1or2thoughts

Chief Justice Roberts is to be sworn in just less than an hour from now. Very exciting for Judge Roberts, President Bush and all who support the Constitution. I am curious about one thing however, why is the speculation on a judge to replace O'Connor focused now only on female candidates? I hope the President is not so narrowly focused in his thinking that he will prefer the best female justice over the best justice available. We are looking for the best justice to rule on matters of Constitutional law, gender, race or creed should play no role in the decision making process!

While I have been asleep at the wheel, actually just busy working overtime, Okie has been keeping track of the growing threat posed by an expansionist minded China. Of particular note, "The ships are designed to operate far out at sea, part of the People’s Liberation Army’s development of a “blue water” navy." This is new for China which has a potentially dominating regional navy already and who continues to look farther from home for energy and influence.

OKIE on the LAM - In LA has a great new look, with the same excellent content. Thanks Okie!

Clear The Mist certainly does not like President Bush or Republicans but makes some fantastic arguments for what is wrong with the outrageous spending that has taken place under a Republican President, House and Senate. Now I am sure Mr. Mist would prefer Democrats be in control and would say nothing when they spend even more, however, this is one Conservative Republican who is as exasperated as Mr. Mist and I do not understand how our party has managed to miss opportunity after opportunity to take advantage of the clear mandate that has been afforded them.

While I may not agree with Clear The Mist on much, I do agree that the Republicans need to cut spending and need to do so dramatically.

In fairness, North Korea kept their agreement at least 12 hours which is a long time for a dictatorship. This is the latest illustration by of the folly of dealing with North Korea with anything but a big stick! They only diplomacy evil dictators understand is one backed by the immediacy of overwhelming military action.

Sail several carrier strike groups up and down the coast while conducting "full access" verification with permission and you will see a compliant North Korea. Sail several carrier strike groups up and down the coast while conducting "full access" verification without permission and you will see a free North Korea. Either way a threat will be verifiably removed and free our resources to focus on the greater threat west of the Korean peninsula.

We need to get serious in dealing with Iran and Syria in the Near East, as our forces need to start focusing on the Far East where China continues to make aggressive overtures in it's search for energy.

OKIE on the LAM has the story and commentary.

Taking nothing away from the tragedy and damage of Hurricane Katrina and the long term effects of this natural disaster, I have to question the "headline news" mentality of our culture and wonder what happened to journalism? Case in point a conversation between Hugh Hewitt and Frank Gaffney from Hugh's radio program as transcribed and posted at Radio Blogger:

"HH: Now, speaking of the war at home, I ran across an article today that I had not seen, from Daniel Pipes' site, about the Los Angeles terror plot that got broken up. I don't think anyone has much seen this, and you're mentioned in it. Do you want to explain to people what was going to go down here in another couple of weeks?"

"FG: Yeah. It's one of those stories that because it didn't happen, thank God, it got very little attention. It's one of those instances where those heroes of the home front, I think through a lucky break in this instance, were able to prevent something pretty awful from taking place in the Los Angeles area. What transpired, evidently, was that a plot that had been cooked up inside a state prison near Sacramento, New Folsom State Prison, was discovered when guys who had been part of the prison community had converted to this radical strain of Islam, which is being inculcated in many prisons around the country, unbelievable as that may sound, got out at the end of their sentences, and went on a crime spree, knocking off various gas stations, I think, in the greater Los Angeles area, to pay for attacks that they envisioned conducting around the time of the Jewish high holidays, against Israeli targets, specifically, the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, the El Al counter, I believe at LAX, several synagogues, and then it was said several National Guard facilities as well. It was going to be, apparently, quite a bit of mayhem, and it was only stopped, apparently, according to the indictment, because one of these prisoners, ex-prisoners, converts, dropped a cell phone in the course of one of his stick-ups. And as a result, the law enforcement community did a major investigation, found him in the course of another robbery, stopped him, and started rolling up the rest of the cell. But it's an example of this Islamo-fascist ideology we've talked about so many times, Hugh, at work in what you would think is a secure facility. But it's there because we're allowing Islamo-fascist proselytizers inside, and by gum, they're recruiting. And Heaven help us the plot we don't detect the next time."

This is the type of story which journalist used to investigate, report and sometimes win legitimate Pulitzer prizes. Today this story is not to be found as journalism has been replaced by "media." The media of today is so driven by ratings that the once self proud field of journalism is now dominated by an entertainment mentality where evoking an emotional connection to the audience is more important than conveying the important facts which are all around.

This story, "reported" by Hugh Hewitt, is an important story and yet will Hugh be nominated for an Pulitzer prize? Very unlikely. It is more likely that Shepard Smith, whom I enjoy watching, from Fox News will be considered for his "gripping" and "heroic" presentation delivered in front of the tragic background of a dead body lying in the street. The next great news organization will be the one that figures out how to communicate real news in the traditional journalistic manner while holding an entertainment minded audience.

Thank you Hugh Hewitt, Frank Gaffney and Radio Blogger for seeing that this story gets the attention it deserves.

There are a lot of US Navy assets support Katrina relief efforts:

Joint Task Force Katrina - Gulf of Mexico
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Bataan (LHD 5) - Gulf of Mexico.
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - New Orleans, La.
USS Shreveport (LPD 12) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Tortuga (LSD 46) - New Orleans, La.
USS Grapple (ARS 53) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Swift (HSV 2) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Devastator (MCM 6) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Scout (MCM 8) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Gladiator (MCM 11) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Falcon (MHC 59) - Gulf of Mexico
USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) - Atlantic Ocean
USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8) - Gulf of Mexico
USNS Algol (T-AKR 287) - Gulf of Mexico
USNS Bellatrix (T-AKR 288) - Gulf of Mexico
USNS Pollux (T-AKR 290) - New Orleans, La.
USNS Altair (T-AKR 291) - New Orleans, La.
USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR 300) - Gulf of Mexico
USNS Pililaau (T-AKR 304) - Gulf of Mexico

Real Clear Politics has an excellent read concerning China's "unprecedented need for resources" which "is now driving China's foreign policy." It has happened before, within the last hundred years, that a regional power in the Far East has developed a voracious need for energy which directly threatened the United States specifically and the free world generally. Let us hope that our policy makers have learned the lessons of lack of preparedness and appeasement which led to the "surprise" attack at Pearl Harbor by Japan and take serious the threat posed by an expansionist, energy hungry China.

Thanks to The Center for Security Policy for this from David Zweig and Bi Jianhai.

USNS Comfort contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a diagnostic and clinical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a cat scan, two oxygen producing plants, and a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters.

USNS Comfort arrived Monday at Mayport, Florida to pick up supplies on her way to the Gulf of Mexico.

President Bush should soon announce his second Supreme Court nominee and I hope he will do this promptly along with the statement that he expects both nominees to be confirmed before the court reconvenes in October.

Aggressive, yes. George Bush Presidential, yes.

Over at The Hedgehog Blog the question of President Bush's political capital has been raised. While some Presidents, recent ones particularly, have relied upon poles to determine their capital, this President has demonstrated time and again that he understands his role as a leader and has taken action when action is called for. The role of the President, especially on big issues, is to lead and President Bush knows the difference between big and little issues. Other Presidents have been, and will be, called on to be caretakers, taking care of little issues and fulfilling their roll in history. This President, as Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan has been called on to demonstrate leadership on big issues and I have every confidence, based on his demonstrated qualities, that President Bush understands his roll and will once again live up to it.

The USNS Mercy, sister hospital ship to USNS Comfort is schedule to sail for the Gulf Coast on Wednesday October 5 to add a second sustainalble, selfcontained hospital facility to support Hurricane Katrina relief.

"Truman will serve as a command and control platform for hurricane relief operations, as well as provide a rotary wing forward operating sea base, provide carrier onboard delivery (COD) service and provide additional medical support, in addition to supporting the refueling of dozens of military aircraft flying in the area."

"We will be a forward floating support base, running relief articles into any area required. We will also serve as a refueling point for the large number of Navy and Army helicopters operating in the area," said Truman Commanding Officer Capt. James P. Gigliotti."

Help on a massive scale is on the way. The USS Truman will add her massive flight deck, supply and command and control capabilities to that of the six amphibious ships also soon to be on station. Supporting these efforts are seven supply and refueling ships giving the US Navy the ability to sustaiindefinitelyly these support operations. All this support is just from the US Navy and Marines. Add to this the US Airforce, US Army and the National Guard and the southern United States will be seeing the US Military in numbers not seen since the massive mobilization operations as the military tried to prepare for World War II.

In response to hurricane Katrina, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Democrat Illinois, has suggested that President Bush "stand on a pile of rubble. And he will look up to the heavens and say to God, 'You're responsible for this. And soon you will hear from us.'"

I may not be the son of a preacher, but I do know that you never, never, never challenge God! Without much effort a person can find example after example of the bad things the happen to people when they or their leader challenge God. Those examples may have escaped Mr. Jackson as they are found in the Bible which tends to hold too many truths for most Democrat politicians to get very familiar with.

While there are some things that President Bush should do, such as hold FEMA accountable and implement a real strategic energy policy, to curse or challenge God can certainly do no good and only a fool would suggest this.

Radio Blogger has the full quote.

I guess the upcoming civil war, the novel of which I keep putting off writing, is closer to reality than even I feared.

No additional comments on this, thanks to Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner you can read it yourself.

US Navy help is on the way. The equivalent of a two Expeditionary Strike Groups, enough Navy and Marine air/sea/land capability to invade most countries, will soon be in the Gulf of Mexico to assist in Katrina relief efforts.

The hospital ship USS Comfort, whose sister ship USS Mercy treated over 100,000 patients in support of last years tsunami, is also on the way to provide ongoing medical support.

Our friend The Conservative UAW Guy has another exclusive must chuckle. He has an exclusive interview which exposes the truth about the "Bourbon Street Memo."

A moment to laugh during these trying times is healthy.

"The big lesson of September 11th, in fact, is in the end, the more the people are self-reliant, and take control for themselves, the more they're likely to be able to withstand these things. If you entrust yourself to the government, then you will be vulnerable. The people who had reviled SUV's, that the environmental want to get rid of and want to ban, they were able to drive away from the city. The people who were dependent on public transit, and did what the government did, and went into this appalling situation in the Superdome, they're the ones that have been failed by their governments. It's not a federal government issue. You know, the lesson of September 11th is that the president of the United States, when something bad goes wrong, the president of the United States won't be there, either up in the airplane, or down in the swamp to save you. All he can do is hold a photo-op afterwards, which is what Jack Cafferty was urging him to do, you know, to fly down there the day afterwards. That's pointless. You've got to have a situation where people are encouraged to be self-reliant, and exercise responsible choices themselves."

Mark Steyn on Hugh Hewitt today.

Thanks again to Radio Blogger for the transcript.

"U.S. refineries are operating at 97% of capacity processing 17 million barrels of oil per day (while our demand is about 21 million barrels). In 1981 there were 315 operating refineries in the U.S. Today there are 144."

It is clearly time to deal with production, refining and delivery and to do so decisively.

Release The Hounds! has additional information.