Peggy Noonan's Got Guts
Peggy Noonan's got guts. She wrote the article below for the The Wall Street Journal, which is very pro-war. I hope she doesn't get fired. She is not only one of the best writers of our time, but her good heart is centered on truth and Christ. I wish she were running for president. I can't think of any other national public figure I rather vote for. Please pray for her.
Fred
PEGGY NOONAN
He's Got Guts
In praise of Chuck Hagel.
Friday, January 26, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
We all complain, and with justice, about the falseness of much that is said in Washington, and the cowardice that leaves a great deal unsaid. But I found myself impressed and grateful for the words of Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator from Nebraska, in a meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Because his message was not one Republicans or Democrats would find congenial, it may be accidentally dropped down the memory hole, so I'll quote at some length.
The committee was nearing a vote on what was, essentially, an announcement of no confidence in the administration's leadership in Iraq. Specifically it was a nonbinding resolution opposing the increase in troops the president has requested. This was not significant in a concrete way: The president has the power to send more troops, and they are already arriving. But as symbols go, it packed a punch. You couldn't watch it on television or on the Internet and not see that Mr. Hagel was letting it rip. He did not speak from notes or a text but while looking at his fellow senators. There seemed no time lag between thought and word. He was barreling, he was giving it to you straight, and he'd pick up the pieces later.
This is what he said: Congress has duties; in the case of the war, meeting those duties was not convenient; Congress did not meet them.
And so: "The Congress has stood in the shadow of this issue, Iraq, for four years. As [John] Warner noted . . . we have a constitutional responsibility as well as a moral responsibility to this country, to the young men and women we ask to go fight and die and their families. . . . This is not a defeatist resolution, this is not a cut-and-run resolution, we're not talking about cutting off funds, not supporting the troops. This is a very real, responsible addressing of the most divisive issue in this country since Vietnam.
"Sure it's tough. Absolutely. And I think all 100 senators ought to be on the line on this. What do you believe? What are you willing to support? What do you think? Why are you elected? If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes.
"This is a tough business. But is it any tougher, us having to take a tough vote, express ourselves . . . than what we're asking our young men and women to do? I don't think so."
Later: "I don't question the president's sincerity, his motivations in this. I never have. . . . Part of the problem that we have, I think, is because we didn't--we didn't involve the Congress in this when we should have. And I'm to blame. Every senator who's been here the last four years has to take some responsibility for that.
"But I will not sit here in this Congress of the United States at this important time for our country and in the world and not have something to say about this. . . . I don't ever want to look back and have the regret that I didn't have the courage and I didn't do what I could. . . .
"I would go back to where I began, and pick up on a point that Chairman [Richard] Lugar mentioned: coherence of strategy. I don't know how many United States senators believe we have a coherent strategy in Iraq. I don't think we've ever had a coherent strategy. In fact, I would even challenge the administration today to show us the plan that the president talked about the other night. There is no plan. I happen to know Pentagon planners were on their way to the Central Com over the weekend. They haven't even Team B'd this plan. . . . And I want every one of you, every one of us, 100 senators, to look in that camera, and you tell your people back home what you think. Don't hide anymore; none of us.
"That is the essence of our responsibility. And if we're not willing to do it, we're not worthy to be seated right here. We fail our country. If we don't debate this . . . we are not worthy of our country."
Whenever the camera shot broadened to show the other senators, I wondered what they were thinking. For a few it might have been, Well done, Chuck. For others, Hey, righteous indignation is my act. And some would have been thinking, That's good, ol' buddy, and no matter how long I have to wait, I'll get you for putting me on the spot, for making us look bad, for getting on your high horse and charging.
But Mr. Hagel said the most serious thing that has been said in Congress in a long time. This is what we're here for. This is why we're here, to decide, to think it through and take a stand, and if we can't do that, why don't we just leave and give someone else a chance?
Mr. Hagel has shown courage for a long time. He voted for the war resolution in 2002 but soon after began to question how it was being waged. This was before everyone did. He also stood against the war when that was a lonely place to be. Senate Democrats sat back and watched: If the war worked, they'd change the subject; and if it didn't, they'd hang it on President Bush. Republicans did their version of inaction; they supported the president until he was unpopular, and then peeled off. This is almost not to be criticized. It's what politicians do. But it's not what Mr. Hagel did. He had guts.
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Why do Kissinger and his Friends Love Marxist China?
Why do Kissinger and his Friends Love Marxist China?
Steve Mosher in “Hegemon: China's Plan to Dominate Asia and the World “ says that the Chinese Marxist rulers have won over that nation’s majority and the young with nationalist plans to “dominate” Asia then the rest of the earth including the US.
This is the reason that China has had more border conflicts than even the Moslem states more the last few decades. In the long-run Chinese Marxism under the cloak of nationalism may be more dangerous than Islamic terrorists.
The book claims the only way we can stop China from its goal of an empire is containing it as we did USSR. Mosher believes that the US must first “acknowledge the realities of Chinese aims, and then [constrain] the modernization” it’s military technology.
China's recent anti-satellite missile strike as well as it’s stonewalling afterwards shows the Chinese military is not only modernizing, but preparing to take on the US military technology.
Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, sums up the problem with the “preaching the gospel of the country's peaceful rise.”Economy says:
“The missile strike also underscores perhaps the greatest challenge of China's rise as a global power: The lack of transparency, official accountability and rule of law that defines China on the domestic front plays poorly on the international stage. Chinese leaders' inability to be forthcoming on matters of international importance -- whether SARS, the Harbin pollution disaster or this missile strike -- erodes whatever goodwill and trust they earn from their tireless sojourns abroad.”
What is scary is the fact that our China policy is influenced by men who are “profiteering” by China trade. According to Mosher it “is a scandal most former secretaries of (beginning with Henry Kissinger [including President Reagan’s Alexander Haig] ) . . . have gone into the China trade subsequent to their government service.”
China apologist Kissinger to his eternal shame, only weeks after the Tiananmen mass murder by the Marxist government, said:
“No government in the world would have tolerated having the main square of its capital occupied for eight weeks by tens of thousands of demonstrators who blocked the area in front of the main government building.”
It is Kissinger and friends who are still “preaching the gospel of China’s peaceful rise” after the missile strike as well as the continuing human right violations against Christians and other minorities.
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Let's stop pretending about the rise of ChinaBy Elizabeth Economy
China's successful anti-satellite missile test has sparked a political firestorm, as analysts have tried to ascertain who in China knew what when and to what end. Were China's diplomats in the dark about the missile strike? Was it all a gambit to force a reluctant United States to the negotiating table for a ban on space-based weapons? While interesting to China watchers and non-proliferation experts, this discussion risks obscuring the real message of the test: Chinese rhetoric notwithstanding, China's rise will be as disruptive and difficult as that of any other global power.
Officials in both Beijing and Washington have worked hard to sketch out an alternative reality. China's leaders have traversed the globe, preaching the gospel of the country's peaceful rise, often to great effect: China will do things differently than the United States and earlier European powers did, not polluting the environment, not colonizing countries to gain access to their natural resources and not infringing on the sovereignty of other countries.
For their part, senior U.S. officials, with a growing list of challenging issues on their China agenda, are reluctant to focus for too long on the reality of China's rise. Doing so would only make cooperation more difficult and provide support to an often obstreperous anti-China lobby in Congress. It is easier to paint China's rise as a work in progress -- one that the United States has the ability to influence.
Yet the truth is that China, with its rapidly growing economy and large population, already exerts an unsettling and often negative impact on the world. China is the largest or second-largest contributor to many of the most vexing global environmental problems, including climate change, the illegal timber trade, ozone depletion and marine pollution in the Pacific. It is squeezing manufacturing industries from South Africa to Thailand to Mexico, placing stress on economies ill-equipped to compete. And its weak public health infrastructure but strict media regulations rank it at the top of potential incubators for the next global health pandemic.
While such effects might be excused as unintentional consequences of China's rapid growth, others cannot be so easily dismissed. China's insistence that it doesn't mix business with politics in its foreign relations, while sounding benign, has the perverse effect of contributing to violence and repression throughout much of the world. Its political and financial support for regimes in Sudan, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma, among others, cannot in any way be construed as contributing to global peace and stability. Moreover, China's export of unsavory environmental and labor practices in countries where it is aggressively extracting natural resources has contributed to anti-Chinese demonstrations from Peru to Zambia.
The missile strike also underscores perhaps the greatest challenge of China's rise as a global power: The lack of transparency, official accountability and rule of law that defines China on the domestic front plays poorly on the international stage. Chinese leaders' inability to be forthcoming on matters of international importance -- whether SARS, the Harbin pollution disaster or this missile strike -- erodes whatever goodwill and trust they earn from their tireless sojourns abroad and suggests that they are not ready for prime time.
If this is the reality of China's rise, then the United States has work to do, the most important being to change the way it does business. If we want China to be a responsible world power on issues such as energy security, climate change, human rights and even space-based weapons, we need to step up and lead. We can and should condemn China for not respecting the international rules governing these issues or negatively affecting other countries' well-being, but we must be prepared to play by the same rules. While other powers may have granted American exceptionalism in the past, China is not inclined to do so. Indeed, China is more likely to seek its own ``exceptional'' status.
Even if we get that far, there will still be a tough road ahead. The transparency, accountability and rule of law that responsible world leadership entails are nascent and under constant threat in China. This is where Washington has it right. We need a strong commitment -- from the federal government as well as the private sector -- to helping, if not pushing, China in the right direction, and we need to do so with a long-term perspective.
If there is a silver lining to this missile strike, it may be that we can finally stop talking about China's peaceful rise or the Washington consensus vs. the Beijing consensus. The only consensus that matters is one rooted in a clear understanding of China's rise and the urgency it brings to the need for real U.S. leadership.
ELIZABETH ECONOMY is director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She wrote this article for the Washington Post.
[http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/16570754.htm]
Ann Coulter is one of the Best and Funniness Writers rather you Love her or Hate her
Jonathan Livingston Obama
by Ann Coulter (More by this author)
I've caught Obama fever! Obamamania, Obamarama, Obama, Obama, Obama. (I just pray to God this is clean, renewable electricity I'm feeling.)
Only white guilt could explain the insanely hyperbolic descriptions of Obama's "eloquence." His speeches are a run-on string of embarrassing, sophomoric Hallmark bromides.
In announcing his candidacy last week, Obama confirmed that he believes in "the basic decency of the American people." And let the chips fall where they may!
Obama forthrightly decried "a smallness of our politics" -- deftly slipping a sword into the sides of the smallness-in-politics advocates. (To his credit, he somehow avoided saying, "My fellow Americans, size does matter.")
He took a strong stand against the anti-hope crowd, saying: "There are those who don't believe in talking about hope." Take that, Hillary!
Most weirdly, he said: "I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this -- a certain audacity -- to this announcement."
What is so audacious about announcing that you're running for president? Any idiot can run for president. Dennis Kucinich is running for president. Until he was imprisoned, Lyndon LaRouche used to run for president constantly. John Kerry ran for president. Today, all you have to do is suggest a date by which U.S. forces in Iraq should surrender, and you're officially a Democratic candidate for president.
Obama made his announcement surrounded by hundreds of adoring Democratic voters. And those were just the reporters. There were about 400 more reporters at Obama's announcement than Mitt Romney's, who, by the way, is more likely to be sworn in as our next president than B. Hussein Obama.
Obama has locked up the Hollywood money. Even Miss America has endorsed Obama. (John "Two Americas" Edwards is still hoping for the other Miss America to endorse him.)
But Obama tells us he's brave for announcing that he's running for president. And if life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
I don't want to say that Obama didn't say anything in his announcement, but afterward, even Jesse Jackson was asking, "What did he say?" There was one refreshing aspect to Obama's announcement: It was nice to see a man call a press conference this week to announce something other than he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.
B. Hussein Obama's announcement also included this gem: "I know that I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change." As long as Obama insists on using Hallmark card greetings in his speeches, he could at least get Jesse Jackson to help him with the rhyming.
If Obama's biggest asset is his inexperience, then if by the slightest chance he were elected and were to run for a second term, he will have to claim he didn't learn anything the first four years.
There was also this inspirational nugget: "Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more, and it is time for our generation to answer that call." Is this guy running for president or trying to get people to switch to a new long-distance provider?
He said that "we learned to disagree without being disagreeable." (There goes Howard Dean's endorsement.) This was an improvement on the first draft, which read, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."
This guy's like the ANWR of trite political aphorisms. There's no telling exactly how many he's sitting on, but it could be in the billions.
Obama's famed eloquence reminds me of a book of platitudes I read about once called "Life Lessons." The book contained such inspiring thoughts as:
"When was the last time you really looked at the sea? Or smelled the morning? Touched a baby's hair? Really tasted and enjoyed food? Walked barefoot in the grass? Looked in the blue sky?" (When was the last time you fantasized about dismembering the authors of a book of platitudes?)
I can't wait for Obama's inaugural address when he reveals that he loves long walks in the rain, sunsets, and fresh-baked cookies shaped like puppies.
The guy I feel sorry for is Harold Ford. The former representative from Tennessee is also black, a Democrat, about the same age as Obama, and is every bit as attractive. The difference is, when he talks, you don't fantasize about plunging knitting needles into your ears to stop the gusher of meaningless platitudes.
Ford ran as a Democrat in Republican Tennessee and almost won -- and the press didn't knock out his opponent for him by unsealing sealed divorce records, as it did for B. Hussein Obama. Yet no one ever talks about Ford as the second coming of Cary Grant and Albert Einstein.
Maybe liberals aren't secret racists expunging vast stores of white guilt by hyperventilating over B. Hussein Obama. Maybe they're just running out of greeting card inscriptions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Coulter is Legal Affairs Correspondent for HUMAN EVENTS and author of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Slander," ""How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," and most recently, "Godless."
Someone came into my blog dashboard and replaced the end of the article below. Please pray for the protection of this blog.
Someone came into my blog dashboard and replaced the end of the article below. Please pray for the protection of this blog. Below this complete article is what the person who broke into my dashboard posted.
Fred
Are we Safe from Islamic and Communist Agents in the US?
Defense and national security reporter Bill Gertz’s book “Enemies: How America's Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets--and How We Let It Happen” shows that our moral decline has disabled the USA intelligence agencies.
The book details how two senior FBI agents had a long term sexual affair with a Chinese agent. The agents thinking she was double agent for the US and allowed her to have America's most classified secret while receiving from her Chinese misinformation.
Meanwhile CIA top agents betrayed follow agents in Russia as well as gave away secrets for cash and the excitement of being a double agent against the US.
In both cases the FBI and CIA had numerous red flags about the double agents, but ignored them in part because agents have an old boy culture that protected the traitors for decades.
Gertz’s says that Clinton as president seriously damaged real intelligence operations. Also China “managed to influence US analysts” who “gained substantial influence during the Clinton, and their work exerts a hold on US policy to this day.” The analysts fed the US misinformation on Chinese strategic intentions.
While the Chinese were stealing secrets from our nuclear labs, book claims the FBI as allowed “Islamic terrorist to penetrate the upper reaches of US government, military and intelligence.”
Gertz’s show that intelligence failures helped bring about 9/11, the present disaster in Iraq and “[w]ithout good counterintelligence, there is a greater likelihood that the United States will need to resort to the use of military force to deal with such problems as North Korea and Iranian nuclear proliferation.”
The US needs lots of prayers and reform to change the “second-rate” status of it’s present counterintelligence.
Are we Safe from Islamic and Communist Agents in the US?
Defense and national security reporter Bill Gertz’s book “Enemies: How America's Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets--and How We Let It Happen” shows that our moral decline has disabled the USA intelligence agencies.
The book details how two senior FBI agents had a long term sexual affair with a Chinese agent. The agents thinking she was a double agent for the US and allowed her to have America's most classified secret and received from her Chinese misinformation.
Meanwhile CIA top agents betrayed follow agents in Russia and give away secrets for cash and the excitement of being a double agent against the US.
In both cases the FBI and CIA had numerous red flags pointing to the double agents, but ignored them in part because agents have an old boy culture that protected the traitors for decades.
Gertz’s says that Clinton as president seriously damaged real intelligence operations. Also China “managed to... [Someone came into my blog dashboard and replaced the rest of the article with the following. Please pray for the protection of this blog.] iou'd probably see that anywhere.
I was behind a huge fat lady in the cafeteria who bought 4 gorditas (there's a Taco Bell too), 3 chocolate chip cookies, and a large Pepsi. There's no helping some people. I'm not exactly a model of perfect health, but at least I get a 6 inch turkey on wheat at Subway with a diet Coke.Hospitals are weird places. There's alot more variation of care and luck involved than you might think. Get in good with the nurses, and you get food after hours. Ask certain doctors too many questions, and they shut off your information.My Dad's room has a beautiful western view. We watch the sunset every night. On the night of the children's parade, a pirate ship "invaded" Tampa Bay and shot off its cannons (they invade again tomorrow). Then there were fireworks, right out the window.I haven't seen sunsets this colorful since I lived in West Virginia. That's some good pollution they got here.Some poor guy fell into the engine room on the fireworks barge and lost his foot. You learn things in the hospital elevator.My Dad's room is right next to the nurses' station, which is both good and bad. It's good because you can get their attention easily. But there are downsides.Today we heard the unmistakable sound of a flatline and the subsequent commotion. Alerts and announcements went over the sound system while the staff ran about. Someone isn't having a good evening tonight.On the way home there was an accident blocking all traffic on Bayshore, my way "home". I was kinda pissed until I saw the crotch rocket crumpled up against the back of an SUV. I'd be surprised if he lived. I wonder if he was an organ donor?I think I'll have to change my status to being a donor. It would be pretty damn hypocritical not to.You never know how you're going to react to situations like these until they happen. The effects trickle down in ways you can't anticipate. I saw that motorcycle (or "donorcycle") and my eyes immediately welled up. Ordinarily I wouldn't give a shit, let alone for a suicidal guy on a rocket.Someone died and my Dad lived. Was he/she a father/mother? They won't tell us anything other than the age, but someone's Dad or sister or son didn't make it. Someone else's family is grieving while mine rejoices.He was in a coma for a few days and the doctors were preparing us. It's hard to even think about it. My Dad looks better now than he did before the transplant -- and believe me, elation is the overriding emotion -- but it will always be with me, when we weren't sure.Not to get negative though. Everything is coming up roses, so it's not good to look back.I hope everyone else is doing well. I'll be sure to report back on the party and Spamalot, which is in town.tion -- but it will always be with me, when we weren't sure.Not to get negative though. Everything is coming up roses, so it's not good to look back.I hope everyone else is doing well. I'll be sure to report back on the party and Spamalot, which is in town.
Border Patrol Agents are NOT Safe in Federal Prison!
Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean -- both serving a combined 23 years in prison for pursuing an illegal alien drug smuggler -- are NOT safe in federal prison!
That was the speculation of many who believed the Agents were wrongly convicted when they began serving their prison terms last month.
And, it would seem that our worst fears are now coming true.
According to WorldNetDaily.com, Agent Ramos' family confirmed that he was "severely beaten" at the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex by "a group of five Hispanic inmates who Ramos took to be illegal immigrants."
The beating took place Saturday night shortly after the television show America's Most Wanted aired a segment on the two border agents.
According to the WorldNetDaily.com report, Agent Ramos told his wife that the assailants "threatened him in Spanish, taunting him with, '**** la migra' insulting him -- 'migra' roughly translating as 'immigration,' slang for Border Patrol agent."
Here's what Agent Ramos' wife, Monica, told WorldNetDaily.com:
"He told me they were in the television room watching 'America's Most Wanted.' After that, some time after 10 p.m., he went back to his cubicle and was almost falling asleep. He awoke to the sound of shoes stomping.""He said he didn't have a chance to turn around and look at any of the guys attacking him at that time. He just felt a blow to the back of his head. The prisoners were kicking him with steel-toe shoes, the work boots they are issued in prison. They kept kicking and kicking. And they kept calling him in Spanish a **** immigration officer, saying 'darle, darle,' which means, 'give it to him.' They were cussing him out in Spanish. He couldn't fight back he was outnumbered."
Folks... we've all heard the horror stories about "good guys" in prison. Especially law enforcement officials who are no friend to the drug dealers, murderers and other criminals that Agents Ramos and Compean likely helped put there. This beating will not be an isolated incident. We have to do something to help Ramos and Compean and we have to do it now -- there's not a moment to lose!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
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There's More...
And what about prison security? According to WorldNetDaily.com and Monica Ramos:
"No security came to his rescue... Another inmate came and... walked my husband over to security."
Did the prison give him any medical treatment? Monica Ramos again:
"As of the time we talked this afternoon, the prison still hadn't given him any medical treatment," she said, adding that he told her, "'I asked all day yesterday.' I'm in a lot of pain and I have blood coming out of my left ear.'"
And according to Agent Ramos' father-in-law, appearing on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, it was two days before Agent Ramos received any medical attention.
But to add even more insult to injury, Ramos' family told WorldNetDaily.com that the decision to place Ramos in a medium security prison violates a promise from federal authorities that Agent Ramos would be kept in isolation at a minimal security prison.
Agents Ramos and Compean should not spend another minute in prison!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
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The Whole Thing Stinks From Start To Finish!
First the U.S. Attorney's office took Border Patrol Agents Compean and Ramos' legitimate pursuit of an illegal alien drug smuggler -- and aggressively prosecuted it as a heinous crime. Then, instead of allowing the two men to surrender, they sent SWAT teams to their homes to drag them off to jail. Then U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton piled on the charges -- 12 separate charges, including attempted murder, against these two heroes -- and gave the criminal drug dealing illegal alien IMMUNITY from prosecution. To make matters worse, according to news reports, during the trial someone "tampered" with the jury. Three jurors said they had been told that the judge ordered the verdict to be unanimous, that they had to vote guilty -- no possibility of a hung jury -- even though they believed the men to be innocent. It was a lie that cost the two men 23 years.
And how did the Administration react?
At first, Press Secretary Tony Snow dismissed the question of a pardon as "nonsensical," a note of contempt in his voice.
Perhaps members of the Administration thought that no one would remember Ramos and Compean by the following Thursday.
But if that was the case, you disabused them of that notion!
GOPUSA readers, together with CFIF activists, have sent more than 175,000 faxes to the President and other conservative legislators -- that's 175,000 faxes jamming legislators' fax machines constantly over a period of many weeks -- protesting the shameless persecution of these Border Patrol Agents and American heroes.And after you started the ball rolling and started to speak out against this injustice -- others joined the fight. Only then did the Administration officials at the White House realize that they needed to take a serious look at this injustice.
Phyllis Schlafly -- one of the most highly regarded conservatives in America -- wrote: "President Bush pardoned 16 criminals, including five drug dealers, at Christmastime, but so far has refused to pardon two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were trying to defend America against drug smugglers." Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was more blunt: "This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen. It's shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party. He obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders."
Even John Walsh of America's Most Wanted profiled the case before a nationwide audience on Saturday and plainly told the American people, in so many words, that the more he hears about what is happening to Agents Ramos and Compean, the more it stinks!
Let's make sure the Administration and our conservative leaders know -- beyond a shadow of a doubt -- that this matter IS NOT simply going away!
The American people want Agents Ramos and Compean pardoned. They should not spend another minute in prison.
We are making progress. Let's continue to make our voices heard!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
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You Started A Tidal Wave!
Following Rep. Rohrabacher's lead, 51 Congressmen signed a letter demanding that President Bush pardon Agents Compean and Ramos.In language crackling with outrage, they told the President what they thought of this prosecution as public policy:
"This episode sends the wrong message to those who defend America at our border, to the American people, and especially to the criminals who operate at our southern border. How can anyone believe we are serious about border security when the lives of two agents sworn to protect those very borders are torn apart, but a vicious drug smuggler is given medical care [at a U.S. military hospital in Texas] and allowed to walk free? It is inhumane and a betrayal of the American people's trust to allow the sentences of Agents Ramos and Compean to be carried out."
But they went even further, pinpointing the blame, and calling into question the morality of the episode:
"We can think of nothing more immoral than to allow the lives and families of those who protect us to be destroyed by an overly aggressive and questionable prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office. The severity of the charges brought against these men, and the harshness of the punishment is totally disproportionate to the violation in question."
Finally, they demanded:
"At this time, the only just course of action is to commute the sentences of Agents Ramos and Compean. We implore you to become personally involved in this case, and bring a holiday miracle to these agents and their families."
Usually friendly columnists like Rick Amato also weighed in:
"The White House stance is not only a slap in the face to families of murder victims and law enforcement. It is a slap in the face to American working-class families of all ethnic backgrounds."
And still no pardon. We can remedy that RIGHT NOW!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/compeanxixbe.html
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And Then The Tide Turned?
Finally -- with your faxes jamming legislators' machines and conservatives expressing outrage and disgust -- the White House began to alter its rhetoric and at least PRETENDED to be concerned. Tony Snow -- sweet as pie -- said the White House would take a second look at the issue:
"What we're doing is getting the entire trial transcript so everybody can see what happened in trial, and we can try to discern the real facts of the case."
Snow also invited Dana Rohrabacher to pay him a friendly visit to chat about the case. Rohrabacher told WorldNetDaily.com:
"The very fact that they are now willing to look at this case is indication of some progress. However, if they don't do an honest assessment -- for political reasons, or for ego reasons or for reasons of friendship with the prosecutor -- then it doesn't make any difference if they take a second look, or a first look at the facts."
Phyllis Schlafly was also courted. Early in January she got a call from U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who may not have known that Schlafly was a brilliant lawyer.
"He tried to make his case," she said, "and he was completely unpersuasive."
Schlafly also had a few words for Tony Snow's announcement that the White House now intended to review the transcript. She called it "a stall."
"We've looked at the facts, and the facts are it's an outrage. The bottom line is the drug smuggler was given immunity and went Scot free, and two border guards went to prison for 11 and 12 years."
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/compeanxixbe.html
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If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
Is It A Stall?
Well, it's been a couple of weeks now and still no pardon!Does the Administration really believe that this time we'll forget about Ignacio Ramos, Jose Alonso Compean, their heart-broken wives, and their six children?
That may be what they think.But forget it. It won't happen.
Either the President corrects this injustice and returns these men to their families and to the Border Patrol, or the grassroots pressure will continue, and the indignation will keep mounting.Let's act again. Let's let our political leaders know -- in no uncertain terms -- that we WILL NOT forget these two brave Americans who so desperately need our help!Let's FLOOD the White House and these congressional offices with faxes until these men are returned home to their families!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent, personalized and individual Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the GOP leaders in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.
Tell them patriotic Americans are sick and tired of the stalls! The time to pardon Ramos and Compean passed weeks ago. These two Border Patrol Agents -- sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for what Congressman Tom Tancredo called "doing their job," -- must be pardoned and released immediately!
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/compeanxixbe.html
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If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
Yours In Freedom,
Jeff MazzellaPresidentwww.cfif.org
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