"Cry 'Fetch!' and let slip the dogs of war" Julius Caesar, Act III, Sc. i

While condemned as "disproportionate," Israeli attacks on Hamas in Gaza are the only appropriate response to daily terror. As the U.N. Charter says, when they shoot at you, you can shoot back.
The Palestinians, the late Israeli leader Abba Eban once said, never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew to its international border with Gaza and gave peace a chance.
On taking power in Gaza, Hamas decided that rather than build a viable infrastructure with foreign assistance, feed and educate its people and pick up the trash, it would rather turn Gaza into a launching pad for Kasam rockets targeted on Israeli civilians.
After three years of ceaseless rocket and mortar barrages, Israel has decided to exercise its right to self-defense in what the likes of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon call a "disproportionate response." Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "For us to be asked to have (another) cease-fire with Hamas is like asking (America) to have a cease-fire with al-Qaida."
Their response is an Israeli version of shock and awe. After a year of gathering intelligence, Israel launched a devastating series of surgical strikes targeting Hamas base and training camps, headquarters and underground Kasam rocket launchers placed in bunkers and silos. The time had passed for trying to send Hamas a message by bombing empty buildings in the middle of the night.
Considering that Hamas has adopted Hezbollah's standard practice of locating command and control centers, and communications, arsenals and training facilities, documented civilian casualties are minimal while some 300 terrorist deaths have been reported.
Israel is still suffering from its failure to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 as promised. That war began with cross-border incursions by both Hezbollah and Hamas in which Israeli soldiers were seized. There too Tel Aviv was accused of a "disproportionate response" by a U.N. that had silently watched Hezbollah turn Lebanon into an armed camp.
Hamas undoubtedly felt emboldened. Hezbollah has translated its victory into political power in Beirut, obtaining a veto in the Cabinet and preparing for further inroads in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Even now, the U.N. and its "peacekeepers" permit Iran's puppet to rearm far beyond its prewar levels.
Hezbollah is an Iranian creation. Hamas is not. But we can't ignore the Iranian connection.
Much of Hamas' imported weaponry, and the expertise with which it now produces the rockets it uses to bombard Israeli border towns and villages, comes from Iran. Dozens of its top commanders have received training in Iran.
Sheik Yazeeb Khader, a Hamas political activist and editor based in Ramallah in the West Bank, recently told the Washington Times that the current turmoil in Lebanon is part of an inexorable process that began in Gaza when Hamas wrested control and will spread across the Middle East:
"What happened in Gaza in 2007 is an achievement, now it is happening in 2008 in Lebanon.
"It's going to happen in 2009 in Jordan, and it's going to happen in 2010 in Egypt," Khader said in the interview. "We are seeing a redrawing of the map of the Middle East where the forces of resistance and steadfastness are the ones moving the things on the ground."
Israel is determined to avoid a repetition of its Lebanese failure in Gaza. Such surgical strikes, however, may not be enough to end the threat. As we found out in Iraq, it may require boots on the ground going house to house and room to room.
Perhaps this time Israel will not lose its resolve in the face of international pressure, and finish the job.

Memo To Obama: Cut Taxes For All

President-elect Obama is letting his outline for economic recovery dribble out into the media ever so slowly. But from what we've seen, the plan seems less like stimulus and more like redistribution.
The linchpin of Obama's strategy is a tax cut for the "95%" of taxpayers who earn less than $250,000 a year. In itself, cutting taxes on the middle class isn't a bad idea. It just won't do what Obama thinks it will.
The Washington Post quotes senior Obama adviser David Axelrod as saying, "Look, we feel it's important that middle-class people get some relief now." Obama seems to believe that by lowering levies on only those in the middle ranges of the tax spectrum, he can "create or save" 3 million jobs and give the economy a boost.
Not likely.
For that, Obama would have to focus on the very unpopular but very necessary job of lowering the burden on those taxpayers who create jobs and spur economic output — the nation's entrepreneurs. And guess what? Most of them are in the top 5% of earners — those whom Obama would cut out of any tax reduction. This is foolish class warfare with no real underlying economic rationale.
If Obama is serious about getting the economy going again, he could do a number of things — and right away, not years from now, as with the $675 billion to $775 billion he plans to spend on infrastructure and imaginary "green jobs." These steps would include:
• Cutting corporate tax rates. U.S. businesses pay a top rate of 35% on income. That rises to 40% when you add in state taxes. In Europe, the average corporate tax in 2007 was 24.2%, according to the international consultancy KPMG.
Is it any wonder some of our most successful corporations move offshore? Cutting corporate taxes even to 25% would improve investment returns — and lead to more jobs and output.
• Slashing capital gains tax rates. This is a no-brainer. Every time cap-gains tax rates have been cut, a bull market has ensued not too long after and the economy has boomed. Today the cap-gains rate on long-term investments is 15%. Obama has suggested it should rise to 20%, a 33% increase. He's also suggested he might zero-out the rate for small firms and startups.
The latter would be better than nothing, but broad cuts in cap-gains rates would be best of all. They would lead to a surge in capital formation, business incorporations and millions of new jobs. A recent report from Ernst & Young found that U.S. cap-gains rates are already higher than in more than half of the world's top-performing economies. Raising them would only make us less competitive.
• Not raising taxes on the rich. This would be hard to do, given Obama's rhetoric on the stump. But those with incomes over $250,000 a year are the most likely to save and invest. And already they pay nearly 48% of all taxes, while 44 million middle- and lower-income households pay no taxes at all.
Obama has rightly called small businesses "the engines of our job creation." Well, 65% of those with incomes above $250,000 are small-business owners. According to Heritage Foundation data analyst Guinevere Nell, Obama's plans would give just 16% of small businesses a tax break. If Obama wants to help business create millions of jobs, putting a target on the backs of entrepreneurs won't help.
While he's at it, Obama should repeal the alternative minimum tax (AMT), the "millionaire's tax" that increasingly hits people not at the top incomes, but in the middle.
For the record, higher taxes on the rich is often a popular idea with newly elected presidents. Herbert Hoover liked it so much he jacked top income-tax rates from 25% in 1930 to over 60% four years later. Remember how that worked out?
• Ending the death tax. No pun intended, but this is a deadweight tax that raises little income but costs a lot. As it stands, the tax will expire in 2011 and then return in 2012 to its highest levels. This is morally indefensible and economically absurd.
The estate tax generates very little in revenues. And according to Heritage economist William Beach, it costs 170,000 to 250,000 new jobs each year. It's a loser.
Helping entrepreneurs may not be popular with many of Obama's key supporters and advisers. But they're the ones who can really stimulate the economy. If Obama wants to be more than a one-term president, he should keep them front and center in any recovery plan he unveils.

"We have duties, for the discharge of which we are accountable to our Creator and benefactor, which no human power can cancel. What those duties are, is determinable by right reason, which may be, and is called, a well informed conscience."
--Theophilus Parsons the Essex Result, 1778

Reality For Radicals

During the campaign, Democrats pledged radical change. But recession has forced them to rein in their agenda, from soaking the rich to nationalizing health care. How the worm turns.
In debate after debate, Dear Leader Chairman MaObama assured voters he'd pay for his national health care plan by taxing the rich. But now that appears unreasonable even to the fawning reporters who cover him.
"How are you actually planning to fund your health care program?" asked one earlier this month. "It has been estimated that it could cost up to $65 billion, and you had planned originally to fund it through getting rid of the tax cuts to the wealthy. But in the current economic situation, maybe that's not so reasonable?"
MaObama stammered before answering, "I have not made yet a determination in terms of how we're going to deal with the rollback of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans." He allowed that he may need "additional dollars to pay for some investments."
In other words, he's hard-pressed for revenues to fund his ambitious spending programs. Redistribution's no fun in a recession.
His health care plan, which was supposed to at least cover all children, has been reduced to a medical cost-savings program that includes modernizing doctors' antiquated medical records systems. Somehow "health IT," as MaObama calls his savings program, wasn't the health care reform Moveon.org had in mind.
"We can't simply insure everybody under the current program without bankrupting the government or bankrupting business or states," MaObama said, "So our starting point is savings."
The president-elect is also having to rethink his anti-industry energy policies. With crude under $40 a barrel, he won't pursue a windfall-profit tax on oil companies, which he'd hoped would fund new green initiatives and other domestic programs.
And a planned assault on the coal industry is also on the back burner. It would likely mean higher utility bills and more pain for depressed regions that depend on coal mining.
The cooling climate is also giving MaObama fits. With snow falling from New Orleans to Las Vegas and Malibu, Calif., efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions now seem forced.
What's more, we have it on good authority that MaObama's promised support for a card-check system for unions trying to organize a new workplace is also a nonstarter. That, too, had been a priority.
MaObama owes unions, big-time, but he's also rethinking his plan to add labor, as well as environmental, protections to NAFTA. The Democrat-controlled Congress is also backing off pro-union, anti-trade measures for fear of delaying the economic recovery.
"Card check, tax increases, major moves to the left are off the table," a Republican leader on the Hill told us.
Just months ago, Democrats were toying with the idea of taxing 401(k)s. Now that's dead in the water. So is the Global Poverty Act, a bill Dear Leader co-sponsored in the Senate.
One by one, MaObama is backing off campaign promises as his radical agenda runs into the buzz saw of reality. That doesn't mean he's changing his agenda, but he admits "we're going to have to prioritize" as conditions change.

Call it the education of Barack Hussein Obama.

AS FORREST WOULD SAY "SOMETIMES THERE JUST ISN'T ENOUGH ROCKS"

IT IS A GOOD THING THAT DEAR LEADER'S MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN

Palestinian apologists leaving out crucial details in BS excuses for Hamas

The Palestinian apologists are out in force making excuses for Hamas. The most popular little nugget being used to excuse the rocketing of the civilian population has been a line from a Haaretz editorial referring to an incident six months ago in which the IDF destroyed a smugglers tunnel. Everyone from CAIR, to Huffington Post blogger Greg Mitchell have been using the incident as proof that Israel has in fact been the aggressor:
Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel, while still asking Egypt to get the Islamic group to hold its fire.Problem with this is that both Zvi and Mitchell provide no context, and simply refer to the “blowing up of a tunnel”. The fact is that the tunnel was used to smuggle arms and cash into Gaza, and the IDF was shutting down a criminal enterprise. Ceasefire, does not mean that you turn a blind eye to those who are blatantly breaking the law. If this action was so “unilateral” why was Egypt destroying these tunnels just 4 months ago as well? This from Haaretz:
Five Palestinians were killed and 18 wounded in a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border after Egyptian troops blew up the entrance, an Egyptian security official and Gaza hospital doctors said Saturday. "The destruction of the entrance deprived those inside the tunnel of oxygen," said the Egyptian official, who is stationed at the border and spoke on customary condition of anonymity. Gaza hospital officials said the five died from lack of oxygen.…Israel says Gazas Hamas rulers use the tunnel to bring in weapons and cash, and has urged Egypt to do more to stop the smuggling. In recent months, Egypt has begun cracking down on the smugglers. In the past week alone, Egypt has destroyed 14 tunnels, the Egyptian official said. Since the beginning of the year, 27 Palestinians have been killed in tunnels, including the five killed late Friday. Hmm…wonder why Hamas didn’t start lobbing rockets into Egypt.

By Rizzuto

AND IN A BREAKING STORY

TEHRAN, Iran (Dec. 29) – A group of influential conservative Iranian clerics launched an online registration drive on Monday seeking volunteers to fight against Israel in response to its air assault on the Gaza Strip.
About 3,550 people registered Monday with the Combatant Clergy Society's Web site. The weeklong online campaign gives volunteers three options on ways they can fight Israel: military, financial and propaganda.
The group, which has considerable political and economic power in Iran, did not provide further details on the program including how it would contact the volunteers or implement the program.
The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.
Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.
But Iran considers Israel its archenemy, and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Iran also is Hamas' main backer, though Tehran denies sending weapons to the Islamic militant group that took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. About 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since the air assault began Saturday. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
Also Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent sent a ship carrying 2,000 tons of food to Palestinians living in Gaza to be delivered via Egypt. An Iranian military plane also landed at Cairo International Airport carrying 24 tons of food and medicine destined for Gaza.
The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Masoud Khatami, said three more ships were waiting to be loaded with humanitarian aid, and Iranian hospitals were ready to receive injured Gazans, according to the official Iran news agency, IRNA

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, AP

#1 SIGN THE ECONOMY IS IN THE CRAPPER

Pregnant Hooters girl

I drink Tequila every 7 yrs. usually in far south Mexico or Belize. I had a couple Patron shots after I saw this. We are headed for bad times.

Thank You Santa ( Officer Markin)

The Sled was a little weighted last night -- lead foot that is. Santa's little helper was of the up most professionalism by correcting this issue with a mobile Christmas tree. His sled was all gussied up with red and blue flashing lights and he wore what appeared to be a star on his chest. Good thing I didn't have any "egg-nog". Really THANK YOU OFFICER C. MARKIN of D.P.S may God bless you and yours this Christmas season. And may God keep you safe in his hands.

My Christmas was very good not only the gift above but I spent it with family. Nice to wake with the Terra-Mako in my arms . I also got to see the grandkids -Tripper and Hud - man have they grown. Ol' man wont stay gone so long anymore. I am blessed.

OOPSIE!!!

Sorry guys -- my adult ADD kicked in. That is the another double Daniels on the rocks.

Seems I got the video crossed up -- this one goes down there and that goes up here .Or did that go.. F-it you get the picture. This video - wait that video goes with this story -- I think.

JUST IN---THE SOUTH IS RISING AGAIN IN MONTAGUE COUNTY --seems the F.B.I. been looking into Drug trafficking and alleged sexual favors at the jail. Now this chaps my ass. I have had to buy these items on the street like all the rest of us --if I only knew I could get three hots and a cot also. What this world coming to?

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL ! ! ! !

I left the coast Friday at 4 in the a.m. , arrived home at 10 a.m. , one can say I was ready to be home. The Boss man called to see if I could do just one more thing before I leave. To that I replied "leave isn't past tense enough".
Saturday me and the terra-mako spent time "harboured-up".
Sunday was the 23rd annual Tarrant Toy Run. Me and the Mako spent alot of time at the Pour House. Another JOB-WELL DONE by the multitude of bikers braving the cold.
Sorry I have no pics but I am sure some of you can send them to me and I WILL post them.
To my Brothers and Sisters of the BFMC -- THANK YOU for all the hard work - it doesn't go unnoticed.
And a special thanks to YOU, all of you. Thank you for following , cussing and discussing .
You have helped me make it thru tough times.
This is for you

UPDATE: THIS VIDEO GOES WITH THE OOPSIE POST AND THAT GOES HERE !

CHEESE AND RICE

The cowboy images of President Bush, chopping wood and wearing sturdy work gloves in Crawford, have already been replaced by images of a presidential surfer dude. Obama, pictured shirtless and stepping out of the ocean, looks more like Daniel Craig in a Bond poster than John Wayne. And YES - I refuse to post the more complementary picture.
This was the leading story this morning on the TODAY Show.
WOW BIG F'Ning WOW-- PUSH THIS TO THE SIDE
Bad weather has left hundreds of travelers trying to get to and from the West Coast stuck in airports and bus stations. Today, several inches of snow are expected in Chicago which could slow down even more people traveling around the country ahead of Christmas.
( I found that one funny considering the whole Global warming thing and the fat woman, stranded at the airport, claiming she has been in the same clothes for three days --WHAAAA!)
DALLAS (AP) - There's a manhunt in the Dallas area as authorities look for the person who shot and killed two motorists and injured another during rush hour last night. 3 of the four vehicles shot at were 18-wheelers.( I do not need to know why, I just need to know police or a citizen kills him)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The third quarter's gross domestic product and new and existing home sales figures for November are all due out today. None of the news is expected to be good, and it comes up against an already bleak economic landscape -- October's new home sales were the lowest in nearly 18 years.( This happens EVERY winter)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Some Muslims say there will be even less trust in the U.S. government after five Muslim immigrants were convicted of scheming to attack U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix. A Council on American-Islamic Relations executive says some in the Muslim community will see it "as a case of entrapment." (YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME)
NEW DELHI (AP) - In an effort to lower tensions with neighboring Pakistan, India's prime minister says "nobody wants war." The rivals have seen tensions increase since the Mumbai attacks. (REALLY)
GOD HELP US--hope Dear Leader Chairman MaObama doesn't step on a jelly-fish.
Since J.C.'s birthday is around the corner that's the reason for the Cheese and Rice.

Maybe I have been wrong --Obama on the beach is a much happier moment in time!

I LIKE IT

WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE ?

SOME PIX FROM BOLIVAR ISLAND & GALVESTON

THE PIX WITH SUNNY SKIES ARE OF GALVESTON. THE PIX THAT ARE OF BOLIVAR ISLAND, EAST OF GALVESTON, ARE THE ONES WITH FOG.

DEAD AND MISSING UNKNOWN.

I took the Bolivar pix this morning -- the fog just added to the depression one feels seeing this in person. I will leave in the morning for home. A much needed rest is in order. My mind and emotions are drained. I do not want to return here but will in Jan. if given the opportunity. I have been truly blessed . Please when and if you find the time send these people a prayer, if you don't believe send a good thought. Thank you

What's the big deal with this family anyway? Two got shot, one can't drive, and one can't fly.

Every single editorial writer, op-ed writer, and columnist who is backing Caroline Kennedy for Senate should be ashamed of themselves. The guilty parties are on the left and right and includes everyone from The New York Post to The New York Times.For all of the wonderful things that they say about Caroline Kennedy there are a dozen or so others, who actually have experience as legislators and public servants, about whom they can say the same thing, they just happen to have not been born a Kennedy.

Do they understand how superficial and lazy they’re being?

But I understand, this might require the press to think critically and look beyond the glitzy, superficial Kennedy façade. It’s ok, it’s only the appointment to the upper house of the federal legislature, no big deal.

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others." --Groucho Marx

"There is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust." --James Madison
"Whether you're running for office, holding a public trust or simply voting -- politics are all about conscience. Being guided by it, protecting it and understanding it." --columnist Kathryn Jean Lopez
"Is there any system of governance or economics that can withstand rampant corruption or self-entitlement? ... Has the astounding success of American capitalism spawned people who consider themselves completely removed from the ethical guidelines that govern mere mortals? Has the wholesale abandonment of religion for secularism produced a moral vacuum? ... No system can survive when its prime movers and shakers are fundamentally corrupt -- most especially when they don't consider themselves to be so." --columnist Arnold Ahlert
"So, do the rest of you now have some idea of the depth of corruption in Chicago and Illinois, and why some of us were so concerned about electing a president who emerges from this cesspool? ... Brazen, appalling, unbelievable, they say. But for those of us who have spent a lifetime covering the news here, it's how it works." --Chicago columnist Dennis Byrne
"Reality check: The chances of House Democrats opening an ethics investigation into either [the junior Jesse] Jackson's or [Rahm] Emanuel's involvement [in the "Blago" scandal] is exactly zero. Ethics. Democrats. Say that three times fast." --columnist Rich Galen
"The automakers' contention that they pay workers $73 an hour takes into account the cost of pensions and health insurance for retirees. Still, no one disputes that Detroit's unionized active workers cost a good $10 an hour more than the nonunionized work forces that build Toyotas, Hondas and BMW's in the largely nonunionized South." --columnist William Murchison
"[Illinois Gov. Rod] Blagojevich allegedly assumed someone would be willing to pay dearly to be a U.S. senator. I'm sure he was right. But if government were less important in our lives, politicians would have fewer goodies to trade. In return, we'd have more money and more freedom. That's one more reason to limit government power." --ABC News' "20/20" anchor John Stossel
"It looks as if we are going to have to relive all of the mistakes of the 20th century one more time -- let's hope it is one last time -- before we relearn the big lesson of that century: the moral and material superiority of capitalism and the disastrous consequences of socialism in all its forms." --columnist Robert Tracinski

"We shall return to proven ways -- not because they are old, but because they are true." --Barry Goldwater
"Never assume the obvious is true." --William Safire

"A charismatic Democratic President takes office promising to extend health insurance to all Americans. His party enjoys majorities in Congress, and the GOP is at sea. The press corps finds policy a bore and instead files stories that draw facile analogies to the heyday of FDR... Any taxpayer commitment this large ought to require a social consensus reflected in large majorities, but Democrats are determined to plow ahead anyway. They know that a health-care entitlement for the middle class will never be removed once it is in place; and that government will then dominate American health-care choices for decades to come. That's all the more reason for the recumbent GOP to get its act together." --The Wall Street Journal

8 Amazing Holes!

1. Kimberley Big Hole , South Africa
Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed in 1914..

2. Glory Hole - Monticello Dam, California

This is the 'Glory Hole' at Monticello dam, and it's the largest in the world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second. A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir

3. Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah

This is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. Extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. In its current state the hole is miles deep and 2.5 miles wide.

4. Great Blue Hole , Belize

This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60miles off the mainland of Belize . There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one.

5. Mirny Diamond Mine, Serbia

This one is an absolute beast and holds the title of largest open diamond mine in the world. At 525 meters deep, with a top diameter of 1200 meters,there's even a no-fly zone above the hole due to a few helicopters having been sucked in.

6. Diavik Mine , Canada

The mine is so huge and the area so remote that it has its own airport with a runway large enough to accommodate a Boeing 737. It looks equally cool when the surrounding water is frozen.

7. Sinkhole in Guatemala

These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred early this year in Guatemala .The hole swallowed a dozen homes and killed at least 3 people

#8 The most terrifying one of all

This is the famous 'Rat Hole' that you have heard about.

It is capable of swallowing trillions and trillions of U.S.Dollars... Annually! Never to be heard from again.