Friday, July 3, 2009
Sarah Palin Resigning As Governor Of Alaska
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wall Street Journal Editorial Explains Why Norm Coleman Lost His Senate Seat
The Wall Street Journal writes (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640687950076679.html) that "the unfortunate lesson" from the outcome of Al Franken becoming Minnesota's Senator "is that you don't need to win the vote on Election Day as long as your lawyers are creative enough to have enough new or disqualified ballots counted after the fact. Mr. Franken trailed Mr. Coleman by 725 votes after the initial count on election night, and 215 after the first canvass. The Democrat's strategy from the start was to manipulate the recount in a way that would discover votes that could add to his total." The Journal writes that "the team's real goldmine were absentee ballots, thousands of which the Franken team claimed had been mistakenly rejected. While Mr. Coleman's lawyers demanded a uniform standard for how counties should re-evaluate these rejected ballots, the Franken team ginned up an additional 1,350 absentees from Franken-leaning counties. By the time this treasure hunt ended, Mr. Franken was 312 votes up, and Mr. Coleman was left to file legal briefs... What Mr. Franken understood was that courts would later be loathe to overrule decisions made by the canvassing board, however arbitrary those decisions were. He was right... Mr. Coleman didn't lose the election. He lost the fight to stop the state canvassing board from changing the vote-counting rules after the fact... Mr. Franken now goes to the Senate having effectively stolen an election. If the GOP hopes to avoid repeats, it should learn from Minnesota that modern elections don't end when voters cast their ballots. They only end after the lawyers count them."
The Wall Street Journal further points out that this is "now the second time Republicans have been beaten in this kind of legal street fight. In 2004, Dino Rossi was ahead in the election-night count for Washington Governor against Democrat Christine Gregoire. Ms. Gregoire's team demanded the right to rifle through a list of provisional votes that hadn't been counted, setting off a hunt for 'new' Gregoire votes. By the third recount, she'd discovered enough to win. This was the model for the Franken team."
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American Soldier In Taliban Hands In Afghanistan
Is it not sad that Michael Jackson gets more attention by our media than a story like this?
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John Bolton On The "Post-American Presidency" Of Obama And How It's Time For An Israeli Strike On Iran
John Bolton's article "Time for an Israeli Strike?" appeared in the Washington Post today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103020.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns. Bolton persuasively argues that "with Iran's hard-line mullahs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unmistakably back in control, Israel's decision of whether to use military force against Tehran's nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever... Accordingly, with no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. Israel is undoubtedly ratcheting forward its decision-making process. President Obama is almost certainly not... First,Tehran isn't going to negotiate in good faith. It hasn't for the past six years with the European Union as our surrogates, and it won't start now... Second, given Iran's nuclear progress, even if the stronger sanctions Obama has threatened could be agreed upon, they would not prevent Iran from fabricating weapons and delivery systems when it chooses, as it has been striving to do for the past 20 years. Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago. Only those most theologically committed to negotiation still believe Iran will fully renounce its nuclear program. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has a 'Plan B,' which would allow Iran to have a "peaceful" civil nuclear power program while publicly 'renouncing' the objective of nuclear weapons. Obama would define such an outcome as 'success,' even though in reality it would hardly be different from what Iran is doing and saying now... Since there is no likelihood that diplomacy will start or finish in time, or even progress far enough to make any real difference, there is no point waiting for negotiations to play out... Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities. Significantly, the uprising in Iran also makes it more likely that an effective public diplomacy campaign could be waged in the country to explain to Iranians that such an attack is directed against the regime, not against the Iranian people. This was always true, but it has become even more important to make this case emphatically, when the gulf between the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the citizens of Iran has never been clearer or wider. Military action against Iran's nuclear program and the ultimate goal of regime change can be worked together consistently. Otherwise, be prepared for an Iran with nuclear weapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could be contained and deterred. That is not a hypothesis we should seek to test in the real world. The cost of error could be fatal."
Another piece by the always persuasive and thoughtful former ambassador to the United Nations is entitled "The Post-American Presidency." In the lengthy essay he writes that "Obama is the first post-American President. Central to his worldview is rejecting American exceptionalism and the consequences that flow therefrom." That can be read by visiting http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/the-post-american-presidency-features-july-09-john-bolton-obama.
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London Times: Iranian "Opposition Leaders Flagrantly Courted Arrest Yesterday By Denouncing President Ahmadinejad’s Government As Illegitimate"
TimesOnline reports that "three of Iran’s most prominent opposition leaders flagrantly courted arrest yesterday by denouncing President Ahmadinejad’s Government as illegitimate, one day after the regime said that it would tolerate no more challenges to the election result. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the former Prime Minister who lost the election, said that the suppression of dissent was tantamount to a coup. 'It’s not yet too late,' he declared on his website. 'It is our historical responsibility to continue our protests to defend the rights of the people . . . and prevent the blood spilt by hundreds of thousands of martyrs from leading to a police state.' Ayatollah Mohammed Khatami, 65, a popular former President, accused the regime of mounting a 'velvet revolution against the people and democracy' and called the security crackdown 'poisonous'. Mehdi Karroubi, 72, another defeated presidential candidate, said that 'visible and invisible forces blocked any change in the executive power'. He added: 'I will continue the fight under any circumstances and using every means.' The regime responded by shutting down his newspaper. One Iranian analyst expressed astonishment at their audacity. 'It looks like they’re trying to become living martyrs,' he said."
To read the full article visit To read more visit http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6618756.ece.
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Taliban Buying Children For Suicide Bombings
The Washington Times reports that "Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say."
To read more visit http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/taliban-buying-children-to-serve-as-suicide-bomber/.
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Honduras Defies U.S. Requests: "Israel And Taiwan Have Said They Support Us, And I Have Faith That Other Governments Will Follow"
Rueters reports that "the Honduran administration has so far rebuffed any attempts to bring back" President Manuel Zelaya. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti argued the ouster of Zelaya was legal as it was ordered by the Supreme Court to stop Zelaya from trying to extend the presidential four-year term-limit. They say Zelaya was himself acting illegally. One of several clauses that cannot be legally altered in the Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single, 4-year term, and the Congress of Honduras said Zelaya, whose term ends in January, modified a ballot question at the last minute to help him eventually try to seek re-election. Zelaya's popularity dipped to around 30 percent in polls recently as he was pushing for the illegal referendum that the Honduran Supreme Court said violated the country's constitution. Chavez, whom Zelaya strongly supports, has used referendums in Venezuela to win the right to run repeatedly. Micheletti was named by the Honduran Congress to replace Zelaya, not by the military, and Micheletti is from the same political party as Zelaya. He was the head of the Congress of Honduras. He said that Zelaya could be met with an arrest warrant if he returned and warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion. He told the Associated Press that “no one can make me resign,” stating that removal of Zelaya was not a coup but a "constitutional succession." He has pledged to go ahead with the presidential election scheduled for the end of November and has even told reporters he would be "in total agreement" with bringing forward the November 29 presidential election "if it would be a way of resolving these problems."
"Israel and Taiwan have said they support us, and I have faith that other governments will follow," Michelletti has also said. Israel and Taiwan are so far the only two countries in the world to express support for the current government of Honduras.
The Supreme Court of Honduras is also defending its decision. Supreme Court Justice Rosalinda Cruz said in an interview that “[t]he only thing the armed forces did was carry out an arrest order. There’s no doubt he was preparing his own coup by conspiring to shut down the congress and courts.” She said that “some say it was not Zelaya, but Chavez governing.” The arrest order she cited was approved unanimously by the court’s 15 justices. I strongly recommend the Christian Science Monitor article below explaining the legal background, written by a lawyer who is a former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras.
The New York Times reports that the chief lawyer for the armed forces held up a detention order signed by a Supreme Court judge and insisted that what soldiers carried out over the weekend when they detained President Manuel Zelaya was no coup d’état. “A coup is a political move,” the lawyer, Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza Membreño, said Tuesday night in an interview. “It requires the armed forces to assume power over the country, which didn’t happen, and it has to break the rule of law, which didn’t happen either.”
The L.A. Times reports that while "Zelaya addressed a supportive United Nations audience in New York, Hondurans in Tegucigalpa were demonstrating against and, in smaller numbers, in favor of the deposed leftist leader. In Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, several thousand opponents of Zelaya filled a downtown square waving blue-and-white Honduran flags and denouncing Zelaya's ties to Latin American leftists, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez... 'It wasn't a coup!' the crowd chanted. 'Democracy, yes! Communism, no!'" Apparently the United Nations disagreed as the a unanimous vote Tuesday by the U.N. General Assembly condemned Honduras. This would be far from the first time the United Nations was wrong.
"They have only listened to (Zelaya) abroad, they haven't listened to the population. But that doesn't matter. We will continue alone," said Adela Guevara, a hotel worker. How right this hotel worker is.
The AP reports that the Obama administration said Wednesday it has suspended joint military operations with Honduras to protest the military action that forced President Manuel Zelaya into exile. At the State Department, spokesman Ian C. Kelly said the department's top diplomat for the Americas, Thomas Shannon, met with the Chavez-wannabe Zelaya at OAS headquarters on Tuesday evening. Zelaya thanked the administration for supporting his unconditional return to power. The Obama administration appeared to be counting on the threat of Honduras having its OAS membership suspended as leverage in getting Zelaya back in power. The OAS, which groups most of the countries in the Western Hemisphere including the United States, has given the interim leader until Saturday to restore Zelaya or be suspended from the body. Further, the U.S. has suspended some aid to Honduras. "We’ve taken some actions to hit the pause button on assistance programs which we would be legally required to terminate” if the events in Honduras are found to have been a military coup under American law, Kelly told reporters in Washington.
"I'm surprised that Barack Obama is not better informed," retired Honduran Col. Natanael Guevara, 56, said, referring to U.S. condemnation of Honduras for removing Zelaya. "If Honduras falls, Central America falls and then Mexico. I'm ready to put my uniform back on if it means defending my country from Hugo Chavez."
Barack Obama has been meddling on behalf of a Chavez wannabe, but refused to be seen as "meddling" in the Iranian rigged election in which the Islamic fascist dictatorship was killing protestors in the streets. Obama is a bit confused, he has got it backwards. Any time an American president takes the side of the UN-Chavez-Castro-Ortega gang, it should send off alarm signals that something is very wrong. Obama himself refused to sound the alarm immediately in response to Iran's dictatorial brutality, yet immediately sounded the alarm regarding Honduras's removal of Zelaya where in fact there may be no cause for concern at all.
The following are a few more opinion pieces explaining the situation, demonstrating a chorus of criticism of Obama:
1. Washington Post, "Honduras's Coup Is President Zelaya's Fault," by the director of the Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute Alvaro Vargas Llosa, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103210.html
2. Christian Science Monitor, "A 'coup' in Honduras? Nonsense," by former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of Honduras Octavio Sánchez, at http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0702/p09s03-coop.html
3.New York Post, "A Coup To Protect A Constitution," by the Heritage Foundation's Ray Walser, at http://www.nypost.com/seven/06302009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/a_coup_to_protect_a_constitution_176799.htm
4. New York Daily News, "Obama 'meddles' in Honduras -- and chooses the wrong side," by assistant editor of The New Republic James Kirchick, at
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/07/02/2009-07-02_obama_meddles_in_honduras__and_chooses_the_wrong_side.html
5. Wall Street Journal, "Honduras Defends Its Democracy," by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623220955866301.html
6. National Review Editorial, "The Honduran Counter-Coup," at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg4MTU5NzU0OTNkYWZlZjk2ZWZkYzcwNDc0Y2ViMjY=
7. The Weekly Standard, "A Coup for Democracy," by Jaime Daremblum, at http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/678eepbj.asp
The following are a couple photos from some of the anti-Zelaya protests:
The message on the American flag below reads: "Obama, help us to defend our democracy, constitution and freedom. Do not support the following Chavez":
Supporters of Honduras leader Roberto Micheletti holding a copy of their constitution:
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Washington Post Selling Lobbyists Access To White House
Politico reports "for $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to 'those powerful few — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its 'health care reporting and editorial staff.' The offer—which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters—is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival."
This is what Robert Gibbs had to say about this in today's press briefing:
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Study Finds Only 3.5% Of Public High School Students In Arizona Would Be Able To Pass A U.S. Citizenship Test
ABC (http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoenixmetro/central/story/Study-Most-Arizona-students-wouldnt-pass/vAiAFR9bbkuBbiXCgIYW2Q.cspx) reports that "just days before Arizonans join with the rest of the country in celebrating Independence Day, a new study shows most of the state’s high school students wouldn’t pass the test to become American citizens. The Goldwater Institute asked 1,140 high school students 10 random questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services exam. In order to become US citizens, immigrants must answer six of the 10 questions correctly. According to the Freedom from Responsibility: A Survey of Civic Knowledge Among Arizona High School Students, only 3.5 percent of the students in the study got six or more correct." Just let the successes of the government monopoly on education soak in.
Here are the 10 questions used in the telephone survey:
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
3. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
4. How many Justices are on the Supreme Court?
5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
6. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
7. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
8. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
9. Who was the first President of the United States?
10. Who is in charge of the Executive Branch?
A person that can't answer these questions, let alone answer just six out of ten of them, has no business voting. It's as simple as that.
To read the full study and find out more visit http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/3211.
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Taxpayer Funded Overseas Travel Up 50% In Congress Since The Dems Have Taken Control
The Wall Street Journal reports (To read the full study and find out more visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124650399438184235.html):
"Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands. The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That’s a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as 'codels,' has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data."
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June 2009 Unemployment Report: Jobless Rate At 9.5%
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that "nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction. … In June, unemployment rates for the major worker groups–adult men (10.0 percent), adult women (7.6 percent), teenagers (24.0 percent), whites (8.7 percent), blacks (14.7 percent), and Hispanics (12.2 percent)–showed little change. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. … Employment in manufacturing fell by 136,000 over the month and has declined by 1.9 million during the recession. Within the durable goods industry, motor vehicles and parts (-27,000), fabricated metal products (-18,000), computer and electronic products (-16,000), and machinery (-14,000) continued to lose jobs in June. Since the recession began, employment in motor vehicles and parts has declined by 335,000, or about one-third. In June, employment in construction fell by 79,000, with losses spread throughout the industry. Since the start of the recession, construction employment has fallen by 1.3 million. Mining employment fell by 8,000 in June, about in line with the average monthly decline since its recent peak in October 2008. Employment in the professional and business services industry declined by 118,000 in June. This industry has shed 1.5 million jobs since an employment peak in December 2007. Within this sector, employment in temporary help services fell by 38,000 in June; this industry has lost 848,000 jobs since the start of the recession."
Visit http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm for the full report on the June 2009 employment situaton.
I am glad to see the stimulus is working!
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National Security Advisor James L. Jones Tells Comanders In Afghanistan Not To Recommend More Troops Because Obama Will Have A WTF Moment
Yes, a WTF moment, you read that right. Visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063002811_pf.html to read Bob Woodward's full Washington Post article. Otherwise, here is the relevant excerpt:
[Marine Brigadier General] Nicholson had told Jones that he was "a little light," more than hinting that he could use more forces, probably thousands more. "We don't have enough force to go everywhere," Nicholson said. But Jones recalled how Obama had initially decided to deploy additional forces this year. "At a table much like this," Jones said, referring to the polished wood table in the White House Situation Room, "the president's principals met and agreed to recommend 17,000 more troops for Afghanistan." The principals -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Gates; 
Mullen; and the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair -- made this recommendation in February during the first full month of the Obama administration. The president approved the deployments, which included Nicholson's Marines. Soon after that, Jones said, the principals told the president, "oops," we need an additional 4,000 to help train the Afghan army. "They then said, 'If you do all that, we think we can turn this around,' " Jones said, reminding the Marines here that the president had quickly approved and publicly announced the additional 4,000. Now suppose you're the president, Jones told them, and the requests come into the White House for yet more force. How do you think Obama might look at this? Jones asked, casting his eyes around the colonels. How do you think he might feel? Jones let the question hang in the air-conditioned, fluorescent-lighted room. Nicholson and the colonels said nothing. Well, Jones went on, after all those additional troops, 17,000 plus 4,000 more, if there were new requests for force now, the president would quite likely have "a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moment." Everyone in the room caught the phonetic reference to WTF -- which in the military and elsewhere means "What the [expletive]?" Nicholson and his colonels -- all or nearly all veterans of Iraq -- seemed to blanch at the unambiguous message that this might be all the troops they were going to get.
Peter Feaver of Foreign Policy Magazine writes that "it is wrong for him [Obama], or his senior staff [Jim Jones], to tell (or signal, or hint, or suggest to) the military that they, the military, should censor their advice and judgments based on what they think the President ultimately will decide. If it is the BGEN Nicolson's military judgment that he needs more troops to execute the mission, he should -- no, he must -- convey that information up his chain of command and the President must be made aware of that piece of military advice. Nicolson's military judgment could be superceded by a more senior military commander (say, General Petraeus) who may have a bigger-picture military perspective. But a wise commander-in-chief wants to at least know about the perspectives of the lower ranking officers. And, above all, a wise commander-in-chief does not want the military hearing from civilian presidential advisors (and in this context, retired General Jim Jones is a civilian presidential advisor) that they should not be candid in their advice lest it tick off the president or the secretary of defense."
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Pattonesque Speech Delivered To Marines In Afghanistan By Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson Before Major Military Operation Begins
Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, addressed his troops in Afghanistan before the operation launched early Thursday against Taliban-occupied areas. Nicholson's words truly encapsulate the essence of the American spirit. The following are excerpts from his remarks, made without a teleprompter, at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province:
On the mission in the Helmand River valley:
Our job is to get in there and get it back [from the Taliban] ... We don't want to give the enemy one second to think about what he's going to do. Because we're going to be pushing so goddamn hard on the enemy. Our job is to go in there and make contact with the enemy — find the enemy, make contact with the enemy and then we'll hold on. This is an enemy that's used to having small-scale attacks and having the coalition pull back. There is no pullback. We will stay on him, and we will ride him until he's either dead or surrenders.
On the threat of roadside bombs:
Now, I'm concerned about the IEDs [roadside bombs] and I know you are, too. There's a hell of a lot of IEDs out there. As we get in there, we're going to get a better feel for who these people are who are putting them out. We're going to work the networks. And we're going to kill the guys that have a chance to go out there and lay them. But they are out there, and you need to know that.
On putting the Taliban on the defensive:
All too often, it is us who have to think about where we're going to go, where we're going to attack, what we're going to do. In this case, we're going to be so thick in his AO [area of operation] that he's going to have three choices: Stay and fight, which we hope he does; try to blend into the population and just pretend he's a local, in which case the Afghan army and police can sure as hell help identify that along with local leaders; and the third thing is run. And if he tries to run, we've got people waiting for him.
On the Marines' training and preparation:
You probably know the name of every little terrain feature in that AO. And that's good. Because you're going to need to. You're going to need to very quickly get into his turf and get comfortable and make him the guy on the run. Make him the guy who's going to have these decisions as to what he's going to do.
On defeating the enemy:
We'll kill and capture a hell of a lot of enemy over these next couple of weeks, I'm confident of that. And I hope the enemy does try to go chest-to-chest with you. It would be a hell of a big mistake, and I don't think his last mistake. And I suspect we'll see some of that.
On supporting the Afghan people:
We need to make sure we understand that the reason we're here is not necessarily the enemy. The reason we're here is the people. What won the war in al-Anbar province [Iraq] and what changed the war in al-Anbar was not that the enemy eventually got tired of fighting. It's that the people chose a side, and they chose us. We offer the one thing the enemy can never offer, and that's a future; that's hope. The people are looking to you.
On the need to minimize civilian casualties:
We'll surround that house and we'll wait. And here's the reason: If you drop that house and there's one woman, one child, one family in that house — you may have killed 20 Taliban, but by killing that woman or that child in that house, you have lost that community. You are dead to them. You are done. And when I talked to the governor [about this scenario], I said, 'Yeah, but governor, we will have killed 20 Taliban.' And he goes, 'Yeah, but you will have also killed the local family, and the people will always remember that.' The Taliban didn't kill that local family. You did. And as far as they're concerned, you killed locals and you're done. They will do anything they can at that point to help the Taliban and help the enemy against you.
On the media:
I tell you, personally I want the media out there because we've got a hell of a story to tell. I'll tell you, I've never in more than 30 years regretted embedding the media with the Marines that we've been associated with.
On the conditions in enemy territory, in the desert:
Bottom line, fellas, it's hot. It's gonna get hotter. Your packs are heavy. They're gonna get heavier. Our resupply to you is going to be tough. We're focused on getting you water. We're focused on getting you ammo. Chow will come later. Anything else will come later. We'll get you all the water and ammo you can use, but a lot of it may be by air drop, because the roads to get to you may not be open. And like I said, there is no cavalry. There is no reserve. You're gonna fight. And you're gonna stay there, and you're gonna fight until you win.
Final words:
Bottom line, fellas, is that this is the moment. This is the moment you've trained for. This is the moment you came into the Marine Corps for. This is the moment that all of us have been waiting for for a hell of a long time.
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
WSJ: Obama Opposes A "Democratic" "Coup" In Honduras Which Was "A Reaction To Chávez's Rule By The Mob" Tactics Employed By Honduras's President
The Wall Street Journal explains the shameful hypocrisy of Barack Obama when it writes that as far as "military 'coups' go, the one this weekend in Honduras was strangely, well, democratic. The military didn't oust President Manuel Zelaya on its own but instead followed an order of the Supreme Court. It also quickly turned power over to the president of the Honduran Congress, a man from the same party as Mr. Zelaya. The legislature and legal authorities all remain intact. We mention these not so small details because they are being overlooked as the world, including the U.S. President, denounces tiny Honduras in a way that it never has, say, Iran. President Obama is joining the U.N., Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and other model democrats in demanding that Mr. Zelaya be allowed to return from exile and restored to power. Maybe it's time to sort the real from the phony Latin American democrats."
The Wall Street Journal futher explains that "the events in Honduras also need to be understood in the context of Latin America's decade of chavismo." To fully understand the situation unfolding in Honduras, and why Obama is once again wrong on foreign policy, visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640649700876791.html.
Here is Charles Krauthammer explaining the insanity of Obama's Honduras position:
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Six Mousavi Supporters Reportedly Hung By The Iranian Government
The Jerusalem Post reports that "as the Iranian authorities warned the opposition on Tuesday that they would tolerate no further protests over the disputed June 12 presidential elections, a report emerged of the hangings of six supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Speaking after Iran’s top legislative body upheld the election victory of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sources in Iran told this reporter in a telephone interview that the hangings took place in the holy city of Mashhad on Monday. There was no independent confirmation of the report."
The Jerusalem Post also reports that "the crackdown on the opposition in Iran continued on Wednesday, with authorities banning a newspaper allied to presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi after he denounced Iran's government as 'illegitimate' because of claims of voting fraud in last month's election, a reformist political group said. The closure of the daily Etemad-e-Melli, or National Confidence, is another blow by officials seeking to block media and Web sites critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed June 12 re-election was confirmed this week by Iran's powerful Guardian Council."
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Gov. Mark Sanford Says He "Will Be Able To Die Knowing" That He Met His "Soul Mate"
If Mark Sanford is so stupid that he is willing to turn his disgusting affair into a public spectacle, and publicly declare his mistress his soul mate when he still has a wife and kids, then I say it is about time he resigns. Had he kept his private marital issues private, that would be one thing. But for him to be telling this kind of stuff to an AP reporter demonstrates a complete lack of judgment and sheer stupidity not befitting the governor of South Carolina.
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L.A. Times Editorial: The House Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure Has Laid Out A $500-billion Plan With No Way To Pay For It
The Los Angeles Times writes in an editorial today that "it's remarkable what Congress can do when money is no object, as the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure demonstrated when it put out a blueprint for a reauthorization bill to govern the nation's spending on transportation. It's a cornucopia of goodies that's getting strong reviews from interest groups, mainly because it gives them nearly everything they've been asking for: Environmentalists get a new bureaucracy to encourage green projects, public transit agencies get a big influx of cash, high-speed rail enthusiasts get new trains, and states get billions in additional money to build and improve roads, bridges and highways. There's just one small detail that has been left out -- so far, the committee hasn't identified a way to pay for any of this... We'll reserve judgment until we see the committee's funding proposal. But it takes a lot of chutzpah to propose such a huge spending increase in the midst of an economic depression, after the country has racked up nearly $800 billion in stimulus spending and is considering a healthcare plan estimated to cost north of $1 trillion over 10 years. For now, this bill may be a bridge too far."
Even the Los Angeles Times is blasting the Democrat Congress and White House for its completely irresponsible and reckless spending. This story is in no way shocking, but it is inexcusable. The Democrats must be held accountable for out-of-control spending of taxpayer money. To read this important editorial in full be sure to read http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-transportation1-2009jul01,0,532538.story
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Press Corps Presses Robert Gibbs About "Preselected" And "Prepackaged" Questions For Obama Townhall Events
Even Helen Thomas said that the "I mean I'm amazed, I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency and have controlled."
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al: America Voted For "Change" Because Of "The Resolute Steadfastness Of The Viable Peoples...Who Conducted Resistance"
To see the full remarks made by the head of Hamas visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2162.htm. Tweet
Opinion Pieces: WSJ On "Firefighter Justice" And George Will On The "Deeply Depressing" Fact That That The Firefighters "Won Narrowly -- 5 to 4"
The Wall Street Journal writes that "the Supreme Court closed an otherwise unremarkable term on a high note yesterday, rejecting the notion that one kind of racial bias can be remedied by another. On the last day of opinions before the Court is potentially joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the Justices overturned one of her most closely scrutinized cases on workplace discrimination. The effect was to take an important step away from the practice of divvying up jobs by race." To read the full editorial visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631901145470941.html.
George Will has a very important opinion piece worth reading where he writes that although "New Haven's firefighters deservedly won in the Supreme Court, it is deeply depressing that they won narrowly -- 5 to 4. The egregious behavior by that city's government, in a context of racial rabble-rousing, did not seem legally suspect to even one of the court's four liberals, whose harmony seemed to reflect result-oriented rather than law-driven reasoning." To read the full Washington Post op-ed visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/29/AR2009062903382.html.
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CA Speaker Of The Assembly Calls Talk Radio A "Terrorist Threat"
The Los Angeles times asked the following question of California's Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass in an interview: "How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature’s work?"
This is what she answered:
"The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: 'You vote for revenue and your career is over.' I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it’s about free speech, but it’s extremely unfair."
This is a revolting 
statement for the Speaker of the Assembly to make. Apparently she has no respect for the First Amendment, which gives the people the right of free speech. That right specifically refers to political speech more than any other. Furthermore, we hold elections precisely so that we can end the careers of politicians when they violate the will of the people. Karen Bass should be ashamed of herself for calling opposition voices terrorists and paying no respect to the right of the people to petition the government for redress of grievances. She is a poster child for the attitude that has lead California to where it is today.
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Dem Congressman John Yarmuth Says He Was “Close To Nauseated” By The House Giving A Moment Of Silence For Michael Jackson
It's about time somebody said it, and I give a Democrat credit for being the one to say it:
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Norm Coleman Concedes, Democrats Have Filibuster-Proof Majority With Al Franken Now Minnesota's Senator
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The Minnesota Supreme Court today decided that Democrat Al Franken won the highest number of votes in last year’s Senate race. This, thanks to the defection of Arlen Specter earlier this year, gives the Democrat's 60 seats, or a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Republican Norm Coleman had asked the court to order thousands of rejected absentee ballots counted hoping the counting would allow him to overcome Franken. Following the decision, however, Norm Coleman has conceded.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Financial Times: California To Issue IOUs As State Government Faces "Unprecedented Cash Crunch"
The Financial Times reports that "California is preparing to issue IOUs to its creditors this week as it grapples with an unprecedented cash crunch and prepares to begin its new fiscal year deep in the red. Once the US’s richest state, California now has the dubious distinction of having the worst credit rating in the country. It is facing a budget deficit of $24bn (€17bn, £14.5bn) yet Arnold Schwarzenegger, its governor, and the state assembly cannot agree on a budget that would address the shortfall. California’s fiscal year ends on Wednesday but as the state’s cash reserves are empty, IOUs will be issued to a range of creditors, including contractors, such as information technology companies and the food service groups that cater for prisons... The state is also likely to issue IOUs to the US government. California currently contributes funding for government-run programmes for elderly and developmentally disabled people but is considering issuing IOUs to cover its contributions because of the lack of cash. Education funding is protected under the state’s constitution while payments on the state’s bond debt are also guaranteed under state law."
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Robert Gibbs Refuses To Say That President Would Veto Any Health Care Bill That Would Violate His Campaign Tax Pledge
Members of the press corps actually laugh at Gibbs when his answer is that "we are going to let the process work its way through."
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Supreme Court Overturns Sotomayor's Decision In The New Haven Reverse-Discrimination Firefighters Case
Justice Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote, with Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito joining him in the decision. He wrote that "[w]e conclude that race-based action like the City’s in this case is impermissible under Title VII unless the employer can demonstrate a strong basis in evidence that, had it not taken the action, it would have been liable under the disparate-impact statute. The respondents, we further determine, cannot meet that threshold standard. As a result, the City’s action in discarding the tests was a violation of Title VII. In light of our ruling under the statutes, we need not reach the question whether respondents’ actions may have violated the Equal Protection Clause. …In other words, there is no evidence —let alone the required strong basis in evidence—that the tests were flawed because they were not job-related or because other, equally valid and less discriminatory tests were available to the City. Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions. The City’s discarding the test results was impermissible under Title VII, and summary judgment is appropriate for petitioners on their disparate-treatment claim."
To read Justice Scalia's brief and interesting concurrence about how the Court avoided the central issue of "the war between [Title VII's] disparate impact [provisions] and equal protection" and "how—and on what terms—to make peace between them," visit http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-1428.ZC.html
To read the majority opinion, Alito's concurrence, or Ginsburg's dissent in full, visit http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-1428.ZD.html
The firefighters celebrated their legal victory:
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LA Times Op-Ed: "In Defense Of 'Settlements': Jews Belong In Judea And Samaria As Much As Palestinians Who Stayed In Israel"
To read this important article dealing with the "settlements" issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, visit http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-medad28-2009jun28,0,6267445.story.
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Sunday, June 28, 2009
YouTube Videos Show Continuing Protests In Teheran
The Los Angeles Times reports that videos on YouTube purport to show demonstrators with hands in the air in front of the Ghoba mosque, chanting boisterously in support of Mousavi.
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Fuzzy Stimulus Math Regarding Jobs
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Honduran President Ousted In Military Coup
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Reuters reports that "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert after a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed."
"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," he said, while hundreds of red-shirted supporters gathered outside Venezuela's presidential palace
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Iran Arrests Eight British Embassy Workers
The AP reports that "Iranian media reported Sunday that authorities have detained eight local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in post-election protests, signaling a hardening of Iran’s stance toward the West. … The semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday that eight local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran were detained. The eight were suspected of having played a 'significant role' in the recent unrest, Fars said in a report also cited by Iran’s English-language, state-run Press TV. The reports, which could not be confirmed independently, gave no further details. A spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Office said the British government is looking into the Iranian reports. 'We’re not able to say any more at this stage, because the situation is obviously quite sensitive,' the spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity."
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The Names Of The Eight Republicans That Voted For Cap And Trade In The House
Credit to Michelle Malkin for compiling the list of the "the 8 cap-and-tax Republican turncoats" along with numbers that everyone should use to call and let these politicians know that you will not stand for this:
Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165
Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385 (who is seriously considering running for Senate)
Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572
McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611
Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761
Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765
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Iranian Guards Use Tasers And Batons On Protestors Storming Embassy In Sweden
The AP reports that "angry demonstrators broke into the Iranian Embassy outside Stockholm on Friday, climbing in through shattered windows and injuring one embassy worker, police said. More than 150 people had gathered outside the embassy to protest against the Iranian regime, when some of them attacked the building with rocks and tore down a fence to enter the embassy grounds, police spokesman Ulf Hoglund said. … 'We want a regime change,' said Firouzeh Ghaffrpour, one of the organizers. 'The Islamic system is not wanted by the people of Iran.' The protesters, mostly Iranians, also demanded the embassy be closed."
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"Where Are The Jobs?": House Republican Leader John Boehner Slams The Stimulus And More
The Hill reports on John Boehnor "using his privilege as leader to speak for an unlimited time on the House floor," and how "Boehner spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted 219-212 to approve it." The Hill reports that "when asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, 'Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t.'"
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