Despite the housing collapse and credit crunch, the strength and resiliency of the Bush economy is astounding. I use no annotation but the following facts are easily Googled. The following data is reported by various agencies, not someone’s opinion:
· Unemployment, steady for the last three months, is a historic low 4.7%.
· Jobs growth - 94,000 in October following 110,000 in September
· The longest period of uninterrupted job growth on record - 51 straight months
· Real wages up 3.6 percent.
· Since 2001 real after-tax per capita personal income has risen by 12%.
· The Gross Domestic Product soared 4.9% in October.
· The longest economic expansion in history - 109 months in a row.
· Interest rates are at historic lows and they are likely to be lowered again today.
· November retail sales were up 3.5%.
· Internet sales up 12.5%.
· Despite (or because of) Bush tax cuts, growth contributed to a 6.7 percent rise in tax receipts in FY07, following an increase of 11.8 percent in FY06.
· The Dow is up a healthy 9%, the NASDAQ up 13% and the S&P up 6% this year.
· Exports in September 2007 were 13.6 percent higher than exports in September 2006 shrinking the trade deficit for the first time in 31 years.
· The National Realtors Association reports that both new and existing home sales are up this month.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
In the Age of the Atom
The Bomb must never come into the hands of a dictator who sympathizes with the Jihad. Because we fear no democracy, with or without nukes, the only answer to proliferation is democracy – one way or the other. Nevertheless the Democrats offer retreat from the democratic offensive. And the Hollywood media elite have taken up their cause.
But they should consider the wisdom of parsing Iraq from the war on terror. Militarily the Iraq front is brilliant and George Bush is a hero. He is precisely what our country needs in a time of war; a man who will not shrink from leadership when the elite throw their weight against him.
Because he will not yield to them the media elite have been enraged, even shrill. They think they win because they are the loudest. Still Bush ignores their outrage, even sees it as healthy, democratic protest; he seems immune to the anger and the backbiting. In their frustration they have used every invective at him.
They were silent after 9/11 – for a few months. But since then, while Monday morning quarter backing, they have slandered him, ridiculed and mocked him. “He is dumb, a failure, arrogant, worst ever. But most of all, they say, “He is a liar.” Yet they cannot identify a precise lie; they have no evidence. In fact it is the lie, and it is designed to destroy the credibility of the Commander in Chief.
But they should consider the wisdom of parsing Iraq from the war on terror. Militarily the Iraq front is brilliant and George Bush is a hero. He is precisely what our country needs in a time of war; a man who will not shrink from leadership when the elite throw their weight against him.
Because he will not yield to them the media elite have been enraged, even shrill. They think they win because they are the loudest. Still Bush ignores their outrage, even sees it as healthy, democratic protest; he seems immune to the anger and the backbiting. In their frustration they have used every invective at him.
They were silent after 9/11 – for a few months. But since then, while Monday morning quarter backing, they have slandered him, ridiculed and mocked him. “He is dumb, a failure, arrogant, worst ever. But most of all, they say, “He is a liar.” Yet they cannot identify a precise lie; they have no evidence. In fact it is the lie, and it is designed to destroy the credibility of the Commander in Chief.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Letter to Aunt Karen
5/13/2006
Dear Aunt Karen,
On 3/28/06 The Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Governor Kean told the Senate; “. . . A nuclear event is possible, and it would have profound and incalculable consequences and change our way of life. . . . Why isn’t there greater media interest?” (C-span)
The answer is that America is in denial of an unbearable reality. Denial made possible by the mistaken notion we are invincible has poisoned us with overconfidence. We are unable to discern the enormous threat of kamikaze nuclear warfare. The President of Iran’s vows of violence are dismissed as bluster even as they are about to go nuclear.
When theocratic dictatorship came to power in Iran, the Reagan Administration worried aloud whether Islamic fundamentalism should be confronted. The Ayatollah’s very likeness became an American icon of fear. But we had, and have no stomach for any fight without a Democrat for Commander In Chief, and so we ran away.
And now, after twenty years at the vanguard of Islamic revolutionary activities, Iran is at the threshold of acquiring The Bomb. Weapons grade (not utility grade) uranium was discovered there this week. Are you kidding me!
Modern nukes are forty times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. An alarm should be sounding but there is widespread complacency and resistance. Some politicos are ridiculing those who merely articulate the threat. Deeply divided, we are entertaining the notion we can appease fanatics on a mission from God and flee.
But appeasement will not bring peace; there will be no end to enemy demands. And running away will only bring the violence back home. We instinctively know that we must wage the war in the Middle East or wage it here. Yet many say the struggle is a “Bush war” – invented for corporate profit. We are forced to fight with political correctness, changing even the name of the Afghan operation from Infinite Justice; it offended the enemy.
Denial is a form of ignorance; we cannot imagine Islamic fascists have more in mind than mass murder. While no country can defeat America, nuclear treachery can. It was Hussein’s advisor Tariq Aziz’s strategy, in tapes released by ABC; “This is not done by a state (WMD attack); no need to accuse a state, an individual can do it. Even an American individual in a house, close, to the White House; I mean, they don’t have a logical argument.” http://abcnews.go.com/images/International/saddam_transcript060217.pdf
Nuclear proliferation makes it wildly irresponsible to assume the War on Terror ended with Afghanistan. Stateless terrorists are invulnerable to retaliation and it makes them far more dangerous than any country. And further, a terrorist group need not even deliver nukes but simply take credit for the deeds of secret foreign agents; those with motivation to vanquish the Bastian of democracy, foe of despotism.
Missiles are not needed; massive destructive power makes nuclear weapons unnecessary to import. They need only be close. Small watercraft can be fitted to support a suicide delivery. Boats or 2-man subs lined with lead and hidden in any waterway where most of us live is a potential apocalypse. A small payload allows for a delivery strategy difficult to defend against, even with severe boating restrictions and a wartime footing.
At the first detonation all nations will deny complicity. It will be a surprise, and we can expect at least one more. We could not know if other weapons were in place, and unsure of the location of the shooter. A demand for “surrender or suffer another” vis-à-vis Hiroshima, will come by way of AlJazeera from a stateless Jihad cabal: the Taliban, alQaeda, Hezbollah or etc. They could be anywhere. With suicide delivery, the evidence and the fiends are incinerated. 1945 Japan could not retaliate and it was coerced into surrendering its military.
The Founding Fathers urged militias rather than standing armies. For a standing army can be used to subdue the population. Understand we’d have no choice; just as Japan’s ferocious military was subdued by nuclear-coercion, should we be, our Joint Chief of Staffs will be controlled by mullahs. And they will use the most powerful military in history to enforce Islamic Law against infidels throughout the world. It is the Islamic revolutionary dream; think they haven’t thought of it? We need Jack Bauer!
There is good news – We fear no democracy . . . even those with nuclear weapons!
A clone of our constitution was embraced by the 1946 Japanese. And look at them now, a model of prosperity and friendship – a long way from the kamikaze mentality. Once a fearful and suicidal enemy, they are now peaceful. And Japan is far from alone. Universal suffrage can and will free humanity from this crucible.
The Sadaam tapes released by ABC are proof of Iraq’s plotting. Within his treacherous plan, Tariq Aziz was detailing to Hussein that America would be unable to stop the attacks without assurance of where or whom the shooter is. Aziz knows we cannot nuke everyone. And thus he identified the weakness of every democracy as, “logical argument” – that can turn a truth into lie, or the reverse. And the propaganda exceeds reality.
The ongoing wars on drugs and poverty have been more costly than the War on Terror, a fight more deadly and a greater threat to our way of life – In WWII we were the only one with nuclear weapons. After 3 years of battle, fewer have died in combat than the 3000 innocent people mass-murdered on September 11th. Every life is precious; too many have been sacrificed in the unending fight for freedom. Casualties are historically low; at a rate that would take three hundred years of battle to match those of WWII.
The anti-war movement has the power to defeat the war effort and it proves the point. Democracy is vulnerable to propaganda; a by-product of free speech. And some of us fight like hell with free speech when we believe it, thus – Democracy pacifies.
The quest for universal freedom leaves constitutions, the vote and rule of law, not colonialism. It is essential for world security in the Nuclear Age that politicians be held accountable to the people. Within democracy, violence in the name of the state is unsustainable; the voter rejects war without a clear mandate of self defense. And even then, their patience for violence is short, and they have a say; thus – Democracy pacifies.
The free press will exploit enemy propaganda because they are profit-driven. Karl Marx said, "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them.” Churchill complained: "Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others.” A free press seeks, emphasizes, and even creates bad news to emblazon every political argument that will sell newspapers. It is precisely what makes democracy the ideal strategy – it pacifies.
For starters, fascist dictators who support terrorism in Iran and Syria cannot be trusted with The Bomb. We cannot kill all terrorists, but if we are united we can make them disappear into the peace and prosperity that is found in legitimate self-government– democracy pacifies.
It takes time to build functioning republics out of a medieval culture that still has kings and despots. Mistakes will be made; someone said, “Every tactical plan looks good until you meet the enemy.” But there is no question that our military is correcting tactical errors.
Beware of those who use the same rhetoric as the enemy. They slander the President and call him liar; they are arrogant and divisive when we need unity. “A house divided cannot stand;” only phony democrats would argue that some people can’t handle democracy; it is heresy.
Militarily, Iraq is brilliant; besides moving the battlefront to where it belongs, together with Afghanistan it surrounds Iran. There is no question that Hussein was a threat to the world. He rewarded $25,000 to families of suicide bombers – a huge incentive to aspiring terrorists. He assaulted neighbors three times, used nerve gas and bombed Israel with Scud missiles. He was hostile to UN nuke inspectors and attacked those commissioned to enforce terms of surrender after he was kicked out of Kuwait. In a brazen act of war, he attempted to assassinate a sitting President. After 9/11, Bush could not assume Hussein was benign and did the right thing.
President Bush has the right plan and acts decisively. His legacy will be large beyond imagination. And though he is hampered by a rabid opposition, we have yet to hear an alternative strategy that does not include appeasement and complacency.
Americans must overcome denial of an immense threat. Posterity shall be forever grateful if we prevail. But if this generation fails to persevere, liberty will perish under nuclear coercion. If we lose our will life will change drastically, especially for women.
Be encouraged by the birth of democracy in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and by the people of the Middle East’s determination to vote in the face of threats. Any birth brings labor and struggle, but the birth of liberty will bring forth blessings to all who are released from bondage. The noblest goal of all is to free humanity; “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” I hope you will join me in support of the plan for democracy.
With affection and respect,
Cornelius
Submitted by: corneliusvansant@aol.com
Dear Aunt Karen,
On 3/28/06 The Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Governor Kean told the Senate; “. . . A nuclear event is possible, and it would have profound and incalculable consequences and change our way of life. . . . Why isn’t there greater media interest?” (C-span)
The answer is that America is in denial of an unbearable reality. Denial made possible by the mistaken notion we are invincible has poisoned us with overconfidence. We are unable to discern the enormous threat of kamikaze nuclear warfare. The President of Iran’s vows of violence are dismissed as bluster even as they are about to go nuclear.
When theocratic dictatorship came to power in Iran, the Reagan Administration worried aloud whether Islamic fundamentalism should be confronted. The Ayatollah’s very likeness became an American icon of fear. But we had, and have no stomach for any fight without a Democrat for Commander In Chief, and so we ran away.
And now, after twenty years at the vanguard of Islamic revolutionary activities, Iran is at the threshold of acquiring The Bomb. Weapons grade (not utility grade) uranium was discovered there this week. Are you kidding me!
Modern nukes are forty times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. An alarm should be sounding but there is widespread complacency and resistance. Some politicos are ridiculing those who merely articulate the threat. Deeply divided, we are entertaining the notion we can appease fanatics on a mission from God and flee.
But appeasement will not bring peace; there will be no end to enemy demands. And running away will only bring the violence back home. We instinctively know that we must wage the war in the Middle East or wage it here. Yet many say the struggle is a “Bush war” – invented for corporate profit. We are forced to fight with political correctness, changing even the name of the Afghan operation from Infinite Justice; it offended the enemy.
Denial is a form of ignorance; we cannot imagine Islamic fascists have more in mind than mass murder. While no country can defeat America, nuclear treachery can. It was Hussein’s advisor Tariq Aziz’s strategy, in tapes released by ABC; “This is not done by a state (WMD attack); no need to accuse a state, an individual can do it. Even an American individual in a house, close, to the White House; I mean, they don’t have a logical argument.” http://abcnews.go.com/images/International/saddam_transcript060217.pdf
Nuclear proliferation makes it wildly irresponsible to assume the War on Terror ended with Afghanistan. Stateless terrorists are invulnerable to retaliation and it makes them far more dangerous than any country. And further, a terrorist group need not even deliver nukes but simply take credit for the deeds of secret foreign agents; those with motivation to vanquish the Bastian of democracy, foe of despotism.
Missiles are not needed; massive destructive power makes nuclear weapons unnecessary to import. They need only be close. Small watercraft can be fitted to support a suicide delivery. Boats or 2-man subs lined with lead and hidden in any waterway where most of us live is a potential apocalypse. A small payload allows for a delivery strategy difficult to defend against, even with severe boating restrictions and a wartime footing.
At the first detonation all nations will deny complicity. It will be a surprise, and we can expect at least one more. We could not know if other weapons were in place, and unsure of the location of the shooter. A demand for “surrender or suffer another” vis-à-vis Hiroshima, will come by way of AlJazeera from a stateless Jihad cabal: the Taliban, alQaeda, Hezbollah or etc. They could be anywhere. With suicide delivery, the evidence and the fiends are incinerated. 1945 Japan could not retaliate and it was coerced into surrendering its military.
The Founding Fathers urged militias rather than standing armies. For a standing army can be used to subdue the population. Understand we’d have no choice; just as Japan’s ferocious military was subdued by nuclear-coercion, should we be, our Joint Chief of Staffs will be controlled by mullahs. And they will use the most powerful military in history to enforce Islamic Law against infidels throughout the world. It is the Islamic revolutionary dream; think they haven’t thought of it? We need Jack Bauer!
There is good news – We fear no democracy . . . even those with nuclear weapons!
A clone of our constitution was embraced by the 1946 Japanese. And look at them now, a model of prosperity and friendship – a long way from the kamikaze mentality. Once a fearful and suicidal enemy, they are now peaceful. And Japan is far from alone. Universal suffrage can and will free humanity from this crucible.
The Sadaam tapes released by ABC are proof of Iraq’s plotting. Within his treacherous plan, Tariq Aziz was detailing to Hussein that America would be unable to stop the attacks without assurance of where or whom the shooter is. Aziz knows we cannot nuke everyone. And thus he identified the weakness of every democracy as, “logical argument” – that can turn a truth into lie, or the reverse. And the propaganda exceeds reality.
The ongoing wars on drugs and poverty have been more costly than the War on Terror, a fight more deadly and a greater threat to our way of life – In WWII we were the only one with nuclear weapons. After 3 years of battle, fewer have died in combat than the 3000 innocent people mass-murdered on September 11th. Every life is precious; too many have been sacrificed in the unending fight for freedom. Casualties are historically low; at a rate that would take three hundred years of battle to match those of WWII.
The anti-war movement has the power to defeat the war effort and it proves the point. Democracy is vulnerable to propaganda; a by-product of free speech. And some of us fight like hell with free speech when we believe it, thus – Democracy pacifies.
The quest for universal freedom leaves constitutions, the vote and rule of law, not colonialism. It is essential for world security in the Nuclear Age that politicians be held accountable to the people. Within democracy, violence in the name of the state is unsustainable; the voter rejects war without a clear mandate of self defense. And even then, their patience for violence is short, and they have a say; thus – Democracy pacifies.
The free press will exploit enemy propaganda because they are profit-driven. Karl Marx said, "The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them.” Churchill complained: "Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others.” A free press seeks, emphasizes, and even creates bad news to emblazon every political argument that will sell newspapers. It is precisely what makes democracy the ideal strategy – it pacifies.
For starters, fascist dictators who support terrorism in Iran and Syria cannot be trusted with The Bomb. We cannot kill all terrorists, but if we are united we can make them disappear into the peace and prosperity that is found in legitimate self-government– democracy pacifies.
It takes time to build functioning republics out of a medieval culture that still has kings and despots. Mistakes will be made; someone said, “Every tactical plan looks good until you meet the enemy.” But there is no question that our military is correcting tactical errors.
Beware of those who use the same rhetoric as the enemy. They slander the President and call him liar; they are arrogant and divisive when we need unity. “A house divided cannot stand;” only phony democrats would argue that some people can’t handle democracy; it is heresy.
Militarily, Iraq is brilliant; besides moving the battlefront to where it belongs, together with Afghanistan it surrounds Iran. There is no question that Hussein was a threat to the world. He rewarded $25,000 to families of suicide bombers – a huge incentive to aspiring terrorists. He assaulted neighbors three times, used nerve gas and bombed Israel with Scud missiles. He was hostile to UN nuke inspectors and attacked those commissioned to enforce terms of surrender after he was kicked out of Kuwait. In a brazen act of war, he attempted to assassinate a sitting President. After 9/11, Bush could not assume Hussein was benign and did the right thing.
President Bush has the right plan and acts decisively. His legacy will be large beyond imagination. And though he is hampered by a rabid opposition, we have yet to hear an alternative strategy that does not include appeasement and complacency.
Americans must overcome denial of an immense threat. Posterity shall be forever grateful if we prevail. But if this generation fails to persevere, liberty will perish under nuclear coercion. If we lose our will life will change drastically, especially for women.
Be encouraged by the birth of democracy in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and by the people of the Middle East’s determination to vote in the face of threats. Any birth brings labor and struggle, but the birth of liberty will bring forth blessings to all who are released from bondage. The noblest goal of all is to free humanity; “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” I hope you will join me in support of the plan for democracy.
With affection and respect,
Cornelius
Submitted by: corneliusvansant@aol.com
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