On the dog walk this AM I composed in my head a most wordy, commemorative post to both honor those who were lost in the al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and those first responders that risked, and for some, gave all to save as many as possible — as well as to lambaste those among us that no longer give a whit. But hey, for those so lost in their own narcissism that they care more about community organizing, punishing American business, depriving US from opportunity or protecting the weak from the likes of the Taliban — why waste words on them.

They HAVE FORGOTTEN!

They have forgotten the sight of their fellow Americans and yes, some from across the globe, making the harrowing choice to plunge to their deaths instead of burning alive. They have forgotten those that listened on their cell phones as loved ones on the doomed flights said their last good byes. They have forgotten the bravery of the resistors on Flight 93 as they forced that jumbo jet into a Pennsylvania field instead of allowing the hijackers to use it as a bomb against the Capital or the White House. They have forgotten those first responders that rushed into the twin towers to rescue as many as possible, but never made it out themselves.

They HAVE FORGOTTEN!

Not everyone has forgotten:

In today’s dead-tree-edition of the LA Times, they remember as best they can, with a single story on page 17 — with no blurb or mention on page one. Now, this current 9/11 has become “the first official National Day of Service and Remembrance,” to honor the spirit of volunteerism or some such parlance.

The Anchoress is remembering this 9/11 in a very different state of mind:

This 9/11 Anniversary, it just feels like too much. Or not enough. This 9/11, the day feels huge, too big for sentimentality, almost.

{…}

That’s kind of what I am feeling on this terrible anniversary – that the Day of the Bully may yet dawn again, but I am not so sure how psyche-scarred America will handle it. I know our first responders, our military, our Protector lads and He-men (and She-ra’s) will do what they always do; they will never let us down. But this is a very different -much more divided and thus weaker- country than we were 8 years ago. Our trust in each other has been shaken. I believe we would weather another attack and come together, as before, but is that simply because I want to believe it?

Michelle Malkin remembers:

Remember: Project 2,996.

Remember: “Let’s roll!”

Remember: The angels on loan from God.

Remember: The 9/11 babies.

Remember: Falling Man.

Remembrance is worthless without resolve. Resolve is useless without action.

Hugh Hewitt puts our struggle with the Islamists that would gladly have another 9/11 happen every day in perspective:

Thanks to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, coast guard, counterterrorism and public safety professionals who have prevented a second attack for eight years.

The enormous cost of the battles in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world have been made so that there have not had to be more pictures like this one. We remember the victims of 9/11 today, but we also need to salute the thousands killed and tens of thousands wounded in the war with the Islamists, fanatics who would gladly see a 9/11 every day in their war with the West.

Doctor Zero at Hot Air answers those that minimize the importance of that day and our efforts to see it never repeated:

Eight years later, it’s a lot to ask people to think about 9/11 every single day. On this one day, at least, we can remember three thousand people who began an ordinary morning, and ended it by falling through fire. It was not a natural disaster, or a “tragedy,” and by God I am weary in my soul of people who amuse themselves by pretending it was a government conspiracy. It was an attack. It was murder. Across the Middle East tomorrow, there will be people who celebrate the murderers. Don’t turn away from the sight. We cannot afford to allow this enemy to become invisible. We can’t afford to let our heroes become invisible, either. The savages with box cutters were real. So were the men who ran into those collapsing towers. In their name, with love for their memory, and luminous with their spirit, we will prevail.

James Lileks has put together a moving remembrance of that fateful day:

As for me, I can’t forget.

I can’t forget how such a level of EVIL existed eight years ago that 19 men armed with box cutters slaughtered so many of US purely out of their hatred for our society, our freedoms, our faith. I can’t forget that in Pakistan the Taliban is working and fighting night and day to overthrow the ruling government and get their hands on nuclear weapons to use on Israel and on the West. I can’t forget . . . well because to do so would be suicidal. With our current slate of leaders and their misguided policies it will most likely happen again, sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, next time will be worse . . .

The people of Iran are pouring into the streets in protest of last week’s election, which has all the signs of having been stolen by current President/anti-Semitic lunatic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Some of the protesters have been shot. News is leaking out of this tightly controlled country via Twitter!

What has been the very late reaction of our own fearful leader, President Barack Hussein Obama?

Mr. Obama said he was deeply troubled by the violence surrounding the election, but stressed it was up to the Iranian people to choose their leadership. He said he would maintain his policy of directly negotiating with Iran’s leaders on its nuclear program, irrespective of the vote.

Way to go, Barry. Give this homicidal A-hole legitimacy while the Mullahs charge the enforcers with the task to put down this protest before it becomes a new revolution. Can’t have freedom breaking out all over the place, now can we.

Especially since our own government is working overtime to abridge ours.

When even WaPo notices, that’s sayin’ something.

My message to the people of Iran?

Viva La Revolución!

Were it that all debates could go this way . . .

           Poster by Tennyson HayesThe Obama World Tour 2008 has stirred up a lot of opinion, pro and con, on the Left and Right, both here and abroad. Those reading this blog don’t have to wonder what this ol’ Okie thinks about it — CON, as in against and come to think of it, as in CON job, too. For a refreshing, and laugh-out-loud-funny take on Obama’s international folly, check out the Brit’s Times Online columnist Gerard Baker’s skewering of the Chosen One: He ventured forth to bring light to the world Here’s the opener.

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
Background

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth – for the first time – to bring the light unto all the world.

This it truly classic, and you just have to go and read all of it. Quite a different take than our own near and dear LA Times’ Christian Retzlaff’s response — are we surprised? Phft!

He didn’t break into German, but he spoke of tearing down walls of division, and the crowd loved it.

Tens of thousands of Germans, along with some resident Americans, filled Berlin’s Tiergarten park to hear Barack Obama talk about the U.S., Europe and their shared visions and challenges. {…}

The audience repeatedly interrupted his speech with applause and cheers, and erupted in chants of “Yes, we can!”

A lot of Europeans are hoping Obama will give them a reason to love America again.

“I expect Obama to be a president who makes it possible to be proud of being a fan of the USA,” said Gerda Schulz, a 72-year-old retiree. Schulz has watched historic speeches here by a string of American presidents — John F. Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1987 and Bill Clinton in 1994 — and on Thursday added the Democratic presidential contender to the list.

“In the last seven years, it was rather embarrassing here to say, ‘I like the Americans and I am thankful for what they did for us,’ ” she said.

Better for them to be embarrassed over the fact that we had to beat ‘em down twice in the last century to keep them from destroying the whole world as we knew it, and then had to save their bacon from the Soviet expansion — but little things like that need no mention or gratitude ya know. And, what about American might, ever since the great wars, that has near unilaterally been responsible for keeping a lid on the despots and tyrants of the world, while the Europeans, especially the Germans, enjoy their months-long vacations, 35 hour work weeks and limited calls to duty? Any feelings of appreciation for that? Nah — didn’t think so.

“World Candidate”
[Montage credit: Huffington Post]

In his Berlin speech yesterday, did Barack make any of that perfectly clear? Nah — you didn’t think he would, did you? As Laer at Cheat-Seeking Missiles comments:

Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin today was not given by an American; it was given by a globalist. He may have said he loved America, but his speech was a frightful minimalization of America’s contribution to the world’s security, and it gave made the scoundrels who have sought to be tyranny’s profiteer, not its vanquisher, parity with us.

{…}

His cliche-laden speech – “This is the moment.” “This is our time.” “A new crossroad.” “The road ahead will be long.” – gave Europeans undeserved credit, saying “they are bearing more burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world.” Show me where. Show me where they are not enjoying the comfort of our defense while complaining about the every minute perceived excess of their defenders.

And spare me a president who derides his own nation in front of a foreign audience[.]

My buddy Laer doesn’t mince many words. That last statement says it all for me. But, what about the rising star that is Barack Obama? As Michelle Malkin comments in her take on Gerard Baker’s satire:

Ever so slowly, the glow is dimming. Better late, than never…

One can only hope so Michelle . . . from your lips to God’s ears.

Technorati Tags: Obama World Tour, Gerard Baker, Tiergarten, Barack Obama

Let the Dem wit Congress (now with an approval rating of only 9%!) know that, Yes. We. Can.

I just got finished my Sunday AM ritual of thumbing through the dead-tree edition of the Los Angeles Times. The AP-sourced article referred to in this post’s title, Uranium from Iraq reaches Canada was in the ‘A’ section, but not on page one, hmmmm, nothing about it in the little blog-inspired daily-wrap-up on page two either. Back on page six they print it. I’m sure it hurt the hell out o’ ‘em to feel like they had to do so, this giving President Bush some props and all. To give them some credit, they did at least print it — and have it on their website as well. In the past, sometimes, those two things haven’t been able to be said. Here’s the gist:

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached this Canadian port Saturday, completing a secret U.S. operation that included an airlift from Baghdad and a voyage across two oceans.

The removal of about 550 tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for high-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Hussein’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried that the cache would fall into the hands of insurgents or Shiites hoping to advance Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions.

What’s left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex, about 12 miles south of Baghdad, using teams that include Iraqis recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.

There’s a lot more, so go and read it at the source. Another thing you gotta know in your heart — the Lefties must have their sphincters puckered up real tight to read about the existence of all of Saddam’s Yellowcake stockpiles — given their hyperventilation over ol’ Valerie Plame’s husband’s report that Saddam wasn’t tryin’ to get more yellowcake from Niger ia — nah, good ol’ Saddam would never have wanted MORE nuclear weapons’ raw materials.

Not to mention (oh, why not go ahead?) the Maliki government being with it enough to have Iraqis trained at a former nuclear disaster site and putting together a deal with a Canadian company that results in Iraq getting some big bucks in return.

Nope, the Left certainly won’t like folks having the opportunity to discover that — so, page six it is — buried a bit, no flags, bells or whistles . . . shhhhhhh. Don’t tell nobody.

Technorati Tags: Los Angeles Times, Tuwaitha nuclear complex, Saddam’s Yellowcake

At FrontPageMag.com, Jamie Glazov interviews Caroline B. Glick, the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, DC and the deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post, asking what are the threats facing the world today and what can the West do about them.

There are four basic threats facing the world today. The first is Iran’s quest for regional dominance and global prominence which it advances primarily through the support of Islamist insurgencies regionally and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Second is the totalitarian jihadist ideology which is ascendant throughout the Islamic world. Third is the West’s inability to break its dependence on Arab oil. And fourth is the West’s cultural insecurity and malaise and increasingly, its self-hatred.

The first two threats are physical and ideological challenges to the West’s survival. The third – the West’s economic dependence on Arab oil – has brought about the perverse situation where the free world is bankrolling its enemies’ war efforts. And the fourth, Western cultural malaise which is approaching collapse in Europe and among the American and Israeli intellectual and cultural elites makes it impossible for nations to defend themselves against the physical threats, to consider ways to actively replace oil as the primary energy source for our economies, or to present a coherent and attractive alternative to Islamic totalitarianism for Muslim societies and minorities in the West.

The answers to ‘what can we do?’ aren’t going to go down very well with the Obamanians, the KOSites and anyone else on the Left. One of the more terrifying of Glick’s statements was:

And the Mossad now projects that it [Iran] could be within months of acquiring the bomb.

And Bush only has months left in office — Regardless of public opinion and political capital expenditure required, Bush has mostly risen to the challenge of doing what needed to be done to protect this country in the GWOT. If the do-nothing-right Republican-controlled Congress had grown a huge-hairy pair and addressed the energy situation in a realistic, and from the perspective of a war-against-Jihad mindset, we might not be in this 4-1/2 dollar and rising fuel situation. If Bush doesn’t hit the Mullah’s nuclear facilities, Israel will have to. Much more navel gazing by the West and it might be too late. The fate of Israel does hang in this particular balance.

Whatever happens — gas prices are going to keep going up. And, at $150+ per barrel of oil, almost all of the alternate forms of energy are coming into play. The big question is — “Will they make it in time?”

Technorati Tags: Caroline B. Glick

The story is bleak for those two blindfolded Afghanis on the right. In front of 5,000 onlookers they were dispatched to their respective afterlives by Pakistani Taliban-linked rebels in Pechawar. The LA Times writes:

In a gruesome public spectacle, Taliban-linked militants on Friday executed two Afghan men accused of spying for the United States, slitting their throats and parading their severed heads before a cheering crowd.

{…}

The dual execution was brutal even by the fundamentalist code that prevails in the tribal areas, which lie largely beyond the jurisdiction of the Pakistani government. The killing of alleged spies is not unusual, but their public parading is rare.

Witnesses said the two men were taken to a gathering place by militants from the Taliban-affiliated Jaish-i-Islami group. Armed men first slit their throats, then sprayed the bodies with bullets from automatic rifles, then decapitated the pair to chants of “God is great!”

In the aftermath, celebratory gunfire killed two people and injured six in the frenzied crowd of onlookers, authorities said.

We still suffer the aftermath of Charlie Wilson’s War, aka Operation Cyclone, where we had been willing and able to spend in the billions to help the Afghanistan mujahideen drive the Soviets out of their country, but not politically willing to spend even a small number of millions to keep Afghani children out of the Taliban created schools that brought with them a most harsh form of Sharia law and eventually, via training camps in Afghanistan, led to the attacks of 9/11.

At least for now, the government of Pakistan has had it with the rebels’ incursion into Peshawar and have stopped negotiations and are fighting back. There’s a lot at stake in that increasingly violent and unstable country — and not just as an ally in our fight against al Qaeda in Iraq.

Pakistan has operational nuclear weapons. It’s government simply cannot be allowed to be destroyed or taken over by radical Islamic Jihadis. I’m sure that all options are on the table and constantly being examined in our war-planning rooms. A nuclear-armed Taliban would be an abomination. If slitting the throats and cutting off the heads of a couple of spies gets them all tickled and excited, imagine what sneaking a nuke across the border and leveling an American city would do to them. Of course, then we wouldn’t have to imagine what one of our Boomers out in the Indian Ocean, loaded with multiple-warhead cruise missiles would do to them — we’d see that on CNN 24/7.

Best just to find these guys and kill them now. Lot’s less mess, lot’s less collateral damage.

You listenin’ Barack? Nope — didn’t think so — I imaging you’re to busy plannin’ you little visits to go see ol’ Mahmoud, Fidel, and Hugo.

Technorati Tags: Taliban, Pakistan, nuclear-armed Taliban

As I scanned the headlines this AM the following caught my eye: US checks if tomatoes caused Salmonella outbreak

As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak — or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes.

The widening outbreak — with 810 people confirmed ill — means whatever is making people sick could very well still be on the market, federal health officials warned on Friday.

{…}

Most worrisome, the latest victim became sick on June 15 — long after the outbreak began on April 10 and weeks after government warnings stripped supermarkets and restaurants of many tomatoes.

“The source of contamination has been ongoing at least through early June. And we don’t have any evidence that whatever the source is, it’s been removed from the market,” said Dr. Patricia Griffin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gee guys, that’s reassuring! For me, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is, what if it’s bio-terrorism? It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. That was 24 years ago and “was [to date] the single largest bioterrorist attack in United States history.”

Anyone who has read Tom Clany’s Executive Orders has a feel for the amount of panic a widespread bioterror attack could instill in the public at large. Salmonella sure isn’t Ebola virus, but it’s dangerous, sometimes deadly, and this current, still mysterious and widespread outbreak is causing disruption in the food supply and growing mistrust on the part of vegetable consumers.

It’s like the steady drip of a leaky faucet; Poison a few vegetables all over the country in markets or warehouses (drip!) . . . Entry level workers poisoning restaurant and fast food customers (drip!) . . . Start a few fires here and there (drip!) — All acts of small groups or lone individuals controlled via orders from constantly-shifting terrorists’ websites. This is the stuff of conspiracy novels or movies. I hope it’s only fiction, or only a figment of an ol’ Okie’s overheated imagination.

And, I sure hope the supercomputers at the NSA are working overtime — all the time!

Technorati Tags: Salmonella outbreak, bioterrorist attack

[Update: Today's article in Reuters puts my little musing of yesterday in a sharper focus.]

I think of things while in the shower. Like this moring, I was thinkin’ that in just a few more weeks the eyes of the world will be on the new Olympic stadium in Bejing as the athletes march in the opening ceremony. Heads of state from all over the world will be there, including President Bush and one would assume the highest ranking of the Chinese Communists. All the high-ranking al Queda operatives and planners could possibly be thinking as they watch and read about the 2008 Olympics is, “What a target rich environment — Oh ya betcha!” When I got that far in my mind, my inner Tom Clancy decided it was time for a little channeling o’ the Okie . . .

“No, it wouldn’t be easy, maybe not even possible, but if one could pull this off, Allah would be most pleased and the virgins would be non-stop — even to the point where a faithful man would have to consider asking for them to stop, or maybe slow it down a bit. But, one would have to have faith that if there would be so many of them that the stamina would also be provided. What other payment would suffice the success of such a demonstration of the power of Allah? The time to dream is over, time to act. The torch has reached the platform and in mere moments the Olympic flame will be lit — and then the flame of cleansing will follow. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! . . . It is time.”

The last thing that anyone in the Olympic Stadium saw was the Olympic flame coming alive followed by a searing beyond-white light — microseconds later no one in the immediate area was alive, actually no one was anything at all except for vaporized and burned at the molecular level. Televised images of the Olympic Opening Ceremony from inside the Olympic village ceased immediately, those from remotes within a few miles went black seconds later — only those from far away that had satellite links showed what had to have been a nuclear blast. Spy satellites confirmed this and that knowledge set off a second chain of events.

The Chinese military immediately began looking for the likely culprit — surely this had to have come from Russia, or the U.S., probably Russia. Not England, or France. Pakistan? India? Not likely, but have to admit, close. North Korea? No.

Most of all, must save face. Who to strike? Eenie. Meenie. Miney. Mo.

The Russians saw it coming but with little time to decision make, let alone act. “Punch the Button comrades . . . punch ALL the buttons!”

Washington had more time, and the ballistic missile defense system saves San Francisco. Lucky them . . . The President gone, the east coast soon to be history — what to do? Launch ‘em ALL! Let God sort it out.

The Israelis weren’t stupid. Western Europe and America were never going to help, never going to be able to help, not in this or the next generation’s lifetimes. The Arabs and the Persians would descend upon God’s people and finish what the Nazi’s started decades ago. It really wasn’t a decision to make, it was fate, and destiny, and if God was willing — self preservation.

They launched ‘em ALL! No more Saudi oilfields and refineries. No more Iraqi oil. No more Arabic capitals. No more Iranian nuclear threat. No more much of anything . . .

Needless to say, what would be left of the world, and the world’s economy, wouldn’t be a very fun place to be. We don’t really understand the environmental fallout of pumping that much radioactive matter into the atmosphere, but one wouldn’t be able to put up an argument that what followed wasn’t man-caused Climate Change. This time, that moniker would fit.

If I were even remotely as talented at Robert Ferrigno this would be a great place to start a story. I’m not — so let’s hope we never have to live it to find out what happens . . .