The Danger In Taking In Too Many Refugees

Gateway Pundit posted an article about the impact of the wave of immigrants flooding into Germany.

The article reports:

Muslims initiated a petition on Change.org urging the City of Munich to end Un-Islamic Oktoberfest.

Regardless of how you feel about Oktoberfest, it is a German tradition. It is part of German culture and German heritage. If Germany is gracious enough to provide a safe haven for the refugees fleeing the Middle East, the refugees need to be gracious in accepting the customs and hospitality of their new country. The need to stop trying to import their culture rather than accepting the culture they fled to. It should also be noted that the Arab countries in the Middle East have not stepped forward to take in the refugees–the Arab countries would be a much better fit culturally for the refugees.

If the Middle Eastern refugees want to be welcome in western countries, they need to appreciate the culture they are fleeing to. There is no better way to wear out your welcome than to begin criticizing your host.

Every Day We Lose Twenty-two Veterans To Suicide

Every day twenty-two American war veterans commit suicide. At present, this number is not being well serviced by the Veteran’s Administration–they seem to be overwhelmed by the volume of servicemen who need help.

Someone has stepped forward to help save our veterans. The Marine Times posted the story in July.

The article reports:

Medically retired Marine Capt. Danny Maher — who more commonly goes by his stage name Capt. Donny O’Malley — is combining some of the things Marines love most in his effort to bring awareness to a serious issue: humor and very short shorts known as silkies.

The former infantry officer-turned-comedian is leading participants on a 22-kilometer road march on Saturday while they each carry 22 kilograms — nearly 50 pounds — of gear. The number of kilometers they’ll walk and the weight that they’ll carry represents the 22 service members who die from suicide each day.

Maher and other participants will walk in little more than silkies and boots while carrying their packs. They’ll start at South Mission Beach Jetty in San Diego and will head about 13 and a half miles north to La Jolla Cove.

“Imagine a pub crawl with all your Marine buddies wearing nothing but silkies and rucks on the most crowded and beautiful boardwalk in California. That’s what’s going on here,” the event’s Facebook page says.

The organization is called Irreverent Warriors. Their website is here. I became aware of this organization during a family reunion in Myrtle Beach during a family reunion. I am thrilled that Captain Maher has started this program. Our returning veterans need to know that there is someone there to help them return to normal life.

Symbolism Over Substance

The Washington Examiner reported today that the House of Representatives has voted to suspend federal funding of Planned Parenthood for a year. The vote was largely along party lines–five Democrats joined the Republicans in calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood for a year.

The article reports:

After Friday’s House votes, the Planned Parenthood fight will move to the Senate, which is expected next week to consider a spending bill with a defunding measure attached, although Republicans admit they’ll almost certainly fall short of the 60 votes needed to pass it. Then the major question will be whether Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers can negotiate a spending bill if conservatives don’t give any ground.

House Democrats were outraged by the Friday vote, and defended Planned Parenthood’s work providing non-abortion healthcare services to poor women. They also accused Republicans of pushing the issue to shut down the government.

This is another example of why Donald Trump is leading in the polls. The Planned Parenthood videos were horrific. Even if they were edited, it was obvious that Planned Parenthood was making money selling aborted baby body parts. The media has chosen to give very little attention to this matter, and thus it has generally escaped the attention of the American public. However, at some point in the future, when the facts are actually known, many Americans are going to wonder what kind of people would participate in selling baby parts for profit.

The funding of Planned Parenthood will not stop–they have paid too much for those Democratic Senators, and those Senators want to continue to receive nice campaign contributions from the Planned Parenthood PAC‘s so that they can remain in office (see opensecrets.org). This is a show vote, and unless the Republicans make a strong stand on this and other matters, we will continue to see Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders surge in the polls.

Last Night’s Republican Debate

I am a football fan. One of the great things about football is that when you turn on a football game, you see a football game. It is played like a football game and reported like a football game. Last night I turned on the Republican debate. I am not exactly sure what I saw. I am a Hugh Hewitt fan. He was there, sitting in a special chair. I believe he had less talking time than most of the candidates. I guess that’s okay–the candidates were the ones having the debate, but why was he there? Also, why was the debate reported as if it were a football game. It’s not a football game–it’s supposed to be a serious discussion to help voters determine who they want to run for President. Or is it?

Now I am going into some tall grass. In August, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the establishment Republican’s strategy to make sure Jeb Bush was the party’s nominee. Basically, the strategy was to split the conservative vote in every early primary state so that Jeb Bush would win, even without a plurality of votes. If you look at the candidates, the theory cannot easily be dismissed. Marco Rubio will take Florida, Ted Cruz will take Texas, Lindsey Graham will take South Carolina, etc. Therefore, by the time you get to the more liberal Republican states, no conservative will have enough votes to challenge Jeb Bush.

In July I posted an article by Mark Jones which explained a new rule by the GOP:

Any state, other than the four exempt states already mentioned, that holds a Primary the first two weeks of the month will be forced to allocate those delegate on a proportional basis.  This means that if 5, or even 15, candidates are on the ballot, each candidate will receive a percentage of our delegates commensurate with the percentage of the vote they receive.This may sounds like a fair process on the surface, but as usual, there is more to the story.  The RNC’s penalty will mean that a number of very conservative states,with high delegate counts like Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina, that intend to hold early Primaries, will be forced to divide their delegates among multiple candidates.  In fact, 10 of 15 Southern states plan to hold their Primaries in this window. Conservative stalwarts like Colorado and Utah also plan to hold Primaries in this window.  It is highly unlikely any candidate will emerge from these conservative states with enough delegates to establish a significant lead or gain momentum in the race to be the Republican nominee before March 14.

The purpose of the debate (in the mind of the establishment GOP) is to divide the support among the conservative candidates. The media tends liberal, so they are going to play along so that the Republicans put forth a weak candidate. Unless the conservatives running for President agree among themselves on who gets out of the race and who remains in the race, we are going to have Jeb Bush as a candidate. I can assure you his candidacy will result in a Democrat President. The success of Donald Trump has thrown a bit of a wrench into the establishment plan, but I seriously doubt that a majority of Americans support a Trump presidency.

There are some good conservative Republican candidates. If nothing else, the assembled people on the state would make an amazing Presidential cabinet. The problem is finding a conservative leader. I am sure Jeb Bush is an intelligent and very nice man–I just don’t want to see him as the Republican candidate–I don’t think he can win.

The Real Number In The Economic Recovery

Investor’s Business Daily posted an article today about the impact President Obama’s economic policies have had on middle-class Americans. The numbers are not good.

As you can see from the chart, there are more people in poverty, the median household income has dropped, and the average income for the bottom fifth of American households has gone done. That is not a recovery.

The article reports:

A couple of months ago, he (President Obama) was in Wisconsin, crediting his policies for “record” job growth, tumbling deficits and big gains in the stock market.

“Step by step, America is moving forward,” he said. “Middle-class economics works. It works. Yes!”

It’s hard to see any evidence of that in the Census numbers. Indeed, the latest report shows that, despite more than six years of economic “recovery,” the middle class is, incredibly, worse off than at the end of the Great Recession.

From 2009 to 2014, real median household income dropped by more than $1,000 — or 2.3% — to $53,657. (And that decline would likely have been steeper if not for a 2013 change in the way the Census does its annual survey.)

Obama’s economy has been particularly harsh on those already at the bottom. Census data show that the bottom fifth of households saw their average income fall by 8% from 2009 to 2014.

Looked at another way, the share of households with incomes below $25,000 climbed from 22.4% to 23.6% over those years.

Among blacks, it went from 35.5% to 36.8%.

President Obama has practiced policies of increased taxation, overregulation, and crony capitalism. All of these policies waste money and inhibit economic growth. Our debt is growing, and if we do not change course in the next election, we will probably not survive as a country.

Posted On Facebook By A Friend

This is the best explanation I’ve seen so far!

Why Trump?
You’ve been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. You want them gone immediately so you hire a guy. A pro. You don’t care if the guy smells, you need those raccoons gone pronto and he’s the guy to do it! You don’t care if the guy swears, you don’t care if he’s an alcoholic, you don’t care how many times he’s been married, you don’t care if he voted for Obama, you don’t care if he has plumber’s crack…you simply want those raccoons gone!You want your problem fixed! He’s the guy. He’s the best. Period.
That’s why Trump. Yes he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac, but you don’t care. The country is a mess because politicians suck, the Republican Party is two-faced & gutless, and illegals are everywhere. You want it all fixed! You don’t care that Trump is crude, you don’t care that he insults people, you don’t care that he’s friends with Hillary, you don’t care that he changes positions, you don’t care that he’s been married 10 times, you don’t care that he’s never read the bible, you don’t care that he fights with Megyn Kelly, you don’t care that he doesn’t know the difference between Hamas & Hezbolah…this country is weak, bankrupt, & being invaded by illegals and you just want it fixed. And he’s the only guy who seems to understand that.
That’s why Trump. You’re sick of politicians, sick of the Republican Party, and sick of illegals. You just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he’s also not a politician. And he’s not a cowardly Republican. And he says he’ll fix it.
That’s why Trump. You don’t care if the guy has bad hair. You just want those damn raccoons gone. Out of your house. Now.

I don’t necessarily agree with the idea of supporting Trump, but I think this is a good explanation of his appeal. Hopefully, the establishment Republicans will take his popularity as a clue that they need to start listening to the voters. The establishment Democrats need to realize that the popularity of Bernie Sanders is also a reflection of the anger of the voters who feel that they are not being listened to.

Idealism vs. Reality

Breitbart.com reported yesterday that The Vatican had released a statement on Tuesday praising the Iranian nuclear agreement and calling for a worldwide reduction of nuclear weapons. I think the idea of a world without nuclear weapons is wonderful. I also think a world with unicorns and butterflies buzzing around all day would be wonderful. Both of these are very unlikely. I would like to mention that the world existed for centuries without nuclear weapons. During that time there were wars–regional and worldwide. The problem is not the nuclear weapons–it is the desire of evil people who come to power in some nations to subjugate other nations. It was done with swords and stones long before the advent of nuclear weapons. Oddly enough, The Vatican seems to forget the nature of man.

There is another part of this statement that is troubling.

The article reports:

The Holy See “has no illusions about the challenges involved in achieving a world free of nuclear weapons,” he admitted, but called for “concerted steps” for all nations to disarm.

Gallagher also appeared to single out Israel in calling for “the establishment of zones free of nuclear weapons … especially in the Middle East.” Since 1963, the Vatican has opposed the possession of nuclear weapons, Newsweek reports.

The news about the Vatican’s pro-Iran deal position comes as Pope Francis is set to visit Washington, D.C., on September 22. He will then be welcomed to the White House by President Obama on the 23rd. On the 24th, he is set to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

The establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East is an interesting idea. As far as we know, the only nation in the Middle East that currently has a nuclear capability is Israel. Speculation is that they have had this capability since sometime in the 1950’s. Obviously, they have never used their capability, although they came close in 1973 when they were in danger of being overrun. I would like to suggest that Israel’s nuclear capability is probably one of the main reasons Israel still exists. Taking away Israel’s nuclear capability will not bring peace–it will almost surely guarantee war.

World peace is a wonderful idea, but you don’t get it by making deals with people who cheat on inspections, build secret nuclear reactors, and shout, “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.” Unfortunately, the only way peace can be achieved is to eliminate threats to it–human threats–not weapons threats. Weapons in the right hands are a force for good; weapons in the wrong hands are a force for evil. I really think The Vatican might want to rethink their statement.

I Don’t Understand

Yesterday The Daily Caller posted a quote from Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. This is the quote:

I hope that every person in this room today understands that it is unacceptable to judge people, discriminate against people based on the color of their skin. And I will also say, that as a nation — the truth is a nation that in many ways was created, and I’m sorry to have to say this from way back, on racist principles, that’s a fact. We have come a long way as a nation. Now I know, my guess is that probably not everybody here is an admirer or a voter for Barack Obama, but the point is that in 2008, this country took a huge step forward in voting for a candidate based on his ideas and not the color of his skin. 

First of all, I don’t think Americans voted for President Obama based on his ideas–they voted for President Obama on the basis of his novelty and the celebrity he managed to gain. He was never very clear on his ideas when he was running for office.

This is the modern version of the Mayflower Compact:

In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

The instructions given to the colony at Jamestown on April 29, 1607, included the folllowing:

Lastly and chiefly, the way to prosper and obtain good success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God the giver of all goodness. For every plantation which our Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out.

This is from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

I am not sure why Senator Sanders believes that America was founded on racist principles. America was settled mainly by the British who reflected the thinking of the time. The new idea in America was the idea that rights came from God and that all men were created equal and had those rights. Slavery was practiced for a while, but slavery was a worldwide accepted practice at that time. Slavery is still an acceptable practice in many Muslim countries. America and Britain were the two countries who led the way to abolish slavery in western civilization.

I don’t know why the Senator has such a warped idea of what America is. America is not perfect, but it is one of the most free countries in the world (actually, it ranked higher on the world freedom scale before President Obama took office). There is equal opportunity here for those who choose to take advantage of it. There will never be equal outcome–that is not possible as long as people are free to choose how much work they are willing to do.

The Sad Part Of This Is That It Is True

Violence is a problem in America (just as it is in most countries). Gun violence is often the problem cited because it is the most obvious. Some of the people who want to fight gun violence seem to have lost the concept of common sense.

This is a chart from a website called Gun Facts:

CRIME AND GUNS - Property Crimes and Handgun Supply

There is a lot of good information on the site. Here are a few of the facts cited:

Fact: 60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed. 7

Fact: Felons report that they avoid entering houses where people are at home because they fear being shot. 8

Fact: 59% of the burglaries in Britain, which has tough gun control laws, are “hot burglaries” 9 which are burglaries committed while the home is occupied by the owner/renter. By contrast, the U.S., with more lenient gun control laws, has a “hot burglary” rate of only 13%. 10

Fact: Washington DC has essentially banned gun ownership since 1976 11 and has a murder rate of 56.9 per 100,000. Across the river in Arlington, Virginia, gun ownership is less restricted. There, the murder rate is just 1.6 per 100,000, less than three percent of the Washington, DC rate. 12

Please visit the site to check the sources on the footnotes.

All this brings me to a story from CBS Boston posted on Thursday. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner William Evans have formulated a plan to reduce gun violence in Boston. The first step of the plan involves sending a letter to all gun owners.

The article reports:

The letter will give gun owners information about reporting a private gun sale, loss or theft. It also advertises a free gun lock, a program that offers a $200 gift card if a firearm owner turns in their weapon and advice on gun storage.

“As a legal gun owner, it is important that you also do your part to ensure that guns are stored safely, and kept out of the hands of children and criminals,” the letter states.

Deadly shootings have dropped 30 percent compared to this time last year, but the city has seen more non-fatal shootings, police say.

“We must think creatively in order to reduce the amount of illegal guns and violence on our streets,” Walsh said.

The city will also reach out to gun vendors about preventing illegal firearm sales.

I fully support safety courses for people who own guns, but the people who legally own guns are not the problem. Statistics show that crime goes down when more people legally own guns. Boston’s problem won’t be solved by buying back guns–it might be solved by allowing more of its upstanding citizens to own guns and ending the hassle Massachusetts puts you through to get a gun permit. Sometimes you just wonder who comes up with these ideas.

The Circle Of Money

Why is the federal government giving money to groups that lobby the federal government? This defies common sense. It is, however, a neat deal for those involved–legislators get money for their political campaigns in return for channeling federal money to the organizations that sponsor the Political Action Committees (PAC) that give them the money. It’s a good deal if you are part of it, and a bad deal for America and American taxpayers.

Investor’s Business Daily posted an article yesterday about this practice.

The article points out the insanity of what is going on:

Latest lobbying disclosure documents indicate Planned Parenthood spends at least $2 million a year directly lobbying Congress and state legislatures. And this year, as PP fights to retain its umbilical cord — no pun intended — to the Federal Treasury, the number’s going way up.

But the official lobbying expenditures don’t include tens of millions of other political spending. According to a recent analysis by Conservative News Service, “Planned Parenthood’s affiliates spent $26 million on public policy this past year, while the national office spent $31.3 million on building ‘advocacy capacity.'”

The mission of all this spending? The answer is obvious: to persuade Congress to continue to provide the organization with federal tax dollars.

So what we have here is an organization that receives at least half a billion dollars a year from taxpayers, and some of that money is used to lobby Congress to give them more taxpayer money.

The icing on the cake is that the money is borrowed from Japan and China. We have to pay interest on it.

The article details the problem:

Is it any surprise that under this racket it has become almost impossible to cut the budget or to balance receipts with expenditures? This is a common practice. The unions do it. The legal public aid community does it. Welfare organizations do it.

To be fair, it isn’t just left-wing groups that receive taxpayer dollars and lobby. So do corporations. Defense contractors run lobbying campaigns year-round to persuade Congress to spend more money on this weapon or that. Companies that have received the bulk of the funding for the Export Import Bank are bankrolling the PR campaign to keep the institution from closing down.

We will never curb government spending as long as we allow this kind of abuse of our system. The problem is not lobbying–that is and should remain legal. The problem is government-supported lobbying. That is ridiculous.

The Problem Is Not The Revenue–It’s The Spending

CNS News posted a story today stating that the federal government raked in a record of approximately $2,883,250,000,000 in tax revenues through the first eleven months of fiscal 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014 through the end of August), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released Friday. This equals approximately $19,346 for every person who was working either full or part-time in August.

The article further reports:

Despite the record tax revenues of $2,883,250,000,000 in the first eleven months of this fiscal year, the government spent $3,413,210,000,000 in those eleven months, and, thus, ran up a deficit of $529,960,000,000 during the period.

…The largest share of this year’s record-setting October-through-August tax haul came from the individual income tax. That yielded the Treasury $1,379,255,000,000. Payroll taxes for “social insurance and retirement receipts” took in another $977,501,000,000. The corporate income tax brought in $268,387,000,000.

The chart below is an illustration of America‘s spending problem.

The article also noted that under ObamaCare new taxes took effect in 2013.

Excessive spending is a problem that Washington has no incentive to fix. It is up to the voters to give them an incentive–fix this or we vote you out of office!

 

The Twenty-Eight Pages

Allen West posted an article on his website on Friday about the growing demand to release the twenty-eight pages of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 that remains classified.  Representative Thomas Massie (R, KY-4) has added his name to H.Res.14, which was introduced by Congressmen Walter Jones (R, NC-3), Stephen Lynch (D, MA-8).

This is the resolution:

H.RES. 14

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 6, 2015

Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. MASSIE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select)

RESOLUTION

Urging the president to release information regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks upon the United States.

Whereas President George W. Bush classified 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001;

Whereas the contents of the redacted pages are necessary for a full public understanding of the events and circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001, attacks upon the United States;

Whereas the executive branch’s decision to maintain the classified status of these pages prevents the people of the United States from having access to information about the involvement of certain foreign governments in the terrorist attacks of September 2001; and

Whereas the people of the United States and the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks deserve full and public disclosure of the results of the Joint Inquiry: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that–

(1) the President should declassify the 28-page section of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 2001; and

(2) the families of the victims and the people of the United States deserve answers about the events and circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001, attacks upon the United States.

So far there are 19 co-sponsors of the resolution. Senator Rand Paul introduced a nearly identical resolution in the Senate to have the 28 pages declassified.

A Letter From Someone Who Knows The Truth

Heshmatollah Tabarzadi is an Iranian democratic activist. He has been arrested several times on charges related to his political activities, most recently in December 2009. In October 2010, a court sentenced him to nine additional years in jail and 74 lashes, a sentence that was reduced to eight years on appeal.

Reza Kahlili posted Mr. Tabarzadi’s open letter to western governments on his Facebook page today. Please google Reza Kahlili and read his story if you are unfamiliar with it. He is a truly courageous man.

This is the letter:

Following the U.S. and its UN Security Council allies preliminary nuclear agreement to make a deal with the Islamic regime in Iran, efforts to expand political and economic ties with the regime has swiftly begun. The most recent case is the Austrian president’s visit with Khamenei, the religious dictator in Iran.

I can not blame the efforts of Western governments to secure their national interests, however do not forget, the people of Iran are entitled to freedom, democracy, prosperity and security; and to that end, they do have expectations of the leaders of the civilized world.

The regime in Iran is, economically and fiscally, one of the most corrupt governments on the global scene. From the socio-political-legal standpoint, they view the rights of women and girls, as half that of a man and by lashing, imprisoning, acid attacks and general violence, they continue to impose and force the hijab on them.

Baha’is, newly converted Christians, Sufis and followers of transcendental teachings, etc. are jailed. And like Daesh (ISIS) they cut off people’s limbs. Journalists, lawyers, political opponents, women’s rights activists, children, etc. are oppressed and imprisoned as well.

This regime has been routinely condemned for it’s heinous and ongoing violations of human rights, by the U.N. itself, yet, Western governments are looking to expand their economic and political relations with a seditious regime?!

From an economic standpoint, this lawless autocracy, has created the most grueling conditions for the working class, nurses and generally all those who work hard for their livelihood. Now our teachers, are being imprisoned as well.

Free and Democratic elections for the people of Iran to choose their own destiny is not tolerated and with illegal supervision and persistent meddling in the electoral process, they rob the people of their vote.

It is the people of Iran who aspire to a secular Democracy, prosperity, progress and security and yet, they are confronted with none other than a violent and callous dictatorship of zealots. The people of Iran call upon all Western leaders to be absolutely aware of the nature of the regime with which they have chosen to cooperate and befriend. Having further oppressed and robbed us of our legal rights, this regime will take advantage of it’s renewed ‘credit’ with the West and will continue to inflame the region and expand it’s terrorist activities.

Secretary General of the Democratic Front of Iran, Tehran, Iran
Heshmat Tabarzadi- September 9th, 2015.

به دنبال توافقات اولیه امریکا و متحدین در شورای امنیت سازمان ملل متحد،برای معامله ی هسته ای با رژیم اسلامی حاکم بر ایران، تلاش شما برای گسترش روابط اقتصادی و سیاسی با این رژیم، رو به گسترش است که اخرین مورد، دیدار رییس جمهوری اتریش با خامنه ای دیکتاتور مذهبی حاکم بر ایران بود.
نمی توانم تلاش های دول غربی برای تامین منافع ملی شان را سرزنش کنم، اما فراموش نکنید ، مردم ایران نیز حق دارند تا ازادی،دموکراسی و رفاه و امنیت داشته باشند واز این منظر، از رهبران دنیای متمدن انتظار هایی دارند. فراموش نکنید، حکومت ایران به لحاظ اقتصادی و مالی یکی از فاسد ترین حکومت ها در جهان است.  از نطر اجتماعی-سیاسی-حقوقی، زنان و دختران را نصف مردان می داند و با شلاق و زندان و اسید پاشی، بر زنان حجاب زوری تحمیل می کند.  بهایی ها ، نو کشیان مسیحی و دراویش و طرفداران عرفان های نو را به زندان می اندازد. همچون داعش، دست و پا قطع می کند و روزنامه نگاران، حقوقدانان، مخالفین سیاسی و کوشندگان حقوق زنان و کودکان را زندانی و سرکوب می کند.به همین دلیل، همواره از سوی سازمان ملل متحد،به دلیل نقص سیستماتیک حقوق بشر ،محکوم گردیده، و اینک دولت های غربی در حال توسعه ی روابط اقتصادی و سیاسی با چنین دولت قانون شکن و سر کشی هستند!؟ این حکومت قانون شکن،به لحاظ اقتصادی، شرایط بسیار سختی بر طبقه ی زحمتکش کارگر، پرستاران، همه ی مزد بگیران و به ویژه معلم ها تحمیل کرده و نمایندگان انها را به زندان انداخته است. به انتخابات ازاد و دموکراتیک مردم ایران برای تعیین سرنوشت احترام نمی گذارد و با نظارت غیر قانونی و دخالت در فرایند برگزاری انتخابات، به انتخاب و رای مردم دستبرد می زند.قوه ی قضاییه ی مستقل وجود ندارد و نهاد های نظامی،روحانیون بلند پایه، دستگاه امنیتی و رهبر رژیم، مستقیما در امور قضات و محاکم دخالت می کنند. بنابر این، مردم ایران که خواهان دموکراسی سکولار، رفاه، پیشرفت و امنیت هستند، با چنین حکومت مذهبی خشن و بی رحمی روبرو می باشند و از رهبران دول غربی انتظار دارند، اگاه باشند، با رژیمی در حال معامله و دوستی هستند که خواسته های قانونی انها را سرکوب کرده و از امتیاز،، ارتباط با غرب،، به نفع سرکوب و حتا اتش افروزی در منطقه استفاده می کند و به شدت تروریزم را گسترش می دهد.
 
حشمت اله طبرزدی- دبیر کل جبهه ی دموکراتیک ایران- ایران- تهران- 18 شهریور 1394 خورشیدی.

It Is Interesting That This Story Came Out Today

I have nothing good to say about the Iran deal. It funds terrorism, endangers America and Israel, and paves the way for an arms race in the Middle East. Now, Yahoo News is reporting something that makes it even worse.

The story reports:

Iran has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said on Saturday.

The comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts who said the country had a low supply and would sooner or later would need to import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.

One wonders exactly when this mine was discovered. I am also amazed at some of the recent actions of Iran. It almost seems as if they are trying to prove that no matter how badly they behave, the Iranian nuclear deal will be approved by the Democrats in America (I believe that this is the first treaty in American history to pass with votes from only one political party). Lately they have been chanting “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” (nothing new, but I would think they would have toned it down until the agreement they say they want is approved).They seem to have little concern about how these statements will impact the agreement. Note that the news of the high reserve of uranium comes from Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization–an agency controlled by the government–not an outside source. The amount of chutzpah in Iran’s behavior as the nuclear deal is being voted on in Washington is totally amazing–particularly since there is $100 billion for Iran riding on this deal.

Something here is not making sense.

Unless The Republicans Develop A Backbone, America Is Poised To Become The Largest Sponsor Of Terrorism In The World

Yes, you read that right. If the economic sanctions on Iran are lifted, $100 billion will flow to Iran (according to npr). A large percentage of that money will go toward funding terrorism around the world. The Republicans had the power to stop this from happening, but got outmaneuvered by President Obama and his allies.

Andrew McCarthy posted an article at National Review today about the Iran deal.

The article details the mistakes those opposed to the deal have made which will make it very difficult to undo the damage the nuclear deal will do:

On Thursday, Senate Democrats successfully filibustered a Republican attempt to pass a futile “resolution of disapproval” against the Iran deal. Republicans had already forfeited their power to suspend the Corker review process. They would have been justified in suspending it because Obama failed to comply with the statute’s fundamental condition — the mandate that he disclose the whole agreement to Congress, including embarrassing “side deals” the administration has withheld. (These undeniably include understandings between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency on the critical issue of inspections; they probably also include commitments by Obama to protect several nations from “snapback” sanctions when, inevitably, Iran violates the agreement.)

Under Corker, which not only rigged the vote in Obama’s favor but also gave Democrats the option to prevent the vote by filibuster, the failed resolution authorized Obama to relieve sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. The mullahs will get their cool $100 billion and double down — no, quintuple down — on their promotion of jihadist terrorism.

Here’s the “I told you so” part: No sooner had the Democratic filibuster succeeded than did two well-regarded legal scholars take to the pages of The Atlantic to pronounce that Obama’s Iran deal is the law of the land. Yale’s Bruce Ackerman and New York University’s David Golove contend that the agreement cannot be unilaterally repudiated by a future Republican president, no matter how much GOP congressional leaders and 2016 hopefuls bloviate to the contrary.

This conclusion will shape bipartisan conventional wisdom in Washington and the chattering class. And guess what? The progressive professors have a strong case because of the way the Corker law was written by GOP congressional leaders (in consultation with their Democratic counterparts and the White House). Corker’s law is quite plausibly interpreted as authorizing a full repeal of the sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program — meaning they could not be reinstated absent new legislation (which the Democrats and the “international community” would vigorously oppose). Certainly the odds are good that the federal courts would see it that way. (Did I mention that Senate Republicans have already confirmed over 300 Obama appointees to the bench?)

It is time for new Senate leadership. This Senate has allowed something to happen that is truly dangerous for America and for the rest of the world. I believe that what President Obama has agreed to in the Iran deal is treason and he should be impeached for it. Any Senator who voted in favor of the Iran deal should also be impeached for treason, and the Senators who allowed this to happen should be voted out of office for stupidity. The Iran lobby paid for this vote (rightwinggranny), and they will get their money’s worth (and more). The world will have to live with the consequences of lifting the sanctions–more terror, more refugees, more deaths, and eventually a nuclear Iran. Please remember this when you vote next November.

My Daughter Who Was Living In New York City On September 11, 2001, Posted This On Facebook Today

Never Forget seems like a funny slogan to those of us who couldn’t forget if we wanted to. How about Always Remember?

Always remember the first responders that run to danger while the rest of us run away.

Always remember to hug your loved ones because you never know when they will leave this beautiful earth.

Always remember that there are people working very hard at this moment to keep you safe.

Always remember that every day you spend on earth is a blessing and should be treated as such.

I will spend today in a state of gratitude and remembrance.

Fourteen Years Ago This Was The Night Before Our Lives Changed Forever

As we approach the anniversary of September 11, 2001, I wanted to remember that day with something positive. There was a time in 2006 when America and Russia were at least acting like friends. The story below reflects that time.

Remembering 911

aaaaasespt11This is a picture of the Teardrop Memorial, Russia’s gift to the United States in memory of 911. The monument To the Struggle Against World Terrorism was dedicated on September 11, 2006, by President Clinton.   It is located in Bayonne, New Jersey, at a place where the twin towers were visible.   To read the entire story of the monument and how it came to rest there, please follow the link to 911monument.com.    The website tells the story of what inspired the monument and how it came to be. This is another picture of the monument.    I stumbled on this monument in an article at the American Thinker. I visited the monument a few years ago. It is a sobering sight. You stand at the foot of the monument and look across the river at lower Manhattan to where the twin towers once stood.

911 Monument Dedication Ceremony, Sept. 11, 2006

What Did You Learn In School Today?

Breitbart.com posted a story today about 7th grade students in Tennessee who were required to write and recite “Allah is the only god” as part of a world history project. Can you imagine the uproar if they had been required to write “Jesus is Lord“?

The article reports:

Another mother of a seventh-grade girl, Brandee Porterfield, complained to officials at Spring Hill Middle School because of its overemphasis on Islam to the exclusion of Christianity and Judaism.

Porterfield said she has no objections to her daughter learning details of the Islamic religion, but she objects to the fact that the history unit didn’t devote similar time to Christianity or Judaism.

“It really did bother me that they skipped the whole chapter on the rise of Christianity and they spent three weeks just studying Islam,” she said.

Porterfield and other parents were also concerned with the school’s decision to have children write and recite the Islamic creed.

“But what really did bother me,” Porterfield said, “was that they did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, which is the Islamic conversion creed.”

“I spoke with the teacher and the principal,” she said. “They are not going to learn any other religion, doctrines or creeds and they are not going back over this chapter. Even though they discuss Christianity a little bit during the Middle Ages, they are not ever going to have this basis for Judaism or Christianity later.”

The article includes the explanation of the Maury County Director of Schools:

Maury County Director of Schools, Chris Marczak, defended the curriculum in a statement, saying that the school system is in no way endorsing Islam over other religions or trying to “indoctrinate” students.

“It is our job as a public school system to educate our students on world history in order to be ready to compete in a global society, not to endorse one religion over another or indoctrinate,” Marczak said.

I hope Mr. Marcazk is an elected official that can be voted out of office. I have no problem with the students studying Islam, but reciting the creed is over the top. Just for the record, there are actually Six Pillars of Islam. The sixth is jihad. Somehow I suspect that was not mentioned.

Has Anyone In Washington Read The U.S Constitution?

The question really should be, “Has anyone in Washington read the U.S. Constitution, and do they take their Oath of Office to uphold it seriously?” Currently, the obvious answer to both questions is “no.”

On Tuesday The New York Post posted an article about the Congressional maneuverings on the Iranian nuclear deal. First of all, I would like to note that many of our Congressmen and Congresswomen have been paid off by the Iranian lobby (rightwinggranny). The article in The New York Post points out how the approval process for the Iranian nuclear agreement is unconstitutional.

The article reports:

Under the Constitution, treaties require the support of two-thirds of the Senate. The deal with Iran is a treaty in every respect — a legally binding long-term agreement between sovereign powers, in which hundreds of billions of dollars will flow and billions of dollars in nuclear materiel will be destroyed.

Since this is a treaty and we have 100 senators, Obama should have been obliged to secure the backing of 67 senators, not 41.

But Obama knew he could never get his treaty through Congress. You see, the American people have given the Republican Party majorities in both the House and the Senate.

The very fact that the American people did so to put a brake on Obama’s outsized ambitions just wasn’t going to hold this guy back.

So where are we now? The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, sometimes also known as “Corker-Cardin,” allows the Iran Nuclear Agreement to be treated like any other piece of ordinary legislation. In order to block the deal, the Senate would have to override a Presidential veto if the Senate voted the agreement down. Thus, rather than the two-thirds of the Senate needed to ratify the agreement (required for a treaty), you need two-thirds of the Senate to oppose it or it becomes law. The Republicans cannot filibuster the treaty because forty-two Democrats support it–they can block a filibuster. The Iranian lobby will get its money’s worth, and the treaty will pass. The U.S. Constitution and the American people are the losers in this deal. Iran will now receive millions of dollars to use to support terrorism around the world. Even if a Republican President is elected in 2016, and voids the agreement, the money will have gone to Iran, and the damage will have been done. No Senator who supports this treaty should be re-elected. The Republican leadership who did not use all of the legal tools at their disposal to fight this treaty should also be replaced. We need Senators and Representatives who have read the U.S. Constitution and who will be faithful to their Oath of Office to uphold the U.S. Constitution. At the current time, that is not what we have.

Some Middle East Perspective

If you read a lot of the mainstream media, they will tell you that the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the lack of a Palestinian State. They will conveniently forget to remind you that kindergarten children in the Gaza Strip are being trained as martyrs (see kindergarten graduation photo below):

kindergartengraduation2Would America sponsor a terrorist state on its border?

When you look at the statistics on the various conflicts in the Middle East, you see a very different picture of Israel and its Arab neighbors.

In October 2007, Front Page Magazine reported the following:

This grisly inventory finds the total number of deaths in conflicts since 1950 numbering about 85,000,000. Of that sum, the deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1950 include 32,000 deaths due to Arab state attacks and 19,000 due to Palestinian attacks, or 51,000 in all. Arabs make up roughly 35,000 of these dead and Jewish Israelis make up 16,000.

These figures mean that deaths Arab-Israeli fighting since 1950 amount to just 0.06 percent of the total number of deaths in all conflicts in that period. More graphically, only 1 out of about 1,700 persons killed in conflicts since 1950 has died due to Arab-Israeli fighting.

(Adding the 11,000 killed in the Israeli war of independence, 1947-49, made up of 5,000 Arabs and 6,000 Israeli Jews, does not significantly alter these figures.)

In a different perspective, some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.

Comments: (1) Despite the relative non-lethality of the Arab-Israeli conflict, its renown, notoriety, complexity, and diplomatic centrality will probably give it continued out-sized importance in the global imagination. And Israel’s reputation will continue to pay the price. (2) Still, it helps to point out the 1-in-1,700 statistic as a corrective, in the hope that one day, this reality will register, permitting the Arab-Israeli conflict to subside to its rightful, lesser place in world politics.

Admittedly, this is not up-to-date information, but considering ISIS, the civil war in Syria, and the mischief being done by Iran, I suspect the percentage of Muslim deaths at the hands of Muslims has increased–not decreased. Unfortunately, there is now added to that number a large number of Christians being killed by Muslims in the Middle East. In recent years it has become very obvious that Israel is NOT the problem.

 

Atheists In Foxholes?

The demands placed on our military in the past fifteen years have been daunting. Most of our soldiers have made at least one trip to Afghanistan or Iraq (or both), and many have come home deeply affected by what they have seen there. A large percentage of these soldiers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the suicide rate among military war veterans is higher than the civilian population. You would think that the military would be encouraging its Chaplains to be a major force in the healing of these men. Think again.

CBN News is reporting today that Navy Chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder will not be discharged from the Navy because of his religious views.

The article reports:

His commander, Capt. Jon Fahs, had been pushing for Modder’s ouster, citing comments Modder allegedly made in counseling sessions critical of premarital sex and homosexual relations.

In a letter, the Navy Personnel Command said the evidence doesn’t meet the standard of gross negligence or complete disregard for duty needed to boot out an officer. It also cited a lack of documentation in his personal record backing charges of poor performance.

“There was no record of counseling. There was no letter of instruction given to Chaplain Modder by the command and non-judicial punishment was not conducted,” one official told Military Times.

The Chaplain espoused the Biblical view of sex and marriage. As a Christian Chaplain, that is what I would expect him to do. Oddly enough, Jewish teaching and Islamic teaching also support his views on marriage, homosexuality, and premarital sex. Military Chaplains have been a tradition in America since America has had a military. They provide a necessary outlet for soldiers in difficult situations–either at home or away from home. It is a shame that the military wasted their time on this matter. The problem is not the Chaplain–it is his commander.

Paying Serious Money To Have Your Children Lied To

On Sunday The New York Post posted an article about a course being taught in some American colleges about the events of September 11, 2001. It is not a surprise that many of our college professors are politically left of center, but sometimes they simply cross a line that should not be crossed. Please follow the link above to read the entire story.

The article reports:

Case in point is a freshman-level English class taught at several major universities across the country called “The Literature of 9/11” — which focuses almost entirely on writings from the perspective of the Islamic terrorists, rather than the nearly 3,000 Americans who were slaughtered by them.

The syllabus, which includes books like “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” and “Poems from Guantanamo: Detainees Speak,” portray terrorists as “freedom fighters” driven by oppressive US foreign policies.

…In Ahuja’s (UNC associate English professor Neel Ahuja at UNC Chapel Hill) twisted worldview, al Qaeda terrorists are the real victims. “Abu Zubaydah’s torture may be interpreted as simply one more example of the necropower of US imperialism, the power to coerce and kill targeted populations,” Ahuja recently wrote in an academic paper criticizing the war on terror.

He says America’s depiction of the 9/11 terrorists as “monsters” is merely an attempt to “animalize” them as insects and justify “squashing” them in “a fantasy of justice.”

This colonialist “construct” of an “animalized enemy,” he added, “dovetails with the work of mourning the nation after 9/11 (which in the logic of security must be made perpetual, melancholic).” To him, it’s all cynically designed to justify more “imperial violence” against “Muslim, Arab and South Asian men.”

So, men who slit a flight attendant’s throat and killed innocent civilians are not monsters? I remember that day, and I remember sitting with a friend whose daughter was in the second tower waiting for word about her daughter. The word eventually came that her daughter had been killed, and DNA evidence found in a stairwell gave her family some closure.

Parents who are paying tuition at the colleges where this course is taught should demand that the course be taken out of the curriculum. This is an insult to the families of the people who were killed on that day, and it insults the intelligence of Americans who remember the events of that day.