12 14 08 12:00 PMLiberty Watch

Addison Wiggin,
"I.O.U.S.A. One Nation, Under Stress, In Debt"

Product Description
The United States has been spending its way deeper and deeper into the red, and saddling
future generations with the mess?but who's paying attention?
To answer that question, the companion book to the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A.
talks with some of the most revered voices in the nation, including Warren Buffett; former Treasury
Secretaries Paul O'Neill and Robert Rubin; Pete Peterson, CEO of The Blackstone Group;
Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas); and bestselling Empire of Debt author Bill Bonner.
Armed with these interviews, historical references, and damning statistics, the book takes a
lively and entertaining romp through the four deficits the nation faces: the budget deficit, the
personal savings deficit, the trade deficit?and what former U.S. Comptroller General David
Walker, who resigned abruptly in 2008 over Congress's lack of action, calls the "leadership
deficit" in Washington.
Defiantly non-partisan, the empowering solutions outlined in these pages are a must-read for
any American who wants to help change "business-as-usual" in Washington as a new
administration heads towards the Oval Office. "We the People" can get our politicians to
stop spending, promote responsible economic programs, and hand our children and grand-
children the secure future they deserve.

12 14 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Tom Gaylord, air gun editor of Shotgun News

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2008/12/airgunners-christmas-gift-guide-part-4.html

11 30 08 12:00 PM Liberty Watch

Drake Larson

Product Description
Have you ever wanted someone to explain the Theory of Relativity to you in a way
that's honest and easy to understand? "The Cults of Relativity" does just that,
playfully explaining parallel uni-verses, the warping of time and how Einstein
derived E=mc2. Then it blasts off into the deep unknown to examine a world
of cults whose members worship statistics and a remarkable proph-
ecy called Cem. Your guides for this journey include Albert Einstein, Mark
Twain and an impres-sive list of physicists, physicians, philosophers...and liars.

"Cults" presents a new view of our universe and is a must-read for those wishing
to explore the outer edges of science. Author Drake Larson is an organic grape
grower who developed impressive theories and friendships while attending UCLA.
A science editor for the Oakland Tribune once described him as "...the smartest
guy I ever knew...he may wind up with a Nobel Prize...
in which case, I'll put in for a Pulitzer!"
____________________________________________________________________________

11 30 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Dr. Kathleen Puckett

From Publishers Weekly
Turchie, a former FBI Deputy Assistant Director, and Puckett, an author and former
Special Agent(Hunting the American Terrorist), bring their expertise to bear in a spirited
defense of the bureau and a stinging attack on those who would limit its scope. Damning
"the exercise of unfettered political power" in Washington that has constrained FBI
operations, the authors charge politicians with being "literally addicted to the perks
and pleasures of power," their only aim to protect themselves from exposure. Com-
paring Washington's political culture to the "royal courts of monarchies and the
ancient Roman Senate," they specifically charge presidents Nixon, Reagan, Bush,
Clinton and Bush with "concealment, lying, and deception," and are particularly
unsparing in their criticism of VP Dick Cheney. Truly fascinating insights crop up
throughout, such as their discussion of Associate FBI Director Mark Felt, aka "Deep
Throat," who wasattempting to expose Hoover's successor L. Patrick Gray, a Nixon
appointee with an important role in the Watergate cover up. Though their dim view of
those who've worked to defend civil liberties (President Ford, Senator Frank Church,
Rep. Don Edwards, etc.) and clamorous frustration may rub some the wrong way,
Turchie and Puckett provide an account full of intriguing sidelights from inside the
bureau.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.

Review
"...With the precision of a surgeon and the markmanship of a sniper the authors peel
away thewrapping surrounding some of our most famous leaders both past and present.
What we find laying under the the public vaneer are some pretty ugly facts. Don't be
fooled into thinking this is a partisan book whose timing is set to coincide with
Novembers election. Turchie and Puckett have no political affiliations, in their eyes
both Republicans and Democrats are equally guilty as charged..."
--Simon Barrett, Blogger News Network
_______________________________________________________________________________

11 23 0 8 12:00 PM Liberty Watch

To Bail or Not To Bail?  

Why the Auto Industry Should Bail Itself Out

With the Big 3 automakers trekking to Capitol Hill to make their case for a
government bail-out, popular opinion seems squarely against the multi-billion
dollar plan. With taxpayers on the hook
for nearly a trillion dollars in financial market bailouts already, it could be that
consumers are tired of their tax dollars feeding the failures of big business.
But there's more to it than that.

Bob Prosen, acclaimed corporate coach and author of Kiss Theory Goodbye:
Five proven Ways to Get Extraordinary results in Any Company says the
auto industry needs to live or die on its own, because it's what's right for the
marketplace.

Bob's arguments include:

• Free markets should be free - The auto industry saw the collapse coming
  for a long time, and still insisted on cranking out SUVs and large trucks that
  became the white elephants of the road. When companies make choices,
  the market should be the one to punish or reward them - not Congress.
• Piling on is bad - Granted, when Congress caved to the banking lobby on
  the market bailout, it basically hung out the sign reading "Open for Business,"
  but it doesn't necessarily follow that every major industry should get their
  share of the pie just because Congress is baking one.
• CEOs behaving badly - The American consumer is not happy about the
  habit of corporations to reward failure. CEOs drive a company into the
  ground, get fired, and ride their golden parachute to Tahiti. The bailout
  money is still paying executive bonuses, even in the face of their mind-
  boggling bungles. I think rewarding the auto industry for feeding their greed
  would be the last straw for a middle class ready to march on Washington
  with pitchforks and torches like the villagers in a Frankenstein movie.

Prosen has over 25 years corporate executive experience to his name, including;
Senior Vice President at Sabre, Vice President of Professional Services at
Hitachi, Managing Partner of AT&T and Director, Financial Management with
Sprint, where he helped them to show their first profit.  He has been on countless
local shows across the country, as well as the Happy Hour show on Fox Business
Network just last month.  His Tips on How to Recession-Proof Your Business were
also featured on MSNBC last month as well.
_______________________________________________________________

11 23 0 8 12:30 PM Liberty Watch

*OBAMA: FEAR AND THE SECURITY FORCE*

By Selwyn Duke 
November 16, 2008 
NewsWithViews.com 

In all my life I have never seen such intense emotion surrounding a leader as that evoked 
by Barack Obama. Even Ronald Reagan, the Gipper himself, didn't enjoy the kind of 
prostration of the will offered to the president-elect by hordes of followers. Yet, while 
people the world over are imbued with "hope" and chant Obama's slogan "Yes, we can!" 
- for instance, the French are using their translation of it, /"Oui, nous pouvons!"/ - some 
of the intense emotion is of a very different species. 

It is fear. 

In all my life I have never seen an American politician who could make so many Americans' 
blood run cold. Some may mention the left's feelings regarding Reagan or President Bush, 
but there is no equivalency. For all of leftists' bluster and melodrama, they weren't afraid of 
those men as much as they, well, just hated them. Sure, leftist ideologues said those two 
Republicans were scary, but the same people also said that each one was both dumb and 
Machiavellian. Hatred is an emotion, and emotion isn't logical; it just conjures up whatever 
feels right at the moment. 

In Obama's case, however, I sense a real, palpable, go-white-in-the-face fear akin to what 
might be evident in someone who has a gun put to his head or believes he has seen a 
demon. I know for instance, a stout-hearted man of rough-hewn breeding and my political 
persuasion who has said about the impending changing of the guard, "I'm afraid." 

However, he is a right-winger like me, and just as with the leftist ideologues who "feared" 
Reagan and Bush, we aren't exactly a representative sample of America. 

But this is what is truly, well, scary. I have seen this fear not just in rightist politics wonks 
but also in people who are not in the habit of troubling much over politics at all. For example, 
I was surprised recently when a woman I know - someone who could easily abide by the 
injunction, "Never discuss religion or politics" - said in a most sober fashion that she was 
thinking of /leaving the country/. Then there is an elderly Jewish gentleman of my acquaint-
ance who lived through WWII; this man could be described as almost apolitical, was 
probably more apt to vote Democrat than Republican and isn't given to issuing political 
opinion, let alone hyperbole. Yet when someone else broached the subject of Obama's 
legions of fawning admirers, he broke his pattern and interjected, "This is like what 
happened with Hitler. . . ." 

Then consider this statement printed a couple of months ago: "Big Brother had nothing on 
the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps 
where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of 
'social change.'" 

Is this the rambling of some right-wing site occupying the dark recesses of the Web or a 
radical on a soapbox? I mean, after all, it's not the kind of thing you read in the /New York 
Times/. Actually, it's excerpted from a September 4 piece IBDArticles.aspx?id=3054206
55186700> in /Investor's Business Daily/ (IBD), a mainstream 
paper of great repute. 

Are all these people delusional? Are they simply stuck in time and afraid of change? Maybe 
it's that they have some idea what that change will be. 

Fear can certainly be and often is irrational. Yet, generally speaking, the most real fear 
comes from real threats. A ghost story may scare a child, but not nearly as much as if he 
actually sees a ghost. Imagining what it's like to have a gun to your head may be scary, 
but not as much so as if you feel cold, blued steel pressed against your temple. And I 
sense real fear. 

What is there to be afraid of? A good place to start is with the content of the IBD story 
cited earlier. 

Most of us have heard Obama state that "We've got to have a civilian national security 
force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the military. This 
alone is enough to send shivers up an informed spine, but it gets even worse when 
you hear the specifics. Obama intends to use a radical activist group he helped found 
called "Public Allies" as the model for, as IBD puts it, ". . . his Orwellian program, '
Universal Voluntary Public Service.'" 

IBD reports on the inducements used to entice young people into this national service 
corps and its true aim: . . . they'll get a monthly stipend of up to $1,800, plus paid health 
and child care. They also get a post-service education award of $4,725 that can be used 
to pay off past student loans or fund future education. 

But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about 'social 
change' through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation - the tactics used by the 
father of community organizing, Saul "The Red" Alinsky. 

As bad as this sounds, I believe the reality will be far worse. I'll explain where I think this 
will lead, but first we must understand a collective psychological phenomenon that is 
now apparent. 

When Abraham in the Bible was prepared to obey God's command and sacrifice his son
 Isaac on Mount Moriah, it was, and this may shock some, understandable. God is perfect 
and the author of morality, and while we may not always understand His ways, the Divine 
Mind always knows what is best. So the story is a lesson of faith and trust in God. God 
cannot be wrong. You don't question God. 

Whether you have faith or not, it's easy enough to grasp that such deference is under-
standable when talking about a perfect, divine being. But it's downright dangerous when 
applied to a human being. Any human being. 

Unfortunately, while the deific monikers applied to Obama such as "The One" or "The 
Messiah" have become grist for comedians, humorists and just plain old wise-guys, 
they're no laughing matter. They reflect a real spirit that has imbued millions, and this 
is why far scarier than Obama are his followers. They have deified the man, and you 
don't question your god. I truly believe that just as many Germans followed Hitler over 
the precipice during WWII, there are many Americans today who would follow Obama 
unquestioningly, unthinkingly, unknowingly - into the fires of Hell. 

If this sounds as laughable as deific labels, know that it isn't radical to claim that a 
continually-recycling historical pattern will manifest itself again and can do so here; 
radical is to imply that within American borders the laws of man's nature are somehow 
suspended. In nature (not culture), Americans are no different from the people who 
followed Hitler, Mussolini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Pol Pot or Lenin. The tendency to deify 
leaders is universal. 

With this understanding, I'll now give you my prediction as to how Obama's Universal 
Voluntary Public Service program will evolve. 

With his oratorical skills and a complicit media, the president-elect will be able to sell 
this scheme with talk about security, equality and liberating the downtrodden. "It's the 
best way to combat crime, hopelessness and a lack of opportunity in the inner city," 
he will say. "And I know this well from my days as a community organizer on Chicago's 
mean streets." He will tout how it provides health care, education and skills to the have-
nots, and his media-oiled silver tongue's salesmanship will prevail. It will be sold with a 
low-end price tag, and his fellow-traveler controlled Houses will echo the message and
 deliver the votes. Of course, just like Social Security and a trove of other government
 programs, its cost will make a mockery of predictions. But Uncle Sam's budget 
projections aren't designed for budgets, but for marketing. 

As always happens with such groups, program members will eventually be identified 
with some colloquial and catchy label. I can't tell you what it will be, only that it won't be 
Brownshirts or Blackshirts. And the official name of the program itself may even be 
changed a few years hence. 

As with the Public Allies program, members will have to attend seminars and "retreats" 
where they will be indoctrinated with leftist ideology. Aside from learning how America is 
a "racist and "sexist" country, they will be taught that she is also ridden with "hetero-
sexism," which, IBD writes, ". . . a Public Allies training seminar in Chicago describes 
as a negative byproduct of 'capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and male-
dominated privilege.'" They will be taught that these evils can never be vanquished 
until every last vestige of traditional America is utterly destroyed. 

The pressure to conform will be immense, as it always is in politically-correct entities. 
The corps will have a huge core of true believers, who will act as ideological hammers. 
They will preach diversity but practice conformity. 

Just like Public Allies, this program may be birthed primarily in the inner cities. That is 
where Obama's main support is, and, as stated before, he will claim this is where the 
corps' help is needed most. It will then be empowered to do "social good," which could 
mean anything from helping at soup kitchens to recruiting those ripe for indoctrination 
to forming some kind of neighborhood crime watch. As for the last task, though, given 
the corps' ideology and the fact that it will be drawing members from high-crime areas 
initially, I expect it to contain a not insignificant criminal element. It will be corrupt from 
the get-go and may even assume the character of an organized crime syndicate. 

But its "security" mandate will be chilling. In the name of combating garden-variety 
crime and, more specifically, terrorism, who knows what powers the corps will be 
granted? Will they one day help enforce an order to seize firearms, if not via direct 
action then through information gathering? I can't know exactly, but I do know the 
powers will be misused. 

Over time, the program may be expanded to include a corps for even younger 
adolescents, perhaps starting at age 13 or 14. As before, I can't tell you exactly 
what it will be called, but it won't be "The Obama Youth" - not officially, anyway. 
And, certainly by this time, joining it will be the thing the "cool" kids do, sort of like 
the Boy Scouts' evil twin. 

Then, the result may be that we will have, to use John Edwards' terminology, "two 
Americas": Those who belong to the corps and those who don't. But I think I know 
which of the two will be more formidable. Remember when the student thugs at 
Columbia University stormed a stage to stop Minutemen representatives from 
speaking? Similar things have happened at colleges throughout the country, and 
they give us a glimpse into the character of the corps. Just picture the same 
fascist-minded bullies, only more organized, more numerous, even more ideo-
logical and far, far bolder. And many authorities in the nation may tolerate their 
intimidation with a wink and a nod. 

We should also take note of the program's name, Universal Voluntary Public 
Service. One of the definitions http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Universal 
of "universal" is, "affecting, concerning, or involving /all/ [emphasis mine]." And I 
suspect the word most likely to be dropped from the name eventually is not 
"universal" but "voluntary." 

Of course, they don't call me the Amazing Kreskin. I'm no soothsayer and I could 
be wrong about many of the details I provided. But the fear is real and the historical 
allusions are valid. 

Speaking of which, Georgia Congressman Paul Broun recently addressed the 
program and exhibited both fear and a grasp of history, saying 
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94CDDM80&show_article=1

"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet 
Union did. When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering 
to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist." 

Of course, many will nevertheless say that such concerns are but the musings of the 
tin-foil hat crowd. But such scoffing is par for the course. As Professor Manfred Weidhorn 
of Yeshiva University wrote 
: 

". . . even if you are prescient enough to observe oncoming evils, you are prevented from 
acting precisely because other people, being normal, lack your prescience. They therefore 
see you, rather than the evil person, as the deluded or warmongering malevolent soul. 
When Churchill warned about Hitler in the 1930s, many people became more upset with 
Churchill than with Hitler. The anomaly is that the prophet has therefore to wait for the 
evil to manifest itself and thereby to make everyone else see things the prophet's way. 
But by then the chance to do anything may be gone." 

So there is an answer for those who would say "You've thoroughly Godwinned 
 yourself, Duke." If you bristle at the comparison 
and don't want to wear the shoe, then the onus is on you to be vigilant, to make sure it 
never, ever fits.

 © 2008 Selwyn Duke - All Rights Reserved
_________________________________________________________________

11 23 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Dr. Margo Thorning
- ACCF Executive Vice President and Director of Research
- ACCF Center for Policy Research Executive Vice President and 
Director of Research

Dr. Margo Thorning is an expert economist on energy and environmental policy urges 
the president-elect caution on broad policies that could severely undermine U.S. economic
 recovery. For over 20 years, Dr. Margo Thorning has been an internationally recognized 
economic expert on energy, environmental, tax and competitiveness issues.  She serves 
as senior vice president and chief economist with the American Council for Capital 
Formation (www.accf.org).  Prior to the she worked for both the Department of Energy 
and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Dr. Thorning received a B.A. from Texas 
Christian University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. 
in economics from the University of Georgia.

              ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
   

President-elect Obama surprised many with his video message to the Governors Global 
Climate Summit in L.A. this week in which he pledged to aggressively address climate 
change through policies "that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs 
in the process."  

-              The President-elect's climate change plan requires an 80% cut in greenhouse 
gases below 1990 levels by 2050. Many economic analyses indicate this policy will raise 
energy prices sharply and slow economic and job growth. Electricity prices could rise by 
as much as 130 percent by 2030. 

-              The President-elect's clean energy initiative calls for putting 1 million electric 
plugs -in hybrid cars by 2015.  Yet consumers and businesses will struggle with such 
vehicles if electricity prices raise substantially, especially given the current issues 
plaguing the electric car movement--initial cost differential, limitations in range, and 
battery durability.

-              The President-elect's plan requires 10 percent of our electricity come from 
renewable sources by 2012-a serious blow that will retard economic recovery.  Renewable 
energy costs more than conventional energy so trying to push its adoption faster than 
market forces would adopt it will cost net jobs because increased energy prices slow 
economic growth. 

-              The President-elect's plan to spend an additional $150 billion of taxpayer dollars 
over the next ten years to promote faster uptake of renewable energy will result in much 
waste and inefficient use of scarce resources. The federal government already devotes
 a large amount to renewables, 30 percent of the $16.6 billion spent for on energy 
subsidies and support in FY  2007 went for renewable energy.   

-            Climate change and GHG emission reduction is a global problem and cannot be 
solved by a country  "going it alone"--which the U.S. would be doing if it adopts the Obama 
cap and trade plan. Other countries that have tried to cap GHG emissions have had little 
success. For example, the European Union is not on track to meet its Kyoto Protocol 
goal of reducing emission by 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2010-2012. 
____________________________________________________________________

11 23 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Alan Gottleib

NEWS RELEASE
Second Amendment Foundation
12500 NE Tenth Place  ? Bellevue, WA   98005
(425) 454-7012  ? FAX (425) 451-3959  ? www.saf.org

HOLDER NOMINATION SIGNALS OBAMA'S 
TRUE ANTI-GUN RIGHTS AGENDA 

For Immediate Release:   11/19/2008
BELLEVUE, WA - The nomination of Eric Holder for the post of attorney general of the United
 States sends an "alarming signal" to gun owners about how the Barack Obama administration 
will view individual gun rights, as affirmed this year by the Supreme Court, the Second Amend-
ment Foundation said today.
"Eric Holder signed an amicus brief in the Heller case that supported the District of Columbia's 
handgun ban, and also argued that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right," 
noted SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "He has supported national handgun licensing and mandatory 
trigger locks. As deputy attorney general under Janet Reno, he lobbied Congress to pass 
legislation that would have curtailed legitimate gun shows.
"This is not the record of a man who will come to office as the nation's top law enforcement officer 
with the rights and concerns of gun owners in mind," he observed.
Holder's nomination, like the appointment of anti-gun Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel as 
White House Chief of Staff, tells American gun owners that Obama's campaign claims supporting 
the Second Amendment were "empty rhetoric," Gottlieb stated. 
"America's 85 million gun owners have ample reason to be pessimistic about how their civil rights
 will fare under the Obama administration," Gottlieb said. "Mr. Obama will have a Congress with an 
anti-gun Democrat majority leadership to push his gun control agenda. Gun owners have not 
forgotten Mr. Obama's acknowledged opposition to concealed carry rights, nor his support for a 
ban on handgun ownership when he was running for the Illinois state senate. 
"Barack Obama vigorously portrayed himself on the campaign trail as a man who supports gun 
ownership," Gottlieb concluded, "but now that he has won the election, he is surrounding himself 
with people who are avowed gun prohibitionists. What better indication of what to expect from Barack 
Obama as president than the people he is selecting to lead his administration? This isn't a roster of 
devoted public servants. It's a rogue's gallery of extremists who have labored to erase the Second 
Amendment from the Bill of Rights."
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt 
education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and 
heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to 
more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better 
inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful 
firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on 
behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus 
brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
-END- 
___________________________________________________________

11 16 0 8 12:00 PM Liberty Watch

Tom Jenney

Reform Arizona Plan? [AFP]
Arizona's Top Ten Budget Reforms for 2009

1)  Short-Term Budget Reform.  The Legislature should send a winter or spring referendum
to the voters to get permission to temporarily suspend voter-mandated automatic spending
increases during the declared fiscal emergencies in Fiscal Years 2009, 2010, and 2011. 
(Model bill:  HCR 2044 from 2008.)

2)  No Tax Increases.  Most important: prevent the return of the state equalization property
tax.  If the Legislature and Governor do nothing, there will be an automatic property tax
increase of $100 per household.

3)  No Federal Borrowing or General-Obligation Bonding.  Those are recipes for long-
term, California-style fiscal distress.  Federal "help" will come with dangerous policy strings
attached. 

4)  Spending Reductions.  Save $1.5 billion by enacting immediate 15% reductions to all
government agencies other than law enforcement.  15% reductions will take Arizona back to
FY 2007 spending levels, with per-recipient amounts reduced to FY 2005 or FY 2006 amounts. 
That means a reduction in government benefits to 2005 levels.  For the last five years, government
has spent money at unrealistic levels, and it is now time to get back to reality.  The size of the
Napolitano deficit is now over $1,000 per Arizona household.  We must not force Arizona
taxpayers (now, or in the future) to pay for the cost of the government's spending problem.

5)  Long-Term Budget Reform.  Send to the 2010 ballot a referendum changing the personal
income spending limit in the AZ Constitution from 7 percent to 6.4 percent (model: HCR 2038
from 2008), with two new additions: a taxpayer standing clause for judicial enforcement, and a
provision for immediate refund of excess monies to taxpayers.  This spending limit is not as
stringent as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, but it would keep the government from growing faster
than the economy. 

6)  Local Government Transparency.  By 2010, taxpayers should be able to go online and
review every disbursement made by every political entity in the state of Arizona.  We passed
a state-level transparency bill back in June, but we must now ensure that every government in
Arizona has open books. 

7)  Treasurer Certification of the Arizona Budget.  Enact legislation requiring the Arizona
Treasurer to certify whether the state budgets are in legal compliance with the constitutional
requirement for a balanced budget and with the state spending limit.  (A great idea we got from
the Goldwater Institute.)

8)  Move Forward with School Choice.  Every child who leaves a government district school
and goes to a charter school or a private school (via scholarship tax credits or choice grants)
saves the state money?and greatly improves his or her odds of getting a good education.    

9)  Increase the Affordability of Private Health Insurance.  We must allow Arizona con-
sumers to have access to cheaper insurance plans available in other states.  You can buy
shoes, automobiles, and life insurance plans produced in other states.  Why not health
insurance plans?

10)  Use Private Financing for Future Statewide Transportation Projects.  For Arizona's
transportation infrastructure, the only viable alternative to a massive tax increase (which would
mean billions wasted on light rail and other transit boondoggles) is to allow private companies
to finance, construct, operate and maintain new road capacity.  For privatization in other areas
of state government, we should create a Florida-style Council on Efficient Government to identify
privatization opportunities and assist government agencies in developing business plans for
privatization.  (Thanks to the Reason Foundation for suggesting this idea to us.)

Chad Kirkpatrick, Arizona Chairman
Tom Jenney, Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
__________________________________________________________________

11 18 0 8 12:30 PM Liberty Watch

Howard Melamed

"The Science of Opportunity"

It Could Happen to You.

Have you ever had something unusual occur that made you say, "Wow! What a coincidence!"
Well, the next time that happens, Howard Melamed wants you to pay attention:

An opportunity is about to emerge.

Throughout his life?first as a student, then as an entrepreneur, and now as the CEO of a
multimillion dollar company, Howard has made a study of how people generate success?
both personally and professionally. What he found over and over again was that successful
people follow a one fundamental principle that continues to be universally true: coincidences
lead to opportunity.

Howard has expanded on this unique discovery to create The Science of Opportunity?a simple,
straightforward, effective approach you can use to create more of what you want in your life.

Of course, following The Science of Opportunity is not a passive activity; you have to be a
participant. You can liken the process to going fishing. You wouldn't just row out on a lake and
hope a fish jumps in your boat. You would take along good rod and reel and the right kind of bait
and look for clues as to the best spot. You look for opportunity, and when you find it, you are
prepared to seize it.

Not convinced? Then turn the page and prepare to be amazed and entertained. You will find
several real-life examples of ordinary people who, by allowing a coincidence to open their eyes,
found the right career or financial security or true love. Howard himself has experienced this
phenomenon on countless occasions, several of which he talks about in the book.

One of the best reasons to read this book, however, is to bounce along on the ebullient style with
which Howard makes his case. He has created a panoply of colorful analogies to support his theory,
and his writing is full of both good humor and good will. Howard has reaped the benefits of this little-
known secret. By reading this book, you can too.

Welcome to The Science of Opportunity.

Luck Has Nothing to Do With Success

Doesn't it seem like some people have all the luck? Good things constantly come their way,
seemingly without any effort on their part. The rest of us just shake our heads in disbelief and
envy, chalking up their good fortune to simply being "lucky."

Don't you believe it. There is no such thing as luck. Instead, there is something more powerful,
more prevalent, and more universal that can bring good things into the lives of not just a "lucky"
few but everyone:

Opportunity.

Here's the catch, though?it's not always obvious when opportunity is knocking at your door. But
you can learn how to be ready for opportunity when it does come your way?and be prepared to
capitalize on it?by following the principles of The Science of Opportunity.

The Science of Opportunity gives you a simple blueprint for attracting, identifying, and acting on
opportunities of all kinds in your life. Anyone can use these principles, regardless of age, gender,
race, financial situation, political bent, or religious persuasion. You don't have to learn a special
handshake,pay dues, recruit downline "associates," or mortgage the house to buy your way in.

However, to successfully use The Science of Opportunity, you do have to be willing to take one
very important step: Open your mind and become aware.

The choice is yours: You can wait passively and hope luck comes your way one day; or you can
take action and learn how to recognize when an opportunity crosses your path. Once you acquire
that knowledge, you possess the power to decide your own destiny.

And that beats luck any day.
____________________________________________________________________

11 16 0 8 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Howard S. Smith

In a near future overshadowed by an escalating threat between North Korea and Japan, Tokyo
Police Inspector Suzuki Haruto uncovers evidence of an arms deal between Japan and Israel-a
group of Japanese military robots in return for Israeli nuclear weapons and the knowledge behind
their testing. Haruto is a humanized robot who must follow his rigid internal code of behavior
while at the same time preventing an international disaster and falling in love. Deliberately
drawing on the title of the late Isaac Asimov's classic work of robot-centered literature (I, Robot ),
Smith brings robots into the 21st century, incorporating today's technology while retaining the
spirit of Asimov's seminal world. As both homage and a sf adventure, this title belongs in most
libraries. --School Library Journal
___________________________________________________________________

11 9 08 1:00 PM Liberty Watch

 Patrick K. O'Donnell

An impossible mission
Behind enemy lines
The never-before-told true story of a small team of American saboteurs with orders to sever the
Third Reich's main supply artery?the Brenner Pass

Like a scene from Where Eagles Dare, a small team of American special operatives parachutes
into Italy under the noses of thousands of German troops. Their orders: link up with local partisans
in the mountains and sabotage the well-guarded Brenner Pass, the crucial route through the Alps
for the Nazi war machine. Without the supplies that travel this route, the German war effort in Italy
will grind to a halt.

Using thousands of recently declassified files, personal interviews, and private documents, including
a behind-the-lines diary buried in a bottle, military historian Patrick K. O'Donnell has written a
cinematic World War II adventure story. The unforgettable cast of characters includes the dashing
and daringteam leader; the romantic idealist who plans the operation; the seductive Italian countess
who isalso a double-agent; and the maniacal SS officer who will stop at nothing to kill the team and
their partisan collaborators. The Brenner Assignment is also a World War II story that resonates
today, revealing lessons for the war on terror and illustrating the complex nature of insurgency.

Packed with action, suspense, intrigue, and even romance, this exciting true tale of survival and
sabotage behind enemy lines is one of the greatest untold adventure stories of World War II.

10 26 08 12:00 PM Liberty Watch

Dr. George C. Thomas III

The Supreme Court on Trial
How the American Justice System Sacrifices Innocent Defendants


Has the American criminal justice system abandoned its duty to protect the innocent?

About the Book

The chief mandate of the criminal justice system is not to prosecute the guilty but to safeguard the innocent from wrongful convictions; with this startling assertion, legal scholar George Thomas l aunches his critique of the U.S. system and its emphasis on procedure at the expense of true justice. Thomas traces the history of jury trials, an important component of the U.S. justice system, since the American Founding. In the mid-twentieth century, when it became evident that racism and other forms of discrimination were corrupting the system, the Warren Court established procedure as the most important element of criminal justice. As a result, police, prosecutors, and judges have become more concerned about following rules than about ensuring that the defendant is indeed guilty as charged. Recent cases of prisoners convicted of crimes they didn't commit demonstrate that such procedural justice cannot substitute for substantive justice. American justices, Thomas concludes, should take a lesson from the French, who have instituted, among other measures, the creation of an independent court to review claims of innocence based on new evidence. Similar reforms in the United States would better enable the criminal justice system to fulfill its moral and legal obligation to prevent wrongful convictions. George C. Thomas III is Professor of Law and Judge Alexander P. Waugh, Sr., Distinguished Scholar at Rutgers School of Law. "Thomas draws on his extensive knowledge of the field to elaborate his elegant and important thesis--- that the American system of justice has lost sight of what ought to be its central purpose---protection of the innocent." ---Susan Bandes, Distinguished Research Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law "Thomas explores how America's adversary system evolved into one obsessed with procedure for its own sake or in the cause of restraining government power, giving short shrift to getting only the right guy. His stunning, thought-provoking, and unexpected recommendations should be of interest to every citizen who cares about justice." ---Andrew E. Taslitz, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law "An unflinching, insightful, and powerful critique of American criminal justice---and its deficiencies. George Thomas demonstrates once again why he is one of the nation's leading criminal procedure scholars. His knowledge of criminal law history and comparative criminal law is most impressive." ---Yale Kamisar, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego and Clarence Darrow Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Michigan

10 26 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Howard Nemerov

Brief Bio

Anti-gun background. Health care professional in one of the most liberal counties in one of the most
liberal states in the country. Brady Campaign rates CA as the state with the best gun control laws
in the country. All my peers were liberal, anti-gun, so I fit right in. Then one of my clients, a law-
enforcement professional who was pro-rights, made some points I couldn't easily pass off.

So I began my research on UK and Australia. When I found out that violent crime skyrocketed after
the gun bans, I became concerned. When I saw how rape increases led the way, it clashed with
my liberal values which held that women were victims of society. (Women are now raped twice as
often in the UK, and three times as often in Australia, as American women, where ATF data shows
that about 5 million firearms are sold each year. More guns, less rape.) Then I began to research
the American history of gun control and found it was used to dis-empower Native Americans
during the colonial period, and to keep Blacks in a slave-like existence following the Civil War.
This clashed with my liberal values that minorities were victims of society. The resulting cognitive
dissonance led to my transformation to pro-liberty.

No Duty to Protect

Deshaney v. Winnebago

Castle Rock v. Gonzales

Women and children suffer worst, but the government has no obligation to protect them.

So gun control means that we must rely on government agencies to protect us, but the Supreme
Court repeatedly and consistently affirms these same agencies have no legal obligation to protect
us. Doesn't this seem strange that we should give up our right of self-defense and receive nothing
in return? This was another wake-up call for me.

Trial Lawyers and Gun Control

(Covered in Four Hundred Years of Gun Control, chapter 4.)

This historical background puts the Obama material into proper perspective.

Vast majority of law firm campaign contributions go to Democrats, and the most anti-rights Ds
get more of it.

Tort reform and anti-gun litigation

A relevant story: The tobacco settlement resulted in a hidden tax that hurts poorer people the
most, yet after receiving billions in contingencies, law firm campaign contributions tripled to over
184 million in 2000 election.

Anti-gun litigation and case law

National Association of Manufacturers and Chamber of Commerce broke with their tradition of
abstaining from specific issues and wrote letters to Congress in favor of Protection of Firearms
Act passed in 2005, because they understood the legal precedents set by anti-gun litigation,
should it be successful, would open the door to similar law suits against industries with deeper
pockets.

Lawyers went after gun manufacturers because it is a politically incorrect industry, relatively
small with shallow pockets, easy to bankrupt. An easy target, just like wolves take down the
young and weak deer first because they cannot run as fast to get away from predators.

Why Obama Should Support Gun Rights, Common Sense or Common Cause

Two law firm examples. Can you contribute a quarter million dollars to your favorite candidate
so that you can get favorable legislation passed which will earn you a fortune? Not very
Democratic! Obama claims to support "common sense" regulation that would require licensing
and registration. A brief history of gun owner licensing plus Obama's hidden reasons for
supporting licensing and registration. 

10 12 08 12:00 PM Liberty watch

Beirut 25 Years Later: We Came in Peace

Proceedings | Colonel Timothy J. Geraghty | October 01, 2008

In a Proceedings exclusive, the commanding officer of the Marine unit devastated by the suicide
bombing of its barracks in Beirut recounts the horror of that October day 25 years ago and calls
it a seminal event in the war against Islamist extremists.

On Sunday morning, 23 October 1983, I awoke as usual at dawn, dressed, and went below to the 24th
Marine Amphibious Unit's Combat Operations Center to check the overnight communications traffic. I
roamed outside my headquarters at Beirut International Airport to view the dawn, struck by the quiet of
the morning. I saw Marines going about their duties and greeted others preparing for a workout. Being
Sunday, we were on a modified routine that pushed reveille back an hour to 0630, with Sunday brunch
served between 0800 and 1000.

I returned to my office, which I shared with my executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Slacum, to
review the daily schedule. Little did we know that this morning would be anything but quiet and routine.

At 0622, a massive explosion rocked our headquarters, followed by enormous shock waves. Shards of
glass from the blown out windows, equipment, manuals, and papers flew across the room. The office
entry door, located on the far side away from the explosion, was blown off its hinges, the frame bent
and the reinforced concrete foundation of the building cracked.

I ran outside to find myself engulfed in a dense, gray fog of ash, with debris still raining down. I felt
sickened as I stumbled around to the rear of my headquarters, thinking we had taken a direct hit from
a Scud missile or heavy artillery. As the acrid fog began lifting, my logistics officer, Major Bob Melton,
gasped, "My God, the BLT building is gone!" A knot tightened in my gut.

After an instant of disbelief, I quickly realized we had suffered heavy casualties. I later learned that a
suicide driver penetrated our southern perimeter and rammed a 19-ton truck bomb into the lobby of the
Marine Battalion Landing Team (BLT) building and detonated it. Forensics and intelligence later estimated
the compressed-gas-enhanced device to have an explosive equivalent in excess of 20,000 pounds of
TNT. Minutes later, a similar truck bomb struck the French paratrooper headquarters at Ramlet-El-Baida,
bringing down a nine-story building and killing 58 French peacekeepers.

This started the longest and most miserable day of my life. The death toll eventually reached 241 Marines,
Sailors, and Soldiers, the highest loss of life in a single day since D-Day on Iwo Jima in 1945. The
coordinated dual suicide attacks, supported, planned, organized, and financed by Iran and Syria using
Shiite proxies, achieved their strategic goal: the withdrawal of the multinational force from Lebanon and
a dramatic change in U.S. national policy. The synchronized attacks that morning killed 299 U.S. and
French peacekeepers and wounded scores more. The cost to the Iranian/Syrian-supported operation
was two suicide bombers dead.

Remembrance and Justice

At dawn this 23 October, a solemn candlelight vigil will begin the day at the foot of the Beirut Memorial,
nestled in the pines of North Carolina. Families, veterans, and friends will gather to pay tribute to those
who "Came in Peace" on this, the 25th anniversary. Each name etched on the marble wall of the
memorial will be read aloud by a family member or friend. Later, a more formal ceremony will include
military music, pageantry, and speeches commemorating the legacy of the peacekeepers who paid the
ultimate sacrifice. A wreath will be laid at the foot of the statue of the lone Marine standing perpetual
guard at the memorial.

The quiet strength and dignity displayed by the families of those lost is a continual source of i
nspiration to me. There are numerous stories about how they picked up the pieces of shattered lives,
helped one another, and carried on to raise their families. There is no finer tribute to honor the memories
of these fallen.

In the Iranian Behesht-E-Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, there will also be a ceremony at a monument
erected in 2004 to commemorate the Beirut suicide bombers. In attendance will likely be some dressed
as suicide bombers, chanting the standard "death to America" and "death to Israel."

One individual who will be absent this year is Imad Fayez Mugniyah, one of the world's most wanted and
notorious terrorists. He was a key operative in the suicide bombings that Sunday morning in Beirut and
has been linked with many major operations including the 1984 kidnapping and murder of the CIA station
chief in Beirut, William Buckley. Mugniyah was also directly in charge of the 1988 kidnapping and
execution of Marine Corps Colonel Rich Higgins, who was serving with the United Nations peacekeeping
mission. And he was indicted in absentia by the U.S. government for his role in the hijacking of TWA
Flight 847 in 1985, which led to the savage beating and execution of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stetham.

Long overdue justice was finally served on 12 February 2008. In an ironic twist, Mugniyah was
assassinated in a quiet, upscale neighborhood of Damascus-by a car bomb, one of his weapons of
choice. His greatest notoriety was pioneering the widespread use of suicide bombers, which has
evolved to become the favored tactic of Islamic extremists.

Osama bin Laden took inspiration from Mugniyah's 1983 bombings and used that model for al Qaeda's
first successful dual suicide bombings against the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam,
Tanzania, on 7 August 1998. Before a meeting between bin Laden and Mugniyah in Sudan in 1996, al
Qaeda did not have this expertise. But it later expanded the simultaneous, coordinated suicide bombing
model for the four commercial airline hijackings and attacks on 11 September 2001.

The events that Sunday morning in Beirut exposed a deep-seated fanaticism fanned by Islamic jihadists
without sectarian divisions. Recent history has made us more familiar with this phenomenon. The 18
April bombing of the U.S. embassy and the Marine barracks' bombings in Beirut are considered to be
seminal events in the war against terrorism. It was the first time Islamic suicide bombers had attacked
significant American targets. This Iranian- and Syrian-instigated act of war was pure terrorism. Our
timidity to respond created an aura of impunity that the Islamic extremists sensed and pursued all the
way to the 9/11 attacks, which finally awakened America.

Suicide Attacks

The introduction of suicide truck bombs as a tactic in Beirut in 1983 proved to be an effective if heinous
tool. The bottom line is that they worked, and recent history has confirmed their cruel efficiency and
huge cost in innocent lives. These attacks were cynically planned to ensure success for the terrorists
and cause massive casualties.

The post-bombing investigation conducted by FBI Special Agent Danny Deffenbaugh revealed computations
and technical assessment of the device (bomb) and the high explosive used-pentaerythritol tetranitrate
(PETN). Deffenbaugh also identified canisters of compressed butane gas contained in the bed of the
truck with the PETN. This enhancement of the explosive, also found at the earlier U.S. embassy attack,
indicated the Iranians were trying to create a fuel-air explosive. This creates a shocking effect with a
propagation wave that produces additional heat and takes away the oxygen twice as fast. An explosives
expert stated that this effect verified the anti-personnel purpose of the attack. It also explained the reason
why so many dead and wounded suffered severe burns.

In describing the destructive strength of the bomb, Deffenbaugh verified publicly what was briefed to us
privately by the FBI and others-that the immensity of the bomb precluded the necessity of the truck bomb r
eaching the building. I was informed that the truck did not even have to leave the airport access road
adjacent to the western side of the BLT building to have comparable devastation and casualties. The
suicide bomb that killed the French paratroopers did not reach their headquarters before it detonated
but still caused the collapse of the nine-story structure.

More telling was the successful suicide attack on Israeli headquarters in Tyre, Lebanon, on 4 November
1983, just ten days after the attack on U.S. and French peacekeepers. Even though the Israelis had
none of the restrictions of a presence mission and nothing that would hinder their extensive intelligence
capabilities, they were struck with a carbon-copy attack ten days after our attack. It should be noted
that the Israelis had many of the defenses the Marines were criticized for not having at Beirut
International Airport. Still, the terrorist attack was successfully carried out-killing 60 and injuring 30
more-even though the suicide truck was halted well short of the target.

Members of the intelligence community compiled an all-sources damage assessment after the Marine
barracks bombing. In it, they studied signals, overhead, and human intelligence and concluded the
evidence was overpowering that Iran had been behind it. An intelligence expert close to the final
assessment stated he did not know anyone who studied the information and drew any other
conclusion.

Beyond carnage, suicide bombings provide grand theater by way of international press coverage.
Since their genesis in Beirut, such attacks have grown to becoming a weapon of choice for Shia
and Sunni alike. This tactic carries a profound psychological message of fear and intimidation. I b
elieve reasonable observers agree that such attacks are very difficult to deter, and their increased
usage and success reflect the terrorists' desire for the spectacular hysteria and chaos created by
such attacks.

Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah

The Multinational Peacekeeping Force presence in Lebanon in 1982-83 undoubtedly contributed to
the stability of the government of Lebanon and saved lives. Our successes, albeit limited, were
obviously worrisome enough to the primary powerbrokers in Tehran and Damascus to compel them
to launch the suicide truck bombing operations against us. The timing, locations, and targets of the
bombings were no more coincidental than were the sophisticated planning, magnitude, and execution
of the attacks.

The choice of 23 October was significant because National Reconciliation Talks among all key factions
within the government of Lebanon were scheduled to be held in Geneva, beginning on the 31st.
Preliminary talks were set to begin on the 24th at Beirut International Airport, where the U.S. Multi-
National Peacekeeping Force had been located for more than a year.

The airport site was supposed to be one of the most secure areas in Lebanon. The Marine and the
French headquarters were targeted primarily because of who we were and what we represented. The
passive nature of the peacekeeping mission provided attractive targets that Iran and Syria were not
about to pass up. It is noteworthy that the United States provided direct naval gunfire support-which
I strongly opposed for a week-to the Lebanese Army at a mountain village called Suq-al-Garb on 19
September and that the French conducted an air strike on 23 September in the Bekaa Valley.
American support removed any lingering doubts of our neutrality, and I stated to my staff at the time
that we were going to pay in blood for this decision.

Unknown to us at the time, the National Security Agency had made a diplomatic communications
intercept on 26 September (the same date as the cease-fire ending the September War) in which
the Iranian Intelligence Service provided explicit instructions to the Iranian ambassador in Damascus
(a known terrorist) to attack the Marines at Beirut International Airport. The suicide attackers struck
us 28 days later, with word of the intercept stuck in the intelligence pipeline until days after the attack.

Iran's Motivation

Looking back today, it is easier to comprehend why Iran moved a contingent of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps into the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley during the height of the Iraq-Iran
War in 1982-83. Following the 1982 Israeli invasion, and with Syrian complicity, Iran established a
base of operations to carry out its strategic goals. This corps founded, financed, trained, and
equipped Hezbollah to operate as a proxy army, a force expanded today to challenge the freely
elected government of Lebanon, which cannot control, much less disarm, Hezbollah.

Using Lebanon as a base, the force conducted border raids and rained rocket and missile attacks
on Israel. Iranian persistence and determination has paid off handsomely in terms of regional
influence, political power, and military prowess, and they have suffered no consequences. It is
clear that their brashness and the carnage they inflict continue to expand.

The recent revelations that Iranian weapons are killing U.S. Marines and Soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan should surprise no one. Conclusive evidence has disclosed that the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard's Quds Force has transported roadside bombs and armor-piercing "explosively formed
penetrators" (EFPs) from Iran into Iraq. Other advanced Iranian weapons found in Iraq include the
RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade, 240-mm rockets, and perhaps the most ominous, the Misagh
1, a portable surface-to-air missile that uses an infrared guidance system.

This influx of sophisticated weaponry has been accompanied by intelligence revealing Iranian
facilitation of travel and training inside Iran for Iraqi insurgents. U.S. intelligence officials have
stated that Iranian complicity could not take place without approval at the highest levels of the
Iranian government.

Among the terrorist groups that Iran supports are al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad. Three of them are Sunni groups and are supported, among other reasons, to under-
cut the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Shiite Iran's support and its strategic
relationship with the Sunni Wahhabi al Qaeda are especially telling.

The relationship between Iran and al Qaeda was confirmed by the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission. Its report highlighted Iranian
involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, training for al Qaeda operations
against Israel and the United States, and safe-transport and safe-haven for those operations.

War Against the United States

What continues to unfold is the debunking of the theory that an ideological separation between the
Sunnis and Shiites would prevent any mutual cooperation in operations against a common enemy,
i.e., the United States and its allies. Evidence confirms the old adage that my enemy's enemy is
my friend.

In reality, Iran has been waging war against the United States for more than a quarter-century, from
the 1979 hostage crisis and the Marine barracks bombing in 1983 to providing sophisticated
weaponry to Sunni and Shia insurgents in Iraq. Iranian mullahs have chosen to wage a radically
aggressive campaign to create and accelerate instability throughout the region by using their
proxies, many of whom are non-Shia. Some examples include:

• Support for Hamas to launch rockets and attacks into Israeli villages across the Gaza Strip
  borders 
• Continued building of heavily armed Hezbollah in Lebanon to not only challenge the legitimacy
  of the duly-elected government of Lebanon, but also to prepare for the inevitable next war with
  Israel
• Supporting Syria, their lone Arab client, in their incessant efforts to further destabilize Lebanon
  and Iraq. (At last count, eight anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders, journalists, and members of
  parliament have been assassinated by Syrian operatives.)
• Supporting Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan against NATO forces
• Using the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force to facilitate training, equipping,
  and financing Shiite and Sunni extremist militias in Iraq against U.S., Iraqi Army, and coalition
  forces.

A recent development revealed that Hezbollah instructors trained Shiite militiamen in remote camps
inside southern Iraq and planned some of the most brazen attacks against U.S.-led forces.

Iran has evolved as a major player in the Middle East with growing influence. Its proxy war with Israel,
which many fail to see as only one front in a larger war, increases Iranian popularity throughout the
Arab world. The Iranian capability to cause trouble on three fronts, on their schedule, does not augur
well for the peace process. Add to this Quds Force links to the Taliban and Iranian weapons and
sophisticated munitions being smuggled into Iraq and Afghanistan, and Iran has positioned itself to
wreak havoc and cause diversions through proxies while avoiding retribution for their continuing
bloodshed.

Connecting the Dots

In August 2005, Mustafa Mohammad-Najjar was named the new defense minister of Iran. This
position takes on new importance considering the brazen, complex campaign Iran is waging to
destabilize the region. Keep in mind that these diversions draw attention from their primary objective
of attaining a nuclear capability.

Najjar's previous assignment as senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earned
him a reputation of ruthlessness and ideological loyalty. In 1983, he commanded the 1,500-man
expeditionary force sent to Lebanon's Baaka Valley.

This Iranian unit provided security, planning, training, and operational support for the dual suicide truck
bombings on 23 October 1983. Najjar's successes in these attacks, which are still celebrated in
Tehran today, led to the withdrawal of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force. The withdrawal after
the bombings, with no retribution from the United States, became a turning point in the unbounded
use of terrorism by radical Islamic fanatics worldwide. Under his command, Najjar's corps played a
key role in the formation of the Party of God (Hezbollah) and the education and training of Mugniyah,
who reportedly lived and operated out of Iran.

I often wonder whether Najjar was among those troops involved in the fighting at Suq-al-Garb during
the September War in 1983. The 24th Marine Amphibious Unit's 2d Radio Detachment was intercepting,
among others, significant Farsi communications during the multi-Muslim militia's assault on the
Lebanese armed forces. The multi-confessional Lebanese army held together and successfully
defended its position which, in my opinion, led the decision makers in Tehran and Damascus to
change their tactics from conventional attacks to the shadows of terrorism. Whether or not he was
present at Suq-al-Garb, Najjar's position as commander of the Revolutionary Guard detachment
supports the notion that he would have wanted to be there. My guess is that he was.

As the Iranian defense minister, he is most certainly involved in global terrorist attacks and the
acquisition of nuclear weaponry. It is more probable than possible that Iran will use its favorite
proxy, Hezbollah, to carry out future attacks against the West, including the United States.
Najjar's long association with the now-deceased terrorist mastermind Mugniyah lends credence
to this. We could well find ourselves, in our own country, the recipient of a weapon of mass
destruction in an attack planned and executed by some of the same players who carried out
the 1983 suicide attacks in Beirut. Some of these dots could very well connect.

Another dot emerged shortly after the announcement of Najjar's ascendency to defense minister.
A close confidant and fellow alumnus of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Lebanon contingent
was appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to lead the corps' ground forces.
Brigadier General Ahmad Kazemi, whose previous assignment was commander of the Republican
Guard's air force, was responsible for the development of solid-fuel technology. He was also
responsible for research and production of Shahab missiles, including the Shahab-4, with a
projected range of 3,000 kilometers and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could
reach the heart of Europe.

The Story Continues

Today, Lebanon is again being used as a battlefield for foreign forces to settle their disagreements.
The state-within-a-state that the Palestine Liberation Organization created in the late 1970s has
been replaced. The Iranian model, establishing Hezbollah as a proxy, has proved to be more
successful. Hezbollah's development and growth suggest that in 1983, Iran and Syria had a
long-range strategy to increase their influence in the region and the world. The operational and
training base established by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that year remains an active hub
of activity a quarter-century later.

This 23 October, when families and friends gather for this year's remembrance, will again remind
us of those dedicated peacekeepers who never came home. They were denied the joy of raising
a family, pursuing their dreams, and enjoying the blessings of America. Amid the renewals of
friendship, hugs, and tears, there always lingers an undercurrent of deep sorrow and anguish
that hasn't lessened 25 years later. The peacekeepers' valor and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

-----------------------------------------

Colonel Geraghty served over 25 years in the Marine Corps and seven years in the Special
Operations Group of the Central Intelligence Agency. He commanded the 24th Marine
Amphibious Unit in Beirut, Lebanon, during the suicide truck bombings on 23 October
1983. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona. 

10 12 08 1:00 PM America Armed & Free

Eric Shelton interviews Charles live on topics of handguns, history, and activism.

9 7 08 12 PM Liberty Watch

Marco Marsan "The Lion's Way"

Mr. Marsan is an interesting guy, a marketing consultant (degree in marketing) with a fiction book
about an alternate history.
Alternate history novels always spark thought. After I had him on, he sent the communication below.
If you were hiring a marketing consultant, would that be what you had in mind?

8 10 08  12:00 - 1:30 PM Liberty Watch

Dr. Edgar K. Browning, "Stealing From Each Other"

Review
"Stealing from Each Other is an original and devastating critique of government spending and the
modern welfare state. It is an important supplement to the Friedmans' classic: Free to Choose.
Because ideas have consequences, Browning has written one of those rare books that could
actually change the public policy debate. If you love your freedom and your country, you ought
to read this book." - Former Senator Phil Gramm

Product Description
Almost all Americans would be better off if none of the federal welfare-state policies of the last
century--including Social Security--had ever been enacted. So argues economist Edgar Browning,
and with good reason: In 1900, government played a very small role in the day-to-day activities of
American citizens. There was no income tax. No Social Security. No federal welfare programs.
No minimum wage laws. No federal involvement in education. Government was small, spending
well under 10 percent of our incomes. But now, federal, state, and local governments spend more
than 33 percent of our incomes. Why has government grown so much over the past century? The
answer, in Browning's devastating critique of the modern welfare state, is simple: the rise of egal-
itarian ideology--an ideology that has not just harmed the economy but made us all poorer. This
book examines all facets of the welfare state in the U.S. and its egalitarian underpinnings. Egali-
tarians claim, for instance, that markets are unfair and that we must have redistributive policies to
produce "social justice." This reasoning supposedly justifies the two-thirds of federal spending that
simply robs Peter to pay Paul. We are stealing from each other. Browning's research and trenchant
analysis show that:
-Almost all U.S. citizens are harmed by the welfare state--even many of its apparent beneficiaries.
-Welfare-state policies have large hidden costs which all told have reduced the average income of
   Americans by about 25 percent.
-There is much less inequality and poverty than is commonly believed.
-Most taxpayers will receive less back from Social Security than they put in.

Provocative? Indeed. But such conclusions result from the most thoroughgoing economic
analysis of the modern welfare state yet written. Written for a general audience, Stealing from
Each Other covers everything informed citizens need to know about inequality, poverty, welfare,
Social Security, taxation, and the true costs of government redistributive policies.

8 10 08 1:30 PM America Armed & Free

Matthew Higbee "Restoring Your Gun Rights"

California attorney Matthew Higbee can get criminal records expunged
or set aside, thereby restoring your rights.

About the firm...

Our law firm is about people. It is about knowing that there are few things more rewarding than
helping people get the most out of their life. The members of this law firm are blessed to be able
to make a difference for scores of people each month.

To put our service within the financial reach of the most people possible, we had do things different.

We started by hiring people who shared our passion for giving people a fresh start. Then we
empowered them with the technology, training, and tools necessary to deliver high quality service
for unbeatably low prices. Just look at this web site... where else can you chat with a live attorney
online for free? Emails and phone calls are returned promptly. That is just the start.

We explain every step of your case and notify you by email each time we take a step. When we
complete the research on the case, you will know. When we mail something to the court on your
behalf, you will know. You are never left wondering, "what is my attorney doing?"

If you think all of that is unheard of from a law firm, try this... we charge you a flat-fee that is
guaranteed to be the lowest price available and we offer a money back guarantee.

Of course, if there is ever a way we can do something better, we are always listening.

Phone:877-573-7273
Fax: 866-534-7049
Email: attorney@recordgone.com

8 3 08 12:00 PM Liberty Watch

Justin Miller, http://www.unionfacts.com/

Union officials have made ending secret ballots for workers deciding whether to join a union their
highest legislative priority. Instead of elections, they want a ¡°card check¡± process that is set up for
fraud and is unfair to working Americans. Learn more about the dangers of this union scheme in
our new report, ¡°When Voting Isn¡¯t Private: The Union Campaign Against Secret Ballot Elections.¡±
You¡¯ll find out why:

• Union bosses want to end elections, even though they win more than 50% of the time
• Editorial pages from across America are denouncing card check and demanding secret
  ballot elections
• 75 percent of Americans think secret ballots are the most democratic method of choosing
  a union

8 3 08 12:30 PM Liberty Watch

Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll about should Augusta Resources Corp be allowed to put a
copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains?

Anise Jenkins of freeDC.org against the Supreme Court Heller Decision

                                           

 

Anise -

 

    Your interview is now posted at www.libertywatchradio.com/listen and will be there for
3 weeks. Feel free to download it and post it where you wish.

 

    I now understand why the picture disturbs you, but it does not have to stay that way.
Th