The Trial of Khalid Sheikh Momhammed

On November 13, 2009, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it will be transferring five of the Guantanamo Bay detainees to New York to face trial for their involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks involving the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Despite a public outcry against this strategy, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi are to be tried in Federal Court literally blocks from the scarred hole in the ground where the Twin Towers once stood. Recent polls show that Americans oppose trying terror suspects in the Federal court system by a margin of two to one but that has not deterred Obama administration Attorney General, Eric Holder, who claims that the day has finally arrived for these men to face justice.

After a brief statement, Eric Holder faced harsh questioning in the Senate yesterday and was visibly unprepared for the direction the questioning had taken. Senator Lindsay Graham asked Holder “Can you give me a case in United States history when an enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?” As Mr. Holder struggled to find an appropriate answer he finally uttered that he would have to research the issue at which time, Senator Graham interrupted and answered the question for him. “The answer is never” Graham said, adding “We are making bad history”’.

Senator Graham was not being deliberately argumentative; he was stating a point of law that could spell doom for the prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four coconspirators. If you try these individuals in Federal Court you must bestow the full protection of the American legal system on the defendants; protections that would thwart the ability of the United States to gather intelligence from captured terrorists crucial to the efforts of this nation protect itself against future attacks. Mr. Holder could not answer the question of whether or not these defendants were advised of their Miranda rights or if they had ever been offered legal council, both of which are fundamental to any civil prosecution.

If Mohammed had not been advised of his rights or given the opportunity to seek counsel, the statements he made regarding his involvement in the attacks would be inadmissible in civilian court. The detainees were captured by the military in a foreign country during the prosecution of a war so reasonably, they had not been “Mirandized” when taken into custody nor had they been offered an attorney prior to questioning, both of which are required by our system of justice. We already know that the CIA engaged in water-boarding the detainees to obtain additional intelligence and whether you agree with that practice or not, the information it yielded has kept us from feeling the sting of additional civilian attacks on American soil since 9/11. As beneficial as that information was, the methods simply will not fly in a civilian court.

The primary question that any first year law student would present in the defense of these individuals would revolve around the Constitutional protections against torture, self incrimination, the right to legal counsel and since he was captured in 2003, the right to a speedy trial. They would not be wrong, that is how our system of justice protects American’s from potential abuses of the authorities. Unfortunately, we do not have a separate set of rules for the prosecution of foreign combatants or extremist terrorists. If we intend to prosecute them in the United States criminal justice system then those same protections would have to be afforded to the terrorists. There are already recorded statutory cases where the Supreme Court have overturned convictions and freed known criminals because their civil rights had been violated. The Supreme Court did not free these individuals because the violation of their rights brought the evidence against them into question, they were guilty men freed in essence, only because their constitutional rights had been violated.

Knowing what we know, can anyone argue that even if the courts were to ignore these facts and allow the trial to proceed at all, that the Supreme Court would have to review the conviction on appeal and would most likely free these men because their civil rights had been violated during their apprehension and incarceration? That is the law and that is why we do not try these cases in civil court. These are foreign combatants that launched an attack against the United States in effect, declaring war on America. Their trial is a military matter and does not belong in the civilian courts nor do they deserve to be afforded the same constitutional rights guaranteed by an America they are pledged to destroy.

One of the most disturbing things about this is the number of stories I have seen coming from the press calling the transfer of these prisoners to New York “foolish” or indicative of the administration’s inexperience. As usual, I have a very different take on this. Eric Holder is an exceptionally bright individual. He had begun working for the Justice Department upon completion of law school before serving as a judge for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1993, Holder was appointed to the post of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and eventually became the Deputy Attorney General under Bill Clinton. This man knows the law and I am sure he knows the precedents of Supreme Court decisions regarding prisoners whose civil rights had been violated. If he doesn’t, you can be certain his staff does. In light of his experience and knowledge of the law, why would Eric Holder attempt to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian courts if he knows that a conviction cannot stand a Supreme Court challenge?

This administration has been locked in battle to advance their radical agenda ever since Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. They had counted on the complacency if the American people but the recession had turned the spotlight on and the people have been waiting for some sign from this President that he is going to take meaningful steps to restore the vitality of the economy. The President pressed for immediate passage of a $787 billion dollar stimulus bill claiming that passage of this bill would stem the recession and reduce unemployment. We watched as the administration spoke glowingly of how well the stimulus plan was working while each month an additional 200,000 plus people lost their jobs.

Instead of focusing on the economy, we watched the administration campaign for an energy bill (cap and trade) that promises to further cripple business in this country and to hobble the economy. After Cap and Trade was passed through the House of Representatives, Healthcare reform became the priority for Obama and we watched the House churn out a massive one-thousand page bill and press for a vote before the members of Congress had even had an opportunity to read it. As the details of healthcare bill were revealed, people took to the streets and attended town hall meetings to protest against this crazy jumble of taxes and mandates in an attempt to bring attention to what American’s really want…jobs and a stable economy. People recognize that America can not survive if we continue the growth of the Federal Debt but the government keeps writing massive spending bills.

Now we are faced with the sad fact that the Government has absolutely no idea where hundreds of billions in stimulus money has been spent. The eighteen-million dollar website dedicated to tracking the stimulus money and the jobs it has created has been an unqualified disaster. The site shows jobs created through millions spent in Congressional districts that do not exist. The media’s examination of the figures shows not just a trend, but a systematic exaggeration of the jobs that have been attributed to stimulus money. Despite this expose’, the administration is still applauding the success of the stimulus bill even as unemployment topped 10.2%.

The President is also struggling with an image he has created of an inexperienced Commander in Chief that is unable to take decisive action even when his hand-picked theater commander in Afghanistan tells him he needs to reinforce the troop levels in the Afghan war or face the failure of the mission. The request made by General McChrystal in mid-September is still under consideration and that does not bode well with the people that heard Candidate Obama say that he would heed the advice of his generals and give them the materials and support they need to succeed in their mission.

Anyone that has ever been on stage know that spotlights can get awfully hot; heat this President didn’t expect. When faced with the possible loss of both healthcare and cap and trade they had only one course left….blame Bush. The public trials of Mohammed and his friends are meant to shift the spotlight from this administration and on to the so-called “atrocities” committed against the people detained in Guantanamo Bay. After all, what would bring Bush’s name back into focus better than months of testimony about the poor treatment these people received at the hands of the Army and the CIA? Well, that was another miscalculation on the part of Obama and his crew.

Americans have not forgotten the burning buildings or the innocent Americans leaping to their deaths to escape the flames. They have not forgotten that the “accused” was not only responsible for the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon but also the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the attempted airliner “shoe bombing” by Richard Reid, the bombing of nightclubs in Bali where Americans frequently relaxed and Mohammed has even admitted that he was in fact, the individual that beheaded American Journalist, Daniel Pearl.

We are a compassionate nation but we have no stomach for barbarians that practice the slaughter of innocent people. This is not an enemy that is really seeking retribution for perceived ills. This is an enemy that hates us for who we are. His actions are not meant to convert people to his religion but rather to eliminate them entirely. Even the Spanish Inquisition’s ultimate goal was to secure the salvation of man and to spread the word of God, not to indiscriminately kill anyone that did not already possess a bible.

If the Justice Department insists that these men are tried in civilian courts and they are freed on a technicality, the spirits of the people murdered by this fanatic will scream aloud and their voices will be heard every remaining day of Obama’s single and inglorious term as President.

Paul

Reid pushes for early passage of healthcare bill

Here we go again! Harry Reid is waiting for the CBO score on the new, new, new healthcare bill so he can force this matter to the floor before the Christmas break. I know, Congress calls it the Holiday break but here on the Vigilance Project, Christmas is still Christmas. Mr. Reid’s fear is that not proceeding with the bill now would allow the Senators to face their constituents in a repeat of the summer town hall meetings and that is something he cannot allow.

If this healthcare bill is so damaging to the nation, why then would Reid and Pelosi want it to pass so badly that they would risk what little of their political capital that have left to move it forward? It is still a matter of power. As it stands now, 47% of Americans pay no taxes and some of that 47% actually receive tax money in the form of earned income credits and other public assistance programs. We are dangerously close to tipping that balance and once a minor majority of Americans move from the taxpayer column to the recipient column, there will never be another fair election in this country.

Outspoken Congressional progressives have already admitted that they intend to use the public option to move healthcare from the private sector into a universal government run system much like we see in Canada and England. A victory for the healthcare bill would be a devastating blow to personal freedoms and to the health of the Republic. Universal care will, for the first time in our history, make a majority of Americans dependents of the State and insure the electability of those candidates that promise to keep public money flowing into the Federal entitlement machine.

Medicare was suppose to provide basic health services for those senior citizens that found themselves without care and without the means to pay for care after retirement. Who could argue with that? It was a reasonable plan supported by a compassionate nation. Over the years it became an entitlement program available to anyone over the age of 65, whether you actually needed it or not. Estimates at the time of passage were that Medicare would cost the taxpayers $9 billion dollars a year by 1990 when the actual figure would swell to $65 billion dollars, a 700% miscalculation. Now Medicare has become a sacred cow and any discussion of cuts or means testing the recipients is met with angry mobs of seniors and their advocacy groups.

Social Security was enacted during FDR’s early years in office and promised to offer a safety net to seniors that never had the opportunity to provide for their own retirement. When Social Security was enacted, it was a trust fund. People would contribute to the fund and be able to withdraw an annuity upon retirement. A great idea right? Well, after only three years, Medicare and Medicaid were in serous trouble and the Federal government raided that trust fund to offset the shortages in those programs. Social Security was added as a new line to the Federal budget as another liability for the American taxpayer. In the biggest “double dip” in history, we now have the privilege of continuing our mandatory “contributions” to the Social Security system as well as paying ever-increasing taxes to cover the government’s budget problems wrought by exploding entitlement disbursements.

Social Security has changed too. 40% of recipients are not of retirement age and recent disclosures have shown that even illegal immigrants are drawing from this fund through one abuse or another. The entitlement programs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are rife with fraud and abuse, so much so that even organized crime has found it much easier to defraud the federal government than it is to defraud banks and credit card companies. In fact, the President claims that he can pay for a large part of the healthcare bill by eliminating fraud and abuse. Unfortunately, President Clinton said the same thing back in 1993 during his push for universal healthcare.

In the sixteen years since President Clinton made his healthcare speech identifying the fraud and abuse in the healthcare system, not one bill has passed through Congress to attempt to eliminate the billions of taxpayer dollars lost to Medicare and Medicaid fraud. That leaves two possibilities. Either the Federal government is incapable of combating the fraud in which case, the cost of this legislation is going to balloon the federal deficit and explode the National Debt or the proponents of universal care needed that fraud as a tool to pass a healthcare bill when the power in congress had shifted in which case, those that willingly turned a blind eye to allow the fraud to continue for political purposes should be charged as co-conspirators. No matter what the truth is…are these the people you want to trust with your healthcare?

Curiously enough, members of Congress have no skin in the game. They have the best healthcare plan in history of man. It is free to them and they get to keep it for as long as they live no matter how long they have served in Congress. They will not add language to any of the bills going through Congress that would force them to participate in the same plan that they will force you to take and since their care is provided for them at no charge, they will not be subject to that nasty little 40% tax on “Cadillac” plans proposed in the Baucus bill. If that doesn’t insult you, I don’t know what will.

The bill that is currently under consideration does not lower your healthcare costs. In fact, independent estimates say that premiums for private healthcare insurance will triple under this bill. The same studies say that more than five million jobs will be lost as small business attempts to cope with the new taxes and mandates. Medicare will be cut by five-hundred billion dollars and even though the CBO scored the bill at $1.2 trillion dollars, their past cost evaluations of other spending bills has been historically wrong and has cost taxpayers seven to ten times that amount.

This bill doesn’t do any of the things that experts say would actually result in the healthcare cost savings that is one of the President’s highest goals. Even his primary goal of providing care for the uninsured is not met as this bill still leaves twenty five million people uninsured and they will continue to test the financial stability of our hospitals and clinics.

Over all, this is not a bad bill; it is a rotten bill and the notion that it might not be great but “we have to do something” is an idiotic statement worthy of ridicule. Throwing buckets if gasoline at a burning building is “doing something”…it just doesn’t help the goal of putting the fire out.

Paul

SAY NO TO OBAMACARE

The Vigilance Project is taking the day to communicate with Senators to voice our opposition to the healthcare bill. We urge you to do the same. This is far too important to leave to a handful of people behind closed doors and the idea that the Senate will be forced to vote on a massive 2000 page bill without having been given sufficient time to read it is not the will of the American people.

Congress must read and understand legislation before a vote or we have no representation. Please contact your Senators and tell them to do their job. Read the bill and vote no on any proposal that does not serve the interests and will of the American people.

The Vigilance Project will continue tomorrow as usual.

Paul

Follow the Money

The healthcare bill is once again, being shaped and molded behind closed doors. There is really only one truth in Washington; large bills hide large lies. The bigger the bill, the bigger the lies and unfortunately, big lies in Congress usually come with an equally big price tag too. The healthcare bill, at nearly 2000 pages, is among the largest bills ever to worm its way through Congress and it is already known to be extremely costly. This bill is being shaped behind closed doors, we have not seen the “manager’s amendment” that was added at the last minute before the House vote and there are widespread rumors that there are at least attempts to hide the real cost of this monstrosity by shifting some of the costs to other bills or by using deceptive language in the amended copy.

Let’s see…the President said he will not sign a bill that is budget neutral. Well, budget neutral is Washington speak that simply means there will be enough tax increases and service cuts to pay for the proposal. Since it has an “adjusted” price tag of $1.2 trillion dollars, that equals an admission by Congress that this bill has $1.2 trillion dollars in tax increases and spending cuts; all taking place while the nation is in a deep recession. The truth is that independent analysis says that $1.2 trillion dollars is a laughable assessment and the actual cost over the first ten years will be closer to $3 trillion dollars.

At $3 trillion dollars, it will still be “budget neutral” because one of the big lies hidden in that 1900 pages is a tiny little provision that give Congress the authority to raise whatever funds are needed. What would happen to an economy that is already dangerously unstable if the Federal Government added another $2 trillion dollars in tax burdens? Washington is not totally crazy. They realize that raising taxes again would spell disaster in the next election so they will take the path of least resistance. More cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates which will shift the burden where it does now; to the State’s budgets and to the privately insured.

Why would Congress blatantly raise taxes when they can force the States to raise their own taxes to cover the shortfall created by federal reimbursement cuts? Why would Congress blatantly raise taxes when they can allow doctors and hospitals to raise their prices and shift the shortages to private insurance? Why jeopardize your own political future when you can jeopardize someone else’s?

Sometimes I think the indoctrination into the ranks of Congress began way back in grade school. The “spit-ball” assailant that watches in silence while another student is dragged out of the room to answer for a crime he did not commit. The stick ball player that breaks a window and hands the bat to the kid he wouldn’t even let play the game, then runs away before the grown ups show up. If you watched the old movies like “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” or “Meet John Doe”, the idea that there is honor in the halls of Capitol Hill is laughable. Congress has always been portrayed as a hive of villains that create law after law; not to benefit the American people but to handsomely reward that small circle of people that keep the politicians firmly ensconced as members of Congress for decades and decades.

This bill has hidden provisions that reward the latest generation of power brokers. Community organizers are suddenly transformed into part of our national healthcare system by providing funds to them for community outreach programs. A recent story taking place in Chicago showed public housing units, funded by Congress and run by these same community organizations. The units were neglected and maintenance personnel working for the property said that they didn’t even have the funds to buy steel wool to stuff in the rat holes that laced the property. Of course those same community groups had plenty of funds when it came to voter registration drives and to organize rallies to support the healthcare bill but somehow, the budget to care for the properties they acquired with Federal funds for the needy, is curiously empty.

The Unions get their rewards too; particularly, SEIU. A provision in the bill would provide funds to hospitals for nurse training provided that the hospital seeking the funds is a union hospital. Isn’t it funny that the SEIU covers healthcare workers and that SEIU’s Andy Stern is the most frequent visitor to the White House according to the recently released visitors list?

So let’s see if I have this right? The bill cuts $500 billion out of Medicare and raises taxes on people with good healthcare insurance plans, the wealthy, medical device manufacturers and through additional employer mandates in the name of healthcare reform but then provides cash subsidies to support the interests of SEIU and for programs administrated through the incredibly large number of ACORN affiliate organizations? The same SEIU whose members proudly wore their SEIU shirts while they viciously attacked a man in Ohio for attending a Tea Party Rally? The same ACORN that has just had their records and computers seized as part of an investigation by the Attorney General in Louisiana? The Same ACORN that has been labeled a criminal organization by a Congressional Committee?

Something is very wrong here and to be honest, I think that is what really needs investigation. Everyone is jumping on ACORN for their actions but I am a firm believer that fish stink from the head down. We have a healthy portion of the stimulus money that has not been spent yet. I honestly believe that the best place that money could be spent; the most effective action we could take to stimulate our economy and restore balance would be to use those funds for a complete and independent audit of every penny that has come out of Congress in the past ten years.

The Federal government only has the money that is has collected from us and with the way it is being spent; I will just go ahead and say “stolen” from us. It is a disgrace that billions are passed through for programs that average Americans easily recognize as ridiculous. Even though our economy is in serious trouble, the United States is still the largest stake holder in the United Nations, The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank plus a myriad of other international programs to create infrastructure and transportation systems in other nations around the globe. All of this is being spent without the knowledge of the American people or at least, without a complete understanding of what it does for the interest of America.

As the largest stake holder in the UN, we still have only one vote. As the largest stakeholder in the IMF and the Word Bank, all we get is an international bureaucracy to tell us what our financial obligations and policies should be. Infrastructure and transportation systems for foreign countries while our own infrastructure and transportation systems are crumbling? Why??? For all of the money this nation has spent in foreign and humanitarian aid, we have never bought a friend. In fact, all we have done is to create an ever growing population of those that wish us harm.

Paul

Don't Read the Bill....Trust Us!

Now that the healthcare bill has cleared the house (barely), I have been receiving a number of messages from the Democratic National Committee trying to drum up support for the bill in the Senate. On Tuesday, Tim Kaine sent a request for letters to be written to local newspapers and today I received a call to action from Jen O’Malley encouraging phone calls to Republican Senators to demand that they vote in favor of the legislation.

That’s strange? I thought it was the Republican Party and corporate America that were secretly manufacturing opposition to Healthcare. Nancy Pelosi actually referred to Tea Party opposition to the bill as inconsequential because it was not a legitimate grass roots movement but merely “Astroturf”, which was bought and paid for by Republicans and special interest. I’ve never heard from the Republicans on this but the Democrats have been shamefully trying to stack the deck in favor of this bill from the start.

I have received a lot of information on the healthcare debate from a myriad of sources and it’s true that most of it was very negative. What I find curious is that the opposition to this bill printed their objections and then did something odd. They actually provided a location where one could download the bill in PDF format and then provided the page and section numbers associated with their claims so that anyone could look up the information for themselves. That is hardly a strategy you would expect from them if what they were saying were not true.

The Democratic National Committee, the House and Senate leadership and even the President have only refuted these claims by saying they are lies. In all of the ads, comments and appearances by those in favor of this measure have you seen even one of them offer proof of their claims in black and white? Have they provided links to the bill and page numbers that prove the opposition is lying to us? No they haven’t and the reason is, because they can’t. The only thing they have done is to try to silence the opposition when what we are really asking them to do is answer the damned questions.

Democrats continue to play a game of semantics. They claim the bill will not cover illegal immigrants because you can not find one reference to coverage for illegal’s in the bill. What they do not tell you is that since the bill says “all Americans”, by law that includes anyone that is here. Without definitive language excluding illegal immigrants, it would be unlawful for them to deny coverage to anyone under this legislation. Democrats have refused to put that language in the bill since this debate began.

They claim that if you like your existing insurance plan you can keep it. Again, there is nothing written into the bill that eliminates private insurance. Of course, what they do not tell you is that every major analysis of this bill (excluding the ones funded by the DNC and Congress) say that private insurance cannot compete against a federally subsidized “public option”. In fact, the bill as written provides every incentive for businesses to eliminate their employee’s private insurance benefits as a matter of fiscal policy.

The tax imposed on businesses with more than 100 employees under this bill, is far less than the cost of providing care. That offers a quick boost to the bottom line for employers that dump private insurance and what business owner wouldn’t take that? Under this bill, businesses with less than 100 employees face no penalties for not providing care so those that do not, have no compelling reason to do so now. Those small businesses that do offer benefits will most likely drop that coverage now that their employees have a public option to turn to. Why would they continue to provide care benefits when they can eliminate the expensive premiums of small group health insurance plans and perhaps offer to pay a portion of the public option premium at a fraction of what it cost them to provide coverage in the past?

A better question is how many medium sized companies with 110 or 120 employees will downsize to eliminate the mandate and tax penalty to provide insurance, especially if they do not provide insurance now? Medium sized companies whose specialty is in labor intensive manufacturing ordinarily do not provide healthcare insurance. Not because they are evil but because they cannot afford to. Independent analysis reports this bill will cost the American economy more than 5 million jobs as medium sized companies struggle with the new taxes placed on them.

They say there are no death panels in the bill and that is also true. There is nothing written in the bill that explicitly says that bureaucrats will ration care or determine benefits based on age or health condition. Many of the opponents have also gotten this one wrong by citing the provisions for end of life counseling for people age 65 and over. The end of life counseling is merely meant to offer advice on things like how to construct a living will and how to appoint family members or others to act on your behalf if you are incapacitated.

The real death panel is hidden in the Health Benefits board created by the bill. The board is comprised of a total of twenty-seven appointees that will determine the benefit levels offered under the plan. It’s amazing that actual health benefits or the criteria for delivering that care is not already spelled out but instead, is being left up to a board that will determine that later so in essence, we are being asked to trust them again.

Don’t forget that it wasn’t all that long ago in Oregon, where they have both a state run public option healthcare plan and have allowed doctor assisted suicide, that death panels became a reality. A cancer patient in Oregon received a letter from the state run health plan stating that they would not cover the cancer drugs prescribed by her doctor but would instead cover “comfort care” and “doctor aid-in-dying”. If you want to know the purpose of a heath benefits board and the compassion of a government run health system you would be wise to look to Oregon for the example. Oregon has both and they are doing now what a national system will do later if this bill ever becomes law. By the way, despite distribution of that infamous letter to the media, Oregon heath plan officials still deny the existence of “death panels” in their health system.

Just as Oregon denies what is painfully obvious to anyone that investigates what they will and will not cover, Democrats continue to deny the most disturbing provisions in their own plan for healthcare overhaul. There are few progressive Democrats that have not been caught on film at one time or another calling the public option an important first step on the road to a single payer, government run system. Even the President admitted in an interview filmed as recently as 2007 that they will not be able to eliminate private healthcare insurance immediately and there would necessarily be a “transition” period to achieve universal care. Even though so many Democrats have said that universal care is their ultimate goal, they still publically deny that this bill is a Trojan horse to bring us to that reality.

I’m sorry. I just don’t trust them. Not because I am a cynic at heart (I am) but rather, I do not trust them for very tangible reasons. They have never offered black and white guarantees in the legislation that would prevent these things from becoming reality. Instead they say, “Trust us”. They have never offered the page numbers and excerpts from the actual bill that would refute their critic’s charges. Instead they say, “Trust us”. In fact, they didn’t even want to put the bill on line for us to see. Dripping with condescendence, they insisted that the legal language in the bill would be too complicated insinuating that the average American peasant is far too ignorant to make sense of it and that we would be far better off just trusting the people we sent to Congress to do what is best for us.

Well, all the trust we placed in Congress in the past has brought us to a twelve-trillion dollar national debt, one-hundred trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities for our current social programs, more than ten percent unemployment and the loss of not just jobs, but entire industries because of bad treaties and confiscatory taxation. This is not only a bad bill; it is in fact damaging to the economic future of this nation and will jeopardize the quality of the healthcare we currently receive.

Paul

The Tragedy at Fort Hood

The official count at Fort Hood Texas is thirteen dead and thirty wounded but is that really all? There are people that will never recover from this. Families pray daily for the safe return of their loved ones from Iraq and Afghanistan, never considering that there was a monster in their midst right here; never imagining that something like this could ever happen on a United States Military base.

The killing and wounding of our brave soldiers is a tragedy only made worse by the flow of insults that followed the shootings. Main stream press has gone out of their way to paint a picture of a disturbed man that snapped once he learned he was being deployed. The press further sickened us by insinuating that Americans may take matters into their own hands and exact bigoted and hateful retribution against innocent Muslims. Not one of them would dare call this what it is…an act of terror perpetrated not by some poor troubled man, but by an Islamic extremist. Not one of them would stop to think that Americans are mostly law abiding citizens and do not take revenge of innocent people for the actions of a few.

Insult number two came shortly after the shootings when it became crystal clear that this was 100% preventable. The FBI had already been aware of Hasan’s emails to a radical cleric in Yemen and investigations are beginning to show that they declined to investigate Hasan for fear of being accused of violating his first amendment rights. In fact, they didn’t even bother to notify military authorities that Maj. Hasan had attempted to contact this cleric with reported ties to Al Qaida. Just to put that in perspective, we arrested hundreds during the cold war for being suspected of contacting Soviet interests and agents. We even rounded up thousands of people of Japanese descent during World War II and relocated them to internment camps for fear they might “try” to contact Japanese agents.

It is a mere eight years after Islamic extremists attacked the United States, killing thousands, and we are still uncovering plot after plot to inflict further damage to America. We are engaged in two wars to weed out those that are responsible but we have to be cautious about offending someone serving in our military that is known to have made statements in defense of Islamic militants taking up arms against American soldiers? Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, when questioned why a Muslim with Hasan’s behavior was retained in the military, went as far as to say that the loss of diversity in the Army would be a greater tragedy than what had occurred at Fort Hood. I have no words to display my anger at something so mindless. This man’s statement was as hurtful to the injured and the families of the dead as anything Nidal Hasan has done to them. Insult number three.

For insult number four, the President approached the microphone on the day of the shooting to give a press briefing on the tragedy. Before he actually got around to speaking to the nation about this horrific terror attack he made sure he said hello to all of his friends in the audience. He then spoke about the conference his staff had with the Native American community and the “extraordinary” work his staff did to make that conference a success. “This is a top priority for us” he added. Only after he stated that he has further remarks about the progress made during the conference that he will add later but “as some of you may have heard, there has been a terrible shooting at Fort Hood Texas”.

As some of you may have heard? The nation was glued to their TV’s and radios in shock over this attack, everything on the screen said that this was a press briefing by the President on the shootings and he begins with waving hello to his friends and telling his staff what a great job they are doing? General McChrystal, Obama’s hand picked theater commander, requested additional troops or warned that they would lose the war in Afghanistan. That request was made in the middle of September and despite Obama’s campaign promise that he would listen to his Generals and give them the support and materials they need to accomplish their mission, President Obama is still “mulling it over”. Is this just inexperience or does he actually have disdain for the military? The idea that he would shout out to his friends and mention his “top priority” of Indian affairs before addressing the nation about the thirteen soldiers that were brutally murdered and the thirty that had suffered injuries, some of them life threatening, only gives that question deeper meaning.

This President seems to have his own idea of priorities and remains dangerously focused on them, even when events demand flexibility. He does not appear to possess the dynamic ability to shift his attention very easily when a crisis looms on the horizon. As President, if you are incapable of making a command decision at a moments notice, then you better have the people around you that can and be willing to let them do their jobs. Still, I don’t believe that is really the issue. I believe that the President remains focused on his agenda because it is his agenda. The push for healthcare is a driving issue for him and like any elitist, he believes he knows what we need better than we do. As this is his focus, the healthcare bill remains his highest priority to the exclusion of the economy and the soldiers that remain in jeopardy waiting for the Commander in Chief to make a decision.

Curiously, Obama took time from his push on healthcare to lobby on the behalf of Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. After all, that was for his friends up there. Hmm….maybe that is what this is all about. Who are his friends? Well, ACORN and a host of their affiliates are for sure. ACORN et al, has a lot of property in the Chicago area, much of which is decrepit and neglected. Gee, an Olympic village would have been a great way to sell all of that property at market value even if it were on the verge of being declared condemned as unfit for habitation. Don’t forget that there are also many provisions in the healthcare bill to allow community organizations like ACORN to administer neighborhood wellness programs.

The unions are clearly friends of Obama and in large part were responsible for his election so he owes them too. The President found time in the middle of the banking crisis to issue (some would say sneak in) an executive order that would give union contractors preference in Federal projects of $25 million dollars or more. Also, what would strengthen union bargaining power if they didn’t have to have healthcare benefits weighing down the package that was in negotiations? As companies find that the fine for not having insurance is substantially less that actually providing for insurance, many will drop their benefits and let their employees shift to the public option. Of course, as long as there is a government plan, unions will agree to the loss of health benefits if there is a wage increase in trade.

Oh yes, and since union contractors now have preference for Federal projects, guess who will see the lion share of projects to revamp that power grid if cap and trade passes? General Electric’s Jeff Imelt, another friend and advisor to Obama, will benefit from cap and trade as well as GE supplies the smart meters and hardware for the grid updates. There is a manufactured home “cash for clunkers” program in the cap and trade bill which means even more work for those lucky union contractors and of course, community based organizations will be there too to help all of those poor people get out of their old inefficient homes and in to brand new ones courtesy of the taxpayer.

Oh this is an awfully good time to be a friend of Obama. It seems like none of them have been left out of the cash grab as we embark on the largest redistribution of wealth this nation has ever seen. Obama is not inexperienced but rather, his experience is just the latest manifestation of corrupt Chicago politics. He appears not to care for the military because he hasn’t found a way to make anything he would do for them another cash cow for his circle of friends and that is the biggest insult of them all.

Paul

Al Gore - Eco-activist or Idiot?

As if Al Gore hasn’t done enough to damage his credibility through the discrepancies and exaggerations found in his film, “An Inconvenient Truth”, his latest rants have taken him from inconsequential to irresponsible. Recently, he equated those that disagree with his dismal outlook on the future of planet earth with the “birther” movement that does not believe that President Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. Now, I do agree that there is a connection between both groups because of the common reasoning behind their beliefs, or rather, refusal to believe.

President Obama spent $900,000 in legal fees during his campaign for the sole purpose of sealing every scrap of personal information about his life. From school transcripts to law firm client lists, everything has been methodically and deliberately hidden. Neither Obama nor his staff will address the questions surrounding the inconsistencies in the information contained on the birth certificate he provided to the election board. The President could have quickly put this issue to rest by obtaining and releasing an official copy of the document but instead, has chosen to ignore this while his staff dutifully attacks anyone that dares ask the question. While several legal actions had been filed by active duty military personnel regarding his legitimacy as the Commander in Chief, every one of the pending cases were eventually dismissed, yielding to pressure from the Federal Justice Department.

Similarly, Al Gore refuses to answer questions about the inconsistencies and outright exaggerations found in his film. Irish filmmaker Phelim McAleer is director and producer of “Not Evil, Just Wrong”, a film which debunks global warming, sea level rise and draws attention to the errors in Gore’s film. Mr. McAleer attended a conference at which Al Gore was promoting his agenda on climate change. During the conference’s question and answer segment, Mr. McAleer questioned Gore on the flaws in “An Inconvenient Truth”. Rather than answer Mr. McAleer’s questions, Al Gore simply instructed his staff to turn off the microphone McAleer was using.

IPCC has been caught manipulating tree ring data to obtain their famous “hockey stick” graph which they used to show the world that there was a rapid and unusual spike in global temperatures over the past 50 years; a graph that other scientists have never been able to duplicate. NASA’s James Hanson also released a report widely used by Gore as his empirical proof of global warning but this report too, has been criticized by scientific researchers that have been unable to reach the same conclusions that Mr. Hanson did. Repeated attempts have been made to secure the data that Hanson used to construct his theories but in each case, Hanson has refused to release his data to anyone, further adding to the questions surrounding his report’s scientific accuracy.

People have even questioned Al Gore’s motives in his push for climate legislation. Since he has made heavy investments in the tracking technology that would be required under these proposals, he is now uniquely positioned to capitalize on the Copenhagen accords and the Climate bill. Many arguments have been made that Mr. Gore is “putting his money where his mouth is” and he is simply investing in green technologies as would anyone that believes this is necessary to promote a healthy eco-society but those arguments fall short when Mr. Gore’s lifestyle is examined.

Mr. Gore travels frequently by private plane, which according to his own beliefs is the largest possible carbon footprint any individual could stamp on this “fragile planet”. His home energy consumption is also reported to be ten times higher than that of the average American household. Even the ultra liberal organization PETA has questioned his sincerity since his consumption of meat is tied to the domestic production of animals that are widely known for their emissions of huge quantities of methane, a gas that is twenty times more potent as a greenhouse agent than carbon Dioxide.

Additionally, if Mr. Gore truly believed that climate change is a critical threat to the planet he would have really “put his money where his mouth is” and aired his film on PBS and network channels but immediately after the films theater run it went to cable television as a PPV (pay per view) product. Three years later, DVD’s are still being sold and the only televised airings have been on pay channels like HBO and Cinemax.

In all fairness, fifty-thousand free copies of the film were offered to National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) here in the United States, who to their credit, refused to accept the film. Regardless of the published reasons for refusing the videos, I am sure the NTSA recognized the legal ramifications of airing a film that had already been found flawed by the UK courts. The Courts in Britain eventually required that educators wishing to show the film in the UK would also have to distribute disclaimers to the students regarding the flaws in the films assertions. Parents in America have also been vigilant and vocally angry over the recent attempts by liberal factions to “indoctrinate” our youth into any agenda, political, green or otherwise and I am sure that played a part in the NSTA decision as well.

In the face of these “Al-egations” and setbacks, Mr. Gore remains insistent that the crisis is real. Of course he does, he stands to lose millions if the Climate bill fails and that is enough to make it a real crisis for him. The mounting evidence against global warming has not been publically or scientifically refuted beyond the incessant reiteration of the original fraudulent studies and global warming proponents have recently dropped the name “global warming” altogether, now calling the threat “climate change” rather than try to explain earths recent cooling trends.

Just as in the election recount of 2000, Mr. Gore is stamping his feet and crying foul as public support for the theory of global warming, climate change or whatever they will call it next, evaporates. Instead of answering the questions of critics or bringing new and honest scientific data that supports the need for immediate action, Al has decided to act like a child and encourage the youth of this nation to join him in an “environmental tantrum”.

Mr. Gore spoke before a gathering of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York last week. In his speech, he urged young people to engage in civil disobedience on behalf of the planet. It is his claim that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis." adding "if you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration,"

As a man that served as Vice President for eight years and very nearly became President, one would think that Gore would have a better opinion of the democratic process not to mention a higher regard for the rule of law. Mr. Gore, before you encourage the youth of this nation to break the law to save your own investments, you need to look at the reasons that your claims are not being taken seriously. The scientific reports that you staked your reputation on, were based on criminally manipulated data and cartoon science. Face it; you got a D on your homework because you copied the homework from the books of cheaters and rather than answer serious questions, you attack the people asking the questions.

You had the opportunity to sway opinion but you lost that chance when your staff started turning off microphones and labeling critics as crazy because they wouldn’t “drink the Kool-Aid” that the rest of your devoted followers guzzle by the gallon. Let’s face it; it is your own fault that most people don’t believe you anymore. The truth is, I don’t think I would matter if you answered the questions now because you have damaged your credibility so baldy that very few people would even bother to wonder what you think. I would hope that even though you never actually became President that you might grow up and find some of the dignity that former Presidents usually display. Write your memoirs, now that your film has made you millions you can even build a library, but for heaven’s sake, leave us alone and stop encouraging our children and young adults to break the law because your feelings are hurt.

Paul