Friday, August 24, 2007

Homeland Insecurity

This mess has been pending for some time. Many have felt that the unsecred border problem was not only letting in Mexican and Central American illegals, BUT was an open invitation to terrorists too..
And look where we are, our concerns are verified, but notice the downplay of the ones that were never caught?
When are our elected officials going to do what the elected want? "Nevermore, quoth the Raven, Nevermore." We have been signed, sealed and delivered to our enemies...emphasis mine.
HOMELAND INSECURITY

Iraqi terrorists caught along Mexico border

American intelligence chief confirms 'people are alive' as a result of capture
Posted: August 23, 20074:04 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

President Bush's top intelligence aide has confirmed that Iraqi terrorists have been captured coming into the United States from Mexico.
The confirmation comes from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who talked about the situation in an interview with the El Paso Times recently.
"Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay."
How? With a fence? With added border security? With support for our border guards? Or with SPP, NAU, NAFTA Superhighway? Sure, Wilbur, I've got some swamp land to go with that!
But, he said, "There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)."
Intelligence officials say the numbers and details of such situations are classified, but McConnell pointed as an example to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who entered the United States through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, and later pleaded guilty to helping raise money for Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization.
The goal, McConnell said, is for terrorists to gain admittance to the United States, and then produce "mass casualties."
"You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell told the newspaper. "The key now is getting recruits in. So if your key is getting recruits in, how would you do that?"
McConnell's office did reveal some numbers, during fiscal 2006, there were 14 Iraqi nationals caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally, while so far in 2007, that number is 16.
How much are you willing to bet that those are the stupid ones?
"Now some we caught, some we didn't," McConnell told the newspaper. "The ones that get in – what are they going to do? They're going to write home. So it's not rocket science; word will move around."
Derrrrr...
Also revealed was that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 60 Iraqis crossing the nation's southwestern border in 2006 who were seeking asylum in the U.S., while that number so far in 2007 is 178.
The Times report said a U.S. intelligence analyst said there's been evidence that human smugglers, or coyotes, are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if they are caught.
The typical scenario is this: Forged documents are used to get an Iraqi into a country in South or Central America. Since travel from country to country is allowed without vises in many locations there, they work their way north to the U.S. border.
McConnell told the newspaper the numbers are classified, but there have been a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist groups who have been caught at that point.
I want to know how many are suspected, does anyone REALLY care, AND WHERE IS OUR PROMISED FENCE? Hmmm?
Kourani, for example, apparently paid a Mexican Consulate official in Lebanon $3,000 for a Mexican visa and then was smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car.
Mexico is corrupt people, CORRUPT, without morals, without care except getting more, more, more! And we are supposed to be SUCH good friends? With friends like that...
He was sentenced to more than four years in prison after admitting he helped raise funds for Hezbollah.
When the newspaper asked U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, about the situation, he said, "It's not something we would talk about."
"We have had intelligence about al-Qaida identifying Latin America as a potential or prospective area where they could come through, but frankly, I'm surprised that the director would make definitive statements like that because, even if it were true, you wouldn't want to publicize that," Reyes told the Times.
Judges 10
[6] And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
[7] And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.
[8] And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
[9] Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.[10] And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.
[11] And the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
[12] The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.
[13] Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
[14] Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
If G*D did this to HIS covenant people, why should we expect any different?

McConnell was senior vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on intelligence and national security, before being appointed to his current post by Bush in February.
He previously was the director of the National Security Agency and served as a member of the Director of Central Intelligence senior leadership team before then.
Other links;
worldnetdaily.com
worldnetdaily.com
worldnetdaily.com
signonsandiego.com
azstarnet.com

Thursday, August 23, 2007

SAY IT, ANNIE!



is there anyone out there who has done more for conservatism and little black dresses than our miss annie?

nyet. i didn't think so.

from
this most excellent article:

"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described anti-amnesty Americans as being satisfied with nothing less than "the death penalty" for illegal aliens and recently warned of "some unhappy consequences" unless illegal aliens were granted amnesty. Yes, that Michael Chertoff – the guy in charge of keeping us safe from foreign invasions.

So it was curious when we were treated this week to a weeping Mexican woman on TV, claiming the U.S. government was tearing her from her infant son and saying she knew the American people would be outraged if she were deported. (I note that her message might have been more effective in English.)

Admittedly, I'd just as soon have Homeland Security focusing on illegal immigrants like the one who shot four promising college kids execution style in Newark, killing three of them, possibly after sexually molesting two of them. Heck, I wouldn't have minded if they had deported Jose Carranza even before his girlfriend accused him of raping her 5-year-old daughter.

Or Ruben Hernandez-Juarez, an illegal alien charged with sexually molesting a 6-year-old boy in Martin County, Fla.

Or Alejandro Bautista, an illegal alien in Cook County, Ill., who was convicted for sexually molesting two teenage boys."

and this:

"Arellano is part of the advance wave of left-wing, Third World colonization of America. Democrats claim there are "two Americas." If they have their way, there will be two Latin Americas.

Liberals know they're losing the demographic war. Christians have lots of children and adopt lots of children; liberals abort children and encourage the gay lifestyle in anyone with a flair for color.

They can't keep up.

Population expert Nick Eberstadt recently speculated in the Washington Post that a principal reason for America's high fertility rate compared to Europe's is its religiosity. Well, that leaves liberals out."

keep up the fine work, ann - you say all the things the rest of u.s. are thinking - and certainly cannot be denied!

Friday, August 10, 2007

You Can't Protect Something You Never Had!

In 1971, as a new soldier, I was assigned duty in the 1st Infantry Division. The "Big Red One", had returned stateside from Vietnam as part of a de-escalation and for many solders who had served their tour in Vietnam, it became their next duty station.

I never heard so much bullshit in my life, the same stories with different players, over and over again, You could roll your eyes all you wanted but there was an unspoken rule; it was considered bad form to call bullshit on another soldiers war stories.

There were three I heard most often:

Taking Viet Cong up in helicopters and pitching them out if they didn't talk.

Dropping 100 pound sacks of rice on a villager and killing him by getting him to "catch" the bag of rice.

The Vietnamese barber that worked on a, (air base, naval base, Marine base, Army base), that was actually a Viet Cong spy, who was killed trying to infiltrate and blow up the base the night after they had given, (said, teller of story), a shave with a straight razor that same day.

Now, I really must tell you, that last story gave me a chill, (every time I heard it). Almost as much as the time my girl friend made me take her home from lovers lane after we heard on the radio that an insane killer with one arm escaped from the State Hospital. I really freaked out when I found the hook stuck in the car door!

OK, so I didn't believe the last story. It was only because of all the accounts of the other two stories that I heard from those that had either did it, saw it or knew someone that had. I mean its ridiculous! How many Vietnamese/Viet Cong/Spy's were there and how did they keep from being buried under hundreds of thousands of their Viet Cong comrades and millions of tons of rice that were throw from helicopters?

Anyway, over the years and even as a young man, I developed what I call a BS filter. A very good one, the Lord knows I heard enough of it from my relatives growing up.

At the beginning of August, "The New Republic" published at story by a "Scott Thomas" (Scott Thomas Beauchamp), that contained three pieces of obvious BS recounting tales meant to show how "war dehumanizes people". In other words, more anti-war propaganda.

The stories recounted:

A woman whose face was disfigured by an IED, either an ally of the US or a contractor, who was taunted in a mess hall because of her disfigurement, and then fled the mess hall in tears.

Soldiers who were digging up the remains of children in what was clearly represented as a Saddam era, mass grave, and one soldier takes the skull cap of a child, (with hair and rotting flesh still attached), and wears it as a cap under his helmet the whole day.

A driver of a Bradley fighting vehicle, (very much like the APCs they replaced and I used to drive), who constantly is swerving to run down dogs, vendors stands, etc.

The New Republic's Editors, have released several statements backing PVT Beauchamp's fairytale even though Beauchamp has stated that the first incident with the woman happened in Kuwait before he was stationed in Iraq, (I am firmly of the opinion that none of them happened!) I know BS when I hear it.

The New Republic seeks to protect its journalistic integrity.

Don't worry boys, you never had any!

Go Here for a rundown of the Scott Beauchamp story.

BIBLE SAVES SOLDIER!



of course it was not this one in particular, but "PFC Brendan Schweigart was helping to retrieve a tank in Iraq when he felt as if he had been hit with a sledge hammer.

It was deadly fire from an enemy sniper."

for the rest of the story.

we purchased these little bibles for our children a few years ago and they've been so proud to carry them and read the pages loose from the binding and they've since graduated to larger study bibles wanting to preserve these special bibles the military carries.

proof: the WORD OF G-D still saves!

Monday, August 06, 2007

WHERE MAY YOU CARRY UR CCW?



found this little tidbit of important information at alabama mt. man's site.

if you're wondering where you can carry, check it out.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Spirit of America (SoA) monthly update.





“Dear Blog Community,

Welcome to the first Spirit of America (SoA) monthly update. A new outreach program designed to keep the blogger community informed of the projects that we engage in. We are a non-profit organization dedicated to helping our troops make a difference in the war torn countries of Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa. Spirit of America facilitates the donation of humanitarian supplies that our troops distribute to civilians in those strategic regions of the world. This assistance is vital towards the creation of jobs and the restoration of public services like education and medical care. Thank you to the blogger community for your support.

Sincerely,
Spirit of America”


This Month’s Topics:
  • Help us reach out to our Military
  • A Special Iraqi School Project
  • Quick Response to Afghan Farmers Request
  • Women’s Burn Unit & Maternity
  • Join our Mailing List, pass it on

REACHING OUT
For our first blogger update we would like to ask for your help in order to reach out to our military personnel serving in Spirit of America’s theatre of operations (especially in Ramadi where our forces have had some huge successes recently).

Many front line troops are not aware of the services that we provide to help them assist civilians living in those critical regions that they serve in. We can help facilitate their outreach to these civilians. Such humanitarian aid is vital to advance the cause of freedom, democracy and peace.

Quite often our military personnel have requests for goods like school and medical supplies, sewing machines, hand tools, watches, water barrels, clothing, soccer gear and toys. Since 2001 we have successfully completed many of these supply projects and urge our servicemen and women to contact us to see if we can help them make a difference.

Email Us

SPECIAL IRAQI SCHOOL PROJECT
Would you say that four years is a long time? It’s a fair chunk of change, but it’s hardly an extreme amount of time unless it is spent under extreme circumstances. In the case of Staff Sergeant (SSG) Steven Gardner you can say that he has experienced more in the last four years than most people have in their entire lifetimes.

SSG Gardner has served his country in war torn Iraq since April 2003!!! For almost the entire conflict that has reshaped our times he has been deployed in many different provinces of the country. Throughout this time SSG Gardner witnessed how a brutal insurgency has victimized the Iraqi people.

In order to give the Iraqis an alternative message of hope SoA is undertaking a special project with SSG Gardner to help a local school in the northern Iraqi city of Habur Gate. This endeavor is being conducted in the true spirit of our service men and women. It is something that is not fully appreciated by the general public. Consider the fact that last year 807 schools serving 322,800 students nationwide were completed using American funding and supervised by our military forces. In addition projects like “The America-Iraq School Partners Program” and many others have been completed by SoA to bolster what our troops have accomplished. Despite all of that hard work, this new project is made special by some very unique circumstances.

While many of the military personnel that work on humanitarian relief projects with SoA are very enthusiastic about these efforts, few can say that they have been serving continuously in Iraq for so long. As much as we are concerned about how our soldiers and their families will have to endure extended tours as much as 15 months long, SSG Gardner won’t be going home to his family until 2008. That will make his tour of duty five years long!!! And as if that isn’t enough, he wants to contribute even more to the people of Iraq.




“All of this started because of what I have seen and been through. I want to leave here knowing I came, I fought and I made a difference in someone’s life here. This area is safe or reasonably so. The people are good.”

“The kids are great and the teaching staff try and make do with what they have but with funds and materials not available, they can only do so much. The school is set-up so that the kids attend from middle school through high school. The blackboards are a wreck. No fans or cooling systems in the classrooms. No computers. No sports equipment. There are no sports uniforms (they take a lot of pride in soccer). No art supplies to speak of. Basically, they need an overhaul.”


There can be no better example of the quality of our men and women serving in Iraq than SSG Gardner. SoA is proud to support such an American patriot and friend to the Iraqi people. He doesn’t ask for glory or any form of undue attention, he only desires to help those in need.

Please visit our project page to learn more.

QUICK RESPONSE TO AFGHAN FARMERS REQUEST
WOW!!! Due to your overwhelming show of support, this project is already well underway. Here is the Sergeant Major’s response when told that we had raised $13k in the first five hours:

“I didn’t expect the project to be such a big hit. I am really pleasantly surprised that the project has raised so much already!”




SoA is also working to find the zargol type of saffron which prospers in Iraq. If you have information on where these bulbs can be found or would like to donate saffron bulbs for these farmers, please send an email to us with the subject: Saffron Bulbs for Afghanistan.

The Sergeant Major says:

“The amount of heroin that is produced from this country (about 90% of total world’s production) is unbelievable. Poppy fields stretch for miles. The Taliban use poppy grown in Afghanistan to generate funding for their activities...

...This region is where saffron originally came from, before cultivation spread to Europe. Right now Afghanistan’s neighbor in the west, Iran, grows the largest quantities of saffron, that it exports globally as the world’s most expensive spice by weight...

...I think that if it were more available, saffron would be grown here in greater quantities, taking cash away from the Taliban.”


Please visit our project page to learn more.

WOMEN’S BURN UNIT & MATERNITY
After the rule of the Taliban and decades of war, Afghanistan’s healthcare system has been neglected. Equipment is in short supply and hospitals are in disrepair. Army Colonel Wendell Hickman in cooperation with attorney Melinda Lord seeks your help in improving conditions for at least one community - Herat, Afghanistan.

Nearly two-thirds of the Afghan population is without access to basic health-care facilities. Women and children are especially affected as Afghanistan has one of the word’s highest maternal and child mortality rates. Some studies estimate that an Afghan woman dies giving birth every 30 minutes. In addition, women are often burn victims either at the hands of angry relatives or self-inflicted as a protest against harsh circumstances.

The 400-bed Herat Hospital is the only non-military hospital in this entire province in Western Afghanistan. Supply needs are critical for the Burn Unit where cream, bandages and IV saline are the only solace available for patients, some of whom are tragic victims of the difficult intentional burnings.

Your support of this project will enable SoA to contribute critical supplies to the Herat Burn Center, Gozahra Clinic and similiar facilities throughout Western Afghanistan. In addition to the items listed above which SoA will provide with your help, we will partner with Orchard International in shipping an ocean container of supplies donated specifically for Herat Hospital including incubators, baby warmers, and vitamins.



A very sparse Delivery Room in Herat

You can visit our project page to learn more.

PLEASE ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
Our recent drive for signups to our mailing list only netted about 65 new subscribers. We are hoping that by reaching out to bloggers that we jump start this effort. There’s no risk to pass it on to family and friends, we never share your email address. It’s also very easy for you, at any time, to unsubscribe on our site.

Bloggers please contact us if you wish to publish these monthly updates on your blog or volunteer your time in any way. We are looking for a volunteer Web Technology Director, volunteer Administrative staff and volunteer writers. If you would like to post this article on your blog please contact us by clicking on the email link below. We will email you the text and html so you can just copy it into a new post on your blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read our project update. The War on Terror is beginning to pick up steam and our country has finally been able to get out the word due to the contributions of the blogger community. Bloggers like Michael Yon, Bill Roggio and Michael Totten are bringing America’s side of the story directly to the people. In the past when we won important victories like the capture of Saddam Hussein, the conclusion of successful elections, the recapture of Fallujah and many others - the significance was lost on the general public because of the lack of awareness about what is really going on.

That ignorance has led some Americans to remain unaware that our troops do more than just kill the enemy. They spend much of their time building relationships with Iraqi communities, assisting them to defend themselves, coordinating reconstruction projects and distributing humanitarian aid.

Now that we have found our voice it is time to step up our efforts. The blogger community has done a great job so lets keep up the good work. We have a long way to go.

Email Us

All the best,
The Spirit of America Team
http://www.spiritofamerica.net/

BLOGGER REFLECTION AWARD



i've been tagged. oh, yes i have. beak, the farmer, eyes, and rob are the culprits and when you're ganged up on, you've got to fight back!

...and, thank you to them for their kind words...i think...although i'm sure my nasty reputation is now at stake!

rules of the tag:

1. Copy this post (meaning the rules).

2. Reflect on five bloggers and write a least a paragraph about each one.

3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.

4. Go leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.

5. Put the award icon on your site. i didn't like theirs so chose one i liked. just another great thing about being me!

"This award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy . . . of knowing them and being blessed by them.”

now, for the five i intend to NOT tag (that and most of my favorite bloggers have already been hit with this one - including my partner here, warren):

1. steve as he is one of the most passionate bloggers this side of jeff bargholz i've come to know - EVERYTHING pists him off!

2. russet shadows - WHAT A WRITER! he is pure brilliance and has a tongue slaying way with words - one of the best moonbat fighter pilots out there.

3. my fern who stands upright against the tyrannies facing ours and other great nations - he is focused, yet flexible. and, he is truly one of the best blogfriends in the www. one other thing that makes him sooooooo wonderful is when i've been out of line a time or four, he scolds me in private...oh boo...thank the Lord - i'd hate to get whupped by him in public!

4. beamish, THE master of slice and dice - if he cannot do it - it cannot be done! his way with words is only exceeded by the manner with which he delivers them - you DO NOT want to be at the end of his rapier wit sword!

5. and last, but certainly not least, cube - resident geeky mathmetician and furball supplier (see her catblog fridays) - there is something for everyone at cube's - her short, but sweet posts have me roaring on an almost daily basis.

thank you to everyone who thought of me when dishing out this tag. now stop with all the mush! right now!