Category Archives: Iran

Bibi’s Day before Congress

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The Canadian Press – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures while addressing the 2015 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in Washington, Monday, March 2, 2015

In less than an hour Bibi Netanyahu will speak before a joint session of Congress—at the invitation of Congress much to the chagrin of the democrats. He spoke yesterday before AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, laying the groundwork for today’s speech.

I’m keeping an ear on CSPAN. Mrs. Crucis is watching upstairs. John Kerry’s State Department is twitting passages from a radical Islamic cleric protesting Netanyahu. The cleric blames ‘Zionists’ for all the world’s ills.

I’m not surprised that Obama and his minions are siding the Islamists. All you need to do is read articles by the administration, listen to them on TV and on internet videos, listen to them being interviewed by the MSM. They’re all in bed with the Islamists.

This isn’t something Obama brought to government. Look at the remarks of Jimmah Cahtah and others over the years. They were, are, all siding with not only Islamists, but radical, America-hating Islamists.

Frankly, I don’t know why they support those who kill and plan to kill us. It’s psychotic. It could be they hate America, perhaps they are anti-Semitic, or, more likely, both. Regardless, Bibi will have his time before Congress concerning Obama’s efforts to allow Iran to build nuclear weapons. Bibi will warn Congress, again, and will say, I expect, that Israel reserves the right to strike in self-defense. When Iran and the Islamists say they will destroy Israel and kill all the Jews, we should take them at their words—and act accordingly.

But, the US will dither, blame Israel and inevitably, at some point, nukes will fly. Maybe today is the day Israel will announce they have nukes of their own. Seven nations, eight if the Norks finally make one that works, are known to have nuclear weapons. It is likely several more have them as well including Israel. Various intelligence agencies estimate that Israel has approximately 300 nukes of various sizes. South Africa had some but disassembled them, so they say, as did the former USSR republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine. Then there is Japan, South Korea and Taiwan that have the capability of building nukes but haven’t as far as we know. In South America, both Brazil and Argentina have been thought at various times to be building nukes.

Bibi will have his day before Congress, less those democrats who hate Israel. He will be eloquent and explain his position and ask the US to assist Israel in blocking Iran’s nuclear infrastructure to build a weapon. He will not succeed. The US will do nothing to assist Israel and everything to help the Islamists and our internal divide will deepen and broaden.

 

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Peace…for our time

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In 1938, after Germany invaded and incorporated Czechoslovakia into the German Reich, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to make an agreement with Adolf Hitler to end Germany’s expansion in Europe. On his return to London, Chamberlain gave his famous speech saying he had gained, “peace for a time.”

barack_chamberlainOver the weekend, Obama announced an agreement created by Sec’y of State John Kerry with Iran to “halt” their nuclear weapons program. Of course, the agreement has no teeth and leaves Israel swinging, alone, in the breeze. As a consequence, Saudia Arabia, fearing a nuclear Iran, is in the process of buying some nukes of their own from Pakistan. The Saudis have split with Washington over the justifiable fear that if attacked by Iran, the US would do nothing.

Yes, peace…for a time. A year after Neville Chamberlain made his famous speech, Britain was at war with Germany. The events of this last week leads me to wonder what the coming year will bring in the Middle East. Israel has never announced whether it has nuclear weapons, nor has Israel signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow outside inspectors to see if Israel really had any. That aside, some sources estimate that Israel has approximately 90 nuclear weapons with enough material to manufacture 150-200 more on short notice.

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Obamacare is heading back to SCOTUS again. This time for possible violations of the First Amendment. Obamacare requires individuals and corporations to buy and provide birth control for themselves and their employees regardless of religious opposition. Hobby Lobby has filed suit and that suit is going to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court to decide whether to review ObamaCare contraception mandate

Associated Press

WASHINGTON –  President Barack Obama’s health care law is headed for a new Supreme Court showdown over companies’ religious objections to the law’s birth-control mandate.

Amid the troubled rollout of the health law, and 17 months after the justices upheld it, the Obama administration is defending a provision that requires most employers that offer health insurance to their workers to provide a range of preventive health benefits, including contraception.

Roughly 40 for-profit companies have sued, arguing they should not be forced to cover some or all forms of birth control because doing so would violate their religious beliefs.

Both sides want the justices to settle an issue that has divided lower courts. The high court could announce its decision whether to take up the topic as early as Tuesday, following its closed-door meeting.

Arguments probably would take place in late March with a decision expected in late June.

The key issue is whether profit-making corporations can assert religious beliefs under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Nearly four years ago, the justices expanded the concept of corporate “personhood,” saying in the Citizens United case that corporations have the right to participate in the political process the same way that individuals do.

The administration wants the court to hear its appeal of the Denver-based federal appeals court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain that calls itself a “biblically founded business” and is closed on Sundays. Founded in 1972, the company now operates more than 500 stores in 41 states and employs more than 13,000 full-time employees who are eligible for health insurance. The Green family, Hobby Lobby’s owners, also owns the Mardel Christian bookstore chain.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said corporations can be protected by the 1993 law in the same manner as individuals, and “that the contraceptive-coverage requirement substantially burdens Hobby Lobby and Mardel’s rights under” the law.

In its Supreme Court brief, the administration said the appeals court ruling was wrong and, if allowed to stand would make the law “a sword used to deny employees of for-profit commercial enterprises the benefits and protections of generally applicable laws.”

In two other cases, courts ruled for the administration. Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., a Pennsylvania company that employs 950 people in making wood cabinets, is owned by a Mennonite family. Autocam Corp. is a Michigan-based maker of auto parts and medical devices that employs more than 650 people in the U.S.

The companies that have sued over the mandate have objections to different forms of birth control. Conestoga Wood objects to the coverage of Plan B and Ella, two emergency contraceptives that work mostly by preventing ovulation. The FDA says on its website that Plan B  “may also work by preventing fertilization of an egg … or by preventing attachment (implantation) to the womb (uterus),” while Ella also may work by changing of the lining of the uterus so as to prevent implantation.

Hobby Lobby objects to those two forms of contraception as well as two types of intrauterine devices (IUDs). Its owners say they believe life begins at conception, and they oppose only birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, but not other forms of contraception.

Autocam doesn’t want to pay for any contraception for its employees because of its owners’ Roman Catholic beliefs.

The article continues at the website. You can read it here.

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Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I wish you all have a great Holiday.
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Not a Brave New World

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If you have been following the news—international news, not the farce out of Washington, DC, you, like me, wonder where will nuclear war breakout first, in the Mideast between Israel and Iran or with North Korean and their enemy of the moment.

Iran has been working to build a nuke for decades. They are currently receiving material and technological assistance from North Korea, Pakistan, China and Russia. Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister has been shouting warnings for years asking for help to stop Iran’s program. At some point, Israel will realize no one, especially Obama, cares. When that happens, Israel will do what is needed to protect themselves. Israel hasn’t publicly acknowledged possession of nukes, but no half-competent intelligence agency in the world doubts Israel has them.

On the other side of the world, Kim Jong Pud has unilaterally declared the 1953 Korean War armistice is over. He’s threatened a nuclear strike against the mainland of the US. It’s questionable if the Norks have that ability—at this time. They have had one successful nuclear test after two fizzles. They do have long range rockets capable of reaching the US west coast. The question is whether they have been able to make a nuke small enough to fit into a missile warhead and still be able to reach the US.

Aegis Anti-missile systemSuch a possibility is why we have anti-ballistic missiles in Alaska and why some Aegis missile cruisers have the ability to hit incoming ballistic missiles. The naval capability was originally for a theater-level threat. But… they could also be stationed near the US west coast for added protection.

If North Korea can’t reach the US, they could reach closer US assets in South Korea and Japan. Those are much closer. The US and Japan have agreements for the US to provide anti-missile technology and anti-missile naval assets and technology.

South Korea is still under the US umbrella and the US has military forces in South Korea. Those military forces are a trip-wire to activate the defense treaty between the US and South Korea.

There is another factor. South Korea has nuclear reactors for power generation and research. A by-product of those reactors is enriched plutonium. South Korea has the knowledge and the technology to build their own nukes—as does Japan.  One thing the Chinese do not want is a nuclear arms race in the western Pacific. If the Norks launch an attack, the Chinese just might look the other way. They’d have a tough choice; the loss of their buffer against South Korea and Japan or Japanese and South Korean nukes.

Tough choice for them but it’s quite likely they’ll throw Kim Jong Pud under the bus and look the other way when the inevitable retaliation turns North Korea into a glowing desert.

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Repost: Life is Risk

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I’m at loose ends this morning. There are a number of topics that I could opine over but none strikes my interest. The NorKs apparently have finally created a working nuke after numerous fizzles. Iran is thought to be six months away from building their first nuke. The likelihood of a theater-level nuclear exchange, the risk of war within five years has just increased—greatly increased while the idiots in Washington blow on the embers of a future war.

Life is risk.

That thought drove me to this old post from 2010. I wrote it three years ago today. It’s a life lesson. A lesson those in DC never learned.

Life is Risk

Mrs. Crucis had lunch with her cousin today. That allowed me to escape and spend some time at one of my favorite greasy spoons. While I was eating, one of the waitresses came over to talk a bit.

I’ll call her Tanya. Tanya isn’t the brightest bulb on the string. She dropped out of high school “because it was too hard.” She’s married and has two kids. One is her 11 year-old son, Sonny. (You can see I’m very original making up names.)

Tanya sat down across from me and said, “I’m mad!” It seems her son and some friends had built a bicycle track completed with jumps and potholes in a vacant lot. They were racing. Sonny jumped a ridge and on landing, his front wheel dug in. Sonny’s face met handle bars. His nose was broken and the bone just below his nose containing his front upper teeth was broken and caved in. Sonny will require surgery for a complete recovery.

Tanya wasn’t mad at Sonny. Nor was she mad at his friends for building the track. She wasn’t mad at the bicycle manufacturer. No, she was mad at the bicycle helmet manufacturer. She felt they should have made the helmet with a full-face shield.

She continued in this mode a bit while I finished lunch. I don’t like being in these positions. I’m a private person. I like eating lunch alone with a book for company. But Tanya wanted to talk and I’m a patient listener. I finally had enough. I asked her, “Do you think Sonny will be bicycle jumping again?”

“No,” she replied, “he doesn’t want to race anymore.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, he doesn’t want to get hurt again,” she said.

I was hesitant to ask my next question, but sometimes I just have an urge.” “Tanya,” I said. “If he did have a full-face shield on his helmet and hadn’t gotten hurt or only bruised, would he have continued to bike-jump? Maybe getting hurt worse the next time?”

She thought on that for a bit and finally said, “Yeah, he would.”

“He learned a lesson, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Consider this. Yes, it was painful and he’ll have to have surgery to fix everything. It’ll be expensive. But, he’ll know better next time.”

“Yeah.”

“So, isn’t it better that he learns that lesson now rather than sometime later—maybe in more dangerous circumstances? Maybe when driving a car?”

“But he’s my baby!”

At this point she was almost at tears. We continued talking for awhile longer. I explained that she couldn’t protect her kids every moment of the day. Growing up means learning skills, learning how to live, and learning what is dangerous. If she protects him too much, he’ll never learn what is dangerous and what isn’t.

I think she understood some of that. Life is not without risk nor consequences. Freedom is freedom to learn. Freedom is also the ability to grow and plan, to risk and if necessary, to suffer the consequences. Risk is also the means to succeed because without risk, success will never occur.

Tanya is a good parent. Like all parents, she doesn’t want her children to come to harm. Life, isn’t, unfortunately, without risk and the potential for harm. Risk can be good and the process of growing into maturity is learning the ability to weigh risk. Weigh the effort, the potential rewards, weigh the cost and the possible loss and consequences.

I fear that the forces behind the Nanny State have forgotten these lessons—if they ever knew them at all.

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