Venezuela

Venezuela ramps up their oil exports to China, as Chavez claims that the United States is trying to sabotage Venezuela's economy.

We want small government and a big market," says Hong Kong's chief executive.

By Mary Kissel
Opinion Journal

Lieberman Warns Democrats: I May Join GOP: "Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut fired a shot across the bow of the Senate's Democratic majority, warning them he may bolt the party and join the GOP if Congress votes to withhold funding for the war in Iraq."

Violence Escalates As 'Border Gangs' Become More Ruthless

Deomcrat Shenanigans

Washington Post:
Dems Aim to Repeal 2002 War Authorization Resolution

Boston Globe/AP:
Senate Democrats move to limit the US mission in Iraq

Cheney warns on Chinese build-up

Egypt: Terrorists planning Sinai attack

Homeland Security Funding ‘Pork’ Under Fire
In 2005, Kentucky won a $36,300 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to protect bingo halls from terrorist infiltration, and last year, the federal government granted $46,908 in homeland security funds to protect a limo and bus service that transports New Yorkers to the affluent Hamptons in Long Island...

Global Warmers ‘Shouldn’t Make Us All Worship At Their Church'
(CNSNews.com) – Discussing energy policy options Thursday, experts in Washington, D.C. disagreed about how to address the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed by many scientists for climate change...

The U.S. Should Oppose the Proposed U.N. Alliance of Civilizations

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” —James Madison

THE DEMENTED DEMAGOGIC DEMOCRAT DESTRUCTION DERBY

By Tony Blankley

"Last month, Sen. Barack Obama called for our troops to leave Iraq by March 2008. Last weekend, Sen. Hillary Clinton called for our troops to start leaving within 90 days.

In this Demented Demagogic Democrat Destruction Derby (military status: 5F) of American national-security interests, I suppose former Sen. John Edwards, in an effort to hold on to his title of supremo anti-war candidate, will have to designate it a crime against humanity that the troops weren't pulled out a week ago last Friday.

Mrs. Clinton's husband had a campaign war room in the election of 1992. Now she seems to have put up a quick prefabricated anti-war room for her campaign 2008.

It seems almost pointless to engage in a serious policy debate with a party whose leading contenders for the presidency are willing to simply make up any preposterous national security policy in a contest of one-upmanship targeted at winning the hearts and minds (if that is the word for it) of their party's ready-for-institutionalizing edge of their lunatic fringe voters."
Read on...

THE WORLDS RICHEST AND MOST DANGEROUS GANGSTER

"Suppose there's a Mafia Don. Not a benign and pro-American Marlon Brando Godfather, but a ruthless brutal gangster who hates America and holds a bottomless grudge against her.

Let's suppose this Mafioso has amassed an enormous personal fortune of ill-gotten gains. Stashed away in hidden bank accounts and assets all over the world, his net worth exceeds 20 billion dollars - billion with a ‘b'.

But say that's just his personal stash. Say the total amount of money his gang has accumulated is 300 billion - almost a third of a trillion dollars in cash. Say he controls it.

Let's finally suppose that this centibillionaire anti-American gangster has an arsenal of several thousand nuclear bombs, most of them in the nose cones of intercontinental missiles aimed at us.

If there were such a man, shouldn't we be a bit more worried about him than a bankrupt midget in Persia without a single real nuke to his name?

For there is indeed such a man. His name is Vladimir Putin, President of Russia." -- Dr. Jack Wheeler

THE ENEMY WITHIN

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear." -- Cicero (106-43 BC)

Dr. Jack Wheeler writes: "Marcus Tullius Cicero spoke those words in the Roman Senate over two thousand years ago. But his words could be addressed to Traitor John Murtha and the leadership of the Democrat Party today.

They have bet on America's defeat in Iraq. Somehow they believe that their country's defeat will bring them personal victory in 2008 - retaining and expanding their control of Congress and regaining the White House."

Priceless Politics: Part III

By Thomas Sowell

"Senator Barack Obama recently said, 'let's allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country's middle class again.'

Ironically, he said it at a time when Detroit automakers have been laying off unionized workers by the tens of thousands, while Toyota has been hiring tens of thousands of non-union American automobile workers."

Declaration of War

By Charles Krauthammer

The United States has fought many wars since 1941, but never again declared one. Abroad, no one declares war anymore either, perhaps because it has the anachronistic feel of an aristocratic challenge.

Trolling for International Admiration

By David Limbaugh

While arrogantly guaranteeing that she would be the next president, Hillary Clinton promised to stop America from being an "arrogant power." Well, maybe when she accomplishes her mission, she can begin to work on herself.

The top 9 reaons why a Democratic president can't handle the war on terrorrism

By John Hawkins

"[I]f this nation were unfortunate enough to be burdened for four years with Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton or one of the other liberals contending for the Democratic nomination, things would be even worse this time around. Why would that be the case? There are a variety of reasons for it."

Senator Lott Floods the Zone

A house is lost and now a senator wants revenge.

Mrs. Clinton seems less inevitable after this week.

Bill Clinton's middle-class squeeze.

"... [The Judicial Branch] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments." -- Alexander Hamilton

Defeatist Media

By Hugh Hewitt

Writing for Townhall:
"As General Petraeus begins to implement the new strategy in Baghdad, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced the first permanent reduction of British troops from southern Iraq. Both are signs of progress towards Iraqi stability, and yet both are widely reported by an agenda media as indications of defeat.

As columnist Mark Steyn observed this past weekend, no matter what the news from Iraq, the elite media in America will find a way to spin it as bad news. This is suicide by media bias. Without any standard and increasingly without regards to facts, the American media have become invested in seeing the American military defeated in Iraq, and even in declaring defeat in the face of victory.

The thorough-going ideological corruption of the Beltway-Manhattan media elite is as obvious as it is dangerous. The only alternative is the continued rapid growth in new media and the collapse of old media's revenues as readers reject their obviously tainted product."

It is amazing isn't it that the media and the left (of which there is no discernible difference) belly-ached, squawked & squealed, that 20,000 extra troops being added (the 'surge') was of no consequence ... too little, too late.... it wasn't enough to make a difference, but yet a drawn down of 1,600 British troops is so catastrophic?

ON LIBERALISM

“It takes a lot more integrity, character, and courage to be a conservative than it does to be a liberal. That’s because at its most basic level, liberalism is nothing more than childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues.” —John Hawkins

Why the Bewilderment?

“It looks like the Muslim teen who opened fire on shoppers in a Salt Lake City mall is yet another case of ‘sudden jihad syndrome,’ a condition in which normal-appearing American Muslims abruptly turn violent. Taken together, this and other cases add up to an invisible jihad inside America. But don’t tell that to the FBI. The politically correct bureau does everything it can to avoid recognizing the obvious Islamic factor in these heinous crimes. Sulejman Talovic, an 18-year-old Bosnian Muslim immigrant, was loaded with enough ammo to ‘inexplicably’ kill dozens of victims—and he would have, if an alert off-duty cop hadn’t returned fire and stopped him. Talovic still managed to methodically murder five and wound four others with a shotgun. Witnesses say it was an act of cold-blooded violence aimed at random victims—something otherwise known as terrorism. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Talovic attended Friday prayers at a mosque about a block from the mall. Yet the FBI saw no religious motive, and quickly ruled out terrorism. Nor could it find anything to indicate terrorism in several other Muslim-tied cases since 9/11... In all these cases, the feds’ first reaction was to shrug. They said the perps were lone individuals who just went ballistic after having a bad day, as if anyone could have done such crimes. But they weren’t just anyone. They were all young Muslim men... We’re likely to see more of these seemingly random domestic attacks. They may seem isolated, but all have radical Islam at their nexus. They’re not ‘senseless’ or ‘utterly inexplicable’ or ‘impossible to rationalize,’ as the media intone. They are purposeful. These men act as conscripts called up for a mission, sick as it is.” —Investor’s Business Daily

Iraq: Jihadist Perspectives on a U.S. Withdrawal

Fred Burton writing for Stratfor Intelligence Report:

"Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding resolution to express disapproval of the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq. Republicans in the Senate prevented a similar resolution from coming to the floor for a vote the next day. The congressional actions come during a period of vigorous debate about U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan -- a debate that is being heavily fueled as presidential hopefuls from both parties begin to position themselves for the 2008 election.

Naturally, this internal debate and media coverage have focused on the American perspective -- and, more specifically, on public opinion polls. But often missing in that discussion is the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq were not entered into as self-contained discrete wars, but as fronts in the wider U.S.-jihadist war. Therefore, though the Bush administration's troop strategy, the positioning of the Democrats and the anti-war statements of potential presidential contenders are by no measure unimportant, the intense focus on these issues means that another important perspective on the war -- that of the jihadists -- frequently goes unmentioned.

Al Qaeda leaders and the jihadist movement in general always have taken a long view of the war, and discussion of a U.S. withdrawal from either Iraq or Afghanistan has long been anticipated. In planning the 9/11 attacks, al Qaeda leaders clearly expected that the United States, once drawn into a war, eventually would weaken and lose heart. A study of al Qaeda's philosophy, mindset and planning -- conveyed through the words and actions of its leadership -- is a reminder of just how the current U.S. political debate fits into the jihadist timeline and strategy.

Long before the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Osama bin Laden clearly stated that, in the jihadists' opinion, the United States was not prepared to fight a war of attrition.

Prior to 9/11, bin Laden's public statements conveyed his dim view of the U.S. military's capabilities and resolve, as well as of the willingness of the U.S. government (and to a larger extent, the American people) to take casualties in a sustained war. In a 1997 interview with Peter Arnett, bin Laden said, "We learned from those who fought [in Somalia] that they were surprised to see the low spiritual morale of the American fighters in comparison with the experience they had with the Russian fighters. The Americans ran away from those fighters who fought and killed them, while the latter were still there. If the U.S. still thinks and brags that it still has this kind of power even after all these successive defeats in Vietnam, Beirut, Aden, and Somalia, then let them go back to those who are awaiting its return."

As I have mentioned before, an American defeat in Iraq would be catastrophic. It will only embolden the radical Islamofascists. They already believe we are weak and they think we will cut and run. We can only be defeated if we cut and run. And that is what they are banking on; but our defeat would have absolutely no benefit to us. None. Why are the Dems so intent on cutting and running, a phased withdrawl, redeployment, or whatever term they want to use. Is their commitment to power that important to them? That a defeat and a weakening of our defenses and a reduction of our own security is a lesser consideration than their quest for power?

Or as Colonel Oliver North puts it: “Are the lives of courageous young American volunteers... worth so little to our Congress that they would ignore our peril for perverse personal political profit?”

Democrats disingenuous in their anti-war rhetoric

By Victor Davis Hanson

U.N. Watchdog Links Iran's Nuclear Program to Libya

IAEA: Iran Defies Deadline on Nuclear Program

Why David Geffen Hates Hillary & Bill Clinton

Mt. Soledad Cross Victory: ACLU Loss

From the Thomas More Law Center

ANN ARBOR, MI – The California Supreme Court, yesterday, affirmed the precedent-setting decision of a California appellate court, which upheld the right of the people of San Diego to transfer the Mt. Soledad veterans memorial and cross to the federal government. At the same time, the Court denied the ACLU’s attempt to prevent the publication of the lower court decision favorable to the cross and veterans memorial. The ACLU was seeking to have the decision suppressed so that it would not be used against them in future lawsuits.

Read their entire news alert here.

The Earth was warming before global warming was cool.

Read it at Opinion Journal.

CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE.

Misplaced Faith

Why no one questioned the implications of bringing large Muslim populations into a secularizing West.

Scooter Libby and Reputation

Prosecutions that wreak ruin on a lifetime.

The Spanish Connection

What the 9/11 Commission didn't consider.

Elementary, My Dear President

Not everyone makes the same amount of money, but that doesn't mean the government should act to abolish 'income inequality.'

By Herman Cain
Business & Media Institute

"I’m an American, and I believe passionately in freedom. I believe in the individual pursuit of happiness. So it troubles me when my president wants to take that away and starts sounding like a socialist.

In a socialist society, no one gets to keep the product of his work. Instead, the government redistributes money to force financial “equality” upon the people. Bush recently chimed in on the popular political notion of “income inequality,” claiming an increasing gap and the possibility that something should be done about it."

Rich Man, Poor Man

By Julia A. Seymour and Amy Menefee
Business & Media Institute

Some people make more money than others. To hear the media tell it, that’s a huge problem and it’s time to do something about it.

“Rising inequality – the growing gap between the rich and everyone else – is often cited as a primary cause of middle-class angst,” wrote staff writer Lori Montgomery in the February 1 Washington Post."

Hillary, Obama Trade Barbs Over Geffen

"Two Democratic presidential campaigns accused the other of nasty politics on Wednesday over a Hollywood donor who once backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's husband but now backs her top rival."

Hillary Furious at Hollywood

Hillary Clinton was reportedly 'furious” at the three Hollywood moguls and Clinton 'friends” who hosted Tuesday night’s fund-raiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama."

Barbara Boxer Plans a 2010 Senate Run

Pelosi Wants Tuition Breaks for Ilegals

Hillary Denies She's Buying Black Votes

White House Defends Rumsfeld against McCain Attack

McCain attacks Rumsfeld; White House Defends him.

The INF Treaty: Implications of a Russian Withdrawal

"Russia is poised to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in December 1987. The treaty prohibits development and deployment of all land-based short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) with ranges of 300 to 3,400 miles, as well as all ground-launched cruise missiles. Inspections verifying the treaty were completed in 2001, although elimination was effectively concluded nearly a decade earlier."
-- STRATFOR GEOPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Russia has been hinting at this possibility for the past 7 months or so and their rhetoric has picked up steam as talk of a U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) based in Europe has increasingly been bandied about.

Stratfor properly notes that Russia is seeking again to become a world power and that the simple fact that the rest of the world has pushed past the Cold War mentality.

For Washington, the war against jihadists has become an overwhelming priority. But even outside of that context, the United States, its NATO allies and indeed, the rest of the world, have already plunged into a pervasive post-Cold War restructuring that is indicative of a shift in defense priorities.

Western European states are far more concerned with domestic matters -- many of them with the rising Arab Muslim demographic in the populace -- than with anything Russians might do. The United States and the Chinese are watching each other warily and taking steps to prepare for what both fear will be a new clash of titans down the road. Only the Central Europeans remain preoccupied with Moscow. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that it is Central European states that have been inordinately willing to cooperate with the United States on a missile defense system. Though the system ostensibly is designed to protect the United States against a theoretical missile strike from a state like Iran, the system could target Russian ballistic missile launches -- though only a tiny fraction of any nuclear barrage. -- STRATFOR GEOPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT

The World's Champion Villain

Much of the world now believes that the United States is a force for evil. More.

Is Free Europe waking up?

"Is Europe waking up to reality? Judging by some of the blogs, many people are. But they face a long, uphill battle against a rooted Leftist establishment that easily welcomes Islamist ideology. European cities are increasingly controlled by Muslims who are more attracted to Shari'a than to the Enlightenment. So much for women's rights, human rights and Gay rights. They are just passing slogans.

If you follow the big European media in their English editions, things look pretty dismal. Just check out BBC 'News' Online for the latest propaganda blast from the international Left. The Beeb is the new Pravda; its highest priority is to promote the European Union of Socialist Republics, the EU, headquartered in Brussels." Read more.

Swim centre bars two-year-old girl because she isn't Muslim

"When Lee Williams saw a parent-and-toddler session advertised at his local pool, he thought it was the perfect chance to teach his young daughter to swim.

Arriving at the leisure centre already in her swimming costume, two-year-old Darby was desperate to get into the water.

But she was left in tears when staff said they were not allowed in the pool because the session was for Muslim women and their children only." -- This is London

The real Hollywood politics

President want-to-be Edwards calls Israel greatest threat to world peace.

"The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the 'I' word -- Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close." -- Variety.com

Maybe 'pretty boy' (if he were to be elected) could have Jimma' Cawta' as his Secretary of State. That way, Hamas would have two very powerful Anti-Semitic friends at the highest level of the U.S. government.

How the EU subsidizes trade with Iran.

The Iraq War is Unpopular

But embracing defeat may prove politically disastrous for Democrats.
BY BRENDAN MINITER

Kurds send 3 brigades for surge; Insurgent strikes down 80 percent

WorldTribune.com

"Three Iraq Army brigades from the autonomous Kurdistan region in the North have been deployed to Baghdad as part of the counter-insurgency operation being conducted with the United States. Officials said the brigades, with about 7,500 troops, are already in Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported.

Officials said insurgency strikes have dropped by 80 percent since the Baghdad security operation was launched more than a week ago. They said the biggest drop was ...."

Global warming: A Three Part Series

#1. Global Hot Air
by Thomas Sowell
The political left's favorite argument is that there is no argument. Their current crusade is to turn "global warming" into one of those things that supposedly no honest and decent person can disagree about, as they have already done with "diversity" and "open space."

#2. Global Hot Air: Part II
by Thomas Sowell
Propaganda campaigns often acquire a life of their own. Politicians who have hitched their wagons to the star of "global warming" cannot admit any doubts on their part, or permit any doubts by others from becoming part of a public debate.

#3. Global Hot Air: Part III
by Thomas Sowell
If you take the mainstream media seriously, you might think that every important scientist believes that "global warming" poses a great threat, and that we need to make drastic changes in the way we live, in order to avoid catastrophes to the environment, to various species, and to ourselves.

Democrats surrender

"With their vote on Friday for a non-binding resolution condemning the President’s troop surge, the Democrats have finally formalized their position: They have thrown their political fortunes squarely behind an American defeat in Iraq. Of course, the vote was shameful, given ...."

By Carol Platt Liebau.

The Misuses of Intelligence

"........ the conclusion of our intelligence community -- and that of every other nation with serious intelligence capacity -- that Saddam had WMD was eminently justifiable. Saddam had possessed and used WMD in the past; he had resisted and evaded WMD inspections; and, as we have learned from Charles Duelfer, he retained the capacity to produce WMD in the future." -- By Michael Barone

Read on.

Secularism is not the solution

"For many Western liberals—and even some conservatives—the war on terror is a clash of opposed fundamentalisms: Christian fundamentalism vs. Islamic fundamentalism. So, in this view, Christian and Muslim religious fanatics are once again fighting each other, as they have done in the past.

From this perspective, the best solution is for America to .... " By Dinesh D'Souza

COMMENTARY

Murtha to the Rescue
By Rich Galen

This last week in Your Nation's Capital was a classic example of why Americans think so little of the leadership in Washington: The House and Senate stopped everything else they were supposed to be doing to have a high-profile, low-effect debate on a non-binding resolution about the President's Surge Plan for Iraq...

COMMENTARY

Murtha in Command
By Robert D. Novak

"After 16 undistinguished terms in Congress, Rep. John P. Murtha is now sending the message that he is running the show: In an interview last Thursday with the anti-war website MoveCongress.org, he revealed plans to put conditions on funding of U.S. troops. That represents the most daring congressional attempt to micromanage ongoing armed hostilities in nearly two centuries…"

Arab Prisoners Freed in Exchanges Committed More Terrorism, Group Says
By Julie Stahl

Jerusalem - "Scores of Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists who were imprisoned in Israeli jails for terrorist activity and later freed as a result of deals worked out through the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, a terror victims' group said ......"

Bush to Focus Affordable' Health Insurance

"President Bush is turning his attention to health care this week -- an 'urgent priority for our nation,' as he described it in his Saturday radio address.

He said he plans to visit a hospital in Tennessee, where he will hear from people who lack access to affordable health insurance.

President Bush called for health care reform in his recent State of the Union address; and again on Saturday, he explained his vision of ..."

Strong Military Needed to Fend Off 'Existential Threat,' Ex-Senator Says

"Declaring that the United States faces an 'existential threat,' a former senator said Friday the military should be expanded and its funding increased so that the nation's defense forces can be prepared.

Jim Talent, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation that the United States must 'be prepared even for threats that we do not immediately see because the one thing we know is that we are going to face threats that we were not able to foresee.'

Talent said he believes the United States is 'in at least as dangerous a situation as we were during the Cold War.'"

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

“Here’s some perspective you won’t find anywhere else: Mr. Bush has better approval ratings four years after the quick overthrow of Saddam Hussein than Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman or LBJ did at this point in the wars they launched. Mr. Bush led his nation into a war and was reelected—a feat equaled by only one president in the past hundred years, FDR. Even Mr. Bush’s own father lost a bid for a second term despite leading the country into a war that seemed much more conclusive and successful to public opinion at the time.” —Holman W. Jenkins Jr.

“Destroying a president is not much of a strategy to win a war, but it’s all the Democrats have. The churls of the left don’t seem to care whether their country wins the war, the important thing is to ‘keep hate alive.’ If hate worked in ‘06, maybe it will work again in ‘08, when the stakes will be considerably higher. Sometimes it’s not only hate, but a bit of schadenfreude, too, taking pleasure in the woes of the enemy. ‘Partisan pleasure in George Bush’s pain dates to the anguish of the contested 2000 election loss,’ observes Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal. ‘The Democrats have run against something called ‘Bush’ for so long this sentiment is now bound up in any act or policy remotely attached to the president. Iraq’s troubles, or Iran or North Korea, are merely an artifact of crushing this one guy.’ The president’s tormentors in Congress, some old and some new, insist they don’t have anything against the fine young Americans with their lives on the line in Iraq, but the troops are dispensable to the larger partisan goal of destroying George W. and abdicating the responsibility that comes with being the world’s only superpower. If the troops are hurt, too, well, that’s just a risk the critics will have to endure.” —Wesley Pruden

A letter from Mosul

“With the House debating this week how much ‘non-binding’ grief to lay on President Bush about Iraq, I e-mailed a soldier friend of mine for his impressions of the increasingly amplified protests.

Army Sgt. Daniel Dobson, 22, of Grand Rapids, Mich., is on his second tour in Iraq. I asked him what he thinks of the growing opposition to the war. Writing from Mosul, he says he appreciates the freedom Americans have to protest, but adds: ‘The American military has shown a stone-cold professional veneer throughout the seething debate raging over Iraq. Beneath that veneer, however, is a fuming, visceral hatred. We feel as though we have been betrayed by Congress.’

Sgt. Dobson believes the military is being hamstrung against an enemy with no reservations or restrictions: ‘It is our overwhelming opinion that we have not been allowed to conduct the war to the fullest of our capability; neither do we feel that we should pull out because of a lack of ‘results.’ War is not a chemistry set with predetermined outcomes or complications. With a great army matched with an equally cunning enemy, we find ourselves in a difficult, but winnable fight. We do not seek results; rather, we seek total and unequivocal victory...[T]here is no honor in what the Democrats have proposed. It stings me to the core to think that Americans would rather sell their honor than fight for a cause’.” —Cal Thomas

WHERE HAVE ALL THE CONSERVATIVES GONE?

“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among the people. It is the right to dream—to follow your dream or stick to your conscience, even if you’re the only one in a sea of doubters.” —Ronald Reagan

Bill Clinton Hopes 'Black President' Status Rubs Off On Hillary

"Bill Clinton, one of the most popular presidents with black voters, is hoping that popularity will rub off on his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On Sunday, he spoke to the annual meeting of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators. The former president received a standing ......"

Venezuela Wants Sub Fleet for Conflict with U.S.

"Venezuela is spending $3 billion to build nine submarines, a fleet of undersea craft that would be the largest in the region -- and ready to be used against the U.S. in event of a conflict between the two countries.........."

Hillary Clinton's Bad Judgment on Iraq Vote

By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann

"What kind of president would Hillary Clinton be?

To grasp the essence of how her Administration would run aground, watch the way she's handling the Iraq War controversy right now.

She has painted herself into a corner with her bad judgment, tone deaf instincts, and stubbornness. Now she's squirming to find a way out – and looking bad in the process.

As she struggles to meld her conflicting past and present positions about her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war, she has become as convoluted as a pretzel.

At the same time, her style and ......"

A STIRRING TRIBUTE

We have a lot to be thankful for .... the patriotism, dedication, and sacrifice that many fine men and women ... America's finest ... display for us everyday ... in order to keep us safe ... so we can go about our lives ... shopping ... going to movies ... going out to eat at fine restaraunts ... while they toil and sleep in far away lands ... away from their loved ones ... in tents, barracks, and worse.

I was sent an email from a friend with this stirring tribute. Please go view it, and let us never forget the sacrifices made by them, on our behalf, to keep us safe.

Nigeria rebels free U.S. hostage - CNN.com
"PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Kidnappers in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta have released an American engineer and his Nigerian driver held captive since January 23, authorities said on Sunday."

Focus on Cuba

U.S. expects change after Castro

"WASHINGTON - The Bush administration remains hopeful that the death of Fidel Castro will unleash grassroots pressure among Cubans for democratic change — but many analysts see little threat to the regime under the thus-far seamless succession of brother Raul.

As U.S. officials see it, the seismic political event for Cuba has yet to come.

“We don’t feel that we’ve lost an important moment, because quite frankly, we don’t see any significant possibility of change of any kind until Fidel is gone,” Tom Shannon, the top State Department aide for Latin America, says." More at MSNBC.com.

Mummified body found in front of blaring TV

After all, what are moms for?

NEW TAGS FOR CLOTHINGCLICK PICTURE TO MAGNIFY

Venezuela's Chavez calls for anti-imperialist unity as he woos Caribbean

USATODAY.com
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP)

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, seeking inroads in a region where the U.S. has long been the dominant influence, called on Caribbean states to join his fight against imperialism.

During a Caribbean tour that began Friday, the leftist leader is promoting Venezuela's sales of fuel under preferential terms to Caribbean nations and highlighting its public works projects in the region." Full story....