Allow me to paint a word picture for you:
You enter a room, quietly close the door behind you and sit in the rose colored easy chair next to the lamp on the south side of the room. Looking around, you take in your surroundings. The room is warm, and comfortable. You glance around looking at nothing in particular finally noticing a brightly colored square of paper on the coffee table. You pick it up and try to think of the name of the color. Forrest green you decide. No, wait, perhaps a deep emerald green. Yes, that’s it. You take the paper to your spouse and note the deep shade of green, scintillating in the light. Your spouse looks at you in confusion and says “No sweetheart, that is scarlet red.” Confused, you ask your children and they too say red. For a week, everyone you ask says “red,” but you still see green.”
The reality is that it doesn’t matter what other people say, your experience of the square of paper is green, that is your perception of reality and it matters not what other peoples reality is. The knowledge that you are colorblind, that you will always see one color when other’s see another matters not. In the case above, green is your reality.
So too it is with politics. It doesn’t matter a whit if you are a conservative or liberal, a communist or libertarian, a socialist or anarchist. Your perspective is colored by your world view. Now, to say that some world views, some political systems are more, shall we say, realistic than others ought to be a no brainer. And so it is. I am amused by liberals that proclaim that they are “Proud Members Of The Reality Based Community” as if by proclaiming that, they are the only purveyors of truth, justice and the American Way! Of course, the entire purpose of the Reality Based Community canard is to provide an internal boost to what must be a very lonely position, say that of seeing a green square of paper when most everyone else sees red. >> Read more
Said GM @ 5:56 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
Said Richard Nixon @ 4:57 pm Comments (1) | Permalink
Heh.
Time made YOU the ‘person of the year’ for 2006:
Time’s Person of the Year: You
In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter.
To all the readers of TWA, thank you for stopping in, and contributing in comments. And as always, thanks to the writers at TWA, former members and the members of today, who all made TWA what it is. And cheers to the people who left TWA to become WAR Radio hosts.
Said Cao @ 9:45 am Comments (0) | Permalink
Sounds as though his Iraqi jailers tormented him to the end. Zeyad has a translation of his last words, which didn’t include what NBC of San Diego and Al Jazeera and others have claimed, “Palestine is Arab”.
But what is puzzling to me is why Saddam’s burial was allowed in his home town of Tikrit where his Baathist supporters still are. There is merit to the suggestion that he should have been buried in a place unknown; it would prevent his admirers from using his tomb as a martyr’s shrine, inspiring his barbaric supporters to shed more blood.
And for those who keep bleating that Saddam was sectarian, why would he then carry the Koran to the gallows, and say this prayer:
Saddam (solemnly recites the Shahada prayer): I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the- (trap door is opened).
Said Cao @ 9:40 am Comments (0) | Permalink
Never one to shy away from jumping on whatever leftist bandwagon happened to be rolling past, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, outdid himself today:
The Archbishop of Canterbury warned today that British troops were “increasingly at risk” in Iraq as a result of the Government’s morally flawed decision to go to war.
In an uncompromising intervention, Dr Rowan Williams argued that the “moral and practical flaws” in the case for military action have become painfully clear as time has gone on.
Well, where to begin? Perhaps by pointing out that Williams’ talking points bear so much of a resemblance to those of the hard, anti-war left that he really ought to think about trading in his cassock for one of those Hezbollah-flags Respect Party members were gleefully wrapping themselves in last summer.
Does this sound harsh? Well, it’s meant to. See, when Williams attempts to de-legitimize the Iraq war as ‘morally flawed’, he’s also de-legitimizing the sacrifices of the British and US troops who’ve given their lives fighting in the thing. Sure, Williams twitters about how our troops are ‘increasingly at risk’. Only, by tightly-linking this to the supposed immorality of their mission, it’s really quite difficult to work out whether the Archbishop thinks these risks are a bad thing or just a consequence of squaddies participating in non-PC warfare.
What can be said, and with certainty, is that Williams manages to ignore the moral inversions staring him in the face. See, whatever the pros and cons of the WoT might be, it certainly is being fought against the kind of people who saw heads off on videotape and self-detonate in front of soldiers handing out candy to children. You really would think that an out-of-the-box idea like removing the plank from his neighbour’s eye before removing the mote from his own would appeal to Williams … But apparently not.
But he also conceded that he could have done more to have argued against the invasion in March 2003 or offered more support to the anti-war movement.
Now, let’s be quite clear about this — The head of the Church of England seriously considered joining the anti-war movement. What does that mean? That Dr. Williams hates all of those ‘morally flawed’ squaddies so much he’d lower himself to go on a protest march? That he’d sit cross-legged on the floor next to the ghost of John Lennon while singing ‘Give Peace a Chance’? Well, no.
You see, whether Dr. Williams likes it or not, the British ‘peace’ movement he laments not having joined sooner has always been lighter on kumbyas and heavier on Communism (courtesy of Trotskyite Lindsey German) and Islamofascism (courtesy of would-be suicide bomber Azzam al-Tamimi). So, question: Does Dr. Williams really mean to align himself with the kind of people who boast about their desire to self-detonate on Israeli schoolbuses?
And, question: What the hell are British soldiers supposed to make of the fact that the spiritual head of their Church would rather suck up to a terrorist than support their efforts to protect us from them?
(Cross-posted at Rottweiler Puppy)
Said RottyPup @ 2:00 pm Comments (1) | Permalink
Today marks the day in which a great evil was extinguished from this earth. This monster was personally responsible for over 100,000 deaths. He was a horrible creature — one who fell into the trap of sinful ways and he continued his path of death and destruction until he was forcibly stopped by forces of good: The United States Military. Who will forget the day he was found hiding in a “spider hole?”
But strangely enough, this brutal dictator, this vicious killer of thousands, rates as less of a villain than United States President George Bush. Amazingly, a full FORTY-THREE percent (43%) of Democrats actually believe that President George Bush, the person who is responsible for removing this brutal murderer from power, is actually WORSE of a villain than Saddam Hussein, or even Osama bin Laden.
Can there be any doubt of the utter insanity of the Democrat Party? Are there any of you good readers out there who actually believe that President George Bush is WORSE than Saddam Hussein? What possible reasoning could there be? How insane and disconnected from reality must one’s mind be to actually honestly believe that a president of the United States is worse than Saddam? Sure, I really disliked Clinton as President, but there’s no way I’d ever rate him as worse than a mass-murdering dictator!
If you’re thinking that Bush is worse, check out INDC Journal’s pictures from a museum in Kuwuit designed to let people not forget this monster of a man. Feel free to check out Rick Moran’s rather serious take and review on the demon that was Saddam Hussein. Michelle Malkin also has a huge link round-up of blogger reaction.
But the bottom line is that this monster will no longer exist on this world. He might claim that’s he going to see 72 virgins, but he’s going to be quite surprised by the reception he receives in hell. Should we rejoice at his death? Why not? He was indeed horribly evil. How is this world without him? Only better. He brutally murdered a hundred thousand people. It is justice that he should die as well.
Let’s celebrate with some music videos, shall we?
Said Ogre @ 8:01 am Comments (2) | Permalink
No details, but Fox just announced it via Al Arabiya television.
Justin at Right on the Right has the execution video uncut.
Said Cao @ 9:24 pm Comments (2) | Permalink
Global warming propaganda notwithstanding, polar bears are in no danger of being driven into extinction by our SUVs, as a report by the National Center for Policy Analysis makes clear.
Moonbats like to pull heartstrings by pretending that the cuddly monsters are threatened. However, a study by Dr. David Legates, director of the University of Delaware’s Center for Climatic Research, found no basis for this claim.
Even the idea that the arctic is getting warmer is debatable. Greenland has been experiencing a cooling trend. Russian coastal stations also fail to show the rising temperatures predicted by computer models.
In some areas, there has been a warming trend, which is hardly alarming, considering that the climate has always fluctuated and always will, whether Al Gore likes it or not. Interestingly, but not all that surprisingly, the polar bear population has actually increased in areas that have been getting warmer, and decreased in areas that have been getting colder. Life likes warmth.
Unfortunately it will take more than facts and common sense to calm liberals out of their condition of deliberately induced climate change hysteria. CNN posted a dozen reader emails on the topic of polar bears being listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act — something that would be done for purely political reasons. Naturally, every single email took the point of view that global warming is real, is caused by humans, is dooming polar bears, and must be stopped by massive government intervention in the economy.
Global warming may be a farce, but global warming hysteria will result in poverty on a scale not seen since the Great Depression if hysterical liberals aren’t distracted by some new fad before they are able to cripple the economy in the name of a few thousand useless and completely unthreatened polar bears.
On a tip from Wiggins.
Cross-posted at Moonbattery.
Said Van Helsing @ 2:21 pm Comments (13) | Permalink
The following notice was posted on the Ford Presidential Library web site:
July 14, 1913 - December 26, 2006
Mrs. Betty Ford issued the following
statement from her home in Rancho Mirage, California:“My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald R. Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age. His was a life filled with love of God, his family, and his country.”
Funeral details for the 38th President of the United States will be provided by the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capitol Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington Public Affairs Office to both the public and the media as they become available. Any media requests are to be directed to the U.S. Army Military District Public Affairs Office at (202) 685-4644. For information and press releases, visit the Gerald R. Ford Memorial site at www.GeraldFordMemorial.com
Funeral details for the 38th President of the United States will be provided by the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capitol Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington Public Affairs Office to both the public and the media as they become available. Any media requests are to be directed to the U.S. Army Military District Public Affairs Office at (202) 685-4644. For information and press releases, visit the Gerald R. Ford Memorial site atPresident Ford’s family requests that contributions be made to the Gerald R. Ford Foundation Memorial Fund. This request includes donations in lieu of flowers. Information about the memorial contributions and the way you can send a message of condolence to the Ford family can be found at www.GeraldFordMemorial.com
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum are offering extended hours for those who wish to express their sympathy to the Ford family, including signing a condolence book.
In Ann Arbor, the Library lobby will be open 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 1:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, for approximately 7 days beginning December 28, 2006. The Library’s research room will be closed during this period.
In Grand Rapids, the Museum lobby will be open 24 hours/day until further notice beginning December 27, 2006. The Museum’s other areas, including all exhibit galleries and the gift store, will be closed during this period.
Gerald Ford: The Un-Elected President
President Ford is unique in American history as he is the only man to hold that office who was neither elected to it, or the Vice Presidency. He was appointed Vice President after the resignation of Spiro Agnew and became President upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate Scandal.
On August 9, 1974 Gerald Ford took the Oath of Office at the White House, then delivered the following brief remarks. The audio is choked with the emotion of this difficult time and serves as a time capsule view into the spirit of the nation at that time:
“I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers. And I hope that such prayers will also be the first of many. If you have not chosen me by secret ballot, neither have I gained office by any secret promises. I have not campaigned either for the Presidency or the Vice Presidency. I have not subscribed to any partisan platform. I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman — my dear wife — as I begin this very difficult job.”
Ford meets with Chief of Staff Don Rumsfeld and Deputy Chief of Staff Dick Cheney in the Oval Office. April 28, 1975.
Ford Presidential Libary collection.
A Mike’s America Personal Memory
I was too young to remember Congressman Gerry Ford who was the representative for Grand Rapids Michigan, where I lived at a very early age. But later, during the 1976 Presidential campaign I was present when President Ford visited Anderson Arena at Bowling Green State University in Ohio (where 8 years later I welcomed President Reagan).
It was a nerve-racking campaign. Nutcases like Squeaky Fromme (no doubt part of the diversity and tolerance crowd) had twice attempted to assasinate Ford. At the conclusion of his remarks a flashbulb exploded. The Secret Service grabbed him and hustled him out of there double time.
In the minds of many, Ford and his running mate Bob Dole ran a rather lackluster campaign. But Ford’s wife Betty was for the first time a major asset in a presidential campaign. Somewhere I have a button proclaiming “Betty’s Husband for President.” Mrs. Ford was the model for modern American First Ladies. Her public struggle with breast cancer and admission of a problem with alcohol did much to remove the stigma previously applied to women suffering those afflictions.
Later, I wrote my senior Politics and Government thesis analyzing the impact of President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon on Ford’s defeat in the 1976 presidential election. It’s clear from the electoral data that the pardon caused just enough voters in key states to cast their ballot for Jimmy Carter. One wonders how they feel about that decision now?
Gerald Ford will be remembered as a man who came along when we needed him most. His presidency served as a vital transition between the difficult Nixon years and paved the way eventually for the election of President Reagan.
After leaving office, President Ford was a model ex-President. Follwing traditions that only seem to be observed by Republican holders of the highest office, he always conducted himself with the grace and civility that should be the norm for all holders of that office.
He was a good man!
Also posted at Mike’s America.
Said Mike's America @ 10:35 am Comments (7) | Permalink
Since I cannot post over at STACLU, and Jay has a spot in the rotation here, I will be attempting to fill his shoes today and talk about the ACLU.
Several things have hit the news regarding their fight against American civil liberties for average Americans, which also illustrates how they are striving to change the American dream and American laws through the courts.
American Daily has an article about the deficit and the monetary drain that the United Nations, Planned Parenthood and even the ACLU have on American the taxpayer.
Another unquenchable budget drain is the ACLU. Eighty percent of their budget directly supports its litigation. Unquestionably, the past ACLU has aided unfair racial practices, and ‘Americans with Disabilities’ concerns. But lately, they want to delete “One Nation, Under God” from the “Pledge of Allegiance”, erase “In God We Trust” from our currency, and destroy all plaques that mention God that are found in public places. People have voted to unconstitutionally fund their activities under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act of 1976. In other words, the ACLU is using this law to recover all attorney fees associated with suits against the boy scouts, suits for the homosexual agenda, and those involving God. Few know the exact amount. And the ACLU, itself, says they have 400,000 paying members.
Frightening!
Signon Sandiego talks about how the ACLU is calling their requirement for a police chief needing to be a resident for a year, ‘unconstitutional’.
HONOLULU – The American Civil Liberties Union says it’s looking into the constitutionality of Kauai officials limiting their search for a new police chief to locals.
Deputy County Attorney Rosa Flores says Kauai police commissioners must follow state law, which dictates that all appointed department heads be residents of the state for at least one year.
But to hell with that law, the ACLU would rather see a police chief be an illegal alien. *snark*
Georgia School district settles
The White County, Ga., school district will set up an antibullying program at White County High School and pay $10,000 to a group of students who sued for the right to have a gay-straight alliance, the White County News reported Tuesday.
The payment and antibullying program, which will also be established at White County’s ninth-grade academy, is part of a settlement reached between the parties. The settlement will become official when all parties sign it, the News reported. The deal also includes the school district paying more $168,000 in court costs to the American Civil Liberties Union, which assisted the students in their legal efforts to form the alliance.
What a huge settlement when you take it altogether! And what a waste! It’s no wonder people are afraid of getting sued and school districts are bowing down to the political correctness movement of the rights of special interest groups. The ACLU has a big legal club it waves around to threaten people with. And it freely wields that club, using taxpayer dollars.
Said Cao @ 8:29 am Comments (0) | Permalink
Every now and then, my friend, Amil Imani, sends me something that he’s written that’s noteworthy. This is one of the ones that struck me is very much worth sharing at this point in time, when you consider the Baker Report and Flynt Leverett’s pushing for “iranian peace talks”. (See Our Man Flynt) This piece is published here with Amil’s permission. This piece is cross posted at Cao’s blog.
Iranians Are Friends of the Jews
By Amil Imani
Is there anyone left in the world that does not know the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hates the Jews? Just as he welcomed representatives of an extremist branch of Orthodox Judaism to his conference denying the Holocaust, we are reminded that the Nazis, whenever possible, used leaders in the Jewish community to facilitate the deportation of Jews to the death camps.
This devout man of Allah, Ahmadinejad, known affectionately by Iranians as “The Monkey” for his non-stop silly and embarrassing antics should be given a fair hearing, never mind the fact that he would not even think of doing the same for others. What makes The Monkey more than a laughing stock is what he represents and the power he wields at arousing millions of his co-Islamofascists against the “undesirables” of the world.
For some reasons, Jews are on the top of The Monkey’s hit list as they have been in the same position of “honor” with other past fascists of the world. Perhaps precedence by itself constitutes the basis for arriving at a verdict, as is sometimes the case in the law.
And when it comes to the Jews’ guilty verdict, there is no shortage of precedence. Jews have been around for a long time and have been a convenient target of scapegoating. People being people have a difficult time looking at themselves for their problems. It is by far easier to find others to blame than to try to mend one’s own ways. So the Jews became convenient scapegoats for bigots, the fascists, and all manners of malevolent louts.
This is neither the place, nor is it necessary for the purpose of this article to provide an exhaustive documentation of the historical suffering of the Jewish people. The main purpose of this article is to tell the world that Iranians are proud of their historical friendship with the Jewish people. The bond of friendship goes back to the landmark action of King Cyrus the Great of Persia. In 537 B.C., having conquered Babylon, the benevolent King Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and empowered them to return to the Promised Land and build their temple.
For his acts of kindness, Cyrus the Great is immortalized in the Bible in several passages and called “the anointed of the Lord.” The Jews throughout the recorded history looked to Cyrus’ people, the Iranians, as their friends and protectors against oppressors such as the Seleucids and the Romans. There existed, in the ancient world, a universal admiration for the beliefs and practices of the Persians as enshrined in Cyrus Charter of Human Rights. Even the Greeks, the traditional adversaries of the Persians, called Cyrus “The Lawgiver.”
The return of the Jews to the Promised Land did not mark the end of their ordeal. Successive waves of ill-wishers, notably the Romans and then the savage Muslims unleashed their unjustified wrath on the Jews.
The Jewish people, in spite of suffering huge losses at the hands of their enemies, remained resilient and, with one exception, outlived their tormentors. The Pogroms in Russia, the ghettoization in much of Europe, and even the genocidal Hitlerism failed to wipe out the Jews.
One diehard enemy, Islam, has been hard at work for some 1400 years to complete the work of finishing off the Jews that Muhammad himself had started.
Iranians are saddened and ashamed by the appearance of Ahmadinejad on the international scene and his declared intent to wipe out the Jewish homeland from the face of the earth. Ahmadinejad is not an Iranian. Numerous photos show him proudly donning the Arab headscarf around his neck—a Palestinian headscarf that presently stands as a symbol of Arabo-Islamic genocidal hate campaign against the Jews as well as non-believers of all stripes.
Ahmadinejad does not represent the Iranian people any more than his turbaned-colleagues presently ruling Iran do. What needs to be understood is that in fact Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, above all else, are true Muslims and despise anything “Iranian” and its ancient “pre-Islamic” heritage.
You can tell a true Muslim by the ferocity of his hatred. Islam is driven by hate. And the Islamic hate is so intense and blind that it consumes even its own adherents. Just consider, for instance, the rocketing of mosques full of Friday worshippers by one sect of the religion of peace against another sect of the same religion. Or, the raging gun battle between the Hamas thugs and the Fatah murderers in the Palestinian territory.
Iranian Muslims are victims of the Islamic virus that has destroyed in them their traditional respect for diversity. It is the Iranian ancient fundamental belief in the validity and value of diversity that has held the nation together over the millennia.
The diverse people who give Iran its enduring strength include Persians, Azaris, Kurds, Baluchis, Torkemans, Arabs and more: one and all have their allegiance to Iran as an idea and a nation. Iranians are spiritual children of Cyrus the Great and adherents of his Charter—the first Charter of Human Rights—that clearly proclaims the equal rights and worth of the beliefs and practices of all people.
Islam overtook Iran and brutally strived to replace the traditional lofty Iranian belief in human rights with its barbaric exclusionary dogma of the primitive Bedouin Arabs. Regrettably, the forced subjugation of the Iranians succeeded to some degree in transmitting the Islamic psychosocial virus to many Iranians. The virus transforms the person into a bigot—one who sees only his way and his belief as the right way and the only right mandate. Any and all people who do not see things his way are wrong and must be reformed by whatever means, including eradication, if the bigot sees fit.
True Iranians have remained friends of the Jews by both belief as well as deeds. During the shameful Hitlerian campaign of exterminating the Jews, for instance, Iranian missions in Europe, notably the one in France, issued Iranian passports to facilitate the flight of French and other European Jews from the claws of Nazis and their gas chambers—the very gas chambers that the true Muslim, disgracing Iranians, Ahmadinejad, denies ever existed.
Iranians stand for the right of the Jews as well as the equal rights under the law for any and all religious and secular people. Iranians believe that Islamofascism is a present and imminent danger and call on all free peoples of the world to do all they can to frustrate its “Pogrom,” heeding Martin Niemoller’s warning:
“They came for the communists, and I did not speak up because I wasn’t a communist; They came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a socialist; They came for the union leaders, and I did not speak up because I wasn’t a union leader; They came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me.”
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. He maintains a website, www.AmilImani.com
Said Cao @ 3:39 am Comments (5) | Permalink
I log in and, lo and behold, another scathing article about “THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION!” (from the AP) and the mess of Hurricane Katrina. Main focus: “BUSH WASTES MONEY!” What now? Of course “lucrative government contracts” being handed out with little competition.
So, many quotes from the Inspector General from DHS, knocking the Bush Administration. A long time back, shortly after the disaster of Katrina, I did a little educational piece “And Just Where Do You Think ‘RED TAPE’ Comes From?”, and a sequel, too. Maybe I should title this post: “RED TAPE III” and see if it does better as a series…
So, a natural disaster, and contrary to the belief of too many, that was not caused by President Bush, comes ashore at a city. long know in popular literature and film as a city of corruption, and many people die, large property losses occur, and the press then follows up with how criminals ran the streets doing evil at will (but it didn’t happen), and we find out what? That billions of dollars, over several decades, under both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations were sent, by Congress (which has the Constitutional authority to spend money), mind you, with the ascent of the sitting presidents, and much of it was squandered on other projects.
Note: In the later part of my career, I was responsible for the expenditure of $34+ million on an annual basis. I had to regularly validate the funding was spent exactly as dictated by the funding lines established as high as Congress. To let the money move between projects, or fiscal years, was not my call, nor that of my project officers, and there is much Federal Law to help you atone for your mis-management, should you decide to make bad decisions. But then, I wore a uniform. Politicians seem to move money at will and walk away, to be re-elected as “punishment” for such acts of blatant fiscal irresponsibility.
My point is, for a better part of a century, New Orleans was provided, at your expense, and mine, and our parents and grandparents, the financial resources to protect their city. Bottom Line: They failed to do so. Who is it exactly who has “squandered” billions? Yes, it’s happening now, but there is little choice but to try to put good money after bad as an act of compassion towards the people of the Gulf of Mexico coastline.
When the Hurricane had barely passed, the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana blamed the President for not sending the help in advance, even thought the President begged a governor to request Federal assistance. In response, the President proposed to Congress (the funding authority) to provide massive and immediate Federal funding, which ran roughshod over standard governmental policies and procedures, but made “us” feel “good.” Soon, we saw reports of the debit cards handed out in the few short weeks afterwards, being used for gambling, strip clubs bills and the purchase of luxury items. Gee, go figure! The American people expected the President to “fix it” and, in the name of not losing any more political face, the CONGRESS and the President intentionally put tax dollars at extreme risk of being abused, but it was in our name.
Here we are, a year plus later and someone uncovers more mismanaged funding. Note to “brilliant reporters:” Duh! Once more, a study of history and mankind would have allowed you to write this story a year ago, merely waiting for the actual names and places and businesses to be filled in. So, when the President (and CONGRESS) responded to the screams and irrationality of the populace to “fix” what it had not broken in the first place, the most likely outcome occurred and now, we blame the “Bush Administration.”
Why is Congress never properly called out for playing a major part in these sorts of debacles? Granted, you might chose to argue with me that the President is the leader. I agree, but also defer to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers in the series of “checks and balances.” Both sections of the three part head of our nation have the responsibility to be careful in the expenditure of public funds, and one should stand up and object when the other is not showing a clear understanding of the danger ahead financially.
“RED TAPE:” It’s here to protect us from these very issues of the massive abuse of money, both in the before and after cases of this natural disaster. We hate it when it keep us from getting money in our hands, but somehow love it when it keep the other people from getting it, unless, or course, misguided compassionate thoughts override our common sense. Soooo…the beat goes on, and the stories will continue to come. “We” sould not be surprised, because of the pre-history of the New Orleans corruption, nor in the reactive method “we” demanded that put us further down the rathole of problems.
Yet, regardless of all of these realities. it will still be President Bush’s fault. I wonder how President Clinton would have fared in all of this?
One day, I’d like a President Bush opponent to actually list all the many superpowers and universal knowledge that they attribute to the stupid President they didn’t elect…I think it would be educational to see the response.
Said xformed @ 3:30 pm Comments (2) | Permalink
In June of 2005, the more radical conservative elements on Iran’s Guardian Council helped to engineer the election of President Ahmadinejad, hoping that his fervor would ignite a religious revival and take the country out of the hands of the “original” radicals who used their positions to personally enrich themselves at the expense of the Iranian people.
What Ahmadinejad referred to as the “petro-political mafia” dominated the permanent bureaucracy in Iran for a quarter of a century, lining their pockets with proceeds from oil revenues while using some of that money to grease the skids for their political masters. And the number one recipient of this bounty was former President Ayatollah Rafsanjani who is reported to be the richest man in Iran. Through a network of family and cronies, Rafsanjani concentrated economic power into his own hands during his two terms as President. He waged a war against the left wing Islamists who sought to oppose him by placing economic decisions into the hands of special committees and government bureaucracies.
What Rafsanjani did more than anything was fill the ministries with allies. But this cronyism had one redeeming benefit; they were relatively competent technocrats. In this way, they assisted him in his efforts to dip his beak into a variety of economic pies.
One of his biggest corruption efforts involved a convoluted kick back scheme with Norway’s state run oil company. It is said that Rafsanjani personally oversaw many of the foreign contracts signed by the Iranian oil ministry just to make sure he got his cut.
Enter President Ahmadinejad and his radical brethren who believed that religious fervor was a good enough substitute for competence in running a ministry. By November of last year, Ahmadinejad had sacked hundreds of competent officials in every ministry of government in an unprecedented “anti-corruption” purge:
The rise to power of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, as Iran’s new president last year entailed a sweeping purge of hundreds of senior and mid-level officials in the country’s burgeoning bureaucracy. Supporters of Ahmadinejad’s two predecessors, Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, have been fired from key positions in all the ministries, embassies, state banks, and other governmental institutions.
The purged officials include dozens of ambassadors and diplomats, all but one of the ministers, and more than three quarters of deputy ministers, department directors, and provincial governors, according to a confidential government report obtained by Iran Focus. Many of them have been replaced by several hundred officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) seconded to government positions.
Rafsanjani has publicly rebuked the massive purges, but sources inside the Iranian government say he and Khatami have no clout to withstand the onslaught by hard-liners under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s leadership.
Hard-liners justified the first waves of the purges as the “need for fresh blood after 16 years of misgovernment” by Rafsanjani and Khatami. In many cases, rampant corruption among officials close to the two former presidents was given as the reason for the reshuffle.
The results of the purge were entirely predictable; the Iranian oil ministry, for example, is being so badly run, that the country is losing enormous amounts of money and may reach a zero revenue stream by 2015:
Iran is experiencing a staggering decline in revenue from its oil exports and, if the trend continues, income could virtually disappear by 2015, according to an analysis released yesterday by the National Academy of Sciences.
Iran’s economic woes could make the country unstable and vulnerable with its oil industry crippled, Roger Stern, an economic geographer at Johns Hopkins University, said in the report and in an interview.
Iran earns about $50 billion a year in oil exports. The decline is estimated at 10 percent to 12 percent annually. In less than five years, exports could be halved and then disappear by 2015, Mr. Stern predicted…
The shortfall represents a loss of about $5.5 billion a year, Mr. Stern said. In 2004, Iran’s oil profits were 65 percent of the government’s revenues.
“If we look at that shortfall, and failure to rectify leaks in their refineries, that adds up to a loss of about $10 billion to $11 billion a year,” he said. “That is a picture of an industry in collapse.”
The analyst is quoted in the article as saying, “What they are doing to themselves is much worse than anything we could do.”
Be that as it may, this information also gives rise to the idea that if this is true, then the Iranian nuclear program should be seen as an actual necessity and not as a choice of the mullahs to become a regional superpower. In fact, the analyst makes that very case in the article:
The analysis supports U.S. and European suspicions that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons in violation of international understandings. But, Mr. Stern said, there could be merit to Iran’s assertion that it needs nuclear power for civilian purposes “as badly as it claims.”
He said oil production is declining, and both gas and oil are being sold domestically at highly subsidized rates. At the same time, Iran is neglecting to reinvest in its oil production.
“With an explosive demand at home and poor management, the appeal of nuclear power, financed by Russia, could fill a real need for production of more electricity.”
The only problem with that analysis is that it’s bull cookies. Iran has been trying to develop a nuclear weapon since at least the early 1990’s according to the CIA and possibly longer. There wasn’t a problem with oil revenues back then nor was any contemplated - as long as they had competent bureaucrats to run the oil industry.
But in Iran, you get what you pay for. And the hardliners bought into Ahmadinejad’s glorious vision of a corruption free, pious Iranian government. What they got is a nightmare of incompetence and stupidity. Ahmadinejad’s first choice for oil minister was a joke; a close friend, tea and carpet trader and former acting mayor of Tehran, Ali Saeedlou who received a geology degree in 2003 from “Hartford University,” a place no one ever heard of or can confirm the existence of. The Parliament refused to be the punchline to the laugher and nixed his confirmation. This is but one example of Ahmadinejad’s mismanagement of government. Throughout the ministries, not only has there been mismanagement, but the same kind of corruption that occurred under previous administrations, seems to continue unabated. So much for “reform.”
It isn’t Ahmadinejad’s loose lips about destroying Israel or his taunting of America that has him in trouble with the elites in Iran. It is his rank incompetence as an administrator that is driving much of the opposition against him. This is important to keep in mind if the so called “moderate” radicals get back into power because the fact is, all segments of the Iranian government agree with Ahmadinejad with regards to Israel and the United States. Changing faces in the leadership will not lead the Iranians to halt or slow down their nuclear program nor will it deter them from meddling in the affairs of Lebanon or in sponsoring terrorism.
I guess Ahmadinejad was too busy looking for the messiah to see to the competent administration of his government.
Said Rick Moran @ 12:07 pm Comments (3) | Permalink
Making fun of liberals, because I can….and its funny,….and there is so much ammo…..good night.
Said Richard Nixon @ 10:32 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
Said Richard Nixon @ 10:30 pm Comments (0) | Permalink
