Right Truth

Spain sending military equipment to Venezuela

Spain agreed Monday to sell 12 military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a $2 billion deal that the United States has threatened to block.  source

The United States alleges that Chavez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, supports radical political movements in Latin America and is "destabilizing" the region -- a charge he denies.

Chavez, in turn, accuses the United States of planning to invade his country. The United States also has expressed concerns about Venezuela's purchase of 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia.

The first 30,000 rifles are set to arrive next month.

Spain is selling 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 patrol planes, as well as four ocean patrol boats and four coast patrol vessels. It is Spain's largest-ever defense deal.

The dictator president Chavez appears unstable and dangerous.  We need to keep a close eye on this guy.

Children flying alone not allowed to sit by men

Two airlines "down under" have a new rule.  Children flying alone are no longer allowed to sit by a man.  The men are upset by this, saying:

"They're basically accusing half the population of the world of being a potential pedophile."

Hey, my hubby would love this rule.  Do men really want to sit by a kid for eight hours on an airplane?  Well, if the kid is well-behaved and quiet, maybe.  But what if the snot-nosed kid wants to talk, play, whine, fidget the entire trip?  Men should be thanking the airlines for this new rule and women should be screaming out in protest.  The men should have to suffer next to the brats children just like the women.  source

New CPR guidelines

CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) is something that every person needs to know.  The life of a family member, loved one, or even a stranger may depend on you knowing CPR.  And performing CPR just got a lot easier.  And for the squeamish who have a problem putting their mouth over the mouth of a stranger, the 'breathing' part of CPR can now actually be omitted:

Heart attacks and other forms of sudden cardiac arrest happening outside of hospitals kill about 250,000 people each year in the United States...Studies have shown that successfully performing resuscitation can more than double the chances of surviving cardiac arrest, among the leading causes of death.

The association's rules, the first update since less significant revisions five years ago, aim to make CPR easier to administer -- and to establish a more consistent flow of blood to the heart and brain in the minutes after a heart attack.

Old guidelines called for rescuers to pump the chest 15 times and then blow into the mouth of the victim twice.

The new recommendations call for 30 chest compressions for every two breaths.

But the guidelines state that in the case of 911 calls placed by CPR novices, it is acceptable for emergency operators to provide instructions for chest compressions only.

Dr. Peter Moyer, medical director for the city of Boston's emergency service agencies, said the new guidelines show that restoring blood flow with chest compressions is the most important component when attempting to manually resuscitate someone who has collapsed from cardiac arrest.

''To interrupt compressions for too long is very deleterious to the heart, which you're trying to revive, as well as the head," Moyer said. ''This is a better balance. I'm happy it's happening." 

he guidelines also alter the use of automated external defibrillators, devices that restore heart rhythm when someone has cardiac arrest because of a condition called ventricular fibrillation.

Those machines, which come equipped with a recorded voice to guide users, analyze the victim's heart functions and tell rescuers whether the person needs a shock.

Previously, specialists had recommended up to three jolts in succession.

Now the guidelines advise giving one shock, then resuming CPR for two minutes before giving another shock if necessary. source

CPR for babies and small children is different than for adults.  Everyone needs to take a CPR course.  These courses used to take from 4 - 8 hours of instruction, but most can be taught in one hour now.  Go take a class and be prepared to save a life.

Randy "Duke" Cunningham - thief

Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a 19 year congressional rep., and Viet Nam fighter ace, resigned from congress this afternoon after pleading guilty to taking 2.5 million in bribes from defence contractors and guilty to tax violations.  "His actions can't be blamed on a 'culture of corruption' but instead on personal stupidity." said one anonymous source.  You can read the charges and the plea agreement at FindLaw.com.

This just strikes me as sad, repugnant, stupid, and just wrong on so many levels.  This man had such an amazing life, so much going for him, and he let old-fashioned greed ruin it.  Does anyone really need all that material stuff?  No, they don't.  It's one thing to be rolling in money, cars, boats, etc. when you have worked and EARNED it.  But to lie, steal, cheat, and abuse the trust of the American people, the government, and businesses is just repulsive to me.  I wouldn't keep an extra penny given to me at a grocery store checkout and I certainly wouldn't plot and plan ways to cheat people.  It is beyond my understanding.

Cunningham's resignation triggers a special election. Under California law, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has 14 days to officially declare the seat vacant.  The special general election must be scheduled between 112 and 119 days after Schwarzenegger's original proclamation, with an open primary to be held on the eighth Tuesday before the general-election date. If no candidate secures 50 percent of the vote in the open primary, the top vote-getter from each major party advances to the general election.  source

Cunningham, reading his resignation statement outside the federal courthouse in San Diego Monday, looked completely defeated.  He appeared to most a tired, old man crying and hoping for forgiveness.  But all I saw was a criminal.

Cleveland, Brooklyn, London, Israel--following the terrorists

Imam Fawaz Damra, a Cleveland Ohio Imam, was portrayed as a "moderate Muslim" who publicly denounced terrorism.  In truth, Damra preached hatred and advocated the annihilation of the Jews, Christians and all non-Muslims.  As I reported here, Damra should have been deported.  But because of loopholes in the immigration laws, was allowed to continue in the US.  source

Imam Fawaz DAMRA was engaged in the Islamic tactic of "al-Taqiyya," a Qu'ranic tenant that permits lying and deceiving non-believers to advance the stated goal of radical Muslims - complete world and religious domination through whatever means necessary.

"Blood money for deadly bombings of buses and malls in Israel may have been paid for, in part, from a secret fund established in Cleveland, according to a federal indictment unsealed this week.

....Damra - who for years portrayed himself as a moderate who tried to bring local Muslims and Jews together - declined to comment Friday. He nearly lost his job shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, when a grainy video emerged showing him with Al-Arian in Cleveland on April 7, 1991." (Cleveland's Plain Dealer reporter Amanda Garrett on February 23, 2003 )

… On Feb. 5, 1993, an FBI agent investigating international terrorism visited Imam Fawaz Damra at his Cleveland mosque, hoping to learn more about a group of Muslim radicals in New York City.

Do you know El Sayyid Nosair, the man accused of assassinating the founder of the Jewish Defense League? the agent asked the young cleric.

No, Damra answered, according to court documents. How about Mahmoud Abouhalima, one of Nosair's friends?

No, Damra replied again.

Three weeks later, on Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb exploded beneath the World Trade Center. Nosair, it turned out, had helped the bombers, and Abouhalima had masterminded the scheme. And by year's end, Damra had conceded to the FBI that he knew them both. (Cleveland’s Plain Dealer reporter Amanda Garrett in her report dated September 16, 2004:

Sean Osborne of NIN continues:

Fawaz DAMRA co- founded the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Like many Alkifah centers around the world, the Brooklyn chapter was assimilated into Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and later fell under the control of Omar Abdul Rahman, also known as the "blind sheik," who was later blamed for the February 26,1993 bombing of the World Trade Center . It has also been widely reported within the recent "Able Danger" revelations that the USSOCOM data mining operation had identified Moahmmed Atta and other members of his cell by name in June 1999 in Brooklyn, New York .

Damra was invited to speak at the College of Wooster (Ohio) as reported in this February 19, 2004 article by Jihad Watch and there was a "very large turnout of people from the area who cheered him and cheered him."

It is a well publicized fact that one of the  London  homicide bombers, Germaine Lindsay, also known as Abdullah Shaheed Jamal, had ties to   Cleveland   , Ohio. Although there are dozens of reports about this connection, the following is from a July 16, 2005 CNN report:

"Also, Lindsay's mother once lived in Cleveland , Ohio , and he visited her in 1994 and 2000 or 2001, said sources familiar with the investigation. The sources said his last visit was for only three or four days. Sources said Lindsay's mother hasn't lived in the Midwestern city for at least a year, and officials are trying to locate her."

Another bit of interesting information is:

With all of these links to spider-web-like organized global Islamic terrorism, why it is that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is merely going to deport DAMRA, where he can continue supporting terrorism instead of imprisoning him? His US citizenship has been revoked, so there are no legal worries there, and the case against him is iron-clad. So why not keep him here in the US and FULLY investigate all of the ties Imam Fawaz Damra had and has to Al Qaeda around the world, including right here in the United States?

Good question for President Bush who is giving a "major" speech on immigration as I type this post.

"End of America" TV shows planned

Drudge is reporting that several television networks are planning "end of America" programming for the new season. 

Boortz says the networks may be right, but not about the 'cause' of America's decline:

The end of America as we know it could well be on the horizon.  The networks just wouldn't dare present the end as it very well may happen.  The death of America will more likely come from the advancement of the American welfare state.

America, the welfare state, is growing steadily.  In the last few weeks we started George Bush's Medicare prescription drug program.  The original estimates for this welfare boondoggle ran at about $300 billion for the next ten years.  Those estimates doubled before the program even began.  The actual tab will probably be closer to one trillion dollars for the first ten years .. and growing after that.  Baby boomers will be retiring over the next decade.  As they retire they will start drawing down Social Security and Medicare dollars by the bucketful.  The cost will be enormous.  As presently structured, these income transfer programs can't handle it, but all attempts at reform, at least insofar as Social Security is concerned, have failed.

Back to the main point.  Americans are no longer in love with freedom.  In fact, the case can be made that Americans are afraid of freedom.  Oh, they want to be free to go on vacation and to chose where to live, who to marry and what to wear each day, but that just about covers it.  Americans  want the government to educate their children, guarantee their jobs, determine their wages, provide them with medical care, pay for their prescriptions,  insure their comfort in retirement, regulate their business competitors,  and control the actions of their neighbors.  If you suggest that the responsibility for any of these factors be placed back into the hands of the individual the screams and howls of outrage and indignation will be heard across the country.

Something to think about.  Personal responsibility shouldn't be a lost concept.

Bush on Immigration- Updated

I understand that President Bush is making a trip to Arizona today, talking with border patrol individuals and making a big speech.  I bet I won't hear what I wish I would hear... "NO amnesty program" "NO guest worker program", "YES build a fence", "NO citizenship to babies whose mother hopped across the border just in time to give birth (while We pay for their medical bills).  I will listen to the speech with great anticipation but I know I will be disappointed.

Kit at Euphoric Reality has a great post. 
Freedom Folks has a great post on Eliminating Birthright Citizenship
Boortz talks about Cracking Down on Immigration.  Boortz asks how Bush can excuse the act of illegal immigration, while at the same time cracking down on illegal immigration?  Good question.

UPDATE:  I listened to the President's speech today, but unfortunately I didn't really hear anything new.  He seems hell-bent on the guest worker program.  I don't believe many republicans/conservatives agree with him.  In fact most are vehemently against a guest worker program. 

Bush repeatedly said he is against any form of amnesty.   Well  yeah!  I didn't hear any good ideas for dealing with the 11 million or more illegals that are here now.  Oh, right, he has previously wanted to give them what?...  Six years to 'get legal'.  They are breaking the law.  Send them BACK to where they came from.  Oh, right, we don't know where they are, therefore we can't send them back.  How many of them are terrorists?   Or criminals?  Or on the welfare rolls? 

I didn't hear anything about the birthright citizenship issue.  We need to deal with this immediately.  I expect more from President Bush on this matter of immigration.  I guess I will have to keep hoping...

Bloggers vs MSM

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in the Media reports on a proposed 'shield law' and how it will affect bloggers:

...the sponsors of the so-called Free Flow of Information Act, or the federal media shield bill, do not understand this critical fact [ordinary citizens can be journalists, too]. In an October 10 article by Mark Fitzgerald on the Editor & Publisher website, he noted that Senator Richard Lugar, main sponsor of the shield law in the Senate, has said that bloggers would "probably not" be considered journalists under the bill. On the other hand, Rep. Mike Pence, the main sponsor of the bill in the House, says some bloggers will be covered, but only those involved in "gathering news." He says those covered by the bill would have to be evaluated on a "blog-by-blog basis."

This confusion is a terrible indictment of the bill and its sponsors. They don't know what they're doing. It demonstrates the tendency of politicians to get behind something that sounds good but which is impractical, even dangerous. After all, who can be against the "free flow of information?" But when you get down to the nitty-gritty of who is actually a "covered person" or journalist under the bill, the sponsors seem to throw up their hands, leaving definitions to others. That's irresponsible.

To make matters worse, the Pence bill has already been rewritten. The bill was H.R. 581 and then it became H.R. 3323. Whatever the version of the bill, the Justice Department has said that it could potentially cover "news" organizations like Al-Jazeera and protect its terrorist "sources." Even an Al-Qaeda media front could be covered, Justice says.

In the House, the bill only has 63 co-sponsors. But it also has the backing of powerful news organizations, which have concealed their role in lobbying for the bill from media consumers. In the Senate, there are only 10 sponsors. But it has already received two sympathetic hearings from Senator Arlen Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In both cases, Specter refused to accept in person testimony from Accuracy in Media against the bill.  He doesn't want the truth about this dangerous bill to get out.

What President Bush should say

I find the following "proposed speech" very interesting.  Here is a portion, you can go to the source and read the entire thing if it interests you.

A Fitting Address, The speech President Bush should give about Iraq.  BY JAMES Q. WILSON
Sunday, November 27, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST source

President Bush and Vice President Cheney are arguing against critics of the Iraq war who are trying to rewrite history. There is some value in this, but it is a fight about the past and not about the future.

What most Americans care about is not who is lying but whether we are winning. I offer this speech that the president might use to tell Americans that we are winning:

My fellow Americans: We are winning, and winning decisively, in Iraq and the Middle East. We defeated Saddam Hussein's army in just a few weeks. None of the disasters that many feared would follow our invasion occurred. Our troops did not have to fight door to door to take Baghdad. The Iraqi oil fields were not set on fire. There was no civil war between the Sunnis and the Shiites. There was no grave humanitarian crisis.

Saddam Hussein was captured and is awaiting trial. His two murderous sons are dead. Most of the leading members of Saddam's regime have been captured or killed. After our easy military victory, we found ourselves inadequately prepared to defeat the terrorist insurgents, but now we are prevailing.

Go read it all...

American missing in Iraq

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton would not give a name, but said only that an American had been reported missing.  This comes a day after a Canadian Parliament official said that four humanitarian workers had been kidnapped.  source

Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, said two Canadians were taken on Saturday, and Britain said one of its citizens was among the four.

McTeague refused to name the organization the two Canadians worked for or the location where they were kidnapped in order to protect the safety of the individuals involved.

Briton Norman Kember was among the four, the British government said Sunday. His wife said he was representing a number of groups in the country and was a longtime peace activist.
...
Near Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division found more than 2,700 mortar rounds buried near an abandoned Iraqi Army base, a U.S. statement said. Troops were excavating similar mounds Monday in search of more weapons.