"I’m the only Republican candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton" – Rudy

I’m not exactly sure what Mayor Giuliani has been smoking, however I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been sharing with me.

NEW YORK – Rudy Giuliani has focused on November 2008 — and Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton — from the outset of his presidential bid with a strategy as uncertain as it is necessary.

“I’m not running against my Republican opponents. I’m running against the Democrats,” Giuliani insists as he brushes aside reality: before going toe-to-toe with that party’s nominee, he must win the GOP nod.

It’s a tall — though not impossible — order.

The former New York mayor with the messy personal life and moderate-to-liberal positions on social issues is an unorthodox choice given that conservative voters usually hold considerable sway in Republican primaries.

But since the year began and to the surprise of many party pundits, the politician whose identity is forever linked to 9/11, has maintained his strong-contender status.

Republican strategists attribute his staying power in no small part to his central argument to GOP voters desperate for victory next fall: He can win against a Democrat — and one in particular.

“I’m the only Republican candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani often says.

Hillary’s camp would have us believe that she is the de-facto winner for the democratic ticket. However, with her negatives, I am not so sure that she can win an overall election. She may be able to win the democrats over, but can she win the country? That is the choice that the Dems are going to be faced with. If they are smart they may find someone who appeals to both sides of the fence.

I don’t think that Rudy is the man to win the Republican ticket. I don’t find him to be conservative enough on many issues. I don’t think he can win over the NRA, and without the NRA, I don’t believe he can get the nomination.

 

Technorati Tags: Rudy, NRA, Gun Rights, Clinton, Republican Nomination

Global Warming Hysteria Politics

By Walter Williams

Despite increasing evidence that man-made CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas and contributor to climate change, politicians and others who wish to control our lives must maintain that it is.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Rep. John Dingell wants a 50-cents-a-gallon tax on gasoline. We’ve heard such calls before, but there’s a new twist. Dingell also wants to eliminate the mortgage tax deduction on what he calls “McMansions,” homes that are 3,000 square feet and larger. That’s because larger homes use more energy.

One might wonder about Dingell’s magnanimity in increasing taxes for only homes 3,000 feet or larger. The average U.S. home is around 2,300 square feet, compared with Europe’s average of 1,000 square feet. So why doesn’t Dingell call for disallowing mortgage deductions on houses more than 1,000 square feet? The reason is there would be too much political resistance, since more Americans own homes under 3,000 square feet than over 3,000. The full agenda is to start out with 3,000 square feet and later lower it in increments.

Our buying into global warming hysteria will allow politicians to do just about anything, upon which they can muster a majority vote, in the name of fighting climate change as a means to raise taxes.

In addition to excuses to raise taxes, congressmen are using climate change hysteria to funnel money into their districts. Rep. David L. Hobson, R-Ohio, secured $500,000 for a geothermal demonstration project. Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., got $500,000 for a fuel-cell project by Superprotonic, a Pasadena company started by Caltech scientists. Money for similar boondoggles is being called for by members of both parties.

There are many ways to reduce CO2 emissions, and being 71 years of age I know many of them. Al Gore might even consider me carbon neutral and possibly having carbon credits because my carbon offsets were made in advance. For example, for the first 15 years of my life, I didn’t use energy-consuming refrigerators; we had an icebox. For two decades I listened to radio instead of watching television and walked or used public transportation to most places. And for more than half my life I didn’t use energy-consuming things such as computers, clothes dryers, air conditioning and microwave ovens. Of course, my standard of living was much lower…

Read More of this article from Walter Williams other pertinent articles at JWR

Tags: Al Gore, Caltech scientists, carbon neutral, CO2, global warming hysteria, Rep. Adam B. Schiff-D-Calif., Rep. David L. Hobson-R-Ohio, Rep. John Dingell, standard of living, Superprotonic.

---

State Fines Certified Midwife $11,000

Diane Goslin, a certified midwife with 25 years experience, was barred from practicing in Pennsylvania and fined $11,000.

“I am grieved that the medical board has chosen to attack the freedom to choose home birth,” Goslin said Friday in a statement issued by James Strickler, a supporter serving as her spokesman. “The Amish and others who believe home birth is best for them have enjoyed this freedom for centuries. They also feel attacked.”

Why did the state attack her?

Well if you ignore all the empty rhetoric coming from the state Board of Medicine and read between the lines it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY!!!

PA is hurting for money because of our corrupt governor and legislature. The state needs to control everyone and collect money from licensing. And they do not want anyone to have a natural, low cost method of Birthing.

Goslin went through a three-year apprenticeship and eventually was certified through the North American Registry of Midwives.

What brought her to the attention to the “Big, Evil, Brother” Machinery of this state was a death of a new born.

Goslin faced civil sanctions for assisting an Amish woman at a home birth in November 2005. The baby died 21 hours later, but no criminal charges were filed.

Why no criminal charges? Because the Coroner determined the baby died of causes not Diane Goslin’s fault. In fact the baby would have died even if delivered in an expensive hospital and delivered by an expensive Doctor.

Since this was an “act of GOD” and the state can’t make any money off of HIM they chose to pick on a certified midwife, Diane Goslin.

Of course our money-grubbing state won’t accept any other certification, no matter how exemplary, if they don’t make any money off of it. But 28 other states accept her certification.

Ok, people, time to call, write, email and fax your legislators and tell them to lay off.

Remember to stick up for your fellowman, because you never know when you’re going to be next!

— Al (Grumpy Old Man)

Read more at Lancaster Online

See previous story Get your doctors off my birthing

Tags: Amish, certified midwifes, Diane Goslin, doctors, Freedom, home birth, money, North American Registry of Midwives.

---

Ahmadinejad and Chavez Get Closer

CARACAS, Venezuela – After being vilified during his U.N. visit this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Venezuela to meet his close friend and fellow America-hater, President Hugo Chavez.

“Together we are surely growing stronger, closer, more attuned to each other’s feelings and needs, and in truth no one can defeat us,” the Iranian leader said through an interpreter.

Chavez tenderly embraced the Iranian leader, calling him “one of the most daring and handsome anti-imperialist fighters” and “one of the spunkiest leaders for true peace.”

Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad’s courage while under hostile questioning at New York’s Columbia University. “An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, calling you a cruel little tyrant, which, while true, was extremely rude. You responded with the greatness of a revolutionary – strong yet sensitive, firm yet tender, petite yet well-muscled. I got chills.”

Commentary: Sometimes you see two people just meant for each other, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Ahmadinejad Bonds With Chavez:

Tags: Hugo Chavez, New York’s Columbia University, Venezuela.

---

Bring Out Your Dead: Fudging the Numbers in Iraq

Exclusive: Bring Out Your Dead: Fudging the Numbers in Iraq

[Italic Emphasis is mine. ---Al]

Author: Glen Reinsford
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: September 27, 2007

Totting up the numbers of dead civilians and soldiers in Iraq has gone from being a spectator sport to a full-time operation, with the exalted goal of finding fault with America. But who’s watching the beancounters? FSM Contributing Editor Glen Reinsford is, and his analysis may surprise you.

Bring Out Your Dead:
Fudging the Numbers in Iraq

By Glen Reinsford

Counting bodies in Iraq has become quite the fashion these days. Most major news organizations, from CNN to the New York Times, keep an up-to-the-minute running total of the number of U.S. troops killed there. Critics note that if demoralization of the war effort is not the key motive, then it is certainly odd that the number of dead terrorists is so rarely, if ever, provided as well. [Emphasis added]

Dead Iraqis are extremely popular with anti-war groups, particularly IraqBodyCount (IBC), which meticulously compiles a database of deadly incidents in Iraq based on news and morgue reports. The organization’s “counter” of civilian casualties was once found on the sidebar of most anti-war blogs – before bloggers were seduced by the wildly insane Lancet survey estimates, which exceed IBC’s numbers by a factor of 10.

To its credit, IBC relies on actual news reports, morgue and hospital statistics. Although not as popular with the anti-war Left as it once was, the organization gained some measure of general credibility by taking the Lancet to task for shoddy research practices. (Even the Lancet has now been outdone by a recent ORB survey which states that 1 out of every 20 Iraqis has been killed in the last four and a half years).

Of course, no one seemed at all concerned about mortality statistics back in the Saddam era, when they were climbing at a much faster rate. [Emphasis added] The government executions and militia massacres were private affairs then, with the victims surreptitiously disposed of in unmarked mass graves well away from media attention.

It was not until the Americans became involved in Iraq that a sudden interest in dead Iraqis developed, along with the hope that their condition could be blamed on America itself. [Emphasis added] It was in those heady days of ground combat operations and rumored cluster bomb attacks on helpless neighborhoods that IBC began keeping track of civilian deaths caused by “U.S.-led Coalition forces.”

Unfortunately for IBC, major combat operations came to an end after a few months and the effort turned toward establishing a democratic government. Iraqis were no longer dying from war, but from the efforts of Islamic terrorists, who showed increasing disregard for the future of the country and the welfare of its citizens.

IBC had a decision to make. Would it count the victims of terror as victims of terror, or would it continue to call them “war” casualties of the original U.S.-led operation when, in fact, Americans were spilling their own blood to protect Iraqis?

IBC decided to blame Americans for the very sectarian violence that their soldiers are trying to stop, in a shameful leap of logic that actually perpetuates the bloody cycle. Radical groups like al Qaeda recruit young Muslims by convincing them that Iraqi civilians are under attack by the American forces in Iraq. It is this terror pipeline of suicide bombers and other architects of violence which (ironically enough) constitutes the only real threat to Iraqi security and self-reliance. [Emphasis added]

The grain of truth in the propaganda is that a number of Iraqi civilians do die each year from the collateral damage of American bombs and bullets intended for terrorists. The Arab and Muslim media do an impressive job of exaggerating the number of victims by providing inordinate attention to the portion of the violence to which Americans are held responsible. As a result, the Arab street opposes “U.S. policy in Iraq” and talks as if the Americans are largely behind the 75,000 or so civilian deaths that are reported by IBC and various news agencies.

But this isn’t true. The percentage of Iraqi civilian deaths killed by collateral damage from American attacks is currently running between 1 and 2% of the overall number. [Emphasis added]

This means that the vast majority of civilians killed are dying at the hands of Islamic terrorists recruited to “save” their fellow Muslims from the “occupation.”

This number isn’t easy to find – even in IBC’s database. Despite recording such precise details as the time of day that an attack occurred and the demographic information of the victims, IBC does not keep track of the perpetrators. This information can only be gleaned by manually analyzing each incident, which is what my own website, TheReligionofPeace.com (TROP), did in February of 2007.

A few months after TROP posted its informal findings (that just over 1% of Iraqis were dying from American collateral damage, according to IraqBodyCount’s own database) IBC increased its estimate of overall civilian deaths in 2006 by 11% and its estimate of those caused by coalition troops by a whopping 38%! [Emphasis added] …

… Although twelve times more likely to personalize the victims of attacks involving Americans, IBC is also twenty-five times more likely to depersonalize descriptions of non-Coalition attacks. Victims of terrorism are said to have been killed by disembodied “bombs,” “explosions,” and “gunfire” in all but 49 out of 2213 cases, while fully half of the U.S.-related incidents are blamed on “US troops,” “US soldiers,” or “US forces.”

This objectification is by design, of course. So much so that it is almost comical in places. In at least two instances, for example, Iraqis are said to have been killed by a “suicide truck.”

Shiites are mentioned as the perpetrators of violence only once. The Sunnis – never. And al Qaeda, which not only stages dozens of spectacular suicide bombings each year, but deliberately triggered a devastating holy war by attacking Shiites and their mosques, is given a complete free pass by IraqBodyCount. They are never once mentioned as the party responsible for the many deadly attacks that they directly coordinate, nor are they credited with the residual violence intentionally spawned…

… Still, given the massive capability of American firepower and the complete disregard for civilian casualties exhibited by an enemy that does what it can to blend in with the local population, it is plainly evident that the Americans are taking extraordinary measures to protect innocent Iraqis from collateral damage. [Emphasis added] If this is an “occupation,” then it may be the first in history in which an army takes three times the casualties that civilians on the ground do from collateral damage. [Emphasis added]

However, IBC is undeterred by the low number of casualties from U.S. action, and insists that Americans be faulted for all of the violence…

… Here is the glaring inconsistency: If IBC truly believes that collateral damage from foreign troops propels the “insurgency,” then why does the organization misrepresent and exaggerate these casualties? Why does IBC employ double standards and deceptive language to embellish the number of civilians who are dying from U.S.-related incidents when doing so needlessly fuels the violence?

Beneath the public moralizing, it appears that anti-war groups have an underlying political agenda that is not always in line with their purported motives. Although operating under the cover of compassion, the success and welfare of the Iraqi people is of secondary concern to America’s failure. [Emphasis added]

Reprehensible as well is the sanctimonious posturing of much of the Islamic world outside of Iraq, which demonizes America and her allies for the problems on the ground – even as its only contribution to Iraqi progress is the very Mujahideen who thwart it.

But this is what happens when moral superiority becomes an end unto itself. Having problems to blame on America becomes more important than resolving them, even if it means sacrificing Iraqis to the god of anti-American bigotry. [Emphasis added]

Click to Read the Rest of Glen Reinsford’s article

# #

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Glen Reinsford is Editor of the Religion of Peace

Thanks to Carol A. Taber President of FamilySecurityMatters.org for permission to reprint.

---

Temporary Victory On Dream Amnesty – Send A FREE Fax

Temporary victory on DREAM Amnesty:
Ask your senators to oppose it as a stand-alone bill

This new fax has been posted in your Action Buffet based on your answers to the Interest Survey.

You can find this FREE Fax by proceeding to:
http://www.numbersusa.com/faxcenter

On September 27, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that the DREAM Act would not be considered as an amendment to H.R. 1585, the Defense Department authorization bill for fiscal year 2008.

The Washington Times reports, however, that Reid will push for passage of the DREAM Act, which would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, by different means (possibly in its stand-alone form [S. 774, sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin {D-Ill.}]) before the Senate adjourns for the year (i.e., on or about November 16).

Reid’s concession on the DoD authorization bill may doom other immigration-related amendments to the defense bill as well.

Please fax your senators: We have stopped the DREAM Act for now, but there is already a push to pass it as a stand-alone bill.

Tell your senators how pleased you are that the amnesty amendment has been pulled from consideration on the DoD authorization bill, but that you are very upset that Majority Leader Reid has promised to bring the amnesty up again before November 16.

Tell Senate offices that the following things remain unchanged:

- The DREAM Act allows illegal “teens” to petition for their parents, leading eventually to their aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins:

The big argument for this amnesty is that it is for teenagers who are here illegally because their parents broke the law. Even with the new “less-than-30″ age requirement, far more than teens can get this amnesty (and Sen. Durbin has included “humanitarian” and “family unity” exceptions to the age limit). Nonetheless, the argument is that the teenagers should not be punished for the crimes of their parents.

But as soon as DREAM amnesty citizens are over 21, they can bring in their parents who broke the law to get them into the country. The chief criminals will be rewarded after all.

And because of Chain Migration, the amnestied “teens” can see their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents getting permanent U.S. residency as well.

- The DREAM Act does not Protect Americans from Terrorists and Criminals:

Illegal immigrants are not required to submit fingerprints or undergo background security checks at any point in the DREAM Act process. Therefore, DHS has no way of learning whether an alien seeking DREAM Act amnesty is a terrorist or criminal. This security failure is compounded by the confidentiality section of the DREAM Act, which is a relic from pre-9/11 days (it’s modeled on the fraud-prone 1986 amnesty). This section basically requires DHS to hide information about terrorist and criminal aliens from itself. If a DHS adjudicator at USCIS learns from a DREAM Act application that an alien poses terrorist or criminal concerns, the adjudicator is prohibited from alerting ICE enforcement officers at DHS, and in fact, if the adjudicator did volunteer such information to ICE, he could be fined $10,000. To cap it all, DHS is prohibited from removing from the United States all aliens, including criminals, terrorists, fraudsters, and other ineligible aliens while they have a DREAM Act application pending, even if that application is based upon fraud or the alien is ineligible.

- The DREAM Act Offers Citizenship to Illegal Aliens Who Lack Good Moral Character:

The DREAM Act does not require that aliens have a history of good moral character; it only requires that they have good moral character from the time that they apply. This means that criminal aliens, terrorists, and other aliens who lack good moral character before they apply get an amnesty for their pre-application period conduct, no matter how bad or extensive that conduct.

- The DREAM Act is Not Just for Young People:

Sponsors insist that the point of the DREAM Act is to provide legal status to “kids” and “young people.” However, the DREAM Act is not directed just at minors. Under the “new” DREAM Act, anyone 29 years old or younger, who illegally entered the United States before the age of 16 and has illegally remained here for 5 years or more will qualify for lawful permanent residence (and eventual citizenship) if they satisfy the easily-met criteria for DREAM Act amnesty. Illegal aliens who are 30-years-old or older can still be granted the DREAM amnesty through “humanitarian” or “family unity” waivers.

- The DREAM Act is a Big Amnesty:

It’s estimated there are some 2 million illegal immigrant children in the United States. They are only a portion of the millions of aliens who will likely qualify for the DREAM Act amnesty, because the DREAM Act does not place a cap on the number of people who qualify, provides exceptions to the newly-formed under-30 age limit, and applies retroactively to anyone who first entered before age 16. Furthermore, the recipients of the DREAM Act amnesty will be permitted to petition for their illegal parents and adult relatives once they become citizens.

- The DREAM Act is Deceptive:

The marketing campaign for the DREAM Act makes as though the amnesty is intended for high school graduates who are on their way to college or military service. But the bill as written ensures that illegal immigrants don’t have to attend high school or go to college to qualify for the amnesty: they need only take an ability-to-benefit test and complete a 1-year vocational program to get eventual citizenship (and there’s no requirement that they actually complete their college education). Nor do aliens have to join the Armed Forces: they need only go to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or Public Health Service for 2 years to get eventual citizenship.

- The DREAM Act is a Fraud Machine:

We know from experience that amnesty from immigration laws generates massive fraud, and the DREAM Act is no exception. Nothing in the DREAM Act will prevent a 29-year old alien from asserting that he entered the United States before the age of 16 and has remained here ever since. The DREAM Act is silent on how DHS will determine the veracity of such claims. The DREAM Act will actually promote fraud because it prevents DHS from deporting aliens who’ve applied for the amnesty until their applications are resolved – a process that will likely take years, because DHS lacks the resources to rapidly process the millions of applications it will receive. Even if DHS eventually decides that some aliens do not qualify for the amnesty, DHS cannot use the statements aliens made in their applications to deport them, because their statements are protected by the confidentiality section in the DREAM Act.

- The DREAM Act is Unfair to American Students and Taxpayers:

The “new” DREAM Act removed the in-state college tuition section. However, aliens who get the amnesty will become legal residents and will therefore be automatically eligible for in-state tuition anyway.

- The DREAM Act Puts Illegal Immigrants at the Front of the Line for Green Cards:

The DREAM Act requires that applications for its amnesty must be expedited, bars DHS from charging fees for expedited service, and fails to provide DHS the additional personnel and equipment needed to handle expedited applications. Because millions of people will file applications for DREAM Act amnesty (regardless of whether or not they eventually qualify), DHS will experience a significant backlog of cases that will necessarily slow DHS’ ability to process conventional business and family visas, and applications for naturalization. This will adversely impact our economy, and disrupt the settled expectations of intending legal immigrants to the United States.

- The DREAM Act Will Allow Dangerous Criminal Aliens to Remain At Large in the United States:

DHS lacks the resources to detain all criminal aliens it encounters in the United States, and so DHS has to pick and choose which criminals to hold for deportation. When DHS deports a criminal al ien, the detention or “bed space” vacated by the out-going criminal is immediately filled by another criminal alien. The DREAM Act does not disqualify anyone (even criminals) from filing an application and bars DHS from removing any alien who’s filed an application for amnesty. Thus, criminal aliens who have no desire to be deported will file DREAM Act applications to halt or slow their deportations, which means they will spend more time taking up detention space which could be used to house other criminal aliens. That means more criminal aliens whom DHS cannot house will be free to roam the United States. The DREAM Act also creates an opportunity for extremely dangerous criminal aliens to be released into the general population. By law, a criminal alien who is subject to a final order of removal must be released from DHS custody within 90 days if his removal is not “reasonably foreseeable.” As mentioned previously, the DREAM Act does not allocate resources to DHS to process the millions of applications that are sure to be filed, which will result in very lengthy delays. The result? A dangerous criminal alien who would otherwise have been removed from the United States files his DREAM Act application, and when that application stalls at DHS with millions of others, he can file a petition in a district court after 90 days to effect his release because his removal is not “reasonably foreseeable.”

Thank you for sticking with this fight!

• Read More at NumbersUSA

[Send a FREE Fax Now to your Senators. They have your Senators (and Representatives) on file.

It will only take a minute or two to save you HUNDREDS of DOLLARS in Tax Money by defeating these Amnesty Bills. While you're there check on your Members of Congress "Grades" on immigration. I was shocked!
Al]

Tags: Chain Migration, Criminals, DHS, Dick Durbin – D-Ill, Dream Amnesty, ICE enforcement officers, Illegal immigrants, Senate, Terrorists.

---

Party Crasher

Author: Newt Gingrich
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.

Newt Gingrich speaks out against what he aptly terms the “entrenched elite establishment” in American governance at all levels, which he deems corrosive to our safety, security and continued economic prosperity. He rejects opportunistic partisanship, calling for major changes.

Party Crasher

By Newt Gingrich
… Contrary to what candidates in either party may think, the political dividing line in America doesn’t run between the GOP and minorities. For most Americans, it’s not even found between Republicans and Democrats, or the red-versus-blue-state invention of the media.

The real division is between hardworking, tax-paying Americans – of both parties and all races – and an entrenched, permanent governing system in Washington and state capitals designed to serve its own needs and not the needs of the American people.

Over the 42 years since the beginning of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the increasing power of public employee unions, the growth of the bureaucracies, the rise of lawyers, the development of complex regulatory legalism, and the entrenchment of an elite establishment that imposes political correctness have combined to create this permanent governing class system.

And the values of this permanent government are not those of the Americans who pay the taxes and the union dues that support it. Its bureaucracies value process more than achievement; its lawyers value rules over results; and its politically correct elite value avoiding embarrassment more than telling the truth about failure.

In stark contrast, the American people, regardless of race and party affiliation, are overwhelmingly united on key values and on the need for real change in the way America governs itself…

PERMANENT PROBLEMS

Democracies fail when the values of the voters are so clearly at odds with the values of the permanent governing establishment who control the nation’s and the states’ capitals. How did we get to this point?

We’ve witnessed failure after failure of the permanent government: failure to secure the border; failure to adequately respond to Hurricane Katrina; failures in implementation in Iraq and Afghanistan; failure to control the grotesque explosion of congressional pork; failure to make our urban school systems produce educated children; failure to make English the official language of government; failure to balance the federal budget; failure to fix our healthcare delivery system; and failure to reform – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

These failures of the permanent government are clearly unacceptable to most Americans. But for the permanent government and its interest group allies, the system works just fine because it serves their needs…

A NEW WAY

In all areas that challenge our nation, we need collaborative, citizen-based solutions, but our political process is designed to give us consultant-led partisan warfare.

We need dramatically new ideas, but the system is designed to give us safe, poll-tested sound bites.

We need a genuine dialogue that transcends party and race, but the system gives us bitterly partisan, highly choreographed political theater and calls it “debate.”…

What America needs in 2008 is the opposite of modern political campaigning.

This requires the creation and sustaining of a citizens movement that reaches out beyond the presidency to the more than 500,000 elected officials at every level of government, from school boards to the White House. To begin the process of creating such a movement, my organization, American Solutions, will hold a series of nationwide workshops on the challenges facing America this Thursday and Saturday, the 13th anniversary of the Contract with America (americansolutions.com).

In substance, this requires reclaiming our country from the permanent governing elite and some difficult choices for both parties…

• Read More of Newt Gingrich’s insightful article.

Mr. Gingrich is the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and author of “Winning the Future“.

• Many thanks to Carol A. Taber President of FamilySecurityMatters.org for permission to reprint.

Tags: Americans, bureaucracies, citizen-based solutions, complex regulatory legalism, entrenched elite establishment, lawyers, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, permanent governing system, political correctness, public employee unions.

---

Mahmoudapalooza: The Good, the Bad and the Craven

Author: Michelle Malkin
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: September 26, 2007

What is more frightening: inviting the president of a nation that supports terror to speak at a prominent American university, or the “polarity” surrounding the event? As FSM Contributing Editor Michelle Malkin reports, the naiveté of Leftists bodes ill for our nation.

Mahmoudapalooza: The Good, the Bad and the Craven

• By Michelle Malkin

When my children are grown, I can tell them where I was when bloodthirsty Iranian thug-in-chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dared to disgrace Columbia University with his presence. I was standing with Jewish leaders, Iranian-American dissidents, World War II veterans and other concerned citizens, young and old, taking a stand against evil outside the campus gates.

Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, an Iranian-born activist whose dissident journalist father is jailed in her homeland, was appalled at the ignorance and moral equivalence of the Leftists who paraded in front of the TV cameras with their Bush-is-a-terrorist paraphernalia. A few goons held a large banner that read: “Ahmadinejad is bad. Bush is worse.”

“It’s not always about Bush,” Zand-Bonazzi exclaimed after schooling the Ahmadinejad apologists and pointing out fellow Iranian protesters holding signs memorializing persecuted and executed countrymen. The ANSWER mobsters, she fumed, “have their history wrong. They don’t see the greater threat. They don’t get it.”

Rabbi Avi Weiss, a Jewish Orthodox leader from the Bronx, gets it. Standing amid a small but sturdy sea of “Hitler lives” and “Never forget” placards, Rabbi Weiss told me: “The First Amendment means you have the right to invite in the arch-terrorists of the world. It doesn’t mean that you are obligated to do so – especially when this whole visit was initiated by the Iranian mission, and Iranian missions around the world are known to have fomented and orchestrated in the communities where they are.” Instead of being feted, Rabbi Weiss said, “this man, who is responsible for contributing to the killing of American troops in Iraq, should be served with papers and hauled into court.”

Several anti-Ahmadinejad protesters expressed disappointment that a larger crowd had not turned out in New York City. I concur. Ahmadinejad’s nuclear ambitions, Mahdi devotion, Jew hatred, Holocaust denial, human rights repression and American troop-murdering machinery threaten us all. Not just Jews. Not just persecuted Persian activists. Not just military families.

Immediately before landing in the Big Apple, the Iranian madman was grandmaster of a military parade in Tehran punctuated with “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” posters. Newsflash: It’s not an either/or death wish.

Lost in the debate over the Columbia “debate” are the jumbo-sized Jihadi dots connecting Iran to global Islamic terrorism, including 9/11. The 9/11 Commission Report stated in a section on Iran and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing that “the evidence of Iranian involvement is strong.”

On Iran and al Qaeda partnerships, the report concluded, “there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers. There also is circumstantial evidence that senior Hezbollah operatives were closely tracking the travel of some of these future muscle hijackers into Iran in November 2000.”

The report said of Iran training al Qaeda that “In late 1991 or 1992, discussions in Sudan between al Qaeda and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in providing support – even if only training – for actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States. Not long afterward, senior al Qaeda operatives and trainers traveled to Iran to receive training in explosives . . . The relationship between al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations.”

You won’t be surprised, then, to learn that the weekend before Mahmoud arrived at Columbia, foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met to “stress the need for unity among world Muslims, and called for vigilance in the face of plots hatched by enemies to sow discord among the Shiite and Sunnite Muslims.” No, it didn’t come up in the “debate.”

On my train ride home from Mahmoudapalooza, I spoke briefly with a Columbia University grad steeped in the Ivy League haze of non-judgment. She was upset and embarrassed – not by Columbia president Lee Bollinger’s bone-headed decision to legitimize Ahmadinejad at its World Leaders Forum. No, she was mortified that Bollinger had delivered his face-saving introduction challenging Ahmadinejad.

With childlike naiveté, this Columbia alum told me: “I’m frightened by the polarity.” Which about sums up the majority view of academia and the Ahmadinejad excusers on the Left: They are more afraid of standing up and calling out evil than losing the West, their country and their own lives to it.

# #

Michelle Malkin is author of “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild.” Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.

• Thanks to Carol A. Taber President of FamilySecurityMatters.org for permission to reprint.

Tags: academia, American university, arch-terrorists, childlike naiveté, Columbia president Lee Bollinger, Columbia University, concerned citizens, First Amendment, Hitler, Holocaust denial, Iranian-American dissidents, Jewish leaders, Michelle Malkin, New York City, World Leaders Forum, World War II veterans

---

Couric Blasts War, Flag-Wearers

Couric Explains Personal Politics

WASHINGTON DC – Speaking at the National Press Club Tuesday evening, CBS “Evening News” anchor Katie Couric pulled back the curtain on her personal views about the war in Iraq, the Bush Administration, and mindless patriotism.

Speaking of the Iraq war, the poised newswoman said, “I’ve never understood why [invading Iraq] was so high on the administration’s agenda when global warming and efforts to deny a woman’s right to kill her unborn fetus are so much more threatening to our way of life.”

Thanks to her many years reading teleprompters, Couric has become one of America’s most intelligent sociopolitical/foreign policy experts, and outspoken critics of the war. She traces her discomfort with the administration’s march to war back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“The whole culture of wearing those idiotic flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States made me very uncomfortable – like this awful country is better than any other. I hate that stupid flag and anybody who’s proud just because he or she is an American. They’re clueless morons.”

Commentary: Katie Couric has certainly shown she deserves to be at the forefront of the mainline media, displaying the qualities needed to present today’s stories in an unbiased, objective matter.

Tags: abortion, American, CBS “Evening News”, culture, flags, foreign policy experts, Katie Couric, mindless patriotism, National Press Club, sociopolitical.

---

Riding Off Into The Double Standard Sunset…

 I don’t know the details of the case, but I’m pretty sure that if this 36 year old teacher was a female, and not a male; that he would just get a slap on the wrist and maybe a fine and probation.

Instead, this guy will more than likely spend all kinds of money he doesn’t have to keep him from going to prison for several decades.

SKANEATELES, N.Y. — In handcuffs, William Milham, 36, was escorted to his arraignment by State Police. The Skaneateles High School history teacher is charged with three felony counts of criminal sex act.

“Mr. Milham was arrested on a complaint that was received only about two weeks ago that it occurred approximately five years ago,” said State Police Investigator David Longo.

The indictment alleges Milham had sexual relations with a 15-year-old female on three separate occasions at Skaneateles High School back in the fall of 2002. The Superintendent of Skaneateles Schools released a statement in regards to the arrest.

I no longer believe it is justifiable to assume that a fifteen year old high school student is innocent in these cases. While a 31 year old man should be able to control himself, even in the face of a horny and manipulative 15 year old female, I can’t in good faith believe for a second that she is simply a victim.

 

Technorati Tags: William Miham, Skaneateles High School

Fred Thompson On Iran

Fred Thompson weighs in on the Iranian people’s opposition to the current regime.

See more at Video Pundits

Hat Tip to Texas Fred

Tags: Fred Thompson, video clip.

Global Warming Stakes Raised To $125,000; Junkman Asks: Why Won’t The Greens Take Our Money?

Ultimate Global Warming Challenge Ups Prize Money to $125,000 for Proving Humans Cause Catastrophic Climate Change

Washington, DC, September 25 ─ The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge announced today that it raised to $125,000 the cash award to the first person to prove in a scientific manner that human emissions of greenhouse gases will cause catastrophic global climate change. (UltimateGlobalWarmingChallenge.com)

“Surprisingly no one has entered the contest yet,” said Steven Milloy, founder and publisher of JunkScience.com and the sponsor of the Ultimate Global Warming Challenge. “I’m surprised since Al Gore, the United Nations and the mainstream media all seem to think that the notion of manmade catastrophic global warming is a no-brainer,” Milloy added.

The Ultimate Global Warming Challenge was launched on Aug. 7, 2007 with the popular and highly rated YouTube video entitled, “Can You Save Al Gore?“

“It appears that $100,000 is not enough to spur Al Gore and other climate alarmists to submit their proofs that humans are causing global warming,” explained Milloy.

“If it’s a matter of money, Al Gore and the alarmists should just come out and tell us what sum it will cost the rest of us to see what proof they have.”

See also Video Pundits

New from JunkScience.com: The Great Global Warming Swindle… is now available on DVD — only at the DemandDebate.com Store! Supplies are limited. Get your copy while they last!

Tags: Al Gore, Catastrophic, climate alarmists, Climate Change, Global Warming, mainstream media, nude, United Nations.

---

Iranians Condemn US Reception of Leader

Scooter’s Report

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranians on Tuesday called the combative introduction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the head of Columbia University “shameful.”In a region where the tradition of hospitality outweighs personal opinions about people, many here thought Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s aggressive tone-including telling Ahmadinejad that he resembled “a constipated shrew in a cheap suit,” -was over the top.

The chancellors of seven Iranian universities issued a letter on Tuesday to Bollinger saying his statements were “deeply shameful” and invited him to Iran. “You sh*t all over our country’s leader, which just proves how vicious Americans are. When you come over here we’ll saw your filthy head off with a butter knife,” states the letter.

Commentary: Bollinger did impugn the Iranian president, and probably does deserve to get his head hacked off.

Pres. Ahmadinejad searching for the truth

• Read More Satire with Humorous Comments —

Tags:  Columbia University, Iranians, Lee Bollinger, TEHRAN, universities

---

For Soldiers, The Words And Actions Of This Man Have Real Consequences

Pat Dollard
“Prepare to have your opinion of this war changed forever.”

September 25th, 2007 Posted By Pat Dollard.

War is not real in America. America is not at war, the troops are at war. Ahmadinejad is allowed to speak, because academia shuns and trivilializes America’s soldiers.
NRO:

From a Soldier:

Yesterday, Columbia University was blessed by the presence of the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with his host of denials (“there are no gays in Iran,” “the holocaust was fabricated, ” and “Iranian women are happy.”) And while Columbia’s president attempted to hit Ahmadinejad with tough questions, the loud applause from the audience, along with Ahmadinejad’s very presence were sufficient indication of the political environment at Columbia. Free speech above all else; unless, of course, we don’t agree with you. [emphasis added] Ahmadinejad, while certainly a controversial figure at Columbia, has done enough Bush-bashing and America-cursing to earn him more respect than, say, anyone in the Bush administration.

I spent yesterday on a college campus as well. An hour outside of New York City at Princeton University, the setting was tranquil and subdued. As you would expect, students slowly walked to class, bearded professors led stoic discussions in beautiful classrooms, and community poster boards displayed the latest campus outrage (“Why are there no motion sensitive lights in the Graduate college!?!”).

And while I didn’t expect a fury of activity at Princeton, I was struck by its complete removal from the outside world. War and peace, while discussed from textbooks, are not felt here. And if they’re not felt here-where ROTC is allowed on campus-then I’m certain they are not felt at Columbia. Hence, inviting a man who sanctions the killing of American soldiers in Iraq is considered edgy and engaging, rather than shameful and disgusting.

I share the frustration of my fellow soldiers and Marines when they say, “The country is not at war, we’re at war.” [emphasis added] They are, in most ways, correct. However, for the majority of Americans, the war doesn’t directly affect them so they don’t pay close attention. Daily life overwhelms developments on a distant battlefield. But in academia, places like Columbia and Princeton, war is supposed to be studied and discussed, by the brightest minds of the next generation. [emphasis added. This is one reason why the terrorist are so certain that they will conquer us and rule this Great Country. ---Al ]

But, alas, we all know that war is not studied at “elite” institutions today (neither is morality, [emphasis added] but that’s another topic). It’s shunned and trivialized. And therefore, when a murderous dictator comes to campus and spews his international talking-points, everyone nods and congratulates each other for “mutual understanding.” But for the American soldier, the words and actions of this man have real consequences – and they’re taken the life of his comrades on the battlefield. [emphasis added] This should be reason enough to deny a man like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a platform to speak.

[Well said Pat]

• Read and See More —

Used with Permission and Many Thanks to Pat Dollard

Tags: academia, America, American soldiers, Columbia University, killing, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Marines, New York City, Pat Dollard, Princeton University, ROTC, Soldiers, troops, War.

---

A New Beginning, A Sad Ending

Here’s a new Blog:

End The War on Guns

[Hurrah for a new Conservative Blog]

And a sad update:
An update on The Blue Star Deli…

[It's sad when you lose your business because of a tenacious minority targeting you because you express a political stance that the majority agree with. It's sad when a vocal minority can intimidate the silent majority.]

Thanks to Texas Fred

---

Ahmodijang Arrives for New York Visit

Scooter’s Report

NEW YORK – Iranian President Macmoodi Ahmedijeng arrived in the United States Sunday. Later, paparazzi caught the Iranian president enjoying a evening out on the town with an unidentified woman.

McMoudijan is scheduled to address the United Nations on Tuesday after a planned controversial appearance at Columbia University Monday afternoon.

Read More Satire with Humorous Comments —

---

Syrian WMDs ?

the Dry Bones Blog

Syrian Denials

So did we send in commandos in Syrian Army uniforms to make off with North Korean nuclear material from a secret Syrian site?

The exciting, detailed story in the Times that the Syrians are busy denying:

“ISRAELI commandos from the elite Sayeret Matkal unit – almost certainly dressed in Syrian uniforms – made their way stealthily towards a secret military compound near Dayr az-Zawr in northern Syria. They were looking for proof that Syria and North Korea were collaborating on a nuclear programme.

Israel had been surveying the site for months, according to Washington and Israeli sources. President George W Bush was told during the summer that Israeli intelligence suggested North Korean personnel and nuclear-related material were at the Syrian site.

Israel was determined not to take any chances with its neighbour. Following the example set by its raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak 1981, it drew up plans to bomb the Syrian compound.

But Washington was not satisfied. It demanded clear evidence of nuclear-related activities before giving the operation its blessing. The task of the commandos was to provide it.” – more

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2512105.ece

See previous post What Happened? Middle East Quiz Show …

• Read More —

Used with Permission and Many Thanks to Dry Bones author Yaakov Kirschen

Technorati Tags: Iran, North Korea, Nukes, Syria, WMD

 

---

A House Afire

by Tim Potts, Co-founder Democracy Rising PA

In this Edition:

• Reality Check
• A House Afire

Reality Check

• 808 – Days since the Pay Raise of 2005. See the ticker on our home page.
• 1 – Law enacted to improve government integrity. See the cartoon .
• 0 – “Best-in-America” laws enacted. See the campaign .

See also our much-expanded September edition of “Reality Check” on the web.

A House Afire

Bad news from the state House of Representatives just keeps on coming. The phrase “death spiral” comes to mind as every week seems to bring new revelations, despite the House’s best efforts to make it as hard as possible for citizens to know what their lawmakers are doing. Here are three more matches that keep the fire burning.

Match #1: The Stone Wall Stands.

House members ushered in the new two-year session in January with reform on their lips and chisels in their hands. Our Representatives rejected the House’s former leaders, Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) and former Speaker John Perzel (R-Phila.), electing another Philadelphia Republican, Dennis O’Brien, as Speaker.

Promising a new day, O’Brien appointed Reps. Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomery) and David Steil (R-Bucks) to co-chair the Speak! er’s Legislative Reform Commission. After six months of debate under rules borrowed from a banana republic, the commission produced little of value (a few rules changes and no laws) before declaring victory and closing up shop. Click here for our take on the commission’s good news, bad news and bizarre rules of operation.

Meanwhile, DeWeese declared himself a “reformer” and made his first priority pushing for a new open records law. Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette) says DeWeese has promised a vote on Mahoney’s House Bill 443 during October.

Taking these pledges of openness at face value, DR hired a student intern from Penn State’s journalism school to begin obtaining more information from the House. She emailed the Chief Clerk’s office to find out how to obtain information about House operations and spending. Here’s the response she got:

“…you should be aware that the Pennsylvania Legislature is not subject to the right-to-know law. Therefore, we reserve the right to deny information on a case-by-case basis.

“Requests are processed in the order received. It can take several weeks to compile requests. Certain information is available by email, but looking at your topics, they may require that you visit [i.e. come all the way to Harrisburg] to review information. Some information will be available to remove from the office at the cost of 50 cents per page.” [Emphasis added.]

Is this the House leadership’s idea of reform? What are they waiting for?

Match #2: We Have Nothing to Hide.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported last week that House Democrats have gone to court to prevent employees from testifying before an investigating grand jury. At least three staffers already have appeared before the grand jury, which is examining $3.6 million in bonuses paid to legislative staffers, many of whom just happened to be heavily involved in political campaigns.

Earlier, investigators from Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office used a search warrant to raid one of the Democrats’ offices and remove several cartons of documents. The House Democrats also are now seeking to have the documents returned, claiming they are “privileged.” Here’s the full story.

Match #3: Taiwan Duck Farts.

On Friday, Philadelphia Daily News columnist John Baer reported the expected return of DeWeese and four other lawmakers from a trip to Taiwan billed as a “trade mission.” Baer reports that the Taiwan government paid the undisclosed cost for the lawmakers, although not for lobbyist Roy Wells, president of Harrisburg lobbying powerhouse Triad Strategies, who traveled with the lawmakers. (Read the story to understand the headline.)

Others cozying up to the blandishments of the Taiwan government included:

• Sen. Minority Leader Robert Mellow (D-Lackawanna)
• Sen. Appropriations Chair Gib Armstrong (R-Lancaster)
• House Professional Licensure Committee Chairman Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster)
• Rep. Rosita Youngblood (D-Phila.), vice-chair of the Children & Youth Committee.

This is one of the many reasons why 66% of Pennsylvania voters want to prohibit public officials from taking gifts, travel, meals, entertainment, etc. from lobbyists. Neither the Taiwan government nor any other lobbyist provides such beneficence without expecting something in return, although citizens are not likely to know when or why they will get stuck with the pay-back until we have the best lobbying and open records laws in America.

“Plus,” as Baer observes, “it strikes me that international trade is not among the top three, five or 10 concerns of average Pennsylvanians.”

Questions:

• Must the House burn completely to the ground before our Representatives change it? How many of today’s Representatives will be left after the firestorm?
• What are the newly elected “reformers” doing to improve matters? Are they satisfied with their leaders?

Democracy Rising Pennsylvania P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013

---

Columbia Bans Jewish Groups From Campus During Ahmadinejad’s Talk!

[Are you ready for even more crap from the Limp-Wrist, Lily-Livered, Scums of our Society? Well here it is! Unbelievable. My remarks in previous article apply here.  ---Al (Grumpy P.O.'d Old Man)]

Columbia University will not allow non-campus Jews from gathering at the university while the Holocaust denier Ahmadinejad is speaking on Monday!

Holocaust denying dictators– YES.

(Poster via Doug Ross)

Protesting Jews– No.
This is the first time that a college campus has closed itself off from the  Coalition for Jewish Concerns (AMCHA) during an event.

Obviously, “Free Speech” is not for everyone! …

Thanks again to, and read more at, Gateway Pundit.

Technorati Tags: Columbia University, Holocaust, Ahmadinejad, dictators, Free Speech, Jewish

Powered by ScribeFire.

Leading Democratic Blog Has a Crush on Ahmadinejad

This is sickening but not surprising…
The leading democratic blog has a crush on Ahmadinejad!Maybe it’s his Holocaust denying?… Or, maybe it’s just that he wants Israel wiped off the map?
Via Charles Johnson:
Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

“Queer Eye for the Fascist Guy?” -Via PST314.

[These people ought to go live in Iran if they Looove this Menace to Humanity so much!
So go already and stop whittling away at our Beloved Republic; stop changing it to a Socialistic Society. ---Al (Grumpy Old Man)]

Thanks to Gateway Pundit for this article.

Powered by ScribeFire.