The Political Fish

We all hate paying taxes.  This is NOT how to respond.  From CNN:

(CNN) — An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.

Federal authorities identified the pilot of the Piper Cherokee PA-28 as Joseph Andrew Stack, 53.

Two people were injured and one person was missing, local officials said. There were no reported deaths.

A message on a Web site registered to Stack appears to be a suicide note.

“If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, ‘Why did this have to happen?’ ” the message says. “The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time.”

In the lengthy, rambling message, the writer rails against the government and, particularly, the IRS.

The building into which the airplane crashed is a federal IRS center with 199 employees.

Here’s a copy of his disgruntled suicide note. Thankfully, this appears to be an isolated incident.  Let’s hope so.

A Saudi preacher is offended by the “enhanced screening measures” in the U.S. that target people from 14 countries.  His idea?  Have Arabs stop flying to / in the U.S.

A noted Saudi preacher has called on Arabs to stop flying to the United States, in protest of “enhanced screening” procedures aimed at catching terrorists, the Dubai business website Zawya.com reported.

Muslim preacher Sheikh Sulaiman al Dowaish has urged Saudi authorities to consider the travel ban following an announcement by the United States that “enhanced screening” measures will be put into place for passengers from 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia.

The extra steps were taken after last month’s attempt by a Nigerian Muslim to detonate a bomb on board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has asked the Obama administration for clarifications regarding the new security measures. Officials said the oil-rich kingdom would not tolerate security procedures that tarnish the honor and dignity of Saudis.

The website noted that 22,000 students from Saudi Arabia are learning at American universities

Saudi security researcher Sultan Al Anqari blasted the new U.S. regulation, telling GulfNews.com that the Obama government is resorting to a form of political blackmail against Saudi Arabia because of the country’s anti-Israeli policies.

“It is part of a collective punishment against the Saudis, who are also victims of the wrong doing of some deviant people,” he said.

Oh no!!! It happened again…the unthinkable! Every liberals favorite target has spoken up again, and once again Sarah Palin speaks the truth from her facebook page.

Its always enlightening to see the reaction she gets when she types what are quickly becoming the most powerful facebook “notes” in the country. She again has managed to use a common sense approach, littered with truthful nuggets and speaking from outside of the dangerously insulated Washington establishment to speak for the American people. Normal folks.

But enough of what I have to say…lets see what the woman had to say!!

Her piece was entitled “It’s a War, not a Crime spree”. That alone would be enough in my book. She is right on the money calling out the Obama approach to terrorism.

President Obama’s meeting with his top national security advisers does nothing to change the fact that his fundamental approach to terrorism is fatally flawed. We are at war with radical Islamic extremists and treating this threat as a law enforcement issue is dangerous for our nation’s security. That’s what happened in the 1990s and we saw the result on September 11, 2001. This is a war on terror not an “overseas contingency operation.” Acts of terrorism are just that, not “man caused disasters.” The system did not work. Abdulmutallab was a child of privilege radicalized and trained by organized jihadists, not an “isolated extremist” who traveled to a land of “crushing poverty.” He is an enemy of the United States, not just another criminal defendant.

It simply makes no sense to treat an al Qaeda-trained operative willing to die in the course of massacring hundreds of people as a common criminal. Reports indicate that Abdulmutallab stated there were many more like him in Yemen but that he stopped talking once he was read his Miranda rights. President Obama’s advisers lamely claim Abdulmutallab might be willing to agree to a plea bargain – pretty doubtful you can cut a deal with a suicide bomber. John Brennan, the President’s top counterterrorism adviser, bizarrely claimed “there are no downsides or upsides” to treating terrorists as enemy combatants. That is absurd. There is a very serious downside to treating them as criminals: terrorists invoke their “right” to remain silent and stop talking. Terrorists don’t tell us where they were trained, what they were trained in, who they were trained by, and who they were trained with. Giving foreign-born, foreign-trained terrorists the right to remain silent does nothing to keep Americans safe from terrorist threats. It only gives our enemies access to courtrooms where they can publicly grandstand, and to defense attorneys who can manipulate the legal process to gain access to classified information.

President Obama was right to change his policy and decide to send no more detainees to Yemen where they can be free to rejoin their war on America. Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor.

- Sarah Palin

Senator Lindsey Graham injected *gasp* common sense into the political debate today. I have been pretty rough on Senator Graham on this blog, but will defintetely throw him a bone today after his questioning of Attorney General Eric Holder today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Check out this video, its classic stuff. AG Holder one might think would have been prepared with an answer for this sort of question, but as you can see this administration is not operating under any sort of logic. Strictly ideology.

Enjoy.

Partial transcript via Newsbusters.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-S.C): Can you give me a case in United States history where a enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don’t know. I’d have to look at that. I think that, you know, the determination I’ve made –

GRAHAM: We’re making history here, Mr. Attorney General. I’ll answer it for you. The answer is no.

HOLDER: Well, I think –

GRAHAM: The Ghailani case — he was indicted for the Cole bombing before 9/11. And I didn’t object to it going into federal court. But I’m telling you right now. We’re making history and we’re making bad history. And let me tell you why.

Now, the real focus of this NPR piece was Graham’s subsequent question concerning whether or not U.S. officials would have to Mirandize Osama bin Laden if he was captured:

GRAHAM: If bin Laden were caught tomorrow, would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice?

HOLDER: He would certainly be brought to justice, absolutely.

GRAHAM: Where would you try him?

HOLDER: Well, we’d go through our protocol. And we’d make the determination about where he should appropriately be tried. [...]

GRAHAM: If we captured bin Laden tomorrow, would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?

HOLDER: Again I’m not — that all depends. I mean, the notion that we –

GRAHAM: Well, it does not depend. If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.

The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war, that if we caught bin Laden tomorrow, we’d have mixed theories and we couldn’t turn him over — to the CIA, the FBI or military intelligence — for an interrogation on the battlefield, because now we’re saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States. And you’re confusing the people fighting this war.

 

I guess according to Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) this would make Mr. Obama Un-American.

This video is from 2006, long before President Obama was able to play politics with our national security from the big chair in the Oval office. I guess now that he is in charge, we can go ahead and put politics and political theatre ahead of the security of our nation.

Anyone ever consider KSM walking free on a technicality? Washington Times editorialized this scenario here…but if you prefer my own words, here is my rant on my facebook page earlier today.

Obama has chosen the Southern District of NY to put the Bush admin, the CIA, the use of waterboarding, and the entire idea of terrorism on trial. At the same time, he will bestow upon terrorists the rights of American citizens, and just for good measure, a forum for Muslim terrorists to explain to the world why America must be destroyed. After they are convicted, the Obama trial should begin in the same courtroom.

Our national security will be compromised, as undoubtedly the methods of capture and intelligence will also be put on trial. Lower Manhatten will be given a huge flashing neon target for any and every terrorist around the world to take aim at. This is quite possibly one of the worst decisions I have ever seen made by a President, who by showing a lack of judgement, discernment and wisdom should be promptly removed from office. He has shown himself unfit for leadership, and cannot seem to grasp the idea that we are a nation at war.

Case in point…Afghanistan. Nuff said.

 

Tonight I was scouring YouTube to find an appropriate tribute video for the victims of 9/11. I couldn’t decide on one, so I chose two.  These were  made a few years ago, but they are  a powerful reminder of the devastation our nation suffered at the hands of Islamic terrorists.  Never forget.

And….

September 11, 2001 is a day that will live in infamy. Our nation was brutally attacked, and many if not all of us can remember exactly where we were and what we were doing that day.

I myself was a 22 year old college student, not very keen on waking up early in the morning. As I went to class, I was awakened to what was happening to our nation on that fateful morning. As a student in Virginia, I walked into a classroom of frightened students, many of whom were concerned for their parents who worked at the Pentagon. Classes were canceled for the day, and I went back to my apartment shortly after. As the images that are forever seared in my conscience were replayed over and over, it began to strike me that on that day our nation changed. And it will never be the same.

Eight years later, we have largely as a society forgotten that day. Its a shame really, as we bicker about what to build in its place, we bicker about policies that will keep us safe from future attacks, we bicker about partisanship. But the change that took place on that day is still the same. We are still a nation that is loathed by radical terrorists around the world. Our very freedom is still the catalyst for growing extremist hatred. Eight years later we have reached a point where our government, which was the target on that fateful day, is now in a mode to appease instead of fight those who would do us harm. That same government wants to turn 9/11 into a national day of service, instead of a national day of rememberance and mourning. Those families who lost loved ones will never be the same, and we as a nation are not the same. Settling back into the 9/10 mindset will not keep us safe. It will virtually guarantee a repeat of that day.

I was fundamentally changed in my thinking on that day. I was awoken to evil in the world. My whole life was brought up under the protection of loving parents who warned me of it, but kept me from it. As I was about to enter the “adult world”, it was a horrific lesson taught that day. A lesson that we as a nation should not forget. Vigilance in the face of evil. The resolve of a great nation in the face of attack.  The American spirit remaining strong, and not backing down. We delivered a strong response in the weeks and years following. The fight is not yet over. Say what you want about the Iraq war, the war in Iraq has served its purpose in that it has kept the fight from our own shores.

The bravery that was exemplified on that day should never be forgotten. The innocent business men and women who perished at the hands of evil should never be forgotten. The mothers, fathers, children, friends, and co-workers who lost their lives in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon should never be forgotten. The heroes of flight 93 who saved our nation from even more carnage should never be forgotten. Our President George Bush who bravely led us through a national tragedy should never be forgotten. The unity of our legislators as they stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang God Bless America should never be forgotten. The bravery of our soldiers who went off to war in Afghanistan shortly after should not be forgotten.  Our collective cry out to God that day should never be forgotten.

America is not the same as it was on 9/10. Lets not go back to that day so we can relive the next.

The truth finally is coming out about the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, who was set free on August 20th on compassionate grounds. It was stated that Al-Megrahi was dying of cancer, and was allowed to return to his homeland to pass away near his family.

Well, as it turns out there was much more to it. From the British publication Times Online.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.

The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Apparently, the Libyan government used Al-Megrahi as a bargaining chip in the deal for oil.

On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.

In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”

Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody.

Saif Gadaffi, the colonel’s son, has insisted that negotiation over the release of Megrahi was linked with the BP oil deal: “The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.

“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.

“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”

A shameful display of politics as usual by our friends across the pond.  While the majority of the passengers on board that Pan Am flight were Americans, there were also a large number of Brits and Scots. I wonder how this is playing in the minds and hearts of everyday Brits who have watched their government sell their souls for the almighty dollar, a dollar that is coming from no-less that Libyan strongman Muamar Ghadafi.

Now I have heard of the UN Oil for Food Programme…not quite sure I have heard of the Terrorist for Oil Programme. Shame to the British government for putting business interests ahead of your citizens and the lives taken from us all.

In the past few days there has been a lot of disturbing news. Sunday we learned about Dr. Tiller, the late term abortion provider, who was gunned down as he attended Sunday services in Kansas. Dr. Tiller was such a hotbed of controversy in the battle over the abortion issue, that his death continued and grew that firestorm even larger. President Obama came out quickly and gave an official statement from the White House on this matter. He strongly condemned the “heinous act of violence” against Dr. Tiller, as well he should.

On Monday we saw a man who was a recent convert to Islam, drive up to a Army recruiting station in Little Rock Arkansas and start shooting. The result was one U.S. soldier killed, and one soldier wounded on the streets of the USA. The suspect Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammed aka Carlos Bledsoe was caught a short time later. He has admitted to the police that he saw an opportunity, and took it. Little Rock police have stated that it has become clear that he had “religious and political” motives behind his attack, after interviewing the man. It has been reported now that this man was actually on the FBI terrorist watchlist. After his conversion he traveled to Yemen, and had allegedly studied Jihad with an Islamic scholar. The FBI side of the investigation is in its early stages at this point.

Unfortunately, very few have actually come out and said what this really was all about. This was an isolated Islamic radical carrying out his own terrorist attack against the US military. Police officials have said that Bledsoe stated he had strong disagreement with the military and its policies. It was clearly a target of opportunity. His vehicle was stocked with weapons, and he took his chance when he saw William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula in their uniforms outside of the recruiting station.

The silence in Washington DC over this attack has been deafening. All you can hear in reference to this incident are the crickets. Why do we have a President who comes out quickly to condemn the murder of a late term abortion doctor, but the commander-in-chief WILL NOT come out and condemn the murder of two of the soldiers under his command. The circumstances of both cases are equally shocking. One man was in church, the other men were soldiers on the Main Street of America, doing their assignments.

This President is so concerned with attempting to soothe the Muslims around the world, that he is willing to sell out and continue to show his disdain for the men and women of the US military. These kids are laying their lives on the line to follow his orders, and he can’t even honor their death with a two line statement  issued by the White House communication department?  It is unimaginable that these kids were gunned down, one of them dying, on the streets of America, by an Islamic terrorist…and nothing is said from the leadership of this country. This attitude of appeasement must stop. Muslims are not bad folks. I spent time in a Muslim country while in college. They are good folks. But the extremist wings need to be called out and eradicated. We ARE at war with jihadis, no matter what you want to call it. At least they are at war with us.

It seems that now they have brought it to our streets. Shall we continue to appease? Or will we continue to hear the sound of crickets in DC?

A recent report put out by the Department of Homeland Security (see link below) has officially labeled me as a potential domestic terrorist, right-wing extremist, and a greater homegrown threat than those threats abroad.

Of course they didn’t label me specifically….but im sure big brother is watching.

The Obama administration put out a full blown hit job on the conservatives across our great land. In the days following the teaparties, the left and their puppet media has gone out of their way to dismiss the gathering of Americans to protest our government, and their recently hatched and furiously advancing socialistic policies. The timing of the DHS report could not have been any more perfect. Released on April 15th, Janet Napolitano reported to law enforcement nationwide that the climate is ripe for homegrown right-wing extremists to become a tremendous threat to the safety and security of America.

Quoting from the report… “Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.  It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration. ”

This is an absolutely outrageous paragraph. Amazingly, she goes on to state that among the biggest threats are returning Armed Service members, who due to battlefield stresses and their advanced training, are particularly succeptible to “radicalization” and “recruitment”.

Where shall I begin. The entire report is not a total loss. She speaks about the normal type of threats that we have dealt with at home in the past. But this notion that those who oppose abortion are all of a sudden planning on blowing up clinics is ludicrous. To slander the returning vets by basically saying they are weak-minded and can be manipulated into joining this terrorist movement is beyond the pale. As quoted above, those who reject federal authority in favor of state and local authority, is a statement in direct contradiction to the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Federalization of all authority is the exact thing the founding fathers fought the Revolutionary War about. State sovereignty is Constitutional and as “American” as it gets.

As if all this isn’t enough…Ms. Napolitano has stood by this report, after claiming in an interview with Fox News that she hadn’t even read the final draft. How did this woman get her job????  Even bigger question, why does she still have her job???

One thing can be counted on. Free speech is under attack, and American patriots are going to rise up and not let that one go quietly.

I am a non-violent, freedom loving, anti-abortion, free-speech, libertarian conservative. The only threat I pose to this nation is my overwhelming desire to keep the freedoms that so many have fought and died for. Janet Napolitano…i wish you would read this. You are out of line, and should be out of a job like 10% of your countrymen.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5410658/DHS-Report-on-Right-Wing-Extremism