James Arthur Ray: Self-Help Guru Under Criminal Investigation in Sweat Lodge Deaths

An odd story ran across the TV screen earlier this week that set me to doing some checking around.  It seems that "self-help gurus" and 'financial advisors" can develop a cult-like following much like those found among religious sects with the leader perhaps succumbing to his or her "power." 

James Arthur Ray is under investigation by Arizona authorities for the deaths of 3 seminar participants at at his five-day seminar near Sedona, AZ in October.  Here's the story from Fox in Phoenix:



Ray has several books for sale, his current one being "Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want."   I thought to myself: Sedona ... "harmonic" ... ah, yes -- this is some of that New Age stuff.  First, I found a video clip of him on Google -- an excerpt from the movie "The Secret" (by Rhonda Byrne), based on the book.

"You know, the universe is this great genie and your conscious mind is Aladin -- it formulates the intention of what you choose for your life. Whatever you put out there consistently, and you think, feel and act upon, it's coming to you."

I remembered hearing of this book "The Secret" a while back on Oprah.  In her inimitable way, Oprah gushed about this book, fawning over her panel of "experts."  (I remember thinking to myself the whole time "this is just some of the same old "get rich quick because you deserve it" crappola.  "If you believe it hard enough, it will come" mumbo-jumbo.)

I went to Oprah's site and did some snooping around.  I found that, indeed, he had been one of the guests to discuss the principles of "The Secret."  Here's a clip from her website:

"The Secret" is described on the site as being "defined as the law of attraction, which states that like attracts like.  The concept says that the energy you put into the world -- both good and bad -- is exactly what comes back to you.  This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make very day."

The above image states that, according to Ray, there is scientific evidence to back up the spiritual practices and laws defined in The Secret.

"Science tells us that everything is energy, and so your thoughts are energy.  Your body, your cash, your car -- everything you think is solid, if you put it under a high-powered microscope, it's just a field of energy and a rate of vibration," he says.  "And so are we.  So if you think you're this meat suit running around, you have to think again." 

So, I have to first ask myself, as with anyone that tells the public what they should be doing with their lives: "Who is this guy and what are his credentials?" 

Ray's website is here; however, today it is undergoing "planned maintenance."  (Too bad I didn't get screenshots the other day when first looking at it.)  It is from here, however, that I found the link to the above Google video with the excerpt from the movie "The Secret."  There are links to other short video clips of his.

Wikipedia has some interesting information on Ray:

• James Ray International is not accredited as of Oct. 2009 by the BBB which gives the company a C rating for 7 complaints filed and 2 unresolved;

• Besides appearing in the movie and promoting "The Secret", Ray has also taught Stephen Covey motivational seminars while working for AT&T;

• Ray's father was an Oklahoma preacher, living occasionally in poverty.

• Here's his philosophy in a nutshell:
Ray is an advocate of the Law of Attraction; his teachings have been described as "including a mix of spirituality, motivational speaking, and quantum physics". In response to critics who asked if Holocaust victims were, in Ray's view, thinking incorrectly, Ray stated in a 2007 interview: "I know people of the Jewish faith and heritage who don't necessarily believe the Holocaust was bad. Now that might be shocking to you but I have people on record who have said, hey there's a lot of good things that came out of that, a lot of lessons, a lot of opportunities for the world." In that interview, Ray answered about personal responsibility, "I fully know, for me, that there is no blame. Every single thing is your responsibility ... and nothing is your fault. Because every single thing that comes to you is gift ... a lesson."^{[7]  [Wikipedia]} 

There is no mention of Ray's educational background.  I did find this on his Amazon book page:

About the Author

James Arthur Ray has traveled the globe, devoting more than two decades to studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who create true wealth in every area of life. A World Thought Leader, popular speaker, and featured expert in The Secret, James is one of the few spiritual teachers with stellar business credentials (as an entrepreneur, and also as a top sales manager and personal and business growth expert with AT&T). He's been a recent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, Moneyline, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, and the Today show. He lives in San Diego and Las Vegas.

Any formal training in psychology or business seems to be lacking ... He appears to simply be a graduate of "The Hard School of Knocks" ... at best.

Ray has come center stage in the last couple of days due to Arizona authorities releasing on Monday documents showing that serious medical problems occurred at sweat lodge events prior to the fateful October day that resulted in 3 peoples' deaths.  From Fox in Phoenix:

Three people died after the Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony that was the highlight of Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event at a retreat near Sedona. The Yavapai County sheriff's office has focused a homicide investigation on Ray.

A number of affadavits paint the picture of that day. Participants were inside the tent for 8- to 15-minute sessions. Superheated rocks brought the temperature inside to an estimated 150 degrees, and soon people started collapsing.

According to the documents, a man Ray hired to build the sweat lodge told investigators that people emerged in medical distress all three times he has assisted with the ceremonies. He says Ray repeatedly told the most recent participants that, "You are not going to die. You might think you are, but you're not going to die."

As people started collapsing, a teenager who was helping out asked if they should be removed. According to the documents, Ray responded, "No, they will be fine."

Another person says they tried to remove two unconscious people from the tent, but Ray told her that was "sacrilegious."

Investigators also searched Ray's room at the Angel Valley Retreat outside Sedona. They reportedly found a wealth of prescription medication, syringes and vitamins.

Participants also told investigators they were supposed to call James Arthur Ray "Master".

And here are some details of prior seminar problems [source]:

Some of the people told investigators that Ray responded to cries for help from a man who was burned and warned other participants not to leave the sweat lodge during eight 15-minute rounds so they wouldn't also be scorched by the hot rocks in the center.

Others who were interviewed by investigators described suffering broken bones at other Ray-led events after being instructed to break bricks with their hands. Others said they vomited and slipped into altered states of consciousness.

Mickey Reynolds, who attended Ray's 2005 "Spiritual Warrior" event said it was implied the sweat lodge was safe since Ray had done the ceremonies before. Reynolds told investigators there was no discussion of safety procedures or a plan if something went wrong.

The owner of the Sedona retreat, Amayra Hamilton, said she told Ray in 2005 that he would have to change his ceremonies after a man became severely ill and she saw improvements the following year.
Richard Wright said he took part in the latest sweat lodge as a test of courage, enduring seven of eight 15-minute rounds. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident told The Associated Press participants never were asked to provide emergency contacts or answer questions about their health, and they never were given a clear picture of the effects of a sweat lodge.

Instead, they took Ray's word that vomiting and passing out were normal, he said.

"We all chose what we did," Wright said. "But again, if you make a choice with only having half the story, have you really made a choice?"


The two-hour sweat lodge event came at the end of a Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" retreat that cost people $9,000, or more, to attend.  Ray told the people in the sweat lodge to try to push past their discomfort as a test of achievement.

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office is investigating the case as a possible homicide.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a Healthy and Happy 2010!!!!

Mainstream Media: The Top Nine Stories They Missed

Totally scammed from FoxNews ...


Nine Big Stories the Mainstream Media Missed in 2009
From radical advisers in the Obama White house to hacked e-mails showing questionable work by climate scientists, 2009 has seen its share of scandals.  But if you only followed the mainstream media, you might have missed some of the biggest stories of the year  Here's a list of the top nine stories the mainstream media ignored in the past year.

#1 Van Jones
White House Green Jobs adviser Van Jones resigned from his post in September after weeks of pressure over his radical past. A former self-avowed Marxist and anarchist, Jones signed a 2004 petition that suggested the U.S. government was involved in the Sept 11. terrorist attacks. The New York Times and Washington Post ignored the story until Jones' resignation, which occurred in the middle of the Labor Day weekend.

#2 ACORN Tapes
Filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, went undercover to the offices of the community organizing group ACORN in the summer. They secretly videotaped employees instructing them in how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for 13 "very young" girls from El Salvador whom the pair said they wanted to import to work as child prostitutes. New videos emerged daily, but the mainstream media ignored the growing scandal for days, even as federal agencies began severing their ties with the group and members of Congress cried for an investigation.



#3 Science Czar John Holdren
President Obama's "science czar," John Holdren, floated a number of lethal policies to shrink the human population -- including compulsory abortions and other Draconian measures -- in science textbooks he published in the 1970s. Though the news spread widely through the blogosphere, the mainstream media never touched the controversy. Click here to see a slideshow of the radical ideas he proposed.

#4 Climate-Gate
Hackers broke into the servers at a prominent British climate research center and leaked years' worth of e-mails onto the Web, producing what some skeptics of man-made climate change said was "smoking gun" evidence of collusion among climate scientists. One e-mail referenced a plan to "hide the decline" in global temperatures, as another lamented the "travesty" that temperatures had not increased over the past decade. Prominent climate scientists discussed blackballing skeptics and admitted to dumping data to avoid public scrutiny. The head of the Climatic Research Unit at Britain's East Anglia University stepped down amid the uproar that followed. But the television networks ignored the story for so long they even got scooped by Comedy Central.

#5 Politicizing the NEA
A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts encouraged artists to promote President Obama's political agenda in a conference call he organized with the White House. The NEA's communications director Yosi Sergant eventually resigned in August amid accusations that the grant-making organization was becoming politicized. The administration called it a "teaching moment," but the media didn't seem to catch the lesson.

#6 Chas Freeman
Chas Freeman, the Obama administration's appointee to chair the National Intelligence Council, had major conflicts of interest with the Saudi and Chinese governments as a private citizen. He referred to Tibetan Buddhist protests against the communist government in China as a "race riot," and said the Chinese had been "overly cautious" in killing hundreds of protesters in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.

But Freeman drew special ire for his fierce and open criticism of what he called Jewish "colonists" in Israel. Even as prominent members of Congress blasted the appointment, the New York Times covered the story only after Freeman had already withdrawn his name for consideration.

#7 Tea Party Protests
In the wake of the bank bailouts and the federal stimulus package, some critics of the Obama administration's economic crisis plans urged citizens to mail tea bags to their congressmen as a form of protest, recalling the Boston Tea Party and unjust taxes imposed by the British before the American Revolution. The Tea Party movement grew to include massive protests, as tens of thousands of Americans joined in on Tax Day. After utterly ignoring the movement for weeks, the mainstream media finally caught up to the story, but mostly used their coverage as an occasion for sexual puns and frathouse humor.

#8 Kevin Jennings, Safe Schools Czar
President Obama's "safe schools czar," Kevin Jennings, is a former schoolteacher who advocated promoting homosexuality in schools and was forced to admit he had poorly handled an incident in which a student told him he was having sex with older men. Jennings has since been tied to a pornographic suggested reading list for 7th graders that was designed by the organization he founded and directed for over a decade, and dozens of members of Congress have called for his ouster.



#9 Democratic Stimulus
A December study from George Mason University showed that Democratic districts have received nearly twice as much stimulus money as Republican districts -- and the cash has been awarded without regard to how badly an area was suffering from job losses or income problems. Blue districts garnered the majority of the $787 stimulus package, getting an average of $439 million per district to the Republican average of $232 million.

A Christmas Story To Bring Us All Some Cheer

With all the distressing news in the story (not that the MSM loves to pound that garbage into our heads), we need to snarf up any good news we can get!  FoxNews is reporting on a "Christmas miracle" that happened in Denver.

"Hand of God" Seen in Christmas Eve Revival of Mother, Baby

A Colorado woman says a Christmas miracle brought her and her newborn son back from the brink of death after her heart stopped beating during childbirth and the baby was delivered showing no signs of life.

"I got a second chance in life," Tracy Hermanstorfer said.

Hermanstorfer, 33, was being prepped for childbirth at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs Thursday morning. Her 37-year-old husband was by her side when she began to feel sleepy and laid back in her bed.

Tracy's husband Mike Hermanstorfer was clutching his pregnant wife's hand when her life slipped away at the Colorado hospital on Christmas Eve, and then he cradled his newborn son's limp body seconds after a medical team delivered the baby by Cesarean section.

Minutes later he saw his son come to life in his arms under the feverish attention of doctors, and soon he learned his wife had inexplicably come back to life.

"My legs went out from underneath me," Mike Hermanstorfer said Tuesday. "I had everything in the world taken from me, and in an hour and a half I had everything given to me."

Tracy Hermanstorfer went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing during labor on Thursday, said Dr. Stephanie Martin, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, where the Hermanstorfers had gone for the birth of their son.

"She had no signs of life. No heartbeat, no blood pressure, she wasn't breathing," said Martin, who had rushed to Hermanstorfer's room to help. "The baby was, it was basically limp, with a very slow heart rate."

After their miraculous recovery, both mother and the baby, named Coltyn, appear healthy with no signs of problems, Martin said.

She said she cannot explain the mother's cardiac arrest or the recovery.

"We did a thorough evaluation and can't find anything that explains why this happened," she said. Mike Hermanstorfer credits "the hand of God."

"We are both believers ... but this right here, even a nonbeliever — you explain to me how this happened. There is no other explanation," he said.

Asked about divine intervention, Martin said, "Wherever I can get the help, I'll take it."

"She literally stopped breathing and her heart stopped," her husband said. Pandemonium erupted as doctors and nurses tried to revive her with chest compressions and a breathing tube, but nothing worked.

"I was holding her hand when we realized she was gone," Hermanstorfer said. "My entire life just rolled out."

Doctors told him, "We're going to take your son out now. We have been unable to revive her and we're going to take your son out," he recalled.

After the Cesarean section, some of the team rushed his wife to the operating room while the others attended to Coltyn.

"They hand him to me, he's absolutely lifeless," Hermanstorfer said. The doctors went to work on Coltyn as Hermanstorfer held him, and soon he began to breath.

"His life began in my hands," Hermanstorfer said. "That's a feeling like none other. Life actually began in the palm of my hands."

Martin said Tracy Hermanstorfer's pulse returned even before she was wheeled out of the room and into surgery. She estimates Hermanstorfer had no heartbeat for about four minutes.

...

Cheney Says Obama Is Pretending We're Not At War

Politico today is publishing a statement former Vice President Dick Cheney made regarding Obama's (mis)handling of the Christmas Day Knickerbomber (emphasis added):

Dick Cheney: Barack Obama 'trying to pretend'

Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama on Tuesday of “trying to pretend we are not at war” with terrorists, pointing to the White House response to the attempted sky bombing as reflecting a pattern that includes banishing the term “war on terror” and attempting to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

“[W]e are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe,” Cheney said in a statement to POLITICO. “Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society.” 

Cheney was joining a chorus of Republicans who have criticized Obama following the Christmas Day attack, in which a Nigerian suspect is accused of trying to blow up a loaded airliner with a bomb stitched into his underwear.

A senior Democrat said in response: “It’s telling that in attacking the president and the administration, that Vice President Cheney did not condemn the attack against our nation on Christmas Day.”  (DUH?????)

Foreshadowing the party’s strategy for next year’s midterm congressional elections, GOP officeholders have eschewed the customary partisan restraint following a terrorist incident and baldly portrayed Democrats as weak on security ...

Here is Cheney’s full statement:

"As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.

“He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core Al Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war."

 [Read more here.]

Amen, Brother Cheney!!!  How's THAT for 'speaking truth to power', MoveOn?


[tip: GatewayPundit]

The Today Show: Another Reason To Turn Off This Drivel

Not that we've ever seen political bias before on The Today Show, mind you ...

From Matthew Balan of The Media Research Center --

On Tuesday’s Today show, NBC’s Jenna Wolfe singled out Sarah Palin and grouped her with “flabby thighs, cheap men, [and] rude people” as subjects some people chose to ritually “purge” from their minds in an annual event in New York City called “Good Riddance Day.” Participants wrote down their worst memories of 2009 on sheets of paper and fed them into a giant shredding machine to mark the upcoming new year. .

The NBC correspondent began her report, which aired 50 minutes into the 7 am hour, by briefly describing the concept of the “Good Riddance Day” event in midtown Manhattan: “It’s the crossroads of the world. People flock here for the shows, the shopping and the shredding? Right smack in the heart of Times Square, they are purging like mad. This is ‘Good Riddance Day,’ where before you ring in the new, you say adios to the old.” She then listed her examples of what people fed into the shredder, highlighting one piece of paper that had the name of the former Alaska governor written on it: “Whatever you hated in ‘09- flabby thighs, cheap men, rude people or Sarah Palin, just write it down and rip it up. The ex’s are the most popular purges.”

Wolfe even got into the act by shredding a list of her own, which included “bad hair days...uncomfortable heels; bad breath...and poverty.” But if her report is any indication, one thing from 2009 that the mainstream media won’t be saying “good riddance” to is their theme of Palin bashing.

I wonder if that slip of paper with Palin's name on it belonged to Wolfe ...

Military Working Dogs: Retirees Need Homes

If you've snooped around a bit on my blog, you'll know that I looooooooove dogs!  I am especially fascinated by those dogs that are trained to perform high-level, important tasks for us humans, such as police work, search and rescue, or assisting the handicapped.

Today on FoxNews' website I found a great video about "MWDs" -- "military working dogs."  Not only do they perform life-saving, essential tasks for our military personnel with some 2,300 presently working in the military, but many need to find homes following their retirement.

Here's the video clip from FoxNews: "First Line of Defense: Military working dogs save American soldiers' lives"


Some interesting facts from the video:

• 2,300 military working dogs

• These dogs are the single most effective measure against IEDs

• MWDs are used in all aspects of the military, including assisting battlefield commanders

• Dogs have provided more than 60 years of military service to our country

• After several years of service, the dogs are "retired"

• The "retirees" are highly adoptable; but, finding suitable homes isn't easy

• In 2000, Congress enabled these dogs to be adopted by military, police and civilian families (click here for info)

• It take 60-90 days for the dogs to learn to transition from military to civilian life; afterwards they prove to be great additions to homes

Here are some of the adoption links given in the video where you can contribute to these worthy causes ... and maybe even adopt a hero yourself!:

militaryworkingdogadoptions.com

www.lackland.af.mil

www.k9soldiers.org -- K9Soldiers has a special "urgent alert" regarding six drug-sniffing dogs in Pakistan that the organization is trying to bring home.  Click here for details if you wish to help.

Gitmo 2009 Versus The Outdated Imaged Hyped by the MSM

Gitmo once again reigns supreme in the news lately, given Attorney General Eric Holder's wish to try the terrorists on American soil, the transfer of the inmates to Illinois, and the recent "Knickerbomber" incident on Christmas Day. 

After having just paid for a subscription to The Weekly Standard, I was thrilled to see an article written by Thomas Joscelyn about his recent tour of the Guantanamo Bay facilities.  One of his opening remarks is the following:

"The iconic images of Gitmo are not photos of Camp 4, however. The pictures that have captured the world's imagination are of detainees shackled on bended knee in bright orange jumpsuits with their eyes and ears covered. Those pictures were taken more than seven and a half years ago at Camp X-Ray, in the long corridor that runs down the middle of the camp."

Sure enough, when I googled images of Gitmo, those are exactly the pictures that first come up (as pictured above.)  


Joscelyn proceeds then with an updated image of Guantanamo in his article.   Here are excerpts (emphasis added):

"The Real Gitmo: What I saw at America's best detention facility for terrorists." 

Today that corridor is overrun with weeds and unruly grass, and the rest of the camp is in no better state of repair. Camp X-Ray housed "war on terror" detainees for just four months, from January to April 2002. It has long since been abandoned. Banana rats, which look like some mutant combination of possum and rat, now hang from the cages that once housed the detainees. Gone, too, are the orange jumpsuits. They have been replaced by tan, white, and other neutral-colored clothing. During my multi-day tour of Guantánamo Bay, one official tells me that some journalists from Turkey wanted to take pictures of the detainees in their bright orange jumpsuits. When this official explained the detainees no longer wear those outfits, the Turkish reporters asked if a detainee could be dressed up in one for the photos as that is what their readers expect to see.

The story is emblematic of the disconnect between life at Guantánamo as it is today, and the Guantánamo of popular mythology. It is the latter that is the basis for the Obama administration's decision to close the detention facilities there.
...

Guantánamo has simply never been a major part of al Qaeda's recruitment strategy. But even if it were and we closed it, the terror masters would simply find the next pretext for justifying their acts. After all, if we are to close Guantánamo because al Qaeda objects to it, then why not abandon America's entire foreign policy agenda?

Nonetheless the White House presses on with closing Gitmo--even in the face of substantial controversy.

This past week, the administration confirmed that it had selected an underutilized correctional center in the town of Thomson, in northwest Illinois, as the new home for up to 100 Gitmo detainees. A letter to Illinois governor Pat Quinn announced the administration's plan for the federal government to buy the prison in Thomson and rebuild one section of it to make the facility even more secure than America's "supermax" prison in Colorado--where several convicted terrorists are currently housed. This assurance is intended to assuage any concerns over the government's ability to safely detain the Gitmo detainees on U.S. soil. Ironically, however, most of the roughly 210 detainees still held at Guantánamo are not in supermax-type facilities at all. At least 70 percent live in communal settings like Camp 4. They can play soccer, basketball, or foosball; exercise on elliptical equipment; and consort with their fellow detainees for up to 20 hours per day in the outdoor recreation area. They can take art classes or learn English. And while tensions flare every now and again, life in Camp 4 is generally calm. Camp officials prefer that the detainees live in this type of setting. It's easier on the guards and everyone else involved. As the commander of Camp 4 explains, the detainees have to "do something really bad" to get locked up in one of the more secure facilities.

The detainees have access to several satellite television channels and, as one DoD handout notes, a library consisting of "more than 14,000 books, magazines, and DVDs in 18 languages." During a visit to the library, I noticed a few copies of the poetry of Rumi--a 13th-century Sufi mystic whose writings explore deeply spiritual, ethereal topics. Rumi's view of the world is diametrically opposed to that of al Qaeda's jihadists. He searched for the universal deity who he believed resided in us all, regardless of race or creed. Jihadists, on the other hand, believe they are compelled to war against anyone who dares to oppose their intolerant beliefs.
...

Oddly, the detainees are interested in many aspects of Western culture. Harry Potter is very popular, and with each new movie that comes out the detainees request more of J.K. Rowling's books.

"Everything you know about out there, they know about in here," the librarian says. That includes news events. In addition to satellite television, most of the detainees have access to three newspapers--two from the Muslim world and USA Today. The papers are censored, but only to remove any material that the detainees may find lewd, such as advertisements showing a man and woman kissing.
...

An Italian journalist who accompanies me throughout much of the tour says that two Tunisian detainees who were recently transferred from Guantánamo to Italy to await trial are probably very upset right about now. They are being held in a maximum-security prison in Milan that he describes as "hell" compared with Gitmo. The Italian gentleman tells me this right after we tour the food-preparation facilities. There we found that the detainees are offered six types of meals, totaling between 5,000 and 6,000 calories, daily. In their more candid moments, the detainees complain to camp personnel that it is difficult for them to claim they have been "tortured" when they have pot bellies.
...

For many New Yorkers, it is deeply unsettling to think of these al Qaeda supervillains standing trial just blocks away from where their henchmen killed thousands of Americans. It is more unsettling when you realize that even here at Guantánamo, a highly secure military detention facility in the middle of the Atlantic, they are kept segregated from the rest of the detainee population. I never do get to see Camp 7. The military personnel who escort me around the island all insist that they do not know where it is located. I believe them--that is just how secure Camp 7 is.

The more you learn about the real Guantánamo, the more the Obama administration's decision to move any of the detainees to the continental United States seems entirely unnecessary. The detainees probably can be safely housed on domestic soil, but why take the risk?

What's more: The facilities that are required already exist here in Cuba. Camps 5 and 6--the maximum and medium security facilities that house detainees who refuse to be compliant--were modeled after existing correctional facilities in the Midwest. Both camps (like the rest of Guantánamo) are maintained in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. These camps have more than enough capacity to continue to hold the detainees the Obama administration now wants to transfer to the United States. And even Attorney General Eric Holder conceded after visiting the camps earlier this year that Guantánamo is "well-run" with no sign of detainee mistreatment.

Why, then, is the Obama administration determined to close Guantánamo and reinvent the wheel in Thomson, Illinois? The answer has everything to do with anachronistic perceptions and an anti-military mythology that dates from the four months when Camp X-Ray was operational.

...

Even though this was a difficult process, the intelligence that was collected has been invaluable. It has directly supported combat operations in Afghanistan. It has deepened the military's understanding of how terrorists are recruited and trained, and how they construct bombs (including improvised explosive devices that are used to kill American servicemen in Afghanistan). It has shed light on how terrorists are shuttled around the world and how they are financed. This intelligence has contributed greatly to America's overall understanding of the global terror network in numerous ways.

But in the public debate over closing Gitmo, the intelligence garnered has rarely been discussed, even though thousands of pages of documents detailing what the government has learned have been declassified and released online. These documents, consisting mainly of files created during the detainees' combatant status review tribunal and administrative review board hearings, are readily available on both the DoD's and the New York Times's websites. For the most part, the media just ignore them.

...

One of the more damaging myths about Guantánamo is that U.S. military personnel regularly and intentionally desecrate the Koran. But only a handful of instances of Koran abuse have ever been verified, and some of those instances were completely unintentional. In 2005, Newsweek reported that interrogators had flushed a -detainee's copy down the toilet. This was not true. Newsweek retracted the story but only after it had sparked riots in the Muslim world. Zak says that while he does not know of any instances of U.S. military personnel disrespecting the Koran in such a manner, he has witnessed detainees doing so. One detainee ripped the pages out of his Koran and flushed them down his toilet in what was probably an act of rage or defiance, Zak says.

Knowing that the U.S. military will be roundly criticized for any hint of Koran desecration, the detainees play games with their holy books. A common practice, Zak says, is for the detainees to put their Korans in the middle of the floor of their cells, create a fuss, and then watch as the military guards try to avoid making any contact with Allah's word.
...

The U.S. military may have made mistakes at Gitmo, but it did so in the context of an extremely difficult situation. And it has taken extraordinary steps to rectify them and improve facilities that, as we should never forget, house men who are committed to an extreme ideology that justifies acts of mass terror.

As we leave the part of Guantánamo Bay that houses Camps 4, 5, and 6, we are driven through the security checkpoint one last time. I see a sign displaying the "value of the week." These signs are sprinkled around the exterior of the detention facilities and are a transparent attempt to boost troop morale, which senior camp officials say has sagged in the face of the relentless criticism.

The value this week is "Pride." The troopers who have served here should be proud. And I know that we should be proud of them. They have served their country honorably.

Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 

 Again, the above only provides excerpts from Joscelyn's article.  I highly recommend going over to The Weekly Standard to read the piece in its entirety.

The Year's Worst Reporting: A Look Back at the Mainstream Media in 2009

Brent Bozell, founder of The Media Research Center and Newsbusters, was on FoxNews yesterday to present the center's notable quotables of 2009 -- the "best of the worst", so to speak, of the MSM's biased reporting:



• The Media Hero Award: CBS' Katie Couric
• The Coronation of the Messiah Award: ABC's Bill Weir
• The Damn Those Conservatives Award: MSNBC's Ed Schultz
• The Audacity of Dopes Award: Newsweek's Evan Thomas. 

Did you catch that quote from Thomas? "In a way, Obama is standing above the country, above the world.  He's sort of God.  He's gonna bring all different sides together."

Brent Bozell predicts that the situation with the MSM is not going to change, because the media have too much invested in Obama.  "It's the gift that keeps on giving.  The prize is a whole lot of laughs ... It's their own words that make fools of themselves, and then they wonder why their audiences are leaving."

Touché, Brent!

President Suit, Savior of the World

While fishing around today for images to use on my blog, I came across a very witty site: "President Suit, Savior of the World."  Here's what they say about themselves:

"As you’ve seen, President Suit, Savior of the World, is one of the few hard-line Conservative comics being published on the web today. It may not be the prettiest or best drawn, but it is our intention to publish edgy political satire and anything you could do to help us go viral would be very appreciated."

Interestingly, I've been kicking around the idea of seeing the movie "Avatar."  Here's their take on it:

They have some funny cartoons.  Check them out!

Attorney General Holder and Gitmo: Conflict of Interest?

Forgive me for being so late on the uptake ... You might already be aware of this, but I'll hold my head in shame and still blog about it anyway, because this little tidbit of info almost caused me to drive off the rode the other day!  Maybe some of you might be shocked at this, too.

The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is senior partner of the lawfirm Covington & Burling, which represents 17 Yemeni prisoners at Gitmo.

This is from Covington & Burling's website with regards to its pro bono work:

Guantanamo Bay Detainees

• We represent sixteen men detained at the United States Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  Most of the men have been detained for approximately seven years.  None have been charged with any crimes, and none have been accorded the protections of the Geneva Convention.  In Boumediene v. Bush, 128 S. Ct. 2229 (2008), where we were co-counsel for eleven of the detainees, the Supreme Court held that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus extends to detainees held at Guantánamo Bay.  Following that decision, we have been preparing for habeas corpus hearings to be held in federal district court Washington, DC, for eleven of our clients. 
  
• The firm has been involved in the Guantánamo related litigation for the last five years.  In addition to the on-going habeas corpus proceedings, our efforts have included: bringing cases for review of enemy combatant classification decisions in the D.C. Circuit under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005; challenging the destruction of CIA torture tapes in federal court; filing amicus briefs and coordinating the amicus effort in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006); filing amicus briefs in support of Supreme Court review in Moussaoui v. United States, 382 F.3d 483 (4th Cir.), cert denied, 544 U.S. 931 (2005); challenging the government’s practice of redacting information from documents given to security-cleared habeas counsel; and challenging the abusive medical and living conditions that the detainees experience at Guantánamo.

How can this not be a conflict of interest?!?


For your amusement: Watch the squirming.
Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) last month questioned Eric Holder about the prosecution on American soil of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 5 other terror suspects.  Graham nails Holder for granting the terrorists the same rights of U.S. citizens and calls it a perversion of American justice:



Graham, who served six and half years as an attorney Air Force and serves on six senate committees, including Armed Services, Homeland Security and the Judiciary, might know a bit more about the possible repercussions of military tribunals versus civilian trials.

So, I'm damned near a year late in learning about this ... maybe the cloud of depression I was in following Obama's inauguration blocked my senses from picking up on it.  But, here's what Michelle Malkin posted about it back then:

Covington & Burling’s Gitmo bar roster has included some of the most radical detainee advocates; see David Remes, who peeled down to his underwear at a press conference in Yemen to draw attention to his clients’ plight and Marc Falkoff, who published a book of detainee poetry and who, in the book’s intro, compared their heroic struggle to the Jews held in concentration camps and Japanese Americans held in internment camps during WWII. [One of Falkoff's "gentle, thoughtful" young poets--a Kuwaiti "cleared for release" and repatriated in 2005--blew himself up in a truck bomb in Mosul last March, killing 13 Iraqi army soldiers and wounding 42 others.]

The fact that Mr. Holder, while Deputy Attorney General, pushed for the release of 16 violent FALN terrorists against the advice of the FBI, the US Attorneys who prosecuted them and the NYPD officers who were maimed by them, suggests that he was perfectly willing to put politics before the national security interests of the country. He is not suited for the job of attorney general, which is central to the issues surrounding the disposition of war on terror detainees. 

Thank God for watchdogs like Malkin who manage to keep their wits about them despite the turmoil and insanity!

Obama & Gitmo: The Insanity Continues

In light of my post below about our government needing to rethink its stance towards jihadist islamism, I was greatly peeved to read this within-the-hour story of Obama still planning to close Gitmo.

Here's what Mike Allen at Politico posted:

Obama still plans to close Gitmo

Closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility remains “a national security imperative” despite a news report that two of the planners behind the attempted airborne bombing on Christmas Day had been released from Gitmo in 2007, a senior administration official said.

ABC News’ Brian Ross reported: “Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the Al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents.”

The administration official said, “The detention facility at Guantanamo has been used by Al Qaeda as a rallying cry and recruiting tool — including its affiliate al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. As our military leaders have recognized, closing the detention facility at Guantanamo is a national security imperative. 

 ...

Obama had set a one-year deadline for the closure but now says that will slip as the administration looks for suitable places to transfer the detainees, including the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois.

Closing the detention facility is a national security imperative?!? WTF?!?

As Publius quipped at Big Government about Christmas' near tragic plane bomber:

"We’re a little confused by this attack. George W. Bush is gone, so the world should love us again. Plus, Camp Gitmo is closing. What else could these terrorists want?? Maybe this terrorist simply saw the attack as a way to relocate to Northern Illinois."

Christopher Merola at Townhall.com believes the Democrats have been exploiting the Gitmo issue, flinging lie after lie,  for the upcoming 2010 political races:

If the terrorists go to trial in the USA, instead of a military trial, then the Democrats can use the trials for constant drama -- drama that further demonizes Bush and the Republicans in hopes of winning over more voters. It is nothing more than political grandstanding.

The Democrats simply want to use the GITMO issue as a battering ram against the Republicans. The irony here is that no abuse has occurred at GITMO. Yet, all this talk of abuse by the media and the Democrat Party only draws attention to the real civil rights abuses that occurred during a time of war; abuse that is never discussed by the Democrats or the American media.

Dear Leader, Congress, Homeland Security and the American People need to jettison their idiotic and suicidal political correctness and do something about the ongoing threat from terrorists.

Here's what Frank Gaffney at Newsmax suggests (emphasis added):

Stop the Gimo Closing Now

ABC News reports that “Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al-Qaida plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents.”

If true, any further action to close the state-of-the-art detention facility popularly known as Gitmo and transfer its occupants elsewhere – particularly to Yemen – must be suspended at once. Should President Obama fail to do so, such direction must be adopted by Congress, possibly followed with a resolution of impeachment.

...

These are hardly the only detainees released from Guantanamo Bay to return to the fight. The known recidivism rate is said to be on the order of 15 percent; the actual number is presumably much higher.

For the first time, however, ABC News quoted an unnamed American official giving lie to the notion that those turned over for “rehabilitation” were being dissuaded from reengaging in jihad: “‘The so-called rehabilitation programs are a joke,’ a U.S. diplomat said in describing the Saudi efforts with released Guantanamo detainees.”

Even Saudi officials were reported to have acknowledged that the kingdom’s “program has had its ‘failures,’” although they insisted that, “overall, the effort has helped return potential terrorists to a meaningful life.” The ABC report caustically described how “One [Saudi rehabilitation] program gives the former detainees paints and crayons as part of the rehabilitation regimen.”  ...

As former federal prosecutor and National Review columnist Andy McCarthy has observed, with the decision to release terrorists not only to Yemen but Somalia and Afghanistan, we might as well drop the pretense of a middleman and acknowledge that we are turning them over to al-Qaida, itself.
...

As long, however, as the President fails to recognize what defines our enemies – namely, their adherence to the totalitarian, seditious program known as Shariah – his administration will not be able to keep us safe from the threat they pose, let alone defeat them.

And if Mr. Obama persists in trying to shutter Guantanamo Bay and, in the process, winds up repopulating our foes’ ranks with those properly and necessarily detained there, he will only embolden Shariah’s adherents to kill many more of us. That would breach his oath of office, and surely constitute grounds for his impeachment.

Are you listening, President Obama? 

Islamic Jihadism Comparable To Nazism: Will Britain and U.S. Rethink Their Attitudes?

Friday's would-be underwear bomber is prompting not only a reassessment of airline security measures with regards to Islamofascists, but perhaps also a call for governments to rethink attitudes and actions towards Islamofascism in general.  The UK's Telegraph today draws a comparison between Jihadist Islamism and Nazism.

Detroit terror attack: A murderous ideology tolerated for too long

Telegraph View: Jihadist Islamis is comparable to Nazism in many respects.  The British public realises this; so do the intelligence services.

Friday's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner by a British-educated Islamist was foiled by the bravery of its passengers and crew. We cannot assume that we will be lucky next time. And the indications are that there will be a next time. According to police sources, 25 British-born Muslims are currently in Yemen being trained in the art of bombing planes. But most of these terrorists did not acquire their crazed beliefs in the Islamic world: they were indoctrinated in Britain. Indeed, thousands of young British Muslims support the use of violence to further the Islamist cause – and this despite millions of pounds poured by the Government into projects designed to prevent Islamic extremism.

Is it time for a fundamental rethink of Britain's attitude towards domestic Islamism? Consider this analogy. Suppose that, in several London universities, Right‑wing student societies were allowed to invite neo-Nazi speakers to address teenagers. Meanwhile, churches in poor white neighbourhoods handed over their pulpits to Jew-hating admirers of Adolf Hitler, called for the execution of homosexuals, preached the intellectual inferiority of women, and blessed the murder of civilians. What would the Government do? It would bring the full might of the criminal law against activists indoctrinating young Britons with an inhuman Nazi ideology – and the authorities that let them. Any public servants complicit in this evil would be hounded from their jobs.

Jihadist Islamism is also a murderous ideology, comparable to Nazism in many respects. The British public realises this; so do the intelligence services. Yet because it arises out of a worldwide religion – most of whose followers are peaceful – politicians and the public sector shrink from treating its ideologues as criminal supporters of violence. Instead, the Government throws vast sums of money at the Muslim community in order to ensure that what is effectively a civil war between extremists and moderates is won by the latter. This policy – supported by all the main political parties – does not seem to be working. The authorities, lacking specialist knowledge, sometimes turn for advice to "moderate" Muslims who have extreme sympathies; supporters of al-Qaeda are paid to disseminate their ideology to young people.

Radical Islamist leaders are not stupid: they know how to play this system. The indoctrination of students carries on under the noses of public servants who are terrified of being labelled Islamophobic or racist. Therefore they fail to do their duty, which is to protect Muslims and non-Muslims alike from a terrorist ideology. If providing that protection requires fewer "consultations" with "community leaders" and more arrests, then so be it.

Our government needs to likewise rethink its attitude towards the terrorists and quite handling them with PC-kid gloves.  

Obama's "Flaccid" & "Meaningless" Words On Iran

How sad and embarrassing that Dear Leader is totally missing the mark with regards to the protesters in Iran.  Charles Krauthammer hit the nail on the head (again!) in his appraisal of Obama's comments on Iran:

"This is a moment in history, and he's missing it."

Extortion & Racketeering: Tools to Buy ObamaCare Votes

It's criminal how the cloture vote went down on Christmas Eve -- how the U.S. taxpayer is getting ObamaCare shoved down his throat via extortion and racketeering.

What's the legal definition of "extortion?"  According to law.com, extortion is defined thusly:

"n. obtaining money or property by threat to a victim's property or loved ones, intimidation, or false claim of a right (such as pretending to be an IRS agent). It is a felony in all states, except that a direct threat to harm the victim is usually treated as the crime of robbery. Blackmail is a form of extortion in which the threat is to expose embarrassing, damaging information to family, friends or the public.   See also: blackmail  robbery  theft

What is "racketeering?"  Krootlaw has this definition: "An organized conspiracy to commit crimes of extortion or coercion."  WordNet Search 3.0 has this definition of a "racketeer": "someone who commits crimes for profit (especially one who obtains money by fraud or extortion."

Now, I realize that racketeering usually falls under situations of organized crime; however, given the shenanigans and under-the-table dealings of our congressmen of late, I fail to see much difference between the Mafia and the Senate.  Our politicians are organized crime.  Chicago politics.

Human Events provided a nice rundown of the scandalous bribery and "porkery" that it took to pass ObamaCare:

Just take a look at the PORK that was added to this monstrosity of a bill, just to bribe enough Senators to vote for it:

• With the bill hanging in the balance, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) won a provision exempting his state from paying the usual share of costs for new Medicaid patients. The deal, which critics have dubbed the "Cornhusker Kickback," is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over 10 years.
  
  
• Before a close vote last month, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) won an even larger break for her state -- an estimated $300 million in extra federal spending, in a move now derisively called the "Louisiana Purchase."
  
  
• Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) made sure that certain insurance companies in his state are off the hook from a new $7 billion dollar tax.
  
  
• Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) got his kickback -- a $100 million bonus for the University of Connecticut… to do with whatever they want.
  
  
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) was "persuaded" to drop his concerns after Senator Reid offered his state a $10 billion grant for "community health centers"-money that could easily be funneled to facilities that perform abortions.
  
  
• Three states -- Pennsylvania, New York and Florida -- all won protections for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when the program is facing cuts nationwide.
  
  
• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) won a promise from Reid to support his plan to expand eligibility for health insurance.
  
  
• The Senators from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming will get the "Frontier Freebie" -- they'll see an increase in Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors, because "at least 50 percent of their counties are ‘frontier counties,' defined as those having a population density less than six people per square mile."
  
  
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate health committee, got a provision inserted to increase Medicare payments to certain "low-volume hospitals" in Grinnell, Keokuk and Spirit Lake, treating limited numbers of Medicare patients.
  
  
• Even the Democrats themselves are starting to complain about this obvious "Cash for Cloture" bribing going on. When Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) couldn't get past the reporters swarming Ben Nelson on her way to the cloture vote, she quipped, "I know I'm not as important as Senator Nelson. I didn't get the money for my state. I was too stupid."

There should be a huge outcry from the American public.  The dishonesty and crookedness that were used to push this cloture vote is so obviously unethical and immoral!!!!  There should be calls for criminal investigation!!!!

Obama's Weak Stance Foments Terrorism

On Muslims Against Sharia's website I read a short but concise opinion piece about Obama's weak actions (read "inaction") actually emboldening terrorists.  The link was to Canada Free Press, whose slogan interestingly is "... Because without America there is no Free World", and the opinion piece by John Lillpop began with this attention-grabbing line: "Obama has squandered home land security in order to pacify leftists who continue to operate under the illusion that Islam is a Religion of Peace."

Here's Lillpop's take on Obama's weakness:

Obama Emboldens Terrorists

 By John Lillpop  Saturday, December 26, 2009

When former President George W. Bush spoke to terrorists his message was simple and clear: We will hunt you down and kill you!

Period, end of story.

W’s “clenched fist” kept America safe for nearly eight years following the 9.11 attack.
Regrettably, since Barack Obama was sworn is at the 44th U.S. President, the message to terrorists is:

• Unclench your fists and let us talk
  
• Terrorists will be treated with the same dignity and politically correct manners afforded any American citizen
• Terrorists will be read their Miranda rights, provided with taxpayer-paid legal representation, and will be allowed to broadcast their anti-American, Jihad messages from the great media center that is New York City
• Terrorists are guilty of crimes which will be adjudicated in civilian courts rather than military tribunals, even for thugs like KSM who master-minded the 9.11 attack
• America is NOT a Christian nation—so fret not about your background in Islamofascism
• All things considered, 9.11 was justifiable and understandable. Let’s talk.
Obama’s unilateral unclenching of America’s mighty fist does not seem to have resonated. In just eleven months, a Muslim at Fort Hood has killed thirteen fellow soldiers. And an Al-Qaeda devotee tried to blow up an airplane headed to Detroit. In addition, nothing has been done to address Iran and its drive toward nuclear weapons. President Bush kept us safe for almost eight years; Obama has squandered home land security in order to pacify leftists who continue to operate under the illusion that Islam is a Religion of Peace. Moonbats who voted for Obama need to answer a fundamental question: Is America safer today than it was before noon on January 20, 2009 Period, end of story.

I find Lillpop's ideas especially timely and pertinent in the ongoing investigation into the Nigerian man who attempted to bomb that Northwestern plane that had landed Christmas Day in Detroit.  Why are airline and airport security measures being questioned -- as if the regulations in existence for the past 9 years are lax ... again?  If that is, indeed, the case, why did national security lighten up?  Oh, that's right: The Libs, the Press, and Obama don't want to consider that terrorists continue to be a real risk to the country.

Unfortunately, we don't have W's clenched fist to fend off terrorists and keep the nation safe -- as best as possible.  Instead, we have a Community Organizer who has negligently left America's backside vulnerable to the terrorists.  Obama was so quick to admonish Americans to not jump to conclusions about Hasan's purpose for murdering 13 (14 if you include the unborn baby) people at Ft. Hood. 

Obama bows to various heads of state, such as the emperor of Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, Putin .... heck, this embarrassing rube would even bow to the Burger King!  Embarrassing!  Yes, one should be courteous and civil when meeting other heads of state, but to be subservient?  (Gee, I would think a Black man would be especially hesitant to bow to anyone.)

With regard to Iran, Obama continues to bow to A-Jad's nuclear aspirations while all but ignoring the murder of protestors at the hands of the Iranian government.  (See my earlier post about Reagan's dealings with Poland compared to Obama's handling of the Iran situation -- "I Miss The Days of A President Who Leads.")

We have a "leader" who decides to close Guantanamo Bay and then bring the terrorists onto American soil.  Hmmmm ... maybe this whole Nigerian would-be plane bomber might cause his administration to reconsider the possible repercussions of terrorists on our own soil.  (Go here for Politico's "Xmas Bomb Bid Complicates Gitmo Plan.")

As Charles Krauthammer described it, 2009 has been Obama's "year of living fecklessly."  What a perfect word -- 'feckless' meaning weak, ineffective, worthless, or irresponsible.  Here's Krauthammer's appraisal (emphasis added):

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not just reject President Obama's latest feckless floating nuclear deadline. He spat on it, declaring that Iran "will continue resisting" until the U.S. has gotten rid of its 8,000 nuclear warheads.

So ends 2009, the year of "engagement," of the extended hand, of the gratuitous apology -- and of spinning centrifuges, two-stage rockets and a secret enrichment facility that brought Iran materially closer to becoming a nuclear power.

We lost a year. But it was not just any year. It was a year of spectacularly squandered opportunity. In Iran, it was a year of revolution, beginning with a contested election and culminating this week in huge demonstrations mourning the death of the dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri -- and demanding no longer a recount of the stolen election but the overthrow of the clerical dictatorship.

Obama responded by distancing himself from this new birth of freedom. First, scandalous silence. Then, a few grudging words. Then relentless engagement with the murderous regime. With offer after offer, gesture after gesture -- to not Iran, but the "Islamic Republic of Iran," as Obama ever so respectfully called these clerical fascists -- the U.S. conferred legitimacy on a regime desperate to regain it.

Why is this so important? Because revolutions succeed at that singular moment, that imperceptible historical inflection, when the people, and particularly those in power, realize that the regime has lost the mandate of heaven. With this weakening dictatorship desperate for affirmation, why is the U.S. repeatedly offering just such affirmation?

Apart from ostracizing and delegitimizing these gangsters, we should be encouraging and reinforcing the demonstrators. This is no trivial matter. When pursued, beaten, arrested and imprisoned, dissidents can easily succumb to feelings of despair and isolation. Natan Sharansky testifies to the electric effect Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire speech had on lifting spirits in the Gulag. The news was spread cell to cell in code tapped on the walls. They knew they weren't alone, that America was committed to their cause.

Yet so aloof has Obama been that on Hate America Day (Nov. 4, the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran), pro-American counter-demonstrators chanted "Obama, Obama, you are either with us or with them," i.e., their oppressors.

Such cool indifference is more than a betrayal of our values. It's a strategic blunder of the first order.

Yeah, that's our President.  "I keep it cool." 



"If given a choice, I'll keep it cool."

Top Ten Politically (In)Correct Worlds of 2009

The Global Language Monitor has released its sixth annual survey of the top politically (in)correct words of 2009:

The Sixth Annual Global Survey

Austin, Texas October 2, 2009 – Swine Flu, Flush Toilet, Green Revolution, Minority, and Saint have been named the top politically (in)Correct  words and phrases of the past year according to The Global Language Monitor in its sixth annual survey of the English Language. Rounding out the top ten were the term Politically Correct, Oriental, Founding Fathers, Black Sheep, and Senior Citizen.

“Once again, we are seeing that the attempt to remove all bias from language is itself creating biases of their own,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of The Global Language Monitor. “At this point it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage in any form of public dialogue without offending someone’s sensitivities, whether right, left or center.”

The Top Politically Correct Words and Phrases for 2009 include:

1. Swine Flu – Though hundreds of millions know of the current pandemic as Swine Flu, various governments and agencies for political motives ranging from protecting pork producers to religious sensitivity have chosen to address the virus by its formal name, influenza A(H1N1).

2. Flush Toilet – Flush toilets, toilet paper and toilet use in general are now coming under the watchful eyes of the green movement.

3. Green Revolution – In the 1960s the scientific consensus was the world was on the brink of a ‘Malthusian’ collapse. The Green Revolution changed all that, but now there are those who believe that the world has paid a “stiff price in environmental degradation”.

4. Minority – Talking about minorities is considered insensitive to minorities since this can make them feel, well, like minorities.

5. Saint – In addition to the word ‘saint,’ Oxford University Press has removed words such as ‘bishop,’ ‘chapel,’ and ‘Pentecost’ from the Junior Dictionary.

6. Politically Correct – The term politically correct has, itself, is now politically correct, Be careful how you use it.

7. Oriental – In the US considered offensive to Asians because the term is based on the geographic relationship of Asia from a Western perspective. In Europe (and in most Asian nations), however, Oriental is acceptable.

8. Founding Fathers – Though all the Signers of the American Declaration of Independence were men, this is considered sexists in some quarters. Founders, please.

9. Black Sheep – Though originally referring to the rare birth of a lamb with black fur, now considered ethnically insensitive; the same is true for Black Day, Conversely, terms like White Collar and Whiter than White all can be used to encourage a hierarchical value of skin tone.

10. Senior Citizen – In the name of ‘inclusiveness,’ the UK’s Loughborough University’s suggests replacing senior citizen with ‘older person’.

The Top Politically Incorrect Terms and Phrases for previous years include:

    •    2008: “He Can’t Win” – Hillary Clinton’s coded reference to Barack Obama’s ethnic background as an insurmountable impediment to him winning the US Presidency

    •    2007: Nappy-headed Ho — Radio personality Don Imus’ reference to the women on the Rutgers University championship basketball team.

    •    2006: Global Warming Denier – Scientists not denying climate change, but the role of humans in the millennia-old process.

    •    2005: Misguided Criminals – A BBC commentator attempts to strip away all emotion from the word ‘terrorist’ by using ‘neutral’ descriptions for those who carried out the 7/7 tube bombings.


    •    2004: Master/Slave computer jargon – LA County re-labels computer documentation to remove this alleged slur that has been used for decades describing computer hierarchies.

Extortion Gets The Job Done

Obama Relinquishing More of Americans' Rights

I found this rather alarming: the Obama Administration has agreed to permit Interpol to operate within the U.S. without having to observe the rules of our land -- of our Constitution.  This means that Interpol is exempt from the laws that our enforcement officials and agencies must adhere to!

From Baldilocks:

INTERPOL May Operate Freely in the US (UPDATED)

So how many "Christ"mas gifts that keep on giving do our Executive and Legislative branches of government have laid up for us?

By removing language from President Reagan's 1983 Executive Order 12425, [INTERPOL] now operates - now operates - on American soil beyond the reach of our own top law enforcement arm, the FBI, and is immune from Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The order:


For Immediate Release December 17, 2009
Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425 EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL
AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2©, Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMATHE WHITE HOUSE,December 16, 2009.
What it means: INTERPOL assets are above the US Constitution while operating in the United States.  So if the agency arrests an American citizen while operating on US soil, it can hand such person over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
A foundation is been laid for sure.  For this...

[T]he next move from President Obama is likely an attempt to dissolve the agreements made between President Bush and other states preventing them from turning over American military forces to the ICC (via INTERPOL) for war crimes or any other prosecutions.

...and more.

By the way, did you know that INTERPOL's central operations office in the US is located in and among the Department of Justice offices?

There is only one force stronger than those who would curtail our liberty--and it isn't an earthly force.
(Thanks to The Quarreyman)

UPDATE:  Ed Morrissey points out that

Americans who get arrested on the basis of Interpol work cannot get the type of documentation one normally would get in the discovery process, which is a remarkable reversal from Obama’s declared efforts to gain “due process” for terrorists detained at Gitmo.  Does the White House intend to treat Americans worse than the terrorists we’ve captured during wartime?

Yes, that is exactly what this administration intends.

The ramifications are frightening!  I hate to sound like a John Bircher, but is this another step towards globalism and a One World government?  YIKES!!!!!  This administration is getting more and more Orwellian by the day!