California Bills Target Huge Stores

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Bills that would give California's local governments more power to fight Wal-Mart and other huge stores are heading to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, over the objections of the giant retailer, business groups and Republican lawmakers.

The latest bill, approved 23-16 Wednesday by the Senate, would require local governments to consider an economic impact report before approving any "big box" store larger than 100,000 square feet.

On Tuesday, a 24-13 vote sent Schwarzenegger a bill requiring retailers to pay communities' legal fees if the local governments prevail in lawsuits that challenge zoning ordinances or regulations aimed at restricting mega-stores.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said the governor has taken no position on the bills.

"Clearly, Wal-Mart in particular has been using its money and influence to try to influence local government decisions," said the bills' author, Sen. Richard Alarcon.

More on these later but suffice it to say this is no good for California!

Democratic leadership would be a disaster!

And Speaker Gingrich is absolutely right! Yesterday the Speaker said “the thought of California Rep. Nancy Pelosi becoming the next leader of the House and being third in line to the presidency is frightening” he went on to say some other freighting things:

“The prospect of her bringing San Francisco values and a whole attitude on foreign policy that is, I think, an attitude of weakness and appeasement and surrender, I think, would be a disaster for the country," the outspoken Republican said.

Gingrich said keeping power out of the hands of Pelosi, the House minority leader, and other Democrats is one of the reasons he was in South Carolina this week raising money for the GOP.

On Wednesday, Gingrich was at a fundraiser for Ralph Norman, the White House's chosen opponent for U.S. Rep. John Spratt, the 5th District Democrat who is Pelosi's assistant minority leader.

To suggest that "any Democrat is for appeasement is ridiculous" and "shows how desperate the Republicans are," Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said. "We know we have a dangerous world out there," he said, but "fear-mongering is not helpful to the situation."

The former Georgia congressman said he wakes up every day worried about national security and the potential loss of U.S. cities to nuclear attacks.

"If you think, as I do, that we're in the early stages of an emerging third world war, the world is truly dangerous on a scale that I think, in a worst case, could lead to losing several American cities to nuclear weapons in our lifetime," he said.

Gingrich, who says his decision on seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 will wait until late next year, says there are plenty of reasons to worry about nuclear bombs destroying U.S. cities.

"Start with the North Korean drive to get nuclear weapons and ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles), then go to the Iranian drive to get nuclear weapons, then go to the fact that Pakistan has probably between 50 and 100 nuclear weapons with an unstable dictatorship," he said. Then, look at al-Qaida's willingness to "kill as many Americans as they can find" and Iran's recruitment of suicide bombers, he said.

"If you have active, overt enemies who are religiously different and who believe that killing you would be a good thing in their religious terms and they're willing to die in order to kill you," Gingrich said, "how hard is it to imagine a suicide bomber willing to walk in with a nuclear weapon?"

We don’t really want the Democrats in charge, do we?

We all know anti-war candidate Ned Lamont beat Joe Lieberman in the primary. But look at Lamont's strategy for the war in Iraq. He's calling for a "phased pullout". A "phased pullout"? this so called "phased pullout" would send yet another signal to our enemies to simply wait us out. Osama and others of his ilk consider America impatient, lacking resolve and unwilling to sacrifice. Believe me when I tell you this action would fuel this sentiment not only to the terrorist organizations out to kill us, but to the rouge nations out there that are gradually seeing the U.S. as weak!

Remember our hasty pullout from Vietnam, and subsequent failure to abide by promises made to the South Vietnamese, result; a bloodbath in Southeast Asia that left 3 million or more dead! I’ve yet to hear true remorse for the forced consequences the SV suffered though from the anti-war crowd.

For insight into the Democrats brand of appeasement foreign policy, I present, Jimmy Carter. Just a few months into his presidency, he urged Americans to reconsider our "inordinate fear of communism" and kissed Leonid Brezhnev on the cheek. Soon after, Brezhnev invaded Afghanistan, Way to go!

I could run down a whole litany of Carter snafus but for yours and my sanity I’ll keep it to this. It's no surprise Carter is a staunch Bush critic, funny that under his watch he helped usher in the "Iranian Revolution" of 1979 by leaning on the Shah of Iran to "release political prisoners." To show their gratitude, Iranians seized 90 hostages at the U.S. Embassy, holding 52 of them for 444 days, before releasing them minutes after Ronald Reagan took office. At the time of the hostage crisis, Carter sent what some called a believer-to-believer letter in longhand to the Ayatollah Khomeini. The letter praised the ayatollah as a "man of God"

Democratic leadership more times than not have been on the wrong side of history. When they’re not taxing us to death or spending like there’s no tomorrow, they’re pushing unsustainable, unrealistic and unproven socialism down our throats! Oh before I hear all about Democrats hating Republican spending let me put that to rest right now. The only thing they hate about Republican spending is that it’s Republicans doing the spending and not them!

The so-called Democratic Leadership recently released the six-pronged "New Direction for America" agenda for change: Real security and immediate phased pullout in Iraq; higher minimum wage; more affordable college; energy independence and lower gas prices; affordable health care; and something called "Retirement Security and Dignity," which calls for shoring up private pensions.

WOW! Notice anything missing? Not one word about North Korea. Not one word about Iran. And virtually every one of the six Democrat initiatives requires greater federal government intrusion, higher taxes and contempt for the private sector to compete and innovate. Is this their idea of "fiscal responsibility"?

Hears a question for Nancy Pelosi or any other Democrats who attack Republicans for out-of-control spending and calls for fiscal responsibility; Aside from Defense, where should government cut back? ...Crickets...

The fact is through all of our faults, miscommunication and differing ideas on a wide range of issues, the Republican Party with conservative ideas, principles and values are better equipped to fight the GWOT and move this country out of the failed social programs of the past and into the future.

We have got to do everything in our power to keep both houses. The Pelosi’s, Reid’s and Schumer's will continue to damage this county by promoting the liberal idea of equality. Bring this county down so we can all be equally miserable!

On vacation

I’m off to Minneapolis Minnesota to visit friends. I’ll be back blogging here and at RedState the middle of next week!

Talk at you soon,

Greenland's glaciers NOT global warming

Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for 100 years

"Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, according to a Danish study, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming.

Danish researchers from Aarhus University studied glaciers on Disko island, in western Greenland in the Atlantic, from the end of the 19th century until the present day.

This study, which covers 247 of 350 glaciers on Disko, is the most comprehensive ever conducted on the movements of Greenland's glaciers," glaciologist Jacob Clement Yde, who carried out the study with Niels Tvis Knudsen, told AFP.

Using maps from the 19th century and current satellite observations, the scientists were able to conclude that "70 percent of the glaciers have been shrinking regularly since the end of the 1880s at a rate of around eight meters per year," Yde said.

"We studied 95 percent of the area covered by glaciers in Disko and everything indicates that our results are also valid for the glaciers along the coasts of the rest of Greenland," he said.

The biggest reduction was observed between 1964 and 1985.

"A three-to-four degree increase of the temperature on Greenland from 1920 to 1930, and the increase recorded since 1995 has sped up the ice melt," he said."

Well now! let's see how they'll spin this one???

For those who think Ahmadinejad is just misunderstood

Iranian president Amaneedajihad™ in a speech which aired on Iranian News Channel (IRINN) on August 15, 2006 said in effect that the west “should bow and surrender to the might of the Iranian people."

” If you want to have good relations with the Iranian people in the future, you should acknowledge the right and the might of the Iranian people, and you should bow and surrender to the might of the Iranian people. If you do not accept this, the Iranian people will force you to bow and surrender.”

H/T Jihad Watch

On the eve of what some are speculating to be Doomsday I hope everyone is paying attention and waking to the fact that this madman can not be reasoned with!

We absolutely have a responsibility, along with the rest of the civilized world, to do everything in our power to deny further development of nuclear technology to Iran until such time as they choose to elect a responsible government who aren’t being influenced or maneuvered by a group extremists posing as spiritual leaders!

Iwo Jima photographer Joe Rosenthal, 1911-2006

Joe Rosenthal the photographer who took the Pulitzer Prize winning photo of the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima has passed.

photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, died Sunday. He was 94.

Rosenthal died of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco suburb of Novato, said his daughter, Anne Rosenthal.

"He was a good and honest man, he had real integrity," she said.
Rosenthal's iconic photo, shot on Feb. 23, 1945, became the model for the Iwo Jima Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The memorial, dedicated in 1954 and known officially as the Marine Corps War Memorial, commemorates the Marines who died taking the Pacific island in World War II.

streiff over at RedState has a good piece on Joe. As a former Marine this photo and subsequent Memorial hold a great deal of significance to me and my brothers in arms. Here’s to you Joe Rosenthal, for a long life and capturing a photo that mean so much to so many!

Iran Looks to Launch Military Exercise

Iran is looking to start a military exercise just day’s before 8/22/2006 when the Iranians said they would respond to the U.N. about it’s nuclear ambitions and uranium enrichment!

Iran says to launch large military exercise

The Iranian army said on Thursday that it would launch a large-scale military exercise soon, the state television reported.

The maneuver will begin in southeastern Iran on Saturday, military spokesman Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani was quoted as saying. "It will be carried out stage by stage for a period," he added, without revealing exactly when the exercise would end.

"The maneuver is aimed at introducing our new defensive doctrine," Ashtiani said, adding that 12 infantry regiments would participate in the upcoming exercise dubbed "The Blow of Zolfaghar." Zolfaghar is the sword used by Imam Ali, one of the most revered figures for Shiite Muslims.

In addition, Ashtiani said that the maneuver came against a backdrop of tensions in the Mideast, saying "We must be ready to fight against any threat and we should be a role model for other countries."

"The army is prepared to destroy all plots against the Islamic Republic," he added.

In April, Iran launched another large-scale military exercise, the biggest in several years.

During the game, Iran said it had tested advanced weapons including missiles and torpedoes.

The new Iranian war game will come when Tehran is facing heightened pressure as a UN Security Council resolution urges it to halt uranium enrichment by Aug. 31. Enditem

I hope everyone is paying attention!

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs gets the nod from the GOP

Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs has been selected by the GOP to be the Write-In candidate for Tom Delay’s seat in teaxs Congressional District 22!


GOP Leaders Pick Houston City Councilwoman as DeLay Write-In Candidate

Texas GOP leaders were confident they could keep former House Majority leader Tom DeLay's vacant seat in Republican hands after selecting Dr. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, a Houston city councilwoman, as the write-in candidate to back on the November ballot.

After meeting for about 2 1/2 hours Thursday evening, GOP precinct chairmen from the four southeast Texas counties that make up the 22nd Congressional District selected Sekula-Gibbs, a dermatologist who is serving her third term on the city council.

Texas GOP officials were forced to scramble for a write-in candidate when the courts prevented Republicans from replacing DeLay's name on the Nov. 7 ballot with a candidate of their choosing after he resigned from Congress and moved to Virginia. He had been dogged by allegations of wrongdoing and faced a tough re-election race.

--snip

"Tonight we start the grassroots Republican campaign that this district is well known for," Sekula-Gibbs said. "It is a district that has over 60 percent Republicans and we will turn them out."

Tina Benkiser, the state GOP chairwoman, said Sekula-Gibbs was selected by a clear majority of the precinct chairmen who attended the gathering in Pearland. She said she did not have a breakdown on the vote. About 85 of the 150 precinct chairmen invited attended the closed-door meeting at a church to hear from potential write-in candidates.

Good luck, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, lets all work hard to get people in the Texas 22nd to do the right thing and Write her in!

Al Qaeda targets the Taj Mahal

Democracy and western civilization have been at war for the better part of 27 years. It’s time for some to realize it!

Lest anyone forget that its democracy and western civilization that’s under attack by Islamo-fascists and not just the U.S and U.K. Al Qaeda steps up to reiterate the point.



Al Qaeda Letter Threatens to Blow Up Taj Mahal

Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday.

Sandbag bunkers have been set up outside the towering entrance gates leading to the 17th century monument and soldiers belonging to an anti-terrorist squad have been posted on 24-hour duty, said Ashok Kumar, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh state where the Taj Mahal is located.
Police were investigating a handwritten letter purportedly sent by an Al Qaeda supporter, saying the terrorist group planned to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal.

Police were skeptical about the letter, but had begun investigations, Kumar said Friday.

"Police are verifying the source of the letter," he said. "The letter could be false but we cannot afford to be complacent. We are not taking any chances and have enhanced security at the Taj."

"The letter, signed by someone calling himself Mohammed Mirza and claiming to be associated with the Al Qaeda, was received at the office of the superintendent of police in Agra on Thursday," Kumar said.

“The letter said the Al Qaeda had plans to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal and around busy markets of Agra," he said.

Besides being a sovereign nation who abides by the rule of law, India is the largest democracy in the world. With a population nearly four times that of the United States, a billion people, India modeled its government on the British parliamentary system, with a healthy dose of influences from the United States and the rest of Europe.

This is a direct threat to Al Qaeda and like-minded radical murderers. Who’s goal as far as I can tell is to create a Muslim world predicated on the rule of the first Caliphs and with that, the destruction of Israel and the toppling pro-Western dictatorships and democracies around the Middle East and eventually around the world.

The world has got to understand this enemy before it too late! Unfortunately this is very slow in coming. Just the other night Christiane Amanpour sitting in for Larry King, had two terrorism experts on the show from the U.K. Guest Dr. Anthony McCroy, while explaining to Ms. Amanpour that Islamic disgruntled youth and extremists feel their at war, she either didn’t understand the concept or was unwilling to accept the obvious. This rings true for many liberal minded people who would rather put the blinders on instead of facing the truth.

Christiane Amanpour hosting LARRY KING LIVE

AMANPOUR: But what moves a person to be concerned about their fellow citizens to be proud or intent on their religion to being potentially a mass murderer?

MCCROY: Well, again it goes back to the concept of the UMA. This is tradition where Mohammed said that the believers are like one fist and if one part suffers all of it suffers. So, they see it as a kind of religious and moral duty on their part to help their suffering brothers.

AMANPOUR: But, you know, many Islamic scholars would say that that is not correct. In other words, they would defend the Koran. They would say that, in fact, this exhortation to kill innocents is simply nowhere to be found in the Koran so what is it about these young men?

MCCROY: Well that's true but bin Laden has redefined the concept of innocence. To him what he said about in Muslim democracies because we choose our own governments and that these governments then wage war on Muslims that makes the electorate culpable in the actions of their governments, so from that basis they don't see Americans or to this extent Britons as innocent.

AMANPOUR: Are you saying that these people feel that they're at war?

MCCROY: They definitely feel they're at war.

AMANPOUR: People who live here in London in the home counties, in the Thames Valley?

MCCROY: Well look at what (INAUDIBLE) last year.

AMANPOUR: One of the 7/7 plotters who killed himself.

MCCROY: Who we believe was in the plot. He said, you know, "We're at war and I'm a soldier." Very clearly he was -- he was defending his people. He said "You are attacking our people." When was the last time the RAF or the American Air Force bombed Bradford or bombed (INAUDIBLE), you know, where he came from? Rather he meant you're attacking my people in Palestine and Iraq and so forth.

She continues to display more of the same ignorance when speaking to her next guest. A filmmaker who recently made a film called "The Cult of the Suicide Bomber, and who has written about the IRA extensively.

AMANPOUR: So what is it in your studies -- you've done the study as you've called it, the cult of the suicide bomber. What makes a young man who grows up in England, third generation, fairly privileged compared to where he probably came from, blow himself up and kill other people?

TOOLIS: Suicide bombing is like a virus. It has come out of the Middle East. It has spread all over the world. It has effectively downloaded itself into the minds of one of the most substantial Muslim communities in Europe, the British Asian population.

It has the ability to infect small pockets. We're talking about a tiny, tiny minority in a much larger community. But it basically can transfer itself without a mastermind abroad, without any seemingly outward signs, it can basically radicalize people. It's based on two beliefs -- that the Muslims are engaged in a war against the west or the west is engaged in a war against the Uma (ph), you know, the entire Islamic world, and that by killing yourself, by martyring yourself you'll be striking back against the enemy.

AMANPOUR: Even though suicide is proscribed in the Koran. It's forbidden.

TOOLIS: This isn't suicide. These people never, ever think of it as suicide. They see it as a sacred religious act, an act of martyrdom which will guarantee their ascent into the gardens of paradise

I realize it looks like I’m picking on Christiane Amanpour, well, OK! I am a little, but it goes to my larger point. People of her ilk still believe that these attacks are isolated incidents and not a war started 27 or so years ago with September 11, 2001 finally being a big enough slap too respond and the guts to do it!

To paraphrase Mark Levin, we have to kill these cockroaches, not one by one, but where they nest!

And almost on cue!

It looks like North Korea, today, is preparing for a Nuclear Test!

There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear bomb, U.S. officials told ABC News.
"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility," said a senior State Department official.

A senior military official told ABC News that a U.S. intelligence agency has recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.

The activity includes the unloading of large reels of cable outside P'unggye-yok, an underground facility in northeast North Korea. Cables can be used in nuclear testing to connect an underground test site to outside observation equipment. The intelligence was brought to the attention of the White House last week.

With absolutely nothing to lose Lil’ Kim Kim Jong Il, AKA “Pajama Boy” is most likely using this opportunity, fresh on the heals of an tenuous cease-fire, to grab some headlines and stir-up a little controversy!

there’s a reason why the president called it an axis of evil!!!

The 2,996 Project: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11

Bloggers honor the innocent victims of that awful day...



A simple request for your participation!

The idea is simple, but powerful: have a special tribute for each victim of 9/11, with each tribute being created by a different blogger. We started 2,996 Project to coordinate the creation of the tributes, and that's what this site is all about. Here you can sign up to make a tribute yourself, on your blog (we'll randomly assign a victim to you). You can also browse or search through either the victims that have already been assigned, or those that have not -- and you can get pointers to more information on all of them.

There are 1123 (37%) of 2996 Victims Still Available for Tribute:

Sign up now!

I have the great privilege of honoring Elsy Carolina Osorio Oliva 27, of New York, N.Y.

I hope everyone will participate!

A Case For SDI

SDI – A welcome new friend in the GWOT and protecting America

The common wisdom is SDI doesn’t work and will not work. Especially against the Katyusha rockets that Hezbollah has launched (at will) recently that have caused so much damage in northern Israel. As with most commonly held beliefs of late, this is wrong too.

The U.S. has been shooting down Katyusha rockets at the White Sands proving ground in New Mexico since 1998 using a high-energy laser weapon that would explode their warheads in flight, a weapon initially developed as part of President Reagan's visionary Strategic Defensive Initiative.

The Future of the Defense Industry

In August, the Army selected Northrop Grumman to design a mobile version of our Tactical High Energy Laser, which we developed together with the Israelis. In recent tests at White Sands, the THEL, as it's known for short, shot down 28 Katyusha rockets fired individually and in salvos and five artillery shells in mid-flight. Imagine the ability to destroy incoming artillery shells at the speed of light.

When Reagan conceived SDI to defend us against a ballistic missile attack it was envisioned as a space-based high-energy laser that would target the enemy warhead after it had launched. This was “shot down” so to speak, due to objections about the militarization of space, effectiveness and financing just to name a few.

Soon after the developing the prototypes for testing they realized this technology had a tactical land-based application as well. Thus the Theatre High Energy Laser system was born.

Airborne Laser

The ABL weapon system consists of a high-energy, chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted on a modified 747-400F (freighter) aircraft to shoot down theater ballistic missiles in their boost phase. A crew of four, including pilot and copilot, would be required to operate the airborne laser, which would patrol in pairs at high altitude, about 40,000 feet, flying in orbits over friendly territory, scanning the horizon for the plumes of rising missiles. Capable of autonomous operation, the ABL would acquire and track missiles in the boost phase of flight, illuminating the missile with a tracking laser beam while computers measure the distance and calculate its course and direction. After acquiring and locking onto the target, a second laser - with weapons-class strength - would fire a three- to five-second burst from a turret located in the 747's nose, destroying the missiles over the launch.

Such a ground-based, rapid-fire laser, operating like a high-tech machine gun, sprays the target sky with enough high-energy pulses that a Katyusha barrage could be stopped in its tracks. The poor man's ballistic missile would be made ineffective, if not obsolete.

This effective laser technology could have been shipped to Israel as early as 1999 but "cost effectiveness." killed such plans as it would still cost more to shoot Katyushas out of the sky than it costs the enemy to make them.

Cost effectiveness? The costs imposed by Hezbollah's Katyushas in land devastation in Lebanon and Israel along with hundreds of civilian deaths and northern Israel uninhabitable, I think the choice is clear!

Consider also that a single nuclear warhead detonated high above the U.S from a Shahab (sp?) or a Nodong launched from international waters off our coast would create an EMP so large that it would fry most electronic circuits in the U.S.!

Developing and deploying this SDI technology should be top priority. Not only for our protection, but for no other reason than to totally "Tick-Off" our enemies!

The Absence of Hostility Does Not = Peace

Peace can only be achieved when both sides desire it!

A phrase I’m sure you’ve heard many, many times before it just so happens to be true. I think we all know this so called cease-fire will not bring peace to the region. Hezbollah, like many fanatical Islamo-fascists groups, are mandated through their ideology to eliminate the other side (western civilization). The left wants to change their hearts and minds? However you do that? And the right seems to feel superior fire power will get the job done! Of course I subscribe to the latter as it’s the only thing that will work.

There’s a myth held in this county (mostly by liberals) that these people want peace as much as other peace loving people do. This misconception has got to be curtailed or we are doomed to fall victim to a people who’s ideology insists that we not exist.

I find it very interesting that on the day before the cease-fire Hezbollah fired 250 rockets into Israel. That surly has to give you confidence in their intentions? Right!

Thunder of bombs and missiles drowns out UN's voice of peace

Despite the Israeli offensive, more than 250 Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel, including seven long-range missiles, killing a man of 70 and wounding 53.

Yesterday’s tally — the highest to date — took the total since fighting began on July 12 to more than 4,000 rockets.


Even if today’s ceasefire is observed, it will leave Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas intermingled on isolated patches of territory with no clear front line to separate them.
Hezbollah units repulsed Israel armoured thrusts, killing 24 Israeli soldiers on Saturday, the worst casualty toll in one day for Israeli troops since the conflict began. At least five soldiers died yesterday

250 in one day! Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it? These Hezbos are really committed to peace, even know their charter calls for the destruction of Israel “Since Israel is no longer present in Lebanon, Hezbollah now talks about the elimination of Israel itself calling all of Israel "occupied territory" that has to be "liberated" for Islam.” I’m sure the U.N. took this into account when drafting that ridiculous resolution and decided they could be trusted to honor their commitment!

Hezbollah somehow has risen from a clear terrorist origination to some sort of recognized political body worthy of recognition by the rest of the world. An honor bestowed them via the squishy international community.

Hizballah chief gains admirers

Despite the toll in death and destruction in Lebanon, even enemies and critics say the stature of Hizballah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has risen dramatically from his guerrillas fighting toe-to-toe with the Israeli army.

Some even have taken to comparing the radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric to the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had wide popularity in the Mideast for standing up to the West and pushing for Arab unity.

"Hassan Nasrallah has won militarily and politically and has become a new leader like Nasser," Lebanese lawmaker Walid Jumblatt, a critic of Hizballah's alliance with Iran and Syria, said in an interview.

It’s this same squishy international community’s pressure along with the lack of intestinal fortitude in this county that allowed freedoms enemy a chance to regroup and plan other attacks on the west. Good job!

Now this murdering (expletive removed) is gloating! Oh yeah! ” strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration” is what he’s calling it.

Nasrallah: Hizbullah achieved ”strategic, historic victory” against Israel

Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Monday that his fighters achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel - a declaration that prompted celebratory gunfire across the Lebanese capital.

Nasrallah said Hizbullah "came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated (before)." He also said now was not the time to debate the disarmament of his fighters. He added that the issue of disarmament cannot be resolved "in haste... or by intimidation, pressure or provocation."

Nasrallah called Monday "a great day." "We are today before a strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration," he said in a taped speech on Hizbullah's al-Manar TV.

Nasrallah said the massive destruction inflicted by Israel was an expression of its "failure and impotency." And he promised Hizbullah would help the Lebanese people rebuild. "The enemy destroyed 15,000 housing units in the south, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs," Nasrallah said. "From tomorrow, ... we will pay compensation, a certain amount of money for every family to rent for one year, plus furniture for those whose houses were totally destroyed."

We had a golden opportunity remove a great threat to both Israel and the U.S. allowing Israel to take the gloves off and finish the mission should have been paramount.

My hope now is after Hezbollah completely fails to comply with these conditions the international community will have little, if anything, to say about Israel going back to finish the job!

The absence of hostility does not = Peace!

Rep. Tom Davis Porker of the Month

the Citizens Against Government Waste CAGW has named Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) Porker of the Month for July 2006.

D.C. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) Porker of the Month for sponsoring a federal bailout of the Washington, D.C. Metro system. The National Capital Transportation Amendments Act of 2005 (H.R. 3496) provides $1.5 billion over 10 years to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

Congress has bailed out WMATA three times since 1967, costing a total of $6.2 billion. A series of reports in The Washington Post in June 2005 detailed how Metro mismanaged $1 billion in projects. Metro spent $383 million purchasing faulty new subway cars that broke down and needed repairs as often as the old ones they were replacing. Hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted renovating cars and escalators many of which were made worse than before.

The public transportation system of only one metropolitan area should not be funded at the exclusion of others. The national debt stands at $8.4 trillion and the War on Terror has no end in sight. Pedestrian and bike improvements for Metro stations simply do not take precedence over genuine priorities and will further exacerbate Congress’ out-of-control spending.

If WMATA needs repairs and improvements, it should be paid for by passenger fares, local governments, and competitively awarded federal grants. WMATA can also cut costs with market-based reforms implemented through competitive contracting programs. The subway system must prove that it can properly administer its budget before being handed a gift from taxpayers to make up for the money it has squandered. The $1.5 billion rewards Metro for past mismanagement and will give it less incentive to straighten up its practices.

Congratulations Congressman Davis here’s hoping you and your friends get the message and change your ways. Maybe saying ”Pork is not my friend” 20 times a day will do the trick? – I’m not holding my breath!

Al Gore’s not so carbon-neutral lifestyle

"But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed"

Says Peter Schweizer’s recent piece about Al Gores hypocrisy on the subject of Man-Made Global Warming and living a carbon-neutral lifestyle called "Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe."

The USA Today article outlines some very interesting facts:

For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.

Also as executor of his family’s trust Algore could at anytime sold the hundreds of thousands of dollars of (oxy) stock, Occidental Petroleum a controversial company who have been accused of drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

And apparently his hypocrisy knows no bounds as the Gore’s get a 20,000 dollar a year royalty check from Pasminco Zinc as a result of their home in Carthage sitting on a Zinc mine. According to the article ”Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River”

For someone who shouts that the sky is falling and that we all have to completely change the way we live you’d think he’d have already made these changes? Here’s a tip Mr. Gore; if you’re going to tell us what to do you have to make these changes before someone calls you out!

This is just one more in a long laundry list of examples of the hypocrisy coming from the left. Not to say we on the right don’t have our share of hypocrites but in comparison the left takes the cake. The reason for the lopsided numbers is simple, conservative live by the same set of ideals they advocate for others. The liberals want the people to do as they say and not as they do!