Haditha, the Laws of War, and the Terrorists
Blogger News Network

If the Marines at Haditha started indiscriminately killing civilians, they should pay for their crimes. I want that clear right now. ...

Haditha Handwringing

The last thing we need in response to Haditha is hand-wringing liberalism.
By William Kristol
The Weekly Standard

US MARINES are under investigation for alleged misconduct in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The inquiry into ...

Enough Is Enough!
Post Chronicle - USA
By Guy Adams.

I have had enough of John Murtha -- how about you? In my earlier article "Are Democrats Unpatriotic?", I refrained ...

INVASION USA

Democrat: 'You don't need papers for voting'
Busby on defense; Candidate to replace Cunningham says she 'mispoke' before largely Latino audience. Read more at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

GLOBAL JIHAD

'Al-Qaida-inspired' terrorists foiled in Canada

17 males arrested in Toronto preparing for 'real and serious' mayhem

Toronto terror plot foiled -- Canada FBI: Suspects may have had 'limited contact' with Georgia men.

TORONTO, Ontario (CNN) -- Canadian police said on Saturday they had halted a "real and serious" terror threat in and around Toronto.

Twelve men and five youths said to have been inspired by al Qaeda were arrested in the operation involving hundreds of officers, authorities said.

The group was "planning to commit a series of terrorist attacks against solely Canadian targets in southern Ontario," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell said at a news conference.

Israel's military strength declines '30 percent'

TEL AVIV — Israel's military, hampered by a budget shortfull, has suspended major programs in the army and navy.

"With the [current] defense budget, we are scratching the bottom," former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, a Labor Party Knesset member, said. "Our [military] strength over the last three to four years has declined by 30 percent as a result of cuts in the budget. If we don't preserve our military superiority, we won't be here." Read on.

Schwarzenegger to Order Troops to Border

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Thursday to send the California National Guard to the Mexican border, ending a 17-day standoff with the Bush administration.

The two sides had been at odds over whether California Guardsmen would join the effort to bolster the Border Patrol and who would pay for it.

The question needs to be asked......

History Shows, the United States is Not Anti-Muslim

Why is it that the United States, despite its apparently reasonable intentions, is so successfully demonized by its adversaries in the Muslim world? According to this op-ed article from Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, the reasons are partly rooted in history, and partly due to the al-Qaeda 'Frankenstein' Washington created to battle the Soviets in Afghanistan. More.

By Shahid M. Amin*

The writer served in the Pakistan Foreign Service from 1958 to 1997, including 18 years as Ambassador. He was Ambassador to Libya, Soviet Union, France, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

Anti-American, Anti-Torture Committee 'a U.N. Joke'
Toronto Sun, Canada

Gadhafi Gets His Way, and So Do Americans

“The U.S. decision to restore ties is the beginning of what might be called a Golden Age between the two countries.”

Read on.

American Success Assimilating Migrants Shames Old Europe

“We Europeans simply need to get our act together.”
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany

Fearing Moscow, Ex-Soviet States Look West

According to this analysis from Germany's Die Zeit newspaper, some of the former Soviet republics have united against an unpredictable Russia, and have turned to NATO and the West for protection.

By By Johannes Voswinkel

Translated By Susanne Angelow

The indictment of U.S. troops was inevitable.

BY DANIEL HENNINGER

COMMENTARIES:

Innocent Until Proven Guilty…Unless You’re a Marine
By Frank Salvato

The U.S. judicial system operates on the premise that when a crime has been committed, the accused stands innocent until proven guilty. But over the past two decades, opportunists increasing have tried court cases in the media. In the court of public opinion the rules of judicial “fair play” are not honored, and rumor and innuendo stand as acceptable forms of evidence. If you’re a Marine serving in Haditha, Iraq, you know what I mean better than most…

Ethnic Upheaval Boosts Calls to Oust Iranian Regime
Ethnic unrest continues in parts of Iran, prompting some exiled members of Iranian minorities to step up calls for a concerted effort to topple the clerical regime...

"There are certain social principles in human nature, from which we may draw the most solid conclusions with respect to the conduct of individuals and of communities. We love our families
more than our neighbors; we love our neighbors more than our countrymen in general. The human affections, like solar heat, lose their intensity as they depart from the centre... On these
principles, the attachment of the individual will be first and for ever secured by the State governments. They will be a mutual protection and support."

-- Alexander Hamilton

Wait for truth to emerge on Iraqi civilian murders
Cherry Hill Courier Post - Cherry Hill,NJ,USA

US Rep. John "Cut and Run" Murtha, D-Pa., thinks he knows the truth about Haditha -- and he has been blabbing it to every last cable show that will host him. ...

John Murtha - First the guilty verdict, then the trial
Canada Free Press - Canada

Yep, Judge John Murtha, one time war hero, Democratic activist, anti-war recidivist, former Marine, Kerry crony, and the latest golden boy in the liberal press ...

Illegals' tax deal could kill bill
The Washington Times

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.

Senate bill would add 20 million legal immigrants, report says
Seattle Times - United States

... Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who opposes granting residency to illegal immigrants, called legal immigration "the soft underbelly of the Senate bill." It is ...

Radical Activism

By Hugh Hewitt
Beyond The News

In California, gay and lesbian activists have targeted the curriculum of public schools as a primary path for radical new demands outside of the mainstream.

The state legislature has passed three bills that would mainline gay and lesbian advocacy in various forms into textbooks and other school curriculum areas. Governor Schwarzenegger has already announced his intention to veto SB 1437 which would've mandated rewrites of textbooks to include gay-themed history, but he has not yet announced his positions on AB 606 and AB 1056 which also micromanage local school policy to advance the belief systems of the Sacramento gay rights caucus.

We applaud the governor's announcement of his intent to veto the first bill, but urge him to quickly announce his intention to do so on the other two as well.

These three bills threaten local control of the public schools, making them pawns of the special interests while mandating radical moral education that parents, overwhelmingly, believe ought to be done at home.

"John Q. Citizen needs a scorecard to keep up with who's under arrest, who's indicted, who expects to be indicted, who's engaged in plea bargaining, who's on trial and who's already wearing the stripes. The Senate's stubborn insistence on treating illegal aliens to amnesty may be nothing more than professional courtesy." —Wesley Pruden

"There is something about academic life that seems to encourage a complete detachment from reality." —James Taranto

"If there's any conspiracy involved in today's high gasoline prices, it's a conspiracy of cowardice and stupidity by the U.S. Congress." —Walter Williams

"By not 'disturbing' us with the visual horror of 9/11, the media made it too easy to forget the nature of the enemy that started this war. Maybe the moral clarity of 9/11 wouldn't have dissipated quite so quickly...if Americans had been confronted with those 'disturbing' images more often. What the jihadis did to 3,000 innocent human beings that morning they would willingly do the rest of us. We will not defeat them by averting our gaze from the truth."

—Jeff Jacoby

"Some people are worried that amnesty will give illegal aliens the same rights that American citizens have. In reality, it will give the illegals more rights than the average American citizen. Since most of the illegals are Mexican, that makes them a minority. Under affirmative action, combined with amnesty, they would have preferences in jobs and other benefits."

—Thomas Sowell

"America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

"A society that puts equality...ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom." —Milton Friedman

Immigration agency head slams Senate's alien bill
The Senate immigration bill makes the same mistake as the 1986 amnesty by restricting the ability of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to share information on illegal alien guest-worker applicants who are criminals and terrorists, the agency's direc.....

Iraq: Safer than Venezuela

"As American leftists pretend to decry violence in Iraq, they celebrate the rise of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Pro-surrender activist Cindy Sheehan appeared with Chavez January 29. On the stage at the “World Social Forum” in Caracas, Sheehan noted that singer and activist Harry Belafonte recently called Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world,” and said, “I agree with him. George Bush is responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people.” Chavez encouraged Sheehan to run for President of the US and he announced that Sheehan would again be protesting in Crawford, TX."

"The annualized Iraqi civilian death rate is 27.5 per 100,000 based on US military and independent statistical sources. Ironically, Venezuela has 31.5 violent deaths per 100,000 –14.5% higher than Iraq. It is Chavez who is responsible for 'killing tens of thousands of innocent people.' "

Read more at the Hawaii Reporter.

A RIDDLE

If a Russian rifle is not made in Russia, is it still a Russian rifle?

Venezuela to make Russian rifles
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
CARACAS, Venezuela (UPI) -- Venezuela and Russia are in talks to manufacture Kalashnikov assault rifles in Venezuela, El Universal reported Wednesday. ...

HADITHA - CERTAINLY NO MI LAI

Crosswalk.com - Chesterfield,VA,USA
HADITHA: Even though the ever increasingly repugnant John Murtha continues to act like a circus barker, even though he has shot off long and loud about what ...

Slain Marine's Kin Blasts John Murtha

The aunt of slain Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, whose death in a roadside bombing in Haditha, Iraq last November prompted his fellow Marines to launch what military critics are calling a massacre of innocent civilians, is blasting Rep. John Murtha for prejudging their actions. Read on.

What Happened at Haditha?

By Joe Mariani at The American Daily

Never one to lag behind when the US military is being slandered, Representative John Murtha (D-PA) was in the forefront of those making allegations against the US Marines. (To borrow a phrase, I'm ashamed that John Murtha is from Pennsylvania.) Murtha accused the Marines involved of having "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" during the November 2005 incident. While Time magazine portrayed the Marines as barging into houses, throwing grenades around and deliberately shooting anything that moved -- women, children, whatever -- Murtha told reporters, "It's much worse than was reported in Time magazine," and insisted that "There was no firefight." If there was no firefight, he must believe -- or want us to believe -- that this was a deliberate execution of civilians.

Murtha later told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that "it looks like it's the policy of our troops to do something like this." Keep in mind that the incident is still under investigation, with statements and evidence still being collected... and that the military launched an investigation a month before the media got wind of the story. Yet Murtha seems pretty comfortable declaring that our military coldly executes civilians en masse as a matter of policy. Read on.

FBI Raid on Jefferson Was Justified, Legal Group Claims

A legal watchdog group insists that the FBI’s recent raid of Louisiana Democratic Congressman William Jefferson’s office was perfectly legal, despite the subsequent complaints about the raid by both Republican and Democratic leaders of the House... More...

Conservatives Enjoy Landslide in Korea

(CNSNews.com) - South Korea's liberal ruling party has suffered a stunning defeat in nationwide local elections, and that could have implications for the government's sensitive policy of engagement with its Stalinist northern neighbor.

Chung Dong-young, chairman of the Uri Party, resigned Thursday, after Uri won just one of 16 posts up for grabs for nine provincial governors and mayors of seven major cities.

The pro-U.S. conservative Grand National Party (GNP), which is reviled by the North Korean regime, took 12 of the 16.

At a lower level, results were equally devastating for Uri, which won only 19 out of 230 contests for heads of smaller city councils and wards, compared to the GNP's 155. Read on.

Iran snubs US conditional talks, says won't give up enrichment
Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel
President George W. Bush said Thursday that the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear program is headed for the UN Security Council if Tehran continues to ...

Bush Issues UN Threat To Iran
CBS News - USA
(CBS/AP) President Bush said Thursday that the standoff over Iran's suspected nuclear program is headed for the UN Security Council if Tehran continues to ...

US About-Face on Talks With Iran Draws Mixed Reactions
(CNSNews.com) – Washington’s policy reversal on Iran’s nuclear activity has been warmly welcomed by its European Union allies, but also drew criticism from conservatives who warned that it may be a mistake...

Venezuela Backs Plan to Sell Oil in Euros
Houston Chronicle - United States
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's oil minister said Thursday that he backs the idea of selling oil in euros instead of US dollars, a proposal also supported ...

The Chinese Threat

Last week the United States office of the Secretary of Defense forwarded a report to congress entitled “Military Power of the Peoples Republic of China 2006.” It was a bizarre and terrifying document. Terrifying because this fifty-page report spelled out in some detail the military expansion of China in the past year.

China is preparing to launch an attack to retake Taiwan. Moreover, China is building up its forces to protect the flow of oil and other natural resources from the Middle East and South America back to China. The overwhelming Chinese economic expansion requires these resources and the Chinese military will be in a position to secure their continual flow. All of this means that as we look ahead fifteen or twenty years, there is a significant chance that China will surpass the United States, not only economically, but militarily as well. Read more.....

Estrich: The Movement to Isolate Israel

Rep. King: Immigration Bill Is Dead

GI Sues Michael Moore for $85 Million

There is so much we don't know yet about our planet

8 new species found in a cave : A sealed ecosystem deep below ground

Flesh-eating bug claims life of boy

From The Scotsman

A PROMISING teenage hockey player has died of a rare flesh-eating bug while being treated in hospital for leukaemia.

Andrew Stewart, 15, from Dunfermline, died from necrotising fasciitis last Wednesday, less than two weeks after he had been admitted to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh with a form of leukaemia his parents had been told he had an 80 per cent chance of surviving.

His parents said the cancer treatment had weakened Andrew's immune system, making him vulnerable to the disease, which doctors believe had been lying dormant in his body.

Necrotising fasciitis is a rare condition which strikes when the otherwise benign streptococcus bacterium - a common cause of sore throats - invades the soft tissue under the skin.

It has a fatality rate of about 40 per cent. More...

ZERO TOLERANCE

Zero-Tolerance Watch
"A middle school student was suspended for three days for sharing chewing gum because it contained caffeine," the Associated Press reports from Lower Burrell, Pa.:

The girl, whose name and age were not released, gave another Huston Middle School student Jolt gum. The gum is "a stimulant that has no other redeeming quality," said Amy Palermo, schools superintendent.

Hat tip to Opinion Journal.

Viet Nam produces new cheap laptops
Digital Opportunity Channel - New Delhi,India
A new cheap laptop trademark produced by an alliance of some local computer hardware companies in Viet Nam has been introduced to public. ...

"Nothing...is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man."

-- Thomas Jefferson

THEY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE

Iran's military plans for invasion by U.S.
Iran, apparently anticipating an American invasion, has quietly been restructuring its military and testing a new military doctrine that calls for a decentralized, Iraqi-style guerrilla campaign against an invading force.

Ahmadinejad probably sees it as a win - win.
(a) He does not care that Iranians would lose their lives.
(b) It would rally the citizens, creating nationalism, even many that are pro-West would rally to the cause against "Satan".
(c) It would give the United States another black eye in the view of the majority of the nations around the world.
(d) It would cause more unrest back in the U.S.
(e) It would increase his stature in the Arab world.

He probably see no downside at all.

OPEC to override Venezuela on quota cut
Jamaica Observer - Kingston,Jamaica
Major oil-producing countries are resisting Venezuela's calls to cut output at an OPEC meeting on Thursday and are expected to maintain current production ...

China to deepen parliamentary ties with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Xinhua - China
During a meeting with Speaker of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan Marat Sultanov, Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress ...

"Government machinery has been described as a marvelous labor saving device which enables ten men to do the work of one."

—John Maynard Keynes

"A welfare state is frightened of every poor person who tries to get in and every rich person who tries to get out." —Harry Browne

"But if we are to be told by a foreign Power...what we shall do, and what we shall not do, we have Independence yet to seek, and have contended hitherto for very little."

—George Washington

When I read this quote, why does Mexico and our border situation come to mind?

GLOBAL WARMING

I have read where it is predicted that global warming (GW) is going to kill off penguins, polar bears, and corral reefs. Not to mention it's destroying the snow skiing trade. Hunters are feeling the affects of GW. Ice polar caps are melting. The coasts of the U.S. are going to be under water. GW is causing hurricanes.

I must admit that as much as I did not care for these forecasts (after all, I am a caring and sensitive guy), I convinced myself that I could withstand these problematic events. I am not a skier. I am not a hunter. As of yet, I have not journeyed to, nor am I planning on making the trek to the frozen tundra where the penguins and polar bears reside. I have never seen them in their natural habitat, and most likely never will. I don't live on the coasts; I live in middle America ... far from the advancing water lines. No hurricanes here in middle America either.

Tragedies all, for sure. But I was confident that I could suck it up. I can weather the storm, so to speak. But then ... a new story broke on GW. One, I know, I cannot cope with. I have been lying in a fetal position since the story broke. I was able to muster up enough gumption to make my way to the keyboard. I am having thoughts of harikari. It's over. It seems as though we are all doomed. We are all going to be victims of poison ivy.

Is the tide finally turning in Mexico?

"President Fox makes $236,693 a year, more than the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada; Mexican congressional deputies, who serve only a few months a year, take home at least $148,000 a year, plus a $28,000 “leaving-office bonus” at the end of the term. Meanwhile, Mexico collects taxes equivalent to 9.7 percent of GDP, a figure on a par with Haiti; there is painfully little to spend on education and health care, which means there is no social mobility and little job opportunity.

Professor Grayson ends his paper with: “U.S. leaders and the American public have every right to insist that Mexican officials act responsibly, rather than expecting that their neighbor to the north will shoulder burdens that they themselves should assume.”

In short, Mexico is so corrupt, so oligopolistic, so rotting inside with the privilege of the rich that it has to send its poor and its potential political activists to another country. And on top of that, it tries to blame the United States for its own failures." Full article.

Naked driver crashes into fire hydrant

Largo, Florida -- What first started as out as a car accident ended with the chase of a naked man acting crazy. Police say 21-year-old Joshua Orcutt crashed his car into a fire hydrant on Walsingham Road near Indian Rocks Road in Largo. Read more...

The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants

Introduction: After conducting a 12 month in-depth study of illegal immigrants who committed sex crimes and murders for the time period of January 1999 through April 2006 , it is clear that the U.S. public faces a dangerous threat from sex predators who cross the U.S. borders illegally.
Read on.

High Court Limits Whistleblower Lawsuits

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder for government employees to claim they were retaliated against for going public with allegations of official misconduct.

By a 5-4 vote, justices said the nation's 20 million public employees do not have carte blanche free speech rights to disclose government's inner-workings. New Justice Samuel Alito cast the tie-breaking vote. Read on.

Their Luck Ran Out

Former Marine Fends Off Atlanta Robbers

ATLANTA (AP) -- A former Marine used a pocket knife to fend off a group of would-be robbers, killing one and wounding another, police said. Read on.

Iran says US incapable of attacking Iran over nuclear programme
Malaysia Star - Malaysia
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - The United States is incapable of attacking Iran, its foreign minister said Tuesday, as the Nonaligned Movement appeared set to....

Cool it over global warming, Tories told

A climate scientist is warning Alberta politicians not to get caught up in the hysteria over global warming.

Timothy Ball likens the furor over climate change to the apprehension over the Y2K problem, which turned out to be a costly dud. Read on..

US Deploying Troops to Previously Peaceful Iraqi Province of Anbar
Halifax Live - Nova Scotia, Canada
... Rumours suggest that Iraqi al-Queda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been orchestrating the uprisings. Unidentified sources told ...

Iran Says It Wants to Resume EU Talks
Houston Chronicle - United States
Iran's foreign minister said Tuesday that Tehran is ready to restart negotiations with the European Union on its nuclear program, but ...

SAYS

Iran's President: Europe Risks Emerging as 'Big Loser' of Iranian ...
Voice of America - USA
By VOA News. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Europe will emerge as the "big loser" of the Iranian nuclear standoff for siding with the United States. ...

Beheading Mastermind Captured in Iraq

The Jawa Report notes that "The good news, it just keeps on a rollin! Another of Iraq's most wanted, Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi, was captured by Iraqi forces. This follows the announcement of the capture of top Zarqawi aide Kassim al-Ani, also on Baghdad's most wanted list."

And points to the story found in the Khaleej Times:

“The anti-terrorism unit arrested the terrorist Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samer Al Battawi on Monday in the Firdos district in the capital Baghdad,” the statement said.

Battawi confessed after he was arrested that he had “chopped off the heads of hundreds of innocent Iraqis” in Baghdad and other parts of the country, said the statement.

Commentary

‘Almost Like an Invasion’
By Daniel Pipes

The illegal immigration of non-Western peoples, I predict, will become an all-consuming issue in every Western country. As Western birth rates plummet, as communication and transportation networks improve, and as radical Islam increasingly rears its aggressive head, Europeans, Americans, and others worry about their economic standards and the continuity of their cultures…

Commentary

Democrats’ Worst Nightmare
By Robert D. Novak

Richmond Myrick, the principal of Largo (Md.) High School, is a registered Democrat in overwhelmingly Democratic Prince George’s County next to Washington, D.C. He has not been active politically, yet recently, he stood in the parking lot of Prince George’s Community College adjoining his school to introduce Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, whom he has endorsed for the U.S. Senate. If enough non-political blacks follow Myrick’s course, Steele will become the first black Republican elected to the Senate in 32 years…

Iran Upgrading Hizballah Weapons to Hit More of Israel
Iran is supplying the Hizballah terrorist organization with rockets that can penetrate deep into Israeli territory, a military source said on Monday. Tensions flared along Israel’s northern border over the weekend...

Reid sat ringside in Vegas for free
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing.

Our Enemy: Complacency

By Hugh Hewitt
Beyond The News

"Although it has been less than five years since the terrible attack of 9/11, and less than one year since the horrible bombings in London, the memories of these and other Islamist outrages in Bali and Beslan, Madrid and Jerusalem, Jordan and the Netherlands and across the globe seems to be fading. A large slice of America seems to be embracing the "lucky shot" theory of 9/11 and to be growing comfortable again in the appearance of peace.

This complacency is dangerous and invites more and even more lethal attacks. Recent stories detail the decentralization of terror and the use of the web to organize independent al Qaeda cells. Recruitment by the most violent for the most violent acts continues.

Against this backdrop the debates about national security surveillance pale in seriousness. The Congress of the United States should stop grandstanding on surveillance issues and join the effort to educate the public on the continuing threats."

NEWS ON CHINA

New Dell Factory Doubles Co.'s Capacity in China
CIO - Framingham,MA,USA
Dell's Chinese subsidiary opened its second factory in China on Tuesday, doubling its manufacturing capacity there, the company said. ...

China urges Hamas to renounce violence
Reuters - USA
BEIJING, May 30 (Reuters) - China urged the Islamic militant group Hamas on Tuesday to renounce violence ahead of a visit to Beijing by its foreign minister, a ...

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

-- Thomas Paine

MEMORIAL DAY

Let us remember, today, the true meaning of Memorial Day. It is more than a day off, or a three day weekend to head to the lake, or parades and picnics. It is a day of remembrance. Remembrance for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us. For our freedom and for our nation. Please find the time today to thank those that have proudly worn the uniform of the United Stated military. Pray that we never forget that so many gave their lives so that you and I might live free.

Throughout our history, the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States have placed the security of our Nation before their own safety. America will be forever grateful for their service and sacrifice. On Memorial Day, we honor those who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

Defending the ideals of our Nation has required the service and sacrifice of those from every generation. From Valley Forge, across Europe and Asia, and in Afghanistan and Iraq, courageous Americans have given their lives so that others could live in freedom. These Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen took an oath to defend America, and they upheld that oath with bravery and decency. They have liberated the oppressed, spread freedom and peace, and set a standard of courage and compassion for our Nation. All who enjoy the blessings of liberty live in their debt.

This debt of gratitude extends also to the families who stood by our servicemen and women in times of war and times of peace. Each of the fallen has left behind loved ones who carry a burden of grief, and all Americans are inspired by the strength of these families.

At this important time in the history of freedom, a new generation of Americans is defending our flag and our liberty. These men and women carry on the legacy of our Nation’s fallen heroes and demonstrate that the United States Armed Forces remain the greatest force for freedom in human history.

Those who lost their lives in the defense of freedom helped protect our citizens and lay the foundation of peace for people everywhere. On Memorial Day, a grateful Nation pays tribute to their personal courage, love of country, and dedication to duty.

--President George W. Bush, May 29, 2006

OTHER NOTEWORTHIES:
Sixty-Two Years and Two Hard Words

They are Everywhere

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This is pretty good.

Mexico aims to maintain easy flow over border
Mexican President Vicente Fox's multistate tour of the western United States last week came while his government is in the midst of a massive, well-financed campaign to influence congressional efforts at stricter immigration enforcement and shape public.......

House chief says 'no' to amnesty bill

The House's lead negotiator on immigration yesterday called the Senate legislation passed last week "amnesty" for illegal aliens that his chamber will not accept, setting up a showdown between the House and the Senate, which have passed widely differing bills.

The Senate bill mirrors the House version in its provisions to tighten border security, but includes a "guest-worker" program proposed by President Bush and offers illegals in the United States what proponents call a "path to citizenship." More....

Rebel-fighter Uribe reelected in Colombia

Police searched Colombians entering a voting station yesterday in La Calera, Cundinamarca. (Dermot Tatlow for the Boston Globe)

GUASCA, Colombia -- After suffering years of conflict at the hands of guerrillas, militias, and drug traffickers, Colombians reelected President Álvaro Uribe yesterday by a landslide as a reward for dramatically reducing violence and presiding over the strongest economic recovery in a decade.

The election was largely peaceful. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Uribe had 62 percent of the vote, ensuring four more years for the Bush administration's most loyal ally on a continent dominated by leftist governments. At a time when neighboring Andean countries are nationalizing resources, the 53-year-old center-right Uribe has been Washington's biggest collaborator in the war on drugs and the push for free trade in South America. Bush congratulates Uribe on re-election.

London Times

MORE than 20 babies have been aborted in advanced pregnancy because scans showed that they had club feet, a deformity readily corrected by surgery or physiotherapy. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics covering the years from 1996 to 2004, a further four babies were aborted because they had webbed fingers or extra digits, which are also corrected by simple surgery. All the terminations took place late in pregnancy, after 20 weeks. Last year, according to campaigners, a healthy baby was aborted in the sixth month at a hospital in southeast England after ultrasound images indicated part of...

ON IMMIGRATION

"The real question is what we do with whatever illegal aliens we do find. Right now, there are various communities around the country where local officials have a policy of forbidding the police from reporting illegal immigrants to federal authorities.

Why are people who are so gung ho for punishing employers so utterly silent about needing to punish government officials who openly and deliberately violate federal laws?

Employers, after all, are not in the business of law enforcement.

If some guy who runs a hardware store or a dry cleaning business hires someone who shows some forged documents, why should the employer be fined for not being able to tell the difference, when government officials who can tell the difference are not doing anything -- or are even actively obstructing federal laws?" -- Thomas Sowell

Complete article

Iran's March of Madness

On March 5th, 2006 I posted my opinion that things were coming to a head with Iran. I have not changed my mind. I feel that something will happen before 2006 comes to an end. I could be wrong, of course, however I don't see any way out of this mess we are in.

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made it pretty clear that they are hell-bent on continuing on with their nuclear quest. And any revolution, if it ever does take place, will not happen in time to put an end to their nuclear goals. I don't think we can afford to have a nuclear equipped Iran.

Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters posts that Iran is shifting to a war footing. According to the good Captain, Ahmadinejad gave an interview to the German magazine Der Spiegel that has yet to be published. Ahmadinejad makes "it clear that he sees European opposition to his nuclear program a threat, and returned one in kind. Speaking to the German magazine Der Spiegel, the Iranian president warned Europe that they will 'suffer the consequences' if they did not capitulate":

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Europe that it should support his country's nuclear program or "suffer the consequences."

In an interview to be published in the German Der Spiegel on Sunday, Ahmadinejad also expressed his doubt regarding the Holocaust, saying that even if it had occurred, the Jewish state should have been established in Europe, not in Palestine.

Ahmadinejad is alternating between threatening the West and offering diplomacy, trying to split those countries who oppose their nuclear pursuit, purging high level government officials, and consolidating "power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic....."

Then we shouldn't forget about Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush. It should be interpreted as "yet another sign that the new leadership in Tehran is determined to provoke a direct confrontation with the United States in the hope that, plagued by internal problems, the Americans will either back away or be humiliated."

"Ahmadinejad's move fits into a 14-century-long Muslim tradition, initiated by the Prophet Muhammad himself, of writing letters to "the rulers of the world." In 625 A.D., having consolidated his position in Medina and established a secure power base for his rule, the prophet decided it was time to call on "the infidel" to abandon their faith and submit to Islam. He dictated letters to Khosrow Parviz, the Persian king of kings (a Zoroastrian), and to Emperor Heraclius of Byzantium and the Ethiopian monarch Negus (both Christian).

To each, the prophet's offer was simple: Convert to Islam and secure a place in paradise - or cling to your beliefs and face the sword of Islam."

"His letter contains a crucial message: The present regime in Iran is the enemy of the current international system and is determined to undermine and, if possible, destroy it.

It would be wrong to dismiss that message as the product of a 50-year-old teenager's folie de grandeur. Ahmadinejad believes that the "Hidden Imam" is about to return and that it is the duty of the Islamic Republic to provoke a "clash of civilizations" to hasten that return."

The letter closed saying,

We increasingly see that people around the world are flocking towards a main focal point -- that is the Almighty God. Undoubtedly through faith in God and the teachings of the prophets, the people will conquer their problems. My question for you is: "“Do you not want to join them?"

Whether we like it or not, the world is gravitating towards faith in the Almighty and justice and the will of God will prevail over all things.

And peace to those who obey the guidance.

In other words, it's a traditional Islamic call to surrender or a declaration of war.

Cuba's Great Healthcare System

Cuban Healthcare Miracle?
From Babalu Blog

El Confeti brings us this story from the Gleaner in Kingston Jamaica. Hopefully some people will begin to realize that castro's promises are worthless garbage.

LESS THAN a year after the 'Miracle Operation' programme, which allows Jamaicans with serious eye problems to visit Cuba free of charge to receive treatment from that nation's top ophthalmologists, several patients are now suffering from serious complications...

According to Dr. Albert Lue, head of the ophthalmology department at Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), several patients who have received eye surgery in Cuba are experiencing poor visual activity...

He said that in a survey of 60 patients who recently returned to Jamaica, three persons are now visually impaired, while 14 are suffering serious corneal damage.

FIXING IMMIGRATION

Dr. Demarche says, "I have news for you folks, Mexico is about to have an election this summer and their next President is likely to be a pal of guys named Castro and Chavez. You can bet that he will view the U.S. as a great relief valve when a return to the socialist agenda in Mexico fails to produce jobs and wealth."

He realizes that his "solutions will cost money, and contrary to what many folks think, the U.S. government does not have any money of it's own. It has my money, and your money, and I think we should get a say in how it is spent."

I love Dr. D's idea on how to pay for the solutions and the programs he proposes and that is to "draw the funds from our foreign aid budget. By treating illegal aliens in our hospitals and educating their children we are providing relief to their homelands, so it only makes sense that the money come from the aid budget."

Dr. Demarche works overseas for the State Department in an "undisclosed location". Read Dr. D's entire article here.

"You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to .........
discourage him."

"He who angers you, controls you!"

"Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set."

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT; Now Practice What You Preach

Blowing Smoke

"Unless you walk to work, eat only homegrown organic foods, weave and sew your own hemp clothing and live in a cave, you are to blame for the fluctuations in global temperatures.

Good for you if such a lifestyle is your bailiwick. But not me. I happen to like life's creature comforts. So does Gore. Despite his undeniable interest in improving the environment, I won't believe him until he practices what he preaches.

When you jet around the world exhausting more fuel in a week than most people do in a lifetime and travel in motorcades that rival small-town parades, it's hard to take the "be green like me" argument seriously." Read more.

The Real 'Global Warming' Cause

"Environmentalists say our planet has warmed recently, but they use the wrong data. Instead of satellite data(more representative of a global temperature), they use error-prone ground-based readings, based on urban sprawl and land-use changes. Per Charles Hosler(Meteorologist/ EPA), for >90% of the earth’s history, climate was much warmer than it is today. Surface thermometers have increased about 0.7oC in the past 100 years, but almost half that warming occurred before most changes in CO2 levels. In the last 10,000 years, the CO2 content rose by 100ppm, although the average temperature today is lower. From 900-1300 AD, the earth was warmer than it is today. The 20th century shows three warming trends; the latest occurring from 1976 to 1986, after which the increase became very small.

Some scientists believe more than one million variables influence global climate. Water vapor(97%) is typically ignored because the climate models can’t include clouds, and only 2% of all greenhouse gases are from human activity. Another misconception: there is NO consensus on whether the atmosphere is currently warming.

Greenland/Antarctica temperatures have dropped recently. The mammoth Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough water to raise all the oceans’ levels ~6 meters, is not melting. Antarctica, measured by California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Lab, was found to be growing by 26.8 billion tons of ice/year.

The big ‘secret’ is that the sun(providing all atmospheric warmth) is currently brighter than at any time during the last 400 years. Dr. Sallie Baliunas/ Dr. Willie Soon(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) blame variations in the Sun’s brightness, not CO2 levels, for most of any climate change. This hypothesis was further supported by Fligge and Sulanke(Geophysical Research Letters), who reported that the warming and the cooling of the earth during the past four centuries closely match variations in the Sun’s brightness.

Evidence supports the hypothesis that CO2 levels merely respond to temperature changes--but does not cause them. Historically, concentrations of CO2 have been observed to lag behind changes in atmospheric temperature by 6-8 months. Per Heinz Kothen(German Climate Alliance), ice core samples over the last 150,000 years reveal a considerable delay in CO2 increase. Just this last September, two Russian scientists(Institute of Solar Terrestrial Physics/ Duke University) were convinced that temperature change comes before the CO2 change. They put their money where their mouth is—and bet $10,000 that the planet will cool over the next decade. Interestingly, ‘alarmists’ can’t explain the retreating glaciers before America was discovered and the internal combustion engine invented.

Climate ‘alarmism’ has resulted in increased federal spending on climate research. Pre-1990, expenditures were ONLY a few hundred million dollars. Today it is $1.7 billion/yr. It also seems that many scientists have been cowed not merely by more money, but by fear. In 1992, Al Gore ran two congressional hearings, during which he tried to bully dissenting scientists(including Richard Lindzen—Alfred Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science/ MIT) into changing their views and supporting climate ‘alarmism’. But few scientists wanted to lose climate-research funding for raising questions.

Some even believe more hurricanes are a result. Per the National Hurricane website [www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml], major hurricanes(cat 3,4, &5) peaked in the 1890s, 1930s, and 1940’s. Of the 92 giant hurricanes that have struck the US between 1851 and 2004, 61 of them have occurred before 1950, long before global warming was an issue."

Source

In Gaza, Palestinians fear civil war coming

Hamas, Fatah battle escalating

Palestinians surrounded a vehicle after it was set on fire Thursday in Gaza City during clashes between Hamas militants and police officers loyal to the rival Fatah Party.
(AP Photo)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians are beginning to fear that the Gaza Strip is headed for civil war: Brothers are being recruited by rival security forces. Dueling uniformed groups call each other thieves and enemies between shoot-outs. Hamas militants torch police cars in the streets even as they claim a mantle of government authority. Read on.

A PROFILE IN COURAGE