J's Cafe Nette

Archive for September 28th, 2007

Miracles really do happen (medical or otherwise).

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Entitlement programs might come across well on the campaign stump but those who tout them should state far more specifics than were offered today by Senator Clinton.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 “baby bond” from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

Clinton, her party’s front-runner in the 2008 race, made the suggestion during a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus.

“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home,” she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Clinton said such an account program would help Americans get back to the tradition of savings that she remembers as a child, and has become harder to accomplish in the face of rising college and housing costs.

I don’t know about anyone else, but no one in the federal government has ever given us anything to take care of our family nor have we asked. Whatever we have or have given to our children, we earned and did not tack it on the back of other taxpayers.

While there are those who truly need government assistance, too often individuals who are perfectly capable of earning their own way use up precious dollars and resources.

If a program such as this should ever begin, it will never end. Give aways never do..if anything they grow.

How about personal responsibility instead. If you choose to have a family, you work hard and unless there are circumstances which prevent you from doing so, you provide for that family..now I can live with that.

HT: Drudge:

Update It seems as though the Breitbart link referenced above is experiencing technical difficulties. The identical story may be referenced here.

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It is not a habit of mine to listen to Rush Limbaugh but I must admit my interest was peaked upon hearing he had used the phrase”phony soldier.” In reading his transcript from the show, it makes perfect sense if you had at all followed the case of the individual he mentions. [Emphasis: mine]

Here is a Morning Update that we did recently, talking about fake soldiers. This is a story of who the left props up as heroes. They have their celebrities and one of them was Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth. Now, he was a “corporal.” I say in quotes. Twenty-three years old. What made Jesse Macbeth a hero to the anti-war crowd wasn’t his Purple Heart; it wasn’t his being affiliated with post-traumatic stress disorder from tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. No. What made Jesse Macbeth, Army Ranger, a hero to the left was his courage, in their view, off the battlefield, without regard to consequences. He told the world the abuses he had witnessed in Iraq, American soldiers killing unarmed civilians, hundreds of men, women, even children. In one gruesome account, translated into Arabic and spread widely across the Internet, Army Ranger Jesse Macbeth describes the horrors this way: “We would burn their bodies. We would hang their bodies from the rafters in the mosque.”

Now, recently, Jesse Macbeth, poster boy for the anti-war left, had his day in court. And you know what? He was sentenced to five months in jail and three years probation for falsifying a Department of Veterans Affairs claim and his Army discharge record. He was in the Army. Jesse Macbeth was in the Army, folks, briefly. Forty-four days before he washed out of boot camp. Jesse Macbeth isn’t an Army Ranger, never was. He isn’t a corporal, never was. He never won the Purple Heart, and he was never in combat to witness the horrors he claimed to have seen. You probably haven’t even heard about this. And, if you have, you haven’t heard much about it. This doesn’t fit the narrative and the template in the Drive-By Media and the Democrat Party as to who is a genuine war hero. Don’t look for any retractions, by the way. Not from the anti-war left, the anti-military Drive-By Media, or the Arabic websites that spread Jesse Macbeth’s lies about our troops, because the truth for the left is fiction that serves their purpose. They have to lie about such atrocities because they can’t find any that fit the template of the way they see the US military. In other words, for the American anti-war left, the greatest inconvenience they face is the truth.

And there have been others. Scott Beauchamp comes to mind immediately.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp–author of the much-disputed “Shock Troops” article in the New Republic’s July 23 issue as well as two previous “Baghdad Diarist” columns–signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods–fabrications containing only “a smidgen of truth,” in the words of our source.

Separately, we received this statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad:

An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims.

There are always those who have their own agenda no matter what the vocation and in this instance, I do agree with Rush. There are such things as “phony soldiers.” I’m just grateful they are not in the majority.

UPDATE: Here is Rush in his own words.

HT:
Macsmind

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When it comes to twisting an error on the part of the Democrats into wrongdoing on the part of Republicans, former President Clinton remains the master.

Dean Barnett does a masterful job of dissecting this bit of spin by the former President.

Actually, much of the blame for the debased state of our modern politics rightly lies at Clinton’s feet. When ordinary people dream of being president, they don’t harbor visions of enacting a micro-agenda that focuses on minutiae like school uniforms, midnight basketball and drive-through deliveries (which Clinton often incorrectly labeled “drive-by deliveries”, a term that made absolutely no sense). For a purely political creature like Bill Clinton, it was all about having power. Doing something or anything with that power was a side thought.

In the YouTube above, Clinton conflates the attacks on General David Petraeus with the former POTUS’ fanciful reminisces of political attacks on John Kerry and Max Cleland. Normally, I question Bill Clinton’s sincerity any time his lips are moving, but in this clip he shows that little flash of indignant anger that indicates you’re getting a glimpse at the man’s core.

Of course he would see no difference between a couple of office-seekers and a man who is leading 160,000 American soldiers in combat. Everything for this man has always been about politics. The notion of a figure who transcends politics probably makes as much sense to Bill Clinton as the idea of a man who transcends gravity.

Who would have thought that when it comes to the former President, it’s all about politics?

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On several occasions we have posted links to the work of civilian embeds who travel with our troops in Iraq. I have a great deal of admiration for these individuals, as they are risking their own lives and existing in the same difficult conditions as our military on a daily basis.

The good and the bad, the failures and successes and the bravery and fortitude of our forces always come through in the articles by each of these men.

This piece from Bill Roggio gives us an up close and personal look at the situation in Baghdad. The capital has been the topic of much discussion and difference of opinion in the American press so I thought perhaps you might like a bit of firsthand information.

Compared to other regions south of Baghdad, where the Iraqi Police Volunteers and the Concerned Citizens have organized to fight al Qaeda, the eastern neighborhoods of Doura have no such organized security movement. The locals are “organized in an intelligence capacity but not in a security capacity,” Coffey stated. “There are no sheikhs or influential tribal leaders for the men to turn to,” as the tribal influences are marginalized in the bigger cities.

Coffey and his soldiers are seeking influential community leaders to organize the Sunnis and Christians to stand against al Qaeda. But in the interim, the local intelligence network is paying off dividends with IED finds and weapons caches turned in. The Iraqi sources tipped off US troops to the location of multiple IEDs during a single day’s operations. “Each day we get better and better tips,” Coffey said.

“The tide of anti-al Qaeda cooperation has rolled from Anbar province to the south of Baghdad and now into Baghdad itself,” said Coffey. “But it will take time.”

The question is, will the American people have the patience and understanding to allow for the time needed to bring peace to the country of Iraq. Only time will tell.

HT: Transterrestrial Musings

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A bit of history for this Friday Morning.

I decided to have a look at Whytuesday.org and while it appears to be in its infant stages, I think the potential for drawing an audience is visible.

The fact that their blog and vlog rolls are bi-partisan will allow for many opinions and voices to be heard.

I’ll keep an eye out and if there is anything new and inspiring, I’ll pass it along.

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I love the use of the words “congressional independence.” When we elected these individuals from either party to represent us in Washington how does that equate to being “independent” of the law?

While many Republicans (myself included) have chided the Democrats for allowing William Jefferson to remain in Congress, I believe it is only fair to expect Congressman Doolittle to either produce documents which prove his innocence or step down from his seat in the House.

While separation of powers may come into play in these instances, when politicians involved in scandals are less than forthright, it leaves the impression of impropriety.

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), indicated yesterday that he plans to fight a Justice Department subpoena for 11 years of records that is part of the Jack Abramoff bribery investigation.

That could set up a lengthy court fight over congressional independence. Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) has been locked in a similar dispute over the FBI’s raid on his Capitol Hill office last year. A federal appeals court declared parts of that search unconstitutional, a ruling the Justice Department is challenging.

What’s good for the goose…..

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