This must be a day of mixed emotions for the family of Spc Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, MA.
US soldiers ‘found dead in Iraq’
The bodies of two US soldiers missing in Iraq for more than a year have been found, their families have told the Associated Press news agency. Spc Alex Jimenez and Pte Byron Fouty were seized in an ambush in May 2007 in an area south of Baghdad.
The body of a third soldier, Pte Joseph Anzack Jr, was found in the Euphrates river a short time after the attack. The Islamic State of Iraq, a group that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, had released a video saying it killed all three men.
The parent’s of Spc Jimenez, 25, of Massachusetts, and Pte Fouty, 19, of Michigan, said uniformed military officials had visited their homes to inform them of their sons’ deaths.
Rest in Peace.
Via Investor’s Business Daily:
“Hear about the 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium found in Iraq? No? Why should you? It doesn’t fit the media’s neat story line that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq posed no nuclear threat when we invaded in 2003. It’s a little known fact that, after invading Iraq in 2003, the U.S. found massive amounts of uranium yellowcake, the stuff that can be refined into nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel, at a facility in Tuwaitha outside of Baghdad. In recent weeks, the U.S. secretly has helped the Iraqi government ship it all to Canada, where it was bought by a Canadian company for further processing into nuclear fuel—thus keeping it from potential use by terrorists or unsavory regimes in the region. This has been virtually ignored by the mainstream media. Yet, as the AP reported, this marks a ‘significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy.’ Seems to us this should be big news. After all, much of the early opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush ‘lied’ about weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam posed little if any nuclear threat to the U.S. This more or less proves Saddam in 2003 had a program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again soon…Saddam acquired most of his uranium before 1991, but still had it in 2003, when invading U.S. troops found the stuff… That means Saddam held onto it for more than a decade. Why? He hoped to wait out U.N. sanctions on Iraq and start his WMD program anew. This would seem to vindicate Bush’s decision to invade.†—Investor’s Business Daily
This should definately vindicate the Bush Administration from “rushing us into to war” and “taking us into war under false pretenses” etc..
But in my mind it doesn’t vindicate the Bush Administration from keeping this enormous uranium find secret for the past 5 years.
What a Public Relations disaster this administration has been. Totally inept.
Stephen Moore in the WSJ,
..for the first time in decades, and perhaps ever, the richest 1% of tax filers will have paid more than 40% of the income tax burden. The top 50% will account for 97% of all federal income taxes, while the bottom 50% will have paid just 3%.
And this, despite the “Bush tax cuts for the rich!” Shouldn’t progressives, like Barack Obama, be hailing President Bush for soaking the rich? After all, Barack and the Dems see the government as the answer to all of our problems, and tax cuts bring in more revenue. Barron’s editor Thomas G. Donlan says the facts are clear,
Oddly, if you really want to raise taxes on the rich, you should cut their tax rates the way Congress and President Bush did in 2001, 2002, and 2003. It sounds like a joke but it’s the most sensible way to read the results of the Bush years in U.S. tax policy. After the Bush Administration and Congress reduced the top marginal `rates, the people with the highest incomes shouldered a larger share of the tax burden because they made so much more money….Of more importance, the expanding economy generated more revenue from income taxes, sales taxes, corporate income taxes, and social insurance taxes….By fiscal 2007, higher economic growth and lower tax avoidance covered the loss of revenue from lower rates.
Bloomberg confirms,
Individual and corporate income tax revenues are growing for a fourth straight year in spite of five rounds of Bush tax cuts totaling about $2 trillion from 2001 to 2006.
Conclusion:
1.) By any reasonable measure, the “rich” are shouldering a significant tax burden.
2.) Lower taxes = higher government revenue.
3.) Democrats demagauge the issue, prefer class warfare to real solutions.
Remember this next time you hear Barack Obama talking about the rich “paying their fair share”.
Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever
The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history.
Meanwhile, in other news….
U.S. Embassy Cites Progress in Iraq
Most Congressionally Set Benchmarks Met, Report Finds
Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress, according to a report by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
UPDATE: Pelosi is learning a tough lesson in governing. It is easy to be in the minority are hurl insults. Real solutions to complicated problems are another matter.
Nancy Pelosi, APRIL 2006
With record gas prices, record CEO pay packages, and record oil company profits, Speaker Hastert and the Majority Congress continue to give the American people empty rhetoric rather than join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.
July 2008
Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin
I’m doing my part.
Pray for rain!
Polar ice caps not cooperating with global warming alarmists.
Independence Day inspiration from those who make it possible.
Getting difficult to keep up with the good news in Iraq.
My hometown is in the news, for all the wrong reasons.
What a great pleasure to communicate directly with the DNC. In the mail last week, the 2008 Presidential Survey. Seems they want my help chosing a campaign strategy.
Several questions were illustrative of the post-Clinton Democratic Party. Here’s the first offense,
How many times are they going to push this thoroughly discredited meme? It has been exposed as dishonest and cynical by the likes of the Columbia Journalism Review, Annenberg Political Fact Check and the Washington Post Fact Check blog.
Once again, here’s what McCain said, in context,
Questioner: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for fifty years…
McCain: Maybe a hundred. Make it one hundred. We’ve been in South Korea, we’ve been in Japan for sixty years. We’ve been in South Korea for fifty years or so. That’d be fine with me as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. Then it’s fine with me. I would hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.
I’m left wondering if the DNC thinks their constituents are stupid? At a minimum, they must assume that they aren’t paying attention.
Ah yes, the Swift Boat attack. Here’s a question for Howard Dean: How likely is it that the Democrats have been questioning John McCain’s military service for months?
ABC News
April 08, 2008“Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, who has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said that Sen. John McCain “has a temper” and, according to the story, “believes McCain has become insensitive to many human issues.
McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.”
Dem Guru: McCain ‘Limited’ by POW Years
June 30, 2008
ABC News’ Teddy Davis and Molly Hunter Report: While Barack Obama was urging supporters not to devalue the military service of rival John McCain, an informal Obama adviser argued Monday that the former POW’s isolation during the Vietnam War has hobbled the Arizona senator’s capacity as a war-time leader.
“Sadly, Sen. McCain was not available during those times, and I say that with all due respect to him,” said informal Obama adviser Rand Beers. “I think that the notion that the members of the Senate who were in the ground forces or who were ashore in Vietnam have a very different view of Vietnam and the cost that you described than John McCain does because he was in isolation essentially for many of those years and did not experience the turmoil here or the challenges that were involved for those of us who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam war.”
“So I think,” he continued, “to some extent his national security experience in that regard is sadly limited and I think it is reflected in some of the ways that he thinks about how U.S. forces might be committed to conflicts around the world.”
No need to even get into Wesley Clark. Steve Huntley of the Chicago Sun Times informs the DNC of how effective this strategy is likely to be,
It was perverse — not to mention tone-deaf and foolish — for Barack Obama’s supporters to pick the week of July Fourth to attack John McCain’s military background. The cliche rings true: With political friends like these, Obama doesn’t need enemies.
The next question was about the GOP’s “Voter Supression Schemes”. Thankfully I have alerted the DNC to the Supreme Court ruling this session on the Voter ID requirement. Seems it is not cruel and unusual to require a valid identification in order to cast vote in a U.S. election. By a 6-3 margin, the Supreme Court uphelp this draconian limitation on illegal immigrants, er, “potential voters”. Here is the AP summary of the case,
Said states can require would-be voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights. The 6-3 ruling validated Republican-inspired voter ID laws. Democrats and civil rights groups had argued that laws requiring voters to produce photo identification in order to cast ballots violate the Constitution. The court disagreed, upholding Indiana’s strict photo ID requirement.
Opponents had argued that the Indiana law could deter poor, elderly and minority voters from casting ballots. Its backers said the photo ID law was needed to deter electoral fraud. The justices agreed that states can take such steps to protect “the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,” as long as they don’t impose “excessively burdensome requirements” on any class of voters.
More than 20 states require some form of identification at the polls. The opinion came a week before Indiana’s presidential primary. (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 07-21, Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, 07-25)
The DNC, and their candidate, are willing say anything they need to in order to get elected. They are, in fact, the Old Politics they claim to detest.
What will it take to get the moonbat out of the Democratic Party? Perhaps blowing the most gift wrapped election in history? We can only hope.
In the latest edition of Someone You Should Know, Bruce McQuain from QandO told us about Navy Cross recipient Lance Corporal Todd Corbin
When you read of this young man’s heroics, remember when this happened he was a Lance Corporal and a driver. The fact that he assessed the situation, realized he had to take charge and did so is a testament to both his courage and Marine Corps training. His successful defense of his position and the rescue and evacuation of his comrades is a remarkable feat, deserving of the Navy Cross.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Thanks to Matt, Bruce is now on board and we are lucky to have him as part of the show. All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking†by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.