Kerfuffles

Pirates have commandeered an American-flagged (NOT Liberian) container ship off the coast of Somalia. This story is true (you are NOT reading “The Onion”) as it has been reported by Al Jazeera News. The 21st century swash-bucklers have kidnapped the ship’s captain, an American, and are holding him hostage, just in case the U.S. Navy contemplates any of those Cowboy tactics left over from the George W. Bush reign.

President Barack Obama has once again referred to this latest national disaster as one that he inherited. However, Obama did not blame the pirates’ uprising on his usual scapegoat, George W. Bush. Obama explained to fawning American news outlets that these Swashbucklers of the High Seas were inherited directly from former President Thomas Jefferson, who obviously failed to quell the piracy problem during “Jefferson’s War on Terror.”

For more than 200 years, that dead white President, Thomas Jefferson, has been given credit for successfully swashbuckling the Barbary Pirates, giving birth to the United States Navy for that mission, and creating a pep song for the US Marines about “the Shores of Tripoli,” President Obama revealed. He continued: “those dead white historians got it all wrong! The swashbuckling evil buccaneers continue to cruise high on the high seas, and Thomas Jefferson’s failure has been dropped at my doorstep on Pennsylvania Avenue more than 200 years later.” The adoring White House Press Corps swooned.

The United States Marines performed with honor at the first war proclaimed by our new nation. In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president, he refused to accede to the Barbary pirates of Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. This refusal brought about the first ‘war’ the U.S. would fight as a country. The first line of the Marine hymn, ‘from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’, references the 600-mile march across the Libyan Desert of a group of Navy men and others to capture the port city of Derna, Tripoli. It took a concerted effort by England, France, Spain, and the United States to end over 400 years of Muslim piracy on the Barbary Coast.” (”Happy Birthday Marines” by Edna Barney)

Obama continued his explanation. “Thomas Jefferson had his chance to contain piracy when this nation was young, and he failed miserably, as seen by these man-made disasters now terrorizing shipping lanes on the high seas. Jefferson even instigated a war with those North African Islamic potentates whose modern lands are known today as Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, which is more proof for America and the world, that gains won by force do not endure. It was up to America’s Founding Fathers to secure free navigation of the seas for the new United States of America, and their posterity, which is ME, and they punted” complained Obama. “This is one more ‘inherited’ problem that the country is now depending on me to solve, which I will as soon as I can escape the glow of the glory of my European tour.”

“I’ve had my historians researching ancient history to find the root problem of today’s Somalian piracy. They discovered that these “man-made disasters” we are experiencing today all stem directly from a meeting in London in March of 1785, between American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli. The Founding Fathers inquired of the ‘Mussulman’ Ambassador for the reason that the Barbary states were impeding American ships, pirating their cargo and enslaving their crews and passengers. Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman gave the answer to America’s illustrious Founders, but they were absolutely tone-deaf to the ‘Mussulman’s’ words:”

“It was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.” ~Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, London, 1785.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has expressed concern and called upon the world to “come together to end the scourge of piracy.” (Good Luck on that one, Hillary.) President Barack Obama reassured Americans that with his new leadership skills the country will be able to resolve this historic first time boarding by pirates of an American ship. He has already promised that, unlike his predecessor Thomas Jefferson, America under Barack Obama will never wage war on any Muslim nation. We are a nation of laws, and if our lawyers find that these man-made pirates have broken any international laws, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent in whatever world court they find agreeable to their cultural mores. In addition, Barack Obama has dispatched a special communique to the Somalian Pirate King reminding him that America’s president is now a “brother.” All those dead white American presidents and founding fathers, are just that - dead white men!

Yes - It’s Satire, but it’s still true!

Inauguration Week 2009: America Descends into Self-destructive Insanity
How else can one describe a nation that is planning to close down an off-shore island prison housing dangerous terrorists, and bring them all into the United States where they will have the same rights and protections as any American citizen, and the same access to the courts as any red-blooded American burglar? While, at the same time, the government of the United States of America wants to hand over the former administrators of its nation, Bush, Cheney, CIA operatives and anyone else involved in the War on Terror, to a World Court, to be prosecuted as War Criminals, outside of the United States.

“If terrorists suddenly get the same rights as citizens, then we’ve turned the world upside down,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, as he attempts to introduce a bill that would outlaw the release of known terrorists into the United States when President Obama closes Guantanamo.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Plan to Prosecute Bush Administration Officials for War Crimes, January 18, 2009.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is receptive to the idea of prosecuting some Bush administration officials, while letting others who are accused of misdeeds leave office without prosecution, she told Chris Wallace in an interview on “FOX News Sunday.”

“I think you look at each item and see what is a violation of the law and do we even have a right to ignore it,” the California Democrat said. “And other things that are maybe time that is spent better looking to the future rather than to the past.”

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Friday he wants to set up a commission to look into whether the Bush administration broke the law by taking the nation to war against Iraq and instituting aggressive anti-terror initiatives. The Michigan Democrat called for an “independent criminal probe into whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities.”

President-elect Barack Obama has not closed off the possibility of prosecutions …

MSNBC News Call for Prosecution of Bush Administration as War Criminals (Rachel Maddow and Jonathan Turley, 19 January 2009)

“Are we literally looking at a possibility,” Maddow asked, “where administration officials from this [previous] administration cannot travel abroad to the other 145 countries that have signed the torture treaty because they might get arrested?”

“Most certainly,” Turley replied. “The status of George Bush is not that different from Augusto Pinochet. They’ve both been accused of running a torture program. And outside this country, there’s not this ambiguity about what to do with a war crime. … Most people abroad are going to view you not as former President George Bush, they’re going to view you as a current war criminal.”

“And they’re going to view us as an outlaw regime for not arresting him on our own soil,” Maddow remarked.

“I think so, unfortunately,” Turley agreed. “A lot’s at stake.”

9/11 Families Outraged by Obama Call to Suspend Guantanamo War Crimes Trials

Families of victims of terrorist attacks say they are outraged by President Obama’s call to halt the trials of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Family members of people killed on September 11, 2001, and in other terror attacks say they are outraged by President Obama’s draft order calling for the suspension of war crimes trials of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Murtha Says He Welcomes Guantanamo Prisoners in His Pennsylvania District

Rep. Jack Murtha volunteers to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his Pennsylvania district, as President Obama prepares to order the shut-down of the facility.

Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., says he’d be willing to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district if President Obama makes good on a plan to close the U.S. prison there.

As one of his first acts in office, the president circulated a draft Wednesday that would shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year.

Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he’d have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.

“Sure, I’d take ‘em,” said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. “They’re no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo.”

Murtha added that there was “no reason not to put ‘em in prisons in the United States and handle them the way they would handle any other prisoners.”

Liberals think it is funny - Guantanamo Baywatch

The John Murtha Jihadist Correctional Facility by Michelle Malkin

No Terrorist Attacks In the United States! Why?

• On October 12, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia, Al-Qaeda’s Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists targeted packed nightspots, killing 202 people, including more than 160 foreigners. There are even more nightclubs in the United States, why didn’t al-Qaeda target us here?
• On March 11, 2004 in Madrid, Spain, 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured in a series of explosions on four trains. al-Qaeda took responsibility for that accomplishment to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq. But why didn’t the terrorists bomb American trains on American soil? We had even more troops in Iraq than did the Spanish.
• On the morning of Wednesday September 1, 2004, in Beslan, Russia Muslim terrorists and Arab mercenaries wearing explosive belts stormed a school taking 1,200 parents, students, children, and infants hostage. They wired the room with explosives and threatened to blow up the school during a three-day standoff. The children were refused food and water and were held in stifling heat in a gymnasium while the world waited. As Russian forces were collecting corpses from the initial raid outside the school, the militants in the school triggered the explosives inside the school. As the surviving hostages attempted to flee, the terrorists shot them and their rescuers in their backs. At least 326 people — 156 of them children — were murdered at that school and more than 700 wounded. Although 26 of the terrorists were killed, several escaped. Why did not these terrorists take over an American school on American soil? We have lots of schools here.
• On July 11, 2006, in Mumbai, India, seven high-powered blasts on suburban trains killed more than 200 commuters and injured at least 800. America has commuter trains too, why did not al-Qaeda target American trains with bombs?
• On November 26 of this year, again in Mumbai, India, Islamist gunmen launched attacks against luxury hotels. Gunmen from al-Qaeda’s Deccan Mujahedeen group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed more than 100. A rabbi, Gavriel Hertzberg, and his pregnant wife were sought out and murdered as were other Jews and Americans. America has many luxury hotels, many Jews and many, many more Americans. Why did al-Qaeda spare American hotels and tourist on American soil?

Could these “Seven Years of Calm in America” have had anything to do with the leadership of America’s Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, his administration and the fighting men and women of his military?

We won. The Iraq War is over. We hereby declare 22 November 2008 to be “Victory in Iraq Day,” or “VI Day.”

By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country, deposed the previous regime, successfully helped to establish a new functioning democratic government, and suppressed any lingering insurgencies. The war has come to an end. And we won.

What more indication do you need? An announcement from the outgoing Bush administration? It’s not gonna happen. An announcement from the incoming Obama administration? That’s really not gonna happen. A declaration of victory by the media? Please. Don’t make me laugh. A concession of surrender by what few remaining insurgents remain in hiding? Forget about it.

The moment has come to acknowledge the obvious. To overtly declare a fact that has already been true for quite some time now. Let us repeat: THE WAR IS OVER - WE WON!

“Ingratitude is monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the multitude.” ~~William Shakespeare (1564–1616), 3rd Citizen, in Coriolanus, act 2, sc. 3, l. 9-11. He was arguing that the people should be grateful to Caius Marcius for defeating the Volsces.

The image, Victory in Iraq, is subject to copyright by barneykin. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by barneykin.

Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps. On November 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Continental Marines. The rest is history.

In March of 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were in London to meet Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli and inquire of him why it was that Barbary states felt a right to impede American ships, pirating their cargo and enslaving their crews and passengers. America’s two most illustrious Founding Fathers were told by the “Mussulman” Ambassador: “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Jefferson’s new nation found itself immediately at war with North Africa’s Islamic potentates who occupied the lands that are today Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. No longer under the protection of the British Royal Navy, the Founding Fathers had to decide how to secure free navigation of the seas for the new United States of America. In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president, he refused to accede to the Barbary pirates of Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. This refusal brought about the first “war” the U.S. would fight as a country. The first line of the Marine hymn, “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,” references the 600-mile march across the Libyan Desert of a group of Navy men and others to capture the port city of Derna, Tripoli. It took a concerted effort by England, France, Spain, and the United States to end over 400 years of Muslim piracy on the Barbary Coast.

It seems that it was our beloved Democrat Thomas Jefferson who first decided to make war upon the Muslim Barbaries, instead of appeasing them. President George W. Bush has been struggling to follow in Jefferson’s mighty footsteps as the ancient battle continues. Give thanks for Jefferson’s foresight and courage and say a prayer for George W, who has a much tougher task than Jefferson. Commander-in-chief George W. Bush has had to fight against his own nation’s enemies, as well as many of his own countrymen, who wish America to fail.

“TJ and the Barbaries” by Kerfuffles
“Jefferson’s War on Terror” by Edna Barney

It was the “Fear of Freedom” which begot the murder yesterday of a woman freedom fighter, Benazir Bhutto. She was a Muslim woman, a Muslim mother who, because she believed in freedom, was martyred in her own native Muslim land of Pakistan by her fellow Muslim brothers.

Where religions, creeds, nations and lands espouse “Fear of Freedom”, truth becomes an unknown commodity. All truth is from God; freedom is God’s gift to all of mankind. Those who teach “Fear of Freedom” to their people are enemies of the true God. Yesterday’s tragic murder of a woman for her belief in freedom is one more example of the “Fear of Freedom’s” tyranny of the human mind, its debasement of the human soul and its degradation of human life on earth.

Thank God for the man named Jesus who preached freedom. Jesus taught HIS followers to seek freedom, not to fear it, and hence influenced HIS civilized world to carry freedom’s torch: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John Chapter 8).

“I’m standing up for the principle of democracy. I’m standing up for moderation. And I’m standing up for hope for all the people in Pakistan who today are poor and miserable and really quite desperate..” ~~ Benazir Bhutto, CNN Interview of 28 September 2007.

In 1775, Patrick Henry declared “Give me Liberty or Give me Death,” at Saint John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. That declaration set the course for revolution and independence for Americans. It was the cry that has reverberated in the hearts of mankind ever since. Many freedom lovers around the world have met death in their quest for liberty for themselves and others.

Today it was the American educated, woman freedom fighter, Benazir Bhutto, who was martyred in the name of freedom in her own native land of Pakistan. Today, it was a Muslim woman, murdered in a Muslim land, by her fellow male Muslims.

The news story is at BBC News; Christopher Hitchens names her “A Daughter of Destiny

The image, Benazir Bhutto last moments-5, is subject to copyright by PAKlSTAN. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by Kerfuffles.

Last night I suffered through the debate of the presidential candidates of the Party of Appeasement (Democrats). Obviously they know little of history and none has ever read of the fierce battles between Christians and Norsemen during Europe’s Middle Ages. Not one has ever heard of the Dane-geld or read the simple poetry of Britian’s Rudyard Kipling.

“The Dane-geld” by Rudyard Kipling

… “We invaded you last night —
we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ‘em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: —
“Though we know we should defeat you,
we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:–

“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
Nor matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

The slave trade that forever stained America’s psyche began in Europe with the followers of Mohamed. It was the knowledge that they were following anti-Christian mores, which brought Americans to their senses about the matter, not to mention the realization that white Christians were its victims as well as black Africans. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the original draft of the Declaration of Independence a condemnation of America’s slave trade, which comment was later deleted, he condemned “the Christian King of Great Britain” for practicing “this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers.” The “infidel powers” to whom Jefferson alluded were none other than the Muslim Barbary pirates.

How many know that perhaps 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved in Islamic North Africa between 1530 and 1780? We dimly recall that Miguel de Cervantes was briefly in the galleys. But what of the people of the town of Baltimore in Ireland, all carried off by “corsair” raiders in a single night? (“Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates” by Christopher Hitchens)

Jefferson’s new nation found itself immediately at war with North Africa’s Islamic potentates who occupied the lands that are today Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. No longer under the protection of the British Royal Navy, the Founding Fathers had to decide how to secure free navigation of the seas for the new United States of America.

In March of 1785, Jefferson and John Adams were in London to meet Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli and inquire of him why it was that Barbary states felt a right to impede American ships, pirating their cargo and enslaving their crews and passengers. America’s two most illustrious Founding Fathers were told by the “Mussulman” Ambassador: “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president, he refused to accede to the Barbary pirates of Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. This refusal brought about the first “war” the U.S. would fight as a country. The first line of the Marine hymn, “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,” references the 600-mile march across the Libyan Desert of a group of Navy men and others to capture the port city of Derna, Tripoli. It took a concerted effort by England, France, Spain, and the United States to end over 400 years of Muslim piracy on the Barbary Coast. (“Happy Birthday Marines” by Edna Barney)

It seems that it was our beloved Democrat Thomas Jefferson who first decided to make war upon the Muslim Barbaries instead of appeasing them. President George W. Bush is struggling to follow in Jefferson’s mighty footsteps as the ancient battle continues. Give thanks for Jefferson and say a prayer for George W.

“TJ and the Barbaries” by Kerfuffles
“Jefferson’s War on Terror” by Edna Barney

The Old Virginia: “Give us liberty or give us death.”
The New Virginia: “Give us Jihad or we give you death.”

“The Jihad way is the way to liberate your land;” according to Dr. Esam Omeish.

Were not we Virginians liberated in the long ago days of non-doctors George Washington and Patrick Henry? Apparently some physicians in our midst today believe we need more liberation. And furthermore, where do we Virginians find these medical doctors who are more interested in killing people than curing them? See “MDs with IEDs” and “Physicians Who Cure and Kill.”

Our own Virginia governor of today, in contrast to former Governor Patrick Henry, described Dr. Esam “Jihadi” Omeish as “a respected physician and community leader” as reported by WaPo today. In fact, he is such “a respected physician and community leader,” that Governor Kaine recently appointed him to serve on Virginia’s Commission on Immigration. Perhaps that explains why we now have Jihadis running our hospitals in Virginia. “Give me liberty or give me death” was once a call to arms in Virginia. Nowadays, under the governorship of Kaine, our mantra seems to have become “Give us Jihad or we give you death.”

How respected a Virginia leader and doctor is Dr. Omeish? Well … he is president of the Muslim American Society and the chief of the division of general surgery at INOVA Alexandria Hospital. His leadership skills can also be viewed on YouTube as he called for Jihad at an August 12th, 2006 rally in Washington, DC. It seems that our Virginia governor must have missed that rally where Dr. Esam Omeish displayed his powers of persuasion to a crowd of American Muslims. Watch the motionbox.com video of Dr. Omeish as he proclaims: “… you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land.”

Watch the YouTube video of Dr. Omeish, as he tells President Bush: “Stop Calling Islam Islamic-Fascism. There is no such thing as Islamic-Fascism.”

If there is no such thing as Islamic-Fascism, what do we call Islamists who behead people who disagree with them? What do we call Muslims who teach their young children that Jews are apes and pigs? What do we call followers of Mohammad who destroy the places of worship of other faiths? What do we call a religion that suppresses the rights of women, freedom of speech and the teachings of other religions? What do we call Islamic cultures that brag that they have no homosexuals in their midst? What do we call followers of Allah who claim the Allah-given right to kill those who do not believe in Allah? If we cannot call them Fascists, what can we call them? Moderate Muslims?

Jesus Was a Physician Too

What kind of people would claim to “Support Our Troops” while at the same time describing the Commanding Officer of those troops as “General Betray US?” The kind of people who would do that are “Liberal Democrats.”

What kind of “Americans” would portray one of America’s finest military men as worse than Benedict Arnold? What kind of people would describe a military leader who has devoted his life in service to his nation as a “Sniveling Liar?” (”General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts.”) The “so-called” Americans who do that are “Liberal Democrats.”

What kind of citizens are so wanton with hubris as to claim to know more about war strategy than an experienced Army General? (”General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows: Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war. General Petraeus has actually said American troops will need to stay in Iraq for as long as ten years.“)

The kind of people who think they know more than anyone else in the country about what is best for our country are “Liberal Democrats.”

Check it out for yourself at The Baltimore Sun.