PEARL HARBOR

Many years ago we were sitting around the radio station planning some future events and appearances.  The discussion turned to a request for a station even on December 7th.  One person at the meeting reminded us that December 7th was Pearl Harbor Day.  Another piped up with a question:  "Pearl Harbor Day?  What's that?"

It's not 13 years later, and I dare say that you wouldn't have to look very far to find someone wouldn't have a clue what Pearl Harbor was all about.  That's not surprising, considering the quality of our government schools.

My family moved to Hawaii soon after World War II ended.  I can remember my father taking me to Pearl Harbor to show me the damage from the Japanese attack.  I can vividly recall the collapsed dockside cranes and the hulls of bombed ships still visible in the harbor.  

It took the United States four years to bring Japan to the surrender table.  Though there was dissention in the country during WWII, there was never a lack of resolve.  There were questions as to whether or not intelligence failures had contributed to the Japanese success, but never any questions as to whether or not we should fight until victory was achieved.  I'm not aware of anyone demanding that we negotiate with Japan and Germany to find a way out.  Nobody was screaming for an "exit strategy"   We didn't have TV anchors doing their daily tally of civilian casualties.  To the contrary, during WWII news sources were eager to report American successes.  Not so today.

Oh .. one more thing.  Back then we knew that in the Pacific theatre we knew that it was a war against the Japanese.  It wasn't a "War on Sneak Attacks."  

Today we persist on calling our fight against Islamic fascism a "War on Terror."  It is not.  Terror is a tactic.  You don't declare war on tactics.  You declare war on the people who are using the tactics against you.  This is not a war on terror.  It is a war against Islamic fascism.  How the hell do you fight a war when you aren't even willing to define just who it is you are fighting?  Are we that gobbled up with political correctness that we are afraid to identify our most deadly international enemy?   They attack us on our own soil and we're afraid to name them and speak of our intent to crush them?  We only speak of the tactic they used?

Get with the program, my friends.  Its a war on Islamic fascism, not a war on terror.  Identify the enemy and just maybe we'll have some chance of defeating him.

Now we have the report from this Iraq Study Group.  Did we have World War II Study Groups 65 years ago?  Anyway, I believe this report portends disaster.  

First it says that the U.S. ought to renew its resolve to bring about some settlement of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.  There is only one way that this conflict is going to be settled, and that is for the so-called Palestinians to be totally and completely defeated.  Palestinian militants are dedicated to the destruction if Israel, and nothing but complete defeat is going to deter them.  They look at every negotiation as nothing less than a chance to play nice while pushing their advantage.  Agreements mean nothing.  They will accept an agreement for one reason and one reason only ... to give them time to strengthen there forces and prepare for a new attack on Israel.  Every time Israel makes a concession the Palestinians respond with rocket attacks and renewed vows for the destruction of Israel.  Palestinians will only decide that it is time to leave peacefully with Israel when they know for a certainty that their absolute destruction is the only alternative.

The more troublesome part of the ISG report is the suggestion that the United State open a dialogue with Iran and Syria.  We are going to end up asking for Iran's help in stabilizing Iraq so that we can pull our troop out.  The very fact that we are talking with these mad Mullahs will, to them, be evidence of our weakness.  They'll negotiate, and they may well agree to help fix things up in Iraq.  But there will be a price to pay.  Will that price be our tolerance of their nuclear program?  Will the ultimate price of our involvement with Iran be the eventual emergence of Iran as a nuclear power .. a nut-job nuclear power run by Islamic militants .. in control in the Middle East?

Question:  What happens when Iran becomes our savior in Iraq, and then becomes the biggest power broker in the Middle East.  What happens down the road when Iran uses its military and a nuclear threat to gain control of almost all of the Mideast oil?  How high will the price of oil go?  Is $100 a barrel too much?  Will we pay $4.00 for a gallon of gas?

Oh .. by the way.  The congress voted down opening up more areas of the Gulf for oil and gas exploration.

AL GORE WEIGHS IN

Al Gore says the war in Iraq is the biggest mistake in the history of the United States.  As usual, Al Gore is wrong. Aside from the Clinton/Gore Administration, there have been many, many much worse mistakes in the history of this country.  Let's take a look at a few, shall we?

But first, here is what Gore said:  the war in Iraq is "the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States."  The entire history?  Entire?  I thought man's creation of global warming was a huge mistake?  What about that, Al?  At any rate..here's a few mistakes that rate just a bit higher than the war in Iraq:

1. The Vietnam War.  Spanning decades and several administrations, the war in Vietnam was a much worse disaster than the war in Iraq could ever be.  Almost 60,000 American dead in vain....after which we wound up pulling the plug, handing the whole thing over to the enemy and walking away.
    
2. The Yalta Conference.  The United States, led by Franklin Roosevelt, gave much of Eastern Europe to the butcher Joseph Stalin in the name of "stability."  That was a strategic mistake.
    
3. The Clinton/Gore Administration.  The most corrupt administration in our history, featuring the impeached Bill Clinton.  Al Gore had his own share of scandals...such as fundraising at a Buddhist temple.  The whole thing was an 8-year mistake.

There are other mistakes we've made that have been very damaging to our country, though I don't know that they come under the definition of "strategic" mistakes.  Just a sampling.

1. The 17th Amendment.  This is the amendment that provided for the popular election of U.S. Senators.  The growth of the federal government and the weakening of state governments can be traced back to this event.  Since the ratification of the 17th Amendment state governments have had no official representation in Washington.  Nigeria has an official representative in DC.  Nebraska does not.
    
2. The 16th Amendment.  That's the one that brought us the income tax.  Odd, isn't it, that the very income tax we suffer under in this country was called for in the Communist Manifesto?  Soon after Marx and Engles wrote their manifesto the push was on in the US for an income tax.  
    
3. The formation of our system of government schools.  Did you know that some of the people who were deeply involved in the design of our government school system stated that the goal was to make sure we produce generations of graduates who will make good little government subjects?
    
4. Social Security.  This is nothing but an income redistribution system designed to enable politicians to purchase votes with someone else's money.  Social Security ushered in the era of government dependence.  Tens of millions of Americans pay absolutely no attention to their retirement planning ... after all, the government is going to do it for you.

I could go on and on....but you get the idea.  The war in Iraq may wind up being an expensive lesson, or perhaps an embarrassing mistake.  But the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States?  Not even close.

Kate Winslet's body was apparently the inspiration for a Jaguar's body style. Farkers seized on that and photoshopped the inspiration for other cars.

AND JUST TO STIR THE PUDDING A BIT MORE

Has anyone ever said anything to Senator Carl Levin about that hideous comb over?  He parts that hair just above his left ear, and then pastes it down across the top of his head.  Does he really think he's fooling anyone?  Do you think people walk up to him and say "Senator, you're looking great today!  It's so nice you've been able to keep your hair!"

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

If you're paying a babysitter $8/hour, you're paying too much! More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

An Atlanta tourist on the beaches of Naples, Florida catches Neal Boortz during a moment of relaxation.

If you're a regular listener, you know Neal hates the John Lennon song "Imagine." So we asked our Boortz Blast subscribers (don't get it? sign up here!) to salvage the tune and send us better lyrics. See what you think.

Not just for kids...troops use Silly String to detect trip wires.

You've heard Herman Cain fill in for Neal Boortz. Read his latest online column.

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