This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Politics

  • Holocaust deniers they’ll tolerate, but…

    In the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal today is a reprint of a letter from Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) Olympia Snowe (?-ME) to Rex W. Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobile. According to the senators, ExxonMobile has damaged the stature of the United States in the world by supporting “global climate change skeptics”.

    and those skeptics access to and influence on government policymakers, have made it increasingly difficult for the United States to demonstrate the moral clarity it needs across all facets of its diplomacy.

    Don’t these two clowns have anything else to do than bother working Americans like Mr. Tillerson who happen to disagree with the Democrat party (and whatever party Ms. Snowe belongs to these days)?

    I find it terribly troubling that two of the people whose sworn job it is to protect Americans’ freedom to speak as they please are telling Americans to stop disagreeing with them. Not only that, they “cc” a copy of their letter to the Wall Street Journal – like some terrorist manifesto warning to other corporations who dare disagree with their fantasies about global climate change.

    ExxonMobil is not alone in jeopardizing the credibility and stature of the United States. Large corporations in related industries have joined ExxonMobil to provide significant and consistent financial support of this pseudo-scientific, non-peer reviewed echo chamber. The goal has not been to prevail in the scientific debate, but to obscure it.

    Funny, but this letter appears to be an attempt at “obscurring” any opposing opinion to the views held by these two senators. And since when do they know pseudo-scientific when they see it? What sort of research have these two knuckleheads done in the field, other than listening to other blowhards wax endlessly about the coming doom and end of Man?

    And I find no fewer than five times is the phrase “credibility and stature of the United States” used in this letter. I wonder if they think that withdrawing our troops from Iraq would have any effect on the credibility and stature of the United States.

  • Jimmy Carter plans his funeral

    I guess Jimmuh was on CSPAN today and discussed his preferences for how he wanted to be planted when his time comes. Personally, I hope there is a viewing in the rotunda scheduled for him when he expires (whenever he goes, it won’t be soon enough). I, for one plan to go. No Democrat has done more for the Conservative movement than Jimmy Carter.

    He demonstrated to the world how ineffectual government really is and how, when the chips are really down, nothing is better to cure this country’s ills than the American People themselves.

    With the Soviet Union marching across Afghanistan towards warm water ports, thousands of Cuban soldiers marching across Africa and thousands of Cuban refugees paddling across the Caribbean, Communist guerillas marching up the Central American peninsula, Soviet combat brigades stationed in Cuba – 90 miles from our coastline, OPEC holding American energy needs hostage, Islamofacists holding real  Americans hostage, the top marginal tax rate at 70%, inflation creeping towards double-digits, unemployment reaching double-digits nothing was more comical than our President, wearing a cardigan telling us to turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater and stop complaining – the epitome of useless Federal government.

    Every Conservative should show up for Jimmy’s funeral. Who knows what could’ve happened if he had been the least bit electable in 1980. Thank you, Jimmy Carter. Hell, I’ll even give his eulogy.

  • Chavez; the Left’s darling

    Aside from the fact that Jimmy Carter certified his recall election in 2003, the Left has been in love with Hugo Chavez, former brother paratrooper and current Venezuelan President. On every discussion forum where I’ve participated in the last six years, The resident Leftists have gone out of their way to defend this populist-cum-Leftist-cum-communist applauding the way he “bravely” stands up to the US (when was the last time the US attempted to assasinate a foreign leader who wasn’t a threat to our national security?), the way he “bravely” seizes foreign assets and nationalizes them (like his mentor Fidel Castro did in Cuba-bankrupting a previously profitable economy).

    Hugo (pronounced oo-go in Spanish) has offered oil to the US poor through his now-nationalized oil company (Citgo) while his own people live in abject poverty – hundreds of thousands in lean-to huts on the edge of high-rise projects in urban areas.

    Well, now Hugo has threatened to shut down non-state media outlets in Venezuela and yesterday, on the eve of his election, shutdown US-based Telemundo’s election coverage. Doesn’t sound very liberal (in classical sense of the word) does it? Telemundo, though based in the US is far from US friendly (I watch their nightly news at least three time every week just to keep my language skills current), in fact I’d call them pro-Chavez given the coverage I’ve seen there.

    So what’s Chavez worried about. Nothing, really. He’s just demonstrating that he has a firm grasp of the people’s throats in Venezuela. He’s using the US as his boogeyman to scare people into believing that he’s the only thing that stands between them and US occupation – in the Noriega mold.

    The real danger in Chavez’ personnae is that he’s funding loyal Leftists and communists in neighboring countries with his oil profits. So the supposed “populist”, is funneling money that could go to help his own people into a buffer zone of South and Central American fiefdoms withholden to Chavez. In our own backyard.

     This threatens the security of the entire region. We are still dependent on the Panama canal to move our goods to market and keep our Navy supplied to some extent. They just voted to widen the Canal this last year which will increase our traffic there. We still depend on Latin American oil (the chance that we’ll develop our own resources in the next five years is pretty grim given the current make-up of Congress).

    And now he’s claimed victory in yesterday’s election – and in typical style has claimed it was a blow to President Bush, a point reiterated unsurprisingly by Iran. I wonder if he’s planning to get the chair at the DNC next year.

  • Proof the “Baker Commission” are amateurs

    After a coupla days working instead of blogging, I picked up the Wall Street Journal this morning and read about how the “Baker” commission report was mysteriously “leaked” yesterday – a week before its presentation to the people who actually commissioned the study. So while I was reading through the WSJ article (requires subscription), I nearly choked on my cup of Cafe Duran Puro;

    Currently, the U.S. has about 3,500 advisers posted there, divided into 10-man teams and embedded with Iraqi Army and police units. As late as Nov. 24, the panel was soliciting advice from military experts on how to ensure that the Army and Marine Corps select their best and brightest officers for advisory duty. In recent months, that task has fallen to less-experienced National Guard and reserve officers. The final report will likely recommend that the advisory program be increased by “several thousand officers,” said one person involved in the debate.

    So what does the Commission think? That all we have to do is snap our fingers and “several thousand officers” will suddenly appear with the proper training and qualifications? That’s just absurd. And as far as calling National Guard and Army Reserve Officers “less-experienced” well, that’s just plain ignorant. I used to train prospective officers at ROTC Advanced Camp every summer at Fort Bragg as a platoon TAC NCO. Officers are all trained the same; we don’t discriminate between reserve, Guard or Regular Army cadets.

    When they become commissioned officers, they all attend the same officer basic courses, irrespective of their commissioning source – they’re all held to the same standard. Many who are part-time Guard or Reserve Component are police officers in their own communities and so they bring MORE expertise to the job than some active duty officers might.

    Many active duty officers who the commission are calling more experienced spend much of their career in staff jobs. Their time with line soldiers is minimal – which is why NCOs are called the “Backbone of the Army”. Most NCOs spend their whole careers with line troops while officers spend a year on the line, then become the Battalion Motor Officer or Mess Officer for a year. Some lieutenants who excel might get two line platoons in a row if the get a “special platoon” (Recon or mortar) after their initial platoon leader job.  

    That’s not much more experience than a Reserve or Guard Officer might get.

    Next I encountered this nugget in the story;

    The study group’s hope is that the larger U.S. military presence within Iraqi units would help them to improve more quickly and allow U.S. forces to pull back to larger, more secure bases away from Iraqi cities. The U.S. advisers would have the ability to quickly call on American forces if their units were being challenged or overrun.

    Now, where’d they get that idea? Right out of the Mobile Training Teams of Vietnam. Remember the John Wayne movie “Green Berets” when the camp was getting over run with Viet Cong and the Americans in the base had to call for a “Mike Force” to rescue them and turn back the Communists? That’s where the commission got the idea. From the same old failed policies of the Vietnam era.

    The politicians and media are trying to direct activity on the ground reminiscent of those photos of LBJ pouring over maps of North Vietnam picking bombing targets for the Navy and Air Force. Is this what we get when we get Democrats? More of the same fouled stuff?

    Just like the Clinton Administration and mission creep in Somalia while second-guessing commanders and refusing to give them the armor they needed and our troops died waiting for Pakistani armor to rescue them. Just like in Kosovo and Serbia, politicians determining flight altitude and limited action so that more civilians died than if direct action had been applied instead.

    I guess with Democrats we get deja vu all over again. No new ideas, just repackaged failures. To quote Jon Podhoretz in his article in the NY Post; Please stop laughing at the doddering old fools now. It’s disrespectful.

  • So we’re imperialists, huh?

    After reading that Sadr-mites are staying out of the government to protest Maliki’s meeting with President Bush all I have to say is; Huh? Granted, it’s only about 30 Sadr-mites out of a 275-member legislature (a little over 10%) but still you have to wonder what is up with these goofballs. Now, as I understand it, these guys are all Shi’ites – the same group that Hussein pulverized for the last decade of his rule. And now they’re calling President Bush an imperialist occupier? You’d think they’d be a little bit grateful, wouldn’t you?

    Of course they’re just pulling the same stunts they learned from the Democrats. If things don’t go your way, just go pout somewhere.

    Seems to me that it’s time to end Sadr’s connection to the future of Iraq and it’s time to start using a little more than just words to end Iran’s connection to Iraq’s Shi’ites. Combined with this month’s election results and overtures to Iran and Syria for “talks” they think they’ve got the upper hand. We appear weak and uncommitted to democracy in Iraq.

    It’s time to get a little hand ourselves. 

    And now I see that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, writes us a letter and  accused our government of “coercion, force and injustice”. Then the little twerp, in a fit of hypocrisy says “Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors.” I wonder how many Iranians would agree with him. Powerline has the complete text.

    I’m sure the Democrats will be listening closely to comply with yet another third world crack pot’s demands on us. It would be just like them to sacrifice our national security so they can feel good about themselves.

    I remind all partys concerned that Iraq is now the front line of our battle against worldwide terror no matter what got us involved there in the first place and for us to leave even one minute sooner than we need to will only provoke more attacks on our home land. The fact that our enemies are so concerned about our presence in another country proves that we are winning – this is not the to time go all Viet Nam again.

  • “Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet.”

    The above quote is from Representative Alcee Hastings in response to Nancy Pelosi’s decision to name neither Hastings nor Jane Harmon to the House Intelligence Committee.

    In 1981, Hastings was impeached as Federal judge for soliciting bribes in exchange for lenient sentences. He was acquitted in his trial, but his co-conspirator,  William Borders, was sentenced to five years in jail – he also was sentenced twice more for contempt for refusing to testify against Hastings in grand jury proceedings in the same matter. Borders was pardoned by Bill Clinton during the final hours of Clinton’s presidential term.

    So instead of just saying “No, I’m not going to have an impeached judge in charge of the nation’s most important intelligence. I’d rather have an experienced and proven leader”, Pelosi is just not making the choice between the two. And why? Two reasons; Harmon was reluctant to criticize the Bush Administration during the NSA wiretap dust-up (maybe because it’s legal and ethical?) and because Pelosi has already angered the Black Congressional Caucus once this year by unseating William Jefferson from the ways and Means Committee after the FBI found $90,000 in his freezer – after taping him taking a cool hundred grand in bribes.

    See, ladies, Democrats won’t even name women to positions ahead of criminals when it’s a question of race. You’re still second-class citizens. And Pelosi is no leader. In the mold of Bill Clinton, she sticks her finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing before making up her mind. That’s not leadership, that’s a linguine spined coward. Unfortunately for the Left, there are absolutely right or wrong answers – the real world doesn’t compromise. That’s why the next two years are going to provide bloggers with ample subject material.

    I always thought Harmon was a reasonable Democrat. She never hesitated to come on Fox News Channel and explain herself, or explain the issue of the day. She wasn’t one of the wild-eyed Bush-haters, but there was no mistaking that she was  indeed a Democrat. I always thought that she put National Security ahead of politics, though.

    I guess that’s why there’s no room for her in the next Congress’ so-called leadership.

     

  • Is Hagel writing Khamenei’s stuff now?

    Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei told Iran’s Prime Minister Talibani that American forces must be withdrawn from Iraq today.

    Americans will absolutely not succeed in Iraq and the continuation of Iraq’s occupation is not a mouthful that Americans can swallow.

    Sounds just like Chuck Hagel’s piece in Sunday’s WaPo, huh?

    I wonder why a nation that has repeatedly denied that they have anything to do with the incursion into Iraq would worry about the number of Americans being killed in Iraq. Of course we know that Iran is a double-dealing mealy-mouthed bunch of thugs. They’ve, since the Iran-Iraq War, had designs on the Iraqi oilfields and control of the Gulf.

    Khamenei went on to say that Iraq’s security forces could deal with the insurgents, although that has been proven to not be the case. For months, recently, the only casualties in Iraq were Iraqi citizens who had the temerity to venture out of their houses, volunteer to be policemen or go shopping.

    Iran has been supplying and instigating the violence there since the US invasion of Hussein’s Iraq and these talks with Iran will come to nothing, just give the Democrats something else to quote in their sound bites. If the evil Repblicans would only withdraw troops from iraq, the children can go back to flying kites in Iraq.

     

  • Bush threatens to veto Dem defense cuts

    Those of us who were in the military at the beginning of the Clinton Administration remember that administration balanced their annual spending by slashing military spending. They cut our medical benefits (they even dumped retirees from military healthcare and forced them into Medicare at age 65), they offered early-retirement (as early as ten years of service – then a year later when operational tempo increased, they offered those retirees their jobs back), they cut recruiting goals, they slashed ready divisions, they cut training money, they even cut ammunition. It was reminiscent of the Carter years when Carter had to reinstitute draft registration because morale and readiness had plunged to third world levels.

    Yup, the fastest and politically the most expedient way to slash the budget and appear thrifty for the time being is to slash military funding. But when those chickens come home to roost, you get the catch-up spending of the 80’s and 00’s.

    Now, there’s Leftist loon Daffy Dennis Kuchinich calling for cutting off funding to the troops and the war against terrorists and using that money for “healthcare, for education, for job creation, for seniors”. Well, the Bush Administration assures us that won’t happen in a Washington Times story by Stephen Dinan.

    I worry about the Democrats because they’re so willing to throw the American people over the side for a couple more votes, they’ll do anything. I can see them slashing the stuff our troops need to fight the war that Democrats don’t have the guts to fight so they can call themselves “fiscally responsible”. And the only thing between the American people and their irresponsible political double-dealing is the President’s pen.