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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - GOP - History - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Media: Bush’s ‘Flawed’ Portrayal of ‘The Enemy’ in State of the Union Address

January 24, 2007 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In response to president Bush’s State of the Union Address, the Washington Post’s main criticism seems to be that Bush doesn’t understand who “the enemy” is in the Global War on Terror. Yet as the Post proceeds to knock what they perceive as Bush’s simple minded rhetoric with today’s news article they only reveal it is they, rather, that has no idea who our enemies are.

In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush presented an arguably misleading and often flawed description of “the enemy” that the United States faces overseas, lumping together disparate groups with opposing ideologies to suggest that they have a single-minded focus in attacking the United States.

The Post’s conception of “flawed” is just as ill considered as they imagine the president’s to be and their analysis adds up merely to mirror the conception held by many Europeans.

Once again, a National U.S. paper “arguably” chooses sides with Europe’s interests over that of America.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Elections - History - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Patriotism - Religion - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Soft People, Hard People

January 24, 2007 by

By Selwyn Duke

If the 1976 western The Last Hard Men has it right, we Occidentals metamorphosed into jellyfish sometime around the early twentieth century. Although this title is more movie marketing than historical statement, there may be something to it. After all, Robert Baden-Powell, a lieutenant general in the British Army, was motivated by the belief that western boys were becoming too soft when he originated the Boy Scouts in 1907.

Regardless of the origin and rapidity of our transition from he-men to she-men, one thing is for certain: We have become a very soft people.

When pondering this, I think about how it is now common to see men cry publicly. Just recently George Bush Sr. broke down while rendering a speech, something unthinkable a generation ago. Why, presidential aspirant Edmund Muskie saw his campaign scuttled by a few inopportune tears in 1972. And before you score me for not embracing the metrosexual model, remember the impression this gives the rest of the world. Feminization may be fashionable, but it doesn’t engender respect among the more patriarchal peoples.
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00Publius Contributor - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Internet Store Tells Ordering US Soldier ‘Pull Out of Iraq’

January 23, 2007 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Resa LaRu “Warchick” Kirkland, one of our correspondents here on Publius’ Forum, has been trying to clear up a wretched email that was sent to one of our boys in Iraq refusing him service and telling him he should “pull out of Iraq”.

Fox News has picked up this story that I have been watching for a few days. I’ve been trying to ascertain if it was real or another example of an internet hoax — sometimes it isn’t easy to tell these days — but I think I can safely say it is real at this point. It has been rather hot news in Wisconsin over the last 48 hours, too.

The question is, will we see it farther and wider? Will the MSM pick up this story of our solder being ill treated by Discount-Mats.com, a Muslim owned, Wisconsin based floor mat company?

Army Sgt. Jason Hess, stationed in Taji, Iraq wanted to purchase a few floor mats form use in his station in Iraq and emailed the Wisconsin based floor mat company to ask if they would ship to an APO address in Iraq?

Here is the text of his original email: Continue reading “Internet Store Tells Ordering US Soldier ‘Pull Out of Iraq’”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Economy/Finances - GOP - Health - Military - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Karl Rove briefing on Bush’s State of the Union Speech- Jan 22, 2007

January 23, 2007 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I just finished a conference call with Karl Rove from the White House and thought I’d pass on the most pertinent points Rove revealed about the president’s upcoming speech.

The president will inform us that he will not bring us most of his economic news until next week in two different speeches. but he will mention that we are in the 41st month of uninterrupted growth.

He will also call for a balance budget in 5 yrs without raising taxes and discuss the wild spending in Congress called earmarks.

But, Rove gave us much of nothing about the economy, so it is apparent that Bush won’t focus on it during his speech.
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00Publius Contributor - History - Military - Resa LaRu, "Warchick" Kirkland - Security/Safety - Uncategorized

DANGEROUS RUMORS Taking Today’s Gossip Seriously

January 20, 2007 by

-By Resa LaRu Kirkland

I received the following email from a colleague right after Bush’s speech:

I’m doing a show on the speech, and some things don’t make sense, given the wire the last couple of months that something big was going to happen in early 07. Now we are getting 20,000 more troops, 3 carrier battle groups, and offensive ops in Somalia. Throw in the Iranian officers we’ve captured, and something smells like sulfur. Have you heard of anything from your Israeli contacts, or anyone else as to what is really happening? No way in hell we send 3 carriers to the gulf for Iraq…–Casey Hendrickson show, KXNT Las Vegas.

Hmmm…rumors are dangerous things. Pass it on mentality is often cruel and flawed. But this time, it makes me think back on other rumors in our past.
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00Publius Contributor - Entertainment - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

CBS News: We Report From the Middle, No Bias Here

January 17, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

When CBS launched their blog Public Eye in Sept. of 2005 they claimed it would give us “the journalists who make the important editorial decisions at CBS News and CBSNews.com” and that those journalists “will now be asked to explain and answer questions about those decisions in a public forum.”

While the jury might be out on the success of their task, we can certainly wonder at their ability to step away from themselves to render balanced judgment. Especially in the case of their recent story, “Biased In Both Directions”, where they declare that the MSM is reporting “in the middle” where it concerns stories about Iraq.

Viewers from the left and right might occasionally be annoyed by the tenor of the coverage, but they gravitated to the evening newscasts anyway, since … they remained more or less in the middle…

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00Publius Contributor - Entertainment - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - President - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Paper: Conservatives Have ‘No Qualms About Torturing’ Prisoners

January 17, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Are you a Conservative who likes the TV show “24”? If so, then Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Eugene Kane has divined why you like it so much. It’s because you have “no qualms about torturing” prisoners.

In a gratuitous insult to all intelligent Conservatives everywhere, Mr Kane has declared you all to be slobbering Neanderthals who would rather beat your enemy to death with a club than use diplomacy and that the law obviously means nothing to you.

Some speculate one reason “24” is such a favorite of the Bush crowd is that Bauer is presented as a guy with no qualms about torturing his prisoners in order to get information as quickly as possible. In light of criticism the Bush administration gets for its torture policies, it doesn’t take a think-tank expert to see why some hail the show as a breath of clean air.

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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Dan E. Phillips - Elections - Founders - History - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized

Anti-war Conservatives vs. Foreign Policy Realists

January 17, 2007 by

-By Dan E. Phillips

Reports indicate that Bush will advocate an increase in troop strength in Iraq when he publicly announces his new policy for Iraq. This policy has been dubbed “surging” and is also supported by Sen. McCain and other hawks. Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid have already spoken out against a surge. How this will all play out from a public relations and political standpoint remains to be seen.

Planning for a surge may well have been in the works for some time, but the timing of Bush rethinking the policy in Iraq was clearly precipitated by the unfavorable results (.pdf document) of the Iraq Study Group (ISG). Ironically, if the ISG was suggesting a de-escalation and eventual withdrawal, they may end up precipitating the opposite. In the name of “doing something” or “changing tactics” the findings of the ISG arguably give Bush some political cover for increasing troop numbers that he might not have had otherwise.

The liberal media celebrated the ISG’s findings as a severe blow to the Bush administration and its policies in Iraq. Predictably the conservative punditry reacted indignantly to the report and cried that the recommendations were tantamount to surrender. An apparent RNC talking point is that the Commission should be renamed the Iraq Surrender Group, an admittedly catchy but obviously simplistic formulation.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - GOP - History - Military - Patriotism - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - Thomas Brewton - Uncategorized

Cultural Momentum

January 17, 2007 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Will enough traditions and customs of civility and decency survive long enough to keep the United States from internal disintegration and conquest by Islamic Jihad?

Liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., often referred to his father’s theory that political standards follow a thirty-year cycle, first conservative, then liberal, and back to conservative, and so on. There is some truth to that observation, but the problem is that meanwhile the underlying social standards trend downward as a nation becomes more prosperous and life becomes easier. People vaunt their own intellects and come to believe that they no longer need God, that they are sufficient unto themselves for all matters.

After the United States emerged from the fiery furnace of the Civil War, on the road to becoming the most powerful economy in the world, liberal secularists in the 1880s believed that, having shed religion, they were directing us along the path of progress toward social perfection.
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00Publius Contributor - Crime - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Security/Safety - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Bush to Welcome 10,000 Saudi Students to American Schools

January 15, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

–Foreign Student Visas, Easy Avenue for Terrorists Entry to US

Directly following the monstrous attacks of 9/11, the US government took a step back from the routinely lightly vetted approvals for student visa applications, especially from Saudi Arabia. Previous to 9/11, Saudi citizens were also offered quick entry to the USA with a policy called “visa express” where their applications routinely escaped close scrutiny and were easily rubber stamped ahead. Three of the 9/11 hijackers took advantage of this easy access.

After 9/11/01 the quick visa approval slowed. It was also a prudent policy to approve fewer foreign students from certain segments of the world after 9/11 (as it would have been before), but it is a policy that seems to have come to an end.

In 2003 I wrote an Op Ed (What is wrong with Foreign Student Visas?) warning that the student visa program offers an easy access to our shores for faux students who are really terrorists seeking an unguarded entry. In 2004, according to Stephen Schwartz of the Weekly Standard, only about 1,000 visas were granted to Saudi men wishing to attend an American University as a result of our government’s 9/11 heightened concern.

But, that number could climb to as much as 10,000 Saudi students in the 2006/2007 fall semester. And that climb is being blessed by a Bush administration initiative to increase the number of Saudi men approved for these student visas.

How soon we forget.
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00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Elections - GOP - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - President - Religion - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Sec. Rice Attacked by Sen. Boxer Over Childlessness

January 12, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is it not outrageous that Senator Barbara Boxer (Dem, Cal) verbally attacked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for not having children as Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday to discuss the Administrations position on Bush’s Iraq military “surge” plans? Is this an acceptable criticism of a political official? Is the fact that an official might not have children reason to doubt their capacity for policy making or ability to advise an administration?

Is this the Democrat’s new era of niceness, their less rancorous way of governing?

I was shocked to see this intemperate verbal assault by Boxer in the New York Post, but I became curious to see how other MSM sources treated the outrageous comments of the unbalanced Boxer. So, I did a little search of the reactions of the press.
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Congress - Constitution - GOP - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - Patriotism - President - Religion - Society/Culture - The Law - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

Bush This Step in the Right Direction Could be his Last Chance

January 12, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Imagine this war as a sort of grotesque race. The jihadists and sectarians win if they can kill enough Americans to demoralize us enough that we flee before Iraqis and Afghans stabilize their newfound freedom. They lose if they can’t. Prosperity, security and liberty are the death knell to radical Islam. It’s that elemental.”
—Victor Davis Hanson

A “new plan” for Iraq, at last some sense… Bush’s plan revealed

Bush finally acts as if he truly wants to win this battle to give Iraq a chance to stabilize its foundling government by desiring to send in 20,000 more troops to “clear, hold, and build”, as the phrase has it. Clear out the insurgent and terrorist’s cells, hold the territory taken and then give the nascent Iraqi government a chance to establish itself as well as give the common Iraqi citizen the feeling of safety that befits a civilized society.

Sadly, Bush should have done this at least two years ago. In fact, many said from the beginning that we hadn’t enough troops to win the peace from the beginning. Those who made that claim were 100 percent right. But, that he has seen the sense of it and is proposing it now is a good thing. Better late than never.
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Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Patriotism - Resa LaRu, "Warchick" Kirkland - Uncategorized

A WONDERFUL DEATH — And Still the NYT Doesn’t Get It

January 12, 2007 by

Resa LaRu “Warchick” Kirkland

There’s something about hope. No matter how bad things get, man still clings to the tiniest shred of faith that things can change. It is innate within all humanity, a truly glorious thing.

Unless it’s applied to Islammunism and its co-conspirator the New York Times. That is when hope is pointless and dangerous.

Something wonderful happened on December 30, 2006. It was the perfect way to end the year. They hung one of the most vile human beings to ever walk the planet, and that’s saying a lot given mankind’s wicked past. Yep, snapped his neck like a twig, which was tremendously merciful considering what that narcissistic SOB did to millions of innocent people. In the end, the victims gave mercy to he who had never shown any…ever.
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Congress - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - Religion - Society/Culture - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

We Must Negotiate with Iraqi Terrorists and Insurgents Say ‘Experts’

January 8, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston


Chronicle staff writer, Robert Collier, wants the US to “negotiate” with the radical, Islamist, terrorists and the old guard Saddamists that are vexing Iraq’s attempts to move into the 21st century preventing them in their laudable attempt to build a nation answerable to Iraqis of every stripe.

“U.S. must negotiate with insurgents and militias, experts say”, Collier breathlessly informs us. His “experts”, though, leave much to be desired for reliability.

Collier seems to think the insurgents and terror outfits should be treated as if they are merely interested parties, as if they were the same kind of political party or faction we are used to in the west. Someone has not taken the time to inform Mr. Collier about exactly what these factions want in the Middle East, sadly.
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Media Bias - Military - Society/Culture - Uncategorized

AP: War Bad for Your Health

January 6, 2007 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One must read the latest AP non-report about the effects of war on people with a big dose of “duh” in mind.

Study: War Trauma May Raise Heart Risks

A groundbreaking study of 1,946 male veterans of World War II and Korea suggests that vets with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are at greater risk of heart attacks as they age.

The conclusion: war is bad for your health.

Wow. Wonder how much taxpayer money was wasted on THAT study!?
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