Be Careful What You Wish For, Iran

As I was reading the headlines of the day I happen to read about Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announce new sanctions against Iran. As Rice stated the reason being that the “Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon, building dangerous ballistic missiles, supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israeli off the map.” The Islamic regime announced in advance that approval of these measures would be deemed tantamount to an American declaration of war on Iran and call forth retaliation. As many of you may know, the Iranians favorite chat is, “death to America” which began after the taking over of the U.S. embassy there in 1979. They chant this on a daily basis in their schools and Mosques. All signs would indicate that we are heading for war once again. I would just like to say that as an American, I have nothing against the people of Iran. I have worked with a family from Iran and have found them to be a very good people. When they told me that they had to flee Iran or be killed for being with a certain sect, I couldn’t help but see how barbaric this country still is. I understand that they may have good reason to dislike us because of our policies in the past regarding our support of the Shaw of Iran. Before the overthrow of the Shaw, most Americans probably had never even heard of the Shaw of Iran. After the takeover of our embassy there, is when many of us first became aware of him and the problems that he caused. I believe that perhaps our biggest problem with Iran is our support of Israel. Iran’s next favorite chat is, “death to Israel.” Personally I don’t believe they think there is any difference. I believe that Iran see’s now as the time to make there move because they believe that America is tired of fighting in Iraq. It seems a bit like a deadly poker game where both sides believe the other is bluffing. I’ve read many Iranians comment that they don’t believe that America will attack. It seems almost like a replay of the invasion of Iraq. Saddam was so sure America would never attack, as he was to have said later. Even though we chased him out of Kuwait, he saw us as being too weak because we didn’t kill his retreating army and didn’t go into Bagdad. Perhaps they are incapable of understanding mercy and instead saw it as weakness. Because we are not the kind of people that go to our place of worship and yell, “death to whomever,” as they do, they may believe we are weak. They see our people going to church and saying, “love thy enemy,” instead. Perhaps they can’t understand that our people find yelling for the death of anyone in a place of worship as something barbaric and unthinkable. They seem to have a bloodlust for many different groups that seem unnatural to us. Of course we have people here that seem to believe that the answer to any problem is to bomb them into the Stone Age, but even these people would never yell that in church. They say that there religion is a religion of peace, and with there next breath shout for the death of whomever. For so many years they have been asking God for the death of Americans or Israelis and now seem surprised to finally be getting there chance. So who else should be the ones to kill all the Americans or Israelis? If they truly believed in what they are asking for then they should be happy that we are now heading for this war that they have asked for so many years. When they chant, “death to America,” are we just suppose to wait to be attacked while they are already killing our brothers and sister over in Iraq? Should Israel just sit and wait to be wiped off the map? If someone is pointing a gun at you and they are telling you that they are going to shoot you, should you wait to see if they are telling the truth? We are not the ones asking for the death of Iran. It is they who ask for the death of so many people. Should we believe that they are all liars? Time is running out. This isn’t a threat, just a fact. If the people of Iran don’t find some new leaders with more civilized views on how to settle there disputes, then it will soon be out of our hands, and then may God help us all. '

Everyone Knows It's Hillary

As I was listening to the Sunday talk shows yesterday, I heard an interesting point that was made by someone. I wish I could remember his name, but I believe he worked for a news magazine. He was talking about Senator Hillary Clinton, who just happens to be the person that I’m backing for the presidential race in 2008. He said that most people believed that the biggest problem that a first woman running for this office was thought to have been is having been seen as too soft on national defense. As he pointed out, Hillary doesn’t seem to have this problem at all. I believe that after the debates it has become clear to most people that she seems to have a clearer understanding of what we Americans expect from our leader when it comes to national defense. While serving on the Committee on Armed Services, she has proved herself to be a very capable leader by both parties. When her challenger Barack Oboma talked about invading Pakistan,
during one of the debates, is when people began to see that a vote for Barack may not be the wisest choice. When the question came up about talking to leaders of countries like Iran, she also showed her superior leadership in her answer. Before the debates, Barack seemed to be more of a serious challenger to Hillary. I think people began to notice that Barack seemed to give better speeches while Hillary gave better answers during the debates. On one of my earlier post I was talking about how the republicans were beginning to attack Hillary. Today we now have both republicans and democrats attacking her as if there was no doubt she will be the front runner. It seems that the only thing that can stop her is if she were to make some kind of serious mistake in the future. One of the reasons I gave for supporting her in my early post was that I believed that she has shown that she can take a beating and keep on fighting. This should be very clear to everyone by now. I guess we can thank the republicans and the far left for making her so tough. She is truly a battle harden politician like few we have ever seen. She has had everything, including the kitchen sink thrown at her and she keeps on smiling. I believe that with today’s nasty political atmosphere, being tough should be something we should consider when choosing a candidate. I remember back when I worked with a bunch of republicans, while her husband was in office, that they would attack me almost daily for supporting her husband. Just to piss them off I would tell them I believed President Clinton was perhaps one of the best presidents that we have ever had. I would also tell them that there would come a day when they would be begging for him to be president again. If you can remember how good things were back then compared to now, then it’s not hard to imagine these right wingers on there knees crying to the heavens for Bill to come back and save them before all there money was lost. Perhaps praying may have worked because today we have the next best thing, his wife Hillary. I understand that many of today’s problems were caused by 9-11, but still that shouldn’t excuse the republicans for spending like drunken sailors, as John Mc Cain was to have said. When Bill was in office, he made it clear that he and his wife worked as a team, which made many hate Hillary. Later when Bill got caught with his pants down, many people, like me saw how much pain this caused her and showed everyone her true loving and forgiving side. Seeing this very human side of her, may have helped her for today’s battles because many of us can relate with her pain. What a horrible thing it is to be cheated on by someone you love so deeply. I guess that it’s impossible to understand unless it’s happened to you. Unfortunately, too many of us have had to deal with this situation and understand only too well the permanent scars left by a love one. Hillary hasn’t only had to deal with all of the pain caused by the right and left but also from the one she loved the most. I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t help but feel a great deal of sympathy for her for having to deal with something so private in such a public arena. I have to give her credit for staying with her man through all of this. She has a forgiving heart which is truly a Christian trait which many only speak of. Wanting to bring health care to everyone is also a very Christian trait for anyone truly interested in helping the poor, as Christ himself would undoubtedly have done. Almost no one doubts Hillary would be very tough on defense. Almost no one doubts that she would also be the best friend to the millions of the uninsured who so desperately need a voice in a cold heartless world. In my opinion, she is truly an Extreme Centrist and deserving of the highest office in the land.

England Is Great

As I was driving home from work yesterday and listening to the left wing radio political talk program, I heard a commercial that caught my attention. It was made by a left wing magazine whose name I didn’t catch. On this add they talked about how the British were planning on bring home half of there troops home in the near future. This spokesperson seemed to want the listeners to believe that the British were running away from the fight and that America should see this as a sign that everything was falling apart and we should also start running. First of all I would like to remind all Americans that it was the British that sacrificed more than any other country to help us in or time of need. Not only with there troops, but also with there civilians who have lost there life’s and limbs while being targeted by the Islamo fascist at home. Remember it wasn’t only us but the whole world that believed Iraq had W.M.D.’s before the invasion. How could any rational person believe otherwise after seeing all the photos of the hundreds of gassed civilians and knowing that he used them on the Iranians in that war. Today we have countless Monday morning quarterbacks that claimed they knew what the whole world didn’t know. No surprise there. When the going got tough, they stood with us and we should never forget that. We should also remember that we always said that we would be retuning after a freely elected government was in place and power could be safely exchanged. Of course we are bombarded with people claming that we went there for there oil and to colonize and in effect own there country. We have been there much longer than most who believed in are true purpose because of all of the unforeseen problems that we have encountered in trying to accomplish this mission. After the first Gulf War, many people believed that it wouldn’t be as difficult as it has turned out to be. (i.e. - a slam dunk). My point being that we always planned on leaving at some point and even have made it against the law for us to make permanent bases there. It’s also become clear at this point in time that we cannot afford the cost of keeping our own troops there too much longer. We have gone as far as we can go and that’s clear to pro war and anti war people. Today the only debate is how soon to bring our troops home and if we should leave a small group there to help the government if they ask us to stay for support. I don’t believe anyone thinks we can keep such a large amount of troops there for too much longer. The surge seems to have helped but if the different warring groups don’t use this time to come to some kind of compromise, then we have to believe that this is what there people want and we must allow them to war without us. We have already asked too much from our troops and civilian tax payers and can ask no more. Everyone knows this, so it should be clear that our next problem is getting our people home as soon and as safe as possible. This will take some time and can’t be as quick as most would like. This isn’t cut and run, only a withdraw as planned years ago. What will be tough is leaving so many without the protection that they have become accustom to. Some people here say that all the violence will stop when we leave because we are the reason they want to fight. I hope there right but I understand that there hate for one another goes back centuries. If things get better or worst it’s out of our hands. Perhaps this is there cost for freedom now that they no longer have the iron fist of a ruthless dictator to keep them apart. Freedom almost always has a high price. I believe that most Iraqis would rather pay a high price than go back to the old ways again, now that they have had a taste of freedom. Doesn’t it just make since that our loyal British partners should be pulling there troops out before us? Did anyone think that we would pull out while leaving the British there? Of course not. I see the news of the British leaving as a sign that everything is going as planned and a very good thing. Everyone that wants to see our guys start coming home should see this as a good thing. A first step. Maybe then you can understand why hearing this ad made me upset. We always understood that when we were leaving that there would be some people who would pretend that they themselves were the ones driving us out. What socked me is that this wasn’t some of the Iraqis who were glad to see us leave, but instead was an American here at home. It was like I was listening to our enemies trying to pretend that they had defeated our side and now we were running for our lives. This is something that may not have surprised me so much if it had been Americans leaving, but being that it was our British friends instead, gave me a sick feeling deep down. Is this how we Americans should say thank you to our dearest friends who have sacrificed so much to come to our aid? How would we have felt if after World War Two when we were starting to come home and then have some British person on the radio say that we were running away from the fight? I believe that people should have the right to say whatever they want but that also applies to speaking up against something that someone may say that we disagree with. I strongly disagree with this false distortion of fact presented by this left wing magazine. I truly hope that as an American you would also agree with me. To try and present our greatest friends as people who are running from a fight instead of acknowledging there extreme sacrifice and true bravery, is one of the most shameful things that I can ever remember hearing coming from one of my own fellow Americans. And for what, to sell a few magazines? As for myself, I would like to thank the great British people for standing with us as well as falling with us. It’s time for our people to come home now. Together we have destroyed another tyrant from this earth as I sure we will do in the future. Only the historians will understand of the true importance of the sacrifices we have made in ridding the world of evil. If you can’t understand what I’m talking about then consider yourself one of the lucky ones and thank God for all that have given there life and limb to give you your freedom that you take for granted.

Too Many Dribblers

If you’re into watching TV like me, then you may have watched an animated show called, King of the Hill. This show takes place in Texas and being that I’m from Texas I can tell you that these people seem like your typical Texan type of people that I grew up with. I think most of us know people like this which make the show more likeable. There is one person on the show that I’m sure reminds many of you of someone you know or have meet. His name is Dale Dribble. He’s the chain smoker with the red ball cap who has the large bug on top of his truck. To most of us he’s that loveable conspiracy nut that always has some wild theory that usually involves the government. They seem harmless enough, so you just smile and look with interest whenever they try and explain one of there many theories, as to not make them upset. Only a fool would try and argue with someone so out of touch with reality. If you know the type then you know that there isn’t anything that anyone could say to change there mind about whatever unusual theory that they may believe to be the truth. For now let’s just call these people Dribblers. I believe most of us have noticed these Dribbler types when we began to hear all of the different JFK theory’s that began going around, as with the movie JFK. With an unsolved case as important as this one, it’s no wonder people would come up with different theory’s to try and bring some closure to this case. Some people just have to have some kind of answer when confronted with a mystery or a fact that they don’t like. That’s why women can’t understand why men won’t ask for directions when lost. Men are hardwired into believing that they should have the answer for everything. When some caveman’s kid asked his father what the moon was, of course he came up with an answer even though he had no idea. It wasn’t too long ago that people believed the moon was made out of cheese, most likely because some man was asked that question. Even scientists have come up with some silly beliefs that are presented as fact for many years, like with the moon or a flat earth. Years later we had many people say that the Clinton’s kill Vince Foster whom was there close friend. So many on the right had so much hate for the Clintons that these types of stories and many more became fact to these Dribblers. Today we have George W. Bush who’s the favorite target for many Dribblers. They will say that there is no doubt 911 was an inside job. They will point to many articles written by other Dribblers as proof. They believe that if it’s there in black and white then it must be the truth. Of course they will only read what supports there theory and anything else is part of the conspiracy that they believe to be fact. As with the witch hunts of Salem, (which had more to do with ones economic status then with witchcraft), so to is this more modern version of witch hunting. It seems obvious that today its ones political affiliation that is the reason for this newer version of witch hunting. Let’s just for a moment pretend to believe that there were explosives planted in the towers to bring them down. Wouldn’t it be much more likely that it was the terrorist that planted the explosives, as with the first Twin Towers attack? Of course it would. So why then do so many people come to the same conclusion that it was the President? Not only believing that it was our leader, but not even considering that it could be the work of terrorist. Such a giant leap of logic could only be because of ones political beliefs when so many come to the same conclusion almost instantly. As a person that works at one of the largest universities in the U.S., I couldn’t help but notice that even some professors have jumped on the 911 conspiracy bandwagon. I guess it’s not so surprising that we have some of the countries most intelligent people that believe this to be fact, but more surprising is the lack of response by the majority who believe it to be the work of the terrorist. There silence almost seems to be an endorsement of there theory. It doesn’t seem to make any difference that the terrorist have been attacking us long before George W. Bush came into office. Of course it’s not too hard to understand that most of academia leans to the left and perhaps believes that any attempt to challenge this theory may be seen as an attempt to defend the president. As a hard core democrat and no big fan of the president, I can understand this unwillingness to do anything that may favor the president. Because of this, I also understand the dangers of not speaking up for the truth. I am just a hard working stiff who has never been to collage. I’m sure many will dismiss whatever I may think because of this which is the reason I believe it is important that academia should be the ones to speak up for the truth. To keep silent is to allow the witch hunt to keep spreading and to be believed by those of us who are not as lucky as to have a higher education as well as those that are. As I wrote in a MSNBC blog, I believe that it should be clear that the terrorist plan is to divide and conquer, as they have done in Iraq with the different religious groups so successfully. It should be obvious when we listen to the latest recording from O.B.L. He tries to sound like he is giving orders to the democrats when he tells us that we should get out of Iraq. Of course this is what most democrats would like to happen, but in different ways. Some believe that we will always need to have some troops there while others want everyone out. Having him sound like he’s pulling the strings gives the republicans more reasons to hate the democrats. Being that we are nearing an election makes there task even easier. It uses to be that the republican would site the left as the ones that they are displeased with, but today they only site the democrats. More proof that there plan may be working. All they need to do is sit back in there cave while we do there dirty work. Accusing the president of planning 911 is a perfect example of helping the terrorist and doing there dirty work for them. As a young man I listened to the voices of reason here on this campus and demonstrated against the war in Vietnam. We may have been out numbered, but that doesn’t matter when you have truth on your side. Today I’m an old man and now I hear these wild stories being made up and trying to past itself off as truth. The truth is that Bill Clinton’s administration handed George W. Bush an intelligent report titled something like, “O.B.L. ready to attack the U.S.” and then 911 happened. That should be plenty of reason enough to be angry at the current president without making up such wild conspiracy theories. I would like to ask somebody with the resources to simply give some of these Dribblers a lie detector test, and then you will see for yourself that they don’t believe these theories as they would want us to believe. Of course it would need to be done by someone that had the trust of both sides. I’ve had two of these tests in order to get a job. I ended up getting both jobs, by the way. If you stand by your words then you have no reason to fear this test. I’m sure if you could go back in time and could test the people of Salem, then you would find the same result. But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself and let’s see who’s being honest. A poor working stiff like me won’t have the resources to perform such an experiment but I’m sure people in academia would.