Again, as I’m cleaning out some old e-mails I’m coming across some pretty interesting ones. The first military quote below has been confirmed by Snopes.com while the other two are not on their site. It would be nice if the valor, honor, and truth of these statements carried through all discussions regarding the American military (no matter where one falls on the political spectrum). Enjoy!

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building’ by George Bush.He answered by saying, “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”

It became very quiet in the room.

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?”

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?”

Once again, dead silence.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, ‘whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.’ He then asked, ‘Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?’ Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied ‘Maybe it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.’

You could have heard a pin drop!

Zing!

Earlier today I found an interesting little diddy on FOXNews.com regarding some of Al Gore’s assertions in An Inconvenient Truth. The article is written by a FOX News contributor named Steven Milloy who, by all accounts, appears to be a strong conservative in all of his policy and political leanings. So bear that in mind if you choose to go read the article.

This is an interesting post to me because Milloy’s article quotes a British judge who has ruled some of Al Gore’s findings as unscientific. In other words, the judge says there is no science to back up some - not all, but some - of Gore’s claims. There is no discussion of where the judge got his doctorate in environmental science, though…

Later in the article, some legitimate incorrect assertions are detailed and I think those are all known to the public at this point (the wrong date being given for a cigarette advertisement, 2005 NOT being the hottest year on record, there not being a cure for polio, etc). But those are all somewhat moot points (except the one about 2005 not being the hottest year on record - that’s an exaggeration of the truth).

In any event, I fail to see how a judge has the standing to make such decisions. This may be more politics than anything else. Of course, this is all taking place across the pond, so I don’t care about it too much, but I thought some of you folks may find it interesting.

Anyway, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

You’ve got to love the complexity of the world today. New York City is the seat of the United Nations and thus has to host the annual meetings of the organization. At these annual meetings, various world leaders are permitted to come and speak before the assembly, including those who lead nations that aren’t the best of friends with the United States.

Enter Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last year where he claimed the podium still smelled like sulfur because the devil stood in the same spot only one day earlier. Who was that devil? You guessed it! President George Bush.

This year the United Nations hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad within hours of his speech at the ultra-liberal Columbia University. Many people are talking about whether or not Ahmadinejad should have been allowed to speak at Columbia and on this particular issue, I agree with committed liberal-thinker…Howard Stern.

On Stern’s radio show he was just beside himself that Ahmadinejad was allowed to speak at such a distinguished university. He made the point that if President Bush ever visited Iran and was invited to the University of Tehran, he’d be shot while getting out of the plane. We don’t do that in America and yes, this is a testimony to what makes America great. But as soon as Ahmadinejad entered New York, I would have had him arrested for supplying the insurgents in Iraq with weapons to kill Americans. Would this have plunged us into a war with Iran? Who knows? There is a great distrust of Ahmadinejad at the local level in Iran - the people may have been glad to get rid of him.

Would it have set a negative standard? Probably so. If the United Nations is to be located in New York, then world leaders - no matter how onerous - need to be allowed to enter the assembly and speak freely while they are there. However, when a world leader as disgusting as Ahmadinejad comes into this country - there may need to be some exceptions to the rule.

The only saving grace with this idiot visiting Columbia was that he made a complete fool of himself. He claimed that Iran does not have homosexuals like America does - ha ha ha ha ha!!! Oh, what a dummy. Like the world doesn’t know that his government persecutes homosexuals and pretty much “gets rid of” that “problem.” What a bozo!

The television ratings for the Live Earth concert apparently were a failure. In the United States, the concert was watched by about 2.7 million people. In the United Kingdom, a few hundred thousand more watched - I think their total was around 3.1 million. But in the reports that I’ve read bashing the show, there is no mention of the over 8 million folks who watched the concert on MSN. Of course 8 million viewers online is a bad number in a global marketplace of 6 billion potential viewers, but it is certainly not a failure.

The early estimates were that roughly 2 billion people watched, saw, or heard the Live Earth concert. Remember, if I’m a Nielsen rating household and I’m watching the concert, what’s to say that 3 of my family members aren’t watching with me? And what about the radios that played the concerts live like Sirius Satellite Radio?

I’m more inclined to believe in the 2 billion number than the “dismal failure” crowd. Listen, I know that Al Gore was the guy behind these concerts and that he’s a whack job on occasion (I’m not his biggest fan at all), but why bash the point of the concert because of the politics of the man behind it? The Live Earth concert is the largest entertainment event in the world’s history. That’s a huge accomplishment, even for a whack job liberal like Al Gore!

So I congratulate Al Gore and his band of merry misfits for their accomplishment. In fact, I even watched “An Inconvenient Truth” over the weekend just to see what his point of view was about the environment. Sure, most of his science seemed to conveniently fit his message, but I essentially don’t have a problem with Al Gore fooling the masses on this issue. Let me explain…

If we, as a country and a world community, become more reliant on renewable energy and reduce our carbon emissions then the future is only bright for everyone. There is no real downside here. I don’t see how global warming - or, if that term is too decisive for you, then let’s just call it relying on renewable energy sources - is a political battle. Republicans are for something called “energy independence” which is essentially ending our reliance on foreign oil. President Bush has also allocated a butt ton of public dollars towards researching hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Democrats like Al Gore are pressing for similar policies. Both political parties support using energy efficient light bulbs and solar power in your home, if possible. Everyone supports recycling, hybrid vehicles, flex fuels, and conservation…

So why does this issue become a political one? Better yet, why bash the Live Earth concerts? That’s just dumb.

But then again, when politics (or things of a political nature) are discussed in any setting in America these days, the conversation turns pretty stupid pretty quickly. It’s unfortunate.

With the problems going on in Lebanon right now, I think it would make sense to once again stop and assess the human-based causes of major world problems right now. By that I mean - who is creating this mess?

For you America-haters who are looking for an “America is bad” answer to that problem, you might as well leave now because we’re not the problem. And for you political extremists who think that the problem is solved by preemptive wars (i.e. Iraq), you might as well leave, too.

The cause of the world’s major problems right now are all religious extremists. More directly, the Islamic fascists that demand the entire world to convert to Islam by choice or by the sword. It’s disgusting. The problems in Lebanon are being caused by religious extremists (Islamic terrorists are hiding in the refugee camps of the Palestinian people). What a crock of shit!

These poor Palestinians have been without a home state for decades, they’ve been embroiled in a sometimes-war-sometimes peace situation with Israel for just as long, they recently had most of their international funding cut off (rightfully so because they elected a terrorist group to run their government) - I mean enough is enough! The last thing these people need are the opportunistic Al-Qaeda scumbags jumping in their lot and causing problems with the Lebanese.

But it’s obvious what Al-Qaeda’s goal is here, right? They want to cause a rift between the Lebanese government and the Palestinian people so the people begin to revolt against Lebanon. It’s disgusting that innocent people are dying because of this - it really is. And what’s even more horrifying is that these assholes are motivated by a small sect of Islamic religious extremists who hide in caves because they’re too scared to come out and face reality.

In a world where Imus was fired from his radio show, Senator Trent Lott had to give up the Senate Majority Leader position, and where Senator John McCain is being lambasted by left-wingers for saying “Bomb Iran,” it is only right that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada apologize for his tyrannical comments and then step down from his position as Senate Majority Leader.

In case you haven’t heard, Senator Reid said that the war in Iraq was lost. His comments as reported by the Boston Globe were:

I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense, and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — [know] this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday.

That’s disgusting and I find it highly offensive. To say that our men and women in Iraq are losers and that they are fighting a go-nowhere war is not only sanctimonious on the part of this rogue Senator, but it shows you the true heart of the far left people in this country.

Not only has the troop surge quelled the majority of the violence in Baghdad, but the troops already won the war when they accomplished their mission. And for those of you who either can’t or don’t want to remember what that very clear, very direct mission was back in 2003 - it was to depose Saddam Hussein’s government and find weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam is good and dead and hundreds of chemical weapons have been found in Iraq. In fact, the mission WAS accomplished. All of this bullshit that is going on now is the result of an overzealous military campaign led by a Commander in Chief whose eyes had a bigger appetite than his stomach.

But for the love of God, the war isn’t lost and for anyone - including Senator Reid - to say that it IS lost is disgusting. In fact, when there are troops that are fighting against “enemies,” these words are treason.

Harry Reid - step down.

As the United States continues to reel from the massacre at Virginia Tech, I think it’s worth looking at what happened here in a global perspective. What does that mean? Well, think about this…

In Iraq today alone, more than 180 people were killed. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY! And that was just today. Now, bear in mind that Iraq is a country of some 27 million people. In contrast, America has over 300 million people and the entire country is on its heels about the 32 dead at Virginia Tech.

And yes, I understand that Iraq is a rogue state because of the young government there and the quasi-civil war that is taking place. And I also understand that many more than 180 people were killed on MANY days under the Saddam Hussein regime. However, I think that as we, as a nation, mourn the innocent dead in Virginia it would do us some good, as a nation, to stop and think about why we are so shocked.

From my standpoint, we are shocked because we are used to a safe, secure homeland. We are used to sending our brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters away to college and knowing that they are as safe as could possibly be while they are there. We are used to a homeland that values life more than anything else. Think about that - life more than anything else.

When we see elements of the third world encroaching our beloved America, the question after “Why is this happening?” should be “How do we stop this from getting worse?” Folks - now is the time to stop the evil in our streets before we suffer more than 180 dead daily. Now is the time to look at your local, state, and national leaders and ask if they and their policies have the best AMERICAN interests at heart. This means that you may have to put your personal beliefs aside to support someone whose platform will allow you to continue living and breathing in these United States.

At the risk of sounding overly conservative - it’s time that we look at our country’s policies and stop doing whatever it is that we are doing that is allowing America to slowly denigrate into a place where this type of terror can take place on a college campus.

If we don’t do it today - in the name of the United States of America - then our children and grandchildren may have to suffer through talking about their own 180+ massacres…and on a daily basis. And if that happens - then we might as look at whether or not we’re being true to the founding ideals of this country.