Pakistan -- The New Afghanistan

Before I get on my rant about the attacks in Mumbai, India, I'd like to make quick mention of a story out of Afghanistan a few weeks back that I'm willing to bet you may not have heard about.

On November 12th, a pair of Taliban insurgents took it upon themselves to mount up on a motorcycle and attack young Afghan girls walking to school. Their weapon of choice? A water pistol filled with battery acid. The attackers squirted the acid into the faces of several girls, burning them horribly. Two of the girls are now blind.

Why would the Taliban attack defenseless young schoolgirls? Are they a threat to Islam? No, they attacked because in the Taliban's Islamic ideology, women should not be educated and should not go to school. When the Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan before the U.S. ran them out, the Taliban forbade the education of women. This is yet another shining example of what Islam holds in store for everyone. Ladies, how do you feel about stopping the war against Islamic extremism now? Still think war is stupid? If the extremists get their way, you will have no rights whatsoever. Think about that the next time you decide to criticize our war against terrorism. If you'd rather let the bad guys win and conquer the world, then by all means support a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from our battlefronts, and bring 'em home. It'll only be a matter of time until governments all around the world begin to fall to Islam. It will start with Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. From there it will spread as the movement gains momentum. Pretty soon, most of the middle east will be ruled by not only Islamic regimes, but Islamic extremist regimes. Once that happens, you may just see Osama Bin Laden himself come out of hiding and declare himself Caliph. And with Pakistan under his thumb, he'd have nuclear weapons at his disposal. A cheerful thought, no?

I'm happy to report that 10 Taliban militants were arrested in connection with this attack. They confessed to receiving payment of 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($1265) from a Taliban official in Pakistan. It should be clear to you that Pakistan is fast becoming the world's premiere sponsor of Islamic terrorism. If you don't believe that, read on.

Okay, now on to the big development. If you've paid attention to the news in the last few days, you've likely heard about the terror attacks in the city of Mumbai, India. If you've chosen to ignore these unpleasant news stories in favor of feasting on turkey and shopping for deals at Wal-Mart, shame on you. These attacks hold implications for us all. Oh, and five Americans are dead over there. Let me bring you up to speed.

A group of somewhere between 12 to 24 terrorists launched a series of simultaneous, coordinated attacks on the city of Mumbai beginning Wednesday evening. The attacks included random shootings, grenade attacks, and even a reported car bombing (in the form of an explosives-laden taxi). As of this writing, the death tolls are about 183 confirmed dead, with something around 295 people injured. The terrorists attacked tourist spots, including hotels and cafes. A train station was also attacked. News reports indicate that around 9 to 10 different sites around Mumbai were all attacked nearly simulaneously.

The remorseless attackers indiscriminately sprayed down people anywhere and everywhere they could. It was rumored that some attackers were even taking people hostage, specifically seeking out Westerners for capture or execution. A few gunmen managed to hole themselves up in the Taj Mahal Hotel, and were finally gunned down today (Saturday). Reports indicate that the attackers were very well organized, and even had a terror "command center" set up in one of the hotel rooms, from which they could coordinate their attacks. They appear to have initially penetrated the city with their weapons by inflatable boats, indicating that the attacks were launched by sea. A drifting trawler with a few abandoned cell phones was found today, and the cell phones had last made calls to Pakistan.

Now, while I'm certainly no terrorism expert, I consider myself better informed than the average American citizen. And in my informed opinion, this attack in Mumbai bears all the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda driven attack. It's a shift in their tactics, to be sure. They've historically used suicide bombers in pairs for most of their attacks on soft targets. But one thing stands out: the simultaneous attack of multiple targets. It should be noted that even 9/11 was a shift in tactics for Al Qaeda, with no explosives being used whatsoever. So it's clear that Al Qaeda is willing to change things up from time to time, just to give themselves better odds at succeeding. It is certainly plausible that they've tried a different tactic in Mumbai, and it's clear they were successful in their strategy. The Indian commandos that killed off the last three attackers were very quick to point out that the attackers had been well-trained in the use of their guns and in the use of grenades.

It's interesting that Pakistan is denying any involvement in the incident. I'd like to believe that the government is telling the truth, and that this was the work of non-sanctioned terror groups. But my suspicion is that while Pakistan tells the world they're combating Islamic extremism, they're quietly supporting it behind the scenes. This is why they've not turned up Osama Bin Laden or Ayman Al-Zawahiri. It's because they fear the public backlash of capturing or killing the two men with whom most of the Pakistani public identifies. If Pakistan's government or military were to kill or capture Al Qaeda leaders, the population of Pakistan would brim over with violence against the fragile government, possibly overthrowing it. Then we'd have a real crisis, with extremists in control of nuclear weapons and a grudge to bear.

So again, my peacemongering anti-war compatriots, I ask you the crucial question: why do you oppose the war on terror? Why do you feel that we should not fight this battle? Do you think that if we hunker down and hide, that the bad people in the world will just "go away"? The people of India were not so lucky. Neither were the innocent schoolgirls in Afghanistan. The forces of evil are alive and well, and they're planning to kill you. So you think we should just wait it out and let them come? Maybe they won't bother you if you keep your mouths shut. Is that what you think?

I find it interesting that people ARE reading these blogs -- I check the number of visits from time to time. But the only people who speak up are the ones that see eye-to-eye with me on these matters, leaving me words of encouragement. For all the war-protesting friends that I have, not one has responded with a counterpoint to my blogs. Are you afraid to engage me in debate? Are you afraid of a rift in our relations? Or could it be that you realize that your petty arguments against war don't hold any water?

I encourage you who disagree with me to comment on my blogs. I'd love to hear what you have to say. I suspect the reason I've not heard from you is because your points of view aren't capable of being defended, but it would be interesting to hear you try. Let's see what happens.

I refuse to stop ranting because I can clearly see the threat. I read about it every day. I don't ignore it. Those of you who oppose our war efforts have obviously forgotten 9/11, and have chosen to ignore the looming threat. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving meal, and I hope you got those killer deals at Wal-Mart before anyone else did.

While the Indians are cleaning up corpses, blood, and body parts this weekend, I hope you and yours have a happy and blessed holiday season. Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?

Pirates of the Gulf Of Aden, Part II

Okay, so it appears that the Indian frigate may have been a bit hasty when shooting down the supposed "pirate mothership" in the Gulf of Aden. Apparently, there WERE pirates aboard the ship -- the frigate reports that it came under fire from pirates on the deck of the Thai trawler. What the Indian frigate didn't realize is that the trawler had just been siezed by the pirates, and there were still innocent crew members aboard.

One of those crewmembers, a Cambodian, was found adrift but still alive in the water six days later. He was rescued by a passing ship and delivered to a hospital in Yemen. There were apparently 14 crew members aboard the trawler, and they all likely perished along with the pirates, save for the one crew member that was rescued.

One interesting thing to note is that the vessel was supposed to have been a fishing trawler delivering fishing equipment from Oman to Yemen when it was seized. The pirates approached and siezed the trawler in two speedboats, which were subsequently in tow behind the trawler when the Indian frigate encountered it. The Indians who fired upon the trawler reported that the vessel was laden with ammunition. I'm presuming they were able to ascertain this by the tell-tale explosions that would follow an attack by gunfire. I have to ask this burning question: how would a fishing vessel full of fishing equipment also manage to be laden with explosives or ammunition? I find it hard to believe that the pirates would have had the capacity or the time to unload significant quantities of ammunition or explosives off their speedboats. But the Indians claim there were secondary explosions on the vessel.

I can't help but wonder if the supposed "fishing trawler" was truly a fishing trawler at all. Hey, I wasn't there, and I can only go by secondhand reporting from those at the scene, but I have to wonder what kind of fishing equipment could possibly be so explosive. Were the Yemenis who were receiving the shipment going to fish with guns or explosives? That's been done before, but I suspect that more traditional fishing methods are likely in use in Yemen. In other words, nets.

Perhaps the Indians hit a fuel storage tank or something, but I would expect Indian sailors to know the difference between a fuel explosion and a secondary ammunition explosion. Either way, I'm still happy with a group of pirates having been killed. It's a horrible shame that innocent people had to perish also, but I don't begrudge the Indian frigate for defending itself when it came under fire. The trawler's pirates were reportedly armed with RPGs, which could have done some serious damage to the Indian frigate or its sailors. They were justified in defending themselves.

This is my gripe with terrorists, thugs, and pirates: they're indiscriminate. They'll put anyone in harm's way, with no second thought. I can't correlate that the pirates were also Islamic extremists, but with Somalia being a predominantly Muslim place, it stands to reason that they may have been. Regardless, Somalia is a horrible and lawless place, and Islamists are continuously making headway at taking control of the land. It would not surprise me to learn that their movement is funded by the ransom successes of the pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Keep coming, pirates. The nations of the world are responding and sending warships to meet your challenge, including the Russians. Your reign of piracy will hopefully be short lived, as will you and your ilk. I look forward to reading more about counterattacks on pirate vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

Pirates Of The Gulf Of Aden

Ahh, Somalia.

I type that mockingly, spoofing the sentimentally uttered phrase, "Ahh, Venice," which was spoken by Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, just before he proceeded to bed the hot Nazi chick.

I look upon Somalia, and cannot help but feel the need to carpet bomb the place to mere fragments. The world would be better off for it. If you've followed the saga of events in Somalia, none of it has ever been good in the time that I've been loosely familiar with the "place". It cannot really be called a country, since they haven't had a true government there for many years. It's a lawless land of criminals, thugs, warlords, bandits, and lately, pirates. Yes, I said pirates.

These are not the swashbuckling "hip" pirates like Johnny Depp attempted to portray in his movies. Rather, these modern day pirates are a bunch of low lifes with AK-47s and RPGs. They've been so long without a government, and hence, basic needs like food and medicine, that they've had to resort to cruising out into the Gulf of Aden to see what they can pillage from passing cargo ships. Things got worse when they started actually commandeering the vessels, taking them back to shore, and demanding huge ransoms for the innocent crew members aboard. The sad thing is, because these poor hostages are civilians, their host nations are readily negotiating and paying the ransoms for the safe return of their people. These successful piracy raids have emboldened the pirates into making ever more daring attempts to hijack even bigger targets. Within the last week, they managed to snag a huge Saudi-owned oil supertanker full of oil. This was their biggest target to date.

I read an article about the pirates last week, and it appears that the piracy business has actually become a "boon" to the previously non-existent Somali economy along the coast, with merchants and businesses being set up to support the pirates and their captive hostages. Upon receipt of their ransoms, the pirates are setting themselves up in huge homes with posh amenities, something unheard of in Somalia in recent times.

Various nations (including the U.S.) have begun deploying warships to patrol the trade corridor near the Somali coast to thwart the piracy. A great deal of major cargo shipping passes through that area to get to and from the Persian Gulf. With so much rampant piracy beginning to threaten international commerce, there is huge concern around the world about the worsening problem.

I was thrilled to death to see that an Indian warship came under threat by what was considered the pirates' "mothership", and the Indian ship not only fired upon the vessel, but managed to set it ablaze and sink it. Strike up one solid victory for the good guys. This single counterattack will certainly not disuade the pirates, but after several dozen of their precious pirate vessels get smoked by superior firepower, they'll be much less capable of conducting their raids. I can't wait until the U.S. Navy gets a few sweet kills out there. It's only a matter of time, at the rate the pirates keep attacking.

Now let's remember the make-up of the Somali people. Think "Black Hawk Down". The majority of them are Muslim extremists and thugs. Sure, there are likely countless "good" people among them -- those are the ones that keep getting killed or starved to death by the Islamists trying to rule the country. These civilians are being killed off by the thousands in the Islamist insurgency in and around Mogadishu. The ones that haven't been killed off have been forced to flee the capital and take refuge elsewhere, if such a thing as "refuge" can even be found in a lawless land like Somalia.

The Islamists trying to conquer the country have become extremely cocky and brazened lately, conducting public floggings and news conferences (I'm presuming not at the same time, but possibly so -- what do they care?). This just goes to show you what Islam will bring us all if we don't step up to the plate and quash it now. The animals trying to conquer Somalia are undoubtedly fighting for their cause to establish an Islamic caliphate, where Sharia law reigns supreme. This is, of course, for the "benefit" of the people. I fail to see how slaughtering thousands of innocent people, along with publicly flogging the living, will benefit the people. This is the myth of the "glory" that Islam supposedly brings to all those who embrace it. The only thing I ever see Islam bring upon a society is ill-will, torture, murder, and misery. I don't want that in my country -- we've got enough internal problems without letting Islam take a foothold here. At least I don't have to worry about driving to work and having an IED explode and splatter me across the nearest billboard. I don't have to worry about going to the mall and having some suicide-vest laden fanatic blowing everyone in the mall to shreds of flesh. I don't have to worry about 747 airliners flying into buildings here, or janjaweed killers roaming in on horseback to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing.

All things considered, I think we have it pretty good here in the states. Why, then, is it so incomprehensible to the American people that we are at war with Islamic terrorism? Do we Americans have such a short attention span that we don't remember why we opted to combat Islamic extremism? Why are we now so averse to protecting our way of life? Do we feel it's no longer worth protecting? Are we now willing to accept Islamic pressure, coercion, and absolutism? Are we supposed to just say that this fight isn't worth the body count, and that we should just respect Islam for the "religion of peace" that it purports to be, when all signs point to it being everything contrary to that?

I was having some drinks at the bar with friends recently, and one member of the group was talking a bit about world events, and expressed that he could not fathom why the U.S.A. always had to stick its nose in other countries' business. He could not understand why our troops had to go overseas and fight. He felt that we should pull all troops back home and set up a better defense here in the homeland.

This mindset boggles the hell out of me. He's entitled to his opinion, of course. But I guess I fail to see how we should just hunker down and hope that nothing bad will happen to us. That's the mode we were in when 9/11 happened. Looks like our method of staying out of other peoples' business didn't work too well. We lost nearly 3,000 for thinking that way the last time. It was then that we decided to act, and not stand idly by when there was a looming threat on the horizon. We're still fighting that battle to this day, and we will be for some time to come. That is, if we are brave and stolid enough to stick with it. It appears that now that we've lost thousands of our brave young men and women who volunteered to serve their country, the very country they've died to protect has decided that the fight was all for nothing and that we should just hunker down and hide. I can't think of a bigger insult, slight, or disrespect for our fallen soldiers than to change our minds a few years later and in effect call their sacrifice completely worthless. Shame on any American who feels this fight is senseless. This is the most important fight we currently face. You can't win it by hiding under rocks at home. What kind of strategy is that?

Islam is not a religion anymore. It's a movement. It's an anti-American movement. Islam has no room for America in its grand plan. Islam is all about establishing a caliphate, where Sharia law reigns supreme. There will be no American Constitution when Islam wins. There will be no freedoms. There will be only infighting, suicide-bombings, murder, genocide, oppression, and all of the horrible things that we see Islam providing to the world every day. Somalia is a prime example of what Islam holds in store for you. Just read the news, and you'll see the future that Islam will surely bring you. It's not pretty. I put forth that nearly every major conflict taking place in the world today has Islamic assholes on one side, and somebody (anybody) else on the other. Islam gets along with no one, because it tolerates no one.

Why are we at war? What a foolish question. The answer is right in front of our noses. You need only pay attention to the growing threat overseas. It's not getting any better, and I for one feel MUCH better knowing that our armed forces are over there battling extremism wherever they can find it. Their sacrifice over there guarantees our way of life here. THAT is why we fight. THAT is why we fight OVER THERE: so we don't have to OVER HERE.

I would have thought that was pretty obvious. I guess I was wrong.

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

In a most impressive lack of insight, the current president of Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari, made a plea to president-elect Obama to halt the U.S. military's missile strikes on enemy positions inside Pakistan. Now sure, I understand that Zardari is trying to stop us from fueling the flames of extremism in his nation. It makes for unpleasantness in Pakistan. I say "tough shit", but who am I to judge, right?

Anyway, read his statement and think about it for a second, because he's missing a painfully obvious truth when he makes this statement:

Zardari said, "We feel that the strikes are an intrusion on our sovereignty, which are not appreciated by the people at large, and the first aspect of this war is to win the hearts and mind of the people."

Funny, but it should be pretty obvious to the insightful Mr. Zardari that the hearts and minds of his precious "people at large" belong, and have always belonged, to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. More importantly, the hearts and minds of his own ISI (the Pakistani equivalent of our CIA), belong to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Whether or not we conduct missile strikes on Al Qaeda positions or not will never change the mindset of the "people at large" in Pakistan. That being said, I don't give a flying fuck what the president of Pakistan wants, because the hearts and minds of his people are ALREADY hell-bent on killing anyone not aligned with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. And that means you and I. I say keep the missiles flying.

I had far more respect for Zardari's late wife, Bennazir Bhutto. It's a shame she was assassinated (again, by Al Qaeda agents). She would have made a far wiser president than her dumbass husband. But I guess I should be nice and practice what I preach about the burden of being a president. Our president has the privilege and the burden of knowing things that you and I do not. However, I'm not sure that Zardari knows diddly squat about his own constituency....

In other news, I was told by a co-worker today that Barack Obama's website, Change.gov , had all kinds of information on Obama's plans for the future if he were elected president. I was told that each issue on the website was thoroughly written up with oodles of information about Obama's thoughts, ideas, and direction. Now that he's been elected and brought up to speed on things by intelligence briefings and by meeting with President Bush, I'm told that all of that valuable information has been pulled from the website. Why would that be, Mr. President-elect? Could it be that now that you've been grounded in reality by facts, you suddenly realized that you cannot possibly move forward with any of the plans you had promised the American people? I confess that I had not seen the website before the change, but I went there tonight and could not find a list of issues or details about each of them. I did find a button called "Agenda" which includes a whopping three sentences or so that summarize the issues he will face. No mention of his actual plan or direction, though. I presume he doesn't want to be held accountable for his upcoming failures by having any kind of written documentation outlining his original agenda.

All that talk of "change", and it seems the only thing that's changed is the removal of his ideas from the website. I wonder how that bodes for his upcoming presidency....

I am encouraged, however, by the fact that Obama claims he will take the fight against Al Qaeda into Pakistan if necessary. How convenient of a promise that was; we're already doing it, dude.

Oh, and then there's his promise of a phased approach to bring our troops home from Iraq. How convenient of a promise that was; we're already doing it, dude.

So if I'm seeing this right, Obama's promising what Bush is already delivering. Fascinating.

The Burden of Presidency

Today marks the first day that Barack Obama got his first national intelligence briefing as he begins to learn what it means to be a president. Damn I wish I could've been a fly on the wall for that first briefing. I'd have loved to have seen the look on Obama's face when he began to learn about the harsh realities of the world that he never knew about.

That's the thing about American presidents (and probably most other figureheads around the world, too). Presidents have the privilege and the BURDEN of discovering and knowing things about this world that you and I will never know. I can't even begin to fathom what a shock that must be to any first time president. I heard it secondhand today that someone close to our last two presidents personally witnessed that when each of them first heard their initial national intelligence briefing, they each left the room white-knuckled and rather pale. I can totally understand that.

It is for that reason that I generally give our presidents a more forgiving margin of error when they perform their duties. They have to bear the burden of knowing things that they cannot always share with the public. They know more than any of us ever could about the horrors of this world. It is through that information, that filter, that they see the world, and through which they must make impossible decisions. I don't envy them that burden. It has to be a LOT to bear.

I had a tit-for-tat political conversation with one of my closest friends via telephone yesterday. He's a fairly well-read individual, and certainly intelligent. In the years that followed 9/11 and the start of the Iraq conflict, he and I became very aware that we were on polar opposite sides of the fence with regard to our government, and more specifically, our president. I realize that most folks in this nation despise Bush, but I don't think I've ever seen such a focused crusade against George Bush as I have seen from my friend. It's one thing to disapprove of the president's performance. But my friend has taken it to such an extreme that he somehow has managed to extrapolate literally EVERY SINGLE ONE of the world's ills on George Bush. It's actually laughable. Bush has faults; this I will concede. But to take any and every negative topic or headline and blame it squarely on George Bush is ridiculous. Even you virulent Bush haters probably agree with that statement.

Sometime during 2006, my friend began sharing some e-mails with me that he occasionally circulates to his circle of friends. The e-mails were political in nature, and it was sort of a round-table discussion e-mail exchange where a certain topic would be presented, and each person on the mailing list would reply to the group and would put their two cents in on the matter, with point and counterpoint. Such an activity is certainly a risky venture, particularly among a group of friends. Politics is just one of those things that is very difficult to discuss politely. Someone will always get their feathers ruffled sooner or later. The same thing applies to religion. This is why the old adage about never discussing religion or politics in mixed company is such a valid one. Nothing could be more true.

Well, I don't remember the specifics of it now, but after one or two of these round robin e-mail exchanges, I began to boldly weigh in. Knowing that I solidly supported Bush's policy of engaging our terrorist enemies anywhere and everywhere, my good friend launched into countless attacks on Bush just for the sake of bashing Bush. It is positively fascinating to listen to this guy take any given problem in the world, and blame it squarely on George Bush. He's made it into something of an art form. I swear, if somebody's neighborhood cat got run over down the street from him, he'd find a way to link it to George Bush. "If Bush wasn't spending billions of dollars on the Iraq war on a daily basis, maybe the town could have afforded more animal control staffers to keep stray cats off the roads." I mean, he's literally THAT bad.

Anyway, after some heated e-mail exchanges, I eventually got tired of hearing how George Bush was the anti-Christ and the worst thing to happen to humanity since Adolf Hitler. It was at that point that I politely asked that he and I never again discuss politics, because it was beginning to take a toll on our valued friendship (at least in my eyes). I'm sorry folks, but comparing Bush to Hitler is ludicrous. I don't hold Bush on a pedestal, but I don't fault the guy for trying to protect you and me. I, for one, commend him for making an effort to protect our nation. The guy was only in office for part of a year when 9/11 happened, and it changed everything. Bush's presidency, as I said in my previous blog, was and always will be defined by 9/11. Who knows how things would have been different if 9/11 never happened? I suspect that Bush would have been able to carry out a very average presidency if 9/11 never happened. Nothing great, nothing terrible, but probably pretty average. But he really didn't have much opportunity to carry out an average presidency. 9/11 changed everything. The events of that day forced Bush to make decisions he never thought he'd ever have to make. They were hard decisions, but he did what I would have done: he took the fight to the enemy, wherever the enemy might be hiding.

After the U.S. military pounded the Taliban to dust and chased the rest into Pakistan, Bush may have been able to gather himself enough to attempt to tackle other issues (both foreign and domestic), but everything else was very secondary to the effect of 9/11. No other single issue could possibly matter as much as our safety and security in this nation. It is with that mindset that Bush carried out his duties as president. Such a mindset inevitably leads to very unpopular choices, decisions, hardships, and sacrifices. But he remained steadfast in his effort to protect us all, and to his credit, post 9/11 we have not seen a single successful terror attack in THIS nation during his presidency. Al Qaeda has had to resort to attacking softer foreign targets because they've been unable to muster another attack on our homeland. Numerous terror cells and plots have been broken up and/or disrupted here and abroad, and I think that's a credit to our departing president. He put our military forces and intelligence agencies up to the daunting task of protecting this country, and I feel they've done an excellent job of adapting to the threats that so violently awakened us all on 9/11. Kudos to our armed forces for keeping us safe, and kudos to Bush for having the courage to become unpopular to serve a higher purpose: protecting our lives, liberty, and our way of life.

In light of everything that presidents are expected to endure, it is a wonder to me that they can even sleep at night. And it is no surprise that the last two presidents have departed the Oval Office looking considerably older and more frazzled than they did when they first took office. I suspect Obama will be no exception when his term is up. He won't look anything like he looks now. You probably won't even recognize the man by 2012. Heck, I bet today's national intelligence briefing was enough to turn the man white.

To wrap up my main point, I just want to remind everyone that American presidents know more than you or I will ever know about the immediate and potiential threats that face us all. Obama is now facing the fact that there's probably a lot more going on in the world than he could have ever imagined. I'm not suggesting he was oblivious to the world, but Mr. Hopeful is probably a little dizzy tonight as he digests what he's gotten himself into. I know I would be pretty nauseous.

To Bush bashers everywhere, one cannot blame all the world's problems on Bush. Those who do that are simply copping out. And don't even get me started on all those crackpot conspiracy theorists who claim that Bush "knew" about 9/11 beforehand, or perhaps the double-whammy blame-game attack where they actually posit that George Bush was BEHIND the 9/11 attacks for this purpose or that. I just don't understand people who believe that shit. To each his own, I guess.

When you lambast your nation's president, folks, please take a moment to stop and realize that he probably knows more than you do about any given political topic. It's easy for you and I to armchair quarterback the White House. We all do it. But give your president some leeway when he makes unpopular choices. He knows more than you; that's his job.

The Audacity of Ignorance

Well, it's the next day after the election, and I'm seeing and hearing all the shouts of joy at Obama's victory. I've even mulled things over a bit with a few folks at work, and I'm also seeing responses online, some in direct response to my blog yesterday.

The first thing I'd like to point out is that Al Qaeda is pleased with your choice, Obama supporters. There's nothing like giving our enemy "hope". Well done to all of you. The reason our enemies are so hopeful is because now the heat will be removed for them. They won't have anyone in their faces to keep them in check. As I pointed out a few blogs back, one of Al Qaeda's upper lieutenants openly voiced "hope" just prior to election day that the Republican party would suffer a humiliating defeat. This point alone confirms what I've been bitching about all along. They were hoping for that defeat because they knew damn well that it would make life for the average terrorist much easier. Now they can regroup and begin figuring out ways to get out of their caves and back into our world where they can make a real impact.

The other thing this election confirms for me is how complacent this country has become, even in the wake of September 11th. That horrible day has been essentially forgotten entirely. And it's worth noting that since we're now seven years removed from 9/11/01, most of the very young voters that rallied for Obama this year have sketchy (or few) memories of 9/11/01. If I'm doing my math right, the youngest of our eligible voters this year would have been about age 11 in 2001. Think back to when you were 11 years old. How much attention did you pay to world events? I suspect most 11 year old kids in 2001 saw some buildings falling down, and probably couldn't really grasp what it meant that nearly 3000 people died all at once. In the years that followed, everything that these kids have seen and heard on a regular basis is how the war that "we started" is an atrocity and must end immediately. Funny, but my recollection is that the war on terror was a RESPONSE to 9/11/01. Al Qaeda dealt the first major blow, and we retaliated. But most people these days seem to think that we started this war and that we should quit being an "aggressor nation".

Another thing I'd like to point out is that I personally do not make distinctions between the two battlefronts in the war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan. Most Americans love to argue that we had no business invading Iraq in 2003. Well I should remind you that Iraq had no business invading Kuwait in 1990. If you want to separate Iraq as not being part of the war on terror, then fine, let's do that for the sake of argument. The war in Iraq did not start with the U.S. invasion in 2003. Rather, it started when Saddam Hussein invaded his benign neighbor Kuwait in 1990 and slaughtered countless innocent Kuwaitis. The outcome of that war was never fully resolved, as Saddam Hussein consistently refused to honor his surrender agreements for nearly 12 years. He flouted U.N. weapon inspectors, and pretty much terrorized his own population without remorse. If you're one of the countless Americans who question why we invaded Iraq because they did not attack us on 9/11, then the continuation of the 1990-1991 Gulf War is your reason. Choose whatever reason you want, because there are many. Want to claim that the U.S. never found the WMDs in 2003 and beyond? I beg to differ. Check out the article from July 7th on CNN.com that shows that a 500 ton stockpile of yellowcake uranium was recently shipped out of Iraq and sent to Canada to be used for energy production. We may have never found Saddam's nuclear weapons; indeed, he may have never succeeded in creating any, although he certainly had a nuclear weapons program underway back in 1990. But the fact that he had stockpiled 500 tons of uranium should be reason enough to have invaded Iraq. It's noteworthy that Iraq has no nuclear power plants, so the only logical conclusion for Iraq stockpiling uranium was for the purpose of eventually enriching it and weaponizing it. It's interesting that the news headline from July 7th really didn't make the evening news. I came across it because I was seeking out news around the world. Heaven forbid that the liberal media openly admit that Bush was in fact correct when he said that Saddam did have the materials to make nuclear weapons. Saddam DID have it. We found it. We quietly shipped it the hell out of there because we didn't dare let Al Qaeda insurgents get hold of it. I'm not making this shit up, people. Look it up for yourselves.

So if you wanna bitch that we had no business invading Iraq, your arguments are unfounded. Chemical and biological weapons were already a fact of life in Iraq, so you can't claim Saddam didn't have those either. Saddam had them. Just because we never found nuclear missiles in Iraq does not mean that Saddam never had the materials to make them, or never had a nuclear weapons program. He certainly had the uranium, and not to make energy. On top of everything else, Saddam had already proven he was a crackpot and sadistic asshole. The records are all there showing his atrocities. Sounds to me like we had every reason to invade Iraq, and then some. Especially in the context of our nation's mindset in the months that followed 9/11. We didn't dare let Saddam take his weapons stash and offer it up to the likes of Al Qaeda. While there was never a direct link between the two ever found, it stands to reason that this was a very real possibility. Should we have sat idly by and waited for that to happen?

Now back to my point about not making distinctions between the fronts in the war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan. When we went into Afghanistan to wipe out the Taliban, we did so very effectively at the onset. That ragtag bunch of animals didn't stand a chance against our military. The majority of them that survived the initial bombing campaign all made a break for the border with Pakistan, knowing full well that we would not be able to pursue them there. Sadly, Osama Bin Laden was among them. But once we killed or chased off the majority of the Taliban in Afghanistan, there was little more we could do there in terms of combat operations. That's when we began rebuilding the country. The initial victories there allowed our forces to engage terrorism elsewhere. We turned our attention to unfinished business in Iraq, and that's how we ended up there.

While it can be argued that Al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq initially, it cannot be argued that they are not there now. We have Syria to thank for that. Probably Iran too. We see evidence of Al Qaeda's presence every day on the news (if you're paying attention, that is). At least in Iraq, we can actually engage the enemy when we find them. For the longest time, we had little ability to do that in Afghanistan since most of the insurgents fled and regrouped across the border. It wasn't until the last few years that they've been able to put up noteworthy attacks in Afghanistan again. I agree that now there is more of a need for additional combat troops there. But in the years that immediately followed our initial attack, that was not the case. Insurgent attacks on our forces back in those days were sporadic and not very well organized. Our forces were able to effectively respond to most of them. As things are gradually improving, it makes sense to redeploy our troops back to Afghanistan. My fear is that the enemy will simply continue to play their little hiding game and keep jumping back across the border. It's this tactic that has forced the U.S. to resort to remote drone missile attacks on positions in Pakistan.

For all of you Iraq whiners out there, it's also worth noting that U.S. military deaths and Iraqi civilian deaths are at an all time low right now. We now have the lowest death tolls since we invaded in 2003. So if you're going to say that Iraq is a dismal failure, I beg to disagree. And more importantly, so do our forces over there. They're proud of their accomplishments, and thanks to the surge and the eventual cooperation of the Iraqis who turned their backs on Al Qaeda, we've made great strides over there. I wouldn't call the place safe by any stretch, but it's getting better. These things take time, people. If you were expecting the Iraq war to be a 3-day affair, then you are a fool. War is never quick and easy. It takes time, commitment, and determination to win a war. And it takes even more time for a new nation to form and rebuild from the rubble. I'm sorry, but I don't see Iraq as the endless quagmire that most people do. It's no cakewalk, but no war ever is.

What makes me really sad is that I have to sit here and give all of you a fucking history lesson to explain how we ended up in this war. If you're reading this blog, you SHOULD already know this stuff. Apparently, many of you do not. I find that despicable, but I guess it's more convenient for most Americans to ignore the world outside of our borders. Our current economic situation is apparently more important than our own security. My argument with that mindset is this: all other concerns will quickly become secondary if Al Qaeda gets off another attack here at home. The economy, taxes, abortion, illegal immigration, Social Security -- these are all important issues, no doubt. But think back to 9/11 for a second. How many of these issues mattered in the days or months that immediately followed 9/11? Basically, none of them mattered at that moment. Our first concern was for those who were lost, and our next concern was for our own safety and security. That being the case, why in the hell have you all forgotten that? Why have you all become so blissfully ignorant and complacent? Do you think an end to the war and a quick troop withdrawal will make us MORE safe at home? How can you possibly make that argument in light of the facts? The threats never went away. They're still out there, just like before. We've done a good job of hindering Al Qaeda, but there is still a war to be fought against them, and a lot more work to do. And that fight currently exists in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and wherever else it will lead us.

Barack Obama is highly unlikely to continue this important fight. In fact, he's made it a selling point of his campaign to pull the plug on the war in Iraq, and it stands to reason that he'll do the same in Afghanistan. Democrats always seem to think they can sweet talk their way out of conflict. Many times in life, you have to make a stand. That's what the "evil" Bush adminstration has done all these last 8 years. He made a stand. His presidency was defined solely by 9/11. His main mission was to protect the American people. I'm not saying he was the greatest president ever; far from it. But he was doing his job. I'd have done the same had I been in his position. I wish we could have done more (and I bet he does too), but when you're constantly butting heads with the likes of dumbfucks like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, it's hard to make much progress.

You can't make peace with the likes of Al Qaeda, folks. I'm tired of driving that point into the ground, but it seems you're not getting it. I'm willing to give Obama a chance to try and live up to the EXTREMELY lofty promises he's made during his campaign, but history has shown that few presidents ever live up to their campaign promises. So put your "hope" away people, because it's time for reality to set back in. He can't possibly live up to most of his own promises. He's not the messiah. He's just a man. My main reason for supporting McCain was his stance in the war on terror. He vowed to continue the fight and to protect our nation. Obama vowed to end the fight and pull back. I could care less about the rest of his campaign promises, because they're all secondary to my safety and security. If I can't live to talk about the economy or taxes, then why are we worried about them? I happen to recognize the fact that we're in real danger from terrorism. I see it every day when I seek out what's happening around the world. Obama supporters apparently feel that we're under no direct threat anymore. I'm here to tell you that we are.

So for those of you who patronize me and giggle while offering me a "...pat on the head" when you tell me not to worry, and that everything will be alright, I'd like to respond by saying you're completely out of touch with reality. Wake the fuck up. You can call the war a farce if you want to, but our troops will tell you different. They've seen the danger firsthand.
Revel in your cute little victory, but I don't see that we've won anything in this election other than extreme risk. If Obama surprises me and actually continues the fight, then I'll gain some respect for him. But he's pretty much said that he's not going to do that. There's a promise I hope he DOES break.

"Change" should not involve ignoring reality. If anything, the "change" that needs to happen is for people to actually SEE reality.

Open your eyes.

It’s All Over....More Than You Know

I suppose it's no surprise that Obama won the election. We all saw it coming.

Sure it's a historical moment, and sure it's noteworthy. But there's nothing more disgusting to me than to sit and watch Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton sitting around with smug satisfaction, like they had something to do with it. Jesse was fucking crying. I put forth that he wasn't crying out of joy, though. I'm pretty sure that Jesse was crying because HE wasn't the one that got elected president. Too bad, so sad.

Well, what I expect to see fairly soon is a rapid deterioration of everything we hold dear in this country. I know that a great many citizens of this country are all kinds of hopeful and excited. Revel in the moment. It's unlikely to last.

I'm going to take perverse joy in mocking the new president, because I'm sure he'll likely provide me with plenty of material. I'm going to take even more perverse joy in mocking the vice-president, because he's simply an asshole of the highest order.

My primary concern is what Obama is going to do to defend this country, which I suspect isn't much. For those of you Obama voters who choose to conveniently ignore events around the world (which is most of you), we're in serious trouble now. When Obama hastily pulls us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and has us all believing that everything will be peachy keen over here if we "don't bother anyone" in the Middle East, you're going to be in for an extremely deadly awakening. I'm not fearmongering here, either. I make it a point read the news about events around the world nearly every day. I follow what's happening overseas. I see the threats, and where they're coming from. We've been keeping many of those threats at bay for the last 8 years with our military. They've been absorbing bullets and shrapnel over there so that you and I don't have to over here.

Without our forces keeping us safe, the doors will now be wide open for all that anti-American sentiment to follow us home. While Obama is busy spreading and sharing our wealth, our enemies will be spreading their terror to our shores. Instead of attacking the U.S. military on the battlefront across the ocean, our enemies will now be able to make their way here and attack U.S. citizens. I truly hope I'm wrong, but I expect it will only be a matter of time before Al Qaeda lets loose with something horrible here at home again. They won't have an American presence to attack on their turf anymore, so now they can regroup and again focus on you and me. The problem is, we're not equipped as citizens to defend against that kind of threat. Especially now, since Obama is apparently against gun ownership for private citizens.

I guess if we have to defend ourselves against criminals or terrorists, we're supposed to use harsh language. Or perhaps in true Democratic Party fashion, maybe we can attempt to negotiate and reason with someone who threatens to kill us. Offer up that olive branch to the bad guys, Obama. They'll be happy to take it from you as quickly as they take your life or mine.

Now that there's all this new misguided "hope" in the country, I guess I'll have to join the "hopeful" in hoping that I'm wrong about all my predictions above. Sadly, I'm anything but hopeful. I've never been more devoid of hope in my life as I am tonight.

America, you have no idea what you've just done. Please let me be wrong, for all our sakes....

Al Qaeda Favors Democrats

Hey, everybody. Here's some food for thought as we approach this Tuesday's election.

Check out the following link:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49T76620081030?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

To summarize its content, Al Qaeda wants to see the Republican party humiliated in this Tuesday's election. Take a step back and think about that for a second, and you can quickly deduce that their statement would align Al Qaeda with the Democratic Party. In other words, if you're going to vote a Democratic ticket (Obama/Biden) this election, then Al Qaeda supports your choice. Choose your candidates accordingly.

In other news, it looks like the U.S. military has struck an Al Qaeda foreign fighter facilitation cell in none other than Syria last weekend. The Syrians, who are pretty well versed in terrorist operations, were quick to label this attack as a "terrorist" attack on the part of the U.S. It's six of one and half a dozen of the other, in my opinion, but it could be said that, "it takes one to know one". According to Syria's account of the incident, we killed only innocent civilians in the attack.

I think it's safe to say that our military doesn't waste the time or the resources, let alone risk the lives of its people, to launch attacks against women and children. In other words, if we're going after some particular target, rest assured that there's a reason we're attacking it. There will undoubtedly be high-value targets in the crosshairs, not just a bunch of innocent farmers. Our nation has lost countless brave soldiers, men and women, at the hands of the Syrians. I'm pleased to see a little payback, particularly on Syrian soil. It's been a long time coming.

Meanwhile, our military has continued to launch sporadic missile strikes inside Pakistan, which I also think is a long time coming. I can't stress enough how much anti-American sentiment springs from Pakistan. We will always be lowly infidels to them, no matter which political party holds the reigns after this election day. Dig into the news once in awhile, folks, and see what's happening in Pakistan. It should concern you, and greatly.

But if you prefer ignorant bliss, then by all means put Obama in the White House. Put your fingers in your ears when you begin hearing about terrorist threats overseas, and start yelling "la la la la la la" to drown it all out. How adult of you. Obama will try to make nice with everybody, even his supporters in Al Qaeda. And they'll be laughing at us all the way until the moment of detonation.

I'm not looking forward to "change" like that.

No Respect

I noticed a news blurb about some John McCain supporters that were lambasting Barack Obama, inferring that Obama is a Muslim and a Communist. They were outdoors at some sort of McCain rally, handing out a cleverly designed bumper sticker that read, "Obama For Change", where the "C" in "Change" was an Islamic crescent, and the "G" in "Change" was a hammer & sickle. It was their way of jabbing at Obama to "help" McCain's cause.

Frankly, I don't care about the whole "Obama is this" and "Obama isn't that" argument. I don't suspect him of being a Muslim or a Communist. I just think he's a clueless dipshit. He's a smooth talker, though. At least he likes to think he is. He gets pretty proud of himself when he gets up in front of an audience. Here's the thing, Obama fans: being a smooth talker does NOT make one a great leader. It just means he had some good speech classes in college. Heck, I had a few decent speech classes in college too, and I can assure you that I'm definitely not fit to be President of the United States.

Anyway, I watched this i-Reporter style video of these McCain supporters trying to both endorse McCain while trying to spout off about Obama being a Muslim and Communist, and various Muslim Republicans in the crowd (yes, they apparently do exist) began to surround these people and spout back. Naturally, it got ugly and the Muslim constituents in the crowd got pretty upset and a few claimed that they were going to switch their vote to Obama based on the behavior of these somewhat radical McCain supporters. It should be noted that the McCain campaign did NOT appreciate the message these radical and supposed McCain supporters were sending, and the campaign does not share their opinions. Anyway, the "offended" Muslims are perfectly in their right to choose to switch their vote, if they see fit. That's what democracy is about. They were apparently too offended to acknowledge that the McCain campaign did not share the opinions of the instigators, but that's neither here nor there.

Here's my point, though. I found it interesting that someone was exercising their freedom of speech in the classic American way (trying to sway people's votes), and it ended up being the MUSLIM folks in the crowd who ended up getting so unreasonably offended and who raised the tensions in the situation. Sure, the instigators may have been off the mark with their allegations against Obama, and sure they were saying things offensive to Muslims (and Communists). That's a given. But the thing is, those instigators had the RIGHT to do so. They were NOT exhibiting violent behavior; they were only speaking their minds. The Muslims in the crowd had the option of ignoring them, or voting against them. Rather than do either, they got up in the faces of the instigators and became confrontational. The instigators weren't confrontational. Again, they were only speaking their minds. It wasn't until the Muslims showed up that things got confrontational.

Again, it appears that we Americans can no longer speak our minds. So much for our Constitutional right to free speech. I guess only Muslims can speak their minds and object to things. They seem to reserve the exclusive right to be offended by everything, and the exclusive obligation to violently protest against everything. I guess we Americans can no longer live by our own Constitution anymore. We're apparently subject to Sharia law now. I wasn't aware of the disbanding of our Constitution, but apparently the Koran now holds more sway in this nation than our Constitution. I'm tired of always having to "respect" Islam, when Islam respects nothing at all. Islam doesn't even respect itself. It's a despicable cult of brainwashing, and it's only purpose is to perpetuate misery. I don't know that I've ever witnessed a happy Muslim, have you? The only time I ever seem to see happy Muslims is when there's a dead American corpse underneath their dancing feet.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing Muslims whine about how they're so "oppressed" by Western culture. Here's the deal, Muslims: your culture is completely incompatible with Western culture. This is why I cannot understand why any Muslim would even want to live in this country. We stand for everything that Islam is not. Freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- these are American ideals. None of them exist in the Islam I've always seen. I see only death, coercion, threats, terror, intolerance, anger, hatred, and absolutism when I see Islam. I see double standards when I see Islam. I see a swath of pissed off men who, if you could ever possibly sit them down and have a civilized conversation with them, probably couldn't even tell you what the hell they're so angry about in the first place. They get into their massive mobs, take on the mob mentality, and burn flags and people in effigy. Some clever Dane decides to print a political cartoon and instead of Muslims just objecting to it in a civilized fashion, death threats and fatwas are immediately issued. What the hell is that shit?
Rest assured that the pro-McCain "instigators" I mentioned above at the McCain rally have probably received countless death threats from Muslims by now. Why? For expressing a political opinion?

There's a reason I'm spouting off my opinions against Muslims so blatantly here in my blogs. It's because they need to learn to taste their own medicine and take a tongue-lashing now and then. I'm tired of hearing how I'm supposed to respect Islam, and tiptoe around them and not express any opinions that might offend them. Why shouldn't I? Are they going to issue fatwas and death threats against me? Fine, let 'em come. I've got a fully loaded clip of hollow points for any Muslim motherfucker who thinks he's gonna threaten me. If Muslims can dish out their anger and their hatred, they'd best be prepared to eat it too. I'll deal it right back, because unlike most cowardly Americans, I refuse to capitulate.

Until I see Islam dish out respect and tolerance for those in the human race that don't share their twisted ideology, I refuse to dish out any respect or tolerance for Islam. It's not deserving of any if it cannot dole it out. You have to give respect to get it.

Another foreign relief worker was murdered in Afghanistan this week. She was killed by Taliban insurgents because she was "preaching Christianity". She was there to help and serve the disabled in Afghanistan. She was no threat to anyone. But she dared to speak up in support of her faith, and was promptly murdered for her trouble. She was mowed down by machine gun fire from a passing motorcycle. Yeah, those Islamic jihadists are surely a bunch of brave bad-asses, aren't they? They shot down an unarmed woman who was there to help the disabled. I'm not sure how she was a threat, other than she held a different (and better) religious ideology than theirs. Yes, we infidel Christians are terrible people for helping the disabled. That, like everything else, must be some sort of horrible affront to Islam. I just don't understand how Islam seems to thrive so much on misery and suffering. It must be mandatory in the Koran to make everyone around you suffer (or die).

I read a quote from none other than Colin Powell this week. In reference to the allegations that Barack Obama is a Muslim, Colin Powell responded, "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?" I'll answer that one, Colin. Yes, there is.

Bet Your Life....

Today I saw some interesting news headlines on CNN.com.

The first that caught my eye was the one that read, "Taliban Split With Al Qaeda, Seek Peace". That one should catch anybody's attention. Think about the implications of that statement for a moment. The Taliban, from whom our multi-national forces are coming under attack daily in Afghanistan, and against whom we're counterattacking, have suddenly decided to "divorce" themselves from Al Qaeda. Apparently, the article claims, the Taliban want to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Afghanistan. The Saudis have apparently brokered a meeting, which reportedly took place in late September, between Taliban delegates and Afghan delegates to kick-start what is expected to be a very long series of peace talks. This would be a HUGE shift in the way things are going in that region.

However, knowing the Taliban as I do, I'm trying to figure out the angle here. Supposedly, the fugitive Mullah Mohammed Omar (the clerical figurehead of the Taliban, and one of the USA's most sought-after terrorists), has apparently decided to suddenly distance himself from Al Qaeda. Even the notorious Afghan warlord Gulbadin Hekmatyar, known for shifting his allegiance to whichever way the wind blows, had a representative at the talks, along with a few other relevant but unnamed parties.

My interpretation on this development is this: it's a ploy. I suspect the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda are trying to get their people close to the Saudi monarchy for the purposes of assassination. Al Qaeda has always wanted to eliminate the Saudi monarchy -- they've made no secret of that. A few "good-will" talks up front would allow Taliban representatives to get into the "inner circle" with the Saudis and feel out their security measures, and when they've assessed the weaknesses, a proper assassination can be mounted. The Taliban have used this tactic before in the days just prior to September 11th. The leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the "Lion of Panjshir", was assassinated by a couple of Al Qaeda agents posing as press. They began conducting a mock interview, and the cameraman had stowed massive explosives inside his "battery belt". When they successfully established trust with Massoud and his security people, and began conducting their "interview", the bomb went off and killed several people there, including Massoud and the bomber. A similar tactic could be underway here. If I were the Saudis, I'd be making damn sure that any Taliban delegates are thoroughly screened by keen security people. This screams of a plot to me.

I hate more than anything to be a pessimist and a naysayer, but I do consider myself a realist. Believe me, nobody would be happier than me to see the bloodshed end in Afghanistan and peace take hold. But let's just say that the Taliban isn't known for its honesty or good intentions. Any offer of "peace" from the Taliban should be taken with a grain of salt, heck, a MOUND of salt, in my opinion. I'll be watching this development to see what comes of it. I smell a rat. An offer of peace from the Taliban is like an offer of tasty treats to a mouse from a professional exterminator.

The other headline that caught my interest had to do with the disputed region of Kashmir, which lies between Pakistan and India. This region has been claimed by both Pakistan and India, and several wars have been fought between the two nations over the territory. Tensions have been high in this area for a long time, if you've followed your recent history. Here's the latest. It would appear that some land had been set aside for a Hindu shrine to be constructed. A massive Muslim demonstration soon followed, because as we've seen historically time and time again, Muslims can't seem to tolerate or get along with anybody. The closest thing to "government" in the region apparently caved to the pressure from the Muslim demonstrators, and rescinded the offer to allow the Hindus to construct their shrine. Then, the Hindus responded with demonstrations of their own, and all kinds of violence soon followed when violent Muslims butted heads with the Hindus. Indian security forces have had to move in and impose curfews to keep demonstrators and/or separatists from killing one another.

You'll note that the whole reason for this particular uptick of violence is once again on the shoulders of Muslims, the most intolerant and violent of the religions. They demand their way on everything, and give no quarter to anyone that is not a Muslim. This is my recurring gripe with their "faith". It's completely intolerant of any other faith or any other point of view, and it is intolerant to the point of violence. If Muslims are so into peace and tolerance, how come we never see that in practice?

Extremism like this must be stamped out, or we're all in for a rude awakening. Peacemongers can oppose warfare all they want, but a wise person once said, "Let him who desires peace prepare for war." Freedom isn't free. We westerners can extend all the peace offers we want to the Muslim world, but until I see something on their end to indicate they'd be willing to reciprocate, I'd just as soon kill them. In terms of co-existence with Muslims, all indications I see in the news every day point to the fact that THEY WON'T HAVE IT. I say kill 'em all, and let God sort 'em out. Their inexplicable desire to kill me (and you) means that their lives are forfeit. If we can eradicate the extremists, maybe the Muslims left standing can attempt to show us their supposedly peaceful and tolerant religion. I'd be willing to bet that there won't be any of them left standing, since I feel they're all inclined to band together in their mission to wipe US all out. In my mind, moderates in Islam are only a nudge away from extremists. I truly hope I'm wrong on that. But I'm not willing to bet my life on it. Are you?

United We Stood

It is late in the evening on September 11th, 2008. I committed myself earlier in the day to watching some TV programs at night on the History Channel documenting the events of September 11th, 2001. Before leaving for work, I set up my DVR to record 2 or 3 different programs that were going to be aired throughout the day, and then I scrambled to work.

I remembered to put my flag up on the front of the house before I left. I've tried to do so every September 11th since the terrorist attacks. I decided on my way through my subdivision to count how many of my neighbors remembered to do the same. I looked up and down my block, and only saw flags flying at homes that have permanent flagpoles in their yards, which number around two or three along my street. No other houses anywhere were flying flags. Not a one.

I turned a few corners and hit the main street through my subdivision. Again, I looked up and down the street as I drove, and again I only saw flags flying on homes with flagpoles. I eventually found ONE single other house that had a flag on the front of the house like mine. Only one.

The impact of what this means should be quite apparent. I was absolutely outraged.

For all the talk back in 2001 about how we "...would never forget," it's clear to me that most of us have. I have not. And I never will. But it's clear that much of this country has already forgotten what happened to it in 2001. And it is shameful.

Even the morning radio show I usually listen to in the car while driving to work seemed to have a fading memory of that fateful day. Yes, the radio hosts did bring it up and talk about it for a few minutes when the time on the clock approached the same time that the terrorists originally struck back in '01. They shared some thoughts and a few brief memories. Then they moved on to the comedy bits that had been prepared for the morning's broadcast. I remember in years past, these same radio hosts spent a good portion of the morning every subsequent September 11th reflecting on the events of 2001. They had also observed a moment of silence at the tragic moment. No such moment of silence today -- just a live ad for cell phones from a major carrier.

Now, I'm not suggesting that every September 11th for the rest of our lives that we sit and wallow in misery all day and relive the horror. Certainly, we must move on. But there's a difference between moving on and putting something completely out of our minds simply because it's too painful to revisit. Shame on all of you who have forgotten, or have chosen to shut that day out of your minds because it's too inconvenient. It happened, and while it killed nearly 3000 people and affected countless others, just because it may not have directly affected you does not mean that you have the right to ignore it. In my mind, you have a responsibility to remember it. Because if you do not, you've done a disservice to all of those who perished that day. You've dishonored them.

I read an article/blog on CNN.com today authored by an American Muslim who claims that for the last seven years, he's been fighting to reclaim his religion from those who hijacked it in 2001. He has been chastised by people both inside and outside of his religion. He's been trying to spread a message of peace among his Muslim brethren, and has been trying to spread the word to outsiders that Islam is a religion of peace. He vigorously denounces terrorism to everyone. He considers himself a peacemonger.

I guess I would almost respect the guy if: A) I actually believed him, B) what he was preaching held any merit, or C) he had not spent so much time in his article whining about how much heat he's taken for his efforts. Deep down, I want to be heartened by his message. It would be nice to believe that Islam truly was a religion of peace. But he's gonna have to do better than to tell me that the word Islam itself means "peace". Sorry, not good enough. Not when messages of hatred and intolerance for Western culture are being delivered in mosques and madrassas everywhere. And yes, that means here at home too. The wise know that there are likely countless mosques across this nation denouncing it and its "evil" ways. I have news for those folks: I'm still proud to be an infidel.

I went about my work day today, and then settled in at home to watch some of the programs about 9/11. I began to watch a recorded program that was essentially a lot of re-enactments about various personal stories that were shared by survivors. It was interesting and powerful. But I wanted especially to tune in to a program aired at 8:00 called "102 Minutes That Changed The World". This program was a collection of video and audio recordings from many different people and sources around New York, and they were assembled in such a way that they followed the events in "real" time. The show had no narration whatsoever. It was simply the events of 9/11 as viewed from real people, and viewed in real time. No re-enactments -- everything you saw and/or heard was real. I watched this program as intently as I watched 9/11 on the news the day it happened. And it had the same profound effect -- I was crying all night. It was a gut-wrenching program. Everyone should watch it.

Why? Because it puts you right in the middle of the event. You experience it as it was experienced by people on the streets and in the buildings of New York on 9/11/01. It's unbelievable how many cameras were rolling that day in different parts of the city. And you experience the events as they did. People from all walks of life, doing different things, but all brought together by one common collection of thousands of tragedies. Everyone shared the same shock, horror, confusion, and sadness.

Now I'm not suggesting that it was "fun" to watch this and put yourself in the middle of what is arguably the worst tragedy this nation has ever faced. It was anything but fun. The show was graphic, for the most part uncut, and was very real. I've often pondered what a horrific scene New York must have been that day, and have never been able to get my mind around the magnitude of it all. Even having seen this program, it's probably only a fraction of the impact of the actual event, but it still brought me to tears. One of the most disturbing things to see were the video captures of people jumping from the towers to their deaths. The other image that really hit me was when someone with a camera wandered into one of the buildings near ground zero just after the towers had collapsed. The camera panned across the deserted building's lobby (filled with dust and debris), and there was what looked like a marble planter along a wall that was smeared with streaks and smears of blood. It was apparent that people in the building trying to evacuate had been injured, and were trying to feel their way along the planter to the exit doors. They left a trail of blood smears along the way, and likely didn't even realize it. The image was disturbing. Frankly, ALL the images were disturbing.

I remember in September 2001, and the months that followed, there was such a sense of unity in this country, and everyone was on the same page regarding what should happen going forward. Even people on the streets of New York in the video were calling for war and payback for this attack on our country, only minutes after the planes first hit. There were numerous citizens clamoring for war even before the towers fell.

Here we are, seven years later. We've been at war with terrorism all that time, except that now there is no longer that same unity of purpose. That commonality amongst all Americans seen in 2001 is completely gone. So many people in this nation don't remember WHY we are at war. Those people make me extremely mad. Those people should watch this TV program for a little "refresher course" on how we ended up at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. A little time spent witnessing the events of 9/11 should help put everything back in perspective.

Peacemongering is everyone's right, and it's a noble cause in itself. But there's a time for peace, and there's a time for war. The post 9/11 world is a time for war. Peace would be nice, and peace would be wonderful. But you must understand that there will never BE peace in the world with Muslim extremism running rampant. It must be stopped. We can be as nice as possible to Muslims world wide, and they will still hate us and want to kill us. You must remember that we are infidels to them, and infidels cannot be allowed to exist in their perfect world. Infidels are not to be tolerated in Islam, and like it or not, most Americans will always be viewed as infidels in the eyes of Muslims. Western culture is not welcome in Islam -- it is an affront to it.

America, it is vital that you never forget September 11th, 2001. We must learn from it and respond to it. This is why we are at war. Put down all of your "No Blood For Oil" signs, because it only shows that you were robbed of the education that you should have gotten. Or it shows that you have chosen to forget.

This week, I cracked open a new book. It is the 9/11 Commission Report. I have wanted to read it for some time, because I want to educate myself a little more about the events of 9/11. The book is a collection of facts all about 9/11, and recommendations on how to prevent another such attack going forward. I'm only a few pages into the book at this point, but I look forward to learning more about that day. And just as importantly, I want to see what their recommendations were. I'm willing to bet at least ONE of them involves stamping out extremism wherever we can find it. That entails warfare, whether you like it or not.

Shortly after 9/11, the phrase "United We Stand" could be found on banners, T-shirts, and signs everywhere. Nearly every house in every neighborhood proudly flew American flags as a show of solidarity. It's so disappointing to me now that we're nowhere close to being united in purpose in this country. I guess the trendy signs of today should read, "United We Stood". Our days of standing united are clearly over.

Meanwhile, my flag still waves alone....

Information Overload

Lately, I've been so immersed in the information overload coming from the world that I can't even organize my thoughts into blogs anymore. I have so much to get off my chest, but I don't even know where to start. I've spent more of my time lately becoming a vegetable in front of the TV set. I still catch up on news every day by reading CNN.com during my lunch break at work, and every day at lunch I get motivated to write about something or other later. Then I get home, exhausted as hell and completely brain-fried from all the chaos at work, and I can't even motivate to check e-mails anymore. Motivation has always been something I've struggled with in my life. I don't even know what to strive for in life anymore. I'm just kinda coasting. That being said, I don't have much to complain about regarding my life. I've got a roof over my head, my bills are getting paid, I've got a fabulous girlfriend, and I have my health (for the most part).

I've heard it said that "satisfied needs do not motivate." I think that about hits it right on the head. When everything's okay, it's easy to fall into a lull of comfort.

But enough about my life -- nobody wants to read that crap anyway. Allow me to make some brief comments about the world since I've last checked in here.

Joe Biden. Yeah, that dipshit Obama picked the king dipshit Democrat to be his running mate, Joseph Biden. He couldn't have chosen more perfectly to round out that fucked up ticket. Speaking of motivation, I can honestly say that the Obama/Biden ticket HAS truly motivated me to get to the voting booth in November and vote for the other party's ticket. At least there's some common sense over there. I have no clue where vascillating Obama is coming from, or where he think's he's going. I keep hearing him talk about change, but haven't heard much of a plan. Hope is not a plan.

Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Mush has finally decided to step down as Pakistan's president. It's about damn time. I've never liked or trusted that guy, and even though he's often portrayed as America's best ally in the war on terror, I feel that he's been everything BUT helpful in that struggle. He's been more than happy, however, to accept all of the billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. to help in that big struggle. Too bad there's nothing to show for it. I'm heartened to have heard that the U.S. has recently been conducting some raids and/or airstrikes on Taliban and/or Al Qaeda positions inside Pakistan's border. Sure, the Paks are pissed off about it, and claim we're "violating their sovereignty". I say, "fuck 'em" -- they'd better get used to it, because that's the only way we're gonna kick any ass in this war. We can't fight this war with one hand tied behind our backs all the time. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to wipe out all the assholes in Pakistan, since that's where all of our troubles are coming from. I don't recall seeing so much concern for the U.S.A.'s "sovereignty" when we were attacked on 9/11 by Islamic assholes from the Middle East. They had no trouble violating OUR sovereignty. Fuck 'em. Bomb the fuckers to dust. They'd have no trouble doing that here if given the opportunity. Just ask 'em.

Hillary Clinton. Yep, she lost the nomination. Who the fuck cares? She and Bill will now have time to work on their marital issues. Or not....

Sarah Palin. I LIKE THIS GIRL. She's got my vote.

John McCain. Johnny Mac's okay in my book. I'll have no trouble making him Commander-in-Chief. At least he's got a clue as to what that entails.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran. Yeah, I'm sure Iran means no harm whatsoever with their nuclear toys. Maybe all of you liberal peacemongers can convince me that Iran is a friendly and benevolent nation with nothing but the best of intentions for the world. Maybe all of you liberal peacemongers need to be the first to die within the blast radius of Iran's harmless nuclear toys. We should be so lucky. When Iran's president hints that Israel should be "wiped off the map," I don't think he meant taking an eraser to the world map hanging in his office, people. He was talking about nuclear annihilation. Wake up, dipshits.

Russia. So the Russkies got cocky in Georgia and reclaimed some lost turf. This is a dangerous situation that could get worse before it gets better. I hope cooler heads prevail in Russia here -- they're still a superpower in my eyes, since they still have the military infrastructure left over from the Soviet Union and the cold war era. That's a lot of muscle and hardware to be discounting. I understand our nation's stance on supporting Georgia's democratic goals, but I hope we don't do that at the expense of instigating another war -- this one, we aren't ready for. It would be a big and ugly one, making Iraq and Afghanistan look like cakewalks (which they're clearly NOT). I distrust Putin and his new croney, and I just don't understand what they're so afraid of from the U.S.A. We clearly don't want conflict with them, but they seem to be unable to grasp that. Some habits die hard, I guess. I suspect we're in for a new cold war going forward. Let's just hope it stays cold....

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Why is it that these pathetic organizations spend so much time denouncing the U.S.A., and never seem to harp on the atrocities being committed by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all their ilk? Heaven forbid they say anything bad about terrorists. They instead pick on the one nation that gives more aid to the world than any other. Yep, we're horrible people here. We pour water on someone's face to get some intel, but the enemy is busy torturing and beheading our soldiers, not to mention countless innocent civilians. It's amazing how neither of these supposed "do-gooder" organizations ever denounces those human rights violations. This is why I despise these organizations and give them no credit at all. I don't want these assholes looking out for MY human rights. Apparently, terrorists deserve more consideration and compassion than you or I do.

The Taliban. So it appears that Afghanistan is pissed off about recent coalition airstrikes having killed "scores" of civilians when trying to rout militants who have taken up hiding amongst these supposed "civilians". I wish I could say I felt bad, but frankly I don't. Insurgents wouldn't be able to move and sneak about so freely unless they had the help and blessing of the people around them. The people of Afghanistan have to choose a side. If they choose whichever side happens to be winning, or whichever side happens to be nearby, then they're not choosing at all. I know it's easy for me to say that from my cozy armchair -- I'm not the one who's got an AK-47 to my head. But I suspect these supposed "civilians" have more sympathy for their Muslim brethren than they do for American soldiers. And frankly, I find it astonishing that nobody is appalled by the fact that these insurgent assholes keeping employing this chicken-shit "human shield" tactic. They all talk so bravely about how unstoppable they are, and how Americans are cowards, but then they launch attacks from behind women and children. We can employ unreasonable tactics, too, like bombing the fuck out of you from thousands of feet in the air. Upset about that? Well, then come out and engage our troops like soldiers instead of panzies. Put up or shut up. If you want a fight, our soldiers would be happy to oblige. Come on out and fight. Won't do that? Then we'll bring death from above -- the fate you so readily deserve. Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out.

The Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. Okay, so I read that to prepare for the RNC, the local government had to spend $50 million to beef up security and police presence around the convention. Why was this massive sum necessary? Because they knew that there would be a slew of supposed war protesters and peacemongers there. Wait a minute, these are people who oppose war and conflict, right? Then why is it that these assholes trashed the city of St. Paul with violence and fought like crazy with police? I thought these were peacemongers. I saw a picture of a bunch of these nimrods throwing up peace signs with their hands, while in the background their peers are destroying everything around them and lighting everything ablaze. I'm not seeing the logic here. Why don't all of these idiots direct their ire where it belongs? Direct it to our enemies abroad. Wanna vent? Join the military and pick up a rifle. Then you can get into the fray like REAL men and women, and do some good for the country while you're at it. I guess it makes more sense to shame your country by denouncing it and destroying it here at home. Too bad we can't just deport such assholes. Go ahead and burn our sacred flag. There's freedom of speech, and then there's abuse of it. There's a difference. It is unclear to me how a supposed peacemonger is illustrating his/her point when he/she is throwing a park bench through a storefront and lighting parked cars on fire, while throwing rocks and molatov cocktails at officers who are only trying to serve and protect. Seems to me like war protesters only protest conflict that they didn't get to participate in or instigate. Besides that, they seem to be perfectly amenable to inciting violence, conflict, and abuse of human rights. Keep throwing up your peace signs, but I know the truth: the "V" you're making with your fingers apparently stands for "violence". Hypocrits, one and all. You're all a sad lot, war protesters. So thanks to degenerates like that, our government had to waste $50 million on extra security and police. That money could have been used to fund our severely underfunded education system, or it could have been used for countless other good causes. Instead, anarchist peacemongers (yeah, I know that sounds stupid, but they are what they are) had to force the government to put that money into keeping them at bay. Pathetic. I flip off war protesters whenever I get the chance. There's a finger gesture that they should understand -- it's fairly universal in our culture.

Somalia. What a mess THAT place is. I hope our Navy vessels patrolling the waters off the coast manage to blast the shit out of all the little panzy pirates who keep wreaking havoc over there. I don't see a good solution for this region, let alone the continent upon which it sits. We've got our hands busy elsewhere in the region, and I hope we don't have to send troops back to that hell-hole again. At least not until we've cleaned up some other messes first.

Okay, so I think I've about petered out for this rant. And I know it was less than stellar in delivery, but please remember that I'm tired and unmotivated. It's a miracle I even got this much done. Maybe I'll be more inspired on the other side of the election. We'll just have to see.

Congratulations, Reptile....

Well, congratulations Mr. Obama. You've succeeded in getting the nomination. I look forward to voting against you in November, for what it's worth.

America, it's clear that there will likely be enough of you voting for this nimrod to put him in office. And he's likely to be the biggest reptile the White House will ever see. I doubt any previous president will be able to hold a candle to what a deviant SNAKE that Obama will be. Mark my words. Fasten your seatbelts, folks -- this will be an interesting ride.

Here's what I foresee:

• 
  
  A quick, non-sensical, and cowardly pull-out of troops from the Middle East, despite the best advice of the generals on the ground (and despite the recent strides and successes they've had). Looks like all the sacrifices our troops have made mean nothing now -- way to respect their sacrifices, Democrats. Just go ahead and spit in the faces of those who have bravely and proudly defended our nation.


• 
  
  As a result of the above-mentioned troop pull-out, America's enemies will see us as the non-committal pussies we have become, and come at us a lot harder (so brace yourselves for terrorist attacks abroad and at home, because they're coming).


• 
  
  A huge jump in taxes all across the board, so for those of you that think our tax situation in NW Indiana is bad now, just wait until the new regime.


• 
  
  Our delicately teetering economy will dramatically worsen, with more unemployment.


• 
  
  More handouts to those who refuse to work or who feel entitled to government freebies "just because". We in the middle class yet again have to support the lazy masses on an even bigger scale. Go ahead and keep blindly reproducing, lazy asses -- don't worry about it. I'll keep working to support you and your thirteen children who will later grow up to be criminals and thugs. That is, if I don't lose my job to the downward spiraling economy and unemployment. Then I may be forced to join you.


• 
  
  An open-door policy for our worsening illegal immigrant problem. Welcome, all, to the United States of Mexico. ¿Habla usted español? (I think I got that right -- my Spanish is a little rusty)

I could sit here and go on and on about all kinds of stuff that I expect to see coming our way, but I think I'll just watch and wait for it to come to fruition. That'll be more satisfying...and more disappointing.

I've listened for the last 7+ years to everyone whine and complain and denounce the current adminstration. Now I'm kinda reveling in the fact that come January 2009, I'll probably get to return the favor for the next 4-8 years and complain about what a worthless panzy Obama is. Don't be fooled by his smooth talking and his promises of "change". It will be change for the worse.

After January 2009, when the defeatists and pacifists in this nation have voted their chief panzy into office, and terrorism runs rampant here and abroad, don't whine and complain to your government begging for better protection -- you voted to cower and chicken out. Like 'em or not, the current adminstration has been providing security for you all along.

I guess you'd all rather invite the war to come here. Yeah, I won't be voting for that.

Right, Left, and Who’s Left

I voted today. I'm ashamed to admit that it's the first time I've voted since I was 18 years old. I frankly didn't even remember how to go about it, although it wouldn't have mattered since it's undoubtedly very different than when I was 18. I also live in a different town now, so that was also a change. I actually had to get online and find out where my polling place was. It was exactly where I assumed it would be -- at a school nearby.

I never used to care about politics. I always figured that I'd let those folks who WERE interested in politics carry the ball for me at election time. I was never informed enough or interested enough to make an educated vote. I guess when you're young, you have the luxury of being self-absorbed and not caring about what's happening in the world around you. I lived like that for many years.

Now that I'm older, I see that it's very important to be a part of the world around you. I'm still not doing all that I should, but I'm proud of myself today for having gotten off my indifferent ass and actually casting my vote. I hope it makes a difference.

I have every intention of voting in the big election in November this year. That is one election where I intend to do my part to make a difference. I know many in this nation of ours have grown frustrated with our country's current administration. I understand that -- it has its faults, just as every adminstration that has ever come before it, and just like every administration that will come after it. But for all its faults, I believe in most of its direction. I strongly believe in continuing our struggle in the Middle East, which is my primary motivation for leaning Republican. I also don't believe in relentless taxation and free hand-outs for those in this nation that refuse to work for a living. The area I live in is rife with those who take horrible advantage of those kinds of hand-outs.

Maybe that's elitist of me. I certainly don't understand the struggles of everyone around me. I've never been so down and out on my luck that I've had to rely on such hand-outs to survive. It is clear to me that the job market right now is absolutely horrible and bleak. I don't blame anyone for being unable to find work. I DO have a problem with those who refuse to even try. The reason government welfare programs exist is to support those who cannot find work, or who are unable to work. It was never meant to support those who are too lazy or demotivated to work. I wish our government agencies could do a better job of filtering out those in need versus those who pretend to be in need. I suspect the Democratic party has no desire or interest to do so since they're very handout-centric.

I used to work in grocery retail, and I have literally seen a woman pay for a large load of groceries with food stamps while wearing a real fur coat, and then request help with her groceries out to her VERY expensive Cadillac automobile. I'm curious how a person can afford fur coats and Cadillacs but cannot afford to pay for their own groceries. It's that kind of gross abuse of the system that really pisses me off.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't really know if my vote today will matter that much. The way our voting and political systems work, it's anybody's guess whether a given vote even influences which people ultimately get into office. It's a pity that our democratic system of government is so convoluted. But I'll take this system any day over Islamic sharia law.

I had a phone conversation today with my significant other that delved lightly into the political arena after I talked about my voting experience. She and I generally don't talk much about politics. Our views are not necessarily aligned on all fronts, so it's not a topic we touch on very much. But it was interesting the way today's conversation stirred up a little colorful dialogue that we would otherwise probably avoid.

The gist of my side had to do with how I chose my candidates based on my unwavering support for the war on terror (in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever), and this evolved into me yet again expressing my strong disdain for the Muslim faith. She sort of played devil's advocate and explained her position that she refuses to hate an entire race/culture of people based on the horrible actions of only a few. I can respect that. I'll be the first to admit that it's unfair that I categorize an entire religion as horrible and evil based on the actions of a small percentage of extremists and radicals. Sure that's unfair. No doubt about it.

It's also unfair that an entire race/culture/religion of people hates me simply because I am not a Muslim. Not only do they hate me, but their supposed religion encourages them to convert me, enslave me, or KILL me for not embracing Islam. If I'm fortunate enough to be left in the midst of so-called "moderate" Muslims that might let me live, then I have to live under their collective thumb in slavery and oppression anyway. Did you know that infidels must PAY A TAX to Muslims in order to have the right to live? Actually, "tax" isn't the right word. It's more like extortion, only worse.

My belief is this: the basic tenets of Islam (as I understand them) leave no room for non-Muslims. I also believe that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all Muslims do support the CAUSE of their extremist brethren. That's just as bad, if not worse. It's very rare, almost non-existent, that you'll hear a Muslim denounce terrorism. That should be a tell-tale sign for everyone. And frankly, even the select few Muslims that DO denounce terrorism or extremism are likely lying to us anyway, and are only telling us what we want to hear. That allows them to get closer to us. As the old adage goes: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. It's their way of slipping into our world and gaining our trust, right before they detonate their explosives.

I know what you're probably thinking. You're wondering how it is that I'm so one-sided and narrow-minded. Well, it can be summed up in the catch-phrase I wrote about in the previous blog: "Everything I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11." That about sums it up. More days like 9/11/01 are what's in store for us if we refuse to put down Islam and stop it in its tracks. The Islamic cult is a juggernaut that will not stop on its own. It will require us to step up and fight it. You cannot fight Islam by running away from it. Running away from Iraq or Afghanistan will only serve to motivate our enemies to press harder and attack more. Then the fight will be here in our streets. Our families and children will be facing certain death someday unless we make our stand now. I don't know about you, but I like the ability to walk or drive down my street without having to wonder if an IED is going to obliterate me.

Complacency and ignorance of what's coming our way are inexcusable. Our Democratic candidates would have you believe that pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan will solve all of our national security problems. I hate to tell you this, but that would only be the beginning of the most serious national security problems we would ever face. Islamic fascism is not going to stop if we run back home and hide. Islamic fascism will not cease if Israel gives back every last square inch of land they've claimed as their own. Islamic fascism will only get worse unless we squash it now while we have the upper hand. Right now, the extremists don't have the weapons required to put up a worthwhile fight against our military. If we don't keep the pressure on the enemy, they WILL acquire the kinds of weapons that we cannot compete with. Why on God's green earth would you pull the plug on the war NOW and sit around waiting for the next attack to just happen to us?

My girlfriend's stance was that (and I'm paraphrasing here because I seldom ever remember conversations verbatim), "If they're going to kill me, they're going to kill me. I'm not going to hate an entire religion, or a culture of people I don't know, or encourage killing people I don't know, simply because a few extremists attacked us." I simply cannot fathom how someone can live that blindly and carelessly -- God bless my sweetie for being able to be so forgiving. For me, life is far too precious to so flippantly disregard it like that. This ignorant bliss seems to be the stance of many Americans who have no real concept of what looms just over the horizon. Much of America seems to be in this state of denial. We've all lived such a protected and sheltered life in this nation, that we've let ourselves come to expect that life is always like that. I'm unclear how everyone in America was all in the same state of mind in the days that immediately followed 9/11, but now it seems like everyone has forgotten the seriousness of what we're up against.

While I certainly don't WISH another attack upon us, I almost can't wait until it happens again just so all of the blissfully ignorant in this country will wake the fuck up again. We had unity of purpose after 9/11: to never let something like that happen again. I don't know how we fell off that universal purpose in the years that followed. I vividly remember countless Americans asking, "How could this happen? How could we not see this coming? Why didn't our government do more to prevent this?" I'm telling you now, you ignorant motherfuckers, it's coming again. The writing is on the wall NOW. READ THE FUCKING WRITING. ABSORB IT. LET IT SINK IN. If you think the way to prevent more attacks is to run away, hunker down, and wait for them to happen, then you're just asking for another 9/11 to come your way. Best of luck to you. Maybe the bad guys won't have nukes by then. Maybe they will. Rest assured, Iran is working diligently to obtain nuclear weapons as we speak. It won't be long before the people I'm bitching about overseas will have those weapons at their disposal. The damage that four jet airplanes did on 9/11 will be small potatoes compared to what the enemy is TRYING to do next.

Hey, I'm all FOR the concept of "live and let live." But Islam doesn't want you to live, and therein lies the problem. If they want me dead, I want them dead first. Sorry, but they chose the stance, not me. I'd have been happy to live side by side with them if they could reciprocate. But no amount of dialogue or negotiation or diplomacy is capable of changing the basic tenets of Islam. Islam wants you dead. Get used to that concept, people, because it's real. Muslims worldwide will relentlessly argue that this is a falsehood, and will claim that they are not all extremists. They will tell you this until they're blue in the face, all while they're trying to figure out the best way to kill you and everyone around you. If they're not exploding bombs themselves, they're funding the cause behind the scenes. They're slandering our way of life and our beliefs just as surely as I'm slandering theirs.

I've seen it written on a bumper sticker that, "WAR doesn't determine who's right or wrong, only who's left." The intent of this sticker is obviously to denounce war, and to somehow illustrate how "futile" it is. It's ironic that this very sticker supports my point to the letter. I support war not because I'm interested in who's right or wrong in the "Islam vs Everyone" debate, but rather I support war because it's been declared on us by Muslims, whether we wanted it or not. Like it or not, only one side or the other is going to be left after the smoke clears. Which side would you prefer to be on: the dead one, or the living one? War DOES determine who's left. That's the point.

I prefer to keep living, and to keep living freely. I prefer to be left standing when the smoke clears. If you've resigned yourself to a premature death, then so be it. Let the Muslims come and kill you. It'll happen in due time if we choose not to fight them. We all have to die from something, right? I hear that from smokers all the time. Is it coincidence that a lot of smokers I know are anti-war? Hmmm...that could be another interesting philosophical discussion. But that's outside the scope of this rant.

War doesn't determine who's right or wrong, only who's left. Maybe those who choose to fight Islam now will die prematurely, sure, but at least they will have fought for what they believed in, and will have died so that others could live. All of you who think that not fighting is the solution, good luck with that. I guess I'll have to take this discussion up with you again in the afterlife, since you've already given yourself up for dead. My goal is not to get to the afterlife too soon, so bear with me while I catch up with you later. I happen to be enjoying life down here right now.