The Media's Double Standard for Governor Palin vs. President Obama

“This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy. But obviously we’ve gotta stand with our North Korean allies.”  - Sarah Palin making a verbal slip on the Glenn Beck Show. 

Of course the "gotcha" state-run media immediately ran with this story further "justifying" Palin as not up to the caliber of a presidential contender.  Never mind the fact that Palin throughout the very same interview, including just seconds before the above slip had correctly stated our relationship with South Korea and North Korea as she has done continuously in many previous interviews in the past. 

Evidently the press, once again, has double standards when it comes to broadcasting her simple slip of the tongue, and yet one rarely if ever hears of the doozies from our current president from that same media.  Governor Palin responded with a fantastic post on Facebook that points out the hypocrisy, accordingly.  Following is an excerpt from her posting that clearly makes her point, complete with links for the millions of Americans that might not ever have heard of these silly slips of the tongue from President Obama:

"My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…"

United Kingdom Member of European Union Parliament Excoriates Their Corruption

United Kingdom Independence Party Member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage pulls absolutely no punches when excoriating the corruption and incompetence of the European Union.

Mr. Farage is absolutely correct in his assessment, and I find it ironic that as many European countries are now beginning to see the dire consequences of their practices of socialism and one world governance, they are now starting to make changes to correct these problems, all the while the progressives in America rush to emulate what is obviously and absolutely not working in Europe. And they consider themselves the "enlightened ones".

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my family, friends, blog readers, and indeed, to all Americans.  May God continue to bless all of us and to have us be aware in our hearts, minds, and souls so that we are always grateful for His abundant blessings in our lives!  May God continue to bless America!

The Anti-Semitic United Nations Seeks to Erase Jewish History in Israel

The United Nations has once again reared its anti-Semitic head.  This inept and corrupt organization has long been nothing more but a platform for anti-Semetic nations to spew their hatred for America and for Israel, in particular.  America should have long ago resigned from this useless and dangerous world governance body.  Former American Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, was correct when he said that the top five floors of the UN building in New York could be removed and the world would not know the difference.  Now, once again, the UN, through its UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's, (UNESCO)  has absurdly attacked the very fabric of Jewish culture which is at the soul of Israel.

The Executive Board of UNESCO has declared 2 of Judaism's holiest sites (The Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Tomb of Rachel) to be mosques and demand that Israel remove the sites from its National Heritage list.

In an effort to erase Jewish history and supersede Jewish religious sites with Islamic institutions, Muslims have intentionally built mosques upon numerous synagogues and Jewish holy sites.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office decried the ludicrous nature of the UNESCO decision:

“The attempt to detach the Nation of Israel from its heritage is absurd. If the nearly 4,000-year-old burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah –are not part of its culture and tradition, then what is a national cultural site?”

In cooperating with efforts to erase Jewish historical ties to Israel , UNESCO is aiding and abetting those who hope to and obfuscate Israel ’s Jewish past and undermine Israel ’s Jewish future.

I strongly encourage you to please sign the petition  below to let UNESCO know that this is absurd and will not stand.
 http://www.petitiononline.com/rabbiv/petition.html

Barney Frank Laments Having to Enact Tough Spending Cuts in Coming GOP-Controlled House

When the 112th Congress convenes this coming January and the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, evidently Representative Barney Frank D-MA is worried that he won't have any fun because instead of trying to find ways to spend the American taxpayers' money, the GOP is going to be looking for ways to cut such spending.

Indeed, Barney Frank, who is the current House Financial Services Chairman, has said that serving on the Appropriations Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will be a “great pain in the ass."  He continues, “Fascinating fact, apparently for the first time in anybody’s memory, members of Congress have declined seats on the Appropriations Committee,” Frank said Nov. 18 during a CATO Institute panel on defense spending.

“The Appropriations Committee, which has been a great plum, is now going to be a great pain in the ass because you’re going to be expected to come up with cuts in things that are very popular, et cetera," said Frank.

Don't you feel badly for one of the chief person's responsible for the gross mismanagement and the ensuing collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thus providing the catalyst for the decimation of America's housing market and the economy on whole?  He laments that it won't be fun being on the appropriations committee anymore because instead of reckless abandon spending, congress will now have to make some serious and sometimes difficult choices in spending cuts.

Congressman Frank, you are an embarrassment to the House of Representatives and the American people.  It does not speak well of your constituents that they foolishly decided to return one of the architects of our nation's economic decline to his seat in congress. 

Judging by this recent statement of yours, evidently you still do not get the message either.  Evidently the people of your district in Massachusetts have insulated you from the consequences of your actions directly, but the nation as a whole has taken notice and intends to fix what you and other tax and spend progressives of both parties have broken.

The DREAM Act Amnesty Bill To Be Brought Up For Vote In Lame Duck Senate

The so-called DREAM Act (The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) was originally an amendment attached to the Defense Authorization Act that the Republicans were able to successfully thwart passage of previously.  Now Harry Reid is promising to bring up the DREAM Act as a stand alone bill in the Senate in a lame duck session of congress as early as next Monday.  This bill has already met with successful passage in the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi's leadership there.

Reid and the Democrats realize that this is likely their only remaining opportunity to pass this type of amnesty legislation before the Republicans take control of the House and narrow the Democrats' majority in the senate to near parity with the convening of the 112th congress this coming January. 

The DREAM Act, which was originally proposed by Republican Senator Orin Hatch of Utah and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, is little more than an amnesty package that covers illegal alien "children" up to 35 years of age.  It would effectively grant amnesty to these illegal aliens who have either graduated from high school, earned their GED, or served in the U.S. military well into their adulthood.

Personally, I oppose Harry Reid’s desperate attempt to pass his backdoor amnesty plan during the Lame Duck session of Congress.  The DREAM Act is little more than an educational initiative that would allow millions of illegal aliens who meet a very loose definition of the term ‘student’ to qualify for green cards.  Additionally, the DREAM Act would funnel taxpayer monies away from legal residents and into the pockets of illegal aliens. 

Already in my current state of Utah, illegal aliens are granted in-state tuition rates for college education.  I find this to be ludicrous.  A United States citizen living right across the border in Idaho would have to pay out-of-state tuition, but someone that is not even in the country legally gets the same benefits as an American citizen and legal resident of the state of Utah.  Now with the possible passage of the DREAM Act, not only will illegal aliens get in-state tuition, but will be granted green cards with a path to citizenship. 

This is absolutely preposterous and it is such concern for illegal aliens at the expense of Americans that has precipitated a lot of resentment from a large majority of the American populace.  This disregard for doing the will of the American people is also the exact reason why Senator Hatch's colleague from Utah, Senator Bennett, was beaten in a GOP primary earlier this year and is slated to be replaced by conservative Senator-elect Mike Lee.  Senator Hatch, with his similar disregard, has similarly been put on notice that he likely will be challenged for his seat in 2012 accordingly. 

According to Grassfire Nation, a grass roots conservative organization that fights to protect our Constitutional rights, has stated that their  contacts suggest that there are a number of Republican fence sitters who haven't yet committed their voting intentions on the DREAM Act.  Unfortunately, they did not identify who these specific senators were.  I would strongly encourage everyone to contact your own two senators and ensure that they do not vote for passage of this backdoor amnesty bill accordingly.  If passed, the DREAM Act will be little more than the proverbial camel's nose under the tent wall.  The next resulting action will be a herd of camels in our American tent.

North Korea Attacks South Korean Island of Yeonpyeong Today

Today, starting around 2:00 PM local time, North Korea escalated rising tensions precipitously by opening up with an artillery barrage on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, about 75 miles west of the coast near the disputed border between North and South Korea. 

South Korea returned artillery fire and scrambled jets to protect the area.  Sources say that approximately 200 shells were fired between the two sides until approximately 3:30 PM local time.  In addition to the people killed or injured, several houses and buildings were destroyed as columns of black smoke were reported rising from the island which has a population of 1,200 to 1,300 people.

Latest reports said that two South Korean marines were killed and twenty other people, both civilian and military, were injured in the attack.  There was understandably no report on casualties inflicted on North Korea by South Korea's retaliatory barrage.

This is the second major incident and act of war perpetrated by Kim Jong Il and North Korea upon the South Koreans this year.  Earlier on March 26th, a South Korean naval vessel was sunk by what is assumed to have been a torpedo from a North Korean submarine.  Many South Korean sailors died in the unanswered attack.  North Korea, characteristically, denied having done so.

The White House issued a statement on today's attack through Press Secretary Gibbs saying, "The United States strongly condemns this attack and calls on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and to fully abide by the terms of the Armistice Agreement."  Further, Gibbs continued, "The United States is firmly committed to the defense of our ally, the Republic of Korea, and to the maintenance of regional peace and stability." 

Currently there are approximately 30,000 United States troops stationed in South Korea to protect the good people there and maintain security along the border with North Korea that had been established in the armistice during the cease fire at the end of the Korean War in 1953. 

Earlier this month, President Obama stated in a speech given to American troops stationed there that, "Pyongyang should not be mistaken: The United States will never waver in our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea. We will not waver."

So as the escalation of tensions in the region increase due to the unpredictable dictator Kim Jong Il, who recently announced that his son Kim Jong Un would be his heir to the leadership of North Korea, the world watches as North Korea now has committed inarguably at least two acts of war against its southern neighbor just this year.  Further, Kim Jong Il has stated that North Korea now has a new uranium enrichment facility, presumably to create more fuel for nuclear weapons.

The situation here is indeed delicate, but these unprovoked attacks warrant a strong and unambiguous response from South Korea, the United States, and the world.  Placating or de-escalating the situation through concessions and/or appeasement of this rogue regime will ultimately only invite more of the same behaviour in the long run. 

Already, Japan is on high alert in the region and fears of this situation spreading out of control are not unreasonable.  China, which is pretty much the main benefactor of North Korea and by far the most important nation responsible for what commerce and goods that the isolationist regime has, must condemn these actions in clear and absolute terms.  The United States must use all influence to ensure that China does so, otherwise sooner or later the stakes will be too high and South Korea and 30,000 American service members will be in extreme jeopardy.