The Right State

Definition of a Civilian.

1. A person following the persuits of civilian life, especially one who is not an active member of the military or police.

2. A specialist in Roman or civil law.

Now, the news media have constantly been using the word “Civilian” to describe the women and children that were killed or injured in Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah positions. This makes me mad as hell. These people were there voluntarily, they were there because they support Hezbollah. They are de-facto members of Hezbollah, if not actual members. The kids were there because the parents PUT THEM THERE.

In point of fact there are no civilian casualties in Lebanon because there are no civilians still in the war zone. Everyone still there are in fact hezbollah members either by word or by deed.

The media has been going ape over the deaths of some Lebanese because of an Israeli bomb and yet when Hezbollah kills civilians, the news is not ‘newsworthy.’

In fact, the very well informed Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah reported that Hezbollah shot eighteen people last week. These people were suspected of being collaborators to Israel (sounds awfully like what’s been happening in the Palestinian territories in the past years). The executed were accused of helping Israeli airforce to pinpoint where Hezbollah fighters were hiding by tracing signs with phosphorescent paint. Numerous witnesses to the execution were German citizens who were being evacuated by boat through Tyre.

Hezbollah purposely kills 18 and the news receives no mention.  Yet Israel accidentally kills 54 and the media act like the IDF is engaging in genocide.  This certainly looks like double standard, bias, or whatever else you want to call it. Who would have figured it, the MSM is on the side of the terrorists?

Hat tip: Penraker

Tags: Bias, War by Chuck
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Oh, man does this sound familiar.

Upping the ante in his quest to overturn the results of Mexico’s July 2 presidential elections, leftist contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called Sunday for supporters to stage sit-ins throughout downtown Mexico City until a recount is held. (snip)

“It’s not much to ask that there is transparency, that they count vote by vote, precinct by precinct,” he said, repeating what has become his postelection slogan. “Our great country doesn’t deserve to be governed by an illegitimate president.”

What Obrador needs to do now is to take his case to the Mexican Supreme Court, keep demanding recount after recount until he wins.  But if he does not win, he is required to give up 36 days after the election, become a martyr for the left in his country and then retire in near obscurity.  Then every few months Obrador needs to make enough outlandish comments to fuel his own appetite for relevance.

Wait, this is not 2000.  Here I was writing about Al Gore when it’s the Mexican Presidential election I was supposed to be writing about.  Oh, never mind.

Tags: Politics by Chuck
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Do you want more proof that the UN is impotent?

The U.N. Security Council passed a weakened resolution Monday giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Sounds good so far, right?  Iran has been given chance after chance to come clean with their suspected nuclear weapons program.  Instead of caving in to world opinion, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad consistently thumbs his nose at the UN.  And why shouldn’t he?  He knows Russia and China will not support sanctions against Iran.  I know what China’s problem is, it’s us, the United States.  The Chinese military sees the US as their future enemy, particularly since the Chinese want to extend their influence over all of the Far East.  This includes the democracies of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.  The Chinese will do anything they can to embarrass the US, even if it hurts them in the short haul.

Russia on the other hand, I do not understand.  President Putin has everything to gain from a healthy relationship with the US and nothing to lose.  Russia has been battling terrorism for many years in Chechnya and Iran is a prime sponsor of terror.  So I can’t figure out Putin’s angle.

As it stands now, neither China nor Russia are will to confront Iran.  Until these two countries stop blocking everything the US tries to accomplish, the UN will continue to be dysfunctional.

Tags: Iran by Chuck
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Poor Kofi Annan.  His calls for a cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah have been ignored and now he is pouting about it.  Maybe if he showed more leadership skills and was less anti-Semitic people would listen more.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday repeated his call for an immediate halt to violence between Israel and Hizbullah, condemning an IAF airstrike that killed at least 54 people and telling the UN Security Council he was “deeply disturbed” that his previous calls for a cease-fire had gone unheeded.

Where was the Secretary General when wave after wave of suicide/homicide bombers killed women and children in Israel?  Kofi Annan is being ignored because he has shown himself to be a self-serving leader of an organization which is no longer relevant in the world.  This is no longer a fight between Israel and Hezbollah, but a war between Israel and Iran and Syria by their proxy fighters in Lebanon.  This is part of a global war on terror.  That is why the US refuses to force Israel to end their part of the fight.  George Bush understands the costs of inaction on the part of Israel, a price we paid dearly on 9/11 for our many years of inaction.

The Secretary General goes on with his diatribe and wanders off on to the ridiculous. 

In unusually frank terms, Annan said the council risked undermining its own authority if it does not take action. He said that was made clear by the attacks on UN headquarters in Beirut earlier Sunday.

“People have noticed its failure to act firmly and quickly during this crisis,” Annan said.

Where have I heard these words before…….?  Maybe against Iraq before the US invaded.  The UN sat by and did nothing even though Saddam Hussein ignored sixteen UN resolutions in during a twelve year period.  President Bush uttered these same words that the UN would lose credibility if the member nations sat idly by and did nothing.  Finally it took the US and other nations making up the Coalition of the Willing to bring down this evil regime.

And now Kofi Annan has the nerve to say the UN will lose credibility if it fails to stop this conflict.  Note to the Sect. Gen.; the UN has already lost any credibility it may have had with its failure to act in Iraq, its constant scandals, and with some of its member nations having human rights violations even worse than Saddam Hussein’s.  The UN is a corrupt dinosaur whose time has come and gone.  Its past time to say good-bye.

Today there are renewed calls for a cease-fire after an IDF air strike killed 54 civilians particularly by the very organization tasked to control the border between Lebanon and Israel.  The Israeli Ambassador pretty much sums up this horrible tragedy and places it in context with Israel’s hope of security.

Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman called it a “horrible, sad and bloody Sunday.” While he apologized for the airstrike that killed the civilians in Qana, he said there was no comparison between Hizbullah, which intentionally targets Israeli civilians and uses Lebanese civilians as human shields, and Israel, which tries to avoid civilian casualties.

“Those people including women and children who were killed in this horrible tragic incident may have been killed by Israeli fire but they are the victims of the Hizbullah,” Gillerman said. “They are the victims of terror. If there were no Hizbullah this would never have happened.”

Gillerman said Hizbullah must be disarmed before any cease-fire occurs. Otherwise, he said, Hizbullah will rise again - “not just against us and not just against the people of Lebanon, but against the whole region and civilization as we know it.”

Yes, indeed.  How soon we have forgotten the horrors of terrorism.  Hezbollah does not act any different than does al-Queda.  Too many Americans forget that it was Hezbollah who targeted and killed 241 US Marines in Lebanon in 1983.  All the US was doing in Lebanon was maintaining a buffer zone.  For their actions, the terrorist group Hezbollah murdered 241 Americans.  Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria are the aggressors in this current conflict.  Considering all of their past actions, we should let Israel finish the job they started and let them destroy this terrorist group.  We at least owe that much to the families of the Marines killed in 1983.

Webloggin has a good post on how the left views the war and how they are blaming President Bush for it.

Tags: Iran, President Bush, War by Chuck
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This is like the pot calling the kettle, black.  The UN Human Rights Panel, you know the one staffed by human rights giants like Libya, China, Egypt, Cuba, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Bhutan are now giving the US a dressing down for their human rights’ record.

A U.N. rights panel yesterday demanded the immediate closure of any secret U.S. detention facilities and criticized Washington on a range of other issues — calling for a moratorium on capital punishment, representation in Congress for the District of Columbia and for improved treatment of poor and black citizens victimized by Hurricane Katrina.

Let’s look at these issues.  At least in the US, a convicted criminal has access to a jury of his/her peers, proper representation, and an open and fair trial.  Many of these countries denouncing the US have religious police who kill people for ‘religious crimes.”  Many of these same countries do not have fair and open trials, fair representation, or even a jury.

The issue of the District of Columbia is a more complex.  DC residents have a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.  As such they have representation to a degree.  For the US giving DC a vote in Congress is an ongoing issue to be resolved by the US.  How many of these counties on the Human Rights Panel allow their residents to vote or even have representation?  Cuba—no, China—no, Libya—no, Egypt—no, Sudan—no.

The Human Rights Panel’s last issue of treatment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina is particularly vicious considering the outpouring of generosity by the American people.  The people devastated by Hurricane Katrina have been welcomed into our homes, their city being rebuilt, they are allowed to vote in absentia, and they are being welcomed back home as things return to normal.  What else does the Human Rights Panel want or expect?

Then comes the issue of ‘secret detention centers’ around the world.

“The committee is concerned by credible and uncontested information that the state party has seen fit to engage in the practice of detaining people secretly and in secret places for months and years on end,” according to the 12-page report by the committee, which held a two-day hearing last week on U.S. compliance to a major human rights treaty. (emphasis added by TRS)

Eh?  I did not know the United States had a state party.  So the US holds terrorists in secret prisons in other countries.  Seems to me if these detention centers are in other countries, these home countries would have a large say in what happens there.  Perhaps we should just turn over these terrorists to their home countries, but the UN panel would most likely call this cruel and unusual.

It is real easy tell other countries of their problems when you ignore your own.  The UN has hardly been a bastion of enlightened behavior considering its glaring failures in southern Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, keeping Saddam Hussein in check in its oil for food scandal, the massacre in Rwanda, slavery in Sudan, and many, many others.  The problem is the US is everybody’s favorite kicking victim.  If I could be so bold as to quote from the bible, Jesus said in Matthew 7:

3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

This UN Human Rights Panel is a joke.  They have so many problems of their own and yet they want to kick the US for their ‘problems.’    Like I said, it’s like the pot calling the kettle black.

After hearing of the UN recommendations, some US officials declared they would ‘consider its recommendations.’  Bucklog at Its a Paul World says we should just tell the UN to get lost.

Consider its recommendations? How about telling them to get lost and clean up their own
problems? Direct them to places like North Korea, Iran, Cuba or go to any number of countries in Kofi show me the money Annan’s backyard, Africa. Then they wonder why Americans are so anti UN. Just amazing!

Yeah, what he said!

Tags: Moonbats, Politics by Chuck
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The verdict is in, Georgia Representative Cynthia McKinney is in deep trouble.  The incumbent failed to win the Democratic primary by a majority and must win in the run-off election to keep her seat.  There is news that McKinney is falling behind in the polls.  Her problem is that she is one of those people who just does not know when to SHUT UP.  McKinney has accused President Bush of having fore-knowledge of the 9/11 attacks.  She has also hit a Capitol Hill Police officer in the chest with her cell phone when she walked around metal detectors at the Capitol Building without her Representative pin.  This Georgia Democrat is no Georgia peach having stirred up harsh feeling everywhere she has gone.  Its not that McKinney is particularly partisan, its that she is racist.  Slate has more of the Congresswoman’s more outlandish comments, but here are a few.

During a nasty 1996 congressional campaign with racial tension on both sides, she called supporters of her Republican opponent “holdovers from the Civil War days” and “a ragtag group of neo-Confederates.” Never mind that her opponent was Jewish. And during the 2000 presidential campaign, she wrote that “Gore’s Negro tolerance level has never been too high. I’ve never known him to have more than one black person around him at any given time.” Never mind that Gore’s campaign manager was black. (McKinney is not a particularly partisan finger-pointer—there are enough delusions for both sides.)

And now it seems some of Representative Cynthia McKinney’s more outlandish comments and actions are catching up with her having fallen behind in the polls.

The poll shows [Hank] Johnson leading McKinney, 46 to 21 percent, with a third of voters undecided. The survey recorded the responses of 489 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5 percent.

Run-offs are notorious for low turnout, which often makes telephone surveys unreliable. Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage, said he was unwilling to say that McKinney was headed for certain defeat. “But is she in deep, deep, deep, deep trouble? Yes,” he said.

Too bad!  McKinney is one racist Representative who needs the sting of a primary defeat.  Will it get her attention—no, but I will expect we will hear plenty of news how white (read racist) Republicans crossed party lines to vote against her.  She will not even consider that her bizarre actions may have contributed to her defeat which shows that not only is she a racist, she is a delusional racist.  My support goes to Hank Johnson.

Hat tip: Hedgehog Report

Tags: Democrats, Moonbats, Politics by Chuck
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Some may disagree with me, but I really like Howard Dean as the Democratic National Committee Chairman.  Every time he opens his mouth the ratings of Republicans go up.  His ready, fire, aim approach to giving speeches is one of the best things to ever happen to the Republican Party.

Dean said in Wednesday’s speech that Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson is “going to beat the pants off Katherine Harris, who didn’t understand that it is ethically improper to be the chairman of a campaign and count the votes at the same time. This is not Russia and she is not Stalin.”

With one shot, Howard Dean offended a whole host of people including Russians, most of Eastern Europe, Republicans, Jews, and many others including Katherine Harris.  I could not offend that many people even if I tried while the DNC Chairman sticks his foot in his mouth every time he gives a speech.  This is the one who has offended Christians, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Jews, and who knows how many others.

I just have one thing to ask of Democrats, Please leave Howard Dean as your Party Chairman, the Republican Party needs him.

Tags: Democrats, Moonbats, Politics by Chuck
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News Break, the Democrats have found the solution to all the problems of the US.  Democrats claim to have discovered the magic wand lost since George W. Bush gained the presidency.  That is the only conclusion I can arrive at since they believe all the problems in US will immediately disappear if they win in 2006 and 2008.  This is the only proof we need that the Democrats are not only out of touch with everyday Americans, but reality as well.

On March 29th, Democratic leaders unveiled their national security plan Real Security: The Democratic Plan to Protect America and Restore Our Leadership in the World. Real Security has five components: military preparedness, the war on terror, homeland security, Iraq and energy independence. “Democrats offer a plan for Real Security to rebuild our military; equip and train our first responders and others on the front lines here at home; provide needed benefits to our troops and veterans; fully man and equip our National Guard; …and, restore Americans’ confidence in their government’s ability to respond in the face of a terrorist attack or natural disaster.”

Are these the same Democrats who voted against increasing the military?  Are these the same ones who have a real and profound dislike of anything remotely related to the US military and the National Guard?  What’s the problem, do Democrats want to increase the size of the military so they will have even more people to call murderers?  Talk is cheap if you are not required to walk the walk.

Real Security implies that if they had control of Congress, Democrats would have different priorities for the war on terror than do Republicans. The Dems mention several of these: Their first would be to “finish the job in Afghanistan” by eliminating Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. (emphasis added by TRS)

Wow!  I need to send this information to the President right away.  The Democrats have all the information we need to win the Global War on Terror.  All he has to do to ensure the defeat of al Qaeda and the capture of Osama bin Laden is to just wave the magic wand and wish the job done.  And to think I thought these moonbats were weak when it came to fighting terrorism.  Only if it were that easy.  Wishing the capture of the world’s number one terrorist will not ensure his seizure.  Wishful thinking is just that, wishful thinking.  It solves nothing.

Dems would place more emphasis on diplomacy, as opposed to having military force be our only option in the war on terror; “renew longstanding alliances that have advanced our national security objectives.” They recognize the systemic nature of terrorism and propose to “Eliminate terrorist breeding grounds by combating the economic, social, and political conditions that allow extremism to thrive.” They add that the US should “lead international efforts to uphold and defend human rights.”

Pie in the sky.  If we all hold hands and place flowers in our hair and sing love songs to each other, we will all come to love each other.  This ‘war solves nothing’ kind of thinking is what led to the 9/11 attacks in the first place.  Bill Clinton tried this line of reasoning and what did it accomplish……nothing, except one terror attack after another.  The terrorists understand only one thing: force.  Political posturing to them is a sign of weakness.  Giving in to their demands only encourages more terror.

Of course, many of us believe that “winning” the war on terror ultimately depends upon withdrawing from Iraq.

Sure, this will work.  This Neville Chamberlain type of thinking is what encouraged Adolph Hitler to continue his assault on Europe and it will further encourage the terrorists.  Giving in to their demands will only make terrorists like al-Qaeda more hopeful.

So lets look at this, we leave Iraq and the terrorists will demand Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as well.  Where does it stop?  Appeasement only encourages more terror.

And lastly, energy independence.

While the Bush Administration pays lip service to the necessity for energy independence, the Democrats’ Real Security plan actually proposes an achievable objective: “Achieve energy independence for America by 2020 by eliminating reliance on oil from the Middle East and other unstable regions of the world.” The Dems program would “Increase production of alternate fuels from America’s heartland including bio- fuels, geothermal, clean coal, fuel cells, solar and wind; promote hybrid and flex fuel vehicle technology and manufacturing; enhance energy efficiency and conservation incentives.”

The Democratic Party does not want to drill in the middle east, nor do they want to drill in ANWR or in the Gulf of Mexico.  So where do they propose we gain our independence?  The Democrats want sustainable alternatives to oil, but do not want to place wind turbans in Nantucket.  So how do they propose this nation gains its independence on oil.  Oh, I forgot about the magic wand.  That will fix everything.

This country has a choice, real solutions versus slogans.  So far this President has kept the US safe from terrorist attacks and has taken the fight to our enemies.  He has pulled the country out of a recession caused by Clinton’s high taxes and terrorist attacks.  He lowered taxes on the majority of Americans.  What has been the Democratic response: attack the war, attack the President, attack our troops, engage in partisanship, and throw about slogans as if they would fix things.  Its no wonder the Democratic Party needs a magic wand.

Tags: Democrats, President Bush, Moonbats, Politics, War by Chuck
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File this under stupid criminal of the day….month….maybe even year.  A man attempted to rob a New Zealand gun shop with a machete.  He was obviously shot.  A South Auckland police spokeswoman said it best:

She said going into a gunshop with a machete was not the smartest thing for anyone to do.

If only all criminal were so stupid.

Hat tip: Lone Star Times

Tags: Culture by Chuck
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You have to wonder what UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was thinking when he accused Israel of deliberately targeting a UN outpost in Lebanon.  The UN has been an abysmal failure in both keeping Israel safe from terrorist groups attacking south and helping the Lebanese army gain control over the southern region of the country.  The IDF has gone out of its way, to the point of endangering their own soldiers, to protect civilian lives.  The IDF has dropped leaflets warning villagers to leave because they were going to bomb.  Of course this warning also allowed the terrorist leaders to leave.  So what was Kofi Annan thinking?  The Jerusalem Post in an op-ed asks the same questions.

It is difficult at times, and perhaps today impossible, to fathom how UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan assesses events involving Israel. On Tuesday, four members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed when their position was hit by IDF fire. Annan reacted by declaring that the incident was “an apparent deliberate targeting by the Israeli Defense Forces of a UN observer post.”

The Post’s conclusion was this incident needs to be investigated along with the reason why the UN post was allowing Hezbollah to use the post as a shield against the IDF.

Such an investigation must determine more than just how UNIFIL troops were located in such close proximity to Hizbullah terrorists that they ended up in the line of fire. More fundamentally, it would delve into how, in complete contravention of its objectives, UNIFIL stood by without a murmur as a terrorist organization amassed thousands upon thousands of rockets whose unprovoked use has killed and wounded dozens of Israelis and precipitated the current war.

I could not agree more.  The UN ‘peace keeping forces’ is a farce, without even one success to chalk up to their name.  As tragedy unfolds across the globe, the UN idly stands by and does nothing.  Where is Annan’s apology for that?  The UN has become a haven for dictators who violate human rights.  Where is that apology?

So far, Israel has apologized for destroying the UN post and for the UN deaths, but what about the Secretary General?  According to Fox News, the UN post communicated that Hezbollah was all over the post.  Kofi Annan accused Israel of deliberately targeting the UN post when he knows the IDF does not target civilians.  His behavior is in such a position as his is inexcusable.  Annan should apologize, not only for his statements, but also for the behavior of the UN.  He should apologize for the UN’s failure to keep Israel safe violating their own resolutions.  He should apologize for allowing Hezbollah to use the people in the UN post as human shields.  And while he is at it, Kofi Annan should also apologize for the failure of the UN to accomplish anything under his ‘leadership.’

Tags: War by Chuck
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