal to put more pressure ...

Iran, Russia reach agreement on Iran's nuclear issue
Xinhua - China
TEHRAN, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran and Russia had reached agreement on Iran's nuclear case, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told a press ...

Greatest Expansion of Social Programs in U.S. History

The expansion of benefit programs since 2000 has led to the greatest increase in social spending in American history - with entitlement programs now accounting for more than half of all federal spending, a new report shows.

A USA Today analysis released Tuesday of 25 major government programs - including health care, college aid and food stamps - revealed that enrollment surged an average of 17 percent from 2000 to 2005, while the nation's population increased by only 5 percent. Continue.....

Iran to get 14 days to halt uranium work
Times Online - UK
BRITAIN unveiled a proposal at the United Nations last night to give Iran 14 days to suspend all work linked to uranium enrichment, but stopped short of ...

Warrantless Politics

By Janet Parshall
Beyond the News

Democrats are anxious to reverse the majority in both the House and the Senate and are hoping that this year's mid-term elections will do just that.

One theory floating around the capital is that if a reversal did occur, one of the first moves by the Democrats would be an attempt to impeach the president. We got a clear indication of how likely that might be this past weekend. Appearing on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin called for the Senate to censure the president. The president's offense? The NSA terrorist surveillance program. Feingold believes the president circumnavigated the need for a court order to spy on Americans.

Senator Feingold has chosen to ignore the fact that President Clinton, like Bush, also used "warrantless wiretaps." Has he also forgotten there are terrorist cells living among us who daily wish us harm? Worse yet, his call for censure sends a signal to our enemies that we will look the other way as they plot our destruction.

Russian Scientist Blames Global Warming on Tunguska Meteorite

A new theory to explain global warming was revealed at a meeting at the UK University of Leicester. A top Russian scientist has suggested that global warming was started by a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere nearly 100 years ago.

Here We Go Again

Once again, the UN Security Council is divided. This time, France stands with the U.S. and the U.K., rather than with Russia and China. Other than this difference, the situation is eerily similar to the early months of 2003, when the Council members went their separate ways over Iraq. The Security Council will again show that it's worthless.

While the Council was having its final deliberations about Iraq, millions of people across the world were involved in anti-war, anti-American protests. Many governments issued statements that echoed the protestor's sentiments. That's not happening this time. Continue.......

What's Really Important....

John Kerry really knows how to priortize the really important things in life.

Kerry chides Bush administration on broadband - Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of falling behind in its goal to make high-speed Internet service, known as broadband, universally available by 2007. Read on...

Yep. It is of utmost importance. I think it's in the constitution somewhere as a right, isn't it?

FUNERAL PROTESTS

Last Thursday, March 9th, the Minnesota House passed, unanimously (133-0), a bill to keep protestors at least 1000 feet away from all funeral observances. The legislation was sparked by the disgusting protests at a fallen soldiers funeral by the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka.

It was sent to the Senate where it was expected to pass easily there as well. Governor Pawlenty has already claimed he would sign the bill.

All is good.

Chertoff: China Won't Take Back Deported Citizens

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that China won't take back about 39,000 deported citizens.
Read on...

Don't tell me we ain't got no stinkin' money

Oblivious to the money needed for Louisianna, Alabama, and Texas for hurricane recovery, actor Alec Baldwin and other artists lobbied lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday for arts funding.
Read on...

Martial law imposed in volatile Iran cities

London, Mar. 14 – Iranian authorities have imposed a de facto martial law in several volatile cities in the north-western province of Kurdistan as restive youths used the occasion of Iran’s traditional “fire festival” to hold anti-government protests, residents told Iran Focus by telephone on Tuesday.

Agents of the paramilitary police, the Revolutionary Guards, and plainclothes agents of the secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, moved in to take control of the cities to limit unrest as people took to the streets. More......

Russia warns US on Caspian Sea buildup

Russia warns US on Caspian Sea buildup
LONDON - Russia cautioned the United States on Tuesday against raising its military presence in the strategic Caspian Sea region bordering Iran, saying buildup of forces from "outside" would destabilize the region, ITAR-TASS news agency said. Continued...

Freedom of press can cost reporters popularity

I was steered onto this humorous story line by Opinion Journal. The fact that the story has to to do with Dan Rather makes it even more precious.

Breaking News - UN is Stymied

UN Council members deadlocked on Iran
MSNBC - USA
UNITED NATIONS - The five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council are deadlocked over the best way to pressure Iran into clearing up questions about ...

The Unable Nations are unable to figure out how to deal with Iran. I'm shocked, shocked, shocked. The next thing you know, we'll find out that they have loose purse strings and can't keep track of our their money.

Sudden Jihad Syndrome
By Daniel Pipes
“Individual Islamists may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement, and as such, all must be considered potential killers.” I wrote those words days after 9/11 and have been criticized for them ever since. But an incident on March 3 at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill suggests I did not go far enough...

Hamas Leader Says He Will Promote Sharia Law

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Palestinian Authority Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh has said he will appoint a special advisor to promote the implementation of Islamic law (shari'a). Hamas leaders have been open about their goal of establishing a strictly Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - all of Israel, in other words. Speaking at an Islamic college in Gaza, Haniyeh said shari'a is the foundation for judgment and is the best way to deal with reality, Israel's state-run reported on Tuesday. Haniyeh also said shari'a law would influence the way he chooses ministers for his new P.A. government.

Many Palestinians who voted for Hamas candidates in January said they did so because of corruption in the Palestinian Authority; they said they were not concerned about the possibility of Hamas imposing strict Islamic religious codes. But in a sign of what's coming, residents of the West Bank city of Kalkilya - after voting for a Hamas-led municipal council last summer - were shocked when the government cancelled a popular Palestinian cultural festival to avoid the mixing of the sexes.

Suspected illegal immigrants nabbed after wild shootout in Houston
Houston Chronicle - United States
Two men were known to have been wounded and at least 21 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody today after a wild shoutout in a southwest Houston ...

Possible Fallout from the Dubai Port -Terminal Kerfuffle

UAE bank chief rebukes US over ports row

DUBAI (AFP) - The governor of the UAE central bank has sharply criticised US Congress opposition to the acquisition of six US ports by Dubai Ports World (DPW) and called for a reassessment of US trade links.

"The American side that opposed the deal mixed economic and investment matters with issues of security and politics and this is the wrong approach and it will hurt free trade and international investment," Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said in remarks published Monday in several UAE-based Arabic papers. Read on.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, U.S. concerned about strategic ties with UAE.
Officials said the Bush administration has detected increasing UAE dismay over the rejection by Congress of a proposed takeover by a state-owned company of six major U.S. ports. They said the UAE has postponed free trade negotiations with the United States scheduled for this week.

Iraq Foils Plot to Put Terrorists at Posts

BAGHDAD, Iraq

The Iraqi interior minister said Tuesday that authorities had foiled an al-Qaida plot that would have put hundreds of its men at critical guard posts around Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. and other foreign embassies as well as the Iraqi government.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 al-Qaida fighters were actually recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. More....

That She is... that she is....

Beyond the News
Anger as a Badge of Honor?
—Michael Medved

A recent exchange about the role of anger in political leadership may define the presidential race of 2008. Republican Chairman Ken Mehlman described Hillary Clinton as "too angry" to win election, but the New York senator shot back that she wore her anger "as a badge of honor," suggesting that the misdeeds of the Bush administration required an angry response.

She apparently forgot that the most significant world figure unequivocally associated with public rage was Adolph Hitler--hardly a role model. Truly great leaders display restraint, self-mastery and optimism. Dr. Martin Luther King, for instance, responded to enemies with gentle firmness.

The iconic figures for both Republicans and Democrats--Presidents Reagan and FDR--showed their genial dispositions even in moments of crisis.

Anger hurts politicians, rather than helping them, indicating powerlessness and instability. If Hillary runs as the candidate of anger, she's a sure loser.

Doctors discover drug to reverse heart disease

DOCTORS have been able to reverse the development of heart disease for the first time by giving patients high doses of a powerful cholesterol-lowering drug. The breakthrough has been hailed as an exciting step towards the "holy grail" of tackling clogged arteries..........

Tehran elite turning on extremist presidency
Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Don't believe the China hype
National Post - Canada
future will be decay, not democracy. China's economic boom has dazzled investors and captivated the world. ... Forget political reform. China's...

A Yale official calls Taliban critics "retarded" while the university maintains a stony silence.
By John Fund

Contract With America: Renewed

From Heritage Foundation.

America's fiscal policy is headed for an iceberg. But the House Republican Study Committee's budget proposal--dubbed the Contract With America: Renewed--offers a serious course correction, writes Brian Riedl.

The RSC budget would cut hundreds of billions of dollars in projected spending by slowing the growth of government to rates last seen in the 1990s.

Its main proposals are all based on common sense: cut corporate pork and unnecessary programs, give states greater control over education, roads, and healthcare, and reform Medicare along market-based lines.

Not all these reforms will be popular, Riedl allows, but consider the alternative: an economy-crippling $7,000 per household tax hike in 10 years to balance the budget.

Read RSC Budget Provides Serious Blueprint for Spending Restraint by Brian M. Riedl

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?

Don't you find the argument a little bit shallow when someone trys to rationalize that a certain behavior as acceptable by saying it's not the government's business what goes on in the privacy of one's own home?

I don't find that to be a compelling argument. If it's legal activity, then no, the government has no business in your business. If it's illegal activity, then they do.

As we debate the marriage issue, man/woman marriage vs. gay marriage, this argument sometimes comes up. In 2003, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in the Lawrence v. Texas sodomy case that individuals have "the full right to engage in private conduct without government intervention."

Once we start redefining marriage that opens up a whole new set of possibilities. Whose definition do we use? Where do we draw the line? Whose line do we use? In Utah, the law making polygamy illegal is being challenged. This should come as no surprise.

It should also come as no surprise that they are using the same legal argument from the Lawrence v. Texas case - that individuals have "the full right to engage in private conduct without government intervention."

Rape as well as sexual abuse of children, your own or someone else's, can be done in the privacy of your home. That certainly doesn't make it okay. How about bestiality? Is that okay in the privacy of your home? Who decides?

If that is the crux of your argument, that it is no one else's business what is done in your home, is rape and sexual abuse of children permissable? I would think not, but who decides? In defining (or redefining marriage) who decides what is acceptable, and what is not? Should dad be allowed to marry daughter? How about brother marrying sister?

Is everything that is presently deemed to be illegal okay to do as long as it is done in the privacy of your home?

Saddam will hang if found guilty, says prosecutor

BAGHDAD: The trial of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and seven former aides resumed before the Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday. Speaking on Iraqia state-television just before the trial resumed, the court’s chief prosecutor, Jaafar Mussawi, said Saddam would hang immediately without undergoing further trials if found guilty and sentenced to death in the present case.

Saddam is on trial for crimes against humanity in connection with the killing of 148 villagers from Dujail, north of Baghdad, after he escaped an assassination attempt there in 1982. “If the court passes a death sentence on any of the defendants in the Dujail case, the law is clear, the sentence must be carried out within 30 days following the appeal,” Mussawi said. More.

Tapes reveal WMD plans by Saddam

Audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his aides underscore the Bush administration's argument that Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.

In addition to the captured tapes, U.S. officials are analyzing thousands of pages of newly translated Iraqi documents that tell of Saddam seeking uranium from Africa in the mid-1990s.

The documents also speak of burying prohibited missiles, according to a government official familiar with the declassification process. Continue.

HA..HA..HA..HA..HA..HA..HA

Can't...... stop........ laughing.......

Americans' Ratings of United Nations Among Worst Ever
Gallup Poll News - Washington,DC,USA
PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's recent World Affairs poll finds ratings of the United Nations among the worst ever measured, with negative evaluations outnumbering ...

[F]or the sake of our party and for the sake of the nation, we must say, 'The era of big Republican government is over!'... We are not, as a party, bereft of ideas, we are bereft of will—the will to even consider ideas that might touch on the sacred cows of federal spending. If we are still on the wrong course, it is because we choose to be... The conservative movement is at a crossroads. Are we committed to the ideals of limited government, fiscal discipline and traditional moral values or not?" —Rep. Mike Pence

I LOVE IT..................

Anyone else sick and tired of the cheapness of the word "courage" when Hollywood use it to describe themselves, when they spew garbage like, "Oh, he was so 'courageous' to make a film like that."

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Ben Stein gets it.

"Hollywood is...about self: self-congratulation, self-promotion, and above all, self-protection. This is human and basic, but let's not kid ourselves. There is no greatness there in the Kodak Theater. The greatness is on patrol in Kirkuk. The greatness lies unable to sleep worrying about her man in Mosul. The greatness sleeps at Arlington National Cemetery and lies waiting for death in VA Hospitals. God help us that we have sunk so low as to confuse foolish and petty boasting with the real courage that keeps this nation and the many fools in it alive and flourishing on national TV."

Right on, Ben!

"'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' That's a catchy phrase but also misleading. Freedom fighters do not need to terrorize a population into submission. Freedom fighters target the military forces and the organized instruments of repression keeping dictatorial regimes in power. Freedom fighters struggle to liberate their citizens from oppression and to establish a form of government that reflects the will of the people... [O]ne has to be blind, ignorant, or simply unwilling to see the truth if he or she is unable to distinguish between those I just described and terrorists." — Ronald Reagan

"[T]he necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists; and the problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect." — James Madison

Iranian pact with Venezuela stokes fears of uranium sales

BUENOS AIRES -- A recent deal between Iran and Venezuela provides for the exploitation of Venezuela's strategic minerals, prompting opposition figures to warn that President Hugo Chavez's government could be planning to provide Tehran with uranium for its nuclear program.

The deal was part of a package of agreements, most of which were announced during a visit last month to Caracas and Cuba by Iranian parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel. The two countries also established a joint $200 million development fund and signed bilateral deals to build homes and factories, and exploit petroleum.

Public details are vague, but Venezuelan opposition figures and press reports have said the deal on minerals could involve the production and transfer to Iran have said the deal on minerals could involve the production and transfer to Iran of Venezuelan uranium taken from known deposits located in the dense jungle states of Amazonas and Bolivar.

Mr. Chavez last week ridiculed such speculation as being part of an "imperialist plan" propagated by international news media. Continue.

Chertoff: Street Gangs a Threat to National Security

As U.S. immigration and homeland security officials celebrated what they call a success against transnational street gangs, some wonder how big an achievement that actually is.

"In much the same way as we are now connecting the dots in the war on terror, we are connecting the dots in the war on gangs," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, referring to the program known as Operation Community Shield. Read on.

War on Terror Called Incompatible With Free Trade
The controversy over a proposal to give a Middle Eastern country control over some operations at six major U.S. ports is bringing renewed attention to the role trade issues can play in American efforts to combat terrorism...

FEES AND TAXES

I saw a letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Red Star Tribune in which the writer was advocating a special tax on soda pop because of its deleterious effects on us -obesity - diabetes, etc., which results in higher costs: higher health care expenses, and thereby, higher insurance premiums.

Since we are already doing that to cigarettes through various taxes (or fees, as Gov. Pawlenty tried his hand at redefinition) because of it's "dangerous effects" to us, by way of second hand smoke, it got me to thinking.

Getting old is also a burden to our communities. As we get older, we incur more medical expenses and face an increasing amount of risk for each additional year we live to some potential highly expensive medical needs, like alzheimers, diabetes, etc.

Therefore, maybe we should have an additional tax or fee that is added onto our taxes every year when we get around to filing the old 1040 form - a tax that gets progressively higher each and every year that we manage to hang on. That way, you see, we could help pay for the increased medical expenses that we cause by refusing to check out early.

Whadda ya think?

THANK YOU, MR. BUSH

Excerpts from the Hindustan Times:

Have you noticed how the world doesn’t like America? Few countries have anything good to say. The irony is that those for whom it has done the most tend to be least grateful. And this applies regardless of whether the recipient state is Asian, Latin American or European.

ON THE CONTEMPT AND RIDICULE OF THE U.S.

What lies behind such humour is rank jealousy. Success, no doubt, breeds envy but when your own impoverishment or incapacity adds the curse of dependence envy turns rapidly into dislike. The more the world needs America the more it hates itself for it. And since one cannot swear at oneself, America becomes the next best victim.

INGRATITUDE:

And yet if America feels let down, stung by ingratitude, even lacerated, I can understand its feelings. Because those who need America the most are often the ones to kick hardest. This week India came very close to joining the list of the ungrateful...

.......The truth is we have in George W. Bush a president more pro-Indian than any before him. In fact the same nuclear deal would not have been possible under Clinton or Kerry or Gore. Bush alone made it happen. And he did so despite our Parliament’s well-known stand on Iraq and the ill-disguised contempt our elite have for him. If he could rise above all that then, surely, in return we could have expressed our gratitude more clearly and with good cheer. The protests should have been postponed or muted. They were hardly a suitable way of saying thank you.

Please check out my blog friends: Pay at the Pump, FlexBlue, Lost Budgie, Partisan Pundit, and MilTracker.

Bush warns Iran, Syria over Iraq
Khaleej Times - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush yesterday denounced any moves by Iran or Syria to interfere in Iraq's effort to build a democracy. ...

Anti-government protests erupt in north-west Iran
Iran Focus - Iran
... Reports from the Kurdish city of Mahabad in north-western Iran said that widespread clashes had broken out on Friday between residents and security forces ...

Iran says no to Russian enrichment proposal
CTV.ca - Canada
In a new twist to the ongoing imbroglio over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the nation has ruled out moving its uranium enrichment program to Russia. ...

Iran has 'secret underground command post'
Times of India - India
LONDON: Iran has built a secret underground emergency command centre in the capital Tehran as its leaders prepare for a confrontation with the West over its ...

Security lapses found at U.S. ports
Lapses by private port operators, shipping lines or truck drivers could allow terrorists to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States, according to a government review of security at American seaports.

China Risks Environmental Collapse, State Official Warns
Washington Post - United States
BEIJING, March 11 -- China must sharply improve environmental protection or it could face disaster following two decades of breakneck growth that have poisoned ...

Global warming, parochial reporting

By Bill Steigerwald
TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wonder why Fox News polls show 60 percent of Americans think global warming is either a crisis (16 percent) or a major problem (44 percent)?

It's because for almost 20 years Americans have been effectively brainwashed by mainstream liberal media. Read on.