RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/10/neo-conning-us-again

In Afghanistan, we cannot recommit ourselves to a“counterinsurgency” strategy that has already failed.

President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet later this week to discuss the terms of American withdrawal from the twelve-year long war in Afghanistan. Obama is moving forward with his scheduled removal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, reportedly wanted to keep the more than 60,000 U..S troops in country through this year’s fighting season. Nevertheless, the White House is going ahead with a withdrawal schedule that will reduce the force this summer and to leave only about 25,000-30,000 troops there by spring of next year, and as few as 3,000-4,000 by the end of next year.

That’s too much and too fast for the neocons. They who devised the “nation-building” strategy — and its military implementation,“counterinsurgency” — are rebelling against the idea.

In a Wednesday Wall Street Journal piece, two top neocons — Frederick and Kimberly Kagan — argue that we have to leave substantial forces in Afghanistan indefinitely or we will have wasted a decade of war. The Kagans were close advisers to Gen. David Petraeus when he was the commander in Afghanistan. They believe we need to recommit ourselves to the “counterinsurgency” strategy that has already failed.

The Kagans define success in Afghanistan as driving al Qaeda from the nation and preventing its return. They point out correctly that the “global al Qaeda movement” is headquartered in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and is home to the largest concentration of regional and global Islamist terrorist organizations in the world.

The neocons attribute this to the fact that Pakistan “does not effectively govern, police, or control” the large area on its side of the border. They say that the Afghan government, though fighting hard in the region, hasn’t succeeded in controlling the larger area on its side of the border.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/novelists-view-world/2013/jan/10/why-jewish-panic-over-chuck-hagel/ WASHINGTON, DC, January 10, 2013 – Is Chuck Hagel an anti-Semite and is President Obama socking it to Jewish voters who gave him 70 percent of their love? First let’s be clear that the crossfire against President Obama’s choice for Secretary of Defense comes from all sides, Republicans, Democrats, Jewish Americans and Christian Americans. […]

“Some of My Best Friends are Antisemites”: Obama Nominates Hagel “Europe’s leaders—and all leaders—should strongly oppose antisemitism, which poisons public debates over the future of the Middle East.” –President George W. Bush, speaking at Whitehall Palace, London, on November 19, 2003. The most inane (and therefore most frequent) journalistic explanation of Obama’s nomination of “Chuck” […]

IRS watchdog urges Congress: Simplify tax code
Fox News
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
News
The country’s top taxpayer advocate urged Congress on Wednesday to simplify the tax code, saying it is the most serious problem facing taxpayers and that individuals and businesses spend about 6.1 billion hours annually complying with tax-filing requirements. [ Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz2HZdEgIcT
Greens eye Obama hosting climate summit
The Guardian
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
News
Barack Obama may intervene directly on climate change by hosting a summit at the White House early in his second term, environmental groups say. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz2HZd4mszN
Lew’s loopy signature heading to dollar bills
Associated Press
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
News
Jack Lew’s nomination for treasury secretary means a new signature could soon be coming to the dollar bill. Not that you’ll be able to read it. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz2HZdPqIH9

www.navon.com Israeli elections hardly offer a chance to replace governments. This is because the Left is doomed to lose elections and because the Right is doomed to be denied victory. The Left had a stable majority in the Knesset between 1949 and 1977. Since then, the majority in the Knesset has gradually switched to the […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/banning-assault-weapons-accomplishes-nothing#ixzz2HZZWMbZG

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said that with the new Congress she will reintroduce the so-called “Assault Weapon” ban. Her new version of the ban is like the old version on steroids. She now wants to create a national firearms registry in which gun owners are fingerprinted and photographed much like when a criminal is arrested and booked into jail. For the privilege of having gun owners and their firearms registered, it will cost them a couple of hundred dollars fee. Also in her bill she wants to add many additional weapons that cannot be manufactured, purchased, imported or transferred.

Liberals have a particular disdain for the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which has been manufactured for the last 30-years or so. The latest estimate is there are about 30 million AR-15s in the possession of law abiding citizens who use them for sport shooting, hunting, and self-protection. That 30-million figure does not count the numerous Soviet style AK-47 semi-automatic rifles that have been legally purchased.

Banning “high capacity” rifle magazines will also accomplish nothing. David Gregory used one as a prop on Meet the Press to indignantly wave in the face of Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the NRA. Obviously, someone from Gregory’s staff drove into Virginia where it could be purchase it for around $25.00. For every AR-15 there is, the owners probably own at least four 30-round magazines, so do the math on how many exsist. The same goes for semi-automatic pistols. Many large caliber handguns have a capacity of about 12 or less. So, are two less rounds going to make a significant difference? It does if you’re in a gunfight with a robber who has a handgun that can shoot more bullets then your gun can before reloading. People like Sen. Feinstein who want smaller capacity magazines are simply placing the law abiding citizen at a disadvantage against an armed aggressor. Proponents for smaller capacity magazines frequently refer to them as “clips,” illustrating their lack of knowledge on firearms and tactics.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-principles-of-taxation?f=puball LEGITIMATING THE ROBBING HOODS OF GOVERNMENT?…..RSK “NYSR to Sell Itself in $8.2 Billion Deal” was the lead story in the December 21, 2012 edition of The Wall Street Journal.” “The New York Stock Exchange, the cornerstone of American capitalism for 220 years, agreed to be sold as part of an $8.2 billion takeover by […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-blind-sheik-and-our-mute-president Egypt’s terror-coddling President Mohamed Morsi has repeated his arrogant demand that America free convicted 1993 World Trade Center mastermind Omar Abdel-Rahman. I’d like to report that President Obama repeated his unequivocal rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s entreaties. But as of this writing, no such public statement or restatement yet exists. That’s right. Obama […]

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/337293/bogus-immigration-enforcement-factoid-mark-krikorian Think tanks in Washington usually have a point of view. Understandably, those views will color the questions they ask. But respected research organizations can’t stay respected for long if they intentionally mislead their readers. I’m afraid that’s what the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has done in its recent report on immigration enforcement, which was […]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01/where_the_pressure_lies_in_the_middle_east.html The United States is about to get new secretaries of state and defense and a new director of Central Intelligence. It is devoutly to be hoped that they will not travel in the well-worn grooves of the Israel-Palestinian “peace process.” The “two-state solution,” beloved of the United States and the Quartet and accepted with […]