Iran continues to thumb their noses at the rest of the world; they are stepping up their nuclear program; developing more weapons systems that can hit Israel, Europe and U.S. troops in Iraq; now comes word that they are funding the death of American troops in Afghanistan. The London Times conducted an investigation and found that at least 5 Iranian companies in Afghanistan are using their offices to finance Taliban military operations including providing bonuses for killing Americans and destroying military equipment.

The Iranian companies have been awarded contracts to provide materials and logistics to Afghans involved in reconstruction. “Profits” are then moved back to Iran and Dubai and then back to Afghanistan through the informal Islamic banking system known as hawala. The Afghan banks handling the original transactions are poorly regulated and at least one his partially owned by President Karzai’s brother, Mahmood.

What in the heck are Iranian companies doing in Afghanistan in the first place?! I thought the UN had put economic sanctions in place designed to keep Iran from doing business with the outside world in order to put pressure on them to stop building nukes. And there is very little dispute that Iran is sponsoring terrorism around the world including the Taliban; so why are they doing business in Afghanistan? Because the Afghanis and the Obama administration are trying to ‘engage’ Iran in a more positive manner hoping President Ahmacrazyguy will turn away from his radical agenda. Because that has worked so well for the last 3 decades…

The door is open and you can go without any fear of being stopped. You don’t need permission. The Obama administration filed their report with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights detailing how we as a country discriminate against the disabled, homosexuals, women, Native Americans, blacks, Hispanics, those who don’t speak English and of course Muslims. We apparently commit acts of vandalism and hate crimes on a regular basis; and of course the current economic woes are blamed on the discriminatory lending practices of the banking industry. Really?!

So Obama and Hillary believe we are right there with Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Congo and other countries who truly abuse human rights. There are people in this country who are bigoted but discrimination is not systemic, government sponsored or anything close to what you see around the world. People in this country are protected by a myriad of laws, the ability to seek redress in the courts and by general public opinion. The American people do not support discrimination and abhor it. When we see it or experience it, we condemn it and act to stop it. This document gives America’s haters confirmation and justification for saying we are a terrible country. I put Obama among those haters of America; not just for doing this but for his continuing apologies around the world and his attempts to turn us into something else.

You have probably heard about the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. Amateurs! A new study published by researchers from the Universities of Texas and Boston reaches a more startling conclusion; heavy drinkers out live abstainers! Researchers followed a few hundred people for 20 years and found that those consuming what would be considered copious amounts of alcohol lived 3 years longer than the group that abstained from consuming booze. I knew it! Pour me another Captain & Diet Coke and make it a DOUBLE!!! Researchers concluded that the boozers were more relaxed and less stressed than tee totalers and thus did not have heart attacks or other stress related diseases. And they were happier too. See, Ben was right; “beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

This is the sign posted in Arizona parks 90 miles north of the border. Now the federal government has posted similar signs along US Highway 8 100 miles north of the US/Mexico border. US 8 runs between Casa Grande and San Diego. The signs warn drivers that this is “an active drug and human smuggling area” and drivers may encounter “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.” Pinal County sheriff’s deputies are out gunned and out manned and the feds are of little help according to Sheriff Paul Babeu. I have traveled this area before and it is desolate and truly some areas are desert. But people live here; Gila Bend AZ is a great farming community. There are great 4 wheeling areas and parks in the area. But citizens are being warned to stay away or run if they see anyone suspicious.

Folks, it’s time to face reality. The federal government has literally ceded parts of America to drug cartels and human smuggling rings. We are not safe in our own homes or traveling our own roads. It is time to shut the border which means finish the fence and put military troops on the border to protect us from foreign incursion. The Mexican Federales, some of them, are on the cartel payroll and regularly come across the border. Mexico’s government has been warned and we’ve talked enough. If you are armed and step on U.S. soil without permission you will be detained. If you fight back or threaten to fight back, we will open fire.

On a related note, I saw a brief story about government officials in Sonora Mexico (the state just south of AZ) complaining about the influx of Mexican nationals returning to their homes from Az. They may have even visited Tucson to meet with AZ government officials yesterday to whine about their inability to handle the influx of Mexican citizens that were in AZ illegally. Sonoran officials are complaining that they don’t have the jobs, school capacity or other infrastructure to deal with all the people and want AZ to relax their enforcement of the law. Let me call the whambulance for you.

In the book Stealth Jihad are more tales of such exemptions granted by our government. Chicago Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid gave several examples of Muslims enforcing Sharia compliance against interest payments. He tells of a Muslim business owner who refused to pay interest on money owed to the IRS: after pointing out the section of the Qu’ran that forbid paying of interest to the IRS supervisor, the IRS waived the interest on religious grounds.

Imam Mujahid also tells of a Muslim physician who was charged interest on a construction job because he delayed payment of the bill for over 30 days. He refused to pay interest and pointed out the same section of the Qu’ran and was allowed to pay only the principal. Apparently the attorney for the contractor did some research and figured out they would lose the case if they tried to take the physician to court.

So tell me again what happened to equal treatment under the law? Or separation of Church and State?

Obama is bending over backwards to appease radical Muslims around the world; including here at home. Right now his approval ratings are at an all time low, except with Muslims with whom he has a 78% approval rating. Not only is Obama trying to appease Iran (they are now openly flaunting their violation of the non-proliferation treaty; have developed unmanned aircraft & nuclear missiles); not only is he supporting the building of the WTC Mosque (while putting up roadblocks to rebuild a Greek Orthodox Church); not only is he apologizing for the U.S. & claiming we are not a Christian nation (while paying to rebuild 2-3 dozen historically significant Mosques around the world; his administration is today holding a conference for Muslim organizations with ties to terrorism so they can have unfettered access to government assistance and grants.

The Islamic Society of North America, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial and long associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, announced that leaders of 20 Muslim groups will attend a workshop today with several government agencies represented, Agriculture, Education, Homeland Security, Health & Human Services & the White House; in order to provide “direct access” and “cut through the red tape” in order to provide government services to “benefit the Muslim Community.” In other words our government is going to provide special access to a specific religion helping them obtain government assistance of several types in order to “strengthen their communities.”

So let me get this right: we can’t have a nativity scene displayed in public: a cross in the middle of the Mojave desert is offensive and somehow violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution; we can’t have prayer in public schools; but we can provide special funding and access to government programs to Muslim groups, many with documented ties to terrorist organizations, to help spread their word. Makes perfect sense to me.

Oh and why does the Department of Homeland Security need to be there?

Lindsay Lohan is out of jail early; why, no one is really sure but she is and she’s hell bent on rehabilitating her image and getting back into the hearts of the movie going public. So she’s hired Brittney Spears’ publicity director to get the job done. Because that’s worked so well for Brittney, who’s lost weight and is rumored to be getting married again; but this time she’s marrying an aspiring singer/entertainer who has no career of his own.

Apparently Lindsay’s first public appearance had something to do with wearing a see through top and no bra. No not this photo but pretty darn close. I guess this will make Lindsay popular with all of the fans of Pedo Bear… not sure what it does for mom’s and teen girls that used to love her but what do I know; I’m not a PR guy.

And the fantastic politicians here to save you! The Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act (CARD Act) kicked in this week with new rules governing your credit cards. All designed of course to protect you from those terrible, manipulating, scheming bankers from whom you get your credit card; with which you can buy stuff, take trips, Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without your credit card. Now thanks to Washington DC and you of course, it won’t be the same.

The Wall Street Journal reports that interest rates are now 1.6% higher than last year and the gap between your credit card interest rate and the prime rate is the highest it’s been in 22 years. The average credit limit on cards is down 11% from last year. Because the CARD Act limits the banks’ ability to be flexible on interest rates say for overdue balances (because you couldn’t or didn’t pay) the bank has to make up the money some other way. Now annual fees on cards are up 18% and fees on cash advances are up 33%. How’s Washington’s solution working out for you so far?

So essentially this bill was put in place to protect those that for whatever reason can’t pay, say due to job loss, or those that won’t pay. Those of you that are paying on time are paying higher fees because the politicians meddled in the private market again. Soon we will have the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection in place with a $500 million budget and several thousand new federal employees here to protect and serve you, the consuming citizen in every other aspect of our financial lives. I can hardly wait.

The federal debt load has now reached $44,000 per person. I believe that’s per legal citizen because we know that illegal aliens don’t have to share in the burden. At any rate look around your home and think about that. Because I am responsible for my children’s debts until they reach age of majority and my wife makes me pay her debts I am now responsible for $132,000 and climbing. No wonder my credit score is going down… $132K, that’s just about enough to send Michelle on a 3 day get away.

Glenn Beck held the 828 rally yesterday and media bias is clear. Even the Washington Times had trouble reporting how large, diverse and well behaved the rally was. The article I read said a parks official estimated the crowd at over 300,000 people but pointed out that the Park Service doesn’t provide official estimates of crowd size any more. Some in the media, including Fox News host Greta Van Sustern, were upset that Beck held the rally on the 47th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech. She called it insensitive but why? The theme of the rally were directly in support of what Dr. King called for almost 50 years ago. King’s niece gave what many called the best speech of the day. I know why the MSM didn’t like the rally; it was based on Christian values and returning God and not Allah to prominence in American society.

Football season is upon us and I still get goosebumps; not only because that means NFL cheerleaders. No I am also the responsible for radio play by play for our local college team (Western New Mexico University) and the season opens this week; Thursday night at Northern Arizona University. I won’t go into details, you can get those at our sister site, www.silvercitysports.com, as well as hear the games streamed live but suffice to say that I really enjoy this time of year. Even if I’m a Minnesota Vikings fan and that Packer is our QB.

The CBO announced this week that they had determined the stimulus bills have created or saved up to 3.3 million jobs and the administration is using this to say we need more stimulus. If the stimulus is working then why do we need more? That’s right, durable goods orders are down, housing purchases are at a 50 year low, unemployment remains at 9.5%, jobless claims were up again this past week and the underemployment rate remains around 16%. But the CBO is trying to tell us the unemployment rate by be 10 or 11% if not for the stimulus. One little problem, their claims are inconsistent with what they were saying in February 2009 when the stimulus was passed. If their models were wrong then why are they right now? The CBO staff predicted unemployment rates would stay about 7.8 to 8.5% if the stimulus bill passed; if it did not pass the CBO said unemployment would rise to 9%. They went on to predict that unemployment in December 2010 would be 8.7% without the stimulus and 6.8 to 8.1% with the passage. You know where we are now. Ask the 14.5 million unemployed and the over 20 million underemployed how these predictions are working out.