Tony Blankley
EXPLAINING THE PURPOSE OF VICTORY
In Iraq, as military and security conditions continue to improve, American war politics enters one of its stranger moments in our history. Certainly it is historically odd for war reporting to diminish almost to the point of public invisibility -- just as our troops are starting to gain the upper hand. Typical of recent polling is the Pew Research Center poll from Dec. 27, which shows that about half the country thinks the military effort is going very or fairly well (up from 30 percent). Despite such optimism, by 54 percent to 41 percent (virtually unchanged from February's 53 percent to 42 percent), the public wants our troops to come home rather than stay! This polling data suggests that if the Democrats don't see the war as a winning issue, neither can President Bush - for the public now tends to think we are succeeding, but it doesn't think it is worth the effort and would like us to leave pretty soon, anyway. There would seem to be no higher communications task for the president and his supporters during the coming months than to make a better case that the success that may well be within our grasp is not only worth persisting over now but also that, even knowing what we know now, the war was worth the effort from the beginning.
THE BIGGEST GLOBAL STORY SINCE 9/11: THE DEFEAT OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM
As 2007 drew to a close, embarrassed journalists sought to play down American military successes and avoided questioning Democrat presidential contenders about their predictions of inevitable failure in Iraq. Magically, Iraq disappeared from the headlines - except on those rare occasions when a problem could be reported. At the close of a year of stunning progress, media stories on New Year's Eve leapt to report that 2007 had been the deadliest year for US troops. You had to read deep into the columns to learn that those casualties occurred in the first half of 2007, as we battled and defeated the terrorists and militias - or that, in recent months, American and Iraqi casualties have plummeted as a relative peace broke out. The greatest media story of 2007 was the one you never read (unless you read To The Point): 2007 was a strategic catastrophe for Islamist terrorists - and possibly a historic turning point in the struggle against al Qaeda and its affiliates.
A BAD NEWS QUIZ
How much did the federal budget deficit rise in 2007? Answer: It did not rise, it got much smaller. The deficit has been declining rapidly for the last three years and is now only about 1 percent of gross domestic product, which is far lower than the average deficit for the last half-century. Left-wing ideologues, such as Paul Krugman of the New York Times, have been predicting for years that the Bush tax cuts would lead to ever-growing deficits. Wrong again. When did the recession of 2007 begin? Answer: It never started. CNN and other news media are quoting polls showing many Americans think the economy has been in a recession. But the economy has grown in every quarter of 2007, and employment is at a record high, despite the subprime mortgage problem and the rise in oil prices. Economic growth in 2007 will be more than 2 percent - not great, but not a disaster or a recession. The reason so many think the U.S. is in a recession is the unbalanced reporting about the economy from many in the left-leaning media who overly report the comments of Bush-hating politicians and the bad, but not the good, numbers.
OBAMA IN KENYA
Barrack Hussein Obama Junior will not win or lose the Democrat Party's presidential nomination in Iowa or New Hampshire or elsewhere in the US. He'll win or lose it in Kenya. That he'll lose it there is the fear of his campaign advisors who wear green eye-shades. That he'll win there is the hope of his campaign advisors who have both brains and cojones. Last week in The 2008 Carpe Diem Filter, we noted that an ideal presidential candidate would be someone who knows how to carpe diem - who looks at problems as opportunities, who would best be able to recognize and maximize the opportunity in a crisis. Fate has just given Obama such a make-or-break opportunity. Will he confidently use it, or will he wimp out, showing the world he's not the hero of his believers' mythology, but the Obambi phony his detractors claim?
THE GOP RACE ONE WEEK BEFORE IOWA
[We welcome legendary political strategist Arnie Steinberg to TTP, whom we hope to have as a regular columnist advising us throughout the 2008 campaign. I have known Arnie since 1966 when he helped me lead Youth for Reagan during Ronald Reagan's triumphant campaign for governor. Arnie has created or advised hundreds of political campaigns at all levels, written two graduate texts on politics and media, and is an expert in every phase of campaigns, especially free/earned and paid/advertising media. He has produced, written and directed television and radio commercials for many candidates, ballot measures and issues. He has conducted more than 1700 surveys and focus groups. I asked him to set the Republican parameters as we go into Iowa and New Hampshire. We are privileged to have him be a part of To The Point. ---JW] Once the Republican nominee is chosen, we will be told what the turning point was in his campaign. And history then will be rewritten about how inspired it was. The reality is there are few brilliant campaigns; typically, the winning campaign is the least bumbling. So let's handicap the GOP aspirants a week before Iowa - Paul, Huckabee, Romney, Thompson, Giuliani, and McCain - from a campaign standpoint. I can tell you there'll be some surprises.
IS SPAIN BREAKING APART?
Madrid, Spain. Spain has been one of the great democratic and economic success stories of the last three decades. But there is now some reason to fear for its future. The Spaniards have moved in two generations from conservative church-going Catholics to some of the most socially liberal people on the planet (the Californians of Europe). Recent surveys have shown the Spaniards to be among the happiest people on Earth. In sum, Spain seems to have everything going for it. There are problems, however, big problems in paradise.
CHARLIE WILSON AND RONALD REAGAN’S WAR
This picture was taken during my wedding on May 25, 1986. The ceremony took place at the villa of a friend of mine in St. Tropez, France. My bride was a gorgeous California redhead named Rebel Holiday (yes, her born name). The dapper gentleman you see between us was serving as my best man. The reason he doesn't look like Tom Hanks is because he's the real Charlie Wilson. So it was a strange experience for me to see the movie Charley Wilson's War, a movie portraying events I participated in, to see how it was both true and not true at the same time. Hanks portrays Charlie as the hero he really was. A larger-than-life America-loving Communist-hating true blue patriot who used his power and influence to the max to stick it to the Soviets big time. That Hollywood would make a major motion picture about a genuine Anti-Communist hero, about a noble Anti-Communist triumph over the Evil Communist Empire of the Soviet Union is morally thrilling. The movie is magnificent. Not taking anything away from the magnificence, it is also ludicrous. http://www.rebelholiday.com/
THE 2008 CARPE DIEM FILTER
I personally believe that neither The PIAPS, Obambi Hussein, nor the Breck Boy have any reasonable chance of getting elected. And I cannot take seriously a Preacher Boy candidacy by another Arkansas populist con man. Yet when I think how America dodged a bullet from the likes of Algore and another from F'n Kerry, it's also hard to believe that Providence will push us aside from still another. Fortunately, Providence has always watched over America in spite of itself. For that to continue, the most minimal requirement for a president is to resist the liberal compulsion to apologize for America's existence in the world. We can upgrade the requirement to a determination to defend America's national security. The ideal requirement would be a president who knows how to carpe diem - who looks at problems as opportunities to pro-actively advance America's security and interests in the world. There will be plenty of such opportunities in 2008 and the following years of the next presidency. Let's judge our choice of candidates on who would best be able to not just defend in a crisis, but to recognize and maximize the opportunity in a crisis to America's benefit. One such crisis has just presented itself in Pakistan. Here are three more examples headed down the 2008 pike:
2007 IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
2007. What a ride. What a finish. Just this week, a guy I once beat in arm-wrestling makes Time Magazine Man of the Year (I told the story way back in October of 2003 in Arm Wrestling With Russia - and I sure agree with Mitt Romney that the award was "disgusting."). It's just too delicious that up on Drudge right now (10am 12/21) is the British Guardian story about Putin's $40 Billion fortune. You learned about that last February in The World's Richest and Most Dangerous Gangster, which was updated a month ago in Pro-Communist Conservatives. A country I said back in April of 2005 was going to break apart (Bye Bye Bolivia) is now right on the brink of it. CNN is reporting Four Bolivian regions declare autonomy from government. Right on schedule this week, the fellow I said last April who would get elected president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, in Regime Change in Korea did so in a total landslide. I expect all of what I predicted in that article to come to pass next year: And on the domestic front, I hope you're all reveling in the marvelous John Edwards Love Child Scandal detailed in this week's National Enquirer. Particularly since you learned those details last October in The Breck Boy Is Cleared From The Presidential Field. Little Johnny is toast, just as predicted. Yet for all of the above, this week was just getting warmed up.
THE YEAR OF GLOBAL COOLING
Al Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards. Antarctica is getting colder. Unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007. Johannesburg, South Africa, had the first significant snowfall in 26 years. Australia experienced the coldest June ever. South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. Last January, $1.42 billion worth of California produce was lost to a devastating five-day freeze. In April, a killing freeze destroyed 95 percent of South Carolina's peach crop, and 90 percent of North Carolina's apple harvest. Extreme cold weather is occurring worldwide. On Dec. 4, in Seoul, Korea, the temperature was a record minus 5 degrees Celsius. If you think any of the preceding facts can falsify global warming, you're hopelessly naïve.
BLUENOSES ON STEROIDS
I suppose it's possible that there are things I could care less about than Barry Bonds taking steroids. The latest antics of Britney Spears or the fate of contestants on one of those Survivor television shows, maybe. But the whole Bonds "scandal," the whole Mitchell Report bloviation about "rampant performance-enhancing drug use" in professional sports, baseball in particular, ranks near the top of my list of news items in the So What? category. Except there's something about it that really bugs me. Nanny-state ninnies sticking their bluenoses into none of their business. Fascist prosecutors trying to put people in jail for lying about something that's no crime. Increasingly louder demands for more intrusion into athletes' lives, for wrecking their careers, for their unending investigation, for their punishment. Someone needs to tell the bluenoses, from George Mitchell to George Will, from every insufferably puritanical sportswriter to every self-important airhead sportscaster to shut up. Or else the real fascists, the ones in Congress who have the capacity to shove government guns in our faces, will use the "scandal" - as they do with every other such opportunity - as an excuse to restrict the freedom of us all.
HELPING RAMOS AND COMPEAN HAVE A HAPPIER CHRISTMAS
For many conservatives, the most infuriating outrage of the Bush Presidency has been the prosecution and imprisonment of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in the ass. It is the drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and the federal prosecutor, Johnny Sutton, who belong in jail, not them. For defending our border from mass foreign invasion, Ramos and Compean will be spending Christmas in solitary confinement, rather than with their families. It's hard to think of a more Christian, a more pro-American thing you could do this Christmas than send them a message of support and a donation to their wives and children. Here's how:
A FATAL LIBERAL HANDICAP
The most consistent theme running through liberal-left opinion since September 11, 2001, has been concern for the well-being of the enemy. The latest example is the contrived scandal over the CIA destroying tapes of interrogations of two captured terrorists. The first instinct of responsible members of Congress is to fulfill their duty to protect Americans from attack. Now they are pushed by ideological zealots to not only accord foreign adversaries "rights" that will protect them from effective U.S. counteraction but to harass their countrymen on the front lines in this deadly conflict. Indeed, for a liberal, the entire concept of an adversarial "us and them" is to be rejected. Adversaries are just people whom we have not taken the time to understand. Nothing could be more fundamentally wrong as a basis for dealing with the real world. An unwillingness to differentiate between friend and foe is a fatal handicap in making national policy.
REAGAN ON RUSHMORE
There is a growing movement among conservatives to have the image of Ronald Reagan carved into Mount Rushmore, joining George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. To facilitate this noble goal, former Congressman (and accomplished photographer) Fred Eckert and artist Ted Williams have created photo-art that realistically depicts what Reagan on Rushmore would actually look like: 
They are offering gallery-quality prints that are display ready - no frame necessary, just put it up on the wall. The photo-art is good enough to fool a gullible liberal. "Haven't you heard? Reagan's on Rushmore now - there's the proof!"
TO THE POINT BEACH PARTY!
OK, it's all set. We gave you a heads up two weeks ago in Sarasota Rendezvous. Now the details. The To The Point Winter Rendezvous will be from Friday February 8 to Sunday February 10 at the Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort in Sarasota, Florida. We have blocked a number of rooms at amazing rate of $199 (that's for a double or less than $100 per person, and realize, this is right on the beach at the highest of high season, when everyone wants to escape from February snow and ice to Florida sunshine). To reserve yours, just click on the Rendezvous picture on the TTP home page (top of the left side bar) or click here for Rendezvous Reservation. The cost of the Rendezvous itself is $285. That includes dinner Friday and Saturday nights, breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings, and all meetings and activities. There will be in-depth briefings and discussions by me and To The Point stars such as Jack Kelly and Dr. Joel Wade. And of course, there is the wonderful fun of getting together with your fellow TTPers. We'll do so right on the beach with its world-famous white sugar sand - sunset beach parties with a bar set up on the sand just for us.
DICK CHENEY’S SILVER LINING TO THE INTEL REPORT FRAUD
As one who believes that diplomacy ought to be how to most persuasively say "Nice doggie!" until your sniper gets the range, I've never had much regard for the pinstriped weenies infesting our State Department. Today this specifically includes the three of them who wrote the nonsensically sensational National Intelligence Estimate on Iran - Thomas Fingar, Kenneth Brill, and Vann Van Diepen. But no matter how dubious its findings or motivations, the geopolitical reality is that it has taken the military option for dealing with the threat of Iran off the table. Yet the threat remains. There is only one solution for the geopolitical problem that is Iran: regime change. The current mullacracy ruling Iran must be replaced, removed from power. The only question is how. Not militarily, and not democratically, for the mullahs will never allow free elections. The only viable option for achieving regime change in Iran is revolution from within. Which brings us to the civil war in the White House between Condi and Cheney. This NIE debacle is her doing. And he sees a silver lining in it.
WE’RE NOT IN 2006 ANYMORE, TOTO
If you want to see a bunch of really happy folks who think Christmas has come early for them and can't wait for the coming new year, come to the Capitol Hill Club, the power watering hole for Republicans in Washington. There, you'll see GOP Congressmen, Senators, and their top staffers all slapping each other on the back and saying, "We're not in 2006 anymore, Toto," or "2006 is like, so over." Happy, happy guys n'gals. And why shouldn't they be? The President's got their back and they've got the hapless Dems by the short hairs. It's fun to be in DC this December. What's that? Do I hear you saying in a tone of cynicism, "Yes, Jack, but the Pubbies never know that when you've got your foe on the ropes, you put him down on the canvas. As always, they'll let the Dems off the ropes rather than finishing them off." There's a lot of history to justify such cynicism. Arguing that it's different this time is like the definition of a second marriage: the triumph of hope over experience. Yet there are three good reasons for such hope:
A RELIGION FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN ROMNEY’S
Most religions contain beliefs and practices than adherents of other religions consider off-the-wall weird. But no matter how strange stuff like wearing sacred underwear may seem to some (there's actually an official site explaining it: Mormon Underwear), it's very hard to see how the religion of Mormonism is dangerous to our national security. Mitt Romney's speech yesterday (12/06) should dispel any real concern that his faith somehow disqualifies him for the presidency. I encourage you to read his speech entire, for it's impressive. Yet there is a religion that is in fact a grave danger to America, and believing in it should disqualify anyone aspiring to the presidency. It's not an alien faith of foreign invention like Islam, but homegrown, originating right here in the US. Among the members of its church are many of our country's most prominent citizens, including several presidential candidates. I refer, of course, to...
THE CLINTON COW IN THE CHINA SHOP
Hillary Clinton has been playing a dangerous game with China. After over a decade of illegal contributions to the Democratic Party and special favors to the Clintons by the Chicoms, Hillary has turned on her old Chinese friends and sold them out in a desperate bid to win in 2008. The American dollar and economy have suffered collateral damage in this Clinton double cross with China. "Chinagate" was the name for numerous illegal campaign contributions from the PRC to the Democrats that helped them to win the 1996 elections. As you may remember back in 1996, the Clintons apparently traded missile secrets to China via Loral in exchange for donations from the PRC. Thus when Hillary started her run for president, she was in a position to count on the support of the PRC. Poor residents of Chinatown were making large donations to Hillary. She was getting numerous suspicious donations from Chinese operatives including Norman Hsu and the Paw family on the west coast, and also from numerous suspicious donations from the East coast. This might have continued in a simple repeat of the 1996 election scandal if Hillary had any loyalty to her PRC benefactors. However, the reality was that she had more to gain from selling them out than continuing the game. Consider the benefits to turning on her former friends:
TO THE POINT CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
I'd sure like to make a suggestion for an ideal Christmas gift for someone you really care about: a membership in To The Point! Just click on that link and you can sign up a friend for a wonderfully memorable and enlightening month's membership for less than ten bucks - or for those you really care about, a full year. I'd also like to suggest you consider products made by your fellow TTPers. There's WineStar crystal wine glasses offered by Ed & Susan Sanders. They beat Reidel hands down. You won't believe how much better wine tastes with Ed & Susan's stemware. They make a great way to celebrate the Christmas-New Year's holidays, any other holiday, and life every day. Alex & Laurie Alexiev have 800 olive trees on four acres on their ranch near Paso Robles, California that produce the best-tasting, highest quality olive oil you've ever had. Their Allure Estates Liquid Gold Tuscan-style extra-virgin oil has now won numerous awards. You can gift yourself with a bottle, as well as your friends. Then there's my sister Judy (an avid TTPer!), with her marvelously illustrated children's book, Jessica The Furry Baroo, that's such a fun way to impart a love of nature and the critters in it to kids. Of course, there's Dr. Joel Wade's new book, Mastering Happiness. What a great gift for anyone you want to be happy!
THE ISLAMOFASCISTS’ TRILLION DOLLAR TROJAN HORSE
Suddenly, a new national debate is beginning about the national security, economic and other implications of Persian Gulf potentates using their petrodollars to buy up strategic American assets. Most recently, the Emir of Dubai's purchase at fire-sale prices of 4.9 percent of the largest U.S. bank, Citigroup, caused a level of unease not seen since he tried to buy his way into many U.S. port facilities. Almost completely unremarked thus far has been a parallel - and in many ways far more insidious - effort to penetrate, influence and dominate America's capital markets: so-called "Sharia finance." Some estimates suggest an amount nearing one trillion dollars is now being invested around the world under this rubric. If trends continue, all other things being equal, such funds may grow to many times that amount within a few years. As one Islamofascist puts it, Sharia investing is simply "financial jihad against the unbelievers."
HEALTH FASCISM
Paul Krugman, Princeton economist and columnist for The New York Times, has no problem with coercing people to do what they'd rather not do. So it's no surprise that he favors the universal health case system advocated by Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. He is worried, however, that under the more modestly coercive system advocated by Barack Hussein Obama, "healthy people could choose not to buy insurance-then sign up for it if they developed health problems later." Under Hussein Obama's system, argues Professor Krugman, "People who did the right thing and bought insurance when they were healthy would end up subsidizing those who didn't sign up for insurance until or unless they needed medical care." The old free rider problem, nothing very novel at all. Yet the problem arises only if there is coercion involved in the first place.
THE NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE
"Hey, Jack, when's your next expedition and where to?" That's the question, or variants of it, I'm asked most. For a while now, I've been frustrating a lot of folks who've been bugging me for an answer because I've been unable to give it. Now I can. I've been leading expeditions to remote places in the world for over a third of a century, and during all that time I had a dream of an ultimate way to experience the world, an ultimate set of adventures and expeditions. Now that dream is coming true. Suppose you wanted to traverse the entire length of the Nile River, all 4,000 miles from source (Jinja, Uganda where it exits Lake Victoria) to mouth (Alexandria, Egypt, where it enters the Mediterranean). Or visit the most exotic, the most untouched islands in the South Pacific or the Indian Ocean. How would you do it? You'd have to charter a boat, for a lot of money, and take a lot of time - week upon week, even a month or two. What if there were a way to do it in days? Quickly, comfortably, at substantially less cost than a boat charter yet seeing and experiencing more than from the surface of the water? The world would open up to you in a way impossible before. That's the dream. But how? The answer is...
OUR KIND OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
The current Attorney General for the State of Florida is Bill McCollum. After being a Congressman representing Florida's 5th District for 20 years, he ran for Senate in 2004 only to be screwed by Karl Rove, who wanted Bush's buddy Mel Martinez. Thus we have the pro-illegal alien Martinez in the Senate - but at least Florida lucked out to have McCollum bounce back to be elected its AG last year. How lucky can be seen by a letter McCollum wrote this week (12/03) in his official capacity to the president of the University of Florida. American universities are today dominated by professors and administrators who viciously attack any attempt at giving their students a pro-America education. Finally, here is one state attorney general who has the guts to legally prosecute such viciousness. America needs more Bill McCollums. Here is his letter:
SARASOTA RENDEZVOUS!
Get ready for a To The Point Winter Rendezvous on the sugar-sand white beaches of Sarasota. The dates are Friday February 8 to Sunday February 10. A lot of TTPers are putting a lot of effort into making this work, so that it will the most successful and the most fun Rendezvous so far. Sarasota is Florida's unknown gem. The Ringling Brothers made the place and for years it was the winter headquarters of their famous circus. It's on Florida's west coast 56 miles or an hour's drive south of Tampa (so getting there with direct flights or from Tampa International is easy). It's famous for its white "sugar-sand" beaches, gorgeous sunsets, and many cultural activities, but hasn't got the crowds of snowbirds many other places in Florida have. We'll be updating you with schedules and costs, but we wanted you to know now: Beach Party Rendezvous, 2/8-10, 2008. We are going to have a great time. See you in Sarasota!
SURPRISE! DEMOCRATS STRIVE TO MAKE SUBPRIME MESS WORSE
The global financial problem, stemming from the U.S. subprime mortgage mess, is a direct result of the irresponsibility and incompetence of the U.S. Congress That Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been engaging in Ponzi scheme with taxpayer-subsidized money is obvious to anyone - even Congressmen - due to a series of major accounting and financial corruption scandals in recent years. Politicians have used the board positions in these organizations to reward political cronies (e.g., the fired and indicted head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, was Bill Clinton's Office of Management and Budget director). Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been very major contributors to congressional campaigns. But rather than clean up the mess they created by getting back to market basics, Democrats in Congress decided last week to make the mess much worse.
WHAT IF THEY WENT HOME?
Recently, Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News, wrote a column titled, Mexican Visitor's Lament. She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while she was visiting Denver. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes....what happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?" That's a good question --- it deserves an answer. Over 80% of Americans want secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million vacated America? For starters here in California where I practice law, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupted hospitals and overrun prisons.
PRO-COMMUNIST CONSERVATIVES?
This Tuesday, November 27, a weird full-page ad appeared in The Washington Times directly targeting conservatives. Its headline in big bold print: U.S.-Russia: Toward a political, economic and military alliance. It was paid for by an outfit called america-russia.net. It's not clear if these folks are on the KGB payroll, but they might as well be. They seem to be the same group of Blame America First Conservatives I wrote about back in July of '05: the folks at American Conservative and antiwar.com infected with the disease of Anti-Semitism, who hate Israel more than they love America, who root for America's defeat in Iraq. Now they're rooting for the KGB Billionaire Mafia that runs Russia. Last February, you learned that Putin is The World's Richest and Most Dangerous Gangster, the most corrupt ruler in world history, having accumulated a personal fortune of over 20 billion dollars - and control over thousands of nukes. You also learned that Bush and Cheney were contemplating exposing Putin's billionaire corruption. There's been a lot of debate in the White House about this, but it looks like the first salvo has finally been fired.
SNIPE HUNT FOR PEACE
Karl Marx was an evil fool, but he did utter an occasional witticism - such as history does get repeated: "The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." You can imagine his bitter laughter if he had witnessed Condi's Farce in Annapolis this week. There have been a number of first times, efforts of bottomless naiveté to "achieve peace in the Middle East." It's hard to believe, after all of this, that Condi Rice and her boss can be so actually naïve to think another Snipe Hunt for Peace is anything but. Annapolis, however, is Condi's show, not Bush's. He's not that naïve to bet his legacy on a snipe hunt. Texans know what a snipe hunt is. So he let Condi stage her extravaganza, delegates from 49 countries including a gaggle of Arabs from such places that don't recognize Israel as Bahrain, Qatar, Morocco, and Pakistan. The main achievement was they all agreed to continue talking. In the Middle East, continuing to talk is considered close enough, like in horseshoes and hand grenades. But if the talk is to actually accomplish peace between Israel and her neighbors, then three requirements have to met. First, it's got to use the actual word in Arabic for "peace," not the phony substitutes.
ISLAMOFASCISM THROUGH THE FINANCIAL BACK-DOOR
Since September 11, 2001, the men and women of the U.S. Department of the Treasury have worked tirelessly to identify and cut off sources of financing for terrorist organizations and other threats to our national security. However, their efforts are now taking place alongside an emerging financial trend that could threaten our national security in ways not yet fully grasped: the penetration of Islamofascism-tainted countries and radical Islamists themselves into Western financial markets and other Western strategic industries. The problem consists of two elements.
THE NEXT CARTOON FREAKOUT
A white South African political cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro, famously controversial in his country, got really upset the other day when the editor, Tim Du Plessis, of a popular South African magazine, Rapport, fired one of his writers, Deon Maas, for writing a column calling for tolerance towards believers in satanism. Shapiro draws his cartoons under the pen name Zapiro - and the one he drew in anger towards Du Plessis has ticked off a major fraction of the entire population of South Africa. This just happened, with Zapiro's cartoon appearing in the November 21 edition of the Mail & Guardian newspaper day before yesterday. It's unlikely, however, that there will be Christian riots in Joburg, or elsewhere in the world, protesting Zapiro's comparing the Holy Trinity to the Easter Bunny - or Hindu riots in Delhi over comparing Shiva to the Tooth Fairy - or Jewish riots in Jerusalem over comparing Yaweh (Jehovah) to Zeus. That's because these folks are mostly grown-up adults who just wearily shake their heads at juvenile attempts to ridicule their religion. But you can bet on folks who have never grown out of the Dark Ages to engage in yet another violent world-wide temper tantrum over comparing Allah to Casper the Friendly Ghost, and worse, actually depicting Allah in a scribbled drawing. So sit back and get set to enjoy the next great Mooselimb Cartoon Freakout. Here's Zapiro's cartoon:
HILLARY’S LAUGHABLE EXPERIENCE
For months, Mrs. Hillary Clinton has hinted that Sen. Barack Hussein Obama, less than three years into his first Senate term, lacks the preparation to deal with U.S. foreign policy challenges. In a speech last Monday (11/19), she suggested the nation's budget deficit, income inequality and lack of comprehensive health coverage also required a more experienced steward. As the Associated Press reported: "The economy needs help and fast, Hillary Rodham Clinton declared Monday, claiming the experience for the job and saying the nation can't afford to break in a newcomer... ‘There is one job we can't afford on-the-job training for - our next president. That could be the costliest job training in history,' Mrs. Clinton said. ‘Every day spent learning the ropes is another day of rising costs, mounting deficits and growing anxiety for our families. And they cannot afford to keep waiting'." Good grief. What plausible claim does Miss Hillary have to experience in managing a national economy, balancing a budget or fixing income inequality? Even on health care, according to her husband, the aspiring "First Louse" (he wants to be called First Laddie, but I think the derivation from First Spouse works better) claims that she didn't have much to do with HillaryCare - it was his fault.
LOSING FAITH IN EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE
When the citizens of Eastern Europe rejected communism 18 years ago they were inspired by dissidents who told them that people have a right to "live in the truth" and that democracy equaled liberty and justice. Now, 18 years later, democracy is in crisis in Eastern Europe, where people have come to realize that they have not gained truth, freedom or justice. Eastern Europe is going through the same crisis of political disillusionment as Western Europe. While in Budapest last week, I read the German-language Budapester Zeitung. It had a front-page article about the adoption of a bill against hate speech. This is the same bill that the European Union is imposing on all its member states. It restricts the freedom of the people, who are no longer allowed to say things that might be deemed offensive by "ethnic, sexual, religious or other minorities." In Western Europe this legislation is not merely used to prosecute genuine racists, but is increasingly abused to clamp down on those who oppose the Islamization of their countries or on those who disapprove of homosexual behavior. Here in Eastern Europe, authorities wish to do the same, putting in place legislation to silence the defenders of Hungary's national identity and traditional morality.
DEMOCRATS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Most Americans clearly want their government to secure the borders and enforce immigration laws. They understand what many elected officials still don't: rewarding lawbreakers with amnesty only encourages a new flood of illegal immigrants. In September, New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain New York drivers' licenses. The proposal has been sharply criticized across the nation. A recent poll found 77 percent of Americans oppose drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants. The public outcry ultimately forced Mr. Spitzer to withdraw his proposal, but the damage was done. With the 2008 elections less than a year away, senior Democratic leaders and members of Congress are desperately trying to strike the right tone on immigration. But efforts by Democrats to toughen talking points against illegal immigration are disingenuous at best. In fact, Democrats and various interest groups have never been serious about reducing illegal immigration. In the last two years, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted against almost every piece of legislation aimed at reducing illegal immigration. For example:
THANKFUL FOR AMERICA WITHOUT GUILT OR FEAR
All my life, I have always thought it was the coolest thing on planet Earth to be an American. I have been to something close to 200 countries and political jurisdictions in the world, and whenever someone asks me, "Where are you from?" it is a special thrill to be able to answer, "America - I'm an American." Thanksgiving is the unique American holiday. We share Christmas and Easter with every other Christian nation. Most every country celebrates its Independence Day, and the birthdays of their founding heroes. Thanksgiving is ours, where we give our deepest thanks to Providence for the extraordinary gift of America to mankind. Other countries have their special times to celebrate their uniqueness, when their citizens take justifiable pride in their country's achievements, and all to the good. Thanksgiving is America's Day, the time when all Americans - all - get to celebrate the achievements of the most successful society in human history. Tragically, however, there are two groups of Americans for whom Thanksgiving will be bleak. Liberals and pessimists. The purpose of Thanksgiving is to be thankful for being American. Thankful with no buts. This is the day to celebrate the goodness of our country - the moral goodness, the moral decency of American institutions, American history, and the character of the American people. No whining and moaning about what happened to the Indians, or about slavery and poverty and racism. No buts. Think that liberals can do this? Let's see.
SOROS REPUBLICANS TO THE RESCUE?
I've heard it from more than one COS (Chief of Staff) of Republican Senators now, and the buzz is growing among Capitol Hill staffers in the House as well. Word is that a number of "Soros Republicans" are about to step up to the plate. Big time. The term is unfortunate, attaching the name of scumbag George Soros to patriotic Americans. What is meant by it is that just as Soros opened up his billion dollar wallet for the Dems, so billionaire Republicans are about to do the same for the GOP. It's about time. The Democrats' 2008 campaign is going to be the most vicious attack on America ever conducted. The recent ad blitz for local and state elections earlier this month was a taste - one over-the-top character-rape of Republican candidates after unending other. The RNC (Republican National Committee) estimates that the Dems will raise and spend - via the Clinton machine, Soros-type donors, the labor unions, the moonbats - two billion dollars to capture the White House and keep control of Congress. Finally, the Pubbies are waking up to the danger.
THE SHIA ANTI-IRAN ALLIANCE
TTPers have known for many moons now that the American military is winning a tremendous victory in Iraq. This week, Tony Blankley and Jack Kelly provide updates in Declaring Victory and Declaring Defeat. The media is finally and begrudgingly acknowledging the reality of victory. So far, however, the focus has been entirely on the defeat of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Yet this has been a two-front war, a war to terrorize and destabilize Iraq waged not just by AQI, but by Iran. Now we learn that not only is terrorist violence vanishing in Sunni regions of AQI focus, but in Shia regions of Iranian focus. AP is reporting that Basra violence is down 90%. America's victory in Iraq means that both Al Qaeda and Iran have been defeated... simultaneously. Now here's a question to consider: Was this George Bush's goal all along? Iraq as a two-fer! Let's not go there, though. Let's focus instead on the consequences of defeat in Iraq for Iran. They are very grave. One of the gravest examples is the emerging Arab Shia Anti-Iran Alliance.
REAGAN 21: Applying RR’s Principles to the 21st Century
It's been nearly 20 years since Ronald Reagan left the presidency. Yet, even people who don't remember his presidency (or his governorship in California) as I do, have positive views of his legacy. Yes, he lowered taxes and ended the Cold War. But we remember him for even more than that. He stood unwavering by his principles, his personal integrity was never in question and he had that immutable optimism. Today, Congress has a record-low approval rating of 11 percent. Republicans lost the majority in part because they spent too much, had ethical lapses and did not deliver on illegal immigration and other issues. The people put Democrats in charge, but they have disappointed even more than Republicans. Americans are crying out for leadership with principle, integrity and courage. They want to believe again in an optimistic vision for America's future. Reagan 21 is the project of a group of about 20 senators and representatives to provide that fresh, bold leadership.
DECLARING VICTORY
It has become obligatory for both pro- and anti-war commentators to never mention the possibility of victory in Iraq. The most that anti-war people will admit is that the surge has gained a temporary military advantage in a war that cannot be won militarily. The most pro-war commentators will claim is that they see the possibility of "success" perhaps, maybe, someday, somehow. But as of Veterans Day 2007, I think one can claim a very real expectation that next year the world may see a genuine, old-fashioned victory in the Iraq War. In five years we will have overturned Saddam's government, killed, captured or driven out of country almost all Al Qaeda terrorists, suppressed the violent Shi'ite militias and induced the Sunni tribal leaders and their people to shun resistance and send their sons into the army and police and seek peaceful resolution of disputes. And we will have stood up a multisectarian, tribally inclusive army capable of maintaining the peace that our troops established.
Chapter Thirty-Two: “WE HAVE KILLED MALINCHE!”
[After an absurdly long bout of inexcusable procrastination, Chapter Thirty-Two of The Jade Steps in finally here. There are only two more chapters to go: The Sowing of the Whirlwind, and La Malinche, followed by an Epilogue. The end is in sight!] The Jade Steps Chapter Thirty Two: "We Have Killed Malinche!" Cortez lay awake in his bedchambers at his headquarters in Tepeaca. He and his forces had returned from Huaquechula in time to celebrate All Saints Day and pray to those who had achieved the beatific vision in heaven that this "ultimate end of human existence" might possibly be granted to them when they die. That was yesterday. Today, they held the Feast of All Souls Day, to pray for those departed Christian souls being cleansed of their sins in purgatorium. For some reason, he had felt an unusual uneasiness during the prayers at Mass, which he expressed to Doña Marina. Now he was even more uneasy, for where was she? Gone on one of her evening learning expeditions. This one was taking too long. He wished that she was next to him right now. Suddenly she was. She had burst wordlessly into the room, quickly removed her dress, and snuggled up to him in their bed. A look into Cortez's eyes told her what he had been thinking. And when he looked back into hers, he knew something was wrong. He waited for her to tell him.