Sunday, May 31, 2009

Conservative Thought of the Week:

From Dr. Walter Williams: Economist, George Mason University

"If higher minimum wages could cure poverty, we could easily end worldwide poverty simply by telling poor nations to legislate higher minimum wages".

That points out the fallacy of liberal economic thinking as exemplified by President Barack Hussein Obama. He is an elitist in an empty Armani suit.

Submitted by Chuck Lehmann

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What Will History Say……?

By Chuck Lehmann

Now that George W. Bush has completed his 8 years in office as President, as of this past January, that’s the question that will be answered sometime in the future, “What will history say about him and his administration”?

All Presidents have had ups and downs during their time in office; all have had their legacy judged by how their policies have played out after they had left office. Some have gotten rave reviews, and some were judged quite harshly.

As George W. Bush left office, the prevailing opinion, at that time, was that his administration had been a failure. That prevailing opinion was not universally held, but had been propagated by the main stream media, left-wing professors, and by most all of the Democrats, who seem to have had a visceral dislike of him as a person. The “Bush haters” have been on this kick ever since the presidential election of 2000. His opponents could (or would) not accept the fact that he was declared the winner over Al Gore, and the vituperation and personal attacks continued for most all of his 8 years in office. President Bush never had a “honeymoon” and only had a slight reprieve immediately after 9/11, but after a few months of rallying behind the President, it was back to bashing him relentlessly. One major positive personality attribute of President Bush, is that he never returned the personal invective, in kind, to his personal abusers. That was a class act. One area of protocol that his successor seems to have forgotten.

Of course, all the policies that he initiated didn’t pan out, but even his successes, like keeping us free from another attack on our homeland, and his relentless “war on terror”, and the “surge” policy in Iraq, were denigrated and shoved aside so that his failures could be “hailed” by all the late night comedians, the main stream media and his political opponents as the only things that should be reported on. The term B.D.S. (Bush Derangement Syndrome) was cultivated by author/pundit Bernard Goldberg, to label the malady that has affected those antagonists of Bush and his policies. It is an aptly named description and they are still affected by it even today, even as he is no longer in office.

Hopefully for President Bush, history will not judge him or his policies immediately and by seeing the latest poll numbers, but it will judge him after a reasonable amount of time has passed and the consequences of his policies have been fully vetted and judged as to how those policies affected the country and the world community after he left office.

This could be a “déjà vu” moment for President Bush, as he finds himself in a similar position as President Harry Truman found himself at the end of his second term. President Truman was vilified by the press and his political opponents, and his poll numbers were in the low 20’s. But, through the passage of time, President Truman’s legacy is one that has him rated as one of our best Presidents, as the policies that he put forth, and for which he was roundly criticized for during his time in office, were found to be historically correct by the hindsight of history.

According to his most vociferous critics, George W. Bush was the first “mentally retarded” person to get a Harvard M.B.A., graduate from the U.S. Air Force flight school as a jet pilot, be elected and re-elected Governor of Texas, and then be elected President of the U.S. twice, and he had a higher G.P.A. at Yale than did John Kerry. I wonder how many of his critics could match that resume.

What is very frustrating to witness, is that some present-day historians, who should know better, like Professor Robert Watson of Lynn University, in Boca Raton, Florida, have already passed judgment on President Bush, as he had rated him one of the worst Presidents even before he had left office. That is just one more example of the partisan bias in academia, as well as in the “drive-by media”, that they didn’t want to be confused with the facts as their minds had already been made up, as it had been for the past 8 years, and counting.

So what will history say? Who knows, but we must wait for the future “Impartial” historians to determine what was the real history of his administration, and free from the partisan biases of the present day Bush haters.

By Chuck Lehmann
"Chuck on the Right Side"


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Monday, May 25, 2009

Conservative Thought of the Week

I couldn’t have said it better.

Dick Cheney said:
"In my long experience in Washington, few matters have inspired so much contrived indignation and phony moralizing as the interrogation methods applied to a few captured terrorists."
He described it as, “Recklessness cloaked in Righteousness”. AMEN.

Submitted by Chuck Lehmann

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Colin Powell

Did you see Powell on T.V. this weekend? I found it amusing that Powell said his decision to back Obama was not based on race but rather he said he wanted to bring the GOP to the center again.

Well, as I see it, the GOP nominee, John McCain, was regarded as a moderate and was as far from the right as you could get. And yet Powell backed Obama – the most liberal member of the Senate – over McCain. Now I see how it works. You back the most liberal Democratic Senator in the Senate over a moderate Republican and this somehow will bring the GOP to the center. Great logic, General. It seems to me that Powell is disingenuous at best. And yet, the talking heads give him a free ride.

Submitted by James J. Pirretti
"Chuck on the Right Side"

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Friday, May 22, 2009

"Would you or the Media have Approved"?

Not so much "you" or "I" but would the media have approved?

**_Would You Have Approved_**

* If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had given Tony Blair a set of inexpensive and useless DVD's (to Tony Blair's UK video formatting) when Tony Blair had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
* If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
* If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?
Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 10 weeks -- so you'll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.

Submitted by Steve Sass
"Chuck on the Right Side"

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Conservative Thought of the Week:

“A democracy will continue to exist up until the time voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. They then will vote for the candidates who promise the most spending on them, and that will be the beginning of the end of our society as we know it”.

Submitted by Chuck Lehmann

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Happy Memorial Day


With today being Memorial Day, let our thoughts turn to honoring relatives, friends and loved ones who died while serving in the U.S. military.
Those who have fought for Freedom and Liberty should not be apologized for. They should be honored and respected. I only hope that the rest of our country stands up and defends our Military’s honor.

"Chuck on the Right Side"


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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Follow The Money

From what we see and read in the news media, and what is produced in Hollywood, you’d think that global warming is a “fait accompli” and that no further debate is needed on this very debatable subject. Wait! Not so fast! Who gave them the right to close debate on this subject?

Before we all follow the “doom and gloomers” into the dark ages, let’s hear what others have to say about our “impending demise”. Thousands of years ago, we were in an Ice Age - the ice melted and there were no SUV’s ( Sports Utility Vehicles). According to climatologists and scientists, in medieval times the Earth was warmer than it is today –
still no SUV’s in sight and the industrial revolution didn’t even begin as yet..

Remember also, Greenland was named by the Vikings for its lush landscape, not its ice and snow coverings, as it looks today. In the mid- 1970’s, the same “ chicken littles” were championing the theory of “ global cooling” - that theory went bust, but over the past few years these same people have regrouped and are now championing “ global warming”. What a difference a few decades make. Two totally different theories in just over 30 years.

Remember the phrase, “follow the money”, well, by scaring the daylights out of the public, millions of dollars of our tax money has been given to the global warming “scam artists” to find ways of averting a “non-threatening” disaster, mainly by giving them research grants to prove the non-provable.

What is the real agenda of these so-called environmentalists and tree hugging enthusiasts?

Are their motives to really to save the planet or is it to install an economic system more to their liking? They are anti-capitalist, anti-free enterprise socialists. If we acceded to the demands of these “environmental whackos”, we would decimate our standard of living and cause a world-wide depression, making today’s hard times seen insignificant in comparison. The proposal of Congress and the President to institute a “cap and trade system” to punish businesses who use fossil fuels and energy, in conducting their business, by taxing them unmercifully, is right out of the “Communist Manifesto” of Karl Marx.

I’m sure most people, who now sympathize with the alarmists and their scare tactics, would rebel at the consequences that will come about once they are educated and informed as to the real magnitude of the “Greens” misguided solutions. Hopefully, it won’t be too late.

Maybe the Oscar winning movie producer and Nobel Prize winner, Al Gore, should have titled his pseudo – documentary, “A Convenient Lie”, for in essence, that is what it is, a means of gaming the system to extract money from a gullible public under the guise of a noble “nonexistent” cause.

Yes, our global climate, in some areas, is warmer by about one degree over the past hundred years, but in some areas, like the Antarctic, the ice cap has been increasing and it has been getting colder. Does this climate change give us any reason to panic and call for a complete change in the way we live our lives? Is it man-made or the normal evolution of nature? For every scientist or climatologist who champions global warming
(euphemistically called “climate change” now, so they can call whatever happens, climate-wise, in the world, they can now have a catch phrase to describe it), there are many more who challenge that theory and the “dire consequences” that the alarmists are trying to sell. You make the call, but remember, “FOLLOW THE MONEY”.

Written by Chuck Lehmann

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Obama and spending

Our "Esteemed" President, Barack Hussein Obama, said the following in New Mexico this past week:

"We can't keep borrowing from China. We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children's future with more and more debt".
Duh! Wasn't that the sentiment at the "Tea Parties" which he and his Democratic friends ridiculed as organized by a bunch of angry right-wing people? Maybe that's why they were angry, angry at the fact that he's started on the biggest spending spree our country has ever seen? And now, he says we have to stop deficit spending - does this guy have a multiple personality disorder or what? When will the left-wing "loony liberals" finally see that he is the "Pied Piper" leading them to their economic doom by his clueless stewardship of our economy? I would guess they can't admit that what he is doing is wrong, because they have too much invested in him to let him fail even though his policies are wrong for America, and for the world itself, and that we will all fail along with him. They are blinded to the facts by their liberal ideology.

Submitted by Chuck Lehmann
Chuck on the Right Side

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

This is not your Father’s Democrat Party

I was surrounded by Democrats and Unions, growing up in Detroit. I remember all the LIbEralS talk of how the Democrat party was for the “Working Man”. I also remember those commercials for Buick, “This Is Not Your Father’s Buick”. Well this is not your Father’s Democrat Party!
Now days I have a legitimate fear of this radical political party. Is there any more evidence needed that the Democrat party is so far Left, it could be renamed Marxist, Socialist or Nazi Party? When the gas prices rose above $4 last year, Pelosi was getting on her PRIVATE JET and dipping out. She could not care less about the “Working Man” or poor people. AL BORE and Obama and many of Obama’s cabinet want to punish America for driving too much. We are greedy in their eyes. Us greedy, as these Elitist fly in a chef, to make them pizza for lunch. We have Barry Hussein Obama giving orders to Chrysler about their everyday affairs. What next, how much toilet paper we can use? Yes, this is not your Father’s Democrat Party any longer. Those days are long gone. How much money did Obama and Biden give to charities, before they wanted to run for office? President Bush and VP Cheney always dug deep into their pockets to give to those less fortunate. Yet, we all know the press coverage of Bush and Cheney was negative 99% of the time.
Jimmy Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act has had a potent hammering effect on our Real Estate. It could be years before we see any real “CHANGE” for increases in equity. Carter, along with Barney Frank, Dodd and others have harmed the “Working Man” far more than any so-called “Rich Republican“. The warnings by President Bush and McCain were just seen as “Racist” remarks by these Radical Democrats. Meanwhile who is seeing the brunt of this catastrophe? The “Working Man” and poor who do pay their bills on time are stuck. Meanwhile the elite Hollywood Celebrities and Left Wing Politicians can pick and chose what home they want to buy.
Written by Kirk, a Proud Infidel
"Chuck on the Right Side"

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Friday, May 15, 2009

"We Told You So"

In the words of that anti-American preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's former mentor/pastor, it looks like "The chickens are coming home to roost". These words spoken by Norman Thomas, 64 years ago, are finally being implemented by today's Democratic Party under the leadership of Barack Hussein Obama.
Posted by Chuck
"Chuck on the Right Side"


"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
“I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party.
The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.”
by: Norman Thomas, six-time U.S. Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America

Norman Thomas, Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America

















Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Common Sense Conservative Thought of the Week


"Patriotic Americans don't take a noble cause such as defending their country and liberating the oppressed and turn it into a set of talking points aimed solely at the personal destruction of a rival or an organization like our brave military".

Submitted by Chuck Lehmann

"Chuck on the Right Side"

Monday, May 11, 2009

Fix Medicare – Don’t Nix It!

I’m a Republican, a conservative, and the recipient of Medicare benefits, and I appreciate the coverage, and I have benefited from it on a few occasions.

My Democrat friends, for years, have been accusing me and my fellow Republicans that we want to do away with Medicare. That canard couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are the facts.

No right thinking (no pun intended) Republican wants to get rid of Medicare, but we want to reform it so that the vast amount of abuses, waste and inefficiencies can be funneled back to the recipients, who it was originally intended to help in the first place, not the crooks and charlatans who are milking the system dry now. If all the waste, corruption, and gaming of the system were controlled, we and our children and grandchildren could look forward to a viable Medicare system in the future, but our “wuss” politicians don’t want to rock the boat before it sinks like the Titanic. Shame on them!

How can any citizen justify the fact that Medicare is being ripped-off regularly by con artists, doctors, lawyers, and unscrupulous equipment providers. Here’s an example; an oxygen concentrator is a device that delivers oxygen through a tube to patients, and it costs about $600 on the open market. Medicare beneficiaries typically rent the machines. The rental period, set by statute, is $198.40 per month. So renting an oxygen concentrator for 36 months cost $7,142. As with most items and services in Medicare Part B, beneficiaries pay 20% of the costs, and Medicare pays the remaining 80%. The government, therefore, pays $5,714, almost 10 times the free market price of purchasing a concentrator outright. The patient pays $1,428 – more than twice the free-market price of a purchase. This is just one of the many examples of the waste and inefficiency of our present Medicare system which amounts to billions of dollars of wasted money, year after year.

Can you imagine the waste and inefficiency that will occur if we attempt to carry the concept of Medicare coverage to all 300 plus million of our citizens under the socialist banner of “Universal Health Care”? The concept is an honorable one, but the practical carrying out of this plan would be a disaster, as the present Medicare system shows us. It would have unintended consequences like rationing of health care, long waiting lines, and a bureaucrat determining what health care is best for “you” and your family.

Whenever any officials or politicians have tried to cut these wasteful costs, they have often encountered a powerful foe, the companies that sell these devices and who have been ripping us off, by mobilizing their elderly clients to serve as unpaid lobbyists by having them call or write their representatives in Congress, and by participating in protest rallies. In fact, every four years the Democrats use the Medicare “scare tactic” by falsely claiming that the Republicans want to do away with Medicare, when all they want to do is to reform it and make it fiscally sound. Meanwhile, the Democrats have not, in all the years they were in control of Congress or had a Democrat President, done anything to fix the problem, and then have the nerve to blame the Republicans for trying to abolish Medicare, when, in fact, the Republicans were the ones who have“touched the third-rail” of politics by proposing to fix the broken system, much to their chagrin. Other than raising taxes and cutting benefits, what solutions have the Democrats proposed. Nada, nil, zilch, nothing, that’s what. The word hypocrisy is spelled DEMOCRAT.

We have been brain-washed into thinking that if we have a single-payer government-run health care system, that the care would be “free”, as in “free health care”. As noted humorist and polemicist, P.J. O’Rourke, once stated, “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s “free”. If people think they are getting something for “free”, they don't value it as much and they tend to overuse it, which is what is happening today. So, let’s Fix Medicare, Not Nix It.

Written by Chuck Lehmann
"Chuck on the Right Side"

We are giving more Cash to ACORN

More moola to ACORN? Does this blow your mind?
I, Kirk, personally have emailed this new president and said it is atrocious to give one penny to ACORN.
What about Tom "Bro call", KITTIE Couric, Matt Liar, I mean Matt Lauer. Those "American television journalists" (allegedly) and others should be tearing into the ACORN stories. How could any good, decent American not speak up about ACORN and their tactics?
Please read the remark, below, by the intelligent, courageous, Michele Malkin. Yes, she is easy on the eyes but I digress.

Conyers chickens out of ACORN probe
By Michelle Malkin
Democrat Rep. John Conyers backs down from his pledge to investigate ACORN fraud: Bok, bok, bok.
Matthew Vadum zeroes in on the right question: What happened in a mere two weeks to change Conyers’ mind? Did he get a call from friends of ACORN in high places? Did he get something else? Why drop the call for a congressional probe in the very same week that ACORN criminal charges have been filed in Nevada and Pennsylvania?
What gives? Or who gives?
***
Related ACORN news: $53 million taxpayer funds for ACORN since 1994 and now the group is eligible for up to $8 billion more, according to Kevin Mooney at the Examiner.
***
"Chuck on the Right Side"

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Lying about the budget? You betcha


Grassfire.org exposes the truth
President Obama's team is lying about the "budget cuts" in Obama's 1,500-page, $3.5 trillion budget.
They are not cutting the budget. In fact, Obama's budget is over $400 billion larger than President Bush's 2009 budget and $100 billion larger than the bloated budget resolution Congress just passed!
The fact is, the budget Obama released this week is basically the same budget his team released two months ago in "outline" form...
--This is the largest budget ever proposed by a President with the largest deficits in American history.
--It adds over $9 trillion to the national debt
-- doubling the total debt accumulated from the start of our country through the Bush presidency.
--It includes the Carbon Tax, which could be as high as $2 trillion.
--It includes the massive socialized health care program.
--It even ignores the $3.4 trillion budget Congress passed and reverts to Obama's original $3.5 trillion budget.
+ + The "budget cut" slight of hand
What about those "budget cuts"? As the Chicago Tribune reported, the "news" of the budget cuts grabbed the headlines even though the supposed "cuts" were all in Obama's original budget!
There is nothing new. No new budget cuts. Obama has simply repackaged his bloated budget -- ignoring Congress' budget resolution -- in terms of supposed budget cuts.
Obama fed this headline to the liberal media and they ran with it. Sadly, Republican leaders are trying to downplay the supposed budget cuts when, in reality, THERE ARE NO CUTS IN THE BUDGET!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Florida keeps its no-tax pledge.

By Douglas C. Lyons, Senior Editorial Writer for The Sun-Sentinel

I'm a little tickled by the analysis coming out of Tallahassee that says those tax-hating hordes in the Florida Legislature somehow swallowed hard and rolled over their ideological principles this session as they grappled with a $6 billion budget gap.

Didn't happen -- at least that's how I read it.

Sure, there's the cigarette tax, which potentially is expected to raise $1 billion annually. But, that's a glorified user fee. Sorry! It's the quinessential smoking section of revenue generators, even if it is perhaps the biggest pot of money the legislators could find.

The other new sources of money are also increases in fees -- from divorces to the renewal of driver licenses. It amounts to $1 billion in new revenue, but it's not new taxes. Notice the Legislature didn't change any sales tax exemptions. They didn't restore the intangibles tax, raise sales taxes or try to go after revenue from purchases made over the Internet.

Nothing! Nada! Zilch!

On that score, the lawmakers who pledged their allegiance to Grover Norquist, the Americans for Tax Reform and its zeal in holding on to new taxes can walk away with their heads high. Florida may see all types of program cuts and staff layoffs, but hey! No new taxes, anyone?

Note: This online feature allows editorial writers the chance to detach themselves from the institutional voice of the newspaper and express their personal opinions on a variety of subjects.
This view belongs to Senior Editorial Writer Douglas C. Lyons. You can leave your comments here, or reach him at dlyons@sun-sentinel.com.

Below is the reply from Chuck Lehmann

Re: Revenue enhancers
Attention: Doug Lyons

Hi Doug: Why are both Republicans and Democrats diddling around with raising fees when they have a sure revenue producer, a many million dollar revenue producer, sitting right here, in and around Florida? Can you guess what I'm referring to? It is the off- shore oil and natural gas that is sitting right off our coast just waiting to be developed and taxed and royalties to be paid into the coffers of the State of Florida. Are we stupid or what? Just six months ago this was a hot topic, but since the price of oil and gas has dropped, you don't hear much about it anymore. We all know that sooner or later the price of oil and gas are going to spike up, and then we'll kick ourselves in the butt for not doing something, like drilling for oil and gas in the past.The politicians are committing "political malpractice" by doing nothing in this area. Shame on them.

Chuck Lehmann

"Chuck on the Right Side"

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

President Obama and the Marxist Dictator

Written by Chuck Lehmann

Why did President Obama play "footsie" with the Communist dictator wannabe of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who has been imitating Adolph Hitler by persecuting Jews and others in Venezuela? Other leftist sympathizers from the United States, such as Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Harry Belafonte, the Congressional Black Caucus, and that willing dupe, Jimmy Carter, have also paid homage to this two-bit tin horn dictator. Why?

Just like Hitler's Germany, Chavez and his thugs are also going after Catholic leaders and Catholic institutions. And the aforementioned Chavez apologists, try to justify their misguided support of Chavez by claiming that he was legitimately elected - if you call violent intimidation of your opposition candidates, closing down of newspapers and T.V. stations hostile to your presidency, and you have another "freely elected" fascist socialist state right here in our own backyard. He is attempting to replicate another Cuba, but in his case, with enormous oil revenues which Castro never had at his disposal.

You could say that the performance of President Obama at the Latin American Conference in Trinidad is an ominous sign of things to come. It seems that he went to the tropical island of Trinidad and all he came back with was a Che Guervara t-shirt and a vile anti-American book given to him by Hugo Chavez.

Read the article, below, that appeared in the Wall Street Journal about this subject.


The Politics of Intimidation
By MELANIE KIRKPATRICK
In 1998, the year Hugo Chavez was elected president, there were 22,000 Jews in Venezuela. Today the Jewish population is estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000.
Those numbers tell a story, and it's not a happy one. The Jews of Venezuela are fleeing to Miami, Madrid and elsewhere because of the anti-Semitism they face at home. In an interview this week in Washington, D.C., the country's chief rabbi sounds a warning bell: "There's anxiety in the Jewish community because of what has happened," says Rabbi Pynchas Bremer, "and of course because of what may happen."
Mr. Chavez's vitriol about Jews is well documented and of long standing. In recent years he has referred to Venezuelan Jews as "descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ" and "a minority [that] has taken ownership of all the gold of the planet." According to Shmuel Herzfeld, a Washington, D.C., rabbi who visited Venezuela in March: "Chavez is isolating the Jews and turning Venezuelans against the Jewish community. . . . The government is transforming a society that has been welcoming and accepting of Jews" in the past. Rabbi Bremer, who has lived in Venezuela for more than 40 years, says that he had never personally encountered anti-Semitism or heard of anti-Semitic incidents until recently.
This year has seen an intensification of attacks -- verbal and physical -- on Jews and Jewish institutions in Venezuela. In January, the largest Sephardic synagogue in Caracas was vandalized and desecrated. Among the slogans painted on the wall was "damned Jews, death to you." A list of members of the congregation was stolen. In February, another synagogue was attacked with a grenade. Eleven people have been arrested in the first attack.
The attacks on the two synagogues took place in the context of Mr. Chavez's tirades against Israel over its campaign in Gaza as well as his continuing charm offensive with Iran. In early January, the president expelled the Israeli ambassador, calling Israel's campaign a "holocaust." He demanded that Venezuelan Jews denounce Israel.
In January, a professor published an article online calling on citizens to boycott Jewish-owned businesses and confiscate the property of Jews who support Israel. He urged Venezuelans to "summon publicly every Jew found in the streets, squares, shopping malls, etc. and force them to take positions, screaming at them slogans in favor of Palestine and against the abortion-state of Israel." Change the language from Spanish to German, and this could be an anti-Semitic tract from the 1930s.
In a report to be released today, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom puts Venezuela on a watch list of countries where religious freedom is threatened. "Anti-Semitic statements by government officials and state media," it says, "have created a hostile environment whereby some Venezuelan citizens have harassed and threatened rabbis, vandalized Jewish businesses with anti-Semitic slogans, and called for a boycott of all Jewish businesses in Venezuela." In a report on global anti-Semitism last year, the State Department listed Venezuela as a state sponsor of anti-Semitism.
Venezuelan Catholics are also "at risk," the Commission on International Religious Freedom notes, and there have been "repeated attacks" on Catholic leaders and Catholic institutions. In January, La Piedrita, a pro-Chavez group, threw tear-gas cannisters into the house of the papal nuncio. Last year pro-Chavez thugs occupied the residence of the archbishop of Caracas and held a press conference at which they denounced Catholic leaders. There have been no arrests in either incident.
Last week Rabbi Herzfeld and others asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hold a hearing on anti-Semitism in Venezuela. A brief filed with the commission documents the "escalating violence and hostility" against Jews, which it says is "designed to isolate, terrify and ostracize that community." The commission will make a decision on the request in September, a spokeswoman says.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Bremer, the chief rabbi of Venezuela, asks that the world pay attention to the plight of Jews in his country. "We don't know what the future holds for us," he says. But he believes Mr. Chavez pays attention to world opinion. "I hope we will hear from the world community if there is future deterioration."
Rabbi Herzfeld is blunter: "I think we're in the early stages of something catastrophic."
Ms. Kirkpatrick is a deputy editor of the Journal's editorial page.

Submitted by "Chuck on the Right Side"

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

New Allegations Of White House Threats Over Chrysler

Source is "The Business Insider"
Written by John Carney
Creditors to Chrysler describe negotiations with the company and the Obama administration as "a farce," saying the administration was bent on forcing their hands using hardball tactics and threats.

Conversations with administration officials left them expecting that they would be politically targeted, two participants in the negotiations said.

Although the focus has so been on allegations that the White House threatened Perella Weinberg, sources familiar with the matter say that other firms felt they were threatened as well. None of the sources would agree to speak except on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of political repercussions.

The sources, who represent creditors to Chrysler, say they were taken aback by the hardball tactics that the Obama administration employed to cajole them into acquiescing to plans to restructure Chrysler. One person described the administration as the most shocking "end justifies the means" group they have ever encountered. Another characterized Obama was "the most dangerous smooth talker on the planet- and I knew Kissinger." Both were voters for Obama in the last election.

One participant in negotiations said that the administration's tactic was to present what one described as a "madman theory of the presidency" in which the President is someone to be feared because he was willing to do anything to get his way. The person said this threat was taken very seriously by his firm.

The White House has denied the allegation that it threatened Perella Weinberg.

Last week Obama singled out the firms that continue to oppose his plan for Chrysler, saying he would not stand with them. Perella Weinberg says it was convinced to support the plan by this stark drawing of a line between firms that have the president's backing and those that did not. They didn't want to be on the wrong side of Obama. Privately, administration officials have expressed confidence that other firms will switch sides for this reason.

These allegations add to the picture of an administration willing to use intimidation to win over support for its Chrysler plans--and then categorically deny it.
"Chuck on the Right Side"

Monday, May 4, 2009

What is Torture

This Weeks Editorial May 4, 2009

A comedian friend of mine gave me a definition of torture that really makes sense. He said, “Torture is going out on a “blind date” with Rosie O’Donnell and having to listen to her talk for three straight hours”. (Maybe “straight” is the wrong word to use?). Ask most men, and they’ll agree with that definition.

But seriously, the way the word “torture” is bandied about today, you’d think that the above comical definition might even have some merit. The “weak-kneed” generally define torture, as any unpleasantness that you might inflict upon another person in hopes of getting information that you need or want to know. God forbid, we try to use methods, frowned upon by the “wilted flower children” of the 60’s and 70’s, that might be “enhanced” to get valuable information from people who want to kill us and behead us.

These “wusses” have no “gonads” and think that you can get the information out of these “evil doers” just by being nice to them. Suppose you can’t, then what? Talk about living in a fantasy world?

The methods they decry as “torture”, are not half as bad as what I had to endure pledging for my college fraternity. We were subjected to paddling, being blindfolded, made to eat simulated worms, being ridiculed, and body painted. No, I didn’t like it. Now, look what some “bleeding hearts” consider torture. Depriving a terrorist of sleep for extended periods of time, making him lie next to insects when he has a fear of insects, slamming him against the wall by the lapels of his shirt ( with protective neck gear collars to prevent neck injuries), and the all so vicious “waterboarding” ( nobody in our custody died as a result of “waterboarding”, but think of how many people died as a result of snowboarding in our own country, just last year alone?) Granted all of these methods are not pleasant things to be done to you, but do they rise to the level that we knew torture to be, such as, pulling out finger nails, gouging out of eyes, cutting off fingers or arms, being lashed, tied to post, and electrifying genitals etc.? To me, that’s torture, and should not be in our interrogation playbook. But, the sanctimonious liberals want to get their last “mean” shots into Bush and Chaney and want to tar them with permitting illegal acts of “torture”. Instead, these misguided pinheads should be giving them medals for doing all they could, within the law, to keep us safe for 7 years with no terrorist attacks against our homeland.

If the “wusses” won’t say it, so I’ll say it. Thank you President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, we support you for what you did and for keeping us safe from another terrorist attack. I hope we can make that same statement for our current President at the conclusion of his term.

Written by Chuck Lehmann
Chuck on the Right Side

Torture


Sunday, May 3, 2009

Are we Ready For an Imminent Terrorist Attack?

Are we Ready For an Imminent Terrorist Attack?
Israeli agent says "YES" it's going to happen.

Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie ' Munich ' was based.. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard -- she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.
In a lecture in New York City a few weeks ago, he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.
He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show.. But, unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.
Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East ) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.
Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months .
Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.
For example:
1) Our airport technology is out dated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.
2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on Board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked! Every strategy we have is reactionary.
3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.
Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel , security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.
Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (I. E., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as rural America this time (Wyoming, Montana, etc.).
The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.
Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas , they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.
Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. Government does not want to 'alarm American citizens' with the facts. The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant. (To many of us they already are.. /S)
On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons . They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.
He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'homegrown ' -- having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.S. He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East . These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know or understand a thing about them.
Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will, inevitably, face. America still has only have a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.
So, what can America do to protect itself? From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel 's, Ireland 's and England 's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U.S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, 'like babies' . Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.
Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!
In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves. But, unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.
Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City , this was days, in some cases!)
He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, to respond to in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools, too, develop plans of actions, as they do in Israel . Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.
Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan that, in the event of another terrorist attack, will immediately cut off EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.
How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak? You need to have a plan.
If you believe what you have just read, then you must feel compelled to send to every concerned parent or guardian, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whatever and whomever. In the event a disaster does happen, this particular email will haunt you..."I should have sent this to..... ", but I didn't believe it and just deleted it as so much trash.
"Chuck on the Right Side"