by Tom Sears
Thomas Jefferson also said, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” So where did all these entitlement programs we now have come from? How did we possibly survive without them?
Be proud of the risks others have taken and their resulting rewards. Their successes and wealth accumulation benefit us all.
Israel Shows How to Fight Terrorism
I hope everyone is paying attention to all the terrorist acts of violence against Israel. It could be a glimpse into the future of the United States 10 to 20 years down the line if we do not ruthlessly and relentlessly seek out and destroy terrorists, wherever they are, on non-American soil.
Israel is a tiny nation bordered by enemies whose sole objective is to wipe out their very existence by any means available. No negotiations, no peaceful co-existence, simply total elimination of all Israelis. Anything less than this is unacceptable. Sounds pretty familiar as to how radical Islamists feel about us.
Unfortunately, they are not better protected by two oceans as we are. They have, however, adapted quite nicely, and we could learn many valuable lessons from them. Number one is that we are not fighting individuals who respect the rules of war that were established in past conflicts. These cowards target innocent civilians, especially women and children, and then hide behind their own women and children after carrying out their attacks. They are not human beings, but rather rabid dogs, and should be treated accordingly. Extermination is the only answer.
The Israelis know this quite clearly. No prisons, no courts, no legal rights, no Johnnie Cochran or William Kunstler vermin to defend them. As President Bush has repeatedly said, “they will be brought to justice,” but in the severest fashion. We haven’t learned this lesson as well as the Israelis have. We must employ more ruthless tactics. Contrary to what John Kerry, Al Gore and other shameless Americans have said, there is a bottom of the barrel for those terrorists who have the ability to plan, coordinate, and carry out attacks against civilians. We have to aggressively seek out this bottom.
I recently read an on-line Associated Press article about recent Israeli airstrikes that killed eight Palestinian militants (a kind word for terrorist cowards). Six were killed when Israeli missles were fired into a terrorist training camp in central Gaza.
Then on Saturday, April 8, two members of Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, which is described as a violent offshoot of the Fatah Party, were killed and a third seriously wounded when an Israeli missle struck their car in Gaza. These terrorists had earlier fired a rocket toward Israel and were getting into their car when the return-fire missle hit them.
Can you believe that a Palestine Authority spokesman said the airstrikes were a “new escalation” and that the Palestinians would appeal to the United Nation’s Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the attack?
No innocent civilians killed, only terrorists at a training camp and three terrorists killed after firing a rocket into Israel! What is the problem? I tip my hat to Israel for their resolve and ruthlessness in dealing with these cowardly animals!
Our military is very professional and more than competent to achieve the desired solution. They should be given the clear objective of their mission and be instructed to do everything possible, within reason, to avoid the unnecessary killing of innocent civilians.
Now, let’s talk about these “innocent civilians.” Are people really innocent when they allow these animals to hide behind their women and children? Were all the people dancing in the streets, celebrating our 9/11 tragedy really innocent? I think not.
Just as during the Vietnam War, our politicians are trying to play general when they have neither the experience nor competence to do so. A politician’s unworthy goal is to get face time, and the best way to do this is to degrade our brave fighting men and women and second-guess our military professionals. Remember John Kerry saying “Our troops are terrorizing innocent Iraqi civilians in the middle of the night?”
And yes, you protesting, radical, leftist liberal, you are being disloyal to our troops’ noble efforts by aiding and abetting our enemies. Your actions are strengthening their resolve, no matter how much you soothe your own conscience. A good friend and person I respect, W.F., sent me the words to “Just Before The Battle Mother,” a popular Civil War Song. The second verse went like this:
O, I long to see you, mother, And the loving ones at home, But I’ll never leave our banner, Til in honor I can come,
Tell the traitors all around you, That their cruel words we know, In every battle kill our soldiers, By the help they give the foe.
You liberals should be ashamed of yourselves.
Green Groups Hinder Energy
What’s the latest foolish statement from the left? It is now blaming President Bush for the gas price crisis. Well, I have another proposition. It is the radical environmental left that has put us in this crisis, and I blame it for the ridiculously high cost of fuel as well as the severe state of oil dependency we now find ourselves in, which also affects our very national security.
In my column three weeks ago I mentioned energy producing plans we had available (actually I left out wind and bio-mass strategies which good friend G. S. pointed out). Second on my list, after drilling in ANWR, is nuclear energy.
The only nuclear accident ever to happen on U.S. soil was in 1979. From this event there were no measurable radiation releases into the atmosphere and no deaths. The environmental groups used this “disaster” to halt all nuclear plant production for the next 27 years.
They became even more emboldened with the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in 1986. This event shouldn’t even count. It was due to an inferior USSR design, no concern for safety, and poorly trained personnel.
To compound this problem, Ronald Reagan was, at the time, bringing this Communist giant to its knees, which halted the ability of this diseased country to provide the resources necessary to prevent such an accident from happening.
Nuclear energy is the best possible option to provide us the protection from fossil fuel blackmail by the Middle Eastern countries (yes, even our Middle Eastern “friends”) as well as by the idiotic leaders and possible future leaders of Venezuela and Mexico.
Why have other countries learned this and we haven’t? While we provide 20 percent of our electricity from nuclear power, our last nuclear plant was built in 1973. By contrast, other countries have been freeing themselves from energy blackmail at a pace that should embarrass us. Belgium provides 58 percent of its electricity needs through nuclear plants, Sweden 45 percent, South Korea 40 percent and Switzerland 37 percent. It pains me to give the French any credit at all, but they generate 77 percent of their country’s electricity in this fashion, and all this with NO accidents.
Why are we so behind and presently dangerously dependent on foreign sources? The answer is simple. The granola bar crowd, with nonsensical groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, is why.
These groups, with others, have prevented us from developing a very promising energy source through lies, mis-representations, unnecessary environmental impact studies, court case after court case, and other obstacles so that it has become foolish for anyone to invest in the construction of nuclear plants. Government intervention and the steamrolling of these obstructionist groups are long overdue.
The facts are these: Nuclear energy is safe, clean (zero carbon dioxide emissions for you greenies) and a cheap energy source; and it, along with Alaskan drilling, will have us no longer dependent on foreign oil sources.
This fact is even being agreed to by such radical environmentalists as Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, and Bishop Hugh Montefiore, Britain’s long time board member of Friends of the Earth. As a result of their courageous conversions, they have been ostrasized by the very groups they helped to create.
Nuclear waste? Not as big a problem as is being presented. Now that recycling is available, “95
percent of the potential energy that is still contained in the used fuel after the first cycle” is recoverable. Also, “within 40 years, used fuel has less than one thousandth of the radioactivity it had when it was removed from the reactor.” All this information came from an article written by Patrick Moore, Greenpeace’s co-founder and former poster boy.
But the best news is that eventually gasoline will be replaced with hydrogen. At the present, unfortunately, the most common energy needed to produce hydrogen comes from natural gas and then oil. Nuclear energy is by far a more efficient means to produce hydrogen. In November of 2004 the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Engineering and Envoronmental Laboratory proved that a next generation nuclear plant could produce the hydrogen equivalent of 400,000 gallons of gasoline every day!
The solution is to silence the nay-sayers and proceed boldly ahead. The excuse many are saying now is that it will take ten years to implement everything. Unfortunately, these people were saying the same thing 20 years ago.
We would have had energy independence before now if we hadn’t listened to them then. Let’s not let the same mistake be made now. I, for one, can’t wait until the day we have brought the radical Islamic countries, who hate us, to their knees.
From Mexico, Here Illegally? Don’t Make the U.S. Your Home
I have to thank the illegal immigrants for their foolish demonstrators last May
1. Your disrespect of our flag by flying it upside-down and under the Mexican flag, along with your demanding rights you are not entitled to and throwing multiple insults at us finally woke up large numbers of people who realize what a problem you are and that you must be dealt with harshly.
For those of you Americans who haven’t been convinced yet, how about some
of these quotes:
Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council. “They’re afraid we’re going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They’re right. We will take them over…We are here to stay.”
Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico, “The American Southwest seems
to be returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot.”
One more: Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas: “We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population…I love it. They are sh…… in their pants with fear. I love it.” (Thanks for the quotes T.B.)
Title 8 Section 1325 of the U. S. Code, under the section entitled “Improper Entry by Alien,” states that any citizen of any country other than the United States who: “Enters or attempts to enter the U.S. at any place or time other than designated by immigration officers, or eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or attempts to enter or obtains entry to the U.S. by a willfully false or misleading representation, has committed a federal crime. Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison (American Patrol Reference Archive).”
Tough sounding but where is the enforcement? This is just another example of our politicians making decisions based on potential political gain rather than doing what is best for the good and security of our country.
We are supposed to be a law-abiding nation, but do we get to pick and choose which laws we want to obey? Mexico’s illegal immigration laws are at least as tough sounding as ours. The difference is they rigorously enforce theirs. At the same time the government of Mexico publishes comic books instructing how to successfully sneak into the U.S. and avoid later apprehension.
Let’s get a few things straight. You are illegal aliens. Your families are illegal aliens. If this hurts your feelings, so what? You are not guest workers or undocumented laborers as the politically correct crowd and the pseudo-intellectual crowd like to call you for fear of hurting your feelings.
I don’t care if I hurt your feelings. You and your families are criminals. You have no rights: no right to a job, no right to our public school system, and no right to our welfare system, healthcare system or our police/justice system.
Is this too hard to understand? Sorry, I am not going to print this in Spanish for your convenience. Respect our laws by immigrating legally, learning our language, assimilating peacefully into our culture, and respecting our flag, and you will be welcome.
No, you serve absolutely no useful purpose being here. You are not helping our economy when the vast majority of your “earnings” are sent back to Mexico. There are plenty of willing Americans to do the jobs you are doing as long as they are paid a fair wage.
As an illegal, you have been willing to come in illegally, force the wage levels down (amazing how little one has to make when paying no income taxes), take advantage of government housing subsidies, bleed our welfare system, health care system, and overload our criminal-justice system.
I do agree that the businesses who hire you are as much at fault. There should be stiff penalties for them, also. I also blame our politicians, on both sides of the aisle, who have no backbone but rather drool over the potential of millions of new voters. Hopefully, the 67 percent or more Americans who are finally disgusted with this situation will remember this come November and vote these clowns out of office.
Yes, we need a wall. Yes, we need increased numbers of border guards who can be given more muscle than the present catch-and-release policy. Yes, we need to start deporting those illegals, no matter how daunting the task may seem.
If all else fails, I think a strip of land, two or three hundred yards wide, heavily impregnated with land mines might do the trick. Don’t worry, I am not that heartless. I would make sure all the “Danger, no trespassing” signs be printed in Spanish.
Let’s Stop the Stalling, Go With Ethanol
A while back I had a column with a six-pronged strategy to achieve energy independence in a short time if we have the resolve to shove the obstructionists aside.
ANWR drilling and nuclear plant construction were the first two. This column will be on the positive potential of ethanol production.
First, I have to scold some of the totally-out-of-it group of environmental/conservation types and their silly ideas. Some examples: They tell us to build smaller homes and drive smaller cars. It’s a great idea, but you don’t have the right to determine some else’s lifestyle (although I am sure you know what is best for the rest of us). My wife designed and we built a relatively large home that is passive solar energy oriented. Does that make me a friend or foe of the “movement”?
Two more “strategies” they have. All of us should walk instead of drive to places, and all of us should have gardens. I can see it now. All those commuters walking/biking to and from work each day covering 10 to 20 miles. How about those large city, high-rise apartment complexes and their row after row of cornstalks growing from their flower boxes? Give me a break!
If that is the best your groups can come up with, then don’t expect people to listen to you. Your strategies have to have some modicum of common sense. Remember the comedy series “Green Acres”?
Brazil got it right in the 70’s when it was hit hard by the Arab oil embargo as well as war in the Middle East. Because of intensive research involving ethanol production, government subsidies and a lot of vision, Brazil expects to be energy independent in 2006.
It has 29,000 ethanol stations, and 9 out of every 10 vehicles sold are flexible fuel vehicles. These vehicles can be run on gasoline, pure ethanol or a combination of both. Can you imagine us being energy independent? No more having to please the president of Mexico (our second top supplier of crude oil) about illegal immigration.
No more worrying about the socialist wacko down in Venezuela , our fourth top supplier (the one Cindy Sheehan drools over). How about dictating to Saudi Arabia (third top-supplier) what we are willing to pay for a barrel of their crude? Those three countries account for 43 percent of our annual oil imports.
Ethanol production and usage (along with ANWR drilling, off-shor
e exploration, nuclear energy and wind energy development) can get us to independence in a relatively short period of time.
Ethanol is very easily produced. It is now mostly made from corn but can be made from many other products. The most promising celluosic ethanol will soon come from switchgrass, mentioned earlier in a speech by President Bush.
It is hardy, can be grown on marginal soil and doesn’t require heavy fertilizing. There are no waste products from corn-produced ethanol; actually, there are many valuable byproducts, including highly nutritious animal feed.
Other benefits are plenty. It significantly reduces air pollution, and, according to the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, ethanol blended fuels reduce CO2 greenhouse emissions by 7.8 million tons. Anything you radical environmentalist want to complain about now? I’m sure you’ll find something ridiculous.
More statistics: One acre of maize can produce 300 gallons of ethanol and replace 400 gallons of oil imports. As a matter of fact, if you have two acres of land available, are able to build a still and know how to ferment beer, you are well on your way. You’ll need, however, a permit from the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. With these two acres of maize and a car that gets 35 mpg, you can produce enough ethanol to drive 20,000 miles annually.
What are the economic benefits? One average sized plant (40 million gallons per year) can create up to 700 jobs, add to the local tax base, and strengthen our agricultural sector, to name just a few. We also don’t have to keep paying farmers to not grow anything.
Last year the US produced 4 billion gallons of ethanol which represents about 3 percent of our total gasoline needs. With tax credits, government subsidies and strong leadership, we can increase that percentage dramatically.
