!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Maddie's Musings: September 2005

Friday, September 30, 2005

What Are They Thinking? I'm Ringing the 5 Alarm Bell!

Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story
An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Focus in Texas Should Be On Border Control : not Delay!

WASHINGTON – Islam is on the move in Mexico and throughout Latin America, making dramatic gains in converting the native population, increasing immigration, establishing businesses and charities and attracting attention from U.S. government officials who have asked their neighbors to the south to keep an eye on foreign Muslim groups.

Hmmmmmmm we've asked them to keep an "eye" on them? Can I scream now?

Thursday, September 29, 2005

The Enemy Within

But Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leader, called his indictment the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people. (There are quite a few Democratic Senators and Reps. who have also plagued our culture with corruption).
Would someone please yell back at Pelosi and tell her, that it is the Democrats that have plagued our culture for failing to recognize the real enemy of this country.

Culture of Corruption:?

While President Bush's Administration continues to search out and defeat animals across the ocean that start each day with a 'beheading'; the Democrats continue to start each day with trying to 'behead' a good Republican. Luckily, they have yet to wield a sword sharp enough to handle the job.

The Democratic Machine has become the background search team.......demanding reams of papers from which they hope they kind find one sentence of ammunition, they've hired people to look through countless documents.......they will stop at nothing to try and find something that they can use to bring down their opponent, a coworker in our government. So very sad, but so very DEAN.

The Earle of Injustice Strikes Again
Statement from Chairman Benkiser
In his ongoing personal vendetta, District Attorney Ronnie Earle is once again abusing his office, the State's resources, and most importantly the people of Texas with his politically motivated and manufactured indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. In an irresponsible waste of taxpayer dollars, Earle has convened not one but six separate grand juries in his relentless attempt to smear and punish Congressman DeLay, yet the result is a single reluctant indictment for conspiracy. Ronnie Earle is an openly and notorious partisan democrat with a history of deliberately timing his political indictments and actions for maximum political destruction and exposure. Texas is proud of Congressman DeLay's representation in Washington, D.C. He is an incredibly effective and respected leader. During a time when so many Texans are hurting as a result of the hurricanes, it is a tragedy that our State's leadership and resources must be diverted for such a politically motivated manner.
It's time for the Liberal Left to give it up. They have no message, they have no solutions; the only actions they have been good at is dragging their coworkers names through the mud, staining reputations with false truths, and calling for commissions who are very good with ommissions.
Meanwhile my support goes to Congressman Delay! I hope he gets a quick trial where he can be judged by a jury and not by his coworkers in Congress who are so quick to hang him high. The liberals are exposed for convicting a man without a trial.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The Big Easy: Just Blame "Brownie" !

If a Disaster is met with 100% success in providing relief, help and aid.........is it a disaster?

The people of New Orleans should take some of the blame. They elected the Mayor and helped to elect the Governor. The people who lived at below sea level did not demand strong levys or actions by their local government to protect them. What surprises me the most is the people didn't even realize how down and out they were until they saw themselves on tv.

McCain Meets with Sheehan

McCain just lost my respect. Meeting with Cindy Sheehan was obviously a moderate move towards getting his name out there on the campaign trail of '08. Well he got what he deserved for meeting with a nut case, she called him a "war monger." Agreeing to meet with Cindy, McCain lowered himself into the bowels of the antiwar movement.

"He is a warmonger, and I'm not," Sheehan said after meeting with McCain.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Okay I Promise, My Last Cindy Post


Bada Bing!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

My Book of the Month Selection


"If the United States and Europe act together as the West, in defense of our common values, we can undo the nightmare scenario of the Islamists and defeat this new threat of global tyranny that is every bit as dangerous as the Nazi threat that the Greatest Generation met and extinguished more than 50 years ago." -Tony Blankley

Okay Slow News Morning....And I'm Sick of Cindy


I KNOW, I KNOW.........BUT THIS WAS MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF 2003

It seems there is a new documentary/movie which focuses on a behind the scenes look at the Kerry campaign.

"I hear that John Kerry loyalists are kicking themselves for cooperating last year with filmmaker Steve Rosenbaum on "Inside the Bubble," a potentially devastating behind-the-scenes look at the Massachusetts senator's failed presidential campaign.
I'm also told that Hillary Clinton partisans are licking their chops to see the film, which "could end up being the silver bullet that kills Kerry's presidential chances for 2008," says a Lowdown spy."" (click link for full story in NY Daily News)

Monday, September 26, 2005

It's Going to take More Than Make-up To Hide That Sour Puss


WASHINGTON - Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who has used her son's death in Iraq to spur the anti-war movement, was arrested Monday while protesting outside the White House. Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

And.......while Cindy is lamenting over her lack of coverage.....
Friends,I have some great news to report. You can watch - LIVE - the "We Support Our Troops And Their Mission" rally being held in Washington, D.C. on Sunday on the C-SPAN cable network. The event will honor military families and will include Deborah Johns (whose son, William, has served 2 tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and will soon return for a third tour) and Joseph Williams (whose son, Michael, died in combat in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Mr. Williams resides in the same town as Cindy Sheehan - Vacaville, California). Also speaking will be Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward.The rally will be broadcast live from 12:00 Noon - 3:00 PM Eastern Time (9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon Pacific Time). Move America Forward is a proud co-sponsor of this event along with great partners like FreeRepublic.com, Protest Warrior, RightMarch.com and Grassfire.org.
Howard and Melanie report:

Update on Cindy - Losing Credibility on the Daily Kos



Cindy Sheehan on the Daily Kos. Looks like her supporters are Gone With The Wind.

I found it amusing how many of her fans are beginning to see her need for fame. More important, obviously than the hole in her heart.

Jesse Jackson and Hilary Clinton though remain her loyal fans. Good for them! They deserve her.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

UpDate

and from the only news source I could find a story on the marches in Washington........Al Jazeerah

Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched in Washington on Saturday to express fierce opposition to the US-led occupation of Iraq.
With the Washington Monument looming in the background, people gathered before the march to hear dozens of speakers from various political and social walks of life denounce President Bush’s decision to go to war.

UPDATE

Sheehan was scheduled to appear at noon on the front lawn of the Capitol. It couldn't be called a rally; just a handful of Washington supporters showed up on the lawn to join dozens of journalists. The real stars were the TV crews; 15 cameras were set up in a semi-circle in front of a bank of microphones where Sheehan would speak.

Cindy & Friends Go To Washington


Cindy Sheehan and Troops hit Washington D.C. this weekend! Sadly word has it that Hilary Clinton has agreed to meet with her. Hilary better check Cindy's latest attacks on the United States, "George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power" ; before the meeting or that little get together could come back to haunt her in '08.
MOVE AMERICA FORWARD!
Melanie and Howard will also be there. Stand Up to the Anti-Military Crowd! The continuation of the "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" Tour!!! Move America Forward is leading a bus tour across the nation from California to Washington, D.C. to rally Americans to stand united behind our troops and their mission. The bus tour began in San Francisco on Monday, September 19th and will end in Washington D.C. at a giant pro-troop rally on Sunday, September 25th. Once in Washington, D.C., they will join forces with other organizations for the Support The Troops And Their Mission Weekend - CLICK HERE

Friday, September 23, 2005

A X B = Disaster

There is no way to orderly evacuate major cities.

A Bitter Pill, Swallow it.

There are only so many routes in and out of major cities; and we are dealing with "people" which when massed together in any circumstances will create problems.

We've created all of our own problems. Do the math and find that in most cases there is No solution.

So let's quit with the blame.

Let's just look back on these past 2 September hurricanes and say, Thank you God, for sparing us. Survivors should not spend their victorious moment blaming, but should be down on their knees rejoicing!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

My Advice For People Living on the Gulf Coast of Texas

RUN!

Spotlight on Able Danger


ABLE DANGER
Since themedia has not put this controversial cover up on the front pages, it is left to the rest of us to demand the full story.
Michael Savage feels that Able Danger is bigger than Katrina, Rita and Cindy Sheehan. We must write our Congress and let them know we want the full story on this subject. His news links include the headers which I have linked:
Specter Wants Answers About 'Able Danger'
(foxnews.com) Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Wednesday he wants answers from the Defense Department about Able Danger, a secret military unit that is said to have identified four of the Sept. 11 hijackers more than a year... -
'Able Danger' employees barred from testifying
(govexec.com) The mystery over why a military intelligence unit destroyed information linking hijackers to convicted terrorists before they could share the information with federal law enforcers deepened Wednesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee...
Senate panel takes on Pentagon over ‘Able Danger’ program
(gcn.com) If officials at the Defense Department thought that the controversy over “Able Danger” would die down, today’s hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee before an overflow audience may change their minds. Able Danger was an Army...

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

China Capitalizing on Clinton

China Rubber has come out with 2 new condoms; The Clinton and The Lewinsky. What's the ad campaign? "Made exclusively for the people who are still trying to define the word, 'is';"
Shame on us for letting another country, a communist one at that, capitalize on our internship program. Bet they are lighting up their cigars on that one. Warning label could read, "May Stain Black Dresses"

Category 4 Biased Reporting Predicted


Well Rita has just hit Category 4. Dems and the liberal press are already waiting with their tongues out ready to pounce on the Bush administration for any and all consequences bestowed upon us from Mother Nature.

The news media have taken their posts around all possible landing points of Rita, waiting to show the world what Rita will expose wrong with the Bush Administration. Perhaps one of these times a blowing shingle will whack one of them in the head and end this media circus. Standing in the eye of the storm, bending their legs and swaying to make sure the public sees that they are risking their lives for the sake of a story. This time I hope they get the story right. Rather than reporting fake numbers of dead, exaggerating how many bloated dead bodies are floating down the streets, perhaps this time, they can put down their mikes and lend a hand to a people that obviously needed help. I would much prefer that the news shows reported, "We are not able to broadcast at this time, because we are here and we are needed" I cringed each day, as reporters showed up freshly showered, stomachs full, to report on the devastation and ruin of the people of New Orleans. If you desire to be where the hurricane hits, then you should become part of the solution not the problem.

And then Ben Stein wrote: More Mysteries of Katrina:Why is it that the snipers who shot at emergency rescuers trying to save people in hospitals and shelters are never mentioned except in passing, and Mr. Bush, who is turning over heaven and earth to rescue the victims of the storm, is endlessly vilified?What church does Rev. Al Sharpton belong to that believes in passing blame and singling out people by race for opprobrium and hate?What special abilities does the media have for deciding how much blame goes to the federal government as opposed to the city government of New Orleans for the aftereffects of Katrina?If able-bodied people refuse to obey a mandatory evacuation order for a city, have they not assumed the risk that ill effects will happen to them?When the city government simply ignores its own sick and hospitalized and elderly people in its evacuation order, is Mr. Bush to blame for that?Is there any problem in the world that is not Mr. Bush's fault, or have we reverted to a belief in a sort of witchcraft where we credit a mortal man with the ability to create terrifying storms Where did the idea come from that salvation comes from hatred and criticism and mockery instead of love and co-operation? Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator.It’s time for all us to get behind our President and offer our words of encouragement, and write our Senators and Congressmen urging them to support our President

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Family Unions .......That's the Ticket

Okay no politics today. Played the worst round of golf in my life today. Hopefully I'll do better in my ladies poker group tonite.

Anyone want to have a hurricane party?

Travelling around the internet this past week, I found quite a few really good blogs. I'm quite impressed with what people have done. Inspired me. I have such a long way to go, I posted my counter and it threw off my heading. Such problems.

One blog I really liked was Prism Warden. This blog got me thinking on the marriage issue. I think we need to have a family issue. Prism Warden is written by a gay who is a Republican, and gives a very colorful opinion on various news topics. He touched my heart talking on the issue of Gay marriage.
Willing to accept the law, because it's the law, he moved me to think a bit. My thoughts included.........Wow, it is too bad that if he found a true love he would not receive the same benefits as myself being married. Then I thought of some male/female couples I knew, and thought YUCK. The Man of Prism Warden so deserves benefits before them. So rather than change the insitution of marriage, basically because it's steeped in tradition and that idea would never fly with a lot of religious conservatives......how about making it family benefits. A family union. Companies than could recognize a family union for insurance purposes, hospitals could recognize family union spouses for visiting, and family unions could take the tax deductions that Married couples are elgible to.

Just a thought. If you get a chance check out Prism Warden, I think he is on this same web thing that I'm on.

So there are my thoughts, some may agree, some may disagree, who cares.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Wow, I Love The GayPatriot

Michael Moore’s Minutemen
Posted by GayPatriotWest at 3:22 pm - September 17, 2005.Filed under: War On Terror, Liberals
Michael Moore said that, “The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘The Enemy.’ They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win.
Well, via The Washington Times , Army Col. H.R. McMaster offers some details about Michael Moore’s Minutemen:
But it was his description of how the enemy occupied their safe haven that got the most attention. Col. McMaster told of beheadings, gunshot killings, a booby-trapped dead child and kidnappings. “This is the worst of the worst in terms of people in the world,” he said. “To protect themselves here, what the enemy did is they waged the most brutal and murderous campaign against the people of Tal Afar. … The enemy here did just the most horrible things you can imagine, in one case murdering a child, placing a booby trap within the child’s body and waiting for the parent to come recover the body of their child and exploding it to kill the parents.” . . .
Col. McMaster said soldiers captured some associates of lead terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi. “They are some of the worst human beings on the face of the Earth,” he said. “There is no really greater pleasure for us than to kill or capture these particular individuals.”While U.S. soldiers are eager to kill such barbarians, Michael Moore is rooting for them to win.

Every once in awhile, I find a website that I feel speaks so perfectly on the issues that concern me. The GayPatriot is one of those sites. It is now on my list of "favorites" Keep up the great work!

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Another fine Cindy Sheehan Quote


"One thing that truly troubled me about my visit to Louisiana was the level of the military presence there. I imagined before that if the military had to be used in a CONUS (Continental US) operations that they would be there to help the citizens. Clothe them, feed them, shelter them, and protect. But what I saw was a city that is occupied."
Okay all you Cindy Sheehan defenders, are you ready to admit this is one crazy lady?

Saturday, September 17, 2005

And on a lighter Note

“OK, Jesse Jackson, you win. You figured it out. There's no keeping a secret from you and your fellow black leaders. So on behalf of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I will confess all: Hurricane Katrina was a racist. ‘Katy,’ as we called her in the labs of Halliburton, was unleashed by the Bush administration and its evil minions in the oil industry using a super-secret, high-tech weather machine originally developed by Nazi Germany and passed down through the Skull and Bones Society at Yale. Just ask John Kerry; he knows all about it.
“...But the plan almost failed. Despite the best efforts of the weather masters at NASA, Katrina hit to the east of New Orleans, allowing the levees to hold. Then, suddenly, the levees failed nearly a day later. What really happened? To find out, consider this question from a sharp-eyed reporter at a Bush/Clinton hurricane aid news conference: ‘How do you respond to rumors that the levees were intentionally opened?’
“Aha! Caught again! The levee system, which withstood the hurricane itself, had to be blown the next day, using a secret, silent explosive developed by the Pentagon for the Contras in Nicaragua back in the '80s - all funded by the CIA thanks to profits from selling crack to inner-city blacks.”
- Talk show host/columnist Michael Graham

For more great finds like this, petitions on current issues, and some refreshing political insight, check out this web site : http://www.chuckmuth.com/

Thursday, September 15, 2005

To My Liberal Friends Who Just Don't Get Iraq; Who Think Because WMD Was Not Found We Should Not Be Iraq

The root cause is not a decision on foreign policy. However contentious, it is a doctrine of fanaticism and we must unite to uproot it by co-operating on security, by taking action against those who incite, preach or teach this extremism wherever they are, in whichever country, and by eliminating our own ambivalence." - TONY BLAIR

We all knew that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The UN, Clinton, Kerry, Bush, Blair, and everyone else who participated in the Iraqi Sanctions. They were sanctioned for the WMD. Just because we found no WMD, does not mean that it was nonexistent. Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. More importantly however, we have liberated a people and at the same time, given the "War on Terror" a country by which to fight it. Afghanistan would not be the logical country to fight the war on terror because of the extreme topography and extreme weather found in the mountain region. By choosing Iraq, we have placed our troops in a central location so that we can continue the fight against terrorism. With Iran's desire to have nuclear warhead capability, with Iran's threats against it's desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, Iraq strategically places us in position to confront any threat from the extremists along bordering countries, like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

This war is not about WMD, it is about taking out people who only live to destroy that which they have deemed an infidel. Jews, Christians and anyone else who aids their cause.

This war began long before President Bush was elected president. Terrorists have been striking all over the world since they proclaimed Jihad against the west.

"This is a different war from any our nation has ever faced, a war on many fronts, against terrorists who operate in more than 60 different countries. And this is a war that must be fought not only overseas, but also here at home." President Bush

As seen by the bombings of the past few days, these terrorists will also kill their own Moslem brothers and children. They have an agenda and plan in place and will do what it takes to carry it out.

President Bush is leading the war on terrorism, with the hopes of ridding the world of these thugs. He asked for the nation's patience when he first spoke of this invasion, stating that it would be a long war.

We have a choice, since even the Democratic leadership knows that the wrong choice would be pulling out immediately. The terrorist network is tied into the internet, they watch news stories, and I am sure they take it as a victory when they view a divided America. They smile when they see a Cindy Sheehan screaming outside of Bush's Texas ranch. Afterall, they did say that the mother's of our soldiers would suffer for their losses, they said our country wouldn't be able to stand up for a war.......... Score 1 terrorists.

I think it's time to Score 10 for America by all of us coming together and winning this war. Do I wish at times we hadn't gone to Iraq? Of course I do, but at the same time, I know the dangers of not being there. It is better that we got in there early to gain a stronghold, take down a leader who was cutting checks for suicide bombers, free a people who were subject to mass killings by a lunatic leader. Terrorists are flocking to Iraq to fight for their cause; No one is calling them back, they support their terrorists. IN IRAQ WE HAVE A COUNTRY IN WHICH TO FIGHT TERRORISTS!

I know Iraq won't be the only battlefront on terrorism. There are other countries in that same region who are providing the terrorists with training, funds, and weapons. I know that some day this same war may have to be extended beyond Iraq's borders. Ancient History confirms this.

My fellow Americans, let's roll.
If we don't they will:
Iraqi Insurgents Claim Chemical Weapon Attacks
At least two different Iraqi insurgent groups thought allied with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida faction have claimed responsibility for recent attacks allegedly involving chemical weapons on U.S. and Iraqi forces in the cities of Baghdad

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

AHHHHHHHH The Real Blame Lies Here!

No wonder people didn't evacuate, CNN weatherman never got the chance to talk. http://www.collegehumor.com/movies/1603775/

Time For the United Nations to Define Terrorism

A dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital in rapid succession Wednesday, killing at least 152 people and wounding 542 in a series of attacks that began with a suicide car bombing that targeted laborers assembled to find work for the day.

Today the President addressed the United Nations. Meanwhile the United Nations still can't come together and define the word "Terrorism".

Today the President stated,As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO. (Applause.)
This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning.
Confronting our enemies is essential, and so civilized nations will continue to take the fight to the terrorists. Yet we know that this war will not be won by force of arms alone. We must defeat the terrorists on the battlefield, and we must also defeat them in the battle of ideas. We must change the conditions that allow terrorists to flourish and recruit, by spreading the hope of freedom to millions who've never known it. We must help raise up the failing states and stagnant societies that provide fertile ground for the terrorists. We must defend and extend a vision of human dignity, and opportunity, and prosperity -- a vision far stronger than the dark appeal of resentment and murder.
No applause
It's really time for the UN to define terrorism.

They'll Use You Up and Spit You Out or Gone With The Wind


"As someone raised in Louisiana and educated in New Orleans, I was appalled -- although hardly surprised -- that many Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats exploited the horrible aftermath of the Hurricane and her victims for partisan political purposes," Coffin said. "Their attempt to play on this tragedy to score political points debases the confirmation process and is an insult to the good people of Louisiana, especially the many victims of Katrina, who deserve better than to be treated as political props." -Shannen Coffin, former deputy assistant attorney general under President Bush
Why not? Didn't they use Cindy Sheehan to protest the war? The game of dirty politics has been a constant during the past 5 years. The liberals will use you up only to spit you out when a bigger and better story appears.

Monday, September 12, 2005

Great Blog -

http://uppermansblog.blogspot.com/

Sunday, September 11, 2005

NewsMax Article

1. Al-Qaida Plan: Islamic World in 15 Years
Al-Qaida has a master plan to take over the world and turn it into an Islamic state - by the year 2020.
Wishful thinking? Not in the minds of the top terrorist lieutenants interviewed by Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein for a new book - including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, mastermind of many atrocities in Iraq.
The plan, which is revealed for the first time in the Australian publication The Age, has seven phases:
Phase 1: The "awakening" in the consciousness of Muslims around the world following the 9/11 attacks, which were aimed at provoking the U.S. into declaring war on the Islamic world and mobilizing Islamic radicals.
Phase 2: "Opening eyes," the current period, which should last until 2006. Hussein said the terrorists hope to make the "Western conspiracy" aware of the "Islamic community" as al-Qaida continues to form its secret battalions.
Phase 3: "Arising and standing up," which should last until 2010 and bring increasingly frequent attacks against secular Turkey and archenemy Israel.
Phase 4: Lasting until 2013, this phase will see the fall of hated Arab regimes, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Oil suppliers will be attacked and the U.S. economy will be targeted with cyber terrorism.
Phase 5: An Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared between 2013 and 2016.
Phase 6: "Total confrontation," beginning in 2016, will see the Islamic army begin the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" that has been predicted by Osama bin Laden.
Phase 7: "Definitive victory."
Hussein writes that this phase should be completed by 2020, and that the terrorists believe the caliphate will prove victorious because the rest of the world will be beaten down by an army of "one and a half billion Muslims." -NewsMax


Yesterday, a Moslem terrorist from California, had his tape of terror played on ABC News, after it was delivered in Pakistan. His threats were clear, California and Australia were next.

To my liberal friends, a warning: this is your enemy, not President Bush.

A united America against a common enemy is a strong America. A divided America, will fall. It is time that you all fought the real enemy with the same energy and voice you attack the President every hour of the day.






Interesting Article from LA Times

A Barrier That Could Have Been
Congress OKd a project to protect New Orleans 40 years ago, but an environmentalist suit halted it. Some say it could have worked.By Ralph Vartabedian and Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer

If the wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans from storm surges that could inundate the city.
But the project, signed into law by President Johnson, was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit. Now the question is: Could that barrier have protected New Orleans from the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina?
"If we had built the barriers, New Orleans would not be flooded," said Joseph Towers, the retired chief counsel for the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans district.
Tower's view is endorsed by a former key senator, along with academic experts, who say a hurricane barrier is the only way to control the powerful storm surges that enter Lake Pontchartrain and threaten the city. Other experts are less sure, saying the barrier would have been no match for Katrina.
The project was stopped in its tracks when an environmental lawsuit won a federal injunction on the grounds that the Army's environmental impact statement was flawed. By the mid-1980s, the Corps of Engineers abandoned the project.
The project faced formidable opposition not only from environmentalists but from regional government officials outside of New Orleans who argued that the barriers would choke commerce and harm marine life in ecologically sensitive Lake Pontchartrain.
The barrier would have protected New Orleans from storm surges barreling into the lake through two narrow passages — the Rigolets and the Chef Menteur Pass.
During Hurricane Katrina, the lake — swollen 12 feet — was slammed by 135 mph winds against the city's storm walls and levees. The barriers failed in five places and the city was flooded. On the city's eastern flank, the surge approached the city through a network of canals from Lake Borgne, which was also swollen and raging.
After the damage caused by Betsy, a Category 2 hurricane when it hit the Louisiana coast in 1965, the Army Corps of Engineers designed and began clearing sites for the so-called Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Barrier Project. It required miles of levees and two massive storm gates that could close off the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass if a hurricane was approaching.
Although the largely forgotten project has been moribund for more than two decades, it has attracted renewed interest and regained credibility since Katrina left about 80% of New Orleans underwater.
J. Bennett Johnston, a former powerful Democratic senator from Louisiana and now a lobbyist in Washington, is working on Capitol Hill to resurrect the barrier.
"It ought to be part of the deal," he said. "It would have prevented the huge storm tide that came into Lake Pontchartrain."
The barrier would have run from a point near the Mississippi state line, known as Apple Pie Ridge, southwest across the marshlands all the way to the main levees of the Mississippi River, roughly 25 miles. Most of the barrier would have consisted of levees, roughly 9 feet to 14 feet high. In addition, two massive control structures were to be placed on the inlets to Lake Pontchartrain.
The Rigolets, the larger of the two inlets, would have required an 800-foot-long structure with floodgates and a massive locks that could close if a hurricane or other storm surge were approaching the coast.
Similar floodgates protect the Netherlands from North Sea surges.
Towers, the corps' former chief counsel, said the project was estimated to cost $85 million in 1965, or just over $500 million, adjusted for inflation. Estimates of the costs of Katrina's damage and reconstruction exceed $100 billion.
The project was stopped on Dec. 30, 1977, by U.S. District Judge Charles Schwartz Jr., who said the corps' environmental impact statement had failed to satisfy federal environmental laws.
Schwartz ruled that the region "would be irreparably harmed" if the barrier project was allowed to continue. He chastised the Army for its inadequate environmental impact statement, which was based in part on a single biologist who never submitted a written report.
Towers conceded that the plan was inadequate by today's standards, but noted that the battle began not long after the National Environmental Policy Act was signed in 1970 and before much of the case law involving the act was set.
The project faced strong opposition from the environmental group Save Our Wetlands, fishermen and the St. Tammany Parish, just north of Lake Pontchartrain, which had hoped to see a large shipyard built on a bayou. The shipyard was never built; today the area is underwater.
from the la times........to hard to link it

Let Us Never Forget

Please click here to remember why we got to where we are. God Bless America!

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Take a Look at the Following Internet Site

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/default.asp


I'm curious to what people will comment on after reviewing this site and it's information on terrorism.

After I first read a couple of articles, I felt a tad scared, I take that back, I totally freaked out.

Please let me know your reaction after reading some of this information.

Sister Katrina a friend to Islamic Extremists

In that ansar chat room last week, it was a series of I- told-you-so.” The chief commissary was proud and assertive: allahu daraba al kafireen wal fasiqeen fi new orleen.” Which translates into “Allah hit the infidels and the depraved in New Orleans: Ironically, among the most cited cities on the list of satanic places in America, are Las Vegas, Manhattan, Los Angeles and New Orleans. (please see full article on The Counterterrorism Blog)

As Democrats and others continue to play the blame game, instead of focusing on our problems at hand like rescuing people, delivering aid, and fixing the problems, the extreme Muslim chat sites are going wild with glee. They view Katrina as their sister and messenger from God.

We can now show these extremists our strengths, or we can show them our weakness of divisiveness and fingerpointing. I suggest showing them our strength! Once again the game of politics gives the terrorists comfort.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

The Mayor of Big Easy Speaks With CNN's Soledad O'Brien

MAYOR NAGIN: Look, I'll take whatever responsibility that I have to take. But let me ask you this question: When you have a city of 500,000 people, and you have a category 5 storm bearing down on you, and you have the best you've ever done is evacuate 60 percent of the people out of the city, and you have never issued a mandatory evacuation in the city's history, a city that is a couple of hundred years old, I did that. I elevated the level of distress to the citizens. And I don't know what else I could do, other than to tell them that it's a mandatory evacuation. And if they stayed, make sure you have a frigging ax in your home, where you can bust out the roof just in case the water starts flowing. And as a last resort, once this thing is above a category 3, there are no buildings in this city to withstand a category 3, a category 4 or a category 5 storm, other than the Superdome. That's where we sent people as a shelter of last resort. When that filled up, we sent them to the Convention Center. Now, you tell me what else we could have done.
S. O'BRIEN: You're telling me the president told you the governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision?
NAGIN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Regarding what? Bringing troops in?
NAGIN: Whatever they had discussed. As far as what the -- I was abdicating a clear chain of command, so that we could get resources flowing in the right places.
S. O'BRIEN: And the governor said no.
NAGIN: She said that she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could of left Air Force One, walked outside, and told the world that we had this all worked out. It didn't happen, and more people died.
Everyone is looking who to blame. Personally, when reviewing the magnitude of this storm and the devasting damage, it is remarkable how many American Citizens were evacuated, how many shelters were put together with volunteers and supplies, in such a short time. Airlines, private citizens with boats, volunteers from Red Cross, Church Groups, Salvation Army, etc. took action and immediately headed down to the South. I think this storm took the Nation by surprise as far as the extent of the damage. I don't think anyone was thinking, that it had the power to wipe out whole towns.
Mistakes made, yes, I don't think elderly people or people who were homebound would have the strength to take an axe up into their attic and bust their way out. Instead of looking back and blaming, we must look forward and make sure we make available evacuation buses to everyone who needs them.
There is no time to waste time blaming and focusing on negative energys. Now is the time to be positive and look to rebuilding and getting our citizens back in homes and schools and to work. Blaming and fingerpointing is a waste of energy, energy that is so needed to be focused in a positive direction.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Over A Year Ago A Story in National Geographic Predicted the Louisiana Disastor

Click here for an incredible story of the disastor we are dealing with. It was written not this year, not last........but it is amazing how right on this author was in National Geographic.

What If?

1. Why does the media still continue to call those evacuating Louisiana, refugees? Watching their own shows I saw several times when the people stated they hated the term "refugee". It made them feel, worse than they already did. They are our fellow Americans who are having to evacuate their homes. Hardy a refugee.

2. Congress give up your pork in the budget and direct it to the Gulf States.

3. Special interests groups on both sides of the aisle. It's time to stop paying for advertising to attack the other party. Instead of propagating hate, propagate love, by sending your ad dollars to the Gulf States.

4. Geraldo Rivera, calm down, you looked a tad on the crazy side last night at the Convention Center. I mean moving 100,000+ people out of Louisiana is something that could take at least 7-8 days. Especially with all the rescue situations. Why do we expect it to be finished in 4?

5. Everybody quit blaming the other people. This is a horrific disaster and I think everybody is trying as hard as they can to help. I don't think we've had much practice at this one.

6. Lastly, PRAY! There will be some heartache, losses, illness, people being separated, lonely people, displaced people, and pain that we can not even imagine.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Try to Love One Another Right Now

The following is a comment left on my blog under the entry below. In this time of our nation's worst disaster, I was appalled at the pettiness and just plain hate of the writer. Let us all pray for our nation and humankind, with people like this in our world, we have a lot more than levees to fix.

this comment was left by B.I. Grant
"Here's a way to fix the levee in New Orleans. Use Republicans. They are pretty much dead weight, anyway. If there aren't enough of them, fill in the gaps with Democrats. No Maddie. It's not about name calling and blaming Bush. it's about making you very afraid of you and your kind. Very scary. Go flush the toilet again. That is the sound of your standard of living going down the drain. Democrat. Republican. Nice to be able to categorize it. "