Al Queda: Not Caused By U.S. Evil?!?

Say it ain't so, Bin Laden!

(With apologies to Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson (Career batting av. - .356, 3rd highest), the Chicago White Sox, and Major League Baseball.)

Note: I have found Answers .com helpful in improving my understanding of words and phrases bandied about as buzz words by the media. So I have included some links below.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Pajamas Media .com, Victor Davis Hanson, Works and Days blog section, The perfect storm (Scroll down):

The perfect storm [/] Five things accounted for the rise of al Qaeda

1. Afghanistan. The Afghans, with Western weapons and Gulf money, defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan. Of nearly 800,000 resistance fighters, there were rarely over 2,000 Arabs fighting at one time. But because of the Russian collapse, and Mullah Omar’s coddling of the multimillionaire loud bin Laden, al Qaeda was able to pose to Muslim youth as the saviors of Islam that had destroyed the Soviet Union. That Arabs had little to do with the Afghan victory, much less the collapse of the Soviet Union mattered little. From 1989 on bin Laden was enshrined as some mythical Saladin.

2. Islam and globalization. There were in the last 1400 years always wannabe Great Mahdis and zealots who declared jihad. But in this period of globalization and Western-inspired modernism, Islam, autocratic tyrannies in the Middle East, and the languishing Arab Street have all come together to recreate another Islamic wave of jihadism. Bin Laden’s ever expanding list of grievances, from Kyoto to mortgages, reveals that his hatred, born out inferiority, envy, and pride, is existential and elemental.

3. American appeasement. That sad tale from the Iranian hostage taking of 1979 to the attack on the USS Cole is now well known. But in the words of the terrorists themselves, the image of a static, impotent America was fixed, and with it the invitation to hit our assets at will without fear of retribution.

4. The Wall. Richard Clark, George Tenet, and Michael Scheuer may be loud critics, but prior to 9/11 no Americans had more opportunity to save us from known terrorists in the United States. Yet petty jealousies and turf battles ensured that the NSA, CIA, and FBI stayed on parallel, quite separate tracks, as these egomaniacs refused to share information that would have empowered all three agencies. Those walls are now hopefully, down, and with their fall, and the absence of the three above, we have been making good progress rounding up the terrorists among us.

5. Petroleum. Without petrodollars, there are no madrassas, no House of Saud cousins freelancing by pouring money to jihadists, no bought and paid for mullahs mouthing anti-Western drivel, and no chance to get weapons of mass destruction to kill us all. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Liberals: Egotistical?!? Hate God?!? Hate Military?!?

Say it ain't so, Mrs. Clinton!

(With apologies to Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson (Career batting av. - .356, 3rd highest), the Chicago White Sox, and Major League Baseball.)

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

But modern leftists carry on the egoistic mantra of Lennon and friends. And their disdain for out military and religion might be explained in the lyric from another song from the dreadful "Imagine" album:

Well, I don't wanna be a churchman mama, I don't wanna cry;

Well, I don't wanna be a soldier mama, I don't wanna die.

From an American Spectator article, Imagine That, more follows:

Imagine That [/] By Lisa Fabrizio [/] Published 9/19/2007 12:07:37 AM

Is it any coincidence that the two entities American liberals probably hate most are organized religion and our military? Liberal groups like Moveon.org run ads disparaging military men of honor like General David Petraeus while folks like the ACLU and the "Reverend" Barry Lynn have made the elimination of God in public their life's work.

But what do these groups have in common? While they all preach a gospel of socialism, secularism and sexual worship, the main driving force behind those who denigrate our military and religious practices is egotism. They just can't wrap their minds around the concept that there is something bigger than themselves. [/] Soldiers, sailors and airmen voluntarily risking their lives for others and, even worse, Catholic nuns and priests throwing away their lives by consecrating them to God and their fellow men -- to the extent that they are willing to forgo the one, true purpose of life: sex -- must seem the acme of insanity to leftist naval gazers. [/] To them and their way of thinking, the notion that "greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," is an incomprehensibility. Religious and military vocations have discipline and obedience at their core; an odious combination for those of the Me Generation of the 1960s. It's not difficult to see why the "never trust anyone over thirty" crowd has always been scandalized by this.

Having spurned the authority of their parents and responsibility for their country's defense, the next steps on the road to Utopia were a snap. For them, police officers were "pigs," God was dead and our armed personnel were reduced to being merely the murderous arm of the shadowy, "military-industrial complex." [/] And they oddly felt that this was for the good of the country. Much of this continues today. Indeed, their current attitude is reflected in a saying of their idol, Ho Chi Minh: "It was patriotism, not Communism, that inspired me." [/] Whether or not they truly believed all of this or if their conceit made it so, is known only to them. But what is known is that their embrace of Communism, at a time when the proponents of this benign system were the greatest threats to our nation's security simply sealed the deal. For them, the belief that God watched over a country that deserved defending was and continues to be passe.

All of this can be summed up by the vacuous and insipid lyrics of John Lennon's "Imagine," the opening notes of which still send graying hippies and their progeny into ecstasy. So popular is its socialistic, yet sugar-coated message, that fellow traveler Jimmy Carter has said, "In many countries around the world you hear [it] used almost equally with national anthems." [/] This dreaming of a dreary existence without heaven, hell, religion, countries and especially "nothing to kill or die for" sums it all up nicely. The fact Lennon himself admitted that it was "virtually the Communist Manifesto" has not diminished its continuing influence on modern-day America . [/] Yet we can see the similarities between Lennon -- a millionaire "tax exile" from the UK who asked us to "imagine no possessions" -- and certain current lefties who hector us on the evils of energy consumption while jetting around the world in the process of doing so.

Summing up the Utopian ideal, Mahatma Gandhi once said, "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?" [/] Fortunately for us, the majority in this country recognize the difference and thankfully still outnumber those who most certainly do not. [/] But modern leftists carry on the egoistic mantra of Lennon and friends. And their disdain for out military and religion might be explained in the lyric from another song from the dreadful "Imagine" album:

Well, I don't wanna be a churchman mama, I don't wanna cry;

Well, I don't wanna be a soldier mama, I don't wanna die.

Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at mailbox@lisafab.com. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Abandon Courageous Iraqis?!?

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Washington Times article, Iraqis show courage:

Iraqis show courage [/] September 17, 2007

By Jeff Emanuel - The "surge" in Iraq, and the counterinsurgency strategy that the increase in forces was designed to support, have made far more gains in far less time than most who are actually familiar with the situation here ever expected. A large part of the reason for this is the people of Iraq, who have in many different ways displayed a level of bravery that we can only hope Americans, if put into the same situation, would ever dream of showing.

Rather than taking the terrorist presence in their country lying down, Iraqis in many locations have shown amazing courage, not only by providing an ever-increasing amount of information on insurgent activity to coalition forces, but also by working to rebuild what the insurgents have destroyed, as well as by putting their lives on the line to drive terrorists out of their own villages. They do this despite the fact that they do not know whether they will wake up the next day to find that the coalition — currently their best source of protection — has succumbed to the calls from home (which are heard here by civilians and terrorists alike) to leave Iraq, and has abandoned them.

In April and May of this year, and again from the beginning of August through the present, I have been embedded in some of the most kinetic combat zones in Iraq, observing Gen. David Petraeus's strategy from the ground level in several different locations, and have seen clear evidence of the strategy's effects on the situation there.

I have personally observed clinics in which coalition medics and doctors provided Iraqi villagers with a level of care that has long been unheard of in this country. I have toured reconstruction sites being worked on by Iraqi contractors, and have ridden along in gun trucks assigned to protect these men as they rebuild their own country, while terrorists try to kill them and destroy any and all improvements they have managed to provide for their countrymen.

I have sat in on meetings (both open and clandestine) with sheikhs and tribal leaders who simply want a guarantee of the coalition's support of their attempt to achieve better, more secure lives — despite the fact that being seen consorting with the Americans puts a price on each of these leaders' heads. Likewise, I have heard the concern voiced — more times than I can even count — that the coalition, which currently remains the sole source of stability and security in this country, will give in to the cries from home to abandon the Iraqi people to death, and will finally do so.

I have participated in countless combat operations driven solely by intelligence provided by Iraqi citizens who knew of terrorists in the area and called the Americans to let them know; likewise, I, along with the soldiers whom I have covered, have had my life saved by tips from Iraqi citizens about IEDs and ambushes put into place to kill us. Much more of this must happen if Iraq is even to have a chance at a brighter future — but at this point, though, this is still a very broken and unstable country. Yet, progress is inarguably being made.

What remains is a very long and difficult struggle, and it is very likely that the coalition's goals — and its definition of "victory" — will have to be revisited, perhaps more than once. Successful and stable nation-building is different from and more difficult than simply waging a counterinsurgency (a long and difficult undertaking of its own). Amidst the real but exceedingly fragile gains made by the "surge" and its accompanying strategy, there are no guarantees about long-term stability and effectiveness; at this time, the coalition's presence is still the only glue holding an exceedingly fragile country together.

A successful counterinsurgency is one thing, with a timeline which is measured not in months, but in years. However, to wage a successful counterinsurgency and then to build a stable, autonomous and secure state, which we can leave behind without risking its imminent collapse, is another matter altogether. It is not guaranteed at all — let alone feasible in the matter of mere months.

However, between the real progress being made and the disastrous consequences (for America's national security and reputation, as well as for the Iraqi people) of abandoning this country to terrorists, the way forward should be clear: Continue to trust the man whose position and plan the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed in January, and whose strategy has shown the best results so far in Iraq. Failing to do so would constitute breaking faith with the Iraqi people, to whom we once presented ourselves as liberators, and to whom we now serve as the one and only chance at a better life — if not at life itself.

Jeff Emanuel, a special operations veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, is a columnist and director of the conservative Web log RedState.com. He is currently embedded with the military on the front lines in Iraq. [/] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Strange but apparently true:

Some non-traditional interpretations that may be helpful, and may be true.

Will amplify later, Lord willing. Particularly where there is interest. -TotoOK

* - Creation through Christ on the third through sixth days.

* - Adam formed on the third day, humanity created on the sixth.

* - Humanity created after the likeness of a triune God.

* - Adam as a prophet, about marriage, about salvation.

* - Command about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil modified after the formation of Eve.

* - Salvation of Adam and Eve through faith.

* - Human spirit and soul given after conception.

* - Walking with God found before the flood and in the post-apostolic age.

* - The time of judges foreshadows the post-apostolic age.

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Congress Examines War: Children At Play?!?

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Weekly Standard article, Men at Work, Children at Play:

Men at Work, Children at Play [/] The telling difference between General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, and their congressional inquisitors. [/] by Frederick W. Kagan and William Kristol [/] 09/24/2007, Volume 013, Issue 02

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain

This week, America heard about Iraq from two serious men, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. They understand Iraq in all its complexity. They have an astonishing mastery of the details of what's going on in almost every part of the country and an amazing grasp of virtually every aspect of a complex war, a multilayered society, and a new and fluid polity. They have clearly thought about the policy options before us with a seriousness appropriate to individuals who, every day, exercise considerable authority and bear great responsibilities. Last week, they were able, despite the comparative shallowness and guile of their questioners, to explain the choices we face with clarity and honesty at a critical moment in our nation's history.

The congressional critics provided quite a contrast with Petraeus and Crocker. If the general and the ambassador were men at work, the congressmen and senators were--with a few notable exceptions--children at play. They spoke almost entirely in generalizations--often months, sometimes years, out of date. They used selective quotations and cherry-picked facts to play "gotcha." They offered no meaningful proposals of their own. Petraeus and Crocker live and breathe Iraq, dealing with life-and-death problems seven days a week. Congress bloviates Tuesday through Thursday. That's one of the reasons to listen to the general and the ambassador rather than the congressional pontificators.

The contrast between those who know something about Iraq and those who don't continued with the president's speech on September 13. Bush described America's objectives in Iraq clearly, explained the strategy he is pursuing, outlined the progress that it has made in detail and in specific areas of Iraq, explained why he intends to continue that strategy with minor adjustments, and announced a conditions-based reduction of forces, which General Petraeus had recommended. In response, Senator Jack Reed spoke in the vaguest terms. He repeated the Democratic shibboleth that there has been no political progress in Iraq because the Iraqi government has not passed the benchmark legislation--ignoring the complex, nuanced, real-world discussion Petraeus and Crocker (and, yes, Bush) had offered about the different ways in which groups of citizens, local and provincial governments, and even the Maliki government have been able to make varying degrees of progress toward the goals the benchmark legislation is supposed to achieve. Reed also announced that the Democrats "have put forth a plan," which he then sketched in a few sentences. We would all like to know exactly what this Democratic plan is and when the Democrats intend to share it with the rest of us. We frankly doubt that a party whose leaders seem unable to discuss the war in Iraq in any but the simplest terms can develop a plan that will lead to anything other than disaster.

[...] In choosing this plan for force reductions over the coming months, the president accepts greater risk than we would have preferred. His decision was clearly driven by valid concerns about the strain on the Army and Marines, and by the reasonable expectation that a continuation of current trends on the ground in Iraq will justify the reductions. But Iraq is a war, and the enemy gets a vote. Continued Iranian escalation could destabilize the south or Baghdad; Al Qaeda In Iraq could strike another lucky blow; and other unforeseen contingencies could arise over the next six months that might be manageable with 20 brigades but dangerous with 15.

At this point, the likeliest sources of most such contingencies lie outside of Iraq, with increased "accelerants" (as our commanders call them) of violence coming from Iran above all, but also from Syria and (indirectly) from Saudi Arabia. We cannot allow Iraq's neighbors a free hand at strengthening the forces of terror even as we work to subdue them. Restricting the ability of these outside accelerants to intervene in Iraq is the best way to mitigate the risks entailed in the announced drawdown. Given the drawdown, and given the emphasis General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker put on the damage done by these outside actors, especially Iran, in fanning the violence in Iraq, we expect that the Bush administration will now turn its attention more directly to this critical problem. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Priorities in New York, 9/14/2001: Rescue.Recover.Revenge

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Lucianne .com article, Rescue.Recover.Revenge:

Friday, September 14, 2001 [/] Rescue.......Recover......Revenge — written in dust — for now.

NEW YORKERS ARE A RELATIVELY impatient lot. Each of us has our own agenda. Our general reaction to changes in our environment is "What's in it for me?" and if it looks like something worth having, "Can I get it yesterday?" Around the World Trade Center where the dust is thick and heavy enough to hold graffiti for more than an hour, someone has written "War"and "God Help Us" and of course, untypeable obscenities as comments on the changes that took place on Black Tuesday. But we are a goal oriented group as well. On the wall at the epicenter someone has scrawled this suggestion on how to proceed. Rescue, Recover, Revenge. This shows our grim love of priorities. Save lives, recover the dead and then support a fire storm from hell to rain down on those who have to savagely tried to destroy us. We are still in the first two phases and very busy.

In order to understand the quiet ferocity under which we are currently living you have to know that New Yorkers are junkies about their city. Mainliners and stoners so hooked on the excitement, the people, the chance to change one's life that this great city promises and delivers, that they die a little when they have to be away from it for too long. New York is their White Lady. Their drug of choice and they cannot, will not live without it. This is why our Mayor cries when he talks of dead fire fighters. They die for this city and for us.

Today I got an E mail from a non-New Yorker whom I love a lot. A good and abiding friend who is not from here but from some bosky southern glen that drips moss and musk, where men say ma'am, still wear hats and tip them and ladies still use fans and talcum powder. He said this has all been too much, too horrible, too scary. He and his lovely southern wife and Bottecelliesque child want to leave - go anywhere where he can make a living - just go - get out of hell on earth where buildings blow up in the shimmering morning sun and snot-nosed teen-age cretins beat up innocent Arab American grocers on Atlantic Avenue.

Last night, he writes, he and his wife stopped in for a bite to eat at a local cafe. There was a fireman at a table. My friend's toddler recognized a hero and offered him his "sippie" cup. The most valuable thing the baby owned.

I wrote my friend that even though he was not a native New Yorker he shouldn't leave, that a child with that kind of judgment deserved to be raised here. Bring up a different kind of kid. One who doesn't cut and run when the going gets dusty and bloody and scary.

LAST NIGHT my older son Josh spent the night in the "hole" at the World Trade Center. They gave him a respirator, an iridescent flash vest, a hardhat that a falling steel beam would crack like a robin's egg, water and as many sandwiches as he had time to scarf down. Because he is a street level working New Yorker, he had the right shoes. This is a town where having proper foot gear can mean everything.

When the crew boss decided Josh was about to collapse with fatigue they told him to go lie down on one of the cots set up in the American Express building (later evacuated. It too, was about the go down.) On his way to a cot he noticed that other workers never made it to the building with the cots. They just sank down on the rubble and slept. Sometimes they fell down in puddles and slept. It didn't matter. When your bones weep, sleep is sleep.

The nightly news showed Clinton on the street here in New York. He was in front of Curry in the Hurry on Lexington Avenue miles from the scene or carnage. He had his arms around a comely, crying brunette holding a picture of a missing loved one. He was feeling her .....pain. Doing something for himself, not New York. Sorry, that may be crass but my loathing for this man requires medication. What, dear God, is he doing here in the first place?

Josh returned from his labors around 2 this afternoon. He had walked most of the way from downtown. He reported that as he dragged his dust covered body passed the loaded cafes, people applauded. A bartender was hanging out a flag in the Village. Josh had strength enough to remind him to fly it at half staff. He got home, showered, changed his crusted shirt and at 5 p.m. he went back downtown.

It is morning now and Josh has not returned from the "hole" where the biggest job is sorting body parts. Matching a leg to another leg, a hand to an arm. If he finds something he gives it to a medic who takes it to be logged. He and thousands are working like this hour on end. They are too old to own and offer a "sippie" cup. Their heart and spine is all they have to give. These are New Yorkers. They don't quit (Fuggetaboutit), they are tough (Wanna make somethin' of it?) and unforgiving (You gonna pay for that, man)

Rescue, recover....that's for now. Revenge?

Hey, bin Laden! Yo momma!

Originally published 9-14-01 [/] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Surplus Sons Cause Mass Murder!?!

Sounds reasonable to me.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Sappho .dk [Denmark, I think] article, Interview: A Continent of Losers:

Interview: A Continent of Losers [/] While the European populations are shrinking and the best-qualified young people are leaving, we continue to allow mass immigration of unqualified Muslims, who will soon make our welfare states collapse. Add to this the fact that the Muslim world has built up a "youth bulge", which according to experience will lead to mass murder and whose effects cannot be offset by foreign aid. The originator of these bleak predictions is the German sociologist Gunnar Heinsohn, who believes that the game is over for Europe

By Lars Hedegaard [/] Authorised translation from the Danish by Sappho [/] BREMEN: If the leaders of the American-led "Coalition of the Willing" had known Gunnar Heinsohn's research, they would most likely never have left their troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. They would quickly give up any thought of intervention in Sudan's Darfur province. They would tell the Palestinian 10-children families that the West will no longer pay for their unrestricted childbirths. Western opinion-makers and politicians would also abandon their pet theory that virtually any act of violence in a belt from Northern Africa to the Philippines - in addition to miscellaneous acts of terror all over the world - are caused by the unsolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And worst of all seen from the prevailing political consensus in the West: Heinsohn does not believe for a second that economic aid and hunger relief in countries with large youth populations can prevent wars, social unrest, terror or killings. On the contrary he is convinced that in some cases material aid may start the killings. This is because starving people do not fight, they just suffer. However, if you give a lot of young men enough to eat and a certain education in a society where there are too many young men so that not all can get the recognition and positions that they feel entitled to, it may lead to violence.

[...] Heinsohn is not concerned with the absolute size of populations, but rather with the share of teenagers and young men. If this share becomes too big compared to the total population, we are facing a youth bulge. The problem starts when families begin to produce three, four or more sons. This will cause the sons to fight over access to the positions in society that give power and prestige. Then you will have a lot of boys and young men running around filled with aggression and uncontrollable hormones. And then we shall experience mass killings, until a sufficient number of young men have been eradicated to match society's ability to provide positions for the survivors.

According to Heinsohn, 80 per cent of world history is about young men in nations with a surplus of sons, creating trouble. This trouble may take many forms - a increase in domestic crime, attempts at coups d'état, revolutions, riots and civil wars. Occasionally, the young commit genocide to secure for themselves the positions that belonged to those they killed. Finally, there is war to conquer new territory, killing the enemy population and replacing it with one's own.

But, as Heinsohn emphasizes again and again, the unrest and the violent acts caused by youth bulges have nothing to do with famine or unemployment. In his book he describes it as follows: "The dynamic of a youth bulge - it cannot be emphasized too often - is not caused by a lack of food. A younger brother, who may be employed as a stable hand by the first-born son and who may be well fed and perhaps even fat, does not seek food but position, one that can guarantee him recognition, influence and dignity. Not the underweight but rather the potential losers or the déclassé are pushing forward" (p. 21).

In recent years the West has been facing a gigantic youth bulge in large parts of the Muslim world. This bulge is created by a Muslim population explosion. Over the course of just five generations (1900-2000) the population in the Muslim countries has grown from 150 million to 1 200 million - an increase of 800 per cent. As a comparison the population of China has grown from 400 million to 1 200 million (300 per cent). The population of India has risen from 250 million to 1000 million (400 per cent).

Sappho has visited Gunnar Heinsohn at his office at the University of Bremen, which awarded him a life-long professorship in 1984. [/] Youth bulges and violence [/] Gunnar Heinsohn - 80 per cent of world history is about superfluous young men making trouble -What is the definition of a youth bulge? [/] "There is no commonly accepted definition. The Frenchman who first used the term in 1970 said that a youth bulge existed when 30 per cent of the men in a population were between 20 to 24. I changed it to 30 per cent between 15 and 29. This means that if you take 100 males from a country, then 30 of them will be between 15 and 29." [/] "But remember that this 30 per cent group of young men will not pose any danger if they are hungry or lack education. To be dangerous they must be in good physical and mental shape."

[...] "Let us look at the small countries in Europe that were capable of conquering and colonising large parts of the world from around 1500, starting with Portugal and Spain. Our explanation is usually that there was a pressure on resources because of overpopulation. The opposite was the case. When Spain started its conquests in 1493 with Columbus' second expedition, Spain had a population of six million, but in 1350 it had had nine million inhabitants. Spain was not overpopulated. There was, however, a sudden a growth in childbirths because in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII had decreed that birth control was punishable by death, which caused an immediate explosion in births. In the middle ages the average number of children per family was 2-3; now it was suddenly 6-7. That caused the median age in the population of six million to be 15, whereas the nine-million population of 1350 had had a median age between 28 and 30. So there was no lack of land or food. However, there was a sudden scarcity of positions. Previously there had been one or two boys in the family. One could take over the farm and the other might become a tenant somewhere else. Now you had three sons who had food but no positions, and these boys started the conquests and the colonising. It was quite telling that the Spaniards called then secundones, the second sons."

[...] "We have to say that there is only one category of people who can count on help from the government and that is the mentally or physically handicapped. Nobody else should expect help. This sounds cold and cynical but our welfare states were founded the 19th century when families had 10 children. When their father fell to his death from a scaffold, somebody had to look after the family. This is not the situation we are facing today." [/] "If you go to Australia, you will not be paid to have children. You may get a slight tax relief. On the other hand a citizen of Australia can keep 80 out of every 100 dollars he earns."

[...] "It started to go wrong around 1980. But the great turn in Germany came as late as 1990. That was when we opened the gates for a mass immigration of roughly speaking unqualified people. Between 1990 and 2002 Germany allowed an immigration of 13 million. At almost the same time it started to go wrong in France. We can only avert this burden on the welfare state through legislation. We have to pass a bill to the effect that new children born after a certain date will have to be paid for by their parents. It will be a revolution. But it is not even being discussed here in Europe."

[...] "But let me point out what happened in the USA. [...] Most of these welfare dependents were blacks, and that made racists claim that the problem was in the black genes. But the Republicans and the Democrats worked together on a new law, 'Temporary Assistance for Needy Families', which was a smart law. It told American women: We will give you welfare up to five years. You decide whether it should be five years straight, or whether you want to divide the five years into shorter periods. The new law was passed in 1996 and took effect on January 1, 1997. It caused several top officials in the Clinton administration to walk out in protest stating the law was a racist attack on the weakest - single mothers and their children. They had predicted that by 1997-98, the number of adversely affected would have grown from 12 to 14 million. As it turned out, it was these well-meaning people who were the racists. The black girls were smart enough to go on the pill with the result that the welfare-dependent population shrank from 12 million to 4 million. It was the most successful social reform in history."

[...] Lately there has been a discussion as to whether we in the West can accomplish anything in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan or with populations such as the Palestinian. Why not let them fight it out among themselves? [...] It is up to the Iraqis and the Afghans themselves to ensure that there is a balance between the size of the population and the number of positions society can offer. And as far back in history we look, we can see that this balance has been maintained by young men killing each other. We have done it in Europe, and it has happened elsewhere. We cannot allow them to send their young men over the borders to kill others." [/] Leave the youth bulges alone - happy holy warriors in Somalia (male median age: 17.5 years, children per woman: 6.76) "My personal view is that when faced with a youth bulge, we should allow it to play out with the consequences we know. We should stay away. If we interfere, we cannot avoid siding with one party and help killing that party's opponents. Then the population will se us as doing the dirty work for one side or another. Instead might arm the most sympathetic side, which was what the French did in Algeria after the Islamists started killing the secularists in 1992. France sent weapons aid to the secularists. Back then nobody said that we ought to send money and food to the families of the Islamists, as they do in Palestine." [/] Lars Hedegaard is a chief editor of Sappho [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Today's 9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?!?

I understand that a network has rerun its 9/11 coverage on its cable new channel. This modification of the long held major media ban is interesting.

So I am posting a link to an earlier poll on the possible hatefulness of 9/11 reruns.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

The information below is from December 2005 posts.

ACF Poll: 9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

This must be a really good poll. The first two responders have refused to vote for strongly held but very different reasons.

Poll contents:

9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

1. Absolutely! Incites hatred of all Muslims!

2. A Hate Misdemeanor, to be precise.

3. To many people, whose feelings should be considered.

4. To those whose friendship is important: the UN, the EU, and the Saudis.

5. All of 1 through 4.

6. Most of 1 through 4.

7. Only to those within the Liberal Bubble.

8. Only to the terminally misguided Mainstream Media.

9. Probably not.

10. No.

11. "Hate Crime" is a meaningless phrase.

12. Don't be ridiculous.

13. Lack of reruns demonstrates disloyalty.

14. Lack of reruns demonstrates treason.

15. All of 7 through 14.

16. Most of 7 through 14.

17. Other.

18. No comment.

19. No opinion.

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

Interesting posts on poll thread:

.4 {{___ Why are you doing this?}}

To enable those, like yourself, who have strong opinions about the matter, to have a chance to express those opinions.

These forum polls give us an excellent window on the breadth of opinion among those who call themselves Christians and those who are interested in the faith.

By contributing and by paying attention, we will better know how to conduct ourselves among those whose opinions are not known to us.

Thank you for your most valuable contribution to the discussion.

.5
{{___ This poll is not worth a vote.}}

Thanks for your response.

You have pointed out a definite lack in the poll.

In future polls, I will try to remember to add a "This poll is worthless!" response.

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

9/11 "Act of War" - A Pilot's Sister Remembers a Day of Infamy

("Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana)

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

Our fellow human beings were not "lost" in 1993 or on 9/11. They were torn to pieces. We must not give the enemy any quarter. We must confront the reality of their acts.

From a New York Daily News .com article, We must always remember. more follows:

We must always remember [/] Terror attacks were an act of war, not simply a tragedy to be mourned [/] By DEBRA BURLINGAME

Six years ago, I turned on my television and saw the sickening image of an airplane flying directly into the south tower of the World Trade Center. I did not know that at precisely that moment, somewhere in the skies over the Ohio-Kentucky border, my brother was fighting for his life in the cockpit of his commercial airliner. It would be another 35 minutes before his plane crashed into the Pentagon's west side.

Until I was notified of my brother's fate, I was no different from everyone else that morning, horrified and overwhelmed by the shocking scene unfolding in lower Manhattan. After learning that people were jumping from the towers, I believe I began to depersonalize what I was seeing. [/] The human psyche can absorb only so much. Anyone who had been inside the World Trade Center towers or seen them upclose knew that jumping from that height was like leaping from the clouds. The day was only beginning.

But it is extremely important to distinguish between public mourning and public remembering; otherwise, the phrase that was as ubiquitous as the American flag six years ago, "Never Forget," and invoked with tearful or angry rectitude, is rendered hollow.

There is a disturbing phenomenon creeping into the public debate about all things 9/11. Increasingly, Sept. 11 is compared to hurricanes, bridge collapses and other mechanical disasters or criminal acts that result in loss of life, with "body count" being the primary factor that keeps it in the top spot of "worst in the nation's history." [/] Misremembering is as dangerous as forgetting. If we must know one thing, it is that the Sept. 11 attacks were neither a natural disaster, nor the unfortunate result of human error. 9/11 wasn't the catastrophic equivalent of a 3,000-car pileup.

The attacks were not a random actof violence or insanity. They were a deliberate and brutal act ofwar committed by religious fanatics engaged in Islamic jihad against the United States, all non-Muslim people and any Muslim who wishes to live in a secular society. Worse, the people who perpetrated the attacks have explicitly told us that they are not done. [/] Sept. 11 is a date that comes and goes once a year, but "9/11" is with us every day. The body count keeps rising - Bali, Riyadh, Istanbul, Madrid, Beslan, London, Amman. [/] We now clearly know that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was part of the holy war against America. When we previously dismissed this as a random attack by crazy men and declared ourselves lucky that "only six lives were lost," we effectively disarmed ourselves. Eight years later, six became 3,000. While the comparison to other "tragedies" may help us cope with what has befallen us, we must resist being glib and intellectually careless.

Our fellow human beings were not "lost" in 1993 or on 9/11. They were torn to pieces. We must not give the enemy any quarter. We must confront the reality of their acts.

We must refuse to be fooled by their propaganda, which is meant to appeal to our own moral vanity - the belief that we can appease them by responding to their outrageous demands for accommodation, their open threats and their hateful rhetoric with even more forbearance. [/] [...] Burlingame is the sister of Capt. Charles F. (Chic) Burlingame 3rd, pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

9/12/2001 - One New Yorker's Observations

("Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana)

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Lucianne .com archives article, 9-12-01 - An Hour Before Dawn:

Wednesday, Sept. 12th, 2001

AN HOUR BEFORE DAWN and this gigantic engine of a city that never sleeps is trying to. It has never been so quiet here. There is no traffic. We are sealed off from the world. The tunnels and bridges are closed. People streamed out of the city yesterday and today will not be permitted back in while workers try to determine the enormity of what has happened. The death and suffering has just begun. Whole floors of the twin towers have been blown to kingdom come. There were people there. The sky rained bodies and paper, plaster and steel and burning jet fuel. Inside the towering apartment buildings and brownstones and tenements hearts are seized with horror and apprehension. We know not what the light will bring. We are a six-degrees-of-separation city. Everyone knows someone who knows someone else. They have not told us yet whom we have lost. They don't even know who is gone.

And in the stillness, there are tiny signs that life goes on. The New York Post lands with a soft and reassuring plop outside the door. The other papers are struggling to find a way into the city from their outlying printing plants. An E mail says that a long sought handle to an '89 frig has been located and is on the way. The noisy vent fan on the roof of the Chinese restaurant across the street grinds on. The cat knows nothing, simply wants to be fed.

The television runs the continuous loop of the horror of yesterday on mute. The Mayor is on a local channel, red eyed and broken hearted at the initial loss of 200 fireman and 78 police. On other channels, reruns of ordinarily meticulously groomed talking blondes standing in the street, covered with grime, repeating what they think has happened.

The stalled papers are being held up on TV. Their front pages say "War." We will never be the same again. We have just begun to weep.

Pray for us. God Bless America.

Lucianne Goldberg

Originally published Wednesday, Sept.12, 2001 @4:53AM EDT [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Illegal Immigration: Not a Crime

But illegal immigration by those once expelled under court order should probably be made a very serious crime.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a AP article, Giuliani: Illegal Immigration No Crime:

Giuliani: Illegal Immigration No Crime [/] Sep 7, 9:54 PM (ET) [/] By LIBBY QUAID

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said illegal immigration is not a crime, [...] [/] "It's not a crime," Giuliani said Friday. "I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime."

[...] "I was U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York," he said. "So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding."

Illegal immigration shouldn't be a crime, either, Giuliani said: "No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million." [/] He added: "My solution is close the border to illegal immigration."

The former New York mayor has been defending his city's so-called sanctuary policy, which stopped city workers from reporting suspected illegal immigrants. The policy is intended to make illegal immigrants feel that they can report crimes, send their children to school or seek medical treatment without fear of being reported. It did require police to turn in illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes.

[...] Also Friday, Giuliani said he would mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Tuesday at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers stood before the attacks. Some victims' families have criticized those plans, saying presidential politics shouldn't be part of the ceremony. [/] "I was there when it happened, and I've been there every year since then. If I didn't, it would be extremely unusual. As a personal matter, I wouldn't be able to live with myself," Giuliani said after touring the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Largo, Fla. [/] "That's personal, that's not political," he said. "That's a personal thing. I will do that for as long as they have a ceremony out there." [/] Associated Press Writer Brendan Farrington in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Depression: Major Cause of Poor Health

The scientists are confirming the experiences of many of us who have experienced much major clinical depression and life-long sub-clinical depression.

Some thoughts based on my own extensive experience and reading:

. St. John's wort, Germany's most prescribed anti-depressant, available without a prescription, works wonders. See: medical information, St. John's wort vendor.

. Colossians 3:2 KJV Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

.Both of the above are indicated for sub-clinical depression, a very common state. When we are depressed, going to the doctor is an arduous chore.

. Depression is a natural state. It occurs in time of famine and conserves energy when both physical and mental activity are subordinated to survival. The medical condition is caused by the false identification of hopeless situations. Both heredity and upbringing may lead to this.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a Yahoo Reuters article, Depression more damaging than some chronic illnesses:

Depression more damaging than some chronic illnesses [/] By Michael Kahn Fri Sep 7, 1:53 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Depression is more damaging to everyday health than chronic diseases such as angina, arthritis, asthma and diabetes, researchers said on Friday.

And if people are ill with other conditions, depression makes them worse, the researchers found.

"We report the largest population-based worldwide study to our knowledge that explores the effect of depression in comparison with four other chronic diseases on health state," the researchers wrote in the Lancet medical journal. [/] Somnath Chatterji of the World Health Organisation, who led the study, said researchers calculated the impact of different conditions by asking people questions about their capacities to function in everyday situations -- such as moving around, seeing things at a distance and remembering information.

[...] "Our main findings show that depression impairs health state to a substantially greater degree than the other diseases," the researchers wrote. [/] The team used World Health Organisation data collected from 60 countries and more than 240,000 people [...] The findings show the need to provide better treatment for depression because it has such a big impact on people with chronic illnesses, Chatterji added. [/] "What tends to happen is a health provider doesn't look for anything else but the chronic illness," he said. [/] "What we are saying is, these people will also be depressed and if you don't manage the depression you can't improve a person's health because depression is actually worsening it." [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Register All Illegal Aliens!!! - BroJon

Great Idea!!! - But, of course, the miniscule baby step reported on below is inadequate.

Register them all first! Then we can better figure out what do about them. And better implement whatever it is we decide to do.

We can even put off figuring out what sanctions to impose on those who do not register. Fear of the unknown is a great motivator.

I report and link. You decide. - BJon

From a S F Gate .com [San Francisco] article, ID card for illegals:

Supervisor Ammiano drafting legislation for ID card for illegals [/] Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer [/] Friday, September 7, 2007

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano is drafting legislation to create a city identification card for immigrants unable to get traditional ID cards, a move likely to anger advocates of tougher immigration enforcement. [/] The cards would be accepted by all city agencies and organizations that receive city funding. Ammiano plans to introduce the legislation within a couple of weeks. He also is trying to persuade financial institutions to allow residents to use the cards to open accounts.

"There is a large community who contribute, and there are not a lot of safeguards around their (immigration) status, their piece of mind and their ability to participate," Ammiano said, adding that the card would be available to all people living in San Francisco regardless of their immigration status. [/] San Francisco could be the first large American city to have such a card. New Haven, Conn., has such a program, and New York City is considering one.

Ammiano said the impetus for the city cards came from the immigrant community, which asked for his help. Illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crime often do not report the incident because they have no identification and fear deportation. Identification also is needed for many services, such as city health care. [/] San Francisco already has a sanctuary policy for immigrants, which means no city agency, including the police, will assist the federal government to deport people. So-called sanctuary cities have become a major issue among Republican presidential candidates.

[...] Mayor Gavin Newsom has been resolute in defending San Francisco's sanctuary status, and on Thursday his spokesman said Newsom supports Ammiano's idea for a card, which could be used for libraries, golf courses, public transportation and other services. [/] "The mayor strongly believes that this identification card should be extended to all San Franciscans, regardless of their immigration status," said Nathan Ballard, the mayor's spokesman. [/] The card also would be available to homeless people who prove they live in the city through a letter from a social service agency, Ammiano said. Currently, single-room-occupancy hotels require guests to leave an identification card at the front desk to enter the premises, which has been a burden on homeless visitors, Ammiano said. [/] Elderly people, youth and transgender people who face barriers to getting identification also would benefit from the card, he said.

[...] E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com. [/] This article appeared on page B - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jim :) Smiling aka Brother Jonathan aka Toto Of Kansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

HIV: A Hoax?!? - New "Rethinking AIDS" Website

I became convinced that "HIV is a fabulous monster!!!" (my slogan) at the end of the last millennium. The old Rethinking AIDS website and twice reading through Peter Duesberg's big book, "Inventing the AIDS Virus", were major factors in refuting establishment propaganda. Along with many, many hours on other sites, including (Delphi and other) AIDS forums.

I report and link. You decide. - BroJon aka J:)

From a Rethinking AIDS .com article, Welcome [[to the]] Rethinking AIDS (RA) website!:

Welcome [[to the]] Rethinking AIDS (RA) website!

I am very pleased to welcome all the visitors of the new Rethinking AIDS (RA) website! [/] As many of you are probably aware, RA has been re-activated and re-organized since late 2005. [...] The goals and purpose of RA have been defined, and its involvement has been stressed in a world-wide effort to 1) eradicate the dogma according to which an elusive retrovirus is the cause of the syndrome, and 2) support research and public awareness on possible alternative causes of the disease. [...]

Unquestionably, AIDS is a dramatic aspect of human pathology, first recognized in 1981, in the Los Angeles area, among a small group of gay men. The definition of the syndrome has been changed several times, and considerable differences exist between what is called AIDS in North America and Europe, and what is called AIDS in Africa. Despite these differences, research aimed at curing and hopefully preventing the syndrome has been, for the past 23 years, exclusively and dramatically restricted to one single, totally unproven hypothesis; i.e., the hypothetical role of a retrovirus identified as 'HIV' in 1984. Stubborn dogmatic adherence, by the entire academic community, to this unreasonable hypothesis can only be explained by a desperate effort to salvage the reputation of many cancer research laboratories that had been highly biased, between 1960 and 1980, in large programs aimed at demonstrating that retroviruses are involved in the causation of human cancer.

Hypothesizing, without any trace of scientific evidence, that a retrovirus was the cause of AIDS permitted the perpetuation of retroviral research highly profitable for the pharmaceutical business, and avoided embarrassing closures of many retrovirus oriented laboratories.

The retrovirus hypothesis was presented 23 years ago, and the entire, world-wide research effort on AIDS has been restricted to that unique hypothesis ever since. Most dramatically, the clear evidence, in 2007, is that this hypothesis totally failed to help. Based on that single and scientifically unproven hypothesis, AIDS research failed to deliver any curative AIDS therapy, it never permitted scientists to prepare a reliable vaccine, and it never led to verifiable epidemiologic predictions. As early as 1987, Peter Duesberg had the courage and scientific authority to ring the alarm bell. In doing so, he has been the scientific founder of the Rethinking AIDS movement of 'Dissidents' ('The Group'), that was crystallized in 1991 by the historic statement that has been supported and signed by more than 2,300 concerned scientists (including two Nobel laureates) and innumerable attentive rethinkers from other fields. Cancer research had been put on the wrong track by placing emphasis on an enzyme 'marker' of cancer cells in 1970; AIDS research has been put on the wrong track by hypothesizing retroviral causation in 1984.

In order to accelerate general awareness of this disastrous situation, Rethinking AIDS (RA) has been, recently, setting up several mechanisms. [...] for setting up dissident conferences, publishing dissident books and lectures, creating dissident films and videos, advising the victims of the HIV fear campaign paradigm, educating the public on matters related to alternative, non toxic protocols for consolidating immune responses, and educating the public on the unacceptable toxicity of so-called antiretroviral drugs as well as on the total lack of specificity of so-called seropositivity tests. The ambition of RA is to lead this struggle on a world-wide basis. RA’s ultimate goal is to rapidly contribute to the final implosion of the HIV=AIDS=Death paradigm. Nothing less!

The RA Board of Directors [...] [has a] diverse background. [...T]hey don’t all share identical views on some detailed points of the HIV debate. They are, however, forming a strongly united group. United because they all share the scientifically based opinion according to which: a) AIDS is not an infectious disease; b) AIDS is not caused by a retrovirus; c) serological and viral load tests are not reliable for the diagnosis of AIDS; d) HAART drugs do more harm than good; e) adequate public hygiene and sanitation, well balanced nutrition, and curtailing the use of recreational drugs can prevent and control AIDS much better than all the toxic ARV therapeutic regimens; and f) several alternative and non-viral factors can explain the occurrence of most acquired immuno deficiencies in humans. This is a lot to agree about!

You can help us in many ways :

by signing the 1991 declaration if you have not yet done so (which will make you a RA member),

by communicating ideas and suggestions,

by advising rethinking friends to join us,

by linking to our website from yours,

by educating political representatives,

by lecturing on this subject to as many groups of people as possible, and

by educating victims of all the HIV fear campaigns!

Thank you for being with us! [My ellipses and emphasis]

BroJonathan aka JimSmiling aka TotoOfKansas | Link to my Blogs, Forums & Essays

Bush, Quotes from New Book on

I report and link. You decide. - BroJ

From a Politico .com article, Politico pull-outs from "Dead Certain":

Politico pull-outs from "Dead Certain"

Students of politics and especially George Walker Bush will want to run, not walk, to their local bookstore this week to pick up "Dead Certain."

The portions picked up by the New York Times yesterday and Washington Post today don't do it justice. [/] It's not officially out yet, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of the account of 43's life and presidency last night. Down below are some of the nuggets that you Politicos will find especially tasty. [/] The author, Robert Draper of GQ and formerly Texas Monthly, knows his subject and surroundings well, having written about Bush going back to the Austin circa ’98. His is neither a wet kiss nor a hatchet job. Which is partly why it's such a good read. Draper's assessment is fair and at times downright sympathetic. But he can also wield the knife.

And that goes for not just Bush, but for Bushworld, too. Draper can be tough on Karl Rove -- portraying him as transmuting the abuse he got from Bush onto his staff, reporters and other innocent parties -- but he also evinces some degree of compassion for the staff man who caught presidential (and before that gubernatorial) javelins like no other in W’s orbit. The same goes for Karen Hughes. She is painted as annoyingly on-message and Mother Hen-ish, but also as somebody immensely loyal and attuned to her boss. [/] In short, it’s a comprehensive account of the Bush presidency that aims to illuminate not advocate.

Best of all, it’s reported. Draper was there for many of the events that took place, but he also painstakingly reconstructs the scene through first-hand accounts. To wit: six interviews with POTUS (each about an hour), two interviews with FLOTUS and some two hundred other conversations with key Bush officials. Among those listed in the Author’s Note and Acknowledgements: Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Rove, Card, Bolten, Hagin, Wallace (nee Devenish), Bartlett, Mehlman, Sullivan, Schlapp, Taylor, Gerson, Miers, Hadley, Bremer, Dowd, Gillespie, Stevens, Schriefer, McKinnon.

And that is just the start. Let’s let Draper explain: [/]

“I spoke as well with dozens of other current and White House officials; with over half a dozen Cabinet secretaries; with numerous NSC, Pentagon and State Department officials; with several members of the Iraq Study Group (including its two chairmen, James A Baker III and Lee Hamilton); with a multitude of Bush family friends; and with senior advisers to both the Bush and McCain primary campaigns in New Hampshire and South Carolina. [/] Oh, and “scores of sources on Capitol Hill from both sides of the aisle.” [/] Then there are all the background chats.

[...] So, onto some of the most tantalizing parts:

Page 11: After Bush was famously ambushed by Boston television reporter Andy Hiller’s foreign leader pop quiz in 1999, he forgave but didn’t forget. “For weeks thereafter, they’d hear it from Bush, at the beginning of this or that briefing: ‘Okay, you guys are supposed to be so smart. Who’s the president of Trinidad?'"

Page 17: Flashback to the ’92 GOP convention in Houston. McCain is about to go on stage when a “youthful-looking fellow grabbed him by the arm” and implores him to hit Clinton for draft-dodging. No go, McCain replies to the president’s son, that’s not my thing (italics not quotes in orig.)

Page 25: Laura Bush to then Gov-Bush after his 19-point drubbing in New Hampshire at the hands of McCain: “You got defined.”

Page 52: The Texas youth offender who Bush famously cited throughout the 2000 campaign as representing the promise of America didn’t turn out so well. It was 15-year-old Johnny Demon Baulkmon who asked Bush at a juvenile prison in 1998, “What do you think about us now?” Baulkmon grew into “an adult petty criminal” and, in an interview at a prison visitation room in 2006, told Draper that Bush is “complete trash, a horrible evil person.”

Page 74: Bush’s chief strategist in the now-famous South Carolina primary Warren Tompkins (who now holds a similar post for Mitt Romney) appears to blame unnamed members of the Christian Right for the toughest tactics there: “Of course the Bush camp was ‘testing messages’ by phone. Spending tons on it! But Tompkins had nothing to do with the stuff on Cindy and the black kid, and he was glad not to know who the responsible party was…though he certainly had ideas. Working for Poppy Bush in 1988, he’d seen how Pat Robertson’s crusaders spread their message from one church to the next, until ministers all across South Carolina were sermonzing as one… .Now Robertson’s Christian Coalition had proxies in all forty-six counties – absolutely bent, like so many others encamped there in South Carolina, on destroying John McCain."

Page 81: Meeting McCain privately in May of 2000 before picking up his former rival’s endorsement, Bush finally apologized for not denouncing the statement by Thomas Burch in the South Carolina primary. Burch was the veteran who, with Bush present, accused McCain of forgetting about Vietnam veterans.

Page 96: Though part of the “Iron Triangle” in the 2000 campaign consisting of himself, Hughes and Rove, Joe Allbaugh “had topped out” by the time Bush was sworn in for his first term, Draper writes. He become head of FEMA, but when the agency was merged with the newly-formed DHS in 2003, Allbaugh – “aware that he would no longer have direct access to the president” – resigned. “Bush never had a lengthy conversation with him again after that.”

Page 99: Coddy Johnson, the 22-year-old son of Bush college pal and administration official Clay Johnson, had to talk Rove into making a play for West Virginia in the general election in 2000. After being warned to not pay a lick of attention to the traditionally Democratic state upon being hired as a regional political director, Johnson put together a “long, statistics-driven” memo in favor of trying to pick off the Mountaineer State. Rove was convinced and the state helped swing the election.

Page 102: Explaining how Bush is not afraid to put Rove in his place, Draper recalle an incident from a meeting in Austin in 1999. Rove was strutting his stuff and Bush put a quick end to it. “’Karl,' said the governor. 'Hang up my jacket.’'"The room fell silent and Rove put the coat on the rack.

Page 256: After his poor first debate performance against John Kerry in the fall of 2004, Hughes and Dan Bartlett told Bush plainly just how bad he had done – by forcing him to watch his own performance that night. “And so Bush at in his Air Force One suite and watched himself on television acting pissed off – and got pissed off at Bartlett for making him watch himself.”

Page 269: Mehlman making the case to Bush on election night why the early exit polls had it wrong about Kerry winning: “Look at Pennsylvania,” Mehlman said. “Unless there’s a lot of Amish voting for Kerry, you can’t have that kind of turnout and lose the state by seventeen.” [/] “ “: Rove on election day: “My gut is, we take Florida and Ohio, and we win.”

Page 272: At 1:10 a.m. on election night, NBC White House reporter David Gregory called Bartlett’s cell phone. “’Can I speak to Dan Bartlett? Came the familiar voice. ‘This is Dave Gregory.’” Rove replied “sweetly,” saying “Will he know who you are?”

Page 273: Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry to Devenish in the middle of the night: “Look, I’m not going to walk out in my boxer shorts and go into John Kerry’s room and talk to him about conceding. He’s going to do the right thing, he knows he’s lost, and he’ll concede in the morning.”

Page 396: Asked by Bush for his prediction the Saturday before the ’06 elections, RNC chair Mehlman told the president the House GOP would lose 16 seats (Dems needed 15 for the majority). Bush argued that it could be 14 and Rove backed him up with data. “No one in the White House seemed to believe either man.” [/] By Jonathan Martin 03:35 PM [/] e-mail: jmartin@politico.com [/] aim: jmartnr

Comments

How about this nugget from the Clinton Fundraising Handbook,page 235 "never,ever turn down foreign cash,we can always post it from an American address. Don't be shy about holding out the possibility of a pardon to shake those pursestrings loose". [/] Posted By: Intrepid1 | September 03, 2007 at 04:17 PM

[...] "The portions picked up by the New York Times yesterday and Washington Post today don't do it justice." - MartinKos______________MartinKos, shouldn't these sentences really say "The portions picked up by the left-wing New York Times yesterday and liberal Washington Post today don't do it justice." ?? Please advise. [/] Posted By: perception50 | September 03, 2007 at 05:38 PM

FYI, the author is Robert Draper, not Eric Draper. Eric is the President's photographer. [/] Posted By: | September 03, 2007 at 06:04 PM

[...] From all accounts, this seems to be a well-balanced account so far. I'm looking foward to reading it. [/] Posted By: Scott | September 03, 2007 at 06:10 PM

Politics is full of egos and thisjust proves it. G.W. bush is a failure because he wasted his presidency on Iraq. [/] Posted By: wild man | September 03, 2007 at 10:26 PM

[...] How can this be? I thought all of America hated Bush and thought he was the worst President ever since 2001? [/] Posted By: Right-mided Frank | September 04, 2007 at 01:05 AM [/] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Peace in Iraq: New Hope?!?

I report and link. You decide. - J :)

From a International Herald Tribune .com article, Feuding Iraqi groups hold secret meeting in Finland:

Feuding Iraqi groups hold secret meeting in Finland, official says [/] The Associated Press [/] Published: September 3, 2007

HELSINKI, Finland: Representatives from Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq agreed on a road map to peace during secret talks that ended Monday in Finland, organizers said.The four-day meeting brought together 16 delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland. [/] "Participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement," said a statement issued late Monday by the Crisis Management Initiative, a conflict-prevention group that organized the meeting.

In an agreement released by CMI, the participants "agreed to consult further" on a list of recommendations to begin reconciliation talks including resolving political disputes through non-violence and democracy. [/] The recommendations also included the disarmament of feuding factions and forming an independent commission to supervise the disarming of armed groups "in a verifiable manner."

[...] The venue and other details were kept secret to allow the participants to meet in private, although the final document was named the "Helsinki Agreement," suggesting the talks may have been held in the capital.

Among those reportedly at the talks were representatives of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi; and Humam Hammoudi, the Shiite chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.

CMI, overseen by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, convened the seminar together with the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies of the University of Massachusetts in Boston. [/] Donaldson and British government officials confirmed that the Northern Ireland delegation included Martin McGuinness, the veteran Irish Republican Army commander who today is the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government. Other paroled convicts-turned-peacemakers from both sides of the Northern Ireland divide addressed the conference. [/] South Africa was represented by members of Nelson Mandela's first unity government following the end of apartheid: African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National Party reformer Roelf Meyer.

The agreement called for all parties to be involved in the reconciliation process and to accept the results of the negotiations while working "to end international and regional interference" in Iraq. [/] Political objectives agreed to included moving away from sectarian and ethnic disputes, ending the displacement of Iraqi refugees, and terminating the presence of foreign troops according to a "realistic timetable." [/] The participants also agreed to deal with militias by arming and training security forces to become "an effective national force," while fostering economic development across the country. [/] Members of armed groups that "are not classified as terrorist" would be encouraged to adopt "peaceful political means" and given jobs within the state administration.

[...] Ahtisaari and his group have facilitated peace talks for other conflicts. In 2005, Ahtisaari helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland, which he initiated and mediated with CMI. [/] Associated Press Writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, Ireland, contributed to this report. [My ellipses and emphasis]

AIDS Treatment Battle in South Africa

N.B. The AIDS establishment continues its harassment of those applying true science to the problem. Read Science Sold Out: Does HIV really cause AIDS, by Rebecca Culshaw, to discover establishment deception on this issue.

I report and link. You decide. - J :)

From a Baltimore Sun .com article, S. African president backs criticized health minister:

S. African president backs criticized health minister [/] Activists, archbishop pan official who argues beets are AIDS cure [/] Associated Press [/] September 2, 2007

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - South Africa's president hailed his embattled health minister as a heroine and attacked her critics as "wild animals" in a remarkable display of support that dismayed AIDS activists demanding the dismissal of the woman who advocated beets and garlic as remedies for the disease.

N.B. Beets and garlic have not killed nearly as many people as U.S. and U.N. establishment official AIDS medications.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been condemned at home and abroad for her unorthodox views on the AIDS virus, which has infected an estimated 5.4 million South Africans - the highest number for any country in the world. [/] At news conferences, she has made plain her mistrust of antiretroviral medicines, repeatedly espousing a diet heavy on garlic, beetroot, lemon and olive oil as more effective in treating HIV/AIDS. [/] The comments have earned her ridicule and the nicknames "Dr. Beetroot" and "Dr. Garlic."

N.B. The "unorthodox views" reflect true science, not politically motivated establishment science.

[...] South Africa's stand at the international AIDS conference in Canada last year included garlic and other foodstuffs, prompting international scientists to write an unprecedented joint letter of protest to President Thabo Mbeki. [/] For years, Mbeki has been accused of playing down the extent of the AIDS crisis, and he has steadfastly stood by his health minister. [/] But his weekly ANC Today online newsletter, published Friday, took his support to new heights.

N.B. President Thabo Mbeki is the only head of government in the world to have the courage to challenge the establishment over history's biggest medical hoax. He may be a crypto-Marxist. But in his approach to AIDS he brings to mind Plato's ideal of the philosopher king.

Mbeki said history would honor the minister as "one of the pioneer architects of a South African public health system constructed to ensure that we achieve the objective of health for all our people, and especially the poor." [/] "In our tradition as the ANC, we do not normally celebrate our heroes and heroines publicly, such as Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, until they have died," he wrote, referring to the ruling African National Congress. [/] "Violating this tradition, I have now written about Manto Tshabalala-Msimang as I have because some, at home and abroad, who did nothing or very little to contribute to the immensely difficult and costly struggle to achieve our liberation, have chosen to sit as judges." [/] Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang, who have known each other for 45 years, went into exile from the apartheid government together in 1962. [/] The minister's husband is the treasurer of the African National Congress.
[...]

AIDS activists say Tshabalala-Msimang's promotion of untested remedies and her public pronouncements have led to confusion and have undermined confidence in scientific medicine. [/] Nathan Geffen, policy coordinator of the Treatment Action Campaign, said yesterday that the AIDS activist movement was undeterred and would continue to press for the health minister's dismissal. The movement has demanded Mbeki's response to its detailed reasons why she must be dismissed by Friday.

Geffen listed the minister's failings: the slow provision of drugs to prevent HIV-positive mothers' passing on the virus to their children; delays in giving treatment to people with AIDS; and her department's failure to provide proper levels of staffing and expertise. [/] "The failure to manage the HIV crisis has had a knock-on effect on the management of the entire health system," Geffen said, citing the spread of drug resistant TB - closely associated with AIDS - as an example.

Tshabalala-Msimang was sidelined for months with ill health earlier this year. [/] During that time, Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge joined forces with private groups and AIDS activists to draw up an ambitious five-year plan to halve the number of new infections and provide care and treatment to 80 percent of those in need by 2011. [/] But Mbeki dismissed Madlala-Routledge last month, ostensibly because she went on an unauthorized trip to an AIDS conference in Spain and did not work as part of a team. [/] But AIDS activists said that Madlala-Routledge was a victim of a political vendetta orchestrated by her boss, the minister.

The government has accused Tshabalala-Msimang's critics of character assassination. [/] The 66-year-old minister underwent a liver transplant in March, and the Sunday Times newspaper reported that she had jumped the transplant waiting list. The paper reported that she needed the transplant because of years of alcohol abuse. [/] Tshabalala-Msimang denied the allegations and successfully sued to recover her medical records, on which some of the newspaper's allegations were based.

Mbeki's weekly column slammed the newspaper for intruding in her private life. [/] "It is obvious that those who deliberately manufactured and peddled these lies did so to argue that Manto Tshabalala-Msimang should not have been treated and should have been allowed to suffer and die," he wrote. [/] "Some in our society, and elsewhere in the world, seem determined to applaud this truly frightening behavior, which, in reality, belongs to wild animals," he said. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Do Environmentalists Kill Thousands?!?

I report and link. You decide. - J :)

From a Town Hall .com article, Deadly Environmentalists:

Deadly Environmentalists [/] By Walter E. Williams [/] Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Environmentalists, with the help of politicians and other government officials, have an agenda that has cost thousands of American lives.

In the wake of Hurricane Betsy, which struck New Orleans in 1965, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed building flood gates on Lake Pontchartrain, like those in the Netherlands that protect cities from North Sea storms. In 1977, the gates were about to be built, but the Environmental Defense Fund and Save Our Wetlands sought a court injunction to block the project.

According to John Berlau's recent book, "Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health," U.S. Attorney Gerald Gallinghouse told the court that not building the gates could kill thousands of New Orleanians. Judge Charles Schwartz issued the injunction despite the evidence refuting claims of environmental damage.

We're told that DDT is harmful to humans and animals. Berlau, a research fellow at the Washington, D.C-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, says, "Not a single study linking DDT exposure to human toxicity has ever been replicated." In one long-term study, volunteers ate 32 ounces of DDT for a year and a half, and 16 years later, they suffered no increased risk of adverse health effects.

Despite evidence that, properly used, DDT is neither harmful to humans nor animals, environmental extremists fight for a continued ban. This has led to millions of illnesses and deaths from malaria, especially in Africa. After WWII, DDT saved millions upon millions of lives in India, Southeast Asia and South America. In some cases, malaria deaths fell to near zero. With bans on DDT, malaria deaths and illnesses have skyrocketed.

Environmental extremists see DDT in a different light. Alexander King, co-founder of the Club of Rome, said, "In Guyana, within almost two years, it had almost eliminated malaria, but at the same time, the birth rate had doubled. So my chief quarrel with DDT in hindsight is that it greatly added to the population problem." Jeff Hoffman, environmental attorney, wrote on grist.org, "Malaria was actually a natural population control, and DDT has caused a massive population explosion in some places where it has eradicated malaria. More fundamentally, why should humans get priority over other forms of life? . . . I don't see any respect for mosquitos in these posts." Berlau's book cites many other examples of contempt for human life by environmentalists and how they've made politicians their useful idiots.

In 2001, thousands of Americans perished in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. In the early 1970s, when the World Trade Center complex was built, the asbestos scare had just begun. The builders planned to use AsbestoSpray, a flame retardant that adhered to steel. The New York Port of Authority caved in to the environmentalists' asbestos scare and denied its use. An inferior substitute was used as fireproofing.

After the attack, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) confirmed other experts' concerns about asbestos substitutes, concluding, "Even with the airplane impact and jet-fuel-ignited multi-floor fires, which were not normal building fires, the building would likely not have collapsed had it not been for the fireproofing."

Through restrictions on asbestos use, our naval vessels are more vulnerable to our enemies, a disaster waiting in the wings. The Columbia spaceship disaster was a result of the EPA's demand that NASA not use freon in its thermal insulating foam.

Congress mandates auto fuel mileage standards -- Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards -- resulting in lighter, less crashworthy cars. In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences calculated that CAFE standards caused 2,000 additional traffic deaths each year. In 1999, a USA Today analysis of government and Insurance Institute data found that since the 1970s CAFE standards went into effect, 46,000 people died in crashes which they would have likely survived had they been riding in heavier cars.

None of this is news to politicians. It's just that environmental extremists have the ears of politicians, and potential victims don't.

Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well. [My ellipses and emphasis]