Iranian Concern

In a news article that I just read I discovered that Iran is claiming to be able to launch satellites into space for its friendly muslim neighbors.

Iran said on Monday it was ready to help fellow Muslim states launch satellites into orbit after it successfully put a dummy satellite into orbit -- a move that may increase Western suspicions over its atomic ambitions.

Iran said on Sunday it had put the home-grown dummy satellite into orbit on a domestically made rocket for the first time. The long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into space can also be used for launching weapons.

No need to worry, though. Iran has no intention of doing that. Nooooooooo.

Now I wonder where a backwards-thinking country like Iran managed to get such technology? The list of possibilities is pretty short.

Western experts say Iran rarely provides enough details for them to determine the extent of its technological advances, but that much Iranian technology consists of modifications of equipment supplied by China, North Korea and other countries.

I am so hoping that I don't have a reason to say, "I told you so."

UPDATE: August 20, 2008

Apparently the Iranian launch was more of a lurch.

Another Good Quote On The Georgia Situation

In another very good article on the subject of the Russian invasion of Georgia Rich Tucker wrote:

Instead of answering force with force, Germany’s leader responded to Russia’s attack with meetings and words. “We very much want the six-point plan to be implemented very promptly so that Russian troops are no longer in Georgia, outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” Chancellor Angela Merkel announced after meeting the Russian president.

All well and good. But that’s not what the Russians want, and they’re the ones driving tanks and holding guns.

The West is going to learn a difficult lesson in the years ahead: People with hard power don’t respect soft power.

...Soft power is a smokescreen that countries with no power deploy. Russia’s military has created a gentle breeze that’s blowing the smokescreen away. It’s not too late for America’s NATO allies to wake up and rearm. But they need to wake up and move quickly.

-Rich Tucker

I sure hope we wake up. The doves won't win the day. I'm afraid that it is the season of the hawk.

More On Putin

Bill O'Reilly wrote the following in a recent editorial:

Realizing that the Bush administration cannot handle another armed conflict right now, Putin decided to show the world that he could punish America's friend, Georgia, without a meaningful response. He has succeeded in doing that.

Down the road, either John McCain or Barack Obama will have to deal with Vlad the Assailer. This dour, brutal man senses weakness in both America and Europe, weakness that will drive him to become bolder. The only thing a guy like Vlad understands is the stick.

But how to wield it is the question. As with Iran, diplomacy is not likely to deter Putin because Europe needs Russia's natural gas and oil and is not likely to challenge Russia by supporting sanctions. So it will come down to the United States vs. Russia, mano a mano.

Putin is one tough customer. It will be interesting to see whether the United States will elect a leader who can effectively neutralize him. If that does not happen, old Vlad, like Dracula, will commit scourge on the countryside.

- Bill O'Reilly

Back in October 2007 I wrote a post that talked about what I see as a growing threat to American security. It highlighted apparent ties between China, Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran. I thoroughly believe that the action that we see in Georgia right now is the beginning of the unfolding of the dreadful scenario that I laid out in that post.

Vladamir Putin has grown bolder and bolder since he took office. He has established Naziesque Russian youth organizations. He has now begun the process of imperial expansion to regain the countries of the former Soviet bloc.

Putin has taken a calculated risk with his invasion of Georgia. He believed that the US would not, indeed could not, retaliate or help because we could not risk an all-out war with Russia. I fear our response - or the weakness of that response will bear much bad fruit.

China likewise has a similar "Hitler Youth" type of program. It has also been doing much saber rattling in its region - especially towards Taiwan. I believe that the response of the US in the Georgian invasion will invite a similar invasion of Taiwan.

Here is the way I think that things will play themselves out. If the US does nothing then we will see additional 'Anschlusses.' If the US responds militarily to any of these attacks, I believe that we will see simultaneous attacks on territory by Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea.

I think that it would be possible for the US to make a limited stand against Russia right now. China is in the middle of the Olympics and doesn't want global favor turned away. That would make a response much safer, but I fear that we are quickly finding ourselves in a Catch-22.

Our window of opportunity is extremely small. The longer we wait to curb Putin, the less we will be able to do so. Great Britain had an opportunity to stop Hitler early on, but they missed their chance, and thousands upon thousands paid for that mistake with their lives.

The US had best develop some very strong allies quickly.

When I was a kid in the middle of the Cold War, our greatest fear was mutually-assured nuclear annihilation. In our current world, the stakes are just as high. We risk military defeat like we never have since the war of 1812. It's a dangerous world we live in. I pray to God that our next President has the grit to lead our country in such a perilous time.

Why Would Anyone Want To Be President?

As I have been watching this Presidential race unfold (albeit from a distance - I haven't had the stomach for much political nonsense this year) I have wondered aloud more than once why anyone in their right mind would want to be President right now.

Our country is deeply divided and seems likely to remain that way. We are still in the middle of a war that cannot be safely walked away from. The economy is in a very tenuous state with the dollar falling and oil soaring. Russia is trying to restart the cold war. China is flexing its muscles and seems to have an appetite for expansion. Iran is working to develop nuclear weapons. Venezuela is stirring up trouble in Central and South America and the Caribbean too.

Add to that Congress' partisan impotence, daily corruption scandals at all levels of government, utter moral decay in the culture, and a whole host of other domestic issues and you have the makings of Excedrin headache numbers 2009-2012.

The world the next President of the United States will face won't be one for wimps. I hope we choose wisely or it's gonna be a long four years.

Interesting Report On The Global War On Terror

Interesting interview on Fox News with CIA Chief

New Partner In The Axis Of Evil...

Hugo Chavez and his puppets are laying siege to Columbia. I saw this coming. Hugo Chavez plans to rule all of South and Central America either directly or indirectly. All of his actions have pointed to this.

A few months ago Chavez sent "aid" to the victims of an earthquake in Peru. Printed on the packaging of this aid was propaganda about how the government of Peru had failed the people and how much better Chavez could do. Chavez has also been cozy with Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador.

Several months ago Chavez "magnanimously" offered to help try to negotiate a truce between the terrorist organization FARC and the Columbian government. I knew that it was a mistake for President Uribe to allow that to happen. That agreement was eventually cut short when Chavez overstepped the bounds of his authority in dealing with FARC.

So all of this drama on the border of Columbia all came about because Columbia performed a military action inside of Ecuador against FARC without the permission of the Ecuadorian government. I'm wondering what this has to do with Chavez... oh yes, Ecuador is Chavez's lap dog. So Hugo Chavez, messiah of the downtrodden has rushed to the border with his troops.

I was originally very concerned about this and was hoping that the US was going to back Columbia. I mean, two countries against one (Ecuador and Venezuela vs Columbia) hardly seemed like good odds. According to an article that I read on My Way News the army of Columbia significantly larger than both of these armies combined.

Venezuela and Ecuador have about 172,000 active military troops between them. Colombia's U.S.-equipped, trained and advised military has more than 250,000.

Still, I am a little concerned about who else may be around. I know that Venezuela has been receiving military assistance from China. There is also the FARC to consider.

President Bush has backed President Uribe in this crisis. I am glad to see that. I would hate for us to have to become militarily-involved in South America on a large scale. I am concerned, though, that if something isn't done about Chavez soon, it may be too late to avoid a very costly war with dire consequences.

Since the raid, evidence has been discovered that all but proves that Chavez has been allied with FARC for as long as 10 years. There were also documents that seem to point to some sort of CIA overtures to the terrorists.

References to U.S. diplomatic overtures are scintillating, if vague.

In a Dec. 11 message to the secretariat, Marquez writes: "If you are in agreement, I can receive Jim and Tucker to hear the proposal of the gringos." ...

Writing two days before his death, Reyes tells his secretariat comrades that "the gringos," working through Ecuador's government, are interested "in talking to us on various issues."

"They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," noting that Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.

Reyes said the response he relayed is that the United States would have to publicly express that desire.

This quote is disturbing to me on so many levels.

First of all, I feel confident that these spooks are not operating under the authority of President Bush. If this supposition is true, then I think that the organization is in dire need of a shake-up. It will probably never happen. There are things you find out sometimes that it would just be better if you didn't know - especially when you have no power to change things. A little ignorance goes a long way to a better night's sleep.

Secondly, the spooks seemed awful confident that Obama will not only win his party's nomination but will also win the general election. Perhaps they were only saying what they thought these terrorists wanted to hear. I hope so. I would really like to believe that it matters who I vote for in November. (And I REALLY hope they are wrong regardless of their motive.)

We live in a very dangerous world.

Update: March 7, 2008 21:50

Apparently the conflict is over - for now.

Update On the Wal-Mart Bomb Incident

Well, since no one got blown up yesterday, there was almost no coverage of "the rest of the story" on the bomb threat at the Kannapolis Wal-Mart. However, I finally did manage to find an article in today's Salisbury Post that rounded out the details.

It turns out that the two men arrested for the incident were trying to carry a tool box into the store when they were stopped and told that they would have to leave it at the Customer Support desk. When asked what was in the toolbox one of the men replied, "a bomb."

Not the smartest response in our post 9/11 world. Especially when you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest and when your companion has crack cocaine in his pocket. Now it becomes even clearer why a "C" is considered "average." Very, very, scary.

When I saw the two men's pictures in the news article, I realized that I had actually seen them in the store when I was there. They had walked right past me and my niece before we got ready to leave.

The article estimated that there were about 200 people in the store. That was a pretty gross underestimation. If there were 10 people in the store there were 400. I have often wondered where they all come from. It seems that nobody in my area has a day job. The parking lot at Wal-Mart and Jake Alexander Boulevard are always packed with cars all day long.

So, the long and the short of it is that my brush with excitement yesterday was all over someone being a smart Aleck. The moral of the story is: if you look like a thug, have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, and have crack cocaine in your pocket, it is probably not a good idea to make a false bomb report. It turns out that is a felony too. (Makes you wonder what he would have been charged with if it really HAD been a bomb.)

"Now you know the REST of the story. Good DAY!"

Not Your Every Day Occurrence

Today I was at the Wal-Mart off of Dale Earnhardt Boulevard in Kannapolis getting my some new frames for my glasses and helping my niece spend her Tooth Fairy money. As we were headed to the check out area, someone told us that they were evacuating the store.

Now frankly, it would have been easy to not believe the the lady that was telling us to do this. It wasn't even clear that she was a Wal-Mart employee; she was just saying it conversationally. There was no announcement or anything over the PA system in the store.

Well, we went ahead and left our merchandise at the front of the store and got the heck out of Dodge. A lot of people were just milling around the front of the store, and one of the stylists working in the hair salon wasn't even aware that they were evacuating.

When we got outside, one fire truck was arriving, but it really wasn't clear what was going on. We asked one guy in the parking lot if he was coming or going so that we could let him know that it was no use going in the store. He told us that it was a bomb threat and that he had seen the guy that brought it in.

Well, how is that for freaky? My niece was a little scared, but we were able to show her how God had helped us by getting us out of the store safely.

WBTV, out of Charlotte, has a report about the event on their website. It turns out that no bomb was found, but the police have two men in custody for questioning.

Anyway, looking back on the event makes me think that the store wasn't ready for this kind of event. There were a lot of things that just didn't seem to be handled well. Of course, there are a lot of things that I don't know.

I wonder if the store had somehow confined the suspects before they began evacuating the store? It seems to me that if they hadn't, the suspects may have figured out that they had been discovered when the store started emptying of people and potentially detonated up the bomb (which doesn't appear to have existed in the first place) or just melted into the crowd and out of the store in the midst of the evacuation. It would also seem reasonable that Wal-Mart employees would have been moving people away from the building. Sometimes people are kind of dumb.

This event makes me realize just how easy it would be for someone to perpetrate this kind of activity for real. We really take a lot for granted in this country - especially God's protection. I, for one, am glad that I have so little to tell of this story. How differently things could have ended up.

I, Too, Have A Dream

Today is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. If you know anything of his story you have surely heard an excerpt from his wonderfully moving "I Have A Dream" speech.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood....

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today....

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

...And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

In no way do I want to detract from the injustices that are still seen between the races in America. Racism by anyone is a blight upon this country and a sin for which we must repent. There is, however, another greater evil that I want to address this evening that impacts all Americans and disproportionately effects black Americans - abortion.

Abortion is the greatest evil present in our society. It is worse than corruption. It is worse than greed. It is worse than racism. It is worse than perversion. It is worse than war.

Abortion is bankrupting our nation. It has spelled the doom of Social Security. Since its inception in 1973, abortion has wiped out more than the equivalent of the combined populations of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Delaware, and the District Of Columbia. More than four in every ten pregnancies have been aborted since 1973. The percentage is even higher in minority populations.

Abortion - for whatever reason - is the legally sanctioned murder of the innocent. According to the Bible, this sin makes God VERY angry.

During Jehoiakim’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land of Judah. Jehoiakim surrendered and paid him tribute for three years but then rebelled. Then the Lord sent bands of Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Judah to destroy it, just as the Lord had promised through his prophets. These disasters happened to Judah because of the Lord’s command. He had decided to banish Judah from his presence because of the many sins of Manasseh, who had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. The Lord would not forgive this.
2 Kings 24:1-4

There are six things the Lord hates — no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19

The following chart graphically helps to put into perspective the toll that abortion has taken on our country. Each mark represents 25,000 killed. I used this graphic in a post earlier this year. I have added the estimated number of additional marks for the aborted lives of 2007 in red at the appropriate place.

The Revolutionary War: (25,324) !

The Civil War: (498,332) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

World War I: (116,708) !!!!!

World War II: (407,316) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Korean War: (54,246) !!

Vietnam War: (58,655) !!

Global War On Terror: (7,500) .

War On The Unborn (In The United States): (47,500,000+) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Where is the outrage? Where are the protests? Why aren't there people storming the Capitol Building in Washington and the Supreme Court because of this blood bath? You who decry the 'injustice' of the Global War On Terror, those of you who think that the toll of this war has been too great, those of you who declare the President to be a liar when you distort the truth about abortion; HOW DARE YOU BE SILENT over the injustice of abortion! Hypocrites!

I HATE abortion. I have a dream that one day the womb will not be the most dangerous place to be in America. I have a dream that the American people will no longer tolerate the murder of its citizens before they have even had the opportunity to breathe in the sweet air of liberty. I have a dream that one day the hearts of the fathers will be turned towards their sons and daughters, and that lives and relationships will not be sacrificed on the bloody altar of convenience. I have a dream that those who promote this great evil will repent with profusion of tears and contrition of heart or will be crushed by the hand of the Lord.

There is a choice. God has done something that is utterly amazing - He has offered pardon for even this great sin. But this pardon will not allow you to continue murdering the unborn. You can repent - you can utterly reject your sin - and turn to God for forgiveness, and in His mercy He will forgive you. Sadly, there are those who will not repent. They will mock at this warning and will continue in their sin and one day hell will open its maw to greedily receive them for an eternity of torment - a torment that makes the worst that humans can dish out look like a Sunday picnic. After reading of these horrors, I wouldn't wish them on my greatest enemy, but they will be justly earned by those who refuse God's gracious offer of clemency. Please cry out for mercy before it is too late!

It is time for the marks to stop being added to this list. Consider very carefully each candidate's position on abortion as you are voting this year. Hold them to account for their complicity with abortion and reward those who are working to bring it to an end in our land. Pray that abortion will end soon. It can't end too soon.

North Carolina Soldier Earns The Silver Star

Just two days before Christmas 2006, then-Chief Warrant Officer 3 James B. Herring, 46, was leading a five-vehicle patrol near Baquabah, Iraq, searching for a Sunni-Arab insurgent cell responsible for assaults on Coalition Forces, when they were attacked. His heroic efforts saved the lives of 23 American and Iraqi men and earned him the Silver Star.

On December 23, 2006, CW3 Herring, a North Carolina National Guardsman, was the Detachment Commander for Operational Detachment Alpha 2084, Special Operations Task Force – North and was serving as the Ground Force Commander of the mission.
As he led his force down the narrow streets of the nearby village of Tahrir, they were fired upon by three insurgents with machine guns. As they moved forward, Sgt. Broughton Aragon, the gunner on Herring’s Humvee, was able to kill the first three insurgents, only to face 20 more pouring over a concrete wall less than 30 feet away.

Click Here To Read the Rest Of The Story

A Positive Story About the War

Hi, all. Yesterday I was up to my eyes in an Advent blog, but I did find an interesting article for you over at Bear Creek Ledger. You and I know that there is a dearth of news items about positive things being done by our troops in Iraq. Well here is one that shows how a soldier took it upon himself to do something that is making a big difference in how he and his unit are being received.



Nashville Native Learns Arabic To Help With Mission in Iraq

Perhaps there is something Christians can learn from this soldier. Maybe if we try to "learn the language" of the lost around us we'll have more success in helping them to find the truth.

Another Reason Not To Live In Massachusetts

Local Boy Scouts Accused of Being Too 'Pro-War' In Cambridge, Massachusetts

Apparently the cradle of the American Revolution has taken a dovish turn. The descendants of the men that died at Bunker Hill and the Boston Massacre, the heirs of the Boston Tea Party have decided that Boy Scouts shouldn't be supporting the troops overseas. They're spinning in their graves. Secession is sounding better and better every day, y'all.

They were just trying to collect donations for American troops. But the Boy Scouts end up getting busted by the City of Cambridge. All their boxes were taken down at polling stations for being too "pro-war." FOX25's Ted Daniel reports from Cambridge with details.

You really ought to click HERE and watch the story if your blood pressure hasn't had a workout today.

Apparently, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry aren't the only lying bureaucrats in MA. (Yeah, yeah, I just KNOW you're shocked....) Anyway the lady in charge of pulling the plug claimed that they hadn't gotten permission before placing the donation boxes. LIE! According to the scoutmaster, they got permission TWICE before bringing out the collection boxes. Hmmm. I wonder which person I will believe. The politician? Or the Boy Scout? Hmmm...

Making matters worse is that only one person complained. One person brought about the end of the project. And even worse than that? The jerk was there to vote.

Good Progress

I have made very good progress on my web design project today. I finally have a layout that I am pleased with and will be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow before I start showing it around some to get others' opinions. There is still much work to be done on it - like making the buttons work, finding the html widgets that I want, and actually publishing it to the site, but I am pleased that I seem to be learning the software at a reasonable pace. I am tired of sitting at the computer, but I am simultaneously pleased with the achieved result. I'm sure that I will be sharing it with you soon.

I have just completed 1776 by David McCullough. I've had it on my "to be read" list for over a year now and finally dove in. It wasn't quite the riveting read that I expected, but was good nonetheless.

I realized quickly how little I actually know about the the Revolutionary War. As a young boy (before I was 7 years old) I had a great interest in the stories about this war, most likely spurred on by re-runs of Daniel Boone. (No, I'm not quite old enough to have seen them first run.) Unfortunately, history books written about the Revolution at an elementary school reading level were pretty hard to come by back then. I doubt it is any different now. How many 7-year-olds are interested in Revolutionary history? I suppose a bit of my interest was also driven by the fact that I was 7-years-old in 1976.

One of the things that struck me as I read was that the British weren't the baby-eating demons that I had imagined them to be (at least not during the period of the war covered by the book - although there was mention of a number of atrocities carried out.) At times their generosity and concern for the well-being of "the colonies" was not unlike our own concern for those that our armies have encountered. The main fault of the British seemed to be their arrogance.

I was also struck by some of the similarities that I saw between America at the time of the Revolution and America today. The British were arrogantly secure in their belief that as the world's greatest superpower they couldn't be beaten by a ragamuffin army like the one fielded by America. They were wrong. There is no doubt in my mind that our military is the greatest on the earth, but we would do well to learn from the lesson we taught the British when they were in a similar situation.

Another similarity is that America was as greatly divided then as it is today. There were major fundamental differences between the Tories (or Loyalists) viewed things and the way that the Patriots (or Rebels) viewed things - Conservative versus Radical all over again. The only difference I would suggest is that the conservatives are on the right side this time. (I dare say they believed that they were on the right side that time!)

Politics was just as convoluted then as it is now. Nobody seemed capable to get anything done in Congress. We KNOW that hasn't changed.

Finally there was also the general apathy of the populace towards victory or defeat. The future lay in the hands of a handful of soldiers - some as young as 14. One quote by Colonel William Tudor about Washington struck me particularly. To his wife he wrote:

I cannot desert a man (and it would certainly be desertion in a court of honor) who has deserted everything to defend his country, and whose chief misfortune, among ten thousand others, is that a large part of it wants spirit to defend itself.

My, my, my, how history does repeat itself. His condemnation could have been written of the defeatists in the Congress, on the campaign trail, and in the media this year, self-serving cowards that they are. It is truly a shame that history is so neglected in our schools (and culture) today, and it is sad that so few realize the dear price payed for our liberties today.

God bless our troops and God bless America. Honor the veterans that you know this weekend.

Good News

I've been busy working on website design still. That's why I didn't get any posting done yesterday. But I saw this over at Babalu Blog and thought it was worth sharing.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

Now there. Isn't that a much better story than the defeatist headlines yesterday that said, "2007 Is Deadliest Year for US in Iraq"?

I can't tell you how sick I am of the press in our country. Always some alarmist headline that makes it sound like our annihilation is imminent, but never really reporting about the genuine threats to our security. I wish I knew what the solution is. If it weren't for talk radio and the blog world there would be no hope of getting a clear picture of what is really going on. Yes, Fox News pretends to be fair and balanced, but the simple fact of the matter is that they are no better than anyone else.

Whatever happened to journalistic objectivity and responsibility? Whatever happened to "just the facts?" I don't think that the Founders ever intended the First Amendment to allow people to report lies and half-truths as fact. And I, for one, am sick and tired of being spoon fed opinions by people who hate this country and don't have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.

Navy Petty Officer Third Class Joshua Chiarini

As enemy forces ambushed the front of his convoy, and with explosions going off on the road ahead of him, Navy Hospital Corpsman Joshua Chiarini could have remained in his vehicle and waited for the action to pass. Instead, the petty officer bolted from his truck and joined the battle. His ensuing gallantry resulted in a Silver Star and the recovery of several wounded Marines from the line of fire, saving their lives.

Read the entire account HERE.

The enemy, er, I mean the media may try to deny that any good thing can come from America, but here is proof that they are wrong.

There's Something You Don't See Every Day

That picture is so bizarre that it is hard to believe that it is or could be true.

According to THIS article Sgt. Dan Powers of the US Army was stabbed in the head with a 9-inch knife and lived to tell about it:

It takes a few moments to notice the dent in Sgt. Dan Powers' head, a place where he was stabbed with a nine-inch blade while patrolling the streets of the Iraqi capital.

During his dozen years in the Army, Powers has witnessed a lot. But what happened to him this summer is nothing short of miraculous.

On July 2, Powers, a squad leader in the 118th Military Police Company out of Fort Bragg, and his unit were called to investigate a report of a late afternoon explosion in a Baghdad neighborhood. For the unit, it wasn't anything they hadn't seen before. They were on their second tour of duty in Iraq to train Iraqi police officers.

The explosion was minor and Powers walked away from the area to deal with the crowd that had gathered.

It was then that Powers felt something hit his head.

"I wondered briefly if I had been shot," he says.

In reality, Powers had been stabbed in the head. And the nine-inch knife was still stuck into the right side of his cranium....

"I was bleeding," said Powers, "but not in any kind of pain."

... "Everybody in the room thought I wasn't going to make it," Powers said.

Thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., Lt. Col. Dr. Rocco Armonda, was pulled over on the side of the highway.

An Army vascular neurosurgeon, Armonda was looking at images on his laptop in real time, as the surgery was happening. His advice to the team in Iraq: close the sergeant up and get him to the National Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, immediately.

The non-stop flight from Iraq to the United States took 13 hours.

Once at Bethesda, Powers was rushed into surgery.

The neurosurgical team coiled the carotid artery and performed cranioplasty on Powers' skull. For four days, Powers was in a drug-induced coma. Doctors feared he would wake up with brain damage or blind.

Remarkably, he only had problems with his balance.

Powers spent a month at Bethesda. During that time, he testified via videoconference in the trial of the man who stabbed him.

The Army sergeant is now home in North Carolina. Powers says he still gets pretty bad headaches, but that a couple of aspirin makes them go away. Doctors will perform another surgery in January.

...Powers hopes to rejoin his unit as a squad leader in the spring.

Sounds to me like that Sergeant had some angels looking out for him. It would seem that God likes Sergeant Powers. If he isn't a Christian, I hope he comes to know the Lord soon!

FBI Thinks China Is Greatest Threat

Here's some more proof about China. I'm not making this stuff up. Once again, this information is from a Newsmax email. I wish I could send you the link to the article, but I have reproduced it in its entirety below.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that China poses the greatest threat to the U.S. in terms of espionage — and that thousands of “front companies” in America have been set up to aid Chinese spying, according to the Maldon Institute.

A new report from the respected think tank, titled “The Chinese Secret Intelligence Service,” warns, “China’s intelligence services today consist of a vast shadowy organization that employs approximately 2 million full- or part-time agents.
“Federal officials in the United States, in numerous interviews during the past year, say and have said that there are more foreign spies operating in the United States than during the Cold War . . .

“In size and numbers, no country now can equal the numbers of Chinese spies in our country.”
(emphasis mine)

The report quotes David Szady, FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, who said in a recent interview that the Chinese spymasters “figured out that what they want is throughout the United States, not just embassies, not just consulates. It’s a major effort.”

The Maldon Institute report states: “The FBI believes that for the next 10 to 15 years, China is the greatest threat to the United States.

“The Bureau believes that today there are more than 3,000 ‘front’ companies in America whose real job is to direct espionage efforts. Then there are thousands of Chinese visitors, students and business people: how many of them have tasks to perform for Beijing’s Ministry of State Security?”

A great deal of the FBI’s information comes from the highest-ranking Chinese defector to arrive in Washington: Xu Junping, director of Strategy in Beijing’s Defense Ministry.

He claims that for five years he oversaw all operations against the U.S. and set up the business plans for the more than 3,000 Chinese companies launched to operate across the United States (emphasis mine), according to the report.

The report also intimates the success of the Chinese espionage: “An analyst in the Defense Intelligence Agency informed a colleague that during the past three years, the Chinese have stolen $24 billion worth of secrets, and that many of these items enabled Beijing to accelerate its space program . . . (read this as "enabled Beijing to accelerate its ICBM program" - JE)

“The FBI also is following up on a number of investigative leads, such as who is funding individual Chinese students and which students, after graduation with a computer or other science degree, seek employment with a high-tech company.”

Folks, if we don't soon wake up it will be too late.

Quote Of The Day

Our cultural and political leaders have forgotten, if they ever knew, that the willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others is why serving in the military is considered such a high calling—and a part of what makes just wars just. Thomas Aquinas in his classic Summa Theologica puts his discussion of just war in the chapter on charity—the love of God and neighbor.

And reformer John Calvin called the soldier an “agent of God’s love” because “restraining evil out of love for neighbor is an imitation of God’s restraining evil out of love for His creatures.”

We are blessed that so many fine men and women are willing to wield the sword on our behalf in this country. But are we, in turn, willing to respect and honor those sacrificing for us? And if not, can we blame them if one day they decide to lay down their arms?

What kind of a world would this be if that happened? We would have a world where evil reigned unchecked by justice, and where the strong would be free to prey on the weak.

The problem is not with our service members who are serving us nobly and ably in Iraq; it is the political and cultural leaders who are dishonoring them. If most Americans share their attitude, then I say bring the troops home. Why should they risk their lives for an ungrateful nation?

-Chuck Colson

EXCELLENT article read it HERE.

Quote of The Day

If the United States and its coalition forces finish on top by achieving most, if not all, of their objectives in Iraq, what can the Democrats say? “We were secretly in support of the war all the way”? Not even Hillary Clinton could get away with such a whopper. The Republican campaign commercials would pound away with the hundreds (thousands?) of quotes from people they will label as “defeatist Democrats.” As this week’s lead editorial in The Weekly Standard asks, “Are the American people likely to elect the candidate of a party that has tried its best to lose a winnable war?”

The answer is no. And the answer to Charles Gibson’s assertion that no news is not news is that no violence is news and, indeed, is very good news for Iraq and for America. It is very bad news, however, for the leadership of the Democratic Party, because their investment in defeat may be about to prove itself the political equivalent of the dot-com bubble burst earlier this decade.

- Cal Thomas

What If?

As I have been reading the news for the last little while I can't help but wonder if America is getting set up for a big fall. It is becoming clearer and clearer that the ties between our enemies are growing stronger every day and their position is also being strengthened. There are certainly loose (or stronger) alliances between China, Iran, Russia, Cuba, Syria, North Korea, and Venezuela. China has also made overtures to nearly every country in South America. There is little doubt that Al Quaeda has at least some access to this alliance. Is it possible that these countries and Al Quaeda are preparing a strategic attack on the United States? Here is how it could play out:

Al Quaeda receives help getting nuclear materials for either a suitcase nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb into the United States and manages to detonate such a weapon in one or more American cities like Washington, DC, New York, or Los Angeles. A suitcase nuke or a dirty bomb in New York City would kill thousands upon thousands. Some of the most valuable property in the United States would become worthless. Imagine that multiplied by a factor 2 or 3 or, God forbid, 10.

The credit problems that we have seen in the past month have revealed the fragility of our economy. Even one successful large scale terrorist attack would likely put the economy in a tailspin - especially if that attack were to occur in one of our nation's financial or governmental centers.

Now suppose what would happen if immediately on the heels of that attack, Hugo Chavez and Venezuela begin "annexing" territory in South America. Russia invades Georgia (the country) and begins the process of re-establishing the iron curtain. Iran and Syria attack Israel. And China knocks out key military satellites, overwhelms Taiwan, and militarizes the Panama Canal.

To make matters worse, terror cells are activated in America and begin attacks throughout the American heartland such as blowing up schools, executing sniper style attacks randomly around the country, and suicide bombings. What if they instigated a biological terror attack using an agent like smallpox? What if they were clever enough to spread agricultural diseases like hoof and mouth disease?

If that happened what would you do? Where would you turn? What would you hold on to?

Here in America we have had a good long run of prosperity and protection. I personally believe that this is because our country was founded largely by people who came here to create a new Christian nation that would be a "light on a hill" to the world. In many ways we have done that - America is still the country that sends the most missionaries into the world and the country that gives the most to missions - however, our light hasn't always burned with such a pure light. We are also one of the leading exporters of pornography in the world and one of the leading countries in the world in murdering the unborn.

Over the past 40 years or so there has been a great shift in American culture away from the spiritual underpinnings that have held it secure towards a great secularization of our nation. As our nation has turned its back on God, I believe that we are beginning to "reap the whirlwind" for the wind that we have sown.

The scenario that I have painted is admittedly hypothetical and worst case. However, it is entirely plausible. It shows you just how precarious our position is today, and just how much we really do depend on God (or how much we should) for our country's security.

The scary thing is that God is a just God. He will not allow a nation to continually turn its back to Him and sin the way we are sinning as a nation. As I wrote the other day, "'Should I not punish them for this?' declares the LORD. 'Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?'" (Jeremiah 5:9 and 5:29 and 9:9)

The good news is that if we will repent of our wickedness, God will forgive. Yes there will eventually come a time when the conscience of our nation is seared to the point that God will judge us, but He is also very patient and merciful to the penitent.

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14