Dr. Jack Wheeler
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/23/10
Jack Kelly asked this week: Are there no limits to Democrat corruption? The corollary question is: Is there no end to Democrat fascism? Day by day, the evidence mounts: the answers are: no limits, no end. Prominent political analyst Michael Barone's term for fascism is Gangster Government, and accuses Zero and the Democrats of instituting it. The Dodd Bailout Bill of "financial reform" is a perfect example. He notes: "Republicans have been accurately attacking the Dodd bill for authorizing bailouts of big Wall Street firms and giving them unfair advantages over small competitors. They might want to add that it authorizes Gangster Government -- the channeling of vast sums from the politically unprotected to the politically connected." The extent of this can be seen in this five page list of exemptions or "carve-outs" in the 1,400 page Bailout Bill. As TTPer "Rockymount" observes on the Forum, the Bailout Bill will place "the President and his Czars in complete control of this nation's financial system." Can't get a lot more fascist than that. The Dems, though, disagree. They think they're just getting started.
THE MUSEUM OF BARBARISM IN THE ISLAND OF LOVE
Paphos, Cyprus. There are 45 countries in Europe -- and when I got the chance to take a look at the only one I hadn't yet been to, I couldn't pass it up. So here I am in Cyprus. Let's begin our story with Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, who was born here. Then we'll talk about Audrey Hepburn, Lazarus, Richard the Lion-Heart, Snow White, and Othello before we get to the Museum of Barbarism. We'll wrap it up with what I would recommend regarding Cyprus to President Palin.
DON’T WORRY AMERICA – ISRAEL IS BEHIND YOU
Israel's status as the US's most vital ally in the Middle East has been so widely recognized for so long that over the years, Israeli and American leaders alike have felt it unnecessary to explain what it is about the alliance that makes it so important for the US. This week - April 19 - we celebrate Israel's 62nd Independence Day. As the Obama administration is openly distancing the US from Israel while giving the impression that Israel is a strategic impediment to the administration's attempts to strengthen its relations with the Arab world, recalling why Israel is the US's most important ally in the Middle East has become a matter of some urgency. Much is made of the fact that Israel is a democracy. But we seldom consider why the fact that Israel is a representative democracy matters. The fact that Israel is a democracy means that its alliance with America reflects the will of the Israeli people. As such, it remains constant regardless of who is power in Jerusalem. All of the US's other alliances in the Middle East are with authoritarian regimes whose people do not share the pro-American views of their leaders. The death of leaders or other political developments are liable to bring about rapid and dramatic changes in their relations with the US.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/16/10
Remember the Republicans' Contract With America they promised to implement should they win control of Congress in 1994? A lot of it was penny-ante inside baseball, like promising to ban committee proxy votes. At Tea Parties all over America yesterday (4/15), a new Contract was unveiled - a Contract From America - that tells folks in Congress what to do if they expect to be elected in November. It is sunlight-to-moonlight better than that wimpy thing of Gingrich's 16 years ago. It demands politicians, to get the Patriotic American vote, pledge to scrap the entire IRS tax code and replace it with one no longer than 4,543 words - the length of the Constitution - scrap Cap & Trade, scrap all earmarks... and my favorite, defund Obamacare. Yes, the Defund Strategy, first propounded right here in TTP, then moved forward by TTPer Mitch Rapp with the Defund & Disobey website, has now been adopted by the entire Tea Party movement. Congratulations, Mitch! Congratulations to all TTPers who helped bring this about.
EXPOSING MILITARY PHONIES
Ever heard of Richard Armitage? Assistant Secretary of Defense for President Ronald Reagan. Deputy Secretary of State for President George W. Bush. An impressive résumé as long as your arm. Why would such a man lie about being a Navy SEAL? SEAL is an acronym for SEa, Air, and Land for the comprehensive training required to be a member of the most elite special operations force in the US military. It was my great privilege to serve my country as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam, and ultimately to be the Commandant of the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, California, where graduates of the BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) course earn the right to be a SEAL. I had heard Armitage's claim before and knew it was false, because I had researched the student personnel files at the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, and there was no record of an Armitage ever having been enrolled in BUD/S (much less graduated). This got me to thinking - how many others are there who lie about their being a SEAL? I decided to look into it, and got a number of retired SEALs to help me. What we discovered astounded us.
PUTIN AND PRESIDENT PUTTY
A few years back, I wrote that Russia's Vladimir Putin was the most impressive major leader on today's world stage. Since then, he's gotten better. Back then, he was eating President George W. Bush for breakfast. Now he's snacking on President Obama as sushi -- eating him raw, in happy little bites. Mr. Obama is so naïvely pliable in the Russian leader's hands Putin should nickname him President Putty. Putin is ruthless, unforgiving, and murderous. He is the Evil Empire's belated answer to President Ronald Reagan. Where the Gipper focused uncompromisingly on bringing down the Soviet imperium, Putin focuses uncompromisingly on restoring imperial Russia. Putin doesn't seem like a man much given to hilarity, but he must be laughing his butt off at our incompetence. Consider his strategic achievements in just the last few months:
WHAT OBAMA REALLY IS
Tomorrow - April 15th - is the most Un-American day of the year. It is the day when American taxpayers, the producers who support the moochers, are forced at the point of a gun to obey a law which violates their most basic constitutional rights - such as "no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." So what could be more appropriate for the spirit of America than to turn this day of evil into a day of hope and regeneration? Tomorrow, millions of producing Americans will hold Tea Party Rallies in hundreds of cities and town across the country with the common goal of "getting the government off our backs and out of our wallets" (to quote Ronald Reagan). For a complete list (with time, place, and contact info) of all the Tea Parties tomorrow - 642 as of this writing - see the Tea Party Patriots site. Many of you are actively participating in the Tea Party Movement and will be at a rally tomorrow - which may be a good time to start initiating a Reagan Doctrine "psy-ops" strategy effectively used against the Soviets to help win the Cold War. This strategy can be used against the Obamacrats today. It can be used to identify what Obama really is.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/09/10
Let's start the HFR this week by my asking you to stop reading it. What I suggest you do right now, this very moment is to pick up the phone and call the local offices of both US Senators in your state. Ask to speak to the staffer who handles foreign policy/national security issues for the Senator. Tell him or her that as a voting constituent, you respectfully request that the Senator vote NO on Senate Ratification on the nuclear arms control treaty - mislabeled "START II" as that was a treaty back in January 1993 - with Russia signed by Mr. Obama in Prague on April 8th. Explain that you consider this treaty to be dangerous to America in the extreme, as it requires the US to freeze its nuclear weapons technology, but not Russia. This is, as critics are putting it, an open invitation to Russia to modernize its way to nuclear dominance. Do not get into a discussion with the staffer and avoid a debate with him. Make it quick and polite. Simply state your request, the reason for your request, and conclude with saying that how the Senator votes on this critical issue of US national security will determine how you vote when he or she is up for re-election. OK - make the calls (that's plural for you have two Senators) and I'll wait ‘till you get back....
THE DUTY TO DISOBEY
The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States of America 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: For more than seventeen years, I have had the privilege of serving my country as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, including overseas assignments in imminent danger/combat areas in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The United States is an example to the rest of the world of a stable, civilized democratic government where all men are created equal and the rule of law is cherished and obeyed. The U.S. military teaches and promotes the rule of law and civilian control of the military to many other nations and militaries around the world. Every soldier learns what constitutes a lawful order and is encouraged to stand up and object to unlawful orders. This is called "the duty to disobey."
THE EXPONENTIAL CURVE OF FASCIST UNCONSTITUTIONALITY
Reading the morning's news now can be impossibly depressing. Every single day brings yet another assault on our freedom or threat to our security from the Federal Government. Not only that, the pace of these assaults is accelerating. They are accumulating ever more quickly. We are losing our freedom at an exponential rate. You may have heard the ancient tale of the Sultan and the Chessboard. The most skilled artisan in the sultanate presented the Sultan with a fabulously beautiful chessboard, intricately made with carved ivory, rare woods, and precious stones. It was so exquisite the Sultan offered the Artisan whatever price he named. The Artisan asked for one grain of rice. The Sultan was shocked. The Artisan continued - one grain of rice for the first square on the chessboard; one day later, two grains for the second square; two days later, four grains for the third, and the same simple doubling for the remainder of the 64 squares on the chessboard. Laughing, the Sultan agreed. "So I am to pay you a few grains of rice for all your wondrous work?" he asked. "It is sufficient for me, Your Majesty," was the Artisan's reply.
THE CONSPIRACY OF THE CRISIS WITH ISRAEL
Last month, President Barack Obama opened a diplomatic war on Israel. The proximate cause of his offensive was the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Board's decision to approve the future construction of 1,600 housing units in northern Jerusalem. The goal of the assault is twofold. First, it seeks to undermine the legitimacy of Israel's control over Jerusalem in order to weaken Israel's standing among the American public. As Obama advisor Martin Indyk mocked, Obama's onslaught against Israel has made the Netanyahu government "supersensitive," about Jerusalem. Second, through his unprecedented attacks on Israel's right to sovereignty over its capital city, Obama is working to topple Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government in the hopes of replacing it with a leftist government led by Tzipi Livni and Kadima. In other words, the "crisis" between the US and Israel -- so named by Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama -- was a set up, created by a conspiracy between the Kadima and Democrat Parties.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/02/10
Today is Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. It should be of solace to the millions doing so in America that there are so many millions more sharing this commemoration with them all over the world. It should be of solace to them all that Christianity has more adherents and is more widespread across the planet than any other religion on earth today or in history. 33% of all people on earth say they are Christians. Islam is a distant second, accounting for 21%. Further, Christianity, in terms of absolute numbers, is the fastest growing religion in the world. The World Christian Database, which compiles the most respected research on world religions, reports that from 2000-2005, Christianity experienced an annual world-wide growth in adherents of 1.38%, while Islam had a growth rate of 1.84%. At that rate of 0.46% more a year, it would take over 200 years for there to be as many Moslems as Christians. However... the WCD reports that from 1970 to 1985, the Moslem growth rate was 2.74%, and from 1990-2000 it was 2.13%. The Moslem growth rate over the past 25 years is falling, while the Christian rate is rising (up from 1.36% 1990-2000). And there's more.
GOOD NEWS IN PAKISTAN BAD NEWS IN AFGHANISTAN
As an intelligence officer or journalist, you've got to know which sources you can trust. And a source who's never let me down told me this week (3/30) that the terrorist multinational based in Pakistan is coming apart. According to this insider's insider, the Pakistan-headquartered Afghan Taliban is furious at the Taliban's Pakistani wing because its assaults on the Islamabad government triggered a stunning backlash. Unleashed at last, Pakistan's military launched a series of offensives aimed at smacking down the domestic Taliban. Good news at last. If only there were the same in Afghanistan, where our president made a furtive six-hours-in-the-night visit Sunday (3/28). The Taliban laughed at Obama, saying he was afraid to come during the daytime and calling him a thief in the night.
PUTIN’S SEWER STRATEGY
The mass murder of innocent civilians in the Moscow Metro suicide bombings on Monday (3/29) has again brought into focus the evil of radical Islamism and the imperative of civilized people everywhere to stop it. As clear-cut a case of Islamist barbarism as it is, however, it is difficult to make sense of the spiraling violence in Russia without reference to Vladimir Putin's disastrous anti-terrorism policies. A Moslem terrorist group from Chechnia - a province in a region of southern Russia called the North Caucasus - has claimed responsibility for the attack. It is the latest incident in a long struggle between the Chechens and their Russian overlords. Unlike his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, President Putin from the very beginning of his tenure in the Kremlin ten years ago showed himself completely unwilling to consider any negotiated settlement with the Chechens. He pursued a strictly military solution, and set up a puppet regime in the Chechen capital of Grozny instead. Putin's attitude is characterized by his vulgar promise to the resistance to "rub them out in the latrine." He made that promise in 1999. This week he slightly rephrased it, promising the resistance will be "scrapped from the sewers." Thus we could call his anti-terrorism policy Putin's Sewer Strategy. Unfortunately for him, it is his strategy that is in the toilet, not the terrorists.
CAPE VERDE
This is an experiment. The insanity engulfing Washington now is so overwhelming that I had to get far away from it. I wanted a place I had never been to and knew nothing about. Then a challenge occurred to me. What could I learn about such a lost unknown place that TTPers would find interesting? Could I possibly write something that would intrigue them? So here we go - let me know how this experiment works. The place I picked is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles off Africa called... Cape Verde. There are nine islands. Hordes of Germans escape from their winter to lie on the beaches of one of them, Sal (non-stop flights from Frankfurt) and turn their skins bright pink. That's all they do. They don't go anywhere else or explore any other islands. Their only movement all day is to turn over back to belly so both sides get equally roasted. There are non-stop flights from Europe and the US to Praia (the capital on Santiago island) now - but that's brought a business, not a tourist, boom. You only see the occasional tourist on any island except Sal. Remember all those Germans. The businessmen are here because Cape Verde has reinvented itself once again. It has gone from being a Communist dictatorship to being one of only two countries ever to escape off the UN Least Developed Country List to a free democracy and the best place to do business in Africa. Yet the place has no natural resources whatever -- only unique human resources. And that's the key.
WHY SHOULD OUR SOLDIERS RISK THEIR LIVES FOR KARZAI?
It's wretched enough that our "friend" Ahmed Chalabi has become Iran's point man in Iraq. Now "our man in Kabul," President Hamid Karzai, is quietly shifting his loyalty to Tehran. Beyond Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad's recent chummy visit to Karzai -- reported by the media but downplayed by Washington -- Iran's been training Taliban forces to kill our troops more efficiently. Karzai hasn't complained. Nor has he objected to Tehran's expansion of its support for its clients in western Afghanistan. He wants that support for himself. Far from being a gleaming apostle of democracy, Karzai's just another hustler from the lands that perfected the con. Like Chalabi, he knew the magic words to say to Americans, then did whatever he wanted for himself, his fantastically corrupt family and his cronies. Karzai's people despise him; his allies distrust him; his enemies mock him. And our troops keep him in power. Does that sound like a formula for success? One that we should ask our soldiers to risk their lives for?
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/26/10
It was seven years ago this week that I launched To The Point. Sure seems like a long time ago. In late March of 2003, President Bush launched a military invasion to liberate Iraq. In late March of 2010, President Zero launched a fascist invasion to enslave America. It's easy to be nostalgic about those days, so it's little wonder that Miss Me Yet? billboards are showing up. But we can't afford nostalgia now. We have to start protecting our future. There are folks in Missouri who understand this. The forerunner of Kansas City was Independence, Missouri, founded in 1827 as the starting point of the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and the trails that led to California. Just east of Independence, where explorers set off to create a civilization out of a wilderness, anonymous American patriots have erected this billboard on I-70: 
Note the sequence of the steps.
ARE AMERICANS STILL AMERICANS?
That's the question and the bet of our day. Conservatives and TeaPartyers bet yes, Democrats and moonbat moochers bet no. The Republican Party establishment wants to bet yes but hasn't got the guts to go all in. Understand this and you understand American politics today. Who wins the bet determines America's future. What made Americans Americans was their commitment - unrivaled in human history - to individual liberty. This commitment was enshrined as the founding principle of America in the Declaration of Independence. The truth of America's founding principles were "self-evident" to the Americans who created our country. They are no longer to an increasingly large fraction of Americans today. The stated purpose and clear goal of Democrats is to increase that fraction. The claimed purpose and alleged goal of Republicans is to reduce it. For decades upon decades now, Americans on the whole have been slowly and progressively becoming less American, less independent and responsible for their own lives, more dependent on government programs and demanding of others to be responsible for them. We have now reached the point where between 40 to 50% of people in this country are so unwilling to be responsible for their lives and freedom, so demanding of their supposed right to mooch off taxpayers, that they still maintain a firm support of a president who believes that God should damn America. We have reached the point with the passage of ObamaCare that we are justified in terming those who continue to support President Zero and the Pelosi-Reid Democrat Party AINOs - Americans In Name Only.
THE CRISIS
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), one of America's great founding patriots, wrote this on December 23, 1776, when America was less than six months old. Substitute Democrats for Britain, RINOs for Tories, Obama for King George III, Pelosi for Howe, Reid for Gage - Sarah Palin for the "Jersey maid" - and he is speaking to us today. These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/19/10
There's so much cool stuff to talk about this week - but first I've got to clear up a confusion. We normally have two Rendezvous a year, winter and summer. This year, we're adding a third, the San Diego Spring Rendezvous, May 14-16. A number of folks are hesitating about this as they think there'll still be another in the summer. Obviously, I should have explained this earlier: There will not be a Summer Rendezvous this year. I will be traveling - South America, Asia, and Europe - August through October. The next Rendezvous after San Diego in May will be The Victory Celebration Rendezvous in Washington DC, November 5-7. That's the weekend after the November 2 elections, and we should have a lot to celebrate. But there's a long meantime between now and then - even longer if you consider the total gap between the San Antonio Rendezvous last January and next November. So - the only way to see your fellow TTPers, and get a deep grasp of what's happening to our country and in the world, without waiting all the way to late next fall, is to join us in sunny San Diego in May. Capiche? OK, here we go. There's no doubt who the HFR Hero of the Week is:
WHY IS OBAMA ON THE SIDE OF OUR ENEMIES AND NOT OUR ALLIES?
If the Obama administration continues to betray Israel, will any ally ever trust us again? We've been viewed as a fickle (if mighty) partner at least since the 1970s, when we abruptly dumped allies from Saigon to Tehran. Now the White House not only delights in insulting our closest traditional ally, Britain, but has intensified its diplomatic pogrom against Israel -- our only respectable ally in the Middle East. President George W. Bush was mocked for shooting from the hip, but this administration fires with its eyes closed. Obama's unbalanced actions shrivel confidence among allies around the globe -- partners we need. Policy differences are one thing, but gratuitous attacks by the White House are quite another. Consistently, it seems, he is on the side our enemies and not our allies.
EVIL NEVER SLEEPS
Was Nancy Pelosi always evil? Was Harry Reid? Was Barack Hussein Obama? No, they didn't start out in life as bad people. Somewhere along the line, most likely not as kids, teenagers, or young adults, but as they aged and acquired political power, something inside them metastasized into a monstrosity of their former selves. And in the process, they became evil. Yet it is not true that power corrupts necessarily. Power did not corrupt Ronald Reagan. It's not power in itself that is the avenue to evil, it's one's values and principles. Valuing the founding American principle that every individual has a moral right to his or her own life, liberty, and the pursuit of their own personal happiness enables a politician to resist the temptation to use power to control other's lives. It is disregarding that founding principle that provides the path to evil - which we could define as the compulsion to control the lives of others, the willingness to sacrifice the lives and happiness of others in order to achieve your own goals. And yes, Democrats have a word for this evil. They call it "compassion." They have other words for their moral cannibalism, such as "fairness" and "social justice." There are many lessons to be drawn from this, but the one to focus on right now is that the evil currently personified by Pelosi-Reid-Obama is compulsive. It is relentless. Liberals will never ever give up and leave us alone. It is the purpose of their lives to control ours. Evil never sleeps.
THE SUNNY SPRING SAN DIEGO RENDEZVOUS
Do political and geopolitical events seem to you to be moving at warp speed? Do you feel you need a fix of sanity or else you might lose your mind with all the craziness swamping our country? Then you totally and truly need to come to the To The Point Spring Rendezvous in sunny San Diego this May 14-16. We're staying at the Westin San Diego, minutes from the airport, minutes from Sea World, Coronado Island, the Gaslamp District, Mission Bay, and so much more - with every room overlooking San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and in perfect springtime California weather. So mark it down - Friday May 14 to Sunday May16 - gas up the family buggy if you live in CA, or book your flights right now. Your sanity requires that you bask in the Oasis for Rational Conservatives for this May weekend. We're going to start the Rendezvous right on Friday night with a special guest, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. You've seen Dana numerous times on Fox and other news channels, and he'll be giving you the inside scoop on just how evil the Pelosicrats are, and how the Republicans in Congress are going to reverse that evil.
THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE
An alliance between the Marxist Left and Jihad Islam - known as the Red-Green Alliance - is on the march. Israel is not the only target of the Red-Green alliance. Its operations span the globe. In Nigeria on Sunday night (3/07), the Jihadists led the charge. With the apparent collaboration of the Moslem-dominated Nigerian army, Moslem gangs entered three predominantly Christian villages around the city of Jos and killed innocent civilians, including children with machetes, axes, and daggers. The worldwide leftist media ignored the atrocity - or said it had nothing to do with religion. And while this was going on, Joe Biden was in Israel -- and promptly showed where the Obama administration's true sympathies lay: with the Red-Green Alliance.
SOBER OPTIMISM IN IRAQ – THANKS TO GEORGE BUSH
Threats, bombs and at least 36 dead didn't stop Iraqis from voting on Sunday, March 7. But the harder part -- forming a new, more inclusive national government -- lies ahead. Formal results won't come for a few days. We'll learn how many votes, authentic and fraudulent, went to each of the big five parties and fringe elements. But the news looks good, so far. There are solid grounds for sober optimism and the expectation of slowly improving government in Baghdad. The elections happened. And they were genuinely contested -- not merely on ethnic or religious lines but on national issues, as well. For all its tragic missteps, the Bush administration may have done a great thing in the end: Democracy in Iraq may work to a serviceable degree. That would, indeed, change the Middle East for the better over time. History may owe President Bush a great debt of gratitude.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/12/10
Isn't it supposed to be just about springtime now? In Florida last week, I heard no end to grousing about how it's been the coldest winter in memory. Back in Washington where there are still piles of snow left over from last month's Snowmageddon, everyone is looking forward to three inches of cold rain and flooding this weekend. Enough already. Enough of crazy cold weather - and enough of crazy Democrat politics. The political climate on Capitol Hill is so bad now that certain GOP Senators and Congressmen are privately (although not publicly) expressing a genuine worry about the sanity of the President of the United States. Zero's obsession with "health care reform" is being likened to the deranged Captain Ahab's obsession with harpooning the White Whale in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. That didn't turn out so well for Ahab. To compound their concern, Zero began yet again this week (3/10) demanding "climate change legislation" that would "cap greenhouse gas emissions" - acting as if the unending exposure of ClimateGate frauds never happened. The common image the Capitol Hill GOP invokes is to joke about the Democrats' "circular firing squad." Yet there is real concern behind the jokes. "Neither Obama nor Reid nor Pelosi is playing with a full deck anymore," one Senator tells me.
AMERICAN AWAKENING
One of the main functions of To The Point is to counter Conservative Pessimism. There is an old and unfortunate tradition in conservative thought that asserts everything is always going to hell in a handbasket - morals, culture, kids, society, crime, national security, government, you name it, it's worse now than before and getting worser. It would seem that if ever there was an appropriate time for Conservative Pessimism, it would be now, with a fascist president and party in power who are determined to destroy our country. So it was an exceedingly pleasant, and perhaps ironic, surprise to discover an optimism among conservative leaders now that I have never seen before. I have been attending meetings of the Council for National Party for 26 years, since 1984. (You read the speech I delivered at the meeting on Friday, March 5.) "CNP" is the elite conservative organization, composed of most every major conservative activist, politician, pundit, et al. I have never seen these folks more energized and forward-looking as now. The private CNP meetings are closed to the press and remarks of the speakers or members are not for attribution so everyone can speak openly and frankly. Thus I can relay what was said on a broad-brush basis and nothing that was in confidence. But that's enough to open your eyes.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/05/10
Naples, Florida. I had to skedaddle back from the Persian Gulf to speak to a conservative organization meeting here today. I'll be on the podium soon, so let's get started. Richard Rahn this week discusses the economics of raising cigarette taxes in New York, and parenthetically mentions New York's "enormous cigarette smuggling problem." One thing I learned while in the Middle East is that our military intel guys there believe that much of the cigarette smuggling operation on the US East Coast is run by Moslems working for Al Qaeda. Someone needs to tell New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg his cigarette taxes are resulting in scores of millions of dollars funding Al Qaeda terrorism. Someone needs to tell the DHS lady, Janet Napolitano, to do something about this. You wonder why nobody has. Or maybe they just don't care to listen.
WHY LIBERALS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN TERRORISTS
[This is a speech I am delivering today to the members of the Council for National Policy, leaders of conservative organizations across America, meeting in Naples, Florida.] There's no time to waste here, so I'm going to skip the obligatory warm-up joke and get to the root of the problem. First, Moslems are not really the problem, neither Moslem terrorists nor Moslem imperialists insisting on their medieval Sharia laws. Christendom has been fighting Islam for almost fifteen centuries. The Spaniards fought 800 years to get rid of the Moslem invaders of their Christian lands. 800 years! That's how long the Reconquista took. How long have we in America been at it - two decades? Islam is a self-identified religion of the sword. It cannot be anything else but. "Islam" is an Arabic word. It means submission. Moslems claim this means submit to Allah. What it really means is submit to them or die. Just the same as it was for the Communists of the Soviet Union. Thus there can be no peace between Jihadi or Sharia Moslems and us, anymore than there could be with Soviet Communists. "Peace" for us means the absence of violence. "Peace" for Jihadis and Communists means the absence of disobedience. So there can be no peace, there can only be victory or submission. We achieved victory over the Communists of the Soviet Union. How may we achieve victory over the Moslems of Jihad and Sharia? Let's go to Africa to find out.
AN UGLY AMERICAN IN SOUTH AMERICA
I was wrong. For years, I've argued that our government should pay more attention to South America. Now Hillary Clinton has -- and, boy, is it ugly. With tragic back-to-back earthquakes dominating the headlines from south of the border, a desperate ploy by the hard-left Argentine government -- backed by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez -- threatens to shake the continent's political landscape. And Secretary of State Clinton, during her whirlwind tour down south, managed to outrage our British allies and assist despised President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in her family's assault on Argentine democracy. Clinton's diplomatic malfeasance in Buenos Aires wasn't an accident. She spoke for President Obama, who loves Third World liberation rhetoric and seems to think Britain's still colonizing his family home in Kenya. Here's the backstory that our media's ignored:
HAIL TO THE CHIEFS
Last week was not a good one for proponents of social re-engineering of the U.S. military. They had been buoyed by the previous week's congressional testimony of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, widely seen as evidence the Pentagon was prepared to accede to President Obama's demand that avowed homosexuals be allowed to serve in the armed forces. Now, however, four other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have weighed in, and all bets are off on the idea of experimenting with - and possibly breaking - the All-Volunteer Force. One by one, they poured cold water on Mr. Obama's agenda of homosexualizing the US military.
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/26/10
I better be careful here, as there's so much to talk about this week the HFR could be the length of a small novel. Before we begin - an important announcement. So many TTPers can't wait six months for another Rendezvous that we've decided to have an extra Spring Rendezvous in San Diego, California May 14-16. Details next week, but mark your calendar now. *** So - let's start with the HFR International Hero of the Week, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. Then I'll tell you a extradinary story about General Alexander Haig's heroism that no one has ever heard-- then why we should look upon Republicans in Congress as heroes. And yes, that still includes Scott Brown.
A SULTAN’S ARABIA
Muscat, Oman. If you want to see an ultra-rich Arab sheikdom with exotically designed skyscrapers, the world's most upscale shopping malls featuring indoor streams plied by Venetian gondolas, or fantastically expensive on-the-water condo developments where everyone drives a Ferrari or Rolls - all in the middle of a featurelessly flat desert wasteland - you go to Qatar. But if you want a more genuine Arabia of Sultan's palaces, of forts and castles perched on rocky crags, of traditional villages tucked away in mountain fastnesses, of rock pools and grottoes gushing with spring water hidden in secret valleys, a place out of Arabian Nights rather than one of garish ostentatiousness - then you come here to Oman. 
OBAMA IS PUTTING PERFUME ON A PIG
The President has wrestled control of the health care debate away from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by finally introducing his own plan. Unfortunately, the White House's proposal includes everything we found untenable about the old Senate bill - only this one is even more expensive! This is what you might call putting "perfume on a pig." What's in this "new" proposal? It has the unpopular (and arguably unconstitutional) individual mandate that forces people and employers to purchase health insurance - only this time with much harsher fines on employers who choose not to go along with another expensive government mandate. It has provisions that will make employers think twice before expanding their workforce. It has cuts to Medicare Advantage, a popular program which allows seniors to pay a little more money out of pocket for better coverage. And, of course, it still has sweetheart deals - only this time they've been extended even more.
DO CONSERVATIVES TODAY CARE ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY?
On Feb. 17, I joined a group of prominent conservatives assembled for the purpose of unveiling a document dubbed The Mount Vernon Statement. It was intended to emulate an earlier articulation of the principles that unite the right issued 50 years ago at the Sharon, Conn., home of William F. Buckley Jr., known as The Sharon Statement. The Sharon document advocated victory over totalitarian Communism. By contrast, the Mount Vernon document made no mention at all of today's totalitarian ideology - what authoritative Islam calls Sharia - or the threat it poses to America, let alone declare that victory should be our purpose in dealing with this menace. Still, the Mount Vernon Statement is a paragon of robust national security-mindedness in contrast to what took place in the succeeding three days at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
DEFEATING THE ELECTRONIC POLICE STATE
There's an odd thing that happens when politicians get scared: They grudgingly call in the smart guys and let them loose. Most of us learn about this in elementary school: The smartest kid in the class is more or less abused until the class gets into real trouble; then they run straight to him and promise to do whatever he says. That was how the Internet was created. It was a "smartest kid" project. The event that scared the politicians into gathering the smart kids and setting them loose was Sputnik, launched in October 1957. The USSR surging ahead of the USA in space meant that they had to pull out all the stops. The resulting Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was where the Internet was born. The Internet is structured different than anything a controlling type would make. (People in government are mostly controlling types; the smartest kid in class is most always not a control type.) The Internet's fundamental design characteristic is decentralization. Let's see how we can use that to defeat the The Electronic Police State.
THE ELECTRONIC POLICE STATE
Perhaps you saw the story headlined on Drudge (2/11) about the Obama Administration asserting that Americans have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" regarding their cell phone conversations. It's yet another sign of the emerging Electronic Police State. When we think of a "police state," most of us summon images of Nazi storm troopers or Stalin's henchmen dragging people out of their houses in the middle of the night. These images are accurate enough, but they reflect the conditions of the world over a half-century ago, and they really do not very well reflect what is happening in the world today. In other words, these images are mostly out of date. The modern police state is generally silent and transparent. It is electronic. I want you to think very hard and long on this: any email you have ever sent can be grounds for felony federal wire fraud prosecution threatening you with 20 years in prison. The email, or "electronic transmission," does not itself have to be fraudulent. It can still be "wire fraud" if it is only somehow "involved" in what the government deems to be a "fraudulent scheme." Nervous now?
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/19/10
Jaime Glazov, managing editor of Front Page, is a friend and all-around good guy - but his diatribe on Moslems hating Valentine's Day is proof he's never been to Bahrain. I just took this picture in a Bahraini shopping mall: 
What Jaime says about Valentine's being hated by Jihadis and banned in Saudi Arabia is certainly true. But Moslems in places like Bahrain and Qatar (both of which border Saudi) love to celebrate it and are free to. It's seriously counter-productive not to make and promote the distinction. It's a serious mistake to paint all Moslems with a Jihadi brush. The gulf between Jihadis and Moslems who just want to live normal lives needs to be widened, not narrowed. Jaime gives the impression he's unaware of the very existence of the gulf. Correcting this impression is something he might consider. *** Who knew Bill Gates is a glowarming idiot?
A GODFATHER MOVIE IN AFGHANISTAN
The capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar -- the Taliban's equivalent of Gen. Stan McChrystal -- by Pakistani agents and CIA operatives is a big win. Subordinate only to Mullah Omar, the Taliban's CEO, Baradar ran the Taliban's military operations in Afghanistan. Responsible for the upgrade in insurgent tactics -- fighting smart, rather than just fighting -- he also created the Taliban's hearts-and-minds campaign. For two weeks, he's been under interrogation by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency. The CIA's also involved in the questioning on some level -- but the ISI always holds back some chips. The grab won't affect the ongoing fight for Marjah in Afghanistan, but the loss of Baradar's operational savvy could degrade future Taliban operations. And if he sings -- as we're told he's doing -- it could be the biggest anti-Taliban bonanza since 2001. Or maybe not.
ARABIAN WONDERLAND
Manama, Bahrain. This is a tale of a very different Arab sheikhdom from Kuwait. Let's start with drunk Saudis. A drunk Saudi is a very amusing spectacle. Saudi Arabia is the most uptight, rigidly repressed place on the planet. What the map above doesn't show is a causeway enabling Saudis to drive to the island of Bahrain, the Arabian Wonderland, where they proceed to unrepress themselves. Sober, Saudis are arrogant putzes sneering at American infidels. Smashed, they are still obnoxious but very friendly. They keep saying, "My friend," and talk nonstop in increasingly unintelligible English until they pass out. This upsets the hookers, for an unconscious customer, no matter how rich, is of no use to them. Bahrain has a history as old as civilization...