Traveling Terrorist Skies

December 28, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 27, 2009 | Comments

Tomorrow with my family I board a flight in San Francisco headed for the East Coast. We are seasoned travelers. We do this all the time, traversing the security checkpoints as a well-oiled machine, yet tomorrow we will face a whole new routine.

We will arrive at the airport three hours early. We understand our carry-ons may be checked twice. We understand we may be patted down, x-rayed, photographed, sniffed by dogs, poked, prodded and interrogated as never before. And we will have to stow everything on the flight an hour before the scheduled landing and sit stone still for that hour with nothing in our hands, nothing on our laps. We will comply obediently, of course, because it’s all part of remaining safe in the sky because yet another terrorist has successfully made an attempt on American lives.

So yes, we will comply. And I suppose this is okay, as long as the young man in the line with a certain type of name who paid cash for his ticket and has no luggage and whose father recently turned him in as a terrorist threat will be subjected to the same rigorous procedures, even though he and his brethren — as well as the President of the United States and the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security — may find such scrutiny of the young man to be humiliating and insulting.

Indeed in the wake of the most recent terrorist attack in U.S. airspace, the President took three days finally to announce in his usual scripted and robotic manner that it is “an isolated incident.” Following his lead, his Secretary of Homeland Security first announced that despite said attack (foiled by couragous passengers who jumped on the guy) “the system worked.” Then, a day later, she backtracked, stuttering and channeling the deer in the headlights as she muttered incoherent statements that made it abundantly clear that she has no idea what to do, what to say, or even who she is. Incompetence, thy name is Janet Napolitano (the same woman who believes the real threat to America comes from NRA members, pro-lifers and returning war veterans).

So do you feel safe? I sure don’t. Yet we are expected to  believe that we will be protected by people who close their eyes and hope that all the scary stuff will just go away. Sorry, we the people see the threat for exactly what it is, and we see this President and his administration for exactly what they are, too. Pray for safe travels, America. And for more lucky breaks and courageous passengers. We’re going to need them.

Betsy Siino | Comments

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Christmas Eve Massacre

December 24, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 24, 2009 | Comments

You’ve heard of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, when, on Valentine’s Day, 1929, Al Capone’s Italians faced off against Bugs Moran’s Irish in Chicago, and seven ended up dead. Today, in honor of that infamous day in America, the United States Senate, inspired by the Chicago mob currently dominating the White House, executed the Christmas Eve massacre, passing the Senate’s version of the health care reform bill that will plunge our beautiful nation into a tailspin from which it might never recover.

For years now the left has waged war against Christmas and all it represents, but that they would consciously choose Christmas Eve as their moment to cast our nation into abject poverty, despair and fascism is unforgiveable. Indeed they have fired yet another shot against all who love and revere this country. All I can muster to say in my fury is: How dare they! But how many times do I have to say that? It’s getting so, so very old. When will it stop?!

Nevertheless, what we need to let these alleged “respresentatives” know (as if they ever listen) is that we will not go quietly into that soft Christmas Eve night. They have made it abundantly clear that they have no intention of ever listening to the vast, vast majority of Americans who oppose this vile bill, the vast majority who have raised their voices in unison to make that opposition known. And with these votes, we will make it abundantly clear that they have only strengthened our resolve.

But we know they won’t listen. With the exceptions of those Senators who have listened, who have demanded that the thousands of pages of this horrible piece of tripe be read aloud on the Senate floor, they don’t care. For their own insidious reasons, they have jammed this bill through, initiating all the necessary payoffs to individual Senators who pretended they would do what was right and inevitably fell in line, goosestepping in perfect unison as demanded of them, not by their voters, but by this administration and the party leadership. Next step: a co-mingling with the House bill, more bribery, more payoffs, more false promises (and here we thought that, for the most part, prostitution was illegal in the United States). Then on to the President’s desk for signature and another choreographed photo-op. Oh, happy day.

But we who love this country will not be defeated. As we celebrate this Christmas Eve, we will in unison pray that this dual assault on both our nation and our most holy night will result in the ultimate massacre of the careers of all who have dared to vote for it. They have declared war upon us and on our country, and we will not take it lying down.

God bless us, everyone!

Betsy Siino | Comments

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I Always Knew God Had a Sense of Humor

December 19, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 19, 2009 | Comments

Oh those poor climate-concerned diplomats, politicians and dictators. Here they take time out of their busy schedules to make the pilgrimage to Copenhagen to save our lives and the future of our planet from the perils of man-made global warming, and look what happens: record cold and blizzards thwart their noble mission! Our own President and Madam Pelosi had to schedule their carbon-heavy luxury flights to Europe around this pesky snow and wind, only to return stateside to more of the same. Does Mother Nature have no shame?

I sure hope she doesn’t. And God either. Indeed I like to think that God, like so many of us out here in common-sense land, has gotten fed up with the nimrods speaking for him and believing that we mere mortals are somehow more powerful than the beautiful, powerful planet He made. And because I have believed since I was a tiny child that God has a sense of humor, I can’t help but giggle and believe that He has chosen a most eloquent way of expressing his displeasure with those arrogant souls who would deign to use him in this way for their own selfish goals.

Indeed God and Mother Nature have sent you diplomats, politicians and dictators, including the President of the United States and the woman we call the Speaker of the House, an undeniable, unmistakable message. What in record snows in Copenhagen, more of it in DC, January-like temps in the rest of the country and even snow in Australia do they not understand?

Yet still you drone on about the dangers, the melting, the burning, the inequity, the income distribution, the ultimatums –and without a shred of shame in the shrill voices struggling to be heard through the howling blizzard winds that swirl around you.

So, what will it take for our own voices to break through the cones of silence they have erected around themselves? Nothing, I suppose, because they simply are not listening. But we the people are listening. And, despite the rhetoric and propaganda that we can hear with crystalline clarity though the wind and snow, we know this has nothing to do with conservation or rainforests or polar bears. This is about power and control and a dangerous transformation of the fabric and fiber of our great nation. And though their drive to destroy us is downright frightening, we find it hilarious that God has decided to give them a spanking – and such an eloquently vivid spanking, at that. So enjoy the snow and enjoy the frigid climes, oh dense and arrogant ones. I can tell you we certainly are – and without need of embarrassment or manipulation, but always with a clear sense of humor.

Betsy Siino | Comments

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Enough with the Threats Already!

December 17, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 17, 2009 | Comments

Will this President ever stop with the threats!? Every day it’s something new:

If you don’t support and agree to pay for the health care bill right now, today, before Christmas, people are going to die!

If Congress doesn’t pass the health care bill right now, today, before Christmas, the government will go bankrupt, and people are going to die!

If we don’t throw our country deeper and deeper in debt and print more and more money, people are going to die!

If we don’t bring terrorists onto American soil and grant them full Constitutional rights, people are going to die!

If we don’t pass the stimulus bill right now, today, the country, her people and all of the financial systems are going to die!

If you don’t get the swine flu vaccine, you’re going to die! (until we, the government, discover we don’t have enough of the vaccine and can’t distribute what we do have, so maybe you’re not going to die after all).

If we don’t pass cap-and-trade and sign away billions of dollars to third-world dictators within the next few days, the earth and the polar bears are going to die!

And you know what’s coming: If we don’t grant amnesty to the illegal aliens (or whatever we are supposed to call them in a politically correct world) and give them welfare, health care and driver’s licenses…well…I don’t know who, but people are going to die!

Haven’t this man and his speechwriters ever heard the story of the little boy who cried wolf? That kid cried “wolf” again and again as a false alarm, and when genuine danger finally did threaten, well, not everyone survived. Let’s keep that in mind, shall we? And in the meantime, let’s give and thought and a prayer to our troops, who truly are at risk, yet never seem to be mentioned in the steady litany of threats and feigned concern shouted daily from the mount known as Washington, DC.

Betsy Siino | Comments

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Schumer Makes It Official

December 16, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 16, 2009 | Comments

We’ve known all along, especially in the days since the November 2008 election, that our so-called “representatives” in Washington, DC, believe themselves to be “better” than the rest of us peons. That they are above the law or any rules whatsoever (including those outlined in the United States Constitution); that they, by benefit of their inherent superiority, are deserving of royal, first-class treatment; that they are entitled to Cadillac health care for life while they saddle the rest of us with blue pills, rationing and death panels; that they have the right to rob us blind and sentence our children to a lifetime of debt…the list just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…

None of this is what we call a best-kept secret, but this last weekend, as he sat on a plane, waiting to travel home to New York from DC, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made the arrogance of the United States Congress (and by extraction, the current Presidential administration, for which the majority of said Congress carries water), official. When a flight attendant, just doing her job, asked the Senator to turn off his phone before takeoff – as flight attendants ask every passenger – the miffed Senator failed to comply.

When the Senator finally did obey the flight attendant’s repeated instructions, he rewarded her by describing her to his seatmate, fellow Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY), as a “bitch.” Nice. At least he didn’t bellow, “Do you know who I am!?” (although I wish he had).

Knowing he couldn’t try to deny his faux pas – too many witnesses – Schumer has issued the typical apologies, blah, blah, blah. Don’t know why he bothered, really. He knows full well that he’ll be re-elected by fatally blue New York. Seatmate Gillibrand has offered her own weak statements of support for Schumer, blah, blah, blah, though her days as a New York Senator, Hillary’s appointed replacement, are probably numbered anyway, especially if “America’s Mayor” Rudy decides to oppose her.

So life goes on, just as we might have predicted. Schumer admits publicly his superiority – and suffers none of the consequences or repercussions that would fall upon us inferior peons should we ever deign to defy a flight attendant’s request. I just have to wonder, though: How might the fair Senator have described the flight attendant if “she” had been a “he” – and a gay “he,” at that? Now that would have been a fallout worth watching.

Betsy Siino | Comments

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Poet Laureate Gore

December 8, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 8, 2009 | Comments

In his ongoing attempts to evade debating his religion that is global warming/climate change, Al Gore has expanded his evasive efforts into yet another passive arena. He has decided to try his hand at poetry, including in his new book a poem that begins:

One thin September soon
A floating continent disappears
In midnight sun

Vapors rise as
Fever settles on an acid sea

Predictably heralded by Vanity Fair as “beautiful” and “evocative,” it sounds to me like the scribblings of a self-absorbed, overly dramatic, overwrought 19-year-old girl in a lower-division college poetry class. In fact, I think I wrote this poem myself when I was 19, overwrought, overly dramatic and self-absorbed. And so did all the other 19-year-olds in my lower-division college poetry class.

But no one ever called our writing “beautiful” and “evocative,” even though we, too, peppered our poetry with such powerful words as “fever” and “vapors,” and howled about disappearing continents and acid seas. No, we faced more truthful judgment. Don’t be so overwrought, scolded our prof. So dramatic. So self-absorbed.

Hear that, Al? To paraphrase my college poetry professor: Nix the pretension. Then maybe you’ll win the Nobel prize for Literature, too. Nah, never mind. You’ll probably win it anyway. And maybe another Oscar, as well, when Michael Moore turns your poem into a movie. In the meantime, I’m off to get some Christmas shopping done before the continent disappears.

Betsy Siino | Comments

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

A Day of Infamy

December 7, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 7, 2009 | Comments

On December 7, 1941 – sixty-eight years ago today – Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the American naval fleet in Pearl Harbor. Then-President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed that day to be a “day of infamy,” as America was ushered into World War II.

Today we witness another day of infamy, a day when two of our Navy Seals, whose heroic efforts led to the capture of Ahmed Hashim Abed last September, were arraigned in a court martial proceeding in Virginia. This thus becomes not just a day of infamy, but a day of disgrace for our country, and a day of betrayal for our military.

You see, Ahmed Hashim Abed is the alleged mastermind behind the barbaric slaughter of four Blackwater contractors – security guards – in Iraq in March, 2004. The four men were ambushed, brutally murdered, then dragged through the streets of Fallujah, two of them hung over the Euphrates River. I remember the images. You probably do, too.

After years of unsuccessful attempts, three Navy Seals, two of whom – Matthew McCabe and Julio Huertas – were arraigned today (the third will be arraigned later), succeeded in at last capturing the man assumed to be responsible for this brutality committed against American citizens. But it would seem their methods were a little too rough in our new politically correct world. Or at least that is what is being charged. The Seals could have accepted a non-judicial reprimand for being mean to the terrorist, but they chose instead a trial to clear their names – and, perhaps, to set a precedent for their brethren who commit heroic acts in the future.

Not surprisingly, these Seals have garnered a massive outpouring of support from the public. We have, in turn, been urged by government and even military voices to reserve judgment until all the facts have been revealed. But you know what? I think I speak for the great majority of those supporting the Seals, when I say, we don’t care.

We frankly don’t care what facts you may have that you think will change our minds. We don’t care how much force may have been used. Yes, we are Americans, so by definition we are the most compassionate people on earth, but our compassion lies with the victims of these heinous acts who suffered so terribly, with their families they left behind, and with the courageous men and women who work to bring the perpetrators of such acts to justice. Case closed.

So instead of mourning this day of infamy, let us rejoice in the heroism of these young men. Despite what the current government may think of you young heroes, despite even what your own possibly confused military may be thinking under this government’s spell, we the people are behind you. And they won’t be changing our minds.

Betsy Siino | Comments

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Matthews Speaks the Truth

December 2, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 2, 2009 | Comments

Last night, following the President’s speech to the cadets of West Point, where he announced a troop increase in Afghanistan and his timeline for extraction of those troops, Chris “the tingler” Matthews was left a bit perplexed. In his brilliant analysis of the speech, Matthews referred to West Point, the academy that since 1802 has trained the officers of our United States Army, as “the enemy camp.”

Of course as we all know by now, Matthews was simply speaking the truth as he sees it — and as he sees his President. As far as he is concerned, he and the President are joined at the hip in their view of the military and this war, one and the same, simpatico, paisons.

“I didn’t see a lot of warmth in that crowd out there that the President chose to address tonight,” chirped Matthews post-speech. “He went to maybe the enemy camp tonight to make his case…I thought it was a strange venue.”

I’m sure you did, Chris. Why, you must wonder, would anyone of your shared mindset venture onto the grounds of an institution, an enemy camp, so steeped in history, heritage, sacrifice and liberty? Why on earth would el presidente choose such “a strange venue” for so important a bombshell?

Probably a pretty frightening venue, too, for Chris and his ilk, who like to believe that everyone of any value shares their views. But they don’t. And last night those who don’t apparently let Matthews know – in droves – that they did not appreciate his bashing West Point and its cadets. And today, after receiving what he described as “tough calls from parents of cadets and former cadets,” Matthews apparently decided that damage control – a.k.a. career preservation — trumps truth. “I said something that is just not right,” he told whoever was watching him tonight. “…For that, I deeply apologize.”

But what he said was right – for him, anyway, and, I suspect, for the President who tingles him, as well. We know neither of them understands those unique souls who devote their lives to the defense of us and our country. They suspect them. They fear them. And they regard their turf as hostile territory.

Indeed how disheartening to imagine that the Commander-in-Chief of the United States would regard an American military academy as an “enemy camp” – and that we would expect him to regard it that way. But, unfortunately, the evidence is pretty clear. This President has never shown a great love or respect for the military, he has admittedly referred to them as a great photo-op, and he waited months to move on Afghanistan while 116 of our troops died waiting for him to make a decision.

Last night, Mr. Matthews, when you uttered those words “enemy camp,” we weren’t surprised at all. And now, for whatever reason, be it advice from your agent, orders from the NBC brass, or the fallout from the families with kids in harm’s way protecting your right to bash them and their families, you have apologized. Too little, too late, I say. Some words, some truths, just can’t be erased with an apology. Nor should they be. We know you were just speaking the truth as you see it. And that is very sad.

Betsy Siino | Comments

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

West Point: Another Photo-Op, Another Show

December 1, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 1, 2009 | Comments

The President no doubt figured that staging his Afghanistan speech at West Point was a brilliant idea. Remember the doctors in the white coats? Remember the fake Parthenon towering behind him during his acceptance speech in Denver? Tonight could be another ideal photo-op, right? Surround myself with the dark gray of West Point cadets, and the message will be “they stand with me.”

But I didn’t see that. I saw stoic expressions on the young faces of these best and brightest. I saw polite applause, but I also saw the recognition of truth on their faces. They know this man regards them as his own private band of toy soldiers, to use at his whim, at his pleasure, particularly as photo-ops and campaign tools. This President — pronouncing words such as “Taliban” and “Pakistan” as though he were a native offering these entities respect — looked so very out of place preaching to those young warriors.

Avoiding words like “evil” and “terror” and “enemy,” the President looked the fool when he forgot he wasn’t speaking this time to a fawning Congress or a newsroom of slobbering reporters. He patted himself on the back, congratulating himself in the presence of the cadets for saluting the fallen warriors at Dover. He spoke of the economy and the expense of war, as though his audience should be both grateful and guilty for their connection to such high costs.

Most jarring was when he spoke of military strategy, as though he knew anything about it, as though he had ever studied it, as though he respects that which these young warriors and the generations who came before them have dedicated their lives. What must they, and all commanders, think when he speaks to them of this subject that for them comes as naturally as breathing?

Thanks to this lack of credibility, the President’s speech tonight was a rambling, defensive creation of people who don’t know how to speak convincingly of patriotism, America’s heritage and greatness, and the men and women who have died to preserve them. The President frankly doesn’t understand these young people. He doesn’t know who they are, and he doesn’t understand why they do what they do.

What he did offer of relevance to the cadets, to America, and to our troops both at home and in harm’s way, is that after months of dithering and dawdling and voting “present” while our people died, he is at last granting General McChrystal’s request for an increase of troops (30,000) in Afghanistan. Much to the delight of those who want to kill us and the troops who protect us, he announced, as well, that he will begin the withdrawal of American troops come summer 2011 (just in time for re-election campaigning).

Imagine Lincoln, Churchill, FDR, Grant, Eisenhower, George W. or Julius Caesar handing a timeline over to their enemies. Not a military commander in history would broadcast battle plans and timelines as this so-called Commander-in-Chief did tonight. And, as is his way, he did it without a shred of emotion or passion, and without a word of victory.

From the moment he declared himself a presidential candidate, this man has made abundantly clear his distaste for the military and his opposition toward any military action in which we have engaged for the protection of our nation in a post-9/11 world. Tonight, like every night, my heart goes out to the military moms and dads and sisters and brothers and daughters and sons and all of us who consider ourselves their families, too, knowing that the fates of our men and women in uniform rest in the hands of a man who has never truly committed himself to the safety of our nation and our people.

Indeed rather than listen to seasoned military advisors who actually attended West Point and Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, he has preferred instead to humiliate them publicly in order to appease the likes of his left-wing base and film-maker Michael Moore, the latter of whom wrote to him on Monday, that “It is not your job to do what all the generals tell you to do . . . we f—g hate these generals!” I’ll take that as the royal “we,” as the President has never shied away from Moore’s support and adulation.

And that is why I have to believe that tonight was tough for the President. With his approval ratings sagging, he defied the far left in favor of the generals, but he did not look all that comfortable standing before that sea of cadets. This man, who by his own admission spent his college years seeking out foreign students and communist professors and now wishes to “transform” America, had to recognize that he had no frame of understanding with the audience he sought to dazzle tonight, an audience devoted to the protection and preservation of America.

What he may or may not recognize, as well, is that the cadets in that audience know a fraud when they see one. And tonight that is exactly what they saw.

Betsy Siino | Comments

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Leaks in Time for Copenhagen

December 1, 2009 | Comments (0)

December 1, 2009 | Comments

Every year, as part of their science classes, my kids are taught the Scientific Method – the basic tenets by which scientific theories are tested to confirm that yes, they are indeed correct, or no, go back to the drawing board and start over.

I guess my kids are lucky still to be learning this, as it seems the Scientific Method has been replaced by a new technique that is much quicker and easier: the Consensus Method.

First, get some willing scientists together, particularly those affiliated with a university — oh, say, Britain’s University of East Anglia, for example. Now, get these scientists to agree to a consensus that fits your agenda (use threats, bribes…whatever it takes). Next, recruit some high-profile political types — a Nobel Peace Prize/Oscar winner, the leader of the free world, the United Nations, socialist-minded legislators – and some Fortune 500s (General Electric perhaps?), the mainstream media, and the nation’s school systems. Using pictures of cuddly polar bears, convince these entities to behave as though your theory is a given, that the science is “settled,” dispose of any pesky evidence that may prove otherwise, and there you have it. Your scientific theory is proven, a done deal, case closed. No Scientific Method necessary. No science at all, actually. Easy.

Of course this is exactly how the whole idea of manmade global warming, a.k.a. climate change, became accepted and “settled science” – touted by such highly trained scientific minds as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, various supermodels, the President of the United States, your kid’s English teacher, and most of Hollywood’s TV and movie stars.

But these folks were faced with a problem a couple of weeks ago when emails were leaked from the University of East Anglia, one of the world’s leading institutions in the proliferation of the global-warming agenda, essentially proving what we heretical non-believers knew all along: There is no evidence that we humans are heating up our planet, and evidence defying the global-warming theory is being destroyed, ignored and disregarded, like the Scientific Method itself.

Unwilling to abandon their efforts to promote global warming, however — and the power grab that comes with it — those who have made it their mission to further the concept, many of them making hefty profits by selling carbon offsets, squiggly light bulbs and tiny, tin-can automobiles, refuse to give up the ghost. The media, GE, various Congresspeople and the White House continue to preach to us huddled masses the accepted science that record cold, record heat, hurricanes, arson-sparked brushfires, tornadoes, earthquakes, record snowfall, record rainfall, ice storms, tsunamis, droughts and floods – all are caused by manmade global warming. The message is embodied in artsy, self-congratulatory commercials, sponsored in part by Coca-Cola and Siemens, celebrating the upcoming Climate Change Conference not in Copenhagen, but “Hopenhagen.”

Despite the mounting evidence, and despite the stupid Hopenhagen ads, I don’t see much shame evident in the global-warming crowd. Nor is there any sign of them changing their travel plans when a week from now they make the pilgrimage in their fleets of private jets and limousines to Copenhagen. The President of the United States among them, there they will gush on about the climactic dangers our world is facing and the income that needs to be redistributed to fix it, glad-handing each other over feasts of Kobe beef and caviar for their mutual heroism in saving the world.

I can’t help but wonder, though, will anyone dare mention during these sumptuous feasts the East Anglia emails? Will there be a moment of conscience among at least a few of the attendees as they ponder their own involvement in what many are calling the greatest scientific hoax in history? Will any dare whisper the word “Climategate?” It doesn’t matter. The secret is out, and all the self-congratulation and avoidance in the world can’t erase that.

So a week from now as the Copenhagen attendees stand before us, their peers, and their teleprompters in their black-tie finery, spouting the now-even-emptier rhetoric of climate change, they will look more and more foolish with every uttered phrase. And I think they know it. We’ll see it in their eyes. We may see fear in those eyes, too, as they start worrying about investigations and mobs with torches at the castle gates.

Indeed outside those gates, we angry mobs are demanding, “Let the investigations begin!” Let’s start with the guys in the tuxes – the ones with the look of worry in their eyes. Time to find out what they knew and when they knew it – and how much money they’ve raked in because of it. Follow the money, and you will find the truth – and the Scientific Method — waiting to be set free. That will be a show worth watching. I can’t wait.

Betsy Siino | Comments

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