Wasting Time With Alex

Friday, July 27, 2007

Can’t say I am surprised..

I have always believed that people that do drugs have to be insane, but it now looks like researches have found that marijuana - the stuff we get told by people that want to legalize it for casual use is harmless - really is not so safe:

LONDON — Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.

The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40 percent.

Doctors have long suspected a connection and say the latest findings underline the need to highlight marijuana’s long-term risks. The research, paid for by the British Health Department, is being published Friday in medical journal The Lancet.

“The available evidence now suggests that cannabis is not as harmless as many people think,” said Dr. Stanley Zammit, one of the study’s authors and a lecturer in the department of psychological medicine at Cardiff University.

Now before you go accusing this study of bias, take note that it was done in England where drug use, while not legal, is not frowned upon as much as it is here. In fact it was paid for by the British Health department. It could very well be that this study is done so that the NIS does not have to pay for marijuana prescriptions - the wonders of a socialist healthcare system which usually means restricting the care you provide to cut costs comes too mind - the druggies are likely to be demanding. Who knows. But there is a tidbid more to the story.

The researchers said they couldn’t prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.

There could be something else about marijuana users, “like their tendency to use other drugs or certain personality traits, that could be causing the psychoses,” Zammit said.

Maybe I am a medical genius too as it looks like they are saying drug users tend to be psychos and engage in idiotic risk taking that could be the cause (likely consequence) of their condition. Play it safe. As Mr(s). Garrison in South Park would say “Drugs are bad.. Hmmmkay”

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Interesting take on terrorism in Europe..

I have to say I found myself nodding in agreement as I read this StrategyPage article about why the Euroweenies are so angry at the US for not playing along with their terrorist appeasement games. For some reason after WWII & the Cold War Europeans seem to have adopted the philosophy that nothing is worth fighting for and that you just make deals, no matter how horrible or likely to be broken as soon as the other side no longer found any value in the deal they agreed to, to avoid conflict. And you also go out of your way to hide/cover up anything that shows your de really doesn’t work. Like the Western press ignoring the fact that the ME is a cesspool and human life worthless because of these practices, unless there is some anti-American or anti-Israeli point to score of course, these politicians turn a blind eye to the dangers their idiotic deal making made. And like the article says, America was not immune to making these deals (I am betting that democrats, especially people like Clinton that wanted his legacy and poll number protected more than the American people are the likely perpetrators of these policies) either, but not as likely to do so.

The U.S. never completely agreed with the European attitude towards terrorists, and this made the United States a primary target of al Qaeda. The Islamic terrorists believed that their refuge in Europe would eventually be turned into a base for attacking their hosts. That was speeded up by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and European support for the United States in the wake of the 2001 attacks. Many Europeans believe that if the United States had shown more restraint after 2001, the terrorist threat in Europe could have been much reduced. The European belief is that, while the invasion of Afghanistan angered many Moslems, the invasion of Iraq really enraged them.

That bolded sentence is key. These appeasers seem to remain immune to the fact that their de was failed policy and eventually bound to go bad on them. The enemy is not stupid. They are willing to compromise and offer the appearance of peace for as long as it takes to get the upper hand. But once that is the case, and in Europe we are talking a decade or so at the most, all bets are off. That is why the US was attacked - they wanted to cow us into accepting this policy of appeasing them in return for less direct action against us, all so they get the time to rebuild and set up their Caliphate from which to attack - and continues to be target number one. But the Europeans, well at least the European intel agencies if not the usual crop of anti-American socialist ingrates that make the political class, are now finally realizing that their game was a losing one. Eventually they too will have to step up or pay the price. You can not avoid conflict, at least not indefinitely, with someone that is just biding his time until he has the upper hand and actually relishes the change to get into that conflict as soon as possible. That is what we have to get the masses to understand and react to. We might not want these wars, but they certainly do, and that measn the conflict will happen.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Surrender is a terrible option…

While I believe Victor Davis Hanson makes a great point about how disastrous the consequences of a withdrawal from Iraq would be on our military , I believe that leaves out the even more imminent and important disaster that would follow as the various factions freed from the chance of any true American intervention to stop them would race to fill the created vacuum. Especially Iran with its ambitions to be the power driver in the ME. We can kiss anything short of a full military conflict with Iran goodbye to stop their nuclear program. While our military superiority would allow us to destroy whatever we went after and any Iranian military forces that came up against our own would likely be crushed, the fact remains that an emboldened Iran aware that the US has no stomach for prolonged terror conflicts, would immediately unleash a torrent of terror attacks through proxies or pre-positioned agents, not just in the ME and against our troops, but against civilian allies and American civilians around the globe and very likely civilian targets in the US as well. They have made this very clear to us, and the likely people in the WH - spineless anti-war democrats - after a US failure in Iraq, worried about their poll numbers, would likely thus do nothing as Iran goes nuclear. A consequence of this move will be that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and all the smaller states, including the broken Iraqi state itself, would all face a huge threat and be forced to go nuclear as well. All while Iran actively used proxies and its own forces under a nuclear umbrella and with a weak WH that would likely do nothing to expand their influence. In a best case scenario Israel simply doesn’t nuke Iran and starts a new world war where nuclear weapons end up destroying the ME. But the end result unfortunately as Iran resorts to holding the oil flow hostage and in turn ends up destroying the world’s economies, and eventually dragging in oil hungry China as the Chinese try to use force to secure their oil supplies, will be the same war.

Anyone deluded into thinking that somehow Iran can be deterred and that the terror agents in the ME emboldened by another US capitulation would not drastically escalate their efforts to destabilize the region and grab power and eventually bring about another much larger and horrible conflict with terrible world wide consequences, deserves to be mocked. Unfortunately I believe that these lunatics that are demanding we surrender, be it for political gain or simply out of BDS, all probably think such a conflict is fine because it would stick it to the evil US. We can not have these people setting policy & leading our nation. So yeah, the consequences to our psyche, military, and our nation go far beyond simply setting our ability to effectively deal with this crazy world back 2 decades.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Another MSM/Loony lib lie against our military falling apart

I can not say I am surprised that the MSM has not been covering the Haditha massacre investigation these days. When it first came to light it got 24/7 coverage because American Marines had been accused of committing an atrocity and bad press for the US & the military fit in with the MSM’s anti-US/anti-war agenda. But to many it was obvious that this looked too much like the claims of a massacre in Jenin which turned out to be false, an elaborate campaign of lies concocted by terrorists & a complacent and complicit media, and it looks like that is the Haditha massacre is the same:

July 16, 2007: Yet another Marine has won a court victory in the investigation of the battle at Haditha – adding more doubts to the claims of a massacre. In this case, the officer conducting an Article 32 hearing (equivalent to a grand jury hearing in civilian courts) has ruled that charges should be dropped. In essence, the claims of a massacre at Haditha are now looking false. That said, al Qaeda, through some adept media manipulation, has still won a victory.

It all began in 2005, when the ambush of Marines led to a battle in which eight terrorists and a number of civilians were killed. That said, the aftermath of the incident was mishandled, giving a reporter and a human-rights group enough room to make claims of a massacre. The initial Haditha investigations uncovered some apparent discrepancies in the Marines’ stories, and a criminal investigation by NCIS was launched. NCIS filed criminal charges, and internal investigations showed that officers failed to ask the right questions. It was, in essence, a more refined version of the Palestinian claims after the battle of Jenin in 2002, in which 52 people, a majority of them combatants, were killed.

Al Qaeda faced the same problem that the Palestinian terrorists at Jenin faced in 2002. They have been unable to win in a straight fight with troops that are highly trained and motivated – and American and Israeli troops tend to be among the best in the world on a soldier-for-soldier basis. The terrorists needed to try a different approach. What they came up with was media manipulation, where lies and deceptions would make the Americans (or Israelis, as the case could be) look bad while winning. Sometimes, this involves exacting a high price on the attacking force in terms of casualties, but this is difficult. More often, it involves creating the impression that the American or Israeli troops are indiscriminate killers who routinely slaughter civilians. This would boost both recruiting (to avenge a massacre by the Americans/Israelis) and it would also get media play, undercutting the American war effort (by giving opponents of the global war on terror ammunition).

In the case of Haditha, the terrorists’ media strategy worked and caused a lot of problems. An anti-war congressman claimed that a cover-up of cold-blooded murder by the Marines occurred. There was a controversy that has gone on for a number of months. And al Qaeda will come away with articles about massacres that never happened. It is a partial media victory for the terrorists – mostly because the lies have been somewhat unraveled, but the truth will not get the same airplay as the false claims.

So yeah the terrorists, the anti-war/anti-US/anti-military types got to claim victory and garnered support for their movements, but then again the truth is coming out and they are all being exposed. Don’t hold your breath for either an apology from scum like Murtha - the congressman mentioned above - or his fellow anti war democrats. And do not expect any kind of apology or serious coverage from the MSM because they only give front page spalsh to stuff that furthers their agenda and that of their side kicks the democrats. The damage is done, but there is a real silver lining in all of this, and that is the fact that the next bunch of idiots that claim there is another massacre by our troops will now have to face the fact they were wrong every time before - including Haditha - and that will make it a lot harder for them to sell their lies.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I bet he “supported the troops while opposing the war”…

Check out this practically unreported story about how some liberal anti-Bush, anti-US, anti-military (yeah I know this is cliché stuff) chose to make a “statement”. Here is a great breakdown of what is going on and how hypocritical the lack of reporting in this case is.

A random act of insanity? Not so fast. There’s more to the story. A reader whose son is the best friend of Senior Airman Schrieken wrote to Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs blog with background details:

My son’s best friend, Jon, who’s in the Air Force stationed in New Jersey at Fort Dix/McGuire Air Force Base, was shot by a crazed anti-military white guy on Independence Day and he remains in critical condition. He had been on leave here in Ohio and got back to his home off base and was unpacking stuff from his car when this 22-year-old guy walked up to him and asked him if he lived in the house. When Jon said yes, the guy said ‘not any more’ and shot him point-blank in the chest. He tried to shoot him again, but his gun jammed. Jonathan made it into the house. The guy then shot himself.

Turns out the guy left a couple of suicide notes stating how much he hated the military and he wanted to go out making a statement, so he chose to make his statement on Independence Day trying to kill a soldier. We are very worried about our Airman . . . he’s like a son to me. He’s been to Iraq and Afghanistan on our behalf and then gets shot in his own driveway here in the U.S. by an anti-war, anti-American lunatic. This is gut wrenching.

Now, imagine the scenario flipped: What if a soldier had attempted to murder a peace activist over the holidays in order to “make a statement”? The Times would be holding front-page vigil, and Katie Couric’s brow would be furrowed for a week. The yakkity yaks on The View would be clucking their tongues about the culture of violence bred by the military — and who knows what Rosie O’Donnell would be dressing her poor child in to exploit the story on her website.

Michelle Malkin, whom wrote this article, is dead on in pointing out how had this been a soldier that had shot a “peace protester” that it would be front page news. But because one of these lefty moonbats that we keep getting told “supports the troops but doesn’t support the war” and shows his patriotism by pointing out how evil America is and that Bush = Hitler let his mask slip and did what most of them really would love to be able to do, this story will get no coverage. Why should we trust anyone that these people would like to elect with power again?

Hope Senior Airman Schrieken pulls through. He is another victim of the left’s hatred of all things America and those that keep us free from the grip of socialism/communism these lefts seem to be enamored with.

Check this out!

This story first caught my eye I have to admit because of the mention of the bin Laden name. But the thing that struck a key with me, especially considering my recent experiences which allowed me to learn about differences in our system compared to that in so called free healthcare country, was the following:

Jane Felix-Browne, 51, of Moulton-Cheshire, in northwest England, was in Egypt for medical treatment of multiple sclerosis, the Times and Sun newspapers reported. She told the newspaper she met the younger bin Laden while riding a horse near Egypt’s Great Pyramid.

How ironic that someone living in one of these countries blessed with a great socialist administrated healthcare system we keep getting told are so crucial for America’s health care by the lefties, has to travel to Egypt for treatment…

I mean if healthcare in GB is free and of such quality, why would anyone go somewhere else for it? And if one does chose to go somewhere else, why not to another socialist healthcare paradise like France or Germany? Aren’t we told how much better their system is? Michael Moore wants to, with some serious slights of hand and a real heavy dose of clever manipulated facts, convince you that even Cuba has a better system than we do. But reality is otherwise. So call me crazy for not putting a place like Egypt at the top of my list. But then again, I am not subjected to a horrendous socialized medical system that is forced to not just ration the care they provide, but is so devoid of the most recent advancements in medical treatments - for the same reason they are forced to ration care, which is simply the ridiculous increased cost medical care incurs when people believe that their care is free and show up at their doctors unnecessarily - that the care provided in a place normally not thought of as a haven for medical care, in this case Egypt, becomes a good choice.

The lesson here is that the liberal intelligentsia is all for breaking our system and forcing one of these disastrous socialist systems on us because they know they, like the person in this story, can pay for real & better treatment somewhere else. Maybe once we Americans are blessed with a “free healthcare” system - that was a heavy sarcastic dig at the fact nothing is free, and that anything labeled as “free” is likely to not be worth the paper it is printed on - those of us that can afford it will also travel to Egypt for care…

Haditha “Massacre” fairy tale falling apart

It looks like that case of “Our military is full of evil monsters and reflects how corrupt & evil America is” that the left has used to bash everyone that unlike them cheers for the US to win against terrorists, the Haditha massacre, is unraveling fast:

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The government’s case against a Marine accused of fatally shooting Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha lacks sufficient evidence to go to a court-martial and should be dropped, a hearing officer determined.
The murder charges were brought against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt for killing three Iraqi brothers in November 2005.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, wrote in a report released by the defense Tuesday that those charges were based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories. He also wrote that the case could have dangerous consequences on the battlefield, where soldiers might hesitate during critical moments when facing an enemy.

Of course the America hating people that are first in line to show how angry they are when you point out their behavior is far from either being patriotic or supportive of anyone but brutal & evil dictators & terrorists, have always taken the words of terrorists & their supporters over those of any Americans. Anytime the US gets accused of something bad they ride it for all it is worth. But when the enemy does something bad or the US something good, and more importantly, when like in this case it turns out that the US was accused of doing something bad that is not only blatantly false but that they gave top coverage of, there is never any kind of front page exposure. Of course there isn’t any media or liberal anti-US bias.. This is how fair news is reported!… People like Stalin, Castro, & Mao would be proud.

Maybe it is time for we see more of these so the people that have forgotten as well as the people that keep abusing the fact we have been very successful at fighting the terrorists & keeping them too busy to attack us over here can be reminded that we are at war…