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Audrey's Blog for October 2008

 

Fall Of The Bush Doctrine: Some Live In Caves, Others Just Cave

 

October 30, 2008

 

Probably one of the greatest tragedies is to watch men of strong character, who stand on righteousness, succumb to the pressures of a desired legacy. Decisions made upon such a foundation are unequivocally foolish.

 

And thus we have our current situation with the Bush Doctrine, concerning terrorists and terrorist states...

 

The administration's actions concerning terrorist factions and states looks less like a fortress and more like a game of dominos. Recent caves include:

Concerning the latter, it has been explained to me, by one who has had boots on the ground, that those who are being pursued for talks are low level Taliban members. The focus, I assume, is to undermine their leadership. I also understand that the same was done in Iraq in order to win the peace among the population. My problem lies in the broadcast of such strategies, not the strategies themselves. 

 

Let me elucidate...in the Muslim/Arab mindset, compromise is viewed as weakness to be exploited. Compromise is not a virtue to Muslims, shock and awe is. So if these tactics must occur, I believe it is unwise to advertise it to the world. That message can result in a dangerous situation for us in the long run (i.e. the lack of response to terror attacks by the Clinton administration caused us to be viewed as a 'paper tiger', encouraging 9/11).

 

The current atmosphere is volatile. The world is carefully watching whether there is integrity in our words. A compromise now can set up a pernicious foundation from which our enemies can launch attacks of a magnitude we could not easily fathom.

 

This is NOT the time to cave...unless you plan to eventually live in one.

 

 

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Start Chillaxin'

 

October 27, 2008

 

Perhaps the worst state of mind to be in, is one of desperation. In that state, one can easily wipe out the integrity of a lifetime. It can cause one to compromise their very soul (can anyone say moral relativism) in order to accomplish a goal. But nothing good or profitable can ever result from such surrender. 

 

Now someone needs to tell this to the Bush administration...

 

While most in our republic are focusing on a critical election, our Gov't is busy 86ing every restraint and pledge they have made not to legitimize or bargain with terrorist states or factions. 

 

With this myopic focus upon facilitating peace in the Mideast, our Gov't is playing Patty Cake with a state that harbors and funds numerous terrorist organizations: Syria. 

 

We have been allowing Syria to amass its forces along the Lebanese/Israeli border. Then Sec. Rice began passing love notes through Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem to Moussa Abu Marzouk, one of the heads of Hamas’ Damascus headquarters. Yes, you read that right, Hamas...listed by the US as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization."

 

What the heck ever happened to the Bush Doctrine?

 

I cannot believe that Bush is willing to throw everything noble he has stood for in the War on Terror, under the bus for a false promise of peace...and a legacy. Nothing that has ever been sacrificed by Israel, at the duress of the US (and much blood and treasure has been) has ever resulted in a scintilla of peace, but rather the complete and extreme opposite. 

 

As this administration closes up shop...rather than sprint toward a dead end, they should kick off their shoes and start *chillaxin. Because all good things take time...of which this is not.

 

Shalom.

 

 

*Chillaxin - A mixture of Chillin' and Relaxin'.

 

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Got Facts? The Educated Voter Series: Abortion

 

October 23, 2008

 

Note: This series is to help keep American voters 'in the know' on where the candidates stand on vital issues.

 

Facts:

Abortions are the medical processes of ending a pregnancy so that it does not result in the birth of a baby. It can also be referred to as a termination of pregnancy or simply as a termination.

 

Medical Abortion:

Early medical abortion can be performed up until the 9th week of pregnancy. It involves the use of two drugs. The first is mifepristone (also known as RU 486) which is taken orally. This is a progesterone antagonist. Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum in early pregnancy and is responsible for maintaining the supporting uterine lining.

 

Between 36-46 hours after ingestion of mifepristone, prostaglandin vaginal pessaries are given which cause dilation of the neck of the womb. The lining of the womb, along with the pregnancy, are lost through the cervix.

 

Surgical Abortion:

Suction aspiration is a surgical procedure which can be performed under local or general anesthetic. It most often used in the first trimester of pregnancy (the first three months). Suction aspiration involves dilating the cervix and passing a suction curette (similar to a vacuum hose with an extremely sharp end) into the womb. In order to dilate the cervix, prostaglandin may be used as in early medical abortion described above. The suction curette is used to remove the pregnancy. The suction and cutting edge dismembers the fetus and the products are extracted by suction.

 

After the 15th week of pregnancy, dilatation, curettage and evacuation are performed in addition to suction. This procedure is carried out under a general anesthetic. A wire loop is used to break the fetus apart and parts which cannot be removed by suction are removed piecemeal by forceps.

 

Saline Instillation:

This technique is used in the second and third trimester. Under ultrasound guidance, saline is instilled into the amnion in order to induce premature labour, which occurs 24-28 hours later. Fetacide occurs because the fetus swallows the instilled saline and dies of salt poisoning. The saline solution is also caustic and burns the fetal skin during the process.

 

Risks of Abortion Procedures:

The risks of an abortion procedure include procedure failure, hemorrhage, perforation, damage to the cervix, infections and psychiatric morbidity.

 

Parsley:

Parsley (Petroselium sativum) can be used to induce abortion.

 

 

Obama's positions at-a-glance:

Reproductive Choice: Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving a women's right to choose under Roe v. Wade a priority as president. Obama also supports expanded access to contraception, health information and preventive services to reduce unintended pregnancies.

 

Protecting a Woman's Right to Choose: Obama will make safeguarding a woman's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.

 

Reducing Unintended Pregnancy: Obama will work to reduce unintended pregnancy by guaranteeing equity in contraceptive coverage, providing sex education, and offering rape victims accurate information about emergency contraception.

 

Obama's Record on Abortion: Throughout his career, in both the Illinois Senate & the US Senate, Obama has stood up for a woman's right to choose, consistently earning 100% ratings from pro-choice groups.

 

McCain's positions at-a-glance:

Overturning Roe v. Wade: John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat.

 

Promoting Adoption: As president, motivated by his personal experience, John McCain will seek ways to promote adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy. In the past, he cosponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination against families with adopted children, to provide adoption education, and to permit tax deductions for qualified adoption expenses, as well as to remove barriers to interracial and inter-ethnic adoptions.

Teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives: Voted to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget that allocates $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies. 

 

Now you know.

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Legacy, Schmegacy: It's About Sovereignty & Safety

 

October 20, 2008

 

With all due respect...and I do have much for the president...I am beyond perplexed by Pres. Bush's current actions in the Middle East...

 

It's a funny thing, but as a democracy, we are to respect the sovereignty of other democracies...but not according to Pres. Bush. He has apparently offered to force Israel to completely surrender the Golan Heights (the Golan Heights is strategic to Israel's national security) and conduct a prompt withdrawal from the strategic terrain, if Syria will agree to sever ties with the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

Ok...what's the punch line?

 

Sadly, this is no gag. Tell me...how does the puppet sever ties with the Puppet Master? It's absurd to even make such a suggestion. 

 

It should be embarrassing to the President to make all these last ditch efforts for 'peace' in the Mideast. It smacks of desperation...not to mention the vulnerable position in which innocent Israelis would be placed.

 

It's time for the administration to cool its jets. We have enough on our plate with the financial calamity brought upon us by the Dem-controlled Congress. Do we really want the blood of innocent Israeli citizens on our conscience as well? 

 

What kind of legacy would that give you, Mr. Bush? Not a pretty one...

 

Shalom.

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Aw, Such Injustice For Those Poor, Bloodthirsty Monsters

 

October 13, 2008

 

So, who's crying now? Just your everyday, ordinary, neighborhood Hamas-linked 'charity'.

 

The "Kindhearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development" group filed a federal lawsuit in a Toledo , Ohio court on Thursday, insisting that the US government unfreeze its assets, which were frozen in 2006 upon legitimate suspicions it was serving as a channel to groups that were connected to the Hamas terrorist organization.

 

A just move?

 

Well, according to Stuart Levey, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, it was indeed just. 

 

In a 2006 statement announcing the action, Levey said: 

 

"Kindhearts is the progeny of Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, which attempted to mask their support for terrorism behind the facade of charitable giving...Following the December 2001 asset freeze and law enforcement actions against the Hamas-affiliated Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and the al Qaeda-affiliated Global Relief Foundation (GRF), former GRF official Khaled Smaili established KindHearts from his residence in January 2002...Kindhearts leaders and fundraisers once held leadership or other positions with HLF and GRF."

 

For our own defense, and the protection of our friends Israel...we must continue to be the Jack Frost to these terrorist tentacles.

 

For if we don't freeze 'em...they will truly burn us.

 

Shalom.

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Got Facts? The Educated Voter Series: Current Economic Crisis

 

October 10, 2008

 

Note: This series is to help keep American voters 'in the know' on where the candidates stand on vital issues.

 

Facts:

This Got Facts? installment departs from the former installments due to the timeliness of the issue. The following is a timeline compiled from a series at Investor's Business Daily entitled, "What Caused the Loan Crisis." The candidates are currently opining on the issue and the information will give you a clear picture of the facts, so you will be able to assess the integrity of the candidate's answers.

1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) into law.  The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The premise? Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc.  Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help.

How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way.

1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at-large to money machines for the principals and the stockholding few.

1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's rules, turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopolies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and the current collapse of Freddie and Fannie.

1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy, which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended.

1995: Congress was about to change from a Democrat majority to a Republican one. Clinton orders Robert Rubin's Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Rubin's Treasury reworked the rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans in order to get a satisfactory CRA rating from the government. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else.

1997 - 1999: Clinton, bypassing Republicans, enlisted the help of Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, Congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments, vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks, their enterprises boomed.

With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often "no documentation," "no income" loans, requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million was spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990's Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as much as $182 billion, most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as  claimed. 

Did it work? 
Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners, but many of those loans have gone bad and minority homeownership rates are shrinking fast.

1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and  Freddie's excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. "We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks," Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999.

2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the "special status." Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEOs who knew how to reward and punish. "We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation's housing and mortgage markets," Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform.

2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants.

2003: Bush proposes what The NY Times called "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform.

2005: Then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: "We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk." Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, "If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie 
Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole." Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP of trying to "cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding homeownership." The bill went nowhere.

2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall Street to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors (i.e., the sub-prime mortgage market). As the housing market fell in '07, subprime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making.

2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths. Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated the Democrats' talking points about this being a "Republican" disaster. A few Republicans are complicit, but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely  run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That's why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!!

And now you know.

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Peace: They Can Handle It Without Us

 

October 6, 2008

 

Believe it or not...they're still at it. The Bush administration has instructed Sec. Rice to arrange a peace summit, hosted by Egypt's Mubarak. Now there's a placid lot (Egypt)...they've been busy shooting unarmed Sudanese who have made desperate attempts to make it across their (Egypt) border into Israel. 

 

You know...this last-minute scramble by our government to get a peace agreement, between Israel and its blood-thirsty enemies, is reckless. 

 

With all due respect, knock it off already...

 

We apparently are unaware of what's happened to the land Israel was pressured to relinquish to the 'Palestinians' so far. Let's check a look at some of the activities these 'neighbors' have participated in:

And the list goes on...

 

Middle East peace is desired by Israel, but it will never occur until Israel's Muslim neighbors begin the process by accepting Israel's right to exist. But that would fly in Mohammed's face.

 

Here's a solution...a far better legacy for this administration would be to allow the Jewish State to defend itself and deal with its threats as they see fit (just as we do).

 

And then stand by and support our only steadfast friends in the region: Israel. They really can handle this without our interference.

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

(This is the Editor's and Audrey's Blog)

Naysayers: Wrong

 

October 3, 2008

 

The naysayers were wrong (liberal pundits and media)...the McCain candidacy did not crash and burn at the debate last night.

 

Gov. Sarah Palin was not only feisty and articulate, but demonstrated that she is a highly skilled and adept politician. And in the Reagan mold, was able to bypass the media and talk directly to the American people...of which she is one.

 

There are no coronations in our representative republic, so Obama, and his disciples, are just gonna have to wait 32 more days.

 

And I wouldn't pull out the party hats all too fast!

 

 

 

Comments:  blog@ediblog.com

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com 

 

 

 

Got Facts? The Educated Voter Series: Free Trade

 

October 1, 2008

 

Note: This series is to help keep American voters 'in the know' on where the candidates stand on vital issues.

 

Facts:

Free trade is a system in which the trade of goods and services between or within countries flows unimpeded by government-imposed restrictions. Free trade policies have created a level of competition in today's open market that produces continual innovation and leads to better products, better-paying jobs, new markets, and increased savings and investment. Free trade enables more goods and services to reach American consumers at lower prices, thus substantially increasing their standard of living.

 

Some of the benefits of Free Trade include: 

Concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), where some have argued that it exported jobs overseas, the truth is that NAFTA has created American jobs in wholesale and retail industries.

 

Obama, in his own words:

"There's no doubt that NAFTA needs to be amended. I've already said I would contact the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada to make sure that labor agreements are enforceable. We have to stand for human rights, and that should be part of the trade equation."

 

"Look, people don't want a cheaper T-shirt if they're losing a job in the process. They would rather have the job and pay a little bit more for a T-shirt. And I think that's something that all Americans could agree to."

 

McCain, in his own words:

"The global economy is here to stay. We cannot build walls to foreign competition, and why should we want to. When have Americans ever been afraid of competition? America is the biggest exporter, importer, producer, saver, investor, manufacturer, and innovator in the world. Americans don't run from the challenge of a global economy. We are the world's leaders, and leaders don't fear change, hide from challenges, pine for the past and dread the future."

 

"That's why I reject the false virtues of economic isolationism. Any confident, competent government should embrace competition--it makes us stronger--not hide from our competitors and cheat our consumers and workers. We can compete and win, as we always have, or we can be left behind. Lowering barriers to trade creates more and better jobs, and higher wages. It keeps inflation under control and interest rates low. It makes goods more affordable for low and middle income consumers. Protectionism threatens all those benefits."

 

"While the effects of the NAFTA are being closely monitored by supporters and critics of that pact alike, it has become clear that NAFTA represents an important component of our international economic policy, contributing to the creation of millions of new American jobs since its passage."

 

And now you know.

 

 

Comments:  audreyblog@ediblog.com