WikiLeaks Spills the Beans

WikiLeaks has spilled the goods on numerous cables, transmissions, and communications from the US State Department and other US agencies.  The content is revealing and perhaps damaging to US security and its relations with other countries around the world.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is calling WikiLeaks a terrorist organization because of the damage it is doing to US national security.  He has a point.

Perhaps most revealing is how enabling China has been of Iran and North Korea's acquisition of nuclear technology and, ultimately, nuclear weapons.  They've also attempted to bribe US allies with cash in order to close down US bases.

Over 250,000 documents have been leaked, a staggering amount of information.  Someone needs to be punished for this breach of security, but it is doubtful that anything short of the death penalty would deter future leakers/traitors.  The US has been incredibly lenient on past traitors like Robert Hansen.

Also, Saudi Arabia has practically begged the US to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.  Maybe they can start groveling towards the Israelis too.  As I've previously said, the Saudis also continue to be the chief financiers of Al Qaeda, almost 10 years after 9-11.

As usual, the NY Times has no problem weakening America and its allies by publishing whatever it feels like despite that lives, plans, and security may be jeopardized.

Despite the damage that will be inflicted, perhaps many will now see the world for the dangerous, violent, and savage place that it so often is with China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and others participating in a deadly game for power and control.  China is not the orderly miracle that Tom Friedman admires so much, nor is Iran the misunderstood "democracy" as its apologists sometimes claim.  Lives are at stake and lives will be lost defending our way of life from tyrants, terrorists, and saboteurs.

Pentagon Tests Hypersonic Space Weapon

The US Defense Department is testing a new hypersonic weapon known as the Falcon HTV-2.  The weapons platform skims along the Earth's atmosphere at an extremely high rate of speed.  The concept is that the US would be able to respond within an hour to a threat anywhere in the world.  This would enable preemptive action against a rogue state or terrorist group planning a WMD strike or other attack against the US or its allies.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) coordinates the project and testing.  A previous test resulted in the vehicle crashing into the sea as an abort measure.

The $308 million Falcon HTV-2 is a suborbital near-space vehicle launched on a Minotaur rocket, a solid-fuel booster built from a decommissioned ballistic missile. On the very edge of the atmosphere, in a procedure called "clamshell payload fairing release," the launch missile deploys the plane, which is then supposed to glide above the Earth at more than 13,000 miles per hour — more than 20 times the speed of sound.

DARPA is also experimenting with scramjet technology for the Air Force which would enable hypersonic flight for unmanned aerial vehicles capable of delivering ordinance quickly almost anywhere in the world.  Unfortunately with the Obama administration's desire to weaken US military capabilities and sacrifice advancement for the sake of a new START Treaty, projects like this may be threatened.

Bomb Plot Thwarted in Portland

The FBI thwarted a terrorist plot to detonate a bomb at Portland's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Reported: "Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine."

The device used as the bomb was a fake, supplied by the FBI which had a long running undercover operation observing Mohamud and his associates.

There was no doubt as to the intent of Mahamud as he told the FBI: "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured."

The suspect should be treated as an enemy combatant and taken to Guantanamo Bay for  interrogation.  He is not a criminal, he was undertaking actions of war against the United States.  There is no logical reason to treat this as just another criminal act.  It was an act of war, a long running war that has been going on since at least 1993 when the WTC was first attacked by Al Qaeda operatives.

But don't expect the Obama administration to act in a manner that conveys we're actually at war with enemies foreign and domestic.

Canada Boycotts UN Hate Fest

Instead of sitting and listening passively while third world tyrants lambaste Israel, America, and the West, Canada has decided to boycott Durban III, the UN's "racism" conference.  Bravo Canada, and my hat is off to Mr. Jason Kenny and our Prime Minister.

This is a breath of fresh air from the moral relativism Canada endured under Liberal Party rule.

Perhaps the first issue of the "conference this year should be why Israelis are not allowed to visit so many Muslim countries, or why Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, Iranian, Syrian, and Yemeni children are taught in school that it's OK to hate and kill Jews.

The next step should be Canada withdrawing from the United Nations and advocating an international assembly, call it the League of Democracies if you want, that allows only countries membership who are governed by the rule of law, respect human rights, treat women as human beings instead of property, respect minority rights, and do not advocate, fund, or support terrorism.  That would be a nice start.

Rex Murphy commented as follows on the UN:

"The UN is a study in moral relativism: It presents the same countenance to the most despotic regime as it does to a genuine democracy. Its so-called Human Rights Council is a byword for farce. In situations where urgent intervention is required, it is either incapable of acting or deliberately temporizes at crisis moments. Who can forget Rwanda?"


It inserts itself into the great questions of the day — the planet’s climate, for instance — and then seeks to monopolize or control the arguments and input into that question. It affects impartiality, but is agenda-driven. The United Nations may have begun as a noble dream, but it has become just another bartering house for international politicians, a quick prestige stop for some, a chance for Third World diplomats to sample the gaudy West.

Enough said.

Happy Thanksgiving America

To all my American friends and readers, happy Thanksgiving and my God bless your great nation.  Below is the true story of Thanksgiving given by none other than the great El Rushbo, he alone is a great reason to be thankful this year despite the economic and political hardship that exists.



You can also read my previous article on Thanksgiving which was published in the American Thinker.

Make Government Part Time - Gov. Jindal

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal makes a great argument for why government should be part time.  This would be a great idea for any democracy in the western world.  This is not an impossibility, the state of Florida (as well as other states) have a part time legislature in which representatives and senate members are paid a small salary and are expected to have full time jobs apart from the 2 months they serve when the legislature and senate are in session.

Congressman Allen West on Fighting Jihad

Forget McCain's straight talk express, Allen West, soon to be congressman from Florida, sets the record straight on what the war on terror is really about.  West is a soldier, a patriot, and a realist, if only more in the State Department, CIA, Homeland Security, Pentagon, and elsewhere were as honest and straightforward as he is.

TSA Speedo Protester

Nice... The "Screw Big Sis" was a nice touch I thought.

Top 25 Quotes on Liberalism

From Townhall, the following are the top 25 quotes on Liberalism (not liberalism in the classical sense).

25) Whenever I read liberals reporting about the goings- on of conservatives I always get the nature-documentary vibe. A liberal reporter puts on his or her Dian Fossey hat in order to attempt to write another installment of Conservatives in the Mist. I've followed this particular brand of reporting for years, it's almost a fetish of mine. Most attempts fail. Of these lesser varieties, there's fear ("Troglodytes!"), mockery ("Irrelevant troglodytes!"), condescension ("I had to explain to them they're troglodytes."), bewilderment ("Why don't they understand they're troglodytes?"), astonishment (Dear God, they're not all troglodytes!"), and a few combinations of all the above. -- Jonah Goldberg

24) There are no bad guys on the left. There are only people who've been driven to desperation by conservative evil. -- Allahpundit

23) Words mean nothing to liberals. They say whatever will help advance their cause at the moment, switch talking points in a heartbeat, and then act indignant if anyone uses the exact same argument they were using five minutes ago. -- Ann Coulter

22) Inside many liberals is a totalitarian screaming to get out. They don't like to have another point of view in the room that they don't squash and the way they try to squash it is by character assassination and name calling. -- David Horowitz

21) The reason any conservative's failing is always major news is that it allows liberals to engage in their very favorite taunt: Hypocrisy! Hypocrisy is the only sin that really inflames them. Inasmuch as liberals have no morals, they can sit back and criticize other people for failing to meet the standards that liberals simply renounce. It's an intriguing strategy. By openly admitting to being philanderers, draft dodgers, liars, weasels and cowards, liberals avoid ever being hypocrites. -- Ann Coulter

20) Indiscriminateness of thought does not lead to indiscriminateness of policy. It leads the modern liberal to invariably side with evil over good, wrong over right and the behaviors that lead to failure over those that lead to success. Why? Very simply if nothing is to be recognized as better or worse than anything else then success is de facto unjust.
There is no explanation for success if nothing is better than anything else and the greater the success the greater the injustice. Conversely and for the same reason, failure is de facto proof of victimization and the greater the failure, the greater the proof of the victim is, or the greater the victimization. -- Evan Sayet

19) It was in the 1960s that the left convinced itself that there is something fascistic about patriotism and something perversely "patriotic" about running down America. Anti-Americanism -- a stand-in for hatred of Western civilization -- became the stuff of sophisticates and intellectuals as never before. Flag burners became the truest "patriots" because dissent -- not just from partisan politics, but the American project itself -- became the highest virtue. -- Jonah Goldberg

18) But all liberals only have empathy for the exact same victims -- always the ones that are represented by powerful liberal interest groups. -- Ann Coulter

17) Liberals have created, and the minority leadership has exploited, a community of dependent people, unaware of the true route to prosperity and happiness: self-reliance and self-investment. Instead, people are told that America is unjust, unfair, and full of disadvantages. They are told that their only hope is for government to fix their problems. What has happened is that generations of people have bought into this nonsense and as a result have remained hopelessly mired in poverty and despair -- because the promised solutions don't work. And they will never work -- they never have. -- Rush Limbaugh

16) One of the overriding points of Liberal Fascism is that all of the totalitarian "isms" of the left commit the fallacy of the category error. They all want the state to be something it cannot be. They passionately believe the government can love you, that the state can be your God or your church or your tribe or your parent or your village or all of these things at once. Conservatives occasionally make this mistake, libertarians never do, liberals almost always do. -- Jonah Goldberg

15) Given the religious nature and the emotional power of Leftist values, Jews and Christians on the Left often derive their values from the Left more than from their religion. -- Dennis Prager

14) When one becomes a liberal, he or she pretends to advocate tolerance, equality and peace, but hilariously, they're doing so for purely selfish reasons. It's the human equivalent of a puppy dog's face: an evolutionary tool designed to enhance survival, reproductive value and status. In short, liberalism is based on one central desire: to look cool in front of others in order to get love. Preaching tolerance makes you look cooler, than saying something like, "please lower my taxes" -- Greg Gutfeld

13) Stupidity is a luxury and you will find time and time and time and again that those who are overwhelmingly on the left are those who can afford to be. -- Evan Sayet

12) With their infernal racial set-asides, racial quotas, and race norming, liberals share many of the Klan's premises. The Klan sees the world in terms of race and ethnicity. So do liberals! Indeed, liberals and white supremacists are the only people left in America who are neurotically obsessed with race. Conservatives champion a color-blind society. -- Ann Coulter

11) If the truth is boring, civilization is irksome. The constraints inherent in civilized living are frustrating in innumerable ways. Yet those with the vision of the anointed often see these constraints as only arbitrary impositions, things from which they--and we all--can be "liberated." The social disintegration which has followed in the wake of such liberation has seldom provoked any serious reconsideration of the whole set of assumptions--the vision--which led to such disasters. That vision is too well insulated from feedback. -- Thomas Sowell

10) Liberals claim to love gays when it allows them to vent their spleen at Republicans. But disagree with liberals and their first response is to call you gay. Liberals are gays' biggest champions on issues most gays couldn't care less about, like gay marriage or taxpayer funding of photos of men with bullwhips up their derrieres. But who has done more to out, embarrass, and destroy the lives of gay men who prefer to keep their orientation private than Democrats? Who is more intolerant of gays in the Republican Party than gays in the Democratic Party? -- Ann Coulter

9) End results that work that don't involve government threaten liberals. -- Rush Limbaugh

8) In their zeal for particular kinds of decisions to be made, those with the vision of the anointed seldom consider the nature of the process by which decisions are made. Often what they propose amounts to third-party decision making by people who pay no cost for being wrong--surely one of the least promising ways of reaching decisions satisfactory to those who must live with the consequences. -- Thomas Sowell

7) That is one reason "feelings" and "compassion" are two of the most often used liberal terms. "Character" is no longer a liberal word because it implies self-restraint. "Good and evil" are not liberal words either as they imply a moral standard beyond one's feelings. In assessing what position to take on moral or social questions, the liberal asks him or herself, "How do I feel about it?" or "How do I show the most compassion?" -- not "What is right?" or "What is wrong?" For the liberal, right and wrong are dismissed as unknowable, and every person chooses his or her own morality. -- Dennis Prager

6) In their haste to be wiser and nobler than others, the anointed have misconceived two basic issues. They seem to assume (1) that they have more knowledge than the average member of the benighted and (2) that this is the relevant comparison. The real comparison, however, is not between the knowledge possessed by the average member of the educated elite versus the average member of the general public, but rather the total direct knowledge brought to bear though social processes (the competition of the marketplace, social sorting, etc.), involving millions of people, versus the secondhand knowledge of generalities possessed by a smaller elite group. -- Thomas Sowell

5) Everyone moralizes. The suggestion that liberals aren't moralizers is so preposterous it makes it hard for me to take any of them seriously when they wax indignant about "moralizers." Almost every day, they tell us what is moral or immoral to think and to say about race, taxes, abortion — you name it. They explain it would be immoral for me to spend more of my own money on my own children when that money could be spent by government on other people's children. In short, they think moralizing is fine. They just want to have a monopoly on the franchise. -- Jonah Goldberg

4) If you can somehow force a liberal into a point- counterpoint argument, his retorts will bear no relation to what you've said -- unless you were in fact talking about your looks, your age, your weight, your personal obsessions, or whether you are a fascist. In the famous liberal two-step, they leap from one idiotic point to the next, so you can never nail them. It's like arguing with someone with Attention Deficit Disorder. -- Ann Coulter

3) My analysis is that most faith based systems depend upon an absolute moral order. The declaration of things as absolutely evil or absolutely good, as sin or virtue, puts liberalism into a horrible position because it's founded on no judgment on anything. As a result, any faith that is seriously practiced or understood is a challenge to the politics that depend on constituencies that would rather not be told that their choices are bad and their lives are not virtuous. -- Hugh Hewitt

2) The charge is often made against the intelligentsia and other members of the anointed that their theories and the policies based on them lack common sense. But the very commonness of common sense makes it unlikely to have any appeal to the anointed. How can they be wiser and nobler than everyone else while agreeing with everyone else? -- Thomas Sowell

1) To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil. -- Charles Krauthammer

Dangerous Korean Clash

Violent clashes and exchanges of artillery fire occurred Tuesday which left one South Korean soldier dead and dozens injured.  North Korea has heightened tensions with the revelation that uranium enrichment program was underway.

South Korea was conducting military drills near the border area and was warned by North Korea to stop.  NK then responded with artillery fire onto South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong.

South Korea returned fire and dispatched fighter jets in response, and said there could be considerable North Korean casualties as troops unleashed intense retaliatory fire. The supreme military command in Pyongyang threatened more strikes if the South crossed their maritime border by "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

This is the most serious escalation of hostilities in years between the two countries.  It is unclear how the United States or China will respond to the violence.

Bigger Than Ourselves

This is Zac Smith's story.  It doesn't seem to make sense that cancer could be a blessing, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.  Zac says that cancer is the best thing that ever happened to him.

 

Zac passed away this year after bravely battling cancer and bringing honour to his God in the process.

Ninety Nine Balloons
Eliot is a little boy who was born with some incredible challenges. Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.




Read more at: http://www.ninetynineballoons.com/

RIP Pat Burns

The great NHL coach has left us after battling cancer for a long time.  Pat Burns was 58 and had an illustrious coaching career with Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and New Jersey.

Burns was a tough, defensive minded coach.  He was old school and once served as a police officer before becoming a hockey coach.

Earlier this year, a grassroots campaign was launched to have Burns inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. A Facebook group called “Let’s Get Pat Burns into the Hockey Hall of Fame — NOW!” was launched and more than 70,000 people signed up. Not surprisingly, there was great outcry when Burns was not among the 2010 inductees.



A tangible legacy of Burns’ contribution to the game is being created in Stanstead, Que., in Quebec’s Eastern Townships region, where Burns spent many summers. The Pat Burns Arena is being built, funded in part by the federal and provincial governments and by $50,000 donated to the project by Burns’ former NHL teams, and will benefit residents of the area and students enrolled in Stanstead College’s hockey and scholastic program.

You'll be missed Pat, and you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame immediately.

The President Has No Shame

Add this to Obama's "accomplishments":

President Obama today named AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. The award is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

I don't think union presidents and "freedom" are necessarily compatible.  The AFL-CIO opposes school choice, secret voting for union membership, vouchers, charter schools, tax cuts, right to work legislation, and, generally speaking, free markets and free trade.

It's not like the AFL-CIO is going to start supporting the GOP if Obama doesn't grant this reward, but perhaps it's Barry's way of saying thanks for their generous contributions to a losing effort in the 2010 mid-terms.

Ideally, the President is supposed to govern on behalf of "all the people".  But Obama has proven to be more decisive, more bias, more ideological, and more anti-business than any president in the history of the nation.  And who suffers?  The American people.

Carville Says Hillary Has More Balls than Obama

This is great.  Carville might be a Democrat lefty, but he's certainly no dummy.




Now the White House is "outraged", outraged I tell you!

And Carville responds by saying he's not sorry.  Now what, maybe Obama can force Obamacare upon Carville whether he likes it or not, then make him drive a Chevy Volt.

Obama Refuted: Terrorist Civilian Trial Fails

In an enormous embarassment to President Obama, a Al Qaeda operative involved in the African embassy bombings got acquitted of almost every charge except one despite mountains of evidence of his involvement, participation, and guilt.  Such is the result of fighting a war like like a criminal prosecution instead of like a WAR.  Charles Krauthammer provides his superb anaylsis below.

Thank You Democrat Morons

CNN reports - Nancy Pelosi elected House minority leader by Democrats in a 150 to 43 vote.  I believe this qualifies for Einstein's definition for insanity. 

 

In other news, voters broke out into hysterical laughter all over America while Washington DC and the mainstream media looked on in bewilderment.

TSA Blasted on House Floor

John Duncan Jr. (R-TEN) blasted Michael Chertoff the former secretary of Homeland Security and the TSA for their intrusiveness, overreach, and disgusting harassment of innocent travelers on the floor of the House today.

The Creeping Tyranny of Government

Many of those who favour smaller government, like myself, worry that government tyranny will not come in the form of a sudden despotic overthrow of democracy. Rather it will be a creeping government that slowly usurps the power of the people and tramples the rights of the citizenry in the name of the common good. The "common good" might be said to be "security" or "safety" by our caring bureaucrats and rulers. Or the repression might be justified in the name of "sacrifices" for the greater good or "spreading wealth around'.


Whatever the reason, government intrusion into our freedoms should always be resisted. It should be resisted at the ballot box, through speaking out, through lobbying, through letter writing, through demonstration and marches. Resisting through civil disobedience and, God forbid, self defence, should be a last resort.

However, when viewing the TSA's treatment of John Tyner at the Lindbergh Field, you can clearly see that Americans are fed up with an overly intrusive government that has gone too far. What was supposed to prevent terrorism has instead turned travelers into the enemy of the government. All rights are apparently lost once one enters into an airport. This is wrong, and it should be resisted. Tyner has started a resistance to government intrusion and he deserves our support.

Tyner's video documentation of the incident has gone viral because so many millions of travelers can identify with the disgusting manner in which innocent people are subjected to humiliation at the hands of federal employees. Some have dared Janet Napolitano (who flies in a government jet, not on commercial airlines) to subject herself to the same procedures she demands from travelers. And why not? If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it too.

What may be occurring is another wave of anti-government sentiment, sick of the nanny-statism which has infected the western world since the 1950's. Perhaps people are again taking responsibility, pushing back against government excess, against government abuse of power (yes it happens all too often). The Tea Party may well be part of this same movement, pushing back against taxes and public waste and corruption.

As MLK once said, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

And in that spirit, we say no Secretary Napolitano, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Capitalism vs. Socialsim

David Warren writes a great article contrasting capitalism and socialism.  Socialism tends towards centralized control as any student with a modest education should know (although many university students will probably believe otherwise).

Warren observes:

"Capitalism tends to open society, socialism to close it. There is no reason to wonder why those who lust for power are drawn to the left; or why the left has been consistently "chic" among the intellectuals, continuously for much more than a century. Socialism may impoverish and enslave, but it is the means by which the intellectual can hope to become the enslaver: through the creation of bureaucracies to advance and perpetuate fashionable progressive agendas.

Free markets create conditions of plenty, in which starvation does not become an issue; socialism imposes material constraints and dysfunctions which finally necessitate "population control."

He goes on to make an interesting, and seldom made argument, that a more locally driven capitalism would be of benefit to the "little guy"  or consumers who so often find themselves battling against the monolithic giants of the corporate world or government, neither of which seems to care about Joe Schmo.

"I am not against restricting business activities. I am, however, generally opposed to regulation by vast central authorities. I think a much more effective way to make business responsive to individual and local needs, is to invert the entire regulatory order; to make it work from the ground up, instead of from the sky down.

Let multinational corporations negotiate for position with a million tiny local authorities, adapting their services to each. Let their franchise operations compete on a "level playing field" with local service providers, everywhere they land. Open the gates to "market entry."

Now this is the kind of thinking that our society needs.  We need less government, less "one size fits all", centrally controlled, top heavy, bureaucratic thinking that leads only to more of the status quo.

Can Meghan McCain Please Shut Up and Go Away

There's something extraordinarily annoying about Meghan McCain. Perhaps it's because she has never accomplished anything and is only on TV because of who her father is. I mean if John McCain was a bus driver in Lancaster, PA, no one would give a hoot in hell what she thinks. Likewise, I could not care less who Ms. McCain thinks might run for the GOP nomination in 2012. It's a pretty simple list as is: Gingrich, Romney, Huckabee, Palin with a few outside chances like Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Pawlenty, and others.

She wrote a book "Dirty, Sexy Politics". Great. I don't know a single person that has read it. So why are Fox News, ABC, and other throwing this air head on TV to pontificate about her daily political whims. This woman has never had a deep thought in her entire life. She might criticize Sarah Palin, but at least Mrs. Palin has some accomplishments to her name that didn't result from who her daddy happened to be. You might not like Palin, but you have to admit she's a self-made woman, unlike Meg McCain.

Meghan doesn't like Christine O'Donnell! Wow, what a shock that this genius is as politically unprincipled and "moderate" as her father. Meghan, please go Tweet your life away and spare us your inane observations.

We Remember

We shall never forget the loved and lost who died for our freedom and way of life.  At 11:00AM, stop and remember the sacrifices to many thousands of Canadians have made so that we can all enjoy the life we have today in this great nation.

Thanks a soldier or veteran today for their service, their sacrifice, and let them know you stand behind them.

Lest we forget...

The Left's Problem American Exceptionalism

The political left doesn't like seeing America as an exceptional nation. This would imply that European socialism and nanny-statism would be difficult if not outright impossible to attain in the United States. Progressives, after all, want progressively bigger government to assert progressively more control on the population, economy, and social fabric of the nation state. What else does a progressive agenda desire? Those advocating for "progress" believe a perfect utopia can be achieved through a powerful central government using the right policies and programs.


President Obama has demonstrated his rejection of American exceptionalism unlike any president in history when he stated: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." Meaning no one is exceptional if everyone is exceptional. If everyone is a winner in a race, then no one is actually a winner because winning becomes meaningless.

Jonah Goldberg points out:

Ultimately, it's not that liberals don't believe in American exceptionalism so much as they believe it is holding America back, which might explain why they're lashing out at the people who want to keep it exceptional. But that too is nothing new. "The Coolidge myth has been created by amazingly skillful propaganda," editorialized The Nation in 1924 about the unfathomable popularity of Calvin Coolidge. "The American people dearly love to be fooled.

So what makes America exceptional? Certainly it's revolutionary origins and unyielding commitment to individual rights, democracy, a republican system, and the rule of law. Moreover it's always been an example of what freedom and capitalism should be to the oppressed and un-free throughout the world. The same can't be said of Germany, Italy, Greece, or Saudi Arabia.

Thus if America ceases to be exceptional, the world will be a far worse off place than if America continues to be exceptional, unique, and the shining city on a hill that its founders dreamed of.

Extending the Afghan Mission

Admittedly, I have very mixed feelings about an extension of Canada's mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011.  My feelings are not just as a casual observer, but with a good friend heading to the conflict who will be serving in a very dangerous role before the year's end.  If something were to happen to him, I'm not sure that I could honestly say that the cause was worth his life, or the life of any other Canadian solider.

This is due to the lack of long term commitment that has been put forward by President Obama.  If we're being realistic, we must admit that unless the United States is fully committed to a democratic Afghan state, it will not happen.  Once the US pulls back, I doubt that Hamid Karzai and his allies will be able to ensure continued free elections, prevent the Taliban from re-taking major territory throughout the country, and ensure that terrorist groups do not re-establish themselves with bases of operations.

It grieves me to say this because Canada has spent significant blood and treasure trying to ensure that Afghanistan has a better future that includes human rights, freedom, democracy, and economic development.

Defence Minister Peter McKay should be announcing Canada's decision to extend a non-combat role for Canadian forces to train Afghan army and police beyond 2011. Certainly, this would be a better choice than an extension of our current highly dangerous combat role.

Being pragmatic, it is difficult to believe that other NATO forces in Afghanistan are willing to "see it through" considering their lack of commitment to real combat operations in the past and the uncertain commitment articulated by President Obama.

The corruption, violence, backwardness, and sicknesses of Afghanistan has been revealed.  With every battle won by coalition forces, it is difficult to truly say that the enemies of democracy have been dealt a serious blow.  Indeed, with help from Pakistan, Iran, Yemen, and other Islamic states funding terror directly or indirectly, it is doubtful that a long term solution can be achieved without a massive troop build up akin to what was undertaken in WWII and major states vanquished in the name of freedom and democracy.  But this is something the populace of the West has no stomach for.

So what can we do?  We should up the stakes for what would happen in the event of a Taliban or Al Qaida resurgence.  Attacking the west must be something that would be unspeakable horrific for our enemies.  But, with leaders like Obama who think that everything can be negotiated away, this won't happen.  Our weakness and apologetic mindset could be our undoing in the future.

How can we champion freedom if we continually apologize for it?  How can we promote democracy if we undermine it at home?

God's speed to our troops, may they all come home safe.  We will never forget their sacrifice.

Olbermann Suspended

Keith Olbermann, the Democrat talking head who happens to have a show on MSNBC that is routinely trounced in the ratings by Fox News, has been suspended for violating NBC's company policy relating to political donations.


CNN reports:

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's primetime firebrand host, has been suspended indefinitely for violating the ethics policies of his employer earlier this year when he donated to three Democrats seeking federal office, MSNBC announced Friday.


"I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay," MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement.

The MSNBC reporting Tuesday night was laughable as Chris Matthews, Rachel Madow, and Olbermann sat around eating humble pie while mocking every conservative and Republican that came across the screen. I accept that MSNBC is partisan, just as I accept that Fox News is mostly conservative (save Geraldo or Juan Williams), but at least Fox acts in a respectable manner to those of opposing view points. On the other hand, MSNBC's snobby elitism and preference for a command economy is palpable with each program host's snide remark.

Olbermann "was a vocal critic of the $1 million donation by Fox News' parent News Corp. to the Republican Governor's Association earlier this year, saying at the time, "We now have another million reasons Fox News is the Republican news channel." But, don't expect Olby to admit that there are several thousand reasons why his program is the Democrat's "Count Down".

It's quite comical really, that the hate spewed by Keith Olbermann at Glenn Beck and other conservatives is now coming full circle. Olby is the Glenn Beck of MSNBC, just on the opposite side of the spectrum.

The Farce called the United Nations

The United Nations is poorly named. Firstly, the nations of the world are not united and there are some "states" that wouldn't even constitute "nations" in the true sense of the word, Somalia for instance.

The UN Human Rights Council is now taking aim at the United States, perhaps having grown tired of attacking Israel without result for decades. But, since America now has the weakest President since Jimmy Carter, it's attacks may be better utilized against the Great Satan. China, Cuba, Libya and Saudi Arabia are all on the Human Rights Council. Yes, China who has killed millions of its own people out of brutality to maintain the iron grip of the Communist Party. Cuba, which jails and executes political prisoners. Libya which has carried out terrorist attacks against democracies and innocent civilians through it's spy agency and by funding terrorist groups throughout the world. And, of course, Saudi Arabia, that bastion of women's rights and religious tolerance.

Fox News reports: "It will hear, among other things, that the U.S. discriminates against Muslims, that its police are barbaric and that it has been holding political prisoners behind bars for years."

So why does the United States subject itself to such abuse? What is the point of being involved in an organization that serves no useful purpose in maintaining peace, promoting democracy and human rights, and that tolerates true barbarity of nations like China, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia?

The US, and other free countries, should withdraw from this useless organization and establish a League of Democracies that only allows true democratic nations that respect the rights and freedoms of individuals into the club. The UN is a nice idea in theory (much like the USSR's constitution), but in practice it perpetuates tolerance of brutality and despotism by the worst human rights violators in the world as evidenced by who now sits on the UNHRC.

Democrats Face Tidal Wave

The Democrats have overreached and face a tidal wave of voter anger over massive spending, a Congress that ignores the will of the people, and a seemingly insurmountable debt that will be handed off to future generations.  The economy is stumbling along with close to 10% unemployment.  Obama has no answers for solving the job problem or the debt problem.

Americans feel disenfranchised and, rightfully, angry.  While the voters may not be voting for the GOP because they love John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, they are certainly going to be casting votes against Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.

Republicans will more than likely take the House with ease and will certainly gain seats in the Senate.  Some believe that such a result will lead to gridlock, but perhaps gridlock is good.  Congress has being doing to much, and government is growing too fast.  A little time out might be exactly what is needed.

I don't expect Obama to deviate from his far-left agenda no matter what the result tonight. He is an ideologue with a mission to transform America from a nation of rugged individualists into a quasi-collectivist state with government as the central planner for major sections of the econonmy.

God Bless America.