tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47491360351543671492024-03-05T05:06:05.843-05:00Complex TopicsJ. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-20428143963267976512009-10-30T02:31:00.004-04:002009-10-30T10:23:07.376-04:00The Problem With Illegal Aliens...HERE'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...<br /><br />You have two families: "Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have two parents, two children, and live in California.<br /><br />Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.<br /><br />Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".<br /><br />Ready? Now pay attention...<br /><br />Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.<br /><br />Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.<br /><br />Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00.<br /><br />Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.<br /><br />Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year.<br /><br />Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.<br /><br />Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.<br /><br />Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631.00.<br /><br />Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00.<br /><br />Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.<br /><br />Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $31,200.00.<br /><br />Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.<br /><br />Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.<br /><br />Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.<br /><br />Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.<br /><br />Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home.<br /><br />Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.<br /><br />Do you get it, now?<br /><br />If you vote for or support any politician who supports <i><b>illegal</b></i> aliens...<br /><br />You are part of the problem!<br /><br />I'm all for <i><b>legal</b></i> immigration. I'm all for those who come to the US seeking opportunity and who want to embrace the ideals upon which our country was founded. But I'm not for subsidizing them on the backs of American citizens and those <i><b>legal</b></i> immigrants who waited years to enter the country legally and who pay taxes.<br /><br /><i>A friend sent me this in an email. I don't know the origin, but I think it captures what many Americans are frustrated about. The last paragraph is mine.</i>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-38684481374353302222009-10-09T07:27:00.005-04:002009-10-09T08:46:12.085-04:00The World is Upside Down...It's Official.With the decision of the Nobel committee to give the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to the TOTUS, we can say that the world is officially upside down. With all the other nominees on the list who've actually accomplished something, the Nobel committee felt compelled to grant the prize based upon some "feel good speeches."<br /><br />What substantive act of promoting peace has Obama actually accomplished? Nothing! He's given some speeches. Big friggin' deal! So this guy who sells at least three allies down the river (Poland, Czech Republic and Israel) and who appears to be positioning himself to sell the Afghan people down the river is somehow worthy of the Peace Prize?<br /><br />It's not that the Norwegian half of the Nobel Prize has exactly covered itself in glory over the years. Some notable insane selections for the Peace Prize include: a terrorist (Yasser Arafat, 1994) a charlatan, snake oil salesman, shyster, failed Divinity student, failed journalist, failed US Presidential candidate and science fraudster (Al Gore, 2007), and an organization out to destroy the Western economies (UN IPCC, 2007).<br /><br />There were 205 nominees this year for the Nobel Peace Prize. There may have been one or two other potentially insane nominees, but I'll wager the vast majority of those other 204 nominees had far more impressive resumes than the empty suit, sock puppet, TOTUS whose list of actual accomplishments fits conveniently on the back of a postage stamp.<br /><br />Norway should be ashamed.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-14190800669367727742009-08-21T01:23:00.004-04:002009-08-21T01:33:38.018-04:00Afghan War Worth It? You Bet!I had one of those OMG/WTF moments the other day. I agreed with something that the Usurper-in-Chief said. In trying to sell what has become “Obama’s War,” the TOTUS said the war in Afghanistan was worth fighting. In that, I’m in complete agreement. It’s also a war which I believe the Bush Administration royally screwed up. <br /><br />Having put the Taliban on their heels in 2001, we did some high-visibility projects (the road between Kandahar and Kabul for example) and then for the most part, walked away. We neglected the villages and people in the countryside. We left them open to reinfiltration by the Taliban. We took the easy road of installing in government positions some of the very warlords whose corrupt and venal actions helped fuel the rise of the Taliban in first place. The war <i><b>was</b></i> won. All we had to do was make sure we didn’t lose the peace and in that, we failed miserably. <br /><br />So now we have a war again, but contrary to media spin and the “expert” opinion of certain analysts, this war is winnable and it is worth it, as yesterday’s election demonstrated. For weeks we’ve been told of how the Taliban would wreak havoc and render the election meaningless. Some media have even referred to a “guerilla army” advancing on the cities. One analyst at “Foreign Policy” even grossly distorted General Stanley McCrystal’s words in an article saying that the Taliban were <i><b>winning</b></i> the war. <br /><br />Election Day has come and gone and 40% – 50% of the voters seem to have voted. We won’t know the actual percentage for at least another day. Gee, that’s a pretty normal election cycle in the US. Reporters on the ground in Helmand and Kandahar provinces were surprised at the turnout, these being the worst provinces in terms of violence. <i><b>Afghans literally voted under fire!</b></i> The fact that millions did vote, even in the troublesome provinces, is a very encouraging sign.<br /><br />There were about 130 “security incidents” in 15 provinces out of 34. Keep in mind that “security incident” does not necessarily mean Taliban or anti-government forces directed at the election process. We still have the usual kidnappings, robberies, vendettas and such going on and some of those often look like insurgent activity. It seems that the Taliban basically shot their wad and came up short, even with the media playing propaganda machine for them. By late in the day almost nothing was happening even in the troublesome south.<br /><br />Yesterday’s events demonstrated that Afghans <i><b>are</b></i> interested in the democratic process, even under threat of death and dismemberment. Events demonstrated that the Taliban are not nearly as strong as the media has portrayed them. I often wonder just whose side the Western media are on. The Afghan security forces were primarily responsible for security with Coalition Forces keeping a low profile. The Afghans handled things pretty much on their own. <br /><br />If we can avoid more stupid policy decisions, this war is both winnable and worth it. We mostly need to just back up the Afghans and encourage them. Afghans are tough determined people and they are willing to carry most of the fight. All they ask is that we don’t abandon them…again.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-89039483969203595132009-07-03T03:49:00.003-04:002009-07-03T04:12:28.244-04:0056 Men...Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?<br /><br />Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.<br /><br />Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. <br /><br />Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.<br /><br />Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.<br /><br />They signed and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.<br /><br />What kind of men were they?<br /><br />Twenty-four signers of the Declaration of Independence were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. <br /><br />Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.<br /><br />Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.<br /><br />Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.<br /><br />At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.<br /><br />Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.<br /><br />John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. <br /><br />So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.<br /><br /><b>Remember: Freedom is <i>never</i> Free!</b><br /><br />It's time we get the word out. <b><i>Patriotism is NOT a sin!</i></b> We needn't be ashamed of our country. <br /><br />The Fourth of July is about more than beer, picnics, and baseball games. It's about those 56 patriots, their sacrifices and the sacrifices of thousands of others who made our great nation possible.<br /><br />I'm proud of my service as a soldier to the United States of America and to its <b><i>legitimate</i></b> citizens. <br /><br />I'm proud to continue serving with great patriots of all religions, races, men and women, who value more than personal wealth and glory - who value service to the United States of America. I'm proud of their current efforts serving the United States and helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><i>Borrowed from an email I received from a fellow patriot and soldier: Tim Reutter</i>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-86720982931782722852009-06-26T03:57:00.005-04:002009-06-26T04:18:00.844-04:00Bend Over, Here it Comes Again (BOHICA)!Congratulations America! Having voted to turn over the chicken house to the foxes, you are about to be raped again.<br /><br />Remember that Stimulus Bill? You know, the one that spends about a trillion dollars on absolutely nothing, most of which won’t be available until <i><b>next</b></i> year or later, but which we absolutely had to get passed without virtually anyone actually reading until <i><b>after</b></i> the socialist sock puppet POTUS signed it? And that on top of his “Era of Responsibility” budget that produced a larger deficit that all his predecessors combined?<br /><br />Well, get ready for HR 2454, aka “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” or the Waxman-Markey Bill, or most accurately “The National Economic Suicide Act of 2009.” Queen Pelosi and her leftist cohorts are getting ready to vote on it Friday, June 26, 2009.<br /><br />The version available on <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html" target="'_blank">THOMAS </a>(Library of Congress) is incomplete, but numbers 1091 pages. Yes, incomplete as of 26 June 2009. How exactly is that admittedly small part of the public that isn’t too lazy to actually look into these things to get a chance to look at the Bill and make comments to their Representatives if the available document isn’t complete? Supposedly over 200 pages of amendments have been added to the bill in the last week, but none of those are available in the final bill that’s available online.<br /><br />Let’s look at the chronology:<br /><br />5/15/2009 Introduced in House<br />6/5/2009 Committee on Education and Labor discharged.<br />6/5/2009 Committee on Foreign Affairs discharged.<br />6/5/2009 Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. H. Rept. 111-137, Part I.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Financial Services discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Science and Technology discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Transportation discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Natural Resources discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Agriculture discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Committee on Ways and Means discharged.<br />6/19/2009 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 90.<br />6/26/2009 Full House Vote.<br /><br />Do we really believe the idiots in the House have actually bothered to <i><b>read</b></i> HR 2454? Hell, they didn’t read the Stimulus Bill, why should they start now? Note how it zipped through every committee with no notice of any amendments? Sorta unusual for a major piece of legislation – that is to say, prior to <i><b>this</b></i> Congress it would be considered unusual.<br /><br />So, having worked on this for about 41 days, with virtually no public debate or transparency, the Democrats in Congress are about to vote to destroy our economy in one fell swoop.<br /><br />Congratulations America! It wouldn’t be quite as bad if you hadn’t also handed over the Senate and White House to these socialists. If it fails in the House, we can still hope enough Democrats wake up to what they will be doing to their constituents, the sock puppet POTUS has his EPA and unelected czars prepared to do by executive order what they might not accomplish via proper legislation, through their ruling that CO<sub>2</sub> (a trace atmospheric gas essential to life on earth) is a pollutant. Let’s disregard the fact that every time the socialist sock puppet POTUS or socialist Democrat-controlled Congress speaks/breathes, they spew the stuff too.<br /><br />The one perverse joy I get in all this is that all the morons who voted for this cast of clowns will get screwed right along with me. Enjoy your higher gas prices, higher electric bills, higher food prices, more jobs going overseas (where other nations aren’t so stupid as to commit economic suicide), and higher taxes.<br /><br />Brother you asked for it!J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-53788544850445630692009-05-28T10:36:00.005-04:002009-05-28T12:15:41.265-04:00Memorial Day Ceremony in Aghanistan<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUI_XhcbGXM31EaEmZMubwRd2mGIuS-pnaLfkiMo1T5WgfWKUL4uFMCoc8ugPfRe3Hhj1SCJemOgcHWupA9J3dfYrYeNJcIxcXZIJbZjhUN9qHV4RWFdf3xcZSeWXn9ZJMxao3sg7ybY/s1600-h/Flags.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890361606034642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOUI_XhcbGXM31EaEmZMubwRd2mGIuS-pnaLfkiMo1T5WgfWKUL4uFMCoc8ugPfRe3Hhj1SCJemOgcHWupA9J3dfYrYeNJcIxcXZIJbZjhUN9qHV4RWFdf3xcZSeWXn9ZJMxao3sg7ybY/s400/Flags.jpg" /></a><br /><br />On Monday, Memorial Day at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, there was a memorial service for the two Americans who were killed on 20 May by an IED. The AP article can be found here:<br /><br /><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHAN_MEMORIAL_DAY?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" target="'_blank">Associated Press</a><br /><br />There is casual mention of Coalition partners and civilian contractors being in attendance, but even that reference is far from complete. What the AP didn’t mention at all was the fact that there were also Afghans in attendance. In fact nowhere in the US media did this story get the kind of attention it deserves. This story is important not for what the AP reported, but for the most significant parts they did not report.<br /><br />The two Americans killed last week, Lieutenant Roslyn Schulte and Mr. Shawn Pine, were Jewish. They were mentors for the Afghan National Army General Staff. The Afghans they mentored were in attendance and they presented wreaths to honor the fallen. Additionally, two Ministers and other high-ranking officers of the Afghan National Army General Staff were in present along with numerous Afghan Police and Afghan civilians.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvX0ixr3l-S6bxTo8miPvgs7LgZuXB_t-EdLnWDMkGizfDmHJ6L6EVvItgqB_swZequ0XwmijbDygobf5WX1WND7tMgL4vEwdZLRWbPiiIfcXRXA5Fp0_bki1kbuls4f8ZyYgREIr_JM/s1600-h/KissofPeace.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890743119774898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvX0ixr3l-S6bxTo8miPvgs7LgZuXB_t-EdLnWDMkGizfDmHJ6L6EVvItgqB_swZequ0XwmijbDygobf5WX1WND7tMgL4vEwdZLRWbPiiIfcXRXA5Fp0_bki1kbuls4f8ZyYgREIr_JM/s400/KissofPeace.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghan and American Officers greet each other with the "Kiss of Peace"</span></p>Most significant was that a high-ranking Afghan officer gave a eulogy for the two Americans. Understand this: a Muslim gave a eulogy for two Jewish Americans. Why does this not make the news? Doesn’t anyone recognize the significance of this?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6v6ZVyQ_x-bleWCSVSktIJtVmWRAWPisF3aFCzWQTgzllRasgpnmaHUbTpczjQgPM9XqMWO56aYh841rMAhx6uZc-ag_iBbh8BmAOQvidJHSiVkKB6Jep3Bj99kYgKjNWmkWYuDI3KsE/s1600-h/Eulogy.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890355143074866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6v6ZVyQ_x-bleWCSVSktIJtVmWRAWPisF3aFCzWQTgzllRasgpnmaHUbTpczjQgPM9XqMWO56aYh841rMAhx6uZc-ag_iBbh8BmAOQvidJHSiVkKB6Jep3Bj99kYgKjNWmkWYuDI3KsE/s400/Eulogy.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghan Officer giving eulogy for Roslyn Schulte and Shawn Pine</span></p>On the day that Lieutenant Schulte and Mr. Pine were killed, there were Christians, Muslims and Jews in the convoy. The other two people in the vehicle that was hit were Muslim and they were wounded. Some of the first people on the scene to assist were Afghan civilians and Afghan police. As the bodies were taken from the scene, Afghans and Americans wept together. Why is this story not told?<br /><br />During the ceremony it was mentioned that one of the Afghans who worked with Mr. Pine remarking on his death said, “It is as if I’ve lost my brother.” <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKIYc8U0Ea5vwZVl5wkgYcLGjkoQ2uYUzRmsfCbLoFZ_EGpTfZMujzCNzyRc3Um5RkUf3u7F4De8SJB8AC3t6_W1Srs9lfI-aBdBrCuZY6S6cWmxXxROojbcB6HgREFjk3afBtx0iIScs/s1600-h/JewishChaplain.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890741230532386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKIYc8U0Ea5vwZVl5wkgYcLGjkoQ2uYUzRmsfCbLoFZ_EGpTfZMujzCNzyRc3Um5RkUf3u7F4De8SJB8AC3t6_W1Srs9lfI-aBdBrCuZY6S6cWmxXxROojbcB6HgREFjk3afBtx0iIScs/s400/JewishChaplain.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Jewish Chaplain</span></p>Don’t the media recognize the significance of a Muslim calling a Jew his brother and weeping over his death? Throughout the ceremony, several of the Afghan officers cried. When the Jewish Chaplain sang a Hebrew prayer, many Afghans bowed their heads. Afghan officers embraced the Jewish Chaplain before and after the ceremony.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTL1MHtoxU848mARGQLxVY6lODQiwEOzrRKLAVHP__wRMN-ZTGNr5Gt8_LxSn_G-fpOocY4U9AwlLe9s9qPQB70XI2Q9osR5jmUECffedA-1lvO0KO1l5wSmPuUGlsP_JXVApUndrs0Y/s1600-h/Handshake.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890735696439746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTL1MHtoxU848mARGQLxVY6lODQiwEOzrRKLAVHP__wRMN-ZTGNr5Gt8_LxSn_G-fpOocY4U9AwlLe9s9qPQB70XI2Q9osR5jmUECffedA-1lvO0KO1l5wSmPuUGlsP_JXVApUndrs0Y/s400/Handshake.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghan and American Officers sharing condolences. <br>Note the Afghan Officer low in the picture with bowed head. <br>He was crying.</span></p>It seems to me the mainstream media want to keep portraying this war as American against the Afghans, but nothing can be further from the truth. A more honest report would have at least included some acknowledgment of the Afghan’s presence at our ceremony. Their presence at the ceremony is symbolic of the larger picture.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VbtvgrZc4fHQ3sU63Hk2aNG7p8ojxds4MSVWz1Ghn74LRog4aA2nm1hURp__cZPNhKEo5Xezse0ptrwtNgpy7SoRNfnpyii898batv3G_887rA8lRS8ikqzzn6h9381C8CCXBZCE6pU/s1600-h/CondolenceBooks.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890348437016898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VbtvgrZc4fHQ3sU63Hk2aNG7p8ojxds4MSVWz1Ghn74LRog4aA2nm1hURp__cZPNhKEo5Xezse0ptrwtNgpy7SoRNfnpyii898batv3G_887rA8lRS8ikqzzn6h9381C8CCXBZCE6pU/s400/CondolenceBooks.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghan Officer after signing condolence books that would be sent to the families of the fallen.</span></p>This is the story that should be told: that people from many nations, Christians, Jews and Muslims are working together in common cause against the true enemy. There is no reason that Christians, Muslims and Jews cannot live together in peace and respect. During our ceremony we showed that it is indeed possible and it is a beautiful thing to see. The differences that truly divide us are no wider than a line in the sand. Yet somehow, the mainstream media do not seem to think this is worth reporting on.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXx6eUQRHCM4jZSGNa6RoZV21BTLNbJRxLoBlE2C4KV6zrwIqPNCXNs7wPZ6Z3Jkh6SC-kTZ-zGwyz6Oe_nbrq2kKJ06EKZjPX_QqMBniXx1tgrBE9soXtwp8QyodvU6afe910Uxjflww/s1600-h/LayingWreath.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890351416079522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXx6eUQRHCM4jZSGNa6RoZV21BTLNbJRxLoBlE2C4KV6zrwIqPNCXNs7wPZ6Z3Jkh6SC-kTZ-zGwyz6Oe_nbrq2kKJ06EKZjPX_QqMBniXx1tgrBE9soXtwp8QyodvU6afe910Uxjflww/s400/LayingWreath.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghan Sergeants present the wreaths</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSnYqWPqSVACes0KinI6tiDkY48UykcyVA0ikIuyn1gLHz98R48qbW8JN_f955WSFITFYF5IVA9WvSeQ3nxsigdD7Nh2JGPuhWliFs_kGK43FHYnkeLKRjkJcfFWECkikPUCVGIsW8jo/s1600-h/Wreaths.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340890351158765378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSnYqWPqSVACes0KinI6tiDkY48UykcyVA0ikIuyn1gLHz98R48qbW8JN_f955WSFITFYF5IVA9WvSeQ3nxsigdD7Nh2JGPuhWliFs_kGK43FHYnkeLKRjkJcfFWECkikPUCVGIsW8jo/s400/Wreaths.jpg" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The wreaths presented by the Afghans flank comrades-in-arms as they pay last respects.</span></p>It should also be noted that soldiers from the following allies were in attendance: The United Kingdom, Poland, Germany, France, Turkey, Norway, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Spain and Italy. My apologies to any that I may have missed.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-58079829698387218172009-05-22T03:01:00.012-04:002009-05-22T04:55:17.465-04:00Twenty-two Reasons...My thoughts this Memorial Day weekend turn to the sacrifices of fellow comrades-in-arms who have given their lives and who continue to give their lives for our country. I got the idea for this particular post from an email one of my relatives sent me. I expanded upon the original theme.<br /><br />On his recent “World Apology Tour” the President of the United States felt compelled to apologize for “American arrogance” when the only arrogance on display was his own in assuming that we needed to apologize for anything. The only thing on display in greater abundance than his arrogance was his ignorance of American history.<br /><br />Without further ado, I give you twenty-two reasons why we needn’t apologize to Europe or the world for our “arrogance.”<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EDn1fdFKb0Rtbe6KcoP0CwbMFOiHITle2zHRZTJianZLRkP2fXyPjfskr_n884niqg4RH0WhqWCmxxLWuA2p-LszHgk3i79pZMS2hG5kmwZZcv4seuf84jezi48Sw2hCALWDrhnNkpc/s1600-h/AisneMarneFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EDn1fdFKb0Rtbe6KcoP0CwbMFOiHITle2zHRZTJianZLRkP2fXyPjfskr_n884niqg4RH0WhqWCmxxLWuA2p-LszHgk3i79pZMS2hG5kmwZZcv4seuf84jezi48Sw2hCALWDrhnNkpc/s400/AisneMarneFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338541625089555090" /></a><br />1. Aisne-Marne Cemetery and Memorial in France, the last resting place of 2,289 Americans who fought and died liberating France during the summer of 1918 in the Marne Campaign in WWI. There are an additional 1,060 names of those missing in action within the chapel. Belleau Wood is nearby and US Marines captured much of this ground during the summer fighting here.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRProtAd_6hyphenhyphenZuLdwXgq0bdQnOZo4VifA3o0K-C2yBfdGYSt0_1jIILbK-7fl9G6TXNgahZbno2VFgkzvvHHJNtbQ16BaZL3eOSVAIfDU2im2mUosaZVNoBHlUezqfmaPKW3HiIL64L0/s1600-h/ArdennesBelgium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRProtAd_6hyphenhyphenZuLdwXgq0bdQnOZo4VifA3o0K-C2yBfdGYSt0_1jIILbK-7fl9G6TXNgahZbno2VFgkzvvHHJNtbQ16BaZL3eOSVAIfDU2im2mUosaZVNoBHlUezqfmaPKW3HiIL64L0/s400/ArdennesBelgium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338541628307470722" /></a><br />2. Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium, where 5,329 Americans are laid to rest. Most died during the “Battle of the Bulge.” There are an additional 462 names of those missing in action inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZkhiBTL-xpd55WzCYh1F6c-jIYy_0wN9avvirZ-WY5aHpkwQD9Vo9RlPYQKH5HcFdSOOTSjC7vbnfAapsUGZD83tIaNxAamQ4JKBsifXcCZ23u-vaCS690jijk_PmvaRLmDj_Pcs72I/s1600-h/BrittanyFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZkhiBTL-xpd55WzCYh1F6c-jIYy_0wN9avvirZ-WY5aHpkwQD9Vo9RlPYQKH5HcFdSOOTSjC7vbnfAapsUGZD83tIaNxAamQ4JKBsifXcCZ23u-vaCS690jijk_PmvaRLmDj_Pcs72I/s400/BrittanyFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338541627974934098" /></a><br />3. The Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in France, contains the remains of 4,410 Americans who died liberating Normandy and Brittany in 1944. There are an additional 498 names of those missing in action inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZy_nIfPk5JAiKrPc9VElP8OGFG_Caexjj3LtA0H7MgbJkrN6OEq_c_TJr8aJhSOcR6if9-jrUPc_6fIuR_qqZjegaZZX5ZNW7nb9_R-Wft63PApMxknJxkU7kBNQHRwcgGGzd8UlH1U/s1600-h/BrookwoodEngland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJZy_nIfPk5JAiKrPc9VElP8OGFG_Caexjj3LtA0H7MgbJkrN6OEq_c_TJr8aJhSOcR6if9-jrUPc_6fIuR_qqZjegaZZX5ZNW7nb9_R-Wft63PApMxknJxkU7kBNQHRwcgGGzd8UlH1U/s400/BrookwoodEngland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338541632769770482" /></a><br />4. Brookwood American Cemetery and Memorial in England, contains the graves of 468 Americans and the names of 563 missing in action are inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72k56KXwL8oaI6CB7K5lr2pBZrDDHZCKMlFh55I8B4gip6FOOCAsgg4CWeaKfDdGhJIBh3-OSoNN8ByXlHGntMw6b05ttNvsZpMNQByRE2qwOnhUwhCV2XYRvGmxDrqHz78aYAecvw20/s1600-h/CambridgeEngland.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72k56KXwL8oaI6CB7K5lr2pBZrDDHZCKMlFh55I8B4gip6FOOCAsgg4CWeaKfDdGhJIBh3-OSoNN8ByXlHGntMw6b05ttNvsZpMNQByRE2qwOnhUwhCV2XYRvGmxDrqHz78aYAecvw20/s400/CambridgeEngland.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338541636507901218" /></a><br />5. Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial site in England contains the graves of 3,812 Americans. Within the chapel are an additional 5,127 names of the missing in action.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIypRLV1ajeurvl5ASM2RNgAZszKkI0QGhVOXiJYsjpgyQw5W_mcPI6Xedgd6-Jy5LFlV1WI3_Z6re99TwBini_MJg09iAOzVEj3sTpilt2Y4JNZdv-0MalTpN0vG6sw4LroWicIXRvSI/s1600-h/EpinalFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIypRLV1ajeurvl5ASM2RNgAZszKkI0QGhVOXiJYsjpgyQw5W_mcPI6Xedgd6-Jy5LFlV1WI3_Z6re99TwBini_MJg09iAOzVEj3sTpilt2Y4JNZdv-0MalTpN0vG6sw4LroWicIXRvSI/s400/EpinalFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542190232424434" /></a><br />6. The Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the remains of 5,255 Americans who died during the fighting in the Heasbourg Gap during the bitter winter of 1944-45. An additional 424 names of the missing in action are inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhcYUGzv632KDfJGGGdeufr7TXURyPsW34YnMQVdZhzJeluU0JufdKvME3G6fkb9RayfhXp1lm4YDL67o5nf1C9kq27kfYtolSwWoeaQwc7niKqOaKyoVrgHWieXAKZe5TOGsulx7Hf8/s1600-h/FlandersFieldBelgium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhcYUGzv632KDfJGGGdeufr7TXURyPsW34YnMQVdZhzJeluU0JufdKvME3G6fkb9RayfhXp1lm4YDL67o5nf1C9kq27kfYtolSwWoeaQwc7niKqOaKyoVrgHWieXAKZe5TOGsulx7Hf8/s400/FlandersFieldBelgium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542197373702866" /></a><br />7. Flanders Field American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium where 368 Americans who gave their lives liberating Belgium in WWI are buried. An additional 43 names of those missing in action are inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrzG4hgj7vskRB6AXy939U7Z2b3cjeZUN78d6t5xDgamE7OVKujiCPq1v1H-ozne08J9pIG1BHEntX_d2xXhJGf5PXIxo-KgpK33kSo20HL1vb27SZ3VGxpCX3uJkMpSfbn11K13y3rc/s1600-h/FlorenceItaly.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrzG4hgj7vskRB6AXy939U7Z2b3cjeZUN78d6t5xDgamE7OVKujiCPq1v1H-ozne08J9pIG1BHEntX_d2xXhJGf5PXIxo-KgpK33kSo20HL1vb27SZ3VGxpCX3uJkMpSfbn11K13y3rc/s400/FlorenceItaly.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542200251230322" /></a><br />8. Florence American Cemetery and Memorial site in Italy contains the graves of 4,402 who died liberating Italy during WWII. An additional 1,409 names of the missing in action are inscribed on the memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyDWFofs-NC1GgUDMc2YrHt7z6K8p-2TFtRgC6R-1MJGNw6Ahex_43Gp5ZI301AwD54GgBMaqb1lT1PH-rQ3VI6RR2JOkY8EtuwxzrectmK73NpjgRnrDEPUskCc7qEfVgVDHSWpOM6I/s1600-h/HenriChapelleBelgium.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyDWFofs-NC1GgUDMc2YrHt7z6K8p-2TFtRgC6R-1MJGNw6Ahex_43Gp5ZI301AwD54GgBMaqb1lT1PH-rQ3VI6RR2JOkY8EtuwxzrectmK73NpjgRnrDEPUskCc7qEfVgVDHSWpOM6I/s400/HenriChapelleBelgium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542202641105346" /></a><br />9. Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium where 7,992 Americans who died liberating Belgium in WWII are buried. An additional 450 names of those missing in action are inscribed on the memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjos3C-XpyBYRuAreiEpwf4SxRmxavgAo9MXvneNe8plq7ypdZYEpiR1u8StYt8vuK2tobxa-o6jeyqo1VFBZJw2q4rYULNDmofgmlg6p7mx8WRgcZcAZDVBomV_eFn-E29EAEIuDz2Bs/s1600-h/LorraineFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjos3C-XpyBYRuAreiEpwf4SxRmxavgAo9MXvneNe8plq7ypdZYEpiR1u8StYt8vuK2tobxa-o6jeyqo1VFBZJw2q4rYULNDmofgmlg6p7mx8WRgcZcAZDVBomV_eFn-E29EAEIuDz2Bs/s400/LorraineFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542207356482898" /></a><br />10. Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the largest number of American WWII dead in Europe. The 10,489 Americans buried here died liberating France during WWII. There are an additional 444 names of the missing in action inscribed on the memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtf9sf34zicVr4behCRRFQRgxh9jI-iC2klAd3LLqje9PSmhxtb6LKYjRTpmuKozRrOPnocbWyc2Onk5jp1wAH_NzYNYVVd3uWt7D_Jv6I59nv84aBiWObf-2gWenWXeCNEE_Yf-7Up8/s1600-h/Luxembourg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtf9sf34zicVr4behCRRFQRgxh9jI-iC2klAd3LLqje9PSmhxtb6LKYjRTpmuKozRrOPnocbWyc2Onk5jp1wAH_NzYNYVVd3uWt7D_Jv6I59nv84aBiWObf-2gWenWXeCNEE_Yf-7Up8/s400/Luxembourg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542803170253570" /></a><br />11. Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial where 5,076 Americans, most of whom died liberating Luxembourg are buried. General George S. Patton is also buried here. An additional 371 names of the missing in action are inscribed on the memorial columns.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjqmhLNqo-51-3UKwyIEtbfmzyPyHaXo-TFIvXMogXVR_qOyUvPa7hxCH4uOOyMCzVr3Ts8iUo7X1gZaLK7cghuoVk6V4SGtO_9rkUYmueugU08ikHvwIPIB8MbX2QmF6CGrmEm-QhUKM/s1600-h/ManilaAmericanCemetery.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjqmhLNqo-51-3UKwyIEtbfmzyPyHaXo-TFIvXMogXVR_qOyUvPa7hxCH4uOOyMCzVr3Ts8iUo7X1gZaLK7cghuoVk6V4SGtO_9rkUYmueugU08ikHvwIPIB8MbX2QmF6CGrmEm-QhUKM/s400/ManilaAmericanCemetery.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542808449234658" /></a><br />12. Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines is the largest overseas cemetery for American war dead. It contains the remains of 17,202 Americans who died defending and liberating the Philippines and New Guinea during WWII. There are an additional 36,285 names of the missing in action inscribed in the memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqrOdeqeeniZMBTDXzBoTDpenV0DmJA22NNg9Yqpb1j_6NmAfvCmiCkhsqc6bLehCIkVi4Ncl8pLQ054idvd9irRW7C5zVW_LPtiHmBZFnLoU2HCom3SfCTdi_rNKs5nnK_rV7YFkSlc/s1600-h/MeusseArgonneFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqrOdeqeeniZMBTDXzBoTDpenV0DmJA22NNg9Yqpb1j_6NmAfvCmiCkhsqc6bLehCIkVi4Ncl8pLQ054idvd9irRW7C5zVW_LPtiHmBZFnLoU2HCom3SfCTdi_rNKs5nnK_rV7YFkSlc/s400/MeusseArgonneFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542810905451490" /></a><br />13. Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the largest number of American war dead in Europe. Most of the 14,246 American Soldiers buried here died liberating France during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. There are an additional 954 names of the missing in action inscribed on the memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ykdKibAhhEA5QYqhdOYKgtAbtIu896BiWh0e9ny6B5cjtXiCZ7rhcxUXbU6-eK3EK06cB1CjB6b7JtIeU55fji4Wo_NNZL3eo7tUJR-FyJ-vy397CjKA6fxZfKQoykWJCih2Ktardqc/s1600-h/TunisiaNorthAfrica.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ykdKibAhhEA5QYqhdOYKgtAbtIu896BiWh0e9ny6B5cjtXiCZ7rhcxUXbU6-eK3EK06cB1CjB6b7JtIeU55fji4Wo_NNZL3eo7tUJR-FyJ-vy397CjKA6fxZfKQoykWJCih2Ktardqc/s400/TunisiaNorthAfrica.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543678056681874" /></a><br />14. North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Tunisia where 2,841 Americans who liberated <i><b>Muslim</b></i> Tunisia are laid to rest. An additional 3,724 are remembered on the Wall of the Missing.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNvaDiSePfxk1kubriPr8O_0t2l9v5f0EtVbI_N2bq6XvSD-k4PM1Sl4a1E4P-GBwY1HOgzDSzS4XMh0DQ8Oi7lCejDRXv8XRmLNLFAdzm-eFPSplJdImaRTLCwGk_NIsNGLivOZ8vgE/s1600-h/Netherlands.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNvaDiSePfxk1kubriPr8O_0t2l9v5f0EtVbI_N2bq6XvSD-k4PM1Sl4a1E4P-GBwY1HOgzDSzS4XMh0DQ8Oi7lCejDRXv8XRmLNLFAdzm-eFPSplJdImaRTLCwGk_NIsNGLivOZ8vgE/s400/Netherlands.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542812969262866" /></a><br />15. The World War II Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial is the only American cemetery in the Netherlands. It contains the graves of 8,301 Americans who died liberating the Netherlands during WWII. Stretching along the sides of the court are Tablets of the Missing on which are recorded 1,722 names.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBfHEAv-UArgGFq6vXUu90EEC_iwKan-tkUr2LzqMMSfBBfhdti1QCfflN5f4RLsfbo4pDzZlXiXNHeo2e_63XjqoQM8EJwcj6_mesBf8K7RA95-MsvcbmuvXM8YxS1g8VsMinQHbxCA/s1600-h/NormandyFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYBfHEAv-UArgGFq6vXUu90EEC_iwKan-tkUr2LzqMMSfBBfhdti1QCfflN5f4RLsfbo4pDzZlXiXNHeo2e_63XjqoQM8EJwcj6_mesBf8K7RA95-MsvcbmuvXM8YxS1g8VsMinQHbxCA/s400/NormandyFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338542815220420146" /></a><br />16. Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 and the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. Buried here are 9,387 Americans, most of whom died on D-Day and in operations immediately following the landings. An additional 1,557 names are inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Memorial.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKPE3wYJinpqoGMK9L3NaDcqFlxWuv7IUzNokqV2AO83djVq9SoSFaaBxXj0ho3SGLuGGxndxEjr3OYZcT1DbmSp2oBFOWCo2gmXym3ZuOPaLMJSan9wgKs64u1K7KscGfKgPpQ9PisA/s1600-h/OiseAisneFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKPE3wYJinpqoGMK9L3NaDcqFlxWuv7IUzNokqV2AO83djVq9SoSFaaBxXj0ho3SGLuGGxndxEjr3OYZcT1DbmSp2oBFOWCo2gmXym3ZuOPaLMJSan9wgKs64u1K7KscGfKgPpQ9PisA/s400/OiseAisneFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543362895320786" /></a><br />17. Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the remains of 6,012 American war dead, most of whom lost their lives while fighting to liberate France in this vicinity in 1918 during WWI. An additional 241 names are inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6AhxQYuIWZV4NxDDaxiOPRcrw6OZpRx3zPNO6ZUxRe2ggQ8oOt1JDHfiqwCkvGvSrBt_fbGATDzCWVyabcOMDk23yO6iJz_xjvHxWxELv94Jnmyci1siTbRvpcUkwzOPehTWwn42z6U/s1600-h/RhoneFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 203px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz6AhxQYuIWZV4NxDDaxiOPRcrw6OZpRx3zPNO6ZUxRe2ggQ8oOt1JDHfiqwCkvGvSrBt_fbGATDzCWVyabcOMDk23yO6iJz_xjvHxWxELv94Jnmyci1siTbRvpcUkwzOPehTWwn42z6U/s400/RhoneFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543366399493378" /></a><br />18. Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the remains of 861 Americans who died liberating southern France in August, 1944. The memorial an additional 294 names of the missing are inscribed.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGmBmaLpgPvt81ArVg4yc80w0wQ0Xms4WUy6YrhS-B5xkPea2p_s3Hfi2eTnbviLjpjwf8QUW17UFVVSptuAR4MjKBPHOEFPMVGnmIhZLcC2WG3aLhsv6z5oFaId88onztXF8Z5XUiuw/s1600-h/SicilyRomeItaly.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGmBmaLpgPvt81ArVg4yc80w0wQ0Xms4WUy6YrhS-B5xkPea2p_s3Hfi2eTnbviLjpjwf8QUW17UFVVSptuAR4MjKBPHOEFPMVGnmIhZLcC2WG3aLhsv6z5oFaId88onztXF8Z5XUiuw/s400/SicilyRomeItaly.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543370648256354" /></a><br />19. The World War II Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial site in Italy contains the graves of 7,861 Americans who died liberating Sicily from July through August 1944 and who died at Anzio from January to May 1944. An additional 3,095 names of the missing are inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpMZm5e6cHY7rGzz_oDHwyXDjjItlqDvYwEjKUamv1soASkGeBiTUMFPQcXHGNuAlyr1nA9kg7yqgO1YLkavpunfP6P8hGkD7iqbxwWVq3ruVYeRMFH_XgahZj1P4HmREUqyzMzf6EPIQ/s1600-h/SommeFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpMZm5e6cHY7rGzz_oDHwyXDjjItlqDvYwEjKUamv1soASkGeBiTUMFPQcXHGNuAlyr1nA9kg7yqgO1YLkavpunfP6P8hGkD7iqbxwWVq3ruVYeRMFH_XgahZj1P4HmREUqyzMzf6EPIQ/s400/SommeFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543371109696018" /></a><br />20. The World War I Somme American Cemetery and Memorial in France contains the graves of 1,844 Americans who died liberating France in WWI. The chapel contains and additional 333 names of the missing.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-gfqp4LR1bqQSFwMCRrbV3-WibZV0GgzcOLQZ7LVCbwGpaEjMiZtlyA47XcVwypU7gmhJOJ5G-ZxENwCVmTq1smb3QUixYaSrbhdwaeb1d1XEWfOAn67x-v-bXQuQRscJh2Z2cfk2ZQ/s1600-h/StMihielFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3-gfqp4LR1bqQSFwMCRrbV3-WibZV0GgzcOLQZ7LVCbwGpaEjMiZtlyA47XcVwypU7gmhJOJ5G-ZxENwCVmTq1smb3QUixYaSrbhdwaeb1d1XEWfOAn67x-v-bXQuQRscJh2Z2cfk2ZQ/s400/StMihielFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543374684536354" /></a><br />21. The World War I St. Mihiel American Cemetery and Memorial in France where 4,153 Americans who died liberating France during WWI are buried. An additional 284 names of the missing are inscribed in the chapel.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6we2ZFbGJV-kUL3GG8KrRRO54PXhWxTSeiI-K5AY9QbPMOgDRDlKgwnRVJVQPMJeJfyPaB2WIqWkST1j9SWNLm_1XIp5MMUOZitTCj5LK3lhvg0JrodZ4vSE6WU5sqxCKuzEYcs1Z1yg/s1600-h/SuresnesFrance.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6we2ZFbGJV-kUL3GG8KrRRO54PXhWxTSeiI-K5AY9QbPMOgDRDlKgwnRVJVQPMJeJfyPaB2WIqWkST1j9SWNLm_1XIp5MMUOZitTCj5LK3lhvg0JrodZ4vSE6WU5sqxCKuzEYcs1Z1yg/s400/SuresnesFrance.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338543676948101538" /></a><br />22. Originally a World War I cemetery, the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial just outside Paris, France now shelters the remains of U.S. dead of both wars. contains the remains of 1,541 Americans who died in World War I and 24 Unknown dead of World War II. Bronze tablets on the walls of the chapel record the names of 974 World War I missing. <br /><br /><br />Americans do need to apologize to the world for something else. We need to apologize to the world for electing someone so ignorant of past American sacrifice, so ignorant of American history and so filled with hatred for America that he is willing to destroy your security along with our own. This man who has accomplished <b><i>nothing</i></b> in this life beyond self-aggrandizement and playing to the intellectual laziness of American citizens, who was spawned from a family of “Hate America Firsters” and learned to loathe America on the knees of communist mentors, whose closest friends are all about hating everything America once stood for has been foisted upon the world by our laziness, not our arrogance.<br /><br />The lowliest private buried in these cemeteries accomplished more in his lifetime than our anti-American President of the United States. And this man, who bears the title of Commander-in-Chief, is so filled with hubris that he thinks to mock their sacrifice with an apology.<br /><br />For those who have not been keeping count, the twenty-two reasons above include a total of 184,453 Americans who did not return home from wars to liberate <i><b>other</b></i> people. That’s 124,139 who have marked graves in foreign soil and an additional 60,314 who do not. These twenty-two reasons are just for WWI and WWII. Keep in mind that a total of 116,516 American soldiers died in WWI and 405,399 died in WWII. Most of these Soldiers died rescuing Europeans in wars started by <i><b>European</b></i> arrogance. <br /><br />On this Memorial Day weekend, remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice liberating those who, without our blood, would not have been free. <br /><br /><i><b>America need apologize to no one!</b></i> <br /> <br />And remember, you have a President who <i><b>apologized</b></i> for the sacrifice of over <i><b>half a million</b></i> American Soldiers from two world wars!<br /><br />To learn more about the last resting places of Americans who actually <i><b>did</b></i> something for our country and who paid the ultimate sacrifice, visit <a href="http://www.abmc.gov/home.php">American Battle Monuments.</a>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-57473462956267246482009-05-07T09:16:00.009-04:002009-05-07T12:02:55.508-04:00RageThe article below, in its entirety from <i>The Washington Post</i>, fills me with rage.<br /><br />This story fills me with rage at those on the left who believe there is no such thing as true evil in the world and who think that the problems of the world can be solved by group hugs and singing “Kumbaya.”<br /><br />It fills me with rage at those on the religious right in America and elsewhere in the West who believe that all Muslims are out to destroy the West and our way of life.<br /><br />This story should contain some cautionary insights for both groups.<br /><br />For those on the left, including our “Hate America first – apologizing for American greatness - bowing to foreign heads of state - appeasement-minded sock puppet President,” it shows the dangers of appeasement. It certainly hasn’t worked for Pakistan. This Administration wants to expand the concept of appeasement to stateless thugs. It’s one thing to try appeasement with a government, even though that path has <i>never</i> worked in the history of mankind. This administration thinks that providing “economic opportunity” will make the Taliban a less attractive option for people. What sort of alternate reality and universe are these clowns living in?<br /><br />Well guess what? The Taliban are already unattractive to anyone who has real experience with them. They are not about “economic opportunity.” The Taliban are not <i>loved</i> anywhere they go. Sometimes they are viewed as the lesser of two immediate evils by people who are otherwise let down by their government (in both Afghanistan and Pakistan), but no one really likes their policies, ideology, or methods. They take control and rule by fear and intimidation wherever they are allowed to take root. Period.<br /><br />For those on the right, read carefully about the fear of ordinary human beings:<br /><blockquote>“We all said to each other, what sort of people have come here? And what kind of sharia is this? <i>Cutting off people's heads has nothing to do with Islam</i>," recounted Karim, 55, a bus driver. "The people were filled with great rage, and great fear.”<br /><br />“People in Swat are angry and confused, because the government is reaching out to the Taliban and fighting them at the same time,” said Mohammed Riatullah, a relief agency official.<br /><br />“They are not Muslims, they are criminals who are defaming our religion, and the people of Buner are not their friends.”</blockquote><br />I’m not a Muslim, but for most of the last seven years I’ve lived and worked with Muslims in two war zones. Westerner fear of Islam is born of ignorance and misinterpretation every bit as egregious as the Muslim fanatics causing the mayhem. The so-called “Warriors for Islam” have killed far more Muslims than Christians or Jews, so why are we clinging to insane fears about <i>all</i> Muslims?<br /><br />I’m also not a fuzzy-thinking liberal idiot who believes in the power of group hugs. I’m all for ruthless extermination of these zealots who seek to destroy both the lives of their fellow Muslims and the lives of everyone else. A bullet, not talk is the proper response for these murderers.<br /><br />Look at the pictures. Read the article below, and then answer these questions:<br /><br />Do you honestly believe that any of these people want to destroy your life?<br /><br />Are you so blinded by ignorance and bigotry that you fear these people?<br /><br />Or do you see what I see – ordinary people trying to go about their lives to make a better future without the fear of some madman blowing up in their midst?<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4CgJ_FBASO_Ad2N5GYkegbjUXrclRcpK37-aZSOOV9Z4gKSA44f5fpz1IUdD_fv0Ce4FwbyzupmW79eVj1Qc13LdNXuHBxuXy5L4uBdwsQFmvigVEPd3vs3wGtBJrqFNcq_Dgpa1o6o/s1600-h/TwoGirls.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074653887451410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX4CgJ_FBASO_Ad2N5GYkegbjUXrclRcpK37-aZSOOV9Z4gKSA44f5fpz1IUdD_fv0Ce4FwbyzupmW79eVj1Qc13LdNXuHBxuXy5L4uBdwsQFmvigVEPd3vs3wGtBJrqFNcq_Dgpa1o6o/s400/TwoGirls.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQGBBaLHyGmA4xoNbTylCjWY5rZS6GZXv-Z131PEShiIPceqDFBEVo9WBJcgbXk-FZjsURluIpG_2m5pHKflcckePcPyvIls1UzRtrBPXg1G7PZjH1HKu_9kWnmAK5EnrB-04fhHKfgQ/s1600-h/ThreeSchoolGirls.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074654067477362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQGBBaLHyGmA4xoNbTylCjWY5rZS6GZXv-Z131PEShiIPceqDFBEVo9WBJcgbXk-FZjsURluIpG_2m5pHKflcckePcPyvIls1UzRtrBPXg1G7PZjH1HKu_9kWnmAK5EnrB-04fhHKfgQ/s400/ThreeSchoolGirls.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPLn-9CQnzN29xbd_NJ3a67yfKCBmTP-culM_QCaR4eViy_gin4GN1fFbkR8ghp6OQAo_1BNOQgtxSUAaMhR5o_SKGCRDvme7bl6C-1D1hx2PPEPQKcbbX52RxDmS-bCTrV0Wke8W2Kw/s1600-h/Pals.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074649393706258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPLn-9CQnzN29xbd_NJ3a67yfKCBmTP-culM_QCaR4eViy_gin4GN1fFbkR8ghp6OQAo_1BNOQgtxSUAaMhR5o_SKGCRDvme7bl6C-1D1hx2PPEPQKcbbX52RxDmS-bCTrV0Wke8W2Kw/s400/Pals.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7z7BiIWVaj7B9j5uknc-IwhnNC0JzcIiywI-DYEqWpC0ajGYX6_8jpDlBEPl9GNTzuHk3T0s3_cnTJ3FB0RrUlSoSZzmZLv-HWW6CRUwP5SCBHP4N-iS6gjURPZT-QxdI1J0WCeZQiyQ/s1600-h/MotherDaughter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074433359658082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7z7BiIWVaj7B9j5uknc-IwhnNC0JzcIiywI-DYEqWpC0ajGYX6_8jpDlBEPl9GNTzuHk3T0s3_cnTJ3FB0RrUlSoSZzmZLv-HWW6CRUwP5SCBHP4N-iS6gjURPZT-QxdI1J0WCeZQiyQ/s400/MotherDaughter.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfnY79uyqZj242BR7ugMKlfoTKC2KstD3qdzzJYErwDOC3ZfWJ91ktMA9eZ_ttC1TIJZQBVDQZlqYpvA3Kx3QdgfJN3OUXH0NY2PB9rEcVBxWhMwrs8ghDDEAxtJz85nih_F8b2xEEDo/s1600-h/ManinCrowd.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074427296955234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfnY79uyqZj242BR7ugMKlfoTKC2KstD3qdzzJYErwDOC3ZfWJ91ktMA9eZ_ttC1TIJZQBVDQZlqYpvA3Kx3QdgfJN3OUXH0NY2PB9rEcVBxWhMwrs8ghDDEAxtJz85nih_F8b2xEEDo/s400/ManinCrowd.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnxKVcdYRtm1EIKFVA9H5nhRPVS4o5pDg2iWKDbPemu8eZQIsjDI-eaEL1uaXUH5jlr1hBInb_LQycZsoI1lOpatN7a7KUHzDNY8TjUlwDXDd3pKkqvg6CErejgh8BIL-55BA4qpXSNk/s1600-h/ManandWoman.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074428796290754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnxKVcdYRtm1EIKFVA9H5nhRPVS4o5pDg2iWKDbPemu8eZQIsjDI-eaEL1uaXUH5jlr1hBInb_LQycZsoI1lOpatN7a7KUHzDNY8TjUlwDXDd3pKkqvg6CErejgh8BIL-55BA4qpXSNk/s400/ManandWoman.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39wRi9R3LK39FQCfrmT-3qUg67cdf-h8zorsflApDSnjF_udYiASUhtRiGZR18Rus9eGJHYfQBo1DqN9L7AZSHKoCWW6dF0Hagm-dljHQVMcRsEerV89b0OpqB7HD-FSrPFPwtwBf3C8/s1600-h/GrandfatherGrandson.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074421739043874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 354px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39wRi9R3LK39FQCfrmT-3qUg67cdf-h8zorsflApDSnjF_udYiASUhtRiGZR18Rus9eGJHYfQBo1DqN9L7AZSHKoCWW6dF0Hagm-dljHQVMcRsEerV89b0OpqB7HD-FSrPFPwtwBf3C8/s400/GrandfatherGrandson.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqiZgg59WJZjs270Ds85QDFQUZzE_S1eUCvEsKeqWxkjYJbaIq7qkilUg9wuVz28lJgmSXkrc6VvDV2X2imWXu47G-s0Hdh7kGuI1sonoS8wb-N7bQKjOG-1EtR7L1yKndtPDKsgrvfQ/s1600-h/DadDaughter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333074419782264946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqiZgg59WJZjs270Ds85QDFQUZzE_S1eUCvEsKeqWxkjYJbaIq7qkilUg9wuVz28lJgmSXkrc6VvDV2X2imWXu47G-s0Hdh7kGuI1sonoS8wb-N7bQKjOG-1EtR7L1yKndtPDKsgrvfQ/s400/DadDaughter.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size:130%;">'Great rage, and great fear' in Pakistan</span></b><br /><br /><i>Refugees fleeing Swat Valley tell of Taliban crimes, abuses<br />By Pamela Constable and Haq Nawaz Khan </i><br /><b>The Washington Post</b><br /><i>updated 3:21 a.m. ET May 7, 2009</i><br /><br />GOLRA, Pakistan - Hajji Karim and his extended family of 70 were camped in a dirt-floor stable 10 miles outside Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. It was as far as they could get from the Swat Valley, where thousands of people are fleeing from the ravages of the Taliban and the imminent prospect of war with government forces.<br /><br />When Taliban fighters first entered Karim's village last month, he recounted, they said they had come to bring peace and Islamic law, or sharia, to Swat. But the next day, two of the fighters dragged a policeman out of his truck and tried to slit his throat. Horrified, a crowd rushed over, shouting and trying to shield the officer. The fighters let him go, but the incident confirmed the villagers' worst suspicions.<br /><br />"We all said to each other, what sort of people have come here? And what kind of sharia is this? Cutting off people's heads has nothing to do with Islam," recounted Karim, 55, a bus driver. "The people were filled with great rage, and great fear."<br /><br />Authorities in North-West Frontier Province said that with the conflict intensifying, they expect half a million people to flee the once-bucolic Swat region near the Afghan border, much of which is now occupied by heavily armed militants. Officials announced Tuesday that they plan to open six refugee camps in the safer nearby districts of Swabi and Mardan, but until then, many who leave home to escape the violence are facing the arduous task of finding their own shelter.<br /><br /><b>Refugees confused and trapped</b><br />As the refugees begin streaming out of Swat and the neighboring Buner district in northwest Pakistan, they carry with them memories of the indignities and horrors inflicted by occupying Taliban forces -- locking women inside their homes, setting donkeys on fire -- as they tried to force residents to accept a radical version of Islam.<br /><br />The government has not helped, refugees said, with its erratic, seesawing efforts to appease and fight the militants. Some said they felt confused and trapped, unsure whether to trust the peace deal forged by the government and Taliban leaders last month, or to flee in anticipation of the fighting that has begun as the peace accord collapses.<br /><br />Sher Mohammed, a property dealer from Mingora, the main town in Swat, was one of the first people to reach a new refugee camp in the Mardan district with his wife and children Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he kicked the dirt outside their tent despondently, saying that after enduring two years of fighting and Taliban abuses, he had had enough.<br /><br />"I feel like I have lost my mind," he said. "I work hard to make a respectable life and educate my children. Now we are living in a camp, and my sons are talking of guns."<br /><br />Mohammed said he did not understand why the country's powerful army had not been able to defeat the militants before they took over the valley. Even now, after a week of sporadic fighting, military officials have not announced an offensive against the militants who occupy much of Swat and Buner. The Taliban has repeatedly rejected government overtures to salvage the peace deal, in which the militants agreed to disarm if sharia courts were made the exclusive form of justice in Swat.<br /><br />Army officials said 35 militants and three soldiers were killed Wednesday in Swat in sporadic fighting, including a shootout near several emerald mines that Taliban forces are using as hideouts. They said militants looted three banks and occupied police and civil administration buildings in Mingora. The military reported that an additional 50 militants had been killed in Buner.<br /><br /><b>Not enough help</b><br />The United Nations humanitarian office in Islamabad said it has already registered more than 2,200 families in new camps, "many of them arriving with little more than the clothes they are wearing." In a statement, the office said it would also increase assistance to help about 6,000 additional families in existing camps for Afghan refugees.<br /><br />One private relief agency based in Swat said that it has been relocating hundreds of families at scattered sites in the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi but that no local government or international agency had offered to help. Its officials said they were concerned that Taliban fighters would try to recruit displaced people relocated in large camps.<br /><br />"People in Swat are angry and confused, because the government is reaching out to the Taliban and fighting them at the same time," said Mohammed Riatullah, a relief agency official. "There are huge numbers of people with nowhere to go. We are trying to provide them with decent shelter and support, but we need more help so they won't fall into Taliban hands."<br /><br /><b>Fears of camp infiltration</b><br />Pakistan has hosted millions of refugees from conflicts in Afghanistan during the past two decades, with networks of camps in the northwest and in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. There have been frequent accusations that militant groups infiltrate the camps to use them as sanctuaries and recruiting pools. Military analysts say they suspect that the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan uses refugee camps in Baluchistan for these purposes.<br /><br />Since militants began staging attacks and occupying territory inside Pakistan several years ago, thousands of inhabitants of the northwest tribal region have been displaced by fighting and have relocated to camps around Peshawar.<br /><br />In Buner, army forces have been battling Taliban fighters for the past week, and the army said Wednesday that the operations were going smoothly. But several people who have fled from Buner to the provincial capital of Peshawar, or who were reached in Buner by cellphone, said that the situation was dire and that Taliban forces were still occupying many homes.<br /><br />They said Buneris were especially vulnerable to Taliban attacks for several reasons. The district is famous for its Sufi shrines, where people practice a mystical form of Islam that is anathema to the fundamentalist Sunni Taliban. In addition, residents formed militias to resist the Taliban last year, and one village paid dearly for its defiance when voting stations were bombed in December, killing 42 people.<br /><br />"When the militants entered our area, the people held a jirga to discuss what to do. They said they would never accept them and vowed to fight to the death," said Sirmir Khan, director of an educational charity in Buner who fled to Peshawar last week after Taliban forces occupied his offices. "They are not Muslims, they are criminals who are defaming our religion, and the people of Buner are not their friends."<br /><br />Afsar Khan, the mayor of a town in Buner who had also fled to Peshawar recently, said that the militants had burned many houses and fields in his area and that last year he had joined an armed posse that attempted to drive them out. "We only had about 100 men, and the militants were coming down from the mountains," Khan recounted. "They fired on us from 5 p.m. to midnight and we were running out of ammunition. We called for help, and the officials kept telling us helicopter gunships were coming, but they never did. Finally we told all the farmworkers to run away, because we could not protect them, and we had to give up."<br /><br /><b>'Everyone was very afraid'</b><br />In a relief agency office in Islamabad on Wednesday, two teenage sisters from Buner huddled on a flour sack next to a few cooking pots, covering their faces with veils. They said they had fled their village four days ago after their father, a farm laborer, was warned by his landlord that the Taliban was coming.<br />"I don't know what the Taliban are, but everyone was very afraid," said one of the girls, who gave her name as Abzanan. "I am very worried because my father went back to get my brothers, and we don't know what happened to him."<br />Khan reported from Mardan.<br /><br /><i>© 2009 The Washington Post Company</i>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-73251388226455841092009-04-23T01:17:00.011-04:002009-04-23T05:32:56.253-04:00Open Letter to Mother Nature<i>While this is a climate skeptic topic which some might think belongs on my climate blog, the fact that it includes political commentary, satire, heavy doses of sarcasm and punditry is why I’m posting it here. I'm trying to keep the climate blog more science-based.</i><br /><br />Dear Mother Nature,<br /><br />It seems you missed or otherwise misunderstood our earlier memo. <br /><br />According to our complex and sophisticated computer models, CO<sub>2</sub>, though only .038% of the atmosphere, is the dominant factor in climate change. As we spew out CO<sub>2</sub>, temperatures are supposed to skyrocket, ice caps melt, cities flood and polar bears drown, but we are observing that you are failing to perform to the standards our models demand. <br /><br />Additionally, you have failed to safeguard key information. This information, in the wrong hands, has the potential for confusing the ignorant masses (especially those who cling to guns, religion and the US Constitution) and making them think that you, not our complex and sophisticated computer models, are in charge of climate. <br /><br />This must not happen. Terrorists working for the fossil fuel companies and other right-wing extremists have acquired some of this information and are already using it to sabotage our excellent work. The ignorant gun/religion-clinging Constitutionalist masses are getting more and more confused.<br /><br />The purpose of this memo then is to point out some of your specific deficiencies in this regard and the corrective actions you must take forthwith. Your failure to comply may result in our reporting your failure to perform to your higher authority, the Obamasiah. We certainly would not want bring you such embarrassment as he has ultimate power in all things. We know this to be true because he told us so in not one, but two autobiographies written before he even ascended his throne or had otherwise accomplished anything of substance. <br /><br /><b>Temperatures.</b> While we understand that the attending special effects such as hurricanes, melting polar caps and drowning polar bears may take time to organize, temperature should have been simple. <br /><br />Let us reiterate. According to our complex and sophisticated computer models as CO<sub>2</sub> goes up, so does temperature – by a bunch! This is a very simple concept that even you should be able to grasp. What do you not understand?<br /><br />A group of us got together and voted on it. We formed a consensus. You are obligated to adhere to that consensus. You may have heard of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? This is a powerful political organization consisting of fifty-two individuals who have faith in our complex and sophisticated computer models. They are capable of getting ignorant scientifically illiterate politicians to move large sums of money around in directions we desire. Don’t cross them or you won’t ever get published again or ever see meaningful funding for any research!<br /><br />We even had them draw you several nice pictures that simplify the complex workings of our highly sophisticated models so that there would be no misunderstandings. We had them liberally sprinkle these pictures throughout their reports. Being tolerant of those like you who have no formal schooling or understanding of such complex things like computer models, we will assume (we’re experts at that) you did not see the pictures. Here again is one of those pictures, so that there is no confusion.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_5jO90S1IrrCVLdFY6W5y2o60k4pI-PoRAwcK-ZpGx-AG7nC0KeIQeazyyW0q7V19v05D4mmjkO7yI0UV8Co1OCXy1_UsGSKHg9fY87bornEuJ6cbrBvQjWVrsz1TELMESx3q_dZyD0/s1600-h/CO2+Temp+Graph.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_5jO90S1IrrCVLdFY6W5y2o60k4pI-PoRAwcK-ZpGx-AG7nC0KeIQeazyyW0q7V19v05D4mmjkO7yI0UV8Co1OCXy1_UsGSKHg9fY87bornEuJ6cbrBvQjWVrsz1TELMESx3q_dZyD0/s400/CO2+Temp+Graph.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327796494676675794" /></a><br /><br /><b>Information Security.</b> This is closely tied to temperature. According to our sources, you left past code unsecured, namely the Vostok Ice Cores. According to this code, CO<sub>2</sub> increases <i><b>after</b></i> temperatures increase. While this may have been how you did things in the past, our complex and sophisticated computer models mandate a new paradigm. <br /><br />It is easy to see how such careless security can cause confusion in the minds of the ignorant gun/religion-clinging Constitutionalist masses who are not computer modelers. Armed with the information of how you <i><b>used to do things</b></i>, the fossil fuel terrorists and right-wing extremists are telling people that that is how things <i><b>are</b></i>. <br /><br />While it is painfully obvious that our complex and sophisticated models are correct and your old code is wrong, we must spend inordinate time, resources and energy countering the misconception. Al, James and Rajenda are burning up a lot of jet fuel putting out the “fires”, so to speak, that your carelessness caused.<br /><br /><b>Special Effects.</b> The ice caps. Why aren’t they melting? The obvious answer is your failure to perform on the first item, temperature. <br /><br />According to our complex and sophisticated computer models, the Arctic is supposed to be gone last year, but we were willing to accept somewhere around 2012. <br /><br />The Goracle put his immense reputation on the line with this promise. He won a Nobel Prize! Have you? He made an award winning science fiction movie! Have you? How dare you contradict this immense man!<br /><br />You will have a difficult time meeting the approved timeline given your current performance as the graph below demonstrates. Note that this year’s Arctic sea ice is rapidly approaching intersect with the 1979-2000 average. It was supposed to be <i><b>well below</b></i> the 2007 average. This is a public relations disaster of the highest order and totally unacceptable.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTntv2fbfi6avH8ME8u5Z4bVgwivEFmbcLS4mW7M0wFhND_954Ylg9p1bq7vcJr_uodRej_h_D7RGv4TcfAR6nlxyf8pXhwsPKdu3-OX5oNTby3nUpLgr1fnAOLa8H5-EodE2j8XElRKM/s1600-h/SeaIce2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTntv2fbfi6avH8ME8u5Z4bVgwivEFmbcLS4mW7M0wFhND_954Ylg9p1bq7vcJr_uodRej_h_D7RGv4TcfAR6nlxyf8pXhwsPKdu3-OX5oNTby3nUpLgr1fnAOLa8H5-EodE2j8XElRKM/s400/SeaIce2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327796503878221986" /></a><br /><br />You’ve also failed at the other end of the planet. According to our models, Antarctica should be melting. Creating minor ice shelf collapses in regions where there are other plausible explanations cannot mask your serious failure to warm the Antarctic in accordance with our precise instructions. <br /><br />In fact, not only have you not <i><b>raised</b></i> temperatures over Antarctica, there is evidence that you have actually been <i><b>lowering</b></i> temperatures over all but an insignificant peninsula on the western side of the continent!<br /><br /><b>The Polar Bears.</b> They deserve special mention. They are cute, cuddly, and like to drink Coke and party with penguins while watching the Aurora Borealis. They are supposed to be drowning and going extinct! I know it is difficult to do in one of your precious critters, but they were specifically chosen as the poster children of our project because of the above factors.<br /><br />They can’t drown if the ice doesn’t melt and the ice won’t melt if you don’t raise the temperatures. <br /><br />Worse yet, it appears that during the selection process for our global warming poster child, you failed to inform us of the following facts about how you engineered polar bears:<br /><br /> 1. Polar bears can swim – a LONG way. Like about a hundred miles. Have you any idea how many islands exist in the Arctic? At the rate you are melting the ice up there the bears will have no problem migrating to these islands or Siberia for that matter.<br /><br /> 2. Polar bears don’t only eat seals. We were led to believe that the only way the bears could get food was to ambush seals as they surfaced through holes in the ice that shouldn’t be there because the ice should be gone. <br /><br />It turns out polar bears are very adaptable and eat other things too. They not only forage in human garbage for very rich food, but they also hunt humans! Now the latter part isn’t all bad since humans are the cause of all problems (according to our complex and sophisticated computer models). However, this adaptability means the bears don’t go extinct. In fact, there is evidence that their population is actually going up, not down.<br /><br />This is totally unacceptable. Tossing three or four bears ashore after a storm was a good press release, but the numbers are insufficient to cause world-wide panic for the cuddly lovable bears. <br /><br />The eating people part also diminishes their cuteness factor even though in doing so they do the planet a great service. To make matters worse, Knut’s buddies at the zoo in Germany tried to eat a woman who wanted to hug them and the whole affair was caught on film! People-eating poster children are bad for the program.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-mt6NoajNU3Ud3liOd1MHw44QDWOTXKc9XvMT4NK2DoWRMRGVrPizu6tAsZDy-pmG-Fddn_hB7T2CwfzXfWYFVEzeju2HPCQOZtOWyohGnslIj6tzbnhKWKQed5GUgQMoC01pp9GGPY/s1600-h/PolarBearWoman1sml.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-mt6NoajNU3Ud3liOd1MHw44QDWOTXKc9XvMT4NK2DoWRMRGVrPizu6tAsZDy-pmG-Fddn_hB7T2CwfzXfWYFVEzeju2HPCQOZtOWyohGnslIj6tzbnhKWKQed5GUgQMoC01pp9GGPY/s400/PolarBearWoman1sml.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327796502579770290" /></a><br /><br />You’ve even embarrassed a team of crack publicity hounds sent forth on Arctic ice, sponsored by Royalty mind you, to demonstrate that Arctic ice is nearly gone and the polar bears have all drowned. First you nearly froze them to death with below normal temperatures which broke all of their complex and sophisticated ice-measuring equipment. <br /><br />Then your polar bears started stalking them. This poor team has spent 53 days on thick, <i><b>thick</b></i> first-year ice in appalling freezing conditions trying to prove that the ice is melting and your bears, who are supposed to be drowning, are stalking them! Why, they’ve been dragging their little inflatable boat thingies and carrying immersion suits around for nothing. They expected to paddle the last 500km to the North Pole!<br /><br />It has become clear that you are taking independent steps to direct climate in accordance with your own antiquated plan instead of following our modern plan based upon complex and sophisticated computer models. You’ve deliberately flipped the switches on virtually every major oceanic cycle to negative. This has had an almost immediate impact on local weather (lowering temperatures) which in turn confuses the ignorant gun/religion-clinging Constitutionalist masses and encourages right-wing extremists.<br /><br />Most egregious of all, you’ve fiddled with the dimmer switch on the sun! What were you thinking? How can we continue to scare everyone into thinking that temperatures will forever rise, if you are messing with the sun's dimmer switch! Crank it back up! We need an active sun and sunspots! The sun creates solar winds that blow away nasty galactic cosmic rays that may influence cloud formations. Our complex and sophisticated computer models do not take clouds into account (because we don’t understand clouds) and as a result your actions <i><b>are making us look wrong</b></i>!<br /><br />You are costing us a lot of other peoples’ money. We’ve already spent billions of dollars of other people’s money in research and marketing to convince them that a trace gas controls climate. We want to continue spending this money as long as we can squeeze it out of them, but your actions are shortening our horizons for accomplishing this.<br /><br />We had them believing that, even though this trace atmospheric gas occurs naturally in quantities <i><b>far greater</b></i> than humans have produced throughout the Industrial Age, they are to blame. We had them believing that <i><b>nothing</b></i> except CO<sub>2</sub> can cause temperatures to go up or down, as indicated by our complex and sophisticated computer models.<br /><br />All is not lost and you can regain your credibility with us. We still have some people convinced that CO<sub>2</sub> is a pollutant, even though it is essential to life as we know it. We got some of their most scientifically illiterate judges to vote on it and got their equally scientifically illiterate EPA administrators to take it from there. We have some of them convinced that they need to commit economic and national suicide so that we can control everything. <br /><br />However, time could be running out. This disaster may be wasted if you don’t immediately get temperatures going up again in accordance with our complex and sophisticated computer models. Otherwise, their legislators may ignore our models and decide to wait us out. There are signs that the ignorant gun/religion-clinging Constitutionalist masses are stirring and threatening to throw the bums out under the massive disinformation campaign being waged in the main stream media by the right-wing extremists.<br /><br />Some of us have a lot riding on this whole global warming project. We own/participate in companies that will make us personally much richer if we can sell carbon credits and your poor performance is cutting into the profit margin. Others of us who are geeky computer types, mostly just want to keep playing with our complex and sophisticated computer models, but that takes LOTS of money because we need new super-super-computers. The old ones just aren’t cutting it. <br /><br />Our allies in the IPCC hate the West (especially the USA) and want us to commit economic and national suicide, but if having them on our team gets the rest of us what we want, they’re OK with us. But their help, as powerful as they may be in the funding process, won’t be enough if actual observations continue the current downward trend. The right-wing extremists are watching your performance!<br /><br />Oh, and jet fuel costs a lot too. Having to fly all over the world explaining to everyone why you are not cooperating is getting expensive. You could help us reduce our carbon footprint for this crusade by simply following our script. <br /><br />Mother Nature, get with the program or we will be forced to report your intransigence to the Obamasiah. If <i><b>he</b></i> waves his hands, things will happen and it won’t be pretty!<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />Failed Divinity-Journalism Student/Failed Presidential Candidate, The Team, A Rich politically motivated financier who hates America, UN politician Pseudo-Scientist and other nitwits who simply want to control other people’s lives.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-24697842469468781522009-04-03T00:54:00.008-04:002009-04-03T02:10:38.967-04:00Why Are We in Afghanistan?I must confess complete incredulity when I hear that question, especially when uttered by an American. Nothing demonstrates our short attention span as a nation more than that question. Will we ever learn? So for all those who ask the question, "Why are we in Afghanistan?"<br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:150%;">THIS IS WHY!</span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNZXwwayvAeZ1rTw168961HkefMLRrrGnsrdRbMJnKAWL7ByiBdaYJ38kmdZ5lCOqwUuBCpg-CaRiwXt8gTg5eNK_-hGSG7Verhaa67kGW1oifW3k5C-yIxyzN0RUSIAMnMehZuYADwM/s1600-h/Sept11WTCSouthTowerUA175.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 264px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNZXwwayvAeZ1rTw168961HkefMLRrrGnsrdRbMJnKAWL7ByiBdaYJ38kmdZ5lCOqwUuBCpg-CaRiwXt8gTg5eNK_-hGSG7Verhaa67kGW1oifW3k5C-yIxyzN0RUSIAMnMehZuYADwM/s400/Sept11WTCSouthTowerUA175.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327400014310626" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnG4VGJs93qAHLDnCmPFjTjLLAgxM81EkyCUoBUAm2W7o-61vGtyxzOXmZ7un8BvBVqSBcOTMQC0892EpxUj2NN1SnVX_tXp21N1ehyYbTtL1Ct6Hp5O__lgZXCg0Y617uYEMkUY43Wg/s1600-h/AATower2ExplodeGettyImages.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 330px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvnG4VGJs93qAHLDnCmPFjTjLLAgxM81EkyCUoBUAm2W7o-61vGtyxzOXmZ7un8BvBVqSBcOTMQC0892EpxUj2NN1SnVX_tXp21N1ehyYbTtL1Ct6Hp5O__lgZXCg0Y617uYEMkUY43Wg/s400/AATower2ExplodeGettyImages.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327557553526946" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eod65l5sig769xPB2xi9AyIgOuuqsJsKUKNQYgIMFYGb-hws9Wnyrs8qa1SOCCy-1EzCdg6VKFr4wj9_zq7Pb7Ai_JIhSf4pAd9khjOSXYHpOyjorbl-A_QvrB9TOoAxhf0azFvyMd0/s1600-h/WTC1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 379px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eod65l5sig769xPB2xi9AyIgOuuqsJsKUKNQYgIMFYGb-hws9Wnyrs8qa1SOCCy-1EzCdg6VKFr4wj9_zq7Pb7Ai_JIhSf4pAd9khjOSXYHpOyjorbl-A_QvrB9TOoAxhf0azFvyMd0/s400/WTC1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327392199774498" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFlcMrZnZRj90YP_MSnwsFftMMBMzhqjucQyS7HRDiKjfNI7p10rA4KvtCN-A7-LxYC0nttGZFBAwY2evTX9d3SXH-iWC3Au88vd-67WAbPfbuKh6sExUwZQjKMX-0kTBos4r_vw30PA/s1600-h/WTCPlane2AP.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 254px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixFlcMrZnZRj90YP_MSnwsFftMMBMzhqjucQyS7HRDiKjfNI7p10rA4KvtCN-A7-LxYC0nttGZFBAwY2evTX9d3SXH-iWC3Au88vd-67WAbPfbuKh6sExUwZQjKMX-0kTBos4r_vw30PA/s400/WTCPlane2AP.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327390611365890" /></a><br /><br />They won't just go quietly into the night, even though the Obamasiah has "Hussein" as his middle name. Electing this bumbling fool did nothing to improve our situation on the world stage. His recent idiotic idea about talking to "moderate Taliban" was met with derision by the Taliban. Their official spokesman called it a "lunatic idea" and observed that there is no such thing as a "moderate Taliban." Uh duh!<br /><br />One of the Afghans I work with asked, "Who are these moderate Taliban? I've never heard of such a thing. Is this something like a moderate murderer? This is insane!"<br /><br />The Obamasiah's talk about an "exit strategy" is defeatist. In typical leftist fashion it is cover for moving the goal post. Change the definition of victory so that expectations are lowered. When we meet the more easily attained "exit strategy" goals, pull the plug and run. <br /><br />The Taliban are NOT winning here, but we could be maneuvering ourselves into snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The Taliban are NOT resurgent, but they are reslient. There is a difference. If we cut and run, if we cede this country to these animals, these scenes will be repeated again.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehF-A07ngXYnKh3qLHIiT8gpudYD1fnJyCPDGzj6S_FNNMR6z1Plbf9pha61iPjtJddOpVYSdRiGkQYiZ6Vou8e4mAtGMSdY91uc0kL_BQAzI1ITGsmPFvgtB1RHiWH0dybEK1mX0gkw/s1600-h/beating5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhehF-A07ngXYnKh3qLHIiT8gpudYD1fnJyCPDGzj6S_FNNMR6z1Plbf9pha61iPjtJddOpVYSdRiGkQYiZ6Vou8e4mAtGMSdY91uc0kL_BQAzI1ITGsmPFvgtB1RHiWH0dybEK1mX0gkw/s400/beating5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327403901835042" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:80%;">Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) Photo.<br>Beatings of women in the streets were an everyday occurrence under the Taliban.</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwVO7VndI_B9FvWImXgEWqmIE3FKrwkNZtqdzKwNW8Sy41WylJ8F7h7J2xodi8zS_ATfBR_9HheLGQd2TnudvEstBMQUaJiLs8m-_ZMEo2x7kyzjyfqTc0dZJCcWNVTvSAdwU9UU8rvE/s1600-h/Taliban_woman.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwVO7VndI_B9FvWImXgEWqmIE3FKrwkNZtqdzKwNW8Sy41WylJ8F7h7J2xodi8zS_ATfBR_9HheLGQd2TnudvEstBMQUaJiLs8m-_ZMEo2x7kyzjyfqTc0dZJCcWNVTvSAdwU9UU8rvE/s400/Taliban_woman.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320327398846307106" /></a><p align="center"><span style="font-size:80%;">RAWA Photo. The execution of Zarmeena.<br>After enduring years of brutal abuse, Zarmeena killed her husband while he slept.<br>She was sentenced to death.<br>Under Islamic Law, the victim's family may forgive the murderer. <br>Her husband's family forgave her.<br>However, since they had already announced the execution<br> and invited thousands of guests to attend, the Taliban refused to spare her<br>in violation of the very Islamic Law they pretend to follow.<br>Zarmeena's seven children were forced to watch the execution.</span></p>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-23654528457232051372009-03-30T08:04:00.004-04:002009-03-30T08:17:53.887-04:00Shared Sacrifice<br><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mVAKbs5Bbovp6EHQGaFvVe9xGhHGrXEiPH-YKquJskZ39Vl96hIGlwIs0CeWx0NEWbeA1qDhDaqL1VDXQHKqqcQNacam_5iPgX1NFihTvL78cFDa1UpfPtICACkrHaa1vmw4MeL8I6w/s1600-h/Blog30Mar2009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318951920866060322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5mVAKbs5Bbovp6EHQGaFvVe9xGhHGrXEiPH-YKquJskZ39Vl96hIGlwIs0CeWx0NEWbeA1qDhDaqL1VDXQHKqqcQNacam_5iPgX1NFihTvL78cFDa1UpfPtICACkrHaa1vmw4MeL8I6w/s400/Blog30Mar2009.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">US, Afghan, French, Turkish and UK flags at half-mast.<br>Sometimes we have a bad week, but we have a saying here:<br>"One Team, One Fight!"<br>Implicit in that is shared sacrifice.<br>Note to the defeatist media and others of that ilk:<br>Our soldiers have the guts and patience to do what is necessary.<br>Do you?</span></p>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-53967137144229334262009-03-13T01:46:00.003-04:002009-03-13T01:59:35.356-04:00The Government We Deserve...Part IIThe article below lays out a good reminder about who works for whom under our system of government. While our elected officials are responsible for creating much of today's governmental mess, we the people are responsible for electing these clowns in the first place. Our greed at looking for what our Senators and Representatives can bring home to us and our indifference about qualifications for the highest office in the land have led us to where we are today.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">545 PEOPLE vs. 300,000,000 PEOPLE</span></strong><br /><br />By Charlie Reese<br /><br />Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.<br /><br />Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?<br /><br />Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?<br /><br />You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations, the House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.<br /><br />One hundred Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court Justices…545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.<br /><br />I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a Senator, a Congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.<br /><br />Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.<br /><br />What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.<br /><br />The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the Speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto, if they agree to.<br /><br />It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.<br /><br />If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ. If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.<br /><br />There are no insoluble government problems.<br /><br />Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.<br /><br />Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.<br /><br />Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible. They and they alone, have the power. They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.<br /><br />Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!<br /><br /><i><b><span style="font-size:75%;">Charlie Reese is a former columnist for the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.</span></b></i>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-73404819075066945812009-02-26T09:04:00.009-05:002009-02-28T23:41:55.998-05:00The Government We DeserveDuring the recent US elections, I made no secret of my disdain for Barrack Obama. There were a number of reasons for this including the fact that the man has absolutely no record that we can look to in order to discern his intentions. He has no body of work to balance against his “spread the wealth” comments that might allay fears that he is really a Communist intent upon destroying the US. I still don’t trust the man and so far, he’s proving to be every bit as dangerous as some on the far right postulated.<br /><br />So where are we now? One month into his Presidency we have a $787 billion “Porkulus” Bill that targets very little money into anything that will actually stimulate the economy and which virtually no member of Congress, or the President bothered to read. To top it off, only about 15% of that monstrosity will even be spent in the coming year…too late to have any impact on saving the economy in 2009. Given that last bit, what was the bloody hurry?<br /><br />That same bill is also one of his broken campaign promises. During the campaign, Obama talked about the wonderful “transparency” we could expect from his Administration. All spending bills would be posted on the White House website for five days before he’d sign them. Well, the bill was <i>not</i> posted on the White House website and he signed it within three days. He would have signed it even sooner but this bill, without which the entire free world economies would collapse, had to await the Obamesiah’s leisure due to his vacation plans. You can get a copy of this theft by Congress <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1enr.txt.pdf" target="'_blank">here</a>. Read it and weep.<br /><br />Other goodies coming out of this Administration and the Pelosi and Reid cabal in Congress include an <i>additional</i> <a href="http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1105eh.txt.pdf" target="'_blank">$410 billion </a>that the House passed on 25 February, an Obama proposal for and <i>additional</i> $634 billion for nationalizing healthcare as part of his over $3 TRILLION budget, and an <i>additional</i> $2.5 TRILLION to nationalize the nations banks, as proposed by his Treasury Secretary. Can you say, <i><b>“DRUNKEN SAILORS?”</b></i> <strike>I would have posted a link to the actual budget, but in this new age of complete transparency in government of The One, the budget is not available to the public yet.</strike> <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/A_New_Era_of_Responsibility2.pdf" target="'_blank">The Budget</a> is now available on the White House web site.<br /><br />Allies in the MSM say all this is to pull the economy out of the “deep” recession. Except that it’s not a deep recession and most analysts were already predicting that the upswing indicators started at the end of December and the country would begin pulling out of the recession as early as the second half of 2009. This is hardly the catastrophic scenario sold by Obama to justify all this profligate spending of other people's money.<br /><br />Obama is also not very good with history. Let’s leave out the possibility that his misrepresentation that this is the worst recession since the Great Depression was deliberate. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt of simply not being all that bright on history, since he’s demonstrated that on numerous occasions already. Then again…<br /><br />Point being, the recession in 1991 had unemployment at 7.8% (higher than today) and during Jimmy Carter’s recession unemployment hit 10.2%. The current recession is nowhere near the levels of economic misery of the Great Depression, but Congress and this Administration are doing their best to make it so.<br /><br />Then there is the ongoing foreign policy train wreck. Sending John Kerry to talk to Hamas? Lifting high tech restrictions on Syria? Ceding nuclear power to Iran? Sending Nancy Pelosi…Pelosi…to Afghanistan? Closing Guantanamo with no alternatives to house the prisoners there? And wrapped in this, let’s return to the recently released budget where the military and intelligence services are gutted. And you feel safer with this man as Commander-in-Chief?<br /><br />In the middle of all this are his continued efforts to destroy the nation’s economy through all his carbon reduction schemes based upon a rapidly disintegrating “consensus” about whether human emissions cause global warming. To this add efforts to restrict free speech by reimposing the “Fairness Doctrine,” find ways around the recent Supreme Court ruling on gun ownership, subject US troops to International Tribunal (where they would never get a fair trial), offer the UN over $65 billion in <i>additional</i> US taxpayer money, force US soldiers to serve in a proposed UN army, and provide billions in assistance to <i>illegal</i> aliens. Now to be fair, not all these are specifically Obama proposals. However, his allies in Congress are feeling emboldened by what they perceive as his “left-leaning” tendencies.<br /><br />During the campaign, Obama promised “change,” but nothing more specific. He gave us sweeping hand waves of how he would accomplish things. The true believers in the socialist agenda were locked votes, but the sad thing is, the idiots in the middle fell for the smooth talk. He promised “ice cream” and no one bothered to ask how he was going to pay for it. 52% of the American electorate acted like nine-year olds drooling over promises of getting “stuff” from The One.<br /><br />As you watch your rights get taken one-by-one by this cabal of Fascio-Communists who think they know better how to spend <i>your</i> money and run <i>your</i> life, remember that you got the government you deserve…the government you elected. You might have a chance to fix this come 2010, if they haven’t by then rigged things so that you can’t vote them out.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhNgqiMt-Q4-B-pXusMdL2MpQSLKjmWitTtiq9icbwvIFG0hq8CVY2px0iPObKqZikpcG9wq971Tq2BPypZ8X3F0zY4xQ2lqsQFlNZ52jnmlBkKfkgyXulnd2lRkkpJvBQ9O80fAhyphenhyphenss/s1600-h/FascistDNC.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307132651248721154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhNgqiMt-Q4-B-pXusMdL2MpQSLKjmWitTtiq9icbwvIFG0hq8CVY2px0iPObKqZikpcG9wq971Tq2BPypZ8X3F0zY4xQ2lqsQFlNZ52jnmlBkKfkgyXulnd2lRkkpJvBQ9O80fAhyphenhyphenss/s400/FascistDNC.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Feeling Changed Yet?</span></p>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-71581392607415037002009-02-19T11:02:00.006-05:002009-02-19T12:10:43.513-05:00Attack on the Ministry of Justice in KabulOn 11 February, attacks were staged on the Ministry of Justice and a Prisons Office. A third target seemed to be the Ministry of Education, which is near the Justice Ministry. However, it is possible that that lone attacker was simply lost. The attacker at the Ministry of Education was shot dead before he could cause any trouble.<br /><br />Five attackers hit the Ministry of Justice, killing two policemen as they entered the building. One of the five was shot dead by a policman who followed them into the building. The remaining four then fanned out shooting at anyone who crossed their path. They managed to kill ten civilians and 57 were injured or wounded (many of the injured were hurt jumping out windows to escape the gunmen). Kabul police responded quickly, entered the building and killed all four assailants.<br /><br />At the prisons office two attackers attempted to enter the building. One was shot dead immediately by a policeman. The second attacker shot the policeman dead, entered the building and detonated his explosive vest, killing himself and seven policemen.<br /><br />The end tally was: terrorists 8 dead, police 10 dead, civilians 10 dead and 57 injured/wounded.<br /><br />What is clear is that the attackers were trying to emulate a "Mumbai-like" attack. A key difference: Afghan police are not afraid to fight it out. The Afghans recognized the developing threat, killing three of the attackers as they entered the buildings. They did not let things turn into a prolonged siege, quickly closing in on the terrorists in the building, hunting them down and killing them.<br /><br />Let us keep this in perspective. This was a bad day by Kabul standards, but only one of many far better and steadily improving days. There are days the bad guys will have success. While the attack momentarily grabbed headlines, it did not, contrary to some news reports, paralyze the city.<br /><br />All of the buildings attacked on 11 February had little to no stand-off from the street. They are difficult to protect and there are large numbers of people in front of, entering and leaving these buildings all day.<br /><br />A factor that angers me somewhat is that since no Westerners were killed or directly involved, it was only a passing headline in the Western media. Apart from some alarmists and Pat Buchanan ranting about how "the war is lost" the story vanished within hours. I would like to think that the excellent reaction of the Afghan police and the total annihilation of the attackers made this story not sexy enough. Perhaps if a Westerner had gotten in the crossfire, this story would have seen more play.<br /><br />Below are some pictures taken less than an hour after the attacks in a different part of town.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IuL-2B7tly_p5dk5BDh4qPEdt6VupE46HTvx2d0q130rQGsRo5vg6vEF8np-IginToViPjV0Zy0XLdAClbfjd3wkl7QaWt_CECN5XPqhhdgSQqVF_XygtwIfBMxoBkGFF5HvEEEuuL4/s1600-h/TerrifiedWomen.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304554212696415730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9IuL-2B7tly_p5dk5BDh4qPEdt6VupE46HTvx2d0q130rQGsRo5vg6vEF8np-IginToViPjV0Zy0XLdAClbfjd3wkl7QaWt_CECN5XPqhhdgSQqVF_XygtwIfBMxoBkGFF5HvEEEuuL4/s400/TerrifiedWomen.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Note the terrified women fleeing in blind panic.</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG72cC7y0Iz7o5PXtZQ5hq7FnGuhzrt7wMcOgqAY8YkMKn3VGFeJGE5GQMfBumZfFSLx1ZO8xgROPryoXdH-PAF0qYPJy9KwglTDyN0End-Fn_0N_D6rNxQ6QJ5orE2ueULsHw8SJ09tk/s1600-h/TerrifiedMen.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304554209549808482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG72cC7y0Iz7o5PXtZQ5hq7FnGuhzrt7wMcOgqAY8YkMKn3VGFeJGE5GQMfBumZfFSLx1ZO8xgROPryoXdH-PAF0qYPJy9KwglTDyN0End-Fn_0N_D6rNxQ6QJ5orE2ueULsHw8SJ09tk/s400/TerrifiedMen.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Note the men in equal panic, trampling women and children in their paralyzed terror.</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MRkuM04YWgbEq1Wqh8bU07hEEvt48Xzz09DYIkkhFN_nDkz8g3UCIt9SO47tL0-1W6vhPrbzR9AkxIdGhu22nQL517DGkjfeMIySF_9_zlwzbcYYoFT9eOjBuBn-aJt5AY2FBBp13g0/s1600-h/Balloons.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304554208372915746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MRkuM04YWgbEq1Wqh8bU07hEEvt48Xzz09DYIkkhFN_nDkz8g3UCIt9SO47tL0-1W6vhPrbzR9AkxIdGhu22nQL517DGkjfeMIySF_9_zlwzbcYYoFT9eOjBuBn-aJt5AY2FBBp13g0/s400/Balloons.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thankfully there were balloon salesmen on hand to calm the masses.</span></p><br />Afghans are not wimps. They take bad events like Taliban attacks in stride. Afterall, they've got 30 years of experience with <i>really</i> bad times.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-86230833583420084802009-01-04T10:27:00.000-05:002009-01-04T11:20:04.098-05:00A Word About the Afghan "Resistance"<br>I have a new blogging buddy, Layla Anwar, except that she doesn’t blog to make buddies. She is very good at making enemies. The first time I visited her blog I was reading a post that told everyone to fuck off. Yes, in those words.<br /><br />Layla is a Sunni Arab Iraqi and a big fan of Saddam Hussein. Most visitors to her site are either sycophants or people who would like to kill her – not many in the middle. Some of her “best” enemies have actually come out and said they plan to kill her. <br /><br />I'm one of the rare "middle" people. I disagree with much maybe even most of what she says, but I genuinely like her. She is an exceptional person.<br /><br />Layla's main blog is <a href="http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com" target="'_blank"> Arab Woman Blues</a>. If you visit this site you must be prepared for some prose that will likely get your blood boiling either in favor of her, or against her.<br /><br />She can also be quite funny as her other blog <a href="http://uncensoredarabwomanblues.blogspot.com" target="'_blank">Uncensored Arab Woman Blues</a> shows with all her issues on dating in Iraq.<br /><br />You have to keep in mind when reading Arab prose that it tends to the extreme in terms of emotion. It's difficult to keep from getting wrapped up in emotion when you read it. I guess that’s the point.<br /><br />Anyway, in the midst of a particularly emotional post vilifying the Imperialist American, Zionist, Safavid Shiite Iranian cabal that has ruined the Iraqi paradise that once existed under Saint Saddam, she strays into areas about which she perhaps should have remained silent - namely, Afghanistan.<br /><br />In the post she gives three cheers (sort of) for what we in the West would otherwise call “the bad guys.” Of course she can be forgiven because she gets her news from the news agencies/web sites that are pushing the idea that what we are trying to do is nothing less than destroy Sunnis and usher in the American Zionist Safavid state with forced conversion to that apostate sect. In the Afghanistan detour she says: <i> “…where the Afghan Resistance is making strides.” </i><br /><br />At this point I take issue. Which resistance is she talking about? Is it the “resistance” in Kandahar that sprays acid in the faces of schoolgirls? Or is it the “resistance” in Kandahar and Khost and across the border in the “ungovernable provinces” of Pakistan that burns down schools and murders teachers? Perhaps it is the resistance that blew up fourteen elementary schoolchildren in Khost the last week of December? <br /><br />Perhaps it’s the drug lord “resistance” in Helmand and Herat. But, since a large part of their “crop” is ending up in Iran, which now has the highest rate of heroin addiction in the world, that’s probably OK. Anything that rots the evil Safavid state from within is good.<br /><br />Or maybe she means the criminal gangs (some of which include the corrupt police) who primarily rob merchants and ordinary Afghans. Maybe she means the kidnapping rings that primarily target Afghan school children (especially the girls, many of whom end up raped) and the occassional Westerner. If she means the occasional Pakistani or <i><b>ARAB</b></i> suicide bomber, most of whom target civilians in busy markets, they are not well-received by the local populace.<br /><br />If by making strides she means terrorizing the civilian populace as opposed to attacking the Imperialist Americans and their allies, well that is primarily what the "bad guys" do here. <br /><br />In reality, official corruption and ordinary crime are the biggest problems in Afghanistan. If the corruption can be negated, then the crime will dwindle and the situation for ordinary Afghans will drastically improve.<br /><br />There is no comparison between Afghanistan and Iraq. The circumstances are entirely different. The US and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) do not have a single tank in Afghanistan. I live in a neighborhood in the middle of Kabul and I travel around unarmed, both in Kabul and outside of Kabul. In Kabul I can walk the streets. I am frequently in situations here that I would never have allowed myself in Iraq.<br /><br />It was <i><b>Afghan</b></i> tanks that entered Kabul in 2001, <i>not</i> American. That simple fact changes many things. I will be the first to say that the West squandered precious time and golden opportunities early on. Our stupidity and arrogance made a difficult job harder, just like we did in Iraq, but the situation is far from impossible.<br /><br />Cutting the Gordian knot of corruption should be the main priority. And one can’t say that these people are “used to it” or it can’t be changed because they’ve always been corrupt. That is simply not true. The ordinary people know that corruption is wrong and that it hurts business, but they are trapped in it and waiting for us to do what we promised.<br /><br />In an alliance of convenience, we allowed the corrupt warlords to get their hands back into the system. It will be up to us to show them the door, or failing such direct action, provide the support to those Afghans who are trying to fight the corruption so that they can do it.<br><br>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-50823631746571668312008-12-17T11:21:00.000-05:002008-12-17T11:28:34.221-05:00The Real Situation In KabulOn my other blog I frequently comment on the real situation in Kabul, Afghanistan. My comments are typically at odds with what the media is reporting. I’m a professional soldier. Though I’m retired from active duty, I continue to train soldiers, ours and our allies. I’ve been in the war zone in Iraq and here for a good part of the last six years. I’m not the kind who gets nervous in this environment. Those who know that much about me may be inclined to take some of my war zone reporting with a <strike>grain</strike> block of salt as a result.<br /><br />The real threats in Kabul and throughout Afghanistan are corruption and good old-fashioned crime, albeit at a high level in both categories. It is crime and corruption (rampant in the police) that are hurting reconstruction efforts. The Taliban and Al Qaeda are not a threat; they are despised and have no popular support. What support they may generate is through fear and intimidation in those areas where security is lacking. Given a choice and guarantee of security, the people reject the Taliban.<br /><br />The article below was written by a woman who has been living here in Kabul for the last three years with her family. Like me, her take is that the media are reporting from a Kabul in a parallel universe. I post her comments here in their entirety.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:150%;">The real situation in Kabul</span><br />United Press International<br />12/16/2008<br />By Marilyn Angelucci, Kabul<br /><br />Kabul — I have been living in Kabul for the past three years, and the news reports still never cease to amaze me. This week, the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) reported that the Taliban have control of almost 75% of Afghanistan and that they will soon walk through the door of Kabul.<br /><br />According to my experience living here with my family, I can’t believe that the country they are describing is the same country that I live in. According to reports by NATO, the Afghan government and a great number of our Afghan friends, I hear a different story.<br /><br />The Taliban are losing any support they may have had in the past. A few months ago, they attacked a bus of Afghans headed for Iran to seek work. The travelers were from Laghman, and the attack happened in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban beheaded most of the travelers, sparing a few of the younger ones. They claimed that those executed were Afghan military.<br /><br />The local people of Laghman were so angered by the attack that they united against the Taliban. According to the words of one of the survivors, local leaders have declared a “war” against any Taliban in their area. They have stated that if there are any Taliban or Taliban supporters found in their area, they will execute them and burn their homes. This was declared by the leaders of 15 districts in the province of Laghman, an ethnically Pashtun area.<br /><br />The local people are fed up with the Taliban's tactics. Even those that may have supported the Taliban in the past have become disgusted by the killing and torturing of innocent civilians. They have lost hope that the Taliban can bring about anything better than what the Karzai government can.<br /><br />It’s true that security is worse than last year, while the Taliban claim that they are responsible for the attacks. But this is not the case. Most of the kidnappings and criminal activities are done by local gangsters that are taking advantage of the corruption of the police and the Ministry of the Interior.<br /><br />Take the case of Gail Williams, a British national killed last month on the streets of western Kabul. According to news reports, the Taliban were responsible and claimed that her NGO was converting Muslims to Christianity, and that the killing was therefore a warning. The NGO denies this claim.<br /><br />One local who witnessed the attack said men on a motorcycle first tried to steal Williams' pocketbook and, when she fought off the attack, they shot her first in the legs, then in the head and left her to die. This is not a tactic of the Taliban. This is the work of local criminals taking advantage of the poor policing seen all over Kabul. Some even claim that these criminal acts are the work of the local police themselves, but this has not been proven at this point.<br /><br />So, corruption is high. Not only are the Taliban losing support, but so is Karzai. People are ready for a new government and are looking for someone who can get a grip on Afghanistan’s security and development issues.<br /><br />So much has been done toward development by the international community, and this can be seen everywhere. But the leadership is still weak, and this leads to many other concerns. We are all hoping, with the additional troops coming in January and in the summer, that security can improve and the presidential elections can take place as planned.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-10668166456910908322008-12-09T02:55:00.000-05:002008-12-09T03:19:19.054-05:00Comments on the Comments about MumbaiIn the aftermath of the Mumbai massacre, a number of Western pundits, both liberal and conservative, have offered some pretty irrational commentary. Most of them get off the main issue of the specific event and turn their commentary to a general condemnation of Islam and Muslims.<br /><br />This is a counter-productive and flat wrong-headed approach. Have any of these writers bothered to tally up the <i>Muslim</i> victims of terrorist violence? In the Mumbai attacks, for example, there were also Muslim victims. These murderers, who claim they are killing for God, are no respecters of one’s religion. They gleefully kill anyone. Look at who is primarily dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan at the hands of these murderous thugs. It isn’t coalition troops or foreign aid workers; it is the local inhabitants – <i>Muslims</i> – who are dying in the tens of thousands.<br /><br />Another argument that seems common is to claim that Muslims do not condemn these attacks – that the voice of Muslims is silent. Well, it only seems silent because the West’s ever-vigilant professional journalists are as intellectually lazy as their readers and viewers. Muslims <i>are</i> speaking out. Many have been murdered for doing so. In order to find this out, one must make the effort to read Muslim media. It’s out there.<br /><br />The Organization of the Islamic Conference, an association of 56 Islamic states, condemned the terror attacks in Mumbai stating that: “…these acts of violence <i><b>contradict all human values and can be justified by nothing”</b></i> (emphasis added).<br /><br />A businessman from Dubai writes:<br /><br /><i>It is not enough for moderate Muslims to be revolted by the attacks in Mumbai as we have been revolted by the attacks on the New York office towers, Amman wedding, London transport system, Madrid trains, Beslan school, Jerusalem pizzeria, Baghdad markets and numerous other places. It is time to take a serious stand against these perpetrators and reclaim our religion. <br /><br />Muslims must be more vocal in their sentiments regarding such criminals and Islamic states must counter this behaviour proactively. To borrow from an unpopular phrase, the Islamic states must launch a psychological pre-emptive strike against these terrorists and more importantly those who encourage them. Muslim preachers who fail to condemn terror must either be re-educated or discredited completely, and those who excuse terror using certain conflicts as a pretext must be silenced because the poison that they spread today will come back to haunt us all tomorrow.<br /><br />Some media outlets can also act as a conduit for the terrorists’ propaganda. The stories of reformed radicals such as Sayed Imam, also known as Dr Fadl, must be highlighted to the ignorant minority. Our message must be clear: “These acts of violence contradict all human values and can be justified by nothing.”</i> <br /><br /><i>Nothing.</i><br /><p align="right"><b><i>Sultan Al Qassemi</b></i></p><br />These are just samples of the outpouring of anger and frustration I read in Muslim media. Muslims are not unaware of the hatred and anger their co-religionists are generating with these senseless crimes and they are just as perplexed at how to stop it as we are, even more so given that they ostensibly share the same religion as the murderers.<br /><br />Then there are those who say the Qur’an tells Muslims to spread their religion by the sword. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact the Qur’an is full of statements showing that belief in any religion is an individual’s own concern and is a matter between the individual and God. Here are a few.<br /><br /><i><b>(2:256)</b> “There is no compulsion in religion.”</i> This is the clearest statement in the Qur’an against spreading religion by the sword.<br /><br /><i><b>(76:3)</b> “We have truly shown him the way; he may be thankful or unthankful.”</i><br /><br /><i><b>(18:29)</b> “The Truth is from your Lord; so let him who please believe and let him who please disbelieve.”</i><br /><br /><i><b>6:104)</b> “Clear proofs have indeed come to you from your Lord; so whoever sees, it is for his own good; and whoever is blind, it is to his own harm.”</i><br /><br /><i><b>(17:7)</b> “If you do good, you do good for your own souls. And if you do evil, it is for them.”</i> (for your own souls)<br /><br />It seems to me that the two predominant views portrayed in Western media about Muslims are either the condemnatory pieces that tar brush all Muslims with the Islamo-facist label, or those that help propagate their insane justifications for murder (Bush’s policies, Israeli policies, grinding poverty). Both are wrong. <br /><br />The most common shared trait among all these writers is that they have not lived in a Muslim society – certainly not for any significant length of time. I’ve spent the greater part of the last six years living among Muslims in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve known Muslims who I’ve felt confident would lay down their life to protect me, just as I would do for them. I’ve seen Iraqi soldiers weep when their American counterparts were killed or wounded. I’ve seen the anger of Afghans when a foreign aid worker is killed or kidnapped. An unarmed Afghan bystander was killed in Kabul several weeks ago trying to thwart the kidnapping at gun-point of a French aid worker.<br /><br />The vast majority of Muslims throughout the world are good, civilized human beings with whom we share many, if not most, values. This is, I believe, a fact. Yes, there are differences between Western societies and Islamic societies, but for the most part these differences are no bigger than a line drawn in the sand.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-48050358375772457972008-11-16T03:25:00.000-05:002009-01-04T11:35:25.620-05:00Playing into the Enemy's HandsBelow is an article from the Christian Science Monitor in the aftermath of the suicide attack on the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul. My analysis of this article appears below the article. The main point is that this is yet another example of the blissfully ignorant media playing right into the hands of the insurgents.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Insurgents increasingly employing complex attacks in Afghanistan</strong><br /></span></span><em>Thursday's strike on an Afghan ministry was carried out by a team using multiple attack methods.<br />By Anand Gopal Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor<br />from the October 31, 2008 edition</em><br /><br /><em><br /></em>Kabul, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a government ministry Thursday, killing at least five and injuring dozens. The attack is the latest in a series this year showing insurgents' ability to penetrate the capital using complicated and daring methods.<br /><br />"Security in the capital is decreasing day by day," says Ajmal Karimi, analyst with the Center for Peace and Conflict studies, a Kabul-based think tank.<br /><br />He says that Thursday's attack, which involved multiple insurgents and included small-arms fire, is an example of the sophisticated methods increasingly used.<br /><br />"With these types of attacks the insurgents are able to make people feel that they cannot trust the government to keep them safe even in the capital," he says.<br /><br />At least three insurgents entered the Ministry of Information and Culture, located in a busy section of Kabul, Thursday morning. Witnesses say a gunfight broke out between security officials and the guerrillas, followed by a massive blast that destroyed much of the ministry's first floor. According to some reports, two insurgents escaped the scene.<br /><br />The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying they were targeting foreign advisers. Insurgents may also have hit the ministry because it was one of the least secure.<br /><br />Kabul is heavily guarded, with thousands of police patrolling, many main arteries closed to traffic, and blast walls surrounding most government buildings. Yet insurgents have staged numerous high-profile attacks.<br /><br />"In these types of attacks, the insurgents may send one suicide bomber toward the target while another fighter distracts security forces with gunfire," says Mr. Karimi.<br /><br />While the attack involved a small team, many complex attacks involve greater numbers of fighters and a more diverse combination of attack methods. According to an American intelligence official with the international forces, this year has seen a 6 to 12 percent increase in assaults involving more than 20 insurgents and multiple attack methods.<br /><br />The blast comes amid talk of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban. "Our enemies are trying to undermine recent efforts by the government for a peaceful solution to end the violence," President Hamid Karzai said in a statement.<br />•<em>Danna Harman contributed to this report from Kabul. </em><br /><br /><p><span style="color:#990000;"><strong>My comments:<br /><br /></strong></span><em>The attack is the latest in a series this year showing insurgents' ability to penetrate the capital using complicated and daring methods.<br /></em><br />This statement is never explained or elaborated anywhere in the article. What “complicated” or “daring” methods were used to “penetrate” the capital? Kabul is a big city with over 4 million inhabitants. There is not a solid wall, fence or other barrier that rings the city. The main roads are not the only ways into the city.<br /><br /><em>"Security in the capital is decreasing day by day," says Ajmal Karimi, analyst with the Center for Peace and Conflict studies, a Kabul-based think tank.<br /></em><br />And we have arrived at this conclusion based upon what evidence? By the way it is the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) and Ajmal Karimi strangely does not appear on the staff page as an analyst. He may very well work there, but if he does he is a low-level researcher.<br /><br />The CAPS website states: “Armed groups in Afghanistan, just as in the Middle East and Pakistan, use the media to propagate their message, solicit both moral and financial support, and provide distant training and exchange of logistical information required to launch successful operations.”<br /><br />The Christian Science Monitor, just like the main stream media plays right into the insurgents’ hands with uninformed reports like this one.<br /><br /><em>Kabul is heavily guarded, with thousands of police patrolling, many main arteries closed to traffic, and blast walls surrounding most government buildings.<br /></em><br />Thousands of police in a large sprawling city of four million is hardly surprising. The “main arteries” closed to traffic are those in the immediate vicinity of the Presidential Palace, the Ministry of the Interior (National Police Headquarters), and the Ministry of Defense. Hardly surprising given the threat of VBIED’s (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device). In fact if these roads were left open, one would then need to be critical of lax security. It only takes one VBIED in the right place at the right time to create havoc. This isn’t much different from in the US where traffic is no longer allowed around certain government buildings. (Have you tried to drive in front of the White House lately?)<br /><br /><em>Yet insurgents have staged numerous high-profile attacks.<br /></em><br />I’m very curious as to how we have arrived at “numerous” high-profile attacks. Let’s see: January 2008, Hotel Serena; April 2008, Assassination attempt on President Karzai; July 2008, Suicide VBIED attack on the Indian Embassy; October 2008, Suicide BBIED (Body Borne Improvised Explosive Device) at the Ministry of Information and Culture. That’s only four even though the media would have us believe that Kabul is about to fall to the Taliban. So far that works out to one every three months, but it still misses a key point.<br /><br />What do three of the four have in common? In three of the four cases lax security around what should have been recognized as potential high-profile targets invited the attacks.<br /><br />In the case of Hotel Serena, not only was security lax in the first place, there was advance warning of an impending attack and no action was taken to tighten security even though on the day of the attack the Norwegian embassy was hosting a reception there.<br /><br />In the Indian Embassy attack the road that should have been blocked to regular traffic was not. The Indian Embassy is right across the street from the Afghan Ministry of the Interior, which may have actually been the intended target. Given that the road is now blocked except for authorized traffic, a repeat is unlikely.<br /><br /><em>He says that Thursday's attack (Oct 30), which involved multiple insurgents and included small-arms fire, is an example of the sophisticated methods increasingly used.<br /></em><br />Three guys charging a lightly-guarded gate firing AK’s is hardly sophisticated, in fact it is pretty basic.<br /><br /><em>"With these types of attacks the insurgents are able to make people feel that they cannot trust the government to keep them safe even in the capital," he says.<br /></em><br />Clearly that is the goal of this type of attack, whether or not such attacks have achieved this goal is a matter of conjecture. Within hours of this particular attack it was business as usual in this busy market part of town.<br /><br /><em>Insurgents may also have hit the ministry because it was one of the least secure.<br /></em><br />This is the primary reason the insurgents hit this particular ministry. The Ministry is located off a busy market street where hundreds of people are milling all day long. Security here was very lax with virtually no “stand-off” to even slow a potential attacker who simply had to sprint the twenty yards from the gate to the front lobby and detonate.<br /><br />Again, Kabul is a large, sprawling city with more points of entry than can be properly guarded by even a million police officers and yet there have been only four “high-profile” attacks this year (the year of the greatest number of attacks nation-wide). In at least three of the four attacks there were significant security lapses that contributed to creating conditions conducive to attack.<br /><br />The enemy exploits perceived weakness. That should be expected. As hardening and awareness reduces opportunity, the enemy looks for new opportunities. That is why one cannot become complacent. We are facing a <em>thinking</em> enemy. It is idiotic to imagine that he will not adjust his tactics and methods to counter our actions. The fact that he does so is not indicative of increased capability on his part or deteriorating security on our part.<br /><br /><em>While the attack involved a small team, many complex attacks involve greater numbers of fighters and a more diverse combination of attack methods. According to an American intelligence official with the international forces, this year has seen a 6 to 12 percent increase in assaults involving more than 20 insurgents and multiple attack methods.<br /></em><br />So what if they fail? As they have in all cases. The fact that a group of attackers uses hand grenades and small arms, makes an attack “complex” by military definitions, but this does not equate to “sophisticated” in the civilian sense of complication. </p><p>By the way, total casualties for the year are actually down significantly from last year. So despite the alleged increase in “sophistication” and “complexity” the attacks are less efficient. Higher concentrations of insurgents are not a liability to us because we have them out-gunned. When they choose to mass, they are easier to detect, target and kill.<br /><br /><br /></p>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-62203166278719746832008-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:002008-10-24T12:55:35.319-04:00Is This the Sort of Change You are Looking For?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3i65BBxVwj351ExF85TrUesBzLunMSVYCTB0OUmxwXLaQdNub35hqhWquZI3IcBDiqposJ1zAmR50wBM563vB9dD99sZXy4mMkdeR4ht0GgVNJxDtQ40ztQ35uSq4YhG2PrkKBJMS78/s1600-h/FascistDNC.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260701494972534274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3i65BBxVwj351ExF85TrUesBzLunMSVYCTB0OUmxwXLaQdNub35hqhWquZI3IcBDiqposJ1zAmR50wBM563vB9dD99sZXy4mMkdeR4ht0GgVNJxDtQ40ztQ35uSq4YhG2PrkKBJMS78/s400/FascistDNC.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Obama has nothing to say while his supporters threaten physical violence against those who disagree with his positions, destroy McCain signs on private property, burn Republican offices, and conduct character assassinations on ordinary citizens who have the temerity to disagree with their candidate (Joe the Plumber). <br /><br />This man who may be sworn to uphold the Constitution is silent on the underhanded stifling of public discourse by his own staff. I can't believe he does not know it is going on. Where John McCain tried to calm people who shouted obscenities about Obama at a rally, Obama is silent when his partisans do the same. (Actually, in the case of "Joe the Plumber", Obama and his running mate gleefully contributed to the character assassination. So no, I would not accept any profession of innocence on Obama's part to his campaign's fascist tactics. But then, what would one expect from a Socialist?)<br /><br />Below is an example of some of the tactics being employed by the Obama campaign that the mainstream media, fully in bed with the Obama campaign, say nothing about. <br /><br />The Obama campaign refuses to comment on this incident, claiming it is a Secret Service matter even though it was initiated by their offices. The Secret Service is conducting an "investigation" and does not comment. <br /><br />Note that no one is denying the incident, they are simply refusing to comment. The mainstream media ignores it. You can bet that if the McCain campaign had done the same thing, this would all over the news. <br /><br />So read this personal account of a private citizen who dared say what she thought of Obama to one of Obama's campaign volunteers.<br /><br /><i>On Wednesday the 1st of October I received a call on my cell while in the car with my husband. It was a woman who identified herself as calling from the Obama Campaign. The phone # she called from was 903-798-6020 which lists as "Obama Volunteers of Texarkana" (Texas). <br /><br />She asked if I was an Obama supporter to which I replied: "No, I don't support him, your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the State Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time." I hung up. <br /><br />Thursday, October 2, I answered the front door to find the Secret Service. Immediately I thought of the call and was furious that apparently you are not allowed to call Obama a Socialist without the Secret Service coming to investigate. Instead, they asked me about the following comment, relayed by the Obama Volunteer of Texarkana who called me, unsolicited on my cell phone: "I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor." <br /><br />My husband laughed and told them “No, she called him a socialist but she never said a word about him dying.” I gave them my actual quote. The woman asked insolently “Oh? Well why would she make that up?” <br /><br />I replied that I supposed she wasn’t happy about what I said about her candidate and the Agent said “That’s right, you were rude!” The last time I checked being rude wasn’t a crime in America. <br /><br />Luckily the big file they had gathered on me didn't indicate mental instability or a past life of stalking/crime, however they did want to know how I felt about Obama. <br /><br />That was my limit. I told the Agent in no uncertain terms that my thoughts were not pertinent to their investigation, that this was America and the last time I checked I was allowed to think whatever I wanted without being questioned by the Secret Service. In fact, even if I had said what she claimed, that isn't a threat. I told them (again) and my husband verified that the statement reported by Obama's volunteer was a lie. I asked them if there was a tape of the call and they said no. <br /><br />I said, "So on the word of a ticked off Obama supporter you are on my porch with no other evidence and you want to question me about my THOUGHTS!?" <br /><br />They informed me that there was no evidence she was an Obama supporter…someone calling from his campaign…are you kidding? <br /><br />I was not allowed to know the name of my accuser at which point they informed me that it wasn't like I was in a court of law, YET, as if this was a good thing. I recognized this as a veiled threat. I told them I would happily go to court since I did nothing wrong and at least then my accuser would have to face me rather than sending the thought police to my house. <br /><br />They then said they were trying to do me a favor, that they came to me first before “embarrassing you by going to all your neighbors and family”, another threat? <br /><br />I told them to be my guest and talk to whomever they wanted but they weren’t going to investigate my thoughts on my porch. <br /><br />They also informed me that it would be easier if the next time a supporter calls me I just say "Yeah sure count me in, or just hang up" apparently so she won't get her undies in a bundle and give them more useless trips. Yeah right. <br /><br />I said "Look, someone calls me unsolicited on my cell phone to ask me to support their candidate and I can't tell them why I don't?" I said I was sorry they made a wasted trip but if they had a problem with some made up lie they needed to go talk to her about it because it wasn't my fault they had to drive from Houston for nothing. <br /><br />At one point I went inside and got a notepad to record their badge numbers and they refused to show me their badges. They had done the quick flip when they arrived. I asked for a card and the female Agent refused to give me one stating “You’re not going to get a card.” The male Agent gave me a card and told me I could contact Houston with any questions. <br /><br />The fact that the volunteer lied, the fact that the Secret Service came to my house to question me about my thoughts and feelings and threaten to embarrass me to my neighbors and go to court if I didn’t cooperate is not really the tragedy here. Because that girl on the phone doesn’t have the pull to send the Secret Service to my home. Someone high in the ranks of a campaign working for a man who may be the next President of the United States of America felt comfortable bringing the force of the Federal Government to bear on a private citizen on nothing but the word of a partisan volunteer. <br /><br />I want to file a counter complaint that false charges were made, that a false report was given to a peace officer. The Secret Service told me I cannot because they will protect the identity of the complainant. I also want the file they have on me destroyed and I want to know that my phone isn’t tapped, etcetera. I am hearing a lot of “Out of my Jurisdiction”. <br /><br />Do I also hear jackboots? <br /><br />Jessica Hughes<br />Lufkin, Texas <br /><br />Note: I have contacted several news organizations, Rep Gohmert, Sen Hutchison, the Atty General, Local Police </i>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-23758334528050125322008-10-16T15:25:00.000-04:002008-10-16T17:12:53.279-04:00Analyzing an AnalysisIn my previous post, blogger “Jim” and I have carried on a discussion about Obama’s birth origins. During that discussion, Jim offered a link to a <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html" target="'_blank">FactCheck </a>“investigation” and “analysis” of the suspect digital image of Obama’s alleged birth certificate that has been floating around the Internet since first posted on the left-wing blog, “Daily Kos” in June. Jim averred that this “analysis” was convincing. I disagree and offered to explain why. Here is that explanation.<br /><br />This was one of those FactCheck postings that given the seriousness of the subject, was far too cute and unprofessional. In fact the entire tone, rather than sounding like a dispassionate scholarly refutation, came across as simple partisan gimmickry, this from an organization that claims objectivism. Start with Bruce Springsteen's song title and theme and FactCheck’s analysis goes downhill from there. With that opening, how could we expect a dispassionate analysis of facts?<br /><br />FactCheck does not even get the chronological sequence of events correct in relationship to how the original questionable digital image wound up being passed around the Internet. To set the record straight, the image first appeared on “<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/12/11012/6168/320/534616" target="'_blank">Daily Kos</a>” on 12 June 2008, followed by Obama’s “<a href="http://fightthesmears.com/articles/5/birthcertificate" target="'_blank">Fight the Smears</a>” website on 13 June. This was then followed by a clearly partisan and unscholarly posting by <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/has_obamas_birth_certificate_been_disclosed.html" target="'_blank">FactCheck on 16 June</a>, which they reference in their 21 August post and which, like the “Daily Kos” and “Fight the Smears” postings, provoked more questions than it answered.<br /><br />As FactCheck points out in their attempted damage-control, that original digital image came under immediate fire, as well it should have. Set aside for a moment the utter absurdity of the Obama campaign providing a far left blog with the “hot scoop” of getting to post the certificate first. However much I may disagree with what Obama stands for, or how much I may find things his campaign has done unethical or outright lies, I can’t believe they would be that <i>stupid</i>. I can’t imagine that they would not recognize such a move as sure to trigger a backlash rather than quiet the rumble about Obama’s place of birth. But I may be wrong, as some statements by an Obama staffer quoted below may indicate.<br /><br />In FactCheck’s second paragraph we find the first major falsehood of their analysis. <i>FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate.</i><br /><br />No, they did not, as they themselves admit a little further on in their report. What they touched was a “certification of birth” which is <i>not</i> the same as an original birth certificate. Their own analysis admits as much. Second, what are their forensic qualifications to be passing judgment on any document? Birth record forgeries are among the most common and exceedingly easy to produce documents that would pass muster under all but the most trained eye. Third, what proof do they have that that document was the source of the original image released by “Daily Kos?”<br /><br /><i>We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship.</i><br /><br />Apart from my second point in the previous paragraph, there is the absurdity that naturalization papers also meet all the requirements for the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. That is not the issue. The issue is proof of natural birth within the United States, which carries a higher standard.<br /><br /><i>We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article.</i><br /><br />The fact that the pictures are 1MB and larger does not equal proper digital documentation. Arm shadows, poor angles and lighting in addition to showing isolated segments of what they purport to be the document are all indicators of amateurish detective work by people who do not know the first thing about forensic digital photography.<br /><br />I had been told that embedded EXIF data showed a March 2008 timestamp, but the images I was able to retrieve had no timestamp in the EXIF file, or any other EXIF data for that matter. If the former, then either the pictures were taken long before the issue came up and not so “recently” as the reporters claim, or it is just another glaring example of amateurism on the part of the FactCheck staff in not properly setting the clock in their digital camera.<br /><br />If the latter, (the suspect timestamp and other EXIF data have been deliberately removed to inhibit investigation), then it is further proof of their blatant partisanship and an outright lie when they say they have not modified the images in any way. Any modification of a digital photo will alter the EXIF data and in most cases wipe out the timestamp.<br /><br />While the FactCheck staffers may have spent time with <i><b>a</b></i> certificate, it is not necessarily the one from which the original image posted on Daily Kos, FactCheck’s report on 16 June, or <i>still</i> posted on “Fight the Smears” was created.<br /><br />Given that what was posted created such a stir, a pertinent question would be, “if Obama had the document displayed in FactCheck’s most recent analysis all along, why did it take six weeks to get the “better” images posted?” If Obama had the certificate all along (and presumably still has it), why are better images <i>still</i> not posted on his own “Fight the Smears” site four months after the initial post?<br /><br /><i>The document is a "certification of birth," also known as a short-form birth certificate. The long form is drawn up by the hospital and includes additional information such as birth weight and parents' hometowns. The short form is printed by the state and draws from a database with fewer details.</i><br /><br />Correct. The long form would provide definitive proof of having been born in the US since the hospital would be recorded on the certificate. Hawaii statute also allows a certification of birth for an infant born outside the US, who would then have a document like the one FactCheck examined.<br /><br /><i>The Hawaii Department of Health's birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate, but their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department.</i><br /><br />Irrelevant statement. The State Department has nothing to do with qualifying Presidential candidates. Their statement pertained to data required to obtain a passport.<br /><br /><i>We tried to ask the Hawaii DOH why they only offer the short form, among other questions, but they have not given a response.</i><br /><br />Did they, or did they not ask? What does <i>trying</i> to ask mean? Their lips moved and nothing came out? They failed to apply postage to the envelope and it never got to Hawaii DOH? Did they ask if it was possible to get the long form and who would be allowed to do so? They never say.<br /><br />Most questions one would need ask are answered on the <a href="http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/index.html" target="'_blank">Hawaii DOH website</a>. Any other questions could be answered by calling the phone number listed on the site between 7:15 AM and 6:00 PM HST. There does not appear to be much due diligence on the part of FactCheck’s staffers.<br /><br /><i>We asked the Obama campaign about the date stamp and the blacked-out certificate number. The certificate is stamped June 2007, because that's when Hawaii officials produced it for the campaign, which requested that document and "all the records we could get our hands on" according to spokesperson Shauna Daly.</i><br /><br />Without a Power of Attorney from Obama, the “campaign” could not have simply requested the document from Hawaii DOH, nor would have Hawaii DOH produced the document without a Power of Attorney as stated in their own statute posted on the Hawaii DOH website. Both parties would most likely retain a copy of the Power of Attorney document as proof of proper transfer of the certification of birth. Again, due diligence and an understanding of basic law would have been appropriate here to lend some credibility to their “investigation.”<br /><br /><i>The campaign didn't release its copy until 2008, after speculation began to appear on the Internet questioning Obama's citizenship. The campaign then rushed to release the document, and the rush is responsible for the blacked-out certificate number. Says Shauna: "[We] couldn't get someone on the phone in Hawaii to tell us whether the number represented some secret information, and we erred on the side of blacking it out. Since then we've found out it's pretty irrelevant for the outside world." The document we looked at did have a certificate number; it is 151 1961 - 010641.</i><br /><br />What was the rush? Why not get it right in the first place? Again, I am highly skeptical of “couldn’t get someone on the phone in Hawaii.” How many times was this attempted? Were they smart enough to recognize the time difference and phone accordingly? Hawaii is not a Third World country with limited telephone access. I rather suspect that if you call during their office hours, you will get someone on the phone.<br /><br />Secret information in a certificate number? Certificates are usually numbered in such a manner that they are unique. That is their purpose. There isn’t anything secret about it. If people working for a lawyer who wants to be President are this bloody clueless, then we are all in for a comedy of errors should this man get elected. He clearly can’t get smart folks to work for him or worse yet represent his interests to the public.<br /><br />Now that FactCheck has put the number out there for all to see (two months ago now), why does “Fight the Smears” still have the original “questionable” document with the blacked-out number still displayed? One would like to think that Obama’s campaign would be careful to synchronize their online information with FactCheck’s after their little cooperative certificate photo-op. Clearly they are just as ham-handed as FactCheck.<br /><br /><i>We also note that so far none of those questioning the authenticity of the document have produced a shred of evidence that the information on it is incorrect.</i><br /><br />Again, how clueless can an alleged “investigator” get? <i>The point of a forgery is to look correct.</i> Clearly false and easily refuted information on a forgery nullifies the forgery’s value.<br /><br /><i>We think our colleagues at PolitiFact.com, who also dug into some of these loopy theories put it pretty well: "It is possible that Obama conspired his way to the precipice of the world’s biggest job, involving a vast network of people and government agencies over decades of lies. Anything’s possible. But step back and look at the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and your sense of what’s reasonable has to take over."</i><br /><br />A staffer at DOH by law cannot answer questions about the content of a birth record without the individual’s permission (Obama in this case). None of the DOH staffers allegedly queried by either FactCheck or PolitiFact were queried in person with the actual document in front of them. They were only viewing digital images and they only commented that the image <i>appeared</i> to have all the necessary components. None provided any definitive response on content or that the document was definitely not a forgery. It isn’t that the DOH staffers are part of a conspiracy or trying to hide anything; they simply cannot legally answer the questions in a definitive manner without Obama’s explicit approval.<br /><br />It does not take a vast network of people or government agencies to produce a forged birth record. People do it every day. All it requires is the right amount of money and contact with the “right” people. Again, this demonstrates not only that FactCheck is pretty amateurish in their investigating or understanding how these things are done, so is Amy Hollyfield at PolitiFact. Speaking of loopy, their referencing each other as “evidence” is sort of an evidentiary loop. If we reference each other’s faulty analysis, that makes it accurate or some such logic.<br /><br /><i>In fact, the conspiracy would need to be even deeper than our colleagues realized. In late July, a researcher looking to dig up dirt on Obama instead found a birth announcement that had been published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsc1Y6NSWVJN41KnVEDFxyJPRQ1tFAD_9CnN_oy0uPNWSMjo41kR_ok7oLc2whhcJdzeW_4hPYGiAEBloqi01LYmikN2AEYvtoQI1UqZkF-UVIL4dO9sBoNYPp4u6aLyQX21xecD6OZw/s1600-h/announcementclose-up.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257842018453746178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsc1Y6NSWVJN41KnVEDFxyJPRQ1tFAD_9CnN_oy0uPNWSMjo41kR_ok7oLc2whhcJdzeW_4hPYGiAEBloqi01LYmikN2AEYvtoQI1UqZkF-UVIL4dO9sBoNYPp4u6aLyQX21xecD6OZw/s400/announcementclose-up.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The announcement was posted by a pro-Hillary Clinton blogger who grudgingly concluded that Obama "likely" was born Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu.<br /><br />Of course, it's distantly possible that Obama's grandparents may have planted the announcement just in case their grandson needed to prove his U.S. citizenship in order to run for president someday. We suggest that those who choose to go down that path should first equip themselves with a high-quality tinfoil hat. The evidence is clear: Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A.</i><br /><br />This birth announcement does not state <i>where</i> the individual was born. The announcement does not state <i>who</i> provided the information to the newspaper. Some newspapers have staffers who peruse official notices at the court house and some court houses provide daily feeds to the press. We cannot draw conclusions about where the information came from simply by looking at the announcement. A real investigation would have at least asked how this particular newspaper got its information for birth announcements, death announcements and weddings back in 1961. <br /><br />All we know for certain is that it states the fact of birth on a certain date to a specific couple who normally reside at a certain address. Of course at this juncture Obama Sr. did <i>not</i> reside at that address, he was in Kenya (a point not in dispute) with his real wife. It has nothing to do with future plans nor would any deep vast conspiracy be required to post such an announcement. The fact that an alleged and unnamed pro-Hillary “blogger” made the conclusion stated above is also irrelevant to proving anything. Clearly his standard of proof, and that of FactCheck, is pretty low if this birth announcement sways their judgment.<br /><br /><i>We received responses to some of our questions from the Hawaii Department of Health. They couldn't tell us anything about their security paper, but they did answer another frequently-raised question: why is Obama's father's race listed as "African"? </i><br /><br />Frequently asked by whom? What difference would that make? Why would you ask that sort of question of someone who might not even have been alive when Obama was born, let alone have any first-hand knowledge of how the data was originally submitted?<br /><br /><i>He </i>[Kurt Tsue] <i>also confirmed that the information in the short form birth certificate is sufficient to prove citizenship for "all reasonable purposes."</i><br /><br />It is sufficient perhaps except for proving natural birth for the purpose of running for President. Methinks that one is slightly out of the realm of what a truly rational person would call “reasonable” usage.<br /><br />Were FactCheck’s analysis a bit more professional, I’d expect to see more than the three sources they list. After all, they are purporting to be providing objective analysis that can be replicated. In fact, I’d expect to see a footnote for each quote they’ve included as well as references to appropriate statutes applicable to the issues at hand. As damage-control for their ham-fisted 16 June piece, this analysis is pretty shoddy and ham-fisted in its own right.<br /><br />I didn’t have any objection to their pointing out the many equally shoddy criticisms and theories that emerged after the original document was put online. There were and are indeed many, but don’t mockingly criticize people who express skepticism of what appears to be a bogus online document. It is exceptionally easy to produce electronic images that portray just about anything and the vast majority of the public viewing them do not have the skills or tools to differentiate between real and fake, even though there are plenty of wannabe forensic specialists out there. There should be no surprise that the original image provoked more questions than it answered.<br /><br />Of course all this is secondary to the very simple and straightforward solution that Obama himself refuses to take, namely take a copy of his long-form birth certificate, if one exists, to a judge or group of judges. Let <i>them</i> tell the public that “yeah, verily indeed ye have nothing to fear” and the situation would be put to rest with the finality of a stake through a vampire’s heart.<br /><br />Obama refuses to do this. He’d rather take the route of obfuscating, prevaricating and dissembling rather than confront the accusation head-on (one he helped fuel with his own memoirs). He’d rather present his “evidence” to a bunch of amateur “investigators” who work for a friendly organization and who have not a clue on what to look for, what questions to ask, or how to properly document their pseudo-investigation.<br /><br />Then again, it is quite possible that this is the only course Obama can take because he really <i>cannot</i> produce the long-form birth certificate since it does not exist. That doubt will always be there until Obama puts it to rest in a forthright manner, if he can. If he can’t, then Obama really ought not be President not for where he may have been born, but because he has lied to the American public and sought the office on false pretense.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-72381820027581820442008-09-30T09:00:00.000-04:002008-09-30T21:27:28.865-04:00Obama Issues the Mainstream Media Ignores or Deliberately HidesWhere was Obama really born? This could be laid to rest very simply, but Obama refuses (or can’t) produce a valid birth certificate proving that he was born in Hawaii. The Obama “Fight the Smears” web site has already admitted that Obama was a Kenyan citizen whose citizenship lapsed in 1982. So, was he born in Kenya or Hawaii? This question is important because the man who will be sworn in as President is sworn to protect and defend the Constitution. How can one do that if one is in violation of said Constitution by falsifying birth records and lying about it? What is there to hide if one has a valid birth certificate?<br /><br />There is an alleged 1999 incident where Obama received oral sex from Larry Sinclair and smoked crack and snorted cocaine. Larry Sinclair willingly accepted a polygraph to prove that he was telling the truth. However, the organization that ran the test used an “expert” with phony credentials. They never released the results of the second test which was analyzed by a real expert. Sinclair passed the automated polygraph. The organization (Whitehouse.com) is a partisan, pro-Obama organization run by a pornographer. We already know that Obama will not volunteer to submit to a polygraph and he refuses to provide proof of his whereabouts on the date in question. Given that Obama admitted in his books that he once used cocaine and crack, the Sinclair allegation is that much more believable.<br /><br />It is alleged that Obama has more than casual connections with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, both former members of the Weatherman Underground. As recently as 2005 Ayers bragged about “getting off” and said they should have blown up more things. Even though Obama and Ayers keep crossing paths (Columbia, University of Chicago Law School, his neighborhood, Obama’s political “coming out party” hosted by Ayers and Dohrn in their house) we are supposed to believe that Obama has no relationship with Ayers. Why is this not worthy of investigation?<br /><br />Obama’s association with ACORN (Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now) a group with a long record of voter fraud and sometimes violent activism is also suspect, but seldom reported on. This is critical because ACORN is also tied to the recent bailout plan pushed by the Democrats. Obama is benefiting from the mess he and ACORN helped promote. <br /><br />See this article by the former Secretary of State for Ohio (who happens to be an African-American) for the incriminating connection between Obama and ACORN that the press will not discuss: <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/09/30/an_acorn_falls_from_the_tree?page=full&comments=true">Ken Blackwell</a>.<br /><br />Obama’s connections with Frank Davis, a known and avowed member of the Communist Party USA are suspect. In his own book, Obama calls the man his mentor. Should we not be concerned with that kind of relationship and how that would shape Obama’s character? Obama’s mentor is someone who advocated the overthrow of the United States government and we should not question how that affects Obama’s views?<br /><br />One of the people on Obama’s campaign staff is Jodie Davis, co-founder of Code Pink, whose members attempted to disrupt the Republican National Convention during John McCain’s speech.<br /><br />Obama is a friend and associate of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who pleaded guilty of corruption charges and resigned from office in September 2008. If Obama were a Republican, the media would have swarmed this one looking for any tenuous link.<br /><br />Then there are the sordid details of Obama and Tony Rezko. Here are eight facts about the Rezko-Obama connection from the Chicago Sun-Times on 24 January 2008.<br /><br />1. They met in 1990. Obama was a student at Harvard Law School and got an unsolicited job offer from Rezko, then a low-income housing developer in Chicago. Obama turned it down.<br /><br />2. Obama took a job in 1993 with a small Chicago law firm, Davis Miner Barnhill, that represents developers -- primarily not-for-profit groups -- building low-income housing with government funds.<br /><br />3. One of the firm's not-for-profit clients -- the Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp., co-founded by Obama's then-boss Allison Davis -- was partners with Rezko's company in a 1995 deal to convert an abandoned nursing home at 61st and Drexel into low-income apartments. Altogether, Obama spent 32 hours on the project, according to the firm. Only five hours of that came after Rezko and WPIC became partners, the firm says. The rest of the future senator's time was helping WPIC strike the deal with Rezko. Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., also partnered with the firm's clients in four later deals -- none of which involved Obama, according to the firm. In each deal, Rezmar "made the decisions for the joint venture," says William Miceli, an attorney with the firm.<br /><br />4. In 1995, Obama began campaigning for a seat in the Illinois Senate. Among his earliest supporters: Rezko. Two Rezko companies donated a total of $2,000. Obama was elected in 1996 -- representing a district that included 11 of Rezko's 30 low-income housing projects.<br /><br />5. Rezko's low-income housing empire began crumbling in 2001, when his company stopped making mortgage payments on the old nursing home that had been converted into apartments. The state foreclosed on the building -- which was in Obama's Illinois Senate district.<br /><br />6. In 2003, Obama announced he was running for the U.S. Senate, and Rezko -- a member of his campaign finance committee -- held a lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion.<br /><br />7. A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.<br /><br />8. Eight months later -- in October 2006 -- Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors maintain that $10,000 from the alleged kickback scheme was donated to Obama's run for the U.S. Senate. Obama has given the money to charity.<br /><br />To which we can add 9. Rezko has been convicted of the charges.<br /><br />Then there is the Reverend Wright association. How can one claim friendship with and sit in a church for twenty years while that friend spews hatred of whites and hatred of America, and then claim to want to represent all Americans? Obama threw Wright under the bus only when it became politically necessary to do so.<br /><br />What all these things show is Obama’s consistent track record of dubious judgment in associations at a minimum. <br /><br />The citizenship issue is a more critical Constitutional issue that Obama should be, but is not, interested in resolving. <br /><br />Obama’s association with ACORN should be raising red flags, but is widely ignored. <br /><br />America is being ill-served by the mainstream media who have totally abandoned any pretense of being the impartial watchdog for the American people. The mainstream media have become part of the Obama campaign.<br /><br />America, you are asking for a Chavez-type government if you elect Barack Obama.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-19891823383784143912008-09-29T00:11:00.000-04:002008-09-29T00:29:02.786-04:00Electoral Map Review for 27 September 2008Clarence Page, in a recent commentary, took up the issue that there may be a hidden bias that is not being captured in the daily polls. Some commentators seem to be laying the groundwork in the event that if Obama loses, they can rail about racism in America. But more to the point, Clarence Page argues that since this potential hidden bias is thought to be about 5% that means that Obama cannot be happy with any lead that is less than 6%.<br /><br />Where is this racial bias? It is within the Democratic Party and among Independents. Most Republicans are going to vote Republican no matter whom the Democratic candidate is. What helps Republicans win these kinds of elections is getting Democrats to cross over and taking enough Independents. We can’t ignore this potential impact.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;">Other Trends:</span></strong><br />Among Democrats Obama lead 85% to 10% for McCain with 5% undecided.<br />Among Independents McCain leads 45% to 44% for Obama with 11% undecided.<br />Among Republicans McCain leads 89% to 9% for Obama with only 2% undecided.<br /><br />As close as things are, the election will turn on the 16% undecided Democrats and Independents.<br /><br />If the hidden racial bias is the 5% that some are estimating, this is what the Electoral Map looks like on Election Day. The darker shades are where the candidate carries the state by more that 5%, while the lighter shades indicate less than 5%.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBmXlG2GRScWaZYh0s02RLZrge6BjNCbaNQ6X0ECgOSgTKYmOEjtDqUG7oiXDTl9Xuy5qFnIwSkNsRhthxhnsmFdg2xc0BMklDSBU-U6AwOr7VhEyHx7Ooqy5uqQHVsfF8feojhk-h98/s1600-h/RacialBiasMap.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251292874355102914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBmXlG2GRScWaZYh0s02RLZrge6BjNCbaNQ6X0ECgOSgTKYmOEjtDqUG7oiXDTl9Xuy5qFnIwSkNsRhthxhnsmFdg2xc0BMklDSBU-U6AwOr7VhEyHx7Ooqy5uqQHVsfF8feojhk-h98/s400/RacialBiasMap.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Racial Bias Scenario</span></p><br />It is the day after the first debate. Too early to tell what the impact will be, but the most recent major event (the financial meltdown) can be seen to have an impact.<br /><br />Keep in mind that Real Clear Politics simply averages a bunch of polls without regard to potential bias or differences between the “registered voter” model and the “likely voter” model. My map includes other intangibles like trends over time, history and difficult to quantify attitudes. I also dropped old polls, obvious outliers and any “registered voter” polls.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ7fh3N3SqqaRzXuUIt4m_D54kf48mB-WUn5KKFAKxsLIUg9q1vnewd1J4I93Lg0H4QZSwMKijhNbNWLAi80-d5E1zjHyIpej9z5RuksKMD7IL5qyyhQGrMgulqlS7LQQAh6Jgim_0Jig/s1600-h/RealClear27Sep2008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251292880865552706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ7fh3N3SqqaRzXuUIt4m_D54kf48mB-WUn5KKFAKxsLIUg9q1vnewd1J4I93Lg0H4QZSwMKijhNbNWLAi80-d5E1zjHyIpej9z5RuksKMD7IL5qyyhQGrMgulqlS7LQQAh6Jgim_0Jig/s400/RealClear27Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Real Clear 27 September 2008</span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKwBUEXcrfzYUYtJnyRhER6GULFeAspmFSY6pNZLK_Lf9eScR1qURJPhocNjr5RXio9Ni7svgCa5jq0UhZ60q-roXr_ISckZY0xJzcaQ7j2viyPYpbtCprbA3hW7kPHJxH_z-NYp5ROI/s1600-h/MyElectoralMap27Sep2008.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251292877504285458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKwBUEXcrfzYUYtJnyRhER6GULFeAspmFSY6pNZLK_Lf9eScR1qURJPhocNjr5RXio9Ni7svgCa5jq0UhZ60q-roXr_ISckZY0xJzcaQ7j2viyPYpbtCprbA3hW7kPHJxH_z-NYp5ROI/s400/MyElectoralMap27Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">My Electoral Map 27 September 2008</span></p><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong>Where We Agree But…</strong></span><br /><br />PA: Still close though the last week has improved Obama’s numbers. Still a toss-up and not out of reach for McCain.<br /><br />MI: After cutting Obama’s lead to about 2%, McCain lost ground again, but suddenly Obama lost ground right back. Obama currently has a 3.75% lead. This one could move back to toss-up.<br /><br />NH: Starting to lean McCain. Obama has a .4% lead right now. If the trend continues, McCain will take a lead soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;"><strong>Where We Differ:</strong></span><br /><br />ME: After my adjustments, Obama has a 4.5% lead. This one is getting close. Obama by 2% on Election Day.<br /><br />OH: Although McCain’s lead has dropped somewhat, I’m still sticking with historical trends. McCain by 4% on Election Day.<br /><br />WI: I’ve got WI in Obama’s column, but it is remaining closer than I expected. Obama by 3% on Election Day.<br /><br />MN: I’ve still got MN in Obama’s column, but like WI it is close. Obama by 2% on Election Day.<br /><br />IN: Again I’m sticking with history even though Obama has closed the gap. McCain by 4% on Election Day.<br /><br />VA: Sticking with history even though Obama currently has a slight lead. McCain by 5% on Election Day.<br /><br />FL: Obama seems to have peaked here. McCain by 5% on Election Day.<br /><br />MO: McCain’s numbers softened a little, but I don’t think Obama will flip this one. McCain by 7% on Election Day.<br /><br />NV: Obama not showing any traction here. McCain by 5% on Election Day.<br /><br />NC: It’s close now, but not really a toss up. McCain by 6% on Election Day.<br /><br />CO: Still really a toss up. Real Clear is counting some significant outliers in their numbers. McCain by 2% on Election Day.<br /><br />NJ: I show Obama recovering here so that NJ is no longer just leaning Obama. Obama by 8% on Election Day.<br /><br />WV: I don’t see Obama getting votes he did not get in the Primaries. McCain by 10% on Election Day.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-33188255697320357122008-09-26T16:00:00.000-04:002008-09-29T00:10:49.925-04:00The Scary ScenarioThis Electoral Map, based upon past performance and current polls, is entirely possible. The darker shades represent each candidate winning by more than 5% while lighter shades represent each candidate winning by less than 5%<br /><br />The best way to break it would be if Maine's Electoral votes were split (which is permissible under their system).<br /><br />The worst way would be for the House to vote (guaranteed to cause an uproar).<br /><br />Let us hope that <em>someone </em>wins by a landslide, (the most unlikely scenario) so that there are no arguments about race, sex, age or any other excuses. Though I guess the race argument will be there no matter what happens.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s6QESiRyqGcQ8MMdbwJfJQcK7gjJznobdHVtKHDJgq53XNyY6Tb7A_XG9fh0-AsM_zaQcFzBDuuvWMB8JyBFYbTTPoRBehg2B8zDXup6zdGEAhqJZU3P1eo_FY_g_K-KX49DRseP43U/s1600-h/ScaryScenario.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251290379775675842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7s6QESiRyqGcQ8MMdbwJfJQcK7gjJznobdHVtKHDJgq53XNyY6Tb7A_XG9fh0-AsM_zaQcFzBDuuvWMB8JyBFYbTTPoRBehg2B8zDXup6zdGEAhqJZU3P1eo_FY_g_K-KX49DRseP43U/s400/ScaryScenario.jpg" border="0" /></a><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">The Scary Scenario</span></p><br><br>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-74367609630487555222008-09-24T09:00:00.000-04:002008-09-24T09:00:00.263-04:00Electoral Map Review for 24 September 2008It has been five days since my last Electoral Map review. Here are the changes since the last review. What I’ve done this time is throw out all “registered voter” polls. In some cases this has made McCain’s support look softer, in others Obama’s. The main point is that averaging “registered voter” and “likely voter” polls is comparing apples and oranges. So, I threw out the oranges and I’m only comparing apples. Most polls are using the “likely voter” model anyway<br /><br /><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249448824604765346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7pczft__oZVq2Ho13HJurDgoyQ0Fq8doQ_Y7gx7vFVi0ciOPPmxhPkc5MUBcwmgg_EALcI6iEpg0JdWP91OnKH7PPjX7TbtgnR_TruY00RJKfNqvKGodnMGtqDzqR50Sj45Qtofpj38/s400/RealClear23Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Real Clear Politics Electoral Map 23 Sep 2008</span></div><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249448820854806098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtNMdT8-EjanNPROKOPQ-woj3pmScxm2z1aOMYUxu5QOzhBOB2FXotBtsm_UmAEmvl7jAGdL10FeqQkle5AwLO5zWj6PqATgNSG-iIzZVLQbmf0avyLerLYat4NKWNHy3TQxDgiilf57E/s400/MyElectoralMap23Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">My Electoral Map 23 Sep 2008</span></div><br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Where we agree</span><br /></span></strong><br /><br /><strong>CO:</strong> No change. Still a dead heat with Obama up by only 1%.<br /><br /><strong>PA:</strong> Still a statistical dead heat. Again if this one flips to McCain, it is election over for Obama.<br /><br /><strong>NH:</strong> This tossup has gotten tighter with Obama having a 2% lead.<br /><br /><strong>MI:</strong> McCain’s post-convention bounce gone, this one now leans Obama at slightly over 5%. The next three weeks will be most critical here.<br /><br /><strong>WI:</strong> Still a toss-up, surprisingly McCain has not yet lost his bounce here. Now the best chance for a flip to McCain.<br /><br /><strong>OR:</strong> Obama with a 4% lead that keeps dipping. I never guessed this one would be this close. If he dips below his current lead, then it’s a toss-up and the Democrats have to start worrying.<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Where we differ</span></strong><br /></span><br /><br /><strong>ME:</strong> Obama’s support seems to have slipped here. Leaning doesn’t help Obama if they split the vote close to 50 – 50. With only a 4% lead now, down from 14%, this state is close to becoming a toss-up. Since this state splits its Electoral vote it can’t be considered a lock for Obama. Neither candidate wins all these Electoral Votes.<br /><br /><strong>NY:</strong> Still a strong lean for Obama with a 9%, but down significantly from the double-digit leads he previously had. As long as Obama stays above 5% in the polls, this one is safe for the Democrats. Below 5%, they should be nervous. <br /><br /><strong>MN:</strong> McCain’s post-convention bounce gone here too. Obama now has a 5% lead, but like MI the next three weeks will be most telling.<br /><br /><strong>OH:</strong> McCain is running a fairly consistent 5% lead when “registered voter” models are dropped. Even Bush won this state twice by less than 4%, so I’m sticking with McCain by 4%.<br /><br /><strong>IN:</strong> Dropping all the “registered voter” polls and the biased IndyStar poll this one looks closer because there is only one poll left standing, but I’m sticking with historical trends on Indiana and saying it stays McCain by about 4%.<br /><br /><strong>VA:</strong> SurveyUSA has been a consistent outlier in VA so I’m discounting their results. ABC/Washington Post are so biased in favor of Obama that their results are suspect at face value. Dropping the National Journal “registered voter” poll that was an outlier in McCain’s favor, it means that statistically it is a dead heat. However, I’m still going with 44 years of history and saying that McCain wins VA by about 7%.<br /><br /><strong>FL:</strong> It’s gotten closer, but I’m still giving McCain a 5% margin in this state.<br /><br /><strong>NV:</strong> No change. No polls show Obama with a lead. I’m still saying McCain by about 4%.<br /><br /><strong>WA:</strong> Obama now only has a 3.5% lead so it’s now a toss-up. Like OR, I’m somewhat surprised by this one.<br /><br />The first debate is in two days. I'm looking for some movement next week.J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4749136035154367149.post-88124642718716819252008-09-20T13:00:00.000-04:002008-09-20T13:00:01.368-04:00Electoral Map ReviewIn my last post I discussed how to look at poll numbers. One source of bias that I neglected to mention, and one which further muddies the water, is the difference between polling “registered voters” and “likely voters.” Polls that use the “registered voter” model will almost always show a Democratic bias. Even in states that are strongly “red states” the strength of the state’s “redness” is reduced when using the “registered voter” model.<br /><br />The “likely voter” model is thought to eliminate this bias, but it can also be biased if the pollster simply asks, “are you likely to vote?” A preferred method is to use historical data to identify the demographic groups with stronger likelihood of voting. This is where the “weighting” you may have heard of being discussed comes into play. Faulty weighting can reintroduce bias.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Electoral Vote Maps</span></strong><br /><br />The first map is the Real Clear Politics Electoral count for 19 September 2008. My map for the same day appears below. Note that the maps are not really too different, but a couple states change the numbers. On my map, I applied all the factors I discussed in the previous post. I threw out outdated polls (pre-convention) and I scrutinized polls likely to contain partisan bias or flagrant statistical outliers. In some cases I looked at the historical trends both in previous elections and poll trends to break what currently look to be dead heats.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248077307651215826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHPWuaV8MfxRNDW1Tn_tneRQYL4Z_A7fY9rR6HIFzhTrcowndKp8iEu3gHo9q7tb2ewJaO0_XyRMd2le0RYb4rBwd9VkEBIPAuOGLBjdEgQ_TN4DjxJeXuePxlRJrMUdkLjLLu2UfPLc/s400/RealClear19Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Real Clear Politics Electoral Map 19 September 2008</span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248077310696151346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtw6C_3FD9P_DY_1w-bFbf5Ja3Wr8NgAW8HiLdR5c5SlFILMCR-Z58e7OjmFVSccnUUsJlGgyvuj4-1aze62TiqbZ8xjy8uoOmrumwEAIWSk19oMBWMFk3eovBDoMzqhz-yJqT3ifU2ag/s400/MyElectoralMap19Sep2008.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">My Electoral Map 19 September 2008</span></div><div align="left"><br /><br />Let us begin with some obvious and easy to justify differences. MT and ND are shown by Real Clear to be “pink” or leaning to McCain. I contend that both are strong “red” states. Neither status changes the Electoral Vote count.<br /><br /><strong>MT:</strong> The MT average includes one poll from February where McCain had an 8% lead and one from May again showing an 8% lead. The latest Rasmussen poll conducted after both conventions shows McCain up 11%. Obama had a brief moment in the MT sun in July, but neither before nor since has he polled in positive territory in MT. MT is a “red” state, not a “pink” state.<br /><br /><strong>ND:</strong> The ND average includes a February poll where Obama had a 4% lead and a preconvention poll paid for by the Democrats where he had a 3% lead. The only post-convention poll was conducted by Rasmussen and it shows a 14% McCain lead. Again, this state was not ever in danger for the Republicans and remains a “red” state.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Map Differences</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>NV:</strong> McCain holds a slight lead, but I’m letting history say that this state is actually leaning to McCain instead of being a tossup. Over time most polls show McCain on top and the state usually goes Republican. The InAdv polls look to have significant statistical bias. However, in this case I left their results in the numbers pending newer polls. If future polls show results closer to the Rasmussen numbers, then I’d toss the InAdv poll numbers. Either way, I think that McCain wins this state by about 4%.<br /><br /><strong>IN:</strong> Real Clear shows this one a tossup, but in the middle of their numbers is a poll by the IndyStar that deviates from other polls by about 200% showing Obama up 3%. Their own data shows they relied heavily on interviews in Indianapolis and they admitted that Indianapolis is the only place in the state where Obama has any lead whatsoever. After tossing this statistically flawed poll, the state is back to “pink.” I’m calling this one McCain by at least 5% in November. The last time IN went Democratic was in 1964.<br /><br /><strong>VA:</strong> Given Obama’s steep falloff the last few days here, I’m putting this one in the McCain column. Most polls since the conventions are showing McCain with about a 4% lead. I’m going with 44 years of Republican victories here and saying that McCain wins VA by at least 7% come November, which is a falloff from Bush in 2004 and 2000.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>In Agreement For Now But…<br /></strong></span><br /><strong>OH:</strong> Most polls are showing McCain up by an average of 4%. A recent CNN/Time poll is showing Obama by 2% which brings the numbers back into a range making this look closer. I didn’t throw any numbers out on this one yet and though I’m also showing it as a toss up. Waiting on new numbers, at this point I’m predicting McCain by 4% in November.<br /><br /><strong>CO:</strong> Real Clear and I agree on this one, but Real Clear has added the clearly biased InAdv poll showing Obama up 10%. This number is about 1000% higher than any other poll so I tossed their poll numbers. All other polls show this one a dead heat. Almost all InAdv poll numbers in every state are showing a deviation of 200% or higher over other polls. Either they are deliberately biased or they have faulty weighting. Either way their numbers are suspect. I think this one will tilt to McCain, but I’m holding it in tossup until I see more numbers from other polls with more reliable credentials.<br /><br /><strong>PA:</strong> This state was only ever “baby blue” so there was always a chance for McCain. The most recent numbers are showing a dead heat with between 6-10% undecided. Most significant is that Obama had as much as a 9% lead before the conventions and that has evaporated. Anything can happen here. If this state goes McCain on November 4, McCain will win the Presidency.<br /><br /><strong>MI:</strong> Has gone from “baby blue” to “gray.” Combined with increasing gains by Republicans over the past two elections, this is a trend that should worry Democrats. Obama had a 9% lead at one point. I don’t think it likely to flip, but Obama will be forced to expend resources to defend this state.<br /><br /><strong>MN:</strong> This year is probably the Republican’s best shot at taking this state. Obama had a solid 15% lead in this state that has evaporated and the state has trended Republican the past two elections. It is now a dead heat. This one may flip, but it will still be close. Neither candidate will win by more than 3%.<br /><br /><strong>WI:</strong> This is another state that Democrats should worry about and is the Republicans’ second best chance to flip a traditionally Democratic state. Obama had an 11% lead in July that has steadily eroded. This one is a statistical dead heat. McCain has come on strong here the past week. Even if Obama hangs on, he will be forced to spend resources in order to defend this state. Like MI and MN, this state has been trending Republican in recent elections.<br /><br /><strong>NH:</strong> I suspect NH will move into the Obama column within the next week and that he will win it by about 4% in November.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Closer Than They Should Be</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>WA:</strong> Now that McCain’s convention bounce has worn off, this one is back to leaning to Obama. WA was looking like it was moving to being a tossup. Still, considering that he once held a commanding 12% lead that is now only a little over 4%, one must wonder. This one could tighten again, but there is little play in the numbers.<br /><br /><strong>OR:</strong> I’m thinking Obama wins this one by about 5% come November. His numbers, while consistently positive, have been sliding. Rasmussen had Obama up by 10% prior to the conventions, but on 15 September had him at only 4%. That may be the tail end of the McCain bounce, but we’ll need to see more data. The Portland Tribune gave Obama a 10% margin in a survey done prior to Rasmussen. I discount that number until I see more.<br /><br />The bottom line is that the election remains close. Will we see a shakeup following the debates?</div>J. L. Kruegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03335606939334631954noreply@blogger.com1