Obama Campaign Insider

What Happened Was This

by Peace Moonbeam
Berkeley, California

This week ex-Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s tell-all book “What Happened” was released to huge fanfare. Scooter came over Wednesday morning with a copy and breathlessly exclaimed this was his “ticket to the easy life.” Sometimes Scooter gets like this when he’s had too many Mountain Dews for breakfast. When he finally calmed down, he explained that the whole country was talking about this book and it was selling like Love Lube at a Gay Pride parade.

It took me a bit to finally understand that Scooter wasn’t excited about the dirt this book dished on Chimpy McHitler, but rather the huge money that could be made on an insider’s down-and-dirty account of a popular political figure. My worst fears were realized when Scooter produced several Big Chief tablet pages titled “What Happened Was This by Obama campaign insider, Scooter Van Neuter.” Oh great.

I was anxious to see what kind of shocking expose could come out of Scooter’s roughly two week’s employment with the Obama campaign. I started reading:

Senator Obama sells himself as the candidate of change, but the man I worked for didn’t even change his underwear that often. I also noticed he didn’t change his car’s oil at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals, and rarely, if ever, changed his mind. One day I asked Hussein for three quarters so I could buy a U.S. Today, and he didn’t have it. Candidate of change? I think not!

Although I believe Senator Obama to be a basically decent man, there’s no doubt he’s been led astray by the people he surrounds himself with: his minister, evil wife Michelle, and black activist friends to name just a few. Many a night I remember hanging out in the hot tub doing tequila shots and PCP with Barack, Michelle, Louis Farrakhan, and Reverend Wright. They spent most of their time talking about harming white people, specifically me. Once Reverend Wright kicked me in the nuts just for fun, something I’m sure he wouldn’t have done if I were black, or at least more muscular.

To all the world Michelle seems like an educated, well-spoken candidate’s wife, and in some ways that’s almost true. In character with her “I’ve never been proud of this country” remarks, behind closed doors Michelle displays an incredible hatred for this country, primarily focused toward white males in general, and me in particular. After an unfortunate incident with a kielbasa, she once referred to me as a “retarded pervert,” a comment that pretty much says, “I hate America and everything it stands for.” The thought of this vicious commie skank becoming First Lady gives me colon-clench like you can’t believe….

I didn’t need to read any further to know (a) this was absolutely awful (b) probably 85% made up, and (c) the makings of a best seller. After negotiating with Scooter for a cut of the profits and getting his promise to leave my name out of this steaming pile of literary pony-loaf, I placed an urgent call to a publisher friend of mine.

Read more Satire from The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles and the Wild Comments!

Dishonest Distorting Divisive Barry Obama

Exclusive: Dishonest Divisive Barry Obama

Bill Siegel

Barack Obama’s Watertown response to President Bush’s Knesset speech is precisely what Obama himself accuses Bush and John McCain of engaging in: a dishonest divisive attack, or perhaps better stated, a dishonest, distorting, divisive projection of his own thinking.

President Bush said: “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them that they have been wrong all along. We have heard this before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

The following is the text of Obama’s response, annotated to point out just some of the dishonesty and distortion that animates much of Obama’s rhetoric:

I do want to say something about yesterday. You know, after almost eight years I did not think I could be surprised about anything that George Bush says. But I was wrong. Yesterday George Bush was before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to help commemorate the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence. That’s a wonderful occasion and a time for celebration.

It is also a time to demonstrate that he understands the dangerous conditions in which Israel finds itself and that he understands fully the dangerous types of thinking that pervade America and the West that can and have paralyzed the West from taking the actions necessary to adequately assist Israel.

But instead of celebrating and offering some clear ideas about how to move the situation in the Middle East forward,

Bush had presented the Road Map and, rightly or wrongly, is currently actively engaged in what is often called a “peace process.” What is Obama’s idea other than to sophomorically suggest that his magical persuasive powers and desires for “change” will bring about a resolution? The arrogance embedded in this position is precisely that suggested in Bush’s historical reference.

the President did something that presidents don’t do – and that is launch a political attack targeted toward the domestic market in front of a foreign delegation.

The intended target is most sensibly the world, including (i) the Israeli population to show that Bush has a certain grasp of the futility of never-ending appeasement, (ii) Europe and others which are often stuck in the thinking Bush has outlined, as well as (iii) Israel’s enemies. To limit the target to our domestic market is Obama, himself, taking a global issue and using it for his own political objectives – the very projection he uses against Bush himself.

On a day when we were supposed to be celebrating the anniversary of Israel’s independence, he accused me

Again, on the surface this seems simple naïve narcissism for Obama to claim victimhood here. Needless to say, an attack on a thinking pattern is being construed as an attack on Obama himself. Additionally, it can appropriately be seen as an attempt to elevate himself to being on a par with Bush, rising above Hillary Clinton, and starting to take the mantle of being the Democratic nominee. Finally, Obama is twisting the outgoing president’s global remarks on foreign soil into his own accusation – another maneuver of projection.

and other Democrats of wanting to negotiate with terrorists, and said we were appeasers no different from people who appeased Adolf Hitler. That’s what George Bush said in front of the Israeli parliament.

Despite arguments by cable “news” faces who differentiate “appeasing” from “talking,” this is a correct statement concerning Obama. In simple terms, appeasement consists of rewarding the enemy’s unsatisfactory actions in an effort to induce it to stop such behavior. This is precisely what Obama and his Democrat partners do when they neuter all of our applications of force while allowing Iran to stall “negotiations” and continue to advance its nuclear program. Iran couldn’t be clearer with its frequently stated proposition that it will never cease its nuclear program.

Now that’s exactly the kind of appalling attack that’s divided our country and that alienates us from the world.

Embedded in this remark is a laundry list of distortions about our recent history. This “talk” is not at all what divides or supposedly “alienates us” from the world. Rather, we are divided as a country in large part based on the very thinking Bush described. The accurate history is that within months of our successful liberation of Iraq, the Democratic base, assisted by many in the State Department, CIA, and the media did all they could to interfere with Bush’s original plan. That plan was to liberate Iraq from the tyranny of Saddam and have the Iraqis quickly install their own government and then leave. As described in numerous accounts, including Doug Feith’s War and Decision, and Ken Timmerman’s Shadow Warriors, those plans were systematically deconstructed, sabotaged, and discredited. This description does not excuse Bush, as he is the ultimate executive. Nonetheless, our divisiveness exists in large measure because of the great political anti-Bush efforts made by those who currently support Obama. As for alienated allies, having vetted all of the self-interest connected with many European votes against our efforts in Iraq (as well as their having now experienced directly the effects of liberal policies towards Shari’ah motivated Muslims), many of those same European countries are returning to more conservative leadership.

Memorial Day Meaning?

So Which One is Memorial Day?

Army Sgt. Jerome Bishop, American Forces Press Service

Not long ago while I was sitting at my desk at work, a fellow soldier presented an interesting question, not because of what it was, but because of why he asked it.

“So what’s Memorial Day, again?” the soldier asked.

This kind of disturbed me. As it turns out, the confusion came from the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. While both are federal holidays to remember our nation’s service members past and present, only one commemorates the living.

The one that doesn’t is May 26, the last Monday in May. That one would be Memorial Day. I just never thought I’d have to explain that to someone.

When Memorial Day comes around, a lot of thoughts rush to mind. Memories of picnics with the family, maybe catching the Indianapolis 500 on TV with a cold beverage in hand or enjoying the sun at a nearby public pool that just opened for the summer — all of which are easily recognizable Memorial Day traditions. All the while, the true meaning of Memorial Day remains hidden in the back of our minds — if it’s even there at all.

Commemoration ceremonies and remembrances take place all over the United States on Memorial Day. We all know it’s a holiday. It’s a day off work, and it’s got something to do with wars. Most people my age won’t be seen at events like those. I know I’ve never been to my town’s festivities — not often, at least.

Four years ago, I would have been the last one to say I wanted to take time during the day commonly referred to as the beginning of summer to fill my head with sad memories of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who never made it home. That was then. Three years ago, I was about 60 kilometers north of here on Logistics Support Area Anaconda near Balad for Memorial Day, and this year, I’m in Baghdad.

To me and a lot of other service members braving the sand, heat and bullets in Iraq, Memorial Day carries a new meaning — to remember not only those servicemembers we know only by the names on their tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery, but also the ones with whom we’ve shared meals and laughs while trying to make the best of discomfort.

I’m fortunate enough to say that I haven’t lost a friend over here, but as my job takes me from unit to unit, the list of acquaintances grows — and more than a few might not make it home.

Three years ago, I knew Memorial Day would have a whole new meaning for me — and it truly does — because it could just as easily have been my name stretched across a banner for hometown heroes lost in battle.

One day, I’m sure I’ll hear that question again: “Which one is Memorial Day?” or something of the sort. Unlike most people, I’ll have a unique story to tell — just as we all do.

(Army Sgt. Jerome Bishop serves in the Multinational Division Baghdad Public Affairs Office.)

# #

Story originally ran on the DoD website.

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American Minute – Today In History – The Original Memorial Day

May 30, 2008

Exclusive: William J. Federer’s

American Minute

Southern women scattered spring flowers on the graves of both the Northern and Southern soldiers who died during the Civil War. This was the origin of Memorial Day, which in 1868 was set on MAY 30.

In 1968 it was moved to the last Monday in May. From the Spanish-American War, to World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, up through the present, all who gave their lives to preserve America’s freedom are honored.

Beginning in 1921, every President placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The number 21 being the highest salute, the sentry takes 21 steps, faces the tomb for 21 seconds, turns and pauses 21 seconds, then retraces his steps. Inscribed on the Tomb is the phrase: “HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOW BUT TO GOD.”

In his 1923 Memorial Address, President Calvin Coolidge stated: “There can be no peace with the forces of evil. Peace comes only through the establishment of the supremacy of the forces of good. That way lies through sacrifice…’Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’”

Read more excellent articles from Family Security Matters

Kyoto – A Perspective (Part 30)

CLEAN COAL (Part 1)

Tell me. Why is it that some politicians come out against methods for the production of electrical power from sources proven to be clean and environmentally friendly, when everybody just knows that they are a good idea. Surely, it would paint them in a poor light.
I mean some guys go sailing, so offshore wind towers in a high wind area might detract from what small leisure they might have in a job where they so diligently serve their constituents. So when a politician from a State nowhere near the proposed wind towers pokes his nose in, why would he do that when the perception might be that he is protesting against something of such obviously good value.
The people standing on the stepladders with the high powered binoculars diligently pressed against their eyeballs see those towers detracting from what they perceive as their ‘quality of life’. So with the backing of all their money, keeping in mind this is where ‘old money’ lives, they hire lobbyists to press their case.
Well, the guy in the yacht, he’s on side already, because, after all, he lives there amongst them.
So lobbyists seek out other senators and congressmen to add weight to the old guy in the yacht with the Scotch in his hand.

Mining Companies don’t just roll into the neighborhood and start digging. No, they have to get approval from the Federal agencies and the State agencies. Those bodies give the okay after all the relevant checks, and then haggling over the price of their approval. This price is called a ‘Royalty’, and every mining company, no matter what they mine, pays royalties to State and Federal Governments. It’s usually calculated on the amount of product they dig out of the ground, or drill out if it’s oil or any of the gases, and it’s usually paid on the basis of dollars per ton. That (usually) stays the same whether the price goes up or down, and the amount is usually many millions of dollars. All this goes into State coffers and pays for services in that State, so it’s in the State’s interest to keep those large sums rolling in.

The lobbyists meanwhile are searching around for names to add to their list of politicians who are against environmentally conscious methods of producing electrical power.
Consider this then. If a huge plant that is known not to produce any of the carbon dioxide greenhouse gas, then if that plant used the solar or in this case, the wind process, or even hydro or nuclear, and it were to be constructed, then that might mean a cut back in the use for coal, and that cut back in use would lead to a cut back in the mining of coal, with a cut back in the amount of royalties paid to that State.
The lobbyists know only too well that the big coal miners just hate wind power. So Congressmen and Senators from those States with a large income from coal royalties are prime targets.

Distracting excuses are found. You know, like Coast Guard access, shipping lanes, ferry lanes, fishing boat access, tourism, light pollution, noise pollution, the fact that government regulations do not exist for offshore wind plants in the US, so those regulations are being drafted along the same time line as for the development itself, and there might be the perception of haste, or that something vital might be missed, overlooked, or not included. You get the picture. Anything but the real truth.
If someone asks the question referring to coal, then the politician in question is not taken aback. He just mentions that this would be a side issue only of minor concern, and then proudly proclaims that as a Senator or Congressman from that State, then it’s his job to stand up for the interests of the labour force working for that mining company, with all those workers being his constituency. This gives the impression that he actually has those workers best interests at heart and does not want to see those men become unemployed, so he refers to families, mums and their children, and the prospective human interest factor. Anything, as long as it’s not the soiled money grubbing debating point first mentioned by the lobbyist, that being the coal royalty money flowing into that State.

WHAT IS CLEAN COAL THEN?

Sometimes, there might actually be a politician with some concerns that taking this stance might look a little hypocritical, so, still wanting to look like he is concerned about the environment, and in the same breath give the impression to the coal mining companies in his State that he is not turning his back on them, he asks if there might just be another way.

Then, lobbyists for the coal industry sit down with him and discuss just such a way, where he has a win win situation. The lobbyists themselves have no idea of the Science, because all they know is how to wedge lobby. When the rough explanation is delivered, the politician draws up a press release loudly proclaiming that he has the definitive answer. It looks like he’s actively supporting means to protect the environment, and in the same breath to still look after his coal mining friends.

BEHIND THE THEORY.

The Bruce Mansfield Power Plant at Shippingport PA. The large stacks in the foreground have steam coming from the top. Image from Kiyo Kimoda. Click on the image to open in a larger window.

For a huge baseline coal fired electrical power plant producing over 2000MW of power, and let’s substitute a real plant here, the Bruce Mansfield Plant, and I’ve included this one for no reason other than it is a large plant in Pennsylvania. It has three generators each producing 835 MW for a plant total of 2500MW of constant, regular, unvarying, baseline power, something wind or solar can never approach. To achieve that power output, it consumes 6.1 million tons of coal per year, which averages out to 16,700 tons per day, but some days may be less and some days in the Summer peak, it might be up around 30,000 tons. That’s 16,700 tons of coal PER DAY.
So if Kyoto (remember that) calls for a return to 1990 levels and a reduction on that level, and we mentioned way back in an earlier post that this will necessitate the withdrawal of conservatively 50 or more of these huge baseload coal fired plants, then that means a reduction in consumption of 300 million tons of coal, and probably more, because I only dealt with the large baseload plants and have not included those medium level plants for peak power, so now you can see just how much that actually is. Think of revenue to companies, and the wages they pay their labor force, and more importantly, the loss of huge amounts of money in royalties to those coal mining States, and also to the Federal Government, some of which is also returned to the States.
Now can you see just why politicians in those coal States need to be seen to be coming out against any enemy of coal, and so, they need an excuse to make them look good.

THE THEORY IS THIS.

The coal is burned to make the steam. The ash falls to the bottom of the burner, and the smoke goes up the chimney stacks. Between the burner and the stack is the scrubber. Right now, this already removes particulates from the smoke, the nasties containing Sulphur etc.
What they propose to also accomplish in this area is to divert the smoke, extract the harmful CO2 and then allow the remaining white stuff, now pure as the driven snow to gently waft out the top of the stacks. The removed CO2 that has somehow been the only thing extracted from the smoke will now need to be cooled, and then under extreme pressure, liquified. Then, that liquid will be pumped by huge driving pumps down pipes as yet not constructed to areas not yet found, where it will be held in vast tanks also not yet constructed. Then it will be pumped by as yet not constructed rigs and driven far into the ground into as yet unlocated areas where there are seams between solid rock, not yet located, but capable of holding the liquid in a stable condition for thousands of years and more, for all time in reality, and without seeping back into the surrounding strata or back to the surface.

“Wow!” says the clueless politician. “That sounds great. What’s it called?”
“Geo sequestration,” replies the clueless lobbyist.
“Gee what?”
“It sort of cleans up the residue of the coal.”
“Clean coal. Now, that I can sell.” says the clueless politician.

PA Senate To Forego Lame-Duck Session

by Tim Potts

Following is a statement on today’s decision by Senate leadership not to convene lame-duck session this year:

Courtesy SillyBill.com

The Senate’s decision not to hold lame-duck session is an important step in the right direction. For at least this year, it gives Pennsylvania citizens the same protection against post-election deal-making that citizens in most states already enjoy. Since the House cannot enact legislation without the Senate, citizens may rest easy after Election Day.

This is an improvement that 82 percent of Pennsylvania voters want, according to a 2007 Keystone Poll. It’s good to see that Senate leadership values demonstrating that things really can change for the better in the Capitol.

Questions

• Will House leadership make the same declaration?
• Will House leadership pass legislation amending the Constitution to prohibit lame-duck session permanently?
• Will House leadership pass a law to the same effect until a Constitutional amendment can take effect?
• Where do your legislators stand on this issue?

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

Obama, You’re So Vain …

Patriot Humor

Click on picture for a larger view in a new window.
See more Cartoon Humor here > Patriot Humor

Hagee, CUFI, and Campaign 2008

Hagee, CUFI, and Campaign 2008

The attacks on Pastor Hagee seem so obviously part of an “Obama had his extremist backer and so does McCain, so let’s just forget about Obama’s relationship with his pastor, Reverend Wright” campaign tactic, that I titled this cartoon “Campaign 2008″.

Here’s a Letter to the Editor that appeared in the New York Times on April 10, 2008

“To the Editor:

Re “For McCain, Little Talk of a Controversial Endorsement” (news article, April 8), about the Rev. John C. Hagee and the organization he founded, Christians United for Israel, and the reaction to his efforts on behalf of Israel:

Pastor Hagee has been a true friend of Israel for many years. Christians United for Israel is among the strongest supporters of Israel in the United States.

The signers of this letter have been chairmen of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and we appreciate and respect Pastor Hagee’s dedicated efforts and those of Christians United for Israel.

Harold Tanner
James Tisch
Mort Zuckerman
Mel Salberg
Lester Pollack
Shoshana Cardin
Ken Bialkin
New York, April 8, 2008″

It is also becoming embarrassingly clear that “united for Israel” is NOT what the American Jewish Community is at present.

To visit the CUFI website click on CUFI.

Also read: Pastor Hagee and Rabbi Scheinberg Respond to Recent Controversies

Read More Dry Bones by Yaakov Kirschen

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Police Chief Faces 5 Years in Jail for Saving Lives

Police Chief Faces 5 Years in Jail for Saving Lives

My name is Mary Thompson and my husband, Richard, is the Chief of Police here in Crawford, Nebraska.

He’s also a father — and grandfather — who could be sent to prison for five years.

All for defending himself in the line of duty against an armed and dangerous suspect!

For the past seven years Richard has been the Chief of Police here in Crawford.

I am worried — worried that my husband will be locked away in prison with cop-hating criminals just for doing his job!

Richard was on duty when he heard that
a man by the name of Jesse Britton was wanted in connection with a string of burglaries in the area.

Britton had a long criminal record — including 16 appearances in juvenile court.

Most recently, he had just been released from a juvenile detention center.

Witnesses told my husband that Britton had stolen a Ruger revolver — and that he had threatened to kill his girlfriend, the local school superintendent, and my husband with it.

The local high school immediately went into “lockdown” after Britton’s threats, in order to prevent another Columbine or Virginia Tech massacre.

Meanwhile, Richard and Officer Dan Kling tracked Britton down to an abandoned bar.

They posted three officers outside in case Britton tried to make a run for it.

Once inside, they heard someone moving on the floor above.

Richard walked up the narrow stairwell to the bar’s office and storage area.

It had no windows and was completely dark.

Richard turned on his flashlight and swept it around the room. Suddenly the light landed on a large desk in the back.

And crouched low behind the desk was Jesse Britton!

Knowing he could have a gun, Richard shouted, “Show me your hands! Show me your hands!”

But Britton refused.

Instead, he rose slowly out of his crouched position and pointed the Ruger revolver he had stolen directly at my husband’s forehead.

Richard had only a split-second to react.

First yelling, “Drop it! Drop it!”, he then fired two shots from his service revolver as he ducked backwards to avoid the aim of Britton’s gun.

One shot hit Britton.

Meanwhile, Officer Kling heard the shots and fired twice at Britton as well, hitting him at least once.

Britton died at the scene.

Richard was devastated.

If Britton had just stood up and showed them his hands, it would have been a routine arrest. And this troubled young man would still be alive.

Under Nebraska law, a Grand Jury had to be convened, as well as a routine investigation.

The Nebraska Attorney General said that since Britton had been shot after pointing a gun at the officers and ignoring their orders to drop the weapon, he fully expected Richard and Dan to be cleared.

So imagine our shock when the Grand Jury indicted Richard on charges of “Second Degree Assault!”

According to the Grand Jury, Richard should have retreated, run out of the room, and surrounded the building instead of shooting Britton.

They said his actions were “reckless.”

Yet Officer Kling was not indicted.

After the indictment, Richard was immediately suspended without pay from the police force.

He’s facing trial later this year.

And if convicted, he could be sent to prison for five years.

For 23 years he has risked his life as a sheriff’s deputy, police officer, and Chief of Police.

I can’t believe my husband could go to prison for doing his job — as he was trained to do.

And even if Richard does survive the trial, we will be devastated financially.

Now Richard has gone without pay since last November — more than five months!

And now we could be facing over $100,000.00 in legal bills.

Thankfully, something we do have is the support of the good folks at the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF).

If you’ve heard of LELDF, then you know they defend innocent police officers like Richard who have been forced to make split-second decisions in the line of duty.

Former Attorney General Ed Meese is a member of their Board of Directors.

And they have told us they will do everything they can to defend Richard from these unfair charges.

For the first time since this nightmare started, I finally have some hope.

But my hope also depends on you.

You see, LELDF is a non-profit organization — which means they don’t receive one dime of funding from the federal government.

It also means I’m going to swallow my pride and ask you a very hard question.

Would you please consider sending a contribution to LELDF today to help them fund expert witnesses, legal research, and attorneys for Richard’s trial?

Your gift of any amount is tax-deductible.

But most importantly, your gift could be the one thing that keeps Richard here at home with his family where he belongs…
… instead of sending him to prison for five years for a crime he didn’t commit!
Please — I know when you looked at our photo that we are just strangers to you.

But I see a husband… a father… a grandfather… and a family that will be further torn apart if Richard is sent to prison.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And thank you on behalf of every wife of an American police officer. I hope they never go through a nightmare like ours. (Please click here to show your support)

Sincerely,

Mrs. Mary Thompson

P.S. If shooting a suspect who’s pointing a gun in your face is “reckless,” then sooner or later every police officer in America will be behind bars. Won’t you please help LELDF defend my husband today for doing his job – and doing it right? Thank you again!

Rachael Ray, Dunkin’ Donuts and the Keffiyeh Kerfuffle

Michelle Malkin

I’ve been a fan of Dunkin’ Donuts for years. Their Munchkins are heaven. Their coffee is better and cheaper than Starbucks. And the company’s management has taken a brave and lonely stand in support of immigration enforcement — refusing to hire illegal aliens and blowing the whistle on applicants with bogus Social Security numbers.

So it was with some dismay that I learned last week that Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Rachael Ray, the ubiquitous TV hostess, posed for one of the company’s ads in what appeared to be a black-and-white keffiyeh.

The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not so ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons.

Three years ago, pop singer Ricky Martin donned a traditional red-checked keffiyeh with the phrase “Jerusalem is ours” inscribed in Arabic. Apologizing for his obliviousness, Martin said: “I had no idea that the keffiyeh scarf presented to me contained language referring to Jerusalem, and I apologize to anyone who might think I was endorsing its message.” Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Hollywood darlings Colin Farrell, Sienna Miller and Kirsten Dunst, and rapper Kanye West have all been photographed in endless variations on the distinctive hate couture. So has Meghan McCain, daughter of the GOP presidential candidate, who really ought to know better given that her dad positions himself as the candidate best equipped to “confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.”

The scarves are staples at anti-Israel rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley. Balenciaga made them chic on the runway. British retailer Topshop sold them stamped with skull prints. Urban Outfitters turned the keffiyehs into a youth trend a few years ago and marketed them as “anti-war scarves.” Which brings us to Rachael Ray.

Ray hawked Urban Outfitters scarves on her website before appearing in the Dunkin’ Donuts ad. If she (or whichever stylist is dressing her) wasn’t aware of the jihad scarf controversy before she posed for the Dunkin’ campaign, she should have been. Urban Outfitters initially pulled the keffiyeh merchandise and apologized when Jewish customers protested, but reintroduced them with different names and colors in several global markets. This is the same company that marketed a bigotry-laced “Everyone loves a Jewish girl” T-shirt stamped with dollar signs and shopping bags. Most recently, the company halted sales of a violence-promoting T-shirt last week depicting a young Palestinian boy in a keffiyeh carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, over the word “Victimized.” The T-shirt also featured the Palestinian flag, a map of the Palestinian territories and a small white dove.

“Please understand that we do not buy items to provoke controversy or to intentionally offend,” a company spokesman pleaded. Their actions, however, speak louder than their assuaging words.

Dunkin’ Donuts won’t identify where Ray’s scarf was purchased, but issued this statement after blogger Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs (littlegreenfootballs.com) and I, along with many other bloggers and consumers, called attention to it:

“Thank you for expressing your concern about the Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement with Rachael Ray. In the ad that you reference, Rachael is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design that was purchased at a U.S. retail store. It was selected by the stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we will no longer use the commercial.”

It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists. Too many of them bend over backward in the direction of anti-American political correctness. Naturally, liberal commentators on the Internet are now up in arms over Dunkin’ Donuts’ decision to yank the ad and mock anyone who expresses concern over the keffiyeh’s symbolism.

It’s just a scarf, the clueless keffiyeh-wearers scoff. Would they say the same of fashion designers who marketed modified Klan-style hoods in Burberry plaid as the next big thing?

Fashion statements may seem insignificant, but when they lead to the mainstreaming of violence — unintentionally or not — they matter. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. In post-9/11 America, vigilance must never go out of style.

Read more articles from Family Security Matters

Stop The Obama $8500 Per Household UN Tax

President Obama Signs $8500.00 Per Household Tax Into Law: Funds To Go To The United Nations To Combat Global Poverty!

Make no mistake, the headline above is a lot closer to fact than you may think! So if you’re wondering what an Obama presidency would be like, look no further than the above headline!

What the media is NOT telling you is that Barack Hussein Obama does, in fact, have a legislative record in the Senate and one of his proudest accomplishments is The Global Poverty Act (S. 2433).

But wait just a minute! Isn’t combating poverty around the world a noble goal?

Well… the devil, as they say in in the details!

Some conservative leaders are already sounding the alarm and telling us that, if passed, Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act will commit us to a stealth United Nations-inspired global tax of $845 Billion dollars… that comes to approximately an $8500.00 tax burden for every household in the United States!

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media wrote:

“[T]he legislation, if approved, dedicates 0.7 percent of the U.S. gross national product to foreign aid, which… would amount to $845 billion ‘over and above what the U.S. already spends.’”

“The plan passed the House in 2007 ‘because most members didn’t realize what was in it.’ Congressional sponsors have been careful not to calculate the amount of foreign aid spending that it would require.”

Remember the Food for Oil Scandal? Let’s face it; the United Nation’s actual record on ending pain and suffering around the world is pathetic and dismal.

The questions to ask are, first, how much of our money that goes to the United Nations right now actually winds up lining the pockets of third-world dictators and despots? And, second, if Obama’s plan succeeds, how much of his new $845 billion giveaway will end up in those same pockets?

Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act MUST be STOPPED! Time is of the essence! Obama’s Global Poverty Act actually has the support of some prominent RINOs such as Senator Richard Lugar and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, who just pushed Obama’s world welfare bill out of committee. It could be up for a vote in the Senate AT ANY TIME!

Barack Hussein Obama MUST be stopped. But more importantly, his so-called Global Poverty Act — which has already passed in the House (because most Members simply didn’t know what was in it) and is presently being pushed through the Senate — MUST be stopped.

You can help us do BOTH! RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW!

Use the “Join the Fight” button below and we will send 50 urgent and personalized Blast Faxes FROM YOU to President George W. Bush and each and every one of the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate.

This is NOT a petition! This is NOT a simple and ineffective e-mail to your congressman. When you use the “Join the Fight” button below, we will send 50 Faxes in your name to President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate. And with your help we can literally flood the fax machines of these federal legislators with a message from concerned Americans that can not be ignored!

Demand that President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate use any means at their disposal — including a filibuster if necessary — to derail Barack Obama’s Global Poverty Act! Help us expose Barack Hussein Obama to the American people and at the same time help us expose and stop his dangerous agenda. Use the “Join the Fight” button below!

Others are sounding the alarm about Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act.

Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly recently wrote:

“Obama’s costly, dangerous and altogether bad bill (S. 2433)… would commit U.S. taxpayers to spend 0.7 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on foreign handouts…”

Schlafly also wrote:

“The Global Poverty Act would be a giant step toward the [United Nation's] Millennium Goals of global governance and international taxes on Americans.”

Joe Farah, publisher of WorldNetDaily.com said of Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act:

“Now comes an even grander proposal by Barack Obama. It’s called the Global Poverty Act, that would, in the next decade, transfer at least $845 billion of U.S. taxpayer money overseas. Think of Johnson’s failed war on poverty going international — directed not by Americans but by the United Nations.”

But don’t take Schlafly’s or Farah’s or Kincaid’s word for it. Read what is in Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act for yourself:

Specifically, Barack Hussein Obama’s Global Poverty Act would require that the President: “acting through the Secretary of State, and in consultation with the heads of other appropriate departments and agencies of the United States Government, international organizations, international financial institutions, the governments of developing and developed countries, United States and international nongovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, and other appropriate entities, shall develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further… the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal.”

And just who are these “international organizations” and “international nongovernmental organizations” and “other appropriate entities?”

You guessed it! He’s talking about the United Nations!

And just what, pray tell, is the “Millennium Development Goal?”

Cliff Kincaid again:

“The bill defines the term ‘Millennium Development Goals’ as the goals set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration…”

“In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning ’small arms and light weapons’ and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

Use the “Join the Fight” button below and we will send 50 urgent and personalized Blast Faxes FROM YOU to President George W. Bush and each and every one of the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate.

This is NOT a petition! This is NOT a simple and ineffective e-mail to your congressman. When you use the “Join the Fight” button below, we will send 50 Faxes in your name to President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate. And with your help we can literally flood the fax machines of these federal legislators with a message from concerned Americans that can not be ignored!

Demand that President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate use any means at their disposal — including a filibuster if necessary — to derail Barack Obama’s Global Poverty Act! Help us expose Barack Hussein Obama to the American people and at the same time help us expose and stop his dangerous agenda. Use the “Join the Fight” button below!

In fact the United Nations Millennium Declaration talks about much more than the eradication of poverty. Kincaid yet again:

“Those U.N. protocols would make U.S. law on issues ranging from the 2nd Amendment to energy usage and parental rights all subservient to United Nations whims.”

But that’s not all, since we’re on the subject, the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal — proclaimed in 2000 — contains plans for additional assaults on your wallet.

Among those goals are:

a “currency transfer tax;”

a “tax on the rental value of land and natural resources”;

a “royalty on worldwide fossil energy projection — oil, natural gas, coal;”

“fees for the commercial use of the oceans, fees for airplane use of the skies, fees for use of the electromagnetic spectrum, fees on foreign exchange transactions, and a tax on the carbon content of fuels.”

a “standing peace force;”

a “UN arms register of all small arms and light weapons,”

“peace education… at all levels from preschool through university;”

the “eradication of poverty” through the “redistribution [of] wealth and land,”

cancellation of “the debts of developing countries,”

and “a fair distribution of the earth’s resources.”

How do you suppose the United Nations expects to “redistribute” the land and the wealth?

Unless Barack Hussein Obama is STOPPED, we may all find out!

Use the “Join the Fight” button below and we will send 50 urgent and personalized Blast Faxes FROM YOU to President George W. Bush and each and every one of the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate.

This is NOT a petition! This is NOT a simple and ineffective e-mail to your congressman. When you use the “Join the Fight” button below, we will send 50 Faxes in your name to President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate. And with your help we can literally flood the fax machines of these federal legislators with a message from concerned Americans that can not be ignored!

Demand that President Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate use any means at their disposal — including a filibuster if necessary — to derail Barack Obama’s Global Poverty Act! Help us expose Barack Hussein Obama to the American people and at the same time help us expose and stop his dangerous agenda. Use the “Join the Fight” button below!

Bruce Hawkins
Executive Director
ExposeObama.com

P.S. Even if you can not join us in this effort right now, you can still help us expose Barack Hussein Obama by e-mailing this to at least 10 of your friends.

P.P.S. If you’ve had enough of wealth re-distribution, if you never want to see America’s strength sapped by Obama and the UN, then you need to act now!

Kyoto – A Perspective (part 29)

WIND POWER (Part 4)

Single wind tower at Nine Mile Beach, Esperance, Western Australia. Note the size when compared to the vehicle near the steps at the base of the tower.Image by Diesel and Wind Systems. Click on the image to open in a larger window.

Here are just two startling examples where NIMBY has actually worked when coupled with input from politicians.

AUSTRALIA

The first happened at one such plant in Victoria here in Australia, in the South Gippsland area. Several plants were planned for areas here, mainly because of the howling winds prevalent in that area. One plant was actually constructed. The area is basically grazing lands for beef and dairy cattle. Some graziers embraced the idea and allowed the Authority to place the towers on their properties. For this, and also for allowing access, they are being paid $7000 per year. Those who missed out sort of grumbled I suppose, and said that the towers were eyesores, a blot on the landscape where they had grown up, and more importantly they thought, lowered the resale value of their property. So what they did was to find a reason so that further construction of towers should not proceed. They found a poor defenceless bird, the rare and endangered Orange Bellied Parrot, that they then quoted as approaching extinction and said that the towers would lead to their outright demise when the birds were killed by those fiendish rotating blades of death the wind vanes. They then got a prospective politician on side who ran on the platform that if he was elected he would see that construction of the whole project was stopped.
The story actually worked too. The long serving and respected local sitting member of State Parliament was booted out when he supported the towers. The process was even taken up at the Federal level, and for such a small prospective benefit, it created an awful lot of noise all over the media and in politics of both persuasions.
The reality was that the bird in question was rarely even seen in that area if ever, the argument here being that just because the bird was not seen didn’t mean that the bird did not use that area during its migration, and here we’re not even talking close by. It was hundreds of miles away. The project was canned, the thinking being that even if only one solitary bird was killed by the wind farms, then that would bring extinction closer.
To further aid the argument, detractors then dredged up other 41 birds that were known to be in the area, and also a flying fox community, and these are called bats in some parts of the World, while here they are looked upon as cute and furry little animals, given the nicer sounding name of flying fox. These birds were supposedly going to be being killed off in droves by the fan blades. This excuse was used by those who perceived that their property value decreased, (untrue) or their quality of life was somehow lessened, (also untrue) and in the end, it achieved the aim.

Here’s the reality about the birds. An independent body carried out a detailed impact assessment on those birds at enormous expense, paid for by the Government as you might guess. The report said that there was little to zero effect on any fauna at all. Birds, flying foxes, animals on the ground, whatever. When the report was handed down, yes, you guessed it, it was treated as a conspiracy by the Victorian State Government to get the result they wanted.
As it happened the project was stopped. The fact that millions of dollars was spent proved futile, as politicians sought to make their point.
The end result was that another Company completely dropped plans for a $200 Million wind farm project in the same area, and a wind tower blade manufacturing Company closed with the loss of 140 jobs, both due to the uncertainty stemming from the situation.

This is not the Cape Wind Project, but an offshore wind farm in Liaodong Bay in China. The Cape Wind towers will be nowhere near this close together This image by Kavips. Click on image to open in a larger window.

THE CAPE WIND COMEDY.

Remember the two old guys kibbitzing from the balcony in Sesame Street sketches. Well, Statler and Waldorf are standing on the beach, pants rolled, up feeling the gentle waves lapping at their bare feet, and looking out over Nantucket Sound.
Statler turns to Waldorf and says, “Man, those wind towers out there really spoil the view.”
Waldorf, squinting and peering off into the distance replies, “I can’t see no damn wind towers.”
Statler looks at him like he’s blind. “Well, climb up on that forty foot stepladder there then.”
Waldorf climbs the ladder, and holding on for dear life peers out to sea again. “Nope. Still can’t see ‘em.”
“You’ll need these binoculars then.”

The real story about Cape Wind might be just that ridiculous.
The plant is mooted for construction on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, near Cape Cod Massachusetts.
Cape Wind touched all the bases in the build up to constructing the Wind Plant. The plan called for 130 towers with the large 3MW generators in their nacelles. By any standard these towers are large, standing 440 feet out of the water with a blade swept area diameter of 364 feet. Even though the maximum power could theoretically be as high as 420MW, because of the fickle nature of wind power it is degraded somewhat, but at any one time the towers would provide 175MW, which is a considerable amount for the local area. They will be situated between 4 and 11 miles offshore, in the Sound.
The towers were to be spread out over nearly 25 square miles with almost 1200 yards between any tower and the next closest. The Company jumped through all the hoops seeking compliance from 17 State and Federal agencies.
It is not in any major shipping area, ferry routes, nor close to any flight paths. It is close to existing undersea electricity cables.
In a small irony, it will directly offset power production currently providing close on half the areas power at the moment that coming from the Canal Power Plant at the historic town of Sandwich, this plant running on bunker oil and natural gas. The irony is that there have been two large oil spills of oil for delivery to that plant, the major one being the Argo Merchant in 1976, which spilled nearly 8 million gallons of oil, killing birds and ruining the shellfish industry.
The towers will be lit for safety purposes, but the lighting will not be obtrusive, as the lights will only be visible from directly overhead, other than normal navigation lights.
The fishing industry say that they will have to steam further to reach their fishing grounds, but surely that is only a minor thing. The Audubon Society has also given tentative approval.
So what’s the problem.
NIMBY.
People who live in the area say that the tourist industry will suffer. And then they find any excuse to throw cold water on the project. They raise their concerns and employed lobbyists who then got into the ears of politicians.
Senator Ted Kennedy (Dem. Maine) was first cab off the rank, and as he lives close by, so it looks like a classic NIMBY case on his behalf. His objections have been numerous and well detailed. The towers would be barely visible, if at all, from the shore near his home. It could look suspiciously like an area of high winds on a body of water being put to use for purposes other than as an area where the yachting community might be playing with their boats. Senator Kennedy actually wrote an article saying that he supported Wind power, but not this project. Having one high powered voice might be good here, but others soon stepped into the breach also.

The press releases came thick and fast from all quarters and this is just one from the Providence Journal.
Congressman Nick Rahall (Dem, West Virginia) came on board, as did Senator John Warner, (Rep. Virginia) Senator Ted Stevens, (Rep. Alaska) Senator Lamar Alexander, (Rep. Tennessee) and Congressman Don Young (Rep. Alaska)
It would seem that those binoculars are being passed around through numerous hands, and in the case of our two friends from Alaska, it would seem that they might need to be standing atop Mt. McKinley, and peering through the Hubble Telescope.

The Cape Wind Project might or might not be a case of a developer lining up for a buck, but what puzzles me is that if there is the chance that a project of this scale might not even get off the ground, and we’re talking of a project worth around $950 Million here, then why would they spend so much up front already if there was even the faintest possibility it would fail.

Yes, electrical power generated by the wind can be a viable alternative. However, it will be costly, and will have to fight many battles before it becomes acceptable.

I included links in this post that might seem to have a lot of information in them. The 3 media articles are of interest, but the other two are specific websites that have a lot of information that is interesting. You may like to save those links and refer back to them for more in depth information.

The link in the second photograph to Kavips will take you to another blog, and here I have included the link to the page regarding wind power. if you scroll to the bottom of the listed links, you’ll see the list for ‘Windpower For Dummies’ and its continuing series.

The link to Cape Wind is for their website and also contains comprehensive information regarding the project.

Lebanon “Agreement”

Lebanon “Agreement”

It’s not only Europe and America.

As JoshuaPundit points out:

” The UN also okayed the arrangement, thus trashing three separate UN resolutions calling for Hezbollah to be disarmed and making the organization even more of an obscene joke, if that’s possible. US ally Fouad Siniora is on his way out as prime minister, probably to exile and, rumor has it, a well-paid sinecure at the World Bank. That little tidbit of information is yet another clue that leads me to believe that the Bush Administration acceded to the takeover of Lebanon as part of negotiations designed to try and woo Syria away from its alliance with Iran.” -more

Read More Dry Bones by Yaakov Kirschen

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Don’t Ask… Just Believe… Obama

This post brought to you by Obama For President

she’s back……
The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles

A breathe of Sanity in this Whacked Out World! (Especially the Political one.) —ed

America the Delusional

I’ve often wondered why the American public seems to believe one thing easily and with few exceptions while other things never seem to be resolved, is it politicians that fuel the flames of a story or event or is it the media that choose to string out a story and every so often dust it off and add a rumor to make it that much more believable until eventually it all becomes the truth.

During the Vietnam war one event/story sticks out in my mind where I believe the American people were duped by the media and I also believe it’s happening again but first the past.

The Tet Offensive: 30-31January 1968, the Tet offensive was launched across much of South Vietnam it was called the Tet offensive by the US press as it was launched at the start of the holiday of the same name. The North Vietnamese called it the General Offensive, General Uprising. Its stated goals were to convince the South Vietnamese Army to defect or stand aside and for the citizens of South Vietnam to rise up against their government. At its start the North’s forces consisted of 80,000 soldiers of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (better known as the Viet Cong or VC) and 200,000 members of the People’s Army of North Vietnam (better known in the West as the North Vietnam Army or NVA) plus 30,000 support or logistics troops. Over a period of some 2 months these troops along with 81,000 tons of supplies managed to move down the Ho Chi Minh trail.

While the US did notice this movement, the commanding General, Westmorland was convinced that the numbers were too high and that this was a diversion from the real Northern objective of Khe Sanh. At the time it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption as the North had spent the entire fall attacking border region outposts in large numbers convincing Westmorland that their intent was to capture the two Northern provinces in early January 1968.

Throughout December 1967 warnings were sent to Washington and to regional commanders outlining this increased enemy activity but the Northern regime had also smartly called for cease fire talks in exchange for the halting of Operation Rolling Thunder which was the all out bombing of the North. This call came on 30 December 1967 and had followed a unilateral declaration in October 1967 that the North would observe a 7-day truce from 27 January to 3 February to respect the holiday. The South matched that declaration and prepared to send 50% of its soldier on leave during the truce period.

When the battle began it was led by the VC with the NVA playing supporting roles. During the first two days of the attack more than 100 targets were struck all across the country and over the period of the next 5 days attacks continued to be launched in new locations but while initially surprised the South Vietnamese Army (better known as the ARVN) it fought back ferociously as did the US forces involved. Most attacks were defeated in short order with extremely high casualties inflicted on the North with the exception of Hue city which was occupied (with the exception of the ARVN HQ and the MACV HQ both of which held out) and became the face of the Tet offensive. Another famous and well known piece of the battle was the attack on the US Embassy compound which had only recently been completed the previous September. 14 Sappers attacked the Embassy by blowing a hole through the 8 foot high outer wall but their commander was killed during the initial entrance to the compound so the remaining troops had no idea what to do next and milled about the compound until Embassy staff eliminated all of the remaining attackers. They were inside the compound for a little less than 7 hours but the media reported that the Embassy had been overrun.

Towards the end of the battle for Hue which last 26 days and was the longest single battle of the war Walter Cronkite did more damage to the US war effort in Vietnam than any single enemy action before or after. He didn’t state as most people suggest today that the war was lost but he did say “We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds and further added we are mired in a stalemate that could only be ended by negotiation, not victory”

In February 1968 at the height of the worst casualties of the war, Gallup polls showed the US public was still supporting the war by a margin of 74% for the US action in Vietnam while 23% opposed it while a poll taken in early March after Cronkite’s so called the war is lost speech the polls showed that support had dropped to 54% supporting the war.

By the end of the Tet offensive in June 1968 the NVA and VC had lost 100,000 men, the number of wounded was never established. The number of killed in action was later confirmed in documents released after the war and captured after the battle. The VC all but ceased operations for almost a full year as it bore the brunt of the action while the NVA completed changed its approach to the war and moved away from all large scale operations. After the failure of the offensive the following was stated by General Tran Do who was the NVA commander in Hue, “In all honesty, we didn’t achieve our main objective, which was to spur uprisings throughout the South. Still we inflicted heavy casualties on the Americans and their puppets, and this was a big gain for us. As for making a big impact in the United States, it had not been our intention – but it turned out to be a fortunate result.”

During the time of the Tet offensive the US and ARVN losses were 6,328 killed in action and 20,663 wounded so while it was a big loss in life for the allies compared to the loss of at least 1/3 of all combined NVA and VC combat forces in the South the offensive was a rout for the allies and had it been followed up with a sweeping series of offensive and blocking operations along with an increase in bombing operations in the North the peace talks in Paris that began that May could have done so under a very different set of circumstances but between the Cronkite announcement, the stunned lack of response from the White House and finally the speech to the Nation on 31 March by President Johnson announcing his decision not to run for a second term was the beginning of the end of the public support for the war in Vietnam. One of the greatest battlefield victories of the war was turned into the greatest defeat and opened the way for losing the war.

So now today we have the Iraq war and the never ending media storm that tells us day after day the war is lost and it’s not just the media but congressional leaders actually not saying we might not achieve victory but the war is lost as did Harry Reid last year and the public has done a 180 degree about face in that roughly 60% of the public supported the war prior to its start and now roughly 60% are opposed and yet by all measureable accounts we have actually turned a corner and are not only winning but winning big yet the liberal press and the Democratic party continue to march to the defeatist drum.

So why can’t the media stick with the truth and let the people decide instead of only covering the explosions or deaths of US soldiers? Why can’t the Democrats see that every time they open their mouths they are demoralizing our soldiers and demeaning their ongoing sacrifices – well for them, it’s about partisan politics because if the war was going well they’d look like the fools they are and for the liberal media I believe its revenge time.

They believe that the Bush Administration duped them into believing the WMD intelligence so they now will believe nothing the US leadership says – a la Mr. Cronkite. Well it’s time that both these great institutions put the nation first and began talking about the success that we’re seeing everyday in Iraq. Whether it’s lower death tolls in every category to decreased violence to increased political activity Iraq is quickly becoming a big success story and is now in the second to last phase, which is moving from active offensive operations to support and overwatch operations. The Iraqi Army is finally becoming the fighting forces we’d hoped it would and is taking the fight to the enemy across the country.

I would expect this phase to last for at least another year while the Iraq Army continues to develop its combat support capability and the government continues to feel more like it won’t be thrown to the wolves at any moment by the US. The final phase will be the one the new President whoever he is gets to take credit for and that’s the reduced presence and training support role the US will be able to take up beginning in or around late 2009 and continuing until the policy makers say enough.

But is it enough that the US military has smashed Al Qaeda or the various militias and finally gotten a grip on the sectarian violence that did so much damage to the country, well according to the press it’s not and the public is no longer willing to look for the good and is only too eager to accept defeat once again. America doesn’t need a new President with a vision that includes failure on the cusp of victory, America needs a leader that stands up and does the right thing and that’s continue the mission until the mission is finished. We owe it to remember to the lessons of the past and not be deluded by the press and the Democratic Party on this one and see it through otherwise they will once again snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat.

On Memorial Day we talk about honoring veteran’s and their families but the best way to honor today’s veterans is to win. You honor sacrifice with victory in a just cause not with presumptive withdrawal for political reasons. Wake up Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Reid, wake up Democratic Party, wake up America!

American Anthem – Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day 2008
By Mark Alexander

---

Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day is reserved by American Patriots as a day to honor the service and sacrifice of fallen men and women who donned our Armed Forces uniforms with honor. We at The Patriot pay our humble respects to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice as members of the United States Armed Forces. We will remember you always.

Accordingly, this tribute is in honor of our fallen American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen.

Please join Patriots honoring Memorial Day across our great nation on Monday by observing a moment of silence at 1500 local time for remembrance and prayer. Flags should be flown at half-staff until noon, local time. Please give a personal word of gratitude and comfort to surviving family members who grieve for a beloved warrior fallen in battlefields defending our cherished liberties.

(For The Patriot’s tribute to our Armed Forces, see “To Support and Defend… So Help Me God.”)

American Anthem

All we’ve been given by those who came before:
the dream of a nation where freedom would endure.
The work and prayers of centuries have brought us to this day.
What shall be our legacy? What will our children say?
Let them say of me I was one who believed in sharing the blessings I received.
Let me know in my heart when my days are through,
America, America, I gave my best to you.

Each generation from the plains to distant shore
with the gifts that they were given were determined to leave more.
Valiant battles fought together, acts of conscience fought alone.
Those are the seeds from which America has grown.
Let them say of me I was one who believed in sharing the blessings I received.
Let me know in my heart when my days are through,
America, America, I gave my best to you.

For those who think they have nothing to share,
who fear in their hearts there is no hero there,
know that quiet acts of dignity are that
which fortifies the soul of a generation that never dies.
Let them say of me I was one who believed in sharing the blessings I received.
Let me know in my heart when my days are through:
America, America, I gave my best to you.

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)

Read more articles here > The Patriot Post.US

Are We at the End of the Rainbow?

At The End of the Rainbow

Rainbow and Bird by listentoreason

It’s sad to see the end of a dream but it looks like that’s what we are witnessing again or at least the beginning of the end. Are we getting closer to the failure of the so called Rainbow Coalition? Shortly after the end of apartheid I told a close friend that I believed South Africa would last as an African symbol of reconciliation and hope for about 10 years before going the way of the former Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe which in 1994 was slipping fast into despair after the promise of the end of white rule in 1980.

After winning an election against Ian Smith, Robert Mugabe started by cooperating with Smith’s party and agreed that white rights would be protected and that the country would continue to prosper but of course that didn’t last and by the mid 80’s to protect his own status Mugabe began a campaign to co-opt or kill off his former allies and solidify his power base through fear and intimidation. With that completed he then turned his attention to white businessman and farmers imposing harsh restrictions on ownership and expansion. He also began to clamp down on the countries banking laws specifically limiting the amount of funds that could be transferred out of the country while also ordering the nationalization of most industries. All of this led to resentment and fear amongst the white community and many left for South Africa but in doing so quickened the pace of decline for Zimbabwe. Instead of embracing those who were left behind Mugabe continue his efforts to destroy what was once called the breadbasket of Africa, by funding numerous wars in neighboring countries while also further ostracizing white farmers who were the nation’s biggest income earners and employers.

The nation went from have to have not almost overnight with income dropping off, huge debt and tourism also falling off but it only got worse and the few remaining white owned farms were then seized and handed over to “war veterans” who came home expecting a pension as promised and received nothing. Mugabe if nothing else is a survivor and quickly realized that to stay in power meant appeasing the unemployed masses and using a sacrificial lamb in the process namely the few white farmers still left. Today we have 80% unemployment, unimaginable poverty and inflation that’s so out of control a new 500 million dollar note was just printed (the equivalent of USD$2.00) so citizens don’t have to use a wheel barrel to buy bread, that is if any is to be found for sale. The promise of Zimbabwe didn’t last 10 yrs after Robert Mugabe came to power and it continues to rot.

This is what I based my prediction on but I was wrong in my sense of timing. I never could have imagined just how powerful Nelson Mandela would be, his sheer will power and gentleness took the country by storm and the rainbow coalition was formed. White’s who supported apartheid wouldn’t be strung up and or given long jail sentences they could simply appear before the truth commission and that was that. The former President wasn’t tried for crimes against humanity or against the state but was allowed to remain in parliament until he retired. It all seemed possible but as Mandela stepped aside due to age and ill health you could almost hear the clock begin the countdown to failure.

Slowly laws were passed forcing white businessman to take on black partners or give up 50% of their business interests. White farmers were told they would have to share their land and the state would set up a commission to determine the land’s value. Larger businesses had to meet quotas for black supervisors and managers regardless of competency or face fines, while colleges and universities were also forced to accept black students whose marks would not normally meet the entry standards. Now while some whites in those early days were resentful there were also a large majority that agreed with the policy’s and believed in the ideals of the rainbow coalition hoping that South Africa would remain the wealthiest country in Africa and in fact harnessing its better educated majority black population grow in stature thereby benefiting every citizen.

What the reality of it all was a huge increase in violent crime, mainly targeting working blacks. The unemployment rate soared in the black community and in the townships things only got worse as the services promised were not delivered in the numbers needed. Businesses that once flourished were slowing failing as unqualified managers were running them into the ground and increasingly the white community was starting to move their money offshore and also their children. Doctors were immigrating to Canada, Australian and Britain as fast as they could while many other much needed professionals were also looking for a new place to call home but there was still hope until recently.

2005 brought the first case of a white farmer to take what he considered to be an unfair settlement for the farmland he was forced to sell to the courts for appeal. He was turned down and he was given 60 days to accept the offer or his land would be seized. This sent shock waves through the white farming community many of whom had come from Zimbabwe but fortunately the decision was overturned by a higher court which ordered a mediated settlement. For the white farmers it was a sign and many began to immigrate to Canada and Australia with offers to farm there.

Since then South Africa has continued its economic slide continuing to slip in the worlds standings with each passing year. Crime continues to rise and corruption is finding its way into every facet of business and everyday life and now we have riots against foreign workers. Beginning on 11 May with attacks against Zimbabwean workers and growing to include the large Malawian population and the small Somali population these attacks are brutal and reminiscent of the genocide in Rwanda where groups of people would descend upon a poor soul and begin to beat him or her to death, the only thing missing is the machete’s but the most alarming thing about the uprisings is the rhetoric coming out of the government.

The director general of South Africa’s National Intelligence Agency, Manala Manzini, said on Thursday that the attacks were unleashed by movements that supported the apartheid government. Mr. Manzini’s comments were echoed by the minister of intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, who said there were groups that had what he called their own political agenda.

“There was organization… we have names of people who called meetings,” he said.

The secretary general of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Kgalema Motlanthe, has said that many of the immigrants were able to get jobs in South Africa because they were better qualified than locals, whose education was disrupted by apartheid.

Now this is some scary rhetoric coming out of the current government, in essence blaming white’s who supported apartheid and somehow justifying violence against foreign workers due to a lack of education based on a system that ended 14 years ago?

This was not the dream of Nelson Mandela where black South Africans would blame whites but would embrace them and move together towards one united great South Africa but it would appear that with Mr. Mandela’s era over all that is to be forgotten and therefore I believe the clock is ticking and the countdown to South Africa becoming the next Zimbabwe is well underway. Perhaps I am wrong, I hope I am wrong but all the signs are there unless God gives us another Nelson Mandela and soon.

Profiles in Valor-Memorial Day 2008

“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” -Nathan Hale

The Medal of Honor

By Mark Alexander

It is not surprising that many Americans no longer observe Memorial Day with reverence. Schools no longer teach civics, the courts exclude God (officially) from the public square, and the Leftmedia and malls “celebrate” Memorial Day with commercial sales.

Indeed, Memorial Day has been sold out by many.

Founding Patriot John Adams wrote, “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means…”

But is it?

Indeed it is.

Fortunately, millions of American Patriots still reserve Memorial Day to honor the service and sacrifice of our fallen countrymen, who donned the uniforms of our Armed Forces with honor and under oath to defend of our Constitution and the cherished liberties it embodies.

On 7 August 1782, General George Washington instituted the first formal military award of recognition for “any singularly meritorious action.” It was a purple cloth heart, the predecessor of the now-familiar Purple Heart, which is awarded to any member of our Armed Services who is wounded or killed in combat or combat-related actions. For this reason, the decoration carries the profile of George Washington.

But our nation’s supreme military award was instituted in 1861. That award is the Medal of Honor. (No, it is not the “congressional” Medal of Honor, and, no, it is not “won.”)

Some 3,400 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have been awarded the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” Most have received this award posthumously.

On this Memorial Day, four young men who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will not be at the malls, nor will they be at the family barbecue.

These young men are not much different from others who have served in the past or those serving today in our nation’s Armed Forces but for the fact that they responded to extraordinary circumstances with extraordinary courage.

They are Corporal Jason L. Dunham, USMC; Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, USN; Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, USA; and Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, USN.

Their Medal of Honor citations read:

DUNHAM, JASON L. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Rifle Squad Leader, 4th Platoon, Company K, Third Battalion, Seventh Marines (Reinforced), Regimental Combat Team 7, First Marine Division (Reinforced), on 14 April 2004. Corporal Dunham’s squad was conducting a reconnaissance mission in the town of Karabilah, Iraq, when they heard rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire erupt approximately two kilometers to the west. Corporal Dunham led his Combined Anti-Armor Team towards the engagement to provide fire support to their Battalion Commander’s convoy, which had been ambushed as it was traveling to Camp Husaybah. As Corporal Dunham and his Marines advanced, they quickly began to receive enemy fire. Corporal Dunham ordered his squad to dismount their vehicles and led one of his fire teams on foot several blocks south of the ambushed convoy. Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines. By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty, Corporal Dunham gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

MONSOOR, MICHAEL, A. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as automatic weapons gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 29 September 2006. As a member of a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army Sniper Overwatch Element, tasked with providing early warning and stand-off protection from a rooftop in an insurgent held sector of Ar Ramadi, Iraq, Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by his exceptional bravery in the face of grave danger. In the early morning, insurgents prepared to execute a coordinated attack by reconnoitering the area around the element’s position. Element snipers thwarted the enemy’s initial attempt by eliminating two insurgents. The enemy continued to assault the element, engaging them with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. As enemy activity increased, Petty Officer Monsoor took position with his machine gun between two teammates on an outcropping of the roof. While the SEALs vigilantly watched for enemy activity, an insurgent threw a hand grenade from an unseen location, which bounced off Petty Officer Monsoor’s chest and landed in front of him. Although only he could have escaped the blast, Petty Officer Monsoor chose instead to protect his teammates. Instantly and without regard for his own safety, he threw himself onto the grenade to absorb the force of the explosion with his body, saving the lives of his two teammates. By his undaunted courage, fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of certain death, Petty Officer Monsoor gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

SMITH, PAUL R. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 fellow soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a.50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith’s extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division “Rock of the Marne,” and the United States Army.

MURPHY, MICHAEL P. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as the leader of a special reconnaissance element with Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Afghanistan on 27 and 28 June 2005. While leading a mission to locate a high-level anti-coalition militia leader, Lieutenant Murphy demonstrated extraordinary heroism in the face of grave danger in the vicinity of Asadabad, Konar Province, Afghanistan. On 28 June 2005, operating in an extremely rugged enemy-controlled area, Lieutenant Murphy’s team was discovered by anti-coalition militia sympathizers, who revealed their position to Taliban fighters. As a result, between 30 and 40 enemy fighters besieged his four-member team. Demonstrating exceptional resolve, Lieutenant Murphy valiantly led his men in engaging the large enemy force. The ensuing fierce firefight resulted in numerous enemy casualties, as well as the wounding of all four members of the team. Ignoring his own wounds and demonstrating exceptional composure, Lieutenant Murphy continued to lead and encourage his men. When the primary communicator fell mortally wounded, Lieutenant Murphy repeatedly attempted to call for assistance for his beleaguered teammates. Realizing the impossibility of communicating in the extreme terrain, and in the face of almost certain death, he fought his way into open terrain to gain a better position to transmit a call. This deliberate, heroic act deprived him of cover, exposing him to direct enemy fire. Finally achieving contact with his Headquarters, Lieutenant Murphy maintained his exposed position while he provided his location and requested immediate support for his team. In his final act of bravery, he continued to engage the enemy until he was mortally wounded, gallantly giving his life for his country and for the cause of freedom. By his selfless leadership, courageous actions, and extraordinary devotion to duty, Lieutenant Murphy reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

In my lifetime, I have been honored to know five men who have been awarded our nation’s Medal of Honor. To a man, they are among the most humble Patriots I have ever met. To a man, they have told me that they did nothing more than the men next to them would have done, but for fate, it was their turn to act.

All five of those men are now in the company of their Creator. Each of them could claim 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Monday, 26 May, is Memorial Day. Please set it aside in reverence for all those who have served with honor and are now departed. And please join me for a moment of silence at 1500 hours your local time, for remembrance and prayer.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: In honor of Memorial Day, please consider a gift to our Operation Shield of Strength ministry. Remember that all purchases from the Patriot Shop support our Mission of Service to our Armed Forces. Visit our Armed Forces tribute page.

Quote of the week

“You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker somewhere along the road. It depicts an American flag, accompanied by the words ‘These colors don’t run.’ I’m always glad to see this because it reminds me of an incident from my confinement in North Vietnam… Then a major in the U.S. Air Force, I had been captured and imprisoned from 1967 to 1973. Our treatment had been frequently brutal. After three years, however, the beatings and torture became less frequent. During the last year, we were allowed outside most days for a couple of minutes to bathe. We showered by drawing water from a concrete tank with a homemade bucket. One day, as we all stood by the tank, stripped of our clothes, a young naval pilot named Mike Christian found the remnants of a handkerchief in a gutter that ran under the prison wall. Mike managed to sneak the grimy rag into our cell and began fashioning it into a flag… He made red and blue from ground-up roof tiles and tiny amounts of ink and painted the colors onto the cloth with watery rice glue. Using thread from his own blanket and a homemade bamboo needle, he sewed on stars. Early in the morning a few days later, when the guards were not alert, he whispered loudly from the back of our cell, ‘Hey gang, look here!’ He proudly held up this tattered piece of cloth, waving it, as if in a breeze… When he raised that smudgy fabric, we automatically stood straight and saluted, our chests puffing out, and more than a few eyes had tears… Now, whenever I see the flag, I think of Mike and the morning he first waved that tattered emblem of a nation. It was then, thousands of miles from home in a lonely prison cell that he showed us what it is to be truly free.” -Medal of Honor recipient Leo K. Thorsness

On cross-examination

“War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” -John Stuart Mill

Open query

“Of our three national holidays, for me, Memorial Day is the most significant. It’s the blood and guts (the suffering and sacrifice) symbolized by Memorial Day, that made America possible. To make ideals real-and to protect and preserve them-requires payment in the coin of strife and death… If I could speak with the ‘Band of Brothers’ today, I’d ask: ‘Are you happy with what your country has become? When you were a nervous kid waiting to jump out of a plane while shells peppered the sky, did you ever imagine it would come to this?”‘ -Don Feder

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)

Read more excellent articles here > The Patriot Post.US

Kyoto – A Perspective (Part 28)

WIND POWER (Part 3) The NIMBY factor

This image shows some of the 137 GE Towers at tThis image shows some of the 137 GE Towers at the Fenton Wind Farm near Chandler in Minnesota. Each tower produces 1.5MW for a maximum of just over 200MW of power. This photograph taken by Brian P Smyla is a Creative Commons image. Click on the image to see a larger image in a new window.

I’ve mentioned in numerous posts the relative sizes of plants producing electrical power for the respective methods of production.

It’s not like an Authority is going build a nuclear power plant next door to where you live, or even in the suburb where you live. Most large coal fired plants are in locations where they have been for a long time now. Combined cycle plants are increasing in numbers, but mainly in areas zoned for those plants. They are built in relatively out of the way places, and often are already existing before you move into an area where a large plant exists.

If it’s a hydro plant, then living near the lake might actually seem quite nice.
With solar plants, we’ve seen that they can take up as much as maybe hundreds of acres, and in most cases they are built in out of the way places where there is good access to quality sunlight, so plants are few and far between, and never really in residential areas.

However, with wind powered plants, instead of taking up small closely oriented areas, they are spread out over vast spaces. Again, by their very nature, they have to be in high wind areas, like Mountain Passes, where the wind whistles through, and also along ridge lines where the wind soars up the slopes, and placed along the skyline where they are eminently visible. Hence they are in areas where they are quite visible, standing out because of their huge size. Opinion is varied as to whether they are aesthetically pleasing to look at, or are an eyesore. Those opinions vary, depending on whether or not they are in your line of sight, or whether you are just looking at them in passing or in photographs.

Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY)

The problem goes something like this.
An electricity provider decides to bite the bullet, and construct a wind farm, at enormous cost. An area has to be found where the wind blows strongly, and more importantly, regularly, Environmental Impact Statements are carried out, government approvals sought, and submissions are sought from the public.

Usually people not living in that area are satisfied that someone is doing something to move in the direction of using renewable forms of power. However, and usually for personal reasons, those who do live in the area where towers will be constructed, even though they approve of renewable power generation, they’re not all that keen on having the towers constructed in their area. Excuses are found so that construction might not go ahead where they live.

It’s okay if it’s Government owned land, although some say the effect of having towers in pristine areas detracts from the effect of that area, even though it might be rarely visited.

Local people gather arguments to support their position, and it helps if small furry animals are involved, and even more emotive if they have wings.

The excuses used to support their arguments are many and it helps if you use numerous excuses.

There’s the size of the towers and how they detract from the view, the noise of whooshing blades, the fact that they might be a hazard to aircraft. People with higher profiles are called in to support the argument, and it also helps if you can get a politician on side, because then you can effectively ‘wedge’ one side of politics against the other.

Most arguments have been proved time and again to be spurious but the most effective weapon has always been the political side of any argument, and this has worked effectively on more than one occasion.

This image shows the largest capacity wind towers constructed so far. This unit is the Enercon E 112 manufactured by a German Company. They have since been upgraded using the same title but the diameter of the blade rotation is up from the 112 to 114 Metres, (370 feet) and the height of the hub standing at 124 Metres. (403 feet) The unit is directly driven, removing the need for the CSD, and producing 6MW. Note how Enercon paint the bases to blend in with the background. This image by Hadhuey and is a Commons Image. Click on the image to see a larger Image in a new window.

With respect to size, the towers themselves are said to detract from pristine views and the aspect of the countryside, with an argument that they probably decrease numbers of visiting tourists, while a counter argument is that the number of tourist visits actually increases because of the people who want to come and see them.
It has been said that the slowly rotating blades cause flickering light in the vicinity of the towers.

Old technology towers had blades that rotated quickly while newer, longer blades rotate at a slower, more regulated speed, between 5 and 20 RPM. Blades can be feathered as wind increases so the speed stays within this range. This feathering process, similar to what is used on propeller driven aircraft, changes the position of the blade with respect to the blowing wind, more open to catch lighter breezes, and closed somewhat as the wind increases. All this is achieved with the use of small sensors and computer programs allowing adjustments to happen automatically.

Now you again see that it is more complex and costly than just a blade blowing in the breeze generating electricity. The slow speed range is important because of the capabilities of the Constant Speed Drive (CSD) that drives the generator, because if the speed varied by a greater amount then the CSD would need to be considerably more complex, increasing the weight significantly, thus decreasing the efficiency.
The noise factor has also been used as an excuse, the constant ‘whoosh’ as the blade passes, but that would only be if you were close to the tower, and background noise from tower locations has been measured at around the same as for a 10MPH breeze.

Land use has also been used as an excuse. An average sized grouping of towers producing around 200MW might take up as much as ten square miles, which is quite a large area. The Power Authority would need to gain approvals from local land holders and therein lies one source of the problem. Those who agree are usually paid by the Authority to have the towers on their property, but those who disagree miss out, and the amount could be as much as $5000 per annum in the US, so it could have the potential to wedge neighbor against neighbor.

However, the biggest argument, and the one that has been proved to be the most spurious is the effect on wildlife. As soon as the word ‘wildlife’ is mentioned, the argument immediately becomes highly emotive, so here’s some facts on that front for you to mull over.

In the US, the toll of the towers is around 70,000 birds per year, an immense total, one that immediately produces the response that these towers be closed down.
70,000 birds. Man, that’s a lot. Especially when compared to birds that are killed each year by cars. That number is only 57,000,000. Yes! That’s right. 57 million birds are killed each year by cars alone.

Still, 70 thousand birds is a lot, especially when compared with birds killed by impacts with plate glass. That number is only 98,000,000. Yes! That’s right also. 98 million birds are killed each year by impact with plate glass.

Birds killed by wind towers approximates out to around one bird per tower per year. True, some of the older towers that rotate faster might bring the averages up somewhat, like those older first generation towers at Altamont Pass, but the newer technology towers have surprisingly fewer bird impacts that you might suspect. The same also applies for impacts with bats, also very little. Offshore wind farms have also been blamed for depleting fish stocks, also almost laughable. The noise factor has also been hit upon by detractors saying that the noise is amplified under water and this could have detrimental effects on whale movements in the area. Man, these people want it both ways. They tell us the whales are smart, and then they tell us they are too dumb to know that when they move into an area of loud noise, they don’t just swim off in another direction.

So, it all really comes back to this.
Yes, we do need alternative forms of producing electrical power and yes, wind farms are a viable option in that overall picture, but you’re not putting one of those things near where I live.
NIMBY.

Obama’s Fatal Weakness…

Do Not Miss A Single Issue. Add ExposeObama@exposeobama.com To Your Buddy List, Contacts List, Safe Senders List or People I Know List Now!

Obama’s Fatal Weakness With Whites By Michael Gaynor The Conservative Voice Rookie United States Senators and current Democrat frontrunner Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. rightly took a big hit with white voters after the media focused the nation on his relationships with the likes of Rev. Jeremiah A. “God damn America” Wright, Jr. and William “I bombed the Pentagon and wish I’d done more” Ayers… Read The Full Story

-Gary McCoy, Calgle Cartoons

McCain Won’t Play by Obama’s Rules
By Robert Novak
Real Clear Politics

Obama embraced that formula once it became clear that he would best Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. He began pounding McCain for seeking the third term of George W. Bush. At the same time, Obama implores McCain in the interest of “one nation” and “one people” not to attack him. The shorthand, widely repeated by the news media, is that the Republican candidate must not “Swift boat” Obama. That amounts to unilateral political disarmament by McCain.

Read The Full Story

Barack Obama: Gaffe Machine
By Michelle Malkin

All it takes is one gaffe to taint a Republican for life. The political establishment never let Dan Quayle live down his fateful misspelling of “potatoe.” The New York Times distorted and misreported the first President Bush’s questions about new scanner technology at a grocers’ convention to brand him permanently as out of touch.

Read The Full Story