Political Terrorism

There is another terrorist attack occurring in America, right under our very noses.

We know that the United States of America, and other democratic nations, are currently fighting a war against Islamic fundamentalists, who use terrorism as a tactic to further their agenda. But, right here at home, another group is also using terrorist tactics to get their way, and to impose their will on the American people. This political terrorism is even more insidious because it is being conducted by those in authority in our government. First, let's define what "terrorism" really is.

Terrorism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is:

(a) Policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; (b) the employment of methods of intimidation; (c) the fact of terrorizing or condition of being terrorized.

Thus, logic and reason are thrown out, and strong arm tactics to force compliance are employed. Radical left wing Congressman Henry Waxman of California, has become a terrorist, using this definition. He has commissioned his staff to monitor, on a ongoing basis, the broadcasts of his perceived political enemies, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other with whom he does not agree politically.

Instead of attacking their ideas with ideas of his own, Rep. Waxman is resorting to using the power of his Oversight committee to harass and threaten his opponents, a policy intended to strike with terror those with whom he does not agree, the classic definition of terrorism. Government monitoring of free speech is one of the most basic violations of human rights. At its core, terrorism is a cowardly act, intended not to engage in meaningful dialog about substantive issues, but to prevail by fear.

Rep. Waxman is not alone in his cowardice, he is joined by a growing number of liberal Democrats, including Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, Dick Durban, Tom Harkin, Harry Reid, and others , who have given up trying to convince, and have decided to intimidate instead.

Will their totalitarian strategy work? Well, if history is any indicator, the American people eventually see through disingenuous political tactics and, above all, resent bullying. The country was founded by people who refused to bow to the King of the most powerful country on Earth at the time, and showed that the ideals of freedom and liberty can prevail over the dark forces of political terrorism.

Get the Story Straight

The hottest new story making the rounds is the saga of "reporter-blogger" Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private, who wrote gut-wrenching tales of abuse in Iraq. He had the readers of New Republic up in arms over stories of our soldiers ridiculing women disfigured by war, animal abuse and disrespecting ancient bones. Not that it takes much to get the ultra-left readers of New Republic up in arms anyway. But, there was one, teeny, tiny problem with Beachamp's reporting. It was lies. He admitted that he made it all up, or most of it anyway.

Using the Ratherian proposition, lefties excused the outright lies by saying that the kind of abuse that Beauchamp wrote about " and worse," is "probably happening in Iraq every day." You have to admire people who don't let a little thing like the truth get between them and their irrational beliefs. New Republic is upset that the Army is "short circuiting" its own attempts to get at the truth. Tsk tsk, what a shame, the US Army will not stand aside and let the editors of the New Republic check the story they have gotten wrong from the beginning.

The most important point of this story is not whether Beauchamp lied or didn't lie, and it is not even whether bad things are happening in Iraq. They probably are. They always do in war. The point is FOCUS. Those who are rabidly hoping for a major American defeat in Iraq, and the editors and writers of New Republic are among them, are using this kind of story to assist in the effort to lose.

Of course bad things are going to happen in war. Bad things happen every day on the streets of New York, Los Angeles, Dayton, OH and Chicken Bristle, KY. What the mainstream media does is to focus on these small events, and using Political Correctness and feel-good politics, get us to anguish over them. And, we do. I hate to be crass, but the whole Abu Ghraib incident should have been on the back of Section B once, not on the front page of Section A every day for weeks. When maniacal suicide bombers send themselves to Paradise, the Arabic word for "Hell," and take dozens of innocent lives with them, our friends at the New York Times and other radical papers, blame it on George Bush. You have also admire people who don't let logic interfere with their firmly held convictions.

All of this journalistic manipulation of the truth and putting agenda over fact, is for the simple purpose of changing the dialog. The big point here is, when you send brave and dedicated people out on a mission, risking their lives, you watch from afar, and stay focused on winning the war, not micromanaging their every move.

The New Republic piece was just this sort of story, designed to divert the American public's attention away from the real story, how the forces of freedom and liberty are slowly, but surely, overcoming decades, and centuries, of abusive, oppressive rule by blood thirsty tyrants in Iraq. It's very simple, win in Iraq, and a new way of life for Muslims in the Mideast ensues; lose in Iraq and new way of life for Americans may well ensue. One we will not like at all.

A Challenge to my Muslim Brothers

I often hear Muslims declare that "Christianity is no different than Islam" in its intolerance. Worse, some misguided atheists and leftists try to represent that Christianity is actually worse than Islam, and that Christian fundamentalists are more dangerous than Islamic jihadists. They cite some of the extreme statements by a few Christian sects and splinter groups to bolster their fantastic claims.

I agree that that modern Christianity is intolerant, intolerant of religious violence and terrorist tactics. How many terror attacks have been made in the name of Christianity? How many religious wars are being fought to spread Christianity? How many legitimate Christian clergymen are asking for Christians to kill in the name of their religion?
None that I am aware of, however, there is always the possibility that some fanatic somewhere will do something awful in the name of their religion.

So, here is my challenge to my Muslim brothers.

I disavow all violent acts in the name of Christianity, and I renounce anyone who commits, encourages, or abets such acts.

Muslim Brothers, will you do the same?

On this Day in 1826

On the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, two of the lions of the Revolution, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third Presidents of the United States, lay dying. Adams was at his home in Boston, Jefferson at his Monticello Virginia home.

Fellow patriots, both signers of the Declaration, they started out friends, after John Adams made an impassioned speech supporting Thomas Jefferson's Declaration in 1776.

Later, politics drove a wedge between them. Adams was the vice president un George Washington and Jefferson was Secretary of State. Adams was so frustrated by vice president Jefferson, declared, "At least I will outlive Jefferson."Adams was seven years younger. So upset at losing the presidency to Jefferson after a hotly contested campaign, in 1801, Adams, the incumbent, refused to attend Jefferson's inauguration, and spent the day riding around Washington in a horse drawn carriage.

After Jefferson left office in 1809, Adams reached out to his former adversary and began writing letters to Jefferson. Jefferson responded, and they became fast friends once again.

On his deathbed, Adams' last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives!"
Unfortunately, he was mistaken, Jefferson had actually died a few hours before, making Adams' earlier prophecy come true. It is said that messengers announcing the deaths of the friends, dispatched from Boston and Monticello, passed each other on the road.

The second and third Presidents of this country had died on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration, just hours apart.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.

May God bless the United States!

America's Worst President

Former president Jimmy Carter has recently declared that the Bush administration's foreign policy is the "worst in history," proving that, as a historian, Carter may have been a competent nuclear engineer. But, Carter has an excellent reason for giving Bush the crown of thorns. It is called "deflection." Anyone with young children is familiar with the concept. You see Jimmy stealing a cookie and you begin yelling at him. He says, 'yes, but Johnny took a piece of your cake!'

Carter is trying to re-direct the attention away from his disastrous foreign policy that is directly responsible for starting the mess in the Mideast today. His sins are many, but let's look at two.

First, he took the high ground away from Israel by drawing a moral equivalence between Egypt, who had instigated two wars, and Israel, who won those two wars. This inane act enabled many of those countries who were hesitating to align with the Arabs because it might reveal their innate antisemitism, to go ahead and do so. That Carter is anti-Israel is a matter that is proven by his writings and declarations; whether he is anti-Semitic is up for grabs, but the evidence is strong.

His second, and greatest sin, was that Carter decided to turn his back on the Shah of Iran when he asked for U.S. help in quelling the Islamic uprising raging in his country. Carter's excuse for inaction was a fear of alleged human rights violations that might ensue. The impact of his pulling the Persian rug from under the Shah was that Carter provided the concrete block that broke the camel's back, and enabled the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini to succeed.

In handing Iran over to Islamic extremists, James Earl Carter, the 39th President of the United States accomplished something that centuries of Islam struggle could not; he created the first Shi'ite government in history. Thus, the most extreme flavor of Islam, the sect that yearns for the battle of Armageddon so the 12th Imam can emerge from the well and slay all non-Muslims, finally achieved the means to end the world.

Congratulations, Jimmy, you may be judged by all history to have not only been the worst president of the United States, but the worst head of state in modern history.