It's All Fun and Games ... Until They Start Picking on You

This was brought to my attention just this morning, and I feel the need to comment on it.

Yesterday, some idiot blogger on the blog Wonkette decided to attack Sarah Palin's son Trig on his birthday. Apparently, an idiot - who was probably dropped on his head as a child - named Jack Stuef thinks it's funny to pick on a disabled child. Here's one of his tamer remarks, courtesy of Gateway Pundit, since I REFUSE to link to Wonkette:

That strange man yelling unintelligibly at Sarah Palin? He’s merely a lowly shepherd proclaiming the birth of our savior. Today is the day we come together to celebrate the snowbilly grifter’s magical journey from Texas to Alaska to deliver to the America the great gentleman scholar Trig Palin. Is Palin his true mother? Or was Bristol? (And why is it that nobody questions who the father is? Because, either way, Todd definitely did it.) It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are privileged to live in a time when we can witness the greatest prop in world political history.

What in the crap is this? Seriously? Sarah and Todd Palin are the parents of Trig, who was unfortunately born with Down Syndrome, but was born into a kind, loving, family.

Personally, I like Mediaite's response to that quote:

Hey, that’s really funny, calling Trig a gentleman scholar because he has Down Syndrome. And the speculation that Todd Palin may have raped his daughter? Pure comedy gold. You know what will be even funnier? The first time Jack Stuef runs into Todd Palin. That one practically writes its own punchline.

Very true.


Personally, I cannot believe that these idjits and the rest of the libtard gang are still going on about this. Honestly. And they call us Obama Birthers nuts. At least we have a valid reason for what we do. These people are so afraid of Sarah Palin they have to stoop to attacking her disabled child.

Now, I'm sure Whorekette writers and editors are not aware of this, but as far as I, and presumably most other people, are concerned, you don't look very brave picking on a child because you're afraid of his mother. In fact, if this was happening in a school, this would be called bullying. Heck, forget the school part - it is bullying.

Hey losers! Didn't Obama have something to say about bullying? Or did he make an exception for disabled children of people who scare both him and you?

In response to these despicable actions, people went and complained to the advertisers, three of whom have agreed to drop support of Whorekette. Well, good for them. From Life News:

Three large companies have dropped their advertisements on the liberal, pro-abortion Wonkette blog after it ran a post earlier today bashing pro-life former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin

Conservative political activists are up in arms because the post, which Wonkette has defended, calls Palin’s son trig, who has Down syndrome, “retarded,” “somewhat alive,” and includes crass claims that Palin conceived her son as a victim of incest.

At the site, you can see screenshots ot the Twitter messages that Papa John's, Huggies, and Vanguard posted, saying that they were withdrawing support.

Wonkette responded with tweets of its own claiming Papa Johns was engaging in “homophobia.”


“Boycott Papa Johns, spread the word,” the web site tweeted. “Homophobic Papa Johns. Why does every … pizza chain support wingnut extremists?”

This here is more proof that liberal should be kept in grade school forever, since they don't seem to understand the basic concept that WORDS HAVE MEANING. How is punishing bullies homophobic? Come on, Whorekette! I'm on pins and needles waiting for you to explain this one!

Meanwhile, Wonkette Chief Editor Ken Layne defended the post in response to a query from the web site Mediaite as one attacking Palin’s supposed use of her mentally disabled son at political events. He also tweeted: “We beat up on Sarah Palin’s craven use of her son as a political prop. Child protective services should take Trig away.”

Okay, I cannot recall one incident during her run as VP where Mrs. Palin EVER used her child as a political prop. Barack Obama and his media stooges, on the other hand, had no problem at all with using a disabled child to distract from Obama's statements about spreading the wealth around, Obama's missing school records, doctor records, and birth certificate.

So what we have here, Wonkette, is a case where you thought you could attack a disabled child, and then you started acting like a child when it came out that, oh yeah, most average Americans just can't endorse stuff like that.
You went out to hurt the Palin family by attacking their son on his birthday, and blew up in your face. Now you're forced to use the phrase "homophobic" to describe people who decided that you are not worth their time or money. When did we get homosexuals involved in this?

It's all fun and games, picking on other people's kids, until other people start picking on you.

The Back and Forth of Japan's 'Nuclear Meltdown'

I have waited a long time to write about events in Japan. The people there have my condolences, but as for information to pass along on this blog, there wasn't much to report.

So instead, I decided to wait and see what would happen with Japan's nuclear facilities, inasmuch as what happens over there will most certainly effect what happens over here.

The news about what is happening over there is being filtered through the American media, a group well known to most sane Americans as a group with nothing better to do but scaremonger. I can't believe anything those people tell me, and so I have been ignoring them in favor of the blogs. Gateway Pundits, as always, has been reporting on what's going on over there, and his commenters (the 'Punditeers') are very helpful with their knowledge.

Here are the two links that have been sitting in my favorites bar for nearly a week now, waiting for me to put them down here:

This site here I found a little difficult to understand; maybe someone else will have better luck than I.

And then we have William Tucker of the Wall street Journal saying that Japan does not face Another Chernobyl. Heck, that's what I've been screaming at the TV every time they mention a nuclear crises in Japan.

So honestly, as far as radiation goes, I haven't been to worried about that. What I have been worried about is the fact that people need food and shelter and POTUS is doing nothing - except golfing.

Then, last night, I found this from the British Newspaper Daily Mail: The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people

The article goes on:

The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears - as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing 'several radiation deaths' by the UN International Atomic Energy. Officials said the rating was raised after they realised the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant. They also said that 3 per cent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down. After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis. He said officials should have admitted earlier how serious the radiation leaks were.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: 'The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans. 'In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster.'

Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the crisis' severity. It is now officially on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Only the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 has topped the scale.

The way this is portrayed, you would think that there was nothing that could happen except FOR another Chernobyl, and I don't understand that, particularly because they compare affairs in Japan to Three Mile Island - and to the best of my understanding, nothing happened at Three Mile Island, other than a nuclear plant got shut down.

But this is by no means conclusive evidence that everyone is going to get cancer now. Form this week's Ann Coulter column, which I cannot link too:

With the terrible earthquake and resulting tsunami that have devastated Japan, the only good news is that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer.

This only seems counterintuitive because of media hysteria for the past 20 years trying to convince Americans that radiation at any dose is bad. There is, however,
burgeoning evidence that excess radiation operates as a sort of cancer vaccine.

As The New York Times science section reported in 2001, an increasing number of scientists believe that at some level -- much higher than the minimums set by the U.S. government -- radiation is good for you. "They theorize," the Times said, that "these doses protect against cancer by activating cells' natural defense mechanisms."

Among the studies mentioned by the Times was one in Canada finding that tuberculosis patients subjected to multiple chest X-rays had much lower rates of breast cancer than the general population.

And there are lots more!

A $10 million Department of Energy study from 1991 examined 10 years of epidemiological research by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on 700,000 shipyard workers, some of whom had been exposed to 10 times more radiation than the others from their work on the ships' nuclear reactors. The workers exposed to excess radiation had a 24 percent lower death rate and a 25 percent lower cancer mortality than the non-irradiated workers.

Isn't that just incredible? I mean, that the Department of Energy spent $10 million doing something useful? Amazing, right?

In 1983, a series of apartment buildings in Taiwan were accidentally constructed with massive amounts of cobalt 60, a radioactive substance. After 16 years, the buildings' 10,000 occupants developed only five cases of cancer. The cancer rate for the same age group in the general Taiwanese population over that time period predicted 170 cancers.

The people in those buildings had been exposed to radiation nearly five times the maximum "safe" level according to the U.S. government. But they ended up with a cancer rate 96 percent lower than the general population.

What? But the media said we would get cancer and die!!

Alright, not that I'm trying to downplay the fact that a tragedy happened in Japan, but I don't think Japan is anywhere near Chernobyl. I'm tired of the American (and now British) media running round shrieking that you need to start taking iodine or you'll die. Just when it seem like everyone is doomed (re: Daily Mail) I find something that shows that, wow, we're not doomed after all (see: Ann Coulter).

Only time will tell about the nuclear effects on Japan. I don't think it will be much. I don't even think it will hurt the West coast of America that much, even if we do get a cloud of radiation blown over.

Now will the media please settle down and stop portraying this as a new Chernobyl in the making?

Related: Radiation levels beyond 12 miles of Japanese nuke plant are normal

I Have Bad News About Swine Flu... Updated! Tell Me, is W.H.O. an Extension of the U.N.?

By now, it's likely that everyone in America has heard about the fact that Mexico has several hundred cases of swine flu, some of which have resulted in death. However, please take this moment to note that although there have been a few reported cases of swine flu in America, only one person, a two year old, has died from it.

Yes, you read that correctly. At the time I write this, only one person in the whole country has died from this disease. From the way the media talks, though, every other person in America has it, or, if they don't, then the pandemic's about to spread. Well, let's get to the root of this problem. From UK Reuters:

Barely 100 days in office, President Barack Obama is facing his first domestic emergency with the outbreak of swine flu and is seeing yet again how fresh challenges can erupt from the unlikeliest of places.

In the space of a month, he has had to deal with a North Korean missile launch and a hostage drama involving Somali pirates half a world away.

Um, no. Barack Obama did not do anything about North Korea, AT ALL (see Is Korean/American History Repeating Itself), nor did he do anything about the Somalian pirates, AT ALL (see I Love SEALs @ There's My Two Cents.)

But alas, those are different rants, for another time. I digress:

And now, from Mexico, comes a new flu that has killed up to 149 people south of the U.S. border but has not had the same deadly force in the United States, sickening at least 65.

If there is any clear tendency he has demonstrated in his response to all of these challenges, it is that he has responded to all of them with an abundance of caution.

He denounced the missile launch as provocative but made no sudden moves. The Somali pirate crisis played out over four days before U.S. snipers killed three pirates and freed the hostage American freighter captain.

In the case of this swine flu, Obama has walked a fine line, appearing concerned but trying not to generate panic among Americans already on edge from the weak U.S. economy.

"This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert. But it is not a cause for alarm," Obama said on Monday.

Really, Barry? Then would you please tell the media to shut up? They way they talk, we're on the verge of a pandemic.

...[Janet] Napolitano said the number of confirmed swine flu cases is likely to rise in the next few days, but that "we are confident in the efforts underway across the federal government and across state and local governments to keep Americans safe and healthy."

Good heavens, not again. Much like with the Korean/American History, history has popped up with some rather interesting notes. From capitalcentury.com:

On the cold afternoon of February 5, 1976, an Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike.

Within 24 hours, 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis of Ashley Falls, Mass., was dead, killed by an influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19, which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide.

Two weeks after the recruit's death, health officials disclosed to America that something called "swine flu" had killed Lewis and hospitalized four of his fellow soldiers at the Army base in Burlington County.

The ominous name of the flu alone was enough to touch off civilian fear of an epidemic. And government doctors knew from tests hastily conducted at Dix after Lewis' death that 500 soldiers had caught swine flu without falling ill.

Any flu able to reach that many people so fast was capable of becoming another worldwide plague, the doctors warned, raising these questions:

Does America mobilize for mass inoculations in time to have everybody ready for the next flu season? Or should the country wait to see if the new virus would, as they often do, get stronger to hit harder in the second year?

Thus was born what would become known to some medical historians as a fiasco and to others as perhaps the finest hour of America's public health bureaucracy.

No, I read the article, and it was mostly a fiasco. Only David Lewis died from the swine flu back in 1976, but the government decided to get everyone in America immunized against the dreaded disease.

Weeks after Lewis died, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and other federal public health officials were meeting in Washington, trying to decide if they should recommend the government start a costly program of mass inoculations.

One doc later told the authors of "The Epidemic that Never Was" that he and others in on the meetings realized there was "nothing in this for the CDC except trouble," especially because a decision had to be made fast to get the immunizations manufactured by the fall.

The whole thing was a lose-lose situation, as doctors faced criticism if the vaccine wasn't ready, but if they immunized everyone and the pandemic didn't come, they would still be criticized. But still, they started the immunizations. Then, things kind of went wrong...

Within days, however, several people who had taken the shot fell seriously ill. On Oct. 12, three elderly people in the Pittsburgh area suffered heart attacks and died within hours of getting the shot, which led to suspension of the program in Pennsylvania.

The effects of the vaccine were as bad as the flu. In fact, more people died from the vaccine then died from the flu.

On Dec. 16, increasingly concerned about reports of the vaccine touching off neurological problems, especially rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, the government suspended the program, having inoculated 40 million people for a flu that never came.

No pandemic, no massive chaos, just a bad virus and horrific hemorrhaging of taxpayer's money.

The question now is, Will history repeat itself? Obama is already asking for $1.5 billion dollars to fight the swine flu. If he decides to force everyone to get inoculated, well, we're gonna have some trouble.

Yes, swine flu does sound very sinister. But, like I said at the beginning of this post, only one person of the billions in America has died from it. That doesn't make the death any less important, but it should put things in perspective. Here's an interesting note from WebMD:

If your doctor suspects swine flu, he or she would be able to write you a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza. Those drugs may not be required; U.S. swine flu patients have made a full recovery without it.

I don't know -yet- if all this hype will have been about nothing, but Rahm Emmanuel said "Never waste a good crisis," so I have some suspicions.

No one can explain why people in Mexico have died and people in America have done alright; it could be alot of things. But I for one am sick to death of this fear mongering. Yes, I don't know whether or no this will get worse. But at the moment, I do know two things:

1) 68 people infected is by no means a epidemic.
2) The fear mongering is making this whole thing out to be worse than it actually is.

So please, until we have about 1 million people in the country affected by this sickness, can we please not run around screaming that the sky is falling?

(Postscript: I don't know if there's a vaccination against this round of swine flu. Back in 1976 there was a vaccine, but WebMD has indicated there is not a vaccine. It's probable that after the fiasco with the first swine flu vaccine, they're not giving it out again, but I don't really know.)

Begun 4-28-09
Completed 4-29-09
______________________________________________________

Update! 4-30-09

Is the World Health Organization an extension of the U.N? Seriously. This is the kind of stupidity I would expect from the United Nations.

There are, I believe, 150 cases of swine flu outside Mexico. Actually, according to one website I was looking at, it's 148, but still basically 150 cases in nine different countries.

So what does W.H.O. decide to do? Stop just short of declaring a pandemic. The Associated Press reports:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has delivered a strong signal that a swine flu pandemic is imminent by increasing its alert level to five.

The alert phase is characterised by human-to-human transmission of the virus into at least two countries, and indicates that the time to finalise planned mitigation measures is short.

They're about ready to declare a pandemic based on 148 cases of flu outside Mexico? 148? You've gotta be kidding me. As for human-to-human trasmisson, that's also how normal flu spreads, a cold spreads, chicken pox spreads, I could probably come up with a list, given enough time, of diseases that spread through human to human contact.

How is this deserving of an almost pandemic? The cases in other countries, and the death here in the U.S. happened because the people involved had recently visited Mexico.

Good grief.

Is Korean/American History Repeating Itself?

By now, chances are everyone in America knows that North Korea is up to no good. (Everyone except liberals: "There are none so blind as those who will not see.") I don't know about you, but North Korea's making me pretty nervous.

I've never liked North Korea. North Korea, China, Russia, Cuba, and please welcome Iran (, the newest member,) are all countries that aren't high on my list of favorite countries, mostly because all except maybe Iran are Communist countries, and I have about as much use for Communism as my European ancestors had for the Bubonic Plague.

Several weeks ago, an article about North Korea planning to launch a "satellite" came to my attention. It interested me because as I read the comments from N. Korea, I noticed they were just getting more and more shrill: "We're going to launch a satellite, and if you blow it up, that will be an act of war. If you blow our satellite up, we'll declare war on you!" And on and on it went, getting more and more shrill. So I read it and sat in my chair, thinking, "Okay, you're up to something. I don't know what it is, but you're up to something." And wouldn't you know, they were.

Time passed, and it went from "satellite" to rocket. And, by the way, the first one has been launched. Rumor has it that there are three rockets, but I can't deny or confirm that...yet.

North Korea shot off its rocket tonight at 10:30 EST.FOX News reported:

North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.

"We look on this as a provocative act," U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said.The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.

That stern finger wagging by President Obama didn't seem to deter them much, did it?

But wait, it gets better. North Korea launches rocket, D'Obama decides everyone in the world should disarm, starting with America. Oh, by the way Mr. Lash, are you going to do anything about this provocative act? I didn't think so. Here's a hint: The dictator of N. Korea could really care less what the U.N. has to say. But I digress; back to NObama:

Just hours after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, President Barack Obama called for "a world without nuclear weapons" and said the United States has a “moral responsibility ” to lead the way, as the only nation ever to use them.

Ummm, What the crap? "N. Korea fired a rocket. Quick! We have to hurry! Pull out! Pull Out!!" That's actually how China's in the mess it's in, but I'll get to that in a minute. Let's continue:

“Now is the time for a strong international response, and North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons,” Obama said to a crowd estimated at 20,000 in the cobblestone square at the elegant Prague Castle, in what was the largest audience of his five-country, eight-day swing.

“All nations must come together to build a stronger, global regime. And that's why we must stand shoulder to shoulder to pressure the North Koreans to change course.”

Oh yeah, 'cause that worked so well the first time we tired it. I refer to the first quote in this blog post: "North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch." I don't think Kim Jong Il's feelin' the pressure.

Now, let's look at the Korean War. This often overshadowed by World War II, before it, and the Vietnam War, after it. And apparently, it wasn't actually a war, and least not from the American viewpoint:

In North Korea, while commonly known as the Korean War, it is formally called the Joguk haebang jeonjaeng or Fatherland Liberation War (Hangul: 조국해방전쟁; Hanja: 祖國解放戰爭). In the United States, the conflict was officially termed a police action — the Korean Conflict — rather than a war, largely in order to avoid the necessity of a declaration of war by the U.S. Congress.

Strange. I'm used to "Korean War" instead of "Korean Conflict", so I will be referring to it as a war. I got out my history book and looked this up, and found it pretty interesting, if not with some scary comparisons. Here's the shortened, paraphrased version.

(The president when the Korean War happened was the Democrat Harry Truman.) After WWII, Korea was divided with the north half controlled by Russia and the south half controlled by America. Both countries were supposed to let the Koreans establish their own government in a unified country, but the U.S. and Russia didn't trust each other.

The United States set up a democracy in South Korea, and the Communists Russians set up a puppet Communist government over in N. Korea. Meanwhile, over in China, the Nationalists (the good guys) were fighting the Chinese Communists in attempt to take control of China. A U.S. general went over to try and negotiate peace between the groups, but that didn't happen. Dissatisfied, the general recommended that U.S. troops be withdrawn from China. Without U.S. support, the Nationalists were overwhelmed, and were forced to escape to the island of Taiwan. (Remember this fact; Taiwan will reappear later.)

With China and N. Korea controlled by Commies, South Korea was in trouble. The brilliant U.S. State Department decided to appease and contain Communists (Because that worked so well when dealing with Hitler.) Finally, the Secretary of State said the U.S. would protect the Philippines and Japan but wouldn't get involved on the Asian mainland.

Sure, just hand the Commies an invitation. But that was what the Commies saw, and they took it, and invaded S. Korea on June 25, 1950. N. Korea went in after S. Korea.

Now, look. This was tried prior to WWII, when dealing with Hitler. Appease, appease, appease, contain, contain, contain. It was used with Nazism (which is just an extension of Communism.) Hitler wanted part of Czechoslovakia; France and Britain negotiated with the Czechs and gave it to him. He claimed it would be his last conquest; one bloody war later....

History lessons one and two:

1) Never try to appease Communists.
2) Never trust a Communist.

Now back to Korea. Appeasing the Communists by pulling out didn't work. The United Nations demanded N. Korea stop; N. Korea (surprise, surprise) ignored them. The Commies made it all the way to Seoul before the U.N. finally did something. By July 1st, the U.S. Army was back in Korea under the command of General MacArthur. S. Korea, the U.N., and America were still outnumbered. Finally, MacArthur moved part of his forces up near Seoul, cut the N. Korean supply lines, and then recombined the army and basically overran the place.

This alarmed the People's Republic of China Communism, who immediately sent 300,000 soldiers to help N. Korea. The U.N. troops were pushed back, but before MacArthur could carry out his next plan of attack, Truman replaced him with a different general.

See, MacArthur wanted a complete victory. He didn't just want to appease and contain. Truman didn't want an all-out confrontation with Communism. The Chinese Nationalists offered to come help South Korea, and he sent American ships to prevent them from leaving Taiwan. Technically, the Korean War may not be over, since all that came from it was a truce and not a peace treaty.

Now, look. Here's my point. Do you see what Truman did? He wanted to appease and contain, not eliminate the problem. Obama wants to appease and contain, not confront N. Korea. He's as much as said it. Obama would rather pressure N. Korea to stop, and that didn't work. The United Nations is worth nothing. They have no power, and can do nothing.

Obama thinks America ought to disarm to inspire N. Korea to do the same. Really? Does this idiot remember America has these things called 'enemies'? And they want us dead? Freedom is a bane to Communism, and I cite the Berlin wall to back that. Russia built that wall to keep people from escaping to freedom.

North Korea seems to be itching to start something. The question is, will Obama do anything about it? The American people seem to want something done. Obama, however, doesn't seem to feel that way.

We know Obama lacks the will to use the military for pro-active measures (like securing American interests abroad), but did he even bother with defense? The U.S. has developed a missile defense shield to protect ourselves and our allies from precisely this sort of attack, but one of the key pieces of that defense -- an extremely powerful radar system -- was floating idly at Pearl Harbor. I'm sure our ally Japan really appreciated our help as North Korea's missile rocketed straight toward it.

I hope our allies will forgive us for what Obama has done. Is it to much to ask that we at least intimidate N. Korea with a show of strength? There's also this thing called a "preemptive strike."
North Korea doesn't care what the U.N. says. Communists don't play by the rules. So why does Obama insist that the rest of us play by the rules? Ace of Spades put it pretty well:

After Obama acknowledges that the N. Koreans ignored UN Resolutions, he calls on the N. Koreans to abide by them. This is smart and tough diplomacy?

That is a rhetorical question. I hope no one gets hurt while Obama flubs his way through foreign policy.

Begun 4-5-09
Ended 4-6-09

Iraq War Hero Denied Entrance to The U.S.

Well, it wasn't Obama this time, it was the State Department. Oh, for the love of our allies:

The State Department has made a decision to make an Iraqi translator, Jasim, wait another three years for a visa. One of the reasons that the denial was issued was that, Jasim, as part of the Kurdish Peshmerga, infiltrated Uday Hussein's organization to steal data and then stole Uday's car to escape. He was captured, tortured, and then released six years later when Saddam let all the prisoners go on the eve of the Invasion in 2003.

The theft of Uday's car is looked upon as criminal and not political.

"On several occasions while our guys were putting rounds down range, Jasim put himself in harm's way to pull the wounded out and treat them," Keene said. "Jasim is a hero to everyone he has ever met."

After the invasion, Jasim became a legendary translator, assisting
above and beyond.

"I owe my life to Jasim ... hands down," said Master Sgt. Jason Krieger, who went on over 200 combat patrols with Jasim. "I consider him a brother, not only in arms, but in love as well."

For six years, Jasim has put his life on the line to help our troops. His stepbrother paid the ultimate price for Jasim's heroism.

Jasim said his stepbrother, in fact, was captured in the fall of 2007 and was tortured to death in an effort to get to him. The U.S. Army officer who received and processed the report on the murder, Major LeslieParks, told FOXNews.com that Jasim's stepbrother was tortured with an electric drill through his eyes.

So his application had letters of recommendation, awards and certifications from soldiers, and the DoD and DHS approval.

Do I smell liberal, or just error? I can't help but wonder... The most relevant bits from Fox News:

An Iraqi translator who has earned commendations for risking his life repeatedly to save the lives of many American soldiers in combat has been denied a visa to live in the United States because of nonviolent actions he took to overthrow Saddam Hussein — at the same time the U.S. government was calling for regime change in Iraq.

Jasim, whose name is being withheld for his safety, has received strong support from the U.S. military, and the Department of Homeland Security approved his application for a visa. But the State Department has denied Jasim a visa because he was arrested in 1996 for actions against the Saddam dictatorship.

Some of Jasim's supporters, however, believe the real reason he's been denied a visa is that he has become a "nuisance" to State Department personnel at the Baghdad Embassy. The State Department, citing privacy concerns, declined to discuss Jasim's case.

Because Iraqi translators are seen by jihadists and former Baathists as "traitors," Jasim's life is at greater risk the longer he stays in Iraq, according to multiple State Department and U.S. military officials. A number of translators and their families have already been tortured and/or murdered.

Wait, it gets better. Keep reading:

U.S. military officials familiar with Jasim's case believe that he will be in even greater danger after U.S. forces withdraw from most of Iraq next year.

The State Department, meanwhile, has told Jasim that he must wait three more years before he can apply for a waiver of its visa rejection.

When he applied for his visa, Jasim feared it might be denied by an overworked consular officer on the basis of his arrest, so he attached a letter explaining the full circumstances.

Jasim wrote that his hatred of Saddam was formed at a young age, as the regime murdered five of his relatives during his childhood. Barely into adulthood, Jasim joined the Peshmerga, a largely Kurdish group whose primary goal in the 1990s was to overthrow Saddam — an objective supported by the Clinton administration.

The Pehmerga assigned Jasim to obtain documents and eavesdropping equipment that were in the possession of Saddam's ruthless son, Uday, and Jasimn said that he stole Uday's car in order to retrieve the documents and equipment.

Soon after, he was arrested, and he was sentenced to life in prison. For the next six and a half years, he was routinely tortured, he said.

On the eve of the Coalition invasion in 2003, Hussein released many prisoners as a "goodwill" gesture, and Jasim was among them.

... Four experts in visa policy, including three former consular officers who reviewed Jasim's case history for FOXNews.com, said they found the official reasoning for Jasim's denial puzzling...

They said a specific provision in the law relating to "crimes of moral turpitude" should define Jasim's action of stealing Uday Hussein's car as "political," thus making him eligible for a visa. The first exception listed in the relevant law is that "purely political" actions do not qualify as "crimes of moral turpitude."

...Even if the State Department were to ignore the political motivations of Jasim's actions, each expert agreed that standard car theft likely wouldn't
disqualify an applicant with an otherwise clean record.

"It's not such a serious crime that you could say anyone who steals a
car is ineligible for a visa. Then you consider that it happened over a decade
ago, while he was young, and he has no other criminal history," explained a
former consular officer who served two tours. But, he stressed, "It certainly
seems political to me."

It's just not good enough for the State Department. I won't be emailing them becuase my family is frowning on me for even suggesting that I email, but here's what I would have written:

Dear Sir:

It has come to my attention that a man known as "Jasim" who assisted us in the war on terror, has been denied a visa to the United States. I would like to know why this is.

Thank You.

Because first, I want to know why (And car theft doesn't seem like a good reason). Then I'll take it from there. From Gateway Pundit:

Here is the link to the contact email form.The main switchboard phone number is here: 202-647-4000 The Press Office is (202) 647-2492 Contact Congress.

Be polite, be professional, be unwavering in letting them know they are going to be hearing a lot more about this bureaucratic issue that could easily be resolved.

I might ignore my family and email them yet, but I doubt it. I smell liberal at the back of this...

Happy New Year!

And so I return, back from vacation. Happy New Year everyone!

The blog is mostly back to normal... one of these days I'll get around to putting my proper banner back up. Eventually.

And I'd like to start off this year by clarifying something that's had me confused for a long time.

You know the Iraq War, right? America Won.

We might not be through over there, but we won the war.

Great News!

And the left said we'd fail. Thank you President Bush for never giving up, and thank you to our troops, who make it safe for us to live here.

And that's all for this round.

L8R PPL!!

A Reason Not To Care

Today I was shown a letter written by a woman from Louisiana, and I must say, this woman is correct. She did not sign her name to it. If you agree with what you see here, pass it on.

Letter from one 'Angry Woman'

'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001 ?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ?

Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was 'desecrated' when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?...Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia

I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for chopping off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don't care..

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed 'special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran' and other times 'Quran.' Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and-you guessed it-I don't care !!

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:

'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem' -- Ronald Reagan

I have another quote that I would like to add AND.......I hope you forward all this.

'If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.' Also by.. Ronald Reagan

One last thought for the day: In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England 's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said: 'A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.'

The last thing, by the way, that we should do is to elect a muslim as President of the United States, someone who claims to love America yet, WILL NOT salute the flag, WILL NOT pledge allegience to our flag, and sat in a church listening to a 'pastor' that HATES America! Are you Freakin' kidding me?

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ

2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM.