Reality Check: We are at War

Mike’s America reports on the state of appeasement and its costs…

Britain on Alert!

It’s a sad day for our friends in Britain and sadder still that the spirit of appeasement is still alive for some who prefer to blame anyone but the terrorists. The following comment from a story in the Evening Standard newspaper is proof that appeasement is not just a phenomenon of supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul

Comment at “This is London:“

This government is still involved in the biggest foreign policy disgrace ever and shows no sign of either admitting the error or apologising for the suffering they’ve caused. Iraq was based on lies and the conceipt of a few men (Bush, Cheney, Blair) all of whom are deeply religious nutcases who believe that all’s well because God says so. ‘We’ need to understand that we’ve caused this blowback, which is based on a justified reaction to our actions, and as long as we deny this we’ll be bombed in the streets of London, as thousands are in Iraq. Bush and Blair said this was ‘war’, what the hell did we expect?

– Bobby Smith, Surrey, London

Apparently Bobby Smith and the Islamist apologists and appeasers prefer to remain willfully ignorant of the number of terrorist attacks that Al Queda and related groups launched against innocent civilians long before the U.S. and our allies, including Britain, invaded Iraq.

Shortly after the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005 another key U.S. ally, Australian Prime Minster John Howard, paid a visit to British Prime Minster Tony Blair. In his remarks afterward, he ticked off a list of attacks against innocent civilians, citing especially the 88 Australians murdered in Bali, which occurred before we invaded Iraq.

Ron Paul and his cult of followers beg that we should “listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it.” We have done so continually. Bin Laden’s “Letter to the American People” in 2002 (again, BEFORE we invaded Iraq) made it clear that Al Queda felt justified in committing acts of terror against innocent civilians in ANY land where the population resisted domination by Muslims under the extreme version of Sharia Law.

• No sane individual would suggest that the peaceful Buddhists of Thailand have anything to do with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, or U.S. support of Israel.
• Beheadings of Christian school girls in Indonesia (warning: graphic images) had nothing to do with Iraq. Nothing to do with the United States or Israel.
• Nor did the massacre of school children at Beslan in Russia (warning: graphic images).
• Appeasers and apologists should speak to this Russian man and explain why the infant in his arms was murdered because of U.S. or British foreign policy.

No evil self deception, delusion or willful ignorance will save countless innocent lives from the nightmare and horror that the Islamists would unleash. And those who continue to prefer their demented prejudices should be called to account for enabling this nightmare to continue rather than join in a stronger, more unified effort to defeat this evil.

Reality Check: We are at War

Mike’s America reports on the state of appeasement and its costs…

Britain on Alert!

It’s a sad day for our friends in Britain and sadder still that the spirit of appeasement is still alive for some who prefer to blame anyone but the terrorists. The following comment from a story in the Evening Standard newspaper is proof that appeasement is not just a phenomenon of supporters of U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul

Comment at “This is London:“

This government is still involved in the biggest foreign policy disgrace ever and shows no sign of either admitting the error or apologising for the suffering they’ve caused. Iraq was based on lies and the conceipt of a few men (Bush, Cheney, Blair) all of whom are deeply religious nutcases who believe that all’s well because God says so. ‘We’ need to understand that we’ve caused this blowback, which is based on a justified reaction to our actions, and as long as we deny this we’ll be bombed in the streets of London, as thousands are in Iraq. Bush and Blair said this was ‘war’, what the hell did we expect?

– Bobby Smith, Surrey, London

Apparently Bobby Smith and the Islamist apologists and appeasers prefer to remain willfully ignorant of the number of terrorist attacks that Al Queda and related groups launched against innocent civilians long before the U.S. and our allies, including Britain, invaded Iraq.

Shortly after the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005 another key U.S. ally, Australian Prime Minster John Howard, paid a visit to British Prime Minster Tony Blair. In his remarks afterward, he ticked off a list of attacks against innocent civilians, citing especially the 88 Australians murdered in Bali, which occurred before we invaded Iraq.

Ron Paul and his cult of followers beg that we should “listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it.” We have done so continually. Bin Laden’s “Letter to the American People” in 2002 (again, BEFORE we invaded Iraq) made it clear that Al Queda felt justified in committing acts of terror against innocent civilians in ANY land where the population resisted domination by Muslims under the extreme version of Sharia Law.

• No sane individual would suggest that the peaceful Buddhists of Thailand have anything to do with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, or U.S. support of Israel.
• Beheadings of Christian school girls in Indonesia (warning: graphic images) had nothing to do with Iraq. Nothing to do with the United States or Israel.
• Nor did the massacre of school children at Beslan in Russia (warning: graphic images).
• Appeasers and apologists should speak to this Russian man and explain why the infant in his arms was murdered because of U.S. or British foreign policy.

No evil self deception, delusion or willful ignorance will save countless innocent lives from the nightmare and horror that the Islamists would unleash. And those who continue to prefer their demented prejudices should be called to account for enabling this nightmare to continue rather than join in a stronger, more unified effort to defeat this evil.

Love at First Ring

Here are the i-Phone specs – read and weep with joy.

I-phones retail at $499 and up, the opportunity to heckle the Mayor for poor performance – PRICELESS.

Mayor John F. Street was among the first to get a coveted iPhone on Friday, waiting in line, on and off, for almost 15 hours and forced to defend the effort when a passer-by asked about the city’s skyrocketing murder rate.

He left his spot around 11:30 a.m., soon after a 22-year-old man sporting a mohawk asked him, “How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?”

The mayor replied: “I’m doing my job.”

Street had planned to stay in line for most of the day, waiting for the cell phones to go on sale, though he said he would to step out to make some appearances. He returned to his spot briefly around 2 p.m., then again at about 4 p.m.

H/T: Barnyard BBS

Love at First Ring

Here are the i-Phone specs – read and weep with joy.

I-phones retail at $499 and up, the opportunity to heckle the Mayor for poor performance – PRICELESS.

Mayor John F. Street was among the first to get a coveted iPhone on Friday, waiting in line, on and off, for almost 15 hours and forced to defend the effort when a passer-by asked about the city’s skyrocketing murder rate.

He left his spot around 11:30 a.m., soon after a 22-year-old man sporting a mohawk asked him, “How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?”

The mayor replied: “I’m doing my job.”

Street had planned to stay in line for most of the day, waiting for the cell phones to go on sale, though he said he would to step out to make some appearances. He returned to his spot briefly around 2 p.m., then again at about 4 p.m.

H/T: Barnyard BBS

The Bill is Dead

46 to 53 Immigration bill goes down in defeat

“What part of ‘no’ don’t we understand?,” asked Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who said the immigration fight had “reengaged the American people.”

George Borjas – an economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, wrote an insightful summary regarding the vote on the Hill today:

The President bet all his remaining political capital on a proposal he knew would tear his party apart. And the Senate came close to enacting very bad policy. It really makes me wonder: what the heck were they thinking?

There’s something else worth pointing out. Here’s a policy shift–amnesty and guest workers–that the entire political establishment as well as much of the mainstream media and academic elite wanted badly. It is seldom the case that something that the powers-that-be want so much fails to make it through. I am pretty sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere. And the tactics used by the bill’s opponents to fight the establishment’s power and to weaken their control over key junctures in the information flow will provide lots of case studies that will be studied far into the future. No “Mission Accomplished” banners this time around.

Does this end the debate over immigration? No.

Why? Because our immigration system is truly broken.

Regardless of what happened at the Senate today, there are still 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country, and that number is increasing at the rate of about half-a-million a year. And there’s no longer any need for the Bush administration to keep playing the charade of “more enforcement” that received wide media attention in the past few months. The economic and social dislocations caused by illegal immigration are not going to disappear simply because the issue is no longer in the political headlights.

Combine this with a legal immigration system that admits about 1 million immigrants a year–most of which tend to be low-skill workers. The economic pressures that both legal and illegal immigrants put on the low-skill labor market are severe, and have been ignored for years. I suspect that the immigration “problem” would have been long resolved had the labor markets for high-skill workers–say, for example, journalists and attorneys–faced the same pressures as those faced by low-educated workers.

Borjas is absolutely correct in his assessment that our immigration policies are broken. I’m not sold on the idea of President Bush losing political capitol over his support of this deeply flawed immigration bill. He is winding up his last years as POTUS and can throw his support to whatever legislation he likes with (political) impunity.

As for this latest debacle of the Senate – It was an already fractured GOP base that in 06 voted in a house and senate that in very short order voted on a non-binding Iraq resolution , continually looks for new and unique ways to defund our troops while they are in a war zone and now tried pass a deeply flawed immigration bill.

And all the pundits have to say is “what the heck were they thinking?”.

Hello – the question that needs to be asked is ‘What the heck was the public thinking when they voted these imbeciles into power in 06’? Quit your bitching – you voted for this change in 06, and now you are crying over the mess you created.

As a resident of Pennsylvania, I often sadly wonder if Senator Santorum was re-elected in 06, would such non-binding Iraq resolutions or flawed immigration bills ever have seen the light of day?

The Bill is Dead

46 to 53 Immigration bill goes down in defeat

“What part of ‘no’ don’t we understand?,” asked Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who said the immigration fight had “reengaged the American people.”

George Borjas – an economist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, wrote an insightful summary regarding the vote on the Hill today:

The President bet all his remaining political capital on a proposal he knew would tear his party apart. And the Senate came close to enacting very bad policy. It really makes me wonder: what the heck were they thinking?

There’s something else worth pointing out. Here’s a policy shift–amnesty and guest workers–that the entire political establishment as well as much of the mainstream media and academic elite wanted badly. It is seldom the case that something that the powers-that-be want so much fails to make it through. I am pretty sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere. And the tactics used by the bill’s opponents to fight the establishment’s power and to weaken their control over key junctures in the information flow will provide lots of case studies that will be studied far into the future. No “Mission Accomplished” banners this time around.

Does this end the debate over immigration? No.

Why? Because our immigration system is truly broken.

Regardless of what happened at the Senate today, there are still 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country, and that number is increasing at the rate of about half-a-million a year. And there’s no longer any need for the Bush administration to keep playing the charade of “more enforcement” that received wide media attention in the past few months. The economic and social dislocations caused by illegal immigration are not going to disappear simply because the issue is no longer in the political headlights.

Combine this with a legal immigration system that admits about 1 million immigrants a year–most of which tend to be low-skill workers. The economic pressures that both legal and illegal immigrants put on the low-skill labor market are severe, and have been ignored for years. I suspect that the immigration “problem” would have been long resolved had the labor markets for high-skill workers–say, for example, journalists and attorneys–faced the same pressures as those faced by low-educated workers.

Borjas is absolutely correct in his assessment that our immigration policies are broken. I’m not sold on the idea of President Bush losing political capitol over his support of this deeply flawed immigration bill. He is winding up his last years as POTUS and can throw his support to whatever legislation he likes with (political) impunity.

As for this latest debacle of the Senate – It was an already fractured GOP base that in 06 voted in a house and senate that in very short order voted on a non-binding Iraq resolution , continually looks for new and unique ways to defund our troops while they are in a war zone and now tried pass a deeply flawed immigration bill.

And all the pundits have to say is “what the heck were they thinking?”.

Hello – the question that needs to be asked is ‘What the heck was the public thinking when they voted these imbeciles into power in 06’? Quit your bitching – you voted for this change in 06, and now you are crying over the mess you created.

As a resident of Pennsylvania, I often sadly wonder if Senator Santorum was re-elected in 06, would such non-binding Iraq resolutions or flawed immigration bills ever have seen the light of day?

Philly City Council Evicts Boy Scouts

Robert Knight reports on the eviction notice Philadelphia City Council sent to the Boy Scouts of America:

The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly.

Can we call Philly a quagmire, now? It is safer to walk the streets of Baghdad than in Philly.

So it was that on May 31, the real-life City Council, without debate, and under pressure from an organization that promotes the rights of “sexual minorities,” stabbed the Scouts in the back. They voted 16 to 1 to break a 79-year-old agreement allowing the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts to occupy a building in a city park. The Scouts built the building in 1928, and turned it over to the city in exchange for a rent-free lease “in perpetuity.” Apparently, “perpetuity” in Philadelphia now means, “until gay groups boot you out.” The Scouts can stay only if they will open their ranks to open homosexuals.

This antagonistic action does not serve the gay and lesbian community in Philadelphia well. You want support for your cause – don’t act like fascists.

A truly open and tolerant society has a place for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts AND Gay Scouts. To bad that society doesn’t exist in Philadelphia.

**SIGH**

On a lighter note: Despite Philadelphia achieving the status of “Murder Capitol of the World”, booing Santa, and giving the Boy Scouts the boot; Philly is a great place for outdoor activities as seen in the video below.

Philly City Council Evicts Boy Scouts

Robert Knight reports on the eviction notice Philadelphia City Council sent to the Boy Scouts of America:

The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly.

Can we call Philly a quagmire, now? It is safer to walk the streets of Baghdad than in Philly.

So it was that on May 31, the real-life City Council, without debate, and under pressure from an organization that promotes the rights of “sexual minorities,” stabbed the Scouts in the back. They voted 16 to 1 to break a 79-year-old agreement allowing the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts to occupy a building in a city park. The Scouts built the building in 1928, and turned it over to the city in exchange for a rent-free lease “in perpetuity.” Apparently, “perpetuity” in Philadelphia now means, “until gay groups boot you out.” The Scouts can stay only if they will open their ranks to open homosexuals.

This antagonistic action does not serve the gay and lesbian community in Philadelphia well. You want support for your cause – don’t act like fascists.

A truly open and tolerant society has a place for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts AND Gay Scouts. To bad that society doesn’t exist in Philadelphia.

**SIGH**

On a lighter note: Despite Philadelphia achieving the status of “Murder Capitol of the World”, booing Santa, and giving the Boy Scouts the boot; Philly is a great place for outdoor activities as seen in the video below.

Not Seen On CNN…

H/T to Urban Infidel for this find:

How will the US be thought of by this child if the Democrats plan of cut&run succeeds? Today, he is a staunch friend, if we cut and run from Iraq, will he be tomorrow’s suicide bomber?

Image curtsy of Military Motivator – Best to stop by every day.

Iranians Learn Who’s The Boss

When Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured the British sailors and Royal Marines in March, it was not exactly their first attempt.

It turns out that Iranian forces made an earlier concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy.

The Australians, though, to quote one military source, “were having none of it”.

The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”.

The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters.

H/T: The City Troll