Not satisfied with calling US troops stupid, via his now infamous 2006 remarks, the European wannabee Sen. John Kerry has now blasted the entire United States of America. But, then he also did that in the 1970s. Speaking from one of the “world’s stages”, this time in Davos, Switzerland, Kerry firmly placed his horsy hoof in his mouth—again—when he referred to the United States as “a sort of international pariah .” Note: John Kerry is one of the few US citizens who actually is a pariah.

Not satisfied with that lunacy, Kerry then advocated diplomacy with Islamic terrorists as a way to ensure national security! Kerry stated: “We need to do a better job of protecting our interests, because after all, that’s what diplomacy is about, But, you have to do it in a context of the reality—not your lens but the reality of those other cultures and histories.” Yeah! That’s a great idea, Mr. Kerry. Affect diplomacy with Iran who has vowed to Islamize and destroy the West—in particular, the USA. Heck, the Islamization process is already underway. Despite the fact that Iran’s leaders have said multiple times that they will NOT indulge in any sort of diplomacy (except our unconditional surrender) shouldn’t—we know it won’t—deter you. Just keep kneeling in a supplicant manner and begging them. If you decide to convert to Islam, they might even deign to listen to you—albeit briefly. Question: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Sen. Kerry actually understood history and the lessons it has tried to teach us? Kerry then continued to say that we foolish and less-than-intelligent US citizens only view the world “exclusively through an American lens.” We darned Americans are an extremely pesky bunch in Kerry’s view–from his jaundiced eyes. Kerry’s eyes have reflected cynicism, for virtually everything, for a very long time.
(continue reading post »)

Allow me to make a politically correct Associated Press article semantically accurate. Let’s look at the original article.

Gunmen Slay Shiite Official in Baghdad (AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Drive-by shooters on Sunday killed a high-ranking Shiite official at the Iraqi industry and mines ministry in western Baghdad, the ministry said.

Eight gunmen in two cars blocked the way of Adil Abdul-Muhssin al-Lami, who served as a general director of the ministry’s engineering directorate, as he was traveling in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Dakhiliya.

His 27-year-old daughter, who was an engineer at the ministry, a colleague and driver also were killed in the attack that occurred as al-Lami was heading to work.

Insurgents are relentlessly targeting high-ranking Iraqi officials who are seen as collaborators with the U.S. forces.

Last Wednesday, Iraq’s higher education minister, a Sunni, escaped an assassination attempt after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade as he was traveling in southern Baghdad, killing one of his guards and seriously wounding another.

This pains me that I have to do this after 9/11 but some people still believe the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will protect us. Allow me to present you with the edited rendition:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Drive-by shooters Terrorists performed a drive-by shooting on Sunday killed resulting in the death of a high-ranking, innocent, Shiite official at the Iraqi industry and mines ministry in western Baghdad, the ministry said.

Eight gunmen terrorists in two cars blocked the way of Adil Abdul-Muhssin al-Lami, who served as a general director of the ministry’s engineering directorate, as he was traveling in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Dakhiliya.

His 27-year-old daughter, who was an engineer at the ministry, a colleague and driver also were killed in the attack act of terrorism that occurred as al-Lami was heading to work.

Insurgents Terrorists in Iraq, who come from all over the Middle East, are relentlessly targeting high-ranking Iraqi officials who are seen as collaborators with the U.S. forces Iraqis that are trying to better themselves and their great nation.

Last Wednesday, Iraq’s higher education minister, a Sunni, escaped an assassination attempt after gunmen terrorists opened fire on his motorcade as he was traveling in southern Baghdad, killing one of his guards and seriously wounding another.

Now read my version and the AP’s version and tell me which version is more honest and open.

Originally Posted at Conservative Thinking

Not if this Reuters article is right. They’re saying it will be operational within a year:

Within a year, the U.S. missile defense system should be able to guard against enemy attacks, while testing new technologies, the deputy director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Monday.

The United States activated the ground-based system last summer when North Korea launched one long-range and six short-range missiles.

North Korea’s intercontinental Taepodong 2 missile fell into the Sea of Japan shortly after launch but the short-range tests appeared successful, said Brig. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency.

This will be a great day for the United States. I suspect that other countries, especially North Korea, have taken notice. This also means that they’ll soon be refining existing technologies that will make this even more effective.

O’Reilly said work by North Korea and Iran on long-range ballistic missiles underscored the need for a viable U.S. missile defense system.

The war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants last summer also highlighted the dangers of ballistic missiles and their use by non-state actors, he said. “We know we must be prepared for all contingencies.”

I wonder if Reuters intentionally misquoted O’Reilly when they quote him using the term “Hezbollah militants.” I find it odd that a military commander wouldn’t call Hezbollah terrorists. Maybe O’Reilly said that. I just think that it sounds odd.

Technorati Tags: Missile Defense, Iran, North Korea, Taepodong, Hezbollah, Terrorism

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

As reported by the Pakistan Daily Times, speaking to an international audience in Davos, Switzerland today, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) blasted the United States by calling it “…a sort of international pariah.”

The statement came as the Democrat lawmaker responded to a question about whether the US government had failed to adequately engage Iran’s government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. Kerry said the Bush administration has failed to adequately address a number of foreign policy issues, speaking during a World Economic Forum panel discussion that also included Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi and Mohammad Khatami, Ahmadinejad’s more moderate predecessor as Iranian president. “When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy,” Kerry said. “So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East _ in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”

Kerry further stated:

Kerry criticized what he called the “unfortunate habit” of Americans to see the world “exclusively through an American lens.”

I don’t what other lens the Senator would like us to see the world through. (continue reading post »)

Thirty years after Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army, we remember the Vietnam War as a black hole from which we could not extract ourselves. It has become associated with such terms as “unwinnable,” “futile” and “quagmire.”

We owe a better remembrance for the blood-sacrifice our veterans made in this misunderstood war. In the Cold War, the belief was that if South Vietnam fell to the communists, then like dominoes all the countries of Southeast Asia would follow. While we may still debate the merits of our involvement there, everyone should agree our intentions there were noble.

In the 1950s, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem’s government was harsh and unfair to its people. Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader in the North, and was a popular hero for his resistance to the Japanese in World War II. Because Diem opposed communism, the United States chose to support him, but this put us in a tenuous position with the South Vietnamese people.

President Kennedy’s inaugural address best expressed the American outlook. “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

While these are eloquent words, we unfortunately were not prepared to follow through on them.

We had to confront communism, but do it within defined limits, and not attack into the North. Our fear was that China might intervene as they did in Korea in 1950. We confined our involvement in Vietnam in those years to military advisors.

By 1963, however, the insurgency had Kennedy reconsidering his support for Diem. Our first major blunder in Vietnam was Kennedy’s knowing involvement in the coup in which Diem was assassinated. At that point, the U.S. had become committed to South Vietnam’s defense. Johnson surely couldn’t abandon the country when Kennedy himself was assassinated just three weeks later. (continue reading post »)

This weekend, United for Peace and Justice held an anti-war rally on the Washington Mall. Based on their website, they saw this as a huge success:

January 27th was an extraordinary outpouring for peace in Washington DC and in communities all around the country. On Saturday, the National Mall was filled with the voices of 500,000 people committed to doing their part to end the war in Iraq and bring all of the troops home. And the energy in this massive turnout was electric.

If you’re wondering, Code Pink also sponsored this event. In fact, their pre-event press release tells us that Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Rhea Perlman were among the guest speakers expected to attend:

Women celebrities who oppose the Iraq war, including Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Rhea Perlman, Eve Ensler, Mimi Kennedy, and Q’orianka Kilcher will be featured at a women’s peace rally on Saturday, January 27th at 10 AM. The rally, sponsored by the national women’s peace group CODEPINK, will draw thousands of women from throughout the United States, most of them dressed in the group’s signature color, pink. After the rally, the women will join up with the tens of thousands of people participating in the United for Peace and Justice anti-war march.

Code Pink gave John Murtha an award for his anti-war position while UFPJ seemed to be the source for Murtha’s immediate redeployment policy.

It’s worth noting that Code Pink and UFPJ often coordinate their events with International A.N.S.W.E.R. These groups are as far outside the mainstream of American politics as east is from the west. It’s also worth noting the similarity between UFPJ’s Iraq policy and Murtha’s:

UFPJ: 1. Bring the U.S. troops home now.
Murtha: I believe we must begin discussions for an immediate re-deployment of U.S. forces from Iraq.

UFPJ: 2. Iraqi sovereignty must be reestablished immediately.
Murtha: We must insist that the Iraqis step up and seize their own destiny. (continue reading post »)

When I recently questioned the accuracy of Los Angeles crime statistics, I also alluded to “ethical lapses of (LAPD chiefs) Willie Williams and Bernard Parks.”

As if this story and this $15 million dollar verdict wasn’t enough, I received this note from Councilmember Parks’ Office the following day:

—-Original message—-
To: CaliforniaConservative.org
Subject: CaliforniaConservative.org - Contact Form
From: Office of Councilmember Bernard C. Parks
Councilmember.Parks@lacity.org>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 11:11:19 -0500

Office of Councilmember Bernard C. Parks wrote:

We read Clark Baker’s story “LAPD Explains the Numbers” and we were particularly interested to know what “ethical lapses” he was referring to when he mentioned Councilmember Parks.

Website: LAPD Explains the Numbers
IP: 75.49.108.66

My first thought was, “Why is he asking me?” I’m sure no one knows Parks’ deficiencies better than he does, unless some undiagnosed pathology prevents him from understanding the difference between right and wrong. So before he asks for the definition of the word IS…

Ethical Lapses

The law is well settled that confession of a defendant induced by fear of personal injury or hope of personal benefit held out by anyone in authority is not admissible in evidence.

Although the $15 million dollar verdict against the City of Los Angeles did not single out Bernard Parks, he was the chief who pressured the malicious prosecutions of Officer Paul Harper and Sergeants Edward Ortiz, and Brian Liddy during the Rampart Scandal. Parks admitted as much in this interview:

Even if the jury rejected (the case), it was worth the whole exercise of sitting those people through a criminal process, because they had violated their oath to that degree…

(Parks)… had to lead it for the officers in this department to know that it was not going to accept, or it was intolerable to allow officers to participate in this activity. It was important that the community saw that the police department was willing to do its job…

Ethical cops and prosecutors don’t charge individuals when the entire case rests on the uncorroborated statements from untested felons. Rafael Perez, who could have spent decades in prison, was offered five years to implicate other officers. No corroborative evidence existed against those officers, and Perez failed five consecutive polygraph tests while implicating them.

I understood Parks’ reasoning: The Rampart criminals were black and all had ties to criminal gangsters and the hip-hop culture. Several LAPD investigators had been reassigned after refusing to doctor questionable backgrounds of black police applicants. Since the 1980s, LA’s leftists had judged candidates by the color of their skin and not the content of their character. As an ambitious political animal, Parks wasn’t motivated to expose the liberal politics that led to the hiring of bad cops.

This is not to say that white or black officers are all good or bad. But affirmative action hurts good officers of color as well. Veteran cops expect that white male officers, who are hired despite the existence of anti-white racial barriers, are more likely to possess skills and values that their counterparts may not. Because of these hurtles, blacks and women are often expected to work harder to prove they bring more to the LAPD than their complexions and reproductive organs. If high standards were placed on all candidates, race would become irrelevant. (continue reading post »)

Democrats said a troop surge in Iraq would fail, but it’s already working. In reality, the “surge” is a reinforcement of troops. In 1993 when Bill Clinton was president, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin refused to send reinforcements to US troops in Somalia when the Army requested it, and as a result nineteen U.S. Rangers were killed in that military operation in Mogadishu. That’s an example of what not to do.

In Baghdad, death squad leaders loyal to the radical anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr are fleeing to Iran in anticipation of the “troop surge”.

Sadr has succumbed to a “cooperative tone” that surprises U.S. officials. With increased U.S. and Iraqi forces securing Baghdad, Sadr now says he will fully cooperate with the government as long as it is an “Iraqi plan by the government”.

If you can’t beat em’…..

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is encouraged by the exodus of terrorists from Baghdad saying:

“I know that senior criminals have left Baghdad, others have left the country. This is good — this shows that our message is being taken seriously.”

They aren’t the only ones taking the message seriously. Over the weekend, President Bush defended a Pentagon program allowing U.S. troops to kill or capture Iranian operatives in Iraq. The President said,

“It makes sense that if somebody’s trying to harm our troops, or stop us from achieving our goal, or killing innocent citizens in Iraq, that we will stop them.”

The U.S. will not cross the boarder into Iran and is still working diplomatically, for now, in dealing with the nuclear conflict.

Clueless as ever, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) insists that the President needs congressional approval for such a program because killing Iranians, who are killing U.S. soldiers and Iraqis, could “escalate this conflict” with Iran. Reid said Bush should be engaged in direct diplomacy with Iran rather than “sending battle carrier groups” to sit off the Iranian coast.

Diplomacy hasn’t exactly worked well with Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ajhmadinejad and Kim Jung Il. Patient diplomacy didn’t encourage Sadr to cooperate or death squad leaders to flee Iraq. Extending the olive branch rarely works; pointing a gun at their temples always does. (continue reading post »)

Robert Novak is reporting that John Warner has rejected Biden’s overtures:

The Democratic plan was for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden to sit down over the weekend with his longtime Republican colleague, Sen. John Warner, and hammer out a consensus bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s troop surge in Iraq. But Warner, who has been making backroom deals for 22 years in the Senate, informed Biden late last Thursday: No deal.

Warner wrote that the “will of the Senate” should be determined in “open” session, not closeted negotiations. That killed the Democratic leadership’s dream of passing a Biden-crafted anti-surge resolution by 70 votes or more. Such a proposal now cannot get the 60 votes needed for cloture to end a filibuster (and could fall short of the 50 senators needed for a simple majority). Conceivably, no resolution at all may be passed by the Senate.

Warner’s decision marks a turning point in the defeatist resolution debate. It’s also proof that bloggers and other activists have impacted the debate. (continue reading post »)

That’s what CBS News is reporting.

Kerry was asked about whether the U.S. government had failed to adequately engage Iran’s government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.

Kerry said the Bush administration has failed in addressing a number of foreign policy issues.

“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy,” Kerry said.

“So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East — in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”

We’re only isolated in Kerry’s mind. His accusations are more myth than fact. This is what happens when unserious people talk about serious issues. He’s also trying to sell myths to the Davos crowd, myths that they know aren’t truth. When he hints that it was President Bush that walked away from Kyoto, he’s gotta know that he was one of 95 senators who voted against it before President Clinton signed the treaty. Everyone in that audience knew that.

When Lurch says “when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa”, he must be talking about the Clinton administration because President Bush has earned high marks from international AIDS organizations for his administration’s policies.

The most outrageous statement he made, though, was saying that America is isolated in the world. In Kerry’s thinking, it’s all because we aren’t using diplomacy enough. That’s absurd. The truth is that Kerry is a pacifist appeaser. He has been his entire life in the Senate. He was a pacifist when Ronaldus Magnus installed Pershing missiles in Europe. In fact, Kerry predicted an escalation in the Cold War. Instead of an escalation, the Cold War ended when the people, not Mikhail Gorbachev, tore down that wall.

Kerry said the government needs to use diplomacy to improve national security. “We need to do a better job of protecting our interests, because after all, that’s what diplomacy is about,” he said. “But you have to do it in a context of the reality, not your lens but the reality of those other cultures and histories.”

What he’s talking about is anyone’s guess. The best time to use diplomacy is when the other nation is worried about our response to their reckless policies. I call it the Reagan Principle. You negotiate with the wind at your back. You don’t negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. When you negotiate just for the sake of negotiating, you can’t win.

Technorati Tags: Kerry, Kyoto, Ahmadinejad, President Bush, Reagan, GWOT

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog