Condoleeza Rice Destroys Lawrence O'Donnell!!

Nine Years Later...What Have We Learned? How Have We Changed?

Tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of an event which none can argue, changed our nation. Furthermore, it changed the lives of many families around our nation forever, as they slowly realized that their loved one(s) were not coming home. As we went from shock, to disbelief, to fear, and then to anger, we were forced to come to terms with the fact that our nation was no longer safe from the centuries old violence in the Middle East. We were no longer able to turn a blind eye to the clues and events which foretold just such an attack for decades. Events we wrote off as isolated in the past:

courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com

1979

Nov. 4, Tehran, Iran: Iranian radical students seized the U.S. embassy, taking 66 hostages. 14 were later released. The remaining 52 were freed after 444 days on the day of President Reagan's inauguration.

1982–1991

Lebanon: Thirty US and other Western hostages kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah. Some were killed, some died in captivity, and some were eventually released. Terry Anderson was held for 2,454 days.

1983

April 18, Beirut, Lebanon: U.S. embassy destroyed in suicide car-bomb attack; 63 dead, including 17 Americans. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Oct. 23, Beirut, Lebanon: Shiite suicide bombers exploded truck near U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport, killing 241 marines. Minutes later a second bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their barracks in West Beirut.

Dec. 12, Kuwait City, Kuwait: Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets, killing 5 and injuring 80.

1984

Sept. 20, east Beirut, Lebanon: truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy annex, killing 24, including 2 U.S. military.

Dec. 3, Beirut, Lebanon: Kuwait Airways Flight 221, from Kuwait to Pakistan, hijacked and diverted to Tehran. 2 Americans killed.

1985

April 12, Madrid, Spain: Bombing at restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers, killed 18 Spaniards and injured 82.

June 14, Beirut, Lebanon: TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome hijacked to Beirut by Hezbollah terrorists and held for 17 days. A U.S. Navy diver executed.

Oct. 7, Mediterranean Sea: gunmen attack Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro. One U.S. tourist killed. Hijacking linked to Libya.

Dec. 18, Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria: airports in Rome and Vienna were bombed, killing 20 people, 5 of whom were Americans. Bombing linked to Libya.

1986

April 2, Athens, Greece:A bomb exploded aboard TWA flight 840 en route from Rome to Athens, killing 4 Americans and injuring 9.

April 5, West Berlin, Germany: Libyans bombed a disco frequented by U.S. servicemen, killing 2 and injuring hundreds.

1988

Dec. 21, Lockerbie, Scotland: N.Y.-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and many U.S. military personnel. Libya formally admitted responsibility 15 years later (Aug. 2003) and offered $2.7 billion compensation to victims' families.

1993

Feb. 26, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 9 others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda involvement is suspected.

Nov. 13, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen.

1996

June 25, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.

1998

Aug. 7, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. 4 men connected with al-Qaeda 2 of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan, were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large.

2000

Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed. Linked to Osama bin Laden, or members of al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Americans quickly woke up from their disinterest in the radical element which sought the demise of our way of life, removed their heads from the sand they had been stuck in for decades, and realized that there may; in fact, be something more important than making money and a healthy economy.

Unified for the first time in a long time, our President, George W. Bush made a bold statement to the nation and the world.

Three days later, Bush again addresses the American people at Ground Zero




America was united in it's desire to bring justice to those responsible for the terrorist act.

Where are we today??

On the eve of the ninth anniversary of this terrible act, we have again allowed political correctness to weaken our resolve, our defense, and our nation. We now have an administration which seeks to apologize and appease our enemies, while alienating our allies.

They insist that America be tolerant of a religion which preaches hate and murder to any who do not accept and believe in it, subjugation of women, and condoned pedophilia. The same religion which justifies the killing of 3,000 innocent Americans in this massacre we remember now as 9/11.

On the very ground we remember this event taking place, a radical muslim, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who refuses to condemn the terrorist group Hamas, and believes that 9/11 was partially America's fault, has plans to build an Islamic Mosque. As I have stated in an earlier article, constitutionally he has every right to do this, and I do not support our government interfering with the plans. Though something is legally right, that does not necessarily make it morally right.

In another section of the country we have another radical, who believes that burning Korans will somehow solve something. Again I say, though something is legally right, it does not make it morally right.

It is obvious we have allowed our visibility to become zero again, with our heads tucked comfortably back in the same hole it found itself in nine years ago, more concerned with our economic futures than with the ongoing security which allows our liberty and freedom to pursue said economic gain.

On the ninth anniversary I again state the phrase that adorned so many bumper stickers, and is branded in the hearts and minds of the families who lost loved one on that horrible day, "Never Forget"

NEVER FORGET those who lost loved ones.

NEVER FORGET what you were doing that morning.

NEVER FORGET the thoughts that went through your head when you watched the coverage.

NEVER FORGET who the perpetrators of this violence were (no, it was not our government whacko truthers).

NEVER FORGET those who perished.

NEVER FORGET those who danced in the streets, celebrating the deaths.

NEVER FORGET those who wish to end our way of life.

NEVER FORGET those who fight each day to maintain our way of life.

NEVER FORGET!!!!

Remember The Day The Democrats Took Over.

I received this in my email from a good friend today and thought I'd share it with everyone, as I am sick and tired of hearing that every problem in this country is George W. Bush's fault.  I wrote an article on this on April 13th of 2009.

http://silentnomoremajority.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-still-all-bushs-fault.html

A year and a half later and the liberals are still using this childish tactic.  This email puts it in better perspective for those who will listen.

Lest we forget....    The day the democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd, 2007.  The day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, the start of the 110th Congress. The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995. For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:  January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:  At the time:  The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77  The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%  The Unemployment rate was 4.6%  George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!  Remember the day...

January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.  The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!!!

THANK YOU DEMOCRATS for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment... to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOS! (BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie - starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy).  And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac????  OBAMA  And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie???  OBAMA and the Democratic Congress  So when some one tries to blame Bush...  REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!" 

Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they were driving.

Set the record straight on Bush!

"It's not that liberals aren't smart, it's just that so much of what they know isn't so" -Ronald Reagan 

PRIME TIME PREZ IS PROUD IT TOOK THREE MONTHS TO DECIDE

I wrote an article two months ago calling the President to task for his indecisiveness in responding to General McChrystal's request for 40,000 reinforcements in Afghanistan. I was pretty annoyed that the alleged "leader" of our country would take so long with a decision that was costing my fellow military men and women's lives each day he delayed. Little did I know at that time that this colossal failure would delay an additional two months in finally making a decision to send 30,000, instead of 40,000, combat troops. Does anyone else get the feeling that he altered the number being sent just so he wouldn't have to explain why it took him three months to agree and grant the request of the far more experienced General on the ground?

Let's put this in a little perspective. On August 30th General McChrystal requested 40,000 additional combat reinforcements in Afghanistan. In his letter he detailed that these troops were necessary immediately stating,

"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."

So the almighty Obama, in his infinite wisdom and military experience, was told by the expert on the ground, a General he appointed to this position, that they needed troops and they needed them now to win this war in Afghanistan. Note that Obama ran his campaign on the premise that this was the righteous war that Bush had ignored and if he were elected he was going to set the ship straight and concentrate on Afghanistan. With all of these facts in line the POTUS spent three months questioning and analyzing the General's request, rather than granting it. Three months of the twelve in the quote above, which, according to General McChrystal were the key months they needed them in order to regain the initiative. Does anyone else have a problem with this??? Does anyone else have a problem with Obama (no military experience whatsoever) spending three months analyzing a military commander's request for troops, along with a group of his fellow politicians, none of which have enough military experience to pick up the General's uniform from the dry cleaners. This reminds me of a great quote from Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men...

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way."

There are more things wrong with this scenario than I can even touch on in one article. It seriously blows my mind. Who are they to hem and haw for three months over a request that was sent by the "duty expert" that he himself appointed to the position?

Why am I talking about all of this today, you ask? I write this today because arguably the most disgusting aspect of this entire chain of events is that when the almighty finally came to his decision, he, rather than be ashamed at his horrific display of incompetency, was so proud of himself that he had to go on national TV (again), to announce it to the country. A lot of people laughed of the "Obama-Narcissist or Merely Narcissistic" article written by Dr. Sam Vaknin last year, but his behavior thus far in his young presidency definitely supports this theory.

One more point of idiocy in this whole debacle. If we are going to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan for a push, why would our President make this announcement on national TV and detail it as much as he did? Maybe we should send the Taliban a list of all of the units which will be going, their dates of arrival, manpower, and all tables of equipment and weaponry as well. I hope that I don't annoy Americans by saying this, but this type of transparency is detrimental to the mission. There are a lot of things the general American public doesn't need to know about what my fellow military members are doing in Afghanistan. To be quite blunt, this type of knowledge in the enemies hands gets our brave men and women killed. Last night the Taliban, without needing to use any type of intelligence assets, found out that 30,000 reinforcements are coming to take back control from them. Additionally, and more importantly, they time tables from the President. They now know he plans to start pulling my comrades out of there in 18 months.

Wow!!! I wonder what they'll do??? Does anyone else with an IQ above 80 think they might blend back in with the populace and/or into hiding for about...hmmm...thinking of a figure...thinking...18 months???

The truth is, with decision making and leadership such as this, Obama has no plan or desire to win this war. Every decision he makes is made with politics in mind, not the good of the nation. Being a U.S. Marine, I find this behavior to be despicable. 30,000 of my brothers and sisters are now going to be sent away from their families, many before Christmas this year, to perform an act of symbolism for the Narcissist in Chief over the next year and a half...but you know what, those brave men and women will do it proudly, as they are the only honorable Americans in this charade.

HOLLYWOOD SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE FAIRY TALE TO BE RELEASED

Leave it to leftist Hollywood to completely circumvent the truth of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco and turn it into more class warfare against the evil capitalists. Here are quotes they are using to advertise this left-wing socialist propaganda titled "American Casino" that is playing in select cities:

American Casino movie trailer from Leslie and Andrew Cockburn on Vimeo.

“American Casino is a powerful and shocking look at the subprime lending scandal. If you want to understand how the US financial system failed and how mortgage companies ripped off the poor, see this film.”

"Investigative reporters Leslie and Andrew Cockburn have spent nearly 30 years uncovering major stories (for PBS, CBS Reports, 60 Minutes, et alia), but with "American Casino" they take on the biggest economic crisis of our lifetime: the subprime mortgage meltdown that has caused more than a million Americans to lose their homes. The Cockburns interview Wall Street wizards who are as nervous about revealing their identity as any mobster in the witness protection program; they rewind to Phil Gramm (R, Texas) calling us "a nation of whiners... (facing) a mental recession"; they replay Alan Greenspan's admission that his ideology was "flawed"; and they put a human face on the victims of bankers who targeted minority communities with no-income verification loans, adjustable rates (that adjusted upwards, dramatically), and complex language that even the pros can't fathom. Out of this mess, the filmmakers build a case against those who used government deregulation to make a fortune for the few and create havoc for the many."

"Leslie Cockburn’s debut feature gets to the guts of the matter, visiting defectors from Bear Stearns and Standard & Poor’s and other high-level players in the subprime mortgage gamble and, on the flipside, visiting the working-class Americans who were the unwitting chips on the table."

REALLY!! HONESTLY!! Where do I start here? Let's concentrate on the bold of the quotes. Mortgage companies "ripped off the poor?"

Meet Joe Poor. Joe works at the grocery store and makes $30k a year ($2500 monthly). Joe decides to buy a home after some evil mortgage companies dare to advertise their business in the daily newspaper. After all, it's the American dream and Joe feels "entitled" to this. He finds the home he wants and before closing the deal he sees that the monthly mortgage payment is $1,200. The little voice inside Joe's head tells him that he cannot afford the payment (or maybe Joe isn't smart enough to have a little voice), but Joe WANTS his new house and signs all of the documents to purchase. After some time it becomes apparent that Joe cannot make the payments on his home. After a length of time goes by with Joe failing to make his mortgage payment, the evil mortgage company forecloses on his home.

Scenario #2- after seeing his monthly mortgage will be $1200, Joe tells the mortgage company he cannot afford that type of monthly payment. The evil mortgage company tells him not to fear, they can give him an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) which will lower his interest rate and his monthly payment to $700 a month. Joe signs the documents and purchases his home. After 3 years Joe gets his new payment booklet from the mortgage company and is alarmed to see that his monthly payments are going up to $1400 a month. Joe stops making payments and the evil mortgage company forecloses, having tricked poor Joe with the EXTREMELY "complex language" of Adjustable Rate Mortgage.

Okay, call me cruel, but I stand for personal responsibility in most incidents in life. If you are going to sign any type of contract in life, especially one dealing in hundreds of thousands of dollars, are you signing anything which contains "complex language that even the pros can't fathom?" If you ask the agent what this or that means in the contract and he/she cannot explain it, are you signing the document? If you do sign the document, not understanding what you're signing, is it not your own fault? If I asked my 13 year old son what he thinks "adjustable rate" means regarding a mortgage, I am certain he would have an idea of what that might mean.

None of these alleged "low income" or "working class" Americans were "unwitting chips on the table."

Personal responsibility has been eroding for decades and has now sunken to the level where people actually have the gall to openly believe they are the victims when they fail to uphold their end of a promise or contract. Once upon a time if you failed to pay your bills your services were turned off or taken away, and you were embarrassed. In our current degraded society you go hunting for someone to blame.

The true "tragedy" of the sub-prime mortgage fiasco is the government bailing out these irresponsible people (once referred to as deadbeats) with our taxpayer dollars. If there's anyone who can truly be referred to as "unwitting chips on the table" it is the hard-working Americans who pay their mortgages every month. We have been forced to pay for our own mortgage, as well as the mortgage of our deadbeat (yes I said it) neighbor. This is another example of socialist concepts being forced upon our nation.

And yes, my liberal friends about to blow their top, I realize and remember that it was George W. Bush who signed this bailout. I had a HUGE problem with him on that issue. Unlike liberals, conservatives remain objective and able to criticize anyone they disagree with, even those who claim to be conservative.