jeffreymark

JUST PLAIN SICK

More liberal naiveté. Reminds me when Barney Fife brought a Mr. Potato Head and metal crafting set to rehab a group of prisoners held up in the Mayberry jailhouse. One prisoner took the metal crafting set, made keys with it, and escaped from the jail. Yes, indeedy, this is our Harvard elitist run government at it's finest.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON OSAMA AND MORALITY

Just as the lessons from Hitler and Stalin remain remotely etched in our national conscience, so too must we remember the lessons of bin Laden. The man lived and died as a coward. He who inspired young, idealistic Muslim men to offer their lives as a sacrifice, himself refused to lead the way. Seems like I remember Jesus, the embodiment of all goodness, told his followers they must take up the cross. He then, with jutted jaw, set his face toward Jerusalem and voluntarily died there on that gruesome instrument. Like two contrasting shades of color, one light and the other darkness, Jesus lives for eternity. Osama, on the other hand, died tragically epitomizing the black, bottomless pit into which evil casts its dastardly, deceived fools.

In addition, we learned that bin Laden faced his fate hiding behind a woman's skirt. How fitting. The humorous scenario strongly reminds us of bin Laden's true character. He was a teenager in a man's clothing. Indeed immorality makes adolescent cowards of us all. Loose living (to use ancient preacher rhetoric) temporarily provides euphoria. Selfless, Christ-like sacrifice brings on the pain. We don't like pain. Therefore, we try to avoid it all cost. Adults eventually realize life is painful. It goes with the territory. Immoral people use nefarious pleasures as a drug to numb their existential existence. When faced with a roadblock to their pleasure, they run away from the interference instead of surmounting it.

In fact, immorality opens a confidence void. Jesus, instinctively knew God's will and acquiesced to it. In the end, he boldly held his head up, lifted his shoulders, and marched off to face his fate. Immoral people, however, live in fear of integrity's light. Paranoia, second guessing, and shoulder gazing all accompany immorality. Bin Laden's adolescence eventually lead to a legion of pain. He spurned electronic devices and found himself imprisoned in a compound surrounded by fifteen foot walls of his own making-an illustration of his soul's rat infested prison. 

So, today we heartily celebrate. All that is good, pure, and just, won a resounding battle last night. And, we need to celebrate. Budget deficits, personal fiscal woes, and weak national leadership made us spiritually hungry for a victory. Like a team on a losing streak we finally won a pivotal game that may potentially place us, once again, on the winning track. We are Americans. We do not lose. We do not play for a losing team. We have been winners, and we will continue to win as long as we exalt eternal moral truths.

JIHAD CHIC

Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs fame, posts some disturbing pictures and analysis concerning the latest chic styles. Seems the keffiyeh scarf, a symbol of jihad, is being offered at both Target and Amazon. Geller claims the checked scarf is to Muslims what the swastika was to Nazis. I give Geller the benefit of the doubt on this issue. Yet, I also realize the fashion industry has promoted keffiyehs for years. Given today's terrorist threatened society it may be in the best interest of fashion moguls to nix the product. Go here to read more of Geller's take on the matter. 

 

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARREST POTENTIAL BOMBER IN DALLAS

This bit of news hits close to my home:

Federal authorities arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen whom they said placed an inactive car bomb today at Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi has repeatedly voiced his intent to serve Usama Bin Laden and al-Qa’ida and commit “violent Jihad,” authorities said in a prepared statement.

“Today’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to bring to justice persons who attempt to bring harm to citizens of this country and significant danger to this community,” special FBI agent in charge Robert E. Casey, Jr. said in the statement. “Smadi made a decision to act to commit a significant conspicuous act of violence under his banner of ‘self Jihad.’”

Authorities said that Smadi was under continuous FBI surveillance. Federal agents posed as members of an al-Qa’ida sleeper cell. Smadi, who was in the U.S. illegally, allegedly told them that he came to the country specifically to commit “Jihad for the sake of God.”

According to authorities, Smadi identified potential Dallas targets in June and allegedly scoped out Fountain Place in July. Authorities said that Smadi lived and worked in Italy, Texas, about 45 miles south of Dallas.

Town Hall

AL QAEDA NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

Despite all the terror they attempt to strike in people's hearts Al Qaeda may suffer from striking internal issues that make the organization weaker than they look. The LA Times reports:

"They may have imposed the blindingly obdurate nature of Egyptian bureaucracy," said a senior British anti-terrorism official who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. "You see that in the retirement packages they offered, the lists of members in Iraq, the insecure attitude about their membership, the rifts among leaders and factions."

Continue reading the LA Times here.

AL QAEDA INFILTRATORS LOOK WESTERN

That ought to scare the bejesus out of us all. James Gordon Meek of the Counter Terrorism Blog informs us:

CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden on Sunday made the most definitive statement to date about an emerging threat from Al Qaeda reported exclusively by the New York Daily News in December: The ever-creative top thugs of Osama Bin Laden’s terror network have succeeded in converting a group of white Europeans and has trained them in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.

Here’s how Hayden described it to NBC News’ Tim Russert on “Meet the Press:”

“It’s very clear to us that Al Qaeda has been able, over the past 18 months or so, to establish a safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area that they have not enjoyed before, that they are bringing operatives into that region for training - operatives that, a phrase I would use, Tim, wouldn’t attract your attention if they were going through the Customs line at Dulles with you when you’re coming back from overseas,” Hayden said.

Asked by Russert if he meant terrorists who “look Western,” Hayden replied, “Look Western, who … would be able to come into this country with, again, without attracting the kind of attention that others might.”

In The News’ December report, my sources described a small group of white European converts who have raised fears among counterterrorism officials at the highest levels. I first began asking questions of U.S. counterterrorism officials after a December 2006 Newsweek article, in which a reporter described meeting one of the “English brothers” outside a Taliban safehouse on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Last month, Director of National Intelligence Adm. Michael McConnell told the Senate Armed Services Committee in written testimony: “We have seen an influx of new Western recruits into the tribal areas since mid-2006.”

Hayden yesterday also became one of the highest-ranking U.S. officials to state that Bin Laden himself is “not operationally involved” in his own terror network’s activities.

A BIG FISH MEETS ALLAH

The long time terrorist Imad Mughniyeh has a wrap sheet that makes Al Capone look like a choir boy in the Catholic church. Imad met Allah last night, probably down at Billy Bobs Barbecue, if you know what I mean. The credentialed folks over at Counter Terrorism Blog post the long sordid history of this despicable individual.

TERRORIST THREAT RUNS DEEP

They infiltrate our intelligence agencies through fraudulent marriages. Bill West of the Counter Terrorism Blog comments:

The emerging prosecution case against the former FBI and CIA officer in Detroit who has just pleaded guilty to various Federal felonies stemming from her apparent fraudulent infiltration of those agencies demonstrates the threat posed by operatives and sympathizers of terrorist organizations penetrating the front-line national security departments defending America from those very terror organizations. This is nothing new. This is the way skilled hostile intelligence organizations conduct espionage during wartime. This particular case, disturbingly, may be indicative of the level of sophistication Hizballah’s intelligence apparatus, surely with the assistance of the Iranian government, has reached.

Equally disturbing is how the accused defendant employed, with apparent ease, immigration fraud to remain in the United States after first entering on a temporary student visa (and how many hundreds of thousands of others like her from terrorist producing countries have similarly entered the US in recent years?). She then engaged in a sham marriage to obtain permanent resident status and ultimately obtained naturalized US citizenship via fraud. Having obtained US citizenship, she applied to the FBI and became an agent and later transferred to the CIA. A more potentially damaging security scenario would be hard to imagine.

Continue reading here.

THE UNCOMPROMISNG PRESIDENT

When it comes to the war on terror President Bush means what says. And I believe him on this one:

President Bush compared Congress' Democratic leaders Thursday to people who ignored the rise of Lenin and Hitler early in the last century, saying "the world paid a terrible price" then and risks similar consequences for inaction today. Bush accused Congress of stalling important pieces of the fight to prevent new terrorist attacks by: dragging out and possibly jeopardizing confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, a key part of his national security team; failing to act on a bill governing eavesdropping on terrorist suspects; and moving too slowly to approve spending measures for the Iraq war, Pentagon and veterans programs. "Unfortunately, on too many issues, some in Congress are behaving as if America is not at war," Bush said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "This is no time for Congress to weaken the Department of Justice by denying it a strong and effective leader. ... It's no time for Congress to weaken our ability to intercept information from terrorists about potential attacks on the United States of America. And this is no time for Congress to hold back vital funding for our troops as they fight al-Qaida terrorists and radicals in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Predictably, Baghdad Harry called "Bush's war" directionless. I don't see Dems, however, harping on withdrawal anymore. Apparently the Dems played the opportunist card, got elected, and saw the light of direction-one the surge may have enhanced.