100 days, 1,360 days to go oh my!

I have never known someone who loves the limelight as much as Obama does. This guy seems to be on television about every week. In fact, he has caused American Idol to change its airing night during his last two press conferences. He was on again last night on American Idol night, but American Idol was not postponed. I realize Barack Hussein Obama (who is mad I said Hussein?) is America's and Europe's Idol, but I would prefer to watch the original American Idol on Fox not the George Soros created American Idol Barack Obama.

With baited breath, Americans sit in anticipation to see their American idol bloviate about how he is saving the world and parting the red seas. Obama enters the room as the press sits with gaping mouths wide-open. The reporters know they are sitting in front of greatness. A deafening silence permeates the room as the press awaits the master's voice. Barack Obama makes a short speech and then begins to take questions. The rejoinder of each question posed to the "one" took an average of ten minutes. I wonder how he did on timed tests in high school – probably not very well. My guess is by the time he finished one question, the rest of the class was done. He once again enlightens us to the fact that he closed Guantanamo Bay but he neglects to tell us that he has no idea what to with the detainees. He tried to off-load them on his trip to Europe because he believed the Europeans would not only shower him with praise but they would acquiesce to his demands. They did shower him with praise, but they offered little. France offers to take one detainee, Spain offers to take six. Beyond that, Europe gave nothing. So what to do - we will probably give the rest of the detainee's citizenship, ask them not to be bad, and send them on their ways. Obama was then asked if the influenza outbreak would cause him to close the borders. He hummed and hawed, and then said he can't do that. I mean – "come on" Had he done that it would be more difficult to grant the illegal Mexicans citizenship, and he needs them to completely obliterate the Republican Party.

I loved his response on torture. Let me make this perfectly clear, waterboarding is torture. Somehow I don't think he convinced many people, because it was the only question where there were follow-up questions. Did you not hear me; waterboarding violates our ideals and our values. I could care less if it might save tens of thousands of lives, I will not use waterboarding, we are better than that. I would rather you die than to violate my ideals. The Field Manual allows me to yell at the prisoners, so that is what I will do.He stamps his feet a few times in hopes we believe him. He might have to waterboard us to get us to really believe him. Okay, so I used artistic license with what he said. I was reading between the lines. Obama says we could have gotten the information by other means, but how does he know that? The CIA memos state exactly the opposite. George Tenet and other intelligence officials all say that we could not have obtained the information any other way. Who cares anyway? The fact is we gathered the necessary information to stop attacks and save lives, and that is the issue. Obama also admitted to the fact that there were additional documents to which Dick Cheney had referred that showed the efficacy of enhanced interrogation methods, but he would not talk about them because they were still classified – so much for Obama's transparency. Transparency is good only if it shows how evil the United States is. He then moves on to Britain.

It was interesting that he invoked the name of Winston Churchill as his example of a reason not to torture. Barack Obama unceremoniously returned a bust of Winston Churchill to the British that was given to President Bush from Tony Blair after the attacks of 9/11. Britain also used extremely tough interrogation methods against the IRA. Britain's Special Air Service, (SAS) is a feared organization by terrorists. I am not sure where he is getting his information, but Britain was not a very good example.

Barack Obama says he will not have a rubber-stamp senate. Huh? I beg to differ. Both houses of congress had just passed a 3.5 trillion dollar budget which amounted to broad support for his healthcare plan and climate change bills – sounds like a rubber stamp to me.

And then with a straight face, the president said this:

And -- and that's why I'm always amused when I hear these, you know, criticisms of, "Oh, you know, Obama wants to grow government." No. I would love a nice, lean portfolio to deal with, but that's not the hand that's been dealt us".

Does he actually think people are going to believe that?

Barack Obama still continues the myth that he won't continue with Bush's eight years of failed policies. Bush's tax cuts spurred the economy after the dot-com crash and 9/11. What didn't work was the corruption and greed of those involved with the housing crisis and his excessive spending. The excessive spending is what Obama wants to continue. So, Obama takes what didn't work from Bush and puts it on steroids.

Of course, then we have to ask ourselves, if Barack Obama says that he is not going back to the failed policies of the Bush Administration, is he not reverting back to the failed anti-terrorist polices that were pre 9/11.

Obama says he will reduce the deficit in half in the middle of his first term. My question is how? In the dot-com bubble, investors said valuations no longer mattered – the bubble popped. In the housing crisis, seemingly intelligent people said housing prices will always go up (including my brother). They were wrong – the bubble popped. In today's scenario, it appears we can just print money without any consequences, but history is a guide. Argentina has tried it, Germany has tried it, and the list goes on. It will cause hyperinflation.

I thought I would jot down of few notes on Barack Obama's first 100 days. And, Just to show that I am not totally against everything Barack Obama has done, I have bolded the items which I think are good or semi-good.

1. Obama spends one trillion dollars on a stimulus bill that he says will create 2 to 3 million jobs. Joe Biden says there is 25% chance we will get it wrong. The first quarter of this year, the economy retracted 6.1%. How is the stimulus package working again? No bother - it's still Bush's fault.
   
   1. The Stimulus Bill contains a "Buy American Provision" clause, and the EU threatens to retaliate.
      
   2. Obama says there is no pork in the bill, but the entire bill is pork. It is a Democratic wish list put together months before Barack Obama was president by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
      
   3. Barack Obama promised congress and the voters five days to read the bill. They reneged on their promise, and rammed down our throats the 778 page, pork-laden monstrosity that no one read in less than 40 hours. This was his call for transparency.
      
2. The Spending bill contains 9,000 earmarks. Barack Obama tries to justify it and says it was unfinished business from the Bush administration. Fails to remember the definition of veto.
   
3. Obama talked of change but begins to appoint all Clinton retreads.
   
4. Janet Napolitano is appointed secretary of homeland security and issues a propagaganda hit piece on the rise of Right Wing Extremism. The belief now is that right wing extremism is more dangerous than Radical Islam.
   
5. Hillary Clinton is appointed Secretary of State.
   
6. Barack Obama appoints Tim Geithner as treasury secretary even though he neglected to pay $34,000 in self-employment taxes plus $8,000 in interest giving him the name turbo tax Geithner, but then other appointments who failed to pay taxes begin to come out of the woodwork, Nancy Kellefer, nominated to a top budget post who has a tax lien on her DC home, and Tom Daschle nominated for secretary of state who failed to pay $140,000 in back taxes and interest (he withdrew his name). There were others I can't recall. Moral: If you want Democrats to pay their taxes, appoint them to a position in the administration.
   
7. Obama campaigned against lobbyists, but it came to light that Tom Daschle was a lobbyist. Obama tries to excuse his lobbying saying he wasn't a registered lobbyist. Of course, he was paid two million dollars by a lobbying firm. Obama exempted another high profile lobbyist named William Lynn as the number two man at the Pentagon.
   
8. Governor Bill Richardson was to be appointed commerce secretary but he withdrew his name after it was discovered the Grand Jury was looking into him because a major California company was making major political contributions for his political activities. We are to wonder once again about Barack Obama's vetting process.
   
9. Eric Holder is appointed attorney general. He is notorious for being soft on crime. He does not believe individuals have the right to bear arms.
   
10. Mercedes Marquez is appointed as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. Marquez was willing to pay Norma Wong a former legislator from Hawaii thousands of dollars to a Zen Buddhist Priest for training sessions in Zen Buddhism. Mercedes became a high priestess. Marquez was alleged to have purchased a condominium for herself and her partner that her department financed. She spent 5 million dollars on a computer for her department she later threw away.
    
11. Barack Obama reveals his middle class tax cut (for 95% of the people.) It amounts to 13 dollars a paycheck to be reduced to eight dollars in January. Of course, those who live in California find out that the tax rebate will be reduced to -0-or less when the terminator increases fees and taxes on just about everything in his attempt to counter profligate spending by the California legislature.
    
12. Barack Obama says he opposes the Fairness Doctrine, but there is speculation he might just call it something else.
    
13. Barack Obama snubs the Prime Minister of England Gordon Brown when he gives the Prime Minister a set of DVDs of 25 classic American movies. The Prime Minister gives Obama a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa. Obama was also given a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria. It is the sister ship of the HMS Gannet.
    
14. On their trip to England, Barack Obama apparently didn't learn his lesson. The narcissist Obama gives Queen Elizabeth an Ipod filled with his speeches. Now she can hear how Obama intends to part the seas.
    
15. Barack Obama authorizes the use of lethal force in the death of three pirates by Navy Seals who kidnapped the crew of an American Vessel.
    
16. Barack Obama supports Bush's use of wiretapping.
    
17. Barack Obama follows through on one of his campaign pledges by decimating our military.
    
18. Ben Bernanke appears on 60 minutes to tell voters how fast the government is printing money.
    
19. Obama travels to Europe as an apologist for the United States, and effectively convinces the continent that we do indeed torture. He comes back with virtually nothing. In the same trip, he says Turkey should be part of the European Union. This angers French Prime Minister Sarkozy. Adding Turkey would add 70 million Muslims to the EU which the EU can ill-afford. Sarkozy begins to doubt Obama's leadership, and effectively tells him to butt out of EU's affairs.
    
20. Barack Obama continues his trip to Latin America where he cozies up to Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega. Chavez gives him an anti-American book and Ortega spews out a 50 minute anti-American diatribe, and Barack's answer is that he was glad he was only three years old when it happened.
    
21. Barack Obama begins withdrawal of Iraqi forces, and to the consternation of the far-left, sends troops to Afghanistan.
    
22. The idiocy of Barack Obama's appointment of Timothy Geithner was proven when Geithner announced his non-economic plan for financial institutions. Investors were waiting on pins and needles to hear his economic plan, but when he had no specifics of what he was intending to do, the market immediately dropped 200 points.
    
23. Radical Leftist activist Rosa Brooks is appointed as a top advisor in the Pentagon with access to top military secrets.
    
24. Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO that has driven GE into the ground, and who has continuously done business with Iran, was appointed as a top economic advisor to Barack Obama's team. General Electric is poised to garner millions of dollars from Obama's stimulus package for green energy at a time when General Electric is flailing. NBC and MSNBC owned by General Electric has been a mouthpiece for Barack Obama. Barack Obama and Jeffrey Immelt are definitely in bed together.
    
25. CIA memos are released detailing enhanced interrogation methods and the efficacy of the program. He does not release additional documents that proved how effective these interrogation methods were. The release of these documents demoralizes the CIA. He states that he is going to succumb to ACLU's demand by releasing photos of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay to further show how evil the United States is. It is discovered that Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats knew about the enhanced interrogation methods including waterboarding.
    
26. In less than two days, Barack Obama wavered from he wouldn't prosecute agents of the CIA to he would leave it open for prosecutions back to he wouldn't prosecute.
    
27. To top off his 100 days, Barack Obama decided to scare the daylights out of New Yorkers by flying a 747 with two jets near the twin towers at a low altitude at a cost to taxpayers of more than $300,000. I think there is more to the story than we are being told.
    

What is next ---

1. Cap and trade that will dramatically increase energy prices
   
2. Nationalized health care which will dramatically reduce the quality of care. We will also see rationed care.
   
3. More spending
   
4. Inflation
   

I only have this to say - It sure feels a lot longer than 100 days, but no - we have 1,360 more days of this lunacy assuming its only four years.

Now where are the counter voices and leadership of the Republican Party? Where is Ronnie?

Specter tried to block party switching

It is obvious to anyone who has an ounce of intelligence that Arlen Specter is changing political parties for political preservation because Rep. Pat Toomey was giving him a run for his money. Polls showed that Arlen Specter was slipping big time against his Republican rival by some ten points. Alan Specter said the following:

"Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

What I say to that is "HOOey!" And if Al Franken manages to steal the election in Minnesota, Republicans would never have had a filibuster anyway, because Specter never voted with the party. Specter slips in the polls, and for his politcal survival jumps ship. Previously, he tried to block party switching as reported by politico.com

According to politico.com

This mind-bending revelation from my colleague Eamon Javers:

Back in '01, when Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords went independent so he could caucus with the Democrats, a senator took to the floor to suggest the Senate alter its rules to preclude midterm switchers from causing a changeover in control of the chamber.

His name? Guess.

Specter: "How should these issues be handled by the Senate for the future? I intend to propose a rule change which would preclude a future recurrence of a Senator's change in parties, in midsession, organizing with the opposition, to cause the upheaval which is now resulting."

[The Congressional Record link]

He was most concerned with a technical issue: The ability of members to switch parties after "organizational" party meetings that determine which party serves in the majority.

And in other specter news -
The National Review reports that Arlen Specter was the one who invented the conspiracy theory called "single-bullet theory" to explain the assasination of President Kennedy.

Long before he became one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate — and the target of Congressman Pat Toomey's GOP primary challenge — Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania demonstrated a knack for notoriety. In 1964, as a member of the Warren Commission, he invented the "single-bullet theory" to explain how Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy. Conspiracy junkies have obsessed over him ever since. (In Oliver Stone's movie JFK, Kevin Costner's character labels Specter "an ambitious junior counselor" behind "one of the grossest lies ever forced on the American people.")

I say good riddance. You will not be missed.

Obama's new buddy - Daniel Ortega

Just a sample of what Obama's new buddies are like

Spanish below
Dear Daniel Ortega and FSLN

I was in Nicaragua in 1986-87, 6 months, to build a school in El Carrizal near La Cruz de La India, lived with a very poor family; I was very pleased with this family. This year, 22 years after I returned to visit them, it was a great pleasure to review them, but a huge disappointment to see that there lives not had been better, still no electricity or water in the house, it seamed as they had lost hope, what is happening in Nicaragua?

This year I had my wife with me to Nicaragua, 3 months, I had told her that Nicaragua was one of the best places on earth, she also thought that the first 2 months, but then we were arrested by police for 15 hours because a hotel owner accusing us having destroyed a floor in the hotel room, we had not, the floor was bad when we came, it is normal that something is broken in hotel rooms in Nicaragua, toilets, doors, walls, floors you name it.

The hotel owner attacked my wife from behind with a police truncheon when we were detained by police so she faint in my arms, police said nothing to the hotel owner, is it OK that a man hit a woman of 65 years in the head in Nicaragua, the police said nothing.

During detention they gave us no permission to call the embassy or other, we got no food or water, was first released during the night without a passport after the hotel owner and his wife had given 3 different explanations which ended up with that we had been drunk and had taking drugs, and the police believed it all, the only report we have admitted, was the attack on my wife, and the police were not happy to write it.

Since the system is corrupt in Nicaragua, it ended up with that we after several days had to pay 920US $.
After this treatment, we say forever goodbye to Nicaragua.

The hotel was, Hotel La Posada in Poneloya.

Best Regards

Kai Birk Nielsen
Denmark
Traducción
—————–

Estimado Daniel Ortega y FSLN

Estuve en Nicaragua en 1986 hasta el 87, 6 meses, para construir una escuela en El Carrizal, cerca La Cruz de La India, viví con una familia pobre; Estaba muy complacido con esta familia. Este año, 22 años después, regresé para visitarlos, fue de gran placer verlos de nuevo, pero fue una gran decepción ver que sus vidas no habían mejorado, aún están sin servicio de agua o electricidad en la casa, parecía que habían perdido la esperanza, ¿Qué está pasando en Nicaragua?

Este año llevé a mi esposa conmigo a Nicaragua, 3 meses, le dije que Nicaragua era uno de los mejores lugares en la tierra, ella también creyó eso los primeros 2 meses, pero luego fuimos arrestados por la policía 15 horas porque el dueño de un hotel nos acusó de destruir el piso de un cuarto del hotel, no lo habíamos hecho, el piso estaba mal cuando llegamos, es normal que algo esté roto en los cuartos de hotel en Nicaragua, inodoros, puertas, paredes, pisos, lo que se te ocurra.

El dueño del hotel atacó a mi esposa por atrás con una macana de policía cuando la policía nos detuvo y ella se desmayó en mis brazos, la policía no le dijo nada al dueño del hotel, está BIEN que un hombre golpee en la cabeza a una mujer de 65 años en Nicaragua, la policía no dijo nada.

Durante la detención, no nos dieron permiso para llamar a la embajada o algún otro lugar, no nos dieron comida ni agua, nos liberaron en la noche sin pasaporte, luego de que el dueño del hotel y su esposa dieran 3 explicaciones diferentes, las cuales terminaron en que nosotros estábamos ebrios y habíamos estado tomando drogas, y la policía lo creyó todo, el único reporte que nosotros admitimos, fue el ataque a mi esposa, y la policía no estuvo feliz de escribirlo.

Como el sistema está corrupto en Nicaragua, luego de varios días, tuvimos que pagar US$ 920 dólares.

Después de este tipo de trato, le dijimos adiós para siempre a Nicaragua.

El hotel era, Hotel La Posada en Poneloya.

Los mejores deseos
Kai Birk Nielsen
Dinamarca

Clueless to the sensitivity of New Yorkers

Stupid is as Stupid does.


Barack Obama continues to be clueless to anything related to 9/11. This time its to New Yorkers near ground zero.

NEW YORK (April 27) - A Boeing 747 used by the president was escorted over lower Manhattan by an Air Force fighter jet Monday as part of a government photo opportunity and training mission, causing a brief panic among office workers near ground zero.

Workers from several office buildings poured out onto the streets before they learned that the flights were innocuous.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was furious that the federal government flew the planes near ground zero.

Skip over this content Bloomberg said the flyover so near the World Trade Center site showed "poor judgment" and was insensitive. He said he was furious that the NYPD and another city agency were notified last week, but did not tell him.
If he had known, Bloomberg said he would have tried to stop it
.
John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said about 1,000 people "went into a total panic" and ran out of the building around 10 a.m. after seeing the planes whiz by their building, near the World Trade Center site.

Sometimes you just have to wonder and pray we don't get attacked again with such a clueless administration.

The CIA Memos – What was Obama thinking?

I have just finished reading the entire 40 page CIA interrogation memo, and there are some observations I have made. The notion that the United States tortures is a political charade of immense proportions. These documents should never have been released, and the only people who will benefit from the disclosure of these documents are Al-Queda and other Islamic extremist groups looking to destroy the West. Make no mistake: This is not about transparency as Obama says; it is about further discrediting the eight years President Bush has kept us safe. Barack Obama has effectively convinced the world that the United States tortures, and that the Bush administration was wrong in using enhanced interrogation techniques to prevent additional attacks on U.S. soil.

The major polemic of liberals with regards to the Bush administration is the issue of waterboarding, so here are just a few questions you can ask your liberal friends.

1. On how many detainees has the United States used waterboarding?
   
2. When was the last time waterboarding was used?
   
3. What are the conditions in which the United States uses waterboarding?
   

Here are the answers. The answer to number one is three detainees, Kalid Sheik Mohammed, (KSM), Zubaydah and Al-Nashiri. The answer to number two is March 2003, (only a year and a half after the 9/11 attacks) and the last question is the use of the waterboard is limited requiring "credible intelligence that a terrorist attack is imminent; and the detainee has "knowledge of imminent threats" or has been directly involved in the attacks." (pg 29, CIA released interrogation memos.) Be forewarned – you will be accused of lying. After you are accused of lying, tell your friends they can find it on page 6 and on page 29 of the CIA interrogation memos. But then, your liberal friends will say the memos are not true without any proof to backup their assertions. They will obfuscate and twist the truth because they refuse to accept the fact that President Bush has kept this nation safe for seven years after the 9/11 attacks.

I was against Bush abandoning capitalism for socialism, but as a terror warrior, he reigned supreme. Now we have an administration that is waging a political vendetta against the Bush administration. How is this for decisive leadership? First Obama says he will not go after the CIA, then because of pressure from his far-left constituency and other Democratic leaders he says he would leave the doors open for prosecutions against the CIA. He then sees the Rasmussen polls that say 58% of voters view that the release of the CIA memos endangers national security and only 28% of voters think that Obama should continue any further investigations against the Bush administration, and so he goes back to his original stance of not going after the CIA. We have Radical Muslims still seeking the demise of the U.S., but the focus of the administration has changed from Radical Muslims who really want to kill us to made-up groups who want to kill us using Janet Napolitano's propaganda hit-piece on the rise of radical right wing groups using Timothy McVeigh as the sole example for recruitment to these groups. Powerline sums up the central theme of this report as follows:

The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.

How is that for proof of right wing extremism in lieu of Radical Islam? But what do you expect when the administration doesn't believe there is a war on terror; the war on terror is now called the overseas contingency operation. John McCain (whom I wish would fade into the woodwork never to be seen again) repeatedly has stated that waterboarding does not work. Of course, he couldn't be more wrong. What did waterboarding actually yield us?

With the Interrogation of KSM

1. Led to the discovery of a "Second Wave" to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into a building in Los Angeles (pg 10).
   
2. Led to the capture of Riduan Bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali and the discovery of the Guraba Cell, a 17 member Jemaah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the "Second Wave."
   
3. Discovered that KSM admitted that he had tasked Maϋd Khan with delivering a large sum of money to an Al-Queda operative. Khan then identified the associate, Zubair, who was then captured. (pg 10)
   

Interrogation of Zubaydah

1. Revealed information about Al-Queda's organizational structure, key operatives, and modus operandi.
   
2. Identified KSM as the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
   
3. Provided significant information on two operatives including Jose Padilla who planned to detonate a dirty bomb in Washington D.C.
   
4. Revealed information about Al-Zarqawi and his network.
   

In 2002, the intelligence derived from CIA detainees provided 6,000 intelligence reports and in 2004 accounted for half of CTC's reporting on Al-Queda (pg 11). The substantial majority of this intelligence came from enhanced interrogation techniques. Because of waterboarding, the Bush administration has saved countless of lives. The memos yielded us information about the inner workings of Al-Queda including its financial structure and which countries the cells were operating in.

18 U.S.C. sec. 2340 provides defines torture as:

1. "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended
   to inflict
   severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other     than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
   
2. "severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged
   mental harm caused
   by or resulting from--
   
   (A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
   

Enhanced interrogation techniques used Nudity (pg 12), Dietary Manipulations, Sleep Deprivation (pg 14), Walling (pg 14), Water dousing, Stress positions and Waterboarding (pg 15). There was no method used that rises to the level of torture as defined by 18 U.S.C. sec. 2340 including waterboarding. The interrogation methods were separated into three categories, 1) conditioning 2) corrective and 3) coercive. The conditioning was the lightest of the techniques, and if it didn't work, the interrogator would move on to conditioning techniques and so forth. These techniques were only used on high value detainees. 94 detainees by the CIA were considered high value, and of these 94 individuals, enhanced interrogation techniques were only used on 28 of these detainees. Just the fact that the techniques were used on only 28 detainees demonstrates how infrequently these methods were ever used, and how careful the CIA was in deciding on whom the CIA would use the techniques. The two methods I have heard discussed the most were walling and waterboarding. So let me talk about these specific two techniques.

1. Walling – This technique is performed by placing the detainee against what seems to be a normal wall, but what is in fact a flexible wall. The interrogator pulls the detainee towards him and then quickly slams the detainee against the false wall. The false wall is designed and a c-collar or similar device is used, to help avoid whiplash or similar injury. The technique is designed to create a loud sound and to shock the detainee without causing significant pain. The CIA regards walling, "as one of the most effective interrogation techniques because it wears down the detainee physically, heightens uncertainty in the detainee about what the interrogator may do to him and creates a sense of dread when the detainee knows he is about to be walled again. At no time is the technique employed in such a way that would cause severe physical pain.
   

   
    

2. Waterboarding –is only used if there is a belief that an attack is imminent and it is considered to be the most traumatic of the enhanced interrogation techniques. The detainee is placed face-up on a gurney with his head inclined downward. A cloth is placed over his face on which cold water is then poured for periods of at most 40 seconds. This creates a barrier through which it is either difficult or impossible to breathe. The technique induces a sensation of drowning. The waterboard may be authorized for, at most, one 30 day period, during which the technique can actually be applied on no more than five days. There can be no more than two sessions in any 24 hour period. Each session – the time which the detainee is strapped to the waterboard – lasts no more than two hours. There may be at most six applications of water lasting ten seconds or longer during any session, and water may be applied for a total of no more than 12 minutes during any 24 hour period. These limitations have been established with extensive input from the Office of Medical Services,(OMS) based on experience to date with this technique. Although the waterboard induces fear and panic, it is not painful.
   

Moreover, medical personnel are always standing by.

Barack Obama says he released these memos because he wants to be transparent. Of course, this begs the question where was the transparency when he rammed the bailouts down our throats without giving the voters or congress a chance to even read the bills. Barack Obama invents meretricious arguments for the perceived sins of the Bush administration. If Barack Obama is so concerned about transparency, then why are there entire sections of the memo blacked out which relate to the success of this program? Dick Cheney has stated that there are other documents showing the results of the interrogation methods. If Barack Obama were so concerned about transparency, where are these documents? Europe believes that the United States is some sort of Beelzebub that engaged in all sorts of torture during the Bush administration, and Barack Obama is the savior that has come down from the heavens who will put a stop to such dastardly deeds. If Barack Obama were so concerned about transparency, he should have the memos translated in several different languages so the people can read the memos themselves instead of receiving the information from left wing outlets (which is most of Europe's media.) Former CIA chiefs Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch all warned against the release of these documents, and that it would compromise our intelligence- gathering. On 60 minutes in April of 2007, George Tenet, (a Clinton appointee) said "I know this program alone is worth more than the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us."
And now to put the nail in the coffin, Barack Obama is about to release detainee photos which supposedly show abuse. But of course, we know this is not about transparency – this is about a political vendetta against the Bush administration to appease his far-left constituency.

If a terrorist organization had a loved one of yours, and you knew the only way to get the person released was through enhanced interrogation methods, you would do it. And if you say you wouldn't do it, you are lying. I would even go further than the enhanced interrogation methods. If my daughter were captured by terrorists, I would do the torture myself.

We can surmise what the result of the release of these documents will be. No one will want to sign up and join the CIA knowing that the president himself tries to impugn the integrity of the individuals working for the organization. Who would want to join an organization knowing that someday some radical president might go after you? How does this keep us safe? Al-queda can now move around safely and without fear. Its agents know that the CIA will not use any coercive type style of interrogation to get any information. They can plan future attacks on the U.S. without fear of reprisal. The CIA will now be bound by the Army Field Manual (pg 35). The Army Field Manual generally describes techniques using verbal and emotional tactics. In the emotional love approach for example, the interrogator might exploit the love a detainee feels for his fellow soldiers and use this to motivate the detainee to cooperate. In the fear-up (harsh) approach, the interrogator behaves in an overpowering manner with a loud and threatening voice, and may even feel the need to heighten the detainee's implanted feelings of fear. Apparently, yelling at the detainees is the limit of our interrogation methods. We will surely be able to stop attacks now. The CIA memos stated that both KSM and Zubaydah had expressed their belief that the general US population was weak. In that, Barack Obama is determined to prove them right.

It is time for the children to stop governing this country and for the adults to take over. Barack Obama and his administration are engaging in a witchhunt. The Bush administration has kept this country safe, and we now know in the process the administration has saved thousands of lives. The CIA was originally organized as a covert agency. That is how I want it to be. I do not want to know all the secrets of the United States when it comes down to my safety. If Barack Obama wants to truly confess the sins of the United States, why doesn't someone just get him a priest?

 

The effect of the stimulus on Caterpillar - oops the wrong way.

In January, Caterpillar laid off 22,000 employees. CEO Jim Owens said he would rehire many of those employees back once he received stimulus money, but then recanted. It even prompted Obama to speak at a manufacturing plant at Caterpillar.

Caterpillar CAT reported a first-quarter loss of $0.19 per share April 21; its first quarterly loss since 1992. The results highlight the challenges the company continues to face amid the current economic downturn. Redundancy costs of $558 million tied to head-count reductions accounted for a considerable amount of Cat's profit shortfall in the quarter. However, substantially lower sales volumes and a highly leveraged operating structure also contributed to the loss.

So how is the stimulus plan working Obama?

World, please love me – I am only human and besides I am better than Bush.

So as dusk falls, and Obama silently leaves Latin America, he leaves with a somber heart as he ponders," Why did Daniel Ortega say that about America when I was sitting right there? Why did Hugo Chavez hand me that anti-American book so the world could see. Don't they get it? I just want them to love me. I am not Bush. Bush did mean things and I am a nice guy – can't they see that?"
L

The naiveté of liberals never ceases to amaze me. Even European leaders questioned Obama's capability. Sarkozy opined,

"Mr. Obama, has a subtle mind, very intelligent and very charismatic. But he was elected two months ago and never ran a ministry in his life. He doesn't have a position on a number of things. He is not always operating at a level of decision-making and efficiency"

Obama's European trip proved to be an abysmal failure. It did not "wow" the European leaders as presupposed by the American electorate. European leaders and their constituents may have fawned over him, but they gave him nothing. In the wake of Obama's European vacation, the world begins to snub Obama. Iran sentences former beauty queen and freelance journalist with dual citizenship Roxana Saberi to eight years in prison after a mock trial for spying. The Iranians possess not one shred of evidence against her. North Korea tests a missile, and we do nothing except tell North Korea "please, don't do it again." Russia won't help with Iran; China won't help with North Korea. There are 241 prisoners in Guantanamo and Barack Obama has promised to close it down in large part to appease our European friends, but what is the cooperation he gets from Europe. France will take one prisoner, Austria will take none and Spain on Informe Semanal, Spain's 60 minutes, reports Spain will take six detainees. Now if my calculations are correct, that leaves uh hum 234. Of course, we can use the Interior Minister Maria Fekter of Austria's logic, "If they're not dangerous, why not just keep them in America. Informe Semanal called the situation in Guantanamo probably one of the biggest examples of violation against human rights in a Democracy. Steve Forbes said of Obama's G-20 summit in London, "Obama's closing statement sounded tentative as if he were looking for guidance from others as to what the U.S. should do." Since the European trip turned out to be a failure, Obama heads off to Latin America for a little more cajoling.

The silliness of Obama's world tour continues when he meets with Chicagoan type thugs, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega. Chavez shakes Obama's hand and gives him an anti-American book, Open veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of Pillage of a Continent by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano. Fox News reports that the book has shot from 54,278 up to number two at Amazon.com. Do you think Chavez is getting a kick back from the sales? Hugo Chavez has previously called Obama "an ignoramus" and Bush "El Diablo." Obama has probably a lot more in common with this book than one might think. And then in vintage Ortega, Obama receives a 50 minute diatribe from Ortega on American imperialism. Obama doesn't only stay quiet, but takes the opportunity to say he was only three and a half months old when it all occurred. Argentina's president Cristina Kirchner who is also on Chavez's payroll and whose own economic policies (in the style of Evita Peron) have been a failure harangued about America's role in the 1980s. But let me digress, back to Ortega.

I have been following Ortega since the start of his career. His first tenure as president or dictator of Nicaragua was in 1979, two years after I was married in Nicaragua's capital, Managua. Nicaragua has been devastated by Earthquakes, hurricanes and the ravages of the Sandinista war, but when Ortega took power he diverted all of its remaining resources to building up its military. He was to be the arm of the Soviet Union in Latin America. His rise to power caused a brain drain from Nicaragua. All the people with the smarts to run the country left. The saying was, "Nicaragua is left with Sandinistas and old people." Although Anastasio Somoza was corrupt, Nicaragua was growing. Somoza was also an ally of the United States. We want Latin America Leaders who believe in Democracy and free trade, not leaders who ally themselves with our enemies (i.e: the Soviet Union and Iran.) Both the left and the right in Latin America tend to be corrupt, so the goal in Latin America should be to seek out allies as its primary concern, not root out the corruption. Nicaragua's economy has since fallen off a cliff partly as a result of Ortega's decade of populist economic policies which included a trade embargo from the United States. Ortega was a threat then and he remains a threat now and we now know that activity from Iran's Republican Guard has been observed in Nicaragua.

Jimmy Carter withdrew his support from Anastasio Somoza in the late 70s and began supporting the Sandinistas. He did it in the mistaken belief that once the Sandinistas were in power, they would be pro-American. He was wrong. Helping the Sandinistas to power did not endear the Sandinistas to America even though it was Carter who gave them the victory. In fact, the line in the Sandinista hymn stated their feelings towards America, "we fight against the Yankee the enemy of humanity." License plates throughout Nicaragua read, "Nicaragua Libre." Or "Free Nicaragua." But Nicaragua was far from free. When the Sandinistas took control of Nicaragua in 1979, there was a tsunami of political refugees that came from Nicaragua to America. It is for this reason that political refugees from Nicaragua tend to be Republican because they remember how Carter betrayed the Somoza regime. Ortega has not changed his stripes. He remains virulently anti-American, and he will remain so. His thirst for power is equivalent to that of Hugo Chavez, and he will continue to keep Nicaragua mired in poverty.

But Obama and his cronies won't learn from history. They will continue to think you can make nicety nice with Latin American thugs. President Obama will continue his role as Don Quixote accompanied by his faithful and loyal squire Sancho Panza or Joe Biden tilting at windmills. Obama sees not thugs but friends to be won over. How many times will he need to be embarrassed to realize that he needs to take care of the interests of the United States and not worry about the needs and wants of two-bit dictators from Latin America.

Good news: The captured Somali pirate will be tried as an adult.

Please help pay off Hillary's debt

The Clintons are now offering prizes to help pay off Hillary's debt.

you get to

1) Spend the day with Bill Clinton
2) Attend the American Idol Season Finale
3) Spend the day in Washington DC with James Carville or Paul Bengala

I think I will pick number two or maybe I will keep my money. Here is the letter

Dear XXXX,

Imagine yourself walking into an exclusive event in New York accompanied by none other than President Clinton.

Picture yourself in California as part of the live audience of the most hotly anticipated TV finale.

Think about sitting across from James Carville and myself discussing politics in the shadow of our Nation's Capital.

Well you don't have to imagine anymore...you just have to pick. And if it were up to me, I’d pick door number three.

By clicking here and making a contribution of even as low as $5 you could be on your way to one of these three once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. So don't imagine, just click.

Make a $5 contribution today, and you could be on your way to one of these once in a lifetime opportunities!

Your contribution today will mean so much more than just a chance to take part in these fantastic prizes. It will also mean a great deal to our friend, Hillary Clinton.

We've paid off most of Hillary's presidential campaign debt and your gift today will help us get rid of the final bit that remains.

Hillary Clinton has meant so much to me over the years as I know she has to you as well. So when they asked me to take part in this once in a lifetime contest, I was compelled to act. I hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

Paul Begala

P.S. Remember these prizes are only available online and only for a limited time, so please don't delay in acting. Click here to enter today!

Hey wasn't Barack Obama suppose to get his contributors to help her?

Tea Party, USA

Tea Parties to protest government bailouts and government spending are sprouting up all over the U.S..





Pajama Media states why he is attending a tea party

Likewise my participation is not an act of opposition to the Obama administration. I go out to the tea party to represent the things that I’m for. I’m for capitalism and the free market, not merely against government paternalism that dictates price controls while determining winners and losers. While not a universal sentiment among tea party attendees, I’m for the fair tax. With the economic mess we’re in, we need to grow this economy and free the engine of free enterprise in a way that no other tax reform can do.

Government needs to grasp the idea of affordability. We’ve been led by politicians who believe they are godlike, infinite in their ability to spend money to solve problems. Back in the 1990s, we were told we didn’t need a balanced budget amendment because we had surpluses. We need one now to once and for all put a stop to the overspending.

Goodbye to Mari Trini

Muere Mari Trini.

Mari Trini, one of my favorite singers of the 70s from Murcia Spain, after a long illness, died today.

Listen to Amores by Mari Trini

Listen to Ayúdala by Mari Trini

Listen to 1972 Interview (in Spanish) by Mari Trini

Mari Trini reciting poetry (1973 - Spanish)

Guest faints on Fox News

While I was watching this, I knew there was something wrong with the guest as he was talking with Glenn Beck. You can see him wavering before anyone realizes what is going on. I have a neurological disorder www.episodicataxia.org, and what he was doing to keep standing looked like what I do before I crash and burn. I don't usually like talking about my disorder, but when I saw this I felt like I was right there. I usually look for something to hang on, but there was nothing. "Get the poor guy a chair," I yelled to myself. Maybe I should be a guest on the Glenn Beck show.

A Hero Freed

Captain Richard Phillips was finally freed after a tense standoff with the U.S. Navy. The captain is a true hero who traded his life for that of his fellow crewmen.

US Navy seals used a daring rescue plan and with lightening speed overtook the Somali pirates in the dead of night. Four pirates were killed and one pirate was wounded. Captain Richard Phillips was unharmed. The AP reports that the Somali pirate's lifeboat was stalked by US warships and helicopters after negotiations fell through.

In a press conference in Mombasa, Kenya, some of the crewmen said they were under attack for a week. The captain made an attempted escape but was recaptured. They said the pirate's plan did not work. They were running scared. The engineer stated that the pirates never had control of the ship. The crewmen were tenacious. The crewmen praised both the engineer and the captain as heroes. The crewmen said that there were events that were published by the media that should not have been published that terrified the Somali pirates. This jeopardized the lives of the crewmen and the lives of the individuals who were trying to save them.

The pirate who was caught should be put to death according to piracy laws, but it probably won't happen. We will probably house him with better surroundings than with what he is used to in his home country, give him the Koran, provide him with ACLU lawyers and feed him five star four course meals.

Since Obama is commander in chief, he is the ultimate one who deserves credit for not wavering in the rescue attempt. Obama announced his pleasure that the crewmen were safe. The White House confirmed that president Obama authorized the use of lethal force in the rescue operation of Captain Phillips.

Now we should go to Somalia and bomb the entire place to smithereens like Reagan did 23 years ago with Qaddafi. Reagan ordered the bombing of Tripoli, Libya in an attempt to assassinate Muammar al Qaddafi. Qaddafi's son was killed. Because of the bombing, we did not hear from Qaddafi until he gave up his nuclear weapon stockpile after 9/11.

There are still 200 mariners that are held hostage.

The crewmen will truly have a happy Easter

 

Not Guilty

A dutch television station says that Osama Bin Laden is not guilty of the 3,000 murders at the World Trade Center.

Hollywood Reporter: A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks. In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show "Devil's Advocate" on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

I guess it doesn't matter if Osama Bin Laden has claimed responsiblity.

As Gateway Pundit reports:

Aljazeera aired a never before seen tape of Osama Bin Laden with the 9-11 hijackers 5 years after the attacks in September 2006.
Al Qaeda released the tape showing Osama bin Laden with 9-11 hijackers AND with the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq.
And still there are people who believe that Bin Laden is innocent?
It's hard to believe.

I guess when it comes to Muslim sympathy, facts don't really matter.

Raeann's Graduation from High School

This is to announce Raeann's graduation from High School on June 20, 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Obama’s European Vacation

"There have been times when Americans shown arrogance, and been dismissive even derisive" were the words of Barack Obama in Strasbourg France. I have never heard a president talk this way about our country. I have never heard another chief of state talk this way about his/her country. Obama continued to rapturous applause, "The United States does not and will not torture." The United States has never tortured, so to say that we do not torture implies that we did torture. In his speeches, he continues to create the narrative that President Bush was the evil one and he is the savior. No other president has continuously mentioned their predecessor the way Obama does. Once the campaign has been fought and won, the candidate should move from candidacy to presidency or one would think. Obama seems to be stuck in campaign mode 24/7.

When I travelled to Spain the first time in the early seventy's, there were several things I noticed. It was like travelling to a country in miniature. Everything was on a smaller scale. The average Spaniard lived in what is known as a "piso" or basically a small flat. Virtually no one owned a single family dwelling. Most families could not afford a car, and when they could, the typical family would purchase a small seat. Women did not drive. Television was still in black and white. The Spanish did not travel not even to their neighboring country France. Francisco Franco was still in power. The standard of living in Spain was lower than the rest of Europe, but even the other countries in Europe did not have near the standard of living the United States had.

Franco was the last of the fascist dictators in Europe. He died in November 1975 and for the next several years Spain entered a period which was known as "the transition," that period of time when Spain morphed from a dictatorship to a democracy. In June 1977, Adolfo Suárez was elected the first Spanish president. In 1986, Spain joined the European Union. The European Union allowed Europe to compete on a wider scale, and it also raised the standard of living for the typical Spaniard. There have been many problems with the European Union, but it has made life better for most of Europe's citizens.

Spain is a young democracy. This generation of Spaniards can afford much more than their parents. Many have been able to travel, and some have even bought single family dwellings. Most of the population however still lives in "pisos." The United States has 200 years of free trade experience, which has allowed the United States to grow into a very wealthy country. We have had rough spots, but what cannot be denied is that the United States' wealth continues to grow. When I travelled to Europe, I knew I was better off and the Europeans knew I was better off. I made many friends many with whom I still keep in contact. Contrary to popular belief, the Europeans do not hate Americans. I have never had trouble making friends with Europeans and vice versa. In fact, I always say, if you are young go to Europe because they know how to party, but when you have to work come to the United States, (Spain's unemployment rate is currently 16%, the highest of all the European countries) because you can live much better in the United States since the standard of living is much higher.

The point is America was and is (for now) number one, and it was a good feeling. It was a good feeling to see the Spanish look up to you. I found this everywhere I went. If you want to call it arrogance – so be it. But America has done more good for the world than any other country. Why would we want to give this up and just be one more country in the European Union? We will always make mistakes but for Barack Obama to go out and say, "America has shown arrogance" I can only think of the words my father would say to me when I was young, "you don't know when to shut up."

Turkey

In his speech in Turkey, Obama said that Turkey's future is with the European Union. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France stated, "I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed." France's problems with the Muslim population continue to grow. Muslims do not assimilate into French society. Instead they maintain ties with their country of origin, build their own communities and are the biggest recipients of the social welfare state. Unemployment among second generation Muslim youth is consistently higher than the rest of France. This has resulted in discrimination and riots. The fertility rate in France is about two babies per woman, but the Muslims have a fertility rate of about seven. French society has become unnerved about the prospect of the Islamization of their country. One of the platforms on which Sarkozy was elected was the immigration issue, (i.e.: the Muslims) – adding Turkey and its 60-70 million Muslims to the mix would not advance Sarkozy's or France's agenda.

Obama continuously tries to appeal to the moderates of Islam. Prime Minister Ergdogan of Turkey had this response to Obama, "there is no "moderate Islam."

Obama also said in his speech in Turkey, "we are not at war with Muslims." Whoever said we were? And why does the president have to keep reiterating this fact. There is a certain population within Islam, the radicals with whom we are at war. Debbie Schlussel has made the observation that Muslims have declared war on us, and she notes Obama is now using his middle name Hussein which was verboten during the campaign. If anyone has declared war on Muslims, it was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish leader after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. He waged war against the institutions of Islam. He established a representative Democracy, abolished the Caliphate and began to modernize Turkey. His goal was to secularize Turkey.

Ataturk had much success with the secularization of Turkey and much of his reforms are still in place, but Islam still simmers below the surface. In a speech on Secularism, Prime Minister Ergdogan, the current leader of Turkey said, "It is not possible to be secular and Muslim at the same time." Many of Ataturk's reforms remain, but Turkey remains profoundly Islamic.

Please inform President Obama there is no language called Austrian – the language in Austria is not Austrian, it is German.

 

With all the adulation and accolades the Europeans showered upon Obama as the messiah (note: small m, I only use a capital M for the real Messiah), we did not get much. Obama failed to part the seas. Not one single additional French soldier will be sent to Afghanistan but Sarkozy did berate Obama for suggesting that Turkey be a part of the European Union. Oh, and Sarkozy agreed to take one inmate from Guatanamo - how is that for European cooperation that Obama touted? Russia agreed to reduce its nuclear stockpile which means we will reduce ours, but Russia will not reduce theirs. Even one of Obama's senior advisers stated that the Russian deal could amount to nothing. Der Spegiel magazine in Germany quoted Obama as saying that America was to blame for the economic crisis. It appears this new relationship with Europe because we now have the messiah is working. NOT! The most important item that Obama left behind from his European Vacation was the knowledge to our enemies that Obama is weak.

It has begun

I will cut tens of billions of dollars in wasteful spending. I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space. I will slow our development of future combat systems

Barack's pledge on cutting defense is coming to fruition. Defense Secretary Gates has begun the process of decimating our military. His proposed military cuts include the following (check out the links for further reading):

cutting aircraft carriers from 11 to 10 and decreasing production of other surface combatants

delaying amphibious ship programs

halting the planned increase of ground-based interceptors in Alaska

cancelling a second airborne laser (antimissile) aircraft

terminating the ground-vehicle element of the Army's Future Combat Systems (essentially killing the program)

delaying production of a new presidential helicopter

ending development of a new Air Force search and rescue helicopter

canceling the development of a new bomber

stopping production of the F-22 at 187 fighters

ending the C-17 transport aircraft

We are going down the road of Jimmy Carter once again. Reagan had to set us on the road to recovery. Who will set us on the road to recovery after Obama gets through assuming there is a road left to recover?

Politico states the following:

The spending shifts reflect Gates long-stated goal to pump money into weapons and other programs that reflect the sort of fighting the United States faces these days in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not the kind of war preparations that are hold-overs from the Cold War era.

But the cuts actually go much further than what Gates says. Moreover, we do not only face threats from Iraq and Afghanistan. We still continue to face threats from erstwhile nemeses. We continue to face threats from both Russia and China. We cannot afford to let our guard down. Obama spends trillions of dollars on his so-called stimulus plan while he leaves us vulnerable from enemies within and abroad. Yet, it is nothing he has not promised to do during his campaign. The United States must continue to have the number one military fighting force in the world with the number one defense system. Obama is about to change all that.

Obama's order of business is to cut the defense system at the time we need it most. The Heritage Foundation notes that its ballistic missile program has been the top priority of North Korea for over 40 years. Korea's Taepo-Dong 2 has the capability or reaching Hawaii, Alaska and potentially the West Coast. Iran is currently assisting North Korea in attaining those goals. Iran has an active ballistic missile program using both Russian and North Korean Technology. Commanders in our military have been voicing their concern about the cuts.

In its analysis the Heritage Foundation stated the following:

• The Obama Blueprint: While a robust starting point, the Obama budget blueprint fails to fully fund the core defense needs of the United States by about $30 billion in the base defense budget.
  
• Creates 10-Year Shortfall: The shortfall likely exceeds $1.3 trillion cumulatively over 10 years against the 4% of GDP benchmark identified as the cost to train, equip, and modernize America's military for the next five to 10 years.
  
• Balanced Defense Program: Congress has sought to restore balance to the defense program by demanding an end to supplemental defense appropriations—such as $130 billion in war costs in this budget—and restoring the money to the core program. If pursued cautiously, this is the right approach
  

Time Magazine stated:

So here's why Defense Secretary Robert Gates kept discussions on the Pentagon's 2010 budget so secret that he swore the military's high command to silence ahead of the budget's unveiling. Aiming to shift military spending priorities from billion-dollar Cold War–era weapons to the simpler armored vehicles and spy drones needed for the "wars we are in today and scenarios for the years ahead," Gates on Monday proposed, among other things, to end funding of the advanced F-22 raptor fighter. That cut alone will spark fierce resistance on Capitol Hill, but it's only one aspect of what Gates called his "unorthodox approach" that will align military spending with today's military realities. The $534 billion budget announced by Gates on Monday amounts to a dramatic first salvo in a new war pitting the Obama Administration against the entrenched interests in the services, the defense industry, and among those on Capitol Hill whose districts benefit from investment in big-ticket weapons systems.

At a time when we should be strengthening our military, Obama is cutting it. He asseverates his utopian views about a nuclear free world which sound good but is just plain naïve and unrealistic. Iran and North Korea are led by despots who have no intention of giving up their nuclear weapons. The only people who will give up their nuclear weapons are the Americans. We will remain the useful idiots of whom Lenin so aptly described. Obama continues his anti-nuclear rhetoric while North Korea shoots a missile. What do you think North Korea was trying to tell Obama? Obama says, "Please Kim Jon-il, can't we all just get along?" Obama said North Korea cannot just shoot missiles without consequences, but guess what? There were no consequences. Kim Jon-il knows that Obama is a paper tiger. North Korea, China, Pakistan, Russia, India, Iran (soon) and the list goes on all have nuclear weapons. Who in their right mind thinks these countries are going to give up these weapons. "Let's just sit down and dialogue" says Obama. Someone needs to inform him we cannot disinvent that which has already been invented as Kim Holmes, VP of the Heritage foundation notes:

Surely a world without nuclear weapons is safer than one with them. But this insight is not particularly helpful for guiding arms control talks. Nuclear arms exist and, regardless of what we may want, many countries want to keep them. An exclusive focus on eliminating all nuclear weaponry distracts from the larger, more important goal of security. After all, the reason to rid ourselves of nukes is to make us safe, not simply to cut up missiles.

The United States has to worry about terrorist attacks, rogue nations, raving lunatics as chief of states, and countries who seek the demise of the West, and what is our response – Let's talk about nuclear disarmament and the obliteration of our military, and then let's just sit down and dialogue. That must strike fear in the hearts of our enemies like nobody's business.

On the bright side, Obama made an unexpected visit to Iraq before heading home from his appeasment European tour - miracles never cease.

A Fond Farewell

George Clooney's politics aside, I have to say I will miss ER. I have been a faithful viewer from the beginning to the end. It's weekly audience shrank to 9 million viewers, but I was still one of the faithful.

I loved the fast paced drama of the series. What I didn't know about the drama was what the Mercury News reported today.

Written in the mid-1970s by the late Michael Crichton as a film script about his days as a medical student, "ER" almost didn't make it to the screen, even though Steven Spielberg was an executive producer.

"Every network passed on it, twice," longtime producer John Wells said recently in The New York Times. "It had all these characters and medical dialogue, and they found it utterly impossible to follow."

NBC reluctantly agreed to make a pilot, but even then, there was some hesitation to put it on the air. (Some top NBC executives still thought the cast was too big and the stories too confusing.) And when it did get a spot, it was opposite a new medical drama — "Chicago Hope"

Michael Crichton wrote Jurassic Part and State of Fear. I read State of Fear which was a great novel against the paranoia of global warming.

I enjoyed watching characters come and go. I had my favorites like everyone else. I enjoyed Sally Field, who has always been a favorite actress of mine, play the bi-polar (reader Wyczenski-Lockhart Expert corrected me as to the medical condition she had) mother of Maura Tierney (Abby Lockhart.) I was excited when Kellie Martin of "Life Goes On" joined the cast as Lucy Night because I had been a fan of "Life Goes On." I became emotionally involved in the episode where she died in the ER after she and Noah Wiley were stabbed in an isolated room during a Valentine's party.

But like everything else, "This too must end." I for one will miss it.

Power Over Death

"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" 1 Corinthians 15:14

I thought since Easter will soon be upon us, I would write a piece on the resurrection of Jesus.

The one event I will always remember as a young child growing up in a staunch conservative Catholic family of fourteen is the Stations of the Cross which we attended every Lenten season. My parents would haul the entire bunch of us in our station wagon to the local Catholic Church where we would fill up the entire pew. Like everything else in life everyone knew the Dias' were arriving – this time at church. What do I remember about the Stations of the Cross? They were boring….

As we squirmed our way into the pews, our parents would grab our arms in vain attempts to settle us down. We would be kicking each other hurling insults at each other in soft whispers (or what we thought were whispers.) Parishioners would stare at us with disdainful and derisive looks in their eyes. I could sometimes envision them reaching from their pews and choking me. I remember looking at those huge stained glass windows that were evenly spaced around the church each one showing a particular experience in Christ's journey to Golgotha, the place he was to be crucified. We sat and fidgeted as we awaited the arrival of the priest. The priest would enter the church from the back slowly swaying the thurible suspended from chains as the distinct smell of incense would permeate the sanctuary. He was followed by two altar boys who carried his white robes in their hands. The incense was a pleasant aroma. I would glance at each stained glass window, and occasionally my eyes would stop and gaze at one and I would fixate on it more intently like Station 11 where Jesus was nailed to the cross. But what did it all mean?

I remember as a child hearing the strange chants that were sung during the service.

At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed

I never questioned my faith at that age – it just was. We were Catholics. Jesus suffered, died and was buried for our sins, but okay so what! As I grew older, my mind became more inquisitive. Who was this man who defied a Roman empire? And what did all of it mean? I was not satisfied with just saying it was so. I needed to know if this man was who he truly said he was, and what was the proof.

This is what I discovered.

The Torture

Crucifixion is a terrifying and excruciating way to die. During Roman times, it was reserved for the slave, rebels, or pirates. Jesus was first flogged with at least thirty-nine lashes with a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them. The whip would cause deep bruises or contusions which would break open the flesh more with each lash. The lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and the ripped flesh would lay bare and the victim was left open to exposure. Hypovolemic shock would set in from the loss of large amounts of blood. Most people would not have survived the flogging.

After the flogging, Jesus had to carry the cross to Golgotha where he was nailed. The Romans used spikes, five to seven inches long and drove these nails into the wrist. Contrary to the popular paintings of the Renaissance period, the nails were not nailed in the hands. The hands were not strong enough to support the weight of the human body. The nails were driven into the place where the median nerve runs in the wrist. This would be like taking a pair of pliers and squeezing and crushing the nerve. Imagine hitting the funny bone in your elbow and multiplying that pain 100 fold. Jesus was then hoisted up as the crossbar was attached to the vertical stake, and then nails were driven through his feet.

Crucifixion is a slow and painful death. The victim dies of asphyxiation. The stresses on the muscles and diaphragm put the chest into an inhaled position. For Jesus to exhale, he had to somehow lift up his weakened body to release the tension in his muscles and then exhale. He would have to continue to do this with each breath scraping his bloodied back against the back of the cross. The splinters of the cross would become embedded into his already torn flesh. This could only go on for so long before complete exhaustion takes hold, and he could no longer breathe. The hypovolemic shock would have caused a sustained heart rate that would have contributed to heart failure resulting in the collection of fluid in the membrane around the heart. This is called a pericardial effusion. Fluid would also have collected around the lungs called pleural effusion. Needless to say, I cannot imagine a more painful and excruciating death than Crucifixtion.

The Evidence

1. The Medical Evidence – In Luke 22:44 in the garden of Gethsemane, The Bible states, "His sweat was like drops of blood". This is a medical condition called, "hematidrosis." Hematidrosis causes the release of chemicals in the capillaries during high degrees of stress. In John 19:33, the Bible states that the soldiers were going to break his legs. This would have been done to speed up his death. They confirmed his death when they thrust a spear into his right side. In John 19:34, the Bible states, "But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out." This negated the reason for breaking the legs. The piercing of Jesus' side is important because it describes the pericardial effusion and pleural effusion effects described above. The fluid excreted as a result of the thrusting of the spears into the side of Jesus would have appeared to be both blood and water. Knowledge of medicine was extremely limited during Roman times, but they were experts at killing. The medical evidence of the crucifixion is consistent with today's medical knowledge.
   
2. The Apostles – The apostles were not brave men. After the crucifixion, the apostles were lost souls. Jesus had died and they did not know what to do. They even questioned their own beliefs. Was he truly the messiah? After his death they dispersed. Peter even denied he knew Jesus. After the resurrection, the apostles regrouped and committed their lives to preaching the gospel. The apostles were now willing to die because they had witnessed the resurrection. Most if not all eventually died for their beliefs except for John who was exiled to the Island of Patmos where he wrote "Revelation." How they all died is not completely known, but what is known is that they all had a profound conversion from timorous and weak individuals to indomitable and courageous individuals. This was the power of the gospel.
   
3. The prophecy – The most compelling evidence of the crucifixion is found in Isaiah 53:3-9. Isaiah was written in the second half of the eighth century B.C. more than seven hundred years before Jesus' death. Yet in Isaiah 53, it foreshadows both the suffering and death of Jesus.
   

    He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

  Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

 
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

 
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

 
He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.

 
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
       And who can speak of his descendants?
       For he was cut off from the land of the living;
       for the transgression of my people he was stricken. ^[b]

 
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,
       though he had done no violence,
       nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 

The resurrection of Christ is the most important event in history. It is more important that the birth of Jesus. Had the resurrection not occurred, Christendom would have faded into obscurity. As children we are taught to believe because our parents believe. But, as we grow older, our minds are able to understand and analyze more. The evidence of the resurrection is compelling. Paul said his faith would have been in vain if the resurrection were not true. Was the resurrection some sort of chicanery by clever individuals? If the resurrection were indeed some sort of fabrication, then the greatest hoax has been perpetrated on mankind. Skeptics will continue to deny the resurrection, but the evidence is there. The apostles, the prophecies, the medical evidence all point to the veracity of the Bible's claim – Jesus did indeed rise from the dead. So, the next question would be what do we do about it?

Sources: The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel

Archaeology of the New Testament John McRay