Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Coast Guard Had Said Intelligence Gaps Prevented It From Determining Port Deal Threat

Before the controversial deal was approved that would give a Dubai-owned company control of significant operations at six major U.S. ports, the Coast Guard warned the Bush administration it couldn't determine whether the company, DP World, might support terrorist operations. During a hearing Monday (February 27th) on the port takeover, GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, released the unclassified Coast Guard intelligence assessment that said, "There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW ... to support terrorist operations, that precludes an overall threat assessment" of the deal. "The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities."

But the Bush administration said yesterday that the Coast Guard concerns raised during the review of the deal had been resolved, and the Coast Guard itself released a statement in which it said the concerns raised in the document were ultimately addressed. Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary for the Homeland Security Department, told the lawmakers, "I think it's a little unfair to judge this report by one paragraph that happens not to be classified. This paragraph is not really representative of the entire report." But Collins answered, "I think the paragraph speaks for itself."

On Sunday, the Bush administration agreed to a request from DP World for a second review of the deal that would be longer and more in-depth. The deal, under which DP World would take over port operations now handled by London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, has drawn bipartisan criticism from Congress and, according to polls, the American people.

The more you hear about the ports deal as time goes by, do you feel more reassured that it's safe and won't threaten our security or less reassured?

Report: Cheney Expected to Retire After Midterm Elections


Insight magazine, which is put out by the conservative Washington Times newspaper, is reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to retire within a year, sometime after the midterm elections this fall. Citing what are described as senior GOP sources, the magazine says Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasingly political liability to President Bush.

Insight cites the sources as saying there's a growing rift between Bush and Cheney and their staffs, citing the vice president's failure to immediately tell Bush about his recent hunting accident. One source said, "Nobody on the president's staff could get to Cheney, let alone tell him what to do." They also say the White House expects Cheney to have to defend himself against charges from Scooter Libby, his former chief of staff, that the vice president ordered him to give classified information to reporters.

The sources said Bush has rejected advice from people close to his father, former President George H. W. Bush, to dismiss Cheney. They say Bush sees Cheney as being experienced in national security and trusted by the conservative base of the Republican Party.

Would you like to see Cheney leave? If so, who would you like to see take his place?

Monday, February 27, 2006

Jerome R. Corsi stopped by with some disturbing info on the Dubai Port deal.

Dubai funds Neil Bush's company

Investors from the United Arab Emirates helped fund the $23 million Neil Bush raised for Ignite!, the learning systems company that holds lucrative No Child Left Behind Act contracts in Florida and Texas. The "Cow" is an Ignite! portable computer designed to work in a classroom, providing interactive instruction aimed at improving students' scores on standardized tests. If you loved Billy Carter and "Billy Beer," you're certain to love Neil Bush and the "Ignite! Cow."

Dubai ports takeover linked to Iran attack?

William F. Buckley says we tried but we failed in Iraq

Iraq Is Lost - William F. Buckley, National Review

Is he right? I asked Jed Babbin from FamilySecurityMatters this morning on the show.

Here's what he has to say...

Have We Lost in Iraq?By Jed Babbin

SARI LOCKER, TEEN EDUCATOR, PSYCHOLOGIST: Stops by to discuss the dangers on MySpace.com

From CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS

NGUYEN: Well, several girls in one Connecticut town claim to have been sexually assaulted by men who they say contacted them online pretending to be teenagers. Police are checking into that and other alleged reports of Internet predators. How common is the problem and how can you protect your child? Teen educator and psychologist Sari Locker is in New York with some answers for us, looking forward to these answers. Sari, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

SARI LOCKER, TEEN EDUCATOR, PSYCHOLOGIST: Good morning. Thanks for having me here this morning.

NGUYEN: First up, let's tackle the Web sites where you can put out your own personal page. How dangerous is it for children? They think it's fun.

LOCKER: I think they're dangerous, but I also think it's just a horrible thing. No teenager and no child ever needs to have a personal web page. These Web sites like myspace.com, it's essentially like the child or teenager is just putting all their personal information up there, almost like they just want everyone to know where they live. They say exactly what school they go to.

They say their first names and they put up often very sexy looking pictures of themselves and they're children who are doing it. If you go to the site, one of the big problems with these so-called social networking sites is that they have a search function. So you can put something in the site like the word "16" press enter and you come up with web pages of 16-year-olds where it says the school they go to and the city and state where they live. It's terrible.

NGUYEN: ... can do just a search and find whatever they want coming up with pictures, addresses, where they go to school, all that information just like that, that easy? LOCKER: Yes and it's despicable. They can put in the name of the middle school down the block and come up with first names and pictures and e-mail addresses of these children. The fact is I don't like saying this on television because I'm always afraid that the bad people are listening. So bad people, plug up your ears. But seriously, it is something that all parents need to know about. If your child has a personal web page, you must make sure that they get it down. Do not allow this anymore.

NGUYEN: Sari, knowledge is power and that's what we're doing here. When we talk about Web sites and these personal web pages, is instant messaging just as disturbing?

LOCKER: To me it is. On America Online, a lot of children create very sexy sounding screen names and I'm always shocked. But when I see these, I see things like hot teen 13. It is a real child screen name or sexy girl. And the parents don't seem to know about this.

One of the problems with America Online is, again, there's a membership directory where you can search by city, state, age, anything and come up with screen names, e-mail addresses of children and teenagers and there are a lot of kids out there who feel flattered when they hear that bling of the instant message and a stranger is contacting them.

You mentioned the news story about the seven girls in Middletown, Connecticut who were sexually assaulted by someone they met on a Web site. I used to go to summer camp coincidentally right down the street from that town.

And one day when I was about 11 years old, a camp friend and I wandered beyond the gates of the camp, started walking down the street, just to go for a nice walk. And a man pulled up his car alongside us and started driving very slowly and talking to us. My friend and I, we knew well enough as children to not talk to him. And in fact we ran the other way back to camp and told the counselor.

NGUYEN: But if someone approaches a child online, I mean just put it in that scenario, they don't know. They think it's just some friend or someone out there their age trying to contact them and that's not the case.

LOCKER: That's my point with that story, exactly that, that children and teens today need to treat it the exact same way when a stranger contacts them online. They must log off, run the other way, tell their parent and they're not doing it because they think it's fun.

NGUYEN: All right, but here's the problem. We know all about the dangers now that we've spoken with you and you've been able to say word for word where they are, how predators can get to children. What do you do about it? What can parents do about it, because a lot of parents are not familiar with the Internet. They don't know a lot about computers. So they're kind of in the dark. LOCKER: First thing they need to do, as I mentioned, make sure that the screen names of your children do not have their real name, their age, anything sexy, anything that's related to a youth-oriented celebrity or a location and you need to control that. The next thing you need to do is make sure that they are not going on these social networking sites. Limit their instant messaging and limit their e- mail and don't let them go into chats.

Now the third point is you need to know if you are a parent how to use the Internet. You need to understand your computer. You might need to do some checking up on your child also. So what you need to know how to go on to, if you have America Online, go on there and block the buddy list so they can't be doing instant messaging with strangers. You also need to know how to look up the temporary Internet files on your computer to see if your teen or child has been going onto sites.

NGUYEN: So you can follow where they've been. You can actually see where your child has been.

LOCKER: Exactly.

NGUYEN: All right. So when is it appropriate for a child, very quickly, to have a web page and to start doing instant messaging and all of that because a lot of kids are getting on board with this.

LOCKER: They say that they want to so much and they beg their parents. Until I'm shown a site that's different, I will continue to say no teen ever needs to. So give your teen an alternative. Tell them to keep a written diary like we did in the old days or tell them to get a part-time after school job so they're doing something with their time other than sitting on the computer. Please, try to make a difference with your teenager.

NGUYEN: Sari Locker with these strict rules, but you know what, it could really make a difference in the lives of children out there, keep them out of danger, author, educator, as well as psychologist, thank you.

LOCKER: Thank you.

HARRIS: Good stuff.

NGUYEN: Yes. Frightening.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Saudi Shipping Company Controls 9 US Ports

Funny, our one party media hasn’t mentioned this Saudi-owned ports operation. Maybe they don’t know about it, as the company’s only been around since 1979:

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia

Owners

Government of Saudi Arabia, Saudi individuals and establishments

Head Office Riyadh, KSA

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) was established in 1979 to meet the transportation needs of Importers and Exporters in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.

And look at the ports where they control berths:

Marine Terminals

Baltimore, MD

Halifax, Canada

Newport News, VA

Houston, TX

New Orleans, LA

St. John, Canada

Houston, Texas

Savannah, GA

Wilmington, NC

Port Newark, NJ

Brooklyn, NY

Where’s the outrage?

HatTip to Sweetness and Light

- turns out, this isn't true. The Saudi company merely uses those terminals - it doesn't own or control them.

If you go to the company web site and click on the list of terminals, here -
http://www.nscsaamerica.com/terminals.htm

then click on the terminal names, here -

http://www.nscsaamerica.com/marine_term.htm#New%20Jersey

You'll see a list of the various companies NSCSA uses to unload their ships. Apparently they don't do it themselves.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Violence Erupts At Orlando Neo-Nazi Rally

It's ironic the news media that wouldn't show or publish the Mohammed cartoon, because it might incite violence, had no problem hyping the march for days on end.

As predicted with stunning accuracy on my show Friday.

Local 6 is reporting...
Fist-fights broke out and police made a handful of arrests at a neo-Nazi rally Saturday before a march through a predominantly black neighborhood.

Police hauled away at least five people in handcuffs after a fight between supporters of the National Socialist Movement and counter-demonstrators who were voicing their displeasure with the group's anti-minority message.

It was not immediately clear to which groups those arrested belonged.

More than 300 law enforcement officers were on the scene. Some officers patrolled with K-9 units and on horses, while police helicopters circled above the march route.


Here is the Sentinel's version of the mayhem...

Fights break out at Orlando neo-Nazi rally
Police arrest more than a dozen people

I'm holding City Officials responsible for doing nothing to prevent these clowns from marching. This is a public safety issue! I'm holding State Sen. Gary Siplin personally responsible for seeing to it that this situation escalated to violence. More Monday morning!

22 ports in Arab deal, not just 6 as reported

Scope of Dubai firm to stretch from Maine to Gulf of Mexico

Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. at WND is reporting...

Dubai Ports World is scheduled to take over operations at 22 U.S. ports, not six as previously reported by most major media.

According to the website of P&O Ports, the port-operations subsidiary of the London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), DPW will pick up stevedore services at 12 East Coast ports including Portland, Maine; Boston; Davisville, R.I.; New York; Newark; Philadelphia; Camden, N.J.; Wilmington, Del.; Baltimore, Md.; and Virginia locations at Newport News, Norfolk, and Portsmouth.

Additionally, DPW will take over P&O stevedoring operations at nine ports along the Gulf of Mexico including the Texas ports of Beaumont, Port Arthur, Galveston, Houston, Freeport, and Corpus Christi, plus the Louisana ports of Lake Charles and New Orleans.

Previously reported have only been P&O Ports' container operations at New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans. Stevedore services also typically involve the loading and unloading of containers on and off cargo ships, as well as moving and storing containers, though often in separate facilities from where containers are initially loaded and unloaded from the cargo ships. Thus, while DPW will be operating the container terminal operations of only the six ports initially disclosed, DPW will be managing stevedore services, handling containers at a total of 21 ports, located along the Eastern seaboard from Maine to Virginia, and across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Louisiana.

Additionally, the website of P&O Ports North America lists that P&O provides container services at the Port of Miami, through a subsidiary identified as P&O Ports Florida, Inc. This brings to 22 the total number of American ports where DPW will be acquiring P&O operations. On Jan. 24, P&O Ports North America and the Tampa Port authority announced they reached an agreement to enter into a long-term contract permitting P&O to operate terminals at the Port of Tampa for general and refrigerated cargo. By acquiring P&O internationally, DPW will pick up all P&O operating agreements, including this one just concluded in Tampa. (.pdf file)
Bush Admin. Won't Reconsider Ports Deal

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration said Friday it won't reconsider its approval for a United Arab Emirates company to take over significant operations at six U.S. ports. The former head of the Sept. 11 commission said the deal "never should have happened."

Opponents, including the agency that runs New York and New Jersey ports, took their case to court, while the company, Dubai Ports World, stepped up efforts to change the minds of congressional critics.

The president's national security adviser said the White House would keep trying to persuade lawmakers -- there's more time since the company offered to delay its takeover -- but the administration wouldn't reconsider its approval.

"There are questions raised in the Congress, and what this delay allows is for those questions to be addressed on the Hill," Stephen Hadley said. "There's nothing to reopen."
The arrogance and utter defiance from this administration continues. Why are they digging in on this issue????

Friday, February 24, 2006

Stay away from Parramore Saturday!


Calm urged as neo-Nazis set to march
Saturday's event won't escalate if the group is ignored, city and black leaders say.

This is a train wreck just waiting to happen. These clowns should not be permitted to march in Downtown Orlando based on public safety concerns. Having Gary Sipplin lead the resistance is like pouring gasoline on a fire. Nothing good can come of this rally.

Local6 reports...
Despite pleas from police to stay home during a neo-Nazi march planned for downtown Orlando this weekend, state Sen. Gary Siplin said he is going to stage a counter demonstration that will shower the neo-Nazis with love.

Join me for the body count Monday morning.

Congressman J.D. Hayworth stops by the PC Show



President Bush said that the UAE transaction should go through, while many legislators and governors say the deal is a threat to our security. “We don't need to say "No" to this deal, we need to say, "Hell, no!” says Rep. J.D. Hayworth (AZ – 5th district), author of the new book Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security, and the War on Terror. “It is remarkable that a president who in over four years has not vetoed a single bill would dust off his veto pen to save a stinker of a deal like this. I can say with almost certainty that it would not only be his first veto, but his first overridden veto.”

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Gaffney Prediction: President Will Back Down on Dubai Deal

The President has left himself an "out" on this dubious Dubai Port Deal. He says he didn't know about it until this week, despite the fact the Washington Times ran a column by Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, last Tuesday where he warned about this secret deal in a major metropolitan newspaper.

But before you castigate Bush, you should also know the national media was also clueless because they were all-consumed with the Cheney shooting non-story, remember? According to Rush Limbaugh, ABC's Ann Compton sheepishly admitted to WABC Radio's John Gambling earlier this week that she didn't know much about the UAE issue. Whoops!

In any event, Gaffney says the wave is against the President on this deal and he is best to pull a "Harriet Miers mistake" and withdraw it ASAP. If he needs any further reasons why this deal is bad for the country, he only needs to read Gaffney's latest column on National Review Online. Note, in particular, what a former employee of DPW wrote Gaffney!

Please read this or parts of Gaffney's column on the air!!!
Click HERE.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Iran Female policetraining

Check out the video HERE.

Is the Bush administration capable of admitting a mistake?

Tune in Wednesday morning to find out!

I am not afraid to say I've screwed up in my life; are you?

Well, let's all stipulate, shall we, that President Bush, or at least his administration, has royally screwed up in turning over the management of 6 of the USA's major ports to a state-run United Arab Emirates company.

It's so bad that even hard-core terrorist apologists, like Senator Chuck Schumer, are denouncing the deal. Republicans from GOP Governors Pataki, Erlich, Rep. Peter King, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others have also denounced it.

Starting all this commotion last week was Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, who, in a column published in the February 14th Washington Times, first warned about this decision.

In his latest column , Gaffney writes in Tuesday's Washington Times that it's time for the Bush Administration - starting with the President - to not only admit that the decision is wrong, but that the intra-government agency that led to it is faulty and needs reformed.

Frank Gaffney joins me, PC, Wednesday morning.

I'm working on getting Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, Michael Burghard on the show

Read story HERE.

Paternity fraud rampant in U.S.

30% of those named as fathers bilked of child support unjustly

WASHINGTON – More than three years ago, a Maine district court judge ruled that Geoffrey Fisher no longer had to pay child support for a child that wasn't his.

But that didn't stop the state from revoking Fisher's driver's license and coming after him for thousands of dollars it says he owes in back payments.

Last year, Maine sent Fisher, 35, a letter seeking $11,450 in child support, even though officials know that DNA tests proved he isn't the father of the child in question.

As the nation experiences an unprecedented increase in unwed motherhood, more men are finding themselves named as "fathers," for purposes of child support, simply because of their ability to pay, say several recent studies.

It's called "paternity fraud," and one state that examined the problem found as many as 30 percent of those paying child support were, indeed, not the biological fathers of the children being supported.

Colleges cash in when students use credit cards

'It's pretty frustrating and stressful. You're reminded every second of every day. They just want their money.'

For UCF student Charles Hogan, the path to crushing debt was paved by a pizza.

Two years ago, while walking across campus early one day, he was handed a flier promising free food. All he had to do was apply for an MBNA credit card.

He got his pizza. And now he has three cards, with $6,000 worth of debt.

That puts Hogan, 23, at the center of a national debate about whether credit-card companies should be allowed to recruit on college campuses. At risk are tens of thousands of students who are increasingly falling into debt, using student loans to pay credit-card bills, taking second jobs and, in some cases, dropping out of school.

A handful of states, including California, New York and Washington, have passed laws aimed at curtailing campus marketing.

Not Florida. The state's university system offers no formal guidance, leaving administrators free to set their own rules -- rules that allow schools such as the University of Central Florida to make money off students' card purchases.




LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Where to place blame?

Please help me to understand your front page story of Sunday: The college students who have all the answers to world peace, the global environment and race relations can't figure out that if they charge items on a credit card, that they must pay back the loan, with interest?

I have an idea: Let's blame it on the banks and credit-card companies. Someone else must be responsible for our irresponsibility.

Paul Johnson
Belle Isle

A Catholic millionaire's dream town draws fire.


Feb. 27, 2006 issue - The 5,000-acre tomato field in southwestern Florida sure doesn't look like heaven. Bulldozers scrape the land flat while clusters of Porta Pottis signal an undeniable earthiness. But soon a massive cathedral will rise from this barren spot. Reaching 100 feet in the air behind a 65-foot crucifix, the Oratory will anchor Ave Maria, a whole new town and Roman Catholic university 30 miles east of Naples. Ground was officially broken last week, and the plan is to build 11,000 homes—likely drawing families who already hold the church at the center of their lives.

For Tom Monaghan, the devout Catholic who founded Domino's Pizza and is now bankrolling most of the initial $400 million cost of the project, Ave Maria is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to spreading his own strict interpretation of Catholicism. Though he says nonbelievers are welcome, Monaghan clearly wants the community to embody his conservative values. He controls all the commercial real estate in town (along with his developing partner, Barron Collier Cos.) and is asking pharmacies not to carry contraceptives. If forced to choose between two otherwise comparable drugstores, Barron Collier would favor the one that honored that request, says its president and CEO, Paul Marinelli. Discussing his life as a millionaire Catholic who puts his money where his faith is, Monaghan says: "I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines."

The ACLU of Florida is worried about how he's playing the game. "It is completely naive to think this first attempt [to restrict access to contraception] will be their last," says executive director Howard Simon. Armed with a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership [of a town] does not always mean absolute dominion," Simon will be watching Ave Maria for any signs of Monaghan's request's becoming a demand. Planned Parenthood is similarly alarmed. So far, Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in Ave Maria Town, says it will not prescribe any birth control to students. Will others be able to get the pill? "For the general public, the answer is probably yes, but not definitely yes," says hospital point man Edgardo Tenreiro. The Florida attorney general's office says the issue of limiting access will likely have to be worked out in court. Barron Collier and Monaghan say they're following Florida law.


Where does the State get the right to mandate a private company's inventory?

Victor Davis Hanson on the Markers of Appeasement

**MUST READ**

It is easy to damn the 1930s appeasers of Adolf Hitler -- such as Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain in England and Edouard Daladier in France -- given what the Nazis ultimately did when unleashed.

But history demands not merely recognizing the truth post facto but trying to reconstruct the rationale of something that in hindsight seems inexplicable.

Appeasement in the 1930s was popular with the European public for various reasons. All are instructive in our hesitation about stopping a nuclear Iran, or about defending the right of Western newspapers to print what they wish -- or about fighting radical Islamism in general.
More...

Just as Hitler concocted incidents such as the burning of the Reichstag to create outrage, Islamist leaders incite frenzy in their followers over a supposed flushed Koran at Guantanamo and several inflammatory cartoons, some of them never published by Danish newspapers at all.

Anti-Semitism, of course, is the mother's milk of fascism. It is always, they say, a small group of Jews -- whether shadowy Cabinet advisers and international bankers of the 1930s or the manipulative neoconservatives and Israeli leadership of the present -- who alone stir up the trouble.

The point of the comparison is not to suggest history simply repeats itself, but to learn why intelligent people delude themselves into embracing naive policies. After the Taliban and Saddam were removed, the furious reply of the radical Islamist world was to censor Western newspapers, along with Iran's accelerated efforts to get the bomb.

In response, either the West will continue to stand up now to these recurring post-September 11, 2001, threats, or it will see the bullies' demands increase as its own resistance weakens. Like the appeasement of the 1930s, opting for the easier choice will only guarantee a more costly one later.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

So you think you're tired on Monday morning?

Vietnam man handles three decades without sleep

You’d think going without sleep for that long may have its drawbacks, but not for the man in central Quang Nam province who has never been ill after decades of insomnia.

His inability to sleep has not only made him famous, but also represents a “miraculous” phenomenon worthy of scientific study.

Sixty-four-year-old Thai Ngoc, known as Hai Ngoc, said he could not sleep at night after getting a fever in 1973, and has counted infinite numbers of sheep during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights.

“I don’t know whether the insomnia has impacted my health or not. But I’m still healthy and can farm normally like others,” Ngoc said.

Proving his health, the elderly resident of Que Trung commune, Que Son district said he can carry two 50kg bags of fertilizer down 4km of road to return home every day.

His wife said, “My husband used to sleep well, but these days, even liquor cannot put him down.”

She said when Ngoc went to Da Nang for a medical examination, doctors gave him a clean bill of health, except a minor decline in liver function.

Ngoc currently lives on his 5ha farm at the foot of a mountain busy with farming and taking care of pigs and chickens all day. His six children live at their house in Que Trung.

“I have tried sleeping pills and Vietnamese traditional medicine but nothing helps, even to sleep for a few minutes,” he said.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Davis Does It His Way, and Makes History


TURIN, Italy Feb 18, 2006 — Shani Davis knew what he was doing. Davis became the first black to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history Saturday, capturing the men's 1,000-meter speedskating race. "I'm one of a kind," Davis said, fully aware of how much he stands out in the mostly all-white sport.


So There! Bryant Gumbel!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Democrats plan bill to block Dubai port deal

This is the very idea I spoon fed to James Carville Thursday on the show. An idea he thanked me for. Does this make me a strategist for the Democratic party?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns.

Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.

"We wouldn't turn the border patrol or the customs service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either," Menendez said in a statement. The Senate Banking Committee also plans to hold a hearing on the issue later this month.

P&O, the company Dubai Ports World plans to buy for $6.8 billion, is already foreign-owned, by the British, but the concern is that the purchaser is backed by the United Arab Emirates government.

The UAE company would gain control over the management of major U.S. ports in New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami and that has sparked national security concerns among lawmakers.

"I will be working with Senator Menendez to introduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of ports to foreign governments," Clinton said in a statement.

The clock is running

Here’s a great reason to pause and reflect on the value of time and how important it is that you create priorities.

One of the basic tenets of goal setting is that we choose, in advance, how we’re going to allocate our time. This helps to ensure that we use it in the best way….watch this short movie and you’ll understand why.

Stop The Port Sellout

Contact the White House:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

comments@whitehouse.gov

Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Another prespective...


My husband works in the international transportation industry. In fact, his boss at one time was Dave Sanborn, the man that the White House has appointed to a post within the Maritime Commission. Dave was most recently working for DWI in the Dominican Republic and has worked for them before. DWI is not "buying the American ports" as I see frequently misrepresented in articles about this in the MSM. American ports cannot be bought.

They are buying the port operating division of a London-based, British-owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. That purchase will include current contracts that P&O ports has with the various ports listed in the stories. There are other port operation companies out there. The port in New York or any of the other ports mentioned could choose to contract with some other company if they do not want DWI being responsible for operating terminals in these ports. As we understand it the same employees who work for P&O currently will still be the employees that work there after the purchase goes through.

I don't think there are suddenly going to be Arabs running all over the ports. Anymore so than there already are. Actually because of regulations and unions, more and more of ocean shipping, port operations and terminal operations in America are being run by non-American companies. Just a heads up...as we read the stories the information is so fact challenged. My husband does think there is room for some clarification, but to have Chucky [Schumer] out there trying to make this into a "the Bush adminstration IS NOT concerned about port security" is just spin.

STATEMENT FROM MRC PRESIDENT BRENT BOZELL REGARDING RACIST COMMENTS BY BRYANT GUMBEL

“A paucity of blacks makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.”

– Bryant Gumbel on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, 2.7.06

Alexandria, VA—Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued the following statement regarding Bryant Gumbel’s racist comments about the Olympics looking like a Republican Party convention due to its lack of black athletes.

“Gumbel’s remarks reek of racism and arrogance,” said Bozell. “On HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, he actually said we should ‘try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.’ That’s racial bean-counting. It’s also morally skewed because it says that to be among the greatest athletes you have to be black.

“What if Gumbel had said ‘a paucity of whites makes the NBA look like a Democratic convention?’ Rush Limbaugh was roundly denounced by the media when he made allegedly racist remarks about a football player. So where are the media condemnations now against Gumbel?

“Judging people by race is just plain wrong. Will HBO have the temerity to – at a minimum – publicly reprimand Gumbel for his racist statements or will they cower to a has-been who has proven he can’t hold a job in network news?”

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Friday Morning: "THE SADDAM TAPES"

Terror expert Dr. Harvey Kushner regarding the newly released "Saddam Tapes" aired by ABC News Wednesday night. Dr. Kushner will comment on what these tapes reveal, whether he believes they justify the 2003 US invasion and whether Saddam would have acted on the dangerous threats made if the US had not acted.

Dr. Kushner is a Contributing Editor for FamilySecurityMatters.com and author of the book "Holy War on the Home Front." Dr. Kushner has lectured on terrorism and national security issues to the US Secret Service, FBI, the Air Force's Special Operations University, the Naval War College and other US government agencies. An excellent guest!

Proposal to Create a Monument to Vietnam War Draft Dodgers(cowards)

Peace activists in Canada have revived plans dropped in 2004 to create a monument to Vietnam War draft dodgers from the U.S. who fled to Canada. The activists said the proposed monument is needed to warn people in both countries about the dangers of militarism. They are also organizing a July reunion for U.S. draft dodgers to be held in British Columbia at which the speakers will include former U.S. Senator George McGovern. The organizers say both the monument and reunion are to honor the Americans who resisted the war and the Canadians who helped them build new lives in their country.

The plans for a monument in Nelson, British Columbia, was originally announced in 2004, but was quickly abandoned after it was denounced by the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars and conservative media commentators, and a U.S. boycott was threatened of the area's tourism industry. A site hasn't yet been chosen for the planned monument, but proposals are being welcomed from communities in both Canada and the U.S. The proposed sculpture would show two Americans -- one man and one woman -- crossing an imaginary border where a Canadian waits to welcome them.

An estimated 125,000 Americans fled to Canada to avoid Vietnam, about half of whom returned to the U.S. after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty in 1977.

James Carville was on the show this morning.


The Ragin Cajun was plugging his new book Take It Back : Our Party, Our Country, Our Future . His performance was disappointing! Here's a guy that should be able to run circles around me. He's one of the best the Dems have, yet he came up empty on my show. We all know who and what the Democrats are against, but what are the for? When pressed for specifics(i.e. What's the Dem plan for Iraq? or dealing with a nuclear Iran? or Illegal immigration?) he came up empty time and time again. I had to spoon feed him issues that Dems should pick up on like the UAE Port story. It was sad!

Vulnerable US Ports Made More Vulnerable

You probably didn't know this, BUT, the Federal Government, with NO notice, turned over the management of six of the Nation’s most important ports – New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami, Baltimore and New Orleans – to Arab World control. I am not kidding!!!

Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates company, will now handle port management and securty at our nation's six biggest ports following the UAE company’s purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which previously had the contract.

Contrast this move with the post-9/11 decision by the US government to take over airport security and you see how incredible contradictory and foolish the decision by the US Treasury is to turn over port security to an Arab World country.

In his informative column in the Washington Times, the ever-vigilant Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy warns how dangerous this move is to homeland security; and calls on the Congress to reverse this idiotic and risky move by the government.

Frank Gaffney's Column in Tuesday's Washington Times

Update...

White House Defends Port Sale to Arab Co.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Why parents must mind MySpace

Go to Google News and type in "MySpace Crime" prepare to be blown away.

NBC's "Dateline" investigates the perils of social networking websites, and what they find is shocking. When “Dateline” surfed MySpace, it found scenes of binge drinking, apparent drug use, teens posing in underwear, and other members simulating sex, and in some cases even having it.

My Space - A Dangerous Place
Dr. Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D.

Hillary's Hypocrisy

Democrats blast Cheney secrecy after shooting

Asked at a press conference for her reaction about how the White House has handled the incident, US Senator Hillary Clinton called the Bush administration's failure to be more forthcoming "troubling."

"A tendency of this administration -- from the top all the way to the bottom -- is to withhold information ... to refuse to be forthcoming about information that is of significance and relevance to the jobs that all of you do, and the interests of the American people," Clinton said.

"Putting it all together, going back years now, there's a pattern and it's a pattern that should be troubling," she said at a press conference calling for a more robust federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

The former first lady continued: "The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy ... is supposed to work."

Isn't this ironic from the lady that wrote the book on not being forthcoming. Anyone remember the Rose Law Firm records that were missing for years or sitting on Vince Foster's Suicide note for 30hrs? Isn't this an example of the pot calling the kettle black?

Was VP sending 'Godfather'-style message?


WND Reports:CHENEY'S GOT A GUN
Was vice president sending 'Godfather'-style message?
Columnist says hunting incident was signal to Libby not to testify

A North Carolina columnist claimed today Dick Cheney's shooting of friend Harry Whittington was not an accident, but was meant to be a message to his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, not to testify against the vice president in the Valerie Plame leak investigation.

"Accident my eye. Or rather, Harry Whittington's eye," writes Barry Saunders in the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer.

"If you believe it was just an accident that Vice President Dick Cheney shot his hunting companion last weekend, you obviously have never seen 'The Godfather' movies."

Continued Saunders in his column: "Just as surely as a fish wrapped in a bulletproof vest means 'Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes,' that shotgun blast to Whittington's face was meant to convey that I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby had better bite his tongue and forget about testifying against Cheney, his former boss, in the Valerie Plame spy case."

Libby has been indicted on federal charges he lied to investigators probing the leak of Plame's identity to the media. Last week, prosecutors reported he told a grand jury that superiors authorized him to disclose classified information to reporters because they were angered about Plame's husband's opposition to the Iraq war.

"A vice president who'll shoot an ally to get across his message of omerta – that's mobspeak for 'hush up' – may be considered a national disgrace by some," writes Saunders. "Not by me. I embrace the prospect of a lead-slingin' veep. Think of the impact Cheney's shot heard 'round the world will have on America's diplomatic efforts. When obstinate countries declare their unwillingness to negotiate with Secretary of State Condi Rice, all we have to do is roll out Deadeye Dick."

The left has come unglued!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Ron Reagan: Did Cheney Have "Anything Against" Whittington?


Let the record show that it took the MSM less than a day to float the possibility that Dick Cheney intentionally shot Harry Whittington.

And who better to surmise that the Vice-President might have been trying to bump off his buddy than Ron Reagan, that primetime speaker at the Kerry convention who moonlights as an MSNBC "political analyst"?

Reagan appeared on tonight's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and in decrying the fact that the Secret Service apparently denied local law enforcement immediate access to Cheney, said the following:

"Law enforcement is entitled to investigate this case, to find out what happened, to find out if he had anything against Mr. Whittington, and to find out - again I don't mean to suggest anything - to find out if anyone had been drinking . . ."

Al Gore stabs America in the back!

Al Gore Says Americans Have ‘Abused’ Arabs Since 9/11

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed “terrible abuses” against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment.

Gore said Arabs had been “indiscriminately rounded up” and held in “unforgivable” conditions. The former vice president said the Bush administration was playing into al-Qaida’s hands by routinely blocking Saudi visa applications.

“The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake,” Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. “The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”

New Bumper Sticker

PORT INSECURITY

Do the feds really want to place the ports of New York and New Jersey in the hands of a Middle East country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers? As The Post reported on Sunday, that's what's about to happen, now that Dubai Ports World has won control - for $6.8 billion - of British-owned Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The purchase gives Dubai Ports control of six U.S. ports - including, in addition to New York-New Jersey, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans.

True, the deal reportedly was approved by the top-secret U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which decided there was no security risk.

But at a time when security in the ports remains unacceptably lax, we wonder whether this is a wise move.

Students reject honor to 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' hero


Lt. Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington during World War II

Member of Marines not 'sort of person UW wanted to produce'

The University of Washington's student senate rejected a memorial for alumnus Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of "Black Sheep Squadron" fame amid concerns a military hero who shot down enemy planes was not the right kind of person to represent the school.

Student senator Jill Edwards, according to minutes of the student government's meeting last week, said she "didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce."

Monday, February 13, 2006

Elliot Lewis stops by to discuss issues facing biracial Americans


Elliott Lewis is a freelance television news reporter in Washington, DC, a diversity speaker on interracial families, biracial identity and related multicultural issues, and the author of Fade: My Journeys in Multiracial America.

Fade: My Journeys in Multiracial America Elliott Lewis weaves his memoirs as a black-and-white biracial American with the voices of dozens of multiracial people who are challenging how we think and speak about race today. With Fade, Elliott offers a comprehensive look at the multiracial state of the union, tackling hot button issues such as the often complicated lives of multiracial people in communities of color, interracial dating, transracial adoption, "black versus biracial," and the birth of the multiracial movement.

Mel does a flip-flop

Martinez regrets his role in Schiavo case

TALLAHASSEE - Nearly a year after calling for federal involvement to keep a brain-damaged woman alive against her husband's wishes, Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez has said it was a mistake to become involved.

Martinez, who has just completed his first year in office, led the Senate charge pushing a bill that would have given federal courts jurisdiction to reinstate Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

''If I had to take one lesson away, it's perhaps decisions of this nature really belong in state courts, not federal courts,'' Martinez said in a taped interview for Political Connections that aired Sunday on Bay News 9 in the Tampa area.

''Perhaps this was not in the realm of federal concern. It may have been better left to state courts to deal with it,'' Martinez said.

Why now? This makes him look weak and indecisive!

Dick Cheney was involved in a hunting accident


Fox News is reporting that VP Dick Cheney was involved in a hunting accident yesterday.

Breitbart/AP:

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday. Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.

Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

I'm very thankful Whittington is doing fine. Unfortunately, this is very bad news for the White House--and not just because of the inevitable late-night jokes that will inundate the airwaves over the next week. The Dems will exploit this accident to smear Cheney as incapable of being trusted, weak of mind, etc. The resignation rumors will fly again. And the biography of a man who has served this country so well and so honorably for so many years will be overshadowed by a single, ill-fated hunting mishap.

HatTip Michelle Malkin

It's already starting...

James and Sarah Brady Comment on the Vice President's Hunting Mishap

and more...

Howard Dean Hints Towards Cheney Impeachment (VIDEO)

Did Ann Coulter cross the line? Should she apologize?

There is much buzz this weekend about comments that conservative author/columnist Ann Coulter made at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, a speech which I missed due to a book signing at the same event.

Ann used the term "raghead" when describing what our homeland security policies should be: "I think our motto should be post-9-11, 'raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences.'"

Ann says many deliberately provocative things. This one was spectacularly ill-chosen and ill-timed.
Conservative author Michelle Malkin accused liberals of hypocrisy over the matter, pointing out that “I’ll show you 100 liberal hate mails and blog posts referring to me as a “gook” or “chink” or a “Filipina whore” for ever one “raghead” controversy on the right.

New details in the Jennifer Kesse case.

Sgt. Rich Ring stopped by the show to talk about the investigation.

Police issue warning in Kesse case


ORLANDO -- Investigators put out a warning Saturday night to anyone who may have played a part in Jennifer Kesse's disappearance: Speak up now or pay the price later.

Orlando police investigators also implied for the first time that more than one person may be involved in her disappearance, though they would not confirm or deny it.

Sgt. Rich Ring said those responsible for Kesse's disappearance are watching the coverage.

"If this is a situation where there's more than one person involved and you may have got caught up in something that was an accident, something that you didn't want to get caught up in, now is the time to distance yourself from the person that is mainly responsible," he said.

"Don't wait because the deals won't be there later on in the game," he said.
'Credible' Tip Prompts Apartment Search In Kesse Case

Sunday, investigators received a tip from a woman who said Kesse was being held in an apartment unit located at 1414 40th Street in Orange County.

"We had information that she was seen there and that she was alive and she was being held against her will," Orange police Sgt. Richard Ring said. "Detectives working the case interviewed that person and that person apparently gave them enough information to make them concerned."

"We had information that she was seen there and that she was alive and she was being held against her will," Orange police Sgt. Richard Ring said. "Detectives working the case interviewed that person and that person apparently gave them enough information to make them concerned."

A SWAT team searched inside the structure but did not find the missing woman or any sign she had been there in past weeks.

Report: Pennsylvania man tried to blow up oil pipelines with al-Qaida

Doug Hagmann from NEIN stops by with the details on Michael Curtis REYNOLDS.

Also check out this little story.
Authorities about Bombs Found at Arlington, Texas Hotel: “We Were Lucky”

Friday, February 10, 2006

Trend: Employers telling employees what they can and can't do in their private lives.

Florida Sheriff Bans Adultery Among Colleagues

Pinellas County, Florida, Sheriff Jim Coats has instituted a new rule that bans the 3,000 sheriff's employees from committing adultery with their colleagues. He told the St. Petersburg Times, "I felt it was necessary to make it clear to the members of our agency that we have a moral image and obligation to the public. If we openly allow it, what kind of example does that set?" Coats said he's not on a crusade, but explained such relationships can have a negative effect in the workplace.

Wayne A. Hochwarter, associate director of Florida State University's Center for Human Resource Management, told the St. Petersburg Times that workplace rules such a this have become increasingly common, and there's going to be more of them. He pointed to examples like some companies pressuring their employees to quit smoking or exercise more, and said relationships between colleagues are under increased scrutiny for reasons including the possible liability to a organization if the relationship ends badly and there's harassment.

I guess adultery with non sheriff's dept people is still OK.

No Tattoos Allowed For Calif. County Workers County Says Some Find Tattoos Objectionable

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- California's San Bernardino County is banning nose rings and visible tattoos for public employees.

No smokers allowed
Melbourne's plan to kick butts reflects Band-Aid approach to high health costs


A number of agencies and businesses, including the World Health Organization, Union Pacific and Alaska Airlines, already refuse to hire smokers. Some companies give employees deadlines for quitting and use random nicotine testing to enforce bans.

The trend has come to Brevard County too, where Melbourne Councilman Richard Contreras is pushing to ban smoking candidates from vying for municipal jobs such as police officer, parks worker or city clerk.

Bush Gives New Details About Old Report of L.A. Terror Plot

Bush Gives Details of Foiled 2002 Terror Plot Against Los Angeles

President Bush yesterday (February 9th) gave new details about a foiled 2002 al-Qaida terrorist plot to fly a commercial airliner into a building in Los Angeles. The president had mentioned the plot before, in a speech last October, but only vague details were given then. The president outlined the plan now as proof of the cooperation between nations in the U.S.-led global war against terrorism that thwarted the plan and he says has, quote, "weakened and fractured" al-Qaida. At the same time, Bush said the battle is far from over, and the terrorists are, quote, "still lethal."

Speaking at the National Guard Memorial Building, Bush said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, began planning the foiled operation just one month later. The plan was to use shoe bombs to blow open a plane's cockpit door, take control of the plane, and crash it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, now the US Bank Tower. One of the key planners was Hambali, the operations chief of the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Hambali recruited Southeast Asian men for the plot, who were less likely to arouse suspicion than Arab men, and they were sent to meet with Osama bin Laden. But Bush said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation he wouldn't name arrested a key al-Qaida operative, who he also didn't name.

The president has been mounting a full-out campaign to defend his warrantless domestic surveillance program, in which the international phone calls and e-mails of people in the U.S. with suspected ties to terrorists are monitored. But the White House wouldn't say yesterday whether the National Security Agency program helped to thwart this plot.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he was blindsided by the announcement, saying he wasn't told of the new details and described communication with the White House as, quote, "nonexistent." Villaraigosa said, "I'm amazed that the president would make this [announcement] on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels. I don't expect a call from the president -- but somebody."

Why do you think President Bush gave the details of this 2002 plot yesterday, after refusing to do so last October?

Does this announcement make you more confident that the U.S. is doing what needs to be done in order to prevent more terrorist attacks in the U.S.?

How could the Mayor of LA not know about something that was reported in his own hometown paper 2 years ago?

Hypocrisy on Parade!


Times Runs Photo of Dung-Clotted “Virgin Mary”

On Tuesday, the Times wrote in an editorial on the Danish cartoons of Mohammad that “The New York Times and much of the rest of the nation's news media have reported on the cartoons but refrained from showing them. That seems a reasonable choice for news organizations that usually refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols, especially since the cartoons are so easy to describe in words.”

Apparently the Arts pages didn’t get the memo, because it runs a photo of Chris Ofili’s dung-clotted “Holy Virgin Mary” in Wednesday’s Arts section story by Michael Kimmelman, who calls the Danish cartoons “callous and feeble.”

This is the most striking example yet of the double standard by the Times when it comes to art that offends religious sensibilities.

Double Standard: Mohammed Cartoons and “Piss Christ”
New York Times reporter Craig Smith found the Mohammed cartoons more inflammatory than he did the actual fact of Muslims burning embassies in Syria and Lebanon in protest. Even the headline to his Sunday Week in Review story suggests that the Danish newspapers’ exercise of free speech was somehow irresponsible, likening it to pouring fuel on a flame: “Adding Newsprint to the Fire.”

Back in the 1990s, the Times took a far different tone regarding two excretory-based exhibits offensive to Christians -- though those controversies passed without the violent protests, death threats, or fire-bombings of embassies we are seeing today. Andres Serrano’s “Piss Christ,” consisted of a crucifix submerged in a tank of Serrano’s urine.

Full details can be found at http://www.timeswatch.org/.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Another Stupid Civilian Gets In The Way

Lesch makes hasty exit from Iraq

St. Paul lawmaker's brief trip ends after missteps, scolding


BAGHDAD, Iraq — State Rep. John Lesch of St. Paul reportedly left Iraq after a lecture from an angry Iraqi official — and just a week after he flew to the Middle East to tour the war zone on his own.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed Monday that Lesch had left, but offered no further information about where the 33-year-old, two-term DFLer was heading.

Neither Lesch's brother, Jim, nor friends in Minnesota who had been in contact with the lawmaker knew his whereabouts Monday.

But Iraqi and U.S. officials expressed their relief he had left the country the United States invaded in 2003.

"This grandstanding has no place here," Johnson said. "Stay home."

Had something happened to Lesch, he added, untold numbers of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers would have been obliged to endanger themselves to help him.

Mithal Alusi, founder of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation, said he spoke with Lesch shortly after he arrived last week in Baghdad and quickly reprimanded him. Alusi has been a victim of violence since the invasion and has dodged several assassination attempts. His two sons were slain in January 2005.

"Do you know what would happen if the terrorists took you as a hostage? Kalashnikov to your head. You with your passport, crying. And all of the world in danger. Just because of you!" Alusi recounted in an interview with Knight Ridder.

"I told him, 'You are crazy.' I don't like to talk to politicians this way, but he made me very sad."

Alusi asked if Lesch had any hobbies and said Lesch answered that he liked watching movies: "I told him you have watched too many James Bond movies."

Alusi said that had a U.S. state lawmaker been taken hostage, it would have exhausted the country's strained resources.

"We are so lucky he didn't die" here, he said. "Can you imagine what will happen here? … I told him, 'Don't do it again!' "

More than 400 foreigners have been kidnapped since the war ended in April 2003. In addition, thousands of others have been injured and killed by explosives and car bombs.

Nearly all contractors and journalists living and working in the country spend thousands of dollars for armored cars, guards and weapons to defend themselves. And they acknowledge that is not foolproof. Most U.S. officials and the top leaders of the government live in the heavily fortified Green Zone, which is surrounded by 12-foot-high blast walls. Most rarely leave.

Lesch, however, flew at his own expense to the Middle East on Jan. 29. He planned to stay for about three weeks. He traveled through Amsterdam and Damascus, according to postings on his Internet blog (http://johnlesch.blogspot.com). His last blog entry was dated Monday.

Michael Burghardt


The Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant in the picture is Michael Burghard, part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team that is supporting 2nd Brigade 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard). I heard the below story first hand last Saturday during a video teleconference between his Brigade Commander and the 28th Infantry Division Commander. I thought that others should hear it as well, as I think it demonstrates the true spirit of most of our troops on the ground.

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron Mike" or just "Gunny". He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision," he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater. The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7in knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."

Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."

His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," says Sgt Burghardt. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. "I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'."

Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries — burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks — kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father — who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam — he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

King Funeral Turned Into Bush Bashing Event (VIDEO)


KING FUNERAL TURNS POLITICAL: BUSH BASHED BY FORMER PRESIDENT, REVEREND

Today's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor!

The outspoken Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ripped into President Bush during his short speech, ostensibly about the wife of Martin Luther King Jr.

"She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," Lowery said.

The mostly black crowd applauded, then rose to its feet and cheered in a two-minute-long standing ovation.

A closed-circuit television in the mega-church outside Atlanta showed the president smiling uncomfortably.

"But Coretta knew, and we know," Lowery continued, "That there are weapons of misdirection right down here," he said, nodding his head toward the row of presidents past and present. "For war, billions more, but no more for the poor!" The crowd again cheered wildly.

Former President Jimmy Carter later swung at Bush as well, not once but twice. As he talked about the Kings, he said: "It was difficult for them then personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretaps." The crowd cheered as Bush, under fire for a secret wiretapping program he ordered after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, again smiled weakly.

Later, Carter said Hurricane Katrina showed that all are not yet equal in America. Some black leaders have blamed Bush for the poor federal response, and rapper Kayne West said that Bush "hates" black people.

Football Fans Want Their Own National Holiday

Would Benefit the 1.4 Million Adults Who Call in Sick the Day After the Big Game

January 2006 (Medialink) – “Play Sunday… Sleep Monday!” That’s the slogan of a group of football fans who want legislators to declare the day after the Big Game an official national holiday. The new holiday would be called DA DAY -- as in “Day After” day. This year, DA DAY would fall on February 6th.

Members of the National Academy of Persons (NAP) say declaring DA DAY a national holiday makes sense. Numbers show that there are more parties held for the Big Game than on New Year’s Eve. Then, the next day, an estimated 1.4 million employed Americans call in sick. Why not just let them sleep in?

NAP, along with the hamburger chain White Castle, is calling on football fans to visit DA DAY’s official website (www.daday.com) and sign a petition. Signatures gathered will be sent to the nation’s capital in hopes of earning national holiday recognition for DA DAY.

Why not? Americans could use a few more than our 16 national holidays. After all, the French get 30 days off a year, the British -- 28 days, and the Japanese – 25.

FCATs begin are your kids psyched or scared?

The much-anticipated testing period kicks off this week, with writing exams for 4th-, 8th- and 10th-grade levels.

Pencils are sharpened, practice tests have been taken and Central Florida educators say they've done their best to prepare their students for the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

This year's FCAT period begins Tuesday with the writing exam for students in fourth, eighth and 10th grades. It includes an essay or story and multiple-choice questions.

"The kids are psyched for it," said Sylvia Garcia, assistant principal at Volusia County's Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson.

All of the writing exams will be completed by Wednesday, but testing will resume later this month with reading and math for students in grades three through 10. Fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders also will be taking the science exam before testing ends on March 9.

Florida's Department of Education will release scores statewide in May, followed a month later by A-to-F letter grades for each public school that met testing requirements. FCAT results also are used to determine whether schools are making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
There has to be a better way to measure a student's success than with a single test.

Evacuees face Monday deadline for FEMA-paid hotel stay

It's been 5 months, how much more time do you need?

Evacuees Face Hotel Bills

Thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have been staying in hotels at the
government's expense will have to pay their own way starting Tuesday.

Hotel managers have posted notices and slipped leaflets under hotel room doors informing evacuees of the deadline, unless they've been able to arrange extensions from federal officials.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow those who received extensions to stay through Feb. 13 or March 1, depending on their circumstances.

FEMA has authorized extensions for evacuees staying in more than 20,000 hotel rooms. But about 5,000 evacuees haven't contacted the agency or were unable to get an extension.

FEMA said it has spent $529 million putting evacuees up in hotels.

Is Jennifer Kesse's case getting more attention because she's white?

Group: Boost coverage of missing minorities, men

ORLANDO -- The Florida Civil Rights Association has launched a campaign to increase law-enforcement investigations and media coverage of missing men and minorities, starting with a Titusville woman.

Marsha Watson, the association's state secretary, was appointed chairwoman of its Community Task Force on Missing Women and Children of Color.

The group said there is disproportionate law-enforcement attention and media coverage of missing young white females.

Watson and J. Willie David III, the association's president, will meet this week with the family of Lottie Alberta Wise, an Alzheimer's patient who disappeared Jan. 11.

The action comes as the case of missing Orlando resident Jennifer Kesse, 24, enters its third week. Kesse's family has thrust her plight onto television news programs and newspaper pages since her disappearance last month.
I think the reason her case has received so much attention is because her parent's are media savvy. They've been able to appeal to the community on an emotional level that evokes empathy from everyone.

Iranian paper launches Holocaust cartoon competition

Iran’s biggest-selling newspaper has waded into the Muhammad controversy by launching a competition to find the 12 "best" cartoons about the Holocaust.

Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Tehran's Hamshahri newspaper, said that the deliberately inflammatory contest would test out how committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.

"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let’s see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons," he said.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said that victims of the Holocaust and their families were growing used to insults from Iran. "It's just very sad," she told Times Online.

Iran’s regime is supportive of Holocaust revisionist historians, who maintain that the slaughter of Europe’s Jews during the Second World War was invented or exaggerated to justify the creation of Israel on Palestinian territory.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad courted international denunciation recently when he argued for Israel to be "wiped off the map". The President's vitriolic attacks on Israel have further soured relations with the West, already at loggerheads over the republic's nuclear research programme.

Mr Mortazavi said that tomorrow's edition of the paper would invite cartoonists to enter the competition, with gold coins as prizes for the 12 winning artists -- the same number of cartoons that appeared in the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten lighting the touchpaper for fury which has swept around the Islamic world.
Check out Debbie Schlussel's response and entry HERE!

Richard Miniter stops by the PC Show to discuss the Muslim cartoon fury

As reported earlier today, Muslim cartoon fury claims lives.

At least five people have been killed in Afghanistan as demonstrations against cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad swept across the country.

Richard Miniter, terrorism expert, New York Times besteller and author of DISINFORMATION: 22 Media Myths that Undermind the War on Terror comments on the Muslim cartoon fury...


MINITER MAKES THE FOLLOWING INFORMED OBSERVATIONS REGARING THE MUSLIM CARTOON CRAZE:

The Three Fake Cartoons
"In addition to the 12 cartoons published by the Danish newspaper, radical Islamists apparently created three fake cartoons of their own -- designed to be especially offensive to Muslim sensibilities -- and falsely claimed that these were published by the Danish press,” reports Richard Miniter. “Of course they are guilty of exactly what they are criticizing the Danish press for -- and guilty of more; a desire to enrage and to provoke violence, mayhem and murder around the world."

The Cowardly French

"The giant continent-wide French-owned supermarket chain, Carrefour, recently posted signs in English, Arabic and French in all of their stores worldwide saying that they have taken all Danish products of their shelves. They are basically appeasing radical Muslim opinion and begging not to have their stores burned down. Plus ca change...(the more things change...)."

The Cowardly American Press

"As I know from personal experience, the editors at the Danish Newspaper that published the now famous cartoons, Jyllands Posten, and they are polite verging on politically correct center-left journalists,” says Miniter. “This would be the equivalent of the Muslim world suddenly becoming enraged at Tom Toles' cartoon in the Washington Post. But of course, most American readers will never see these cartoons because American editors are even more fearful of offending radical Islam than the politically correct editors of the Danish press.”

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Sleep deprivation kills!

NTSB: Trucker Had Little Sleep Before Crash That Killed 7 Kids

Investigators say the driver of the tractor-trailer that failed to stop for a car and a school bus last week, killing seven and injuring 11 others, was not drunk, but had barely slept for 34 hours.

Thursday afternoon, federal, state and local investigators announced preliminary results of their crash investigation, finding no mechanical failure, no obstruction that would have prevented seeing the stopped vehicles, and no evidence of drug or alcohol use by the truck driver.

New details emerge in the Dave Swafford story.

Check out Tom Lyons thought provoking column in the Herald Tribune...

Reports that give details of the girl's allegation haven't been released, but solid sources tell me the accusation was this: Mathis supposedly kept the girl in class for at least several minutes after the other students left, grabbed her underwear from behind to give her what is commonly called a wedgie, and tugged her shirt and said words to the effect that he would let her leave if she gave him a look beneath that shirt.
Remember when I asked Dave Swafford for details? Is this what the daughter meant when she said the teacher's assistant inappropriately touched her?

Did Manatee Superintendent of Schools Roger Dearing rush to clear the assistant teacher? Should he have waited for the Sheriff's Dept. to complete a more thorough investigation of what amounts to a serious charge?

Grieving dad who pushed for safer cop pursuits dies


For most of his life, Jim Phillips was known as a hardware man. But his advocacy for safer police pursuits defined the last years of his life.

Phillips, 57, died Friday after an apparent heart attack at his Winter Park home, friends and relatives said.

In December 2001, Phillips' life changed after his oldest daughter, Sarah, a nursing student, was killed when a driver being chased by a deputy sheriff struck the young woman's vehicle.

Since her death, Phillips relentlessly pleaded with law-enforcement agencies to change their pursuit policies, starting with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

"This is my life's mission. This is what I'm going to do: to give her death some meaning," Phillips told a reporter shortly after he settled a wrongful-death suit with the department. "She was killed before she had a chance to make a difference."

In 2003, the Sheriff's Office tightened its policies. Phillips turned his attention to the Orlando Police Department, which also responded. In time, he became a vocal leader for stricter guidelines nationwide.

He created a Web site -- http://www.pursuitwatch.org/ -- where he listed national stories and policies regarding high-speed pursuits. Phillips wrote that his goal wasn't to eliminate pursuits, but to make them safer.
Jim was a frequent guest on The Pat Campbell show. He was a class act trying to make a difference in the world. He took his own personal tragedy and made it his life's mission to change things so that other families wouldn't have to suffer a senseless loss. The world is a bit emptier today as we mourn his passing. Who will carry his torch? To his wife Patti, our condolences and prayers.

Friday, February 03, 2006

More from the religion of Peace and Tolerance.





These pictures are from a protest in London today. I don't know about you but I'm not feeling a whole lot of love. I can't figure this crowd out. They get bent out of shape over a cartoon but have no problem strapping a bomb to a kid and sending him into a crowded shopping mall. Go figure?

NAACP chairman compares GOP to Nazis

WND is reporting...
Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens."

"The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged.

Calling President Bush a liar, Bond told the audience at the historically black institution that this White House's lies are more serious than the lies of his predecessor's because Clinton's lies didn't kill people.
Julian needs a little history lesson on the Nazi Party, who and what they really were.

Letter to the Editor
6/7/95 - Arlington, Washington Times

(Dear Hillary)

During the past several months in the American press,
the Democrats have frequently denounced the
Republicans as Nazis due to their attempts to control
runaway federal spending. How very ironic. I remember
the Nazis. Let me share a little about them and recall
some of their exploits.

First of all, "Nazi" was gutter slang for the verb "to
nationalize". The Bider-Mienhoff gang gave themselves
this moniker during their early struggles. The
official title of the Nazi Party was "The National
Socialist Workers Party of Germany". Hitler and the
Brownshirts advocated the nationalization of
education, health care, transportation, national
resources, manufacturing, distribution and law
enforcement.

Hitler came to power by turning the working class,
unemployed, and academic elite against the
conservative republic. After der fuhrer's election
ceased being a political conspiracy and was
transformed into a fashionable social phenomenon, pary
membership was especially popular with educators,
bureaucrats, and the press. Being a Nazi was
politically correct. They called themselves "The
Children of the New Age of World Order" and looked
down their noses at everyone else. As Hitler accrued
more power, he referred to his critics as "The Dark
Forces of Anarchy and Hatred". Anyone who questioned
Nazi high-handedness in the German press was branded a
"Conservative Reactionary". Joseph Goebbels, minister
of communications, proclaimed a "New World Order".


The Nazi reign of terror began with false news reports
on the Jews, Bohemians and Gypses who were said to be
arming themselves to overthrow the "New World Order"
and Hitler demanded that all good people register
their guns so that they wouldn't fall into the hands
of "terrorists and madmen". Right wing fanatics of the
"Old Order" who protested firearms registration were
arrested by the S.S. and put in jail for "fomenting
hatred against the Government of the German people".

Then the Reichstag (government building) was blown up
and Hitler ram-rodded an "Emergency Anti-Terrorist
Act" through Parliament that gave the Gestapo
extraordinary powers. The leader then declared that
for the well-being of the German people, all private
firearms were to be confiscated by the Gestapo and the
Wermotten (federal law enforcement and military).
German citizens who refused to surrender their guns
when the "jack-boots" (Gestapo) came calling, were
murdered in their homes. By the way, the Gestapo were
the federal marshals' service of the Third Reich. The
S.W.A.T. team was invented and perfected by the
Gestapo to break into the homes of the enemies of the
German people.


When the Policia Bewakken, or local police, refused to
take away guns from townsfolk, they themselves were
disarmed and dragged out into the street and shot to
death by the S.A. and the S.S. Those were Nazi
versions of the B.A.T.F. and the F.B.I. When several
local ministers spoke out against these atrocities,
they were imprisoned and never seen again.

The Gestapo began to confiscate and seize the homes,
businesses, bank accounts, and personal belongings of
wealthy conservative citizes who had prospered in the
old Republic. Pamphleteers who urged revolt against
the Nazis were shot on site by national law
enforcement and the military. Gypsies and Jews were
detained and sent to labor camps. Mountain roads
throughout central Europe were closed to prevent the
escape of fugitives into the wilderness, and to
prevent the movement and concealment of partisan
resistance fighters.

Public schools rewrote history and Hitler youth groups
taught the children to report their parents to their
teachers for anti-Nazi remarks. Such parents
disappeared. Pagan animism became the state religion
of the Third Reich and Christians were widely
condemned as "right wing fanatics".

Millions of books were burned first and then people.
Millions of them burned in huge ovens after they were
first gassed to death. Unmarried women were paid large
sums of money to have babies out of wedlock and then
given medals for it. Evil was declared as being good,
and good was condemned as being evil. World Order was
coming and the German people were going to be the
"peacekeepers".

Yes, indeed(Hillary), I remember the Nazis and they
weren't Republicans, or "right wing", or "patriots" or
"militias". They were Socialist monsters.

Thomas Colton Ruthford

Thursday, February 02, 2006

It’s called Focus!


How would you respond if the day before a really big day at work your spouse, who is hundreds of miles away, is unexpectedly taken off to jail…and you’ve got young children at home…and you just can’t walk away from your commitment? Would you be a little distracted?

That scenario actually happened to PGA Golfer John Daly several days ago. How did he respond? He went out and shot a 69 (if you’re not a golfer, that’s very good!) on a very tough course. He was, as Fox Sports described him, “seemingly without a care in the world.”


Did the incident bother Daly? Sure it did — he’s human like the rest of us. But when Daly, who has had his share of personal problems over the years, is on his game, he’s one of the very best golfers in the world. He knew at the moment that he couldn’t change his wife’s situation but he could change his own situation at hand. He FOCUSED on his game despite an incredible distraction. “Asked how he put his personal life aside, Daly offered a wry grin. “You don’t,” he said. “I’m just out here.”


What distraction in your life is beyond your ability to change it? Why not put it aside for the moment and FOCUS on what you can change.
Read the Fox Sports story here…

Is There Too Much Media Coverage of ABC's Bob Woodruff Being Seriously Wounded in Iraq?

The story of ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt being seriously injured in Iraq has gotten overwhelming media coverage, and UPI reports that some soldiers are now questioning why it's getting so much attention, compared to that for soldiers who are killed and wounded every day in Iraq, a majority of them also by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). UPI cites a senior military officer as saying, "The point that is currently being made [is that] press folks are more important than mere military folks."

UPI points out, however, that an anchorperson for one of the U.S. TV networks has never before been so grievously wounded while covering a story, and the newsworthiness of what happened can't be denied. As an anchorperson -- albeit one who's been a co-anchor of ABC's evening newscast for only a short while -- Americans welcomed Woodruff into their living rooms, and, UPI says, quote, "his injury, therefore, feels personal to many viewers."

UPI also states that fact that military personnel are in fact often upset and frustrated when the media reports on daily attacks and casualties instead of reporting on the successes in Iraq. This complaint has also been made by many conservative commentators. When ABC's Nightline in April 2004 sought to honor all the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan up to that point by reading their names and showing their photos, conservatives charged it was an anti-war, anti-administration political statement, and conservative-owned Sinclair Broadcasting pulled the show from its eight ABC affiliates.