Pope Benedict XVI (Germany) was attempting to promote respect and dialogue between all religions, including Islam, when he recounted a talk between a 14th Century Byzantine Christian Emperor, Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian. The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war, the Pope said. "He said --- I quote --- 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.'
Turkey's Religious Affairs Director, Ali Bardakoglu, taking the quote out of context and obviously not reading the entire speech or grasping it's meaning, called the Pope's remarks, "extraordinarily worrying, saddening and unfortunate" sparking violent demonstrations (as did the Danish Cartoons) across the Muslim world. Reacting violently to honest intellectual dialogue is a characteristic of an unsophisticated Muslim society to this date ...Worse, it reflects the ignorant denial of civilized societies' War on Terror and Islamist Jihadis' responsibility for it.
Muslim Religious leaders instead of endorsing this type of ignorant mob violence, puntuated with chants of "Death to Infidels! Death to the USA! Death to Israeal! Death to everybody and anybody!, due to mere talk or cartoons, should demand reasonable discussion and altleast RECOGNIZE the problem that prompted the Pope's remarks and warn the Muslim population against the growing condemnation of Islam by weary, hard hit victims of Jihadi terrorist attacks throughout the World. Afterall, this is not the 14th Century, it's long overdue that Muslims accept modernity and engage appropriately with humanity in the 21st.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
CRUDE REALITY
Democrats traditionally hammer Big Oil for making record breaking profits while their poor constituents are breaking the bank to fill up their gas guzzling SUVs. Schumer and Hillary even resurrected the idea of a TAX on "windfall" profits after Exxon-Mobil announced huge quarterly earnings due to the spike in the price of gas at the pump.
Bad enough Democrats miss the boat but Republicans, who should know better, have jumped aboard the anti-Big Oil bandwagon; speaker of the House, Denny Hastert described the paychecks of Oil Ceos as "unconscionable." Why don't they broadcast that the Tax Foundation report showed that Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Cevron paid $44.3 billion in taxes on corporate income plus $ll4.5 billion in payroll, property and excise taxes in 2005-UP 50% from '04?
To hear the politicians tell it, Americans only lose when oil companies do well but in the real world Chevron announced that the NEW Gulf of Mexico OIL STRIKE is the biggest boon to domestic oil supply since the Alaskan pipe line. The new well promises to tap into 3-15 billion barrels of oil on a par with Prudhoe Bay. Complex operations like this, using modern technology for exploration require intense research and development and do NOT RUN CHEAP. The American Petroleum Institute estimates that US oil companies will spend about $66 billion this year on exploration and production.
Thank high oil prices for research & development of new technologies that result in the discovery of new sources of domestic oil, the reduction in our dependence on foreign oil and the stabilization of gas prices in the USA. OPEC has been paying attention to American progress..notice the cost of filling up at the pump is steadily getting lower and lower..experts estimate that by November(just in time for Election Day), Americans will paying as low as $2 per gallon.
"This is the silver lining of higher oil prices. If we didn't have higher oil prices, they[Oil Companies] wouldn't have dared to risk this much capital on exploration here."A.F.Alhajji,Professor Ohio University
Bad enough Democrats miss the boat but Republicans, who should know better, have jumped aboard the anti-Big Oil bandwagon; speaker of the House, Denny Hastert described the paychecks of Oil Ceos as "unconscionable." Why don't they broadcast that the Tax Foundation report showed that Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Cevron paid $44.3 billion in taxes on corporate income plus $ll4.5 billion in payroll, property and excise taxes in 2005-UP 50% from '04?
To hear the politicians tell it, Americans only lose when oil companies do well but in the real world Chevron announced that the NEW Gulf of Mexico OIL STRIKE is the biggest boon to domestic oil supply since the Alaskan pipe line. The new well promises to tap into 3-15 billion barrels of oil on a par with Prudhoe Bay. Complex operations like this, using modern technology for exploration require intense research and development and do NOT RUN CHEAP. The American Petroleum Institute estimates that US oil companies will spend about $66 billion this year on exploration and production.
Thank high oil prices for research & development of new technologies that result in the discovery of new sources of domestic oil, the reduction in our dependence on foreign oil and the stabilization of gas prices in the USA. OPEC has been paying attention to American progress..notice the cost of filling up at the pump is steadily getting lower and lower..experts estimate that by November(just in time for Election Day), Americans will paying as low as $2 per gallon.
"This is the silver lining of higher oil prices. If we didn't have higher oil prices, they[Oil Companies] wouldn't have dared to risk this much capital on exploration here."A.F.Alhajji,Professor Ohio University
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Mushroom Clouds over the ME
The solution to Iran's "big lie" may come from those who have the most to lose from a loose nuke in Iran...the Arab States.
All the Arab leaders know better than the UN/Euro-diploes that the big man in Iran, Ahmadinejad, is finagling to become the most powerful Islamic ruler in the Persian Gulf by using Hezbollah to pressure the States who won't submit to fundamental Shiite domination. Naive Westerners are a second thought at this point...his on again, off again talk about talks will allow him plenty of time to squeeze more concessions from the gullible Western Democracies.
Notice that the Arabs were not supportive of Hezbollah's adventure in Lebanon. Qatar is sending troops to help protect the Israeli border and the weakened Government of Lebanon from Iran, Hezbollah & Syria's power grab . The Gulf States have voiced their concerns about nuclear fallout in their region. They were united in sending this message to Iran..."If you shoot your mouth off and get attacked..you're on your own." It will be extraordinary if they ally themselves with the USA and Israel and deprive Iran of their "mushroom cloud" in order to preserve the pecking order in the region and ultimately safeguard the status quo in the Middle East without a shot being fired.
Important addition:
Another clue to Arab support for Bush and the Republican warriors is the full scale pumping of oil in Saudi Arabia. The inventories are maxed out, prices are dropping like a stone..and still they flood the market with surplus crude. Why? Because they want the Republicans to get credit for lower gas prices at the pump which will improve the voters opinion of "how things are going" before Election Day.
It's the economy, stupid?..Worked for Clinton & it's working Right now for us. The Arabs may not be able to voice out loud that they need GW Bush's strong, aggressive offensive in the ME to save their bloody butts, but they sure can pump that oil and make sure the Democratic Party can't point to high oil prices for the poor middle class. Democrats have nothing Left to run..Arabs are making sure D-USA will not be leaving the ME high and dry anytime soon.
All the Arab leaders know better than the UN/Euro-diploes that the big man in Iran, Ahmadinejad, is finagling to become the most powerful Islamic ruler in the Persian Gulf by using Hezbollah to pressure the States who won't submit to fundamental Shiite domination. Naive Westerners are a second thought at this point...his on again, off again talk about talks will allow him plenty of time to squeeze more concessions from the gullible Western Democracies.
Notice that the Arabs were not supportive of Hezbollah's adventure in Lebanon. Qatar is sending troops to help protect the Israeli border and the weakened Government of Lebanon from Iran, Hezbollah & Syria's power grab . The Gulf States have voiced their concerns about nuclear fallout in their region. They were united in sending this message to Iran..."If you shoot your mouth off and get attacked..you're on your own." It will be extraordinary if they ally themselves with the USA and Israel and deprive Iran of their "mushroom cloud" in order to preserve the pecking order in the region and ultimately safeguard the status quo in the Middle East without a shot being fired.
Important addition:
Another clue to Arab support for Bush and the Republican warriors is the full scale pumping of oil in Saudi Arabia. The inventories are maxed out, prices are dropping like a stone..and still they flood the market with surplus crude. Why? Because they want the Republicans to get credit for lower gas prices at the pump which will improve the voters opinion of "how things are going" before Election Day.
It's the economy, stupid?..Worked for Clinton & it's working Right now for us. The Arabs may not be able to voice out loud that they need GW Bush's strong, aggressive offensive in the ME to save their bloody butts, but they sure can pump that oil and make sure the Democratic Party can't point to high oil prices for the poor middle class. Democrats have nothing Left to run..Arabs are making sure D-USA will not be leaving the ME high and dry anytime soon.
ABC: The Path to 9/ll...Clinton Balks
Clinton went ballistic when he heard that ABC's 8 hour miniseries which airs this Sun.& Mon.nights, about what led up to the 9/ll attacks, underestimates the intensity of his pursuit of Osama binLaden. He and his security lackeys, Socks Berger & the menace Albright are depicted as uncooperative with the CIA agents in Afghanistan because the Administration was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Bubba is demanding ABC pull the drama if they don't cut the misleading scenes..so far, ABC & Disney, to their credit has not only declined to do so, but issued a statement standing by the series which was thoroughly reviewed by paid advisor, Tom Kean the chairman of the 9/ll Commission.
The incident most revealing of Clinton's lackadaisical attitude about nabbing binLaden, is the one where CIA agents had OBL in their sights but needed the go-ahead from Clinton..they called him, got Sandy Berger who, after hemming and hawing, told them, "I don't have the authority." and hung up on them. The agents were with Masud, the Northern Alliance leader that was assassinated 3 days before 9/ll. Frustrated, he says: "Are there any men in Washington or are they all cowards?" I read that Clinton was golfing and didn't want to be disturbed...but ofcourse, Clinton & Berger both deny that anything like that ever happened. Who ya gonna believe?
All this publicity is good for ratings..for once I'll tune into ABC expecting to see an accurate, unfavorable depiction of the Clinton failures (instead of the usual Lefty cover-up) that led to the carnage that horrible day..September 11, 2001. Michael Mooreons et al..don't miss this one...it's long overdue.
The incident most revealing of Clinton's lackadaisical attitude about nabbing binLaden, is the one where CIA agents had OBL in their sights but needed the go-ahead from Clinton..they called him, got Sandy Berger who, after hemming and hawing, told them, "I don't have the authority." and hung up on them. The agents were with Masud, the Northern Alliance leader that was assassinated 3 days before 9/ll. Frustrated, he says: "Are there any men in Washington or are they all cowards?" I read that Clinton was golfing and didn't want to be disturbed...but ofcourse, Clinton & Berger both deny that anything like that ever happened. Who ya gonna believe?
All this publicity is good for ratings..for once I'll tune into ABC expecting to see an accurate, unfavorable depiction of the Clinton failures (instead of the usual Lefty cover-up) that led to the carnage that horrible day..September 11, 2001. Michael Mooreons et al..don't miss this one...it's long overdue.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Dems Damned to Hell
Cheney, Rumsfeld and President Bush launched a rousing barrage of targeted speeches casting the global War on Terror and Iraq as "the ideological struggle of the 21st Century" and compared Democrats and the Media to Europe's WWII appeasers with this Winston Churchill quote: "Appeasement is a bit like feeding a crocodile, hoping it would eat you last."
Democrats were outraged that R-leaders came out swinging and spinning, "Rummy PIPE DOWN!!" (LATimes)... They squirmed for Rumsfeld's dismissal; demanded Cheney and Bush's rebuke for daring to give jaded Liberal intellectuals a history lesson. Isn't this what they wanted? Republicans taking full responsibility for the whole Middle East mess? Haven't they charged that "Republicans are distancing themselves from Bush & Iraq..the administration is incompetent..blame America first..the people agree with us...pull out now, cut & run..quit?
For months Democrats have been telling us that Republicans running for re-election are desparate to change the subject from Iraq to anything else. Apparently not. Alas..Democrats are wrong again. Could their outrage be fear? Fear that they protesteth too much and look more like hooked, beached flounders flapping on the sand than like electABLE, capABLE guardians of our security and Country? Could it be the GOP, after enduring their best shots, is steeled by the relentless snipes and afterall is engaged in a forceful, proud and noble counter attack that sentences the Democratic Party to damnation in an inescapable hell-hole of irrelevance, mindless defeatism and self-perpetuating failure?
Democrats were outraged that R-leaders came out swinging and spinning, "Rummy PIPE DOWN!!" (LATimes)... They squirmed for Rumsfeld's dismissal; demanded Cheney and Bush's rebuke for daring to give jaded Liberal intellectuals a history lesson. Isn't this what they wanted? Republicans taking full responsibility for the whole Middle East mess? Haven't they charged that "Republicans are distancing themselves from Bush & Iraq..the administration is incompetent..blame America first..the people agree with us...pull out now, cut & run..quit?
For months Democrats have been telling us that Republicans running for re-election are desparate to change the subject from Iraq to anything else. Apparently not. Alas..Democrats are wrong again. Could their outrage be fear? Fear that they protesteth too much and look more like hooked, beached flounders flapping on the sand than like electABLE, capABLE guardians of our security and Country? Could it be the GOP, after enduring their best shots, is steeled by the relentless snipes and afterall is engaged in a forceful, proud and noble counter attack that sentences the Democratic Party to damnation in an inescapable hell-hole of irrelevance, mindless defeatism and self-perpetuating failure?
D.O.A.P. Kills Bush
In Death of a President, a movie documentary bankrolled by British TV station Channel 4, our sitting President Bush gets gunned down and killed during an anti-war demonstration in Chicago.
Just about everyone in US politics either makes No Comment or trashes the film as disgusting, deplorable and in extremely bad taste. But the left wing glitteratti praise the mockumentary as "thought provoking, powerful and justified under Freedom of Speech. Furthermore, the ignorati claim although "it's a disturbing piece of drama, it is neither gratuitous in the way it portrays the assassination nor simplistic in the way it presents the consequences."
Simplistc? The film makers use a real head shot of Bush and pin it on some actor and fire away, shooting him in the stomach while surrounded by body guards and paparazzi's flash bulbs. The scene is so real it reminds viewers of the attempt on Reagan's life...only this time, Bush is dead, killed by a poor misunderstood Syrian man.
Consequences? How many left wing nut jobs or Islamic radicals would like to kill Bush? Few will see this Movie, but the ones that do will be extremely susceptible to attempting a "copy cat" murder or a trip to martyrdom, adoring virgins and infamy. Terrorists don't go to the movies? Muslim citizens in Western democracies do...this movie makes a dangerous world more so for GW Bush. There outta be a law?
Just about everyone in US politics either makes No Comment or trashes the film as disgusting, deplorable and in extremely bad taste. But the left wing glitteratti praise the mockumentary as "thought provoking, powerful and justified under Freedom of Speech. Furthermore, the ignorati claim although "it's a disturbing piece of drama, it is neither gratuitous in the way it portrays the assassination nor simplistic in the way it presents the consequences."
Simplistc? The film makers use a real head shot of Bush and pin it on some actor and fire away, shooting him in the stomach while surrounded by body guards and paparazzi's flash bulbs. The scene is so real it reminds viewers of the attempt on Reagan's life...only this time, Bush is dead, killed by a poor misunderstood Syrian man.
Consequences? How many left wing nut jobs or Islamic radicals would like to kill Bush? Few will see this Movie, but the ones that do will be extremely susceptible to attempting a "copy cat" murder or a trip to martyrdom, adoring virgins and infamy. Terrorists don't go to the movies? Muslim citizens in Western democracies do...this movie makes a dangerous world more so for GW Bush. There outta be a law?
Sunday, August 13, 2006
INDY JOE:Round Two
The day after Joe Lieberman was KOed in the CT Democratic primary (52/48) by the light-weight Ned Lamont, Indy Joe came out swinging as the Independent contender in the November rematch.
The gloves came off as Lieberman jabbed at the out of state & home grown Leftists who supported the D-feat-o-crat, Lamont: "If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out of Iraq by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up planes in this plot hatched in England...it will strengthen them and they will strike again. I don't think Ned Lamont gets that and that's a serious difference between us." Indeed.
Indy Joe leads in the polls for his bid in the three way general election in November, 46% to 41%..55% of CT voters trust Joe Lieberman on National Security..33% and plummeting for Lamont. Republicans, stopped just short of an endorsement, but have vowed (Rove) that not a dime will be spent to defeat him..the Republican candidate in CT is polling at 6%.
Speaking for Republicans Tony Snow WH press secretary said: "....the Democratic Party, whose national leaders now have made it clear that if you disagree with the extreme left in their party, they're going to come after you." Referring to the nauseating bunch of McGovernly lefties surrounding Lamont on stage; Maxine Waters, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. Michael Moore, DailyKos blogger, Markos Moulitsas and John Murtha, were there in spirit AND on the RNC website.
Some of Lieberman's Democratic supporters argued his primary deafeat would hurt the Democrats in the midterm elections this fall and even in the WH race in 2008. "The way the Democrats can take both houses of Congress and the presidency is NOT on the war...the "McGovern wing" of the party has taken over." Former Mayor of NY, Ed Koch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)