Aiding and Abetting the Enemy: The Liberals’ Failure to Identify Islamic Terrorism

On January 11, 2015 By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics3 Comments

Last week, as I watched President Barack Hussein Obama’s spokesperson and his little MSM Minions comment on the violence in Paris, France ,I watched them all dance a Politically Correct Liberal two-step, as they refused to identify the religious/political ideology of the Mohammedans.

My mind, unique space between my ears that it is, flashed back to this famous scene between the late great Rodney Dangerfield, and the late , great Sam Kinison, in the movie Back to School. Kinison is a history professor, and Dangerfield is the successful businessman father of an under-achieving freshman, who decides to go back to school, to be there for his son.

Kinison: You remember that thing we had about thirty years ago… called the Korean conflict?

Yeah. Where we failed to achieve victory.

How come we didn’t cross the 38th parallel…and push those rice-eaters back to the Great Wall of China…and take it apart brick by brick…and nuke them back into the f!@#in’ stone age forever?

How come? Tell me? Why? Say it! Say it!

Dangerfield: All right, I’ll say it.

‘Cause Truman was too much of a p!@sy wimp…to let MacArthur go in and blow out those commie b!@#ards!

Kinison: Good answer. Good answer. I like the way you think. I’m gonna be watching you.

For anybody with more than 2 working brain cells, (and, I know that leaves out a lot of Liberals) once the brothers were initially identified as Muslims, it was game over.

So, why have Liberals, in the MSM, and elsewhere, been so afraid to call Muslim Terrorists, Muslim Terrorists?

Is it because of that heinous practice, known as Political Correctness?

We’ve all been a victim of it. And, it’s not just the Liberals who practice it.

A while back, a young Libertarian lady, who just happens to be Black, had posted an article in a Facebook Page for Conservatives and Libertarians, featuring Patti Davis, the Liberal (and crazy) daughter of Former President Ronald Reagan. Davis had come out as the moral arbiter of some issue, and I pointed out that she was not fit to be the “moral arbiter” in any situation, as, to torque off her Dad, and make a political statement, she had posed topless for the cover of Playboy in 1994 with a Black guy, standing behind her, cupping her…umm…chest.

Both the young lady and her husband, who happens to be White, jumped on me, like I was some sort of RAAACIIIST, because I stated the obvious.

Times were different, back in ’94. Just as they were different back in the 70s, when Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear created All in the Family, starring the great American actor, Carroll O’Connor. The misadventures of Archie Bunker and his family could not be a hit today. Our tolerant American Liberals (and others) would not allow it. And, the lessons learned from that ground-breaking television series would be lost.

Perhaps, the reticence by the Media to identify the religious/political ideology of the two brothers is something else: loyalty to President Barack Hussein Obama.

They have a lot invested in The Lightbringer. They have campaigned endlessly for him, and the majority of “Broadcast Journalists” share his vision for a Socialist Utopia America. Additionally, the White House has been known to send e-mails and make telephone calls to these bastions of journalistic integrity, when they want something swept under the Oval Office rug.

The fact that these murdering terrorists were Muslims, does not reflect well on our dhimmi President. In fact, it proves that Smart Power! is anything, but.

Additionally, the fact that these barbarians infiltrated France in the first place,and killed all the innocent people that they did, shows the folly of relaxing our already-porous Immigration Laws and the danger to human live of strict Gun Control Laws.

Even as these barbarous acts unfolded in France and the Radical Muslims of ISIS continue their genocidal jihad against Christians in Iraq, I continue to hear and read from some of this “Me, First Generation” that there is not any difference between American Christianity and Radical Islam. Quite frankly, that’s like saying that there’s no difference between Mister Rogers and Ted Bundy (look them up, children).

In Islam, the way to “walk with God and escape his judgement on that final day of judgment” is through ‘falah’, which means self-effort or positive achievement. The faithful must submit to God and follow all of his laws as found in the Koran. Judgment day in Islam involves some sort of measurement of what the believer has done wrong and what they have done right. And, even then, you might not be let into heaven if Allah decides you’re not good enough.

This is the direct opposite of Christianity.

According to the Bible, no man can ever be good enough to deserve God’s favor, to win God’s heaven, because from birth we have Free Will. This Free Will may cause us to reject God and live our lives our own way. That’s why it was necessary for Jesus Christ to die for our sins, covering us in His blood of the New Covenant.

God’s Word tells us that what we need is not ‘falah,’ but faith. To have faith in, to trust, to rely on Jesus and his death as as “the expiation for our sins”. Those who have been Saved by Jesus Christ can be sure that in the future God will welcome them into heaven with wide open arms, because they have been washed by His blood.

Islam and Christianity present two very different Deities, who may share some similarities, but who have different identities and ultimately different standards. To pretend they are the same is not only to be clueless of the faith of 76% of the citizens of this nation, but, to be ignorant of an integral part of our American Heritage, the legacy of Christian Faith, which our Founding Fathers bequeathed us.

Now, I am not saying that every Muslim is on a jihad against “the infidels”.

However…

When Christians become “radicalized”, we want to share the testimony of what God has done for us through His love, with everyone we meet. We get involved in our local church and we become better fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and American Citizens.

When Muslims become “radicalized”, they want to “kill the Infidels” in the name of “Allah the Merciful”.

In the case of the Chechen Muslim brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, their immersion into Radical Islam led them to “kill the infidels” that horrendous day.

In the case of the barbarians of al Qaeda, ISIS, and the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has turned them into doppelgangers of the Nazi Butchers of Dachau.

For Liberals to deny that, and to refuse to identify Islamic Terrorism, when it rears its ugly head, is disingenuous at best, and just plain out-and-out lying at worst.

Until He Comes,

After the Paris Attack: Europe’s Islamic Backlash

On January 8, 2015January 9, 2015 By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

In the wake of Tuesday’s Muslim Terrorist Attack in Paris, Europe’s Liberal Governments are now having second thoughts about their lax Immigration Policies as regards the followers of Mohammed.

Businessweek.com reports that

The murder of 12 people at a French satire magazine put Europe’s fragile politics on display, mobilizing the opponents of the EU’s much-heralded open borders and driving mainstream backers of often ill-defined “fundamental values” onto the defensive.

Europe is more vulnerable than the U.S. to radical, anti-immigration leanings. Abutting the newly aggressive Russia and across the Mediterranean Sea from the upheavals of the Arab world, the EU inhabits a dangerous neighborhood, with potential troubles that dwarf what the U.S. faces along its southwestern border.

‘Dirty Entanglements’

“One of the problems of Europe today is it is surrounded by regions, in North Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East where these dirty entanglements of corruption, crime and terrorism interact in such a potent way to destabilize the societies,” Louise Shelley, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, told Bloomberg Television.

Historically, Europe was a place people emigrated from. While countries that make up the pacified post-World War II EU have long since entered the multi-ethnic era, with France home to 5 million Muslims, the melting-pot mythology isn’t part of the typical European state’s DNA.

“In Europe right now there’s a tremendous amount of anti-immigration sentiment,” Daniel Benjamin, a former U.S. counter-terrorism official now with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said on Bloomberg Television. “The danger here is that we see ever greater confrontations, provocations and the like, and that will drive radicalization. That is a very difficult thing for the authorities to manage.”

EU Splits

There is little chance of EU governments uniting around a coordinated immigration policy in the foreseeable future, said Timo Lochocki, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. Nor would a clampdown catch native-born radicals like the suspects in yesterday’s attack.

“There’s no effect whatsoever of increasing border controls if you’re concerned about terrorist threats with a domestic source,” Lochocki said. “This applies to the French case and will likely apply in future cases.”

Immigration has split Europe between north and south, but not in the way the euro debt crisis did. The protest parties that grew up in financially stricken Greece, Spain and Italy have fed on socialist traditions of justice and welfare, making them largely supportive of newcomers.

The backlash has been concentrated in the better-off north. Some countries like Denmark and the Netherlands fought these battles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, curbing migration but rewarding those that assimilate. Barely concealed anti-Muslim prejudice was behind France’s National Front by Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded in 1972 but long a fringe phenomenon.

The following excerpt is from an article titled, “Europe’s Inexorable March Towards Islam” by Soeren Kern, posted December 29, 2011…

Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2011.

As the rapidly growing Muslim population makes its presence felt in towns and cities across the continent, Islam is transforming the European way of life in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.

What follows is a brief summary of some of the more outrageous Islam-related controversies that took place in Europe during 2011.

In Austria, an appellate court upheld the politically correct conviction of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife and anti-Jihad activist, for “denigrating religious beliefs” after she gave a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam. The December 20 ruling showed that while Judaism and Christianity can be disparaged with impunity in postmodern multicultural Austria, speaking the truth about Islam is subject to swift and hefty legal penalties.

Also in Austria, the King Abdullah Center for Inter-Religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue was inaugurated at the Albertina Museum in downtown Vienna on October 13. The Saudis say the purpose of the multi-million-dollar initiative is to “foster dialogue” between the world’s major religions in order to “prevent conflict.” But critics say the center is an attempt by Saudi Arabia to establish a permanent “propaganda center” in central Europe from which to spread the conservative Wahhabi sect of Islam.

In Belgium, it was revealed that Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of Brussels, according to a new book published by the Catholic University of Leuven, the top French-language university in Belgium. In real terms, the number of Muslims in Brussels — where half of the number of Muslims in Belgium currently live — has reached 300,000, which means that the self-styled “Capital of Europe” is now the most Islamic city in Europe.

Also in Belgium, the most popular name in Brussels for baby boys in 2011 was Mohammed. It was also the most popular name for baby boys in Belgium’s second-largest city, Antwerp, where an estimated 40% of elementary school children are Muslim.

Separately, the Islamist group Sharia4Belgium intensified a propaganda and intimidation campaign aimed at turning the country into an Islamic state. In September, the group established an Islamic Sharia law court in Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium. Leaders of the group say the purpose of the court is to create a parallel Islamic legal system in Belgium to challenge the state’s authority as enforcer of the civil law protections guaranteed by the Belgian constitution.

In Britain, a Muslim group launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities — including what it calls “Londonistan” — into independent Islamic states. These so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

Separately, it was revealed that more than 2,800 so-called honor attacks — punishments for bringing shame on the family — were recorded by British police last year, according to the first-ever national estimate of the problem. The highest number of honor crimes — which include murder, mutilation, beatings, abductions and acid attacks — was recorded in London, where the problem has doubled to more than five times the national average.

The data comes on the heels of another report which shows that tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants in Britain are practicing bigamy or polygamy to collect bigger social welfare payments from the British state.

The September 24 report shows that the phenomenon of bigamy and polygamy — which are permitted by Islamic Sharia law — is far more widespread in Britain than previously believed, even though it is a crime there, punishable by up to seven years in prison.

The rapid growth in multiple marriages is being fueled by multicultural policies that grant special rights to Muslim immigrants who demand that Sharia law be reflected in British law and the social welfare benefits system.

Think about this…this report is from four years ago, before the European dhimmis clamped down on reports detailing the “Muslim Problem”.

Europe’s “Muslim Problem” is a demonstration as to what happens when a non-indigenous population moves into a country and does not assimilate into the normal traditions and customs of that nation, but, instead, keep their own traditions and laws, separating themselves from the indigenous population in the name of “multiculturalism”, the opposite of the “Melting Pot”, which helped to form the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, the United States of America.

By bringing “their own country” with them, they have no impetus to become patriotic citizens of their host country, and are therefore, in their own minds, not subject to the laws of that nation, leading to their own internal justification of any acts of violence that they may take against the indigenous citizens of their host country.

Furthermore, because this nation-within-a-nation separatism has been tolerated, it has allowed the truly Radical Mohammedans to move in and out of these European Nations without detection.

And, this was a lesson which was harshly and terribly learned by the citizens of France two days ago.

That unrelenting truth is what all of the discussion is about.

Until He Comes,

The Paris Islamic Terrorist Attack: Can It Happen Here…Again?

On January 7, 2015January 8, 2015 By kingsjesterIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Now, I made some commitments four years ago. I told you I’d end the war in Iraq — and we did. I said we’d end the war in Afghanistan — we are. I said we’d refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11 — and we have. And today, a new tower rises above the New York skyline, and Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Usama bin Laden is dead. – United States President Barack Hussein Obama, October 18, 2012

Yesterday, Muslim Terrorism reared up its ugly head once again, this time in Paris, France. We have since found out that the perpetrators of this mass murder were members of al-Qaeda from the country of Yemen.

Upon further review of the incident, it was also noticed that three of the officers arrived on the scene we’re not even carrying firearms, due to the very strict gun control policy of the country of France.

France is a country controlled by Liberal Politically-Correct Government, as is the case presently in the United States of America.

Did their Liberal Policies lead to yesterday’s horrific massacre?

At least one French Political Leader thinks so.

Businessweek.com reports that

France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen pinned the blame for the killing of 12 people in Paris today on Islamic radicals, as mainstream leaders tried to downplay the religious dimension of the attack.

While President Francois Hollande called for national unity in an attempt to deter the public from demonizing the country’s 5-million strong Muslim community, Le Pen said France has to confront the beliefs of the gunmen who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this morning.

“Time’s up for denial and hypocrisy,” Le Pen, who has railed against immigration, said in a video posted on her party’s website today. “The absolute rejection of Islamic fundamentalism must be proclaimed loudly and clearly.”

The lessons voters’ draw from the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II will shape the political debate as the country looks toward the 2017 election. Hollande, the most unpopular president in modern history, is struggling to make up ground on Le Pen, who’s seen her support surge as she blames immigrants for France’s near-record unemployment and deepening inequalities.

2012 Precedent

“Of all political parties, the Front National stands to gain most from this atrocity,” Jim Shields, head of French studies at Aston University in Birmingham, England, said in an interview. “Public agreement with the FN’s ideas has been rising steadily and this event will play into the party’s anti-immigration, anti-Islam agenda.”

When the Islamist terrorist Mohammed Merah carried out deadly attacks in Toulouse and Montauban in 2012, Le Pen was the presidential candidate who benefited most, Shields said.

The French government is trying to damp fears that the growing influence of Islam is eroding social cohesion. Le Pen led Hollande by as much as 15 percentage points in a September survey of voting intentions by Ifop for Le Figaro newspaper. The Front National topped Hollande’s Socialists and their predecessors, the UMP, in last year’s European elections.

Hollande, who Le Pen has previously attacked for underestimating the terrorist threat, today put the country on its highest alert while appealing to his countrymen to transcend their ethnic and religious divisions.

5 Million Muslims

“We’ll stick together and show that France is a country that knows how to react appropriately, showing firmness and national unity,” the president told reporters in eastern Paris, near the scene of the attack.

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community, making up about 7.7 percent of the population, and their numbers have been growing with children and grandchildren of those who arrived from the country’s former colonies in North Africa during the 20th century. Very few Muslims have reached top-level jobs in France, while second-and- third-generation French people of Arab descent say they often face discrimination.

Well, the actions of these Muslim Terrorists yesterday certainly will not help their cause any.

As I have shown in previous blogs, several verses of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, call for violence toward anyone who does not accept Islam as the one true faith. There are many verses within the Quran, which spell out in graphic detail the measures which the believer is supposed to take against non- believers, or infidels.

Just as President Obama’s attempts to negotiate with these barbarians have failed spectacularly so far, it appears that France’s attempts at appeasement have failed as well.

What is important factors that differentiates the United States of America from France is the fact that our citizens still possess the constitutional right to bear arms. Also, our police are still allowed to carry them, as well.

We all know the old saying that goes,

If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

As the country of France found out yesterday, that goes for Muslim terrorist, as well.

Until He Comes,

The Syria Situation: Yippee-Ki-Yay, Mr. President

On August 30, 2013August 30, 2013 By kingsjesterIn Politics9 Comments

President Obama’s proposed “coalition of nations”, which he sought to put together to justify his bombing of Syria, has deserted him as rapidly as if it were last call at the local bar, and the last man standing has to pick up the check.

Both Great Britain, through a resounding no vote by Parliament, and Germany, have told Obama, in no uncertain terms,

Here’s the book. Here’s the phone. See ya later. You’re on your own.

Meanwhile, France, while claiming solidarity with Obama’s “mission”, is considering dropping their rifles once again, (which this time, would actually be a smart move).

So, did that detour America’s strongest supporter of al Qaeda (euphemistically referred to by the White House and their minions as “Syrian Rebels”) from his personal “Jihad”?

Is Miley Cyrus a virgin?

…administration officials made clear that the eroding support would not deter Mr. Obama in deciding to go ahead with a strike. Pentagon officials said that the Navy had now moved a fifth destroyer into the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Each ship carries dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles that would probably be the centerpiece of any attack on Syria.

Even before the parliamentary vote, White House officials said, Mr. Obama decided there was no way he could overcome objections by Russia, Syria’s longtime backer, to any resolution in the Security Council.

Although administration officials cautioned that Mr. Obama had not made a final decision, all indications suggest that a strike could occur soon after United Nations investigators charged with scrutinizing the Aug. 21 attack leave the country. They are scheduled to depart Damascus on Saturday.

Gosh, when Booosh would act on his own like this, Senator Obama and the rest of his Liberal Friends would jump all over him, like Meghan McCain attacking a ham sammich.

In fact, the “smartest people in the room” came up with a phrase to attack the Foreign Policies of both President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush.

And, when Obama was a candidate for the Presidency, he was still accusing Booosh of operating in this manner

What was this phrase?

On May 15, 2008, The New York Times ran the following story…

President George W. Bush used a speech to the Israeli Parliament on Thursday to denounce those who would negotiate with “terrorists and radicals” – a remark widely interpreted as a rebuke to Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, who has argued that the United States under some conditions should consider talking with countries like Iran and Syria.

Bush did not mention Obama by name, and the White House said the president’s remarks – which came as the Illinois senator has been trying to assure Jewish voters of his support for Israel – were not aimed at the senator.

But the comments created a political firestorm, especially after they were enthusiastically endorsed by the presumptive Republican candidate for the presidency, Senator John McCain. Political analysts took Bush’s remarks as a sign that he will not hesitate to intervene sharply in the election campaign on McCain’s behalf.

In a lengthy speech intended to promote strong U.S.-Israeli ties, the president invoked the emotionally volatile imagery of World War II to make the case that talking to “terrorists and radicals” was no different than appeasing Hitler and the Nazis.

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Bush said.

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

Bush then made a surprising segue, adding: “Some people suggest that if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away.” He did not say who those people were.

…Obama and his supporters issued a series of angry responses, on television, via e-mail and by conference call. They characterized Bush’s remarks as a stunning violation of the longtime injunction to “leave politics at the water’s edge.”

In an e-mail statement to reporters, Obama denounced Bush for using the 60th anniversary of Israel to “launch a false political attack,” adding, “George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel.”

An Obama aide, Robert Gibbs (and Future Press Secretary), used even stronger language.

“This is an unprecedented political attack on foreign soil,” he told CNN. Gibbs called it “cowboy diplomacy.” And he noted that Bush’s own defense secretary, Robert Gates, has argued for holding talks with Iran.

Former Congressman, Lt. Col. Allen West, summed up Obama’s Smart Power! Foreign Policy in the Middle East, and, especially, in the Syrian Situation,

Ok, I get it now, President Obama stated we would pivot away from the Middle East as part of his foreign policy strategy, or lack thereof. A few months ago, he gave a speech at the National Defense University to state that the “war on terror” has ended. Obama’s grand strategy in the Middle East Seems to be how many countries he can destabilize: Libya, Egypt, and now Syria? In each case he has removed not so good guys, but has enabled Islamic terrorists and totalitarians to gain power. Therefore, not only has Obama sought to “fundamentally transform” America but also the Middle East. He is becoming the best buddy of the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadists and a nightmare for our true buddy, Israel.

So, let me let me try to understand this…when Dubya stood up and defended our staunchest ally, Israel, in front of those who would destroy God’s Chosen People in a heartbeat, that was “cowboy diplomacy”.

But, when The Manchurian President refuses to justify to the American People, an unjustifiable military operation, which will place our Brightest and Best in harm’s way, in order to set up a possible regime change, so that his Radical Muslim”Allies” can rise to Power, , that’s not “cowboy diplomacy”, that’s “protecting the citizens of Syria”.

Sure, Scooter. And September 11, 2001, was not the largest Terrorist Attack ever perpetrated on American Soil…it was the world’s largest “Man-Caused Disaster”.

You warned us that you would “stand with the Muslims” should the political winds blow in an ugly direction”.

And, this appears to be a promise you actually intend to keep regardless of its effect on our closest ally, or the citizens of the nation whom you are sworn to protect…and serve.

Until He Comes,

Obamacare: “Soylent Green” Wasn’t So Far-Fetched

On December 19, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

life Life is precious. That’s what every American, in the past, anyway, was raised to believe. But now, as we approach the second 4 years under a president who seems all too content to follow the lead of our European neighbors, and who has already decided that gruesome partial birth abortions are entirely acceptable medical procedures, are the following two examples what we have to look forward to?

Belgium is considering a significant change to its decade-old euthanasia law that would allow minors and Alzheimer’s sufferers to seek permission to die.

The proposed changes to the law were submitted to parliament Tuesday by the Socialist party and are likely to be approved by other parties, although no date has yet been put forward for a parliamentary debate.

“The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations and extremely harrowing cases we must find a response to,” party leader Thierry Giet said.

The draft legislation calls for “the law to be extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate.”

Belgium was the second country in the world after the Netherlands to legalise euthanasia in 2002 but it applies only to people over the age of 18.

Socialist Senator Philippe Mahoux, who helped draft the proposed changes, said there had been cases of adolescents who “had the capacity to decide” their future.

He said parliamentarians would also consider extended mercy-killing to people suffering from Alzheiner’s-type illnesses.

Euthanasia was allowed to an Alzheimer’s patient for the first time in the Netherlands last year.

In Belgium, some 1,133 cases — mostly for terminal cancer — were recorded in 2011, about one percent of all deaths in the country, according to official figures.

France is pushing for mercy-killings as well:

France should allow doctors to “accelerate the coming of death” for terminally ill patients, a report to President Francois Hollande recommended Tuesday.

Hollande referred the report to a national council on medical ethics which will examine the precise circumstances under which such steps could be authorised with a view to producing draft legislation by June 2013.

“The existing legislation does not meet the legitimate concerns expressed by people who are gravely and incurably ill,” Hollande said.

The report said physicians should be allowed to authorise interventions that ensure quicker deaths for terminal patients in three specific sets of circumstances.

In the first case, the patient involved would be capable of making an explicit request to that effect or have issued advance instructions in the event of him or her becoming incapable of expressing an opinion.

The second scenario envisages medical teams withdrawing treatment and/or nourishment on the basis of a request by the family of a dying patient who is no longer conscious and has not made any instructions.

The third would apply to cases where treatment is serving only to sustain life artificially.

The author of the report, Professor Didier Sicard, stressed that he did not support any measures which “suddenly and prematurely end life.”

“We are radically opposed to inscribing euthanasia in law,” Sicard told a press conference.

He also stressed that he was not advocating Swiss-style clinics where people are provided with lethal medication to enable them to end their own lives.

Dr. Mark G. Neerhof, in an article written in October for cnsnews.com, summarized the Independent Patient Advisory Board, a feature of Obamacare, as follows:

IPAB is a board consisting of 15 unelected, appointed bureaucrats whose task it is to cut the growth of Medicare spending, and the cuts they are mandated to make will be deep.

The decisions IPAB makes behind closed doors can only be overturned by a supermajority of Congress, something almost impossible to achieve.

So, the politicians have set up a system where they can say to seniors, “It was those bureaucrats that cut your Medicare, not me.”

How does IPAB achieve these cuts? The supporters of the law say, “It says right in the statute IPAB cannot ration.” But what IPAB can do, and in fact is their only option for controlling costs, is to cut reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals. They decide what procedures are important, not your doctor, and they decide what Medicare will pay for them.

When services are no longer available to seniors because reimbursements for those procedures have been drastically cut, that’s rationing.

You have also been promised that “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

As a physician, I have watched reimbursement rates fall below cost and more and more of my colleagues are refusing to take on new Medicare patients, or they are getting out of medicine altogether. Seniors complain, and then Congress runs in with a temporary “doctor fix.”

But, with IPAB, there is no “doctor fix.” Physician reimbursements will be slashed to unsustainable levels. It is a simple fact that no doctor or hospital can offer services below cost and stay in business.

When government takes over health care, you become a budget item.

Medical decisions are made based upon the amount of money available – not on what is best for patients.

Beginning in 2013, the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will determine in particular years the projected per capita growth rate for Medicare for a multi-year period ending in the second year thereafter (the “implementation year”). If the projection exceeds a target growth rate, IPAB must develop a proposal to reduce Medicare spending in the implementation year by a specified amount. If it is required to develop a proposal, the Board must submit that proposal in January of the year before the implementation year; thus, the first proposal could be submitted in January 2014 to take effect in 2015.

On August 7th, 2010, Sarah Palin posted the following on her Facebook page:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

At the time, all the Liberals and the GOP Elite, as well, laughed at Gov. Palin.

I believe they owe her an apology. And, don’t forget…

The European Socialist Slide

On May 7, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

Americans have watched as Europe has teetered on the brink of economic chaos, reminiscent of a Buddhist monk preparing to set himself on fire.

It appears that the match has been lit.

French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country’s presidential election.

Mr Hollande – who got an estimated 52% of votes in Sunday’s run-off – said the French had chosen “change”.

Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished “good luck” to Mr Hollande.

Analysts say the vote has wide implications for the whole eurozone. Mr Hollande has vowed to rework a deal on government debt in member countries.

Shortly after polls closed at 20:00 (18:00 GMT), French media published projections based on partial results giving Mr Hollande a lead of almost four points. Turnout was about 80%.

Jubilant Hollande supporters gathered on Place de la Bastille in Paris – a traditional rallying point of the Left – to celebrate.

People drank champagne and chanted: “Sarko, it’s over!”

Mr Hollande – the first socialist to win the French presidency since Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s – gave his victory speech in his stronghold of Tulle in central France.

He said was “proud to have been capable of giving people hope again”.

He said he would push ahead with his pledge to refocus EU fiscal efforts from austerity to “growth”.

“Europe is watching us, austerity can no longer be the only option,” he said.

Mr Hollande has called for a renegotiation of a hard-won European treaty on budget discipline championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy.

Meanwhile, in Greece…

Greece’s former finance minister and Socialist party leader called for a broad coalition government of pro-European parties, ruling out a two-party government with his conservative rivals after his party received a drubbing in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

Official projected results showed Evangelos Venizelos’ PASOK party plunging to third place with 13.6 percent and 42 seats in the 300-member parliament. The conservative New Democracy was projected in the lead with 19.18 percent and 109 seats, far below the 151 needed to form a government. The margin of error was 0.5 percentage point.

“A coalition government of the old two-party system would not have sufficient legitimacy or sufficient domestic and international credibility if it would gather a slim majority,” Venizelos said. “A government of national unity with the participation by all the parties that favor a European course, regardless of their positions toward the loan agreements, would have meaning.”

If borne out by final results, the outcome is devastating for PASOK, which won a landslide victory in 2009 with more than 43 percent of the vote.

Voters outraged by Greece’s protracted financial crisis and the austerity measures imposed in return for international bailouts punished both main parties, turning to smaller anti-bailout groups instead. The leftist Syriza, which was projected in second place with 16.3 percent and 50 seats, has been strongly opposed to Greece’s bailout agreements.

“For us in PASOK, today is particularly painful,” Venizelos said. “We knew the price would be heavy and we had undertaken for a long time to bear it.”

Things aren’t so peachy-keen in Germany, either:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right coalition lost power in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, first estimates showed Sunday, after a vote that could presage national elections next year.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) scored 30.6 percent, according to ARD public television, with her junior partners at the national level, the Free Democrats (FDP), winning 8.3 percent – not enough to retain power in the northern state.

However, the opposition – combining the centre-left Social Democrats and ecologist Greens – also failed to gain sufficient support to form a government, with 29.9 percent and 13.6 percent respectively.

This left as a strong possibility a so-called “grand coalition” between the CDU and SPD, which many believe could be the final result of the national elections due in September or October 2013.

The big winners on the night were the Pirates, an upstart party that has shaken up the staid world of German politics with a campaign based on more transparency in the political process and internet freedom.

For the third consecutive regional election, they breached the five-percent mark needed to enter the state parliament, winning 8.2 percent of the vote.

But for the FDP, although they lost more than six percent compared to the last election in 2009, it was a better-than-expected result, given that they are polling nationally at around three percent.

Turnout was low, with around 60 percent of the 2.2 million registered voters casting their ballot, compared to more than two-thirds in 2009.

The socialist Left party failed to clear the five-percent hurdle, scoring around 2.4 percent. A party representing the state’s small Danish minority also fell below the threshold, with 4.5 percent.

The parties will now engage in days of horse-trading before the final make-up of the state parliament is determined.

However, the election will have little impact on the make-up of the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament where Germany’s 16 states are represented, and Merkel’s personal popularity remains high.

Back on April 24th, Robin Wells reported on the effect of what was happening in European Politics on the markets, for guardian.co.uk:

When markets contemplate that it’s likely that another austerity-skeptic, François Hollande, will win the presidency in France, then the pattern becomes impossible to ignore: the “core” eurozone countries are fragmenting. While it would be foolish to make predictions, what is probable is that Germany’s political isolation within the eurozone will deepen, leaving German taxpayers unwilling to continue backstopping the whole system.

Unthinkable as it seems, the logical conclusion is that the eurozone cannot continue to exist, at least in its present form. Markets, which hate unquantifiable uncertainty, are sensing this. We are likely to be in for an extended period of gut-wrenching turbulence.

What are the implications for the US, economically and politically? Direct links between the US and eurozone economies are fairly minor: we don’t export that much to them, they don’t import that much from us, and US banks have had an extended time to cut their exposure to eurozone risk. Yet the collateral damage could still prove significant.

When the stock markets fall, consumer and business confidence falls, leading to cutbacks in spending – bad news for an American economy that is still mired in recession. In addition, crisis in Europe makes for a stronger US dollar, as investors flee to safer abodes. Again, bad for the economy as a stronger dollars hurts US exports.

The reality of the eurozone’s troubles should lend support to President Barack Obama’s campaign against GOP presidential nominee presumptive Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans. It provides a demonstration that austerity is self-defeating, that fiscal stimulus is needed in a deeply depressed economy, that recovery from a financial crisis is a slow and halting process, and that by grasping the nettle immediately, the Obama administration has succeeded in stabilizing its financial sector – while the Europeans have made a hash of it.

Ms. Wells’ thoughts about our economic plight are way off…unless she calls the Obama Administration embracing of European Socialist-style Big Government, spending like there’s no tomorrow, and keeping unemployment at over 8% “stabilizing the financial sector”.

It is imperative that America not follow Europe’s example, this November 6th.

Which Will Come First: $5 Per Gallon Gas or an Iranian War?

On February 20, 2012 By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

When Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated the 44th President of the United States, back in January of 2009, a gallon of gas cost $1.84.

A little over a month before Obama ascended to his throne, his loyal minion, Tom Brokaw, of NBC, made the following suggestion:

Let’s talk for a moment about consumer responsibility when it comes to the auto industries. As soon as gas prices dropped, consumers moved back to the larger cars once again. The SUVs are the big gas consumers. Why not take this opportunity to put a tax on gasoline, bump it back up to $4 a gallon where people were prepared to pay for that, and use that revenue for alternative energy and as a signal to the consumers: “Those days are gone. We’re not going to have gasoline that you could just fill up your tank for 20 bucks anymore.”

Well, it look like ol’ Liberal Tom is going to get his wish:

CNBC.com has the story:

The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, appears to have cut both its oil production and export in December, according to the latest update by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI), an official source of oil production, consumption and export data.

The OPEC heavyweight saw production decline by 237,000 barrels per day (bpd) from three-decade highs of 10.047 million bpd in November, the JODI data showed on Sunday.

The draw-down was sharper for the actual amount exported, declining by 440,000 bpd, or 5.6 percent, to come in at 7.364 million bpd, the data also showed. The level would still be similar to exports after a steep ramp-up last June.

In its monthly report on February 10, the IEA put Saudi Arabia’s production number for December slightly lower at 9.55 million bpd, a disparity of 260,000 bpd versus the JODI data.

Iran appeared not to have filed data in time for the latest release, providing no additional clues about how many export barrels were already lost in December, as some reports have suggested.

In a related story, courtesy of Reuters.com:

Iran has stopped selling crude to British and French companies, the oil ministry said on Sunday, in a retaliatory measure against fresh EU sanctions on the Islamic state’s lifeblood, oil.

“Exporting crude to British and French companies has been stopped … we will sell our oil to new customers,” spokesman Alireza Nikzad was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Petroleum website.

The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its disputed nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building bombs. Iran denies this.

Iran’s oil minister said on February 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to “some” European countries.

The European Commission said last week that the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days.

Industry sources told Reuters on February 16 that Iran’s top oil buyers in Europe were making substantial cuts in supply months in advance of European Union sanctions, reducing flows to the continent in March by more than a third – or over 300,000 barrels daily.

France’s Total has already stopped buying Iran’s crude, which is subject to fresh EU embargoes. Market sources said Royal Dutch Shell has scaled back sharply. Shell had no comment on the announcement.

Among European nations, debt-ridden Greece is most exposed to Iranian oil disruption.

Motor Oil Hellas of Greece was thought to have cut out Iranian crude altogether and compatriot Hellenic Petroleum along with Spain’s Cepsa and Repsol were curbing imports from Iran.

Iran was supplying more than 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the EU plus Turkey in 2011, industry sources said.

By the start of this year imports had sunk to about 650,000 bpd as some customers cut back in anticipation of an EU ban.

And, if ke you lose your breakfast, this probably will.

The Associated Press reports that:

The U.S. and Britain on Sunday urged Israel not to attack Iran’s nuclear program as the White House’s national security adviser arrived in the region, reflecting growing international jitters that the Israelis are poised to strike.

In their warnings, both the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said an Israeli attack on Iran would have grave consequences for the entire region and urged Israel to give international sanctions against Tehran more time to work. Dempsey said an Israeli attack is “not prudent,” and Hague said it would not be “a wise thing.” It was not known whether their messages were coordinated.

Both Israel and the West believe Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb – a charge Tehran denies. But differences have emerged in how to respond to the perceived threat.

The U.S. and the European Union have both imposed harsh new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector, the lifeline of the Iranian economy. With the sanctions just beginning to bite, they have expressed optimism that Iran can be persuaded to curb its nuclear ambitions.

[As mentioned earlier] On Sunday, Iran’s Oil Ministry said it has halted oil shipments to Britain and France in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said the National Iranian Oil Company has sent letters to some European refineries with an ultimatum to either sign long-term contracts of two to five years or be cut off. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

Israel has welcomed the sanctions. But it has pointedly refused to rule out military action and in recent weeks sent signals that its patience is running thin.

Israel believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its very existence, citing Iran’s support for Arab militant groups, its sophisticated arsenal of missiles capable of reaching Israel and its leaders’ calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Last week, Israel accused Iran of being behind a string of attempted attacks on Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand.

There is precedent for Israeli action. In 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. And in 2007, Israeli warplanes are believed to have destroyed a target that foreign experts think was an unfinished nuclear reactor in Syria.

So, America, here we are, with our Ship of State on a precipice, looking down into the abyss.

And at the helm, we have our own Dear Leader, who is busily counting all the money he will be able to give to his Green Energy Cabal, after the $5 per gallon gas prices hit. And, at the same time figuring out how to appease the hungry lion (the Muslim Brotherhood), so that they will eat us last.

That is…if the world doesn’t blow up first.

Kingsjester's Blog

Tag: France