Independent

Michelle Obama, our ‘foxy’ First Lady!

Having watched our First Lady, Michelle Obama, throughout the campaign like many other Americans, I have come to the conclusion that we now have a ‘fox’ living in the White House! As a registered voter since 1964 I have seen many women occupying the post of First Lady, including Jackie Kennedy who was certainly a beautiful woman. Although I always felt she needed a good meal to fatten her up, she had style and grace that added so much to the excitement when observing White House travels and events.

Now, we are once again blessed by a First Lady who is unique in her own way. While there are detractors that are too concerned about how much her purse or sneakers cost, the rest of us are SO PROUD of Michelle Obama! She is bringing ‘color’ back to the White House and I am not referring to ‘skin color’. How refreshing to see our First lady exiting a plane the other day in a ‘knock-out’ yellow dress! And, later on that same day, I saw a news release with her wearing a cute little striped dress. After watching the last few First Lady’s wearing ‘carpet sweepers’ (ankle length dresses) or every imaginable pant suit outfit, it is SO refreshing to see what Michelle Obama wears.

I’m sure that the First Lady has a wardrobe expense account and based on where she buys most of her clothes, she seems to be very frugal with that account. Are her naysayers suggesting that she represent our Country, when traveling with the President, in something anything less than grandeur? Such pettiness to wonder about the cost of her purse (which turned out NOT being a $5,000 VBH alligator one) when she is abroad meeting with high ranking representatives as the President’s wife.

When Michelle is being casual and wants to wear $500 sneakers (Lanvin), more power to her. It’s her money and worrying about it isn’t going to solve the recession. I can’t recall all the catcalls complaining about how much Jackie spent, yet we all watched her every move in awe. What our current First Lady projects in her bright colors is a woman at her best, looking great, feeling great, being great, full of life, celebrating her country and her family and, yes, herself. She hasn’t placed herself in the background in beige, isn’t embarrassed that she is no longer 18, doesn’t hate her hips or rear end or ask whether her dress makes her look fat!

To me, that’s a role model for other woman her age to look up to.

Yes, folks, I’m afraid that we now have a FOX living in the White House and I, for one, appreciate my Country’s First Lady looking classy!

The Mendacity of Hope: Obama’s Agenda for Abortion

It has been over 35 years since the controversial Roe v Wade Supreme Court (7-2) decision to make early term abortions legal in the US. Despite the landmark decision in 1973 abortion rights are still being vigorously contested in many quarters of the country. For those against abortion mainly for religious beliefs but also for profound moral reasons argue that abortion as defined by Roe is the willful taking of a precious human life endowed with all the rights, privileges, and protections guaranteed everyone by our government. On the other side those in favor of the right to abortion argue that women should have control over their own bodies making it an issue of privacy; a personal decision that should not be privy to our government. These disparate and contentious points of view underscore the essence of the debate that has been ongoing for nearly four decades and in all likelihood will continue to rage on for the foreseeable future certainly through and beyond the Obama administration.

So where does our newly elected “post partisan” President stand on this inflammatory issue of abortion? As the most liberal democrat while in the US Senate, Obama strongly supports a women’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy for any reason through legal and safe abortion procedures as defined by Roe. If you accept his voting record as well as his public speeches and policy statements, Obama will apparently do just about anything and everything he can to preserve a women’s right to affordable and unfettered abortion on demand as promoted by tax subsidized abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Indeed, Obama’s explicit even enthusiastic support for abortion on demand has rightly earned him a 100% rating from NARAL (National Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League) Pro-Choice America as well as an enthusiastic endorsement from Planned Parenthood the largest abortion provider in the US. In contrast, Obama not surprisingly has received a rating of 0% by the NRLC (National Right to Life Committee) the largest and most influential nonprofit prolife advocacy organization.

Obama’s wife Michelle who is his closest political advisor is also pro choice and strongly supports a women’s right to abortion on deman. Like her husband Mrs. Obama who also graduated from Harvard law school holds extreme views on abortion and wrote a controversial fund raising letter defending a partial birth abortion procedure known as “intact dilation and evacuation”, a contentious late-term abortion technique. In her letter she called partial birth abortion a “legitimate medical procedure” and declared the federal ban “a flawed law” that “is clearly unconstitutional”. However, the Supreme Court in 2007 disagreed with her albeit narrowly upholding the ban with a vote of 5-4.

As for Obama’s voting record as an Illinois legislator he opposed the bill to ban partial birth abortion and the state’s “Born Alive Infants Protection Act” that ensures the rights of children who survive failed abortion attempts. He also voted against legislation banning state funding for abortions. In fact Obama has never supported any limitation of abortion to either lessen its availability or reduce its public funding. He has made it unambiguously clear that he opposes any and all government restrictions on abortion, including partial-birth abortions. Obama even strongly criticized the Supreme Court decision upholding the federal law banning partial-birth abortion and in 2007 also voted to expand research on embryonic stem cells. Obama seems to hold a rather extreme position on abortion that is widely considered outside the mainstream. Most Americans support for abortion is highly conditional and overwhelmingly (71%) reject unrestricted abortion viewing abortion as a profound moral issue that should be limited with reasonable regulation by the government preferably at the state and local levels. Only about 28% of Americans support abortion at any time for any reason.

To circumvent the mainstream Obama along with 18 other pro abortion senators has sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and in July 2007 Obama gave an impassioned speech to a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event promising “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” The passage of FOCA would essentially nullify every federal, state, and local law limiting or regulating abortion including the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding of abortion and the current federal ban on partial birth abortions signed into law in 2003 by President Bush. FOCA besides making abortion on demand a “fundamental right” throughout the United States would simultaneously invalidate all laws on informed consent and parental notification as well as any mandatory waiting periods. It also would eliminate all state restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions and health safety regulations for abortion clinics. Moreover, in opposition to the first amendment it would require for the first time Catholic and other religious hospitals to provide abortions.

Perhaps Obama’s most personally revealing statement regarding abortion was when he said if his daughters “make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement for family values. In another interview when asked when life begins Obama glibly replied “I don’t know” that “is above my pay grade”. Now as the 44th President of the United States and new commander in chief, it is surely no longer above his pay grade since he will likely have the opportunity to select the next Supreme Court justice. As for the type of justices he might choose, Obama believes the constitution is a “living document” and is likely to appoint liberal non strict constructionalist to the bench along the lines of Breyer, Ginsberg, and Souter. Obama voted against both of Bush’s appointments, Chief Justice John Roberts and Sam Alito each confirmed by comfortable senate margins.

Obama’s constitutional philosophy on Supreme Court appointments was aptly revealed when he implored that “we need someone who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it is like to be a young teenage mom”. He elaborated saying “the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges.” Empathy means “judicial activism” and seems a strange criterion by which to select judges for an intellectual who taught constitutional law for a decade. Ironically, Obama claims he would not have appointed Clarence Thomas, who’s only the second African American ever appointed to the court, saying Thomas “was not a strong enough jurist or legal thinker”.

Obama orchestrated a brilliant “cult of personality” campaign centered on the banal platitudes of HOPE and CHANGE. His charismatic persona, soaring rhetoric, and ubiquitous campaign slogans of “Change We Can Believe In” and “Audacity of Hope” were overarching themes on which he built his bipartisan presidential bid. Let’s all “hope” Obama as “the one we’ve been waiting for” will indeed bring “change” but not just to America but also to himself with a repudiation of his militant commitment to unrestricted abortion with the appointment of non activist judges that respect our constitution and the inalienable rights of all Americans whether they be born or unborn.

Within days of becoming the historic 44th President of the United States and only a day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v Wade, Obama signed an executive order to reverse the ban on federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform abortions for population control. The policy known as the “Mexico City Policy” bans U.S. taxpayer money from going to international family planning organizations that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion. Anti abortion groups roundly criticized the presidential order. The legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, Douglas Johnson, lamented “President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control”. Apparently Obama’s campaign mantra “Yes We Can” doesn’t apply to policies reducing abortion in the third world. Once again Obama affirms his militant commitment to unrestricted abortion not only in the U.S. but in the rest of the world. This change in US policy doesn’t bode well for those that had hoped Obama would govern from the center and moderate his radical support for abortion on demand.

About the Author:
Ken Roebuck
I like to read and write about religion, history, philosophy, health, and politics

Barack Obama, The Techno-Savvy President

The US just does not seem to get enough of Obama. The country’s fascination for him just does not seem to cease. The new President will not just go down in history as one of the youngest to occupy the White House but also as the most techno savvy President of the US. From election campaigning through Facebook or updating what he has been up to in Twitter, Obama knows how exactly to capture the mood of the Gen Y and make them identify with him.

But being a president has its own drawbacks. The self-confessed Blackberry addict cannot take his gizmo to the Capitol Hill because of security reasons involved in exchanging emails through the Blackberry. Various gizmos and technologies have been developed around Obama and his techno-savvy nature.

Like the special Obama application for the sensational iPhone 3G developed during the Presidential campaign. The app provided updates on the election campaign details, helped identify party members in various locations, gather support and send reminders to people to vote on Election Day. He has already announced setting up a Chief Technology Officer for the country, the first of its kind post, to being the best of technologies in the private sector, for government services.

Now that the first family has set its foot in the White House, the Obama fever has peaked. There are many websites on the internet providing a range free MP3 ringtones download on Obama. Some of the ringtones include the famous ‘Go Obama’ song and his famous statements like, “Ready to go?”, “Yes we can” and so on.
http://www.funmo.com/ringtones/4502886/download/go-obama-barack-obama

For those with a creative bent of mind, it’s also possible to make your own ringtones by mixing Obama’s voice with the music you like. To have a ringtone that goes, “Hi, this is Barack Obama asking you to answer the call. Help change America” would be really cool. It’s something which Obama himself would love to have.

Barack Obama – Myths, Facts, and Obfuscating (bloggers Beware)

Is guilt by association fair? Many blogs and websites, including APRPEH have made an argument that Barry Obama’s true feelings towards Jews and Israel can be measured by his associations. Undeniable facts about Obama, many of them posed as questions left unanswered or not answered in a credible or believeable fashion have formed the core of the No-Bama effort. These questions remain legitimate campaign issues and concerns. Obama DID indeed maintain a 20+ year relationship as a member of TUCC in the Jeremiah Wright flock, listening to what is undeniably anti-US and antiJew rhetoric only distancing himself when his crusade for the Presidency was jeopardized.

Who are Obama’s friends and associates for which he should be measured? Let’s take a closer look using easy to find world wide web references.

(See the LATimes story from April 10, 2008 – Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama) Obama’s special friend, Rashid Khalidi, former spokesman for the scumbag Yasir Arafat who held fundraisers for Obama, was honored with a speech by State Sen. Barack Obama in a 2003 going away party. Khalidi, according to the LA Times story is described as “internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights.

Then there is Ali Abunimah, described in the same LA Times article as ” a Palestinian rights activist in Chicago who helps run Electronic Intifada, and quoted as saying:
Abunimah quoted Obama as saying that he was sorry he wasn’t talking more about the Palestinian cause, but that his primary campaign had constrained what he could say.
Now, lets add to the mix the Obama foreign policy advisors who have come and gone. I am not even sure I remember them all. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments:

Simple web searches on the following Obama advisors is telling.

Samantha Powers – (see National Review Online Monday, February 11, 2008 – Obama Adviser Samantha Power on Israel, “Jenin Massacre” )

Joseph Cirincione – (see World Net Daily May 01, 2008 -Obama adviser: Israel must give up its nukes)

Robert Malley – (see Yid With Lid blog post February 5, 2008 Obamas Israel Hating Advisor Robert Malley)

Merrill Tony McPeak – (see YNETnews March 26, 2008 – US Jews Hinder Peace)

Zbigniew Bzrezinski – (see American Thinker – January 16, 2008 – Barack Obama and Israel)
Ed Lasko at American Thinker adds:
The appointment of Brzezenski elicited much dismay among supporters of Israel since Brzezinski is well known for his aggressive dislike of Israel. . He has been an ardent foe of Israel for over three decades and newspaper files are littered with his screeds against Israel. Brzezinski has publicly defended the Walt-Mearsheimer thesis that the relationship between America and Israel is based not on shared values and common threats but is the product of Jewish pressure. Brzezinski also signed a letter demanding dialogue with Hamas-a group whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and is filled with threats to Jews around the world.
Financial support from not very friendly to Israel, George Soros can be added to the equation as well even though Obama has attempted to distance himself from the billionaire contributer. If Obama really wants to distance himself from the tens of thousands of dollars contributed through Soros connections has he offered to return any recent donations and asked Soros and his Moveon.org friends to stop supporting his campaign? (see American Thinker article from April 30, 2007 – Soros, Obama, and the Millionaires Exception and june 11, 2008 article George Soros and Obama’s veep also from American Thinker)

And while it is not necessarily Jewish related, how can we forget Syrian born friend Tony Rezko, former donor and fundraiser for Obama, convicted recently on corruption related charges. (Tony Rezko – Wikipedia article.)

Obama’s relationship with terrorist and political indoctrination specialist William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn (William Ayers wikipedia article along with former “Weatherman” and wife Bernadine Dorhn) is well documented and factual.

So what is the point of going through this exercise, re-hashing the well published reports you might ask? The Obama fans and possibly Obama campaign are behind an effort to obfuscate.
(see PostBulletin June 25, 2008 Can Obama fight Web-driven lies?) and

(see Jpost – June 19, 2008 -Snap Judgment: Have you read the latest Obama e-mail? Unbelievable!)

ob·fus·cate (bf-skt, b-fskt) (The Free Dictionary)
tr.v. ob·fus·cat·ed, ob·fus·cat·ing, ob·fus·cates
1. To make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand: “A great effort was made . . . to obscure or obfuscate the truth” Robert Conquest.
2. To render indistinct or dim; darken: The fog obfuscated the shore.

It is true that a considerable amount of email and internet garbage is floating around alleging all sorts of BS about Obama. It is also true that email based urban myth is one of the downsides of the electronic world. Our email boxes are flooded with Nigerian scam email, phishing, and urban myths begging the reader to perpetuate the falsity.

In fact, call it reverse guilt by association. It is with this understanding that the agenda of the Obama camp to label every blog post, every email, every warning about Obama as driven by crazies with a hate filled, anti-Muslim or racist agenda is underway. Some, they may say are just plain crazy. But all of them, all criticism is illegitimate (according to this strategy) because it is someone’s opinion, not the truth – just another one of those “myths”.

This policy must be confronted strongly and clearly. The list above is composed of undeniable fact. The effort to re-cast the past of Obama as something else, something different, something sweet and innocent is a fraud and should be called a fraud.

Obama cannot reasonably claim that he had no knowledge of the offensive, disgusting, and criminal aspects of his friends in the past as he cannot claim that he has no knowledge of or doesn’t agree with the antiJew and anti-Israel opinions of his foreign policy team. If he really had no knowledge, he is the most ignorant man who has ever run for the Presidency.

Of course, some Obama staffer can just say all of this is campaign rhetoric and to take it as a grain of salt. Afterall, it IS the internet. Or readers and concerned, thoughtful Americans can expose the truth, continue writing to the newspapers, calling talk radio, writing blogs, responding to blogs and talking to their friends who may be on the fence. Freedom is not free and free speech is under assault by the Obama people, a telling foretaste of an Obama administration.

About the Author:
read more at http://www.aprpeh-feed.blogspot.com/search?q=obama

Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Energy Tax Bill

Last week there was an unbelievably tight, down-to-the-wire fight in the U.S. House of Representatives over the massive Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy tax bill, the largest tax hike in American history and an unprecedented intrusion of the federal government into our economy and our lives.

Thanks go out to the many common-sense Americans who gave the side of economic sanity a fighting chance. Your calls and emails made a huge difference, and Americans For Prosperity members were clearly one of the driving forces last week.

We weren’t quiet able to win in the House, but we’re confident that if we can keep educating and mobilizing regular common-sense Americans, we can beat this disastrous bill in the Senate.

Here are few reasons to be hopeful:

* Just two states, California (32) and New York (25) provided more than a quarter of the 219 total yes votes

* Democrats in several key targeted Senate states voted majority no, including Indiana (3 of 5), Arkansas (2 of 3), and West Virginia (2 of 2)

* Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota, both statewide elected Democrats, vote no

Unfortunately, we also learned that the White House is willing to do anything to get this bill passed, including misleading and intimidating members. That means the Senate fight will be right down to the wire, and pressure from back home will be the only way to stop this from passing.

We also know the stakes, in the President’s own words:
“Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

There is no time to waste, so I’m asking you to please click here to send a strong message to your Senators to oppose this outrageous cap-and-trade bill.

Thanks for everything you do to make Americans For Prosperity great.

Phil Kerpen
Director of Policy
www.AmericansforProsperity.org

Creating Enemies

Our military doesn’t talk about or release death figures when we go to war- other than how many we have sustained. The reason? If we knew the results and potential consequesnces of what WAR was producing, we’d not want war. If there’s ever a truism, it’s that in a war NO ONE WINS! Worst of all we just create more enemies for us all.

For a Christain nation that pretends to follow a WIN-WIN philosophy, we are winding up with more of a LOSE-LOSE mentality.

Here’s “us and them” the facts:

1-They killed 2,800 of us (9-11)

2-We killed 800,000 of them

3-They killed 4,000 of us (50,000+ wounded).

And how’s that all working out for our world, Dr. Phil?

There was a reason that the Israelites thought that God told them to kill every Canaan man, woman and child (God didn’t- it was their rationalization for doing so). For every man or woman that was killed there were cons, daughters and relatives that now hated the Israelites. They knew that unless they killed the children, the children would one day be looking to kill them.

It’s just how it works.

So, are we SAFER now? You’ve heard the argument.

My answer is NO! Multiple by 5 or 10 the 800,000 we’ve killed and we’ve now created something like 5-10,000,000 people who are looking to get revenge against us. Right after 9-11 the world was on our side. The world had our sympathies. The world mourned with us. Five years later the world despises us and we have much more than ten million new enemies. Muqtada al-Sadr needs to learn the lesson as well.

When will we wake up and drink the Starbucks?

How long will it take us to realize that you can’t FORCE a democracy on a nation of people who believe in a theocracy, not a democracy. If we pull out now, Iraq will return to a theocracy. If we pull out in five years, Iraq qill return to a theocracy. So, how many more lives, how many more enemies will we create in our arrogant thinking that the rest of the world should LIVE and THINK like we do? Only by living graciously can we expect to find a better world.

It’s not working! And worst of all, we’re creating more and more future enemies. And advertising the conversion of one Muslim only enrages them more. Why did the Pope need to do a public “in your face” ceremony anyway?

Article Source: http://marketing.article24h.com/category/politics.html
Author:
ernie@lrchouston.com

The Facts Behind the Iran Protests

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the unfolding protests in Iran, it is already clear that the Iranian government badly miscalculated. First, the leaders erred in assuming that they could, with complete immunity, rig the election. Second, they completely failed to grasp the depth of resentment against the regime.

It is easy to interpret this resentment according to the favorite mantra of the Western governments and media: a reaction against the extremist policies of the Ahmedinejad government, coupled with the desire of the majority of Iranians for a Western-style democracy and lifestyle. While such aspirations certainly play a role, there likely is something more fundamental at work.

The stridency of the speeches and policies of the Iranian President have generally been attributed to religious fanaticism. The real cause might be far simpler: the aggressive posture and lashing out against enemies could as well be a cover-up, an attempt at diverting attention from an internal situation deteriorating beyond governmental control.
If one strips away the ideological smoke screen, what becomes glaringly obvious is the monstrous incompetence of the Iranian leaders.

The Islamic Republic of Iran started out with tremendous political potential: it was born out of a popular uprising, and consolidated through the costly, but eventually victorious, war against Iraq. Iran disposes of major oil reserves and has a youthful, educated population. These assets could have become the foundation of a thriving economy and a politically dynamic state.

Instead we see massive unemployment, a high rate of inflation, foreign sanctions and a shortage of gasoline. Couples are postponing their wedding because even the smallest apartment is unaffordable. Iran, a major oil and gas producer, is unable to develop its own energy industry.

The new elite born out of the Islamic revolution has become a self-perpetuating ruling class, primarily interested in maintaining its wealth, power and privileges, while the mass of the people are struggling. The leadership is attempting to hide its shortcomings behind extreme policies and the fostering of a crisis atmosphere.

It is quite possible that the people have had enough. They want a fair shake and a reasonable share of the national wealth as well as a say in their own destiny. The electoral cheating has ignited a long-simmering reservoir of resentment, and the genie will not be put back in the bottle.

While we in the West might enjoy seeing Iranian elites facing well-deserved retribution, the situation there holds a warning to us as well.

The gap between the elites and the mass of the people is not unique to Iran, but is a widespread issue. The growth in size of government and of economic entities such as banks has bred political and economic elites whose primary interest is the preservation of their own power, wealth and privilege.

The fact that these elites are now self-perpetuating has had a negative effect on competence, talent, imagination and initiative.

The current global economic crisis, which took world leaders completely by surprise, testifies to this reduced ability to lead, think and direct. There is no guarantee that the crisis will be resolved anytime soon. Indeed the most obvious common thread between speeches and policies emanating from governments is that very few have any idea why the crisis occurred and how to resolve it.

While contemplating developments in Tehran it will be prudent to keep in mind that the Iranian leaders are struggling with a problem that is increasingly widespread. We should keep in mind the possibility that something similar could also happen here, however outlandish such a thought may appear at first.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Jacek Popiel’s new book, Viable Energy Now, offers an original analysis of the urgent energy issues facing the U.S., together with realistic policies and solutions. His background includes military service and extensive business experience.
http://www.viableenergynow.com

What The Iranian Opposition Knows — And The West Needs To Learn

As I write these words, demonstrations and other events in Iran are unfolding by the hour, indeed by the minute.

Time and again, Mir Hussein Moussavi and other opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stress the importance of not pausing, much less stopping and waiting. Do they know something about how things work in Iran which the West needs to learn?

Ancient history provides a case that could not be more immediate:

In the year 363, the Roman Army under the valiant Emperor Julian marched on Persia (Iran). Julian was killed in battle, and was replaced by Jovian. Edward Gibbon (“The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire,” Chapter XXIV) tells what happened next.

The Persian Emperor Shapur II

“observed, with serious concern, that in the repetition of doubtful combats, he had lost his most faithful and intrepid nobles, his bravest troops, and the great part of his train of elephants: and the experienced monarch feared to provoke the resistance of despair, the vicissitudes of fortune, and the unexhausted powers of the Roman empire; which might soon advance to relieve, or to revenge, the successor of Julian.

The Surenas himself, accompanied by another satrap, appeared in the camp of Jovian; and declared, that the clemency of his sovereign was not averse to signify the conditions, on which he would consent to spare and to dismiss [Jovian], with the relics of his captive army. The hopes of safety subdued the firmness of the Romans; the emperor was compelled, by the advice of his council, and the cries of the soldiers, to embrace the offer of peace…

The crafty Persian delayed, under various pretences, the conclusion of the agreement; started difficulties, required explanations, suggested expedients, receded from his concessions, increased his demands, and wasted four days in the arts of negotiation, till he had consumed the stock of provisions which yet remained in the camp of the Romans.

Had Jovian been capable of executing a bold and prudent measure, he would have continued his march with unremitting diligence;…he might have safely reached the fruitful province of Corduene, at the distance only of one hundred miles. The irresolute emperor, instead of breaking through the toils of the enemy, expected his fate with patient resignation; and accepted the humiliating conditions of peace, which it was no longer in his power to refuse.”

The humiliating peace treaty imposed on the Romans by Shapur’s playing for time was extremely humiliating:

“The messengers of Jovian promulgated the specious tale of a prudent and necessary peace: the voice of fame, louder and more sincere, revealed the disgrace of the emperor, and the conditions of the ignominious treaty.

The minds of the people were filled with astonishment and grief, with indignation and terror, when they were informed, that the unworthy successor of Julian relinquished the five provinces, which had been acquired by the victory of Galerius; and that he shamefully surrendered to the Barbarians the important city of Nisibis, the firmest bulwark of the provinces of the East.”

Tragically for Rome, the affair proved to be no isolated incident. Shapur II

“enjoyed the glory and the fruits of his victory; and this ignominious peace has justly been considered as a memorable era in the decline and fall of the Roman empire.

The predecessors of Jovian had sometimes relinquished the dominion of distant and unprofitable provinces: but, since the foundation of the city, the genius of Rome, the god Terminus, who guarded the boundaries of the republic, had never retired before the sword of a victorious enemy.”

Sun Tzu (“The Art of War”) and Machiavelli, Carl Von Clausewitz (“On War”) and Frederick The Great are just a few of the thinkers and generals from around the world and across recorded history who made valuable insights and observations about how to counter Shapur-styled stalling.

But if all the answers could be found, then sifted, what might remain is the advice offered between rounds by boxing trainers with sixth grade educations to their fighters:

“Don’t wait on him. Get off first.”

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com
About the Author:
Thomas Belvedere is the pseudonym of a political consultant to senators, representatives, governors, and the media. He worked for all levels of government, and for all three branches. An accredited expert witness in federal court, he has a Ph.D. in political science. He authored “The Source of Terrorism: Middle Class Rebellion”

The Fall Of Islamic Theocracy?

What good Catholic would defy the Pope? What good Democrat would tell Obama he’s wrong-headed? What good Republican would say that Rush Limbaugh is out of step with the times? You can come up with your own answer; however, speaking out at God (wherever he may be) isn’t deemed a good thing though that’s what’s happening in Iran right now!

The word most often spoken from around the world is UNPRECEDENTED!

The decisive margin of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June 12 election stunned many observers and angered his opponents’ supporters, who in the ensuing days took to the streets in protest by the hundreds of thousands. Many experts have called the effect unprecedented: Several powerful figures have openly supported the top challenger, Mir Hossein Moussavi, even as the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has endorsed the official results favoring Ahmadinejad.

Social networking sites such as Twitter, Iranians have been able to get around the government’s efforts to restrict media coverage, and the outcry against the election result has intensified. It’s not your daddy’s Oldsmobile! In fact the car itself doesn’t exist any more.

At Friday prayers in Tehran, Khamenei told a partisan audience the “ruling elites” would be “held accountable for all violence and blood and rioting.”

After the revolution in the 70′s, he regime’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, laid out his special interpretation of political Islam in a series of lectures in 1970. In this interpretation of Shia Islam, Islamic jurists had divinely ordained powers to rule as guardians of the society, supreme arbiters not only on matters of morality but politics as well. When Khomeini established the Islamic Republic of Iran, this idea was at its heart. Last week, that ideology suffered a fatal wound.

I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to see in America is any religious group leading our government. Regardless of their religious credentials I don’t want Focus on The Family, The 700 Club, or TBN running our government. God FORBID! And, it just may be coming a forbidden concept in Iran as well.

Abouty the Author:
Ernie Fitzpatrick
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it

The Iranian Election Surprise: Neda!

Did anyone THINK that the elections would be fair? Would the spiritual head of Iran allow a more pro-Western stance win the election? Could tens of millions paper ballots be counted in a matter of hours? That’s NO surprise; however, the real surprise is that the losing opposition has become so determined. Iran hard-core leaders are totally surprise by the degree of insurrection and rebellion as a result of the rigged election.

NEDA has become one of the many battle cries as a result of the violence and deaths over the last week.

“RIP NEDA, The World cries seeing your last breath, you didn’t die in vain. We remember you.” That post on Twitter came from a man who identified himself as an American guitarist in Nashville, Tennessee. Amid the hundreds of images and videos of Saturday’s brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran that flooded the Internet, it was the graphic video showing the death of a young woman that touched a nerve among those following the events in Tehran for more than a week.

What the religious leaders in Iran have discovered is that the internet and digital world that w now live in has great perils for their power.

Having done all that they can to block out the deaths, violence, and mayhem, the news is still getting out through social networking formats such as Facebook and Twitter!

One blogger posted that Neda was protesting with her father in Tehran when pro-government Basiji militia opened fire and shot her in the heart. “The final moments of her tender young life leaked into the pavement of Karegeh Street today, captured by cell phone cameras,” the unnamed blogger posted on Newsvine.com. “And not long after, took on new life, flickering across computer screens around the world on YouTube, and even CNN.” As the adage goes, a thousand deaths is a statistic: while one personal death is a tragedy.

Who would have guessed that the young life of Neda would become the new FACE of the Iranian election?

About the Author:
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.