While on the subject, let's check in on what the Iraqs think. Oh, and the Iranian President writes Americans a personal letter, snort.
Mental patient threatens to castrate President Bush and what's John McCain doing at a Governor's conference?>
More on those airplane Imams and hey, exactly how many protesters were there in Beirut?
Finally, mine own fine rant on Walmart and the nuts who hate this very sucessful business. From a dedicated Walmart shopper, who would be me.
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So What Is This "Iraq Study Group"?
Thus I awake one fine fall day and as I smell the crispness of Autumn leaves and fill my lungs with the clean air of a season's change, when I hear an excited hysteria emanating from my television.
It seems something called the Iraq Study Group is out and about and leaking its wiser than wise findings all over the place; leaking like a sieve.
So who is in this vaunted group and why wasn't I invited?
The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group of prominent Americans supported by four premier institutions. It is led by co-chairs James A. Baker, III, the nation's 61st Secretary of State and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
The other members of the study group include: Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III , Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson."
Okay, Vernon Jordan? Isn't this the guy who defended Bill Clinton during the Monica mess? Well hell, I'M as qualified to do this as he is.
And my goodness, James Baker and Lee Hamilton? I vaguely recall these guys and mostly I recall that they are always around when something big is going down. Wasn't Hamilton part of the 9-11 Omission-Commission Group?So there's not only the Iraq Study Group comprised of big politicos (Sandra Day O'Conner? I thought she had a very sick husband), there are also "expert advisers" to the Iraq Study Group. For all I know there could be expert advisers to the expert advisers to the Iraq Study Group and so on. In fact, every living soul in D.C. might be part of this Iraq Study Group for all I know.
On the day of this Blog post, this Iraq Study Group will have released its findings and at a later date we'll see what they have to say.
For now, all I want to know is who the hell appointed these people and for God's sake, why? Are they making foreign policy in some secret place in the mountains of Utah that I elected my representatives to advise and consent upon? Isn't the President of the U.S. the Commander in Chief of the military or did that change somewhere along the way?
Upon subsequent research I learn that this group was formed by the congress of the United States. Well go on. I also learn that the group is allegedly "bi-partisan".
I don't recall asking my congress critter to underwrite this pompous group of blow-hards to do the job elected officials are supposed to do. I also don't recall any massive push across the fruited plains to recruit a bunch of self-important has-beens to advise the congress critters what should be done about Iraq.
The opposition party is notorious for forming these dead-air study groups and for no other reason than to keep bashing Bush over the head about the Iraq war.
Has Bush failed in the Iraq war? Hell No.
Is the Iraq war at a new stage in its fight? Yes.
You know what this Iraq Study Group is? Seriously?
This group is nothing more than an attempt to take a victory of war away from President Bush.
Don't say we didn't "win" in Iraq. We most certainly did. The notion of making Iraq a shining monument to democracy in the middle east was NOT our original reason for going to Iraq. Our original intent was to get rid of Saddam Hussein and hey, he's gone.
After we got rid of Saddam, well there's the rub.
For we are now dealing with all our oil-rich friends in the mideast and their efforts at sending in insurgents and rabble-rousers into Iraq and wreaking havoc.
NOW we need to sit down and think through all of our options.
It gets old hearing a bunch of yappy, yappy has-beens saying we should have done this, we shouldn't have done that.
Here's what we know...we KNOW what we did and the result. Here's what we DON'T KNOW, we don't know what would have happened had we kept the old Iraqi army, what would have happened had we sent in a trillion soldiers to trip over each other...we didn't do this so don't know what the hell the result would have been.
It's real easy to sit back and say "well if we would have done this..." AFTER the fact. It takes a whole bunch of courage to take a step where others have never trod.
The fact is that President Bush got complete congressional authorization to invade both Iraq and Afghanistan. A year ago the House of Representatives voted once AGAIN to remain in Iraq. Our elected representatives have spoken.
This cowardly method of undermining the very infrastructure of our governing system by appointing special commissions ad nauseum gets old.
Below,Cliff May-"Expert Advisor to Hamilton/Baker Panel" gives us an insight into this vaunted group.
I think the following quote from one unnamed commission member who was a source for the NYT story today, confirms what I've said above: "We had to move the national debate from whether to stay the course to how do we start down the path out."
John Podhoretz gives a sarcastic summary of the Iraq Study Group and forget my wisdom on the matter, Podhoretz sums it up nicely:
You perhaps note that I am writing with extreme disrespect toward the Iraq Study Group. That's because its report is a scandal and an embarrassment; it's flatly immoral to seek to make or guide policy in this fashion.
Ahmadinejad Writes Letter to the American People
My goodness dear. It is considered good etiquette to respond to personal missives and yet the President of Iran goes and writes me a long letter smack in the middle of Christmas card mailing season. I bet he did that on purpose.
It does seem that Ahmadinejad is quite the writer, why just last week he sent a long letter to President Bush. Imagine that, diplomacy via blog and email, what is the world coming to?
Since I don't have time to answer the dear President of Iran right now, I'll let this writer, from American Thinker write my response for me.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - the man who has repeatedly vowed our destruction and who routinely refers to our country as the 'Great Satan' - has just sent a letter to the American people. Astonishingly, his missive reads like a statement from the Democratic National Committee. Rife with complaints about Katrina, excessive military spending, Iraq misadventure, lack of social programs and neglect of the poor and homeless, it is virtually indistinguishable from the rants of Murtha, Pelosi, Kerry, Durbin or Schumer.
One More Time Then We'll Let JFK Rest in Peace
Of course the JFK here is John Forbes Kerry who is now as dead politically as a politico could ever be. Poor dear. And this airhead wasted his whole life to an end as President of the U.S., which he rightfully deserves.
Lord the guy married two rich women, he took a video crew with him during his four month tour of Vietnam. During which Kerry suffered a bad bruise and got five purple hearts for the wound.
I'll give Kerry's crew something, they sure managed to hide this elite's, well, elitism, during the 2004 presidential campaign. 48 million Americans voted for John Kerry and I truly believe all 48 million of them were fooled. Most of those fine Americans who voted for JFK wouldn't share his table at a dinner.
From Newsday.com:
Kerry's quip just before the Nov. 7 midterm elections that those who don't study hard "get stuck in Iraq" not only forced him into isolation in the campaign's final days, it rekindled criticism about his failure to beat a war-plagued president two years ago. It also highlighted a shallowness to what he and his aides still considered to be widespread public support.
Now we understand that all of Kerry's big money backers have turned off the faucet. John Kerry, you had your chance. We thank you for that delightful sound byte of you mocking the troops.
You are now officially persona non grata. Now go away. Even the Democrats don't want you.
SENATOR McCain Attends GOVERNORS' Conference
See the problem here?
I came across this juicy tidbit at Captains QuartersBlog and just had to smirk.
Last anyone checked, Senator John McCain of Arizona is not - and has never been - a governor.
But no matter. Mr. McCain turned up on Thursday morning at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa here for a guerrillalike visit to the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association. That is a group headed by Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts governor who is widely viewed as Mr. McCain's chief rival for their party's 2008 presidential nomination.
For John McCain is a Republican and like John Kerry, considers the presidency of the United States his birthright. So much so that the fellow shows up at a GOVERNORS' conference when McCain has never been the Governor of anything.
Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is the head of the Republican Governors Association. Romney is also considered a prime contender for the Republican presidential nomination for President in 2008. What a kick in the face for McCain to commandeer a bunch of Republican Governors, even treating them to a luxury reception at a nearby hotel.
SENATOR McCain of Arizona is the Republican SENATOR that Republicans love to hate. He has a vicious, nasty temper and would sell his mother to lock in a vote. He's also well known to have a love of any TV cameras in the surround.
NOW he's classless enough to show up at an event that he has no credentials to attend. I predict McCain's bid for the Republican nomination does NOT happen.
Threatens to Castrate President Bush
This fellow is one crazy. He was committed to a mental institution involuntarily by his own mother. He is accused of smashing his car into his brother's garage, tried to hit his own nephew with his car, and threatened to slash his brother's throat. I assume a little sibling rivalry going on here.
Beyond that, this fellow desperately wants to castrate President Bush and made the threat directly to two Secret Service Agents.
More than anything, dig this guy's name!
From Blacklistednews.com:
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- An Israel-born Palestinian was sentenced Tuesday to federal prison but was credited with time already served on charges that he threatened to castrate President Bush while involuntarily committed at a mental hospital.
U.S. District Judge David Herndon sentenced Arafat Nijmeh, 27, formerly of Belleville, to seven months in prison after Nijmeh pleaded guilty to two felony counts of threatening the president.
Mr. ARAFAT Nijmeh was released for time served and now walks amongst us.
Walmart, Comcast and an American Shopper's Perspective
I've waxed on a bunch about Walmart and the left's unreasonable hatred of this very successful retail merchant. It's been mostly political rants because know now that the main haters of Walmart are the union crowd. That union crowd is crippling the businesses that they've taken over. The might grocery store union is forcing prices up so high that I simply never shop at a grocery any more.
Today, I want to talk about Walmart from an average consumer's point of view. Because that is exactly what I am, a typical consumer and a woman to boot. Women spend most of the retail and grocery money in this country, go with me here.
We have, here in the swamps of Delaware, many mighty Walmart stores. One in particular, is a so-called Walmart "superstore". Pack up the car and boom, one can buy everything one needs in one simple trip, including garage-floor cleaner, some handsome underwear and fine meat and produce.
I've been shopping this local Walmart superstore for about two months now and at first I was wary. Groceries at Walmart?
Let's begin with the pants. Indeed my own fine self recently lost a few pounds and that closet full of clothes now fall straight off my body. I needed clothes that fit but didn't have big bucks. For ten bucks, count 'em, I am able to buy just the finest slacks at Walmart that the pretty catalogues could never provide. At least not for ten measly bucks.
These slacks are made of a sort of khaki material, very strong and comfortable. They have pockets, which are a must for me. Aaaaaand, every size imaginable is available. I have discovered, to my surprise, that I now wear a petite. Petite, go on. And they fit me perfectly.
So far I've bought about eight pairs of these things, all in different colors for variety. Nowhere on the planet could I have found an item so inexpensive, comfortable, perfectly-fitting and easy to care for. For ten bucks each.
We move on to Walmart's grocery items and once again I was surprised.
First amazing fact, Walmart has the absolute BEST store brand of all, including mighty Super G, Superfresh or those other grocery chains. I NEVER buy a store brand of anything save those items that might be mixed with enough other ingredients to disguise their inferior quality.
Walmart carries a lot of "Sam's Club" brands as that store also owns the "Sam's Clubs" across the country. Almost anything with a Sam's Club brand is perfect on its own.
The meat at Walmart is also a shocker. Ground beef comes in neatly rolled packages of all sizes. The fat content is very obvious on the label and I don't believe I've ever purchased such fine ground beef. I bought my Thanksgiving turkey at Walmart and every brand name is available in Walmart, all very much cheaper than at the grocers.
Walmart also has fine produce and the one near me has a HUGE produce section.
Now at this Christmas season I am delighted because it's simple enough to pick up gifts on my grocery shopping day without bother of several stops.
As I understand it, Walmart deals directly with suppliers for its stores and I hear they're tough. Walmart dictates the quality and the cost it is willing to pay. If the supplier can't, well can't supply the item, then they don't deal with Walmart. Period.
It's easy to do this when you're a great big store like Walmart. And ooooh boy, does Walmart get criticized for this. As if Walmart were a huge big Nazi and the pitiful suppliers were sad slaves, at least as the big unions like to depict this normal capitalistic transaction.
See Walmart does not have unions pulling their prices up for the big salaries the unions demand. The unions rant on and on about this, that Walmart doesn't provide health benefits, that Walmart pays only minimum wage. What the unions don't understand, or don't want to understand, is that when your job is running items over a scanning machine you're not likely to make much more than minimum wage. To make bigger bucks one must work and strive for better-paying jobs. Or join a union where you'll make more money maybe, but you'll be lost in the ambition-killing maze of seniority and give a percentage of that increased salary for union dues that the union poobahs can donate bucks to the liberal political candidate of their choice.
And if Walmart does properly compensate their employees, in terms of benefits etc., then they wouldn't survive! It's not rocket science here, folks. Potential employees look for salary and benefits when shopping for a job. They settle for the best they can get and move on when the time is right. So far as I know Walmart does not hold its employees hostage.
This now brings me to Comcast and I mention it because this past weekend I switched, yes I did, my telephone service to Comcast! Why I had no idea that this cable TV provider now offered telephone service but now, for a mere $30 a month, I have complete telephone service including call-waiting, phone messaging and GET THIS...UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE!
As I understand it, my phone service is now over the Internet but beyond that my technophobe self is at a loss. Could I ever have imagined one day having phone service over the Internet? And the long distance, well it doesn't cost one cent more to talk over the digital lines to someone in England as it does to do the same with my next door neighbor.
Because Comcast was pushing their new phone service, I also managed to get a few more perks, including, get this, a DVR thingie that lets me record live TV shows! Add about five more premium channels, broadband access, naturally, as we've always had from Comcast, and eliminate my Verizon phone bill completely, AND, tada, I save almost a hundred bucks a month! With much, much better service, I might add.
The bottom line here is that the consumer in this country will buy the cheapest product/service that can be bought and that's a fact. No one, not even the richest amongst us, will intentionally pay more for something if there's a similar alternative.
The liberals, damn they hate this fact. They really hate that we refuse to buy Dixie Chicks' albums when these female hacks mock our country. They hate that we keep shopping at Walmart even though a bunch of union talentless nothings can't demand higher salaries to drive that chain out of business. Liberals know what's best for us peons out here in la-la land but they can't, at least not yet, reach into our pocketbooks and spend our money where they think it properly should be spent.
Liberals hate this. Heh.
Now we are to understand that Walmart is predicting a dismal Christmas shopping season? I don't believe it for a minute.
From Yahoo.biz:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. unsettled the retail industry Thursday, reporting a sales decline for the first time in 10 years and warning that its holiday sales would be disappointing. The discounter's news, coupled with a jump in unemployment benefit claims, raised concerns about the strength of the retailing sector at a critical time of the year. Wal-Mart's confirmation of weak November sales and its announcement that its December same-store sales gain would be no better than 1 percent came as the nation's retailers reported an overall mixed performance for the month. Same-store sales reflect business at stores open at least a year and are the industry standard for measuring a company's strength.
Wal-Mart's disappointment was a sharp contrast with results from discount rival Target Corp., which beat Wall Street forecasts, and Federated Department Stores Inc., which far exceeded expectations. Other retailers had mixed sales; J.C. Penney Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. both fell short of Wall Street projections
Propaganda Alert
All this past weekend I was treated to sight bytes on the TV of huge and angry crowds in Beirut, Lebanon. I would cast my eyes and wonder what on earth these people are complaining about now. Did someone publish some more cartoons somewhere?
It seems this crowd was a bunch of folks living in Lebanon that, get this, did not WANT the Lebanonese government! The crowd was comprised of supporters of Hezbollah, that terror group that recently kidnapped an Israeli soldier (who still has not been released) and started that little skirmish in Israel.
Be aware that there's more propaganda about this crowd. So how many protesters were there?
From Powerlineblog:
Michael Hirst reports in the Telegraph: "200,00 call for Lebanon's US puppet to go."
Christopher Allbritton reports in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Anti-government march draws 1 million in Beirut."
CTV reports: "Thousands attempt to overthrow Lebanon gov't" (suggesting 800,000).
I must wonder what it's like to live in a country where boom, we march and demand a change in government. Might be an improvement now that I think about it.
So What Do the Iraqis Think?
The Lamestream Media loves to print poll results all over the place. Below is a tidbit I gleaned while surfing the net. I must wonder why the Lamestream never mentioned THIS poll.
From MNF-Iraq.com:
In July, a poll by the nonprofit International Republican Institute found 94 percent of Iraqis said they support a "unity" government. Seventy-eight percent opposed Iraq being segregated by religion or ethnicity. Even in Baghdad, where sectarian violence is heightened, 76 percent opposed ethnic separation. According to a September WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, 97 percent of Iraqis said they "strongly disapprove" of attacks against Iraqi civilians, and 96 percent of Iraqis disapproved of attacks on Iraqi Security Forces. And in a State Department poll released Oct. 5, large majorities of Iraqi youth in six regions surveyed agreed "It is essential that Iraq remains one nation." These findings confirm that Iraqis want to live in a unified, multi-ethnic country.
More Political Tidbits HERE
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