John Smyzer's Ramblings

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Politics - Mid Term Elections

I am attempting to not think about what may be coming. I simply can not imagine Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader. However, methinks the political winds are blowing strongly and it is not looking too good for the GOP.

I'm not sure one can blame any one issue, I am not succumbing to Iraq as being the culprit. In fact, I personally believe immigration is bigger than anything followed closely by gasoline prices. I think the GOP has had their chances to at least make the public feel they are attacking those issues; they have not, I think they will pay. As for me? I suspect for the first time in 'my' life, I may need something to put me to sleep in the evening. ( :

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The War

This says it much better than I ever could - I have received this several times, and I must say I am in 'total' agreement. Please take the time to digest.
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Please take the time to read the attached essay by Dr. Chong. It is without a doubt the most articulate and convincing writing I have read regarding the War in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open your mind to his essay andgive a fair evaluation.I had no idea who Dr. Chong is or the source of these thoughts... so whenI received them, I almost deleted them - as well-written as they are. But then I did a "Google search" on the Doctor and found him to be a retired Air Force Surgeon of all things and past Commander of Wilford HallMedical Center in San Antonio. So he is real, is connected to Veterans affairs in California, and these are his thoughts. They are worth reading and thinking about!(the same Google search will direct you to some of his other thought-provoking writings.)

Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA. A different spin on Iraq war.

This WAR is for REAL! Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired Tuesday, July 12, 2005 To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our countryis now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it,that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.First, let's examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United Stateis concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with thefollowing attacks on us:* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;* New York World Trade Center 2001;* Pentagon 2001.(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terroristattacks worldwide).

2. Why were we attacked?Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happenedduring the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans orDemocrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or theirimmediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.

3. Who were the attackers?In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.

4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.

5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that thepredominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under thedictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made nodifference. You either went along with the administration or you wereeliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis forpolitical reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests). (seehttp://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm )Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis, asthe six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world- German, Christian or any others.Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or anyone else.

The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?

6. So who are we at war with? There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than theMuslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.So with that background, now to the two major questions:

1. Can we lose this war?

2. What does losing really mean?If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questionsWe can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war meanshanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one canget.What losing really means is: We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would nothave produced an increasing series of attacks against us, over the past18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them.We would of course have no future support from other nations, for fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are impotent and cannot help them.They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do will be done. Spain is finished.The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However,it may already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading fast!

If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us,if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how could anyone else?The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore arecompletely committed to winning, at any cost. We better know it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple. Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to takethat 100% effort to win.

So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That is,defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their purpose,and really digging in and lending full support to the war effort If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!

Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life and death seriousness of this situation.President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be prepared tolose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civilrights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the victory and in fact added many more since then.

Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain all of our PoliticalCorrectness, and all of our civil rights during this conflict and have aclean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words apply to war. Get them out of your head.Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or theAdministration that it almost seems they would literally like to see uslose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It isbecause they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided andweakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps exemplifiesbest what I am saying. We have recently had an issue, involving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their hands,cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the beheading of American prisoners they held.

Compare this with some of our press and politicians, who for several days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them.Can this be for real?The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of theSecretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burned --totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife.

Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media people are disloyal.It simply means that they are absolutely oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists have beenpushing us, for many years. Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels! That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United State, but throughout the world.We are the last bastion of defense.We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe thatwe are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind ourback, we can defeat anything bad in the world!We can't!If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not survive,and no other free country in the world will survive if we are defeated.

And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom ofthe press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone, equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that contributes to the good of the world.This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of theRoman Empire . If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history booksto be written or read.If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should not be done, which will continue to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve.Doesn't that sound eerily familiar? Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away,politically correct piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown, worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or even tothemselves, once they are in power.They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses.

Will we ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"? I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope now after the election,the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves, but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that includes the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!

Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our"leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that find fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly thinks through this, that we must UNITE! If you would like to see who this fellow is go to this Air Force websight and look him up.http://www.af.mil/bios/alpha.asp?alpha=C

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Chairman and Immigration

So, I will assume the administration paraded out General Pace - Chairman of The Joint Chiefs to testify before the congressional committe regarding immigration. Showing a tear here and there as he described his parents being immigrants. Then making the leap to how the military needs immigrants - never once mentioning the fact those immigrants in the military are LEGALLY here! Just how dumb do they take us for???

One more time. "I" have never met (in my circles), anyone against immigration. They just want it to be done legally. To parade the Chairman out, and to have him testifying to Theodore Kennedy, the one who fixed this issue in 1986 is an insult to all Americans. Where is my barf bag when I need it!!!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Things

We were out on a small family outing yesterday. Kay, myself, +1 (no names) : ) - the subject of North Korea came up. Obviously the firing of the missiles was in this discussion. Something really struck me... the +1 talked about the ability to 'shoot them down' if North Korea actually fired a missile at the United States. Now, I don't know about you, but I remember when President Reagan was advocating The Strategic Defense Initiative (S.D.I.). He (President Reagan) was scathingly referred to as a dummy, and I won't even begin to go into how much he was loathed.
The point is, this '+1" was grateful for even the possiblity that these anti-missiles if you will, could shoot down incoming. I just wonder, do they really think these things just materialize out of thin air? Sometimes I marvel at how history changes as time passes. There is no doubt (at this point in time) of this countries love affair with President Reagan... somehow many in the country forget just how villified he was [at the time].
As for North Korea? I think, UNLESS the North Koreans make it clear where they are aimed, they should be blown off the pad prior to launch. I may have 'some' confidence in S.D.I., but not total.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Birthday America

Today there will be mucho speculation, hmm, my prose has a slight spanish slant. Well anyway, the fireworks will be a flying and it will be a general day of celebration in this country. This year, probably more than any other in recent memory, people are stirred up as it pertains to immigration. Illegal immigration that is - I hate to throw in that little word, but that 'is' 'the' word of the hour, the week, the year.

I have had the opportunity to live in three different countries... all in Asia. Further, I have visited Mexico (not a resort area like most that visit there). I feel I understand why people want to come to this country. I doubt many of us ever contemplate just how lucky we were to be born here; I have thought about that fact many times. Call it fate, luck, whatever. To have been born here was indeed a blessing.

Especially with the communications of today, what is available in America is ever more available to the rest of the world. Just the standard of living is mind boggling to most of the world. Yes, you can indeed find other parts of the world where it makes parts of America look poor in comparision, but there is something about this country that shines through and people of the world see that 'something'. So they want to come here for the opportunity to participate and of course make it better for their families. And 'we' want them to come... I want to say one more time, I do not know anyone who is not for immigration and I doubt you do either. But, I am 'NOT' for illegal immigration, period. It is not open to discussion nor compromise.

So regardless, today is America's birthday - there are many problems, but I still do not know of anywhere "I" would rather be.