The hearing and vote in the California Senate Judiciary Committee on California Assembly Bill 585 sponsored by Assemblyman Duval has been pushed back until tomorrow so we still have some time to call the 3 Democrats that hope to kill the bill.

AB585 will extend the same protections that famous celebreties like Tim Robbins, Susan Surandon, and Tom Cruise to our fallen heroes, who in my opinion deserve it more than the others mentioned!  It makes it illegal to use the names or likeness’ of our fallen heroes for commercial gain without the express written consent of the families of those fallen heroes.

 

Please call:

Senator Ellen Corbett        916-651-4010

Senator Mark Leno             916-651-4003

Senator Dean Florez           916-651-4016

And let them know that if our fallen do not deserve the preservation of their good names then none of the celebrities do either!!

 

Semper Fi!!

Tonight’s show will follow the article that I posted about stealth health care. I felt that it was important to keep you advised of how our Democrat led Congress will slip through health care funding for people who are in the country illegally.

Click here to listen to the show.

The article we will be talking about is here.

We will be on air at 7pm Pacific!

His Brother’s Keeper
A new movie shows life as it is for our soldiers at war.
By WILLIAM MCGURN..
If you are one of those Americans who believe that we are not really at war with terrorists, Jake Rademacher has a message for you. Actually, what he has is a film about an ordinary family from Decatur, Ill., that has two members serving in Iraq. It’s the kind of film that will give you a new appreciation for the men who make Independence Day possible.

The two soldiers here are Capt. Isaac Rademacher and Sgt. Joe Rademacher, a fact that makes this war highly personal for their filmmaker brother. Isaac is a West Pointer who married another West Pointer, and Joe is a sniper who graduated at the top of his class in Army Ranger school. Older brother Jake wants to know why they fight, and so he takes his camera to Iraq “to find my brothers’ war.”

Though “Brothers at War” focuses on the Rademachers, they nowhere pretend to be the model family. While Isaac and Joe are off risking their lives in Iraq, another brother, Thad, loses his life to drugs at home. It all makes for sibling relationships that can be close and distant at the same time.

Of the two in uniform, Joe is more reticent about talking about his experiences for the camera, and more skeptical about what his brother could have learned there — at least during his first, relatively brief embed. As Jake puts it, “Joe needs me to have some confirmed kills, [and] then maybe I can sit next to him at the dinner table.”

Over the course of 110 minutes, the film takes us back and forth from Iraq to the home front. The actual fighting is minimal, and politics is completely absent. In some ways, the flatness provides the emotional punch: Watch Isaac kissing his wife and child goodbye before he boards a plane for his latest deployment to Iraq — and then try telling Mrs. Rademacher that her husband is not so much fighting a war as participating in an “overseas contingency operation.”

The scenes in Iraq have a similar feel, less about capturing the big firefights with the enemy than putting faces on the grunts doing the hard work that needs to be done. However many news accounts you may read about what these men go up against every day, it can’t compare to hearing a National Guardsman sitting atop a roof in the Sunni Triangle speaking with great relief about the time he didn’t squeeze the trigger — the moment he realized that the terrorist with an AK-47 in his sights was a child with a toy.

While many reviewers apparently find Mr. Rademacher’s presence in the film irritating and wonder why there isn’t a visual of a wounded or dead American, the military families who have been flocking to this film have a different reaction. When they see Mr. Rademacher in his Kevlar helmet and vest sweating away in the oven-like interior of a Stryker combat vehicle, they see what life is like for their husband, son, or brother.

When Mr. Rademacher shows soldiers cleaning their guns as they watch videos of the TV series “The OC,” they get a picture of how their loved ones relax. And when they hear that Pennsylvania Guard unit getting the news about a soldier that has been killed by a foreign sniper, they share the frustration — and the desire to get the guy responsible.

Though neither pro-war nor antiwar, this film does offer something that probably explains why one reviewer dismissed it as “achingly patriotic”: It shows our soldiers and Marines as professionals. In short, there are no victims here, just decent men doing a tough job. In New York, Washington and Los Angeles that may not sound like exciting fare. But in places like Oceanside, Ca., Savannah, Ga., Kileen, Texas., Norfolk, Va., etc. — cities that are home to our military families — “Brothers at War” speaks to audiences filled with people who know firsthand what it is like to have a husband or brother in Iraq.

Though it does have its patriotic moments, they are quiet and hard to draw out from men who would rather joke about their cheating girlfriends back home. While spending five days with a reconnaissance unit reporting on foreign terrorists crossing through the Syrian border, Mr. Rademacher asks the men he is with why they fight. A young Army specialist named Christopher MacKay says he’s fighting for a better life for his nieces.

Mr. Rademacher presses him: Would it be worth it if it ends up costing you your life? Spc. MacKay answers matter of factly. “Yeah, I’d give my life for America any day. Wouldn’t think twice.”

That’s not John Wayne speaking. That’s a young man who knows what he signed up for, knows why he signed up, and knows who he’s fighting for. In an America where Michael Jackson’s death gets more press coverage than a Medal of Honor winner, it’s sure nice to see at least one camera filming men who really matter.

Write to MainStreet@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A13

Qaeda Warns France of Revenge For Burka Stance 
 
Jun 30 11:42 AM US/Eastern
 
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing threatened on Tuesday to take revenge on France for its opposition to the burka, calling on Muslims to retaliate against the country, the US monitoring service SITE Intelligence reported.
Earlier this month, President Nicolas Sarkozy said the burka, which covers the whole face, was not welcome in the strictly secular country.

“Yesterday was the hijab (the Islamic headscarf long banned in French schools) and today, it is the niqab (the full veil),” Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was quoted as saying.

“We will take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters against France and against its interests by every means at our disposal.”

The group also called on Muslims to retaliate for what it called French “hostility” against the community and its attempt to obstruct Islam’s practice on its territory.

“For us, the mujahedeen … we will not remain silent to such provocations and injustices,” Abdul Wadud said without elaborating, according to SITE.

“We call upon all Muslims to confront this hostility with greater hostility, and to counter France’s efforts to divide male and female believers from their faith with a greater effort … (by) adherence to the teachings of their Islamic sharia.”

He said Muslims in France, who are estimated at around five million, are “increasingly concerned about the practices of French politicians and leaders and their harassment”.

On June 22, Sarkozy said the burka was not a symbol of religious faith but a sign of women’s “subservience,” adding that the head-to-toe veil was “not welcome” in staunchly secular France.

The French National Assembly set up an inquiry into the rising number of Muslim women who wear the burka.

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community and faces a dilemma between accommodating Islam and maintaining secularism. In 2004, it passed a law banning headscarves or any other “conspicuous” religious symbols in schools to uphold a separation between church and state.

Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri criticized the law, saying the decision showed “the grudge the Western crusaders have against Islam.”

France is the only state in Europe to have such a ban.

It is not known how many women wear the burka in France.

The majority of Muslim clerics around the world do not regard wearing the burka, unlike the head cover, as a religious obligation under Islam.

This is a poem that was emailed to me.  You can replace Marine with Soldier and it would apply, but I’m not gonna!!  Semper Fi!!!

  

By Michelle Malkin • June 30, 2009 10:41 AM

Obama’s ground troops are back. The ACORN criminal racket has moved away from illegally breaking into homes back to mobbing financial institutions. Today:

Protesters in more than a dozen cities across the country are demanding that a group of mortgage companies who benefited from federal bailout money participate in a government program designed to prevent foreclosures.

They say the companies should sign on to the Obama administration initiative called “Making Home Affordable.” The administration estimates it could help up to 9 million financially troubled homeowners stay in their homes…

The protests are scheduled Tuesday in 14 cities, including Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami. They’re organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN.

Last time the ACORN housing entitlement mob was out and about, they helped send a foreclosure auctioneer to the hospital with chest pains.

Your tax dollars at work.

(Michelle Malkin)

By Bill Roggio June 30, 2009 9:34 AM

US and Afghan forces have stepped up attacks against the Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan over the past several days. More than a dozen fighters have been killed and 21 more were captured, including a commander, during airstrikes and raids since June 27.

The US military reported that “more than a dozen militants” were killed during a series of airstrikes against “a pair of command bunkers” in a mountainous region in Khost province near the border of Pakistan.

Targeted in the airstrikes were senior Haqqani Network leaders who are “responsible for aiding in the movement of foreign fighters through the Khost-Gardez Pass and throughout Afghanistan.”

Yesterday’s airstrikes have been accompanied by a series of raids against the Haqqani Network.

Today Afghan police detained 11 Haqqani Network fighters during an operation in the Sabari district in Khost. Six of the fighters were captured while trying to escape wearing burqas.

On June 27, US and Afghan forces conducted a pair of operations in the mountainous Musa Khel district. US forces targeted a Haqqani Network commander in an airstrike. It is unclear if any fighters were killed. In a separate raid, Coalition forces detained six Haqqani Network fighters.

Also on June 27, Afghan and Coalition forces detained Said Marjan Jawed, a mid-level Haqqani Network tactical commander, and three of his fighters during a raid in the Zirok district in Paktika province. Jawed is “responsible for planning and leading ambushes and attacks in Paktika province,” the US military said.

The Haqqani Network took another hit yesterday when nine of its fighters, including three “foreign nationals” were killed in an explosion at an IED factory in the Yousuf Khail district in Paktika province.

Targeting the Haqqani Network

The US military has heavily targeted the Haqqani Network over the past month. Led by the respected mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj, the network is well organized in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqani Network has been behind some of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan.

Over the past month, the US military has targeted Siraj and also Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a senior deputy, several times in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On May 28, US and Afghan forces assaulted a heavily defended fort in the mountains in the Wor Mamay district in the eastern province of Paktika near the Pakistani border. Twenty-nine Haqqani Network fighters, including six failed suicide bombers, were killed during the raid. Sangeen, who was the target of the raid, escaped.

Siraj and Sangeen were also the targets of two US airstrikes inside Pakistan. In mid-June, the US conducted several strikes in South Waziristan. The strikes occurred after the US received information that Siraj was attending a high-level al Qaeda and Taliban meeting to advise Pakistani Taliban leader on his options against the Pakistani military [see LWJ report, [see LWJ report, Senior Taliban leaders targeted in yesterday's Predator strikes].

Sangeen was also one of several senior Taliban leaders, including Baitullah and his deputy Qari Hussain Mehsud, targeted in an airstrike at a funeral of a mid-level Taliban commander in South Waziristan.

The US military has identified the Haqqani Network as one of the most dangerous outfits in Afghanistan. The US government placed a $5 million bounty on Siraj earlier this year [see LWJ report, US places bounty on senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders].

Just as the US has finally admitted that Taliban leader Mullah Omar and his senior commanders are running their Afghan operations from Quetta in Pakistan, the Haqqanis have been labeled as operating from Pakistan’s tribal areas.

“The Haqqani network remains one of the most lethal Taliban organizations operating out of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” the US military admitted in its latest press release.

(Long War Journal)

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

BASRAH — Today is an important day for the people of Iraq. In accordance with Article Five of the Security Agreement between the United States and the Government of Iraq signed in Baghdad in November of last year, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are now responsible for securing their cities.

“As of today, U.S. combat forces will turn over the security of cities to Iraqi Security Forces, and begin a period where our primary security role is one of training, mentoring and advising the ISF,” said Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, commander, Multi-National Division-South. “Today’s ISF is capable, ready and dedicated to keeping the people of Iraq safe.”

Nash praised the dedication of the ISF as well as the proficiency of the U.S. and Coalition forces, and attributed the successful implementation of the Security Agreement to their actions.

“Iraq’s successes and significantly improved security are a testament of the ISF’s progress and its dedication to Iraq’s sovereignty,” said Nash. “The Iraqis have made strides in their ability to protect their citizens, and our brave Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines are doing a great job in helping them build both their security forces and their civil capacity.”

Nash said though U.S. Soldiers will no longer inhabit the cities of Iraq, American and Coalition forces will continue to support the ISF within the parameters of the Security Agreement.

“Leaving the cities does not mean that we are backing off; instead, it indicates our confidence in the Iraqis to safeguard their own citizens,” said Nash. “Likewise, the Security Agreement is a tangible, positive sign of a mature relationship between two sovereign nations.”

In accordance with the Security Agreement, U.S. forces will withdraw from all Iraqi territory by Dec. 31, 2011. Today will be remembered as a significant step toward the realization of that objective.

“So, on this important day of transition in Iraq, our two nations move forward together as friends, with the shared goal of the safety and security of the Iraqi people,” said Nash. “I am very encouraged about the future success of Iraq.”

(Story by Dave Lankford, Multi-National Division – South)

(MNF-I)

I was just made aware of the possibility that Marxist groups like La Raza and Children’s Defense Fund would influence Democrat lawmakers to try to sneak through health care reform provisions that would enable non-citizens to get health care.

These groups will not outright say in public that this is what they are trying to do. They understand that most Americans are against it and so these groups are forced to hide behind buzz words and catch phrases.

I can not independently verify what the caller to the June 25th, 2009 Mark Levin Show said is factual, but lets take a look at the words of two organizations, known for advocating “civil rights”, for similarities and maybe we can separate the wheat from the chaff.

The allegation is that these groups are using buzz words like “all” and “streamline”. The caller to Mark Levin’s show claims:

And then they would say things like “you must go out into your communities, use words like ‘streamline’, use phrases like ‘all workers’ and ‘all families’,”

Lets see if we can find any of that rhetoric from La Raza or Childrens Defense Fund.

Here is a press release from the National Council of La Raza from June 15th, 2009:

“As our nation’s leaders consider health care reform in the coming weeks, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, strongly urges President Obama and Congress to make every effort to ensure that health care reform reaches all communities. No single community stands to gain as much from this important debate as Latinos. In the U.S., one out of every three uninsured persons and roughly 40% of all uninsured children are Latino. NCLR stands for health care reform that makes coverage affordable and accessible for everyone—all families and all children.”

Here is an article from Marian Wright Edelman, National President of Children’s Defense Fund:

“This Is Congress’s Chance to Fix the Health Care System for All Children

Release Date: June 26, 2009

I urged the Subcommittee to institute a system of streamlined enrollment for children that will identify and enroll all children.

Hhmmmm, okay. So the buzz words are there. Interesting isn’t it? But let’s look a little further, shall we?

Here is another claim from the caller “Suzanne” on the Mark Levin’s show from June 25th.

“Menendez’ office said that he’s going to make sure that “a family of four that makes $66,000 a year or less will pay nothing at all for the new health care. And he was the one who said he was going to get rid of specifics like “citizenship status” and focus on, quote, “equity for all workers”.”

Here is what La Raza CEO Janet Murguia said in a June 15th, 2009 press release:

“NCLR cautions, however, that the positive impact of several reform proposals on the table may be undermined by additional measures that would severely restrict access to health coverage by mandating new, expensive verification and documentation procedures. “This debate should be about health care for all, and setting the nation on a pathway to future health and well-being. Adding layers of immigrant verification and bureaucratic red tape to a new health care system would guarantee that millions of citizen children are effectively barred from accessing preventive care and would raise the cost of health care,” NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía noted.”

Here is what CDF National President Marian Wright Edelman said about “verfication” of citizenship within a health care bill:

“Today, each state sets its own income eligibility levels for CHIP and Medicaid within broad federal guidelines. This has resulted in a profoundly inequitable patchwork of eligibility across the United States. Congress has the opportunity to eliminate the unjust lottery of geography that leaves one-third of our nation’s children enrolled in 50 different state systems, each with different rules about eligibility, enrollment and recertification. …Many other barriers such as face to face interviews and less than 12 months continuous eligibility should be prohibited.”

So, I guess we can infer that what the caller “Suzanne” is referring to is true. These organizations seek to promote amnesty and enable illegals to receive education and health care benefits.

Western Marxist theory says that in a capitalist system, the minority is oppressed by the majority. This is why we saw a surge of “black studies”, “chicano studies”, and “women studies” in our society. They are Marxist tools to promote division and “injustice” within our culture. They successfully changed American thinking from “Equality of Opportunity” to “equality of people”. Racism is their way of getting you to step away from your own culture and beliefs. When that happens, our society collapses and these Marxists can affect a “worker’s revolution”.

Be advised. Communism preys on our country through hyphenated names and “rights” outside our Constitution.

h/t to Directorblue and SDMM

JOHN BOEHNER SLAPS DOWN WAXMAN -- PART 5

You can watch the previous 3 parts HERE

So, let me see if I have this right. Sotomayor voted that blacks (even if less qualified) should be promoted over whites? And why doesn’t this surprise me? Does she look down on blacks? That is a pretty low opinion of someone to say, in effect, that they will not be good enough so we should promote them anyway. Welcome to the evil side of ‘affirmative action’ people.

Sotomayor reversed again

EDITORIAL: Firefighters can be promoted regardless of race

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Martin Luther King can rest easy. His dream is being protected by the Supreme Court – against and over the opinion of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

The high court’s landmark decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the New Haven, Conn., firefighters case, is a dramatic stride toward the cherished goal of achieving a colorblind society. In Ricci, the court told us that people of ability can succeed regardless of skin color, and government bureaucrats seeking racially biased outcomes can be thwarted in their racist designs.

The linkage to Judge Sotomayor comes at a critical time during her nomination process. She was the leading voice on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which affirmed the lower court ruling against the high-scoring firefighters. This drops her record to 2 for 6 before the highest court, and she probably is the most overturned nominee to seek the high bench in history.

Commentaries on the case almost universally stress that the victors were “white” firefighters, not those who scored highest on the race-neutral test. But skin color should never have been at issue. New Haven went to great lengths to ensure that the test for promotion to captain would not be racially biased. The city was vexed in explaining the outcome, overlooking the obvious conclusion that those who were implicitly promised promotions based on race did not feel the need to compete.

Contrast this attitude to that of lead plaintiff Frank Ricci, who is dyslexic and spent thousands of dollars to have test-preparation materials read on tape and studied for months. If the people who had scored poorly on the test had put that much effort into preparation, perhaps they would have done better. Instead, they were going to be given a do-over because they chose not to try.

The issue should not be who is the most racially acceptable candidate for promotion but who is best for the job. Public safety should not be held hostage to race norming. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent – that in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, “Congress endeavored to promote equal opportunity in fact, and not simply in form” – is unconvincing. She would require racially balanced outcomes in every single test regardless of the steps taken to ensure equal opportunity and regardless of the actual performance of the people taking it.

When the results in New Haven did not give the anticipated outcome, the city balked and canceled the promotions, presumably until it could devise another test with a politically correct result. If Justice Ginsburg and others of her persuasion were intellectually honest, they would simply come out in favor of racial quotas rather than going through this legal charade.

The case is another illustration of Judge Sotomayor’s biased view toward jurisprudence. There are numerous examples, from her 1994 comment that “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion” than a white judge, to her lengthy 2001 exposition on the centrality of ethnic identity to her decision-making, “A Latina Judge’s Voice.” A close examination of the 300 boxes of materials from Judge Sotomayor’s years as a lawyer with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund would no doubt lend even greater insights into her views on the importance of ethnically weighted outcomes. The danger of the contents of these 300 boxes of information is one reason why Senate Democrats are hell-bent to rush through her hearings before the record can be revealed.

Most Americans, including a majority of Democrats, side with the high-scoring firefighters in the Ricci case because their plight spoke to the American sense of fair play. Those same Americans would not approve of Judge Sotomayor’s inherently biased approach to justice, and Senate Democrats do not want to take the chance that they will find out. Once their hurry-up offense puts Judge Sotomayor on the bench, she will be free to enshrine her racially biased views into case law for decades.

The New Haven firefighters who did well on the promotion test played by the rules. They did what was asked of them to advance their careers and provide for their families. They prepared; they studied; they excelled. They competed fairly on a level playing field and came out on top. But honest achievement is not valued in Judge Sotomayor’s America.

In Judge Sotomayor’s America, people are judged by the color of their skin, not the content of their character. In Judge Sotomayor’s America, ability and the drive to excel are sent to the back of the bus. In Judge Sotomayor’s America, justice only applies to those to whom she says it does. In Judge Sotomayor’s America, white men need not apply.

H/T to James Robbins with The Washington Times

28/06/2009

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has arrested eight local British embassy staff, media reports said on Sunday, a move that will further exacerbate strained ties with the West over the post-election turmoil in the Islamic republic.

It is the latest retaliatory action against Britain, which Iran has accused of stoking the unrest that swept the country after the disputed election that returned hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

“Eight members of the local staff at the British embassy who had a considerable role in the recent riots have been arrested,” the Fars news agency said without quoting a source.

Last week, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned that Iran may downgrade ties with Britain, after the two governments expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move.

Iran has also expelled the BBC correspondent in Tehran and arrested a British-Greek journalist, as well as a number of other British passport-holders it says were involved in rioting.

The latest backlash against the West came as opposition leaders in Iran kept up their defiance of the regime, rejecting a panel set up to hold a partial recount of ballots cast in the June 12 vote.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad’s strongest rival, is still insisting on a new vote while another defeated candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, has demanded an independent panel to probe irregularities.

Their defiance flies in the face of the nation’s top political arbitration body the Expediency Council, which has urged all candidates to cooperate with the panel set up by the electoral watchdog the Guardians Council.

The streets of Tehran appeared quiet on Sunday, with the authorities warning they would suppress any further protests over the vote that triggered the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Facing its biggest threat in 30 years, the Islamic regime has sought to quell the disquiet over the election results by ordering a partial recount.

The Guardians Council, an unelected body of 12 jurists and clerics, said Friday it would create a special committee of political figures and candidate representatives to recount 10 percent of the ballots and draw up a report on the vote.

But Karroubi, a reformist former parliament speaker who came a distant fourth, said in a letter to the Guardians Council that a partial recount was “not enough” and called for an independent panel to probe “all aspects of the election.”

Mousavi rejected the panel outright on Saturday, while the other defeated candidate, Mohsen Rezai, has agreed to be part of the panel if Mousavi and Karroubi also agree to nominate representatives to the body.

But Mousavi, who has spearheaded the massive public opposition to the vote, has demanded a rerun, refusing to be cowed by a persistent crackdown by the authorities against his supporters and even an aide turning against him.

“Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 percent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people’s trust and convince public opinion about the results,” he said on his campaign website.

“I insist again on cancelling the election (results) as the most suitable way out of the problem,” he said.

Mousavi, who was prime minister in the post-revolution years, won just 34 percent of the vote against 63 percent for Ahmadinejad, a gap of 11 million votes, according to official results.

Despite ordering a partial recount, the Guardians Council said no “major irregularities” have so far been found and the election was the “cleanest we have had.”

At least 17 people have been killed in clashes with security forces, according to state media. However, foreign media are banned from the streets under new restrictions imposed in the wake of the election.

The authorities have also rounded up scores of reformist leaders, journalists and political activists, many of them Mousavi supporters, while a party office has been raided and his newspaper closed down.

While Britain has been at the forefront of Iran’s accusations of Western meddling, Ahmadinejad on Saturday unleashed a new tirade against US President Barack Obama, saying: “He who spoke of reforms and changes, why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?”

On Friday, Obama said Iran’s “outrageous” crackdown on demonstrators would hit his hopes for direct talks with the Islamic republic after three decades of severed ties.

“There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks,” Obama said.

However, Obama said talks between Iran and world powers over its nuclear drive are likely to continue.

The United States and other Western countries suspect Iran of secretly trying to build an atomic weapon, charges repeatedly denied by Tehran.

On Friday, foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading powers said they “deplore” the post-election violence in Iran, the regional Shiite powerhouse and OPEC’s second largest oil exporter.

(Asharq al Aswat)

JOHN BOEHNER SLAPS DOWN WAXMAN -- PART 4

You can watch the previous 3 parts HERE

EDITORIAL: Obama bluffs on defending Hawaii

Monday, June 29, 2009

July 4 could be another day that will live in infamy. The Obama administration seized headlines June 18 when the Defense Department stated that the United States would deploy ground- and sea-based missile-defense assets to protect Hawaii. This was a response to North Korea’s threat to launch a long-range missile on July 4 toward the islands. However, new information suggests that the administration is bluffing and our defenses are inadequate to get the job done.

Missile-defense expert Taylor Dinerman told us that the sea-based SM-3 missiles now deployed to “protect” Hawaii are not equipped with adequate software and communications to intercept a missile traveling from North Korea to Hawaii, which would reach a terminal velocity of Mach 23 to 25. The SM-3s are effective only against targets traveling at up to half that speed. It would take about $50 million to upgrade the software to enable a Mach 25 intercept. The Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile, which also has been activated after successful tests at Barking Sands on Kauai, “doesn’t come close” to being effective against this type of threat, Mr. Dinerman said.

The Obama administration is stuck in the past on missile defense, repeating worn-out arguments about unproven technologies and destabilizing effects. The Defense Department’s 2010 budget proposal cut missile defense by $1.2 billion, and congressional Democrats rebuffed Republican attempts to restore the funding. Justification for the cuts was led by Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, California Democrat, who is the newly confirmed undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Ms. Tauscher will play a major role in missile-defense policy.

The cuts include scaling back the number of interceptors based at Fort Greely, Alaska, from 44 to 30. This cut is hard to justify given the proximity to North Korea and the fact that these interceptors actually could bring down one of its missiles (which may explain why Pyongyang is aiming for Hawaii). The Airborne Laser program has been downgraded to a research-and-development effort despite a recent successful test of its target-acquisition system. Taxpayers have invested about $5 billion to bring this advanced technology to the point of fruition.

The Obama administration also has cut funding for the European missile-defense shield, leaving our allies in Poland and the Czech Republic in the lurch after they took a major political risk to support the program. A February Congressional Budget Office study of the proposed European deployment concluded that “none of the alternatives considered by CBO provide as much additional defense of the United States.” This retreat makes the United States appear weak before Russian bluster, which doesn’t put U.S. leaders on the best footing on the eve of a July 7 Washington-Moscow summit.

Missile defense should be central to the U.S. strategy to dissuade, deter and, if necessary, defeat threats. Instead, we are unilaterally disarming, which only strengthens the strategic logic for our adversaries to produce more missiles. Current policies encourage countries like North Korea, Iran and Syria to move ahead with advanced missile and weapons-of-mass-destruction programs that promise more bang for the buck than expensive conventional forces.

The Obama administration’s hostility to missile defense is inexplicable. The missile threat is growing, and defensive technology is increasingly effective, yet the Obama team has dug in stubbornly behind a losing strategy that emboldens our enemies and places us in greater danger. No wonder Hawaiians are nervous.

H/T to James Robbins with The Washington Times

The John Boehner Vids are important, but this takes precedent…

Semper Fi/Hooah Brother hold a seat at the pub for me I’ll get there when I get there, but beers are on me!!

To Fight Another Day, Taliban Cede Swat Valley to Army
 
Sydney Morning Herald
June 29, 2009 
 
For the past six weeks the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach towards the heartland of the country.
 
Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, which is now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land.
 
All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without much of a fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say.
 
About 2 million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign.
 
A suicide attack on Friday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir showed the Taliban are able to switch their field of operation within Pakistan. A spokesman for the insurgents said the blast, which hit an army vehicle, killing two soldiers, was in retaliation for military operations against the militants in the north-west.
 
Hakimullah Mehsud, a spokesman for the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, said: “We warn the Government to stop the operation and air strikes in Waziristan, otherwise we will continue such attacks all over Pakistan.”
 
The Government’s reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from Washington, which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.
 
But the Taliban’s decision to scatter leaves the future of Swat, and of Pakistan’s overall stability, under continued threat, military analysts say.
 
Signs abound that the military’s campaign in Swat is less than decisive. The military extended its deadline for ending the campaign. Even in the areas where progress has been made, the military controls little more than urban centres and roads, say those who have fled the areas. The military has also failed to kill or capture even one top Taliban commander.
 
Meanwhile, the Government has yet to announce a full plan for how it will provide services such as courts, policing and health care that will allow the refugees to return home and the Government to fully assert control.
 
General Nadeem Ahmad, the commander of the Special Support Group, an arm of the Pakistani military that is providing temporary buildings and some food for the displaced, appeared to be sceptical that those aspects could be delivered within what he called an essential one-year time frame. He said he had warned the leaders, “If you don’t deliver, it will be trouble. You will come back and do the operation again.”
 
(H/T Viper Ash)

If It’s Monday Night It’s “Infidel’s Watch” Night
Jun 29th, 2009 by drillanwr.

On tonight’s show:

The first half hour we go over our views, and experiences, with nationalized healthcare.

I have thoughts on the government having control over any aspect of your decision making in healthcare and treatments for you or your family.

I’ll give you my thoughts …

Peg/LftBhndAgn @ Chandler’s Watch has had some negative experiences with healthcare, here and in socialized Great Britain.

Howie @ Chandler’s Watch will touch on what it will mean to your private insurance companies that Obama and Co. swear you’ll be allowed to keep … but will they be there?

Second half of the show we’ll tie it all together with the recent “crap and tax” bill that no one has read, especially those who voted for it … and how this government is in a major power grab move over “We The People”.

Join us @ 7:00pm PT … 9:00pm CT … 10:00pm ET

Listen to Infidel’s Watch here.

And phone in with your thoughts and information. @ (646) 929-0416

To Marine Ken Reusser: God bless you. I am now envious that you will be standing in your blues with some great Marines up there in Heaven. Semper Fidelis, Sir!

June 28th, 2009, by Flag Gazer

Retired Marine Corps Col. Kenneth L. Reusser has passed away and been laid to rest in the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. The Patriot Guard Riders were there to honor him.

Reusser was called the most decorated Marine aviator in history and was shot down in three wars in the Pacific theater during World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Colonel Ken Reusser’s distinguished combat record:

• flew 253 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was shot down in all three, five times in all.
• 59 medals included two Navy Crosses, five Purple Hearts and two Legions of Merit.

Ken Reusser enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a seaman recruit on August 23, 1941, and entered flight training. In April 1942, he completed flight training, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, and in May 1942 left for the Southwest Pacific. Upon arrival at Guadalcanal, was assigned to VMF-122, flying the F4F-3. On his first combat mission, he was credited with a probable kill of a Mitsubishi “Betty.”

In October of that year, he was injured during a ditching and spent 6 months in a hospital.

Ken returned to the Pacific in 1944 flying F4U’s from USS Hollandia, (CVE 97) off Okinawa. He led a flight of Corsairs intending to shoot down a Japanese KI-45 “Nick” high-altitude photo reconnaissance airplane gathering information for the day’s Kamikaze flights. With altitude frozen guns, the only weapon left was the Corsair itself. Ken and his wingman severely damaged the tail of the KI-45 with their propellers. It entered a graveyard spiral, breaking up before hitting the water. Ken and his wingman shared the kill. Each was awarded the Navy Cross.

In 1950, Ken found himself again in combat, flying F4U’s from USS Sicily, (CVE 118). He was awarded a second Navy Cross for making two very low-level passes down a street to identify, through a building’s windows, what was hidden inside. He then led a flight back, destroying the target. Exiting the area, with only 20mm guns remaining, he made a firing pass on a ship moored to a camouflaged pier. Loaded with fuel, the ship exploded, flipping the Corsair inverted. After righting the airplane, Ken returned to USS Sicily where the severely crippled F4U was pushed over the side for being too damaged to repair.

During the Vietnam War, Reusser flew helicopters. He was leading a Marine Air Group in a rescue mission, when his own “Huey” was shot down. He needed skin grafts over 35 percent of his badly burned body. He retired from the Marine Corps in July 1968 due to his combat wounds.

Reusser raced motorcycles to help pay for college and earning a pilots license before World War II. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he worked for Lockheed Aircraft and the Piasecki Helicopter Corp. He remained active in veterans groups.

Reusser is survived by his wife, Trudy; and sons, Richard C. and Kenneth L. Jr.

H/T to Flag Gazer.  Semper Fi!

(All Military.com)

JOHN BOEHNER SLAPS DOWN WAXMAN -- PART 3

 You can see the previous parts here

Need I remind you folks that this women and the entire City Council of Detroit is racist and complete lost as far as what they should be doing to the citizens of Detroit. But then again, you get what you vote for!
March 2009 – Detroit City Council Told Whites To “Go Home”

Rep. John Conyers announced this week that his plan to investigate ACORN was dropped because “the powers that be” decided against it. I bet Monica Conyers won’t even do time if she is found guilty. Hhhmm.

By Ben Pershing
The wife of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge today and now faces a likely jail sentence after being implicated in an investigation of corruption on the Detroit City Council.

Monica Conyers, the city council’s president pro tem, pleaded to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery, admitting that she took thousands of dollars in cash payments in exchange for her vote in favor of a $1.2 billion city sludge-hauling contract for Houston-based Synagro Technologies, Inc. A former official with the company and another Detroit businessman have already pleaded guilty in connection with the scandal.

Monica Conyers is currently free on personal bond, and it’s not clear whether she will keep her position on the council until she is sentenced. According to the Detroit News, Conyers’ attorney believes she faces 30-37 months of prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Federal prosecutors say she faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Conyers reportedly had also been under investigation for allegedly accepting $40,000 worth of jewelry from a pawn shop owner with business before the city council. Today’s plea agreement did not reference those allegations, and prosecutors said their investigation is now closed.

John Conyers, meanwhile, declined to talk to reporters in the Capitol today, and his office provided this statement from a spokesperson: “This has been a trying time for the Conyers family, and with hope and prayer they will make it through this as a family. Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. With this in mind, Mr. Conyers wants to work towards helping his family and the city recover from this serious matter.”

In his capacity as Judiciary chairman, John Conyers is the lead House official conducting oversight of the Justice Department and the FBI. A Judiciary panel spokesman would not entertain a question on whether Conyers recused or considered recusing himself from any matters under the committee’s jurisdiction while the investigation of Monica Conyers was underway.

Terrence Berg, the U.S. attorney in charge of the investigation in Michigan, told the Detroit Free Press: “I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers’ husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers’ illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way.”

John Conyers isn’t the first Michigan House member to have a relative face legal trouble. In September, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D), son of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D), pleaded guilty to lying under oath and resigned from office after being accused of trying to cover up a sexual affair with a former aide.

(Washigton Post)