Peace Was Never An Option

Recommended Reading:

CNN: Gaza death toll from Israeli offensive exceeds 375

Rick Moran: BLOODTHIRSTY JEWS BRUTALLY MURDER HAMAS BABIES

MEMRI: PLO and Fatah Officials: Hamas is Responsible for the Deaths of Its People

A big part of the problem we have as Americans and western Europeans is we continuously attempt to frame the Israeli-Arab conflict through our moral values. We assume, very wrongly, that both sides ultimately want peace. It just is not true.

We are about to witness a New Year's Eve massacre with thousands of Palestinians dead and wounded. We are about to witness a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions. I'm not trying to be glib or funny or ironic. Hospitals lack supplies and the residents of Gaza lack food and basic supplies.

I don't believe Israel will back off this time. And I don't think they should. What is happening is simply tragic. It is not avoidable.

The leaders of Hamas desire this totally predictable outcome. They are more than willing to spend the only capital they possess: human lives. They want thousands of their own citizens dead. They want live television coverage. They want blood in the streets, the blood of Palestinians.

By ending the tenuous six month old cease fire with dozens of poorly crafted missiles aimed clumsily at Israeli civilians, they counted on the overwhelming military response. Now they are counting on international outrage. And they hope that other Arab countries will join them in the fight. Or that the worldwide moral outrage will leave Israel weakened and without support.

But the real truth is that the Oslo Accords were a tragic mistake. Far from being a "roadmap to peace" they are a monument to Western arrogance and stupidity. In reality the Oslo Accords were simply a delaying action that provided cover to two sets of people who never had the slightest desire to travel any path to peace.

A Two State Solution? Neither side wants one. Neither side will tolerate a two state solution.

Where will this current battle end? Nowhere. Israel cannot wipe out Hamas. And the west will not turn against Israel. Thousands will suffer and die. And they battle lines will remain unchanged.

Frankly, I believe that the only solution is a single state solution. Israel should annex 100% of the disputed Palestinian territory. By force. All Palestinians should then become provisional Israeli citizens.

Then, and only then, can the world begin to treat Israel like they treated apartheid South Africa. Then and only then can a real roadmap to peace be found.

Liberal Intolerance, Hate and Derangement

I simply must take today's five minutes to express my profound disgust at the giant cadre of liberal pundits and bloggers who are mounting an unrelenting attack on Reverend Rick Warren, pastor or the immensely popular Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, California, a "new age fundamentalist Christian church." Warren's egregious sin? He was chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009.

The level of intolerance and absolute stupidity being portrayed on the pages of The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Slate Magazine and others is stunning and deeply saddening, especially coming during the holiday the celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. So much for peace on earth and good will toward men.

I absolutely refuse to post a single link to any of the crap out on the blogosphere from those who insist on condemning Warren for actually daring to believe the tenets of Christianity. Warren is roundly condemned for daring to both believe the basic dogma of his church and then to actually have the intellectual and moral courage to practice his faith in his daily life.

I am a deeply devout Unitarian Universalist. Warren and I share very few religious beliefs. I disagree with him profoundly on most theological issues. I most certainly disagree on the issues of human sexuality and lifestyle, especially Gay Marriage, which I strongly support.

But I disagree with almost every large and fundamentalist religion worldwide. I strongly disagree with most Islamic teachings and abhor the discrimination against women embedded in many religions.

But I DO NOT EXPECT, LET ALONE DEMAND that Pastor Warren magically abandon his core beliefs, just because liberals find some of those beliefs distressing. Far from it. I actually expect Warren to believe, follow, live and preach the word and commandments of God as he believes them. If Warren failed to do this he would simply not be a fundamentalist Christian.

Many, in fact most, of my close personal friends are Jewish. Many are Orthodox and live very conservative lives, keeping the Sabbath and following the laws of Judaism as closely as they can. Like Warren they reject homosexuality, They also deny that Christ is the savior.

Some day very soon a strongly conservative or ever Orthodox Rabbi will give an invocation at an Obama state function. Likewise I'll bet we soon see a Muslim pray at a state sponsored event. Will we so-called liberals DEMAND that they renounce their most sacred beliefs?

Or do we only demand that Christian ministers give up their beliefs and deny their God, as so many are now demanding of Warren?

And why do these supposed liberals insult and ridicule Christians, but remain reverent and respectful of other world religions? I've actually read these moronic pundits insult Christ in the most foul mouthed and demeaning language possible and then turn around and condemn the Danish who published the Mohammad cartoons for insulting Muslims and failing to respect their "deeply held beliefs."

Frankly, if Barack Obama chose Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration, I suspect that Barack Obama actually wanted a conservative Christian of deep moral faith to give that Invocation. Otherwise Obama could have chosen one of the many extremely fine and talented Methodists, Episcopalians or Unitarian Universlists to give the Invocation, or perhaps a great rabbi or Buddhist monk.

As to my fellow bloggers and pundits, have the courage to direct your outrage toward the person who chose a fundamentalist Christian to speak. Direct your outrage toward Barack Obama.

Five Minutes....

As we get closer to the heart of the December Holiday Season I want to wish all my friends a Merry Christmas, a Joyous Winter Solstice and a belated Happy Hanukkah.

My time each day has been nearly consumed with the demands of the retail holiday season, but I try to sneak in 5 minutes or so to quickly surf my favorite bloggers and I really appreciate those of you who are doing such a great and entertaining job.

I appreciate all of you but I want to add a really quick "tip o' the Wizard's pointy cap" to Lee over at Lee's Tidbits. Lee has done something I have really wanted to do over the last few weeks and that is to point out the great debate over the issue of "man made global warming." I encourage all my readers to follow all of Lee's blog entries and to be open to a real discussion of this issue. It is far from settled.

Here is additional food for thought. I encourage you to read this news story today CNN Meteorologist: Man made Global Warming Theory 'Arrogant'

You all know I spend 90% of my time on this blog discussing human rights, free speech, politics and Internet issues. As a result I generally point my readers to other blogs that discuss similar issues. But today I want to direct you all to one of the most creative and brilliant blogs I've ever seen. It is a work of art. And a journalistic masterpiece. It is an joy to read each day. So take your five minutes today and visit LIQUID ILLUZION .

I'm especially pleased and proud to point LIQUID ILLUZION out because it is created by a fellow Mississippi resident. I mention this because I guess I'm hoping you will think that because Liquid only lives about a hour from me, some of her greatness is contagious or that it has rubbed off on me. Alas, none of that is true.

Liquid posted the above photograph on her website site as a "gift" to her many readers. I have taken my "gift" and reprinted it here in order to pass it on to all of you. It is certainly illustrative of her creative brilliance.

Happy Holidays to you all.

They Told Me If.......

They told me if I voted for John McCain I would get a bi-partisan moderate President who would often reach across the aisle and would appoint a broad range of people from across the political spectrum to his cabinet.

They told me that if i voted for John McCain I would get a pragmatic, logical and intelligent President who would NOT be captive to dogma or partisanship in making decisions BEST for the American people.

The told me if I voted for John McCain I would get a President who followed an intelligent and protective approach to our withdrawal from Iraq, a man who would listen to our military in the field and would not just quickly and dangerously withdraw troops regardless of the outcome.

So I voted for John McCain....

And I got exactly the type of President I hoped to have!

Good Work President-Elect Obama! I couldn't possibly be more pleased!

The Great Depression

I want to apologize to my readers for the few posts. It is so humbling to actually get comments and emails asking for more frequent postings.

My various business and consulting gigs are all retail related and go into high gear in December. Generally I'm working 18 to 20 hour days and I absolutely love it. If (heaven forbid) retailing gets into your blood, this time of year is the World Series, Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby all rolled into one. Posts will be light until after the holidays.

But....... All you faithful readers already know I've been trying to tell anyone who will listen that we are not in a recession, but are instead heading into a Depression that will dwarf the 1930's. I am appalled that our so called financial leaders in Washington either can't or won't see the coming disaster.

Our current activities in Washington will not help. The proposed auto bailout is a huge mistake. We are plunging the nation into a deep national debt from which we may never recover.

Today's record breaking unemployment report is a harbinger of things to come: Employers cut 533K jobs in Nov., most in 34 years

Make your personal financial decisions based on the coming disaster.

It's How We Roll in a Small Town

I virtually never post anything specific about our town, Kosciusko, Mississippi. First of all, why would anyone outside of our little community care about a church luncheon or even the mayoral election? And second, we tend to keep our business to ourselves.

But, this story is just too good to pass up! As long time readers know I am a big supporter of the Second Amendment and, frankly, a big supporter of the right to carry a weapon, under strict licensing and control.

Far from causing crime, I believe the proper use of guns protect honest people and deters criminal behavior.

Here's the story. In our small town, which is almost always crime free, we recently have had a series of armed robberies taking place in daylight in the parking lot of our local supermarket. By series I mean three robberies. It's a small town. No one has been injured, at least up to this point.

However, yesterday, our local crime wave came to an abrupt halt. The would be robber finally picked on the wrong man. Melton King, co-owner of our wonderful Sonic Drive-In was the latest victim. As King came out of the supermarket, the gunman approached, gun drawn and held straight out at arms length.

“He held the straight out like in a movie,” King said. “He put the gun to my ribs.”

King said he tried to stay calm and when asked for money, he gave him money from his wallet and then from his bank bag containing Sonic money.

King said robber took off running behind the supermarket. King jumped into his Ford F-150 pick-up truck in hot pursuit. He had hoped to see the robbers vehicle and give a license plate to the police.

But King, also was carrying a firearm and he did fire a warning shot or two at the fleeing robber.

This clearly surprised and upset the robber who glanced back at the rapidly pursuing King. While looking back, the robber stepped into a hole along the side of the road and he stumbled and fell. King's pick-up truck was closing so fast he accidentally struck the robber a glancing blow.

“He was stumbling to get up,” King said.

King immediately returned to supermarket and called 911 for help. Once he returned to the accident scene, where he found his Sonic money bag, but the robber had recovered enough to flee the scene.

Moments later, Kosciusko Police officers apprehended the accused robber on a nearby road. Kosciusko Police Chief R.J. Adams said the man was armed with the weapon described as the one used in the robbery. He, of course, was detained and provided full medical attention for his minor injuries.

Police Chief Adams commended Melton King for his action and also commended KPD officers Brice Cole, Stan Beall, Herbert Dew and Curtis Pope for their quick actions in apprehending the suspect.

Chief Adams and every one of these officers are friends of mine. And Melton King is certainly a local hero.

And, as our accused robber can testify, it's simply not wise to mess with folks you don't know in small town America. We're not only clinging to our guns, we're often carrying them.

Facing the Future

Here are some rambling thoughts, in no specific or logical order, about the very difficult future that awaits President Obama......


Somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my mind I hoped that the worldwide terrorist conflict with al-Qeada was somehow all President Bush's fault. Of course, in the logical and reasoning part of my brain, I knew this was not true. The attacks on 9/11 were planned well before Bush took office, during the tenure of President Clinton. And, unlike Bush, Clinton was relatively well like and well respected world wide. And Clinton had worked hard, if unsuccessfully, for peace between Palestine and Israel.

But, somehow in the very back of my brain and in my heart, I hoped the election of Barack Obama might allow a start toward the ultimate end of our conflict with radical Islam. However, Ayman al Zawahiri brought me back to reality. In a scathing communique, al Zawahiri condemned President-elect Obama ion the nastiest possible terms.

In a flashy and well produced video al Zawahiri condemned Obama as a hypocrite and traitor to his race, unfavorably comparing him to "honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, the 1960s black Muslim leader. Parroting the words of Malcolm X, al Zawahiri called Obama a "House Negro," a docile slave doing the bidding of the white man.

The State Department dismissed the new video as spin control and a desperate tactic by al-Qaedo to blunt the world wide popularity of the new President who not only is black but has Muslim middle name. While this is undoubtedly true, it clearly shows al-Qaeda has no intention of dialing back the rhetoric or scaling back their on going efforts to attack and ultimately destroy the United States and much of western civilization.

As if this news wasn't upsetting enough, today we learned that Iran has enough nuclear fuel to create their first atomic bomb. Just how long do we believe it will take Iran to use the weapon on Israel or pass it along to a terrorist organization? Clearly the European led negotiations to curb Iran's development of the weapon have failed miserably. Can Barack Obama bring a fresh start to these negotiations or will he quickly learn that Iran's sentiments toward the US are identical to those of al-qaeda. I fear that Iran hopes Obama will be a docile "house negro." Based on what we witnessed during the campaign, I believe Iran will quickly learn he is nothing of the sort.

But the biggest problem that President Obama will face is the collapse of the world economy. I remain convinced we are entering a period similar to, but much worse than, the great depression of the 1930s. Unemployment will quickly move into double digits and major and massive bankruptcies loom immediately as Obama in sworn into office. Even as I write this today the stock market is on the verge of losing 50% of its value from it's peak. And some people I know personally have virtually lost their life's savings.

The big issues will be the loss of jobs and the cascading collapse of the retail marketplace. It will be difficult to overcome these twin problems and solutions don't come easily or quickly.

So far I'm very impressed with the choices Barack Obama has announced for his staff and cabinet. He is assembling a team with depth and talent. He is going to need them. We all will.

Campaign Finance Fraud

The right leaning blog The Gateway Pundit's lead story today is "Confirmed: It Looks Like Obama Just Got Away With Largest Election Donations Fraud in History" Gateway Pundit, along with a host of other right wing bloggers (all cross linked) has well documented the purposefully shoddy bookkeeping, elimination of security checkpoints and questionable donations and even more questionable accounting that allowed Barack Obama to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from unknown and possibly illegal sources.

Sadly, the mainstream media is still largely ignoring the story, although there is some rustling of the leaves among the press.

Pundit hypothesizes that is would actually take a "Special Prosecutor" to unravel the deception of the Obama campaign and I fear that is correct. Of course, during the glow of the honeymoon and a Democrat Party lock on Congress, no such prosecutor will be appointed.

What has happened here is appalling. If the actual list of donors were released it could, and I believe would, ruin the Obama Presidency. Of course, the massive cover-up is under way. Well, sort of. Bloggers investigating the scam at the Obama campaign website report that it is still possible to make fraudulent donations even today, even after the campaign had sworn they has fixed the problem.

I don't want to ruin the Obama Presidency. And and I don't want the massive fallout that would occur if a real investigation took place. I'm sure there are ample campaign staffers would would fall on their swords for Obama.

We the people should demand a full accounting and a full investigation of this grotesque fraud. And liberals should be leading the parade demanding accountability. Alas, I'm in a tiny minority.

The worst part of this evil is that it was totally unnecessary. Barack Obama would have easily won the election if he had followed reasonable security measures.

While I blogged about this numerous times before the election, here is my primary blog entry, "Can the Presidency Be Bought?"

Tea Leaves

Wouldn't it have been nice for politicians of all stripes, the media and the public to be able to take a few days off and bask in the glory of Barack Obama's election to the office of President. We should all be pleased and proud of this historic election. Absolutely everyone, including McCain supporters should take a bow.

Alas, the politicians, the pundits, the mass media and the blogosphere hardly missed a beat, dissecting every breath from everyones mouth. Talk about "much ado about nothing." Even Joe Scarborough was reduced to using the infamous "F-Word" live and on the air when discussing "Rahm 'F--- you' Emanuel." It's a hot video over on You Tube. I'm guessing no one ever heard the word before.

And, oh my god, the hysteria about Sarah Palin! What the hell is that all about? I don't believe she was elected to anything. Did I miss something? Let's see here. We elect the first African American President in history and the media is obsessed with Sarah Palin. So is the blogosphere. The #1 topic today at The Huffington Post, based on the number of times a tag is used is Sarah Palin!!!! Talk about a rock star.

So here I am reading all the posts about everything, which are, in reality, little pieces of nothing.

We are all reduced to reading the tea leaves, trying to find a sign. And I did find one especially good sign today. It seems Barack Obama wants Senator Joe Lieberman to remain in the Democrat caucus in the US Senate. Obama has sent a sign to Senate Majority Leader Reid to "back off." and let Lieberman remain, with his chairmanship in tact.

It seems President-elect Obama really does want reconciliation. And he may well just recognize Lieberman's value to the party and to the country.

It's a good sign.

Congratulations America!

Principles versus Partisanship

"I love humanity, it's people I can't stand."
Linus van Pelt, Peanuts (Charles Schultz)

Tomorrow we will celebrate once again our wonderful freedom to choose democratically our leadership and government. The voice of the people will be heard. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.

For the last few years (or ten years in my case), the Internet has provided an amazing soapbox for each of us to state our ideas and advocate our positions. The free blog software and webspace provided by Blogger (and it's parent Google) and other providers is a great gift and a wonderful tool. And millions of us world wide take advantage of this great gift of democracy and freedom.

Certainly over the last few months opinions have flown from left to right, from one extreme (and I do mean extreme) to the other. I've read things I've found appalling, even abhorrent. Hate speech appears all too often. People feel so strongly about their positions they resort to extremes of hyperbole. Name calling is not uncommon. And lies and exaggeration fill the atmosphere.

Tomorrow the election is over. And, I must be honest, I don't expect the name calling or hyperbole to end. But most folks will dial it back a notch. And many will simply turn their attention to other issues and other interests.

If I had one hope for the post election period it is that all people would place principles above partisanship. Make decisions and state positions based on what is morally or ethically right, not what suits your party or candidate.

Let me provide one little example. If you, like Representative John Conyers, are appalled at the possible misuse of governmental power in the release of information about Barack Obama's illegal alien aunt, please also be equally concerned about the now proven horrific abuse of those same governmental powers in the release of information about Joe the Plumber.

Right is right. Wrong is wrong. To steal the blog tag line from one of my favorite bloggers (and often my ideological nemesis) Mary at Freedom Eden:

"Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong."
Abraham Lincoln

Can The Presidency Be Bought?

This story ought to be the top headline in every newspaper in America. It ought to lead every network news broadcast. And, frankly, this story ought to thoroughly disqualify Barack Obama from the Presidency.

The Obama for President campaign has purposefully allowed and encouraged illegal campaign contributions from large donors, corporations, foreign countries and even illegal aliens. It is probable that these contributions were made with the full knowledge of the Obama campaign staff and management. It is possible that Barack Obama knew himself.

If the major news media wasn't so thoroughly in the tank for Obama the investigation would be in full force. It will take paid reporters to dig out the facts and ask the important questions. And it will eventually happen. The only question is when.

Right now only a few newspapers are beginning to ask the key questions. One real leader is Investors Business Daily who wrote in an editorial on Thursday:

Barack Obama has turned a blind eye to the use and abuse of prepaid credit cards. It's just one way he hides who his contributors are and just how much they're giving. When Steve and Rachel Larman of North Kansas City, Mo., opened their credit-card bill recently, a strange charge appeared on their statement — a $2,300 donation to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. This was odd, they thought, since they had not only not made the donation, they were planning to vote for John McCain. It was one more piece of evidence that the unprecedented flow of cash to and through the Obama campaign is not entirely legit. In any campaign, bogus or unwanted contributions can slip through the cracks. But team Obama has deliberately created a chasm of credibility. In addition to noncontributors being charged for contributions, at least $218 million has been received by the Obama campaign from donors of under $200 whose names it is keeping secret, according to FEC spokesman Robert Biersack. Fact is, team Obama has deliberately encouraged credit-card fraud by deliberately turning off the online safeguards normally used by sites receiving contributions or payments. There is no checking of names, addresses or card numbers done on the front end. According to the Washington Post, "Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged." Campaigns can accept donations of under $200 without disclosing contributors' names. McCain, who accepted public financing while Obama did not, has made his full donor database available on the Internet. Of the $150 million Obama claims to have raised in September, some $42 million was raised from secret contributors and listed under a single line, "Donors, Unitemized." Obama's deliberate lack of finance vetting allows the use of largely untraceable prepaid credit cards. These can be purchased at a local drugstore and used under any name, allowing anonymous donors to exceed limits on contributions and even foreign donors to funnel money to Obama's campaign. A Newsmax report noted a separate FEC database, of more than 11,500 foreign contributors to the Obama campaign, totaling $33.8 million. It was the largest influx of foreign money into a campaign since the Clinton-Gore campaign took millions of dollars of unregulated soft money from donors with ties to Chinese military intelligence. Typical is Viktor A. of Lagos, Nigeria, who gave $500 to Obama in May. State abbreviations accepted by the Obama campaign include IT (Italy), FR (France), GR (Greece), NZ (New Zealand), JP (Japan) and GA (Gaza). According to Newsmax, 2,372 donors gave their state of residence as "ZZ" with addresses from Beirut to Kiev to Shanghai.

I hate to sound like a paranoid right winger, but can you imagine the uproar if the roles were reversed and McCain had encouraged and accepted illegal campaign contributions and overlooked basic security? The press would have gone ballistic! And with good cause. No matter who does this kind of illegal activity, it should be investigated. And it should not be tolerated.

What Barack Obama has done is placed America for sale to the highest bidder. Elections shouldn't be bought and sold on the Internet.

Barack Obama should not be allowed to purchase the Presidency with illegal campaign funds.