JKarl's View

A TRAVESTY OF MISINFORMATION

I am continually amazed at the torrent of political misinformation fed to us, much of which by syndicated columnists secure in their knowledge that their loyal and gullible readership won't bother to look for evidence to the contrary, regardless of its ready availability. There is no better example of this public malaise than exists in the seemingly interminable soap opera involving the former Vice Presidential advisor, Scooter Libby and his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice.

I will not comment on his guilt or innocence of these charges inasmuch as I was not present at the proceedings nor will I weigh in on the comparison of pardons or commutation of sentences by Presidents Bush and Clinton. I will leave those comparisons to the two Houses of Congress which will inevitably convene hearings to enable the members of the party not holding the White House to preen, pontificate and threaten dire action to curb runaway executive power. Once again, it will be an exercise in theatrics–the power of the President to pardon is absolute regardless of political party.

Nevertheless, in the Libby case, there is a question which has yet to be answered, one which has been largely ignored in the media feeding frenzy. Why was Mr. Libby subpoenaed by the Special Prosecutor at all?

In researching this question, one has but to look at the facts–all of which have been available for some time. First, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed by the Justice Department for basically two reasons, to discover if a crime had been committed in compromising the identity of a covert CIA agent (Valerie Plame) and, if so, who was guilty of leaking that information?

By law for this to have been a criminal offense, the agent had to have been actually covert and that status had to have been known to the person who "outed" said agent and that compromise must have been committed maliciously with intent to do harm. For an agent to fit the legal definition of covered or covert status, that person must have served in that capacity in a foreign nation in the preceding 5 years.

Ms. Plame did not meet this criteria in that she had not served in this capacity for 6 years and was employed by the CIA as an analyst, a fact which was advertised as general knowledge by members of the Washington, D. C. media. Moreover, her husband, a former State Department official had listed her as a CIA employee in his "Who's Who in America" Biography.

Next, a damaging truth found the light of day, long after the countless subpoenas and the interrogation of witnesses when it became known that the prosecutor, Mr. Fitzgerald, knew at the beginning of his investigation that Ms. Plame's identification was leaked to the media by State Department official Richard Armitage rather than by Vice President Cheney or by Karl Rove much to the chagrin of those holding Pavlovian hopes for their respective scalps.

Consequently, it was evident from day one that no crime had been committed. Valerie Plame was not covert; accordingly, no one could have outed her either with malice aforethought or for political gain. Secondly, since it is also a matter of record that the source naming her as a CIA employee was known to the Mr Fitzgerald before he subpoenaed anyone, why did he not end the investigation and report those findings?

This is an enigma. Was the appointed prosecutor so enamored of his importance that he failed to see the forest for the trees? Or, was it a failed witch hunt, necessitating a scapegoat? Mr. Libby may have been guilty of no more than a faulty memory as were several prominent media witnesses in their testimony but--the real travesty was to place him in that position in the first place.

JKarl Colonel USMC Retired

Tillman Update

After all I've read about the Tillman incident in Afghanistan, I finally read an article that made everything make more sense to me. Why did 'friendlies' shoot Tillman and why did they think it was by enemy fire? Seems there was some confusion on the battlefield to say the least. I picked up a little tidbit in this Army Times report that I am pretty sure I haven't noticed before. See if you can pick it out, too.

"O’Neal said Tillman, a corporal, threw a smoke grenade to identify themselves to fellow soldiers who were firing at them. Tillman was waving his arms shouting “Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat (expletive) Tillman, damn it!” again and again when he was killed, O’Neal said."

Did you catch it? Tillman threw a smoke grenade, and I have a feeling that may have added to the confusion even though it was to lessen it somehow. Just some speculation on my part. Anyway, if you're in the mood for some truthsoup, read this article of the interview of Sgt. Bryan O'Neal who was standing right next to Tillman when he was shot.

Army Times: Soldier Next to Tillman Disputes New Info

P.S. Liberals, don't even bother reading it. You don't believe anything, anyway. Why waste your time?

Proof of Torture in the Phillippines

Surely they should close down Gitmo after this disaster!

Hate Makes the Left Act Like Nuts

People who hate an individual as completely as the nutroots hate George W. Bush will believe and say anything as long as it justifies their hatefulness and subsequent obnoxious behavior. It's like trying to justify a drug habit.

Please, excuse my sick sense of humor while I laugh at people making idiots of themselves...

LGF: Daily Kos Kestrel Swoops In

MPJ: Kos: Tillman Murdered for Chomsky Admiration, Antiwar Views

Pat Tillman was executed by McChimpeachable because he was going to meet with Noam Chomsky? This is just inexcusable slander against the war dead and just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Good Gawwwwwwwwwwd! It's almost as entertaining as "The Bad Girls Club".

Will Hillary Make Babysitting Illegal?

"Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) recently unveiled a proposal for a new $10 billion federal program to offer government-subsidized preschool for all children across the country. Under her plan, states that offer such programs would be eligible to receive federal funding if they agree to follow federal guidelines on matters such as teacher training requirements and curriculum guidelines."

Let us all remember that part of her plan for socialist healthcare was to make it ILLEGAL AND PUNISHABLE BY JAIL to go outside the government healthcare system.

You think she won't make babysitting illegal?

Hillary Clinton: No 4 Year Old Left Behind

Clinton's Hostile Preschool Takeover

Global Warming Crisis! Flooding in Britain! Alert! Alert!

What's wrong with this picture? 1. Water isn't even knee high. 2. Six people are pulling four in a floating sled. 3. What are they wearing the helmets for? Is it hailing? Don't get me wrong. I always appreciate rescuers and first responders, but this seems like a waste of their time to me. Have the British ever considered wading out of the flood waters? After seeing people on their rooftops in New Orleans with flood waters up to their eaves, these pictures just don't have much of an effect on me. Check out the next one.

I'm sorry, did you say something? Flooding is terrible, but Houstonians deal with it all the time. Does anyone remember this scene from 2006? That's the Houston YMCA at 1960 with people on the rooftop. And yes, there is flooding! Good God, what is Houston coming to!? The media went nuts over this little thunderstorm, and it looks like the flooding in the two pictures is about the same.

Okay, I'll give you this one. This flooding looks several feet high and does warrant rescue. I wonder if Britain has helicopters and trained rescuers for this type of event.

This is how we handle flooding in Houston. The ATV isn't outlawed yet, and we know how to use them. We know that all flooding isn't due to global warming, although the new PM of Britain has decided that it does. Oh no! Large scale weather! Global Warming! Yeah, right.

I'll leave you with this final picture which I've dubbed "Can I splishy splash, too?"

This Is London
Humanitarian Crisis as Thousands Face New Evacuation Alert

CBS: Torrential Rain Floods Houston Area

An Interesting Truth

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis “he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that at this moment the fanatics rule Islam.

It is the fanatics who march.

It is the fanatics who wage any of 50 shooting wars worldwide.

It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.

It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder and 'honor' kill.

It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.

It is the fanatics who zealously demand the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful" or "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of over 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.

Who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. The majority of Rwandans were "peace-loving".

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, can contribute to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.

So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!! Let us hope that millions, world wide, will read this, will think about it, then send it on.

Revoke the Peace Prize from Betty Williams!

Little Green Footballs is covering one of the Nobel Peace Prize's hypocrits giving a speech and making nutty statements.

Betty Williams, one of the founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, said this...

“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”

Um hum. LGF also points out that she made this very same statement to SCHOOL CHILDREN!

Are we absolutely sure she wasn't involved with the violence in Ireland? Her true feelings sure seem to be coming through now.

LGF: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26226_Nobel_Peace_Prize_Winner-_I_Could_Kill_George_Bush#comments

Sir Salman Rushdie

I have followed the numerous stories on Sir Rushdie and his tale is one of courage, to say the least. He has a fatwa hanging over his head for writing "The Satanic Verses", a critical look at Islam and Muhammed. However, he doesn't let this death sentence deter him from speaking what he believes is the truth. He seems to have a lot more guts than many other public figures who have capitulated when faced with lesser threats from the terror bullies who practice Islam.

al-zawahiri had a message for Britain...

"As for Blair's successor, I tell him the policy of your predecessor has brought you catastrophes and defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even in the center of London," says al Zawahri in reference to the July 7, 2005, London suicide bombings. "If you did not learn the lesson, we're willing to repeat it for you, God willing, until we are assured that you've fully understood it,"he says in the 20-minute audio statement found on the Internet today.

Al Zawahri criticizes Britain for awarding author of "Satanic Verses" Salman Rushdie the title of knighthood and considers it a "clear message" to Muslims."

I seem to think that "clear message to Muslims" is that Britain will not stop fighting Islamo-fascists and that self-reflection on one's beliefs is not a bad thing. Or maybe Blair was sending this message to bin Laden and al-zawahiri... "No, we're not going to convert to Islam no matter how many times you bomb us. And NO, we're not going to make women wear burkas just because you say so. And NO, we're not going to pull out of Iraq because you want to start the Islamic caliphate there. And NO, certainly we will never squelch free speech because you don't know how to act when someone else questions your superstitions. That's all your own problems, and if you make it ours... we'll fix it."

God save Sir Salman Rushdie.

ABC Blotter: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/al-qaeda-no-2-m.html

Sprint Prayer

As I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my phone number I can keep,
When Sprint does finally make the call,
That I can leave them afterall...

After I complained about scratchy voices,
After all of their lousy service choices,
After I kevitched, and screamed, and really yelled,
After I told them all to go to Hell.

"I don't need 3 phones or my plan changed," I said.
"But it's cheaper, lady. Use your head!"
Then why the hell is there 50 dollars more,
On my phone bill where it wasn't before?

Oh please, oh please, let Sprint "fire" me,
They've already screwed, spitted on and overtired me,
Over two hundred dollars I think I'll save,
If they would only Donald Trump me today!

Um... Amen.

No to Nepotism and Monarchism

Are you tired of politics being a family business? Kennedys, Bushes, Clintons... these are the obvious family ties in politics, but it goes much deeper.

Some who do not pay a lot of attention to politics may not be aware that Al Gore's father, Al Gore Senior, was a US Senator from Tennessee and that the Gore we currently know did not grow up in Tennessee, but in Washington DC.

Need more examples? Check out this news report by John Stossel from a 20/20 show on Feb 6...

"Family connections are all over the capital. Colin Powell's son was appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Elaine Chao, was appointed secretary of Labor. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist's daughter, Janet, was appointed inspector-general of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Michigan congressman John Dingell, a Democrat, now occupies the seat once held by his father. So do Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, Jim Duncan, R-Tenn., and Harold Ford, D-Tenn.
The father of the Democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, was a congressman.

So were the fathers of three current senators, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah. "

Another industry where nepotism is rife is entertainment. Actors and musicians have so many aunts and uncles and parents who were famous before them that it makes you wonder why any of them bother with basic education. Oh, some of them don't, yet they are still taken seriously by movie and music moguls for who knows why. Cronyism at its worst, and you see the effect on the public mind as the media makes us believe Hollywood is full of royals to be celebrated.

This all does not settle with me well. One of the reasons for the founding of our country was to get away from the monarchism of royal families. The Bible says the sins of the father does not carry over to the son. Well, neither do the smarts, even if the money does, and this seems to be a fact that many deny.

I will not vote for another "legacy" in politics. John McCain will not get my vote, for certain, not only because I do not agree with him on most issues but because his father was a US Senator. No more nepotism!

It's time we took a stand on this subject and quite frankly, we need a law against political nepotism. However, how likely is that to happen when a great deal of the people who would have to vote on such a law are products of the very thing that would be made illegal?

::le sigh::

John Stossel's Report
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=124321&page=1

Happy Independence Day