Eight years, three months and seventeen days after the unimaginable terrorist attack on America, another attempt on an Norgthwest flight 253 headed for Detroit, Michigan from the Netherlands. Thank the Lord that some proactive passengers stopped this maniac wearing explosive underwear from blowing up the plane. Was there an accomplice on the flight with AbdulMatallab? Authorities haven't shed light on that possibility. The Netherlands does not allow U.S. Air Marshals to escort flights from the Netherlands airports to the U.S. Why you ask? I think it is suprising that many foreign governments do not have the same level of security enforced by the Transportstion Security Agency (TSA). Homeland Security Secretary Janet Incompetano said on Friday that the systems worked perfectly. On Sunday, she changed her story and said that they failed miserably (I'm sure she received a call from the boss). White House Press Secretary Robert (Peter Griffin) Gibbs said on the Sunday politi-talk shows that this is a "war on terrorism." I thought this administration didn't say that? It isn't PC. Many officials today are calling for investigations how something like this could happen. I am constantly vigilant and extremely concerned on when an attack could occur in our country. My biggest issue is the delicate (whimpy) stance the U.S. takes on ethnic and religious profiling. Most Muslims are law-abiding, regular family oriented people who just want to live the best we can. However, that one per cent is considered fanatical Jihadist that possess a quest to kill all infidels. It has been noted on several occasions that Muslim males between twenty and fifty are the radical Jihadists that want to attack us. I have never been called "politically correct." I do feel since all of the terrorist, jihadist or followers of Allah happen to be Muslim and are of Middle Eastern and Africa dissent. I'm sure the Islamic organizations will be lobbying to denounce any type of surveilance or scrutiny of Muslim males. This is the United States of America and we must devise a system to identify and watch the people deemed a threat to our way of life. This particular terrorist was on some "no fly" list, but not on all. Why? Why can't we organize "watch and no fly" lists with all law enforcement agencies around the world. I realize that is the issue, getting foreign and domestic agencies to get on the same page is very political and difficult. If we are going to be effective and resolute, the world must come together on this topic. My wife and I flew to New York City a few weeks ago for the weekend. TSA didn't look in our carry on luggage after we forgot to take out our toiletries. It was our mistake for not removing them and their mistake for not catching it. We visited the Twin Towers/911 site and I never want to see that type of destruction, fear, pain and anguish to smother our country again. I question the Obama administration on how they will react to this since they never admitted the Fort Hood murderer was a terrorist and the U.S. is trying the 911 terrorists in our court system instead of a military tribunal. This attempt of terrorism happened on Friday (Christmas day) and it took Obama seventy two hours to make a statement. I'm sure if Bush took this long, the state run media would have reacted the same? So, who is this terrorist? Umar Farouk AbdulMatallab, 23 years old, from Nigeria, form a wealthy family where he lived in a five million dollar home in London and attended excellent schools. I guess the paradigm of only poor muslims are willing to blow thenselves up is out the window. The terrorist's own father contacted authorities in regards that he suspected his son of being a terrorist. That information was not acted on. A group located on the Arabic Peninsula, a faction of Al Queda, was responsible for this attempted attack in retaliation for the U.S. bombing their terrorist training camps in Yemen. Unfortunately, air travel is going to be like the old days in Soviet Russia where you will wait days to get on your flight. The airport authorities are stating that you should be at the airport three hours ahead of your flight! I have witnessed passengers travelling in their pajamas, now, this will become the norm with longer waits and more intense security systems. Can anyone say "puffer systems." this would have detected this terrorist's chemicals on his person. In this day and age, we need to be at our best when it comes to national security to protect our citizens. What we should learn fron this is we are not as safe as we might have assumed. We need to take on the mindset we had right after 911. That will keep us safe, the Israelis live this montra everyday.
Matt Lauer hammering Janet Incompetano:
2010-Regime change in Iran:
Stephen F. Hayes
Engagement didn't workAs a candidate, Barack Obama pledged to meet with leaders of rogue states "without preconditions." He said the foreign policy of the United States had become too aggressive, even domineering, under George W. Bush. We had made too many demands and spent too much time lecturing and too little time listening. An Obama administration would use "smart power" to change all of that. Iran would be the first and most urgent test.
The new president started early.
"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," he said in his Inaugural Address, employing language he would use repeatedly about Iran over his first year in office. "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
The speech was an extended hand. And the response was a clenched fist. "Obama is the hand of Satan in a new sleeve," said a spokesman for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader. "The Great Satan now has a black face."
Obama was not discouraged. He offered best wishes on the Iranian New Year in March, promising "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect." His administration then proposed face-to-face meetings to discuss nuclear issues. Obama wrote directly to Khamenei in May, renewing the offers of friendship. When the regime brazenly stole the presidential election in June, Obama refused
to question the results. (White House spokesman Robert Gibbs would later call Ahmadinejad the "elected leader" of Iran.) And when the regime violently cracked down on the nationwide postelection protests--jailing some opposition leaders and killing others--Obama worried primarily about any perception of U.S. "meddling" in internal Iranian disputes and repeated the American commitment to engagement. When Iran failed to meet a September deadline for answers on nuclear negotiations, Obama gave them until the end of the year. When Obama announced that Iran was building a secret uranium enrichment facility at Qom, which could have no peaceful uses, he coupled his announcement with an offer for more talks.
And on it went.
As often as not, Iran failed to respond to these goodwill gestures. And when it did, the responses were uniformly negative and usually hostile. Khamenei accused Obama of following the "crooked ways" of George W. Bush. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran was "running the show" on nuclear issues and vowed that Iran would "never negotiate" about its nuclear program. The Iranian government accused the Obama administration of orchestrating the opposition rallies and mocked his private missives. And last week, when the Obama administration reminded the Iranian regime of the new deadline for negotiations, Ahmadinejad dismissed the gentle chiding, saying: "They say we have given Iran until the end of the Christian year. Who are they anyway? It is we who have given them an opportunity." The international community, he added, can give "as many deadlines as they want, we don't care."
The problem, it turns out, was not George W. Bush. It wasn't a lack of American goodwill or our failure to acknowledge mistakes or our underdeveloped national listening skills. The problem is the Iranian regime.
This should have been clear from the beginning, and should have been glaringly obvious after the fraudulent election and the deadly response to the brave Iranians who questioned the results. There were plenty of clues: an Iranian president who routinely denies the Holocaust and threatens to annihilate Israel; a long record of using terrorism as an instrument of state power; the provision of safe haven to senior al Qaeda leaders in the months and years after the 9/11 attacks; and a policy, approved at the highest levels of the Iranian leadership, of trying to kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What should now be clear, even to the letter-writers of the Obama administration, is that the only way to solve the problem is to change the regime. Obama missed a unique opportunity to undermine the regime after the elections this summer, when it was as fragile as it has been since the 1979 revolution. It may well be too late, but there are still things the leader of the free world should do.
The president has signaled that his patience with Iranian intransigence will end with the close of 2009. It's time for Obama to signal a dramatic change in strategy. Quickly and decisively after the New Year, he should do four things: (1) Make clear that he is
on the side of the Iranian opposition and will do everything he can to add to their strength. (2) Enact the toughest possible sanctions on Iran--especially targeting refining capabilities--with broad international support if available, but with as many allies as will go along or unilaterally, if not. (3) Make clear that he will be taking a zero tolerance view of Iranian support for terrorism, including the deliberate targeting of U.S. diplomatic and military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. (4) Make clear that the use of force to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons isn't off the table, and order the military to be ready to act should it become necessary.
In 2009, we tried to engage the Iranian regime. In 2010, let's try to change it.
--Stephen F. Hayes
Iran Protest & Riots I & II:
Daft speech of Max Baucus:
Party On to the Max:
What the heck was that? Probably, single malt scotch.
JibJab 2009 Year in review:
Kill Bill Vol. III:
Opposition to Senate Healthcare Bill: Call your Senators!
"We the people" must stop the Obamacare Proposals: I am formally asking (pleading) with you to muster up the initiative and enthusiasm to fight the healthcare bill that will emerge in the end of the year. First, there are 2 bills (proposals) that will somehow be merged into one bill. Liberals are adamant about some form of "Public Option" (Government Run Option) and federally funded abortion. I think the democrats believe they can push this bill through while we are sleeping. The democrats have blocked many bills that would allow the final bill to be posted on the internet 72 hours prior to a vote. Why? you know why. We must oppose this more than we did over the summer. Let them know, we are not against healthcare reform, just not a total makeover. Call and email your representatives. I have emailed and called mine so many times, they are referring to me by my first name. Write an old fashioned letter, it has a lot of importance. Attend your local tea parties and townhalls to voice your opinions and make a overwhelming presence. Below, is a little list how you can get involved. It is our civic duty. "It is our Country."
http://www.congress.org/
http://www.joinpatientsfirst.com/
http://www.freedomworks.org/
http://www.resistnet.com/
http://www.teapartypatriots.com/
http://www.teaparty.org/
http://www.taxpayer.org/
http://www.taxpayer.net/
info@cmpi.org
http://www.fairtax.org/
http://www.conservativeamericansunited.org/
CALL YOUR SENATORS! EMAIL YOUR SENATORS! CALL YOUR SENATORS! EMAIL YOUR SENATORS!
Polls you can live by:
28% Strongly approve of President Obama's job performance.
40% Strongly disapprove.
Presidential Approval Rating Index: -12
47% Somewhat approve of President's job performance.
52% Somewhat disapprove
Generic ballot-Republicans 44% Democrats 36%
Quote du jour:
"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."
General George S. Patton, U.S. Army
References:
http://www.hotair.com/
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
http://www.drudge.com/
http://www.politico.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.rasmussen.com/
http://www.thehill.com/
http://www.heritage.com/
http://www.newsmax.com/
http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.snopes.com/
http://www.foxnews.com/
http://www.nbcnews.com/
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