Bad News for Democrats

The USA Today has an article today that should send shivers down the backs of democrats who are just certain that they will regain either the House or the Senate, or maybe both, this November.

According to the article, "Gasoline prices are falling fast and could keep dropping for months."

"The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving."

If that happens, the only thing that democrats have been able to point to as they have continued to perpetuate the myth of a bad economy will no longer be a problem for Americans.

Not only will Americans be feeling better about gasoline prices, but the lower prices will themselves help to further stimulate the rest of the already strong economy.

It's good news for consumers and the economy. Continued lower prices "may act like a tax cut" and stimulate spending, says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City in Cleveland. He calculates that higher energy prices the first six months cut growth of consumer spending 1 percentage point.

Now, before leftists start shouting, "Of course gasoline prices are gonna go down right before the elections; Bush is gonna lower the prices so that republicans can get elected," pay attention to the reasons the prices are going down.

The end of summer. Driving slows, reducing demand for gasoline. And federal requirements for clean air, summer-blend gasoline end next month, making gasoline cheaper to refine and import.

Sluggish demand. Gasoline use in the first eight months of the year is up 1% vs. a year ago, less than the 1.5% to 2% growth that's typical, says Michael Morris, analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "Wholesalers are trying to get rid of product. The growth in demand for gasoline has really tapered off," he says.

Wholesale prices are falling faster than retail gasoline prices, meaning stations are making more money than when prices were $3. Wholesale prices Tuesday ranged from $1.77 to $1.79 a gallon, well below the $2-plus prices typical until recently.

Petroleum traders, worried that prices are too high to last, are selling their holdings. That pushes prices down. They also believe hurricanes won't disrupt Gulf of Mexico production, OPIS senior analyst Tom Kloza says.

Crude oil, which accounts for roughly half the price of gasoline, ended New York trading Tuesday down 90 cents, at $69.71 a barrel. That's the first time it's closed at less than $70 since May 4.

Notice that there is nothing there about George Bush sitting in the Oval Office waving a magic wand and lowering gasoline prices for the election.

President Bush cannot lower the price of gasoline any more than he had the power to cause it to rise in the first place. But the price is coming down, and that's bad news for Democrats.

Godless and Classless

Ann Coulter has out a book entitled Godless: The Church of Liberalism. Allow me to add the word classless to the description of a high percentage of liberal activists.

Spend some time browsing liberal blogs (if you can stomach it). You'll find that many of these blogs would have to have at least an "R" rating for language if blogs were rated. Yes, you will occasionally find the same thing on some conservative blogs, but it's the exception rather than the rule. On liberal blogs, the use of bad language seems to be some kind of badge of honor.

Liberal bloggers aren't the only liberals who can't seem to express themselves without resorting to filth. Jesse James,the CEO of West Coast Choppers and husband of actress Sandra Bullock, recently unleashed this tirade against President Bush:

Everyone in Iraq knows Bush is a d**khead. He's the boss' kid. Everybody I know who has a successful business who has a kid - the kid is always a f**khead. Have you ever noticed that?

By the way, I should mention that James is an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. Great way for an ordained minister to talk, isn't it? So just what is the Universal Life Church?

This is from the Universal Life Church official website :

The Universal Life Church has no traditional doctrine. We as an organization believe in that which is right. Each individual has the privilege and responsibility to determine what is right for themselves, as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.

Could there be a better definition of what liberals believe? This is moral relativism at its finest. There is no absolute right or wrong. The only mention of God on the website's homepage is the statement that, "We do not stand between you and your God." In other words, God is whoever or whatever we make him. If we believe that is true, if God can be different for every individual, then, in effect, there is no God.

Ann Coulter is right. The Church of Liberalism is Godless. And as one of the ordained ministers of this Godless church has demonstrated, we can add the term classless.

Searching the Cleavers

We constantly hear about policy that forbids profiling in airports. It's one thing to read about it; it's another to talk to someone who has seen this ridiculous policy first-hand.

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend of mine who travels with his family rather frequently. He and his wife are both fair-skinned, and they have twin two-year-old boys whose complexions would make the ivory girls from the old Ivory Soap ads jealous. In short, they look no more like terrorists than Ward, June, Wally, and Beaver Cleaver.

My friend tells me, however, that he and his wife have been stopped for an extra search, including a thorough search of the boys' bags, while single Arab men have been allowed to pass virtually unsearched, simply because their numbers didn't happen to be the numbers selected for an extra search.

When families who look like the Cleaver family start blowing up buildings and airplanes, this will be a good policy. Until then, it's just stupid.

The Result of the Latest Israeli-Hezbollah Conflict

Thirty-three days of battle; 1,500 dead; 4,000 wounded, millions of dollars in infrastructure damage.

If we look beyond those numbers, what is the result of the latest Israeli-Hezbollah conflict? According to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the result is a Hezbollah victory.

Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Hezbollah "hoisted the banner of victory" and that "God’s promises have come true. On one side, it’s corrupt powers of the criminal U.S. and Britain and the Zionists ... with modern bombs and planes. And on the other side is a group of pious youth relying on God."

Syria's Bashar al-Assad declared, "This resistance is a medal to pin on the chest of every Arab citizen, not only Syria," adding that the Shia fighters had "shattered the myth of an invincible army."

Hassan Nasrallah asserted, "We came out victorious in a war in which big Arab armies were defeated [before]."

Of course, Israel has also claimed victory. So who is right?

Let's take a closer look at the above casualty numbers. Of the approximately 1,500 dead and 4,000 wounded, only about 170 of the dead and about 650 of the wounded are Israeli. Based strictly on those numbers, it looks like Israel won.

However, victory in this case goes far deeper than casualty numbers. An Israeli victory was dependent upon its ability to destroy Hezbollah's ability to ever again attack Israel. Unfortunately, they were not able to accomplish that goal. International pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire before the job was finished has ensured that Hezbollah will survive to fight another day.

What about the over 1,000 Hezbollah and Lebanese deaths? Lebanese civilians may care, but you can rest assured that Hezbollah couldn't care less about the deaths of Lebanese civilians, or about their own deaths for that matter (They're looking forward to the 72 virgins).

I sincerely hope I'm wrong; however, I can't help but feeling that because Hezbollah was not destroyed, Ahmadinejad, Assad, and Nasrallah are right. While Israelis died in vain, Hezbollah terrorists and their backers have been emboldened and will attack again.

Let the Admissions Begin

When I heard Thursday morning about the averted terrorist plot to blow up multiple commercial airplanes, I knew that critics of the Bush administration would now realize and admit that the administration's homeland security measures are both necessary and effective.

When it was reported later in the day that the "U.S. picked up the suspects' chatter" and "provided London authorities with intercepts of the group's communications," I thought about the much-criticized program in which the National Security Agency was collecting records of international phone calls. I had no idea whether or not that particular program was helpful in averting this particular attack, but I knew that Democrats and liberal media would now have to admit that the importance of this program and others like it in protecting Americans far outweighs any small infringement of individual rights that may or may not be wrought upon an innocent individual.

As I continued to hear more reports throughout the day on what led to the disruption of this plot, I thought of those who have been so critical of the President for not doing enough to protect American citizens while simultaneously criticizing the Patriotic Act, government access to international banking records, and nearly every other security measure that the Bush administration has implemented.

When I read that, had this plot been executed, an estimated 2,700 people would have been killed, I thought of those who have claimed that the threat of terror attacks against Americans is not really that great, that the Bush administration simply exaggerates the threat for political reasons.

I knew that all of these people would soon be publicly admitting that they were wrong. I knew that they would soon be giving the President public credit for the job that he is doing.

I'm waiting for the admissions to begin.

Adolf Hitler and Hassan Nasrallah

It absolutely amazes me that every man and woman in America is not firmly in Israel's corner in its battle with Hezbollah. Americans are nearly unanimous in their condemnation of Adolf Hitler, and if he were alive and waging war today, nearly all Americans would be fully engaged in supporting his defeat. Yet look at the following quotations and try to determine which ones can be attributed to Hitler and which ones can be attributed to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

1) This Jewish contamination will not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, the Jew, has been banished from our midst.

2) Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

3) If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.

4) If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew.

It's a bit difficult to tell which words are Hitler's and which are Nasrallah's when it comes to anti-Semitism. However, Hitler and the Nazis are demonized (and rightfully so), while Nasrallah and Hezbollah get a pass.

But Hitler also fought Americans, and unless Nasrallah threatens America, what should we care? Consider the following quotes, both of which are Nasrallah's:

Let the entire world hear me. Our hostility to the Great Satan [America] is absolute ...

I conclude my speech with the slogan that will continue to reverberate on all occasions so that nobody will think that we have weakened. Regardless of how the world has changed after 11 September, Death to America will remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to America.

We rarely hear it in American media, but Nasrallah and Hezbollah are an enemy of America along the lines of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Right now, Israel is fighting this part of the war on terror for us. They need and deserve the support of every American.

And in case you're interested, of the four anti-Semitic quotes above, numbers 1 and 2 were Hitler's; 3 and 4 were Nasrallah's.

Where's the Outrage?

It seems like all I've heard for the past few weeks is an international cry for a ceasefire in the Middle East and a widespread international condemnation of warmongering Israel.

Now that a ceasefire draft resolution as been agreed upon, both Lebanon and Syria have rejected the plan. Should I expect to soon hear widespread international condemnation of these two countries?

I doubt it.

Defeating Terrorism

Cartoon by Chuck Asay

The Deranged OIC (and the World that Listens to Them)

At a recent so-called emergency summit , leaders of the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have declared, "We hold Israel responsible for the loss of lives and suffering ... and demand that Israel compensate (Lebanon) and its people for the losses sustained resulting from Israeli aggression." The leaders called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to begin a "full investigation into these criminal acts perpetrated by Israel."

Now I'm confused. Israel is responsible? The criminal acts have been perpetrated by Israel?

I seem to recall that as of June 2000, Israel had withdrawn all of its forces from southern Lebanon in compliance with U.N. resolution 425.

I also seem to recall that U.N. resolution 1391 called upon the government of Lebanon to "ensure the return of its effective authority throughout the south" and to "ensure a calm environment throughout the south."

I further recall that U.N. resolution 1559 called for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."

Finally, I seem to recall that the spark which ignited the current conflict was Hezbollah terrorists crossing into Israel, attacking two Israeli Humvees, killing three Israeli soldiers, capturing two, and later killing five others trying to rescue the two captured soldiers.

So I'm having trouble understanding how Israel is responsible.

At their summit, the OIC issued a demand "that the United Nations Security Council fulfill its responsibility ... by deciding on and enforcing an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire."

So are we to believe that these Islamic leaders just want peace? Yeah, right. What they want is a ceasefire so that their terrorist organizations can regroup and then attack Israel again.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for all of his derangement, at least makes it easy for the rest of the world to see the true motives of radical Islam: "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate ceasefire must be implemented."

So the stated goal is "the elimination of the Zionist regime." Can anyone really expect Israel to agree to a ceasefire under these circumstances?

Imagine someone breaking into your house and starting to beat on members of your family. You pick up a baseball bat and start to beat on the intruder. The intruder tells you that he intends to ultimately kill you and your whole family, but for now you have to stop beating on him, put your bat down, and give him some time to recover and grow stronger.

That's essentially what Ahmadinejad is saying to Israel, and the really amazing thing is that so much of the world is joining the condemnation of Israel and this call for a ceasefire.

I'm not sure who is more deranged: Ahmadinejad and his OIC cohorts, or the world which enables them to continue their reign of terror.

You Better Watch What You Say, Congressman

On May 17, 2006 U.S. Congressman John Murtha, D-PA, in commenting on civilians killed in Haditha, Iraq, made the following statement:

There was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.

Now, Marine Corps staff sergeant Frank Wuterich, who led the squad accused of the killings, is suing Congressman Murtha for Defamation .

Murtha seems to have made his comments as part of his efforts to make his case for withdrawing American troops from Iraq. The problem is that he made those comments without evidence of their truth or accuracy.

Good for Staff Sergeant Wuterich. It's about time that someone held people like John Murtha accountable for their words.