The "Way Back Machine"

I'm probably dating my self by this, but...do you remember Sherman, Mr Peabody, and the "Way Back Machine?" For those of you scratching your heads, it was a part of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. For those still scratching their heads, just google it! I can't spend the entire blog giving cartoon history lessons. Anyway....Mr Peabody (the genius, talking beagle with the big glasses) had a time travel machine he used to take Sherman (the red headed boy with the big glasses) back into the past and teach him about historic events-which we (and Sherman) always discovered to our amusement- never quite happened the way history told us. "Where I am going with all this?" you ask, still scratching. Well....with apologies to Sherman and Mr Peabody, let's take a trip to not so long ago in the "Way Back Machine."

Remember 2006? More specifically...do you remember how badly the war in Iraq was going in 2006? Every day it seemed, we were seeing images of yet another IED (Improvised Explosive Device) killing three or five or ten American soldiers or a suicide bomber was walking into a crowd, or a car packed with explosives was pulling up next to a mosque or bazaar or wedding and blowing innocent Iraqis to bits. Al Qaeda in Iraq was on the verge of plunging the country into civil war. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, along with most Democrats in congress as well as several Republicans, were screaming "The war is lost!" "We need to get out now!" "There's no way we can win!" In the November elections, Democrats won control of both the House and Senate, largely on the promise that "they" the newly elected (D's) would end the war and bring the troops home. President Bush ummm.....let SecDef Rumsfield resign. In December generals (retired and active) former statesment of all sorts, and just about everyone advised G Dubbyah maybe it was time call it a day in Iraq, come home, lick our wounds and let the reeling country stand or fall into chaos. G -man said "thanks for the advice," then on 10 Janurary 2007 announced "The Surge" and that he was sending 20,000 more troops into Iraq, to secure Baghdad and Anbar Province. Just about everyone in congress screamed it was folly, a waste of more lives and more money. Months went by....things didn't improve. More bombs. More American deaths. Then...slowly...the tide seemed to turn. Even though the D's wouldn't admit it- (in fact, Senator Hillary Clinton just about flat called Gen. David Petraeus a liar when he appeared before congress as said things were getting better) even though they wouldn't admit it, the tide had turned. Now spring forward to today. When was the last time you saw footage of a car bomb blowing up a mosque? When was the last time the lead story was a squad of Marines getting wiped out by an IED? Iraq has improved so much that Al Qaeda in Iraq is just about finished and new Jihadist recruits have virtually abandoned Iraq as lost and are choosing to fight in Afghanistan. (where- incidentally- there are about only 1/7th the number of American troops).

Now....some of you are probably still scratching your heads about why we took a trip with Mr Peabody in the "Way Back Machine." Hopefully, some of you have guessed where I'm going. Why did we revisit the dark days of 2006? Because oh....four months from now we'll be asked to choose between two men with very different views of history and the future and make him president. And that president will inherit the war in Iraq and Afghansitan.

On the one hand we've got John McCain; 24 years in the senate, navy fighter pilot, Viet Nam vet, POW for five years. On the other hand theres, Barack Obama; less than three years in the senate, seven years in the Illinois state senate, zero days in uniform, community organizer and civil rights lawyer.

First and foremost, let me say that having never served in the military does not immediately disqualify Barack from being commander in chief. At the same time, being a fighter pilot and POW does not qualify Sen McCain. Neither did being a Texas National Guard pilot qualifed George Bush. Or a swift boat commander in 'Nam qualify John Kerry. Or a combat journalist in 'Nam qualify Al Gore. Or a draft dodger qualify....well, you get the picture.

What qualifies a man (or woman)- old or young- red or yellow, black or white, veteran or not- to be president and commander in chief, is a clear, unclouded, realistic view of the world and what it will take to defend America and protect our interest at home and abroad.

John McCain knows how cruel and heartless the enemies of America can be. He's felt the whip. He's took the beatings. He knows what it means to "serve" his country with blood and sweat and pain. I may not agree with everything he says, but John McCain knows what it will take to protect America. He was one of the few to embrace "The Surge." In some circles it was even called, "The McCain Options" because of his unwavering support. In a large part, because of John McCain's support of the surge, we no longer see nightly footage of IEDs and dead Americans. Iraq is more secure, more safe, and on the way to standing on it's own. John McCain, will insure that we leave Iraq with a true, lasting victory.

Barack Obama's knowledge of "serving" his country comes in large part from holding a job where he's spent half of the last ten years getting paid to look for a different job, while holding a job where he can vote himself a pay raise. So has John McCain? Yeah, but...because Barack has never known the price of real service, his view of the world is decidedly different, decidedly naive, decidely....dangerous. When asked this week (while in Iraq no less) knowing what he knows now, whether he'd support the "Surge" if he could "Way Back..." to '06, Barack said,..."No." It wasn't the surge that turned the tide in Iraq. It was a convergance of forces, political, idealogical, and a change of debate...which, coincidentally, occured at the same time 20,000 more Amercian combat troops arrived in Iraq.

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/knowing-what-he-knows-now-obama-would-still-not-support-surge/

Barack Obama....ONE WEEK...after the September 11th, while the center of New York City was still a pile of smoldering rubble, said that Al Qaeda attacked us, not because they are evil, demented, heartless murders, but because they lacked "empathy" and were just....frustrated I guess, from poverty and ignorance.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70119

Of the two, which will you trust to be commander in chief? Let's face it, despite what a President does, or says, our country pretty much runs itself on most things. But as the commander of our armed forces, the man with the finger on the red button, the man who will inherit Iraq and Afghanistan, who must face down Iran's quest for "THE" bomb and North Korea and China and the IslamoFacist, who do you want?

In 2010 or 11, if we take another ride in "The Way Back Machine," will you look back a say, "Geez....what the heck was I thinking? This is not the change I signed up for at all!" Or will you say, "You know, he may be old, but the President sure don't let the world give us no crap."

Come on Mr Peabody, I wanna take a trip back to '87 when a real American gave a speech in Berlin.

"We the People...Update

Just a quick update. On July 3rd in "We the People..." I suggested that if Congress just agreed to talk about drilling in ANWAR and off our coasts the price of a barrel of oil would drop below $100. They haven't started talking yet but...President Bush recently lifted the ban on drilling off the coasts and ummm....guess what? Since he lifted the ban, it's suddenly been discovered there's currently an unexpected surplus of both oil reserves and refined gas. The price of a barrel of oil has dropped from it's all time high of $145 plus and closed today at $128.88. That's almost $20 in two weeks. I won't be so vain as to suggest that I knew what I was talking about but...makes you wonder if I was on to something, don't it? Of course, if it drops much further, I'm confident Iran will shoot off another missle or President Ahmforjihad will give a speech or sneeze or something that will shift the price upward again.

On the border....Have you heard anything in the news about the ongoing flood of drugs and illegals? I haven't, but during the week of 6-16 July, Border Patrol agents in Tucson Sector seized over 8,579 pounds of marijuana valued at $6,863,200. Arrests include 18 violent criminals, including 8 sex offenders, 6 gang members, and a homicide suspect. There were also 11 incidents of our BP agents getting "rocked" along the border. That's the quaint "custom" of illegals or smugglers throwing rocks at the familar green and white vehicles driven by the agents because they know they can do it with relative impunity since the BP is stretched so thin they can't chase and apprehend the rock throwers and still do their jobs.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/weekly_blotter/0706_0716.xml

But during the same period, both Senators McCain and Obama met with La Raza and once again promised "comprehensive border reform" That's of course, the phrase that usually means "amnesty" for illegals already in this country.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mccain15-2008jul15,0,6247901.story?track=rss

La Raza, for those of you who don't know, is the Latino organization closely associated with MECHA who on their own web site speak plainly about their ulimate goal of reclaiming the southwestern United States for the Latio race. http://www.mayorno.com/WhoIsMecha.html

Are you brushing up on your Spanish yet?

As for the Global War on Terror....I've not been watching the Obama circus make it's may across Afghanistan and Iraq. What's the point of watching the networks "Oooh and Aaah" over the Senator who had his mind made up before he went over. Combat troops out of Iraq by 2010. McCain at least has said "no timetable" let the situation on the ground and the commanders in the field tell us when it's time to come home. He wanted to speak his point again in an OpEd piece in the New York Times but was told no thanks. Not unless you change your positions to one more like Senator Obama's.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/21/nyt_op-ed_page_sends_mccain_ir.html

Well....that's about enough for today. I'm still recovering from driving 500 miles round trip to watch my step son play in the 10-11 year old Little League state tournament in Johnson City, TN. Maryville beat Smith County Saturday 16-15. JD went 4 for 5 and Smith County scored 9 runs in the bottom of the sixth to almost pull it out. That....is a part of America that I pray to God never changes.

"We the People..."

July 4th. Independance Day. What are you going to do to celebrate the 232nd anniversary of "We the People...."? You're probably planning on doing the same thing as the majority of America; maybe sleep a little later, mow the lawn before it gets too hot, in the afternoon you'll go to a relatives house or have friends over and you'll grill some dogs or burgers, drink a few beers, then either light some fireworks or go somewhere and watch your city/county burn up 25 or 50K worth of Chinese product that no one thinks 'twice' about buying.

I'll planning on doing the same. And I'm going to get my money's worth this years because, somewhere in the deep, dark of my aching heart, I have a sad feeling that if "We the People" don't get off our collectives arses and do something fast, this will be the last 4th of July the good ol' US of A is going to be worth celebrating for spit.

I'd planned on writing praises about the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision this week to overturn DC's ban on owning a handgun. Huzzah! For the first time in 200 years, the majority of the court actually "agreed" that the 2nd Amendment gives law abiding American citizens the right to bear arms. Then I got to thinking that maybe it was like an apology for some of their earlier decisions this term, and they thought we'd need them. They also voted 5-4 to allow enemy combatants (ummm....terrorists) to challenge their detention in federal court. Not just the enemy comba....the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay but also those held at Bagram AFB in Afghanistan or in Bagdad, Iraq. (For thoughts on these poor, wrongly held innocents, you can read a couple of my earlier blogs) Oh...and by the way, a GAO (Government Accounting Office) report released in May says that 37 of the terrorists who have been released from Camp Delta at Gitmo because they were determined not to be so bad, have either been confirmed or reported as fighting "Again" in Afghanistan or Iraq. The latest being a released Kuwaiti who blew himself up in Mosul, Iraq while driving a truck packed with 5 to 10 thousand pounds of explosives. Unfortunately, he killed 13 Iraqi soldiers and wounded another 42. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/06/released_gitmo_detainee_in_sui.html

Anyway, in another court decision (5-4) they banned the death penalty for child rapists. Guess in a twisted way you can consider it a "good" thing that Michael Jacques of Vermont kidnapped his niece before killing her. If he'd only raped her while initiating her into his sex slave ring, Vermont would have given him 6 months probation and counseling. Oh wait, he had already undergone and "graduated" Vermonts therapy for sex offenders and was on probation.

Last blog I told you about how our southern border is still hemorraging to the tune of 250,000 illegal entrants a year ( Remember...that's only in Tucson Sector ) well, now Fox is warning us that our 4000 mile border with Canada is primed to allow more than just Moosehead Beer and hockey to find it's way south http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376244,00.html.

What else? Oil topped $145 a barrell today. Average price of unleaded is now $4.10 a gallon

For the sixth straight month, more Americans lost their jobs. We're up to 438,ooo so far this year. Just to keep unemployment at 5.5% we need to generate 100,000 jobs a month. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080703/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy.

Iraq is improving (but you probably don't know it 'cause good news about the GWOT isn't reported. ) But the Taliban just won't quit in Afghanistan. For the second straight month, more coalition troops died in Afghansitan than Iraq. 28 Americans died there last month. The most since the war began in October 2001. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/02/asia/troops.php

Where am I going with all this? Well, tomorrow is the 4th. Independance Day. And God Bless America, I think it's time for another revolution! I told someone the other day that it's always been my opinion that you shouldn't complain about government if you don't offer any solutions. Well, here you go. Happy 4th of July.

Today, July 4th, 2008, every American worthy of calling him or herself "We the People", needs to declare independance from Republican and Democratic Party political pandering and demand their congressman/congresswoman and senators roll up their sleeves and get to work fixing this nation!

1) To the Supreme Court: The Jihadist at Gitmo are not accused purse snatchers caught on the streets of Atlanta or Chicago or Nashville, TN that have a right to a public defender and Habeas Corpus. Want to close Gitmo? Line 'em all up against a wall. Ready. Aim. Fire. Problem solved.

2) To Michael Jacques and other child rapists: Ready. Aim. Fire. You sick, sorry, perverted, sonsof... ummm....again, problem solved. Call it 7.62mm ventilation therapy.

3) To President Bush and Secretary Chertoff: Put the National Guard back on the border; north and south, 4 man teams every mile. At 24 hrs on 48 hours off, at 5800 miles of border, that's 69,600 guardsmen. Keep them there until you've hired enough BP agents to do the job right and close the damn border! Then figure out what to do about the 12 to 20 million people who are in this country illegally. Besides granting them amnesty!

4) To the US House and Senate: just agreeing to drill for oil in ANWAR and off the coast of Florida, Louisianna, and California and agreeing to build new refinaries and nuclear power plants and agreeing to tax credits for companies to find other alternative fuels (besides the joke of ethanol!) will lower the price of oil below $100 a barrell.

5) Againt to the congress and sentate: doing the above will stop the hemorraging of job losses and rising inflation and put 100,000 people a month back to work. There's a lot more things you can do! Just do it!

6) To Uncle Sam....please for the Love of God and Country! Please quit trying to win the war on terror with the minimum amount of troops to keep them contained! Mobilize the damn military! Mobilize the damn country! And declare war on terrorism. Islamic Fasicst Terrorism! And wipe them out once and for all! Whatever happened to "We will not tire. We will not falter. We will not fail."?

And lastly, to Senator Obama, Senator McCain: stop playing politics and come up with some plan, any plan, that addresses the real problems with real solutions that do not involve taxing us to death or driving the budget so high even the godless Chinese communist won't by our bonds and finance our debt so we'll continue to turn a blind eye to their hunger for world dominion.

Whew.....I'm spent.

Happy 4th of July. Pray it's not the last where "We the People" are still actually free.

God Bless America. And forgive us Father, we know not what we do.