al Qaeda and Iraq? Say it aint so...

Today a report from ABC News which examines secret documents recovered from Saddam Husseins' Regime indicate that Iraq was indeed involved with the terrorist orginization. Thats right folks it seems that President Bush was right all along. Wow well i guess that means that all of those Democrats were...WRONG! Well thats a damn shame.

 http://abcnews.go.com/International/IraqCoverage/story?id=1734490&page=1

more to come...

For those of you who keep track of national and international news we are living in perilous times. I have been interested in following international news since I became a Christian in 2000 and in that time I have never seen a greater threat to our stability until now. Even on the horrible day of 9-11 I knew that we would eventually go and punish those responsible and our military is doing an amazing job in Afghanistan and Iraq. But in the wake of 9-11 it seems that a global specter is raising it’s head once again. Why do I say this, am I being alarmist? Lets look at what has happened in the last 5 years.

1. Our nation was attacked by radical Islam and 3000 Americans perished.

2. Oil prices are rising because global demand is rising partly due to China’s booming Economy

3. Israel has been encouraged to give land over to killers and terrorists in the name of peace, people that too this day still will not recogonizs Israel’s right to exist.

4. Several countries in Europe attacked by Islamic terrorists.

5. A scandal reaching all the way to the top of the UN where money from the former regime of Saddam Hussein was funneled. This same group resisted the U.S. in going to war with Iraq in 2003.

6. Several UN failures like that in Darfur where atrocities have been committed and millions have been displaced.

7. Anti-semitism is on the rise in Europe and abroad.

8. North Korea is in gross violation of International law by developing it’s own Nuclear Weapons.

9. Iran is presently in conflict with the international community over it’s own desire to develop Nuclear Weapons.

10. Several biological deseases have emerged including SARS, Mad Cow, West Nile Virus and most recently the threat of Avian Flu.

11. Increased anti-American sentiment around the world.

12. The growth of China into an economic and military superpower is well underway.

13. Human population has reached 6 billion with only continued growth in sight.

14. In 2004 we saw a record hurricane season with Florida being hit 4 times.

15. In 2005 Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

16. The Tsunami of late 2004 killed more than 200,000 people.

17. The current Iran president denies the holocaust happened and that Israel should be removed.

18. China’s oil exploration has a global reach with countries such as Iran, Veneszula Russia and even Canada on the list.

19. AIDS continues to ravage Africa.

20. Illegal immigration continues in the US where politicians seem unwilling to stop it, violence along the border is increasing.

What does all this mean? The turblance of our time is unparalled. It just seems like our country is under threat again like World War II or the Cold War which seem so long ago but in truth the cold war only ended 15 years ago. The point of this article is that while a catastrophic event like World War II seems unimagnible to most it seems to me that were on that course again, global conflict. I cant tell how that conflict could erupt or what it will look like or if this War of Terror is part of it but there seems to be a lot of anger in the world and in this country and I don’t think it will just go away any time soon.  

Republicans...same old mistakes at the worst possible time.

Ya know American Politics never gets old, I admit after long campaign or election cycles like the 2004 election I was tired and didn’t watch or read political news for about two weeks but other than that watching what our elected…ahem…officials (I dare not call most of them leaders) can be and often is a tragic expression of ignorance, strife and human comedy.

I find the current Dubai “portgate” situation the Bush Administration has found itself in particularly interesting. Robert Novak wrote in an article on the 4^th talked about how the Republicans are attempting to distance themselves from Bush apparently they believe this issue is important enough to forsake the President. Of course I'm sure Bush’s weak approval rating as of late and the fact that a congressional election is only 8 months away is a huge motivation for this.

My problem is that the Republicans are choosing the wrong issue to press the President on; this ports deal in the end is going to blow over way before the election. What the Republicans need to do is repair their base while maintaining the image of being tough on terror that can only be done by focusing on the borders. The bottom line is that the borders are infinitely more important to the country than whether a Dubai company controls a port terminal or not. By focusing on the border issue the Republican Party will attend to their base and look tough on terror and not be locking arms with the opportunistic liberals of Washington who are attempting to create a new image of strength over an issue which has little traction. The Republicans really need to reframe the issue because right now all it looks like all their doing is following the party who is out of power The Republican Party is making the same mistakes it's made since they regained power in 2000.

In the end the Republican Party is distancing itself from the Administration and their doing it to maintain control of Congress. After the election Bush will still have two years to enact policies and hopefully a friendly congress will be there to help him but until then it’s everyman for himself and right now Bush is a liability not a help at least to Congressional Republicans. Hopefully Americans will come to their senses and realize Bush really is doing a great job but I doubt it. My fear is that the Republicans are letting the Democrats determine the issues and in an election year that can only mean losing elections!

Global Warming the Global Specter.

The recent slew of intense and costly natural disasters from hurricanes, droughts, and floods has fueled debate recently on the topic of global warming. Global Warming is the theory that man, through his use of fossil fuels, is, in effect, producing emissions which trap heat in the atmosphere where it would otherwise escape. The problem is that a warmer globe means, in theory, much stronger major storms as the Earth has to work harder to regulate itself. However this is a politically charged issue which has strong proponents on both sides and may be far more important than we can imagine.

The theory sounds simple enough but there are strong opponents to the idea of Global Warming and at the heart of this issue, as so many others, is money. I’m not saying this as if it’s necessarily a bad thing but it is very important to understand how money plays a role in the politics of Global Warming.

To any who follow American politics specifically Bush’s administration you should recognize the Kyoto protocol. Most know it because the US entered into it under the environmentalists-friendly Clinton administration but there was a huge firestorm when Bush decided to pull out of the agreement before it took effect this year. Why is this significant? It’s estimated that the US produces around a third of the global greenhouse emissions and the Kyoto agreement would call for the US to cut emissions to below levels recorded in 1990 by 5.2%. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1212-04.htm

While this may not be a major problem for nations with fewer cars the United States’ massive economy literally survives on energy of fossil fuels. While cutting emissions by that massive amount sounds great implementation would cost billions of dollars to the American economy if not trillions. Cleaner fuels would cost more, harsher regulations to American business would drive up costs and I believe it would easily cause a recession making the one in 2001 look like a picnic.

Today the specter of Global Warming is gaining newly found steam in the wake of several global natural disasters and it seems to be the easy explanation for them. Global Warming (environmentalists say) caused Katrina and what appears to be the growing numbers of hurricanes per year. Flooding and droughts worldwide are also being blamed on Global Warming. But others say Global Warming is fiction and the usual intensity and numbers of storms are part of the natural cycle of the Earth.

The bottom line for conservatives is that whether Global Warming is real or not doesn’t matter what matters is the power Global Warming gives the extreme left both here and in Europe. Global Warming is like Evolution in that it is touted by the left as absolute truth and the only explanation even thought there are many other possible explanations. Of course the extreme left gains plenty by using the Global Warming argument and that is the hope to strip away the liberty of individual Americans and ultimately the sovereignty of the nation and any other nation for that matter.

To understand this one must recognize the reality of the extreme environmentalists, which is, to place an animal, tree, even a plant above the interests of people. These people want humanity to return to a more harmonious union with nature and see economic development as exploitation of nature and evil. They recognize the reality that a return to a totally agarian environmental-friendly society will never happen so they have taken the next logical approach, international environmentalism. By taking their grievances to international bodies (many of which are liberal in nature) they seek to strip away national sovereignty from nations in the name of environmentalism by compelling countries to adhere to greater and greater environmental restrictions which filter down to individuals.

 Global Warming offers the global Left a scapegoat and that happens to be the US. Since the US produces a disproportionately high amount of emissions it’s easy to say Global Warming and mean the US. This follows with international outcries for America to control its output. The problem is international proposals which the world want us to ratify are not in our best interests economically. Kyoto was the worlds’ attempt to trick the US into regulating itself in a manner which put it at a huge disadvantage. It’s no surprise that Clinton agreed to the protocol but it’s also no surprise that there was such a huge firestorm when Bush pulled out, the US wised up which ticked the rest of the world off not to mention the extreme left.

Did Bush do the right thing by pulling out of Kyoto? Absolutely! Is Global Warming occurring I don’t know but I find it hard to believe that the vast amount of toxic chemicals we releases into the atmosphere has no effect on the global ecosystem. However that said I don’t think we should bow to the ideals of the extreme liberal movement which threatens economic development and liberty.

In the end it will cost money to stem the huge amount of emission’s this country generates but we can do it in a way that won’t hurt the economy and may even grow it. So when you hear the cry of Global Warming dont be too quick to jump on the environmental bandwagon and demand sweeping environmental reform because it will hit you in the pocket book.