12/27/07 Thursday, Conservatively Speaking

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been shot before a suicide bomb detonated killing her and others with her today in Pakistan. Bhutto’s return from exile and Pakistan’s President Musharraf moderation were the cornerstones of U. S. efforts to stabilize their nation. The U. S. and other civilized nations worry about radicals, including al Qaeda, seizing control of a nuclear armed Pakistan.

Bhutto served twice as Pakistan’s prime minister between 1988 and 1996. She had returned to Pakistan from an eight-year exile Oct. 18. Her homecoming parade in Karachi was also targeted by a suicide attacker, killing more than 140 people. On that occasion she narrowly escaped injury.

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aturday the WASHINGTON POST admitted what I have been reporting for weeks., i.e., “The Iranian government has decided ‘at the most senior levels’ to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq, a move reflected in a sharp decrease in sophisticated roadside bomb attacks over the past several months.” But, the POST’s bias showed that it did not give credit to a slick, multi-party Bush administration orchestrated gambit involving Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mullahs to defuse what could otherwise turn into a vicious Mideast war perhaps involving nuclear weapons. We should not be surprised that the POST has been ignoring and then desperately trying to hide the facts to favor its political persuasion. This is perhaps IRAN’S LAST CHANCE to avoid incineration of its nuclear weapons program in a conflagration of Biblical proportions. Israeli will NOT permit a nuclear Iran nor stake its survival on 2008’s U. S. election outcomes. Iran has only a very few months to produce or get off the pot or have its ashes buried in that chamber pot.

A man wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string was arrested for drunk driving on Christmas Day police said. Did I mention he was arrested in Hollywood, California?

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oston’s Big Dig was such a long (almost 50-years) complex and costly highway project t($15 billion) it has been likened to performing open heart surgery on a patient while the patient is wide awake and it will end – finally — with 2007. It was originally budgeted at $2.6 billion. The Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project – as the Big Dig is officially known– has its roots in the construction of the hulking 1950’s era elevated Central Artery that cut a swath through the center of Boston, lopping off the waterfront from downtown and casting a shadow over some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. 5,000 workers labored daily on the project, four died in accidents, and thousands retired having NEVER working on anything else. It cost a mind numbing $365,000 per foot

Eighty-four year old Paul Smokov doesn’t need radar or other high-tech stuff to forecast weather on the North Dakota prairie. He consults pig spleens. The editor of the Old Farmer’s Almanac in Dublin, N.H., said she had heard of at least one other pig spleen weather prognosticator but he died. “The spleens are 85 percent correct, according to my figures,” Paul said. As for the “scientific” weathermen, “Those guys aren’t any better.”

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ussia is installling its mobile, short range TOR-M1 air defense system to protect Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran took delivery of some of the systems a year ago and China, and Greece use it too. The new deployment could raise the urgency to attack Iran’s nuclear reactor. If Russia deploys its longer range, high altitude S-300 air defense system, as Ian has been requesting for some time, and that could further punctuate matters.

Also last week Russia tested a new ICBM capable of carrying MULTIPLE INDEPENDENTLY TARGETABLE WARHEADS. The missile struck a target 4,000 miles down range and will replace Russia’s aging ICBM.

A 25-year old Milwaukee, Wisconsin police officer was an illegal alien who stole his dead cousin’s identity then lied about his citizenship status to get on the force has been arrested, fired and deported back to Mexico. The Milwaukee police called it “embarrassing” – I guess so.

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mid loads of sleazy political fund raising hanky-panky the federal agency in charge of policing the torrent of political fund raising and spending during the upcoming presidential primaries will, for all practical purposes, shut its doors on New Year’s Eve. Democrats in Congress are blocking the confirmation of President Bush’s nominees to the Federal Election Commission. As a consequence, the FEC will enter 2008 with just two of six members — short of the four votes needed for the commission to take any official action. That unlocks all sorts of abuses that will make Hillary Clinton felon fund raiser Hsu’s antics look amateurish.

The U. S. Navy has deployed an UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLE (UUV) that shoots out of a torpedo tube and can then be recovered by the same submarine that launched it the 21-inch in diameter gadget is designed for close-in shore work and can operate on its own for at least 12 hours. The UUV reenters the sub through the same tube that launched it. A friend told me, “This thing’s like one of those RHOMBA AUTOMATIC FLOOR SWEEPERS. It goes out sweeps up mines; saboteurs, and places its own nasty’s and then comes home like a tomcat at dawn.”

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ormer New York City Mayor and lovable curmudgeon Democrat Ed Koch wonders in an editorial on RealClearPolitics.com if Al Gore knows what he is talking about?. Koch refers to Gore’s recent claim at the Bali “Global Warming Conference” that “…I am going to speak an inconvenient truth. My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. We all know that.” The “obstruction” Gore accuses the U. S. of is not signing the Kyoto Protocols also opposed by China, India, Russia and many significant others for its inequities and adverse economic consequences. Gore neglects the inconvenient fact that U.S. “green house gas” emissions from 2000 to 2004 were eight percentage points lower than in the prior period. That inconveniently puts the U. S. in the lead among the world’s major economies in green house gas reductions.

Koch’s added complaint is also about Gore’s irresponsible abuse of protocol by speaking against and demeaning one’s own nation in international forums, and the damage that does. But, that has become almost trite giving the antics of the likes of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid who delight in running down America for their own petty personal politics. Remember Reid’s ranting that the war in Iraq is lost last spring and his recent retraction. Had he tried that when his hero FDR was around his head would have been perched on a fence post on the White House lawn.

With regard to Gore’s mawkish thesis, and to paraphrase a UCSB climate scientist, the issue should be about the science and not the scientists. It is not. It is about promoting personal political persuasions, and ivy tower power to gum the U. S., and certain others, into economic recession, depression or at least submission. But, before delving there I agree with Ed Koch – Al Gore is a nincompoop.

“The Chinese talk about principle—their principles. And when it is a matter of principle, it really means do it their way,” observed former President George H. W. Bush three decades ago while CIA Director. China’s economic engine is running at near full throttle growing at more than a 10% per annum compound rate doubling in size by sometime soon after 2015. China is continuing a less-confrontational policy toward Taiwan that is focused on curbing formal Taiwan independence and placing less emphasis on reunification. It strongly opposes U. N. membership for Taiwan.

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ivilized people face the vilest of enemies personified in the medieval mind set of Islamo-facists. To underestimate the scope of this threat is to risk all progress made for more than1,000 years and a return to the dark ages. For instance: “It didn’t get a lot of attention, but in mid-December, U.S. forces in Iraq discovered an al Qaeda torture center north of Baghdad. Muqdadiya is about 60 miles north of the capital. American soldiers found a blood-spattered room where chains still hung on the gory walls. A metal bed frame was still connected to an electric shock generator. The Americans also found bloody knives and swords. Outside, the bodies of 26 people were buried in common graves…

“Last May, according to The Smoking Gun website, U.S. troops unearthed an even more grisly site, an al Qaeda torture chamber in Baghdad itself. When they entered, the soldiers found an Iraqi man suspended from the ceiling by chains. The room contained torture implements including hammers, whips, meat cleavers and wire cutters as well as a crude torture manual, displaying various methods of inflicting unbearable pain. These included using a blowtorch on the skin, gouging out eyes, using an electric drill to cut through a hand, and many more.” — Columnist Mona Charen

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Cybercast News Service yesterday that a BAN THE BULBS provision in the new federal energy law that will effectively ban the use of the incandescent light bulb in the United States by 2020 was an appropriate exercise of federal power.” - CNS News, 12/21/07

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here are more than 513,000 elected officials in the United States. This includes representatives from every level of government — from school boards, county commissions, city councils and sheriffs up through state legislatures and governors to the 537 elected federal officials in Washington.

On average each elected official generate 25 taxpayer dependent jobs to be supported. Those 13,000,000 do not count postal workers, teachers, police, fire fighters or the military.

The federal government is now an astounding 185 times as big in real terms as it was a century ago. Government in all its forms is the fastest growing segment of the U. S. economy although it does not produce anything nor earn one penny.

Watch this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15D3ElV1Jzw. and laugh and cry.

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ov. Mitch Daniels (R) leased the INDIANA Toll Road to a private firm for $3.8 billion because state bureaucrats could not run it effectively. Obviously the private company will make back the $3.8 billion and an estimated $5.1 billion more. Why Indiana “lost” $500,000,000 a year running the road is a mystery.

 

TEXAS legislators threw a roadblock in front of Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) plan to build a 4,000-mile toll-road network by imposing a partial ban on toll-road privatization (SB 792), and Daniels abandoned a pair of toll-road projects in March after Indiana residents turned out in the thousands to oppose them at public hearings. But with budgetary demands for health care and road and infrastructure repairs, among many other things, and revenues slumping along with the housing market, there aren’t a lot of other options EXCEPT CUTTING SPENDING which is anathema to the political flacks running things into the ground.

 

At least a dozen states, including CALIFORNIA, FLORIDA, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK and TEXAS are considering plans to sell or lease their lotteries because they can’t make money with gambling despite the fact that the old MAFIA NUMBERS RACKET paid out better than any state lottery and still made billions. But, get ready every other taxpayer owned assets, such as utilities, parking garages, water systems and airports, may be headed for the auction block too.

 

At the core of this malarkey is crappy leadership; fiscal mismanagement of criminal proportions and voters soundly sleeping at the switch while their bank accounts are being pilfered by a profligate bunch of boobs. What happens when everything is auctioned away; you have to pay a road fee to drive to get a quart of milk, and taxes are even higher – sell the kids? But, I guess their future is already mortgaged so there’s not much collateral in the kids either.

 

Seven states currently require photo ID to vote, while 17 others require identification that doesn’t have to include a photo. But with the 2008 presidential election less than a year away, the political hot potato voter ID will figure prominently on legislative agendas, as the two major parties angle for every vote they can muster – legal or not. Twenty one states have over 150 bills pertaining to the issue that will carry over into the 2008 session.

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yria has agreed to an expanded Russian Navy presence, particularly at the ports of Latakia and Tartous. The sources said the Israeli military expects Russian submarines to conduct reconnaissance operations near the Israeli coast. Placing submarines close in shore reduces warning time of a missile attack and concerns Israeli intelligence. At the same time Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB, has expanded its presence in Israel. This time, the goal of Russian intelligence agency is Israel’s large Russian immigrant community to stop the flow of Russian Jews and their relatives to Israel. Plummeting population and a brain drain has become a critical problem for Russia.

 

Last Monday 80 tons of nuclear fuel arrived in Iran. Russians sources say the Iranian electrical power reactor will be functioning by 2009. The fuel is supposed to be closely guarded by Russians and when expended returned there for reprocessing into benign form.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope ~ Sir Winston Churchill

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he U. S. and now Japan have both conducted successful test of a new anti-missile interceptor based on the Aegis class destroyer system. The Japanese test took place near Hawaii on Dec. 18. The system could shoot down ballistic missile as they descend to their targets but before they strike. Japan is hoping to use the ABM system to counter North Korean and Chinese missile threats. The SM-3 successfully intercepted the target that had been launched from near Hawaii approximately about 3 minutes later when it was still 100 miles above the surface.

DUKE and OREGON played in the 1942 ROSE BOWL on January 1, 1942. But it was NOT in Pasadena but in Durham, North Carolina because people feared that a Japanese invasion of the west coast was imminent following the December 7, 1941attack on Pearl Harbor.

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he Concord, New Hampshire newspaper took a big bite out of Romney’s chances there calling him a “disquieting figure,” the newspaper’s editorial board said he looks and acts like a presidential contender but “surely must be stopped” because he lacks the core philosophical beliefs to be a trustworthy president. Part of its ire is Romney’s claim “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King,” in his much publicized “Faith in America” speech, this was simply not true. Mitt wasn’t there and his Dad appears not to have marched anyway. Its anti-endorsement is its first in history.

John McCain has already closed the gap on Romney 30-28%. Giuliani has fallen back to 14% and Huckabee is the only other Republican candidate in double digits. McCain is surging in South Carolina too. Obama has squeaked around Clinton 30-28% in New Hampshire as well. John Edwards is at 14% and Richardson has faded to 10%.

Senator John McCain has gained a six-point lead (49-43%) over Senator Hillary Clinton in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey. Huckabee trails Hillary 43-47%. A remarkable 47% say they are definitely against Romney and Clinton while only 19% and 30% say they are definitely for either. Mostly because the Democrat race has come down to Clinton or Obama they have the highest “definitely for” rankings at 30 and 29% respectively. Giuliani rates 23% in the definitely for category and McCain is at 22%.

Thompson is now viewed favorably by 67% of Republican voters but not to the extent they’d vote for him. McCain and Giuliani are favored by 65%, Huckabee by 64%, and Romney by 59%. Among all voters, McCain has the highest favorability ratings of any candidate in either party—55%. He is viewed favorably by 43% of Democrats and 60% of those not affiliated with either major party.

In the midst of the final folderol before the Iowa caucuses MIKE HUCKABEE is scampering to plug holes with RUSH LIMBAUGH. Rush is popping off to his 20 million mostly conservative and largely Christian conservative listeners punching holes in the Huckaboat which is quickly taking on a lot of water.

America is famous for winning wars and losing peace conferences – anonymous.

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INALLY, Hollywood actor WILL SMITH’S comments to a Scottish newspaper that ADOLF HITLER awoke every day and set out to do what he thought was right has set off a firestorm throughout Great Britain, and much of Europe including in Germany. Smith says he looks for the good in everyone which certainly didn’t help – what would have helped was a roll of duct tape.

MAINE mandates that gift cards have no expiration date. Now the state passed a law allowing it to seize any card unused after two years. Somebody is putting something in the water up that way.

 

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