Tony Blankley
DEMOCRAT VULTURES
David Ignatius, the highly esteemed journalist at The Washington Post, wrote a revealing column last week based on an extensive interview with Democratic congressional leader Rahm Emanuel. Here is the last paragraph:
The secret for the Democrats, says Emanuel, is to remain the party of reform and change. The country is angry, and it will only get more so as the problems in Iraq deepen. Don't look to Emanuel's Democrats for solutions on Iraq. It's Bush's war, and as it splinters the structure of GOP power, the Democrats are waiting to pick up the pieces.This is vulture politics. Rahm Emanuel's Democrat Party is so bereft of a sense of national responsibility, that he apparently feels comfortable brazenly telling The Post that his plans for his Democrat Party is to not even try to stop things from getting worse in Iraq - so they can pick up the political pieces afterward. His is a party of vultures.
ISLAMOCOMMUNISM
This past week, the chief proponent of Jihadi Islam and the use of terror to force people to believe in his religion, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, traveled to Latin America to create an alliance with three atheistic Communists: Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador. This emerging "Marxist-Islamist entente," as it has been described, has caught a lot of folks by surprise. How in the world, they ask, could Chavez toast Ahmadinutjob by hailing him as the leader of "a revolution kindred to the Venezuelan revolution: the Islamic revolution." What could the imposition of atheistic Marxism upon a society, Chavez's goal, have in common with the imposition of a theocracy? The answer must be, can only be for these puzzled folks, the bond of anti-Americanism. As an editorial in the conservative New York Sun expresses it:
That the left makes common cause with the Islamists is one of the bizarre facts of modern geopolitics. The only thing Marxists like Messrs. Chavez, Ortega, and Correa have in common today with the likes of Mr. Ahmadinejad is a hatred of America. That is the foundation on which the Marxist-Islamist scheme is formed and the motivation behind any actions it carries out.
The New York Sun is almost infinitely superior to the New York Times in its understanding of the world. It is well aware of the dangers of the alliance of Marxists and Islamists to America's national security. Yet the common bond between the two is far, far deeper than a simple emotion of hate. The bond is as deep as you get. It is metaphysical. That is because Marx and Mohammed share the same view on the nature of reality.
COAL AND KYOTO
There were a lot of responses to and questions about Arabia in America. After discussing them, we'll discuss how "global warming" is just a scam to de-industrialize America and has nothing to do with cutting world-wide CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. John Boland made a very informed and cogent case for the safety and practicality of nuclear power. Ryan M. asked about the role of natural gas, in light of The Natural Gas Solution from last May. Bill Gregory mentions the trillion barrels of oil in Colorado and Wyoming that can be extracted from oil shale with new in situ technology. While I am all in favor of more nuclear power plants, they produce electricity and not gasoline to run our cars. I focused on coal not for power plants but on coal-to-oil liquefaction plants to replace the 11 million barrels of foreign oil we import every day. The grotesque phoniness of the Left on global warming is most clearly demonstrated regarding coal. Pelosi Galore is forming a new House Committee on Global Warming, while Barbara Boxer is submitting a bill to ban all coal power plants in the country. It's all hate-and-blame America all the time.
BAD KARMA FOR CASTRO
Death came quick to two of the world's most evil men recently - Sapamurat "Turkmenbashi" Niyazov, dictator of Turmenistan, dead of a heart attack on December 21, and Saddam Hussein. It's coming slowly to a third - Fidel Castro. Castro's medical care has been overseen by a team of physicians from Spain, some of whom are providing details of his condition to the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI), Spain's CIA. The picture is truly horrific. After four disastrous surgeries, he can now only be fed intravenously. He is constantly doped-up on pain-killers like morphine. The prolonged agony and suffering he has endured for seven months may even have exceeded that of the thousands of political prisoners he ordered tortured during the decades of his tyranny. Castro is dying ugly. If there is anyone who deserves such bad karma, it is him. There is almost no way he can live for much longer - a few weeks or months at the most. Once he goes, his brother Raul will try desperately to hold the dictatorship together, and he will fail - fast.
THE BRIGHT SIDE OF 2007
Any conservative so Pollyannic as to be optimistic about 2007 risks comparison to the folks being crucified in the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian while cheerily singing, "Always look on the bright side of life." But so far, so good. We're off to a great start. For openers, at the very moment Bush was giving his speech last night, in which he promised to "seek out and destroy" the networks of Iran and Syria supporting insurgency in Iraq, five US helicopters landed on the consulate of Iran in Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, disgorging US soldiers who told the Iranian occupants in three languages to surrender or be killed. They proceeded to seize all the consulate's computers and documents, then turned the building over to Kurdish "Peshmerga" security forces. Now that is cool. And Bush has just begun.
ARABIA IN AMERICA
No, this is not about the coming Islamification of America or similar conspiracy theory. It's about energy independence, and how crucial that is to defeating Islamofascism. Remember that "senior White House official" that I talked to yesterday (1/10), mentioned in The Bright Side of 2007? Here's another thing he told me:
You'd be amazed at how much time we waste in the White House worrying about some tribal chief in Nigeria, a nutcase in Venezuela, Sunni-Shia nonsense in the Middle East, or how best to walk on Saudi eggshells, all because of oil. We have got to be free of all this. Almost no issue involving national security is more important than energy independence.This why we are soon to have an amazingly vicious struggle on Capitol Hill over a technology that can result in our producing far more oil than Saudi Arabia. And it's going to be between Democrats.
REPLIES REDUX
Notice from the header above that this article is in the category of "Replies from Dr. Jack." It is my fault this category has been defunct for a while, even though it remains listed in the left side bar. One reason is because I try to participate in our User Forums and respond to member questions there. But this means a short response, and often a member comment or question requires something longer. So I am re-instituting the "Replies" section and will try to have at least one every week from now on. What triggered this was a question member Jeffrey W. had regarding Red State Louisiana. I had predicted that the destruction of the New Orleans' corrupt 9th ward meant the destruction of the Democrat Party machine in the state and the election of Republican Bobby Jindal as governor this coming October. Jeffrey asked:
Interesting article, but what are your thoughts about the machinery which re-elected Ray Nagin even after the Katrina disaster? How could this play out when the time comes to elect a new Governor? Do you think enough of this machinery is still intact to thwart a Republican victory?After discussions with conservative Republican friends of mine in Louisiana who have a deep and long-time understanding of politics in their state, the answer that emerged was really surprising.
Chapter Thirty: THE GLORY OF OTUMBA
The Jade Steps Chapter Thirty: The Glory of Otumba They set off as dawn broke to stumble into Tlacopan where the chiefs of the city met them with fear in their eyes. "Malinche!" they addressed him. "We warned you to stay here where you would be safe, and not to go to Tenochtitlan. Now you have been destroyed, and we with you, for the Aztecs will soon follow to kill you and us." Cortez stood arrow-straight and calmly spoke to Malinali. "Doña Marina, inform these gentlemen that we greatly value their friendship and shall see they not suffer for it." The chiefs remained worried. "You must not stay here, Malinche, for the Aztecs are sure to attack. Not far from here is the temple of Otoncalpulco with a large courtyard surrounded by a wooden wall. There you will be safer. I will order our people to carry your wounded on litters and help in which ways we may." Cortez thanked them profusely and the chiefs issued their orders. One of them turned to Malinali. "Malinche must know that we are Tepanecs, not Aztecs. Our kingdom was the first to be enslaved by them. It was our hope that Malinche was the answer to our prayers to be free of their rule." He looked pleadingly into Malinali's eyes. "Is there any hope left?" Malinali returned his gaze. "As long as Malinche is alive, there shall always be hope."
KING DAVID IN IRAQ
It's official: Dave Petraeus, one of the U.S. Army's most impressive leaders, is headed back to Baghdad to take charge. The assignment means a fourth star and the chance to save a desperate situation - or preside over a grim strategic failure. With back-to-back tours of duty in Iraq behind him and the most positive image among Iraqis of any U.S. leader, military or civilian, Petraeus is a natural choice. His intelligence, drive, devotion to service and negotiating skill make the lean, young-looking general seem perfect. When he led the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq in 2003, he proved such a superb diplomat that the Kurds called him "Malik Daoud" - King David - as a mark of respect. He listened patiently, spent money wisely, used force intelligently and truly did win hearts and minds. So what could possibly be doubtful about the choice of Gen. Petraeus to take over the leadership of our forces in Iraq?
A TRIO OF LEGACIES
It is hard to get there if you don't know where you want to go. Despite the Democrats gaining control of Congress and his own previous mistakes, President Bush still has the opportunity to leave a constructive economic legacy, but to do so he must first clearly define his goals and determine what is realistically doable. It turns out there is a trio of legacies - regarding reforming Social Security, excessive spending, and excessive regulation - being made available to him.
RED STATE LOUISIANA
Washington politics can be so much fun if you look upon them as the world's best circus. This week's clown act was hilariously performed by the Breck Boy, John Edwards, announcing his candidacy for the presidency in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. It was especially funny for me, as I was in New Orleans at the time for New Year's. The 9th Ward was the area most devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The day after Edwards' appearance, I drove my son Jackson through it. Endless block after block after block, street after street after street, the small cottage homes are unlivable and abandoned. At the most, one home out of every two or three dozen is repaired and occupied. Even many of these, however, have only cosmetic repairs covering up irreparable damage from mold. After all, all these homes were under water for weeks. Thousands upon thousands of homes that have to be torn down are still standing because Mayor Ray Nagin insists they be rebuilt - which they never will be. What he can't face, what John Edwards can't face, is that the corrupt heart of Democrat control of Louisiana - New Orleans' 9th Ward - is gone.
YOU PREDICT
In reading the profusion of predictions for 2007 so many of you were kind enough to send in this past week, what became most obvious is the individuality of To The Point members. TTPers think for themselves. Thus it has been such an enjoyable experience to read them all. I want to thank you so much for every one. I hope you'll understand that there are too many to discuss, that I have to pick and choose. I also won't quote anyone with their full name - with one exception. Bill Gregory informs me that his wife Carole, after a wee dram or two of 18 year-old single malt, predicts that Hillary Clinton will remove herself from the 2008 presidential race after discovering she has testicular cancer. So seriously, folks.... All the rest were in fact serious. Some were so pessimistic that, should they prove true, we'll need to be heavily fortified with single malt ourselves just to get through the year. Yet others are equally optimistic. Here's a compendium of what you predict for 2007.
THE AUDACITY OF APOSTASY
One of the most entertaining opportunities that will emerge in 2007 will be using Barack Obama to fight Islamofascism. He is the product of a black Moslem from Kenya, Barrack Hussein Obama, and a white atheist from Kansas, Shirley Ann Dunham, who met at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. That is why his middle name is the same as Saddam's: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. His first name is taken from the Islamic term in Arabic for "blessed," baraka, used in the Koran. His father deserted the family when Barack Jr. was two and returned to Kenya. His mother then married another Moslem studying at UH, Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia. He moved with his mother and stepfather to Jakarta when he was six, where he attended a Moslem medressa (religious school). That makes him a Moslem. That he denies that he ever was and is a Christian instead makes him, in Moslem eyes, also something much worse: an apostate. Apostasy in Islam is punishable by death.
A DIFFICULT YEAR
2006 is coming to an end much as it began: with war, terrorism, bloodshed and moral confusion. From Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia in the Horn of Africa, warfare continues between regular military establishments and irregular radical Islamist forces - which range from straight-out terrorist groups to private militias, death squads, war lords and criminal elements. On Christmas Eve the Associated Press reported from London that: "Islamic militants want to attack the Channel Tunnel between England and France during the holiday season, a British newspaper said Sunday, citing French and U.S. security sources. The Observer said the French foreign intelligence service, DGSE, warned the French government of the threat in a Dec. 19 report after a tip-off from the CIA." Of course, rumors of terrorist attacks have become the background noise of our times -- to such an extent that they are largely discounted by most of the public. Also in that background noise of civic life is the growing assertiveness of many Moslems in the West.
LIBERAL VERBAL TRICKERY
In a mildly interesting exchange in The New Republic, between one of the magazine's senior editors, Jonathan Chait and Cato Institute scholar Brink Lindsay, the idea of a possible alliance between liberals (like Chait) and libertarians (like Lindsay) was recently debated. No one, I think, really believed in a serious prospect for this alliance but my own attention was piqued when Chait responded to Lindsay's suggestion that Social Security ought to be (somewhat) privatized as this could appeal to "younger liberals." (I must admit it always irritates me to call these folks "liberals" when they have no interest in human liberty whatsoever any longer!) Chait asks, "And why would we force retirees into the individual medical insurance market?" Focus on his use of the word "force."
CIVILIZATIONAL CONFIDENCE
Here's a tip for all of you younger folks in your 20s and 30s. If you think the world is strange now, wait ‘till you get older. For the older you get, the weirder the world looks. For me, one of the world's weirdest places is an airport. Specifically, being at an airport waiting to board an incredibly complex machine that will lift me and hundreds of other people thousands of feet into the air, and land us safely on the ground thousands of miles away in a few hours - a simply astounding achievement of reason and civilization - while a few minutes before I had to take off my shoes and had a tube of toothpaste confiscated because of fear of proto-hominid barbarians chanting Allahu akhbar who want to destroy such achievements. What is stone cold weird is that the civilization capable of such achievements tolerates the proto-hominids for a picosecond. So we come to what will emerge this new year of 2007 as the key fundamental issue of our day, the outcome of which will determine our future: civilizational confidence.
PREDICTING 2007
I am expecting a lot of things to happen in 2007. Things that I won't be surprised by if they do happen. 2007 will be a wonderful year for the death of dictators - Castro croaking at last, Saddam hung at last, and with any luck Hugo Chavez will get himself assassinated. Iran's Ahmadinutjob is not a dictator, as he serves at the whim of the ayatollahs. Their whim seems to be now that he is no longer useful, so we may soon be rid of him. With any luck, that will not prevent the Israelis from taking out Iran's nuclear facilities. With even more luck, the Israelis will be smart enough to accomplish this via sabotage rather than airstrikes. China should be on its best behavior for 2007 with no saber-rattling at Taiwan. The Chicoms don't want anything to spoil their coming-out party at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. However... I'm going to stop now and turn the tables. What I want is to ask you for your predictions. What do you think will happen in the world and in America in 2007?
LONE STAR AMERICA
I'm in a small town called St. Francisville in an obscure part of Louisiana. Visitors who come here stop briefly to gaze at the nicely preserved 19th century homes on its main street before hurrying off to the area's principal attractions nearby - magnificent ante-bellum plantation mansions like Rosewood, the Myrtles, or Oakley where Audubon stayed and painted many of his birds. Almost no tourists pay any attention to a flag that flies in front of the courthouse along with the stars and stripes and the state flag, nor have any idea what it symbolizes: 
It's the Bonnie Blue flag of the Republic of West Florida, the capital of which was here. In 1810, St. Francisville was the capital of an independent country. How it got to be, and what it may mean for America's future, is a story that goes from Spanish explorers to American rebels, from Napoleon to the Alamo, from the "Halls of Montezuma" of the Marine Hymn to the invasion of America by illegal aliens from Mexico. So curl up and get cozy in your favorite chair during a winter weekend evening, and let me tell you the story. It starts with a man named Hernando de Soto.
THE GIFT OF TO THE POINT
We've just made it really easy to give a friend the enlightening gift of a subscription to To The Point. There's a new option on our subscription page: a one month only non-recurring gift subscription for $9.99. Now what could you give a friend that could more open his or her eyes to the world and give them more insight upon it than this - and for less than ten bucks? It's also the way to bring a currently non-member friend to the To The Point Rendezvous in Las Vegas next month (see Rendezvous at Mandalay). Here's how it works.
A CHRISTMAS LETTER TO ANTI-CHRISTIANS: 2006
A version of this was first written for Christmas 2004. It is addressed to members of the ACLU and other Anti-Christian Liberals. It is obviously not addressed to TTP members! But feel free to send this to any ACLU member should you happen to know one. Merry Christmas. If that offends you, why should I care? It's your problem, not mine. Let me explain your problem a little more fully. America is a Christian country. It's your job to deal with that, because you're not going to change this fact. America has always been a Christian country, and - open wide now, because you're going to have to swallow this - it will continue to be. It will continue to be because most Americans aren't Euroweenies. They haven't lost the moral courage to be proud of their country and their civilization. Notice the "most" - which you are not a part of. You are anti-Christian because you are anti-American. You are anti-American because you are anti-Western Civilization. You are anti-Western Civilization because you are afraid of and intimidated by the envy of the world's impotent. Fear of being envied defines your liberal soul.
HOW CONSERVATIVES ARE GOING TO GET IN BED WITH NANCY PELOSI
How many times have you heard that old adage, "politics makes for strange bedfellows"? But no matter how many times that's been, you're not going to believe how many conservative Republican Members of Congress are about to jump in bed with Speaker Pelosi. One of the things that most drives these folks around the bend is the sell-out of their party's principles to Country Club Corporate America. They can't stand Big Business's addiction to cheap labor. It's an addiction that blocks effective attempts to stem the flood of illegal alien immigration from Mexico, or to stem the flood of trade deficit dollars to China. The list of issues that conservatives in the House will oppose Pelosi on seems endless, and amnesty for illegals plus refusing to fence them out is certainly one of them. But there is one issue not on that list, an issue of the gravest national security on which they are sure cooperation with her is possible. That issue is...
OPENING THE DOORS OF ISLAM
It has become a commonplace observation that Islam today requires a Reformation with an Islamic Martin Luther. This is the absolute last thing Islam needs now, the triumph of faith over reason with resultant bloodshed and sectarian slaughter lasting over a century (ca. 1520-1648) and costing the lives of millions. That horror was the Reformation. What Islam needs instead is an Enlightenment. It turns out there is a term in Arabic for enlightenment, for analysis and interpretation through reason, that has an honorable tradition in Islamic jurisprudence and thought. Get to know the word, for it is the salvation of Islam: Ijtihad.
For every verse in the Koran the moderates can cite, the Islamofascists can refute them with a dozen. There is no possibility of women’s rights in Islam or an end to Islamic terrorism, for example, until verses like Sura 4:34 that condone wife-beating, or those that condone slavery and killing infidels and spreading Islam with violence, on and on, are challenged as not being the true words of Allah.
That they are being challenged by a growing number of Moslem scholars, that there is an emerging Ijtihad Movement stirring within Islam, is the best hope for an Islamic Enlightenment.
PHILISTINES AND PALESTINIANS
Responding to Moses in Mecca, TTP member "Marco" has asked about the historical lineage of the ancient Philistines and their connection to modern-day Palestinians after whom they are named. OK, Marco, here goes. The origins of the Philistines are unclear. Genesis 10:14 lists the Pelishtim as among the sons of Ham, shorthand for the Hebrews' traditional enemies which also included Egyptians and Canaanites, while Amos 9:7 claims they come from "Caphtor." At least two things about them are clear. They are not aboriginal to the Levant (east coast of the Mediterranean) and they are not Semitic.
MOSES IN MECCA
Have you ever wondered why Arab Palestinians think Jerusalem is so important to them? Why they say there will never be Arab-Israeli peace until they control it? They say it's because of the "sacredness" of the Al Aqsa Mosque. So here's a thought experiment: What if it were discovered that Moses, of whom the Bible says, "no man knoweth of his grave site," was buried in Mecca? What would be the response of the Islamic world if millions of Jews began claiming that Mecca was sacred to them now just as it is sacred to the Moslems, and demanded that they had the right to build a Dome of Moses next to the Kaaba as a pilgrimage shrine honoring the Founding Patriarch of the Jewish People?
THE ANTI-ASSIMILATION MOVEMENT
Assimilation - defined as the act of becoming part of or more like something greater - is being opposed by increasing violence these days, from calls for a return of the American Southwest to Mexico by the Reconquista movement to the encroachment of radical Islam on the streets of Paris Members of immigrating minority groups are increasingly refusing to assimilate into the cultures of their resident countries. The lack of assimilation by immigrants to the United States - both legal and illegal - is culminating in an American identity crisis and poses a serious problem for the future of our country. This movement toward anti-assimilation stands in stark contrast to the very concept of our nation
RENDEZVOUS AT MANDALAY
The response we've gotten regarding our To The Point Rendezvous announced last month has really been gratifying. Here are the latest details. You know when and where: Las Vegas, Nevada - starting Friday evening, January 26th and ending Monday morning, January 29th. There is no conference fee and folks are free to stay where they want. Costs (meals, activities, etc.) are Dutch Treat. Yet we've been swamped by emails asking where am I staying and where will we congregate. The answer is Mandalay Bay.
FRENCH ANTI-ISLAMOFASCISTS? MON DIEU!
Among American conservative and hawkish political circles, it's an article of faith that much of Western Europe is anti-American. Whether it be dislike for President Bush, opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, the American refusal to be governed by international institutions, the growing Eurabian alliance or simple resentment of U.S. military and economic superiority, many of our Western European allies seem often to be more like enemies. None more so than France, with whom our country has developed shared hostility in the post-9/11 world. So it was with great surprise that I found myself in the company last weekend of French people who are fervently pro-American. It was a dinner party held in the San Francisco Bay Area and given in honor of Philippe Manteau, the French founder and president of a think tank called the Euro-American Liberty Institute (EALI).
GET BACK, MOHAMMED: TONY BLAIR DOES THE BEATLES
One of the most all-time famous songs of the Beatles is Get Back. It was first performed publicly on the rooftop of their Apple Studios in London on January 30, 1969. Not until that April was it released as a single recording. It's solid fun golden rock n' roll, which you can enjoy by watching the rooftop performance of Get Back. As you do, listen carefully to the melody and the words of the first verse. For it seems that British Prime Minister Tony Blair performed what musicians call a "cover" of the Beatles' song, when he delivered a speech last Friday (12/08) to an invited audience at Downing Street (the British White House). Blair declared he expected Moslem immigrants to conform to the common values of British culture: "Conform to it, or don't come here. We don't want the hate-mongers." He was in effect singing Get Back with these revised lyrics: Momo was a Moose-limb and a true believer Thought he'd kill some infidel scum Momo left his home in Quetta, Pakistana For a Lon-donistan slum Get back, get back. Get back to where you once belonged Get back, get back. Get back to where you once belonged. Get back, Momo. Go home. Get on home, Mohammed. Your momma's waiting for you....
Chapter Twenty-Nine: THE NIGHT OF TEARS
The Jade Steps Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Night of Tears Malinali looked at each of the men standing silently around her. Several of them were weeping. She caught Bernal's eye. "We mourn for him, Doña Marina," he said quietly to her, "and not just those of us who were unable to protect him from his own people today. All of us are in sorrow, for he showed such kindness to us." That she would be holding the hand of an Aztec Emperor as he died, that the Aztecs themselves would murder their King, that these mysterious men from another world who had come to conquer his kingdom would weep openly over his death - these were thoughts she found overwhelming. She crossed herself and prayed silently to the Virgin Mary for comfort and understanding. It was Cortez who broke the silence. "Doña Marina, please select a noble from Montezuma's entourage and have him deliver a message to the people of this city: He is to tell them that their Lord is dead at their hands, that they have killed their king. They must now give him the funeral and burial rites he deserves, and after that they must allow us to leave the city in peace."
THE SCANDAL OF STUPIDITY
If you've seen the story all over the media about incoming Democrat Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Silvestre Reyes botching basic questions about Middle East politics, you've probably asked yourself - are these guys really that dumb? Here's one way to answer the question. Until he was tapped by President Bush to run the Security & Exchange Commission, Chris Cox (R-CA 1989-2005) was acknowledged for years to possess the most formidable brains on Capitol Hill. There is absolutely no doubt - he is breathtakingly bright. But when I tweaked him once about his reputation (I've known Chris since 1986 when he joined the legal counsel's office in the Reagan White House), he gave me a bemused smile and said, "Jack, being the smartest man in Congress is like being the tallest building in Topeka."
DO WE HAVE A PRO-TERRORIST IMMIGRATION SERVICE?
Have you ever heard of a religious visa petitioner? Any recognized religious organization may file a R-1 visa request for a foreign national to come to the US and work for them. Since September 11, 2001, more than 5,000 petitioners have applied to sponsor foreign religious workers. The majority of them are Moslems. The majority were granted visas and immigration benefits without proper background checks. Is the US Citizenship and Immigration Service pro-terrorist, trying to get Moslem terrorists into our country? No - but it might as well be.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ORIGINAL SIN
It takes a brave politician to stand up alone against a tidal wave of religious hysteria. Such a man is Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma. He has publicly denounced man-made global warming as a "hoax" and held a hearing in Congress yesterday (12/06) to expose it as such. Jim Inhofe is waging a valiant struggle, and it would have been helped had he someone to testify about how "global warming" is an issue of religious fanaticism, rather than just misguided science. "Global warming" (or more specifically man-made or "anthropogenic" global warming) is a secular religion believed in by people who have abandoned Christianity. The vast majority of global warming fanatics are from Western cultures. Not a lot of Chinese or Hindus or Moslems are in a tizzy about it. These fanatics are almost all ex-Christians, born and raised in a Christian culture which they grew up to reject.
A CONSERVATIVE HAT TRICK
[This is the text of a speech I just gave at the Leadership Institute in Washington DC. Founded in 1979 by Morton Blackwell, the LI has trained tens of thousands of conservatives for leadership in politics, media, and academia. I encourage you to consider participating in and supporting its efforts. ---JW] A CONSERVATIVE HAT TRICK: Achieving Limited Government, Energy Independence, and Victory Over Islamofascism Leadership Institute - December 6, 2006 I've been a conservative all my life - even in high school and college. I never went through some juvenile left-wing trip, I always thought Che Guevara was a commie thug, always admired Barry Goldwater and of course, Ronald Reagan. Yes, I'm an Ayn Rand Objectivist, Ludwig Von Mises laissez faire capitalist type of conservative, yet I've always thought that the conservative political movement held the best actual hope in reality for solving many of America's most basic problems. In truth, though, I don't care about problems. I care about solutions. Problems are not important. Only solutions to them are. So this morning, we are not going to talk about problems - however easy and tempting it would be to do so in our post-November 7, Speaker Pelosi world. Instead we are going to talk about solutions, solutions to three of the largest problems we face today. How do we achieve genuinely limited government, end our dependence on foreign oil that subsidizes our enemies, and defeat a threat to our liberties greater than even Soviet Communism, that of Islamofascism?
THE IRAQ SENILE, STUPIDITY, AND SURRENDER GROUP
One hundred and forty years ago, British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) wrote:
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse... A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. (Dissertations and Discussions 1867 Vol.1 p. 26.)A perfect description of the Democrat Party leadership and the editors of the New York Times today. Which is why they are hyping the Iraq Study Group Report to the moon. They hope to use the hype to force President Bush to surrender in Iraq. They will not succeed. Yesterday (12/06), I and a small group of conservatives met with a top White House aide (whose comments were not for attribution so I can't name him). In so many words, he told us that President Bush's response to the Iraq Study Group Report and the media hysteria around it is: "Thank you for sharing."
ANTI-ISLAMOFASCISM MOVEMENT UPDATE
For all those who wish to participate in The Creation of an Anti-Islamofascism Movement described last week, here is how to start doing so. An umbrella organization is being formed called The Coalition to Preserve Civilization, which will help enable all those involved in the emerging Anti-Islamofascism Movement and keep them informed of everyone else's activities. The way to get involved in this right now is to join The 910 Forum. You'll notice in the left side bar a long list of blogs providing all kinds of info on Anti-Islamofascism. To subscribe to the Forum - called "910" for the day before 9/11, since if we had been adequately prepared, 9/11 would have been prevented - email [email protected] -- and include something brief about yourself. This is not a discussion forum, so your inbox will not be flooded. But it will keep you informed regarding who is doing what on the Anti-Islamofascism front. And you can contribute your own suggestions and information as well. We welcome your support and participation. Working together, we will dig Islamofascism's grave and bury it in the ash heap of history.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT IN THE SENATE
Over a beer earlier this week with a Republican Senator, I couldn't help but asking how he was doing. Had the GOP retained its majority, he would have been the chairman of one of the Senate's most powerful committees. Starting next month, he would be just another minority schmuck. "Sure, it's a disappointment," he said. "It's the dream of your life for a guy like me. So I have a choice. I can be bitter - or I can have fun. I choose fun." I frowned. "How are you going to have fun?" I asked skeptically. He smiled. "Come on, Jack, you know how the Senate works. It's not like the House, where the minority is lower than dirt, and treated like subhuman Moslem Dhimmis. Harry (Harry Reid, incoming Senate Majority Leader) has no majority at all. Hell, it's 51-49, with the 51st being Joe Lieberman and we've got Cheney as a tie-breaker. We can screw them any time we want and Harry knows it."
IS PUTIN THE FALL GUY?
The Alexander Litvinenko murder by radiation in London is mysterious -- and important. Has Russia entirely left the Western orbit, reverting to its old Soviet era, Stalinist practices? Is Vladimir Putin, approaching the end of his two terms in office and thinking of a new career, interested in being seen worldwide as having blood on his hands? Or something else is afoot? I have met Mr. Putin four times in the last three years. He is tough and smart and ruthless, but he is not stupid. Does he understand the murders may make him look bloodthirsty and make Russia appear barbaric? And if he did not order these killings, they still make Russia look out-of-control, while Mr. Putin looks like he lost control. Are his secret police taking people out on his orders, or is he being framed by his own people? And if so, why?
SHARIA WATCH
Ufda. That's Swedish for "Wow" - or more colloquially, "Holy Anti-Islamofascism, Batman!" The worldwide response to our memo calling for The Creation of an Anti-Islamofascism Movement last week, patterned on the Anti-Communism Movement during the Cold War, has been truly astounding. The memo has gone "viral," with blogs reproducing it all over the Internet. Dozens of groups have contacted us wanting to cooperate and participate. My co-author Steve Baldwin and I have lost count of the number of supportive emails. Folks, we have a phenomenon here. It won't be long now before we have a movement with an organized infrastructure dedicated to identifying and targeting the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the Islamofascists. But as this is being built, people are impatient to start doing something now. So we are proposing an action program called Sharia Watch. There will be a Sharia Watch website up soon coordinating folks' participation across the country, but in the meantime, you can engage in a Sharia Watch on your own in your community.
THE TWO ROBIN HOODS
In our new post-11/7 world, it's important to understand that there are two Robin Hoods: the legend and the myth of the legend. The first is a conservative-libertarian. The second is a liberal thug. The legend was best played by Errol Flynn in the 1938 movie classic, The Adventures of Robin Hood, with Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marion, Alan Hale as Little John, Claude Rains as Prince John, Melville Cooper as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Basil Rathbone as the evil Sir Guy de Gisbourne. The myth of the legend is currently being played by Teddy Kennedy with Nancy Pelosi as his understudy in drag.
DENYING THE FUTURE TO ISLAM
I am a European. I was born and have lived my life in Europe. I am determined that Europe will not become "Eurabia," that it will not succumb to Islamification. We can deny Europe's future to Islam. Here is why I think so. Islam's historical high point was in the Middle Ages, when Islam was perfect for medieval warfare. Afterwards, it gradually lost out to the West, especially after the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, which could never have taken place in Islamic lands because of its lack of freedom and cult of authority. Ironically, history has now gone full circle. Moslems are still useless in developing anything new, but as a result of migration, modern communications, the presence of Moslems in infidel lands, and Arab oil revenues, they can more readily buy or expropriate technology from others. Yet pessimists, however much they point to Western weaknesses, overlook the fact that Islam has many weaknesses, too.