The Border and the Bear

Once again, we are faced with a serious crisis in Eastern Europe. Russia, under good old Vlad (Prince) Putin is seeking to reassert itself, and the Russian bear wants to prove its machismo by beating up on its favorite political pinata-Ukraine. The Russians want to reestablish their domination over Eastern Europe. They have never gotten over their loss of Empire, and they see setting up a pro-Russian government in the borderland (ooh-Krai-inya-by the border) as a good first step. The fraud in the recent Ukrainian election make Al Gore`s attempts in 2000 look positively pollyanish. The Ukrainian people have rebelled, and there is a real chance for civil war or Russian invasion. This situation is serious, and threatens to reignite the Cold War.

The situation in Ukraine could easily spin out of control. Will the Russians be willing to accept true self-determination for their Ukrainian neighbors? If Putin does not act, he may face his own political disintigration. If Civil War comes to Ukraine he will simply have to act-and to the Russian mind that means rolling out the Red Army. The Russians fear allowing matters to take their course. Controlling their borders is a matter of national survival to the Russian people; they cannot allow themselves to be thwarted lest others get the same idea. Many Russians miss the good old days and Putin will be in grave political peril if he does not intervene. For more on the situation in Ukraine click on Ultima Thule here:http://aussiethule.blogspot.com/.

Shawn Macomber has written an excellent article in the American Spectator Online, in which he delineates the crazy Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. He shows how the United States has been unwittingly assisting a massive Russian militarization by financing Russian disarmament. This is not as crazy as it sounds; Russian is committed by treaty to destroy much of its nuclear arsenal and the United States has been paying for this, freeing Russian money to build new and better weapons systems including an ICBM which is capable of changing course in midflight thus eluding an anti-ballistic missile system. Couple this with the crazy Clinton/Albright scheme in which we continued funding for Russian nuclear enrichment plants to keep producing weapons grade plutonium and it becomes clear why the Ukrainian situation is no laughing matter. The fate of the World may well hinge on what happens in Kiev in the next couple of weeks.

Shawn Macomber`s website is http://www.returnoftheprimitive.com. You can also read his article in http://www.spectator.org.

We face perhaps the gravest time in our history. We are fighting a World War against the forces of Islamic Fascism, with the real danger of nuclear murder or biological apocalypse. If the Ukrainian situation spirals out of control we may not be able to hold things together. Now is a time for prayer.

More Braggadoccio

I have noticed my American Thinker link is not working, so I thought I`d repost my article here.


THE MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR AMERICA

Every election year we are told that this is the most important election in our lifetime. Usually this can be laughed off as political hyperbole, but sometimes it is true. The election of 1860 certainly comes to mind as an election of monumental impact on this Nation. The election of Woodrow Wilson saw the end of American isolationism, the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 brought the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Now we are facing an election of unprecedented importance; the future of the United States as a world leader and the survival of Western Civilization hang in the balance. We cannot afford to be complacent, and we cannot afford to lose; the stakes are too high.
There are critical moments that are pivotal in history, and often these moments go unrecognized at the time. The battle at Marathon is a classic example; in 490 b.c. 10,000 Greek soldiers defeated a Persian army of 100,000 and drove the rulers of the ancient world permanently from Europe. The Persians did not think this important. They saw Greece as a puny backwater, and not worth mounting another effort to conquer. The Greeks, however, never forgot. Alexander would teach the Persians the importance of taking their enemies seriously. The Persians, you see, had a failure of will.
There are numerous examples of this throughout history. Rome didn’t want to tangle with Attila, and paid the price. The Spanish failed to take Britain seriously until the Brits destroyed their Armada, The Russians learned the hard way not to take Japan lightly in 1905, and France learned a nasty lesson ignoring Hitler. See a pattern? All of these nations failed to deal with their enemies and subsequently began to deteriorate and/or collapse. Their collective problem was that they had strength but had lost the will to do what needed to be done. They had become paper tigers.
Osama Bin-Laden has said America is a paper tiger. He attacked us repeatedly-the first World Trade Center attack, the Khobar Towers attack, the Embassy bombings, the U.S.S. Cole. Bill Clinton was too busy selling dual use technology to the Chinese and cavorting with interns to respond.
Then Al Gore plunged the United States into the nightmare of 2000. It became obvious to anyone who was paying attention that the U.S. was bitterly divided along partisan lines. When George Bush finally assumed the Presidency the Democrat party refused to acknowledge his legitimacy. Is it any surprise that September 2001 another attack came? Bin-Laden had observed in Mogadishu that we would cut and run when attacked. He saw we lacked the will for a fight. The time was ripe for a spectacular attack on America itself, an attack to show the world our weakness. Hence came 911.
We were very fortunate, for we had a strong President. (Imagine what Al Gore would have done; he would have blamed it all on Global Warming!) We invaded Afghanistan, and invaded Iraq. We showed iron resolve. We ticked off the corrupt Euro-elite.
But now we come to the Moment of Truth! If we remove Bush from office, we may well be sealing our fate. This is one of those critical moments in history upon which the fate of ourselves and, in fact, all of Western Civilization depends. Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington has called the War on Terror a ``Clash of Civilizations`` and makes the argument that we are in a death struggle with the Islamic World. He`s right; the terrorists are in every Islamic nation and have but one goal. Islam is VERY serious about reasserting itself. They intend to finish the job started by Muhammad, and WE stand in their way. They intend to destroy us.
Americans just aren’t able to understand this. This may well be the most dangerous time in all of our history. China has been engaged in a proxy war with the U.S. (The Chinese military says war with the U.S. is inevitable, and they believe we are a paper tiger) and they have been proliferating nuclear technology in an alarming manner. Pakistan acquired the Bomb through N. Korean and Chinese aid. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and would not hesitate to use them on us if they could. Couple all this with the madness of these suicide-terrorists and you have a recipe for destruction-our destruction.

This election is about far more than George Bush and John Kerry. It is about more than Republicans and Democrats. It is about the soul of our Nation. It is about answering the call of destiny, or taking the easy path. The Bible says that the way which leads to destruction is broad and easy. Are we going to take the broad and easy path? Is the grit and sacrifice needed too much for America? This may well be the most important decision we will ever make.
Many Conservatives are angry with George Bush because of his spendthrift ways and unwillingness to use his veto. I have heard and read many conservatives who plan on staying home on election night, or are voting third party to send the President a message. This is very foolish. Even if you live in a ``safe`` state what you are doing is weakening the position of the President by reducing his popular tally. Tom Daschle and friends used the election outcomes in 2000 to declare George Bush illegitimate, and they tried to marginalize him. This played into the hands of the enemy then, and it will play into their hands now. If we are too busy squabbling among ourselves we cannot fight the real enemy. The radicals understand this; Americans die every day in Iraq to pay for our silly internecine political machinations. Had we presented a united front in Iraq that phase of the war would be winding down. The enemy would have had to seed Iraq to us. The problem is they understand us better then we do ourselves. They know that they can win if they can get us fighting each other. I fear they are right, and they may just win. This is the most important election we will ever face.
Do we have the will to fight this to the end? This election will decide that question. If John Kerry and the Democrats win they will begin scaling back on our military pursuit of those who would kill us. Even if George Bush wins, but the election is as close as in 2000 we may find our President unable to act as is necessary. We need everyone out for this election; the stakes are just too high. We cannot be too afraid or too complacent to act. This is our moment of truth. If our courage fails we may well join the ranks of Darius and the Persians as footnotes in history.

Political Poetry

I entered these poems in a contest in the Edge City Review back in October. ECR still hasn`t coughed up the results, and the election is getting too far off to really appreciate these poems so I decided to post them here.

A Kerryhue

John F. Kerry
doesn`t mind if two gentlemen marry
and there are things he would like to erase
like what springs from both sides of his face!

The Kerry Patch

They love their Man with orange tan
that botox`d boy from Liberal Land
the Kerry Kool-aid drinking Klan
they love their Man John Kerry!

Their Jewish/Irish/Frankish friend
he never breaks but he sure can bend
and votes he makes he will amend
the politician Kerry!

John Kerry, John Kerry
for money he did marry.
He`s out of wack about Iraq
and answers not our query!

He straddles nearly every horse
(when the money`s gone he`ll just divorce)
he can`t committ to any course
that rock of strength John Kerry!

He stabs our allies in the back
with snidely jabs and nasty cracks
and plays it loose with all his facts
that genius John F. Kerry!

John Kerry, John Kerry
his brain is light and airy.
He feigns a dance to hide his stance
and, boy, the guy is dreary!

The Swiftboat Vets sure hate the deal
with ``hero`` Kerry at the wheel!
Three Purple Hearts (those papercuts healed)
the great Warhero Kerry!

He`ll defend us all with rubber bands
depend on troops from foreign lands
and give in to all U.N. demands
our fearless leader Kerry!

John Kerry, John Kerry
he trashed his friends unfairly.
He preys on fears for his career
and hopes we forget early!

This guy`s more boring than Bob Dole
a left-wing granite jawed beanpole
with hot air snoring out his hole
the dynamic John F. Kerry!

Who could vote for such a dude
so full of snit, and very rude
whose meager wit the truth eludes.
We can`t afford John Kerry!

John Kerry, John Kerry
we can`t afford John Kerry!
A foolish man without a plan
don`t vote for John F. Kerry!


A Man of Peace (Ode To The Anti-War Activist)

I am a Man of Peace
wars I would ban, all fighting would cease
brotherhood and love from me in measures untold.
I do what I can for this treasure`s increase!

I stand on what`s true (though the truth I must mold)
virtuous through, and, in truth, oh-so-bold!
In all that I do a true virtuous King!
A world that is new in my hands I must hold.

To oppose me is sin-I detest such a thing!
Your loss is my win; joyous song will I sing!
Should America stumble, or perhaps even fall
from my throat hear the rumble of triumph it bring!

In my quest I may stagger but always stand tall
in my zeast I may swagger and curse at you all.
I`ll rant at your soldier and spit on his grave.
In my breast I grow bolder, I stand strong like a wall.

I never grow older-that`s a pit for a slave!
By bit the bell`s tolling; your soul I would save.
My bitter seed`s sewing, there`s blood on my hands
the terrorists rolling, their courage I gave!

My hatred is growing to flood cross our land
delight at the flowing of blood in the sand.
May death in Iraq rain down without cease!
The frightful wind blowing from Satan`s dark hand
to America`s pain may it add with increase!

As I have told you,
I am a Man of Peace!


and one more for our liberal friends!

The Liberal

Close your eyes, shut your ears
hide your fears behind your lies.
You despise what shows behind the mirrors
so go the years until you die.

Hide your fears behind your lies
when doubts arise through your veneer.
So go the years until you die.
Truth defies the things you hear.

When doubts arise through your veneer
you grow severe in your replies.
Truth defies the things you hear
still you draw near to your alibis.

You grow severe in your replies;
you despise what shows behind the mirrors.
Still you draw near to your alibis
close your eyes, shut your ears.

EXIT THE POLLS

It just keeps happening; our fair and balanced press keeps making the same mistakes election after election. It’s never their fault. First it was the fault of the voter news service, then the fault of the National Election Pool, now the blame lies with that evil genius Karl Rove. Why does it keep happening? Why does the press keep getting the exit polls so very wrong?
The media uses exit polling to give them raw data about who is voting, why they are voting that way, and how they are voting. Exit polling is intended to be a tool to help them extrapolate the real election results by giving them a statistical model with which to compare the real results. For example, if 8% of precincts report George Bush leading by 51% to 49%, and the exit polls show this number with a sampling of voters which match the actual conditions of the precinct, it is safe to extrapolate the results and call this precinct for Bush provided your model contains an adequate sampling of all voters in the precinct and can predict the timing of said votes. If your actual results show a variation from the exit polls it becomes necessary to wait until your voting pool becomes large enough for any corrections to be made to your exit poll sample. In other words, you can call an election with a small portion of precincts reporting provided your exit poll data matches up. Often this is not the case, because of the vagaries of chance and timing of polls. Also, you assume your questions will be answered honestly (not always the case). The problem with exit poll numbers is that they are a rough approximation until your sample group of voters because large enough to be immune to error. Early results are raw data, and not indicative of what the real results will show.

During Tuesday’s election someone leaked the early raw data to Internet bloggers, and all hell broke loose. Who leaked this, and why? Former Clinton campaign manager Dick Morris accused the Democrats of leaking this for purely political purposes, and many inside sources have suggested that this was indeed coming from the Kerry camp. If this is correct it is a cynical attempt to influence the election and is probably a violation of campaign law-someone should be going to jail over this. The early exit polls were decidedly damaging to President Bush, and may well have depressed voter turnout in the western states.
What do we really know about these exit polls? ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX NEWS, and the AP banned together to create the National Election Pool (NEP) to replace the Voter News Service after the VNS failed repeatedly to give accurate information. The Networks hired two polling agencies to conduct their exit polls; Edison Media Research and Mitofsky. Joe Lenski, cofounder of Edison, put out a statement on their website on October 28 warning the Networks (and viewers) ``Don`t be fooled by early returns``.
He warned that early returns tend to be inaccurate.

Edison is a company founded in 1994 by Joe Lenski and Larry Rosen. Joe Lenski, a Princeton graduate, worked for none other than the Voter News Service before opening Edison and was part of the decision team making projections for CNN and CBS from 1996-2000. Larry Rosen was likewise a Princeton graduate, attending the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International affairs, Their educational backgrounds suggest they may have a liberal bent. Their qualifications make one wonder why they were chosen to participate in the NEP considering their close association with the discredited VNS.
Likewise, Warren Mitofsky is an interesting choice; former head of the CBS Election Survey Unit and Executive Producer of election night broadcasts for CBS, Mitofsky seems to have done considerable survey work for liberal issues. He did work on the Amadou Diallo case, worked on the Challenge to overturn the refusal to seat Diane Feinstein in the Senate, and worked on a legal challenge to laws against exit polling in Washington State and Florida. Mitofsky was the FOUNDER of the Voter Research and Surveys, which was the forerunner of the discredited Voter News Service.
Why did the media go to these organizations for the NEP? I am not saying that they are necessarily biased, but it is strange that people closely associated with the old Voter News Service would be put in charge of running its successor. Could the early results have been ginned up to help Kerry? Could the NEP UNCONSCIOUSLY have made judgement calls for Kerry when in doubt?

The NEP was adamant; their exit polls were right on the money. Joe Lenski DID warn against reading too much into the early results. Still, it is undeniable that someone twisted the results to benefit Kerry. Those early results were WAY off. Had it been as close as 2000 the exit polls could have swung the election. Who is to blame here? We need an investigation to get to the bottom of this. These mistakes always seem to benefit Democrats. A matter of chance? I just don`t believe that.

The Networks can`t be blamed for the results; their numbers were all in agreement (including Fox News). It may be, however, that they were the source of the leaks. Certainly these numbers should not have been given to any campaign lest they be misused. Given the ridiculously one sided campaign coverage, and given the fact that the AP`s own polling made the assumption that 9 out of every 10 voters would break for Kerry, it should have been obvious that anything damaging to Bush would race into the ether. The concept of media bias is no longer arguable.
The Networks continue to hide behind the skirts of the First Amendment, and callously blame their pollsters. It is perhaps time to consider what we mean by freedom of the press; we certainly do not have that in this country. Our press is an oppressive regime. It starts with the journalism schools and continues all the way to the top of the networks. Dan Rather, for instance, uses forged documents for political ends and suffers no consequences. Why? Isn`t it obvious that we need regime change at CBS?

The left simply has control of too many aspects of the dissemination of information. We will continue to face distortions, inaccuracies, and outright lies until we break the stranglehold of the left-wing media. Fortunately we have been making inroads; Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Etc. We still have a long, hard slog ahead.
One way to start is by demanding accountability. The Justice Department should pursue an investigation into this matter. We should outlaw the use of exit polling in elections. I would like to go further and demand that the press not be allowed to report ANY results until all the polls close in the United States; early reporting distorts the vote. Consider the impact of calling the ``battleground`` states on the east coast early. People in Oregon, or Alaska are still waiting in line to vote. Even if the exit polls were 100% accurate this will still affect state and local races. There simply is no good justification for rushing out potentially faulty election results (remember the press calling Florida for Gore before the Panhandle had a chance to vote in 2000?)

It`s time to seriously consider banning this over aggressive and biased reporting of election results.

It`s time to exit the polls.

On the Crusades

Thomas Madden, Professor of Mideval History at St. Louis University, has an excellent book out about the Crusades. It should be required reading for students in this era. We are currently engaged in part II of the Crusades (even though we in the West aren`t aware of it) and everyone should understand the reasons for the animosity of the Islamic World. The book is A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Professor Madden addressed a number of issues about the Crusades in this article in Crisis magazine. Click the following link: http://crisismagazine.com/april2002/cover.htm.

The Islamic expansion fizzled out after the Crusades, which was the first proactive response to 300+ years of Moslem aggression against Christendom. The Moslem belief in the inevitability of their conquest of the entire world was shaken by Crusader armies; even the later (failed) Crusades held the Islamic World in check and brought Europe into modernity. That is why the Moslems have such revulsion for the Crusades; they brought an end to the aura of Islamic invincibility.

Islam has been burning for a rematch for 1000 years. That is what we must understand if we are to really grasp our current, misnamed ``War on Terror``.

Division, wither thou comest?

The incomparable Walter Williams has an article in Townhall.com which helps to explain the division in our country. He makes the case that Big Government is a zero-sum game, and that for some group to ``win`` another must lose; this, he argues, results in conflict between people.

I mostly agree with this, but I think his argument fails to take several things into account. Liberalism has juggled disparate interests to maintain its power, and although some groups routinely get the short end of the stick (the black community gets the droppings from the Democrats year in and year out) they still don`t break from the fold. Why? Williams argument can`t explain this. Furthermore, in surveys of Americans, many people who were to receive a tax cut as a result of George Bush`s tax reform were more than willing to send their refund back if they could prevent the rich from likewise getting tax relief. How can you explain this?

The fact is, we are dealing with a religion here. Many people vote Democrat, or hate rich people, or support liberal policy, because they have FAITH. There is no reasoned opinion behind their views. They grew up believing a certain way and, by God (or Government) they will martyr themselves for the cause. Conservatives MAY be this way too; I certainly am conservative because of my Christian faith, as well as the fact that liberalism is completely at odds with reality.

Why is this coming to a head now? Simple. Liberals have, until now, run the show. Suddenly they see the country slipping from their grasp and they can neither believe it nor can they stand the thought of it. Conservatives have been plugging away for decades, and our side is used to fighting the good fight. The left has always hated us, but didn`t see the need to push the issue. Now their true colors are coming out. They (rightly) see this as a death-struggle between belief systems.

To see Professor Williams article click here: http://townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/welcome.shtml

Braggadoccio 101

I just thought I would start this blog off with a bit of bragging about my recently published work. On October 29 I had an article published in the American Thinker. It is about the need to maintain our national will and the importance of the recent election. The American Thinker is a great conservative political and philosophical e-zine read by many top commentators such as Rush Limbaugh (he was considering using my article). Click here: http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id3968.

If you are a fan of poetry and would like to see my poem about the news media, you may want to check out the short-lived Poetry Renewal where you can read it here:http://poetryrenewal.com/200404/poems.shtml#3.

If you are interested in a review of Pat Buchanans new book, check out the Claremont Institute for a review by my brother Brian here:http://claremont.org/writings/041004birdnow.html.

Please bear with me as this is a new blog, and I am not adept at using the tools. I will be posting more news, commentary, and whatever else interests me as time goes by. Check back, and feel free to comment on anything you see here.

Thanks

It`s All About Me

Yes, that`s right! It`s all about me and what I want to post up here. If any of you people don`t like it-too bad. This is my blog, and I control the verticle, I control the horizontal.

The purpose of this site is to propogate my ideas and accomplishments, and to showcase other people if I like them and want them to get attention. If I don`t like them they will end up in the trash along with such dignitaries as Paul Krugman, Maurweenie Dowd, Bill Clinton etc.

I want this to be a dignified, intelligent, mature discussion of the days events. I want this to be a gathering of intellectuals and philosophers seeking the higher meaning of life.

So enjoy the madness. Remember it`s about me, me, me, me, me!