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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RMF who wrote (30413)	12/16/2008 12:46:47 PM
From: Peter Dierks	1 Recommendation Respond to of 71588

WHAT do you like about him? (President Bush 43O) He arrived in Washington with a bipartisan attitude and has mostly kept it despite persistent petty partisanship by democrats. One of his admirable qualities is that he has governed from the center; you and the rest of the lefties will one day come to appreciate it when a true conservative is elected. He restored honor to the Whitehouse after eight years of shame caused by a crook and her sex starved and perverted husband. He has consistently been honest and forthright despite dishonest democrat attacks. President Bush restored a sane foreign policy after his predecessor ignored trouble and tried to enforce US hegemony from 30,000 feet. He gave tens of millions of people freedom and a chance for self determination. It is probable that in ten years the wisdom of his vision for Iraq will begin to be appreciated. BDS sufferers will look very foolish through the lens of history. Clinton eventually stopped searching for his legacy and settled for the reality of just being a diversion, merely sex between the Bushs. President Bush has made brilliant appointments and they provided a steady hand on the economic rudder through difficult economic times. Clinton left us in a recession and then Clinton's failure to deal with global terrorism slammed 9/11 on us. The nose dive in the economy could have been much worse. President Bush has done an excellent job of creating a culture of life where the ability of people to murder their own offspring is being reduced. He installed some accountability in education. He appointed excellent judges. He tried to reform Social Security. He tried to provide adult leadership on energy. His justice department restored order after the pillaging by Clintonistas. When Clinton and his cronies committed crimes Reno stonewalled independent investigators, yet President Bush let Fitzgerald overreach. Basically President Bush has done a decent job in most areas, an excellent job in several and poor in a few. You already knew that the leftwing propaganda that most of America gets fed as if it were news does not have as much effect on me as it does many others. What do I dislike?: Mostly his abject failure to establish and maintain a reasonable budget. Can you HONESTLY tell me that if Bush were a Democrat that you'd be so supportive of his record??? If a democrat had nominated judges like he did and governed with honor I would appreciate that person as well. You may try to understand that Obama's selection brought great trepidation throughout the developing world. People who view America as the land of opportunity and freedom know that we are giving some of that up.

To: RMF who wrote (30413)	12/19/2008 5:11:20 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Mainstream Media Ignores the Real Stories...Again by Oliver North 12/19/2008 This week the so-called mainstream media fixated on a Baghdad shoe-throwing contest, more government bailout bucks and the delightful prospect of having Caroline Kennedy appointed to Hillary Clinton’s vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. The potentates of the press gave short shrift -- or simply ignored -- two far more important news stories: the first-ever assembly of Latin American leaders gathered to stick it to the United States, and the passing of a great conservative leader who helped Ronald Reagan become one of America’s greatest presidents. Both stories deserved more attention than they received. That, however, would require journalists, news directors and editors to have some knowledge of history and current events beyond what they can collect from a quick “Google search” -- and an attention span greater than a fruit fly. First, the Latin Leader Finger-In-The-Eye Stunt. They called it the “Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development.” It brought all but one of the Latin American and Caribbean heads of state to Salvador de Bahia, a Brazilian resort city, for a two day -- “Blame America First” confab on December 16 and 17. Only Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe did not attend because of disastrous floods last weekend that made nearly a quarter million of his countrymen homeless. The talk wasn’t as pretty as the scenery -- and we weren’t even invited. Ostensibly, Brazilian president Lula de Silva called the summit as an effort to help resolve a number of simmering trade, economic and security disputes among countries of the region. But the real purpose was tipped by excluding any U.S. representatives and inviting Cuban dictator Raul Castro. On his first foreign trip abroad as “president,” Fidel’s little brother was welcomed at the gathering as though he was the returning prodigal son. Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, confirmed that the principal purpose of the gathering was to send an unequivocal message to the incoming Obama administration. On Tuesday, Mr. Chavez told reporters, “There is no doubt that a new historic era is beginning.” Just to make sure everyone got the message, he added, “The presence of Cuba is a very strong signal that America is no longer the boss in Latin America.” That’s an understatement. Over the course of the last two years Venezuela has placed orders for more than $4 billion in arms from Russia. Moscow has also dispatched strategic bombers and nuclear powered warships to the region for “joint exercises.” Last summer, Iran agreed to build an ammunition plant outside of Caracas. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of our security challenge in the region. In September, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa decided not to renew a U.S. lease on a crucial airbase used to launch and recover counter-drug-surveillance aircraft. Bolivian President Evo Morales has lifted all visa restrictions on Iranians travelling to his country. Last month he expelled all U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents from Bolivia. Meanwhile, communist China -- which already owns facilities at both ends of the Panama Canal -- is “buying in” all over the region. In October, the Chinese loaned $350 million to the Inter-American Development Bank. This month China bought a $10 billion stake in developing Brazil’s new -- and apparently enormous -- oil fields. Amazingly, none of this seems to perturb the craven cabal at the U.S. State Department. Earlier this week Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told Bloomberg News that the U.S. “didn’t ask to be invited,” to the Latin Summit. He went on to say that “there’s no warfare, weapons proliferation, suicide bombers or jihadists” in Latin America. This stunning comment was widely ignored by the masters of the media. So too was another big story this week: the death of conservative icon, Paul Weyrich, the co-founder and first president of the Heritage Foundation. By the time I first met him in 1981 at a White House briefing, he was the head of the Free Congress Foundation and already a leading figure in Washington. When President Ronald Reagan wanted support for a measure being blocked by liberals in Congress, Paul was one of a small handful of people he counted on to “get the word out.” And Paul did. During a time when I was enduring my own particular hell at the hands of Congress, Paul was one of those who encouraged me that, “all things work together for good for those who love God.” He was right. Over the more than quarter century I knew him, Paul was consistently principled in all that he said and wrote. An articulate spokesman for Judeo-Christian values and truly conservative ideals, he was unwavering in his belief that individual liberty required personal responsibility and that governments at every level had to be held accountable. He was unhesitating in offering praise where it was due, encouragement when needed and admonition when he felt it was warranted. His widow Joyce and their five children will miss a husband and father. I will miss a friend. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lt. Col. North (Ret.) is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of the FOX News/Regnery books, "War Stories: Operation Iraqi Freedom," "War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific" and "War Stories III: The Heroes Who Defeated Hitler." humanevents.com