NYT Israel Attack Bad For America

Complete and utter nonsense.

Hey folks,

By now you all know I am nothing less than an Expert on anything Iran or Ahmadinejad. I have been watching "Little Hitler" very closely for a LONG TIME. Over ten years both here and elsewhere, I have been sharing his Rise to power from the days in the 80 with the Hostage Crises, to today. From his early beginnings as a Terrorist, to his rise in power to President, to his quest for Nuclear Weapons that he intends on using on Israel to "Wipe them off the map."

I just send an Email to a Friend, who was talking about this on her Radio Show yesterday. Even I was amazed to see the volume of information I have posted over the years. Seriously, just type in Iran, Hitler, or Israel, in the Search Section of this Blog and you will see what I mean. From his rise, to all the apologists, to Obama and his clear, uh, lack of love for Israel.

We all know that Little Hitler is not going anywhere. We all know he IS and HAS been working on a Nuke. We all know he is going to USE it. We all know that Israel can not rely on this Administration to defend them. They are going to have to do whatever it takes to defend themselves, with or without help from Obama.

Now, YEARS after I started warning you that this was happening and what was about to happen, the World is starting to talk about it. Iran is getting closer to having a Nuke, and Israel is getting closer to striking out of Self Defense. Kinda hard to defend oneself if one is aglow from a Nuclear Explosion.

So, just like the Original Hitler, Ahmadinejad has his supporters. Just like the Original Hitler, all of Littler Hitler supporters are Libs. They want you to think that if Israel attacks Iran, it will cause World War Three. They might be right. However, if Iran Nukes Israel, THAT will cause World War Three and it will be after the fact of MORE Millions of Jews are dead. But NOW? NOW they what you to think that even if we attack Iran, it will not do much. I kid you not. According to the NYT - U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran By MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER Published: March 19, 2012

WASHINGTON — A classified war simulation held this month to assess the repercussions of an Israeli attack on Iran forecasts that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.

The officials said the so-called war game was not designed as a rehearsal for American military action — and they emphasized that the exercise’s results were not the only possible outcome of a real-world conflict.

{Laughing} Yeah, just the one we want you to believe.. But get this..

The two-week war game, called Internal Look, played out a narrative in which the United States found it was pulled into the conflict after Iranian missiles struck a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf, killing about 200 Americans, according to officials with knowledge of the exercise. The United States then retaliated by carrying out its own strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Wait. You mean if Iran hits one of our Ships we would have to get involved? Wait. You mean we could lose lives in a WAR? 200 Americans? Is this before or AFTER MILLIONS of Jews are wipe out because of America's willingness to do NOTHING? But this next part is AMAZING to me. It really is. They go from saying World War will break out, but it really will not have that much effect on Iran anyway, so why bother?

The initial Israeli attack was assessed to have set back the Iranian nuclear program by roughly a year, and the subsequent American strikes did not slow the Iranian nuclear program by more than an additional two years. However, other Pentagon planners have said that America’s arsenal of long-range bombers, refueling aircraft and precision missiles could do far more damage to the Iranian nuclear program — if President Obama were to decide on a full-scale retaliation.

{Sigh}Folks, if we wanted to, we could wipe Iran off the Map. I'm thinking a few well placed Bombs of Israel is going to STOP Iran's Nuclear Program Indefinitely. Not a year. What kind of nonsense is this? Like I said, well, more on this in a second.

With the Israelis saying publicly that the window to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb is closing, American officials see an Israeli attack on Iran within the next year as a possibility. They have said privately that they believe that Israel would probably give the United States little or no warning should Israeli officials make the decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

Because they have no reason to TRUST us. Thank you Obama. It wraps up with this.

Israeli intelligence estimates, backed by academic studies, have cast doubt on the widespread assumption that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities would set off a catastrophic set of events like a regional conflagration, widespread acts of terrorism and sky-high oil prices.

“A war is no picnic,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio in November. But if Israel feels itself forced into action, the retaliation would be bearable, he said. “There will not be 100,000 dead or 10,000 dead or 1,000 dead. The state of Israel will not be destroyed.”

Shame on us for not doing more to help them NOW. Of course they want to go it alone. Not because they LOVE War, or HATE Iran, but because they are fighting for their very survival. Look, it really is simple. All this is by the New York Times is an attempt to say "See. Look at all this destruction, and chaos. After all, an Israeli or even an American Strike will not do much. Just delay the Iranians Nuclear Quest by a year or so. So why bother. Right?"

Truth is, Israel has the Right to exist. They have a RIGHT to defend themselves. We have a DUTY to assist them. They are not the aggressor here. They are fighting for their survival. It is too late AFTER a Nuclear Explosion to do much. It is TIME to stop Iran. Period. Oh, don't forget one little detail. After Israel, or at the same time as Israel, we are NEXT.
Peter

The Chicken Little Crowd Does Not Care

Who they offend.

Hey folks,

Back from the trip. Re-energized and ready to go. I got this in the emails and just have to comment on it. According to Fire Society-Time Magazine Sells Out to Global Alarmists With Offensive Iwo Jima Cover

For just the second time in more than eight decades, TIME magazine abandoned its traditional red border used on its cover. The occasion? Not for our heroes winning the war in Iraq, a political superstar, or for Time's Person of the Year, but rather to push global warming alarmism and equate the "war on global warming" to World War II.

I told you about this. They are declaring war on YOU. The Sceptics out there. Those that have the ability to think, reason, and understand REAL Science. It is a war to silence those that oppose them. It is create laws and regulations to force you to stop arguing and just do or else.

The April 21 issue of TIME took the famous photograph of World War II Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima and replaced the flag with a falling tree. The article, How to Win the War on Global Warming, says the “war” on global warming is a “similarly momentous challenge” to our World Wars, the Great Depression, putting a man on the moon, the intercontinental railroad and beating polio. TIME concludes by saying “going green” is the new red, white and blue. In essence, according to TIME green extremism is the height of patriotism.

But it will drive you nuts. Certifiably as we just learned. It will cost you a great deal. This is complete and utter BS. It's not even bunk anymore it is BS. Complete and unadulterated, unproven, psychology driven, Scaryence backed, menacing BS. There is nothing Patriotic about becoming scared into accepting this garbage, or becoming a Sheep that just falls for it. This is NOT to be compared to the challenges of past Wars or that of the Great Depression, or anything like it. Why? Because the Wars were real. The Great Depression was REAL. The Intercontinental Railroad was real. Global Warming is a Scam.

Iwo Jima Veterans In an Uproar

Many veterans are offended by TIME's cover. In a conversation with the Business and Media Institute, Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, said, "It's an absolute disgrace! Whoever, did it is going to hell. That's a mortal sin. God forbid [TIME author Bryan Walsh] runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor." Mates added, "To stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is sacrilegious."

It absolutely is. But it is what the Chicken Little Crowd wants you to believe. That it IS a war. That you are either with them, or against them. You are either on the side of America, willing to stand and fight the "war" on Global Warming, or you are an enemy of this country. You hate this country and do not care about your children.

The replacement of the Flag with a tree, not only undermines all the sacrifices of those that fought and died for this country, but it also undermines the greatness of this country it self. It challenges YOUR Patriotism and it says that YOU are an enemy of this country if you do not join the fight against Global Warming.

Grassfire President Steve Elliott agrees. "The Second World War was real; the bullets were real, the soldiers were real the deaths were real. Meanwhile, scientists can't even agree if man-made global warming exists and certainly there is no consensus on the radical agenda of the Climate Alarmists." Elliott adds that use of the actual Iwo Jima photograph is especially offensive. "It would have been bad enough if TIME had done a charicature of the marines, but to intentionally use the actual photo in an effort to equate global warming with World War II is totally outrageous." Time's use of this photograph trivialized the cause that the veterans fought for.

Which is what I just said to you.

$1.2 Trillion Al Gore Tax coming before summer!

As I keep telling you, the only thing Green in the whole Global Warming Scam is the Green of the cash involved.

Gore and the radical Climate Alarmists are using unfounded science {Scaryence} and the willing spin of the media elites to push a massive, $1.2 Trillion Global Warming Tax. We have less than two months to stop the new tax. But the fact is, as this TIME article shows, the entire political, entertainment and media establishments are lining up to push this oppressive new Carbon Tax down our throats.

Check out So You've Heard Plenty About Global Warming.....for many links and information that will help you to understand who these Chicken Little, Al Gore Disciples are and what will happen if they get their way.

Folks, as I have pointed out to you. They start with the three step method. Convince you that you matter. That you are helping to save the planet. They tell you you are NOT just jumping on the band wagon because everyone else is, but that you should, because, well, everyone else is. They tell you that you are a good person for doing it, and they tell you that if you do not, you are a bad person. They then turn to scare tactics. They use the kids. They tell you, in essence, you are killing your grand-kids and their children if you do not buy into this BS now.

Then I told you how they have come right out and told you that they have researched it, and will be using psychology to try to brainwash you in to accepting it. They are threatening those in power, those that have the ability to force you to accept it. I just pointed out to you that we now have a whole new area of Psychology, "eco-therapy" or "eco-psychology." Which of course is just another way for some to get rich off this BS.

Now they have declared war. Now they are questioning your PATROTISM. Now they have replaced the America Flag, with a TREE. Folks, I will say it again. There is no threat. Global Warming is not Scientifically proven nor is there ANY evidence whatsoever, to suggest that we are having ANY effect on the Climate at all. It's called CYCLES. All the Global Warming BS, is that. BS. Complete and unadulterated, unproven, psychology driven, Scaryence backed, menacing BS.

I hope the more people find out about this, that Time will be in a battle that they have never seen before. I hope they lose readers and sponsors over this one. This is completely offensive, as well it should be, to ANY military family out there. It should be completely offensive to anyone with any intelligence whatsoever. This should ALSO be offensive to anyone that loves this country. Time has more than crossed a line here, they have completely sold out, for cash, to the Global Warmians and the cash that is associated with them. They are now nothing but a joke and it is a complete disgrace.
Peter

Sources:
Fire Society-Time Magazine Sells Out to Global Alarmists With Offensive Iwo Jima Cover
OPNTalk - You Can't Make This Stuff Up 041808
OPNTalk - Global Warming Bunk

Must Read Opinion Journal Feature Artile

Hey folks,

First I have to say this. You know, I’ve been called everything. Racist, a bigot, a hatemonger, Right Wingnut, a Homophobe, whatever. I always take the attacks as a sign of success. Those that know me, know me. But I was told by someone recently that maybe I’m a little too harsh because I coined the name LWL, Left Wing Looneys. OK, here you go.

Times Online- Walking to the shops ‘damages planet more than going by car’

News Busters -Ex-Clinton Official Ties Minneapolis Bridge Collapse to Global Warming

No comment needed. No excerpts from these articles needed. Clink the links if you want. These people are just plain NUTS. The Chicken Little Crowd, and the LWL. Really. They are Looneys. So I’m being harsh for pointing out the truth? So be it.

But what I do want to talk about is THIS. You HAVE to read this whole article. It’s from The Wall Street Journal / Opinion -At War Propaganda Redux BY ION MIHAI PACEPA Tuesday, August 7, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

During last week's two-day summit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown thanked President Bush for leading the global war on terror. Mr. Brown acknowledged "the debt the world owes to the U.S. for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism" and vowed to follow Winston Churchill's lead and make Britain's ties with America even stronger.

He even said this on the campaign trail. Now he is going to live up to it? Really? A Politician saying what he is going to do, then DOING it? Maybe some of our Politicians could learn something from him.

Mr. Brown's statements elicited anger from many of Mr. Bush's domestic detractors, who claim the president concocted the war on terror for personal gain. But as someone who escaped from communist Romania--with two death sentences on his head--in order to become a citizen of this great country, I have a hard time understanding why some of our top political leaders can dare in a time of war to call our commander in chief a "liar," a "deceiver" and a "fraud."

Amen!

I spent decades scrutinizing the U.S. from Europe, and I learned that international respect for America is directly proportional to America's own respect for its president.

My father spent most of his life working for General Motors in Romania and had a picture of President Truman in our house in Bucharest. While "America" was a vague place somewhere thousands of miles away, he was her tangible symbol. For us, it was he who had helped save civilization from the Nazi barbarians, and it was he who helped restore our freedom after the war--if only for a brief while. We learned that America loved Truman, and we loved America. It was as simple as that.

Later, when I headed Romania's intelligence station in West Germany, everyone there admired America too. People would often tell me that the "Amis" meant the difference between night and day in their lives. By "night" they meant East Germany, where their former compatriots were scraping along under economic privation and Stasi brutality. That was then.

But in September 2002, a German cabinet minister, Herta Dauebler-Gmelin, had the nerve to compare Mr. Bush to Hitler. In one post-Iraq-war poll 40% of Canada's teenagers called the U.S. "evil," and even before the fall of Saddam 57% of Greeks answered "neither" when asked which country was more democratic, the U.S. or Iraq.

Pay attention to this.

Sowing the seeds of anti-Americanism by discrediting the American president was one of the main tasks of the Soviet-bloc intelligence community during the years I worked at its top levels. This same strategy is at work today, but it is regarded as bad manners to point out the Soviet parallels. For communists, only the leader counted, no matter the country, friend or foe. At home, they deified their own ruler--as to a certain extent still holds true in Russia. Abroad, they asserted that a fish starts smelling from the head, and they did everything in their power to make the head of the Free World stink.

The communist effort to generate hatred for the American president began soon after President Truman set up NATO and propelled the three Western occupation forces to unite their zones to form a new West German nation. We were tasked to take advantage of the reawakened patriotic feelings stirring in the European countries that had been subjugated by the Nazis, in order to shift their hatred for Hitler over into hatred for Truman--the leader of the new "occupation power." Western Europe was still grateful to the U.S. for having restored its freedom, but it had strong leftist movements that we secretly financed. They were like putty in our hands.

The European leftists, like any totalitarians, needed a tangible enemy, and we gave them one. In no time they began beating their drums decrying President Truman as the "butcher of Hiroshima." We went on to spend many years and many billions of dollars disparaging subsequent presidents: Eisenhower as a war-mongering "shark" run by the military-industrial complex, Johnson as a mafia boss who had bumped off his predecessor, Nixon as a petty tyrant, Ford as a dimwitted football player and Jimmy Carter as a bumbling peanut farmer. In 1978, when I left Romania for good, the bloc intelligence community had already collected 700 million signatures on a "Yankees-Go-Home" petition, at the same time launching the slogan "Europe for the Europeans."

Are you getting this?

During the Vietnam War we spread vitriolic stories around the world, pretending that America's presidents sent Genghis Khan-style barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages. Those weren't facts. They were our tales, but some seven million Americans ended up being convinced their own president, not communism, was the enemy. As Yuri Andropov, who conceived this dezinformatsiya war against the U.S., used to tell me, people are more willing to believe smut than holiness.

“Barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages.” Is that like “Terrorizing women and children in the dead of night.” “Killing innocent Iraqis.” Sound familiar?

The final goal of our anti-American offensive was to discourage the U.S. from protecting the world against communist terrorism and expansion. Sadly, we succeeded. After U.S. forces precipitously pulled out of Vietnam, the victorious communists massacred some two million people in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Another million tried to escape, but many died in the attempt. This tragedy also created a credibility gap between America and the rest of the world, damaged the cohesion of American foreign policy, and poisoned domestic debate in the U.S.

Similar WILL happen in Iraq.

I have been telling you, This new Liberalism, is a quest for tyranny. Get this.

Unfortunately, partisans today have taken a page from the old Soviet playbook. At the 2004 Democratic National Convention, for example, Bush critics continued our mud-slinging at America's commander in chief. One speaker, Martin O'Malley, now governor of Maryland, had earlier in the summer stated he was more worried about the actions of the Bush administration than about al Qaeda. On another occasion, retired four-star general Wesley Clark gave Michael Moore a platform to denounce the American commander in chief as a "deserter." And visitors to the national chairman of the Democratic Party had to step across a doormat depicting the American president surrounded by the words, "Give Bush the Boot."

Competition is indeed the engine that has driven the American dream forward, but unity in time of war has made America the leader of the world. During World War II, 405,399 Americans died to defeat Nazism, but their country of immigrants remained sturdily united. The U.S. held national elections during the war, but those running for office entertained no thought of damaging America's international prestige in their quest for personal victory. Republican challenger Thomas Dewey declined to criticize President Roosevelt's war policy. At the end of that war, a united America rebuilt its vanquished enemies. It took seven years to turn Nazi Germany and imperial Japan into democracies, but that effort generated an unprecedented technological explosion and 50 years of unmatched prosperity for us all.

Now we are again at war. It is not the president's war. It is America's war, authorized by 296 House members and 76 senators. I do not intend to join the armchair experts on the Iraq war. I do not know how we should handle this war, and they don't know either. But I do know that if America's political leaders, Democrat and Republican, join together as they did during World War II, America will win. Otherwise, terrorism will win. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi predicted just before being killed: "We fight today in Iraq, tomorrow in the land of the Holy Places, and after there in the West."

On July 28, I celebrated 29 years since President Carter signed off on my request for political asylum, and I am still tremendously proud that the leader of the Free World granted me my freedom. During these years I have lived here under five presidents--some better than others--but I have always felt that I was living in paradise. My American citizenship has given me a feeling of pride, hope and security that is surpassed only by the joy of simply being alive. There are millions of other immigrants who are equally proud that they restarted their lives from scratch in order to be in this magnanimous country. I appeal to them to help keep our beloved America united and honorable. We may not be able to change the habits of our current political representatives, but we may be able to introduce healthy new blood into the U.S. Congress.

For once, the communists got it right. It is America's leader that counts. Let's return to the traditions of presidents who accepted nothing short of unconditional surrender from our deadly enemies. Let's vote next year for people who believe in America's future, not for the ones who live in the Cold War past.

Enough said!

Lt. Gen. Pacepa is the highest-ranking intelligence official ever to have defected from the Soviet bloc. His new book, "Programmed to Kill: Lee Harvey Oswald, the Soviet KGB, and the Kennedy Assassination" (Ivan R. Dee) will be published in November.
Peter

World War Three?

I keep warning you, but now, the World is starting to sound the Drum Beats of War.

Hey folks,

You've no doubt heard of the Arab Spring? We all know what that means. The Muslim Brotherhood is on the march. They are taking over all the Middle East. Who IS the Muslim Brotherhood? Islamofascists. Who do they answer to? Iran. We have HELPED them take over entire Countries. Out of Ignorance or on purpose, not sure which is worse, this Administration has assisted them in their quest.

Now we have the Syrian situation. You know what is going on there. Right?

China, along with Russia, recently supported Damascus by vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Assad's regime. During his visit Saturday to Syria, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun urged dialogue and called on all parties to stop the violence.

Now we learn this today.

Two Iranian warships docked Saturday at a Syrian port, the Iranian broadcaster Press TV reported.

The vessels - a destroyer and a supply ship - are to provide maritime training to Syria's navy under an agreement between the two countries, according to the report.

China and Russia have also blocked the U.S. in it's attempts to be ever more forceful in dealing with Iran's Nuclear Quest. Speaking of Russia, did you catch this?

MOSCOW — A nasty spate of anti-Americanism set off by Vladimir V. Putin has grown into waves of attacks aimed at the new American ambassador and Russian opposition leaders, raising questions about the future of U.S.-Russian relations.

The attacks started just before the December parliamentary elections and have intensified as the March 4 presidential vote approaches. Although widely viewed as aimed primarily at a domestic audience, they have grown shriller and more aggressive, provoking debate about whether Russia is deliberately giving a cold shoulder to President Obama’s effort to promote more productive relations.

A main target of the attacks is Michael McFaul, the new ambassador, a longtime democracy advocate and Russia expert who as a top aide to Obama has been an architect of what the White House calls a “reset’’ with Moscow.

The anti-American campaign bears trademark Soviet and KGB thinking, reflecting the mindset of many of the high-level officials appointed by Putin as well as their efforts to protect their power and privileges from the gathering opposition.

I have been telling you for YEARS now, that Putin WANTS Mother Russia back. He WANTS a new "Cold War" with the U.S. He has never lost control of Russia and WILL again be their President.

So we have Iran, ACHIEVING their Nuclear Quest and creating a BOMB that they WILL use to Wipe Israel off the Map. We have Iran on the march all over the middle East, complete with THIS Administration HELPING them. You have Russia going backwards toward the Dark Days of the USSR. You have Russia and China taking the side of Iran. Don't forget about North Korea. And you have a Nuclear Iran that has already said they will defeat Israel and the "Great Satin." {America}

Meanwhile, Israel will have to defend itself, SOON. It will have to attempt to stop Iran before they are DESTROYED. If we do nothing, the original Holocaust will look like a walk in the Park. If Iran attacks Israel with Nuclear Weapons, then attacks US, It will be too late. China and Russia WILL get involved and World War Three WILL make the other Two look like Pea Shooting Contests. Dark Days are coming. REALLY Dark Days.

We need a Leadership that understands World Events and what is going on. We need a Leadership with the guts to do whatever they need to do to prevent this. Iran is the key to all of this. Will Russia and China get involved? Perhaps. But if we do nothing?

I do not think Russia nor China are interested in deploying Nukes themselves. They will talk tough, they will maybe get involved today if we allow and back Israel in doing what Israel MUST do. But if Iran DOES use Nukes, then we will have to. If we do? Then Russia and China, even North Korea, might join in. We are facing some tough choices here folks. Choices that need to be made soon. The drums have started. Time is running out. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
Peter

Sources:
The AP - Prosecutor, judge killed in northwest Syria
Haaretz.com - Iranian warships dock at Syrian port after crossing Suez Canal
The Washington Post - In Russia, Putin allies sharpen anti-American attacks ahead of elections

President Bush Statement Made At The VFW Conference

Kansas City, Missouri

9:46 A.M.

President Bush: Thank you all. Please be seated. It's good to be with you again. I understand you haven't had much of a problem attracting speakers. (Laughter.) I thank you for inviting me. I can understand why people want to come here. See, it's an honor to stand with the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. (Applause.) The VFW is one of this nation's finest organizations. You belong to an elite group of Americans. (Applause.) You belong to a group of people who have defended America overseas. You have fought in places from Normandy to Iwo Jima, to Pusan, to Khe Sahn, to Kuwait, to Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. You brought security to the American people; you brought hope to millions across the world.

As members of this proud organization, you are advocates for the rights of our military veterans, a model of community service, and a strong and important voice for a strong national defense. I thank you for your service. I thank you for what you've done for the United States of America. (Applause.)

I stand before you as a wartime President. I wish I didn't have to say that, but an enemy that attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, declared war on the United States of America. And war is what we're engaged in. The struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it's a struggle for civilization. We fight for a free way of life against a new barbarism -- an ideology whose followers have killed thousands on American soil, and seek to kill again on even a greater scale.

We fight for the possibility that decent men and women across the broader Middle East can realize their destiny -- and raise up societies based on freedom and justice and personal dignity. And as long as I'm Commander-in-Chief we will fight to win. (Applause.) I'm confident that we will prevail. I'm confident we'll prevail because we have the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known -- the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. (Applause.)

For those of you who wear the uniform, nothing makes me more proud to say that I am your Commander-in-Chief. Thank you for volunteering in the service of the United States of America. (Applause.)

Now, I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty, or worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it. Others believe that America's presence is destabilizing, and that if the United States would just leave a place like Iraq those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer threaten us. Today I'm going to address these arguments. I'm going to describe why helping the young democracies of the Middle East stand up to violent Islamic extremists is the only realistic path to a safer world for the American people. I'm going to try to provide some historical perspective to show there is a precedent for the hard and necessary work we're doing, and why I have such confidence in the fact we'll be successful.

Before I do so I want to thank the national Commander-in-Chief of the VFW and his wife, Nancy. It's been a joy to work with Gary and the staff. Gary said, we don't necessarily agree a hundred percent of the time. I remember the old lieutenant governor of Texas -- a Democrat, and I was a Republican governor. He said, "Governor, if we agreed 100 percent of the time, one of us wouldn't be necessary." (Laughter.)

But here's what we do agree on: We agree our veterans deserve the full support of the United States government. (Applause.) That's why in this budget I submitted there's $87 billion for the veterans; it's the highest level of support ever for the veterans in American history. (Applause.) We agree that health care for our veterans is a top priority, and that's why we've increased health care spending for our veterans by 83 percent since I was sworn in as your President. (Applause.) We agree that a troop coming out of Iraq or Afghanistan deserves the best health care not only as an active duty citizen, but as a military guy, but also as a veteran -- and you're going to get the best health care we can possibly provide. (Applause.) We agree our homeless vets ought to have shelter, and that's what we're providing.

In other words, we agree the veterans deserve the full support of our government and that's what you're going to get as George W. Bush as your President. (Applause.)

I want to thank Bob Wallace, the Executive Director. He spends a lot of time in the Oval Office -- I'm always checking the silverware drawer. (Laughter.) He's going to be bringing in George Lisicki here soon. He's going to be the national commander-in-chief for my next year in office. And I'm looking forward to working with George, and I'm looking forward to working with Wallace, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you. They're going to find an open-minded President, dedicated to doing what's right. (Applause.)

I appreciate Linda Meader, the National President of the Ladies Auxiliary. She brought old Dave with her. (Applause.) Virginia Carman, the incoming President. I want to thank Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon Mansfield for joining us today. I appreciate the United States Senator from the state of Missouri, strong supporter of the military and strong supporter of the veterans, Kit Bond. (Applause.) Two members of the Congress have kindly showed up today -- I'm proud they're both here: Congressman Emanuel Cleaver -- no finer man, no more decent a fellow than Emanuel Cleaver -- is with us. And a great Congressman from right around the corner here, Congressman Sam Graves. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.)

Lieutenant General Jack Stultz, Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, is with us today. General, thanks for coming. Lieutenant General Bill Caldwell, Commanding General, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is with us today, as well. General Caldwell, thank you for your service. (Applause.)

Thank you all for letting me come by. I want to open today's speech with a story that begins on a sunny morning, when thousands of Americans were murdered in a surprise attack -- and our nation was propelled into a conflict that would take us to every corner of the globe.

The enemy who attacked us despises freedom, and harbors resentment at the slights he believes America and Western nations have inflicted on his people. He fights to establish his rule over an entire region. And over time, he turns to a strategy of suicide attacks destined to create so much carnage that the American people will tire of the violence and give up the fight.

If this story sounds familiar, it is -- except for one thing. The enemy I have just described is not al Qaeda, and the attack is not 9/11, and the empire is not the radical caliphate envisioned by Osama bin Laden. Instead, what I've described is the war machine of Imperial Japan in the 1940s, its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and its attempt to impose its empire throughout East Asia.

Ultimately, the United States prevailed in World War II, and we have fought two more land wars in Asia. And many in this hall were veterans of those campaigns. Yet even the most optimistic among you probably would not have foreseen that the Japanese would transform themselves into one of America's strongest and most steadfast allies, or that the South Koreans would recover from enemy invasion to raise up one of the world's most powerful economies, or that Asia would pull itself out of poverty and hopelessness as it embraced markets and freedom.

The lesson from Asia's development is that the heart's desire for liberty will not be denied. Once people even get a small taste of liberty, they're not going to rest until they're free. Today's dynamic and hopeful Asia -- a region that brings us countless benefits -- would not have been possible without America's presence and perseverance. It would not have been possible without the veterans in this hall today. And I thank you for your service. (Applause.)

There are many differences between the wars we fought in the Far East and the war on terror we're fighting today. But one important similarity is at their core they're ideological struggles. The militarists of Japan and the communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven by a merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity. They killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force their ideology on others.

Today, the names and places have changed, but the fundamental character of the struggle has not changed. Like our enemies in the past, the terrorists who wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places seek to spread a political vision of their own -- a harsh plan for life that crushes freedom, tolerance, and dissent.

Like our enemies in the past, they kill Americans because we stand in their way of imposing this ideology across a vital region of the world. This enemy is dangerous; this enemy is determined; and this enemy will be defeated. (Applause.)

We're still in the early hours of the current ideological struggle, but we do know how the others ended -- and that knowledge helps guide our efforts today. The ideals and interests that led America to help the Japanese turn defeat into democracy are the same that lead us to remain engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The defense strategy that refused to hand the South Koreans over to a totalitarian neighbor helped raise up a Asian Tiger that is the model for developing countries across the world, including the Middle East. The result of American sacrifice and perseverance in Asia is a freer, more prosperous and stable continent whose people want to live in peace with America, not attack America.

At the outset of World War II there were only two democracies in the Far East -- Australia and New Zealand. Today most of the nations in Asia are free, and its democracies reflect the diversity of the region. Some of these nations have constitutional monarchies, some have parliaments, and some have presidents. Some are Christian, some are Muslim, some are Hindu, and some are Buddhist. Yet for all the differences, the free nations of Asia all share one thing in common: Their governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, and they desire to live in peace with their neighbors.

Along the way to this freer and more hopeful Asia, there were a lot of doubters. Many times in the decades that followed World War II, American policy in Asia was dismissed as hopeless and naive. And when we listen to criticism of the difficult work our generation is undertaking in the Middle East today, we can hear the echoes of the same arguments made about the Far East years ago.

In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then as now, the critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom.

Some said Japanese culture was inherently incompatible with democracy. Joseph Grew, a former United States ambassador to Japan who served as Harry Truman's Under Secretary of State, told the President flatly that -- and I quote -- "democracy in Japan would never work." He wasn't alone in that belief. A lot of Americans believed that -- and so did the Japanese -- a lot of Japanese believed the same thing: democracy simply wouldn't work.

Others critics said that Americans were imposing their ideals on the Japanese. For example, Japan's Vice Prime Minister asserted that allowing Japanese women to vote would "retard the progress of Japanese politics."

It's interesting what General MacArthur wrote in his memoirs. He wrote, "There was much criticism of my support for the enfranchisement of women. Many Americans, as well as many other so-called experts, expressed the view that Japanese women were too steeped in the tradition of subservience to their husbands to act with any degree of political independence." That's what General MacArthur observed. In the end, Japanese women were given the vote; 39 women won parliamentary seats in Japan's first free election. Today, Japan's minister of defense is a woman, and just last month, a record number of women were elected to Japan's Upper House. Other critics argued that democracy-- (Applause.)

There are other critics, believe it or not, that argue that democracy could not succeed in Japan because the national religion -- Shinto -- was too fanatical and rooted in the Emperor. Senator Richard Russell denounced the Japanese faith, and said that if we did not put the Emperor on trial, "any steps we may take to create democracy are doomed to failure." The State Department's man in Tokyo put it bluntly: "The Emperor system must disappear if Japan is ever really to be democratic."

Those who said Shinto was incompatible with democracy were mistaken, and fortunately, Americans and Japanese leaders recognized it at the time, because instead of suppressing the Shinto faith, American authorities worked with the Japanese to institute religious freedom for all faiths. Instead of abolishing the imperial throne, Americans and Japanese worked together to find a place for the Emperor in the democratic political system.

And the result of all these steps was that every Japanese citizen gained freedom of religion, and the Emperor remained on his throne and Japanese democracy grew stronger because it embraced a cherished part of Japanese culture. And today, in defiance of the critics and the doubters and the skeptics, Japan retains its religions and cultural traditions, and stands as one of the world's great free societies. (Applause.)

You know, the experts sometimes get it wrong. An interesting observation, one historian put it -- he said, "Had these erstwhile experts" -- he was talking about people criticizing the efforts to help Japan realize the blessings of a free society -- he said, "Had these erstwhile experts had their way, the very notion of inducing a democratic revolution would have died of ridicule at an early stage."

Instead, I think it's important to look at what happened. A democratic Japan has brought peace and prosperity to its people. Its foreign trade and investment have helped jump-start the economies of others in the region. The alliance between our two nations is the lynchpin for freedom and stability throughout the Pacific. And I want you to listen carefully to this final point: Japan has transformed from America's enemy in the ideological struggle of the 20th century to one of America's strongest allies in the ideological struggle of the 21st century. (Applause.)

Critics also complained when America intervened to save South Korea from communist invasion. Then as now, the critics argued that the war was futile, that we should never have sent our troops in, or they argued that America's intervention was divisive here at home.

After the North Koreans crossed the 38th Parallel in 1950, President Harry Truman came to the defense of the South -- and found himself attacked from all sides. From the left, I.F. Stone wrote a book suggesting that the South Koreans were the real aggressors and that we had entered the war on a false pretext. From the right, Republicans vacillated. Initially, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate endorsed Harry Truman's action, saying, "I welcome the indication of a more definite policy" -- he went on to say, "I strongly hope that having adopted it, the President may maintain it intact," then later said "it was a mistake originally to go into Korea because it meant a land war."

Throughout the war, the Republicans really never had a clear position. They never could decide whether they wanted the United States to withdraw from the war in Korea, or expand the war to the Chinese mainland. Others complained that our troops weren't getting the support from the government. One Republican senator said, the effort was just "bluff and bluster." He rejected calls to come together in a time of war, on the grounds that "we will not allow the cloak of national unity to be wrapped around horrible blunders."

Many in the press agreed. One columnist in The Washington Post said, "The fact is that the conduct of the Korean War has been shot through with errors great and small." A colleague wrote that "Korea is an open wound. It's bleeding and there's no cure for it in sight." He said that the American people could not understand "why Americans are doing about 95 percent of the fighting in Korea."

Many of these criticisms were offered as reasons for abandoning our commitments in Korea. And while it's true the Korean War had its share of challenges, the United States never broke its word.

Today, we see the result of a sacrifice of people in this room in the stark contrast of life on the Korean Peninsula. Without Americans' intervention during the war and our willingness to stick with the South Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living under a brutal and repressive regime. The Soviets and Chinese communists would have learned the lesson that aggression pays. The world would be facing a more dangerous situation. The world would be less peaceful.

Instead, South Korea is a strong, democratic ally of the United States of America. South Korean troops are serving side-by-side with American forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And America can count on the free people of South Korea to be lasting partners in the ideological struggle we're facing in the beginning of the 21st century. (Applause.)

For those of you who served in Korea, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for your service. (Applause.)

Finally, there's Vietnam. This is a complex and painful subject for many Americans. The tragedy of Vietnam is too large to be contained in one speech. So I'm going to limit myself to one argument that has particular significance today. Then as now, people argued the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end.

The argument that America's presence in Indochina was dangerous had a long pedigree. In 1955, long before the United States had entered the war, Graham Greene wrote a novel called, "The Quiet American." It was set in Saigon, and the main character was a young government agent named Alden Pyle. He was a symbol of American purpose and patriotism -- and dangerous naivete. Another character describes Alden this way: "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."

After America entered the Vietnam War, the Graham Greene argument gathered some steam. As a matter of fact, many argued that if we pulled out there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people.

In 1972, one antiwar senator put it this way: "What earthly difference does it make to nomadic tribes or uneducated subsistence farmers in Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos, whether they have a military dictator, a royal prince or a socialist commissar in some distant capital that they've never seen and may never heard of?" A columnist for The New York Times wrote in a similar vein in 1975, just as Cambodia and Vietnam were falling to the communists: "It's difficult to imagine," he said, "how their lives could be anything but better with the Americans gone." A headline on that story, date Phnom Penh, summed up the argument: "Indochina without Americans: For Most a Better Life."

The world would learn just how costly these misimpressions would be. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution. In Vietnam, former allies of the United States and government workers and intellectuals and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens of thousands perished. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country on rickety boats, many of them going to their graves in the South China Sea.

Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.) Whatever your position is on that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education camps," and "killing fields."

There was another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today's struggle -- those who came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 2001. In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden declared that "the American people had risen against their government's war in Vietnam. And they must do the same today."

His number two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter to al Qaeda's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed to "the aftermath of the collapse of the American power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents."

Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that the Americans "know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam specter is closing every outlet." Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility -- but the terrorists see it differently.

We must remember the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they say. Bin Laden has declared that "the war [in Iraq] is for you or us to win. If we win it, it means your disgrace and defeat forever." Iraq is one of several fronts in the war on terror -- but it's the central front -- it's the central front for the enemy that attacked us and wants to attack us again. And it's the central front for the United States and to withdraw without getting the job done would be devastating. (Applause.)

If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be emboldened, and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, this enemy will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United States of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them in the United States of America. (Applause.)

Recently, two men who were on the opposite sides of the debate over the Vietnam War came together to write an article. One was a member of President Nixon's foreign policy team, and the other was a fierce critic of the Nixon administration's policies. Together they wrote that the consequences of an American defeat in Iraq would be disastrous.

Here's what they said: "Defeat would produce an explosion of euphoria among all the forces of Islamist extremism, throwing the entire Middle East into even greater upheaval. The likely human and strategic costs are appalling to contemplate. Perhaps that is why so much of the current debate seeks to ignore these consequences." I believe these men are right.

In Iraq, our moral obligations and our strategic interests are one. So we pursue the extremists wherever we find them and we stand with the Iraqis at this difficult hour -- because the shadow of terror will never be lifted from our world and the American people will never be safe until the people of the Middle East know the freedom that our Creator meant for all. (Applause.)

I recognize that history cannot predict the future with absolute certainty. I understand that. But history does remind us that there are lessons applicable to our time. And we can learn something from history. In Asia, we saw freedom triumph over violent ideologies after the sacrifice of tens of thousands of American lives -- and that freedom has yielded peace for generations.

The American military graveyards across Europe attest to the terrible human cost in the fight against Nazism. They also attest to the triumph of a continent that today is whole, free, and at peace. The advance of freedom in these lands should give us confidence that the hard work we are doing in the Middle East can have the same results we've seen in Asia and elsewhere -- if we show the same perseverance and the same sense of purpose.

In a world where the terrorists are willing to act on their twisted beliefs with sickening acts of barbarism, we must put faith in the timeless truths about human nature that have made us free.

Across the Middle East, millions of ordinary citizens are tired of war, they're tired of dictatorship and corruption, they're tired of despair. They want societies where they're treated with dignity and respect, where their children have the hope for a better life. They want nations where their faiths are honored and they can worship in freedom.

And that is why millions of Iraqis and Afghans turned out to the polls -- millions turned out to the polls. And that's why their leaders have stepped forward at the risk of assassination. And that's why tens of thousands are joining the security forces of their nations. These men and women are taking great risks to build a free and peaceful Middle East -- and for the sake of our own security, we must not abandon them.

There is one group of people who understand the stakes, understand as well as any expert, anybody in America -- those are the men and women in uniform. Through nearly six years of war, they have performed magnificently. (Applause.) Day after day, hour after hour, they keep the pressure on the enemy that would do our citizens harm. They've overthrown two of the most brutal tyrannies of the world, and liberated more than 50 million citizens. (Applause.)

In Iraq, our troops are taking the fight to the extremists and radicals and murderers all throughout the country. Our troops have killed or captured an average of more than 1,500 al Qaeda terrorists and other extremists every month since January of this year. (Applause.) We're in the fight. Today our troops are carrying out a surge that is helping bring former Sunni insurgents into the fight against the extremists and radicals, into the fight against al Qaeda, into the fight against the enemy that would do us harm. They're clearing out the terrorists out of population centers, they're giving families in liberated Iraqi cities a look at a decent and hopeful life.

Our troops are seeing this progress that is being made on the ground. And as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a question: Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they're gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq? Here's my answer is clear: We'll support our troops, we'll support our commanders, and we will give them everything they need to succeed. (Applause.)

Despite the mistakes that have been made, despite the problems we have encountered, seeing the Iraqis through as they build their democracy is critical to keeping the American people safe from the terrorists who want to attack us. It is critical work to lay the foundation for peace that veterans have done before you all.

A free Iraq is not going to be perfect. A free Iraq will not make decisions as quickly as the country did under the dictatorship. Many are frustrated by the pace of progress in Baghdad, and I can understand this. As I noted yesterday, the Iraqi government is distributing oil revenues across its provinces despite not having an oil revenue law on its books, that the parliament has passed about 60 pieces of legislation.

Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man with a difficult job, and I support him. And it's not up to politicians in Washington, D.C. to say whether he will remain in his position -- that is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy, and not a dictatorship. (Applause.) A free Iraq is not going to transform the Middle East overnight. But a free Iraq will be a massive defeat for al Qaeda, it will be an example that provides hope for millions throughout the Middle East, it will be a friend of the United States, and it's going to be an important ally in the ideological struggle of the 21st century. (Applause.)

Prevailing in this struggle is essential to our future as a nation. And the question now that comes before us is this: Will today's generation of Americans resist the allure of retreat, and will we do in the Middle East what the veterans in this room did in Asia?

The journey is not going to be easy, as the veterans fully understand. At the outset of the war in the Pacific, there were those who argued that freedom had seen its day and that the future belonged to the hard men in Tokyo. A year and a half before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan's Foreign Minister gave a hint of things to come during an interview with a New York newspaper. He said, "In the battle between democracy and totalitarianism the latter adversary will without question win and will control the world. The era of democracy is finished, the democratic system bankrupt."

In fact, the war machines of Imperial Japan would be brought down -- brought down by good folks who only months before had been students and farmers and bank clerks and factory hands. Some are in the room today. Others here have been inspired by their fathers and grandfathers and uncles and cousins.

That generation of Americans taught the tyrants a telling lesson: There is no power like the power of freedom and no soldier as strong as a soldier who fights for a free future for his children. (Applause.) And when America's work on the battlefield was done, the victorious children of democracy would help our defeated enemies rebuild, and bring the taste of freedom to millions.

We can do the same for the Middle East. Today the violent Islamic extremists who fight us in Iraq are as certain of their cause as the Nazis, or the Imperial Japanese, or the Soviet communists were of theirs. They are destined for the same fate. (Applause.)

The greatest weapon in the arsenal of democracy is the desire for liberty written into the human heart by our Creator. So long as we remain true to our ideals, we will defeat the extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will help those countries' peoples stand up functioning democracies in the heart of the broader Middle East. And when that hard work is done and the critics of today recede from memory, the cause of freedom will be stronger, a vital region will be brighter, and the American people will be safer.

Thank you, and God bless. (Applause.)

END 10:29 A.M. CDT

Three Times, Same Article, Different Perception

Three times a charm?

Hey folks,

This is to funny. This is from the Emails as well. BG sent the following to me.

Reuters - Economy soars 5.7 percent, fastest in 6 years

BG - Paragraph 1: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest in more than six years, as businesses made less-aggressive cuts to inventories and stepped up spending.

Paragraph 11: For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the first year after the end of World War II.

Unbelievable, how the sycophants lie for their messiah.

{Laughing} I loved it. So I went to the actual article. Reuters - Economy soars 5.7 percent, fastest in 6 years. I started reading.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the fourth quarter, surprising economists, as businesses curbed their aggressive cut in stocks and stepped up spending.

The robust growth pointed to a sustainable recovery in a crucial period before government stimulus plans run out and was good news for an administration amid political difficulties.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 5.7 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its first estimate for the quarter. It was a strong end to a year in which the economy shrank by 2.4 percent -- the worst performance since 1946.

Wait. What?

While much of the growth resulted from companies' drawing down inventories more slowly than they did earlier in the year rather than from a surge in domestic demand, economists said it was still a positive report.

"The data shows that the necessary transition from government stimulus to private sector spending is under way, which is essential to sustain the economic expansion," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.

U.S. stocks initially rallied on the eye-catching growth number but ended down on worries about credit troubles in Europe. Stock market losses fed investors' preference for safe-haven U.S. government bonds, while the U.S. dollar rallied against major currencies.

Getting the economy on a sustainable growth track remains one of the key challenges facing President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday outlined measures to create jobs and nurture the recovery.

The government will release its closely watched employment report for January next Friday. A Reuters survey forecast payrolls grew by 5,000 jobs after an 85,000 drop in December.

The economic picture was further brightened by a jump in Midwest business activity in January to its highest level in four years, while consumer confidence hit a two-year high.

Economists said they expected the lift from inventories to fade over time, with economic growth moderating in the second half of the year.

This can't be the same article. Right? So I started searching and found THIS.

NY Post Economy soars at 5.7 percent pace in 4th quarter

Last Updated: 10:35 AM, January 29, 2010

Posted: 8:48 AM, January 29, 2010

So The NY Post had Two versions. But where is the original? The last one they had was this.

WASHINGTON -- The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest pace in more than six years, as businesses reduced inventories less aggressively, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 4.6 percent rate in October-December period.

Growth was boosted a sharp slowdown in the pace of inventory liquidation, a factor that could mask the strength of the economic recovery from the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression.

But even stripping out inventories, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, accelerating from the 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter, reflecting relatively strong performance from other segments of the economy.

Business inventories fell only $33.5 billion in fourth quarter after dropping $139.2 billion in the July-September period. The change in inventories alone added 3.39 percentage points to GDP in the last quarter. This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987.

For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the first year after the end of World War II, the department said.

In the last three months of 2009, consumer spending increased at a 2 percent annual rate, below the 2.8 percent annual pace in the prior quarter when consumption got a boost from the government's "cash for clunkers" program.

In the forth quarter, consumer spending contributed 1.44 percentage points to GDP.

Consumer spending, which normally accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, has been held back by the worst labor market in a quarter century.

Business investment in the fourth quarter grew for the first time since the second quarter of 2008 as the drag from the troubled commercial real estate was offset by robust spending on equipment and software. Business investment rose at a 2.9 percent rate after falling 5.9 percent over the previous three-month period.

The growth of spending on new home construction braked sharply in the fourth quarter to an annual rate of 5.7 percent from an 18.9 percent pace in the third quarter. Home building has received a lift from a popular tax credit for first-time buyers, but recent data have hinted at some weakness starting to creep in.

Export growth outpaced imports, leaving a trade gap that contributed half a percentage point to GDP growth in the last quarter.

So still attempting to put a good spin on this. Then I found the original. Posted by John Manning with Google Groups.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest in more than six years, as businesses made less-aggressive cuts to inventories and stepped up spending.

The Commerce Department said on Friday its first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 4.6 percent rate in October-December period.

"Wow, great number. It's very solid and gives us a running start into the second half of the year when we can't rely on government stimulus," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

"That's part of the plan, to get us moving as fast as possible so when life support is removed we'll have a pulse."

U.S. stock index futures extended gains on the data, while Treasury debt prices deepened losses. The dollar rose against the yen.

Getting the economy on a sustainable growth track remains one of the key challenges facing President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday outlined a raft of measures to create jobs and nurture the recovery.

Growth was boosted by a sharp slowdown in the pace of inventory liquidation, a factor that could mask the strength of the economic recovery from the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression.

But even stripping out inventories, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, accelerating from the 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter, reflecting relatively strong performance from other segments of the economy.

Business inventories fell only $33.5 billion in fourth quarter after dropping $139.2 billion in the July-September period. The change in inventories alone added 3.39 percentage points to GDP in the last quarter. This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987.

For the whole of 2009, the economy contracted 2.4 percent, the biggest decline since 1946, the first year after the end of World War II.

In the last three months of 2009, consumer spending increased at a 2 percent annual rate, below the 2.8 percent annual pace in the prior quarter when consumption got a boost from the government's "cash for clunkers" program.

In the fourth quarter, consumer spending contributed 1.44 percentage points to GDP.

Consumer spending, which normally accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, has been held back by the worst labor market in a quarter century.

Business investment in the fourth quarter grew for the first time since the second quarter of 2008 as the drag from the troubled commercial real estate was offset by robust spending on equipment and software.

Business investment rose at a 2.9 percent rate after falling 5.9 percent over the previous three-month period.

The growth of spending on new home construction braked sharply in the fourth quarter to an annual rate of 5.7 percent from an 18.9 percent pace in the third quarter. Home building has received a lift from a popular tax credit for first-time buyers, but recent data have hinted at some weakness starting to creep in.

Export growth outpaced imports, leaving a trade gap that contributed half a percentage point to GDP growth in the last quarter.

Separately, employment costs in the United States rose 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter, Labor Department data showed.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the Employment Cost Index to increase 0.4 percent in the three months ending in December 2009, after it inched up an unrevised 0.4 percent in the prior quarter.

Wages and salaries, which make up about 70 percent of compensation, and benefits were both up 0.5 percent, the Labor Department said.

Now folks, everyone that writes Articles, tweaks, and changes things after proof reading. I have even gone in and corrected typos after posting. But to completely change every thing around to make it sound better than it is? Three times? Like BG said, "Unbelievable, how the sycophants lie for their messiah."
Peter

Sources:
Reuters - Economy soars 5.7 percent, fastest in 6 years
NY Post Economy soars at 5.7 percent pace in 4th quarter
John Manning Google Groups

Note: From The Emails is a weekly Segment every Friday, or occasionally anytime, that appears here at the OPNTalk Blog. Please feel free to Email any Articles, Comments, Thoughts, Whatever, that you may like to share to opntalk@gmail.com As always, you never know what you may see here.

Israel, Iran, and America

If we are going to talk Energy Prices and the Economy, we HAVE to talk about this.

Hey folks,

We already know WHY all this matters to us, from an Energy standpoint. YEARS of Liberal Policies and agendas have put us in this situation. But THIS situation is far more dangerous than just higher Energy costs. There is a WAR coming.

You know, I scan hundreds of News Outlets, Blogs, Websites, Newspapers, ETC. on a daily basis. I sometimes take the time to check out the comment sections, to see what the other readers might be saying. At times, the sheer and unadulterated Stupidity leaves me in complete amazement, and at times, even a little scared.

Of course the big news yesterday is Obama meeting with Netanyahu. Folks, I'm not trying to be provocative, sound Arrogant, or anything else here. I'm really not. But this is one of those times when the sheer and unadulterated Stupidity scares me a bit. Ignorance can be educated. Stupidity can't be. I actually heard a caller, I believe it was the Tom Sullivan Show, say that we should just allow Iran to get their Nukes. "They will never use them. We got them. Israel got them. Of course Iran wants them for their own protection." {Sigh}

We have them, and we will use them for Protection against attacks on us and our Allies. Well, we may depending on OUR Leadership at the time. Israel will use them in defense. But Iran is a TOTALLY different animal. They are not building them for Protection. They are building them for USE. To destroy Israel and the "Great Satin" which is of course, US.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yes he IS really in charge, IS Hitler. His entire existence is for the Destruction of Israel. That is the only reason he breaths. He wants Israel destroyed, and he wants US gone. He sees a world with Sharia law as the Law of the Land with one Government, with him in charge of it, controlling EVERYTHING. He thinks if he brings this about, he will hastening the end of the World as we know it.

Look. I understand and I even join you, my Peacenik friends, in the vision of a world free of War and guns. Flowers not Guns. Peace all through the Land. Where the Lion lays down with the Lamb. Where we can build a Camp Fire and sing "Kumbayah." So does Ahmadinejad. Only he thinks that the only way to get there is to destroy Israel, and America and put him in charge of that Camp fire.

So a TRUE World Leader, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes to meet with Obama. Here is a guy, Obama, who is NO FRIEND of Israel. For the last three years, he has PROVEN this. It's out there, or you can check the Vast Archive right here at the OPNTalk Blog for clear and undeniable examples of this. From ignoring them, to calling for them to recede to indefensible 1967 boarders, to SAYING we will NOT join them in an attack on Iran. To calling the Palestinians equal to Black American Slaves, which of course would make Israel the "Evil Master." All these things and many more. But now we are in an Election Year, and Obama wants the Jewish Votes, so he has this meeting and says, "What? Come on Netty, you know we got ya Back Jack." Then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes out and gives this nice Politically Correct Speech that we're all friends and he appreciates Obama saying he has Israels Back.

So it is just funny to me, when I saw this, this morning. Breaking News...Israel might already have a plan to attack Iran? Really? {Laughing} According to The Algemeiner - Israel’s Channel 2: U.S. Officials Believe Netanyahu Has Already Decided to Strike Iran March 5, 2012 4:14 pm

Channel 2 in Israel, sourcing a “senior American official”, says that the decision has already been made by the Israeli government to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program,” Channel 2 reports.

Really? That is what Iran SHOULD be thinking about US.

“A senior official stressed in a conversation with News 2 there is a dispute between Israel and the United States on the question of ‘day after’, which means the price of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities,” Channel 2′s report says.

Poss World War? Skyrocketing Energy Costs? Uh? What? No more Iranian threat, that's for sure. But then again, what about the Day After Israel is aglow from a Nuclear Bomb sent via Iran? What about THAT Day After? Then there WILL no doubt be World War, and a Nuclear Cloud floating around out there. Oh, and Skyrocketing Energy Cost. Not to mention Millions of dead Jews. So why is Netanyahu so ready to attack? His own words in a follow up story, same place, says all that needs to be said.

“As Prime Minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”

Pretty much says it all. Does it NOT? According to The Algemeiner -“I Will Never Let My People Live in the Shadow of Annihilation” March 5, 2012 11:03 pm

Following the Monday afternoon meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, the Israeli leader arrived at the Washington D.C. convention center to address the 13,000 people awaiting his remarks on one issue: Iran.

After thanking the United States and it’s government for their support of Israel, the Prime Minister said, “Tonight I would like to talk to you about a subject that no one’s been talking about recently, Iran.”

Here is what he said..

“The Jewish state will not allow those who seek our destruction, the means to achieve that goal. A nuclear armed Iran must be stopped.

I promise you that as Prime Minister, I will never gamble with the security of the state of Israel."

{Even though the Sanctions are hurting the Iranian Economy, their Nuclear Program has}“continued to march forward,”

“We’ve waited for diplomacy to work, we’ve waited for sanctions to work, none of us can afford to wait much longer.

As Prime Minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation.”

The decision is a simple one. Do nothing and allow Iran to Nuke up, KNOWING that they intend to use it? Or Stop them. It really IS, just that simple.
Peter

Memorial Day

Memorial Day.

Hey Folks,

Just a brief history of today.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's

Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his Gerenal Order No. 11 , and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy redThat grows on fields where valor led,It seems to signal to the skiesThat blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."

On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of "the last Monday in May". On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.

To all the Families of those that Paid the ultimate price, and to all those that Serve today, who may be asked to do the same, THANK YOU. You shall NEVER be forgotten.

Peter

Memorial Day

Just a brief history of today.

Hey folks,

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920).

While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his Gerenal Order No. 11 , and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.

Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.

There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.

But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."

On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of "the last Monday in May". On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.

To all those that paid the ultimate price, and to all the families that have endured, THANK YOU!
Peter