John McCAIN the RINO

John McCAIN is a RINO just like Arlen SPECTER of the magic bullet theory fame, and Rudy JULIANI. 

Does Ann COULTER make any sense when she states, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans."? If McCain is elected president then she is wrong.  None of them have any brains and it is time to start over. 

Now that the NY Times has endorsed McCAIN for the Republican nomination.  If he becomes the Republican nominee, watch how fast the very same MSM reminds us of John McCAIN's involvement with "The Keating 5". They will sound just like Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar when in "Heaven On Their Minds" he laments:

And remember, I've been your right hand man all along.
You have set them all on fire.
They think they've found the new Messiah.
And they'll hurt you when they find they're wrong.

Tags: Election 2008, Politics, John McCain

On Pennsylvania's First Senate District race

As long as there is not a criminal in the Pennsylvania First Senate District seat I'll be happy.  “Vinnie” FUMO had decided that he was untouchable.  How, after an indictment on 141 counts, can he claim, in good faith, to be representing Pennsylvanians, let alone those from the "City of Brotherly Love?"  Perhaps he started out that way but it is clear he is representing his own self interest now.  Power may corrupt but it does not have to corrupt. 

On another note, why should the rest of the Commonwealth have to subsidize public transportation for the cities?  I-80 is seldom used by folks from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh so it is no hardship for them to support paying for public transportation with OPM (other people’s money.)   According to the indictment, this was FUMO’s method of financing his projects.   The Highway Trust Fund is funded by monies that were garnished from gasoline receipts.  The states are to use these funds for the stated purpose of the legislation, to build/maintain roads and bridges.  Taking money from this fund for any other purpose is misappropriation of funds.  How can any candidate be trusted when that is their stated plan?  Why do we elect the candidate whose stated purpose is the raid the treasury for funds to enrich his or her district alone?  If lower taxes are ever to be accomplished, we must stop electing politicians who want “to bring home the pork.”

With regard to stricter gun control in Philadelphia, since when is it legal to have a handgun in Philadelphia without a permit?  Philadelphia has a law on the books regarding weapons in the city that does not apply to anywhere else in the state (PA Crimes Code 6108 - Carrying firearms on public streets or public property in Philadelphia).    Why has that not curbed gun violence?  Laws do not curb violence and an unarmed citizen is easy prey.  Let’s not forget what Ben FRANKLIN had to say about armed citizens and Democracy:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  

Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.

Tags: Guns, Philadelphia, Taxes

Hillary won?

They said Obama had a huge lead in New Hampshire and then Hillary turned on the "water works."  So what happened? 

Some believe it was the voting machines: http://presscue.com/node/38170
Hillary victory tainted by vote fraud claims

But then again, maybe it is just practice for the General Election; Vote Early and Vote Often.  Typical Democratic election ploy.  Obama, say you didn't miss that trick in Chicago of all places?

Tags: Obama, election, Clinton

Hope Rides Alone

SGT Eddie Jeffers, author of the article Hope Rides Alone, died last week in Iraq. He was a great soldier and great American as are they all.

 

God bless him and his family.

 

Subject: With sadness an announcement of the death of Sgt Eddie Jeffers-- of Daleville, Ala.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.; died Sept. 19 in Taqqadum, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related accident.
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Hope Rides Alone
USA Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, USA (Iraq) February 1, 2007
Editor's Note: This piece by Sgt. Eddie Jeffers, "Hope Rides Alone", was mentioned in a segment on Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor. Click here to listen to or download the segment.   I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from mygovernment for the purpose of taking the lives of others.   I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.    There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not. And to think, I volunteered for this... And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.   But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.   I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.   People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.   Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.    Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.   It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed?  It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.   America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.   But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.   We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.   Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.   Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news and let's stand and fight!   Isn't that what America is about anyway?
Sergeant Eddie Jeffers is a US Army Infantryman serving in Ramadi, Iraq.

Tags: Iraq, Democrats

Shame on MoveOn.org

Before anyone in MoveOn.org heard a word that Gen. David H. Petraeus was going to say they decided he was going to lie.  Now that is close mindedness.  

This is additional evidence that MoveOn.org is not interested in dialog but having it "their way."  This is not a "Burger King World" where they can buy the votes they want.  This may be the final straw.  If I can help it, they will not "get it [their] way or right away." 

While I am at it, shame on the NY Times as well; to give MoveOn.org such a favorable rate, on their ad, sends a pretty clear message.  It is the agenda of the NY Times as well.  Contrary to popular belief, newspapers can and do refuse ads.  Again, the evidence is clear.  They subsidized this ad too.   

These folks will do anything to topple George BUSH even if the country is destroyed in the process. 

Despicable.

 

 

Tags: MoveOn.org, Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus

Congress is not serious about immigration reform.

The Center for International Policy, a Pro-Hispanic organization, has condemned the immigration bill that was recently defeated in the US Senate as “heavily weighted against immigrants… and unfair anti-immigrant measures.”  See: Senate Bill a Step Backwards for Immigrant Rights | Report by Oscar A. Chacón   

Likewise, The other side, could be summed up by Victor Hanson’s comments in IBD of Public Wasn't Fooled By Measure That Didn't Put Enforcement First .

Since neither side wanted this bill passed can I posit that the Congress really does not want to deal with this issue in a realistic way?  For the sake of clarity, it was the American public who called, wrote, and pressed their representatives to kill this bill. 

 

That said, I am standing on the law which states an illegal immigrant still needs to be subject to sanctions.  It is not unjust for countries to protect their borders.  We are largely a culture of immigrants who came to this country through what was, at the time, legal means. My ancestors came from Czechoslovakia and Russia to escape the communist fist.  They did so legally.  

Opening the borders is not the answer.  NAFTA did not fix the culture of Mexico with the “have’s” and “have not’s”.   Nor will it prevent illegal immigration.  There is opportunity in the United States to find the dream of success but not with the promise to let the ends justify the means.  Pete Wilson would say, “…the real issues were the rule of law, fairness to those who'd chosen naturalization, and assimilation of new citizens to be full participants in American life rather than just permanent legal resident aliens without the rights or duties of Americans.  (http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=268612209588547 )

Face facts, the United States of America enjoys its prosperity because of who we have been.  We need to control our borders so the life boat will not sink when there are too many hands on board.  The United States of Mexico needs to fix their economic woes and the exodus of workers will cease.  If there is no wealth in Mexico, then ask the richest man in the world today, a Mexican, how he became so rich.  Maybe Mexicans have the answer. 

Tags: Immigration,Congress

Just War Theory

I received an E-mail today from a guy who claims the war in Iraq to be unjust and referred to St. Thomas' Summa Theologiae:

 

St. Thomas maintained that a war may be waged justly under three conditions: First, the legitimate authority (last time I checked the Congress of the United States did authorize the war and have provided funding for the same on several occasions since that date.  Additionally, let's not forget UN resolution after UN resolution that Saddam ignored.) who has the duty of preserving the common good must declare the war. 

Secondly, a just cause for war must exist. St. Augustine, quoted by St. Thomas, said, "A just war is apt to be described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflected by its subjects, or to return what it has seized unjustly. (Saddam was executed for what?  Let's not forget Saddam agreed to comply to conditions imposed upon Iraq when they surrendered after the First Gulf War.)

Finally, St. Thomas said the warring party must have the right intention, "so that they intend the advancement of good or the avoidance of evil. " (This is the sticking point for those who like to chant the mantra "Bush lied."  If that is the case then Bush repeated the lies of the Clinton administration.  For my part, I believe George Bush believed it was to free the Iraqis from an evil despot.  Anyone want to debate Saddam was not?)

That said, I believe I can support the claim that this war meets the standard of St. Thomas' "Just War" theory.

Tags: Just War, Iraq